I Stayed Loyal When My Teacher Was Betrayed

19 – Proof 8

Assassin Sigrun prepares to fight fiercely.

As Rosemary watched her, she started to feel a complicated sensation in her mind.

However,

That had nothing to do with the fact that the person in front of her was wielding a short sword and looking for an opportunity.

“Phew… Is it fortunate? At least, she didn’t seem so imposing at first glance… But still, it’s more embarrassing than I thought…”

Honestly, Rosemary herself didn’t know why she reacted that way earlier.

It all started with growing annoyed just by watching…

The new disciple named Bernier, who kept clinging to Edward. That bothered her.

Still, Bernier was a diligent learner with exceptional talent.

From Rosemary’s perspective, there were enough reasons to save him from various aspects. However…

Whenever she saw him together with Edward, she couldn’t help but feel an unsettling sense of jealousy.

Being swept away by those emotions, she committed actions without even realizing it.

Intentionally pretending to be tired and leaning on him.

Looking back now, it was an extremely childish and immature behavior for her actual age, but at the time, it didn’t feel that bad.

No…

To be honest, it was unexpectedly pleasant.

The touch of that child, their warmth.

And even… their faint breath as they gently grazed her skin.

She thought that if possible, she would like to stay like that forever, unconsciously exerting a little force in the hand that held onto his collar.

In that situation, the actions of Bernier who had intervened… or rather, may have been a hindrance, made Rosemary feel momentarily uncomfortable.

As an adult, it wasn’t right to get angry in such a situation, but Rosemary couldn’t help but get emotional for a moment.

And as she calmly reflected on that situation now, Rosemary felt some confusion about herself at the time, which had raised many questions.

“Why did I go to such extremes? What the hell…”

No matter how much she thought, she couldn’t clearly answer the situation for herself.

Certainly, Edward was a precious disciple, and she was aware of her desire to protect him.

However, even considering that, the excessive obsession she felt at the time and her reaction to Bernier couldn’t be seen as anything other than too much.

“Could it be… no… it can’t be. How could I… at my age, to that young one…”

There was one thought suddenly appearing in her mind, but Rosemary vehemently denied it.

Then,

“Aren’t you tired of it? Haha! Looking at your red face and sweating, it seems that you’re so tired that you can’t even use magic!”

“!…”

The words of Sigrun hitting her ears.

At this, Rosemary realized her own state belatedly.

Her state that had become like this just from thinking about that child…

And what this meant was…

“No… way…Really?”

At that moment.

“Die!!!”

Sigrun quickly ran towards her.

With the intention of simply squeezing the crazy opponent’s throat altogether, she deftly moved and swung her dagger.

“Okay! He can’t avoid it from this angle! With this, he’s finished!”

-Crack!!

With that thought, Sigrun put all her strength into her dagger.

But…

“Uh?”

“Uh-oh…”

The dagger stopped right in front of Rosemary’s neck.

Sigrun realized a little late what that meant.

“A…a shield? When did she put this up…no, more importantly, did she still have the energy to do this?”

If she couldn’t even defend against her attack, it was impossible with any ordinary defense.

That moment when she momentarily felt astonishment at that fact.

“!! G-guh…!”

Suddenly, feeling a pressure, the sensation of an invisible hand choking her neck, Sigrun began to struggle in pain.

“What… what is this? H-how did this happen? I’m clearly completely drained of magic power, so how can this guy…!?”

Lost in confusion, she suddenly saw a scene before her eyes.

It was Rosemary, reaching out her hand towards Sigrun and charging up her magic.

Seeing the gathering of an extraordinary amount of magical power, Sigrun desperately tried to avoid that place.

However…

“Just hold on… stay right there.”

“!”

-Kwaaang!

A massive shockwave flew towards Sigrun.

Swept away by the tremendous firepower of that attack, Sigrun fainted without ever understanding what exactly had happened…

*

One of the Valkyrie members, Brunhilde.

She knew that she wasn’t particularly lucky.

When it came to lottery draws, if it’s 100, then it’s definitely a loss.

Even when she bet her luck against her comrades, she had never won once.

And now,

She was thinking once again that she had drawn the short straw.

“I can’t believe… out of all people, why did I end up with this guy?”

Before her eyes was one of the prey, a novice adventurer who had blond hair, Rosetta’s young disciple.

Having to face the weakest-looking person among the three alone, she couldn’t help but feel a slight dissatisfaction.

“If only I had been together with Misty, we could’ve played around nicely. Anyway, it’s no use complaining about my bad luck like this.”

While thinking such thoughts, Brunhilde aimed her bow directly.

With the intention of finishing things quickly anyway, she muttered with a bitter voice.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t want to send such a rookie out so easily. Well, think of yourself as unlucky and just die quietly.”

Brunhilde spoke with a bored voice.

At that moment,

“That’s right, I’m definitely unlucky too. I can’t believe I got caught by someone like this even if I’m skilled enough to do so.”

“What?”

Verine, who they thought would beg for mercy face down on the ground, seemed quite different from what Brunhilde had expected.

What was within her was boredom and the leisure that backed it up.

Despite the doubt she felt about it, Brunhilde felt that she didn’t need to waste any more time there and laid down her bow.

-Pak!

An arrow flew instantly.

It wasn’t an ordinary arrow, but one infused with magical power that could pierce through steel walls.

And of course, Brunhilde, who shot it, was one hundred percent accurate.

In such a wasteland, the arrows she shot never missed.

The fate of the young witch who was the target was not worth mentioning.

Brunhilde did not care about what happened afterward.

But…

“…Huh?”

“…”

A scene began to appear before her eyes.

However, the scene was completely different from what Brunhilde had expected.

What was undoubtedly in the hand of the witch who should have had her heart punctured was…

“What… what is this? How did you… how did you catch my arrow?”

“Didn’t you think that your arrow would reach me?”

“!”

Verine approached slowly while saying incomprehensible words.

It was impossible.

How could such a novice witch catch her attack that even a high-ranking warrior would struggle to defend against with their bare hands?

However, before finding an answer here,

Suddenly, in front of Brunhilde stood the young witch of the problem.

“You… you brat! I’ll kill you!”

-Hook!

Brunhilde quickly drew her sword and swung it.

She was a ranger with a long-range specialization, but her strength allowed her to handle a sword better than most swordsmen.

If it couldn’t be done from afar, she could do it up close.

As she thought about this, her sword, which had been mentally shaken, fell onto the witch’s head.

But…

-Tap!

“…!? What… what is this?”

The sword suddenly stopped in midair.

There was the appearance of Bernier, who simply reached out his hand and grabbed her sword.

“Do human adventurers have a habit of saying that? I’ll kill you. I’m going to kill you… It’s really… A pathetic sight.”

“Ah…Aaa…”

Brunhilde, who had started to feel fear with the successive phenomena, listened to Bernier’s cold voice towards her.

“Do you know that? We don’t say that during battles among ourselves. Because well…”

Then she slowly created a magic circle on one hand.

“We don’t need to say that, unlike inferior species. Thinking about it, our actions have already ended.”

“I…I hate it…”

The magic circle of a shape she had never seen before flickered with black light.

Feeling confused and terrified by the fact, Brunhilde tremblingly sat down on the ground.

“Don’t worry, unlike the muses we sent ahead, we’ll make you like us soon enough.”

“What…are you talking about…ugh!!!”

Thinking once again that she was really…unlucky.