Seeing Ritt’s face flushed red made irritation surge up inside me.
I had no hobby of finding a bashful man cute. It did not matter that her original body was female or whatever. The form she was wearing right now was male.
I should just get straight to the point and finish this quickly.
Pushing aside my discomfort, I opened my mouth.
“If you watched the footage from , you already know. Someone is after me.”
The redness vanished from Ritt’s face, replaced by surprise.
“And I’m certain a Demon is behind it.”
Ritt’s expression stiffened.
He—no, she—could not bring herself to speak and instead lowered her head deeply.
Afraid she was about to start bawling again, I hurriedly continued.
‘Huh? Wait.’
That reaction.
The way she acted as though she knew perfectly well that I was about to hold her accountable.
Something that had happened not long ago suddenly flashed through my mind.
Ritt had abruptly bowed her head and said she had committed a sin worthy of death.
‘Then that means…….’
Only now did the pieces click neatly into place.
Ritt was under a huge misunderstanding.
And thankfully, that misunderstanding gave me the initiative.
Since things had turned out this way, I was going to wield that initiative for all it was worth.
“……I know this had nothing to do with you.”
Levi told me as much.
At my words, he—no, she—brightened and snapped her head up.
“But you must be connected to it somehow. Am I wrong?”
“……No…… you’re not.”
“Raise your head. I’m not trying to blame you.”
No.
I should have told her to keep it down.
Those tear-filled eyes made me uncomfortable.
Would it be a little easier if I dealt with her in her original form?
“Ritt, no—Dream Demon, Riritt.”
Her body flinched.
“Reveal your true form. That shell of yours cannot fool me.”
Ritt nodded, and the shell surrounding her collapsed into black smoke.
‘Gasp!’
When the smoke cleared, what emerged was a breathtakingly beautiful being.
Ritt’s appearance, blending the traits of the Dream Demon Race and the Fox Race in just the right proportions, was easily among the five most beautiful in my entire world.
It was the kind of beauty that was a feast for the eyes.
“……I’ll ask you something.”
Honestly, I nearly stared in a daze, but survival was more urgent.
Just get to the point. The point.
“Who is the other Demon hiding in Grasco besides you?”
“Th-That…….”
Come on, tell me already.
Then I can either watch out for them or hit them first.
“W-Well…….”
She fidgeted in confusion.
Honestly, if she still looked the way she had earlier, I might have smacked her once, but I forgave her because of this appearance.
“I cannot tell you the identity of ‘that person.’ It is impossible for me to do anything that would allow you to infer their identity or cause it to be revealed.”
……I had an idea why.
“……A ‘Covenant’?”
It was a kind of contract bound at the level of one’s very existence.
If one of the contracting parties violated it, their existence itself would be extinguished.
“You’re the subordinate party.”
And since it was still a contract, there was a dominant party and a subordinate party.
Naturally, the subordinate side was placed at an absurd disadvantage.
But as a Lesser Demon, Ritt probably had no choice.
There were two ways to break this ‘Covenant.’
Kill the Demon who was the dominant party, or have a Demon of even higher rank than the dominant party break the contract.
I could not kill them without knowing their identity, and asking a High-Ranking Demon to break it would be sheer insanity.
It was not as though there were no other options.
Ritt simply had to become stronger than the dominant party.
It was a truly Demon-like solution, ruled by the Law of the Strong.
Fortunately, I had a way to make Ritt stronger.
“From now on, stay as close to me as possible.”
That would make Favorability grinding easier.
[‘Ritt (Riritt)’s’ Favorability greatly increases. +30]
The notification window answered in her place.
***
Night had fallen, but the light in the laboratory remained on.
-Eilon, my boy. Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard……?
His father, Stephen, asked worriedly from outside, but no answer came back.
Eilon was completely absorbed.
He was devoting himself to research in a state of total immersion.
It had happened twice now.
The Magical Weapon he prided himself on had been broken through as if to mock him, and the system he had developed had been hacked, putting his life in danger.
His pride was wounded.
Never in his life had he imagined that his Magic Engineering could be this powerless.
Yet that was the reality unfolding before him.
“X, apply Skalikov Theory here.”
-Output value error.
“Damn it. Then what about Pasquier’s Theorem?”
-Output value error.
“Ha, this is fun. Fine. Let’s take this all the way.”
Failure followed failure, but Eilon was not the kind of person to despair over such things.
Instead, he smacked his lips and threw himself back into the problem.
This was the secret that would make Eilon the greatest genius in the history of Magic Engineering.
He enjoyed even failure and immersed himself fanatically in experimentation.
-Output value error.
Even if the process was anything but smooth.
‘How in the world……?’
Jesse watched the footage from over and over again, analyzing Lucas’s battle with Levi.
Strength he could not comprehend had turned into awe.
‘What in the world did he do here?’
This part.
After exchanging only a few words, Lucas had sent the Demon’s own technique straight back at him.
Jesse had replayed the footage countless times, but it had already gone beyond the bounds of his understanding.
And the more it did, the more Jesse burned with desire.
The desire to become stronger.
It was an extreme thought, but he felt as though he could even sell his soul to a Demon.
After all, plenty of people had done exactly that and reached heights beyond their limits.
But after watching the footage from , even that thought vanished completely.
To Jesse now, the very standard of strength was ‘Lucas’ himself.
Even a Demon armed with overwhelming Presence became nothing more than autumn leaves in a gale before him, swept away without resistance.
‘If only I had been chosen…….’
He knew he should not, but he could not stop glancing at Torres.
If Jesse ordered him to, Torres would spill everything he had learned from Professor Lucas.
But Jesse soon shook his head.
This was a matter of pride.
The pride of Athlon, a great sword family.
Yet his eyes kept drifting toward Torres, who was devoting himself to training over there.
After muttering and hesitating for quite some time, Jesse finally made a major decision.
“……Torres.”
Torres stopped swinging his sword and looked at his master.
A flick—
With nothing more than a light beckoning gesture, Torres should have come before Jesse…….
‘He should be coming, shouldn’t he?’
But Torres bit down hard on his lip and began swinging his sword again.
Stubbornly.
Almost stupidly so.
Just like Torres.
The sight made anger flare through Jesse.
Fine.
So you’re a student of that precious ‘Everything About Combat,’ is that it?
Jesse picked up his sword as well.
Then he began swinging it recklessly.
Pouring his frustration into it.
Pouring his maddening desire into it.
‘Y-Young Master…….’
Torres quietly watched Jesse for a moment before raising his sword again.
What Jesse needed right now was not Torres the servant.
He needed an enormous wall that he had to overcome.
And Lucas had already shown them how high that wall needed to be.
At the very least, it had to be that high.
In the same space, the two swung their swords with different thoughts and different emotions.
Two figures approached them.
***
‘I haven’t grown at all.’
Deyan swung his sword heavily.
The blade moved with the same weight as the burden pressing down on his chest.
Among those mere children, among students whose level was far below his own, he had been the first to be eliminated.
Deyan believed the fault lay entirely with him.
Even if it had not been his own mistake but his teammate’s, he should have been prepared for a variable like that.
The one he had to protect was the supreme ruler of this nation, who had to remain steadfast even amid such variables.
That thought weighed heavily upon him.
‘If His Majesty had been there…….’
One thought led endlessly into another.
He imagined the worst-case scenario.
That failure cut deeply.
He raised his sword again.
‘I must always…… be the one left standing until the very end.’
WHOOSH!
‘I cannot allow myself to fail twice.’
SWISH!
Each swing tore through the air with fierce power.
But he was not satisfied.
His assumptions spiraled toward the worst of the worst.
What if Romero had been there when that Demon appeared?
What if the king had been left alone somewhere Deyan was not?
And……
‘What if Lucas…… were the enemy?’
Then his swordplay would amount to nothing more than childish blade-waving.
‘Faster.’
WHOOSH!
‘Even faster!’
SLASH-!
He swung until his entire body was soaked in sweat, until blisters formed on his hands, burst, and left them covered in blood.
Deyan’s sword never stopped moving.
“……I told you not to swing it around so recklessly.”
A familiar voice reached his ears.
***
[A new notification has arrived.]
[lcen donated 100G.]
[OrangeSyungSyung donated 100G.]
[Iyeom donated 500G.]
[k2929 donated 100G.]
They say a crisis is also an opportunity.
Ever since the incident, it felt like the donations had not stopped.
On top of that, the views, recommendations, and comments had exploded.
All of this ultimately translated into my strength.
But this was no time to sit around grinning.
Danger was closer than I had expected.
I could not be the only one who grew stronger.
I could not afford to neglect the growth of my far more talented meat shields, either.
‘Good kids. They’re all training hard even without me telling them to.’
Maybe the incident had been a tremendous wake-up call, because every one of them was training on their own without being told.
I sought them out one by one and gave them what you might call ‘special lessons.’
“……I told you not to swing it around so recklessly.”
Without realizing it, Deyan had become fixated on speed.
That was all because of Durandal.
Since it was practically a one-hit-kill technique, I understood why he would unconsciously come to rely on it.
But Durandal’s true value did not lie in speed.
If he could use it properly—if he possessed the qualifications and skill to do so—there would not be many beings who could defeat Deyan with a sword.
I made sure to point that out clearly.
I visited the other students as well.
Baron, the wielder of Iron Wall who had saved my life; Havertz, who primarily used daggers; Eden, who specialized in fist-and-kick techniques; Elling, who used a mace; and so on.
And these special lessons also doubled as Favorability grinding.
[‘Deyan’s’ Favorability increases. +7]
[‘Baron Wilhelm’s’ Favorability increases. +9]
[‘Eden Delfino’s’ Favorability increases. +8]
[‘Elling Frost’s’ Favorability increases. +8]
Before, this had simply been about increasing the effectiveness of Teaching and Learning Advance Together.
But now that I knew the Development System existed, I needed to pay attention to this whenever I had the chance.
Next, I went to find Torres.
Naturally, Torres was not alone.
Jesse Athlon.
That pet bastard was with him.
But the awkward air between them made it clear they were hardly getting along.
More precisely, Jesse looked like the one sulking unilaterally.
In any case, Torres had such a clear sense of purpose that there was not much for me to criticize.
Instead……
‘Is that bastard completely insane?’
I could plainly see Jesse Athlon ruining himself.
The Trionic Sword was one of the finest sword arts in my entire world.
And yet Jesse was now abandoning that supreme swordsmanship and continuing with shapeless swings that could not even be called a proper form.
To my eyes, it looked as though chunks of his talent were being shaved away.
It was unfortunate, but…… well.
He was going to become an obstacle to me later anyway.
There was no particular reason for me to care……
‘No.’
Jesse Athlon was not a character I should think of as merely a villain.
To me, he was precious material for raising Torres’s Favorability.
It should be fine to straighten him out a little.
After all, I could raise Torres’s Favorability in return.
“You there.”
Jesse stopped dead.
He had been clenching his teeth and pretending not to notice me, but apparently he had been paying attention after all.
“What…… is it, Professor?”
Look at him still sulking because I did not pick him.
“Why are you doing something so stupid?”
The fact bomb I fired straight at him made Jesse’s expression crumple.
“Did you just…… call it stupid?”
“Yes. Stupid.”
“To someone as strong as you, it may look that way, but in my own way, I—”
“Why are you wasting your strength on something other than the Trionic Sword?”
This was the problem with him.
Even in the original course of events, Jesse Athlon abandoned the Trionic Sword and switched to swordsmanship taught to him by a Demon.
It might have looked stronger in the short term, but its depth was incomparable to the Trionic Sword.
“So the conclusion you reached on your own was to abandon the sword you’ve trained in your entire life?”
Foolish.
If I had talent like yours, if I had learned swordsmanship at the very highest level of this world like you had, I would never have done something so stupid.
[Mark - Disciple]
.
.
-Jesse Athlon (new)
.
.
.
“I’ll show you just how stupid what you’re doing really is.”
I’ll show you just how much you were wasting.
Teaching and Learning Advance Together. Jesse Athlon—Trionic Sword, First Form.
Keep your eyes wide open and watch carefully.
……This is single-use, so I can’t show you twice.