I had made one mistake.
Chimera or not, the leader was ultimately nothing more than a wolf-type Monster, while Aiden ranked among the ten strongest individuals in the world.
There was no need to use excessive force against it.
Above all, there had been absolutely no reason to draw the Rapier.
Just like everything else until now, it should have been the kind of opponent that disappeared with a single wave of my hand.
That was what I wanted to say.
I silently stared at the forest that had been cleanly swept away in a straight line.
“…….”
At this point, it looked as though someone had driven a bulldozer straight through it.
Perhaps it was even worse than that.
‘Am I some kind of environmental vandal?’
I instinctively knew I was going to get scolded for this.
Even I felt too guilty to insist that I had no choice.
The moment I realized I had cut down more innocent trees than wolves, I lost any right to defend myself.
‘But it isn’t as though I wanted to do this.’
I lowered my gaze toward the hand gripping the Rapier.
The moment I took hold of it, it felt as though control over my consciousness had been reversed.
By the time I opened my eyes again, everything looked like this.
‘Was it that Aiden never hesitates?’
The instant he enters battle, all unnecessary emotion is cut away in great chunks.
His field of vision narrows almost like tunnel vision, while his concentration excludes everything except his opponent.
By the time rational thought returns, everything is already over.
The same thing had happened just now.
I could not remember how I had fought at all.
My body swung the weapon on reflex, and when I came back to myself, my opponent was either dead or incapable of fighting.
In other words, once released, it was impossible to control, like an arrow that had already left the bowstring.
At the very least, I did not want to entrust myself to something like that when lives hung in the balance.
“Useless.”
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue and returned the Rapier to its sheath.
According to Aiden’s swordsmanship described in the setting guide, his style was built around killing with a single strike.
Ordinary swordsmanship included a broad variety of actions—cutting, swinging, striking downward—but the Rapier was overwhelmingly focused on thrusting.
Of course, that did not mean it could not cut.
Its cuts were simply pitifully weak.
So the accusation that a Rapier was a one-trick weapon focused entirely on thrusting was not exactly wrong.
Conversely, that meant it was specialized for thrusting attacks.
A thrust might require the least preliminary movement, but after extending the weapon, one inevitably had to retract it.
And that recovery motion was directly connected to a vulnerability.
There was a reason Rapier swordsmanship contained so many peculiar evasive movements.
They were designed so the wielder could evade an opponent’s attack while thrusting.
Because that weakness existed, Aiden never drew his sword unless he was certain the attack would land.
If he drew it, he did so only when he knew he would hit.
In other words, it was a Certain Hit.
And if he was going to land the blow anyway, it was better to kill with a single strike.
The less stamina consumed, the better.
That made it a Certain Kill.
And to guarantee that kill, everything had to be poured into the single strike.
As a result, rather than adjusting the power according to the opponent, the force packed into the attack was absurd from the very beginning.
Naturally, the wolf I had been aiming at was cleanly sliced apart.
So were the boulders, stones, trees, and plants that happened to lie in the same path, all scattered into the air like sawdust.
I let out a deep sigh as I stared at the devastated section of forest that had been erased wholesale.
The Rapier was going back into storage for a while.
‘Besides, nothing good comes from me stepping in personally.’
Ellin stared at me with a displeased expression.
“…Were you watching the whole time?”
“You seemed to be fighting well.”
“I almost died.”
“Opportunities to experience a safe real battle are rare.”
Our conversation continued along parallel lines until Ellin finally sank to the ground.
It felt as though she had wanted to collapse from the beginning and had only remained standing because we were talking.
Or perhaps the exhaustion had simply overwhelmed her once she realized she was safe.
“What about the others? Senior Aisel……”
“They’re safe.”
Ellin placed a hand over her chest in relief, as though she had expected that answer.
“If something had happened to Senior Aisel, there’s no way you’d look that calm, Professor.”
“Do I look calm?”
“You probably just got a little irritated. Something like that.”
I had carved away part of a mountain.
Ellin’s standards seemed to have become somewhat strange.
I considered saying something, but decided against it because there was no chance this honey badger would listen.
She was the type who would never truly concede.
She might pretend to accept something for the moment, only to keep bringing it up afterward until the other person became exhausted.
I wanted no part of that.
I was already sick of dealing with the Rune issue.
“Can you stand?”
“No.”
“I see.”
I had no choice but to look after Aisel, but leaving Ellin here and telling her to rest made me feel guilty as well.
Abandoning her in the middle of the forest like this did not sit right with me.
‘Still, if she says she can’t move, I’ll have to carry her somehow.’
“P-Professor? What are you trying to do?”
I lifted her in a princess carry.
Ellin immediately began struggling and demanding that I put her down as I started walking.
The more she struggled, the redder her face became, until she finally shouted.
“No, you could at least carry me on your back?! Why does it have to be like this?!”
“I do not like putting things on my back. Besides, you are quite filthy at the moment. I would rather not have that against me.”
“Then just put me down! I’ll rest for a while and walk back myself!”
“You’re exhausted. I’m sure you’ll manage wonderfully on your own. Stop struggling before you get lost as well.”
Ellin suddenly shrieked.
“How am I supposed to relax and pretend this isn’t happening?!”
Under ordinary circumstances, a man and woman in this position could certainly invite misunderstanding.
But this was an emergency… and I had my own defense.
“You don’t care about other people’s eyes anyway. Stop wasting your strength. You’re making yourself difficult to carry.”
“E-Even so. This is……”
“You’ve lost one of your shoes too.”
Ellin was missing a shoe.
I did not know whether she had discarded it after it became damaged or whether it had come off while she was running, but the bare foot beneath it was covered in wounds.
If she tried walking all the way back like that, the injuries would split open.
“…Professor.”
“What is it?”
“I’m going to resent you for this.”
Her eyes filled with tears as she sharply turned her head away.
What was this feeling that somehow made it seem as though I had done something wrong?
At the very least, she should not make an expression that looked so overwhelmed with embarrassment.
For the sake of my social standing, if nothing else.
Carrying a young woman was dangerous enough, but Ellin being a Half-Elf made it even worse.
A small girl with tears brimming in her eyes could threaten my very existence.
‘For some reason, this feels a little…….’
It reminded me of the time Charlotte had recoiled in horror when I asked Aisel about women.
That same ominous feeling that something was wrong, while I remained completely unable to identify the cause.
‘Should I just put her down and tell her to walk?’
I glanced at her.
Something told me her resentment would return twice as strong if I did.
What was I supposed to do?
Should I endure the inconvenience and carry her on my back after all?
“Ellin.”
“Don’t talk to me.”
“…….”
What am I actually supposed to do?
Haah…….
My sigh deepened.
***
Aisel returned to the clearing.
Contrary to her fears, the students there did not look nearly as terrible as she had expected.
Despite what they had gone through, the reason they had been able to calm down was probably Professor Aiden.
Most of the crying now came from relief.
Once they finished crying, time would resolve the rest.
For now, Aisel had no choice but to believe that.
She looked down at the dirt-stained coat in her hands.
Aiden had taken it off and given it to her so she could rest comfortably.
It was an elegant Reddish Brown coat.
Judging from the meticulously embroidered golden thread, it was easy to imagine that it had cost an astronomical sum.
And he had removed it without hesitation.
For her to cover herself with.
Aisel gripped the coat with both hands and hugged it tightly against her chest.
“Haah.”
When she returned to the clearing carrying the coat, the students had asked where it came from.
Every time, all she had said was that Aiden had given it to her.
Some looked at her with envy.
Others with admiration.
It was entirely because their perception of Aiden had risen dramatically.
He had gone from an insufferable professor constantly hailed as a genius to a reliable professor who came to save them at the most desperate possible moment.
Given the atmosphere right now, Aisel could understand why they admired him.
But…….
‘It can’t be helped if I feel a little proud, can it?’
Yes.
It could not be helped if she felt just a little proud.
After making that excuse to herself, she carefully hugged the coat even closer.
He had taken this off for ‘her.’
For no one else.
For ‘her.’
She had nearly died only a short while ago, but to Aisel, that was already in the past.
She had survived, and that was enough.
The events afterward had been far too impactful for her to sit there trembling over how frightening it had been.
‘My face… Why did he touch my face like that?’
A blush spread across Aisel’s cheeks.
That self-reproach in his eyes.
His apology for not arriving sooner.
Telling her to rest.
That gentle touch.
She had thought her heart would burst when his large, warm hand rested atop her head, then slowly descended until it touched her cheek.
Haah…….
She did not know what the gesture had meant, but she had not disliked it.
Quite the opposite.
She had liked it enough that she had not wanted his hand to leave.
Deciding that she would ask him about it later, Aisel turned toward the sound of approaching voices.
“Seriously, Professor. Put me down. Everyone is staring.”
“How am I supposed to put you down when I can see you limping?”
“I told you I’ll manage somehow……”
“And what exactly does ‘somehow’ mean?”
“Somehow……”
It was another meaningless conversation going nowhere.
But the voices were extremely familiar, so Aisel immediately knew who they belonged to.
“E-Everyone is staring. Seriously.”
“Quiet. Stop making so much noise.”
Filthy legs.
A voice half-choked with tears.
The embarrassed, agitated whine of a young woman trembling from humiliation.
Ellin was tearfully pushing Aiden’s face away with one hand.
Not that she was truly trying to force him back.
It was merely a gesture of protest, demanding that he put her down.
But viewed simply as an interaction between a man and a woman, it looked remarkably like affectionate pouting.
Everyone watching them had the same thought.
Why a princess carry, of all things?
And even the way he looked annoyed while still indulging her did not resemble an ordinary professor-student relationship in the slightest.
No, rather than professor and student, they looked more like……
A certain word quietly surfaced in everyone’s minds, but no one dared speak it aloud.
It became an unspoken agreement.
Actually saying it seemed extraordinarily dangerous.
Sinister gazes poured toward the two from behind.
Though neither of them seemed aware of it.
“What are you going to do if people misunderstand? I-I’ve already been misunderstood once. Professor, you keep doing these things only to me……”
“That phrasing is somewhat dangerous. Not for you. For me. Correct it later.”
Only to her?
Doing what?
What had he been doing?
“I-It’s hard enough clearing up the misunderstanding already.”
“You are actively adding to that misunderstanding as we speak.”
Aiden gently lowered Ellin to the ground.
Even that movement was almost excessively tender, and Ellin, now standing lightly on her feet, wiped at her burning face.
“I’m going to resent you, Professor.”
Aiden looked at her as though wondering how she could complain after he had just saved her, then let out a sigh.
Proof that he was exhausted.
“Senior Aisel.”
Ellin instinctively turned toward Aisel, the person she had relied on most throughout the crisis.
She had plenty to complain about.
How Aiden had carried her against her will even after she told him to put her down, for one thing.
But……
“Who are you?”
The words were utterly cold.
They practically dripped frost.
Ellin froze on the spot.
Realizing what she had just said, Aisel hurriedly tried to correct herself.
“No, that’s not what I meant. Ellin, um……”
That is……
“It was a misunderstanding, right?”
Aisel’s dull eyes, drained of light, settled upon Ellin.
She had not forgotten the friendship they had begun to form, but she had utterly failed to control the chill in her voice.
She did not specify exactly what misunderstanding she meant…
But when connected to their conversation at the beginning of the practicum, the answer was obvious.
Ellin opened her mouth.
And remained completely incapable of closing it for a very long time…….