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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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It was a love story so heart-wrenching it made one’s chest ache.
After hearing the holy knight’s tale of loving someone for hundreds of years, Master gazed at me with desperate eyes.
She looked as if she had become the holy knight herself. Master often showed such strangely intense immersion in these matters.
‘She was crying over a fairy tale book not long ago too…’
I recalled Master sniffling in her room as I carefully observed the man.
I couldn’t simply believe the words of a man whose name I didn’t even know yet.
“How can we trust what you’re saying?”
“…I have no way to prove it. However, you can be certain that I bear the immortality magic.”
“So what if you actually don’t love the Immortal Witch at all and only hate her─ and you’re just lying to us because you found a lucky chance to die?”
“That’s probably not the case, Johan.”
Master, who had been listening, stepped in to defend the man. When I gazed at her steadily, she began explaining why his words had to be true.
“The Immortal Witch was quite famous even among us witches. She’s someone we’ve all talked about at least once or twice.”
“Ah yes, I’ve exchanged letters about her too.”
“And naturally─ I’ve heard about her magic as well.”
Master’s eyes welled up with tears as she recalled what must have been hundreds of years ago.
“The Immortal Witch’s magic couldn’t be used on just anyone. It was magic that could only be used on one person.”
“…Only one person?”
“Yes, that’s right. The magic doesn’t transfer just because she was killed, and even who receives the magic is entirely the witch’s choice.”
The immortality magic could only be used on one person. Not even the witch herself was exempt from this condition.
So if this man before us bore that magic, it had to be entirely the dead witch’s will. It would have been impossible to threaten or deceive a witch who couldn’t be tortured into granting the immortality magic.
In other words, the Immortal Witch had valued this holy knight enough to give her life for him, and without being deeply in love, a witch wouldn’t easily give her life for someone else.
“So there’s no way this man is deceiving us. I’m certain of this since I met the Immortal Witch myself.”
“…If Master insists so strongly-”
I quickly approached the man and took the weapon from his hand. True to his words about wanting to die, he offered no resistance as I disarmed him.
As our hands touched while I took his weapon, I felt the countless scars and calluses on his hand. How much effort must it have taken to develop those?
While wondering how many years of training it would take to gain such marks─ I carefully planted the sword in the ground.
“─You asked to be killed?”
“Yes. Let me meet her quickly.”
“Before that, I have a request.”
“What is it?”
“Please train me.”
“…Johan?”
The man frowned at those words. Master, who had been quietly waiting to witness his death, called out to me in slight surprise from behind.
However, I was a modern person who had to squeeze out every last drop of benefit when I found something useful.
I couldn’t just let a martial arts master disappear like this.
“I won’t keep you long. Just about two or three months, teach me everything you know.”
“…Why ask for training when you have these witches? You wouldn’t need to fight.”
“So I can protect Master if needed.”
The man stared down at me expressionlessly. Being looked down upon by a muscular giant over 190cm tall was honestly intimidating.
But I didn’t avert my eyes. Showing fear here wouldn’t be manly. Not with Master right behind me…
Fortunately, he seemed to appreciate my spirit, as he broke into a slight smile and said:
“Very well. I’ve already waited hundreds of years, a few more months won’t make much difference.”
“Then…”
“But one month. Just one month. I’ll teach you for one month. And after that month─ you must kill me. Understood?”
“Well, that’s…”
Though the training period was cut in half, it wasn’t a bad deal. I mostly just prepared meals three times a day at the cabin anyway, spending most of my time doing nothing.
Looking at the man who would become my second master, I extended my hand and said:
“I’m Johan. Please take care of me.”
“Ludwig. Let’s begin.”
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Immediately after exchanging names with Ludwig, he said we should start training right away, not wanting to waste a single hour.
However, upon hearing this, I realized I had forgotten to get Master’s permission. Being her disciple meant I needed her permission for anything…
“Mmm, it’s fine. Go ahead.”
“Are you sure… you’ll be alright?”
“What’s the problem? I’ve done everything alone for hundreds of years, so what’s one more month? It’s not like you’ll be gone the whole month, right?”
“Well, that’s true but…”
Fortunately, Master gave her permission immediately. She even said I could neglect all household chores and focus on training for the month, looking at me with eyes brimming with emotion for some reason.
Though I couldn’t understand why, I figured it was best not to question good fortune─ freed from chores for a month, I could focus on training, so I looked to Ludwig.
He immediately pointed to the forest and said:
“First, run. Time is precious.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Sir? What an embarrassing title… call me instructor.”
“Yes, instructor!”
Following Ludwig’s instructions, I ran into the forest. Thanks to months of experience gathering ingredients in the forest and the help of mana, running several kilometers wouldn’t tire me out.
However, seeing this, Ludwig began adding more burdens:
“Take up your sword. From now on, I’ll attack you, and you must block each time.”
“…What? What do you mean?”
“Silence. Just do as ordered. No questions.”
Perhaps due to the short training period, Ludwig wasn’t a very gentle instructor. After finishing his words, he immediately climbed the surrounding trees and vanished from sight.
Though I had no idea where he was, I couldn’t stop in place trying to find him. He had ordered me to run at full speed through the forest at all times.
“Hah, hah-!”
After sprinting at full power for dozens of minutes, even I started feeling out of breath. While running mindlessly without the spare attention to worry about Ludwig’s location, he suddenly jumped down from a tree branch above.
Whack! Ludwig instantly struck my head, then frowned seeing that I hadn’t managed to dodge or block.
“Focus!”
Then he vanished again. Though I tried to chase after him, despite not having mana to enhance his body, he disappeared into the trees like some monkey monster.
Letting out a hollow laugh at this sight, I started running again. Though this time, a bit slower than before-
‘Pace myself, pace myself…’
“Ugh!?”
Suddenly, Ludwig appeared behind me and kicked me down. As my face scraped against the ground, I felt pressure crushing down on my back.
After stomping on me, Ludwig whispered in a tiger-like growl:
“Full speed─ even if you collapse from exhaustion, run at full speed. Understood?”
“Ah, yes sir!”
“If you try slacking off like this one more time, I’ll just torture you until you want to kill me. Understood?”
“T-torture? Master won’t forgive─”
“Fool, you left your master back at the cabin.”
Ludwig said this while starting to poke my cheek with a tree branch. He poked so hard my cheek caved in, making my inner mouth start to tear.
But I couldn’t complain to him. After asking for training only to try taking shortcuts, and pathetically trying to rely on Master every time something happened despite claiming I wanted to protect her, I deserved this.
“…You’re right. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Hmph. If someone like you had joined the holy knights─ I would have personally reformed your mind. Now that you understand, enough rest, get up and run!”
I immediately got up and ran forward. This time at full speed without thinking about anything else.
Because I focused so completely on running that I couldn’t see my surroundings, I failed to avoid Ludwig’s attack this time as well.
“Focus!”
“Ack!”
If I focused on the attacks, he would yell at me for slowing down. But if I concentrated on running, I couldn’t block his incoming attacks.
Caught in this impossible situation, I ultimately failed to block or dodge even a single one of Ludwig’s attacks by the time I returned home that evening.
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“…Johan?”
When I returned to the cabin for dinner, Master, who had been waiting in the magically repaired cabin, started fretting upon seeing my wrecked state.
It was obvious who had done this. It was Ludwig. However… I had asked for this myself.
Because of this, Master wavered between scolding Ludwig for reducing me to this state despite my request, or letting it go.
“Haha, Master… I got a bit hurt, do you have any ointment?”
“Yes! Just wait a moment!”
Seeing me act unconcerned about my injuries, Master immediately ran to the storage and came back with arms full of medicines good for wounds.
After bringing the medicine, Master quickly cleaned me with magic, then started applying medicine to my exposed wounds.
“Argh-!”
“A-are you alright? Bear with it a little… it might hurt a bit but it’s very effective.”
“I-I’ll endure…”
Each time Master’s hands touched my wounds, I flinched and groaned. Despite her saying it would hurt “a bit”, it actually hurt like hell.
But I couldn’t complain to Master who was kindly applying medicine for me, so I just bit my lip hard.
While treating my wounds, Master carefully asked:
“Is this… really necessary?”
“Pardon?”
“You don’t need to protect me, I can protect you instead… getting hurt like this…”
“Well, that’s because I want to protect Master.”
At those words, Master’s fingers froze as she stared down at me intently. I gave her a slight smile.
Ah, right. It was quite an absurd thing to say. A mere human claiming he would protect Master, who was treated as a great witch…
“Well- even if not Master, I could protect Marguerite, or it would be good to have strength to protect others too, right?”
“…Ah, so Johan wants to train to protect Marguerite and others?”
“Argh!? M-Master? Ow, ow! Don’t press the wounds! Aaagh!”
And thanks to Master suddenly digging into my wounds, I screamed in pain. Like a girl, loud enough to make the cabin shake…
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