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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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I had finally succeeded.
Finally!
“Ugh…”
I dragged my heavy body and headed towards the training room door.
No matter how little, it felt like I had been immersed for at least 12 hours.
Then it should be the middle of the night by now.
With that thought, I struggled to open the door with a creak.
“Mr. Hainkel.”
As soon as I opened the door, I ran into Emilia.
And it was Emilia who seemed quite angry.
What’s going on? Did I do something wrong?
“What the hell were you doing in there for so long?”
“Ah… I’m sorry. For not saying anything. I was so focused that time just flew by, haha.”
“I was worried…”
Huh?
Emilia started to sniffle.
Her eyes began to fill with tears, and she looked like she was about to cry at the slightest touch.
Of course, it was all an act, but…
I couldn’t understand why she was acting like this.
“Worried, you say. Why-”
“What do you mean why! You went in after eating just a piece of bread in the morning and didn’t come out until the next morning! Almost 24 hours! No matter how much I knocked on the door, there was no response from inside… I was really worried something might have happened to you in there…”
“Ah…”
Come to think of it, since moving to the chairwoman’s residence, I had forgotten to put an alarm system in the barrier of the underground training room.
I didn’t even know Emilia was calling me from outside.
“I’m sorry for making you worry. Next time, I’ll at least make a bell or something.”
“Please do! Definitely! I was anxious thinking what if you had collapsed inside!”
Soon, Emilia got angry at me.
No, you should at least keep your lies in check.
I knew that if I died suddenly, the Intelligence Agency would rejoice.
The news of the death of a threatening person like me was always good news from their perspective.
Even if I could be friendly to the Intelligence Agency.
No, wait a minute.
More importantly, how many hours was I in there?
“Wait a moment. What time is it now?”
“6 o’clock in the morning.”
“Ah…”
Oh, shit.
The date had passed while I was inside.
Today was the day of the 2-night, 3-day field practice class for Battle Magic.
The assembly time was definitely 9 o’clock.
In 3 hours.
Which means…
“There’s no time to sleep.”
“What?! Don’t tell me you stayed up all night in there?”
I had to go to the field practice in this dazed state.
I looked in the mirror on the wall and let out a hollow laugh.
The dark circles under my eyes were stretched all the way down to my cheeks.
“Wake me up at 8 o’clock.”
“You’re going to sleep now?”
“I have to sleep for at least 2 hours, haha…”
I staggered like a zombie again and headed to the bedroom.
Perhaps worried to see me like that, Emilia came to my side and supported me.
No, I was quite tired, but not to the point of needing support…?
Still, I didn’t push away Emilia’s gentle touch because I didn’t dislike it.
I also didn’t have the energy to push her away.
“I’ll wake you up at 8.”
“Thanks as always. Ms. Emilia…”
As soon as I threw my body on the bed, I couldn’t resist the rushing drowsiness and slowly lost consciousness.
In the process, I might have said something silly, but I couldn’t remember it well.
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“Thank you so much… If it weren’t for Emilia, I don’t know what would have happened…”
“…?”
Schlus, had collapsed face down on the bed.
Looking down at him, Emilia didn’t know what to do.
Schlus was sleep talking, which he had never done before.
‘Emilia… So that’s what you call me inside.’
He was always adding “Ms.” when calling her out loud.
Well, since he was younger, it was natural in a way that he wouldn’t use honorifics in his heart.
But just knowing that fact made Emilia feel strangely flustered for some reason.
‘He must be really tired…’
Usually, even if he stayed up all night and came in to sleep, he wouldn’t snore at all.
To that extent, Schlus Hainkel was a person who seemed truly perfect when she first met him.
A commoner who never lost his manners and formality, whether at home or outside, someone who lacked flexibility and seemed like he would never laugh out loud while living.
That’s how he seemed.
But the recent Schlus was different.
These days, he had become much more relaxed, so to speak.
No, he was actually the same outside.
But inside, when it was just the two of them, he would show gaps like this as if he had let go of his mind.
The reason he changed like this was…
Right.
It was since Henderson’s attack.
Since Schlus risked his own life to save her…
‘It must be my imagination.’
Emilia shook her head.
At this point, it was no different from a delusion.
It was just that his condition was particularly bad today.
Not for any other special reason.
Emilia repeated that to herself, as if hypnotizing herself.
‘Perhaps now?’
A small impulse arose in Emilia’s mind.
If she asked Schlus something now, would he tell her the whole truth?
An impulse stemmed from that question.
For Emilia, who had made sure Schlus was definitely asleep, she couldn’t resist that impulse.
Emilia gently brushed his hair behind his ear so as not to tickle Schlus, and slowly leaned her head towards Schlus’ ear.
This was her only chance.
“Mr. Hainkel. What kind of existence is… Emilia to you?”
Right after asking that, Emilia was startled by herself and backed away.
If given this opportunity, she should have asked Schlus if he knew she was with the Intelligence Agency.
She should have asked if he had been acting like he didn’t know.
Why did she ask such a useless question…
Just as she was regretting her decision, Schlus spoke.
“Someone… I must absolutely protect no matter what…”
Yes. Of course you would say that.
Emilia let out a deep sigh.
She had heard this before too.
Something about unconditionally protecting his people.
It must be something like the sense of responsibility of a knight who struggles to save the lives of his people.
But at the very next words that came out, Emilia felt like she was choking.
“Someone I have to protect… even if I have to do anything, even if I have to give my life… If Emilia isn’t here… nothing has any meaning…”
“…!”
She thought she had misheard.
What?
Even if he had to give his life?
When he saved her from Henderson last time, wasn’t it because he was confident that Henderson would let go if he put the knife to his own neck?
Could it be that he was really prepared to die?
Moreover… he said if she wasn’t not here, nothing would have any meaning…
What the hell did that mean?
“Haa… Haa…”
When she came to her senses, Emilia had already fled out of the bedroom.
Gasping for breath, Emilia looked to the side and was quite flustered.
There was a stupid-looking woman with a face as red as a tomato.
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“Gather quickly. We’re leaving soon.”
Sergei tapped his back with a tennis racket and shouted.
Not long after that, the students were lined up in an orderly manner in front of Sergei.
“There are two carriages. From now on, the people whose names I call will ride in the carriage on the left…”
The students all acted calm, but they couldn’t hide their slightly excited appearance.
They were finally going to have field practice, not just learning battle magic indoors.
It would have been strange if they weren’t excited.
‘I haven’t been able to duel much lately. Should I ask how his sword training is going on the way?’
Trie glanced at Schlus, who looked tired, standing far away.
While making an excuse to sit next to Schlus.
‘Recently, Schlus Hainkel’s form has been extraordinary. As expected of the guy I acknowledged. Heh. If I use my eye for people as an excuse to get friendly with Schlus…’
On the other hand, Ainz was also similarly making excuses to sit next to Schlus.
If he had only looked down on Schlus as a commoner from the beginning, he would have been hitting the ground in regret by now.
But unlike other nobles, he had recognized Schlus’ potential early on, so he was able to avoid incurring Schlus’ resentment.
As expected, the strong should mingle with the strong.
The two people who ended up fighting over the seat next to Schlus without knowing each other-
“…”
“…”
Were sitting side by side 10 minutes later.
Schlus was assigned to carriage 1, while Trie and Ainz were assigned to carriage 2.
An awkward atmosphere lingered between the two who had almost no contact with each other.
Unable to bear this, Ainz opened his mouth, but-
“I’m dying of awkwardness. My name is Ainz. Ainz von Wiegenschstein.”
“I know.”
“…”
At Trie’s cold voice, he closed his mouth again.
Trie had no intention of being particularly sharp, but that short answer alone was enough to make Ainz discouraged.
As the two awkwardly turned their heads away from each other-
“Hmm…”
Schlus was dozing off in carriage 1 with his arms crossed and head down.
Seeing that appearance that was hard to believe he was asleep, the students felt an unapproachable atmosphere.
Due to that, the seat next to Schlus remained empty.
About an hour after the two carriages departed and they had completely left the city.
“Now I’d like to explain about this field practice! Carriage 2! Can you hear me well!”
Sergei’s resonant voice rang out.
His voice clearly reached carriage 2, which was following about 10 meters behind carriage 1.
It seemed like it would be buried by the sound of horse hooves or wheels…
The students couldn’t help but laugh at that tremendous voice, feeling absurd.
“The place we’re heading to is Whist Forest! Does everyone know what kind of place it is?”
The students shook their heads.
“Of course you wouldn’t know! Until before the war, it wasn’t the Empire’s land but the Kingdom’s! You’d all better be careful! Whist Forest isn’t just ordinarily dangerous! There are areas full of mines installed during the war! There’s also a poisonous fog containing high concentrations of mana energy! And it’s teeming with magical beasts too!”
“…”
The students’ faces turned pale.
They had never heard that field practice was live combat practice.
“What that means is! Whist Forest is the perfect place to accumulate combat data! A harsh environment! On top of that, various types of enemies! I’ll be evaluating your crisis response abilities over the course of 2 nights and 3 days, so look forward to it! There will also be surprise tests, so I hope you all don’t let your guard down!”
“…”
At the series of words that only made them feel uneasy, the students had no choice but to resign themselves.
It seemed Sergei was saying the word “hellish training” in such a long-winded way.
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lmao bro has the unconscious rizz
Thanks for the chapter 😁