“Haa… Crazy woman. No wonder there’s still a chance of her becoming a villain.”

After ending the call, Luca let out a sigh as he looked at his student handbook, then shook his head. He had thought she wasn’t an ordinary woman, but she was simply abnormal.

Dding!

[Isella’s affection has increased.]

“?”

Luca wore a displeased expression. He couldn’t understand why Isella’s affection had increased in this situation.

‘You may know even the depth of a river…’

Appreciating the wisdom of proverbs, Luca checked her affection on his phone.

[Affection]

Isella – Affection (10/10), lust. Affection MAX mission pending.

“…?”

Another question mark appeared above Luca’s head.

‘L…ust…?’

An unusual word. He couldn’t figure out why it had changed from “competitive spirit” to “lust”.

‘This is nuts. What’s wrong with these women?’

Unable to grasp the unpredictable hearts of the two people related to the undying princess, Luca could only sigh. And that’s when he felt someone behind him.

“Hmm… Luca?”

“!”

Pasmo, who had been sleeping, came out from the bedroom.

Luca looked at her, biting his lips. He wasn’t sure what to say.

“… Good morning.”

“Hehe. It’s a bit too early to call this morning.”

Pasmo smiled and lightly touched her stomach.

“Now that I think of it, I haven’t eaten yet.”

“Then let’s have dinner together. Bella.”

“Yes! Master!”

Bella quickly went off to cook, and the two sat on the sofa, chatting about various things.

“Thanks to the headmaster’s consideration, the admission procedures went smoothly.”

“I came because I wanted to see your face, Luca.”

“Bella quietly led me to the bedroom!”

Of course, the culprit was Bella. While Luca was pondering why the women around him were like this, Bella arrived with dinner.

The dishes were lighter than usual.

“Bella’s cooking is really good!”

“Hehe, thank you.”

The two had already gotten closer. Luca spoke indifferently.

“There’s not much food.”

“Well… that’s because…”

Bella made a subtle face at Luca’s comment.

“If you get too full, it’s not good.”

“… What do you mean?”

At Luca’s confused response, Bella and Pasmo exchanged glances.

The two chuckled softly, then shook their heads.

“You seem to know everything, but at times like this you’re really innocent.”

“I suppose that’s because master has only ever trained.”

“?”

Luca still looked puzzled. Pasmo smiled sweetly as she stood up from her seat.

“I still have some things to take care of, so I’ll be heading back for today.”

“I see. Let me escort you to your lodging.”

“Hehe. That’s not necessary.”

Saying that, Pasmo approached Luca and whispered in his ear.

“I’ll definitely make sure to reward you next time for saving me. So please wait, my knight.”

“!”

Only then did Luca understand her words, and a complex expression formed on his face.

‘Don’t tell me the special reward is…’

But it was an awkward situation to hold back Pasmo now.

Luca felt another wave of unjust frustration, but held it in and spoke flatly:

“I’ll look forward to it.”

* * *

The following day, everyday life of attending regular classes returned.

Before he knew it, the basic swordsmanship class instructor had been changed. Even Luca didn’t know the new teacher.

‘So, it’s a completely new teacher.’

Not only that, but quite a few teachers had been changed as well.

It was because almost everyone influenced by Miros had been dismissed.

“All right! Let’s work hard on training today as well!”

The new teacher was quite passionate.

He had solid fundamentals and a good drive to teach, so none of the students really resisted.

“Luca, the head of the department asked you to stop by the office after class!”

“… Yes.”

At the teacher’s words, Luca glanced at Isella.

She looked no different than usual, still with that unreadable, expressionless face.

Isella – Affection (10/10), lust.

“…”

Suddenly recalling the strange note in the affection stat, Luca smacked his lips.

“Isella. I have an appointment at lunch today, so I can’t eat with you. Go ahead and eat without me.”

“With whom is the appointment?”

“Hmm? Master called me. Seems like it’s about swordsmanship…”

Luca felt puzzled by her question. Normally, Isella would simply say, “Understood,” and that would be it—so why was she asking more?

“Understood.”

“…”

But soon she answered as usual, turning away as if uninterested.

Luca let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

‘I’m not sure what’s going on, but it should be fine.’

While Luca was thinking that, Isella recalled what happened yesterday.

‘C-conquest…? What does that even mean?’

Milia was flustered by that unbelievable choice of words. Isella explained to her.

‘Luca Traverse. That man is talented. Having him as an ally would be invaluable for you, young miss.’

‘That’s true… but he’s already an ally, isn’t he?’

‘I can’t be sure.’

Milia was bewildered again by Isella’s distrust so far into things.

‘Huh?’

‘I find it hard to trust in things like friendship. A rigid hierarchy—absolute obedience—is the only form of complete trust, in my opinion.’

‘I-I see.’

She could roughly understand.

After all, Isella had trained under a strict master-servant system as a member of the Night.

It wasn’t surprising she’d think that way.

‘So, I want Luca Traverse to become my subordinate, a completely trustworthy subordinate. As the first step, I must defeat him completely.’

‘If you fight, don’t you win anyway?’

‘That’s not it. As a person, human to human, I must utterly defeat him. I need to win in a way that lets him realize, even after giving everything, he can’t surpass me.’

Milia soon realized this was the incomprehensible philosophy of warriors.

And also that this was the best way Isella could approach things.

‘Young miss, thanks to you I have truly realized my feelings. I wanted to conquer him completely.’

‘I-I see. So that’s what you were thinking… But, um… it’s better not to say things like that in front of other people if you can help it.’

‘Understood!’

Thinking perhaps this too was a kind of love, Milia ordered Isella:

‘All right, then give it a try. Conquer Luca Traverse and make him your slave!’

‘Yes, young miss!’

After recalling all of yesterday’s events, Isella burned with determined eyes.

‘One day I will definitely conquer you! Luca Traverse!’

Brrrr!

“?”

Beside her, Luca suddenly got goosebumps for some reason, but couldn’t figure out why.

* * *

“Oh dear~ My apologies. I just couldn’t find the time, you see.”

“It’s all right.”

“Haha, meals are important for a growing boy. Since this is your personal training ground, feel free to eat here during your afternoon practice time!”

Luca and Kryphi were at the private training room awarded to the Swordsmanship Department’s representative students.

There was only one reason: to give Luca swordsmanship instruction.

“Let’s skip to the point… The sword style I created was crafted to suit you most, Luca. However, I can’t say it’s absolutely a perfect fit.”

Kryphi claimed he’d create the swordsmanship best matched to Luca, yet said it might not be perfectly suited.

Watching him, Luca twisted his lips.

“Are you joking, sir?”

“No. What I mean is, I think it’ll suit you best, but I can’t say for sure that it’ll fit perfectly when you’re actually using it.”

Kryphi started his explanation.

“I took into account your physique and sword habits when using the basics, and made the most suitable swordsmanship for you. But when it comes down to actual use, it could be different. So, based on that, I plan to tweak the form as you master swordsmanship.”

In short, he’d set the basic framework, then gradually adjust it depending on how Luca adapted.

Luca looked as if he understood and nodded.

“Understood.”

“Then let’s begin, shall we?”

With that, Kryphi began teaching the fundamental stances of the form.

Unlike the normally heavy longsword style of the Traverse family’s Fang Sword, Kryphi’s style—called the Formless Sword—placed a greater emphasis on speed and technique.

“Luca, you have outstanding combat sense. You’re very good at improvising. The Traverse family’s Fang Sword style relies on overwhelming strength to overpower the enemy, so your strengths can’t really shine with it.”

In other words, the Fang Sword style was best at leveraging one’s physique.

It was about expressing the strength of a powerful body as much as possible.

Despite all of Luca’s training, it was obvious why he couldn’t defeat Wylde in swordsmanship.

Difference in physique.

Just by comparing their height and build, that difference was clear.

“It used to be said: ‘Since you have magic power, body size doesn’t matter,’ but that isn’t the case anymore. When you add magic power to basic physical strength, that power is multiplied. In other words, the stronger your body, the stronger you’ll be with magic. So, training the body is extremely important for a warrior.”

Luca knew this too.

That’s why, though hidden by his clothes, he had solid, powerful muscles that didn’t match his age.

“Magic power doesn’t just multiply strength when combined. It also enhances skill. The skillful use of dozens of sword techniques at once—that’s also created through magic power.”

Swordsmanship is broadly divided into three types:

Heavy sword, Swift sword, and Illusion sword.

Heavy sword for brute strength, Swift sword for speed, and illusion sword for technique.

“And you, Luca, will focus on learning the illusion sword like me, though you’ll use all three.”

Kryphi finished the explanation and demonstrated the stance for Luca to follow.

Plop!

“…?”

But as Luca copied the stance, he suddenly collapsed to the ground.

Kryphi grinned as Luca looked at him, clearly not understanding why he’d fallen.

“You failed to apply strength where you needed it, and lost your balance. Watch me again to see how and where strength should be applied.”

“… Yes.”

It wasn’t that Luca was lacking in strength.

But Kryphi insisted he had misplaced his strength.

Though feeling disgruntled, Luca watched Kryphi’s stance again and copied it.

Plop!

“…?!”

Luca collapsed once more. Kryphi watched his stunned expression with a big smile.

“Try again.”

“… Yes.”

Until lunch break ended, Luca wasn’t able to replicate the stance perfectly even once.

“Hehe. It’s fine. Practice plenty during your training hours!”

With those words, Kryphi left the training room.

Alone, Luca continued trying to imitate the form, but kept failing.

‘Why… Why isn’t this working?’

Driven to frustration, Luca suddenly heard a whisper in his ear.

–Let me try.

“… Luca Traverse?”

That’s when Luca Traverse from within stepped forward.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

Oh, OG Luca is healed?

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep