Chapter 97: Disgust

“What do you mean?”

Diana had a light frown across her face for the first time.

Her eyebrows raised, with her mouth forming a slight pout. Maybe she didn’t know what kind of expression she currently had, but it surely was a sight to see.

“Mana is something that is an integral part of our world. Not using it would be a foolish thing to do. But in the process of using mana, you have become too reliant on it and have neglected the basic physical endurance that your body needs.”

I moved towards Diana, standing just a few feet away.

“You expend mana in each attack, which might indeed give you more physical boosts in the short term, but if the battle becomes long-drawn, then your defeat would be the obvious result.”

Diana, for the entire time, had her eyes looking downward.

The silence stretched between us before Diana looked up to stare into my eyes.

“You had always been good at giving advice to others.”

She chuckled lightly. Then, pausing for a moment, she adjusted the hair near her ear before looking sideways.

“Do you expect a princess to train in barbaric ways?”

Though it was meant to be a question, I didn’t feel like answering it.

I just shrugged my shoulder before heading towards my group.

As if not expecting any answer either, Diana followed after me, walking in the footprints left by my feet.

What was she doing?!

“Will you teach me?”

Her soft feminine voice reached me.

“Depends.”

My answer was short.

I didn’t outright reject her offer, nor did I accept it.

Though things were moving according to my wishes… wasn’t this development too fast?

Shouldn’t she be more hesitant before engaging with me?

Or had she always been waiting for this exact moment…?

“What do you need in return, if I may ask?” This time Diana’s voice had more weight to it, as if she had now decided what she needed to do.

I didn’t answer immediately.

“I don’t remember agreeing to teach you.”

“So you don’t want to?”

“I never said that either.”

“…”

Huh!

I felt a soft hand on my right wrist.

Stopping in my tracks, I could see Extro looking at me.

But my attention shifted towards the hand that had gripped my wrist.

“Wait a moment, please.”

Diana spoke with uncertainty in her voice.

I stared at her hand a second longer before refocusing my gaze on her.

As Diana looked back at me, her earlier confidence seemed to have shaken a bit.

“Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

She retracted her hand in haste.

I didn’t know why, but the moment her hand touched mine, I felt a strong sensation of revolt and disgust.

The feeling came from the bottom of my soul and had nearly overwhelmed my mind.

I had a strong urge to take the girl’s head off her body.

But I had managed to restrain myself. It was surprising for my body to create such a strong sense of discomfort at something.

I had never experienced anything like this before.

“I just wanted to tell you that… please forget everything that had happened between us.”

Hm?

I raised my brows in confusion, before quickly hiding my expression.

What was she talking about?

“I might have resented you at first, but over the years, I had realized something.”

Diana continued, trying not to look into my eyes.

Wasn’t that rude?

“Maybe what you did was a mistake on your part, but I—”

She stopped midway, her eyes widening in realization.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to say you were in the wrong. I mean, you were… a little, but I am not blaming you for it.”

Diana tried to erase any misconceptions that might have been festering in my mind.

Honestly, I didn’t know what she was talking about.

But I could deduce it was something related to her broken relationship with Kael in the past.

I kept my expression neutral, waiting for her to complete whatever she was trying to achieve.

“Haa…”

Seeing that I had not said anything yet, Diana took a deep breath to calm her previously nervous state.

“I just wanted to say that you might have had your own reasons for what you did, and I had been impulsive in my reaction. I-I should have tried to understand your reasoning, but…”

Her voice broke at the end.

As she raised her head, I could see slight tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

But she didn’t cry.

Restraining her emotions, Diana kept looking into my eyes.

“I am sorry for whatever had happened at that time. And… I don’t want our friendship to be broken because of that. Maybe I am being selfish right now, but I just want things to go back to how they were.”

The last threads of restraint that Diana had were broken as her eyes became moist.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she closed them in acceptance of defeat.

I didn’t know what had happened in the past…

Though I had the general outline of the details, the specifics weren’t shown in the game or in the memories that I had recovered so far.

But…

This was a good development.

My work had become even easier.

I wanted to get closer to Diana by helping her with her combat expertise, but things took a better turn for me.

Was this Lady Luck’s way of favouring me?

Maybe!

“I always have free time before dinner, so…”

I paused as Diana’s eyes flashed with hope.

“I could teach you during that time. It’s not like I have to dedicate any extra effort. I generally train myself during that time frame, so maybe we could work something out.”

Diana’s face brightened a little after hearing my words, but I could still sense some lingering hope in them.

What else was she expecting me to say?

Having said my part, I began walking towards my group again.

“Thank you.”

Diana gave a faint smile.

After staring at me for what felt like eternity, she had finally muttered the words that I had been expecting.

I just shrugged my shoulders.

Diana didn’t speak further, just smiling at my action.

As I reached Extro, who was now sitting cross-legged, I sensed an unusual movement in the distance.

I turned to look in the direction where I felt fluctuations in mana signatures.

“What is it?”

Vienna asked, turning to look in the direction I was staring.

Not replying to her, I sprinted across the sand toward a group of students who were fighting what felt like a big scorpion.

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