After finishing our meal, we left the Twilight Hall and decided to walk toward the Main Building.
As we exited the entrance of the Twilight Hall and walked into the garden, groups of students heading toward the Main Building just like us could be seen everywhere.
“Oh, seeing it all bustling with people, it finally feels like I’m attending an academy.”
“…There are too many people. It’s uncomfortable.”
While I was observing the first-year students with an interested expression, Isil, who had been sticking close to my side, lowered her head and spoke quietly.
Seeing her awkward reaction, I recalled how she had left her room at the crack of dawn during our first meeting to avoid running into people.
“…What’s wrong? If the crowd is too uncomfortable, should we pass through quickly?”
“No, it’s simply because I’m not used to it… I’ll have to get used to having many people around me now, since I can’t go back there.”
Isil steeled her resolve with words only I, who knew her circumstances, could truly understand, and walked ahead first.
“Follow me, Jin. I’ll lead the way… like that time.”
“Okay.”
I watched Isil’s back as she walked with plodding steps and began to follow behind.
I wasn’t sure why, but I thought that if she was having too hard a time, I should at least shield her from sight, so I silently guarded her rear. Contrary to my expectations, however, Isil walked on with surprising spirit.
I was silently following her, thinking that at this rate, she could lead the way to the Main Building without any issue, when—
an incident occurred.
“Hey, look over there.”
“…She’s pretty.”
“Which faculty is she from? I want to talk to her, even if just to say hi.”
“Leave her be. The semester just started; we’ll have more chances to see her later.”
“Ah… she’s the first-year representative of the Mysticism Faculty, right? The one who was next to that red-haired beastkin girl. But who is the black-haired male student behind her?”
Buzz, buzz.
Whisper, whisper.
Due to her own beauty, which she had been completely overlooking, unwanted attention from the surrounding people began to suddenly focus entirely on us.
Her long silver hair cascading gracefully, her face as white as white jade, and even her uncommon pink irises.
Isil probably didn’t realize it well because it was her own face, but someone with her level of beauty was exceedingly rare.
As for me, I had been looking at her like a child from the very beginning, so her looks didn’t really strike me. But to the surrounding students who shared the same mental and physical maturity as her, she would appear incredibly attractive.
Even I would have fallen head over heels for her appearance, unable to keep my wits about me, if I had met her at age fifteen in my previous life.
If I were still a fresh-faced student who had yet to taste the bitter and sour flavors of life, that is.
I smirked and approached Isil, who had stopped before I knew it, her cheeks flushed red. I placed my hands on her shoulders.
“…”
“Need help?”
“…Yeah, help me.”
Hearing her answer, I smiled broadly and suddenly scooped her up.
“Up!”
“Ugh!”
Lifted into my arms, Isil flailed her hands and feet and glared at me.
“…What are you doing?”
Facing her, who wore a glaring expression directed at me for the first time due to rare panic and the overwhelming attention of the crowd, I spoke with a smile.
“In this situation, there’s no escaping everyone’s attention through ordinary means.”
“…What does that have to do with you holding me right now?”
“The point is, to escape this continuous embarrassment, you have to quickly break free through an even greater embarrassment.”
And so, before Isil could say anything—
I firmly held her body, cradled in a princess carry against my chest, and broke into a fast run.
Whoosh.
Fortunately, although it had been over two or three years since I quit knight training, I still consistently performed basic conditioning, so carrying one person while running posed no problem whatsoever.
Her light weight also helped.
As I started running toward the Main Building with Isil in my arms, I ran so fast that the surprised reactions and noise from the surroundings were drowned out by the sound of the wind.
I sprinted through the massive garden at high speed—a walk that would normally take about fifteen minutes—and arrived at the end of the garden in barely three minutes.
This section connected to the training grounds definitely had fewer people than the opposite side adjacent to the dormitories, so no one cast their gaze at me carrying Isil.
“Whew, this much distance should do.”
“…”
As I stopped to catch my breath and set Isil down on the ground, she stared at me blankly with a dumbfounded expression.
“What? You asked for help, so I used the fastest way to escape that situation.”
“…Jin, from now on, get permission before you do something.”
“Aw, but that’s no fun. The joys of life come from these unexpected, impromptu situations.”
“…”
As I smiled and shook my head, Isil let out a deep sigh and muttered quietly.
“…Annoying.”
“But it was fun, right?”
“…I’m sure only Jin enjoyed it.”
Having finished her quiet lamentation to herself, Isil soon gestured for me to follow.
“Follow me. The Mysticism Faculty classroom is this way.”
We passed the training grounds and walked silently down the long gravel path, arriving at the entrance of the Main Building, which glowed with a white light.
As we passed through the entrance with light steps, the hall wasn’t as packed as I had expected for the early hour before classes began, but still, quite a number of students had gathered inside the Main Building’s hall.
“Oh, I thought there wouldn’t be many people since the training grounds were empty, but there are a lot of students inside the Main Building.”
“…I heard from Hwaryeong that the Combat Faculty and Relics Faculty dormitories are close to the Main Building, so she said it’s easier for them to arrive earlier than us.”
“Ah, having a dormitory close to the classrooms is the best. What a shame.”
I inconspicuously examined the students scattered about the hall, sitting in chairs and chatting with one another, and soon made an expression of understanding and muttered quietly.
“No wonder their bodies look strangely toned to the point they can’t even be hidden by the uniform. Is it because they’re from the Combat Faculty?”
“…You can tell?”
“Of course. People who’ve exercised for a long time have a radar in their eyes, so you can roughly tell how hard someone worked to sculpt their body… Of course, the white shirt of the uniform makes it stand out more, too.”
“Radar?”
“There is such a thing.”
I roughly glossed over my slip of the tongue toward Isil, who wore a puzzled expression, and slightly gestured with my chin toward a student.
A male student who seemed quite popular, laughing and chatting with female students around him.
“Look at that student. He’s a head taller than the others and slender, right?”
“Yeah.”
“If he took his clothes off, his whole body would be packed with muscle. He only looks skinny because his body fat percentage is low. His physical ability is probably amazing compared to those around him.”
His weight class is large and his bones look sturdy, so if this place were the Earth of my previous life, wouldn’t he have the physical constitution to make a name for himself as a UFC champion?
“Jin, does he look stronger than that guy who challenged you to a duel?”
“Who… ah, Sham Javil?”
I briefly recalled him in my mind—the one who had left biting his lip and hanging his head after facing me.
“Still, since he’s a knight trainee, if you gave him a sword and made him fight that guy, he’d win easily.”
“…That much?”
“Swordsmanship is a highly advanced skill that can’t be mastered in just a year or two. And the difference in physical advantage between the two can’t overcome the sharpness of a blade.”
“…”
Humans have very low defense against sharp objects.
If that student were a beastkin with tough, non-human skin like Hwaryeong, it might be different, but against a fellow human, a deep cut would decide the match immediately.
Because once you’re wounded, you lose control of your body.
That’s why, before guns were distributed, knights occupied the upper class of human society.
Knights clad in iron armor riding horses and swinging their swords a few times would make ordinary soldiers unable to wear armor fall helplessly; on the battlefield, they must have looked like monsters.
Even without being finished off, as blood drains from the body, strength rapidly fades. In that state, no matter how great a fighter one might be, there would be nothing they could do.
“Anyway, the conclusion is that in unarmed combat that student might win, but in a spar using swords, Sham Javil would dominate. This is why people really need to learn skills.”
As I clicked my tongue and shook my head like an old man, Isil tugged on my sleeve and looked up at me.
“…Then if you and Sham Javil fought, who would win?”
“Why are you suddenly worried because of what I said?”
Isil’s expression looking up at me like a child was so cute that I smirked and gently pushed her forehead with my finger.
Tap.
“You’ll know when you see the duel.”
“…”
“So let’s focus on attending class for now. That’s what’s important.”
“…Yeah.”
Isil stared carefully at my expression and then began guiding me toward the Mysticism Faculty classroom.
Fortunately, she seemed to have realized that my confidence wasn’t unfounded.