Chapter 2.2

About two hours later.

When she came to her senses…….

Agnes found herself wandering around the Swordsmanship Department building with Kallion, completely dazed.

She kept telling herself that the large figure beside her was just a doll or a statue, but in the end, she failed miserably.

There was nothing she could do.

It would be one thing if it was only for a moment, but to have the real person by her side like this the whole time!

‘Right, I’m just doing my job.’

Agnes changed her strategy.

She reminded herself of the work she had to do here.

Starting today, she needed to collect the attack patterns of the Swordsmanship Department students, and of course, she couldn’t get that by just standing still.

‘First, I’ll start with the basic movements, and then I’ll catch the defensive moves that come out during surprise attacks or unexpected situations.’

The very first thing was the basic movements.

No matter how she thought about it, there was no better person with solid basics than Kallion.

‘Yes, this is work.’

“No one has better form or can demonstrate a wider variety of patterns. Working with someone like that will be a huge help for your research, don’t you think?”

Elena Professor’s words echoed in Agnes’s mind.

It was true.

The conclusion, again, was Kallion.

Of course, other female students might have blushed and been happy.

But Agnes was different.

‘Ugh, but still, this is too much for my mind and body……. Do I really have to do this every day?’

Her resolve turned over as quickly as flipping her palm.

But there was nothing she could do.

Just seeing him made her tense up automatically.

When she held his hand earlier, or when she saw his smile, Agnes felt her heart race, wondering if this was what it meant to hit the jackpot.

But not long after, she realized.

Ordinary Agnes didn’t have the confidence to keep facing these heart-racing situations.

She preferred just watching from afar.

If this kind of contact kept happening, she might really end up developing a heart problem.

While Agnes was lost in all these thoughts by herself.

Step, step—

Several minutes had already passed with nothing but the sound of their footsteps between them.

But Agnes didn’t bother to speak.

No, she had no intention of speaking.

‘What if something like before happens again if I open my mouth for no reason?’

If she just stayed quiet, she’d be safe.

Agnes believed in that saying.

Especially since, in the past, she had once caused misunderstandings by saying the wrong thing, even more so now.

‘……How much does Kallion remember?’

Suddenly, Agnes became curious.

Kallion definitely seemed to remember her, but how much did he remember of that day when they first met?

For Agnes, that day was filled with nothing but embarrassing memories.

‘No, let’s not think about it for nothing.’

For now, her goal was to quietly and safely get through this month without any trouble.

After a few more minutes had passed like that.

It was Kallion who broke the silence between them first.

“This place we’re going to now is the most important spot.”

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

Agnes, whose mind was blank, answered reflexively to his words.

Kallion asked back in a puzzled voice.

“Do you know where we’re going right now? Did I tell you?”

“Huh? Oh, uh. No, no. I just had a feeling!”

Agnes quickly waved her hand in denial.

‘That was close.’

She managed to gloss over it, but being with Kallion kept putting her in risky moments.

It was definitely because she was more nervous.

Usually, people around her would say she was probably the only girl not interested in Kallion, unlike the other female students.

But now, with Kallion right beside her, she couldn’t think straight at all.

She felt herself getting awkward without even realizing it.

Fortunately, Agnes managed to get through this situation as well and arrived safely in front of the training arena.

“This is the training arena. I think this will probably be the place we come to most often.”

Agnes nodded.

“So this is the training arena.”

Agnes looked around the training arena as if she was fascinated. Of course, it was an act.

In reality, she knew exactly where everything was placed, but of course, she couldn’t act like she knew.

She wouldn’t make the same mistake as before twice.

To make it look as much like her first time as possible, Agnes deliberately looked around more exaggeratedly.

“Wow, it’s spacious.”

The training arena wasn’t empty.

She could see other Swordsmanship Department students sweating as they trained.

‘Everyone’s working so hard.’

Actually, Agnes had developed the magical training tool because of Kallion.

She developed it out of selfish hopes that it would help him, and sent it to the Swordsmanship Department pretending it was for the public good.

But seeing the other students working so hard made her feel responsible.

‘I can’t just do this half-heartedly.’

Thanks to that, Agnes felt even calmer now, even with Kallion beside her.

‘Alright, since I’m here today, let’s collect a few attack patterns first.’

Agnes immediately spoke to Kallion.

“I think it’d be good to start collecting the basics today. Would that be possible?”

“Today?”

Kallion seemed surprised, as if he hadn’t expected to start right away.

But Agnes’s original goal was to shorten her dispatch period. The sooner it started, the better.

Agnes nodded briefly and waited for Kallion’s answer.

Tap—

‘Hm?’

But what came back wasn’t an answer.

Instead, she heard something drop to the ground.

It was…….

‘Why, why is he suddenly taking it off!’

It was Kallion’s top.

He took off the thick piece of cloth and threw it aside, then asked,

“So I just need to show you how I spar, right? I’ll focus on the basics today.”

His firm, bronzed skin was exposed right before her eyes.

His solid chest muscles and the beautifully defined abs below them.

She had barely managed to get used to seeing his face thanks to her passion and sense of responsibility for her work, but now it was his body attacking her senses.

She had always seen his body through videos or the magical telescope, but there was no way to be immune to seeing it with her own eyes, up close.

Just like when she held his hand earlier.

Agnes’s face flushed red on its own.

“Th-the, your clothes……!”

“Huh? Oh, ah.”

Kallion seemed to realize why Agnes was reacting this way.

He grinned.

“Sorry, sorry. It’s pretty normal to do this here.”

He explained that since it was common to train or spar without a top, he had taken it off without thinking.

Since Agnes was an outsider, it was understandable that she’d be flustered, so Kallion offered a brief apology.

“You’d better get used to it. Then, go sit over there and watch.”

“Ah, okay.”

To avoid making the same mistake, Agnes answered as briefly as possible and quickly moved away from Kallion.

While Agnes calmed her blushing face and sat down, Kallion immediately called over another classmate.

“Alex, let’s spar.”

“What? Now?”

The classmate called Alex didn’t seem happy.

Sparring with Kallion, an outstanding swordsman, would certainly be helpful, but it would also be a tough time.

“You know why. It’s for the improvement of the swordsmanship training magical tool. We need it, so cooperate.”

“Ah. That was Agnes over there, right?”

Alex’s gaze turned over Kallion’s shoulder toward Agnes.

When Agnes met Alex’s eyes, she nodded and gave a brief greeting.

Alex beamed and waved his left hand.

“Nice to meet you, Agnes~!”

Receiving his greeting, Agnes felt relieved.

‘Phew, now whenever it gets overwhelming, I can just look at Alex.’

Finally, she had somewhere else to direct her gaze.

Because she was glad Alex had appeared, she answered energetically.

“Yeah, I’ll do my best!”

Among them, there was only one person who couldn’t smile. At the sight of the two, Kallion’s expression briefly twisted.

Tap—

“What are you doing? Hurry up and pick up your sword.”

Kallion suddenly threw a sword and spoke curtly.

“Huh? Weren’t we supposed to use wooden swords?”

Alex’s question sounded confused. The sword he received was a real one.

“Of course it’s a real sword. Hurry up and pick it up, Alex.”

Kallion’s words and actions were sharper than usual, saying things like, how could they collect proper data if they used wooden swords.

Alex, still bewildered, drew the sword from its sheath and gripped it in his hand.

It had been a while since Alex had a real sword match with Kallion, so he gripped the sword tightly.

“Watch carefully. Don’t look anywhere else.”

On the other hand, Kallion, composed, turned his head slightly and tossed a comment to Agnes.

“Then, let’s begin.”

The two swords clashed quickly. For some reason, Kallion was in better condition today, driving Alex back with faster movements than usual.

Clang— Kaang—

The sound of blades colliding and scraping echoed inside.

“Ugh, uh…”

Even though the moves were supposed to be basic, Alex already looked overwhelmed, as if he was blocking difficult techniques.

It was after they exchanged a few moves.

Watching them, Agnes found herself thinking unconsciously.

‘Next, a long horizontal slash.’

At that moment, Kallion drew his sword in a long horizontal arc.

Alex hurriedly raised his sword to block, succeeding, but it left his right side exposed.

The next move flashed through Agnes’s mind. If it were Kallion, he would definitely…

‘Now, a quick thr*st aiming for the exposed side.’

Immediately, Kallion followed up with a thr*st.

It was around then that Agnes started to feel something strange.

‘Huh?’

Why could I predict their next moves?

And it wasn’t just Kallion’s actions she could foresee.

If she thought, ‘Alex will probably step left to avoid it here,’ he really did dodge left with his sword.

Now, she thought, ‘Kallion will strike down from above,’ and he did exactly that.

Why were they moving just as I imagined?