Chapter 4 (Part 1)

Leonardo unconsciously touched the corners of his mouth that had lifted into a smile.  

‘I smiled while looking at Grace Lowell.’  

The moment he realized that, he was so surprised.  

He knew that the more time he spent with her here, the more his guard against her was slowly crumbling.  

Until now, he had been too busy dealing with the ongoing incidents, and he could attribute his fluctuating emotions to the magic, managing to steady his heart.  

‘What on earth is this?’  

The more he thought about it, the more Leonardo felt he couldn’t understand his own feelings.  

He quietly looked at the potion in his hand.  

‘Will this potion make things better?’  

When side effects or problems arose due to magic, a special potion filled with divine power was needed.  

Of course, the touch of a priest was the most certain method, but if there wasn’t one, he had to drink the potion.  

Leonardo pocketed the single bottle of special potion that Caleb had clearly set aside.  

‘I’ll check a bit more… Yes, it would be best to resolve it for sure then.’  

Without realizing that even his current thoughts were entirely different from his usual way of thinking, Leonardo moved his hands.  

Thanks to his diligent work, the storage was soon reorganized.  

Looking at the items lined up like soldiers standing in formation, Leonardo stood up and smiled with satisfaction.  

“You’re already done?”  

Grace, who came out late, asked in a surprised voice as she looked at the storage.  

Startled, Leonardo turned his head, and Grace, who was standing so close that their noses almost touched, flinched and stepped back.  

“Ah, how can you suddenly turn your head like that!”  

Grace, who was appalled that she almost kissed him, pointed at the storage with her finger.  

“You’re really suited to be a soldier, Sir.”  

Hearing that, Leonardo felt strangely offended and furrowed his brows.  

“What do you mean by that?”  

“No, look. They’re all lined up like soldiers being scolded by their superior, aren’t they?”  

Where she pointed, the potions they had to take were lined up neatly.  

Seeing the name tags labeled ‘High-Grade Blessing Potion’ lined up with no margin for error, Grace nodded again.  

“That’s really amazing. How do you line them up without any error?”  

Leonardo, feeling awkward at her genuine admiration without a hint of mockery or ridicule, cleared his throat and replied.  

“Don’t say strange things. Didn’t you say we should spar?”  

“Oh, right. Hmm, it seems like the sun will set soon, but… we won’t do it for long.”  

Saying so, Grace pushed Leonardo’s back.  

“Come on, come on, let’s go if you’ve decided. We don’t have time.”  

Hearing her slightly excited voice, Leonardo was briefly relieved that he had mentioned sparring.  

And a moment later.  

“―Please, let’s stop now!”  

Grace, who had spoken as if they would finish before sunset, didn’t put down her sword even though the sun had long disappeared beyond the mountains.  

On the contrary, she seemed to enjoy moving her body properly for the first time in a while.  

“What if you collapse with that body already?”  

As the exhausted Leonardo lay flat on the ground, Grace squatted beside him.  

Looking at Grace, who was not even out of breath, Leonardo gritted his teeth and replied.  

“Unlike you, I am a mage!”  

“But that body is a trained knight’s, you know?”  

“The core is a mage!”  

At Leonardo’s words, Grace laughed lightly.  

After laughing heartily, she lay on the ground like Leonardo and looked at the sky.  

“I trained that body so hard. You can’t collapse so easily.”  

“Do you think that makes sense?”  

When Leonardo asked incredulously, Grace turned her head toward him.  

Then she questioned back, as if asking why it wouldn’t.  

“Anyway, that body has already learned everything from breathing techniques to how to use the body efficiently. It will unconsciously take familiar actions.”  

At her words, Leonardo swallowed a sigh and said.  

“Since I don’t know anything about it, it’s useless. It acts as a resistance to me, who is unskilled.”  

“Hmm, that could be true. Well, it might be the same as me not being able to use magic with this body.”  

Startled by the word magic, Leonardo propped himself up and looked at her.  

Grace looked back at him, wondering why.  

“Have you ever tried?”  

Blinking as if asking what he meant, Grace soon burst into laughter.  

Waving her hand as if saying he was being ridiculous, she said,  

“No, how could I do that? I don’t even know magic formulas. It’s not that, but remember when you tried to use magic with my body and coughed up blood?”  

“―Ah. That did happen.”  

“So I thought it might be similar for me.”  

At her words, Leonardo felt disappointed.  

Though it was unlikely, he had hoped that if Grace could use magic with his body, he might be able to use magic with this body too. That hope shattered.  

“Hmm, I think it’s really time to go in now.”  

After swinging the sword for a while, perhaps due to heightened senses, she heard Pla’s sharp cry.  

When Grace got up, Leonardo also rose. Brushing off his dirt-covered clothes, he said,  

“By the way, since we’re covered in dirt, we’ll have to wash. What do you plan to do?”  

At his words, Grace smiled brightly.  

“Taking the potion once more today won’t cause a big problem, right?”  

Her so confident words made Leonardo look at her with a dumbfounded expression.  

Seeing Grace shrug as if asking why he was looking at her like that, Leonardo couldn’t help but smile.  

Then he nodded.  

“Well, that’s true. Let’s do that then.”  

“Sounds good.”  

Grace answered cheerfully and continued as if doing him a favor.  

“Sir Leonardo, you wash first. I can wash later.”  

Her words, full of ulterior motives, made Leonardo squint suspiciously at her.  

Then he lowered his voice slightly and said,  

“You don’t mean to use that as an excuse to ask me to cook, do you?”  

“Oh? Wasn’t that a given?”  

Seeing Grace cutely wink and tilt her head with his face, Leonardo chuckled in disbelief.  

“Then, please take care of it!”  

Thinking that her oddly shameless demeanor was more like Grace Lowell, Leonardo shook his head.  

As soon as they entered, they shared the potion and returned to their original bodies. Leonardo gathered his clothes and towel.  

“Then, I’ll wash first.”  

“Yes, yes, go ahead.”  

Grace replied, waving her hand as if urging him to go quickly.  

Seeing that, Leonardo turned and headed to the bathroom, biting his teeth to suppress the laughter that kept threatening to escape.  

Meanwhile, as soon as Leonardo disappeared, Grace let out a big sigh and leaned against the reception room table.  

Her eyes kept closing.  

‘……I’m tired.’  

She recalled Leonardo shouting that he was doing his best during the sparring earlier.  

After swinging the sword with Leonardo’s body, she was sure he wasn’t someone who only focused on magic.  

‘I had a feeling when he swung the ladle at me… Is this even fair?’  

He hadn’t just learned the basics of swordsmanship despite being a mage. If he were a knight, he would be at a level capable of aiming for vice-commander.  

His body smoothly executed Grace’s rough movements and even had abundant strength. Because of that, she found sparring with Leonardo quite fun.  

Moreover, it was all thanks to Leonardo moving properly.  

‘He wriggled like a live fish… It was quite worth trying.’

Whenever she anticipated his actions and thrust her sword, he always moved as she thought. Occasionally, there was an unorthodox move, but even that was within Grace’s expectations.  

It was just unpleasant that the level of swordsmanship he could perform wasn’t what a mage should be capable of.

‘Fraud. Good at magic, and decent at swordsmanship…’  

With a little more honing, he could easily reach just below the master level, if not the master itself.  

Grace envied his insane talent.  

‘Really… how annoying.’  

Blinking her blurry eyes, Grace tried to continue her thoughts.  

But as they say, the heaviest thing in the world is the eyelid. She couldn’t resist the sleepiness that came over her and closed her eyes.