159 – Roasted Sweet Potato
A few months after hearing about Euclid’s family situation from Nana, the hot summer that heated the earth passed and the season of high heaven and high horses came, with the horses gaining weight.
However, without looking up at the high sky or looking at the colorful fallen leaves that decorated the sky, I was experiencing the chill of winter earlier than others.
In a closed training ground without a single sunlight, white snow that did not suit fall wrapped around me like fallen leaves blowing in the wind and swirling.
The snow that surrounded me was not in a hurry, but slowly took away the heat from my body and slowly eroded my stamina.
It wasn’t just the snow that surrounded me, it was a giant of ice so transparent that the other side could be seen through, surrounding me without an inch of space.
The size was about 3m to 4m, and compared to the real giant that appeared only once in the original, it couldn’t even show off its business card, but it was still quite threatening.
‘f*ck… When are you going to hit it?’
This training, which is conducted in extreme cold, is a training exercise in which you quickly respond to an enemy attack while your body is dulled by reducing your stamina due to the cold.
At first, the cold wasn’t that strong so it was bearable, but as it continued for several hours, it became increasingly difficult.
‘I asked you not to know when to attack, but that didn’t mean you had to sit still and do nothing for tens of minutes.’
It was just time to think about ending it here. When I felt an indescribable sensation behind me, I turned around and saw the ice giant slapping his hands up high towards me.
I immediately pulled out my sword and intercepted it, cutting off both of the giant’s arms and dropping them to the floor. As if they had been waiting for this moment, the remaining giants attacked me all at once.
If it had been before I got Jinta, I would have had to step back to buy time to lead, but now that I have gained Jinta, my weakness to lead is gone.
I immediately moved Jinta and completed a high-speed lead attack, and then fired Jinta towards the five fists flying towards me.
The shock wave that spread out at the same time as I pulled out the Jinta was further strengthened by the power of speculation and completely destroyed the body of the giant surrounding me.
The ice giant was shattered and fell helplessly to the ground, assimilating with the snow blowing around it, so that not even a trace of its former appearance was visible.
The snow that had been bothering me for a long time gradually began to stop and eventually completely subsided, leaving nothing behind except frozen marks on the floor and walls.
“How many hours have passed?”
“About fourteen hours. “It was so cold that a normal person would freeze to death within an hour, but seeing him so fine makes me doubt my skills.”
“You shouldn’t use people who haven’t learned Baldosul as a standard.”
“Where on earth does this infinite trust in swordsmanship come from? .”
For several months from that day, I endured rigorous training by asking Marina to help me fight the possessors at any time.
At first, I kept my guard up so as not to let my guard down, but as several months passed and there was no sign of an attack, my grip on the tension gradually loosened.
I tried not to let go of the tension, but as this situation continued for several months, I even had the extremely reasonable thought that they had now realized the greatness of Baldosul.
“I’m sorry for making you cooperate with training when you must be busy with work.”
“No, today is a holiday, so there is no work, and as a teacher, I am happy to be able to contribute to the growth of students.”
“It’s a holiday. Do you have any plans?”
“… ….”
Since she trains with her every weekend or weeknight, Marina is able to easily overlook her antics.
“Anyway, I must be quite hungry since I haven’t eaten anything for several hours. Would you like to eat first? I contacted the restaurant not to close yet….”
“No, I want to eat something else…” .”
“If you want to eat, do you mean those sweet potatoes and potatoes I left outside?”
Maybe because it’s fall, I remember the old days of roasting sweet potatoes and potatoes with fallen leaves, and although it was cumbersome, I wanted to eat them for the first time in a long time.
Besides, my body was getting cold, so if I ate warm food now, it would definitely taste better than usual.
“Since you’re not a commoner, shouldn’t you just order the servants to grill it for you without having to cook it yourself?”
“Until a few months ago, I was a minor noble, no better than a commoner. What…. Besides, things like this are only delicious if you cook them yourself.”
“… Well, it’s better than suddenly becoming arrogant just because you got promoted. But haven’t you heard anything from student Elaine? Student Lane said she communicates with student Ian often.”
“Oh, that? “There is one that arrived the day before yesterday.”
As I said that, what I took out of my pocket was a piece of stationery small enough to fit in one hand.
“What is this…?” .”
Marina’s face distorted when she peeked her head out from next to her and saw the letter.
As expected, the letter is a short sentence of less than ten characters, reflecting Elaine’s taciturn personality… No, it was made up of a list of words.
[Search for the magic sword. Smooth.]
It is so concise that a stranger would think it was a letter sent in a hurry while being chased.
Most of Elaine’s letters were like this.
A nobleman’s letter was closer to a game chat or messenger than a letter, as it meant saying only what was said concisely and without unnecessary rhetoric.
The writing style of the letter was very cute, and I couldn’t help but smile when I thought that Elaine must have worked hard to write it while squatting down.
‘But seeing as it’s running smoothly, it looks like great progress is being made.’
Until now, there were only negative words such as difficulties and gloom, but today, for the first time, positive words were written about the search for the magic sword.
Elaine realized that the same sword had its limits during her fight with me, and ever since she left, she has been traveling in search of a new magic sword.
I thought it would be better to make one like me, but it wasn’t that easy to find a magic beast the size of Robo, so Elaine searched through old documents to find an unclaimed magic sword.
At first, I thought it would be too reckless to just go searching without any significant clues, but fortunately, it appears that progress is being made.
‘If we can see that it’s running smoothly, we’ll be able to get a new magic sword by winter at the latest, right?’
Since there was not much news from the Possessors, my interest naturally focused on the Sword Saint who might come to me soon.
I am not ignoring Elaine’s skills, but there is no way that Elaine, who is still developing, can defeat Geomsung, who is a completed swordsman, so naturally he will come to me.
To prepare for that time, I had to become even stronger than I am now.
“It looks like everything is going smoothly. “It’s really auspicious——!”
Growling, while Marina was talking for a while, a growling sound came from Marina’s stomach.
Well, Marina didn’t eat or drink for several hours, and she joined my training, so it was no wonder her stomach was pounding like that.
“…… “Go eat that meal.”
“…… Yes.”
She must have been so embarrassed that she even used transfer magic to run away, leaving me alone in this still chilly training ground.
“I should go too…” .”
When I came out carrying the bag full of sweet potatoes and potatoes that had been left outside, I naturally frowned as the sunlight brightened the window.
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“… “It looks like it came from some kind of cell.”
I blocked the sunlight with my hand and waited for a moment for my eyes to get used to the light, then I moved on to find a place with a lot of fallen leaves.
Because there were a lot of trees in the academy, there were a lot of fallen leaves on the ground, but since the cleaners hadn’t swept them up yet, they were lying all over the place.
‘Isn’t there something like a broom somewhere? ‘Oh, but can I roast sweet potatoes in the garden?’
Considering that Marina didn’t mention anything else when she said she was going to bake earlier, it seems like she doesn’t have any rules like that.
In the first place, this academy, which includes commoners but is mainly attended by nobles, could not have created rules with situations such as outdoor cooking in mind.
‘Shall we try to do it around here?’
I was about to sweep up fallen leaves in one place with my feet and start a fire using a kicking technique.
I turned around because I heard two familiar footsteps. Euclid and Nana, who had come to the academy even though it was a holiday, were waving at me.
“Ian!”
Euclid ran towards me with a bright look reminiscent of her dog, waving her hand.
It was always that bright and sunny, but I had the illusion that it had become brighter, perhaps due to my mood, after her mother died.
“What are you doing?”
“I skipped both breakfast and lunch to eat roasted sweet potatoes.”
“…… Do you want to bake it and eat it?”
No offense, but when I heard that I would cook and eat it myself, Euclid looked at me as if I were a caveman, and Nana sighed.
“This crazy guy… “It’s not like we’re camping, so why are we grilling and eating it at the academy?”
“This is all romance. “I brought a lot with me. Do you want to eat some Euclid too?”
Euclid looked startled, as if he hadn’t expected him to say that.
“Huh? Me too?!”
“Yes, sweet potatoes at this time of year are not sweet enough, but when you bake them, they get even sweeter and become as sweet as a normal cake.”
“That’s right. “I have also eaten outdoors around this time of year, and it tasted really good.”
After helping Nana, Euclid, who was hesitant, swallowed her saliva and spoke.
“Really? Well, then is it okay for me and Nana to eat together?”
“Of course it’s okay.”
There was no way I would do such a ridiculous thing as refuse even though it was something I had recommended to do in the first place.
When Euclid readily agreed, his eyes flashed and he and Nana stood around the mountain of fallen leaves and waited for the fire to start.
“Are we going to grill and eat here? “It’s my first time eating outside like this, so I feel a little strange.”
“Well, since they are royals, that probably won’t happen. “Then I guess you’ve never been to a place like a street vendor?”
“Yes…. “My mother told me not to eat it because it was dirty, and people were watching.”
“Then you can eat now.”
“Huh?”
Euclid’s mother slipped on her stairs and broke her head, and now that she is far from her throne, she has nothing to worry about.
“There’s nothing to worry about now, right? “During the winter dance, if it’s okay if it’s late, would you like to take a look around the street stalls together?”
Euclid looks at me with moist eyes that look like they might cry at any moment.
I was embarrassed because I didn’t understand why he was reacting this way when I just asked him to go to a street stall with me.
When I was belatedly trying to correct my words, wondering if the street stall had some bad memories, Euclid nodded and spoke quietly.
“…… Huh. Shall we go.”