126 – Special Training 16
A secluded place in the academy.
With spirits keeping watch around, Rocky and Sephia conversed undisturbed.
“I’ll gladly take the mask for now. I’ll lend it back to Sephia later when we train a bit more.”
Rocky reached into the already open safe and pulled out a white mask.
Then, extending his hand towards Sephia, he implied they should go together.
“Shall we split it in half now? Sepia.”
“Split it in half? You’re just sitting there. Are you kidding with me? Quickly hand over the mask!”
Sepia shouted at Loki, who was subtly trying to move past.
You need to be shameless! Almost fell for that, let’s go, she almost said.
“Excuse me? Mask, suddenly talking about a mask… I don’t quite understand. Have you perhaps been dreaming?”
Sepia pretended not to know anything, scratching her head, looking at Loki and trembling.
‘No, hold back, you’ll lose if you get involved here.’
She always fell for the sucker’s face.
So even when she wanted to say something, she couldn’t.
‘It won’t work now.’
Sepia took several deep breaths in her mind.
Not only that, she imagined a blue river and a green forest to calm her anger.
And as calmly as possible, she said, “Sucker, what you’re holding in your hand right now.”
“Hmm…”
Loki stroked his chin, hesitated, then extended the hand holding the mask forward.
“Are you talking about the mask? I’m not sure if I should call this a mask, but if Sepia wants, I can lend it to her anytime…”
“Not the right hand! You! You know everything and yet you’re pretending not to! I’m really getting mad?”
The calm composure maintained through deep breaths broke in less than 10 seconds.
Seeing that shameless act of pretending not to know despite knowing everything, she couldn’t stay calm no matter how much she wanted to.
“Oh! Was that what you were talking about?”
Loki put the mask in his right hand into a pocket of space, then opened his left hand that had been clenched into a fist and showed it to Sepia.
On Loki’s outstretched hand, there was a small cubic-shaped magic tool.
“If you had spoken earlier, there wouldn’t have been any misunderstandings… If you look closely, Sepia, you can be quite mischievous, can’t you?”
Sepia wanted to slap Loki’s back for speaking so irritatingly, but she held back.
“So you want this magic tool then?”
Loki said as he pressed the cubic-shaped magic tool firmly,
-Click.
[Thank you! Thank you for helping with the special training! Thank you for lending the mask! Thank you for everything! Got it?]
The words Sepia had just said flowed out of the magic tool.
“…”
Sepia wanted to let out the anger rising up to her throat, but she held back.
First of all, that magic tool needs to be taken back immediately.
She never regretted saying those words.
Rather, she knew well that she could never fully repay the kindness she had received.
‘But that doesn’t mean I have to go around recording thank-you messages!’
Loki held out the hand with the magic tool to Sepia.
Interpreting it as permission to take it, Sepia reached out to take the magic tool.
Whoosh.
Loki avoided that hand.
Sepia looked at Rocky with trembling eyes.
This is correct, right?
“I don’t like it. I’ll pass it down to my descendants as a gobol.”
-Click.
[Thank you! Thank you for helping with the training! Thank you for lending me the mask! Thank you for everything! Got it?]
“Why leave it as a gobol! Are you kidding with me right now?”
“Since Sepia thanked me, it’s only natural to pass it down as a gobol. Isn’t that obvious?”
-Click.
[Thank you! Thank you for helping with the training! Thank you for lending me the mask! Thank you for everything! Got it?]
“Nothing is obvious! And don’t talk to me like I don’t even know how to say thank you!”
“Oh, I never thought that way.”
-Click.
[Thank you! Thank you for helping with the training! Thank you for lending me the mask! Thank you for everything! Got it?]
“And stop pressing it! How long do you plan to keep it running!”
Sepia shouted at Rocky with a flushed face.
It wasn’t the first time Sepia’s face turned red in front of Rocky, but this time, it was simply because she was angry.
“Well, if Sepia asks that much, shall we just do ‘today’ for now?”
“I didn’t ask for it! Ugh……….”
Although the word “today” sounded ominous, Sepia gave up.
Well, at least if there’s a plan, I won’t be embarrassed in front of others……
‘There must be a plan, right?’
She was genuinely worried.
She knew that Rocky liked to tease her, but she didn’t expect it to go this far!
Surely he won’t go around the academy later teasing me and activating the magic device, right?
A sinister scene popped into Sepia’s head.
Rocky walking on a tightrope at the academy, continuously operating that magic device.
And herself trying to stop him, chasing after him.
Rocky looked at Sepia, who was shaking with her head down, and said, “No, that’s absolutely not happening.”
“It seems like Sepia mistakenly thinks I’m teasing her for no reason.”
Of course, he wasn’t teasing Sepia for no reason at all.
There was a very important reason behind teasing Sepia like this.
“Sepia, this is all part of the training. Training to remain calm and not get excited in response to the opponent’s provocation.”
“Really?”
“No, just kidding, I’m teasing Sepia because I like her reaction, right?”
As if it were real.
It’s just my little happiness.
“…………….”
“Huh? Wait a minute, why is Sepia approaching me with a clenched fist….cough. Wait, Sepia, my bones! You hit my bones…. I might really die….”
“Just get hit and die!!!!!”
The spirits watching whoever approached them looked on with delight as Sephy struck Loki with the palm of her hand, and Loki screamed.
They seem to be getting along well today.
That’s right.
* * *
“Um, do you have more to hit… no, no, do you have more to say?”
Loki, beaten up, sat down heavily, adjusting his disheveled clothes, and asked.
He could have easily avoided Sephy’s strikes, but he didn’t.
If he dodged all of Sephy’s attacks, her anger wouldn’t subside, and then he wouldn’t be able to tease her next time.
To be able to tease her next time, he sacrifices his back.
Could this be true give and take?
-Thunk.
“Ha… I have one thing I’m curious about.”
Sephy, tired from hitting Loki’s back, slightly out of breath, spoke.
“It’s not about whether I can hit you more, right? It seems difficult to hit you more here today, but if you’re okay with it, can I hit you as a favor…?”
“No way! Ha… Um, can I ask where you got that mask from? Oh, if it’s embarrassing, you don’t have to tell me.”
Sephy asked cautiously, unlike her usual self.
That’s because the mask’s abilities are so peculiar.
Wearing the mask during training is much more efficient than training without it?
He can’t even begin to guess the principle behind it.
Even if he got it in a dungeon, a dungeon that rewards such abnormal masks would naturally have abnormal difficulty.
Since it’s not really an important issue, Loki decided to tell the truth.
From Noble mtl dot com
“I’ve had it since I manifested in this world, looking like my handsome face.”
Everything Loki said was 100% true.
Naturally, Sephy thought it was a lie.
“If you don’t want to tell me, just say you don’t want to, there’s no need to tell such unbelievable lies.”
Sephy said, pushing out her lips in frustration, and continued, “Hng. It’s true. Sephy, you need to learn to trust people’s words. I was really hurt just now, sniffle.”
Loki squatted down, pretending to cry.
-Splash.
Sephy’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Loki’s back, now more visible as he squatted down.
Once again, the red cape was prominently displayed.
“Does that cape have special abilities like the mask? Or is it just an ordinary cape?”
Loki turned his head to see what others called the red cape.
“Oh, this. Well… How should I put it. Hmm… Insurance? Joker?”
It was a kind of insurance that could be used just before the worst situation hit, and also a joker to turn that worst situation into the best opportunity.
It was so important that even when he was first brought here in a daze, he tried to find it first.
Of course, the probability of not using it was higher, but…
‘Whenever I think like this, I always end up needing to use it.’
-Thunk.
“What’s this? Is this a secret too?”
Naturally, Sepia had no idea what Loki was talking about.
“If luck isn’t on your side, Sepia, you’ll find out what this is later.”
“Don’t they usually say you find out when luck is on your side?”
“I’ll talk about the cloak when the opportunity arises, and if I may ask, Sepia, I have something I’m curious about, can I ask?”
In truth, since the first time Loki met Sepia today, he had wanted to ask her continuously, but he missed the timing to speak due to various circumstances.
Loki’s finger pointed toward Sepia’s head. More precisely, it was directed right above her head.
“I’ve been curious since our first meeting, what’s with the yellow bird on top of Sepia’s head?”
-Chirp?
“Emergency rations, perhaps?”
-Squawk! Squawk!