chapter 12
Episode 012. noah (3)
– Similar to you.
Are you like me?
The orb made of ‘Devil’s Eye Shard’ and I?
It took only a moment to understand the contents of the print.
‘… … !!’
This is dangerous.
I naturally twisted my body to block the merchant from seeing the writing and pushed it off with my foot.
I opened my mouth to Noah.
‘Stay still.’
Now, more important things remain than solving this question.
“… … .”
Noah quietly bowed his head.
good. You listen better than you think.
What should I do?
In a brief moment, many thoughts ran through my head.
Fortunately, the merchant didn’t notice what Noah wrote on the floor.
I thought of the best response I could do now.
“What is this situation?”
When I asked with a hard expression, he waved his hand in bewilderment.
“I-I didn’t know this either. So far, I’ve had no problems… !”
“You didn’t know? As soon as I put my hand on it, I got a reaction. How could that be!”
I raised my voice and drove the merchant away. Then, I checked to see if there was anything wrong with my body.
‘… Nothing has changed.’
The effect of the devil’s orb item is to absorb and release divine power.
Therefore, in order to confirm whether I really absorbed the item, I had to be exposed to divine power.
‘It doesn’t seem to have any side effects.’
At this point, the merchant answered as if he was really unfair.
“Not really! In the first place, I don’t even know who the guest is, so there’s no reason to harm them, right?”
“… Hmm.”
If the talk is long, the merchant can notice that something is strange, so he opened up a way to live.
“… Or, it could be because conditions we don’t know are met. I heard that there is such a thing among magic tools.”
“Yes, yes!”
“ha… .”
He brushed his hair and sighed deeply.
Then the merchant who noticed said this.
“That, it’s nothing to be called a substitute, but I won’t take any money. Both were products that didn’t sell anyway… .”
* * *
By the time I left the black market, it was already well past midnight.
I asked Noah as I walked towards the academy grounds.
“What do you mean you look like me?”
It’s not like our family’s secret is actually the devil’s blood, right?
If that’s the case, no matter how much I am, I might be a little shocked.
While imagining this and that by himself, Noah crouched down and wrote.
-feeling.
“huh? what?”
… feeling?
-just. feel the same as you
“… Is that all?”
I really wanted to, but Noah nodded his head with his eyes wide open.
A sigh escaped from the dejection.
I was very nervous because I thought it was something great, but it just felt the same.
“… ?”
“no. good job.”
After arriving at the dormitory, he released Noah’s restraints.
After that, Amy told me to wash quietly and come out so I wouldn’t wake up, and took me up to my room.
“Sleep here for now. I’ll tell you what to do tomorrow.”
“… … .”
Noah was staring at my face without any reaction.
do you think it’s weird?
Because they don’t usually do this to slaves.
It was the first time I received a favor, and I felt sorry for her standing in front of the bed, not knowing what to do.
“… Good night.”
I left Noah behind and went downstairs.
There is one spare room, so I can sleep there.
* * *
How long has it been since Roan left?
Noah carefully laid himself on the bed.
“… … .”
Subtle Van Roan’s scent.
And the soft touch of the microfiber fabric touching the skin instantly relaxed the body.
“… … .”
Warmth permeates the body cooled by the chilly outside air.
The warmth in front of my eyes was blurred.
Sniff.
“… … .”
Noah pulled his knees toward his body and curled up, pulling the blanket over his head.
Thinking that she wouldn’t have nightmares today, she quickly fell asleep.
* * *
Early moning.
As usual, Amy, who got up before Roan, did a simple cleaning and made breakfast.
“hmm… .”
Amy, who was torn between meat and salad, took the meat.
Originally, Roan didn’t like meat in the morning, but it seemed like meat would be good now that he was promoting physical growth.
Amy, who had finished her prize, waited for Roan.
However, no matter how long he waited, Roan had no intention of coming down.
“Why aren’t you coming?”
Amy looked at her watch and murmured.
It was because Roan, who should have come down by himself normally, hadn’t come yet.
“Were you tired yesterday?”
Lately, I was even more curious because Roan went to bed and woke up at the same time almost like a machine.
“Excuse me.”
Carefully opening the door and entering, I saw that the blanket had come up convexly.
‘Are you still sleeping?’
Still, it’s really time to wake up. Despite the rudeness, I lifted the blanket.
“Broken… … huh?”
Suddenly, a whimper escaped Amy’s mouth.
It was because a woman was sleeping naked inside.
“… … ?”
Noah and Amy’s eyes met when they were awakened by the cold wind that blew the covers off.
“!”
“… … !”
Noah, who reacted half a beat slowly, looked at Amy with narrowed eyes and grabbed the pen placed on the table next to the bed.
The reason I narrowed my eyes was because I wasn’t awake, and the reason I held the pen was to write because I couldn’t speak… .
“OMG… .”
To Amy, who didn’t know the situation, it couldn’t help but look a little creepy.
Moreover, this is Roan’s room, and Roan was nowhere to be seen.
Soon, her screams were heard.
* * *
“Kyaaah!”
I woke up from sleep on the hard floor with a tearing scream.
“Okay. You saw it.”
I forcibly opened my sleepless eyes and went upstairs quietly.
In my room, Noah, who held the pen tightly, and Amy, who had a pale expression, were confronting each other.
“What did you do to the young master!?”
Amy exclaimed in exasperation.
It was the first time I saw her angry expression.
At this, Noah, who had been looking around, made an unfair expression.
‘Well, since I can’t talk.’
But I’m sure I slept with all my clothes on, so why did I take them off? Were you uncomfortable?
Well, if the fabric suddenly changes too much, that might be the case.
I told her to pick out clothes later, and for now, Amy calmed down.
“I brought it.”
“… young master!”
Amy and Noah turned their heads simultaneously at the voice they heard from behind.
Noah pulled up the blanket.
Amy is relieved to see me fine, but she is still confused.
“… Did you bring it?”
“Let’s go down and talk.”
Noah went downstairs and explained the situation first.
Of course, it’s a well-made story.
“So, I went outside because my head was complicated at night due to the problem of divine power. I accidentally found a slave who escaped successfully and ran away.”
“huh.”
“The circumstances seemed pitiful, so I thought about what to do, and then I brought her because I thought I could use her as a lady-in-waiting?”
“yes.”
After hearing the explanation, Amy looked like she didn’t know what to say.
would like something like this
If I had even talked about the black market, I might have passed out in shock.
“first… Will there be any problems later?”
She was worried about the law. But that’s no problem at all.
Because I actually bought it.
“When I heard the circumstances, the merchant there was not very proud. It’s like an illegal slave trader.”
“ah… .”
“If there is a problem, then I can go and pay the bill.”
Amy nodded. If so, there will definitely be less back and forth.
But there was still something I couldn’t understand.
“But do we really need to do this? Although the circumstances are pitiful, it is a great grace enough to hide one night.”
“that… .”
Roan hesitated to speak, and Amy recalled the image of Noah she had seen in the morning.
Although he had been a slave for a long time and was very skinny, an elf is still an elf.
Noah was a beauty that would make people gasp when seeing a woman like her.
A bone was dug between Amy’s brows.
‘if… .’
When the above reasons, combined with how elven slaves are treated in general, raises reasonable doubts.
“… It’s too tight.”
“yes?”
“It looks like they got kicked out of Elvenheim too.”
In response to Roan’s words of pity, the question ‘Isn’t there another reason?’
Roan has lived a life full of scars from the moment he was born because of his inherently weak body.
It wouldn’t be strange if he felt a sense of kinship with an elf in a similar situation.
The elf’s black hair would have taken her place against her will.
When the thought reached that point, Amy found it difficult to object.
“Can’t I?”
“… … .”
she said with a deep sigh.
“… after. I should send a letter to the Duke saying that I already got it.”
* * *
“Come to think of it, I couldn’t confirm the effect of the item.”
On the way to the academy after leaving Noah with Amy, he suddenly remembered.
I can’t feel it, but it’s certain that the orb has entered my body.
“How else can I explain this?”
Since I left out the black market, I guess I’ll have to come up with another excuse later to check this out.
Or it might be faster for Amy to return to the Church before then.
‘How come I feel like I’m only lying.’
I arrived at the training ground thinking about this and that.
I had arrived late because of what happened in the morning, so many of the cadets had already arrived.
“Well written.”
“Ah oh.”
I returned the ring artifact I borrowed from Rick and warmed up.
After a while, the instructor appeared in a light outfit.
“I will start strength training in the morning. sort it out.”
As a result, the cadets who had been warming up spread all over the place.
“what?”
“Running. It always does.”
When I asked how long he ran, he said he ran 8km every day unless it snowed or rained.
‘Are you going to be?’
from worrying
Although his body improved a lot, it was nothing compared to the cadets of the Knights Faculty who had been training since they were young.
Besides, I remember running pretty fast… .
At that time, the instructor who was looking around the cadets noticed this side and approached.
It was the instructor I saw during the previous mana awakening.
“Roan. Are you okay?”
“yes. There is nothing wrong.”
“I’m glad.”
He nodded his head with a relieved expression.
I must have been a bit sleepy in the meantime.
It was because the duke’s son had a problem in his class.
Is that why?
He was overly cautious.
“But just in case, if you feel something wrong with your body, drop it right away.”
“All right.”
That’s how the leaping started.
I tried to run as fast as possible, but in the end, the lead and the distance started to open from the halfway point.
“Heh, heh… !”
I finished the race grit my teeth, but when I returned to the gymnasium, the other cadets had already arrived a long time ago and were resting.
At least a long time later, whispering voices could be heard from the surroundings.
“Isn’t stamina basic?”
“That’s also called the Knights Faculty.”
“What do you do when you awaken mana?”
He smiled wryly at the grumbling cadets.
It seemed like they were talking inaudible to others, but they heard it clearly because they had naturally developed five senses.
I wasn’t particularly angry.
Because honestly, it’s all right.
I don’t know that the content itself has changed, so even if I were in the opposite position, I wouldn’t have looked at it favorably.
In particular, this class has a high percentage of commoners.
“Attention cadets.”
By the time the atmosphere became chaotic, the attention of the cadets was focused on the instructor’s words.
“An evaluation is scheduled for the day after tomorrow.”
Survival evaluation conducted in pairs outside the academy grounds.
It is said that it will be held for a total of 3 days and the exact content of the test will be announced on the same day.
“Jowon will be called by name now. For the fairness of the test, the average grades of the members were set as similar as possible.”
The words sparked my mind.
‘Average?’
I’ve never seen an evaluation other than physical strength measurement, so of course my grades right now must be the overwhelming lowest.
In order to meet the average, there is no choice but to be tied up with first place in the grade.
That means… .
* * *
“Uriel. You are in Group 1, just like Roan Karziel from Class C.”
Uriel’s eyebrows narrowed at the unexpected name.
“… … .”
Recalling the image of Roan in her memory, she murmured.
“… Roan?”