Chapter 63

Chapter : 63

The torso close to the Mana Hole expanded its meridians and fine meridians quickly, but the farther it went toward the body’s extremities, the more arduous it became.

I had to send the masses of mana created in the Mana Hole all the way to the tips of my hands and feet. Each time I did it, there was gradual progress, but I could not burst forward all at once.

A few days after I started widening my meridians, Katarina grabbed my shoulder.

“Hey. You are doing it, aren’t you?”

“Haha.... The thing is.”

“Be quiet. Unless you want to die. Hey. Do my words go in one ear and out the other? I told you not to do it because it is dangerous!”

“The thing is. I understand why you are worried, Lady Katarina. But....”

“Shut up.”

I had started this work expecting that she would let it pass if I confessed after reaching Expert, but Katarina’s senses were sharp.

“Could you hear me out first? I know why you think it is dangerous. Forcibly moving mana to widen the meridians means artificially moving the circulation of mana... and if I accidentally reverse the mana flow there, it will strike the Mana Hole... and if the Mana Hole breaks....”

I listed the dangers of the work I was doing one by one.

Each time I finished speaking, Katarina nodded and glared.

“Hey. You knew all that and still did it? Are you insane?”

“No. I told you, did I not? Every problem comes from reversing the flow of mana. So if I leave it to forward circulation....”

BOOM—!

Katarina stomped her foot.

“Do you think that is as easy as saying it? One tiny mistake, and you could waste years building your mana again. Do you know how much time I have spent on you? Do you think I should have to see that happen? Do you think that makes any sense?”

“I was confident I would absolutely not make a mistake.”

“Shut up. I am the idiot for trusting you. You have followed my words well until now. What happened?”

“Nothing happened.”

“Do you not trust me?”

“That is not it.”

“As if. I actually knew it from before. You are different from other knights.”

Katarina tapped the left side of her rib cage where her heart was, then touched the sword at her waist.

It was solid metal, so even if handled roughly, at most it would only be scratched, yet her hand was careful as she touched the hilt.

“What do you think honor is?”

Ordinarily, I would have dressed up my words with all sorts of embellishments and made them sound plausible. Katarina valued honor. So I would have had to speak as though honor were something extremely valuable. But looking at Katarina’s expression, I felt I had to speak honestly.

“Vanity. The desire to be acknowledged by others. Wanting others to think you are greater than you actually are.”

“Close enough. Knights die for that. They risk their lives because they want others to think they are great, and they want to become stronger than anyone. That is why they all swing their swords like they are ready to die. But you are not like that.”

Katarina sat down on the floor of the training ground and spoke while looking down.

“Can you not tell me now? What are you so obsessed with strength for?”

I lowered myself so Katarina, who was looking at the ground, could see me. I forced a smile.

“Thank you. I am truly grateful. When you took me as your disciple, you probably were not pleased with me, yet you taught me with such sincerity. And I am grateful that you are worrying about me now, Master.”

For the first time, I called Katarina my master.

It was a word I had not used in the modern world. And when I had just entered the Academy, there had been a sense that I was using Katarina for my own growth, so I had not put it into my mouth.

“I know you wanted to create an impressive disciple and show them off, Master. For that, I need to grow as quickly as possible. You should be pleased by my attitude of trying to break through the wall by force like this, and yet you got angry for my sake. I am grateful for that as well.”

“So, what are you trying to say?”

“Hmm.... This seems like it will be a long story. How about we eat something while we talk?”

Katarina rose, dusting off her rear.

---

We entered the park near the dormitory, and after asking Katarina to wait for a moment, I went to the dormitory, brought back the confections Navier had given me, and returned. I held them out to Katarina.

“Please eat. They are very good.”

“Yes. Judging by the packaging, these are Karlen products.”

“Pardon? You know them?”

“Yes. It is a famous shop. I will eat them well.”

To prevent her from interrupting while I spoke, I put a confection into Katarina’s mouth, then opened my own.

“This is a long story, but there were dangerous things around me. My position in the family was precarious, and in many ways, I had reasons why I had to become stronger. If I did not become stronger, it would become difficult for me to live. That was how it was until vacation.”

Crunch, crunch.

Katarina seemed to have something she wanted to say. Seeing her quickly chew and swallow the confection in her mouth so she could speak, I hurriedly continued.

“But that is not the case anymore. I solved all the problems I had before. Now I could slowly enjoy some leisure, but....”

Katarina, having finished the confection, cut in.

“But what? Why?”

“Haha. I was just about to say it. But it really seemed as though I could do this right away. In my eyes, it did not look dangerous. It felt like I could do it.”

Katarina inhaled air. She breathed in oxygen through her nose and mouth. She stayed like that for a long while, then exhaled it all at once.

“It is dangerous. It is not that the chance of it going wrong is high. Even so, do not do it. It is dangerous.”

“Understood. I am sorry for worrying you.”

“Yes. And the problems from before are truly all solved?”

“Yes!”

“Why are you only telling me that now?”

“Because Lady Katarina, you are my swordsmanship teacher. I thought you would dislike being dragged into troublesome matters unrelated to swordsmanship. I am sorry.”

“Enough. Just do better from now on. If any problem comes up, tell me immediately.”

“Understood.”

“I will let this one go. Do not ever try to deceive me again.”

“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”

---

It felt as though the distance between Katarina and me had narrowed. We had moved a little beyond capable master and talented disciple and entered a more human relationship. I was thankful to her. Grateful.

Katarina had tried to take in a talented disciple.

She must have wanted to produce one outstanding swordsman. That was all she wanted. To raise something that would elevate her reputation again. What she needed to pay attention to was my swordsmanship.

Everything else was something that could have gone however it pleased. Yet she had given me more than that.

Now, I trusted her completely.

Nevertheless, I sat cross-legged on the floor of my dormitory. I could say it with certainty. This was safe.

The reason widening the meridians by moving mana directly was difficult was because of the mana operation of someone who had not reached Expert.

No matter how much mana a swordsman before Expert had, their use and technique could only be lacking. But I was different. By learning magic all this time, I had raised my understanding of mana.

Making a mistake while widening my meridians had nothing to do with me.

Of course, Katarina’s opinion was reasonable too. There was no need to take a risk, so it made sense for her to be uneasy because I was walking an unknown path.

But I knew for certain that no problem would occur.

I observed my body. Looking down from above, I distinguished the wide meridians from the narrow meridians.

Once a meridian had been widened, it did not narrow again. That meridian remained widened as it was. When I flowed mana through them, the difference in response was enormous according to the difference in meridian width. It was to the point that I wondered how I had managed to use mana so well in this condition all this time. Because of that tremendous difference, I decided to disobey Katarina’s words.

It would be fine as long as I did not get caught, would it not?

I could more or less guess how Katarina had realized it. Changes in the meridians of the torso were close to the Mana Hole, so they inevitably stood out relatively more. But the closer they were to the ends of the body, the farther they were from the Mana Hole, so no matter how sensitively one felt mana, they were difficult to detect.

Moreover, Katarina was not a mage, but a swordsman. The fact that she had noticed only the meridian changes in my torso already proved her realm as a superhuman. She absolutely would not know what I was about to do.

I moved mana and widened the meridians. Like that, one by one, I climbed the steps toward Sword Expert. I saw light. I approached a new realm.

---

Ian came to find me because he wanted to eat Tteokbokki. When he had eaten it at the manor during vacation, he had groaned so much, so this was unexpected.

Since I was meeting him anyway, I explained in passing the work of widening meridians by flowing mana directly and asked for his opinion.

“What do you think?”

“It is simple work. So easy that I wonder why you have not started until now.”

“Right?”

If one asked who in this world knew mana best, the answer was Ian. Ian answered that at my current level, widening meridians was very simple. His words had to be correct.

“Then let us eat quickly. It tastes bad when it gets cold.”

“This... seems redder than last time.”

“That is right. I used a little more chili powder. This is how it is supposed to be eaten. You said it was edible too.”

“I was talking about the taste, not the level of spiciness. And this is how it is supposed to be eaten? That is hard to believe. I suppose there are many people who enjoy pain.”

As if showing Ian, I speared a piece of tteok and ate it. Over a long period, I had gradually adjusted my tongue to spiciness, so now I could endure a decent amount of chili powder. After swallowing the tteok completely, I spoke.

“So what brings you here? You surely did not come just to eat this.”

At the Academy, Ian was living a rather busy life compared to the previous semester. Surprisingly, he attended classes diligently and was said to show his face at the library and elsewhere too.

He was not the sort to come without business, so when I asked him the reason, Ian stopped spearing a piece of tteok with his fork, looked at me, and only blinked.

“Sorry. You really did come to eat it.”

I felt awkward, as if I had been petty over food for no reason, and as if I had teased someone with food in front of him.

After Ian and I both ate Tteokbokki until our stomachs were ready to burst, we parted.