It was a bit much to expect dramatic changes after just one day.

Nevertheless.

Current stats: [ Strength 4 (F+) ]  [ Agility 4 (F+) ]  [ Dexterity 5.2 (D-) ]  [Magic 10 (C) ] [ Stamina 6.5 (D) ]

My Strength increased by 0.5, Agility by 0.3 and Stamina by 0.6. I didn’t exactly know why but I also confirmed that Magic also increased by 0.1.

Of course, as I explained before, the lower the level the quicker one could see developments. Obviously, this might also be the effect of going through Temple’s curriculum in addition to that one day of training, but it was clear to see that the effects of that training while being influenced by divine power were enormous.

However, Adriana seemed to think that this wasn’t a very good method, so there had to be a reason why it wasn’t.

In addition, the fatigue this caused was actually just as enormous as its effects, as it felt like my body and mind acted separately.

Honestly, I wasn’t quite sure if I would continue with swordsmanship in the future, but right now I could only learn things that were related to the body.

I tackled the swordsmanship theory and practical training with a different mindset from last week. There were no major improvements.

Ellen was an honor student and I was more on the inferior side of things even though I was also part of the Royal Class. I didn’t care about the general class’ people’s looks. If I cared about something like that, I wouldn’t be doing this.

In the first place, there were a lot of talents found in the Royal Class! I wasn’t the weird one here! This had nothing to do with hard work! That’s what I wanted to plead, but I couldn’t do that, because they weren’t looking at me anymore.

Of course, there were some guys who seemed to gossip about me because even though Ellen and I were both in the Royal Class, we were completely different.

However, there were just too many things I had to worry about to even graciously give them True Education. To be honest, I didn’t even know those guys’ names.

I had to be strong-minded. There would always be people wanting to pick a fight with me, and those who would want to repay the humiliation they suffered after they realized that I was just a weakass or after their skills had improved.

The duel in two weeks was only one incident. I had to continue my physical training. From swordsmanship to martial arts. I couldn’t learn magic properly here to begin with, my supernatural power hadn’t awakened yet, and I didn’t have a talent for divine power yet, so I had to start from a completely bare ground.

The only thing I could believe in at this point was my body that would grow as I trained.

I couldn’t end up as just a bad tempered guy. I had to have real power and I had to get out of Bertus’ and Charlotte’s hands eventually.

I didn’t have any time to waste.

“……It’s not as strange as last time.”

Regardless of how it went last time, Ellen challenged the cheonggukjang again and ate it unexpectedly calmly.

As this was her second time eating it, she got used to it, didn’t she?

“…That doesn’t mean that it’s delicious.”

As if she tried to avoid any misunderstandings, Ellen added that.

But if she didn’t like to eat this, why did she follow me here? Was it because I was buying?

Did I set her up to like free meals?

Still, she ate more than last time, and even burped.

She was quite the legend after all.

“Hey, aren’t you more of a beggar than me for always eating the food I buy?”

When I took a stab at her after we left the store, Ellen just looked at me. Rather than staring at me, it felt more like she was lost in thought.

“Then I’ll pay next time.”

What’s this?

She just smoothly answered with a promise to eat together again next time.

Did she maybe think I was actually a pretty good guy?

Ellen, of course, left without saying goodbye this time.

Such an ungrateful kid.

* * *

Since I didn’t have a specific skill yet I didn’t have much to learn in class.

I dropped the magic classes with the permission of Mr. Epinhauser, and horseback riding was added in its stead. I thought that I might end up having to ride a horse one day.

I was so scared, I almost peed myself. I was supposed to ride on some wild beast and entrust my life to it? Were they crazy? I should have made the setting that mana cars or something existed.

I also realized once again that the horse riding skills of Dyrus, who let me ride with him when we escaped the Demon King’s Castle, were top class.

I had already exhausted all my mental strength in the morning training, but I couldn’t take a break. After class, I reviewed what I had learned today until evening at the gym, as well as some physical training.

When I was completely exhausted and couldn’t move anymore, I kind of missed Adriana’s divine power.

I wondered if she would also come in the evening, but she didn’t.  Honestly though, my conscience wouldn’t allow me, making her help me out more than she already did.

However I didn’t forget what Adriana told me, I had a big dinner, and after a short digestive break, I went for a run, followed by some strength training.

I thought I was overdoing it, and this would have originally been enough to hurt my body. However, thinking that Adriana would somehow be able to handle this, I kept on pushing myself harder.

“Gasp…. Gasp….”

The sweat on my hands made the training sword slip out of my hand.

Did I really have to do it like this? I was far from a person who enjoyed exercising after all. I didn’t really have the willpower to do something like that, and I just kept on writing stories in the corner of my room. I neither liked nor had a talent for putting that kind of effort in things.

I had that thought a dozen more times when I felt out of breath and my fingers trembled in exhaustion.

I was bound to lose that duel anyway. This was something I should worry about in the future.

So I should just take it easy.

Even if I do my best, I wouldn’t be able to beat a guy who was a year older than me with just two weeks of training.

Whenever such complacent thoughts entered my mind, I forced myself to hold my sword tightly.

I was sure that I would lose that duel in two weeks. However, I shouldn’t be complacent just because I knew I would lose.

I wasn’t doing this shit to beat a senior one year older than me.

“Hup!”

-Pok! Pok! Pok!

Because of my carelessly scribbled developments, gates would soon open, leading many people to die. I might die as well.

I did this so I wouldn’t die later.

I might work myself to death now and it’s still far in the future, but I’d regret it later if I didn’t do something now.

I felt regret enough over the development of this novel. I didn’t deserve to be complacent or lazy.

Right now I was just some nasty bastard.

I might even look like dirty, cruel bastard to some.

“Hup!”

-Pock!

There weren’t any manwha-like developments like that scarecrow getting smashed to pieces by my swings.

“Hah!”

-Pock!

However, I added countless scratches to it.

* * *

In some dating simulations, there would be sequences in which you could decide where you would like to spend your free time. If the setting was a school then there were places like the music room, the gym, the science room, the rooftop etc.

In the case of such games, one would find a specific character in each location. Girls who liked to play instruments would be in the music room, ones who liked working out were in the gym and those who were really smart were in the science room.

So.

“.…Those are passable.”

“…….”

I felt like I knew all the locations one could encounter Ellen Artorius.

She was sitting alone in the dining room eating sausages.

She would be in the lobby early in the morning, before she started her training. After that she would go to the dining room, then go to the gym after school was over.

And she would be at the dining room again, late at night.

I came here to supplement my diet in advance, because I would feel super-dead after training with Adriana tomorrow, but Ellen was already here. She probably came here to eat after training like this every day.

I opened the cabinet meant for snacks and saw that it still wasn’t refilled. What? Then what was she eating?

“Are you eating that as is?”

She had a tray full of sausages, munching away on them. At my incredulous attitude, Ellen pointed to the sausages she was eating.

“You can eat the sausages just like that.”

“Yeah, maybe because they were smoked. But why do you just eat cold sausages?”

She ran out of snacks, so she rummaged through the food storage and found those sausages. They were already precooked, so she probably just ate them as is.

“Couldn’t you have just turned on the stove, put them in a frying pan and rolled them around in there for a bit, before eating them? Is that so difficult to do?”

Use some cookware, for pete’s sake!

I didn’t put some kitchen disaster or ditz attribute on you! I mean, you were supposed to be smart!

Why was this intelligent person acting like a bum?

Ellen shook her head at my words.

“Too annoying.”

“You don’t know how, do you?”

“I haven’t tried.”

You were telling me that you were too lazy to find out how to use them. She had such an annoying attribute. This scene made me angry just by looking at it.

“Give them here.”

“……”

Ellen looked at me quietly when I took the plate of sausages. What? Were you telling me to give them back to you? If you really were a gluttonous character, that’s what you’d do, huh? However, she didn’t tell me to put the plate back down, she just looked at me.

Either way, I took out some more sausages, put them in a frying pan and heated them enough to consume at least. Why was she eating raw food that was of even higher quality than regular sausages made with the finest ingredients?

When I took the sausages from the stove, Ellen was still staring at me.

I could see now why she stayed still.

“Did she think I would make things for her in the future as well?”

I felt like she knew for certain that I would fry the sausages. That was why she stayed silent.

As I said, I may be an ill tempered person, but I wasn’t completely cold-hearted.

So even though I had that kind of temperament, I would still share this meal with this cold person.

We started to eat the sausages with a fork.

“How good is this, huh? The juice is practically bursting out of it, and here you were trying to eat it raw like a dog on the street.”

Ellen continued to eat, ignoring my nagging. It didn’t matter what I said, she wouldn’t particularly care.

‘I’ll eat it anyway, woof.’

Was that it?

I ate some sausages for a while, before I put down my fork.

Ellen did the same.

“Salty.”

“Yes.”

Ellen nodded at my words.

Since we only had sausages, it tasted really salty with nothing added to it. Usually it would make sense to have rice as a side dish or maybe even a loaf of bread.

I wanted to eat more as I only had water and sausages, but I was too tired to make more. Ellen didn’t seem like she wanted to leave, I didn’t either.

There were still fifteen more sausages left.

“Phew….”

I thought I was about to die because I felt so tired all over. It would be a waste to just throw these away. That said, we should make something with the leftovers, but seeing that she is only ever made me work, I felt kind of annoyed.

“Hey. You do exactly what I tell you to do from now on.”

“?”

I was done volunteering.

She had to do something for her food now.

* * *

“Like this?”

“Yes, you’re doing good.”

Seeing the onions finely chopped, I nodded my head. I didn’t really know how different handling a sword was from handling a cooking knife, but Ellen was able to do exactly as I ordered.

I guess it wasn’t a matter of being able to handle swords well, but a matter of having high levels of dexterity.

“Do you really not know how to cook?”

“No, this is my first time.”

It seemed like today was the first time that she touched a kitchen knife ever. But seeing the level of her skill, even as a chef she’d do well. Of course, she was too talented in combat to actually become one.

“Next are the carrots, same thing.”

-Kakakakaka

Watching the carrots getting chopped up in an instant, I proceeded telling her the next step. It felt like I was controlling a virtual avatar.

I could do that as well, but I couldn’t at the moment.

I was so exhausted that I was rather confident that I would cut my fingers if I were to take up the kitchen knife.

I had no intention of doing anything too complicated. There were a lot of different cooking utensils and ingredients in the kitchen, but it was night time. It was just too annoying.

They had rice, but I was too tired to actually cook it. Of course, I didn’t want to make new bread out of the flour as well.

So what I was going to do was stir fry vegetables along with rice in a pan with oil, then add water, put the sausages in, and boil it like porridge.  It’s visuals didn’t really matter to me. So what if it was a sham version of a honey porridge, as long as it was edible. It could maybe be called a Risotto?

It didn’t really matter to me and Ellen , who successfully managed to finish my introductory class to cheonggukjang.

To begin with, by my standards she seemed to have the taste buds of a wild dog as she was eating the sausages raw.

She’d eat anything as long as it was edible, or so it seemed.

Ellen began to stir, adding in the vegetables and rice, including minced garlic, just as I ordered. She seemed to be the type of person who would do what they were asked to do in the right circumstances.

She deserved to be called my best midnight snack cooking student.

“Remember it, and from now on, cook for yourself. You come here before me after all.”

“Annoying.”

She didn’t want to do it, but it’s not like she can keep on getting fed by others. It was interesting though that she did something she thought was annoying when someone ordered her to do it. Of course, it was probably because the sausages tasted just too salty on their own.

I put in the sausages and water at the right timing, and soon they began to boil in the pan. I put in some herbs. The sausages were already salty enough, so I didn’t season them separately.

After the random sausage porridge was completed, we brought it back into the dining room.

Ellen scooped some of it up with her ladle as if there was nothing more to care about.

“!”

Then she opened her eyes wide.

Of course, it wasn’t because it was particularly delicious.

“Did you think it wouldn’t be hot, shoving it into your mouth right out of the pan like that?”

“!!!!”

When I gave her a glass of water, she gulped it right down. She was obviously smart and she had a good physique.

Was she the type that would get stupid because of her own hunger? Would she turn into an idiot faced with food?

“How is it? Much better, right? Huh? Isn’t it delicious?”

As I looked at her who kept eating after it cooled down, she stared back at me.

“I made it.”

“What? You just moved your arms, it was me who actually taught you how to make this.”

“But it was me who actually made it.”

What? Was she arguing with me right now? Was she picking a fight?

I’m 100% sure that she would overpower me in a 1-on-1. Should I continue this?

Ellen scooped up a spoonful and blowed on it this time, then she said:

“We made it together.”

Somehow I felt like some petty bastard, so I didn’t say much after that.

No, I wasn’t just like a petty bastard, I actually was one.

* * *

When I returned to my room after having a midnight snack with Ellen, I found that someone was in my room. I thought it was an employee. Since the dormitory employees cleaned the rooms of the Royal Class students.

But they would usually clean up the room in the morning when I had classes. It was a little unexpected for them to be here at night like this.

I had nothing in my room that shouldn’t be seen. I organized and remembered the student list and then destroyed it. The worker in maid clothes seemed roam around my room, but didn’t seem to pay any close attention to me.

However when I entered, the employee came over and closed the door on my behalf.

“……?”

What?

That was weird.

The employee looked at me and spoke briefly.

“Your Highness.”

“!”

“I’m Sarkegaar.”

I couldn’t even imagine how they planned on delivering messages to me, but it seemed like they’d actually just bring them to me personally!