漫画大王

Chapter 43

Whether it was out of annoyance or concern, Adriana seemed unable to leave me alone. Whatever it was, there was no way I was going to decline someone who was offering help.

I wondered why she was even bothering to help a junior like me, who picked fights with her own classmate.

The next morning, I was in the lobby at six o’clock, which was significantly earlier than my usual wake-up time, dressed in training clothes. Although it was so early that the place was only dimly lit, it seemed like I wasn’t the only one in the lobby.

Other students were coming out one by one for physical training in the morning.

Ludwig and Ellen were there as well.

“Reinhart? What brings you here? Planning to do some exercise in the morning?” Ludwig exclaimed.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Great! Shall we go together then?”

‘That burst of energy from you is good and all, but don’t overestimate my physical capabilities.’

“No. I’d suffer from cardiac arrest in a heartbeat just trying to keep up with you.”

“Oh, come on, could it really be that bad?”

“I’m positive it will be. So please, go on without me.”

Running along him would be like committing suicide. Even Ellen couldn’t match him when it came to stamina. That was how outrageous his A+ rank stamina was.

“Hey, Ellen! Want to run together today?”

“No,” Ellen answered curtly, then left the dormitory lobby.

Ludwig, looked at the perpetually-brusque Ellen, then turned to me and laughed.

“Does Ellen hate me?”

“Not at all.”

Ellen probably wouldn’t give any of us the time of day.

After sending off those who were leaving for their morning exercise, a bit of time passed before I saw Adriana coming down from the second floor. Her shoulder-length hair was tied up in a ponytail.

The senior was very composed, and she had a somewhat modern beauty about her. You could say she looked just like a “real” high-school girl.

I gave a slight bow, and Adriana responded by nodding her head instead of a verbal greeting.

Adriana was probably the person I showed the most respect to at the moment.

“Wouldn’t this look bad to your peers?” I asked.

“What would?”

“You helping me with my physical training.”

“Well, you have to become slightly better at either physical strength or fighting, so....” With a groan, she started stretching and loosening up her body. “That way, I wouldn’t have to hear any rumors about Ard picking on a kid far weaker than him just because he felt like it.”

So basically, there was sufficient reason for her to help with my training, even if it was for the sake of Ard’s honor. That’s what she meant. Although I was still certain to lose, I was still grateful for her help.

A prospective holy knight with superior swordsmanship skills who, given that she woke up at this time, had to be diligent as well. And to top it all off, she was kind and had a calm demeanor.

Damn, was she really the perfect human being? She was so admirable for a high school student that comparing her to me, someone who shouted profanities at kids far younger than myself, made me feel inferior.

“Let’s go, junior.”

“Yes.”

Adriana ran ahead, and I matched her pace from behind.

***

“This is much worse than I thought.”

“Huff... huff... huff....”

I ran until I could taste the sweetness of my breath, but Adriana showed no signs of fatigue. She infused me with her divine power, helping me recover my stamina. As a result, my heart, which had been racing, gradually calmed and my breathing stabilized.

What in the world was this feeling?

It felt like I was running while doping on anabolic steroids. Even though I was mentally exhausted, my body recovered its strength, which was a really strange feeling.

“Hurry up and follow me. I also have my own training to do, so I can’t keep looking after you, junior.”

“Ah... okay.”

When my mind and body were pushed to the limits, Adriana’s divine power allowed me to recover physically. However, this made things even more maddening, as my mind was wearing down while my body remained invigorated.

“This... This feels really weird!” I shouted as I ran.

“If you think about it, it’s basically cheating, so wouldn’t it be strange if it didn’t feel weird?” responded Adriana.

According to her, since I was able to keep going even though I normally wouldn’t have been able to, it was natural to feel like something was off.

“Huff... huff... if prospective holy knights compete in marathons then... huff... they’d just win them all... huff...”

“I guess that would be the case, only if it was allowed! And are you really going to keep talking when you can’t even catch your breath?”

Adriana continued to run effortlessly even as she criticized me.

It seemed quite a number of students in the Temple were motivated to do their own physical training in the morning.

“Your classmate named Ludwig, I see him sprinting around the Temple at full speed.”

“Well, he’s... he’s just naturally... like that...”

“There’s no such thing as naturally, junior. You get there by doing it and putting in the effort. So don’t just do this once and give up; keep it up and be consistent with it. The Orbis Class kids do this kind of thing together every morning. Some of us in the Royal Class could really learn from their example.”

Indeed, as Adriana said, the Orbis Class—the other of the two elite classes at the Temple—seemed to collectively wake up at dawn to work out, regardless of their major.

Were they doing some kind of military training?

“You said not to talk while running... huff... why do you keep making me talk then...”

“That’s true. Sorry.”

Running and then receiving healing, running then getting healed again... it was enough for one to lose their mind.

And it wasn’t just running she had me do. Adriana then took me to a physical training facility and started putting me through strength exercises.

I could feel just how devilish divine power was. She would heal any muscle pain I had with her divine power, then have me exercise again, and when the muscle soreness intensified, she would heal it once more and make me keep going.

I realized that with this method, the potential for muscle growth would be no joke. What kind of “roids” would this even be called? The “Divine Roids”?

“I’m only healing you because your muscles are way too weak. Strength training to an extent is good, but too much can ruin your body.”

Since I was still well in my beginner phase of weight training, Adriana continued to monitor me closely while also performing her own training.

“When you exercise while forcing your body to recover using divine power, there’s something inevitable that you must do.”

“And what’s that?”

“Eat a lot.”

Even though all my energy had been depleted, the divine healing was forcing my body to maintain its physical strength. Adriana advised me that this would drain a huge amount of nutrients, so it was better to eat a lot more and more often than usual, particularly something that contained more protein.

“That’s the only thing I’m confident I can do well in today...”

“Ha, I guess so.”

Adriana chuckled, amused by my remark.

It felt like it was the first time I had seen her smile.

***

After finishing the strength training, Adriana used her divine power on me one last time and then left. She didn’t seem to use it on herself, so it was as if a real-life healer had stuck by my side during my workout.

If she were living in the modern world, she’d probably be massively successful as a personal trainer. People obsessed with muscle growth would absolutely love her coaching.

My body was fine, but I was mentally drained, so I returned to the dormitory. After showering and changing clothes, I headed straight to the cafeteria. Even though it wasn’t mealtime yet, I felt so hungry that my vision was blurring.

Or, perhaps due to the intense amount of exercise, I actually felt like I had no appetite. It felt less like hunger and more like a compulsion that I needed to eat something.

Usually, the cooks would prepare the food elsewhere and bring it to the cafeteria when mealtime arrived, but there was still a kitchen available.

Not only were there simple snacks available at any time, but ingredients were also stocked up in the kitchen for students to prepare late-night munchies.

Chefs could be called in on request to make something to eat, or students could whip up something for themselves.

I wondered how many people actually knew how to cook. Most would probably just end up frying an egg or something before calling it a day.

This part of the setting of the story was new to me.

“...”

Ellen seemed to have finished her physical training as well and was in the cafeteria, munching on a pile of beef jerky.

It made sense; the morning workout had left her feeling hungry, and she had come to look for something to eat before breakfast. From what I remembered, she usually ate much more than the others at breakfast. How high could her metabolism rate possibly be, that she could both exercise and eat that much?

I peered into the place where they kept the ready-made snacks, and saw that it was practically empty. When I turned around, there was Ellen, nibbling on her beef jerky.

“Is that all there is?”

“Yeah.”

“Was beef jerky the only thing that was in here?”

“No. There used to be bread and other things too.”

Normally, a variety of foods would be stocked in the storage, but since not many people went for the ready-to-eat foods, it seemed they weren’t restocked often.

It appeared that the only thing left over from Ellen’s repetitive morning raids was the beef jerky.

“Does it taste any good?”

“Not really.”

She shook her head as if to say she was eating it simply because it was there, not because she was craving it. Seriously, how hungry was she?

Not wanting to snatch any food from Ellen, I had no choice but to enter the kitchen. Fortunately, it seemed no one had been consuming the raw meat, as there was plenty of it stored up.

I wasn’t planning on making anything fancy; I was too mentally tired for that.

I simply took out some eggs and bacon and started frying them in a pan. The savory smell of bacon filled the air. Then, I carelessly threw in some asparagus as if stir-frying them. Following Adriana’s advice to eat plenty, I cooked five eggs and a generous portion of bacon.

I felt like having some carbs as well, but I had no desire or energy to boil pasta or cook rice. It just felt like too much of a hassle.

I piled up the massive combo of eggs, bacon, and asparagus on a large plate and carried it out to the dining hall.

Ellen was still working her way through the beef jerky, but I couldn’t miss the sight of her nose twitching, even from where I stood.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Stop looking so gloomy and eat this instead.”

I may have been a total dick when it came to my temperament, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have any human decency in me.

I handed Ellen a fork, which she accepted as she sat opposite me. As I watched Ellen eat the fried eggs, I couldn’t help but sigh.

“Hey, you do know that we’ve got plenty of eggs and a bunch of other stuff in the kitchen, right? Why don’t you use those and cook something simple instead of eating the beef jerky that doesn’t even taste good?”

“I’ve never tried cooking.”

“Just because you’ve never tried, does that mean you can’t do it? Are you just going to give up that easily?”

“...”

Ellen stared back at me, taken aback by my sudden scolding. For some reason, she looked as if she was about to get even more gloomy.

She was clearly taken aback by my sudden nagging.

“If you don’t know how to do something, you can always just try to learn, you know... kids these days... anyway, eat up.”

“Okay.”

‘They say even dogs should not be disturbed when eating... Was I too harsh on her? What am I even doing? I should just eat as well.’

Omnomnom...

Wait, why was she eating the food so freaking quickly?

“Hey, do you mind? Eat at a human pace, will ya?”

“Okay.”

It seemed like my words weren’t doing much, so I also began to move my fork more quickly. In the end, Ellen ate more than half of what I made.

“You really have a big appetite, don’t you? It must be tough to stuff your face more intensely than a beggar, but you seem to manage just fine.”

“... I was hungry,” Ellen said while awkwardly avoiding my eyes.

I only meant for her to take a bite, but she really ate more than half of what I had made. To be honest, that was definitely crossing the line.

“You know you have classes with me today, right?”

“Yep.”

It was Tuesday, and I had back-to-back swordsmanship classes with Ellen.

She nodded her head, acknowledging it. After all, she wasn’t dumb, just indifferent.

“Let’s have another round of lunch together.”

“?”

‘You’re gonna have round two of cheonggukjang.’