漫画大王

Chapter 58

To me, Cliffman was like the long-time stranger you see at the gym. The guy you greet with an awkward “Ah, hello” internally, but never actually exchange words with. The moment we actually started to talk—like if I were to say, “Ah, I didn’t see you here yesterday”—I was sure the conversation would take off, but we hadn’t reached that point yet.

“Heup!”

Ellen was busy even when training alone, hitting dummies and refining her movements. If you thought about it, there was no real good reason why she even bothered teaching me. One had to be at a certain skill level to be considered a practice partner. In her eyes, I was still learning to walk.

While I did make us meals to eat every evening, that was not such a big deal—all I had to do was make a bit more food when I cooked for myself. She did get annoyed with my unsolicited cooking advice and comments on how she cut vegetables. Regardless, she continued to tolerate me even after my duel.

It was really kind of a strange situation.

The term “extreme indifference” was meant to be metaphorical, but now that I’d seen such indifference in real life, it made me wonder what was really going on in her mind.

I did once write a love letter to her for the sake of earning achievement points and got rejected. That somehow led to us having meals together, and then getting into swordsmanship training and sharing meals again. But Ellen didn’t behave in a particularly friendly manner towards me, and vice versa.

To give you an idea of this, she would walk past me on the street without even acknowledging me. It wasn’t just her; even those who disliked me, like Erhi or Kaier—and even Harriet—would at least make a show of their disregard for me when they saw me. But Ellen? She didn’t even spare me a glance.

We had late-night snacks and early-morning nibbles together almost every day, bumped into each other at dawn for training, and essentially stuck together after classes ended. Yet, we hardly engaged in any personal conversation.

It felt like we were close, yet not close at all. It felt like we were just going to go our separate ways and pretend that we didn’t know each other as soon as we graduated from the Temple.

However, amidst all this, she seemed willing to fight as my champion during the duel.

What could all this nonchalance—and indifference—mean...?

Meeting someone like her in real life felt like an encounter with a mysterious being.

‘On second thought, isn’t it better to die than to suffer like this? Why keep wondering when I can just ask her? It’s not like I’m one of those cancerous protagonists that’s always lost and makes the wrong moves every time, frustrating the readers.’

When in doubt, just ask. It was quite simple, wasn’t it?

“Hey.”

Ellen looked at me. “Yes?”

“Do you like me?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

I kind of knew what her answer would be, so I wasn’t really hurt by it.

I genuinely wasn’t hurt.

‘Seriously... I’m not hurt!’

But Ellen’s reaction was a little different from before. She looked at me with a blank expression and casually asked, “Do you like me?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

The fact that she didn’t mention the time I confessed to her or replied with something like, “Wait, but didn’t you like me before?” suggested that she had completely forgotten that such an incident had even taken place.

Anyway, had we become close enough to ask each other these kinds of questions?

I knew that her answer to my question was going to be a simple “No,” but that wasn’t the actual question that I had in mind.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

“Then, are we friends?”

When she heard my question, Ellen stopped swinging her sword and seemed lost in thought for a moment. About a minute passed before she resumed her stance, her sword aimed at the dummy.

“It seems so,” she said.

It was a typical response from her.

***

It seemed that it was only then, at that moment, that Ellen Artorius had truly considered for the first time whether we were friends or not. It must have taken her quite a while to ponder over it.

If that was the case... Vertus wasn’t exactly a friend of mine, and our relationship was one that had a hierarchy to it—awkward, in a sense. Hence, it was safe to consider Ellen as my first friend in the Temple. On second thought, it was a bit funny. Given her extreme indifference, she should have been the hardest to become close with, and it was unlikely that she would make any new friends for a long time.

However, I felt more at ease interacting with Ellen because I knew she wasn’t influenced by others’ opinions or any preconceptions she might have had about me. That was why we were able to make it to this sort of stage.

Once my strength and stamina were restored, I went back to my usual routine of stance and strength training. My usual bedtime was eleven o’clock. I would train on the training ground until nine, then shower and go to the dining hall for a late-night meal. Ellen usually joined me at that time.

It wasn’t like either Ellen or I had planned to wrap up our training by nine to sync our snack time; it had just naturally become our routine.

It was nine o’clock.

Which meant it was time to end training and head for a meal.

“You seem like you’re pushing yourself too hard today.”

“Huff... huff...”

Ellen seemed different from her usual self. Her stamina was high enough to rank just below Ludwig’s, yet she was pummeling a training dummy relentlessly without taking a moment to catch her breath.

Her breathing was ragged, and she was visibly drenched in sweat. She was definitely pushing herself harder than usual.

I didn’t want to be the cat giving advice to a tiger, but something seemed off about her.

“Why don’t you stop and rest?”

“... I’ll do a bit more,” Ellen said without even glancing my way.

Well, even though she admitted we were friends, it would be silly for me to intervene any further. And she might even tell me off for pretending to be too close.

“Don’t overtrain and get some rest, okay? I’m gonna head off now.”

Ellen didn’t respond, and I left the training ground.

***

There were hardly any students left in the dormitory, and with night approaching, it seemed that everyone had gone to bed. After showering and changing in my room, I stepped back into the hallway.

If you took the time to consider it, the Temple had a dream living environment. Laundry and meals were provided, as well as an allowance, and anything I needed was quickly made available. There was even access to a kitchen to prepare food any time I wanted to, which was stocked with plenty of snacks.

My allowance was four gold coins a month. Although that might be pocket change to the children of well-off families, it was a significant amount to me. Additionally, they would offer extra financial support for personal training or research—kind of like a research grant.

I did not see success as having to graduate from the Temple. The very ability to live in the Temple already seemed like success to me.

It was a dream school that I never wanted to graduate from. I wanted to be a student of the Temple until I died, perpetually flunking year after year.

Shouldn’t that be considered a plot hole as well? That the Temple, especially the Royal Class, made one yearn to attend classes forever?

Engrossed in such bizarre thoughts, I headed to the kitchen.

Even though the amount of exercise I’d done was not quite on par with what Ludwig and Ellen usually did, it was still a substantial amount, considering I hadn’t received any assistance in the form of divine power. Hence, I needed to eat a lot. In fact, I was so active that I felt like the food I consumed was never converted into any fat.

I’d always prepared my own meals, but my culinary skills had definitely improved since I began living in the Temple. There were plenty of ingredients, and the staff would promptly restock anything I requested.

Eating the same foods all the time could get boring, so I made a variety of dishes. I didn’t want to resort to devouring large quantities of ready-to-eat foods as Ellen did.

I was once a person who just ordered pizzas and hamburgers to munch on while cooped up indoors writing novels, and so I had grown tired of all these fast, convenient foods.

I was fine with my day-to-day life being routine, but I didn’t particularly enjoy my diet being that way.

I pondered what I would make as I surveyed the food that was available in the kitchen.

‘Hmm. Although I’m not quite the person who does things like these...’

To be honest, there were people that I was grateful for, and I wanted to do something for them, especially during a period like this when everyone was feeling sentimental.

I took out a loaf of bread, planning to make sandwiches.

There were two people at the Temple that I was grateful to.

Firstly, there was Adriana, who had recently transformed into what I jokingly called the “obstinate church noona.” Well, perhaps it was inappropriate to say that she had been “converted” into one... Regardless of how one labeled it, she had definitely turned into something different from before, at least from my perspective.

And then there was Ellen Artorius.

I often expressed my gratitude to Adriana, but since Ellen and I mostly criticized each other during training, there was never a need for me to do the same to her.

In the end, I planned to bring food to her to the training ground, which was just an extension of our usual sharing of meals, so it was nothing exceptionally out of the ordinary.

No matter how I thought about it, I was no more than a high schooler who was excited about having made their first friend.

‘To be completely honest, I may have been slightly touched when Ellen said that we were friends...

‘Yes, I was touched that she considered us friends! How silly and cringy of me! I know, I know!’

The sandwich I made was a club sandwich. There was no point in getting too fancy, since she was probably going to care more about quantity than quality. It was better to make a generous portion.

A fair amount of vegetables, some cheese, and lots of ham. It was sure to be a calorie monster, but neither Ellen nor I cared about that. Given our level of physical activity, dying of something like hyperlipidemia was the least of our concerns.

In the kitchen were baskets suitable for carrying food, and so I loaded up the sandwiches I had quickly assembled into one of them and headed to the training grounds.

“... What’s this?”

I was stunned by the scene that greeted me. Ellen had collapsed in front of the training dummy, and the remnants of a broken practice sword lay scattered around her.

“Hey! Don’t be silly, you can’t sleep there!”

Despite my words, I was already running toward her.

***

The Temple was one of the most meticulously cultivated educational institutions in the empire, and the Royal Class was the pinnacle. Beyond what I’d mentioned before, several other VVIP services were available to its students.

In other words, I didn’t know the specifics, but there were basically just a lot of incredible services.

Of course, I was at least aware of some of these services. For example, priests who were proficient in the use of healing spells were on duty around the clock. You could think of them as school nurses, but unlike regular school nurses, they were fully capable of healing serious injuries, rather than just providing first aid.

Although I didn’t quite remember it, I must have received help from one of these priests after my duel.

I called out for a priest as I carried the collapsed Ellen.

We entered the recovery room, a place I had been to once before, and the priest laid Ellen down.

“What happened?” the priest asked me as he cast a holy spell.

“It seems like exhaustion. I found her collapsed on the floor of the training grounds.”

She also looked a little injured. There was a red mark on her forehead, and the remnants of a shattered practice sword had been close by her. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a serious injury.

“It’s good that you found her quickly. You did well.”

The priest’s praise seemed to indicate that things might have gotten serious if Ellen had only been discovered later. The teacher then asked for our names and class year, and I provided the information accordingly.

“You guys are first-years, Reinhart and Ellen. And Effenhauser is your instructor, right?”

“Yes.”

“You did a good job, Reinhart. I will suggest a commendation for you.”

Oh. That was unexpected.

The priest, who was wearing a cassock, looked at me with a kind smile that one could only describe as radiating sincere faith.

‘Oh no, I feel like I’m getting sanctified. This isn’t right. I might forget my roots and be converted at this rate...’

“I’ve heard you’re quite troublesome, but you seem different from what the rumors say.”

Ah. So my reputation had spread among the teachers too. Nevertheless, he seemed quite impressed that I had carried an unconscious classmate and sought help, no matter what preconceptions he might have had about me.

But a commendation—that was something I hadn’t considered at all. I had forgotten such a thing even existed.

The priest briefly examined Ellen, and mentioned that she would wake up soon. He told me I could leave, but I chose to sit beside her.

The priest looked at me with a mischievous smile, as if he knew what was on my mind.

‘No, it’s not like that!’

True to the priest’s words, about ten minutes later, Ellen slowly opened her eyes.

“Ugh...”

With a low groan, Ellen, who had opened her eyes, looked back and forth between the priest and me, and her eyes widened in surprise.

“...?”

She grew flustered.

The extremely indifferent Ellen was flustered.

I made sure to swiftly etch this rare sight into my memory.

“Ah...”

Ellen seemed to ponder for a moment, then appeared to realize the situation.

“Hey, if you sleep in a place like that, you’ll catch a cold! Are you trying to get sick or something? Tsk.”

“Pft!”

The priest couldn’t help but burst into laughter at my old-fashioned remark, while Ellen quickly turned her head away.

She was clearly embarrassed by the situation. However, it wasn’t just the two of us here; the priest was also present.

“Ellen. Despite what he said, Reinhart was the one who carried you here. His face was pale as he cried out for help. ‘Teacher! Teacher! Please do something!’ Isn’t that right?”

“Tea-... Teacher... Y-you don’t have to tell her all the details... like that...”

Oh man, why did he have to say that?

Ellen glanced at me. It seemed she had never expected me to do something like that.

“You seem to have practiced too excessively. Don’t push yourself to the point of harming your own body. Understood?”

“Yes... I’m sorry.”

After that, the priest mentioned that he would put me up for a commendation after the school break was over, and then left the recovery room.

“What happened? Why did you pass out there?”

Ellen stared blankly at the ceiling.

“I was practicing my movements, hitting the dummy, when my sword suddenly broke... I lost my balance and hit my head against the dummy, I think.”

She seemed to remember quite clearly how she had knocked herself out.

The issue wasn’t exhaustion, but the fact that she’d essentially headbutted the training dummy—a kind of acute concussion, if you will.

Wait if that was the case, didn’t that mean that this was a serious matter? Or was it not...? Well, it could have been a combination of both exhaustion and a concussion.

I couldn’t be sure if something like this had happened to her before when I wasn’t around, but what mattered was that she was safe now.

“Hey, so that means I saved your life.”

“...”

“Don’t you agree?”

I couldn’t help but take credit for my actions. I mean, who knows? If I hadn’t brought the sandwiches to her, it might have been her corpse that they discovered the next day.

“The most powerful talent in the Temple, dying by hitting her head on a training dummy....”

That would be such a ludicrous ending to a story.

Ellen, still lying down, looked at me quietly, then gave her head a slight nod.

“... Yes.”

Her voice wasn’t as firm as usual. In fact, it sounded meek and almost sheepish.

She had a cute side to her. I guess the charm of someone who was incredibly indifferent really shone through when their facade crumbled.

Ellen had definitely over-exercised that day. She had swung her sword tirelessly, with more intensity and without rest as compared to her usual routine. That was why I suggested she take a break, despite knowing full well that I wasn’t really in any position to be giving her advice.

A person who was so often in control of herself had pushed herself beyond her limits, and as a result, she had ended up knocking her head on a dummy.

Others might not know why she had suddenly pushed herself like that, but I was fully aware of it.

Her mental state, which was usually steady and calm, was unusually unstable.

Therefore, I didn’t ask why she had pushed herself too hard.

“So, are you going to lay down there forever?”

“...?”

The priest’s holy spell should have fully restored her, so there was no reason for her to remain lying down.

“Let’s eat some sandwiches. I made a bunch.”

“Ah. Okay.”

Ellen got up briskly. She sure reacted quickly to the mention of food, like a fish nibbling on bait.

“Don’t forget to be grateful to me, since I made them for you.”

“...”

Of course, I didn’t forget to take credit as usual.