Chapter 43

Aiden gulped at the sudden sight.

Wasn’t this dangerous?

He was a magic student in the end, even if he played tricks and practiced sword skills harder. He was able to get a grip on the situation in a moment.

Teleporting people besides yourself was harder to master than just teleporting yourself. The mana wave a little while ago was not so sophisticated.

Then there was only one possibility left.

“Separate Space Wizard.”

No wonder he felt thirsty, he licked his dry lips.

This was a serious situation unless he used magic to be alone with the woman he liked.

Aiden approached the maid in a mournful voice, shouting “Lady!” The noisy sound drew attention from the two.

“Do you know where Raynald is?”

“What?”

The maid cringed as if wary of his sudden appearance, and then asked again.

“Ra-Mr. Raynald?”

“Do you know where he is?”

“No, I don’t know. I heard he was going to see the professor for a while…….”

It’s frustrating. Aiden bit his lower lip. He knew it was teleportation magic but wouldn’t be able to find the location with his skills.

It’s only possible if it’s Raynald or a professor.

But he couldn’t go looking for them himself. He had to find traces of magic here with every possibility.

“Do you know where the professor’s lab is?”

“I don’t know… oh! I think we can call Dave!”

Aiden didn’t ask who that was or if he was any good. Just politely brought the maid to her feet and shouted.

“Hurry up.”

The maid ran toward the inside of the academy, rubbing her wet eyes with her sleeves.

Aiden concentrated on where he was sitting. There was no point in swinging the mana around roughly because there was a wall here. He had to find the mana separating the space exactly and instill the mana.

He was constantly distracted from being nervous. His hand holding the wooden sword became sweaty.

He had only seen the Young Lady from another country once, yet he was nervous about her safety. Was it because of her relationship with Raynald? 

Aiden was afraid of what would happen to the guy that smiled like he owned the world next to her.

‘Please…’

Mana was hard to read. If he had known something like this would happen he would have studied harder. It would be hard but he would have had no regrets at this moment.

He called out to the students passing by, but no one could see her. 

Time went by while he mulled over what to do.

Aiden looked in the direction the maid went but she was not coming back. There was no sign of Raynald.

“Darn it!”

Now Aiden had to swing his wooden sword around as if he was venting out his anger. 

There was the sound of something exploding, similar to when a magic experiment fails. Mana swirled around, shining in the air. Surprised students took a step back.

Aiden stood in place, looking into the air that split wide. Through the small gap, he could see a bloody white hand.

Found it.

Aiden instilled mana and immediately thrust a shining wooden sword into the cracked air. 

“Lady!”

Aiden went inside listening to the urgent call he heard earlier. He blocked the sword aimed at Yurina. 

His wrist was tingling from the shock, but he held on to not be pushed back.

Aiden grinned as he looked up at Yurina’s blue eyes.

“Tell Raynald what happened today.”

Only then did Yurina nod her head with a smile.

Oh, but she’s really pretty. Especially her blue eyes that didn’t lose their light even in this situation. 

Aiden understood why his friend fell in love without seeing her for 5 years.

* * *

Things got sorted out quickly after Aiden arrived. However, he had a wooden sword, not a real sword. Aiden dealt with the raiders with moderate magic. Sir Aaron, who was struggling to deal with five people alone, faced the remaining people more leisurely when he had someone to help him.

Out of the five people who attacked three were killed and two had serious injuries. Sir Aaron tied up the remaining two men with the rope Aiden saved. They gave the prisoners gags so they would not be able to take poison. 

It wasn’t until the whole process was over that Sir Aaron rushed up to Yurina.

“Lady, are you all right?”

His eyes landed in Yurina’s bloody hands.

“I’m sorry, I should have looked at it better.”

Sir Aaron’s face had complex emotions. With the support of the Marquis Cartia, Sir Aaron remained a Marquis despite his ability to join the Imperial Knights. For that reason, he held the Marquis Cartia in high regard. 

He seemed quite distressed by the fact that he had hurt Yurina. But he was bleeding from the cuts in his arms and waist.

“I’m fine. When Dave comes he should treat you first. I’m more worried about your wound. Are you alright, sir?”

“This is nothing. More than that, miss, stop the bleeding…….”

“Oh, leave the Young Lady to me and you take care of your wounds.”

Aiden, who intervened, took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and approached Yurina. Sir Aaron wanted to say something but when he saw Yurina nodding her head, he kept his mouth shut.

“You’re really hurt. Are you sure you’re alright?”

Aiden carefully wiped the blood off Yurina’s hands with a handkerchief. Blood continued to swell from the wound that had cracked, revealing the flesh, as if it had been cut deeply by a knife. The handkerchief quickly dampened with blood.

Aiden pressed his hand down on the handkerchief to stop the bleeding. Yurina couldn’t control her expression and frowned at the moment.

Until a while ago, the situation was urgent so she couldn’t feel the pain, but when the tension was relieved, she felt severe pain that caused her to groan without knowing. Her head was a little dizzy, too.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do healing magic, so we’ll have to wait until the professor comes.”

“It’s okay, I heard Bessie went to call Dave. Dave will treat me.”

“Dave must be good at this.”

“Yes, he graduated from Crohn Academy in seven years.”

“Wow.”

The heartfelt admiration burst from Aiden’s mouth. He chatted while tying the handkerchief tightly to Yurina’s hand.

“He’s a great man. I’m already worried about when I will graduate. Oh, it hurt a lot, right? I’m sorry, but if I don’t do this, the wound could open more.”

He moved his hands more carefully, looking at Yurina.

Compared to saying that he couldn’t use healing magic because he didn’t have magic skills, he was quite good at wrapping up wounds.

“It was…magic and?”

“It’s magical. It’s pathetic that I can’t even use healing magic, right?

“Healing magic is quite high-level magic. I know it’s not strange that you can’t use it. You’re good at tying wounds.”

“Oh, I get hurt a lot when I practice swordsmanship. I’ve been treating myself every day, and I’ve become an expert.”

Yurina looked at Aiden again. Come to think of it, Aiden had a moderately strong physique like Raynald rather than a slender one. You wouldn’t think of him as a magic student from the looks.

“You must have had a hard time studying magic and swordsmanship.”

“It wasn’t that hard. I didn’t study magic very much. Well, Raynald had a hard time splitting up his time.”

“Ray?”

Yurina was talking about swordsmanship and suddenly couldn’t understand Raynald’s involvement. Aiden, who had been concentrating on her hands, looked up with a curious look on his face. Her voice sounded bewildered.

“Never heard of it? He’s been practicing swordsmanship with me.”

She had never heard of it before. He didn’t say that in his correspondence.

Looking at his muscular, solid body, she thought he was a knight instead of a wizard, but to think he actually learned the sword…

“No, I heard.”

Yurina couldn’t speak right away because of her strange pride.

“Oh, well. You couldn’t have known. You exchanged letters. Still, you haven’t seen him practice swordsmanship in person, right? He started when he arrived here, but he improved faster than I thought, so he’s better than most nobles now.”

“I see.”

“Tell him to show you sometime. While you’re at it, I’d appreciate it if you could bring him to the training center.”

“I will… when we talk.”

Yurina somehow felt thirsty, so she had to swallow her saliva in the middle of her speech. It may have sounded strange, but Aiden focused on Yurina’s wounds without any sign of noticing.

Yurina bit her lips tightly as she looked down at Aiden’s head, which was meticulously bandaging her hands.

‘Why didn’t he tell me?’

She knew Raynald didn’t tell her anything trivial in his letters. There were times when she felt bad about it, but she didn’t blame him. Letters come and go only once a month. The stationery was too small to contain everything that happened in a month.

It was the same now. Now she didn’t want to argue with Raynald about why he didn’t say anything.

Just, just…

‘How much don’t I know?’

The fact that she didn’t know, and the boy in front of her did make her feel uneasy.

Come to think of it, that was a given. She spent just over six months with Raynald. Still, the two spent six months moving back and forth between small study rooms or each other’s bedrooms. The only things she did every day were basic classes and simple games.

Their world was small, nothing special.

But what about now?

Raynald spent five years at the academy. He met new friends and learned a lot of things he didn’t learn in a small mansion.

His world has become wide and diverse. And there was no Yurina in his world.

It was natural, but she couldn’t see why she felt defeated.

It was just bitter in her mouth.

Yurina unknowingly tried to clench her fist but quickly straightened her fingers from the pain that felt like it ran from head to toe.

“You can’t move like that!”

Aiden quickly looked at Yurina’s hand. Blood was leaking little by little from the wound that had been mostly stopped.

“Oh, my God. I think you need to get treatment soon.”

It was time for Aiden to remove the bandage again and stop the bleeding.

“Lady!”

In the distance, the weeping voice of Bessie was heard, Bessie and Dave ran toward Yurina. Bessie dragged Dave, who rarely runs, by the arm to stand in front of Yurina.