Chapter 182: Salty & Sweet (4)

Theo arrived at the training ground of the Knight Department.

With a creak, the door opened, and as expected, Irene was there swinging her sword.

There was no one else besides her.

Theo looked at her with a slightly surprised expression.

'She's really incredible. Is it because she's so obsessed with training that she will eventually become the strongest in the human realm?'

Theo called out to her.

“Irene.”

“...Theo.”

Irene quickly approached Theo, then looked up at him with a stern face.

“I heard the rumors. You'll be recruiting your first Aide today, right? It’s Seria from the Magic Department, right?”

“That's right. But more importantly, can you look after this little guy for a moment?”

Theo looked down at Little Fist in his arms.

Irene’s eyes widened.

The condition of the Little Fist, who was panting heavily, didn’t seem normal.

“...Uh, um, sure. But why?”

“I’ll explain when I get back. It won’t take long; at most, two hours.”

Irene looked up at Theo as he spoke calmly.

At first glance, he seemed expressionless, but on closer inspection, his brow was slightly furrowed.

‘This must be an urgent situation.’

She had spent a long time observing Theo’s face, so she could tell.

“Okay. Take care, Theo.”

“Thanks, I’m counting on you.”

With a creak, Theo immediately left the training ground.

For a moment, Irene stared at the door he had opened and left through.

“...Haah. If he doesn't tell me later, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind."

Irene wanted to be his first Aide.

But he didn't say a word and instead recruited another woman.

“There must be a reason. ...He'll surely tell me when the time comes, definitely.”

Irene recalled the sins Theo had committed before entering the academy.

Even now, she occasionally had nightmares from that time.

It was a long time ago, but at the mere thought of it, goosebumps rose all over her body.

She shook her head from side to side, trying to shake off those thoughts, and started swinging her sword again.

In an open space near the Knight Department, a place bustling with people and shops,

"Oh, Theo. You're back so soon?"

Aisha greeted Theo, who returned five minutes later.

Even though he used the [Haste] spell, Theo moved so quickly that he was out of breath.

However, with so many people around, he couldn't show any signs of fatigue.

Theo amplified his [Twisted Noble's Dignity] to the maximum before speaking.

"Yeah, I just went to drop off Little Fist."

"That’s good. By the way, does this mean you’ve decided not to hide your magic anymore?"

Aisha looked at Theo with a meaningful gaze.

Without changing his expression, Theo responded,

"Everyone who needs to know already knows. There's no need to hide it anymore."

“It’s quite fascinating. At the beginning of the semester, your mana was definitely at zero...”

“It was a fortuitous encounter.”

Theo said this and then looked over at Siena, who had joined them.

"Siena, did you make a new friend?"

“Oh, this one? Not a new friend. Its name is Swish-swish.”

Siena pointed next to her as she introduced the spirit.

Even Theo, with his low spirit affinity, could see a distinct, blurry form with a strong presence.

"...I see."

Swish-swish is Siena’s pet name for a high-class wind spirit.

In the game, Swish-swish, along with two other spirits, are always by Siena's side.

A tingling shock ran through me.

Her comment about the smell made [Twisted Noble's Dignity] react.

While I've managed to control [Twisted Noble's Dignity] to some extent, the part about ‘smell’ is completely out of my control.

I suppressed the pain as I spoke.

"It's only been an hour since I showered, and you're telling me I smell? I can't believe that."

"Theo, what do you take me for? Other people's noses can be fooled, but not mine."

Siena then buried her face in my body, sniffing around.

"Sniff, sniff."

"..."

"Sniff, sniff sniff."

"Did you turn into a dog after fighting one, Siena?"

"Hold on, Theo. I'm sure I've smelled this before..."

Aisha, who was eating a bowl of bibimbap next to us, rinsed her mouth with water and sniffed me.

"Hmm? I don't smell anything. I have a pretty good sense of smell..."

Aisha's trait [Sharp Vision] slightly enhances her sense of smell as well.

Siena looked at Aisha as if she found her amusing.

"Hehe, humans are only this much. I think I know what the smell is now, Theo."

"I don't need to know, Siena."

"It's that gloomy little kid, right? The one with the dagger."

"..."

That's chilling.

How did she know?

Even Aisha didn't notice.

Instead of admitting it, I kept my mouth shut.

Siena continued.

"Hehe, I knew it. Anyway, Theo, stay away from that kid. She gives off a nasty smell."

"What kind of smell are you talking about?"

I stared at Siena intently.

Unlike her usual self, she looked at me with a serious expression and said,

"...The smell of blood. And it's very strong. I've never smelled anything this unpleasant in the academy before."

I got goosebumps all over.

In the game, Siena is indeed described as having a keen sense of smell, but I didn't expect it to be this extent.

In fact, Woohee had been living in a blood-soaked environment until just before entering the academy.

"I'll take your opinion into consideration, Siena. However, Woohee is someone I need."

"In what way? Don't tell me─"

Siena looked at me with a shocked expression.

What on earth is she thinking?

"Don't tell me what? Spit it out, Siena."

"Theo, are you into that little kid? No, no, it's okay. It's okay to like that kind of kid, right?"

"······That's enough."

I looked at her with a fed-up expression, and Siena didn't say any more, occasionally muttering to herself,

"Oh my─ humans really do have diverse tastes."

"Haah."

"..."

Aisha and Amy put down their chopsticks and looked at me, surprised.

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*alright. so when I first translated this, I kept the name Sylphy for the (you guys didn't see this iteration). This was the name of Siena's wind spirit first revealed in chapter 109. I changed it to Sylphy last chapter since I just assumed the author made a mistake...

But calling Sylphy by a different name AGAIN, tells me that either 1.the author forgot 2. these are different spirits.

I have double checked, even if I mistranslated, the characters used for the names of the spirit are completely different.

There's also Sallar, a spirit from a different chapter...

Anyways it's more of a sound made with the mouth to denote speed, the literal translation on text would be something like swiftswift.

But it would be more something like swoosh-swoosh since, from what I gathered, it's meant to be the sound people make to show something fast. Like uh, me going swooooooosh as a kid holding a plane.

Sorry for any confusion...