Book 1 Chapter 669

The next morning.

Arga, who was trying to sleep in her sleeping bag, instinctively started twitching her nose.

A little later.

Arga, who opened her eyes wide, sat up with a roar.

"Uyaaaak!"

Arga, letting out a roar, wriggled to get out of her sleeping bag.

"What's wrong?"

Iliana, who was sleeping next to Arga, asked with a disheveled face.

"It smells delicious!"

After starting the exploration, she had replaced meals with simple food like jerky and bread.

As such, Arga was desperate for a proper meal.

"Aren't you guys going?"

"The captain said we can sleep as much as we want. Sleep comes first for me."

Iliana burrowed back into her sleeping bag.

It seemed the other female students were the same, showing no signs of moving.

During the exploration period, they had moved with minimal sleep.

As hero candidates, they all possessed strong physical and mental strength, so they weren't exhausted from not sleeping for a couple of days.

Even so, wanting to sleep soundly when they could was an unavoidable human desire.

"Lazybones!"

"Who are you calling lazybones? You, the gluttonous cat."

"Leave her be. She's an animal, after all."

Driana chimed in with Iliana's grumbling.

Whether they cared or not, Arga went out of the tent.

"Arga is making so much noise, yet those three are sleeping soundly."

Iliana, still in her sleeping bag, watched Chelsea, Eliza, and Aina sleeping soundly with closed eyes, and then mumbled quietly as if seizing an opportunity.

"Chelsea and Eliza. Clumsy fools. Psychopaths."

As soon as she finished speaking, Chelsea and Eliza reached their hands out of their sleeping bags.

Chelsea's hand was open, while Eliza's hand was clenched into a fist.

Eliza, who lost in rock-paper-scissors, came out of her sleeping bag with a 신경질적인 (nervous\/irritable) face and approached Iliana with her fist clenched.

"Wait, hold on! I wasn't talking to you… Aaaak!"

After punishing Iliana, Eliza returned to her sleeping bag.

At that moment, Arga re-entered the tent.

Then, without warning, she grabbed Driana and Iliana by the sides with their sleeping bags and went out of the tent.

***

"You beast! Can't you put me down!"

"What is this, not letting me sleep!"

Despite Driana and Iliana's protests, Arga paid no mind and dragged the two out and threw them onto the ground.

"I brought her! The black rabbit!"

"Yes, good job. Here, food."

"Wow!"

Arga smiled brightly and accepted the bowl of stew that Leo handed her.

"Perhaps it's because you're young? You're full of energy even in the morning."

"Wow, you're a good cook."

"Huk! Dweno-nim! Teacher!"

Driana came out of her sleeping bag in a hurry, startled.

"Ack! Captain?!"

Iliana was horrified and crawled back into her sleeping bag.

Driana reached into Iliana's sleeping bag and tried to forcibly pull her out.

"What disrespect! In front of Dweno-nim and Teacher!"

"Wait! Just let me wipe the drool… Aaaak! Let go! Hey! Let go! You ignorant dwarf!"

"Ahahahaha!"

Ennih caught his sides laughing at the two girls squabbling.

Watching the two, Ennih made a square with his index finger and thumb on both hands, put Iliana inside it, and said.

"Hmm~ looking at you like this, Iliana, your proportions are quite good? Won't you be my model?"

"Model? Should I strip you right now?"

"Are you not letting go?! You perverted dwarf!"

Iliana was horrified, watching Driana clutching her clothes.

Leo rested his chin, watching the scene.

'Did he learn that obsession with nude models from this elf?'

"Well, it would be nice if you stripped, but… if you don't want to, there's nothing I can do."

Ennih shook his head.

Leo stared intently at Dweno in response to Ennih's reaction.

"What is it? That unpleasant look."

To Dweno's curious question, Leo said.

"I knew a dwarf who insisted he was an artist."

"And then?"

"He spouted nonsense about needing a nude model while talking about art… I wondered if he was just a pervert."

"Then why are you looking at me?"

"Just because."

Leo shrugged, watching Dweno frown.

"By the way, why was I dragged out?"

"Driana was told to be brought by Dweno-nim, and you were told to be brought by the black rabbit."

"The captain? Why?"

"It's nothing much. Let's have a meal first, shall we?"

Leo smiled gently and kindly scooped the stew.

Iliana nodded and accepted the bowl of stew.

"Mmm! This is delicious! It's my favorite flavor!"

"I made it to match your taste."

"Really? Captain! You even remembered my taste! I'm so touched!"

Iliana jumped up and down with joy.

"Do you want to eat this too?"

He served the sausage he was grilling on a skewer into her bowl, and Iliana quickly picked it up with a fork and ate it.

Then she held her cheeks and smiled happily.

"It's delicious."

"Eat a lot."

"Yes! Yes!"

Arga, watching from the side, subtly shifted her hips away from Leo.

'Suspicious.'

Arga's eyes narrowed.

Her wild instincts told her to distance herself from Leo as much as possible.

"By the way, Iliana."

"Yes! Yes!"

"When we were exploring this time, I saw that Duran caught up to you in speed?"

"Ah, that?"

Iliana said while eating stew, as if it were no big deal.

"Duran is so tenacious, isn't he? He seemed to have trained ridiculously because he didn't like losing to me in speed. Not only Duran, but Chelsea and Eliza also seem to be on par with me in speed now."

"Hmm. Did you not do the unique magic training that Luna made?"

"I did… but to increase the speed of 'Light-Speed Quick Sword,' my body needs to become stronger."

The unique magic that Luna made and Iliana named.

'Light-Speed Quick Sword' is a magic that accelerates the body, so it puts a great burden on the user's body.

In other words, a stronger body was essential to achieve higher speeds.

"Is it a lack of fundamentals?"

"Yes! So time will solve everything! I'm in my growth spurt!"

Ahahaha! As Iliana laughed, she poked the sausage with her fork.

"So, you're saying you slacked off during the vacation?"

"That's right! Huh?"

Iliana, who had answered casually, suddenly felt something strange and turned her head.

There, Leo was smiling with an infinitely kind smile.

'Did the captain know how to smile so warmly?'

For a moment, that question arose, but Iliana thought optimistically.

'Hehehe. It's nice that he's smiling like this! The captain is no longer a young boy, he has the aura of a handsome young man.'

If Chelsea had seen it, she would have turned pale and shouted for Iliana to run away, but Iliana had no such thought.

'…Does that girl lack crisis detection skills?'

It was at this moment that Arga muttered to herself, sweating coldly.

"Iliana."

"Yes!"

"Starting today, you need to have special training with me."

"Yes! Yes? What did you say?"

Iliana, who had answered without thinking, suddenly opened her eyes.

"The progenitor of the nebula itself marveled at your talent and created a unique magic for you."

Leo's face lost all expression.

Iliana's face turned pale.

"But you're letting that magic go to waste. Are you even human? This is just pearls before swine! I will turn you into a human."

"I, I'll be a pig!"

"No. If you eat that, you start training immediately."

"……."

At that word, Iliana trembled and put down her spoon.

It was a trick to start training as late as possible.

"Ah, are you done eating? Then let's sta--."

"Ah, not yet!"

Iliana, with a tearful face, started eating again.

"And Driana."

"Why do you ask?"

"I was planning to train you too."

Leo subtly glanced at Dweno.

"I had a conversation with this friend named Leo early this morning. So the conclusion I reached is that I will train you."

"R-really?!"

Driana's face lit up.

"Yes. From what I heard, this friend plans to train you to handle powerful flames. I was thinking of teaching you blacksmithing skills, but to do that, you need to be able to handle strong flames. Since the training method sounded similar to mine, I decided to take you on."

Driana's face showed a look of deep emotion.

"I will work hard!"

Dweno nodded with a satisfied expression, watching Driana answer with determination.

Arga approached Leo, watching the scene.

"What kind of training are you going to give Driana, Dweno-nim?"

"Do you remember the howling vocalization training that Arion and I gave you?"

"How could I forget! You waterboarded me!"

"Torture? It was strictly training. In the end, you see, water knew the answer."

"Ugh."

Arga shuddered.

Leo said, looking at Arga who was shivering.

"It's the opposite version."

"What! That sounds incredibly easy! It's unfair!"

Arga bristled.

Leo said, looking at Arga who was bristling.

"You were lucky, Arga."

"Huh?"

***

Arga, who came to observe Driana's training, muttered in a daze.

"…What is this hell?"

Fwoooosh-!

"Kyaaaaaa! It's too hot! Dweno-nim!"

"Endure it! Endure! The more you endure in the hot fire, the stronger steel becomes! The same goes for the body!"

"Aaaak! I'm going to die at this rate!"

"Dwarves don't die easily! So don't come out and endure!"

Driana was burning inside a large furnace.

Dweno forcefully pushed Driana back in as she tried to escape the furnace.

"Now, pick up the hammer!"

"How can I pick up a hammer in this situation… Aaaak!"

Driana's desperate scream echoed.

'The opposite of waterboarding is putting someone in fire and torturing them with fire?'

The current location was Dweno's workshop.

And in the open space outside Dweno's workshop…

"Aaaak!"

A golem wielding a giant greatsword swung it at Iliana at an incredible speed.

Iliana screamed and narrowly dodged the attack.

"Black Rabbit. What happens if you don't dodge that?"

"You die."

Iliana, wearing shackles with weight magic on her wrists and ankles, moved frantically to avoid the golem.

Leo shouted at Iliana.

"Move if you want to live!"

"Hey! Leo Flov! You just wait! Hiiiiiik!"

Iliana, calling Leo by his full name, unlike usual, dodged the golem's attack again.

'That's hell there too.'

Arga, sweating profusely, tried to sneak away from here.

She felt like she would experience hell herself for some reason if she stayed here.

"Arga."

Arga, startled by Leo's voice from behind, slowly turned around.

"Come here."

Arga cautiously approached Leo.

"Can you take out Brave?"

"Ah…!"

Arga's ears perked up, and she hastily pulled out Brave from her subspace.

"Dweno."

"Yes? Why are you calling?"

Dweno turned around.

Leo pointed at Brave and said.

"Can you fix this sword, by any chance?"