Raynald might have said she was cold, looking at her, but this was her own consideration. Raynald might have hesitated to go to the professor after looking behind him for no reason.
“Where are you going, miss?”
As Yurina fell away from Raynald, Betsy, who was sitting a little far away, approached. Yurina didn’t see her, but she was probably following her around Sir Aaron.
“Something’s come up with Ray, so I’m going to the dorm first.”
It was noisy all around. It was an atmosphere that students could feel in many academies. In the meantime, Yurina, who had been taking classes alone with a tutor at a noble house, didn’t feel the air.
‘Long time no see.’
It was a strange sense of familiarity. It was only a short moment when she had been crossing the university campus square, laughing and talking with her friends, but it passed before her eyes.
Yurina thought she had forgotten all about it since it had been five years already, but her heart exploded when she witnessed the carriage accident not long ago.
Yurina stood in the middle of a large grass square in front of the library and looked around. She noticed the students who gathered together, laughing, and chatting. They were reading books together, discussing enthusiastically, and sharing lunch.
Strangely, however, the face of the young Raynald popped up on the students’ faces.
The face of Raynald, who would have lived alone in this place where the conversation didn’t work properly, and where the culture and atmosphere were, unfamiliar.
When Yurina first came to the academy, she recalled Aiden’s face, which she had seen in the dormitory when she was passing by.
There was something she wanted to say and ask. However, Ray refused to call Aiden, saying, “There is nothing to worry about.”
‘I want to meet you.’
She couldn’t figure out how to see him.
“Lady? What are you looking at?”
“Nothing. More than that, Betsy, today’s lunch was delicious. Ray liked it and said that it was delicious.”
“I’ll make you another one tomorrow, too.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Yurina let go of her thoughts and smiled at Betsy. Then she moved her foot to the front gate of the academy.
Betsy said that she was regretful that Yurina hadn’t talked much because she had been with Raynald.
Yurina nodded her head and stopped when she felt the mana around her.
“Lady!”
At the same time, Sir Aaron, who was following quietly, ran quickly and wrapped Yurina’s shoulder. Yurina managed to reach out her hand and roughly pushed Betsy’s shoulder, who was standing right next to her.
Betsy, who lost her balance, fell on her hips as she was pushed back.
“Ah, my lady!”
At the same time, there was a faint curtain around Yurina and Sir Aaron. Betsy’s appearance completely disappeared after she urgently reached out for Yurina.
Yurina looked at Betsy, who suddenly disappeared in front of her, and clenched her teeth tightly, and looked around her.
The autumn wind that shook the leaves no longer blew. There was no cheerful sound that she heard every time the leaves shook.
No one chatted and wandered around. All she could see was Sir Aaron holding her.
Sir Aaron had a puzzled look on his face, but Yurina could quickly see how this happened.
‘It’s a space separation magic.’
She had never done it herself, but she heard of it from Dave.
It was the magic of creating artificial walls with mana to create a new space that was completely separate from the surrounding space.
The person inside could feel that there was a wall around, but the person outside could walk by without any obstacles, so they didn’t notice the existence of the magic unless they were sensitive to mana.
If it was used well, it was used to talk about secrets, or it was used secretly between lovers, but if it was used in a bad way…
“Stay back, Lady.”
Sir Aaron pulled Yurina away from his arms and pulled her back to back. Her back shivered. Yurina glanced over her shoulder and stood as far as she could from Sir Aaron. Five robust men, covering their faces up to their jaws, were looking this way.
‘The situation is not good.’
Yurina looked nervously at the back of Sir Aaron, who took the sword out, and swept her dry lips with her tongue.
Sir Aaron’s skills were so excellent that the Marquis of Carthia left him as the youngest daughter’s escort, who had gone a long way, without worrying. He could join the Imperial Knights, but he said that he remained at the Marquis to protect his loyalty with the Marquis of Carthia, who had sponsored him since childhood.
However, there were five opponents in total. It was hard enough to just fight five to one, but it would be even harder to fight while keeping Yurina safe.
In addition, there might have been a wizard on the other side since they used the space separation magic.
If that was true, it would be a fight against the odds.
Yurina, who looked at the back of Sir Aaron, who seemed very nervous, slowly stepped back to avoid provoking her opponent.
There were two ways to get out of this artificial space created by magic.
One was that the person who created it cancels the magic, and the other was to break the invisible mana wall.
There was no other way but to break the wall because the opponent knew magic.
However, the invisible wall was hard to find outside. If you were a mana-sensitive wizard-like Raynald and Dave, you could find them in no time…
‘Can we hold on until Ray gets here?’
Betsy, who was outside the barrier, would have noticed by now and ran to find Dave or Raynald. However, there was no guarantee that the situation would last until then.
Then, she had no choice but to break the wall herself from the inside. It was easy to find because you could find something like a hard wall when you touched it with your hand.
‘The question is, can Sir Aaron hold on until he finds it?’
Yurina kept her eyes on the situation and swept her dry lips with her tongue again.
Sir Aaron and his opponents were watching each other with their swords drawn. In particular, the other side even glanced at Yurina, who was behind Sir Aaron.
Yurina swallowed her saliva. They didn’t know that she could use magic. There might be only one chance if they were looking for a moment to be vigilant.
Yurina moved slowly backward and continued to step back. The opponent didn’t react much to Yurina’s unexpected behavior, thinking that one incompetent noble lady moving would not pose a threat.
Yurina, who confirmed their reaction, moved her feet more and more boldly. As if she was scared, she pretended to roll her eyes anxiously, and for a while, she moved her hands until she felt a solid wall touching her fingertips.
‘This is it.’
There was no joy. While still looking around quietly, Yurina gathered her mana at her fingertips and hit the wall quickly and strongly. There was a deafening loud noise. At the same time, the ground shook as if there was an earthquake, and cracks started to form in the air where there was nothing.
“Oh, damn it! No one told us there was a wizard!”
“Get that girl, hurry up!”
Sensing strangeness, the enemies rushed at her, spouting out swears. Sir Aaron quickly leveled the sword to stop them.
Yurina bit her lips tightly and kept hitting the crack. As if she was stabbed by a broken piece of glass, her white hands quickly became bloodstained and blood was on the cracks in the air, but she moved her hands without stopping.
She couldn’t even feel the pain. The only fear in her head was that she would die if she didn’t break this crystal wall quickly.
Behind her back, she could hear the men shouting and the sharp metal sound of knives and swords hitting each other. It was quieter than the sound of breaking the crystal wall, but the sound of the fight was louder in Yurina’s ears.
Perhaps, because of the lack of mana in the body, the barrier that Yurina thought would break quickly lasted longer than she thought. Yurina clenched her teeth and raked all the mana in her body and punched the wall.
‘Just a little bit, please, just a little bit more….’
Thump, thump, thump. The sound of her heart grew to the point where she could hear it in her ears. Yurina could hear the loud voices of people between them. Through the gaps, she could see the legs of people who were busy walking.
Yurina put her hands through the hole and pulled the wall to both sides as if tearing a cloth.
“Lady!”
At the urgent voice of Sir Aaron, she looked back, forgetting what she was doing.
The first thing she saw was fierce eyes that flashed like a snake. One of the men dealing with Sir Aaron was close in front of her before she knew it.
Since then, Sir Aaron, who had cut down all the rest of their power and covered himself with blood, ran quickly. But the man was faster than that.
The man’s sword was lifted high into the sky up to the sun.
Yurina raised her arm over her head, bending mana.
You’ll hurt your arm badly, but if you hold out once, you’ll be able to attack…
Yurina’s back shivered when she imagined the pain coming. She closed her eyes as she looked at the sword that came down fast towards her.
But there was no pain like she had expected. Instead, a dull sound of something hitting hard hit the back.
Yurina opened her eyes. She saw a scratchy wooden sword right in front of her nose.
‘Wooden… sword?’
Sir Aaron, who came quickly without question, cut the man on the back. The man collapsed toward Yurina, coughing up red blood. But before the heavy body hit her, Sir Aaron’s firm arm grabbed the man’s shoulder and threw him on the floor.
“Are you all right?”
A familiar voice could be heard from above her head. Yurina looked up, collecting her tight breath as if she had been running.
“Please tell Raynald about today.”
Aiden Tessie, whom she had seen a few days ago, was smiling as brightly as he did in the warm sunlight.
* * *
“Where the hell did he go?”
Aiden Tessie walked around the Academy and gritted his teeth. It was to find an ugly friend who hadn’t been in class for two weeks already.
‘Yeah, so far I thought that might be the case. Girlfriend… I don’t know if she is or not, but if I met a close friend from the Empire for the first time in years, I would have skipped class too.’
In fact, Aiden also skipped classes and played with his younger siblings when they came to the capital.
But today was different. Professor Hutson was determined not to accept Raynald into classes if he missed the class again without saying a word.
Professor Hutson was strict with Raynald since he cared. It was in a fit of anger, but I couldn’t let it go lightly.
So Aiden was going to catch his friend and take him to the professor. Even if he wanted to miss class, he needed to get permission from the professor first.
He didn’t mean to miss class on a fictitious day, but he was proud.
As soon as the morning class was over, Aiden was hanging around the library, where Raynald and Carthia appeared frequently. He brought a wooden sword with him intending to drag Raynald back with him if he resisted because he didn’t want to go.
As he looked through the lawn for a long time, he saw unusual pink blond hair. It was Yurina that he saw a while ago. She was walking across the lawn with a maid.
‘Where’s Raynald?’
Obviously, he couldn’t see his friend who was supposed to be with Yurina. She narrowed her eyes and looked around her as she walked away.
Well, if he was near Carthia, he would be here soon. Until he would say hello to Carthia and talk a little bit.
Aiden carried a wooden sword on his shoulder and quickly followed.
“Lady!”
But when he reached the main gate, a knight suddenly popped out and hugged Yurina’s shoulder. At the same time, the mana around them fluctuated. The two disappeared in an instant from Aiden’s sight, as if they were using a teleportation spell.
“Ah, Lady!”
In the end, only the maid, who was pushed to the floor by Yurina, was looking around in surprise.
Neverland Translations 