‘Charlotte must be suited for the knight type after all.’
It’s a given that she’ll excel in some specific field as the protagonist’s comrade.
If it’s not in studying, then naturally, she should excel in physical abilities, shouldn’t she?
Charlotte was actually much faster than Julia when it came to running.
Her physique is also more suitable for movement.
‘Are you doing well?’
Tilting my head slightly towards the window, I glanced out onto the field.
“The hand wielding the sword heavily. The feet are light. See? Got it?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about…”
“Tsk. Why don’t you understand? Just try it.”
“Hyah!”
“Tsk. Why can’t you do this? Are you lacking in talent?”
The training seems to be going smoothly.
Sylvia is a knight with excellent performance by setting.
Although she had to retire because she couldn’t use mana due to a heart injury, her basic skills are outstanding enough to teach Charlotte.
I don’t want to imagine it, but what if teaching her is pointless?
It means she’s neither academically inclined nor talented in physical activity.
Then we should take her to the church to see if she has a talent for healing arts.
Maybe the Wisdom Stone will shine, revealing Charlotte to be a saint.
Of course, that’s unlikely to happen.
A slender type of saint?
That’s heresy.
After all, wouldn’t Julia be more suitable as a saint than a child like Charlotte?
“Ugh. What’s with that look? Those eyes seem to be thinking something ominous!”
“…”
I lost my words.
Can she read minds?
Silently covering my face with a book, I ignored Julia’s angry shout.
‘By the way, this book. It’s completely nonsense.’
To cast black magic, you need to use the head of a male goat killed on the night of the full moon as a sacrifice and so on…
I immediately recognized it upon seeing it.
This is superstition and folk magic.
Unlike real magic with a system, the contents of this book are nothing more than nonsensical gibberish that doesn’t go beyond local beliefs.
The problem is that all the other books Aslan purchased are the same.
This idiot secretly spent a lot of money on skillfully written horror books.
Continuing to believe in this sort of thing seriously leads to lunatics who come out to kill goats and torture virgins, so the country suppresses black magic.
Then they suppress it again, so Aslan and the like, who are worthless, are more actively engaged in nonsense.
From the Emperor’s point of view, it must be quite a headache.
‘But it doesn’t match. Surely around the end of Chapter 1, Aslan used techniques that look like black magic.’
But it’s absurd to say that dark magic is completely fictional and superstitious.
In the game, Aslan controlled black smoke to attack the protagonist.
If that’s not black magic, what is?
Is there something like a genuine record left by a real black magician, not this book written by a swindler?
‘Anyway, I should thoroughly search this library.’
If there is such a thing, it should be here.
This library. It’s too vast even though it’s wide.
When can I finish searching this?
No. Did Aslan, who is naturally lazy and only wants to loaf around, really try to find a rare item by thoroughly searching the library?
Such an idea is unimaginable.
‘At least looking through this book won’t produce results.’
Even Irene, Aslan’s sister who subtly nags, is like that.
To satisfy the evil god Kali, I have to pretend to produce results.
So for the time being, I have to continue this ridiculous ritual.
‘He looks like he’s cosplaying as a dark wizard.’
At least show some effort.
By doing this, I can buy time and slowly find clues about black magic.
Can this stubborn idiot Aslan really do what I can’t?
The problem is what happens after I can use that black magic…
Then it’s a matter of avoiding witch hunts on a national scale instead of escaping from the pressure of the family.
Well, should I worry about that then?
[The evil god ‘Kali’ looks at you lovingly.]
Escaping witch hunts and running around laundering identities is enough.
But you can’t avoid being strangled by the evil god watching you behind you.
‘But why isn’t this body getting sleepy?’
I clearly stayed up all night last night.
So naturally, I thought my body would be tuned to nocturnal habits.
Even though it’s already past noon and the sun is starting to tilt, there’s no sign of drowsiness, let alone heavy eyelids.
Did he take a stimulant?
[You detected abnormalities with your body.]
[Contract management function unlocked.]
Huh?
[Contract Management]
[Evil God Kali]
[Age: ???]
[Contract Effect: Allows body to recover without needing sleep.]
[A contract bound by blood. Allows temporary possession of the body. Contract cannot be terminated without mutual consent.]
What’s this?
A contract? Between me and the evil god Kali?
Why would this god, who seemed to have so little to do chasing after me, have something to do with a contract?
Suddenly, a headache struck.
‘Break the contract!’
[The evil god ‘Kali’ refuses.]
‘Please terminate it!’
[The evil god ‘Kali’ refuses.]
‘Please!’
[The evil god, ‘Kali’, looks at you with suspicious eyes.]
As expected, it doesn’t work.
And the contract effect is minimal. It’s just an ability to not sleep, nothing more.
Where did the magical power boost or physical enhancement go?
Such abilities are useless for slackers like Aslan.
Maybe for someone like Julia, who probably finds 24 hours in a day insufficient…
‘But why is she like that?’
Suddenly hearing a thumping sound, I looked over and saw Julia nodding off with her head on the desk.
If she’s sleepy, she should just sleep.
Why is she trying so hard to stay awake like that…
“Ugh. Again… It’s so noisy…”
But that wasn’t it.
Could it be that she wants to sleep but can’t?
She drifted off for a moment and woke up as if forcibly awakened by something, frowning as she opened her eyes again.
Where does it hurt?
“Is it a headache?”
“No. It’s not… Ugh. But why are you touching someone’s forehead without permission…”
“You don’t have a fever. What’s the problem that keeps making you sleepy?”
“It’s none of your business…”
“If there’s a problem with your body, the medical expenses will come out of my pocket. You’d better get to work right now.”
“You low…”
Julia furrowed her brow and pushed my hand away with bloodshot eyes.
But there was no initial vigor in her voice or touch.
She seemed very tired.
At first, I thought her eyes were just tired, but now it seems quite serious.
It seems she hasn’t slept properly for a day or two.
Where does it hurt?
Could it be something Irene did?
A thousand possibilities flashed through my mind in an instant.
“Voice… the voice… Hey. Why can’t I hear it now…”
“…”
Thud.
Julia, who was murmuring irritably, weakly leaned over, and I quickly caught her.
It was just exhaustion.
She was sleeping deeply and peacefully.
Is this the same person who had eyes like someone who had stayed up all week just a moment ago?
Whatever the reason, I’m glad she’s sleeping well.
Thinking that, I casually laid her down on the sofa and started to return to my seat.
“Ugh…”
“Whywhywhywhywhy.”
Suddenly, she frowned and groaned, which didn’t seem normal.
It seemed like she could wake up any moment.
Surprised, I approached her again, but she turned back with a calm face as if nothing had happened.
A few steps back, she furrowed her brow painfully.
Once again, when I returned, she quickly returned to calm.
“Phew.”
As soon as I get further away, she tries to wake up.
When I get closer, she falls back into a deep sleep.
What’s with her?
It’s unbelievable. Laughing, suddenly I remembered what Julia said just before she fell asleep.
‘Voice? Ah.’
Julia is a potential awakening as a spirit magician in the future.
One of the typical symptoms of spirit mages is insomnia.
They constantly hear the voices of spirits from all directions and cannot control it, which prevents them from sleeping.
So why does Julia sleep so well by my side?
It’s because I’m a feared existence among spirits.
Aslan, who doesn’t receive love from mana, naturally becomes a hated existence that spirits don’t want to be close to.
If he uses his passive skills along with his active skills?
‘Skill. Touch of Death.’
Shaaa.
For a moment, the air around me felt as cold as ice.
With this, all the spirits around would have died.
And Julia had a faint smile on her lips.
‘Pretty.’
When awake, she always seemed irritated, so there was never a chance to look cute.
But now, peacefully asleep, truly, there’s no angel like her.
I’m afraid of what she’ll be like when she wakes up, but for now, okay, since she’s cute.
“You’re more relaxed when you sleep.”
“Mm…”
Cook, swirl, cook.
Like releasing the stress of the day, I grabbed and played with her cheeks, stretching them like taffy, addictive as it could be.
“Mmm!”
“Ah.”
I got caught.
.
.
.
As the sun set, the green-haired girl sat down, breathing heavily.
“Haah! Haah!”
“Drink some water. That’s enough for today.”
“How… how did I do?”
“Well, you seem to care about exercise, but that’s about it. Good body coordination, good peripheral vision, good reaction speed, good multitasking ability, and good focus, but you have a lot to improve on. So we’ll continue training tomorrow. It’ll be tougher and more intense than today, are you okay with that?”
“Yes! A tougher challenge! Sounds great!”
Charlotte replied enthusiastically instead of drinking water.
It was the first time she enjoyed something so much.
No matter what she studied before, she couldn’t get interested in it and she wasn’t good at it.
Today, even though it was supposed to be a swordsmanship lesson, all they did was jump rope and run all day, but it was fun.
With this, she can work hard.
She won’t lose interest.
Maybe she can make her own way!
Just thinking about it made her excited.
“If I work hard, can I become a great knight like you, miss?”
“I… I’m not a great knight. Don’t try to be like me.”
“Really?”
“For now, go wash up. It’s almost time for dinner.”
Sylvia’s expression darkened.
A great knight… Once upon a time, she dreamed of that.
Why am I now working under such a wicked family?
Gritting her teeth, Sylvia shook off unnecessary thoughts.
It was all in the past.
“Young master. It’s almost time for dinner… huh?”
Creak, standing, and the door opens.
Through the crack, Sylvia’s body stiffened at the sight.
Aslan Vermont sitting on the long sofa, holding and reading a book with one hand.
That part was not a problem.
But the fact that his other hand was resting on the cheek of the child sleeping on his lap was more than problematic.
“This person finally laid a hand on a child!”
“Miss Knight, could you please not make such a loud noise?”
“What? Why?”
“Recently, Julia hasn’t been able to sleep much. It’s the first time I’ve seen her sleep so comfortably in a month. So, could you let her sleep peacefully right now?”
“…”
Charlotte clung to Sylvia’s skirt, pleading earnestly.
Upon closer inspection, Aslan’s hand was held by the child’s hand.
It seemed like Julia herself had been pulled into a sleep.
Sylvia clicked her tongue and stepped back.
“This time, I’ll let it slide.”
Shhh-Thud.
The library door closed.
Even though she was suffering from insomnia, using sleep magic on a child. What a nerve.
In the past, she would have rushed in to separate the child and Aslan right away, but strangely, now she didn’t feel like doing that.
‘Do I trust him? Me? Aslan?’
Huh, really. Ugh. No way.
No way.
