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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 26
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26. Why Do You Speak So Alluringly?
***
My thoughts were lost in reverie for only a moment.
"In that regard, Cadet Han Cheon-seong?"
"...Yes, Instructor."
I responded blankly to the sudden call, and Kali suddenly wore a strange, knowing smile.
"After today's lecture, Cadet. You are to follow the instructor."
...
After that, Kali's lecture, conducted in a calm atmosphere, proceeded without a hitch.
Her words were brief but impactful. A sense of urgency regarding the battlefield.
Kali's presence, which imprinted all of that upon the cadets, was utterly overwhelming, and even the lecture itself was conducted in a way that was easy for most cadets to understand. As it was her first lecture, Kali didn't attempt to simulate combat or discuss anything overly complex.
How to calm one's mind. How to control one's emotions. Surprisingly, Kali emphasized the importance of matters related to the mind.
Time flowed by, and the afternoon approached.
Tap, tap.
Kali, standing at the podium, lightly tidied the teaching materials she had brought, then declared the end of the first lecture.
"Alright, then. That's all for today. All cadets worked hard listening to the lecture, and the rest of your time is free. You can go to the training grounds allocated to C-Class cadets for self-improvement, or you can practice on your own. It's fine to rest. Or perhaps fostering camaraderie among yourselves is one way to adapt to this academy."
Listening to her words, signaling the end of the lecture, my mind was nothing but a jumble.
'Follow me...'
The lecture was over, but among all the cadets in this room, I was the only one who wasn't free.
Kali had openly singled me out and told me to follow her after class. That meant I had no right to refuse.
How on earth was I supposed to refuse in that atmosphere?
A glance.
As Kali gave me a subtle, brief glance from the end of the podium and then left, her actions felt like a signal to me.
—To follow her, without being told.
Tap.
At that moment, David, who had lightly tapped my shoulder, smiled faintly, and my gaze went blankly to him.
"Han Cheon-seong. I don't know why Instructor Kali did that, but you're in for a rough day."
"...Yeah. I guess so."
As David stood up, I replied blankly and rose as well.
Even as I tidied the basic tools provided, my mood remained bewildered.
Stride.
Then, in my sight, David immediately left his seat and approached a nearby female cadet, striking up a conversation.
"Aylie! What are you doing later? I was thinking of exploring the academy and then heading to the cafeteria. If it's okay, I'd like to go with you and your group."
"Oh! Sure. Let's go together then."
"Thanks."
Unlike me, he seemed to have already befriended some cadets, and watching him made me feel strange.
'Is this right?'
I didn't feel like I was 'marked' by Kali, but I couldn't describe this strange, peculiar feeling of suddenly being isolated in this classroom.
Because normally, I should be hanging out with David like that too.
Stride.
Lost in thought, I slowly walked down the classroom aisle.
"Hoo."
I let out a short breath and composed myself.
If I thought about it carefully, this immediate situation wasn't so bad.
It was a very good thing that Kali would be conducting my lessons, and if I formed a separate connection with her, that would also be a good thing.
And crucially, Kali wasn't looking at me negatively.
'Think positively.'
Just as I resolved myself and was about to leave the entrance.
I felt a strange gaze.
I glanced over, and there she was: Luna Vermont, with her unmistakable pink twin tails that would catch anyone's eye.
"Hmph!"
As soon as our eyes met, she snorted and turned her head away, just like yesterday. Watching her, I didn't even feel particularly bad anymore.
"Millia. Let's go straight to the academy cafeteria. I'm hungry!"
"Alright. But Luna, you know... it's not good to have such a snobbish attitude towards fellow cadets."
The woman with short black hair right beside her, Millia, gently restrained Luna with a slightly apologetic look, and I couldn't help but wonder.
'Will Luna's attitude change if Millia says that?'
I gave them a curious glance.
"...I don't know, I'm fine just being close with you, Millia. I don't particularly want to be close with other cadets."
"Luna, really..."
Millia responded with a troubled expression, and I chuckled faintly, then turned my head away.
If even Millia's words had so little effect, it meant Luna wouldn't change no matter who talked to her right now. A fresh wave of admiration welled up in me.
'Leonhard. What kind of battle have you been fighting, exactly?'
To think that Luna was a popular heroine in the original story.
While I used to find overt tsundere behavior charming in the past, facing it in reality was completely different.
As I exited the classroom, I saw Kali leaning against the wall.
With the teaching materials held against her chest, she immediately met my gaze, and I instinctively flinched.
"Cadet Han Cheon-seong, are you a little late?"
"I-I'm sorry, Instructor."
"It's fine. Don't be so nervous. I'm not trying to do anything bad to you or scold you at all. I just wanted to have a meal with you. I heard about yesterday's spar."
Kali, smiling faintly, slowly walked ahead, and as I matched her pace, I felt momentarily bewildered.
'What is this difference...?'
Kali's appearance in the classroom and her current appearance were completely different.
Even as I met her gaze, I didn't feel strange; rather, I felt at ease. It was as if I was looking at a completely different person.
"Oh, right. Cadet Han Cheon-seong. Did I perhaps interrupt your time to socialize with other cadets? Did you have prior plans or something...?"
When Kali asked cautiously, I immediately shook my head.
"No, Instructor. I didn't make any prior plans. It's fine."
"Is that so? Then that's a relief."
Kali, walking and replying lightly, smiled subtly, and my gaze unconsciously drifted to her.
Beneath her crimson hair, her finely sculpted nose and large, expressive eyes were striking. Seeing her this close, she surprisingly didn't seem like such a fearsome person.
'Just a beautiful person.'
More than that, she just felt like a very beautiful person.
Moreover, even the emotions emanating from her were positive.
Favor, goodwill—emotions that could be called such—were clearly felt in her casual demeanor and every word she spoke.
Thud. Click.
As we began to walk, our footsteps creating different sounds, I could immediately see other cadets.
Cadets from C2 and C3 classes were also pouring out, one by one, their lectures seemingly finished, and those who emerged paused as they saw us.
It seemed they were surprised to see Kali, dressed in the black uniform distinctive of instructors.
As the cadets we encountered bowed one by one and offered light greetings, Kali casually returned their salutations.
"It's fine. You don't have to bow so deeply."
Listening to her relaxed tone, I still found it remarkably strange.
To think I was walking beside Kali like this. And even getting a meal from her—it felt somewhat unreal.
'...I really can't believe it.'
In truth, Kali was a character with considerable importance in the Grand Royal Academy, 'Groa'.
Although she wasn't Leonhard's heroine, she was popular enough that many people would argue why she wasn't.
She valued effort and had a high level of activity. Plus, she was a beautiful woman, so perhaps her popularity was only natural.
In the novel, her seemingly indifferent yet subtle expressions of interest towards the protagonist were often perceived as an understated charm.
Actually, she was one of the characters I quite liked...
"Cadet Han Cheon-seong?"
I paused at the sound of her voice.
"...Yes, Instructor."
"Am I perhaps making you very uncomfortable, Cadet?"
"Oh, no, not at all. How could you be?"
"Then why are you so quiet? From what I've seen, Cadet Han Cheon-seong doesn't strike me as a quiet person."
She cast a quick glance at me, a playful smile on her lips.
Thump!
In that instant, my heart pounded loudly.
The Kali from that novel, right now...
She's having a conversation with me.
And she's showing interest in me first. She's the one who initiated the conversation.
For a moment, I quickly racked my brain for what to say, then hurriedly opened my mouth.
"...I felt that Instructor Kali's personality, as I perceived it during the lecture, was rather calm. So I thought you might dislike it if I spoke too much."
As I answered calmly, Kali burst into laughter for a moment while descending the stairs.
"That's just because it was during the lecture. An instructor can't look foolish to a cadet, can they? And that cadet, Gerard, seemed to take me too lightly from the very first lecture, so I had to rein him in a bit. Let me reiterate. Outside of lectures, I don't impose anything on cadets. I don't act as stiffly as I do during lectures... Well, to Cadet Han Cheon-seong, who attended the lecture, I might appear to be that kind of woman."
As she let her words trail off at the end and gave me a peculiar look, I felt my body needlessly stiffen while descending the stairs with her.
'Why is she speaking so alluringly?'
She kept saying things that made even me, the listener, flutter, to the point where it felt unfamiliar.
More than the realization of having safely entered this academy, this completely unexpected situation felt real. It was a strange mix of bewilderment and joy.
Thud. Click.
Even as we walked together, my heart continued to waver.
After that, as we exited the academy building, a rather stylish academy cafeteria came into view.
Naturally, I was about to head there.
"Cadet Han Cheon-seong. We're not going there."
Suddenly, Kali shook her head and gently stopped me.
...And then she pointed in another direction, and I instinctively realized.
The building where instructors in black uniforms were heading, one by one. It was clearly the instructors' exclusive dining hall.
So, instead of the cafeteria for cadets, Kali led me to the instructors' exclusive dining hall, and as I walked alongside her, I found it incredibly novel.
"...Who's that?"
"Yeah, what's going on?"
"Judging by his cadet uniform, he seems to be a C-Class cadet."
"But he's going with an instructor..."
Then, as various comments came from the cadets lined up in front of the cadet dining hall, I couldn't help but feel a thrill.
It would have been strange not to feel thrilled.
—Special treatment.
Anyone could see that I was currently receiving special treatment from Kali, entering the instructors' exclusive dining hall.
"You can look forward to it quite a bit. The quality of the food will be on a completely different level from the cadet cafeteria."
"Thank you."
"You don't need to thank me that much, though. I have some questions for you while we eat. Consider it a kind of compensation."
Listening to Kali's light reply, I entered the instructors' exclusive dining hall, and a gasp of admiration escaped me.
"...Wow."
A luxurious medieval dining hall, like something out of a drama, no, a movie. And it was a buffet, making my mouth water just looking at it.
Compared to the simple meal I had yesterday at the cadet cafeteria to save money... there was an endless spread of high-class dishes, truly on another level.
'Seriously... I'm glad I sparred.'
Perhaps the spar with Leonhard was the greatest stroke of luck for me.
That snowball rolled and rolled until it brought me this much good fortune.
"Hmph... Are you that surprised?"
Watching Kali ask, as if my reaction was cute, my heart pounded even more fiercely.
Lunch with a beautiful woman.
And how could I not feel thrilled when a character I liked was right in front of me, alive and breathing?