Chapter 80: A Hidden Power

“Karvald, where are you going? That’s not the direction of the dormitory.”

After arriving at the Academy and getting off the carriage, I tried to slip away alone and head down a different path, but Reysir immediately noticed and intervened.

Since it went against my character to announce my schedule before anyone asked, I simply turned away without a word.

My destination wasn’t a secret place, so I didn’t bother to hide it.

“I’m going to the Private Training Hall.”

“You said you’re not participating in the martial arts tournament, yet you’re so dedicated.”

“It’s because of the Sky-Blue Aether. To manipulate it, I need to consume Purple Aether. So, I thought I’d also train other things while I’m at it…”

Upon reading that line, many of you might be wondering, “Isn’t Sky-Blue Aether training supposed to be done with Professor Radvisin?”

Allow me to explain.

If this were a web novel, around Chapter 50 there would have been a line like: [Now, I can draw out Sky-Blue Aether without reaching a state of exhaustion, barely leaving some Purple Aether remaining.]

That means I can now train with Sky-Blue Aether without worrying about the side effects of Aether depletion. Plus, Yor is always by my side, so if I try to push myself too hard, there’s someone to stop me!

That’s why, even during Professor Radvisin’s busy exam period, I was able to steadily train with Sky-Blue Aether every day.

Thanks to that, I can now extract Sky-Blue Aether while still keeping 10% of Purple Aether remaining.

“Hmm? You can’t use Sky-Blue Aether without consuming Purple Aether?”

“It’s improving gradually, but that’s still how it is.”

“I see…”

In the original story, Reysir was able to use his Second Ether immediately after acquiring it.

Although he couldn’t toggle his passive skill [Truth-Reading Eye] on and off as he wished, so he had to wear an eye patch for now.

That’s simply because of low skill level and mastery, something time will fix.

Anyway, since Reysir had no trouble using his Second Ether, it’s understandable from his point of view that I’m struggling just to draw out Sky-Blue Aether.

I left him deep in thought and turned my body again.

But then…

“Let’s go together!”

Reysir followed closely beside me, forcing me to stop just as I had pulled away.

‘What on earth was his intention in asking to go together?’

I gave him a glare filled with that question, and he answered:

“My goal is to win this martial arts tournament. So, I want to train a bit.”

That was obviously a lie.

Reysir’s skill had long surpassed first-year level.

If there weren’t restrictions barring first-years from participating in the overall school tournament for safety reasons,

He could definitely defeat fifth-years and claim the overall championship.

‘Then why would he choose to train at this hour with a tired body after playing around so much? For a tournament he’s obviously going to win?’

That suspicion grew in my mind, but I couldn’t call him out on it.

If I took Reysir’s martial prowess for granted, he’d definitely ask how I knew.

And that question alone would be fortunate enough.

People always think based on themselves.

He might mistake me for having an ability like [Truth-Reading Eye] too and try to peek into my skill window.

I wanted to avoid that situation for reasons mentioned back in Chapter 61, so I nodded in feigned agreement to his excuse and replied, “Fine, then.”

“Then I’ll train too… Ah…”

Hearing Reysir say he’s going to train for the martial arts tournament, maybe Vigdis felt she had to step up.

She took a step to follow us but soon sighed upon realizing her outfit.

“I have to stop by my room and change first…”

“Ah, uh… I-I’ll change my clothes and then go train…”

Liolikin followed Vigdis’ words word for word, watching me closely.

I suspected they were both just making excuses, not confident in achieving the goals I set, hoping to at least claim they tried hard later.

“But Kar and Reysir, aren’t you going to change?”

“I already left a change of clothes with Yor.”

“Meow meow!!”

“I always keep a change of clothes at the Private Training Hall.”

Since everyone had seen Yor pull out the whiteboard from the Yeouiju before, no one asked for further explanation.

And upon hearing that, Vigdis admired the idea, saying, “That’s a great method… I should do that from now on.”

‘There’s no way an inventory holder would bother leaving clothes at the Private Training Hall!

Of course, even an awakened person’s inventory has limited capacity, so they can’t just throw in anything and everything.

But since I don’t need to lug around survival gear with the Demon Realm Conquest still in mind, keeping an extra set of clothes in the inventory makes sense.’

“So, right now, is it just Karvald and me heading to the Tower of Training? Then Hailga should rest well in her room, and Vigdis and Liolikin should train hard. Let’s meet tomorrow morning at the Dining Hall!”

Reysir called out to the three of them by name instead of nicknames, probably being mindful since it was the weekend after exams and many students who had been out playing had just returned for dinner.

“Yes, see you tomorrow.”

“Reysir and Kar, train hard.”

“I-I’ll really, really do my best…!”

Hailga greeted normally, Vigdis offered words of encouragement, and Liolikin busied himself boasting about his not-yet-started effort.

Following Karvald’s character, I said nothing back and headed toward the Tower of Training.

Reysir matched my pace but waved at the three heading to the dormitory.

Since few students train right after playing around like us, the number of students wandering around decreased as we neared the Tower of Training.

***

As I noticed that, Reysir suddenly grabbed my wrist tightly and stopped walking.

“What are you doing?”

“I have something to say, but you’d hate it if I asked to talk inside the Private Training Hall, right?”

“That’s obvious. Like I said before, we’re not the kind of people who go in and out of each other’s personal spaces.”

“Just as I thought you’d say that. Then shall we go somewhere secluded for a moment?”

I had only said I wouldn’t enter his Private Training Hall but never agreed to talk with him.

Still, he took me to a quiet place as if considering my convenience.

His sly attempt to achieve his goal was ridiculous, but I thought, ‘So he really came along using training as an excuse because he has something to say.’

Instead of resisting, I chose to go quietly.

When we reached a place with no one around, Reysir stopped and I finally shook off his hand.

“What do you want to say, coming all the way to such a secluded place?”

“Before that, can you look at this for a moment?”

He raised his hand behind his head and…

Pok.

“Ah!!”

Many of you might be startled by the sudden scream, so let me briefly explain what just happened.

Reysir untied the knot and removed his eye patch, and I accidentally poked his revealed Silver Ethere eye with my finger.

It wasn’t intentional but a reflex.

If it happens again, I’ll probably do it on purpose next time.

Thinking that, I felt genuinely sorry seeing him clutch his right eye and complain in pain.

So, the apology just slipped out.

“Sorry. Does it hurt a lot?”

“Of course it hurts! Why would you do that?”

“You suddenly took off the eye patch… I was surprised.”

“It’s not like it’s my pants, it’s just an eye patch! Is that something that should make you poke my eye?!”

If he’d taken off his pants, I’d have kicked him in the crotch instead.

I thought this but never said it out loud.

I didn’t want to be misunderstood as being friendly enough to join his wordplay.

“Hmm, hmm… I guess it’s normal to be startled. Anyway, is that Silver Ethere eye what you wanted to show me?”

“You saw it so well in that brief moment.”

“Well, I was able to poke the exact spot with my finger because I saw it, right?”

“Just to be clear… you didn’t do it on purpose?”

“No, I swear to the heavens, it was really an accidental poke from being startled.”

If Reysir shows me his Silver Ethere eye again someday, I plan to poke it deliberately.

But that hasn’t happened yet, so for now, I’m innocent.

Feeling my sincerity in that confident attitude, Reysir stopped pressing me and silently put his eye patch back on.

“Anyway, now that you’ve seen my eye color, you know I also possess two types of Aether.”

“Why do you hide that?”

Having read the original story, I naturally knew the reason but asked deliberately to avoid showing it.

So I wasn’t necessarily expecting an answer.

“Actually, I got this Silver Ethere when misfortune struck our fief… no, the fief of our family.”

“……!”

The sudden dark expression and mention of a heavy past caught me off guard.

“Because of an unknown strange phenomenon… the environment of the fief changed drastically.”

There was a long pause between his words.

Like he wanted to say something else but swallowed it down, unable to utter it.

I guessed he almost said everyone except him died.

My throat tightened along with him.

Because of that, I couldn’t even tell him to stop talking and quietly listened to what came next.

“So the royal family took over the fief to investigate, but if the royal court learns I have this new Aether, I might become a research subject too. Dyuf—Helly’s father, my guardian—said that, so I’ve been hiding it.”

He didn’t seem willing to reveal that he wears an eye patch because he can’t control his passive skill.

Well, if he did, I’d probably guess the skill involves “seeing something with the eye,” so it makes sense to keep silent.

“But why tell me such a secret you have to hide and find hard to speak of?”

“Because you asked?”

“Do you think that answers the question?”

“That incident is already well-known, right? So obviously you knew about it, and also…”

He trailed off, hesitated for a moment with an “Um…” but soon spoke again.

“Sure, I probably didn’t need to say this much, but I somehow wanted to confide in you. I feel like you’d understand.”

“Understand what?”

“Well, I wonder what that is.”

He didn’t seem inclined to explain further.

I stared quietly at Reysir’s face for a while, then ran my hand through my long hair and sighed deeply.

“If you thought I’d pity you and treat you kindly, or that my heart would soften so I couldn’t be harsh with you, you’re mistaken.”

“Hahaha! You’re always so consistent.”

Reysir laughed cheerfully.

But I clearly saw his mouth corner, which had once drooped, was still not quite back to normal, still pointing downward.

Damn it.