Chapter 329: A Bitter Defeat

“Why is that guy hanging around there when his room is right in front of him?”

Did Rei hear Hailga’s voice?

The protagonist of another novel was seen slowly lifting his upper body.

His haggard complexion aside, his clothes were torn to shreds—a truly pitiful sight.

‘His condition looked bad when I saw him at lunch, but I don’t remember it being this bad…!’

Since my dear readers might be curious about why the protagonist of another novel ended up in such a state, I’ll jot down here what Rei later rambled about.

Unlike Skadi, who worried about him getting hurt and sent us off nicely.

Bjorn, saying he planned to rest after dinner, seemed to have driven Rei mercilessly, telling him to give it his all until the last drop.

Especially in the final hour, whether victory or defeat was decided, they continued the spar without even a moment to catch breath.

“I couldn’t muster the courage to climb the stairs right away, so I was resting for a bit…”

Was it because his childhood friend looked so pathetic, as if his very soul had been drained, saying such words?

Hailga pointed at Rei, calling out “Karbaldr young lord…” using the name of the possession body.

Her words carried a request to use a buff on him.

“Tch. I was planning to do that anyway.

Having such a filthy person in the space where food is prepared isn’t good for hygiene.”

I clicked my tongue and activated the [Encourage] skill.

Only then did my acquaintance, with a look that said he might survive, thank me and completely peel himself off the sofa.

Seeing that, Hailga commented,

“Rei, so you’re not invincible after all?”

“What obvious thing are you saying?

I’ve got a long way to go compared to the professors…”

A person who’s still just a student smiled bitterly while comparing himself to a professor.

He said it was obvious, but it seems he finds it hard to accept in his heart.

Given that he’s had many spars with professors aiming for incentives.

The fact that he showed such a reaction out of the blue makes me think he didn’t land a single proper blow against Bjorn and got beaten one-sidedly.

‘Or maybe it’s because, unlike him who was exhausted from repeated spars and couldn’t muster strength, Bjorn remained perfectly fine, which made him feel intimidated!’

Rei hasn’t said anything yet, but there’s a reason I’m guessing this.

Bjorn’s endurance stat in the original work was over 200.

According to the setting of Nas-e, when a physical ability stat exceeds 200, one is considered to have reached the realm of a superhuman.

In the pre-remake original, Bjorn appeared much later than now.

So his current stat might be lower, but it’s still much higher than Rei’s.

“That’s true too.

We’re still students.”

Hailga muttered in understanding and lightly patted her childhood friend’s shoulder as if to cheer him up.

Then she said to quickly wash up, eat dinner, and get plenty of rest, before disappearing into the passage leading to the women’s dormitory.

‘As for me… it doesn’t matter if I don’t say anything, right?’

From the possession body’s perspective, already casting a buff is more than enough kindness.

Adding words of encouragement now would be a clear case of breaking character.

Besides, the protagonist of another novel has been overly cocky lately, so I felt he needed to taste a bitter defeat at least once.

‘And since that defeat came from a spar with a professor rather than real combat, it’s a very good thing.’

So even seeing Rei dejected, I didn’t feel the need to tell him to cheer up.

Thus, without a word, I turned around abruptly and walked toward the men’s dormitory.

“Ah, wait up!”

Rei quickly followed behind me, but he was silent without a word while climbing the stairs.

Normally, he’d be chattering away about this and that.

Seeing him keep his mouth shut, he must have really been exhausted.

“Karbaldr, hold on a moment.”

The protagonist of another novel spoke up when we reached the fifth floor where the dorm rooms were.

He could have asked to talk during or after dinner, but he chose this timing instead.

“I hope you’re not about to say you’ll come to my room after dinner.”

“Why not?”

“Right now, thanks to my buff skill, you’re in slightly better shape, but that’s only a temporary effect.

If you don’t rest properly today, tomorrow will be extremely difficult.

And let me add, in case you misunderstand, I’m not saying this out of concern for you, but for myself.

I’m only holding on because of the buff effect too.”

“Oh, is that so…?”

The corner of the protagonist of another novel’s mouth twitched upward.

He must be misunderstanding that I’m actually worried about him but making excuses because I’m embarrassed to admit it.

Despite me clearly telling him not to misunderstand.

But wasting energy explaining to correct his misunderstanding would contradict my own words.

I glared at him once, then resumed walking.

No, I tried to.

If the following words hadn’t been heard.

“I wanted to consult you about the skill I got yesterday…”

“If that’s what it is, didn’t we finish talking about it yesterday?”

“It’s something different.”

Hearing it was about a skill, I couldn’t just ignore it.

The academy was swallowed by the demonic realm just yesterday, and we’re scheduled to stay inside the academy until the suspension ends.

So there won’t be any real combat for a while.

‘So putting off the conversation for a few days probably won’t cause any major trouble… but this curiosity of mine is the issue.’

After a moment of internal conflict, instead of turning away coldly, I leaned my back against the wall, crossed my arms, and parted my lips.

“I’m not planning to respond right away, but I’ll at least listen.

So explain as briefly as possible.”

“While training with Professor Bjorn on the back mountain earlier, it suddenly occurred to me,

‘Couldn’t this skill also detect hidden traps?’

After all, it’s a skill that ‘perceives’ hidden things, right?

But…”

“You couldn’t find anything even when using the skill?”

“Yeah.

Even though there was a trap set there.”

I decided not to ask how he knew that.

The answer was obvious.

‘Of course he knows because he suffered when the trap went off in that spot!’

Anyway, curiosity satisfied.

To put it metaphorically, Rei has just managed to flip over, but he’s asking for advice because he can’t run yet.

In short, this is a problem that will naturally be solved as his skill proficiency increases.

“Am I wrong about this?”

“No, I think your approach itself is correct.

It’s just that your level hasn’t reached that point yet.

You said yesterday you used that skill to pinpoint the location of the magic core inside the boss monster.

But at that time, your ether characteristic ability was enhanced by my buff skill.

And isn’t it easier to detect an ‘energy cluster’ than an ordinary object that doesn’t contain any energy?”

“Ah… that makes sense…?”

I stared at the protagonist of another novel with a deliberately disappointed expression.

Then he gave an awkward laugh, looking embarrassed.

I may not have repaid all the times I’ve been treated as a tsundere, but I felt quite satisfied to have succeeded in a small revenge.

‘Anyway, I only planned to listen and have a proper conversation later… but since the issue was so trivial, I ended up resolving the question in one go.’

I felt a bit embarrassed that my words and actions didn’t match, but since the protagonist of another novel hadn’t noticed yet, I decided to just let it slide.

So when I uncrossed my arms, pushed off the wall, and showed intent to return to my room,

“Karbaldr.

When you get used to training and have some energy to spare, can you spare some time and go to the back mountain with me?

I want to confirm in advance whether I can detect traps with my skill if you use the [Encourage] skill.”

Rei, having shaken off his embarrassment, made this request.

Since Pret, a trap expert, is in the special class for awakened, this didn’t feel like an urgent issue to me.

But the protagonist of another novel seemed to want to confirm it as quickly as possible, preferably within the suspension period.

Probably because he still doesn’t trust Pret.

The fact that Pret is skilled with traps might actually be a source of anxiety for Rei.

“Well… fine.

It’s not a difficult request.”

At this point, I answered without thinking much, but that was a mistake.

Looking at the results, the protagonist of another novel’s request was extremely difficult.

For reference, the reason I’m narrating this separately from the dialogue will be revealed in the next chapter.

Three days later, at dawn.

Due to the reason mentioned above, Yore and I headed to the academy’s back mountain with the protagonist of another novel.

“Since it’s boring to just walk in silence, how about we talk about what we didn’t get to say in your room the other day?”

As we walked, breathing in the cold March morning air, Rei brought up the matter from Chapter 326.

If it’s a conversation we have to have anyway, it’s more efficient to do it now than later.

So I didn’t feel like refusing, but…

*’Could it be that wanting to check if [Eye that Perceives Truth] can find traps with my buff skill is just an excuse?

Maybe he just wanted to walk quietly and talk with me?’*

This thought crossed my mind for a moment.

But if I asked and got a no, it would be terribly embarrassing, so I decided to bury that question.

“Hmph, do as you please.”

“Pfft! Thanks.”

His attitude and tone didn’t match someone who was genuinely grateful.

I don’t even know why he’s laughing.

“So, what exactly do you want to talk about?”

“It’s about your attitude toward Svein.”

“…”

I knew this topic would come up with Rei sooner or later.

I’ve told him before not to think badly of Fjodra unconditionally, using the excuse of distinguishing friend from foe.

And even after knowing Pret was a member of the Information Guild, I didn’t particularly guard against him.

From that perspective, it’s rather late for the protagonist of another novel to bring this up now.

His judgment must have been clouded by the absurd delusion that I’m jealous of him getting close with Svein.