There really wasn’t much you could learn about Juliette in the game. It was as though once she died, all of her traces disappeared, or there were none to begin with.

He spent countless hours of his gameplays researching her person, but the most he understood about her was at the very birthplace of the Calamity.

From the head maid of the Duke’s mansion, he learned a lot about her, but he didn’t take to heart most of the maid’s experiences with her. After all, she herself wasn’t so pure.

Still, from the old lady, he got to know of Juliette’s favorite place to hide, ever since she was a child. It was also her who told him of the young lady’s obsession with magic, which could never be fulfilled.

She was born into this world to a family consisting only of knights. At a young age, her father forced her to learn the skills of their household, despite her being born as a monster holding the Calamity.

Though she treated it as shame, Juliette still reached the grade many dreamed of with just her sword.

After a few minutes, he finally arrived, but the skewers already started to turn cold.

Standing before the large tree encompassing the edge of the waters, he admired the view. A tepid breeze caressed him, reminiscing him of the days back home.

Glancing at the beautiful, sparse green forest beyond the lake, he saw the old trees dancing with the wind of the summer.

The glimmering blue water painted a beautiful portrait of the bright sun. Like the mirror to the fae world, the lake’s belle seemed to have magical properties.

Mana that flowed through here was deeper and of better quality than normal, as though nature had been blessed by the fairies.

Conall stared at the Lake of the Calm Fairy quietly. Precisely, he kept looking at the space behind the tree.

“How did you find me?”

He shrugged his shoulders to the eyes of no one.

“I felt that you would be here.”

“Felt? What nonsense. I didn’t even feel you use mana to track me.”

“Do they call it clairvoyance? It seems like I have it. Besides, mana is useless. At least to me.”

Juliette flinched suddenly, however, she quickly recovered after he finished speaking.

“Can I take a seat beside you?”

“Uh, sure. No, please do.”

Going behind the tree, he saw the girl. This time, she didn’t conceal her face with the gray, sewed-up robes. Her long, silver hair seemed to reflect light despite being in the shade. When he looked at her face, he saw the light gray eyes of her puffed and reddened.

As she made some room for him to sit, he put the box of three skewers in his hand on the grass before sitting down comfortably, leaning against the wide tree.

“You didn’t have to. We met just yesterday.”

“It’s my pleasure. Besides, does it matter when we met? I think we made a good duo in the forest.”

Though she made a remark about it, she seemed happy inwardly, apparent from how she savored the skewer and sat closely to him.

Having eaten their fill, they remained there for a few minutes. Time seemed to have paused in that very tree’s shade.

“Why aren’t you making the sky rain?”

All of a sudden, she asked.

“To my knowledge, I’m not some sort of a god.”

She smiled at his reply, however, a second later, he could see sadness deep inside her eyes.

“It rains usually. Every time someone meets or sees me, it’s as though the goddess punishes me for seeing another person. But you, it’s not like that with you. With you, it’s not raining.”

“Maybe because I’m not scared of the Calamity inside you?”

“That’s not it. I’ve met countless arrogant fools like you.”

She shook her head before sending a quick jab, though a verbal one. Not taking the words seriously, he added.

“Then, maybe the calamity itself doesn’t see me as a potential threat?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean, can’t you see it? No, I know you can, Professor. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have run away.”

“I don’t understand.”

“That hatred of theirs. Disguised as a happy gaze, boiling with fear and hate underneath.”

Conall said while looking at the sun reflected on top of the water’s surface. His eyes drifted, not looking anywhere specifically.

“You mean to say, the calamity inside moves whenever it feels negative emotions towards me?”

“Yes, that’s what I think, at least.”

He said while nodding.

A sudden realization hit her. The words that Conall just uttered were the missing pieces of her long dilemma.

“That’s it. You’re right.”

With a mutter, she drifted into her thoughts. All the years of memories she spent locked in her room resurfaced, hitting her like a meteor.

“Thank you, even if just a little bit, you helped me understand it.”

A tear streamed down her cheek as she thanked the boy beside her. For all these years, she had no one by her side who would help unveil that forbidden part of herself. To finally find someone who didn’t hate the two of her, she didn’t know how to react.

So, she cried her heart away. No, she simply wanted to release the years of pent-up emotions and it just happened that that was the fastest and easiest way.

Conall looked at her sincerely. Lending her a shoulder to cry on, he waited until she came back to herself.

He didn’t know how much time passed, but to him, it was a time well spent.

After a while, when her eyes finally dried out, she asked a question she had from earlier while still leaning on him.

“Why do you think mana is useless? Without it, you couldn’t be here.”

“As I said earlier, it’s useless to me. Literally. If you don’t believe me, you can check for yourself.”

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With a confused look, she sat upright beside him. Truly, she didn’t believe him in any way. Juliette knew he was a liar already, but to this extent, she almost felt insulted.

Still, she stretched out her hand and touched his chest. She needed to inspect the area near his heart. As her aura started to connect with his body, her eyes widened.

Covering her mouth with the free hand, she was left speechless. Her worst nightmare was sitting right beside her.

“Your core! It’s gone! How?!”

“I wished for it.”

His answer left her further stupefied. Mana was the driving factor of growth, strength, and life. Juliette didn’t understand him in any way. He must have been lying to cover up something because she couldn’t believe it any other way.

If someone other than her heard it, they would still be on her side. There were only benefits to mana, even as a knight.

Heightening the processes of the mind, a knight could become quicker in reactions. And that was only the basic use of mana for aura users. There were countless more she could think of such as body fortification and mana enhancement.

Then, why?

“Because this is the only way I can be the strongest.”

With a vague, mysterious sentence, he left her in spirals of wonder.

Standing up from the now small shade, he gave her, who was still confused, a hand. Was it to make her forget about his core? Not really. He just wanted to do it. Something she probably wasn’t accustomed to.

“Professor, how about a spar to end today’s meeting?”

“A spar? But I’ve never had any.”

“That’s exactly why. You’re too used to fighting monsters. You don’t need to hide anymore, or at least with me.”

Still seated on the grass, Juliette glanced up at her student. Illuminated by the setting sun, his red hair seemed to glow. Looking at that stupid smile of his, she herself couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t feel like they met just one day ago.

“But, am I not too strong for you, even as a form of training?”

Juliette added while taking his hand and standing up. They talked while walking away from the lake.

“You can adjust your strength to my level, no? Also, no skills and aura allowed. We will be sparring only with swords.”

“Eh?? That’s so boring.”

“That’s true, but it will make me stronger.”

He added before unsheathing his rusty sword. Standing a few meters apart from her, he prepared his usual stance, which left a manifold of questions in Juliette’s head.

‘What’s with all of these openings? It’s like they lure you in.’

Juliette nodded after witnessing a bit of his swordsmanship. Having a spar might be interesting, after all.

Limiting the two of her cores, as well as the strength of her muscles, the only advantage she had right now was her high stats in mind, which were beyond 50.

Nonetheless, she took up her sword with excitement in her heart. This was the first time she had battled with a real human that wasn’t a fight to the death. Nor was she forced into it.

With a step forward, using her house’s movement technique, she appeared before Conall. Since there were so many, she took advantage of one of the countless openings in his stance.

Yet, before she even moved there, Conall appeared to transform his grip in a way that would allow him to fend off the attacker.

As her slim, white blade lunged towards his right breast, he flicked his sword against hers subtly, changing the blade’s trajectory to barely miss him.

If Juliette was at the same level as Conall, she probably would have been flabbergasted by the defense. If not for her high perception, she also wouldn’t have seen him deflect the attack.

Even now, she was sure the attack would hit, yet, it suddenly appeared in another space. His way with the sword was bizarre, she had to admit. However, it was refined. Not only that, he was good at reading the opponent.

Grabbing the handle with a tighter grip, she lunged forward once again.

Conall watched as Juliette swung her sword for the second time. While to many his movements may have seemed insane and nonsensical, they usually failed to notice its grandeur.

Watching the faint muscles on her arms writhe in systemic ways, he prepared his left collarbone. Swiftly moving to the side, the sword missed by a few inches, however, Juliette stopped trying to be played by him.

Quickly recovering, she attacked him with the pommel of her sword. Blocking the attack to his stomach, he closed the distance, finally swinging the rusty piece of metal for the first time.

Although Conall was good at reading his opponent, so was the girl before him. Jumping to the side, she evaded the attack, which would've surely hit her.

“You’re pretty good, professor.”

“Can’t say the same about you, though.”

With a grunt, Juliette moved forward, launching herself like a wolf hunting prey.

He had almost no room to move because her skill allowed her speed to multiply. She was already back in his range of motion, yet he couldn’t respond quickly enough. Even though they were meant to not use skills, he couldn’t do anything about when she used it.

Preparing himself for the attack, Conall blocked the attack with his sword, similar to what he did yesterday against the spells. Unfortunately, this wasn’t just a spell anymore.

The brunt of her weapon sent him to the ground, rolling in the grass like a barrel downhill. Despite her strength being restricted down to his stats, the upside of her overcoming two gates was still there. The quality of her strength was simply much higher than his.

Nonetheless, Conall quickly stood up, with a smile on his face. This was exactly what he wanted. Only with these fights would his sword be able to grow quickly.

Cementing his feet to the ground, he watched the incoming girl.

‘Wait, wait, wait, isn’t she a bit too excited?’

Moving around to the side, he took on the duke’s daughter. As she came near him, she swung with both of her arms. Conall felt as the full force of the sword rapidly approached.

But, that didn’t stop him. He attacked purely the blade, hoping to decrease its momentum. The clang of their sword reverberated across the small, veiled lake near the forest on the opposite side of Octa.

His arms shook as he tried her power. She glided her blade across his sword, prying away from his grasp, but he quickly recovered.

Twisting his body, the opponent’s weapon couldn’t reach him anymore. Instead, his blade reached her shoulder. However, before it could hit her, she stopped it with her hand. As though hitting a tree, he was stopped completely while Juliette smiled cheekily.

With a swift kick to his stomach, he was once again sent flying.

Lying on the ground, gasping for air, he heard her speak. With heavy breaths, he replied.

“Do you want more?”

“Of… course.”

“Hehe.”

…

Stars paved her way. Dwelling in night’s embrace, she was used to it. Listening to the jargon of the trees below her, her broomstick sped up.

Soon, she could finally see it. In the distance, there was the familiar main building of the academy. Adjacent to it, there stood the dean’s tower.

Flying close to it, she knocked on the windows. Not having to wait long, the old, wooden frames opened by themselves, little to her surprise.

Adjusting his glasses, the dean sat at his desk, constantly glancing through the heaps of papers.

“You’re already back from the expedition?”

He asked while putting away the papers he was reading for a moment. There was a hint of anticipation she could see in his eyes.

“Yes, I am. Unfortunately.”

The dean closed his eyes before sighing.

“Just tell me.”

“Nothing but a fluke. However, I was able to dig this up there.”

From her inventory ring, she retrieved a large bone similar to that of a femur. The only thing it differed in was its size. She held the bone, which was half her height while being as thick as her own thigh.

“Is it their bone?”

“Their femur, yes. The rest of the body had already been disposed of by whatever means.”

“Would you be able to recreate it?”

“What?”

Her eyes wavered slightly as he said it. Even though she was a witch, tampering with life using mana was blasphemy in her books. It was comparable to no less than necromancy.

“That’s not what I mean. Can you recreate the bone marrow from the bone? Their blood might finally be possible to obtain.”

His eyes glowed as he suggested an idea.

Although not nearly as gruesome as recreation of life, she was still somewhat opposed to it. Besides, she had her doubts if she could even do it.

“I can try, however, I can’t guarantee there’s even a chance. Besides, the mana control needed for this is not something I am able to achieve usually.”

“I’ll give you our best equipment. Please, at least give it a try.”

After a minute of deep consideration, she finally caved in.

“Fine, I’ll do it. Can I now get my part?”

“Yes, yes, you did finish the expedition, after all. Here it is, as we agreed.”

Pulling out a blue box from his ring, her breath turned ragged for a moment before she calmed down.

‘If this can’t help me.’

She thought in her head as the box floated into her hands.

“As promised, the mandrake fruits are yours. Just don’t eat too many at once, or you’ll explode.”

For the first time, she showed respect to the dean by bowing down.

“Thank you, dean.”

“Sigh, you only show it when I’m giving you something, so don’t bother. You can go now.”

With a sigh, he started to dismiss her. However, when he recalled something, he suddenly called out.

“That reminds me, there has been a shortage of the dormitories lately. This year, we barely fit all of the students since we increased the number of students that were admitted four years ago. Together with the planned increase yet again, we plan to build even more.”

“What’s that to do with me?”

All of this seemed random to her.

“The last student we were assigning rooms to had only one option left, which was yours.”

Although slightly surprised, she quickly brushed it off.

“Ah, well, it doesn’t really matter. I haven’t used that room in probably over a decade. I spend most of the time at the lab you gave me.”

“Is that so? Then, maybe you should reconsider it? Just look at those eyebags of yours. You’re slowly killing yourself, even if you have a mana reinforced body.”

Like a worried father, he reprimanded her lightly, but she didn’t reply. Her emotionless face gave him a loud enough answer. Yet, he might have preferred if she screamed at him rather than this.

“Sleep has no use for me anyway.”

Saying that, she turned around before leaving through the window.

“You will be back as a professor in two days, remember that.”

“I will try to.”

The windows shut themselves and he was left alone in his office. Grudgingly, the dean went back to the countless papers on his desk.