Chapter 393: The Master (2)

“Ohhh!”

The painting professor couldn’t contain the exclamation. His gaze was fixed on Victoria’s canvas.

“Impressive, Your Highness.”

Behind him, the other graduate students gathered curiously to observe. Their faces carried the same astonished expression.

“That mixture of violence and tenderness… rough and crude, but precisely because of that it allows the structure to stand out…”

“You’re exaggerating, professor.”

“Exaggerating? Not at all, Your Highness. If anyone is being humble here, it’s you.”

The students nodded as well. Just as the professor said, Victoria’s work conveyed an overwhelming force. Something unprecedented emanated from the canvas and made whoever looked at it shrink back.

The color was only black. The stroke, rough, made it difficult to recognize the figure at first glance, but it seemed to be the silhouette of a man from behind. The man gripped reins tightly.

Around him, a cloud of dust surrounded him.

Ahead, a point of light shone, like the entrance to a tunnel. The title was Sköll and Hati. A scene from that day.

“Now that I think about it… what happened to Sköll and Hati? The last I heard was that they were taken in by a foreign order…”

“The subject itself may not be that special, but what makes this painting unique is that the narrator is you, Your Highness.”

And that was true. Victoria had fought in the Parsy exchange alongside the Heavenly Sword, paired as a priestess.

She had taken those memories and turned them into her Happiest Moment.

A glorious instant for Joaquin, and at the same time, a gesture of respect toward her teacher.

As an educator, the professor could only feel proud.

Victoria shrugged lightly with a small smile.

‘I didn’t do it with that intention, but…’

With this, she had engraved in her classmates’ minds that her relationship with Kang Geom-Ma was something special.

Of course, as a princess it might seem inelegant to boast in such a way. But since it was about the Heavenly Sword, idol of all, it was forgiven.

At that moment, another black stain caught the professor’s eye.

The subject was dark, and the artist was too. Kang Geom-Ma’s famous cousin, Chaerina. She worked silently, apart, but she hadn’t managed to escape the professor’s radar.

“Ohhh…!”

A second exclamation burst from his mouth.

He hurried closer, and the other students followed in a rush, like mice. Victoria also turned, frowning.

The professor stroked his chin as he contemplated the canvas. Finally, with a face full of mixed emotions, he addressed Chaerina.

“It’s a magnificent piece, but… it seems to stray a bit from today’s theme, don’t you think, student Rina?”

Victoria thought the same.

It was an extremely somber painting. The background, covered in absolute black. In the center, a man brought his sword down. Well executed, yes, but in clear contradiction to the keyword happiness.

“…No.”

Chaerina extended her hand.

“When I see this image is when I’m happiest.”

With the tips of her fingers, she caressed the cheek of the man inside the canvas.

***

I left Meian’s laboratory almost fleeing.

“Would you lend me your husband for a while?”

If those words had been taken literally, it would have ended in disaster. The impact was obvious.

Luckily, Ryozo and Abel were mature enough not to interpret it literally.

Even so, the looks they gave me were still piercing. The mere fact of having been alone with Meian, and worse yet, naked in the middle of her Blessing, was reason enough.

‘Of course…’

Even if they understood the truth, it was normal for them to be upset. And if they showed no reaction at all, that would be the sign their feelings for me had cooled.

It was precisely because they loved me so much that they reacted so sensitively.

“…Tonight will be torture.”

I’d have to come up with a convincing strategy to appease them. I admit it—I’m clumsy with these things. When I feel uncomfortable, I tend to evade the situation.

In those moments, I turn into a human candle. The opposite of when I burn in combat. I give off the sense that I’m fading away, sweating as if drops of wax.

If the Sword God, who granted me his Blessing, saw me like this, he’d give me a sermon.

But whatever. Now I’m the Heavenly Sword.

“…Yeah, I’m definitely shaken.”

I muttered as I walked.

It’s a bad habit, I know.

And I know it’s hard to change what’s ingrained in your character.

Especially because I spent entire decades without a partner. For me, reading the hearts of others was never easy.

“…”

Suddenly, a doubt struck me.

Not about my prolonged singleness—that I understood well.

It was something else.

‘Why am I so used to evading difficult situations?’

I, Kang Geom-Ma, am not a man of soft character. My style should be standing up with a “boom!” and slamming the table, not running away.

I frowned. I thought and thought as I wandered aimlessly. And the conclusion I reached was this:

‘…What if deep down I’m carrying some kind of trauma?’

It’s said that those who suffer a serious accident sometimes block the memories in their minds. Could that be my case?

It seemed like an absurd explanation. But if it wasn’t something like that, then not even I could understand myself.

Because every time Ryozo or Abel pressed me too much, I made excuses to escape.

Also, ever since I finished adapting to this life, the memories of my past existence had been seeping through more and more. The memory of a possessed one, gradually fading away.

It made no sense to dig into that past now. The life of Kim ○○ was marked only by shadows. Nothing good would come from stirring that up.

I already had enough problems.

‘I have to contain Chloe’s Blessing. Also find the Villain Union headquarters. And, uncomfortable as it is, contact the Emperor at some point. And on top of that…’

I turned.

The thick trees cast their shadows over me. Between the leaves, pieces of sunlight glimmered. The landscape of Joaquin Academy.

The world I had protected.

The world I had to continue protecting.

“The second apocalypse won’t take long to arrive.”

It had been quite a while since the tragedy of Parsy. People’s memory was beginning to fade. And it was precisely at those times that disasters tended to erupt. It was something I had learned from experience.

Dark clouds were approaching. And that was why I hurried to finish my “pending tasks.” To be prepared before it happened.

The next end was already brewing. Far away, on the other side of the continent.

‘With all this on my plate, I don’t have time to dig into a possible PTSD.’

My character problems were almost embarrassing compared to the urgency of the situation. The priority was dealing with Chloe and her imminent awakening.

If allowed, she’d spiral out of control.

A yandere in frenzy.

Just the thought of it made my heart pound.

“Good thing I went directly to Meian.”

She had focused on the idea of fusing the essence of Blessing with magic.

And the intelligent Ryozo nodded seriously.

With that basis, finding a method to contain the awakening of a Blessing was the priority.

We’d have to meet more often with the academy faculty.

‘If magic and Blessings are more alike than we thought…’

Could there also exist some kind of “magical awakening”? I had never delved that deeply into it.

Magic was my support; my real strength, the edge of my sashimi.

A curious fact is that Lycan, the original corps commander of electric magic, wasn’t a great scholar in his own art either.

He was like me.

He preferred close combat.

For him, magic was just a support tool.

So asking him about “magical awakening” would be useless.

“How ironic… I have the First Corps Commander as a subordinate, and still I have no one to talk to about magic.”

I sighed and ruffled my hair, resuming my steps.

“Ah.”

A floral fragrance came with the wind.

There she was, someone unexpected.

Victoria, sitting on a bench, looking at the sky. In her palm, also raised toward the sun, there were black traces. As if she had rummaged through a pile of charcoal.

“Ah.”

She startled upon noticing my presence. Her eyes, once distracted, instantly regained life.

She tried to stand, but I gestured for her to stay seated. I was the visitor, it would be discourteous for her to get up.

Just as I was turning, her voice reached me and stopped me.

“Heavenly Sword. I…”

I shifted my gaze. Victoria, who had been hesitating, gathered courage and spoke.

“Lord Heavenly Sword, what was the happiest moment of your life…?”

All of a sudden?

I frowned, and Victoria’s cheek flushed. Even the curve of her ear had turned as red as a cherry tomato. At this rate, she was going to let off steam.

“No, it doesn’t have any special meaning. It’s just that that was the topic of today’s conversation class. So, since I ran into you by chance, I thought I’d ask. If it makes you uncomfortable, it doesn’t matter.”

“There’s no reason for it to be uncomfortable.”

I stepped closer with heavy steps and sat beside her. The bench shook. Victoria stiffened, staring straight ahead.

Why was she so nervous?

Setting aside my puzzlement, I thought of a proper answer to her question.

A happy moment… difficult.

Not because there were few, but because there were too many. It was hard to point to just one.

But Victoria didn’t seem to be asking about simple everyday happiness.

Rather, something more fundamental.

“The happiest moment of my life…”

I rubbed the chest of my coat with my thumb. Inside the inner pocket was that solid, reassuring sensation.

“I think it was when I held a sword for the first time.”

The day I grasped a sashimi.

It was the day when, for the first time, I was given a purpose in life.

A moment that allowed me to escape the shadows of the past and dream of the future. Whether in my previous life or in this one, the sashimi was what saved me.

“…I see.”

Victoria’s gaze turned somewhat gloomy. She looked like a drenched cat.

Had I said something inappropriate?

“It seems I still don’t understand enough about you, Lord Heavenly Sword…”

She murmured bitterly.

“About me?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

She quickly stood up.

After brushing the leaves stuck to her skirt, she bowed her head to me.

It seemed she was going to leave just like that, trailing melancholy behind her.

“Victoria.”

Now it was my turn.

“The days I spent with you were happy too. Sure, we saw terrible scenes, but in the end we overcame them and here we are, aren’t we?”

“The… moments you spent with me, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“…”

Victoria hesitated. She bit her lower lip with a coy gesture.

“It’s an honor for you to say that. I felt the same.”

Victoria smiled softly.

“To be honest now, at first I thought you and I weren’t compatible by nature. But, paradoxically, maybe because of that we knew how to complement each other better in critical situations.”

“Incompatible by nature…?”

It was true. She, born as an imperial princess, and I, a promoted special student, were at opposite extremes. Then why did those words lodge themselves in my chest?

“Incompatible… incompatible…”

Ah. Like a hammer of realization, a flash struck my temple. I shot up as if someone had hit the nerves in my knee.

“…Lord Heavenly Sword?”

I grabbed Victoria by the shoulders.

“Thank you, Victoria.”

“E-eh…?”

Suddenly, from her forehead came a sound like that of a boiling kettle.

“Thanks to you, I think I understand.”

Not just the blessing, but also the awakening of magic.

The answer had been far too close all this time.