“What do you mean by that….”
At Kayla’s ominous words, Anakin’s fair face turned deathly pale.
Her brain couldn’t quite process what she was saying.
So, it wasn’t obtained by passing through the traps? Then….
Kayla looked at Anakin with sad eyes.
“Anakin, you really are a kind person who doesn’t know how to suspect others.”
She hung her head and smiled with a look of resignation.
It was an expression Anakin had never seen on her before, so he couldn’t help but be flustered.
“This was my own unilateral action. Lute has nothing to do with it, so please understand that.”
“Kayla….”
Before Anakin could finish his sentence, Kayla’s arm reached toward Anakin’s artifact.
As he hurriedly stepped back, Kayla’s blood arts began to bind his arms and legs.
“This, this is….”
It was the same blood art that had bound Chris during the last joint training.
He quickly cut through the blood art and extracted his mana, but she was already one step closer.
“I am not such a kind person.”
Leaving only those words behind, Kayla snatched the artifact into her hand.
“Do not trust people easily. Anyone at all.”
“…….”
Kayla’s voice drifted into his ears.
Anakin hesitated at those words, but he had to protect the remaining artifacts, so he quickly pulled his body away.
He had already bLocken free from the blood arts binding his body.
One of Anakin’s artifacts was now gripped in Kayla’s hand.
Since it had already been taken, he couldn’t retrieve the artifact for five minutes.
“…….”
Feeling like he had been played, Anakin frowned in despair.
There was no remaining magical power to take back other artifacts, not now….
Kayla must have known that, too. She deployed a smoke screen and naturally fled the scene.
How helpless he felt.
It was an artifact he had obtained only by sacrificing Lucien. He felt resentful of himself for having such a precious artifact taken away so vainly, and he felt… like a fool.
He remembered the battered Lucien, who had muttered at the end to just finish it quickly.
At the same time, a stinging pain pierced his heart.
The feeling of being betrayed by someone he trusted and had shared life and death with was so painful it couldn’t be expressed in words.
“What a fool….”
It was his own fault for showing an opening to a rival.
It was his own negligence that he had completely trusted and let his guard down against a competing opponent on this battlefield.
“I have to take it back….”
Anakin reached out desperately with his fading vision.
However, Kayla’s retreating figure, which had already fled, was nowhere to be seen.
“Lucien….”
Transparent tears were trickling down Anakin’s cheeks.
The training had finally ended.
Among the children who returned, not a single one was in one piece.
Some returned limping with painful expressions, while others—battered and bLocken—barely arrived by crawling on the ground.
There were even some who had not returned at all.
Chris surveyed the group as they arrived, looking slowly around the surroundings.
“Wait a moment.”
About 15 minutes later, Chris returned to this spot, carrying the rest of the children on his back.
It was fascinating to see him rescue them so quickly from that vast forest.
The children, no longer having the strength to even call him a monster, simply slumped down, exhausted.
“Congratulations on completing your mission. You were all excellent enough just by returning here alive.”
Anakin held the collapsed Lucien in his arms and stared at Chris.
“By now, you must have felt what kind of place Pasadian is. The number of disciples who have died in this forest you are currently stepping on is countless. From now on, this will be your daily life.”
“…….”
At those words, the children’s faces turned completely pale.
Just today, they had cheated death countless times.
And now, to be told this would become their daily life… could there be any news more despairing?
There were even children who wept silently, their backs shaking with uncontrollable fear.
Watching them coldly, Chris stood with his hands behind his back and slowly opened his mouth.
“When you become official disciples and go out into the world, do not think that your enemies will show you any mercy.”
“…….”
“From the moment you learned the art of killing, you must always be prepared to die, anytime and anywhere.”
“…….”
“Whether it is swordsmanship or magic, that is the life of a warrior. Those who struggle with this level of difficulty would have eventually been devoured and killed by their enemies regardless, even if not now.”
At those words, Anakin closed his eyes with a weary face.
This was the way of Pasadian, so he had no choice but to follow it.
The world was swarming with all kinds of monsters, and there were countless evil forces as well.
Just as Chris said, a wizard was someone who never knew when or where they might die.
To gain power, one must bear the corresponding responsibility. Wasn’t that exactly what Chris was trying to say?
“The results have been organized on the screen, so check them yourselves. I will tell you your final grades during the next training session.”
Anakin looked at the magic screen with trembling eyes.
- Lute, Kayla – 6 pieces
- Hilde, Mantis – 3 pieces
- Anakin, Lucien – 2 pieces
- Locke, Hess – 1 piece
- Lana, Henry – 1 piece
As Anakin stared blankly at the result board, Hilde approached and spoke to him.
“Anakin.”
Hilde was in relatively good shape. He glanced briefly at Lucien, who was lying unconscious on Anakin’s lap, then fixed his gaze back on Anakin.
Just looking at his soaked clothes, eyelashes, white skin stained with blood, and the fallen Lucien, one could tell how difficult a time he had gone through.
Hilde silently wiped Anakin’s cheek with his sleeve.
“Leave Lucien to the healing mages.”
Just then, healing mages appeared via warp.
The way they habitually looked for patients was natural.
One of them approached.
“Are you alright?”
It was Ren, the healing mage with green hair and glasses.
He was also the only healing mage Anakin visited most frequently at Pasadian recently.
He looked at Lucien, whose condition appeared serious, and said,
“Let’s heal this child first.”
Ren, looking familiar with the situation, took Lucien and laid him on a mobile medical bed.
Watching the well-coordinated movements of the healing mages, it seemed they hadn’t gone through this once or twice.
Their skilled, professional movements left a strangely reliable impression.
“What happened?”
At Hilde’s gentle tone, Anakin had to suppress the urge to whine about what had occurred.
“Just… busy passing through traps.”
When Anakin answered calmly, Hilde tilted his head and said,
“Your face looks very sorrowful, though.”
“…….”
Anakin, who had opened his eyes wide like a little mouse, soon shook his head.
“I told you, it’s not….”
His mature demeanor seemed to have a spell cast on it that made anyone want to lean on him.
Having gone through all those hardships, looking at him made Anakin feel like he might burst into tears for no reason.
At that moment, Ren, who had left Lucien with other healers, ran over urgently.
“Anakin.”
Ren and Anakin were quite close.
Having examined Anakin’s physical condition throughout his time at Pasadian, he knew his state better than anyone.
That was why Ren was even more worried about Anakin.
As expected, his brow was furrowed.
“I’ll start by stopping the bleeding.”
He placed his hands on the areas where the wounds were deepest.
While his wounds were healing, Anakin stared into space, grabbing the collar of Hilde’s clothes.
As Hilde looked at him, as if asking why, Anakin quietly muttered.
“I don’t know if I can trust you….”
Of course, it was something he spat out in a fit of pique after the incident with Kayla.
He recalled what she had said to him on the day of the test.
Her statement back then, telling him to be wary of Hilde.
Wouldn’t he eventually betray him, too….
Hilde was silent for a long time.
It was when Anakin’s hand, which had been gripping his collar, fell limp and he was still staring painfully into the void.
Hilde suddenly grasped Anakin’s hand. Anakin blinked at the warmth that touched him.
Hilde gently stLocked the corner of Anakin’s red eyes with his other hand.
“You don’t have to trust me.”
“…….”
Anakin’s pupils, facing Hilde’s face, wavered pitifully. His golden eyes were shining warmly, as if saying it was okay to be fussy.
“Because I have no choice but to trust you now.”
Anakin’s firmly shut red lips opened as if to say something, then closed again.
Unconditional trust.
Only then did he recall Hilde’s face, which had been off-target during the final blood battle when he had fallen into the labyrinth.
“…….”
Anakin blinked his eyelashes slowly.
Come to think of it, he had never once questioned why Hilde took care of him so much.
Since entering Pasadian, they had somehow become close, and they had always looked out for each other first.
They had been together the whole time, but he had never properly doubted him even once.
Even now, he didn’t think Hilde’s words were a lie.
Perhaps he was the one who desperately wanted to trust him.
Hilde covered Anakin’s eyes with his large palm.
“Sleep a little. I’ll take you to your room.”
“…….”
Anakin let his eyes drift closed, burying his face in Hilde’s chest.
In the arms of the only person he could rely on in the heart of Pasadian, where there was no one else to trust.
