This Novel is not my Chapter 84: Tournament Preparation (7)

"Wanna try again? This ti I'll adjust to your level."

"It's fine. It's not like my skill will improve just from sparring a few more tis right now. More importantly, I ca to the training ground today for a different purpose."

"You an getting used to the sky blue Ether, right?"

Reisir asked to confirm, and I answered with a light nod.

Then the other party made a new proposal.

"Why don't we just try separating the Ether right now? I'll help you."

"Didn't you already tell the location of the Ether Core in the head and the path leading to it? What more help could you possibly offer?"

"I only confird it once. And that was through soone else's body, not your own. On top of that, you spent all your ntal energy on training afterward, so your mory might've gotten fuzzy or mixed up, right?"

"Get to the point."

"To make sure, shouldn't I inject Ether into you and directly guide it to the core in your head?"

It was a valid argunt.

Which was exactly why it felt suspicious.

I wondered whether he had told the location of the core before training because he intended this from the start.

"And earlier, I only taught you one path, right? But to circulate Ether, you need two paths. There is a thod where you send the Ether down from the head, circulate it only through the body, then send it back up to the head, but..."

"It seems there are advantages to circulating it through the head."

"That's right! Ether Cultivation becos more efficient, and there's also the side effect of clearing your mind!"

This was information that had never appeared in the original novel.

It was striking that while everyone else only circulated Ether within the torso, Reisir alone used a circulation route that included the head.

What was even the point of giving the protagonist an exclusive privilege like that if the author wasn't going to ntion it in the story?

Internally cursing the original author's negligence, I questioned the original protagonist as though demanding an explanation.

"Then why did you only teach one path earlier?"

"If you try to morize too much at once, you'll just get confused. Since teaching you the second path later wouldn't make any difference, I taught you the route to the core first."

"You weren't planning to demand a second paynt from later, were you?"

"No! I only reluctantly accepted the first paynt because you insisted so strongly, you know?!"

"......"

"If you're uncomfortable constantly feeling indebted to , then consider this compensation for agreeing to spar."

In many ways, I couldn't deny that Reisir was being considerate toward .

He could've jokingly asked to acknowledge him as a friend while taking advantage of this opportunity, but he absolutely never said anything that might burden .

Does he realize that consideration like this only makes feel even more burdened?

"By any chance, are you hesitating because you're worried I might still hold a grudge over what happened last sester and try to take revenge? If you can't trust , I can just teach you the circulation route using my own body again, like before."

"It's not that I particularly trust you, but I do know at least that you wouldn't harm soone while pretending to help them."

"......!!"

At my answer, Reisir looked genuinely moved, his eyes shining brightly.

Only after seeing that expression did I realize I had sounded like so kind of tsundere.

I made a mistake.

No matter how much he disguised it as an accident, if he carelessly damaged this body's brain, he would incur the wrath of the ducal family, so I should have said I knew he wouldn't dare do such a thing.

'Why do the best answers always co to mind only after I say sothing wrong?'

Avoiding Reisir's silently grinning face, I needlessly brushed back my bangs.

"But... aren't you the type who gets anxious unless you're sacrificing yourself for others or stepping up to help people even when there's nothing in it for you?"

In older works, protagonists who willingly helped others even at a loss were common.

Has the saying that good deeds bring blessings lost all credibility because the world has beco harsher?

These days, readers want protagonists to receive reasonable compensation imdiately.

As a result, it has beco standard for modern web novel protagonists to weigh profit and loss to so extent.

However, when a protagonist's alignnt is set to 'Good,' situations inevitably arise where they help others without gaining anything in return.

What matters in those monts is plausibility.

"There's no need to even discuss the core in your head. Even with the sparring, you happened to gain sothing from it, but in reality, you probably suggested it because you thought it would help ."

I hesitated over whether I should bring this up.

However, blindly accepting help from others goes against Karvaldr's character.

And if I understood Reisir's principles for helping people, I felt I might be able to stop him from stepping forward to help like this in the future.

All of this was to maintain distance from him.

Knowing that thought itself was little more than rationalization, I finally asked the question.

"Reisir, why are you trying to help ?"

"If I don't answer, you're never going to accept my help again, right? So I'll just answer honestly."

In the original work, nobody ever asked Reisir why he helped them.

Because for him and the supporting characters, helping each other was simply a natural part of their relationships.

Especially when it ca to training, it was even more natural.

Since they were comrades fighting life-and-death battles together, improving each other's abilities directly increased their own chances of survival.

So none of the readers of 《NaSE》, including , had ever questioned it.

And so—

"Actually, I'm afraid of people around dying. So I want everyone to beco stronger, so they can survive no matter what danger cos..."

—in the original work, Reisir never directly voiced his fears like this either.

"Karvaldr, since you're the young master of a ducal family, ordinary people probably wouldn't dare harm you. But at the sa ti, because of that, you could beco a target for truly dangerous people, right?"

The reason I never expected this answer despite already knowing about Reisir's trauma was probably because of that.

Besides, the Demon Realms hadn't even begun appearing in earnest yet.

"For example, soone could kidnap you and use you as a hostage to threaten your father..."

As we spoke, had his thoughts drifted toward Helga, who had once been kidnapped?

Reisir grumbled that it would be nice if Helga voluntarily trained like I did, but since she didn't, he worried about her constantly.

'This isn't just plausible. It's overwhelmingly convincing.'

Faced with a character who had once lost everyone precious to him, only to find new precious people—

And who was destined to lose them all over again.

And who would continue losing the people he kept close even after that.

I couldn't help but groan inwardly.

The wounds already carved into his heart were too deep and vivid.

I even found myself thinking that helping him without certainty that I could avoid death might actually beco a burden to him instead.

Because Reisir would suffer more from soone dying while trying to prevent his misfortune than from ignoring his misfortune altogether.

"Ah! And the reason I want to help you separate the Ether is because your sky blue Ether ability is an incredible power that could benefit this world."

While soone else's heart felt unbearably heavy, as though a stone had been placed on their chest.

The person involved, Reisir himself, cheerfully changed the subject.

"If you can summon rain, then that ans you can stop it too, right? Then you'd be able to respond to both droughts and floods?"

"...It would take a very long ti to develop the ability enough to have any aningful influence, but soday it should be possible."

"As expected!"

Even though it would bring him no personal benefit whatsoever, Reisir looked delighted as though it were his own achievent.

"Using your ability is entirely your choice, so it's not like you have to go around solving climate disasters or anything. But because of that, people will have no choice but to respect you. Floods and droughts happen every year, even if the scale differs. If people want your help, then naturally they'll have to stay on your good side, right?"

"Are you also trying to get on my good side in advance so you can receive help later?"

"Ahahaha! If I answered yes, you'd probably feel more at ease, but unfortunately that's not it. My family's territory was confiscated by the Imperial Family, while Helga's territory barely suffers from droughts or floods."

Indeed, if he answered yes, it would imdiately be exposed as a lie.

"Then why?"

"I want everyone to know that your worth isn't limited to the fact that you were born into a ducal family. I want to stop people from recklessly gossiping about you and hurting you again."

"......"

I had already forgotten about the incident in the lobby and moved on, but it seed Reisir was still bothered by what happened that day.

If I had actually ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) been hurt back then, I might genuinely have been moved this ti.

But fortunately, the only thing I rembered from the lobby gossip incident was the comnt about wielding Yor like a whip, so not even the first letter of the word 'touched' ca to mind.

"Reisir. Even if you desperately beg for help later, I will ignore you."

"That doesn't sound like the kind of person you are..."

"You're mistaken about ."

"Okay, okay. Let's assu that's true. In the first place, I never said I was helping you because I expected sothing in return."

"......"

"Still, you're going to accept my help now, right? If you try moving the Ether by yourself and fail, you'd have to ask for help personally, and you'd hate that, wouldn't you?"

It truly was the worst possible hypothetical.

I even found myself wondering whether I would've accepted his help imdiately without questioning him at all if he had started with that argunt from the beginning.

"...Since I'm already accustod to extracting and using purple Ether from the existing core, I intend to move the sky blue Ether instead."

"Then you need to consu the rest of the purple Ether first? Want to throw discs again?"

"No, there's no need for that. We've done enough whip training already, and it's getting late, so I'll consu it another way."

I rolled up the whip in my hand, tied it to my waist, and activated 【Exaltation】, forcefully pouring in Ether without the efficiency boost provided by sound waves.

The targets were myself, Yor, and Reisir.

"Woah! My physical abilities improved so much I can feel it even while standing still! But even with this buff applied, you..."

"Your physical abilities improved so noticeably because your body is already well-trained."

"Either way, that ans you're less trained, right?"

"......"

That wasn't a remark worth responding to.

So I pretended not to hear Reisir and once again drew up the purple Ether before activating the 【Encouragent】 skill.

Considering the increase in stats, it would normally be better to activate 【Encouragent】 first and then use 【Exaltation】.

But right now, the goal was simply to consu everything until only ten percent of the purple Ether remained.

First, I applied the keyword 'my possessed body' to this body.

For Yor, I applied a total of four keywords: 'my Familiar,' 'my happiness,' 'my comfort,' and 'my understander.'

For reference, 'my baby dragon' was unfortunately treated as identical to the keyword 'my Familiar.'

'If I apply just one more keyword, the remaining purple Ether should line up perfectly...'

Without thinking, I glanced toward Reisir before imdiately looking away again.

However, one keyword that could apply to him ca to mind.

If he sohow discovered that I had cast a buff usable only under certain conditions, Reisir would misunderstand and think I considered him special.

Considering even that slight possibility, I simply canceled the 【Exaltation】 buff on this body and reapplied the keyword 'my possessed body' instead.

Then, as a test, I drew up the sky blue Ether and ford it on my fingertips.

"It's a very clear sky blue."

"......"

"Everything's prepared now, right? Then let's begin quickly."

Reisir placed the spear he had been holding into his inventory and plopped down onto the floor.

However, instead of imdiately turning my back to him and sitting down, I sent a look toward Yor.

When I beca defenseless while moving the sky blue Ether toward the upper dantian, Reisir absolutely could not remove his eyepatch and look into my status window.

My wise baby dragon imdiately understood what I was worried about.

Yor gave a thumbs-up as if telling to trust him, pointed at his own right eye with one claw, then mid stabbing the air.

The claw at the tip of that finger looked unusually sharp and threatening today.