Arthur Carlyle.
Age: 20.

The top prospect of Frontier, one of the most prestigious guilds in Res Rimen, and known as one of the five major guilds. His extraordinary talent and magic were so rare that people in the guild were already talking about Arthur being groomed for the position of guild master in the future. To meet the high expectations placed on him, he decided to leave the guild for a while and join the training center to gain more diverse experiences.

If one had to define him in a single sentence, it would be: a man whose life is all about training, and whose training is his life.

However, the past few days had been different.
Arthur had been preoccupied with a particular concern, so much so that he couldn’t focus on his training at all.
Granted, the academic lessons and exercises weren’t particularly demanding since they were more like classes than actual training. After all, he had already learned most of the material from his guild.

The real issue was that he hadn’t been able to focus on his magical manipulation training, which he usually practiced simultaneously to save time.

His mind was completely consumed by one question.

Should I tell him?

Should he warn his roommate that continuing to strengthen his body in that way would kill him?

Perhaps the beastkin girl, who was a teammate of his roommate, didn’t know that Roman was using demonic magic.

‘But that can’t be it.’

If Arthur had noticed immediately, there was no way the girl who had been training him directly wouldn’t have known.
Maybe she underestimated the amount of magic Roman was using, judging by beastkin standards.

Whatever the case, there was clearly a misunderstanding between them.

It wasn’t surprising, considering their team consisted of a hooded spiritist who didn’t know anything about body enhancement, and a beastkin who used a different method from humans.

That would easily lead to confusion.

‘I should tell him.’

Arthur didn’t dislike people who were confident in themselves.
Even though demon sorcerers were looked down upon in magical society, his roommate wasn’t the kind of person to be intimidated. Roman lived according to his beliefs and worked hard to stand by them.

Arthur couldn’t let Roman’s efforts turn into a noose around his own neck.

By the time Arthur made his decision, the afternoon survival training had just finished.

Roman’s team, which had shockingly come in last place in their first training session, had now finished among the top.
In fact, they had even beaten Arthur’s team this time.

Of course, Arthur had added a bunch of extra exercises on his own, which had naturally taken more time. Even so, he never finished below fifth place, which spoke to his skill level.

Still, the rapid improvement of a team composed of a combat mage-demon sorcerer-spiritist was astonishing. There were even rumors that the daughter of the Alexandria school head, who had made a bet with Roman, had practically locked herself in the training ground out of sheer desperation.

‘They must’ve worked hard.’

It was definitely the right choice to let him know.

Satisfied with his decision, Arthur told his teammates,
“I’m going to do my own thing for dinner. I’ve got something to take care of.”

His teammates readily agreed to Arthur’s suggestion.

‘They’re good people. Next time we get together, I’ll make sure to give them more detailed feedback and up the intensity of our one-on-one sparring sessions.’

Unaware that this might be the very reason his teammates were so willing to let him go, Arthur headed toward the training building with a slight pang of guilt.

He made his way to the training halls.

Naturally, no one could enter a training room without permission, so he had to pull the cord connected to the bell inside to alert his roommate.

There was no response, but the sound of the magic lock being released reached his ears.

‘That must be the signal to come in.’

Arthur grabbed the doorknob and pulled.

What greeted him beyond the door was something his mind, conditioned by years of rigorous training, found utterly shocking.

Roman was lying on the floor, and on top of him was the beastkin girl…

Arthur’s sharp mind quickly processed the visual information his eyes provided, analyzed it, and came to a single conclusion.

For a brief moment, his stern expression wavered, but he quickly regained his composure.

“…Am I interrupting?”

He spoke shortly and dryly.

Then, without another word, he closed the door and exhaled deeply.

His face was flushed red in a way he had never experienced before.

‘How could they… in a sacred training space…?’

Had he misjudged these people?
Arthur squeezed his eyes shut, as if trying to erase the scene from his memory.

Arthur Carlyle.
Age: 20.
No experience with women.

§

“I see… I misunderstood.”

After I explained that Ray and I had been sparring to practice close-quarters combat, Arthur nodded without much reaction.

He didn’t seem surprised at all?
Meanwhile, I had been freaking out.

I had assumed Leif was the one opening the door, but when I saw Arthur’s face, I thought I was hallucinating.
It wasn’t until after he shut the door that I realized it was real, and I hurriedly called him back to explain.

Fortunately, my frantic explanation seemed to have satisfied Arthur.

“Right. You’re not the type of person who’d do that.”

You sound like you know me really well.
We’re roommates, sure, but I don’t remember having any deep conversations with you.

“So, what brings you here?”

“Hmm…”

At my question, Arthur glanced over at Ray.

Could it be? Is he really…?
If my assumption is right, I’ll have no choice but to teach Arthur a lesson as a righteous demon sorcerer.

Ray didn’t like the way Arthur was looking at her either, her face scrunching up in annoyance.
Bracing herself like a porcupine, she asked sharply,
“You got a problem with me?”

“Yes.”

Arthur’s blunt answer made even Ray blink in surprise, momentarily lost for words.
He continued.

“The way you’re teaching body enhancement is wrong.”

“What?”

“You’re teaching him the beastkin method. It’s not a method suited for humans, and certainly not for a demon sorcerer whose magic is limited.”

“Huh?”

“There’s a reason why there are so many different methods of body enhancement. Each person has one that works best for them. You should start teaching him a different method. That’s what I came to tell you.”

Arthur stood up, as if his business was done.

There was no hesitation, no regret in his words or actions.

‘Phew… at least he’s not… that.’

Relieved that my worst fears weren’t confirmed, I watched Arthur. Meanwhile, Ray looked even more irritated, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

“Hey! You barge in here, say I’m doing it wrong, and now you’re just leaving?”

“Leaving? What are you talking about?”

“Who knows Roman better? Me or you? I think I know him better, don’t you?”

Ray suddenly grabbed my arm and yanked me to her side, positioning me next to her.

She’s really pissed.

“And I think I know body enhancement better too. I’m teaching him in a way that suits him best.”

“…That’s something I can’t just ignore.”

You too, Arthur?
His voice was no longer as dry as before. Now there was clear discomfort.

The tension between them was palpable.
I, meanwhile, quietly moved away from Ray’s side.

I’ll just observe from the sidelines. You guys sort this out yourselves.

§

After finishing my sparring session with Ray, I went to the library.
Leif was already there, settled into her seat. When I sat down and told her about what had just happened, she quickly shoved her notes aside and leaned toward me, curious.

“So, who won?”

“It was a tie.”

“Huh?”

“Ray won when it was just body enhancement, but Arthur won when he used magic.”

“Well, Ray is a beastkin, so it’s tough to beat her without using magic.”

Leif, who now seemed comfortable calling Ray by just her name since learning she was younger, crossed her arms and nodded as if it all made sense.

“But it’s almost time, isn’t it?”

“For what?”

“For the completion exam. It’s right around the corner.”

“…Oh, right.”

The final exams for geography and ecology were on Friday, with the provisional license tests to follow on Saturday.

That was why Leif hadn’t come to the training hall with me today—she was busy studying for the exam.

“Ugh… there’s so much to memorize…”

Leif groaned, flailing her arms on the desk like a student suffering from last-minute cramming before a test.

“That’s why I told you to pay attention during training and practice when you had the chance.”

“Well, Ray wasn’t doing anything either, so I thought it was no big deal…”

“She was doing pre-study.”

Ray, despite never having been to the Abyss, knew an uncanny amount about it. She said she had learned it before becoming a slave.

Leif, having never anticipated this, had been utterly shocked by Ray’s knowledge.

“Betrayal… it’s a betrayal…!”

I wasn’t sure who exactly had betrayed her, but Leif was tapping her desk, blaming Ray for her own laziness.

She tried to act upset, but to me, it seemed like a rather petty complaint.

“Nope. No sympathy. You better get back to your books.”

“Ugh…”

With my stern words, Leif reluctantly grabbed the notes she had set aside earlier.

We studied like that for a while.

Eventually, a shadow appeared over our table.

Thinking it was Ray, I looked up, only to see a girl with hair even whiter than Ray’s standing in front of me.

“Huh?”

Who was this again?
She looked vaguely familiar.

Oh right, the one who had a strangely frosty interaction with Alejandra…

“You!”

“Excuse me?”

The girl stared down at me, her voice carrying a strange dignity and authority.

“I’ve heard about you.”

“About what…?”

“That you’re going to make a bet with Alejandra.”

So, the rumors finally spread?
We hadn’t been talking about it much on our side.

Given that Alejandra had recently been working hard in training, feeling the pressure from the bet, it wasn’t surprising that the rumors were only circulating now.

“Let me help you. I, Fiona McManus, offer you my assistance.”

With a bold declaration, she elegantly placed her hand over her chest.
There was an air of confidence and pride in her introduction.

It was clear from her face that she wasn’t expecting a refusal.

But my reaction was a little different.

She wants to help?

“Why?”