Chapter 2: The First Disciple Leilia(2)

“…Ah.”

Leilia woke up from the long dream.

And she looked around.

Antique decorations. A stuffy room.

It was definitely a room no different from usual, but now, it was different.

If the dream she had wasn’t a mere illusion… she could seize freedom with her own hands.

‘Teacher.’

Leilia blushed slightly, recalling her teacher, the person who helped her.

Although she didn’t realize it, the face of her teacher she saw in the dream suited her tastes very well.

She began to put into practice the basics of the aura technique she learned from her teacher and the methods of ‘training’ she had to do in reality.

What her teacher didn’t expect was that Leilia was more proactive than he thought.

“…Miss?”

“U, um? W, what’s wrong?”

“…What exactly happened?”

The servant, who had just entered to clean the room, was dumbfounded to see Leilia taking a strange pose on the floor.

The servant couldn’t know the poses of calisthenics, which didn’t exist yet in this world.

Leilia stammered, flustered, as she was sweating.

Silence continued for a while.

As time passed, and the servant was becoming uncomfortable, and as she was pondering what to do.

Leilia’s mouth, which had been tightly shut, opened.

“…Ancient etiquette.”

“Pardon?”

“I, I heard that in ancient times, they took etiquette in this way….”

‘Did they take etiquette while walking on all fours in ancient times?’

The servant’s common sense couldn’t understand this behavior at all, but how could he understand the thoughts of the nobles.

The servant brushed aside his doubts in his mind and left the room, waiting for Leilia’s ancient etiquette (?) to end quickly.

“Haa. Haa…”

Breathing heavily, Leilia focused on training again.

And she recalled what her teacher had told her in her mind.

-Leilia. You must never let anyone know that you are learning swordsmanship. Got it?

-Yes? Why?

-Well, do you think your family will help you learn swordsmanship? They’ll try to stop you even more.

-Still… how do I train if I don’t wield a sword in reality?

-You can train while sleeping. Because this is your dream, you can wield a sword as much as you want.

-Okay. I’ll hide it as much as I can.

-Oh, yeah. If you get caught, I’ll leave, so be careful.

-Yes?!

It was something that was said intentionally to give her a sense of caution, but from Leilia’s perspective, it was a bolt from the blue.

The opportunity she had dreamed of had come, but she couldn’t let it go.

To do so, she had to desperately hide the fact that she was training from her family.

Leilia strengthened her resolve and accelerated her training.

Lately, a strange rumor has been circulating in the Haisen family.

“…A ghost appeared?”

“Yes. According to the servants, a suspicious atmosphere is felt every night.”

Haisen Felia, the head of the Haisen family and Leilia’s father, sighed upon hearing the story.

“Hoo… First, restrain the servants’ mouths, and I will give further instructions later.”

“Yes, sir.”

As the butler was about to report and leave, Felia, who was sighing deeply, seemed to recall something and called the butler again.

“Oh, by the way, that child. Is Leilia doing well?”

The butler was a little surprised at that remark.

‘I thought the head wouldn’t have much interest in Miss Leilia, but it’s a bit unexpected.’

The butler was momentarily flustered, considering Leilia’s recent behavior, but soon spoke calmly without any change in expression.

“…Miss is doing well, as usual.”

In fact, this statement was a lie.

Although the changes weren’t that big, Leilia had been showing various odd behaviors recently.

Lately, she has been spacing out or losing her concentration often.

Whenever the servants were cleaning her room, she always blocked the door urgently.

One day, the butler himself was shocked to see her lying on the floor in a sweaty state.

‘Fortunately, the head doesn’t seem to be paying attention to the miss.’

So, even if he lied here, he thought he would be able to get away with it.

“I see. You may go.”

“Yes, sir. Goodbye.”

After confirming that the butler had left. Felia, who briefly recalled Leilia’s face, soon whispered quietly.

“Leilia… I will send you to a good family as much as possible.”

Of course, it didn’t take long for him to realize that it was a vain hope.

‘…Is this right?’

I was about to be swept away by the sudden feeling of emptiness, but Leilia woke my dazed mind.

“Teacher! What should I do today? The aura technique? Swordsmanship? A duel? Anything is fine!”

‘You weren’t like this.’

I wondered where I had sold the sickly first impression of her I remembered. Her current personality was far too active.

This place was Leilia’s dream.

Leilia was the one in charge of the dream, but it was my role to compose the environment.

As the name Illusion Dream suggests, by using this magic, I could show her various illusions that couldn’t be realized in reality.

If I were a succubus, I would have been able to control even the owner of the dream, but unfortunately, I was human, and I couldn’t even change my own appearance as I wished.

“Haa..”

Leilia tilted her head at my sigh.

‘This is why it’s black history…’

The current state of my body was the form of a small boy.

The image reflected in the mirror was that of a beautiful boy with an unmatched beauty, but of course, this appearance was not my true form.

When I was learning magic directly from the Demon Queen, she forcibly changed my appearance in the dream because she didn’t like my appearance.

So, every time I used the succubus’s magic, I had no choice but to take the form of a boy.

Well, it’s not like the real body changes, and isn’t it good to hide my identity if I’m a handsome boy?

Everything was fine, but the problem was the promise I made with Leilia.

On the first day I met her, I took her as my disciple and made one promise.

-If you become a Swordmaster within 5 years, I will grant you one wish as far as I can.

5 years. If it’s long, it’s long, and if it’s short, it’s short, but of course, it wasn’t a long time for those who practiced swordsmanship.

Become a Swordmaster in 5 years? No matter how talented, it was impossible in common sense.

‘At least, according to my knowledge…’

Of course, it was a promise made without thinking, in order to boost Leilia’s ambition, but her growth rate was very, very different from my expectations.

Perhaps, even if a Swordmaster saw Leilia now, they would say, ‘Sh*t. This is not right.’

1 month.

In just 1 month, she achieved the status of Sword User.

It usually takes 8 years to achieve the status of Sword User. If you’re a genius, it would take about 3 years, depending on the difference in talent.

But, she ignored all of this and achieved the realm of Sword User in just 1 month.

That’s also, a girl who hadn’t even held a sword once.

Of course, the duels in the dream, the strict exercise in reality, and finally, the power of the top-class aura technique helped, but even when combining all of this, it was a truly unbelievable speed.

‘It’s really good for me because I have to finish the quest quickly… Why am I feeling so empty?’

If I were seriously walking the path of swordsmanship, I would have despaired for a long time.

Talent that makes everyone who walks the path of swordsmanship shed blood and have seizures. Unreasonable and unfair talent.

That was Haisen Leilia.

‘Is this why the system chose her?’

If it was just this much, I would have been very satisfied and happy, but the problem was the wish that Leilia wanted from me.

“I want to see my teacher’s face in reality!”

‘Shi*.’

This wasn’t it.

“My current face wasn’t by my will, it was changed by the influence of the dream. In reality, I’m just an old man with a rough beard.”

“But it doesn’t matter! If I can see my teacher’s true appearance…!”

In her eyes, which seemed to even have a hint of madness, was filled with impulses that I couldn’t stop.

“Hoo…. Alright. If you achieve Swordmaster in 5 years, I’ll visit you myself.”

I couldn’t crush her passion here, so I sighed inwardly and promised her.

“Okay!”

She was smiling happily, but whether she could still smile like that after seeing my true face…

But, I still don’t know. No matter how brilliant a genius is, there’s no way to become a Swordmaster in 5 years…

The realm of Swordmaster isn’t a realm that can be achieved simply because of talent.

Even geniuses whose growth rate is several times faster than others had to shed blood and make an effort with a heart that would cut them to the bone.

Unlike me, whose realm was forcibly raised by the system’s ability, the beings called Swordmasters were not inferior to the term ‘one-man army.’

‘Yeah. It can’t be easy. It might just be that her growth rate is fast only up to now.’

It should have been, definitely.

Six months later.

Wooong-

Clear aura flows from the sword.

Going beyond simply strengthening the body, it was a realm where aura could be put on the sword.

Although a perfect sword qi hasn’t been created yet, it was definitely the realm of an Expert.

‘Crazy.’

Leilia achieved Sword Expert in 6 months.

“T, Teacher! I did it!”

I felt a complicated emotion as I watched her jumping up and down.