I Possessed the Villain’s Childhood Friend – Chapter 41

“Did Lady Charlotte really say that?”

As I recounted the story I heard from Charlotte yesterday, Arvain scratched his head, looking somewhat annoyed.

“How can those old folks not get tired of this?”

The expression on his face showed genuine exasperation.

Since they were coming to me for a reason, couldn’t I just refuse directly?

When I posed such a question, he scoffed and replied.

“To those old folks, your talent is merely a means to an end. What they really want is for me to leave the Magic Tower.”

With that statement, Arvain frowned.

“Fine. It’ll just give me a headache if I bother with it anyway. Let’s start sparring.”

My sleep time was 4 hours and 30 minutes.

I had fasted after last night’s dinner and this morning’s meal.

This meant…

I was fighting against a High-Class Knight without having rested or eaten properly.

Khak!

Arvain’s long strike hit me right in the solar plexus.

For a moment, my breath caught, but I quickly gathered my wits and stepped back.

He should be under the same conditions as me.

Yet for some reason, I had difficulty landing a proper strike.

“Don’t get careless.”

The attacks came relentlessly.

What was most crucial in his research was ensuring that there were no gaps in the circulation of magical power, no matter what.

To confirm this, he kept pushing without rest, without food, creating extreme conditions.

There were still four days left.

The meals per day were reduced to just lunch.

Sleep time would be cut to 3 hours.

Total break time during sparring? A mere 20 minutes.

If even a single gap appeared in that schedule, his research would end in failure.

I expected that wouldn’t happen, but I didn’t bother telling Arvain.

This wasn’t just for me, it was research for the knights fighting magical beasts on the Frontline.

I had to pursue perfection to ensure that no unforeseen problems arose.

“Kuuk!“

Arvain unleashed a four-hit combo starting with a horizontal slash.

While the speed wasn’t exceptionally fast, the weight of the attack was enough to make my hands numb.

I thought I had managed to block it somehow, but.

“Your right side is wide open.”

“Kuhak!“

The moment those words left his mouth, Arvain’s foot struck my opening.

It was a perfectly executed turning kick.

The impact shook my insides more than when I was hit in the solar plexus earlier.

Ultimately, I dropped Neia and collapsed.

I felt like I might throw up, but I managed to calm myself down.

“So far, no problems.”

Arvain looked down at me.

A swallow had settled on his right shoulder.

It was a familiar spirit to notify him if my injuries healed and the circulation of magical power broke.

“Haah.“

I let out a big sigh, then once again gripped Neia’s hilt and stood up.

“Is it okay if I don’t take a break?”

“That’s fine.”

To be honest, I wanted to rest.

Sparring without a proper break or meal was making it impossible for me to show my full potential.

But I could see clearly.

There was indeed so much to learn from Arvain.

His movements wasted not a moment.

At first glance, the speed seemed adequate enough to respond to, but each of his strikes pierced right through any gaps I had.

Those movements were showing exactly how Arvain could endure on the Frontline.

In the upcoming, increasingly intense battles against Avatarara, this sparring would surely benefit me.

“Then let’s continue.”

“I look forward to it.”

We both squared off, and just as I was about to make a move first…

“Let’s get started.”

From outside the door, that voice rang out.

★

“I can’t understand Charlotte’s thoughts either. To give up such a large room for something so trivial research.”

Two elderly men with a dignified air entered Arvain’s room.

Without anyone telling me, I could tell for sure.

They were the elders that Charlotte had mentioned.

“So? What of Arvain, who has received such a room but has produced no research results? Don’t you feel any shame?”

“If I were you, I would have already left the Magic Tower. No, I wouldn’t have even asked for help for this kind of research to begin with.”

Arvain lightly brushed off the insults, as if he was accustomed to them.

At that moment, the two elders glared at me.

“What are you learning from such a man? Such talent wasted.”

“Stop cooperating with this research immediately.”

I too answered without looking away.

“Let’s continue, Lord Arvain.”

“…Understood.”

We took our stances, swords pointed at each other.

Once the sparring began, they wouldn’t be able to interrupt, so they had no choice but to back off.

My statement had that calculation mixed in, and it seemed Arvain understood as he resumed his stance.

“How brazen.”

However, they didn’t allow our sparring to proceed.

“What?!”

In an instant, a fireball flew towards us.

Even if it was Basic Magic, this was clearly a threat.

“What kind of nonsense is this?”

“You seem to have questions. How rude for such young pups.”

“Do you have any idea who you’re standing before?”

Ah, I finally remembered.

The role of the elders in the original work.

They were truly insignificant.

It was natural that I couldn’t recall them.

Their only appearance was when they urged Sophia to join the Magic Tower, only to be rejected.

When reading the original, I thought they were kindly old men and had no particular complaints.

But after seeing Charlotte and Arvain’s displeasure, I promised not to hold any prejudgments.

“This is a research lab I received from Lady Charlotte. Regardless of your status as elders, such rude acts are intolerable.”

I didn’t expect it to be people like this.

“Rude acts? I think it’s an insult to the Tower that resources are wasted on your ridiculous research.”

“It’s research essential to the Empire.”

“What do you think you can achieve with such Basic, Basic Magic as body enhancement?”

“That basic keeps the peace of the Empire.”

“What do you think?”

Suddenly, the conversational arrow flew towards me.

Charlotte had said to ignore them, but it was hard to see a way out of that situation.

Arvain was looking at me too.

“As a knight aspirant, I believe this research is essential.”

“How lamentable. I never thought someone with your talent would be so blind.”

“Do you not understand how noble it is to uncover the truth behind miracles?”

“I think being a knight is plenty honorable too.”

At my reply, the elder on my right frowned.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something. We aren’t belittling knights; we’re saying your talent is more suited to this side.”

Then the elder on my left spoke up.

“Isn’t it true that for over ten years you weren’t able to achieve results and thus abandoned this research until recently? We came all the way here because you decided to start it again.”

It seemed like both of them were fundamentally misunderstanding something.

Arvain’s research had undoubtedly yielded results by now.

He simply lacked someone to assist him in proving the final outcome.

In the Magic Tower, aside from Charlotte, he had been isolated.

In fact, even Charlotte was likely only mildly interested in Arvain’s research.

If that were the case, there would have been no reason for him to abandon his research until recently, just like the elders described.

Thus, I could understand why Arvain didn’t appear in the original work.

In the end, the research couldn’t be completed, and he would have been engaged in the typical development of Attribute Magic.

“Hmm.”

Could it be that my shining through to Arvain’s research was truly a coincidence?

“Elders, there’s something you seem to be unaware of.”

No, this was the result of the effort I’ve put in to change the future.

Of course, most of it seemed to go in a negative direction until now, but the sparring with Arvain was truly aiding me.

So, I had no intention of passing up this chance.

“I have no talent for Attribute Magic whatsoever.”

“…What?”

At my answer, the two elders were completely dumbfounded.

“Kuhak.“

Arvain was laughing.

The indifferent expressions he had shown until now were all a lie as his head was lowered and his face was flushed red with laughter.

“I never thought I’d see the day when those old men had nothing to say and left.”

The elders clenched their teeth as they exited the room, having heard that I could barely use Basic Attribute Magic.

They must have been completely thrown off by the absence of information other than my magical power.

“Thank you, Aike. You showed something good at the end.”

“At the end, you say?”

“I was planning to leave the Magic Tower once this research was concluded.”

“Are you going back to being a knight?”

“Yeah. I intended for this not to be a retirement but more of a vacation from the start.”

With that, Arvain slowly pointed his sword at me.

Seeing that, I got back into stance.

“I think it’s been long enough of a break. Is it okay to start again?”

“Of course.”

Without needing to declare who would go first, we stepped forward simultaneously.

★

After midnight, today’s schedule was finally over.

“You’re to arrive here by 4 o’clock.”

Of course, the break time would be less than 4 hours.

I moved to the top of the Magic Tower.

In truth, I wanted to go right to the sleep room and crash due to fatigue, but then again, Charlotte did say she’d prepare a separate room for me.

Knock, knock.

But there was no response when I knocked on the office door.

The time was 11:50 p.m.

Charlotte had clearly been here at this hour yesterday.

“Aike, young noble?”

Just as I was about to knock again, someone behind me called out to me.

Turning around, I saw Charlotte’s maid, who I had met on the first day.

“Oh, is Lady Charlotte…?”

“Lady Reina and Lady Sophia’s lessons have not yet concluded. Would you like me to guide you to that room?”

Should I just head straight to the sleep room?

“Please guide me.”

While I contemplated, I was curious about how the lesson was conducted.

In the original, it began with ordinary theory lessons before moving to practical tests and trials.

Considering Reina was present too, I figured the lesson might be longer this time.

That’s what I thought.

However, what I saw following the maid was…

“This is so boring. Honestly, Aike, it’d be more interesting to teach that guy from the start.”

Charlotte yawned, looking bored.

And there was Reina and Sophia, sitting on the ground, bleeding.