Chapter 173.

At dawn, I sat on a chair and looked up at the sky. As I stared at the sky at this time of the day, the thoughts of the hardships I endured while running away came up, and seeing the beautiful sky left a strange emotion.

"One." The chair lowered at my command.

"Two." Then it rose again.

"One, but when are we going to have the second bet?"

"I, I don’t know! Today, I have! Huuk, huuk. Plans."

I could feel the chair shaking.

"Two, you’re not trying to escape by using plans as an excuse, are you?"

"Oh, no, I’m not!"

As if it had hit its limit, the chair did not rise again.

"Come on, you can use your mana, so let’s do 30 more push-ups."

At my encouragement, Lisbon, the person squashed underneath me, barely managed to push himself up using mana. Then, with a bright red face and drool spilling from his mouth, he shook his head.

"Impossible, it’s too much. Spare me."

"One. Hey, I’m not the one who asked for help with training."

"What? I thought- This isn’t what I had in mind!" Lisbon yelled in desperation, which was irregular as he usually didn’t raise his voice.

All right, it looks like the workout is progressing as it should. I had no doubt that he would quickly reach his limit since I made my body heavier with my magic.

"This is what I thought of, though. Hurry and go down. One!"

It seems that Lisbon was picturing something like sparring and giving feedback to each other, but I had no intention of ending it with just "Ah, you worked hard.”

He should at least be able to go through what I did in my hometown. At my shout, Lisbon slowly went down with trembling arms.

"Okay, now automatic."

"Keuaaaah!" Lisbon yelled desperately and rapidly did push-ups to finish quickly.

"Den, don’t I have to do that too?” Alphonso asked while hitting a custom-made magical wooden doll with a wooden sword.

I nodded roughly. "Yeah, even if you just do what you’ve been doing, your strength is plenty. I’ll just fix your posture, so keep hitting."

"Okay!" Alphonso answered lively and moved energetically to hit the wooden doll.

As long as Alphonso was being taught by Uncle Bloody, I couldn’t recklessly teach him how to use a sword or any techniques. Uncle Bloody taught several times better than I, so getting involved would only harm Alphonso without any benefits. Of course, my main reason was the risk that if something were to go wrong, what I taught would be noticed by Uncle Bloody, and my position would be exposed.

"Alphonso, lengthen your step a little bit. By about three centimeters?"

"Like this?" As Alphonso moved a little longer as I instructed him, his posture got better.

"Okay, it looks good.”

Alphonso became proud when I complimented him and continued to swing the sword harshly.

"Thiiirr-ttyyyy!"

I clapped my hands and shouted as Lisbon barely finished the push-ups, "Five more!"

"AAHHHH!" Covered in sweat, saliva, and tears, Lisbon screamed.

Still, he was deserving of praise for doing what he was ordered the whole time. If you keep this up, I’ll make it so you can treat any ordinary high-ranking knights like small fry. So do your best, Pushover!

* * *

After the early morning training, Lisbon was exhausted and fell on the sofa.

Alice walked down the stairs from the upper floor, still looking sleepy and, looking at the sprawled out Lisbon, asked, "What are you doing making all this noise since dawn? It was so noisy that I had to put up soundproof magic before going back to sleep.”

"I just checked his physical limits a bit. Since I’m even giving up my precious vacation to hang out with him, I have to make sure to go all out."

I spoke with a refreshing smile, but Alice looked at Lisbon with a slightly tired face. "Seeing you smile so wickedly, I bet you pushed him to the brink of death."

What do you mean, wicked face? That’s mean.

"Ayy, not to the brink of death. I was gentle. If I had really pushed him to the brink of death, he wouldn’t even be able to wash up and lie down on the sofa."

After exhausting his physical strength and mana to the limit, he fought with me for ten consecutive sparring matches. Normally, combat is meaningful only when you use up all your physical strength first. There’s no way that enemies would limit themselves in consideration of your physical stamina. They all just become flesh and blood in the future.

"My condition is the result of you being gentle?" Lisbon whined in his semi-conscious state.

I’ve given him some good medicine, though, so he should be restored to normal soon.

"Of course. We have to hurry and get your physical fitness up to par soon. That way, we can move on to the full training that I did back in my hometown, but at this rate, I think it’ll take months," I said.

Lisbon may have good physical strength by normal standards, but it was too weak by my standards.

Alice looked at me ridiculously. "Just what in the world did you do back in your hometown? According to Yuria, your alchemy is excellent, and given the fact that you beat that pushover who only knows the sword, you seem to be doing pretty good at swordsmanship too."

"In my hometown? I was unemployed. My family worked, and I was the only one who played around.”

My father was the head of the village, while my big brother and youngest brother were the head of the guard and the warrior divisions, respectively. My big sister took care of all the village’s administrative actions, and my other sister worked under Elder Mirpa to make medicine. As a minor, I was the only one in my family who was unemployed.

Alice looked at me questionably. "Really?"

"Of course."

I passed over Alice’s gaze and helped up the pushover, who was sprawled out on the sofa. "You said you had somewhere to go. Is it okay for you to just be lying here like this?”

"Kkeung, I should get up."

I genuinely admired how Lisbon was forcing himself up. I really pushed him to the limit, so I’m sure he wants nothing more than just to fall over and sleep. So, where is this mental strength coming from?

"So where are you going that you’re making yourself get up?”

"The Angel’s House."

"The Angel’s House?"

Alice sighed when I tilted my head because I didn’t know where the Angel’s House was. "It’s the name of the orphanage that oppa supports."

Oh, that was a reason fitting of a pushover.

"I wasn’t able to go for a few days, so the kids are probably waiting for me. Since I couldn’t go yesterday, I have to go today."

Lisbon was walking to his room to get his coat, but he staggered as the muscles in his legs relaxed. I quickly grabbed Lisbon’s arm and helped him.

"I think it’ll be too difficult today, so why don’t you go tomorrow?" I said.

Lisbon became delighted. "Will tomorrow be normal?”

I nodded and smiled at him. "Yes, I’ll make it normal just like how it was today."

Where do you think you’re going so easily? You still have a long way to go.

"No, then it’s not that different.” Lisbon looked genuinely discouraged.

However, considering that he did not withdraw his request to help him with training, he seemed to have felt quite a bit of difference between us yesterday.

Then, Alice said, "If you’re really worried, you can just go with him.”

Lisbon laughed, saying that would work, and I bluntly made an expression showing that it would be annoying.

"I’m just saying, if you feel responsible for all that abuse, follow oppa." Alice shrugged and assumed an attitude that she was just offering a suggestion.

But Lisbon looked at me with sparkling eyes. "It’ll be a good experience. Oh, of course, I’m not forcing you."

You’re looking at me like that and saying that you’re not forcing me?

"Will it be fine if I give a donation instead?"

Then Lisbon looked disappointed.

"Tch, all right."

I was going to go out today anyway because I needed to buy materials at the magic materials market to repair the damaged chirps. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to stop by the orphanage for a little bit.

* * *

Hillis sprawled out on top of her bed in her bedroom and flailed about. "Uah! I’m bored! I’m bored! I’m bored!”

She was thrashing around from boredom. Leisha, a Crow and her only friend who looked at her without prejudice, had followed Bloody to Warrant. In addition, the adventurer’s guild was closed, so she could not visit Rosellis and Den, the friends she made while disguising her identity in the capital.

She buried her face into the soft pillow and shouted vigorously. "Ua~ah~I’m~bored~!"

If she were at least in the holy palace Percival, she would have busily spent her days participating in various weekly events. However, due to the New Year’s Day Festival incident, the great temple in the capital removed all of her participation as a saintess from official events.

She stopped flailing about and mumbled while lying on her messy bed, "I never thought I’d want to participate in the events.”

What Hillis hated the most when she was in Percival was becoming the flower of the event and being forced to wear a fake smile. But now, she was so bored that she even wished she had work to do.

"Albatoss!"

At her call, Albatoss stopped standing guard outside her room, opened the door, and came in. "Did you call me? Saintess-nim!"

"Have you heard from Leisha?"

When Hillis asked, Albatoss thought for a second, then clapped his hands all of a sudden. "Ah, according to the military telegram, General Bloody was seriously injured in the process of subjugating the great demons. So, he’s staying in Warrant for a while."

"Then what about Leisha?"

"Wouldn’t she likely be by General Bloody’s side? After all, the Crow Tribe lady is an excellent alchemist."

Hillis was frustrated by Albatoss’s response, and she planted her face into the pillow.

"Oooo."

Then, she raised her head as if she suddenly had a good idea and asked, "What if we go to Warrant and treat the patients like Leisha is doing now?"

Hillis’s eyes sparkled, and she spoke of treating and blessing the soldiers who fought hard as befitting a saintess.

Yet, Albatoss shook his head, decisively saying, "Of course we can’t. No matter the fact that the great demon was subjugated, Warrant is still on the border of the demon’s territory. There’s no way we can send the saintess to such a dangerous place."

"Why not? The former saintess, Oryana, went into the middle of the demon’s territory and participated in the demon king subjugation party, so why can’t I?!"

At Hillis’s tantrum, Albatoss was put in a difficult situation, and he sighed. "At that time, the demon king was part of the situation, and we were obligated to help. And even though it was an obligation, at the time, there was considerable opposition to her participating in the war."

During the temple’s prime in the advent of the demon king, Oryana was able to participate in the war. This was thanks to the Witch of Pride and Galak Blade directly going to the Vatican and throwing a fit.

"Still..."

"And currently in Warrant, there is a bishop-level priest, Sir Ruin."

"Oh, that bald ahjussi called the Pagan Priest?"

"Khmm, how could you say Pagan Priest? As a priest, he sometimes works as an adventurer and is a self-proclaimed monk, so he has an eccentric side. However, he is also a faithful priest who was even mentioned as a candidate to become a cardinal."

When Albatoss gave a warning, Hillis put her hands behind her head and laid down. "I’ve met him before, but he’s definitely an interesting guy."

"Anyway, Sir Ruin is good enough, so please don’t think about going up to Warrant.”

At Albatoss’s advice, Hillis started sulking. "Ah-! All right."

Gazing at the depressed appearance that Hillis had even while acquiescing, Albatoss sighed. Since she ran away to the casino in the past, she was put under heavy guard to prevent her from going out again. It seemed to have caused her a lot of stress.

"Then how about visiting the orphanage that’s under the temple for a while?" Albatoss suggested.

Hillis raised her head with twinkling eyes. "Really?! Is that okay?”

"Yes. Of course, we will have to keep it a secret from the great temple.”

"Certainly! I’ll get ready right now!" After a long time of being stuck inside, Hillis was elated at the prospect of going out.