Chapter 8: Purple roses bloomed

Being weak is not a sin. Meteor!

A person who never gives up and keeps trying until the end is never weak.

If you don’t give up, it’s not “the end!

I run under the intense sunlight that makes me feel like my face is getting burned.

“Huk… gasp… huh..!”

I let out the breath that was welling up in my throat because I didn’t want to die, and thought to myself over and over again.

Really…

why don’t I just give up and wait in the castle?

Even if I try like this, I won’t get even a hundredth…

no, not even a ten-thousandth of the strength that Seyeon, a professional warrior, has grown, so what’s the use?

These thoughts keep passing through my head.

‘I can’t do this..”

When I finally give in to temptation and am about to collapse on the spot,

“Meteor! All the way! I’m almost there. All the way!”

A cheering voice is heard from the side.

Silver hair swaying in sweat.

Alluring purple eyes.

Sylvia Sylvester.

Yoosung, who was carrying a sandbag, unlike himself, Sylvia was running wearing full plate armor that was no different from a lump of metal.

It is said that a martial artist who trained in Auror is no different from a superhuman with physical abilities several times that of an ordinary person.

However, I also heard that that is when Auror (refined mana) is circulated.

“Haa.. haa..”

In a state where the use of Auror is intentionally restricted, he is no different from an ordinary person who trained his muscles.

The beautiful female knight… is sweating right next to him and helping him train in worse conditions than himself..

“Ugh!!”

How can I give up!

Crack-!!

Yoosung could not say the word “giving up” even if he died.

Thud..!

“Gasp. gasp..”

Yoosung eventually arrived at the starting point of the training ground and collapsed from exhaustion.

“Whew… You worked hard, Yooseong! I never thought you’d do it even when I told you to. You’re not a knight who trains normally, you’re just an ordinary boy, right? With the willpower you showed today, you can definitely challenge yourself to do 100 laps next week!”

Sylvia came up next to him and handed him a towel, shouting in an energetic voice.

“I… will… die, Commander..”

“For sure! I might die. But if I don’t train now, I’ll definitely die during the battle. I have to survive until the end and go home, right? Yooseong.”

Yooseong thought that her words were quite devilish, considering she was saying them with a refreshing smile.

But in reality, she was an angel.

Even though she must be busy with her own training and her duties as the commander of the knights, Sylvia personally took time out of her own time to take care of him.

He couldn’t be more thankful.

“…Understood. But right now, I really can’t move a single… uh… finger, so I think I should lie down for now.”

“Really? In that case..”

Since we ran together, it didn’t seem to be tiring. so Captain Sylvia got up from her crouching position.

She ran to the weapons storage at the end of the training grounds and quickly returned to Yooseong holding something in her hand.

‘A skewer?’

What Captain Sylvia was holding in her hand was a dagger shaped like an awl.

Usually, in the training grounds, they use training swords that don’t have sharp edges, not short daggers.

‘Is she going to stab me with that and wake me up?!”

Yooseong thought about all the vomiting training methods Sylvia had done so far and the thought crossed his mind.

Suddenly!

“L..I’ll wake up! I can still run!”

“Hmm? Didn’t you say you couldn’t move a finger just a moment ago? That’s why I was going to explain to you about a weapon that Yooseong could use.”

“Ah.”

Yooseong realized that he had misunderstood and told Sylvia that she thought she was stabbing him.

“Phew! I really do have strange thoughts sometimes. Why would I stab Yooseong? Even if I recover my physical condition a little and train to my limit, it won’t be enough.”

“I think you’re really crazy about training… Captain Sylvia.”

“Being weak is a sin.”

The phrase ‘being weak is a sin’ that I heard the most when I met Sylvia Sylvester came out of Sylvia’s mouth once again.

If I had forced those words on someone else, Sylvia Sylvester would have seemed like an extremely cruel person.

However, Sylvia applied the condition that ‘weakness is a sin’ only to herself.

On the other hand, to others, Yoo Sung, he would say, “It’s okay to be weak. Just don’t give up,” and try to console and help them as much as possible as long as they don’t give up. Sylvia Sylvester was strict with herself and lenient with others.

“She’s a good person.”

YooSung had a liking for Sylvia Sylvester herself.

Karen Redleaf, who was like a friend who bickered with each other and helped them study in the royal library.

Leia Forte, who was like a pitiful and pitiful younger sister who was locked up in the temple and waited only for her.

He was liking everyone, but not as much as Knight Commander Sylvia.

“No matter how strong a demon is, the parts like the eyes, mouth, anus, and genitals are weak.

YooSung can’t use aura or magic, but he can at least stab them with a dagger, right?

This stiletto is the best weapon for that…”

The person who helped Yoo Sung achieve his ultimate goal of ‘doing his best to go home’ more than anyone else was none other than Knight Commander Sylvia.

For someone who had a job that was completely useless in combat, he recommended a combat method that targeted the enemy’s weak points and the necessary weapons for that.

“In an adventurer’s party, combat isn’t the only thing that helps! The supporter job is an essential part of the party. It was also Knight Commander Sylvia who showed Yoo-seong, who wanted to be of some help to the party, the path of ‘supporter. “You worked hard today, Yooseong.”

Looking at Sylvia, who was wiping the sweat from her forehead with a towel, “Ah.”

“I like this person.”

Yooseong suddenly realized that he liked Sylvia as a person of the opposite sex.

Since he thought that he would definitely return home someday, he should never give someone more affection than necessary or become a lover.

Even though he knew that, he couldn’t stop himself from being attracted to someone of the opposite sex that he liked.

“Huh? Why are you looking at me like that, Yoosung? Do you have anything to say?”

“Ah… no. No!”

“Heh. It’s bland.”

If Sylvia had been a little more friendly and had had more private conversations instead of just talking about training… maybe YooSung would have given up on going home and tried to become close to Sylvia somehow.

Thud… thud…

Walking through the dark corridors of the palace, YooSung looked at the wide open spaces behind the pillars of each corridor.

He could see weapon racks and wooden training dolls along with open spaces.

As he remembered, it was a training ground. It was a private training ground granted by the royal family to Sylvia Sylvester, the commander of the Silver Wolf Knights.

Normally, it would have been a place with neatly cut grass because Sylvia used it every day.

But the training ground that he saw now seemed to have been maintained by no one, as the grass was long and thick like reeds, swaying in the wind.

Is it because the owner is high on drugs and alcohol?”

If Sylvia Sylvester had thrown away her title as the captain of the knights, the Knights of Silverwolf would have been in a state of rest, or perhaps the knights had disbanded and all of their members had dispersed and were carrying out missions in different forms.

They were too advanced to be teased just because their captain was playing around.

“…”

The tall grass of the training ground seemed to show Sylvia Sylvester’s current situation.

While appreciating this, YooSeong quietly looked toward the training ground.

Huh! Huh! Captain Sylvia, I can’t do this! I’m going to die..!

I can do it, YooSeong! People don’t die that easily! He saw his past self running around the training ground and Sylvia Sylvester shouting passionately in front of him.

“…”

He grabbed his eye with his hand because of the pain rising from one of his eyes.

‘It hurts. His metal pupil, which should have been insensitive to pain, was stinging and aching.

When he rubbed his eye and looked forward again, all he could see was the dark training ground where not even the moonlight was shining, Thud… thud…

YooSung walked forward again. Sylvia Sylvester’s room and office were right next to the training ground.

Clang…! Clang!

“No abnormalities during alert!”

“No seizure symptoms from the alert target.”

YooSung hid behind a pillar at the sudden sound of metal greaves’ characteristic metal-meshing footsteps and someone’s deep voice talking.

It was the middle of the night, so there were no servants or royal officials walking around the hallway.

When he approached Sylvia Sylvester’s room, he saw knights wearing armor standing guard.

They weren’t just patrolling, but standing in a line on both sides of Sylvia’s room.

“Is it because the only ones who run wild are the members of the warrior party?”

They’re thorough. The knights standing there were not dressed like ordinary knights either.

Judging from the flashy armor with all sorts of patterns drawn on it and the badges on their shoulders, they were at least senior members of the royal knights.

That guy Seyeon.

If you stand guard, I’ll tell you. Yoo-seong thought about that for a moment, but soon he thought of Se- yeon’s face, which must have smiled and said, ‘You shouldn’t have any problems, right?”

and touched the core of his stealth armor.

Swish He complained, but it was true.

No matter how high-level the knights guarding the door were, Yooseong had the skills and equipment to easily get through.

Even the stealth armor he was wearing right now wasn’t simply invisibility, but complete assimilation with the surroundings like a chameleon.

As long as he didn’t directly touch the opponent, he wouldn’t be able to sense any movement even if he danced in front of them.

Thump. Thump.

Even the sound of his footsteps was completely erased by the stealth armor’s ability to assimilate the environment, and YooSung ignored the knights without any problems and arrived right in front of the gate.

How much must he have suffered…?

Looking closely at the inside of the helmets of the knights standing guard in front, he could tell at a glance that they were exhausted, with dark circles under their eyes and dim eyes.

‘If someone who trained in Auror is suffering physically, it seems that Sylvia Sylvester’s vigilance is not easy.

In fact, Seyeon’s words that Sylvia Sylvester was drunk and drugged and causing mayhem were not easy to believe.

Having received basic training from Sylvia Sylvester before going on an adventure, YooSung had also seen and heard everything about Sylvia Sylvester’s daily life.

‘Weakness is a sin’ As if to fulfill the one phrase she always said out of habit, Sylvia Sylvester devoted all her time to training except for mealtimes and sleeping times in order to not be weaker than others…

She was a training fanatic who was crazy about training.

She was also the embodiment of self-management, with pathological and torturous self-control.

So it’s only natural that it’s hard to believe the story that Sylvia Sylvester became debauched by drinking and drugs.

I have to be more careful…!

Since evidence started to appear from the training ground and the gate, we should almost certainly assume that Sylvia Sylvester is not normal and act accordingly.

It’s hard to predict what kind of sudden actions Sylvia Sylvester will take if she’s under the influence of drugs. She might suddenly swing her sword or rush in as if she had destroyed the royal building.

At the time she defeated the Demon King, Sylvia Sylvester had a martial arts skill that was rare on the continent, at the level of a grandmaster.

Even a giant ogre the size of a building can be split in half with a single swing of his sword, and a thick rock can be shattered with a single punch, so he is literally a human weapon.

Even if he had trained to some extent, for Yooseong, who is still a human, if he were caught by Sylvia with his bare body, it would be the end.

Yooseong knew that, but he tried to enter the tiger’s den on his own to confirm that Sylvia Sylvester was not normal. ‘Checking the armor’s residual energy.

{Current residual energy 80%..}

“How many times can I completely particleize?”

[3 times possible.]

Since Yooseong had overwhelming survivability compared to anyone else in the warrior party, he naturally prepared a safety device.

The ‘complete particleization ability of the stealth armor is the ability that allowed Seyeon to pass through his body when she jumped down from the bed in joy.

Although there is a limit to the number of times, in the complete particleization state, he is virtually invincible to attacks, and even if an attack is beyond the range of recognition, the sensor in the artificial eye automatically detects the danger and activates particleization.

There was no need to worry about an unexpected surprise attack. Because he believed this, YooSung was able to make the choice to go see Sylvia Sylvester.

‘Activation once. As he thought it in his head, the artificial eye recognized the thought and sent the order to the stealth armor.

Swish… YooSung’s body, already in a transparent state, split into countless pieces of particles.

Swish… Yoo Sung, in particle form, passed through the door without opening it, as if a ghost were passing through a door.

There is one problem with being fully atomized: your five senses don’t work properly.

“Switch to normal stealth.’

As soon as I entered the room, I switched from particleization to normal transparency.

Then… Tiring!

[Highly toxic gas detected! Activating automatic purification mode within the artificial organ (lungs)!]

Along with a warning message that appeared on the prosthetic eye.

‘Purple smoke..?”

The interior of the room spread out, filled with smoke as if covered in fog. Even though the room was not that large, the smoke was so thick that I couldn’t see even an inch in front of me. I will strengthen my optic nerves and apply adaptive vision to the maximum in order to explore!]

Along with the message on the prosthetic eye, the previously blurry interior space gradually became clear.

Glass bottles (probably liquor bottles) rolling on the floor and shards of broken glass.

There were large scratches that seemed to have been made with something on the walls and ceiling, and on one side, there was something that looked like armor spread out.

I’ve seen that armor before.

It’s the armor that was on display on one side when I visited Sylvia Sylvester’s room in the past.

Even at that time, Yooseong had thought that the room of a woman who had just become an adult was extremely bleak and unbecoming.

The room he was looking at now was a complete mess, like the corner of a haunted house.

As he was examining the entire room, which was becoming clearer from the outside to the center, Yooseong doubted his eyes for a moment when he noticed the bed right in front of the door he had just entered.

“…Sylvia Sylvester?”

The bed was placed right in the center of the room.

A single figure was lying diagonally on it, holding a silver pipe in his mouth. Since it was Sylvia Sylvester’s room, the figure’s identity would naturally be Sylvia.

“…?”

However, after seeing her face and clothes, Yooseong couldn’t be sure if the woman lying there right now was Sylvia Sylvester.

“Haa…”

The woman took off her pipe and exhaled smoke with a hazy face.

Her lips were painted with purple lipstick. Her eyes, which connect her pure white face and straight nose, are made up as if she has applied mascara, and her characteristic purple pupils shine clearly in the faint smoke under her long eyelashes.

Sylvia Sylvester’s makeup?

She was always bathing in sweat.

I have never seen her wearing a dress or makeup, even when attending a party or banquet.

The same goes for her hair style.

She kept her hair cut short or pulled up because it was easy to wear a helmet.

But what does the woman’s hair look like now?

The front is braided into a ponytail and swept to the side, and her silver-colored hair, which was cut short, flows like a streamer and reaches her waist.

It’s the kind of hair style that noble ladies who care about their appearance would have.

‘And that hairpin… definitely.

A purple butterfly hairpin is stuck in the hair of a woman who is either Sylvia Sylvester or someone who looks like her.

That butterfly hairpin is the hairpin that YooSung gave Sylvia as a gift five years ago.

I bought it because I thought it would suit Captain Sylvia! I was grateful for all the help she gave me with my training, so I thought it would suit her well.

At that time, YooSung wanted to repay Sylvia for helping him train in some way, so he bought a hairpin from an accessory shop outside the castle.

It wasn’t an expensive item made of real jewels, but it was the hairpin he immediately chose because Sylvia Sylvester’s purple eyes and her silver hair that shone gently would suit her.

YooSung… I appreciate the gift, but this kind of thing probably won’t suit me. However, Sylvia Sylvester’s reaction to the gift wasn’t very good.

Why…?

Captain Sylvia is so beautiful, I think it would suit her well. Sylvia blushed and said, “Beautiful?” at YooSung’s question that seemed really strange, and soon told Yoo Sung her story.

The Sylvester family is a long-standing, orthodox swordsmanship family.

Because the family’s swordsmanship was traditionally passed down to a male relative and the position of successor was always handed down, there was no way that Silvia Sylvester, who was born as a daughter, would become the successor.

Then, the correct way would have been for Count Silvard, the head of the Sylvester family, to have a male child as Silvia’s younger brother or adopt a child.

My wife is only Lucia! My child is also only Silvia!

However, Count Silvard, who was the head of the Sylvester family at the time, insisted that Silvia, the daughter left behind by his deceased wife, was his only child.

From then on, I never thought

At the same time, he earnestly urged his vassals that he would never remarry or take a concubine, as he was bound to keep his dead wife’s loyalty.

However, that did not mean that he could break the tradition of swordsmanship that had been passed down in the Sylvester family.

Master! Please!

What kind of face do you plan to show to your ancestors?!

Every day, Sylvester’s vassals would come to visit their master, Silvard, and harass him to remarry or take in a child, and there was never a quiet day in the Sylvester family due to Silvard’s bickering.

Little Silvia, who watched from the side, said…

Ah. Then I should be the successor.

I had already come to that conclusion when I was 10 years old. of myself as a woman.

When other kids my age played with dolls and had tea parties, I just wanted to go to the practice hall and swing my sword one more time and run with a sandbag on my shoulder.

I had to become someone worthy of being the successor to the Sylvester family.

That… was the life you wanted, Captain?

Looking at Sylvia speaking with a calm face, YooSung couldn’t help but ask again.

Sylvia was definitely a woman.

She was born with a beautiful appearance, so she must have had a desire for a woman’s life like other children her age..

He was frustrated and curious as to whether she had any regrets about living a life that was limited to her environment and being tied down to the fact that she was the successor of the Sylvester family.

No regrets.

Sylvia answered sharply.

If she really had no regrets, her eyes would have been confident and not trembling.

Seeing Sylvia like that, Yoo Sung thought she was pitiful.

I’ve never seen her with a butterfly hairpin.

Of course, the day before leaving for the trip.

She had earnestly asked me to come back safely, and I told her that I would show her in a dress at the party.

If that promise had been fulfilled, I would have seen Sylvia wearing a butterfly hairpin and a dress.

However, rather than keeping the promise, YooSung’s relationship with Sylvia completely changed after the adventure ended.

I thought I would never see her again… but I’m seeing her here.

Yooseong, whose eyes were fixed on Sylvia’s face with her butterfly hairpin and makeup, suddenly looked at Sylvia’s body and flinched once again.

“What is that?”

Yooseong remembered Sylvia’s outfit.

It was either the armor she always wore or the cotton top and bottom that came with the knights’ supplies.

But what was covering Sylvia’s body right now was neither armor nor a plain cotton top, nor even a plain outfit.. a translucent purple negligee that showed her insides.

Even the bottom had something like a lace belt wrapped around her thighs, so it was clear that she was wearing a garter belt.

Yes..

It was her room, so wearing underwear was not a problem.

But no matter how you looked at it, that was an outfit to seduce men, not an outfit to sleep in.

It was the kind of outfit that high-class prostitutes would wear at a slave auction.

And that was done by none other than Sylvia Sylvester!

Sylvia Sylvester, who had tried to avoid femininity for the sake of her identity as Sylvester’s successor, was putting on makeup!

Yooseong, wearing the accessories he had given her!

Even wearing that kind of outfit?

‘It was true that I wasn’t normal. After confirming the result, Yooseong tried to escape Sylvia Sylvester’s room using particleization.

Swish.

“Meteor..?”

But at that moment, a single word was heard.

Yooseong, who had turned around, turned his head again with a surprised face and looked towards the bed. Swish..

“Meteor.. are you here?”

Sylvia Sylvester slowly got up from the bed and walked towards him while calling his name.

It could be an illusion.

Right now, Sylvia is taking drugs that are no different from toxicity.

Just looking at her eyes, she is already out of her mind, so it would be impossible for her to notice the presence of the stealth armor that even the warrior Seyeon couldn’t spot.

It has to be.

She’s looking this way.

Yooseong.

First, he was surprised by the fact that Sylvia’s gaze was looking exactly in the direction he was standing.

Second, he was surprised that Sylvia’s eyes were only visible to one side.

When she was lying down, I could only see her side profile so I didn’t notice anything wrong with her eyes, but now when I looked straight ahead, I saw that Sylvia had a purple rose-shaped patch over one of her eyes.

She said she poked her own eye out.”

thud..

Wrapping both arms around YooSung’s neck as if hugging him, she buried her face in his shoulder.

“You came again today, YooSung…”

Sylvia Sylvester whispered.