Chapter 303: Chapter 303: Self-Study

That night, I slept on my own bed.

Thinking back, I stayed outside quite often as of late, so it was quite rare for me to stay in my own room like this.

I couldn’t stand Cortina’s earlier shameful display, or rather, foolishness. That said, it’s not like I didn’t understand what she felt.

Even for me, there were various first-time experiences today when it comes to women.

I was feeling a bit dizzy and fluffy in my chest like Cortina, but at the same time, I was anxious whether everything I did was correct.

Particularly, Cortina called me a “clumsy brute” before we parted today, and that weighed on my mind even now. She most likely said that just to hide her embarrassment, but there’s no guy who wouldn’t feel a bit bothered by it.

“When it comes to these, she also doesn’t understand how guys’ hearts work, huh.”

Men needed self-confidence. When they joined with the women they yearned for, they wanted to hear the words of satisfaction from their mouths.

Naturally, there was a possibility that I was actually bad… T-There definitely was…

“That said, this isn’t something you can just practice… No, wait, maybe Finia would let me.”

Right after saying it, I shook my head, realizing the ridiculousness of it.

She was closer to a little sister for me. I was feeling a little reluctant to put my hands on her.

If I had previously built experience with her like with Cortina it would be one thing, but… Wait, did I even have that with Cortina?

“Did Cortina and I even have any experience aside from battles? I feel like not…”

I could only remember conversations that we had as opposite sexes end with a devastating result. It was late to say this now, going after her like that right into a physical relationship was pretty brutish.

“Crap. Did I rush it?”

Thinking back, Cortina rejected me before, and she hadn’t said anything about dating me even now.

From the outside perspective, it looked like I just got to know about her feelings for me, suddenly appeared, and went right for sex.

While I was indeed instigated by Maxwell, I might have done something pretty brutish to her.

“Wait wait, I have proposed to her before, and there should be no problems feelings-wise either. Right, that was simply the natural development. Nothing out of the ordinary at all.”

I grumbled those words to convince myself.

Cortina didn’t deny it, and looking at her behavior, it turned out well.

“In other words, my current goal is whether to raise my skill from now on.”

I spoke it aloud to switch my consciousness. This was quite impossible to do something about with no one to practice with. But…

“Wait a minute! Don’t I already have a perfect partner to practice with?”

Michelle was out of the question, Letina too, as the aftermath would be scary. Likewise with Matisse.

There was no one around me who’d be able to help me with this.

“But wait! I am a girl now! If I can’t practice on others, I can do it on myself!”

Thus, I spent the rest of the night ‘training’ by myself.

Yeah, I can’t tell anyone about this…

The next day, I went to the Adventurer’s Guild.

It has been some time since the last long vacation, but Michelle had some circumstances that made her unable to come adventuring.

The reason was… Yeah, same as mine from before—the menstrual day.

I could have instead gone to the music room and practiced my musical performance, but I was worried my katana skills have been getting dull because I haven’t used them as of late.

Weapons at my disposal grew in number lately, so katana, which was one of my main weapons, hadn’t seen much use.

Thus, I wanted to reforge myself like Cloud so my skills wouldn’t grow duller.

As I headed down the stairs to the lower floor, an intense explosion of cheers reached my ears.

It sounded as heated as when Cloud was the one training there. But there weren’t supposed to be any events planned today, so I wondered what caused it.

“What is it now…? Is it about Cloud again or something?”

I reached the ground, and then went through the corridor towards the training grounds.

In the center of the training ground with virtual ground made by scattering earth on it, there was an impossibly large crowd that included the Guild staff as well.

It was to the point that it’d make you worry whether the Guild work would even proceed smoothly with so many of them here.

“W-What’s going on?”

As I said that in surprise, one of the Guild staff addressed me.

“Ah, Lady Nicole! Good timing. Lord Lyell has come to visit us today!”

“Huh, dad?”

“Yes. He said he was curious about Cloud’s training here, so he hurriedly came to inspect it.”

“Hmm… Without even dropping by Cortina’s house? That’s strange.”

Lyell seemed to be thinking of actually taking Cloud on as a disciple, so he started to put serious effort into training him.

Perhaps the fact that Cloud turned out to be unexpectedly talented played a part in it too. But still, that made me, who couldn’t properly train due to my weak body, a little jealous.

“He is training other Adventurers while he is at it, so this place is packed as you see.”

“Yeah, looks like it.”

“Even if anyone gets hurt, Lady Maria will heal them, so there is no danger.”

“So that’s why there’s such a crowd…”

Looking towards the corner, I could see another crowd there. But most of them were women. Were there more injured among the women? Lyell should really learn to hold back.

“But what about the situation above?”

“Oh, it’s okay, the Guild Master is taking over the work for us!”

“Hey, you should go back and do it yourself!”

I prayed for the poor Guild Master who had all the work pushed onto him by his own staff. Setting that aside, Lyell was fighting against Adventurers, huh? That was quite interesting in its own right.

“I also wish to head to that side, though. But it’s hard to take my eyes off Lord Lyell’s majestic figure!”

“To Maria’s side, you mean?”

“Yes, it seems that she has brought her newborn with her tod—”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Fina!”

Hearing that, I immediately rushed towards her. It was quite unlike Maria to bring Fina to a dusty place like this. What if she gets dirty.

I pushed the Adventurers aside, heading towards Maria. And then I saw my little sister, one who was as precious to me as Cortina.