Rukna quickly looked around.

She frowned and made eye contact with Matian once again.

‘Did he see?’

Her hands trembled.

Fortunately, she had her back turned to him, so he couldn’t have seen the exact changes in her body.

“Hey, dummy! What are you doing in there? Come out already!”

This time, Bolton, who was at the front, gestured to Rukna.

Aaron, who was next to him, said he knew this would happen, took off his shoes and threw them, and started preparing to enter the water.

“Do you know why the dummy isn’t coming out, Aaron?”

“I lent my hammer to Rukna Golden. She probably doesn’t want to return it.”

“Just for a wooden hammer? That doesn’t seem like the dummy’s taste.”

“That’s a very precious hammer made from the tree of life, you muscle head!”

“It doesn’t have any special abilities other than extending in length.”

“If you strike the ground with it, crops will grow well.”

“……?”

“You can have a good harvest in the fall.”

Aaron lifted his chin proudly.

“……Is that it?”

“You simple-minded fool. Every grain of wheat is money. If you strike the land of the estate, it becomes a granary. The land value changes!”

“If that makes money, why is your future aspiration to be a corrupt judge? Go and farm instead.”

At those words, Aaron shut his mouth.

This idiot, who entered the military academy because he hated farming, wanted to rise in the world and strike a desk with this hammer like a gavel, not the ground.

While taking plenty of bribes.

“And the dummy has holy power, so she’ll make much more money entering the temple than farming. Anyway, my point is that the dummy isn’t someone who would covet your hammer.”

For once, Bolton made sense and shouted to Rukna, “Throw the hammer over here!”

Rukna swung her arms around to gather strength and threw the hammer towards the pond with all her might.

It spun around and splashed into the shallow part of the pond, and Aaron hurriedly ran to retrieve the precious hammer.

While everyone was focused on the hammer, Matian, who realized something troubling had happened to Rukna, was only staring at her.

“Do you need help?”

As Matian said, Rukna needed help, but it was something she couldn’t bring herself to admit.

What should I do? Should I just stick my nose in the bottom of the pond and die?

“Rukna Golden, answer me.”

“Ah, well……”

As Rukna hesitated, Matian, who was standing by the pond, dipped his feet into the water.

His long legs made splashing sounds as he approached Rukna.

“Wait, Matian! Don’t come this way. It’s quite deep here!”

“What the hell is it? Is your foot caught in algae?”

“It’s not like that. Haha. Swimming just feels good. I told you to go over there?”

“Even more suspicious.”

“Geez, suspicious my foot. If you go back over there first, I’ll come out.”

“Come out where I can see you. Only then can I feel at ease.”

“Since when did you care about me so much?”

“Let’s say I’m starting to care now.”

Matian walked towards the center of the pond where Rukna was floating.

When the water rose to his chest, Matian showed a look of discomfort but didn’t stop.

“Go away. I’ll come out on my own.”

“I have a bad feeling. That place where you are, I feel it’s dangerous.”

“You’re right. Lady Sarah was just about to sacrifice her body to unleash black magic.”

“What?”

“So I’m telling you to leave. I’ll try to do something with the holy power I have.”

“Black magic that requires a sacrificial ritual can barely be dispelled by several priests gathering together. It’ll be hard for you alone.”

“You saw on the airship. I seem to have some talent in this area, right?”

Saying she could do it alone, Rukna distanced herself from the approaching Matian.

When the pond water rose up to his nose, Matian’s complexion turned a bit pale, but he didn’t stop taking steps towards Rukna, waving his long arms and legs.

Who would have thought the great Matian Wiegratz was such a reckless guy!

When the depth of the pond far exceeded Matian’s height, he began swimming a bit clumsily.

Rukna, who was keeping her distance, tilted her head. He doesn’t seem to know how to swim?

“By the way, Matian, you… can swim, right?”

In response to Rukna’s question, an answer half-filled with water and half-filled with air came back as a sound like “Wepfethamponpfet.” He’s not sinking, is he?

‘How does it make sense for a weapon master to not know how to swim.’

Well, there was no rule that he had to wield weapons well in the water, but somehow it seemed like he would be good at anything physical.

Rukna stared at Matian’s hair floating on the water like a black jellyfish.

He was creatively utilizing a technique of briefly breathing in the moments he parted the pond water by emitting tremendous aura.

But Rukna had to frantically wave her arms and legs left and right to avoid that beam-like aura.

‘If he overuses aura like that, he’ll quickly get tired.’

Should she just wait until Matian drinks water and faints? While the student council deals with him, she could find the holy sword she left at the bottom of the pond and escape.

While Rukna was having bad thoughts, Matian’s aura was no longer felt.

‘Did he faint?’

Only then did Rukna start swimming towards where Matian was.

When Rukna roughly reached the target point and took a deep breath before diving to scan the murky water, it happened.

Grab.

Ahhh! Someone grabbed Rukna’s wrist and pulled.

The startled Rukna spat out the breath she was holding and was dragged away.

‘Is it Matian?’

Rukna slightly twisted her body in the water and looked down.

Facing Matian, who had his blue eyes wide open, was as terrifying as encountering a water ghost.

He mouthed ‘It’s dangerous.’ and embraced Rukna.

‘Wh-what is this!’

Rukna couldn’t move in the water. Did he mean it’s dangerous to drown in the water right now? When he’s grabbing me like a water ghost?

‘At this rate, I’ll be found out!’

Since she had a woman’s body right now, she had to get away from Matian immediately.

Just as Rukna was struggling in Matian’s arms,

the strength in Matian’s arms holding her loosened. He had fainted.

Rukna quickly grabbed him and tried to go up to the surface.

But an eerie energy was felt from not far away at the bottom of the pond.

‘Bisbi? Are you sure you properly resolved the black magic circle?’

Rukna called the holy sword she had left stuck in the magic circle. There was no answer, perhaps because the distance was too far for communication.

Then, from where the holy sword was, a black energy slowly spread out and enveloped Rukna and Matian.

No! Rukna tried to escape somehow, but her body lacking oxygen wouldn’t listen.

Soon, with a flash of red light, the space below the pond distorted and a pitch-black hole appeared, and Rukna and Matian’s bodies were helplessly sucked in.

Rukna recalled the amusement park rides she had ridden in her previous life.

The feeling of passing through a twisted space was similar to riding a train that descended rapidly while spinning several times in the air.

Of course, the riding experience wasn’t good.

When she reached the end of the darkness, Rukna was flung out, hit a wall once, and had to roll on the floor.

Argh, it hurts! At times like this, it was fortunate that she wasn’t a delicately raised young lady.

Otherwise, she might have ended up with a broken neck and died at this point.

‘Where is this place?’

The space surrounded by yellowish and old bricks seemed like an underground prison.

Stale sewage flowed along a sunken sewer, and oil lamps attached to the walls dimly illuminated the blood-splattered space.

And under that oil lamp, Matian was lying in a seated position. With the holy sword in his hand.

‘H-how did this happen!’

Rukna fidgeted anxiously around Matian.

‘No, this is rather fortunate. This way, Matian ends up finding the holy sword.’

Rukna wanted to leave the place in a hurry and looked for an exit. But damn it.

The only passage was blocked by iron bars.

Rukna grabbed the iron bars and shook them, but they didn’t seem to open easily. Damn it.

Rukna kicked the iron bars with her foot and leaned against the wall.

Then she noticed a shelf attached to one side of the wall.

As if it was a place where someone had been living, the shelf had simple dresses, including a school uniform, neatly folded, and underneath, a small drawer contained notebooks, textbooks, and writing tools.

The textbooks were engraved with the white swan emblem of St. Agnes Girls’ School.

‘A prison used by a female student?’

It was strange because there couldn’t possibly be a prison in a girls’ school that only nobles could enter.

As Rukna carefully examined the surroundings, she heard a coughing sound from behind her back.

Matian was about to wake up.

Matian rubbed his throbbing forehead. His mind was awake, but everything in front of him was pitch black.

As if heavily intoxicated by something, as if dreaming within a dream, it felt unreal.

‘What the hell happened?’

Only fragmentary scenes came to mind sporadically. The definite fact was that he had recklessly rushed into the pond to save Rukna, who couldn’t come out and was floating in the pond.

‘I don’t know why I did such a stupid thing.’

At that time, he judged that Rukna was in a situation she couldn’t resolve, and his body moved first without a second thought.

He, who couldn’t even swim, had jumped in to save someone who was floating well in the water. It was the most foolish mistake he had made this year.

‘When it comes to Rukna, I lose my reason without realizing it.’

It must be because he was addicted to that damn comfortably holy power.

Come to think of it, his heart had ached because of the black magic he felt a little while ago, but now it was fine again.

It felt reassuring as if Rukna was by his side.

‘Wait, there’s something in my hand…….’

When he lifted his heavy eyelids, his vision was hazy as if blurred fog had spread all around.

As he lowered his head, he saw the holy sword grasped in his hand.

“It was a dream after all.”

Matian gripped the sword’s hilt and tried to slowly lift it, then burst out laughing.

Even in his dreams, the holy sword refused to accept him as its master and didn’t budge at all.

“Even in my dreams, it’s like this.”

Phew. Matian sighed and turned his head, calling out the person who came to mind.

“Rukna.”

Since this was a dream, it felt like if he called her name, she would appear next to him in the form he desired.

“You’re right. It is a dream.”

The round back of her head covered with soft platinum blonde hair was a welcome sight.

What was even more absurd was the fact that Rukna Golden was wearing a girls’ school uniform.