Ludovica showed a few more demonstrations after that, but it didn’t hold much significance.

“Vivi, the sun is rising. Wake up quickly.”

By now, the dim dawn sun had revealed more than half of its form.

Since the aggressiveness of magical beasts was greatly influenced by sunlight, training might become difficult if more time passed.

‘Alright, I’ll give it a try.’

I clenched my fist while looking at the magical beast inside the iron cage that Ruby had prepared.

I can do it. I can do this.

Although I haven’t learned anything, I should be able to take down that magical beast.

It’s called a magical beast, but in reality, it wasn’t that threatening in size.

All the magical beasts I had seen so far were much larger than my body, so it was understandable to be scared, but this one was at most the size of my forearm.

‘Right, think of it as a giant bug, not a magical beast. Ugh, but that’s unpleasant in its own way.’

The important thing is that Ruby is by my side now, ready to protect me if an emergency occurs.

After organizing my thoughts, I felt much more at ease.

I activated my ability and picked up a club lying nearby, gripping it tightly with both hands.

Then I nodded resolutely, signaling that I was ready.

The locked iron cage opened, and the magical beast jumped out.

‘Come on if you dare!’

I stared at the magical beast’s movements with wide eyes, like a knight facing an enemy commander.

‘I see it, I see it! I can do this!’

Just as I was about to swing the club at the small magical beast.

Suddenly, the magical beast’s body split in half and instantly grew larger.

Between the split, hundreds of white teeth and a three-forked tongue were revealed.

Startled by its appearance, which could swallow me whole without difficulty, I screamed.

“Hee, heeek! Get away!”

It felt like a brake had been applied to my brain, ability or not.

There was no mention of the magical beast suddenly growing larger! This is cheating!

Overwhelmed by its bizarre appearance, the strength left my legs.

I needed to avoid it, but I couldn’t move as I wanted.

‘I’m, I’m going to be eaten!’

I closed my eyes tightly in terror.

While trembling, I heard a thud.

When I courageously opened my eyes, what I saw was none other than Ruby.

With an utterly nonchalant expression, she was holding the magical beast by the scruff of its neck.

The magical beast, suspended in the air, was struggling to escape from her grasp but couldn’t break free.

‘No way, how can she so easily…’

Her appearance, holding the magical beast as if it were nothing, was truly shocking.

How can she grab that disgusting, frightening thing with such an expression?

But it seemed I wasn’t the only one shocked.

“Why… can’t you do this?”

Unlike her usual composure, her voice was tinged with uncharacteristic bewilderment.

I was perplexed as well.

‘How… does one do that?’

Unable to understand each other, silence fell between us.

Meanwhile, there was someone secretly watching them…

Dietrich, who was unusually handling work in a room other than his office, burst into laughter.

“Pfft, Nils. Take a look at that.”

“Yes, if my employer tells me to look, I must. What’s making you like this again?”

Nils sighed at Dietrich, who was trying to distract himself, but turned his gaze to where Dietrich’s finger was pointing.

Outside the window would be the training grounds.

Usually a space filled with knights, but today, for some reason, only Ludovica and a small woman beside her were visible.

Having heard the story through Dietrich, he could quickly guess who the woman was.

“That must be her. The Miss Vivian you mentioned before.”

“Yes, that’s right. The very Vivian who kidnapped me.”

Nils observed her appearance from afar.

He had heard a lot about her through Dietrich, but this was the first time seeing her in person.

‘Somehow, her aura is different than I expected.’

In fact, Vivian was quite a grateful existence to Nils.

When she suddenly kidnapped Dietrich, he resented her for having to take on all the work alone.

However, after Dietrich’s return, Nils forgot all his previous resentment and kept only gratitude for her in his heart.

It was because Dietrich’s conversation topics had changed.

For a very long time, Dietrich’s only conversation topic was ‘how handsome he was.’

The problem was that Nils, as his aide, always had to be the one to listen to these stories silently.

It was an obvious truth that could be understood just by looking at his face.

That Dietrich was handsome.

Nevertheless, for years, Nils had to forcefully endure Dietrich’s self-proclaimed handsomeness being injected into his ears.

The constant repetition of the story not only made his ears crusty but also threatened to damage his eardrums to the point of deafness.

But after being kidnapped by Vivian, there was a change.

Her story was occasionally added to the conversations.

Nils couldn’t help but be grateful to her.

She had freed him from the prison of Dietrich’s self-praise.

Some might wonder why he’s thankful for such a thing, but this feeling was something only those who had been by Dietrich’s side for a long time could understand.

Dietrich was truly… a man riddled with extreme self-love.

Nils mentally sent a thank you to Vivian, who was standing blankly in the distance.

However, gratitude was gratitude, and work still had to be done separately.

He sighed as he looked at Dietrich, who had already left his desk and was leaning against the window frame, pouring his attention into the training grounds.

“Young Master. Aren’t you going to handle your work?”

Dietrich slightly turned his head, smirked, and then faced forward again. It meant to be quiet.

Nils felt a headache coming on.

He rubbed his brow as if dizzy, but Dietrich remained fixated on the training grounds.

“But the work is piling up, you know?”

“I understand, Nils.”

Fortunately, an answer came back this time, but he still remained unmoved. Nils was truly at his wit’s end.

‘I wondered why he said he’d work here instead of his office for once…’

Dietrich usually didn’t like changing locations.

He always stuck to his office.

Today, I thought some wind had gotten into him, suddenly saying he’d work somewhere else, but now it seems it was because of Vivian.

After all, the training grounds weren’t visible from his office.

‘Looks like I won’t be going home today…’

At least while Vivian and Ludovica were training in the grounds, there seemed to be no possibility of Dietrich properly listening to his words.

Finally, in a spirit of resignation, Nils sat down on a chair.

Eventually, he asked a question that was almost like a sigh.

“Do you like that young lady that much?”

“Hm? What on earth are you talking about?”

Dietrich, who hadn’t been paying attention to this side, looked at him for some reason.

Surprised by the immediate response, Nils asked again as his master feigned innocence.

“You talk about her to me all the time, and now you keep watching that training ground. I naturally thought you liked her.”

“Huh, what nonsense. Your sense of humor has improved lately.”

Dietrich, who had been glued to the window as if coated with glue, suddenly came in front of Nils and argued.

“Think about it, Nils.”

“Think about what? My head is already full of the work you’re putting off.”

Nils subtly inserted a complaint, but Dietrich, as if he had a filter in his ears, thoroughly ignored that part.

“Am I someone who can like another person? Hm? Look at my face. Isn’t it so handsome?”

‘What does that have to do with anything…’

Nils’ eyes became dull like a frozen fish at his master’s nonsensical logic.

Dietrich shook his head as if thinking to himself, ‘As expected, a commoner cannot understand my heart.’

“Logically speaking. Don’t people tend to be attracted to those better than themselves? But do you think there’s anyone in this world better than me?”

“…Pardon?”

“Yes, it’s natural to be surprised at your own dullness. There’s no one better than me in this world, Nils. At least not in terms of appearance.”

“…”

“I was born with the sin of being too beautiful, cursed to be unable to love anyone other than myself.”

Nils just blinked silently.

Dietrich’s nonsense was as familiar as daily life, but today it was truly record-breaking.

It was starting to worry him now, wondering if he had hit his head.

While listening to Dietrich’s continued sophistry, Nils spoke softly.

“Young Master, do you know something?”

“What?”

“They say strong denial is strong affirmation.”

There was a moment of silence as if at a loss for words.

What escaped from Dietrich’s slightly parted lips was a mocking laugh.

“As expected, commoners are hopeless. Fine, Nils. It’s true that I’m very interested in Miss Vivian. Isn’t it natural? Who else in the world could kidnap me if not her?”

“Doesn’t that mean, in terms of physical ability, that young lady is superior? There it is, someone better than you in some aspect, Young Master.”

“Huh, no, no! How did the logic flow that way? My interest in Miss Vivian is because her actions are entertaining. Simply that and nothing more.”

When Nils gave him a dubious look, Dietrich pointed out the window, feeling wronged.

“Look at that scene. Isn’t it funny? How could I take my eyes off Miss Vivian!”

It was then.

“Hee, heeek! Get away!”

A woman’s scream echoed from the training grounds.

Without time to check what had happened, Dietrich jumped out the window.

Suddenly, only Nils was left alone in the room.

He took off his glasses with a deep sigh and rubbed his face.

‘Ah, I really want to quit…’

Just as he was about to take out the resignation letter from his pocket, the salary that came to mind made him put it back.

It was too much money to quit.