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EP.37 Don't... abandon me, Eugene...?1
Slash!!
"Guoooooh!!"
Eugene's attacks against the goblin champion duo continued,
Basically, after the first goblin champion was sliced in one hit,
The remaining goblin champion alone was in no position to do anything.
Sensing the situation, it raised its iron club in a final desperate attempt,
But Eugene's greatsword immediately shot up and pierced through the second goblin champion's jaw and crown.
"Wow, that's amazing! Even Uncle Ivan couldn't show that kind of performance!"
"Mr. Eugene needs to be scolded~ To have such skills but introduce himself as a Sword Runner~? Trying to steal this much older sister's heart, are you!!"
With just two refreshing attacks,
Eugene Schneider not only received the shaman goblin's buff but completely finished off two fully armored goblin champions,
Thomas and Sophia let out delighted cries of shock at that impressive sight.
The two were essentially reveling in the victorious situation.
But looking at their detailed reaction patterns,
They seemed unaware of the Sword User Alpha concept that Jeanne had recognized.
'I've seen that appearance in big sister and Elizabeth, and now I'm seeing it in that Eugene too.'
The reason being,
Even in the noble world where awakened ones are relatively common,
The alpha stage is a rare awakening reaction.
The so-called reaction that occurs in geniuses,
Hence it's a phenomenon created when breakthrough occurs in multiple areas at once.
Its cause is the disparity between the state of technical and physical training, and the mana production that exploded rapidly enough to contrast with it.
And the breakthrough section where those disparities are expressed is none other than,
'It means becoming an Expert is just a matter of time.'
Between User level and Expert level.
So it's commonly called User Alpha,
And among commoner awakened ones where Expert level itself is extremely rare,
It's an almost unknown concept.
'At most 3 years, at least 1 year. Eugene will become a Sword Expert.'
A structure has already been created where he can't help but become an Expert.
It's just that a bottleneck has occurred, so
Unless he deliberately tries to slow himself down, a Sword Alpha inevitably becomes a Sword Expert.
Sword Expert, a realm that perhaps Jeanne herself might take 10 years or more,
Or may not even reach.
However, Eugene will step into that realm she couldn't reach
Within 2 to 3 years of awakening.
'I thought there were some people whose bodies changed drastically due to awakening, but that was Eugene's alpha precursor symptom.'
The puzzle pieces fit together in Jeanne's mind.
The irrational mana energy explosion of an alpha
Ultimately induces hypertrophy of specific abilities in the awakened one.
In Charlotte's case, from her User Alpha days, when it came to healing,
She was already at the Expert level of a high priestess
And externally, her hair had turned silver.
Elizabeth's so-called spiritual eyes opened,
So she could read through the magic letters of debuffed ancient books.
Jeanne guesses that for Eugene, the alpha precursor symptom buff led to physical changes.
Through that overwhelming physicality, he achieved what all comrades thought would be difficult - a full buff and one-hit slicing against a fully armored goblin champion.
'In the end, Eugene is also different from me...'
It became too clear.
Even if she wanted to deny it, she couldn't.
Eugene Schneider is a different kind of person from the ordinary Jeanne d'Arc de Sel Orléans.
"....."
After finishing off the second goblin champion,
Eugene looked at his comrades inside the circle where the divine power aura was still emanating.
More precisely, Eugene's gaze was directed at Jeanne.
Eugene learned he was at Sword User level
Near the end of his pilgrim's path journey.
But knowing Jeanne's inferiority complex towards her genius sisters, he didn't want to stimulate that.
So he pretended to be a Sword Runner, but ultimately this situation was created.
"Well, let's split into pairs to search for the shaman goblin. We have until the color of this magic stone turns red. By then, even Priscilla, who'll be frustrated if she can't catch it, will have no choice but to return."
Jeanne handed the time-checking magic stone to Sophia.
As they took down the goblin champions, the shaman goblin's debuff spell that was created through them as mediums also faded, just as Sophia had analyzed.
Thus, without time to celebrate victory, the Red Fox main infiltration team organized units for the next sub-quest.
Since no external signal was coming, it seemed Priscilla still hadn't caught the shaman goblin.
The shaman goblin has used big spells in succession, so there's likely no room to use directional disruption spells in an escape situation.
Therefore, not only Priscilla but also the main infiltration team formed two-person units to search for the shaman goblin for a certain time,
Soon they should be able to catch its tail inside this cave.
"....."
Thud, thud, thud,
Sophia and Thomas were paired,
And Jeanne and Eugene were paired.
Eugene, who started searching for the shaman goblin while walking side by side with Jeanne, was trying to manage his expression but looked like he had a lot on his mind.
'She can't not react to me deceiving her. Even if we're in the middle of a mission.'
Until now, Jeanne had avoided being paired with Eugene when forming units.
She usually attached Thomas to Eugene.
And the external justification for that was weapon synergy.
But now Jeanne and Eugene himself have become a pair,
Of course, the current sub-quest difficulty is just chasing after a close-combat cripple shaman goblin.
But as Jeanne is somewhat professional as a mercenary captain,
Eugene thinks her decision to pair with him was influenced by their personal issues.
In other words, the issue of being discovered as a Sword User,
Eugene Schneider started pondering how to resolve that.
"That's right. I'm a Sword User. I've known since early this year."
Eugene's contemplation didn't last long.
Wasn't he Eugene Schneider who had become incomparably bolder since his body grew?
So his choice was a head-on confrontation.
"....."
Despite Eugene's ambitious decision,
Jeanne still had a calm expression as she continued walking through the cave.
"But honestly, I wasn't at a level where I could openly say I was a Sword User. I hadn't even learned basic mana footwork. The mana footwork I used earlier was actually inspired by what you showed me before, Jeanne."
From Eugene's perspective, he had his own reasons to move forward boldly.
A situation where breakthrough had occurred but systematization hadn't.
Since he couldn't show mana footwork, which could be considered the flower of User level,
He thought it wouldn't look good to just verbally boast that he was User level.
"Eugene, do you think this is just because you think you're simply a Sword User?"
Finally Jeanne opened her mouth.
"Isn't it because of that? Is there another reason?"
Eugene was slightly taken aback by this.
His expected picture was
Jeanne reacting angrily like a spitfire.
A huffing and puffing appearance unable to control emotions,
Most of their arguments had been like that until now.
But Jeanne's tone just now was candid.
No, it even seemed calm.
"I know I have an inferiority complex, but it's not to that extent. If you're a Sword User, you're at the same level as me. Of course I don't feel great that you lied, but there's no reason to say anything beyond that."
Jeanne continued speaking.
"Then is there really another reason??? What is it??"
Eugene reacted more actively to Jeanne's unexpected appearance.
It was the thought that things could be resolved more easily than expected,
And curiosity about what he was missing.
"Hah... Seeing your reaction now, it seems you really don't know."
Jeanne sighed slightly, closing her eyes.
Eugene's reaction seemed to firmly believe they were at the same awakened level,
In other words, from Jeanne's view, Eugene seemed unaware that he was a Sword User Alpha.
"You're a different Sword User from me. Even if the skin is the same, the contents are completely different. Sword User Alpha, you've heard of it before when my sister and Elizabeth awakened. Eugene, you're a Sword User Alpha like them."
So Jeanne directly defined Eugene's awakening level for him.
"I'm a Sword User Alpha?? Isn't that just fast skill acquisition??"
"That's usually the case. But theoretically there's also a type that becomes physically stronger. You're that case."
Eugene Schneider, who had watched the awakening situations of other family members after entering the Grand Duke's household,
And who had also studied on his own after directly experiencing awakening, feeling the need for sufficient knowledge.
Yet there was a reason he hadn't even considered the Sword User Alpha judgment.
Because the physical enhancement Eugene experienced as a Sword Alpha precursor symptom was an extremely rare case.
'Well, there are few physical-focused classes among nobles in particular. The shield class is mostly supplied by commoner awakened ones.'
As he listened to Jeanne's explanation, Eugene found himself agreeing.
Like survival of the fittest,
The awakened ability DNA of nobles also settled to fit their society.
Knights, priests, and mages are the big three,
And if you add mainstream classes, there are archers and lancers.
In other words, the remaining classes are mostly commoners,
But User Alphas are rarely produced among commoners,
And among nobles, only User Alphas of the above five skill-focused classes have been reported.
So a Sword User Alpha case fitting a physical class
Can be seen as essentially the first in recent times with Eugene Schneider.
"Ah! I'm so mad!"
Thud!
After spilling everything like that,
Jeanne stopped and vented her frustration candidly.
"Now I'm last in the family! Even that Eugene guy is better than me!"
Jeanne cried out, almost throwing a tantrum.
"....."
At that sight, Eugene also stopped walking and silently looked at Jeanne.
"Hah... But damn, I'm frustrated and bitter... but strangely, I don't feel as bad as I thought..."
Smirk...!
After shouting at the top of her lungs,
Jeanne seemed to feel a bit better as she looked straight ahead with a slightly bitter smile.
"It seems I wasn't just suffering because I was lacking and inferior..."
Then she muttered words that were difficult for Eugene beside her to understand.
"Looking carefully at my emotions now, I think I know... Maybe I was suffering from feeling abandoned..."
Jeanne's inferiority complex that had tormented her since childhood,
She herself thought it was created because she disliked her inferior self compared to her family members.
But,
That appearance she so hated to see,
Namely, even Eugene surpassing her, she was experiencing it like this now,
Yet she feels more normal than expected.
And at the same time, through this current situation with Eugene, she fully realized that the wound in her heart that had settled for a long time
Was even deeper and more fundamental than Jeanne herself had thought.
"What are you saying! Abandoned? Why would you be abandoned, Jeanne."
When Jeanne mentioned her fear of being abandoned,
Unlike his previous appearances, Eugene reacted quite seriously.
Because he felt her sincerity in Jeanne's profile as she slightly bowed her head while mentioning being abandoned.
"Don't abandon me. I think it would be really hard if you abandoned me."
Smile...!
It was Eugene's serious expression that was even somewhat scary.
But Jeanne seemed to like that appearance,
She looked at Eugene with a smile tinged with gratitude rather than bitterness.
Then in a refined but truly desperate,
And sorrowful way,
She asked him not to abandon her.
"Idiot, why would I abandon you just because the situation got a little better? After all, I'm just a stone that rolled into the Orléans family."
Eugene wanted to ask why Jeanne thought she had been abandoned.
But because Jeanne had sadder eyes than ever before,
He couldn't ask for fear his question might end up digging into her heart.
But his angered emotions,
He wanted to pour them out.
So saying the thought that he might abandon her was truly foolish,
Eugene poured out his words to Jeanne before him in an angry tone with provocative language,
"You're the person who's spent the most time with me so far. You've been with me even more than my father. So I have no burden, I'll suck you dry to the bone as you want. You can't escape from me. I'll possess everything you have - your sword knowledge, wealth, and even your time spent with someone."
Eugene was truly angry.
Of course, even Eugene himself thinks he's not good at expressing affection.
But he thought he had really tried hard to convey his feelings at least to the Orléans people.
Among them, Jeanne was the most comfortable, so seeing her like this,
Eugene was angrier than ever before and reacted oppressively.
"Yes, as much as you want. Take everything I have, Eugene. Without leaving anything. Just stay by my side, stay by my side while doing so."
Smile...!
It was such sincere anger, not just lip service.
That's why it was enough to fill Jeanne's deeply deficient heart.
Looking at that anger, Jeanne showed Eugene Schneider her beautiful smile that had gently spread,
And desperately, very desperately, wished for him to keep this pledge.
However
Thunk!!!
As if mocking Jeanne's desperate wish,
A heavy, cold arrow flew in from the front and embedded itself in her upper right chest.
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