Chapter 57
“Kaeh! If you stay at my house forever, I can pay you four times the normal salary.”
Yutias shrugged his shoulders.
“Ah, in that case, I’ll take five times.”
“Hah! I even give a bonus every quarter.”
“I’ll give a bonus every even month.”
“Hmm, do you even have that kind of money?”
“Well, I have a magical stone mining license, so I could probably have more than you, Davien.”
“This… this is—!”
Davien’s face turned bright red as Yutias kept responding without losing his ground.
“Do you want to die?”
“No. I’m just answering your question, Davien. How could that be interpreted as wanting to die? Are your ears bad?”
Electric tension crackled between the two of them as they stared at each other. Watching the situation, I shook my head in disbelief.
Boom!
Finally, an extremely angry Davien swung his sword. The dungeon trembled for a moment, making a vibrating sound.
Sigh. Do I really have to watch this meaningless fight? I used to try to stop them nervously, but now I’d given up.
“Where’s the portal out of the dungeon?”
I asked the mages, who were stamping their feet nervously while watching the fight.
“Th-there, this way! Follow me, Healer!”
One mage guided the way.
“Um… should I not try to stop them?”
The mage who had been trembling behind me since we entered the dungeon hurriedly asked.
“I don’t want to become a shrimp caught in a whale fight.”
I shrugged, and the other mages nodded in understanding.
“Got it! We’ll go ahead and wait.”
Kraaaang!
Another loud boom shook the dungeon ceiling, dust falling down.
“Let’s hurry out.”
Before this dungeon collapses entirely.
Watching Davien and Yutias fight like crazy, I stepped onto the portal with the mages, silently hoping their fight would calm down soon.
Three days ago, Betin had joined the Helderios First Knight Order as the youngest member. Today, he was surprised by the unusually friendly atmosphere. Until yesterday, the knights were strict and disciplined.
The princess of Helderios trained the knights with overwhelming strength, and two days ago, Betin had seen monsters he’d only heard about before—giant spiders and goblin warriors.
He even fought one-on-one. Shaking, he couldn’t attack at all and nearly died from the spider’s venom. If Davien hadn’t saved him personally, he wouldn’t have survived.
Davien had scolded the commander harshly for letting the youngest become so weak. From yesterday, group training and strict discipline had followed. Betin felt intimidated by the seniors’ gazes, even though no one directly scolded him.
So today, he really didn’t want to go to work. He walked slowly, only to notice the atmosphere had changed.
“Hey, Betin. Muscles not stiff?”
The normally serious commander asked about him.
“Today, I’ll clean the training area myself.”
A senior who had never spoken to him before suddenly offered, smiling, that he would clean.
“No! Betin, I’ll do it.”
Another senior who had been silent also insisted on taking over the cleaning. Betin had no idea why their attitudes had changed so suddenly.
He scratched his head, wondering what had happened yesterday. Then his mentor came looking for him.
“Betin! You’re on cleaning duty today, right?”
“Yes! But Haros senior said he’d do it, so I let him handle it.”
He replied strictly to his mentor.
“Darn it! Haros beat me to it.”
The mentor pouted in disappointment.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh? You didn’t know? Ah, right, you wouldn’t. The Healer is newly joining the First Knight Order this time.”
Healer? What does a healer have to do with cleaning duty? Betin had no clue.
Seeing his confused expression, the mentor whispered urgently in his ear:
“She’s really pretty.”
She’s pretty? And that’s why she volunteers for cleaning duty? Betin, having lived 18 years single, couldn’t understand.
“I see.”
Betin’s indifferent response made the mentor pound his chest.
“I’m telling you, she’s really beautiful!”
The mentor praised the Healer’s looks, but Betin barely heard him.
Then it happened.
“Everyone, gather!”
The commander’s voice rang out. Normally stern and serious, today it felt strangely excited.
Betin tilted his head, following his mentor to the assembly point.
There, on the stage, he saw the woman standing next to Davien and the commander.
A soft, sweet melody seemed to fill the air.
The whispers of nearby seniors and the commander’s speech didn’t reach his ears at all.
Shining hair fluttering in the wind and gem-like red eyes—she was breathtakingly beautiful.
She bowed politely to the commander, then smiled brightly and began speaking to the people. Her voice was beautiful too. Betin’s mentor whispered something, but Betin didn’t hear a word. Only her voice pierced his ears.
“Wooooah!”
As she bowed again, the knights cheered. Betin, who had been staring blankly, snapped back to reality.
“Welcome, Kaeh!”
“Woooah!”
The knights clapped and cheered.
Betin’s heart raced. His face felt hot. Now he understood why the senior had suddenly offered to clean and why his mentor had looked disappointed.
He realized he had to guard his cleaning duty with his life.
The woman entered the healing center with the princess, and the commander, shouting at the distracted knights, had them run laps around the training ground. But Betin’s mind was only on her.
‘Her name is Kaeh.’
Thinking about her, Betin stumbled.
“Ehhk!”
He fell, and the mentor behind him also fell, followed by others.
“Are you all out of your minds?!”
The commander shouted, and Betin quickly helped the others up.
“Ugh.”
But one of his legs was badly twisted, and he couldn’t stand properly. The commander clicked his tongue.
“Hey, someone take the youngest to the healing center.”
Immediately, a senior stood up:
“I’ll go!”
“No, I’m his mentor!”
Those who had never cared about him were now arguing over who would take him. The commander shook his head and pointed to Betin’s mentor.
“Betin’s one capable kid.”
His mentor supported him and whispered in his ear.
‘I didn’t mean to…’
Betin hadn’t fallen on purpose. Though embarrassed, he couldn’t help feeling excited—he’d see her again. His heart pounded.
“By the way, you should know… about Lord Lloyd’s—”
The mentor tried to explain, but Betin ignored it. His mind was full of Kaeh.
“Who are you guys?”
Inside the healing center, Davien glared at them fiercely. His killing aura made Betin realize he’d made a mistake coming in.
“Look at this mess.”
But the one who stopped Davien was the beautiful healer.
“Are you okay?”
Kaeh stepped forward, examining Betin carefully.
“What happened to you?”
‘I was thinking about you and tripped.’
Betin almost said it but quickly stopped. With the princess and his mentor watching, he couldn’t say that.
“What should I say to impress her?” he wondered. His mentor, seeing Betin flustered, spoke up:
“He fell while running laps and completely scraped his face. He might have twisted his leg too and can barely walk.”
Kaeh nodded in understanding and cast healing magic with her wand.
“Healing.”
A bright light enveloped his face and leg, soothing and slightly tingling. When the light faded, the pain was gone as if it had never existed.
“As expected, Healer! Amazing!”
His mentor gave her a thumbs up. Seeing Davien watching behind, he gasped and quickly lowered his hand, helping Betin stand.
“We… we’ll continue running laps!”
As they left the healing center, Davien’s ominous voice followed them:
“You two get 50 extra laps.”
That day, those who got on Davien’s bad side experienced hellish training and muscle pain.
But Betin felt no pain.
‘Healing!’
The beautiful woman casting healing magic for him—just thinking of Kaeh made even sore muscles feel nothing.
After that, Betin fell deeply in love. She appeared in his dreams and even during sword training. Every day, Kaeh was on his mind.
Even when scolded for daydreaming, he didn’t care. No monster or one-on-one battle could scare him now, because he imagined Kaeh watching.
Kaeh appeared during every monster training session, watching him. He didn’t want to look foolish in front of her.
The day the entire Helderios Knight Order trained with monsters captured by Davien and Lloyd, his opponent was an Orc. Seeing the huge Orc made him nervous, but he endured. Kaeh was watching nearby.
He clenched his teeth and drew his sword.
If you want, I can continue translating the next chapters in the same simple, clear, novel-like English style to match this one.
Do you want me to do that for future chapters?
