I Became the Male Lead who was Clinging onto the Female Leads

TL/Editor: Raei

Schedule: N/A

Illustrations: Posted in discord.

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Avel, her eyes burning intensely, approached Eugene and began to speak.

"Eugene von Lennon!"

"Yes?"

"Wait! Just a moment! Can I have a word with you?"

"Well, I suppose...."

Her eyes seemed to say that he would die if he refused, so Eugene nodded.

"I only want to ask you one thing! I won't ask anything else. Just one thing!"

"…Go ahead."

"Have you become interested in the sword?"

It was a very careful question about his interest in the sword.

But that was enough.

Avel didn't want anything more.

She was worried that this prodigy, who had appeared before her eyes, might lose his enthusiasm for the sword again.

Hadn't she seen it once already?

This prodigy had wasted his precious time like a fool for over half a year.

She didn't know whether Eugene would become a Sword Master, but if he had such thoughts?

As a Sword Master herself, she had to prevent him from wasting time again, even if it meant getting dirt in her eyes.

'This teacher, her gaze is dangerous.'

Eugene was breaking into a cold sweat.

If he answered her wrong here, he might get stuck with her and lose a lot of time from receiving various kinds of guidance.

'There's no need for that.'

What Eugene had felt while swinging the sword all day yesterday was that his body did not need anyone's advice when it came to wielding the sword.

It would just naturally progress as long as he kept swinging.

What he needed was simply a popular understanding of which path was the right one to follow.

That could be achieved by attending theory classes like today's, or by reading books on swordsmanship.

Besides, just like before he came to this world, he was interested in combining swordsmanship and magic.

Once he had decided what to do with the sword, he planned to spend his time mastering it.

The fusion of sword and magic was unknown territory in this world, so he couldn't take advice from anyone.

Avel's attention was not what Eugene wanted.

'I want to skip it if I can.'

He was not interested in excessive attention.

Eugene had to hide his true feelings about the sword a bit.

He opened his mouth with a deliberately emotionless face.

"I'm not sure. I'm a little interested."

"Is that so! You're interested? That's good enough. Eugene, starting today, I'll give up my personal time to focus on teaching you. What do you think?"

"No, I prefer to train alone. It's a personal preference. I hope you understand."

"That...what?"

Avel's lips jutted out slightly, and there was a moment of silence.

Realizing she had gotten too excited, Avel cleared her throat.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it then. Anyway, I'm so glad that you've developed an interest in swordsmanship. Keep up the good work. Understand?"

"Understood."

"If you have any questions, come straight to my room! Got it?"

"…I'll keep that in mind."

Only after he bowed once did Avel return to normal and start paying attention to other students.

'I can finally get back to it.'

Regaining his freedom, Eugene picked up his sword again and took his stance.

He still wanted to delve deeper into the world of the sword.

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Raei Translations

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'What's going on?'

Celine, who couldn't focus on her sword due to the loud noise in the corner, had quietly moved closer and overheard the conversation between Avel and Eugene.

She normally wouldn't do such a thing, but the look in Avel's eyes that she saw from afar had drawn her here.

It was a sparkling gaze, as if looking at a priceless treasure.

She had to confirm whom that gaze was directed at, otherwise the uneasy feeling wouldn't go away.

After confirming that it was Eugene, she regretted moving to listen in.

Suddenly, she overheard the conversation between them.

"Do you have an interest in swords?"

When Avel asked that, her ears perked up.

"I'm not sure."

When Eugene vaguely responded, her attention deflated.

"I'll give up my personal time to focus on teaching you. What do you think?"

"No, I prefer to train alone. It's a personal preference. I hope you understand."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it then."

And when he rejected Avel's offer of personal guidance, her attention returned to its usual state of indifference.

'People never change.'

Tina had been talking about Eugene changing this or that, but from Celine's point of view, Eugene was still the same uninteresting man.

If he sincerely wanted to improve himself, he would not have rejected the teacher's personal guidance.

'How helpful personal instruction from the teacher would be...'

What a fool.

All of this happened because he didn't know the extent of his own talent...

Celine did not change her evaluation of Eugene and retracted her interest.

Swish!

If it weren't for the sound of the air being split next to her, that would have been the end of it.

'What?'

After Avel left, Eugene began to swing again.

And Celine was the only student in the Blue Flower class who could notice something odd about Eugene's downward strike.

'It must be a coincidence.'

She tried to deny reality and turned her head away,

Swish!

When the sword swung twice, she felt a crack in her thoughts,

Swish!

'......It's not a coincidence......?'

When the sword swung ten times, she corrected her thought.

A remarkable sword strike could be a coincidence once, maybe twice could also be a sheer luck, but ten times was simply impossible.

Swish!

'What the hell...'

And when the sword swung a hundred times, Celine's thoughts collapsed.

Because that downward strike was repeated a hundred times.

No matter how unbelievable, the phenomenon was blatantly presented before her eyes, and she had no choice but to accept it.

The fact that Eugene, who was busy following her around like a fool, might have a talent equal to or even greater than her own.

'Why on earth did you live without the sword?'

Beyond surprise, Celine stared at Eugene with a look of disbelief.

She wanted to ask him out of frustration, why he had lived that way.

Unknowingly, her foot took a step towards Eugene.

'No, I can't......'

But the next step did not follow.

She had drawn a colder and harsher line with Eugene than even Tina had.

It was impossible for her to approach him first.

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Raei Translations

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"I feel completely refreshed."

After a wholehearted session of sword practice, Eugene returned to the classroom.

"See you tomorrow, everyone."

"Yes!"

"See you tomorrow!"

With that, the usual daily routine was over, and the students began to leave the classroom.

'Lower body. I'll have to focus on my lower body when I get home.'

Following Professor Fritz's class, Eugene, contemplating only about his lower body, got up from his seat.

Just as he was about to leave the classroom,

"Eugene! Can you come see me for a moment?"

"Huh?"

Avel called out to Eugene.

Time was precious to him now, so he approached her with a slightly uneasy face.

"What's the matter?"

"Hmm, nothing special, just take this."

What Avel handed over was a key.

'Is this...'

A dormitory key?

"It's nothing serious, Eugene. I found out about it when you were absent. It seems you're not living in the dorm."

"I can't afford it."

"Right. It would be much more convenient to live in the dormitory for various reasons, including commuting. I didn't even know. I'm unfit to be a teacher."

"No, not at all. I didn't say anything, how would you know?"

"Regardless, I am unfit!"

Avel grinned brightly.

"Anyway, don't worry about the dormitory fees and start living there. If you look at the key, the room number is there."

"......"

Eugene's face hardened.

'Why is she going so far for me?'

The dormitory issue was the top priority for Eugene.

As she said, living in the inn took too much time to commute, and he had to go to the outskirts of the city even when he wanted to practice personally.

If he lived in the dormitory, he could use the various training grounds and facilities nearby, which greatly increased his personal time.

'I received unexpected help.'

I'll repay you for this, in some way.

Eugene clenched the key, memorizing this moment in his head.

Seeing Eugene like this, Avel smiled and continued speaking.

"There is a condition, though. It's nothing big, will you listen?"

"Of course."

"Never let go of the sword until you graduate at least. Is that okay?"

'If I knew you'd be interested in the sword again.'

I would never have given you up that day.

Avel was a Sword Master and she felt a serious responsibility to nurture Sword Masters who would one day lead the Lucia Empire.

For her, neglecting Eugene, who possessed a level of talent she had never seen before, for over half a year was in itself a dereliction of duty.

Now that Eugene has come to his senses, she wanted to correct the mistakes of the past.

"So that's it."

Eugene faintly noticed Avel's feelings.

He could feel a kindness in her gaze.

Eugene responded with a faint smile.

"Don't worry. I won't let go of the sword."

"You made the right choice!"

With a bright smile, Avel grabbed onto Eugene's hands.

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Raei Translations

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"Wow. Nice room."

Eugene inspected his room, finding it as well furnished as a quality inn.

"Now it's time to get the lower body workout going."

With that, he immediately left his room in search of the optimal place to train his lower body, a location he remembered within the Royal Academy.

The Physical Training Center was a large building equipped with all sorts of equipment and mana devices for body conditioning, providing students with the perfect place for personal training.

Eugene entered, striding confidently towards the third floor of the Physical Training Center, to the 'Mana Device Training Room'.

He then picked up a 'Mana Pouch' from a corner, a mana device designed for physical conditioning.

This pouch, filled with sand imbued with mana, had the peculiar property of becoming heavier in proportion to the amount of mana poured into it.

For Eugene, it was the perfect mana device.

He strapped the Mana Pouches to both his ankles and pumped in his mana.

"Urgh! Did I put in too much?"

Perhaps because of the excessive amount of mana, his legs refused to move.

"No... I shouldn't call it excessive."

But Eugene gritted his teeth and raised his legs.

In reality, physical exertion led to wear and tear, but things were different in this world.

The more the body was strained, the stronger it became, the more it tore, the more resilient it grew.

"Urraaahhhhhh!"

Eugene bellowed, summoning all the strength in his throat, dragging his heavy legs around.

After two hours, white steam began to rise from his flushed body.

The students working out nearby began to stealthily avoid him, assuming he'd lost his mind.

"Hahaha."

His legs felt shattered.

But once they recovered tomorrow, they would be packed with muscle!

Eugene gritted his teeth and pushed his body as if training a game character.

It wasn't merely his willpower that allowed him to do this.

His Talent, Sword Soul, was prompting him to sculpt a body suitable for his abilities, and his other Talent, Martial Arts Genius, made every move, every training session, feel fun.

"My lower body is done!"

Next up was the upper body!

With his trembling legs, Eugene made his way to the Mana Bar.

Just as he did with the Mana Pouch, he poured mana into the Mana Bar.

When the Mana Bar became so heavy that he could barely lift it, he began to train his upper body.

'A healthy body leads to a healthy mind!'

This famous quote wasn't just applicable to the mind.

Rather, it was even more important for the sword.

'A sword wielded by a body that is not properly trained is just half a sword!'

With this game wisdom echoing in his mind (a character with low physical stats would be weak even with a sword), he continued his rigorous physical training.

The fact that other students were taken aback and left the Training Center after seeing him wasn't particularly important.

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