The Curse of Being Hated Has Been Lifted

11 – The Life He Lived

After a satisfying meal, Logan headed for the training grounds.

He had some time before the lecture started.

Until now, he had been chased away by people as soon as he set foot in the training grounds, but now that the curse had been lifted, Logan speculated that he might be able to use the training grounds.

“What matters is my skills.”

Although everyone currently saw Logan differently due to the aftermath of the curse being lifted, nothing had actually changed.

Even if Stella’s curse, which had plagued his body, was lifted, Logan was still a worthless outcast, lacking talent in both swordsmanship and mana.

If he had the futile expectation that everyone would treat him warmly now that the curse was gone, he would surely live a life of being ignored by others, despite not having a curse.

“Today feels really different.”

As Logan slowly swung his sword to warm up, a voice that had now become somewhat familiar reached his ears.

“You looked a bit different yesterday too… But now, even if you say you’re someone else, I can believe it, right?”

“It seems like you’ve got an eye problem too. Since it seems like you all got infected with an eye disease as a group, I should be careful too. I don’t want to catch the eye disease for no reason, you know.”

“You sure like to joke.”

Shohel drew his sword.

“You didn’t forget about our promise yesterday, did you?”

“Of course.”

Now, Logan was in a condition where he could afford to have a meal on his own, but he didn’t want to seem ungrateful for yesterday’s kindness.

Logan unsheathed his sword as well.

“The conditions are the same as yesterday. Neither of us will use mana.”

As before, Shohel was the first to attack.

Despite having only had yesterday’s lunch and today’s lunch after a long period of hunger, and despite feeling a bit weakened due to the mana oath, Logan did not fall behind against Shohel.

He steadily gained advantages with each exchange of sword blows.

‘Solid.’

Logan’s swordsmanship was solid.

It was regrettable that he couldn’t use irregularities with his talents, but Logan couldn’t utilize irregularities significantly with his talent anyway.

The swordsmanship Logan, who could only be an ordinary person, could use was straightforward – steadily overpowering his opponent without giving up.

‘Is it the opposite for me?’

Shohel wasn’t being pushed back unilaterally.

Whenever Shohel displayed his tactics, Logan was pushed back.

However, as time passed, Logan took control of the situation.

‘Interesting, isn’t it?’

A smile formed on Shohel’s lips at the pattern he was facing for the first time in his life.

Likewise, Logan, who engaged in a real duel rather than being unilaterally beaten, had a faint smile on his lips unintentionally.

If one wasn’t familiar with him, the smile might be so faint that it went unnoticed, but there was someone nearby who could discern his smile.

‘Looks enjoyable…’

Anna tightly sealed her lips.

It was a smile she had seen quite often when she was young.

No, in truth, Logan always wore that kind of smile.

In the ordinary days, the one who could smile broadly when something happy happened was Logan.

Where did it all go wrong?

Anna realized that she had never seen Logan smile in over ten years.

Last week, when he accepted Anna’s challenge and ultimately passed, he did seem a bit better, but it was not a sign of happiness, not by any means.

Even the fleeting sense of relief was shattered by Anna’s capriciousness, so she had no right to be jealous of Shohel.

But it hurt her heart.

What if even she had believed in Logan?

What if she had completely opened her heart to him when she won the bet with him last week?

‘Why did I do that…’

She still didn’t quite understand.

If her actions were contrary to reason, they were probably in line with emotions, and she didn’t want to reject the emotions of the Logan from that time.

“Sigh… I lost. Senior, you’re quite strong, aren’t you?”

“I have no talent for mana.”

“Even though I didn’t use mana, there’s no need to belittle your own skill, right?”

“It’s not like that. In the end, it’s a matter of choice and focus. If you had dedicated yourself solely to sword training without honing any mana, I probably wouldn’t have been able to beat you.”

“… Is that so?”

Logan nodded silently and sharpened his sword.

“However, thanks to that, there is one thing I have come to realize.”

“Is it that even seniors have their own strength?”

“Indeed, it means that my path is not the black one.”

Through this duel, I have definitely come to understand.

With Logan’s talent, his current level is his limit.

While Logan’s opponent, Showell, grew in real-time while observing Logan’s swordsmanship, Logan himself did not do so at all.

If he were to invest a very long time and bone-grinding effort, he might be able to reach a higher level, but Logan did not have the luxury to do so.

“Anyway, I only used it to get into the Dark Academy.”

In the end, once he entered the academy, his everyday life consisted of not being able to properly attend lectures and being bullied, so he relied on his skillful sword as a support.

Now is the time to let it go.

“Yes?”

“It seems that there won’t be any more duels between you and me. Because my skills will continue to remain the same.”

With those words, Logan placed his wooden sword in the sword storage of the dueling grounds and left the arena as it is.

“No… Wait a moment. You’re giving up the sword? Because of me?”

“It’s a bit ambiguous to say it’s because of you. To be precise, it’s thanks to you.”

Showell, who has possessed exceptional swordsmanship since childhood, has experienced situations similar to this many times before.

The time when someone he considered a rival dueled against him and broke their sword.

The time when his younger sibling, who had the only sword, gave up on it because of his sister’s barrier.

Their faces overlapped with Logan’s face.

“No… You were doing well enough. But why?”

“It just felt inefficient. The world is a place where you have to live alone, and it’s not a viable way to live, just believing in a black sword that has been stagnant for years.”

“Inefficient? But you haven’t properly wielded your sword since last year. Yet, with this level of skill, it’s enough to be considered talented!”

Logan sighed at Shoel’s excited storytelling.

“What mindset did you have before entering the academy, and how many hours did you wield the sword every day?”

“… With the mindset of carrying on the family line, I wielded it for about 8 hours a day. There were times when I wielded it for over 16 hours.”

“I wielded the sword with the mindset that if I didn’t wield it well, I would die. If I couldn’t enter the academy, I would be worthless, and whether I was assassinated or branded a heretic and killed, I definitely wielded the sword with the thought that I would die. I wielded the sword until I was exhausted, about 18 hours a day, but thanks to the great mentor who left me materials to self-study, it wasn’t inefficient to study on my own.”

He was speaking in a dull manner, but it must have involved tremendous pain.

“In that case, even more so…”

“That’s why it’s like this. My efficiency with time is different from yours. Being fixated on the sword is inefficient.”

As if stating the obvious, Logan spoke in a dull manner, leaving Shoel unable to continue the conversation.

Perhaps Logan was sincere.

That fixating on the sword was inefficient, and that one cannot entrust their body to just one sword in a world where you have to live alone.

How much pain must he have endured to nonchalantly stand there and discard the path he had dedicated his whole life to, just because it was deemed inefficient?

It was absolutely inconceivable to Shoel.

If someone were to say, “You don’t have the talent to succeed with the sword, so it’s better to give it up,” Shoel would never accept it.

“… Then what will you do?”

“That’s something I’ll have to figure out from now on. If there’s nothing better than swordsmanship, then eventually I’ll pick up the sword again.”

With those words, Logan left the training ground.

Because the training ground was always lively, it seemed like no one had overheard the conversation between Logan and Shoel, except for one girl who had been watching them since they entered the training ground.

‘Wielding a sword for 16 hours a day?’

To get into the Academy?

Something felt odd.

Unlike other students who only knew Logan through rumors, Anna had a connection with Logan’s parents. Yet, she was aware that she wasn’t the one supporting Logan enough to get him into the Institute Academy, despite knowing him personally. She hadn’t even considered the possibility that Logan had entered the academy through his own efforts.

‘Just how hard has he lived…’

There was no need for unanswered questions.

Though Anna might not have known before entering the Academy, she was well aware of how difficult it had been for Logan since then.

Ignored on false accusations, beaten, unable to eat properly, and always becoming the prime suspect whenever an incident occurred…

“Logan.”

Anna quickly ran ahead of Logan.

“I want to apologize to you.”

“Apologize? That’s amusing. Wasn’t everything my fault? Lady Valkyria, the pride of the Velocia Marquis family, is actually apologizing to me. Looks like my eyes are ruined this time.”

Even with Logan’s biting sarcasm, Anna didn’t back down.

‘I don’t expect forgiveness from Logan.’

Nor was she doing it to ease her conscience.

If you commit a crime, it’s only natural to pay for it and compensate the victim. Anna carefully knelt down and looked up at Logan.

“I’m sorry.”

In response, Logan merely passed by with an indifferent expression.