Chapter 36: What Do You Mean by "Physical Training in Your Room at Night"?
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"By the way—"
Jiang Cheng said with a bright smile as they walked out of the Mechanists' Association,
"If just now I had answered that the God of Adventurers is actually fine, that He's a good god, what then?"
Jiang Cheng smiled as she asked. At this point, she found herself genuinely curious—she wanted to know just how heavy a weight her various identities carried in Lyle's heart.
"If He is a good god..."
Lyle was taken aback and said,
"I would still kill Him, though not right away. I'd wait until after dealing with the demons, and then I'd kill Him."
"Huh?"
Jiang Cheng tilted her head, clearly not expecting this answer from Lyle.
"Because, the demons are still out there. If He really is a good god, then the people here would need His protection."
As he spoke, Lyle let out a sigh. "But, if that's really the case, it would make things more troublesome for me."
Fortunately, Jiang Cheng's answer had confirmed that the false god who'd stolen the God of Adventurers' seat was no good after all.
Although there wasn't any particularly strong evidence, he trusted Jiang Cheng.
Even though her personality was rather mean, and she lacked much empathy,
at the end of the day, she was the one who'd stepped up when he was still drowning in grief over his teacher's passing.
Although she loved to mess with him, he could see that Jiang Cheng actually cared about him—she would often give him information that was genuinely helpful.
Lyle raised his head to look at Jiang Cheng. In his scarlet eyes, the light flickered as if he saw his teacher and the others.
Yes, out of all the girls who'd appeared by his side and cared for him, only Jiang Cheng was left now.
"Jiang Cheng,"
Lyle suddenly called out, stopping Jiang Cheng, who was walking lightly ahead of him.
"Hmm?"
Jiang Cheng turned back in confusion, looking at Lyle. "What is it?"
"It's nothing,"
Lyle nodded and said flatly, "I will protect you, even if it costs my life."
? Jiang Cheng tilted her head in puzzlement, not understanding what strange thing Lyle was suddenly saying.
"Do I look like I need your protection?"
Jiang Cheng curled her lips and replied offhandedly.
*Shing!* The longsword came out of its sheath—a beam of sword light flashed by swiftly.
Jiang Cheng had no time to react—she only felt a blur before her eyes and a cool sensation flash past her ear.
The breeze stirred, and a slender wisp of ash-white hair fluttered down to the ground.
"Lyle! What the hell—Are you out of your mind?!"
Don't get angry, I'm a lady, I'm a lady... Jiang Cheng forcibly suppressed the urge to curse.
"Your body is too weak,"
Lyle said. "Even though you can enhance yourself with divine arts, your baseline physical condition and reflexes are subpar."
"Even a well-trained ordinary person who's fast enough could kill you,"
Lyle said seriously.
No kidding, Jiang Cheng rolled her eyes in her heart. This was on purpose.
That way, in the future, she would have plenty of reasons and opportunities to die after Lyle fell in love with her.
Anyway, she'd already prepared a soul vessel, created with divine arts far away, that could resurrect her.
Just thinking—if, in the end, even the Saintess who'd accompanied him across nations were to die, she couldn't imagine what kind of expression Lyle would have.
By then, he'd definitely turn dark, maybe even wipe out the demons and the gods alike.
That... would be too interesting!
Unfortunately, looking at the very serious Lyle analyzing just how terrible her physical condition was,
Jiang Cheng realized her plan seemed doomed. She'd have to come up with other ways to die.
"So,"
Lyle finally said, "from tonight, come find me for physical and fitness training."
Wait, isn't there something wrong with the way you worded that? What do you mean, come to your room at night for physical training?
Seeing Jiang Cheng's expression, Lyle thought she was worried about something and added,
"No need to be nervous. You just need to train your body to my standard, then you'll be fine. It won't take long."
???
Jiang Cheng wondered if Lyle was telling a joke,
not to mention that he had no idea how ambiguous "come to my room at night for physical training" sounded.
And he wanted her to train her body to his level? Was he completely clueless about his own physique?
"Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about your own body?"
Jiang Cheng said speechlessly. "You want me to train my body to your standard?"
What a joke. Under her deliberate control, this body was as frail as could be.
Without the use of divine arts, even going upstairs left her panting for breath.
And now he wanted her to reach the level of a Hero's physique that even lifelong martial artists couldn't attain?
"It's fine,"
Lyle shook his head comfortingly. "You don't need to catch up physically—just improve your combat skills and body control a bit."
That's still ridiculous!
Jiang Cheng could barely keep her composure. She knew Lyle's combat skills better than anyone.
Back when she'd been his teacher's identity, in order to train him, Jiang Cheng had used magic to plagiarize the martial arts of most of the continent's top warriors.
Then, she'd secretly dug up several corpses of sword saints or martial gods from the previous generation,
finally using high-grade magical materials like fine steel and mithril to create the strongest martial arts golem in the world.
That golem could use eighty percent of the world's martial arts and fighting styles, all at a grandmaster's level.
Its body was indestructible—not even magic or martial arts could scratch it.
Unfortunately, for the sake of dying "reasonably," she'd "accidentally" lost that golem.
As a result, after two years of sparring with that golem, Lyle's combat skills—even those masters who'd immersed themselves in martial arts for sixty or seventy years wouldn't dare say they'd match him.
"Is it still too hard?"
Lyle frowned and scratched his head. He didn't know how to teach people,
usually, his teacher would tell him what to do, he'd learn it, and—without meaning to—master it instantly.
He really couldn't teach anyone else.
So, Lyle's solution was... not to solve the issue.
"Forget it, just come to my room every night. When I think you can protect yourself, we'll be done."
Damn it, Jiang Cheng cursed inwardly. She felt as if she'd dug herself right into this hole.
Facing the recently fainted-from-grief Lyle, Jiang Cheng found she didn't even have the courage to refuse.
After a long silence, Jiang Cheng finally said, "Fine."
Only then did Lyle breathe a sigh of relief, revealing a tired, tranquil curve of a smile.
"Jiang Cheng, I'll protect you. Thank you."
Hearing Lyle's words, seeing his smile, Jiang Cheng's heart involuntarily fluttered.
After a moment, Jiang Cheng replied, "Alright~ Our great Hero is talking nonsense again."
Protecting the last person by his side—this was Lyle's unwavering determination.
If Jiang Cheng had known what Lyle was thinking, she might have screamed, "Damn, this is classic stand-in romance!"
Unfortunately, she didn't know. Right now, her mind was filled with only one thought:
Crap, in his state, there's no way I can let him catch even the slightest hint of my real identity! Otherwise he'll definitely... cough cough... that!