I thought carefully. About the stimulation of modern civilization. Just how sweet a substance ‘sugar’ made by refining sugarcane really is. Just how violently flavorful an ingredient ‘seasoned salt’ mixed with monosodium glutamate is.

– Uga! Uga!

Here. Let’s say there was a ‘primitive Dante Hiakapo’ who, despite being weak, somehow became the chief. He always ate grass roots and monkey meat and such, but one day, by chance, he tasted honey, and it must have become the pride of his life.

– Uga uga! (Hey! Have you ever eaten something sweet called ‘honey’?! Huh?)

– U, uga...?? (H-honey, you say...?)

– Uga? (If it’s sweet, is it like an apple?)

– Uga uga! (Tsk! Apple?! Out of the way! How dare you compare it with that?! I’m talking about honey! Do you know how sweet honey is...!!)

......But who in this day and age would be moved by something like honey?

We eat someone’s ‘life’s pride’ every day without a second thought. So we don’t feel its value or joy.

In short, the conclusion is this.

「 Stimulation should start subtle. 」

With that reasoning, the first thing I bought for Eve was a cheap bread worth 10 Hika. Just a little butter. A little salt and sugar. Plain bread.

It just tasted like ordinary bread.

***

It was at a time when there was a week-long gap between the royal merit awards and the private meeting with the “Constellation of Eternity ∞.”

I couldn’t just sit around, so I came to see Eve.

“I’m here.”

“.......”

Eve, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, was clearly glad to see me. I was happy too, but I didn’t show it.

Come to think of it, she always came to see me. Spent money breaking curses. It was a relationship of one-sided devotion.

This was also a matter of stimulation. If you’re too good to someone, they start taking it for granted.

Of course, if I had to weigh it, I did stab her with a sword, so I’m ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) willing to devote myself 70 to 30, but anyway....... That’s that.

First, I handed her the bread.

“Eat.”

Eve stared at the bread.

She tilted her head as if to ask what it was.

“......?”

I showed her the sign of bringing my palm to my mouth. It meant ‘eat.’

Then Eve tapped her temple with her finger. It meant ‘why?’

Since I didn’t know complicated sign language, I just told her to eat again.

And since Eve didn’t know complicated sign language either, she answered ‘why?’ again.

So it went something like this.

‘Eat.’

‘Why?’

‘Eat.’

‘Why?’

‘Eat.’

‘Why?’

You little...?

After that, a brief pause.

“.......”

“.......”

An unexpected situation.

I thought she would just eat it if I gave it to her.

But she asked why she had to eat it?

From Eve’s perspective, I suppose it made sense.

It must’ve felt like some strange cat walked over and handed her a mouse and told her to eat it.

So what should I do?

I crossed my arms and fell into thought. Eve looked quietly at my arms, then slowly tried to mimic folding her own, but seemed to struggle and just fumbled with her elbows.

“Why won’t you eat this bread? It’s tasty bread.”

“......??”

“You eat it because it tastes good. Because it tastes good.”

I came up with a good idea.

I carefully approached, tore off a small piece of bread, and put it in my mouth. Then I forcibly moved the corners of my mouth to smile.

It’s. Good.

Then I made finger guns with both hands and spun them in a circle. It meant ‘happy.’

Maybe that got through to her just a little.

I tore off a small piece and gave it to her.

Eve glanced up at me.

“.......”

Finally, she put the piece of bread in her mouth.

Then she began to chew slowly.

“.......”

Feeding the otherworldly demon.

“.......”

Watching Eve slowly eat the bread, I thought.

Eve must stand with humanity for the Demon King battle.

Mutual symbiosis is necessary.

She must be tamed.

She can’t forever live off acorns and dandelions and coexist with humans, so she will eventually have to socialize, and I’ll be the one to start that process.

In that sense, maybe the cheap bread was actually a decent choice?

“??,,”

Eve’s blue eyes slowly widened.

Then suddenly, she raised her fist.

Uh-oh.

Why.

Did she notice it was cheap?

Then she shook her fist in front of my face, but I couldn’t quite remember what that meant.

I realized I needed to study more sign language.

After that, Eve ate the bread deliciously.

Though she nibbled at it slowly, it was rewarding.

“But you, Eve of the Otherworldly Demon Race. You can’t just keep receiving from me like this.”

“......?”

“You have to give me something too. That way our relationship can continue healthily and soundly.”

“......?”

“There’s no use tilting your head. It’s too complicated for me to say in sign language.”

And I had already thought in advance what I wanted to ask from her.

I took out a sword.

With my left hand, I gave a thumbs-up.

With my right index finger, I traced a few lines through the air.

‘Sword. Teach.’

That’s what it meant.

Back at Starfall Mountain, when Shaman, the royal knight, and Eve had their fierce three-way brawl, I had accurately assessed Eve’s combat ability.

Eve was incredibly strong.

In terms of martial ranking, at least within the top 50. And even then, it probably wasn’t her full power.

During that battle, I paid close attention to her swordsmanship.

Eve didn’t just brute-force her way through. She used weight shifts and center of gravity. Her sword path. She had her own internal combat system.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t ‘instinctual’ swordsmanship.

It was ‘systematic’ swordsmanship.

Even I, with shallow knowledge of swordsmanship, could see it was highly advanced. It was probably on par with the sword styles used by top imperial knights.

In terms of skill level, probably a Lv.9 sword style.

That’s what I was asking her to teach me.

Eve grabbed her chin with her thumb and index finger.

Then she shook her head.

That meant......

‘No.’

Uh. What?

Did she finally realize the bread was cheap...?

‘Why?’

I tapped my temple in return.

Eve formed a fist, then slowly opened it.

‘...Just because.’

Then she turned her head and eyes away.

With a face trying to hold back a laugh.

Ah.

Only then did I realize it.

Eve was teasing me.

I was a little stunned.

An otherworldly demon playing a prank on a human?

But you messed with the wrong guy.......

“A bell execution shall now commence.”

“???”

As soon as I started crushing an illusion bell with [Illusion Magic], Eve panicked and signed, ‘Teach. Teach.’

‘Teach?’

‘Yeah...’

‘I. Win.’

Eve pressed her fist to her cheek like a cat.

Then rubbed her index finger under her nose. That meant, ‘Dante. Bad...’

I didn’t care at all.

Soon we went outside the cave.

Eve began teaching me her sword style.

And as I suspected, a system message appeared.

⧉ Would you like to learn [?Sword Style] from Eve Lemontree?

True to her buggy nature, the name of the sword style didn’t even show up.

I decided to just call it ‘Elephant Sword Style.’

“.......”

Eve taught me sincerely.

Stabbing. Slashing. How to move the body. Posture. Shifting your center of gravity, etc.

As I learned, I realized again—this really was a ‘structured sword style.’

One good thing was that the original body of Dante had a basic understanding of swordsmanship. And thanks to my stat distribution, I could follow Eve’s lessons quite well.

What surprised me was that Eve didn’t just swing her sword on instinct. She was constantly calculating something during combat.

When I took a step that was too long, she pointed it out—too big, too dangerous.

When I kept going without proper breathing, she would counterattack and corner me, signing ‘Breathe. Breathe.’

Indeed, there is no such thing as becoming strong without effort. In that regard, Eve wasn’t as primitive as I had thought.

Then I became curious about what Eve had thought during that past battle.

So I asked her.

Past. Dante. Fell. Big jaw. Fight. Think. What?

“What did you think back then when I collapsed and fought with Dean Shaman?”

Eve blinked slowly. Then she brought her thumb and index finger together and lowered them beneath her cheek. She turned her palm near her chest. For some reason, her eyes drooped.

‘I was sad.’

.......

And so, I spent a few days learning swordsmanship from Eve.

***

There was a man who resembled a small boulder. He was Badrock, the senior neutral professor of Assassination Combat Studies.

His relationship with Dante Hiakapo had been uneasy ever since a verbal clash over the national treasure loan, and neither had made any effort to smooth it over since.

To be honest, he didn’t like the successful Professor Dante.

And recently, it had only gotten worse. Somehow, Dante had ended up in Count Kahla’s territory, and as a single martial artist, he had achieved tremendous accomplishments and military feats.

He was now becoming a celebrity even outside the Academy. Ordinary people were beginning to learn his name, and even the royal family was calling for him.

“Tsk......”

He didn’t like it.

Then, a few days ago, that same Dante suddenly came to the [Combat Training Hall] and began sparring with the training dummies.

“Professor, isn’t that Professor Dante over there?”

At the time, students from the assassination unit, regulars at the training hall, came up and asked Badrock.

“...Ignore him and focus on your own training.”

“Ah, yes sir.”

But the cadets couldn’t concentrate and kept sneaking glances at Dante. At this point, everyone knew how strong Dante was, but it was their first time seeing him actually perform swordsmanship.

And their evaluation?

“...Hmm, kind of crappy, no? What do you think?”

“His swordsmanship level’s about the same as ours, really.”

“Right? I mean, come on.... Shouldn’t he stick to what he’s good at? Why is he learning swordsmanship at his age... Don’t you think so too, Professor?”

The cadets asked.

But Badrock frowned. This kind of gossiping was kids’ talk, and deep down, he was aware that his jealousy was quite petty.

“Hey, you guys. I said stop worrying about someone else’s training and focus on your own. Do I need to beat it into you to get you to concentrate?”

“Ah, yes sir...”

“We’re sorry...”

Meanwhile, Badrock’s gaze was drawn to Dante’s sword technique. As the cadets had said, the level was definitely average. But the sword path, posture, and breathing were somehow strange.

The more he watched, the stranger it became.

It wasn’t that the swordsmanship itself was sloppy, as the cadets said.

‘...What kind of swordsmanship is that?’

That’s what felt off.

Badrock had been raised as a combat assassin since childhood.

He had seen or learned hundreds of sword styles, both assassin and knight-based.

And yet, even he had never seen this kind of swordsmanship before. Professor Dante was performing it.

‘...Pretty... no, quite...’

Even though it was a first-time sight, the forms and techniques were more refined than expected.

And day by day, they were becoming even more refined.

‘...Huh?’

Did that make any sense? That it was getting refined day by day? Dante had only been showing up for five days, after all.

“He’s here again today. Tsk... What’s the point of coming every day if he’s just gonna beat up a Level 1 dummy...?”

The cadets didn’t notice Dante’s changes.

One of them clicked his tongue and walked up to Dante.

“Professor, would you like a sparring partner?”

At this moment, Badrock thought about scolding him harshly—but decided against it.

Was it because he wanted Dante to get hit?

No.

He was curious.

How would that ‘never-before-seen sword style’ perform not against a dummy—but against a real person?

“What’s going on?”

“Well, you’ve been showing up every day lately... And, you know, you’re really famous now, Professor Dante. I thought it’d be an honor to spar with you. Want to go?”

“Sure.”

Unexpectedly, Professor Dante didn’t avoid it and lightly picked up a wooden sword.

“Please go easy on me.”

“Understood.”

And so, the two assassins began their duel.

BAAAAAAM!!

In a single strike, the cadet was knocked unconscious. The watching cadets were stunned.

“Whoa whoa whoa!? Hegen!”

“What the hell! Is he dead...?!”

He wasn’t dead, just briefly unconscious.

Strangely enough, even Professor Dante looked a bit flustered.

Badrock rushed over in alarm.

“Professor Dante.”

“...My apologies, Professor Badrock. It was my first time using it on a person—I misjudged the strength.”

“Professor Dante.”

“...Ah. Yes, I, uh, I apologize again...”

“Professor Dante. Stop. I don’t care about apologies. What’s the name of that sword style? Whose swordsmanship is that?”

Now that he had seen it used against a human, it was clear. Even though it was just a simple draw slash, the sword technique was far above Badrock’s expectations. He had closely observed Dante’s physical movements. He had checked the flow of mana. And from Badrock’s perspective, it was an almost shockingly efficient use of power.

It was something he would pay money to learn! With that academic curiosity, he asked—

And then something unexpected happened: Professor Dante’s eyes went unfocused.

“...Name?”

“Yes. What’s its name? The name of that sword style!”

“......”

Professor Dante didn’t answer.