'Why me?'
Rose was bewildered. To think that what they'd do with the century's top star was high-intensity physical training? What's more, her opponent didn't go easy on her at all just because she was a woman.
Sit! Stand! Roll! Jump!
Rose followed the instructions in confusion. There were many burly, intimidating people around, but beside her, another woman was training together. It was Laila from the Moonlight Knights.
If she hadn't been there, Rose probably wouldn't have been able to move properly due to the pressure.
The grueling training that continued finally ended after quite a long time.
"Here."
"Ah, th, thank you."
When Laila brought her a towel, Rose thanked her in bewilderment. Laila returned to her spot without much to say and took a rest. She was somewhat taciturn. Oddly, she reminded Rose of her bodyguard Joy.
This was Rose's first time training so hard that she sweated this much. Someone of her caliber had to handle singing, choreography, and performances on stage for long periods. Naturally, this required tremendous lung capacity and stamina.
Rose had worked twice as hard as others to build up that level of fitness. But the training conducted by the knights was so grueling that even Rose felt her limits several times over.
"A-are we going to keep doing this?"
Rose was horrified. The knights around her were fine as if this was just their daily routine. Rather, they even showed signs of excitement, which wasn't normal.
"This was done with some leeway too."
Rose asked Asmer in surprise.
"This was done with leeway? I thought I was going to die!"
"Haha. If we had really done it properly, you wouldn't even be able to speak properly like this. That aside, your basic fitness is quite good. Even people who are confident in their stamina would have given up halfway through."
"Well, that's because..."
Rose started to speak but closed her mouth, because Osian, who had been watching from afar, approached.
"How was it? Is the training manageable?"
Rose's cheeks puffed up like they were filled with air.
"How can you suddenly bring me to a place like this and tell me to do this! You should have at least explained what we'd be doing!"
"To properly use power, you need a healthy body. This is an essential process."
This applied the same way when playing the game. Usually, paladins and priests value the [Faith] stat highly. That's natural. It was essentially the main stat that could be called the foundation of power.
Then what would be the second most important stat? You'd think that for paladins, since they're a melee class, the Strength stat would be important, and for priests, Intelligence or Mental Power would be required. But both are wrong.
'The second most important stat after [Faith] is [Stamina].'
The Stamina stat affects the increase in maximum HP and endurance. Classes like paladins and priests that have skills to recover health are inevitably affected by their stamina gauge.
Naturally, the higher the stamina, the more HP they have, and accordingly their recovery and survival abilities increase exponentially.
'It's not for nothing that paladins are called cockroaches. Those guys invest everything in personal survival rather than attack power, so they never die.'
They employ a fighting method where you can't win by fighting them, but you can't lose either - truly making you fall into a swamp. That's not just the way of paladins. Clergy like priests could fight that way too.
This was exactly why Osian was making her build stamina.
"I'm already doing enough physical training."
"That's not enough."
From Rose's perspective, who was working hard to show the best performance, this was infuriating. But she couldn't make any proper rebuttal. She had just experienced what real training was like. Rose seriously wondered if something that squeezed a person to the point of thinking they might die could really be called training.
"Still, since you have basic fitness, let's move on to the advanced stage now."
"Advanced stage?"
If this hellish physical training was basic, how much harder would advanced be? Despite such fears, Rose ultimately couldn't refuse.
Osian took Rose and climbed onto a wide ring situated in one corner of the training ground. It was a place for knights to conduct mock combat training.
"We'll start with handling the power you possess."
"My power, you mean. So that's what the advanced stage meant."
"What's important is how to handle power. That power can recover other people or give them vitality. But that's not all."
Rose's power was fundamentally different from that of priests who manifested it through divine power. But if she really possessed the power of the priest class, the essence of how it operated would be the same.
For instance,
"Try wrapping your power around yourself to create a protective barrier."
"What? A barrier?"
"Yes."
Among priest class abilities, there are healing-type skills that recover consumed health, but the next most important thing is barrier skills. Like the protective magic used by mages, priests also have shield skills.
Healing wounds is good, but what's even better is not creating situations where you get wounded in the first place. If recovery is post-treatment, then barriers are preventive measures.
"Can you do it?"
"Well, if you suddenly tell me to do it. Can't you tell me what to do or how?"
"That's your power, not mine. You should know better than me how to handle it."
This would be bewildering for Rose, but Osian didn't have much advice to give either. He had never raised a priest. Moreover, the power Rose handled was too different from the knowledge Osian knew.
Right now, she didn't use power through prayer and faith, but through song. Rose seemed to know this too, as she followed silently.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. She opened her mouth and made sounds as if warming up her voice. As her voice created melody, light arose around her. It had brilliant and beautiful colors reminiscent of stage LED displays.
'I told her to make a barrier, but I don't expect her to create one right away. But if I give her a target point, it would be better than doing it knowing nothing at all.'
Osian, who was thinking this way, opened his eyes wide at the scene unfolding before him.
"Huh, what? It worked?"
Rose looked bewildered as she saw the light rippling around her. Though crude, there was definitely a barrier created around her.
Osian approached and tapped the barrier with his hand. The light rippling in various colors was as beautiful as looking at a neon sign. It was sturdier than expected and excellent at defending against external impacts.
"How?"
To the question of how she could use this right away, Rose answered.
"I don't really know either. I just did it and it worked."
"..."
Osian stroked his chin with his hand. He thought it would take at least several weeks of training for her to master this, but for it to be this fast.
'Actually, wasn't she more of a genius in this area?'
That night Rose was able to return to her accommodation completely exhausted.
Befitting a top star, the accommodation where she stayed was a state-of-the-art luxury house boasting ironclad security. What greeted Rose there was Eva, her dedicated manager.
"What a fine thing to do. Even if you finished your first concert, still, to go out all day and come back?"
"Eva. I'm tired."
"What did you do to be tired!"
Eva glared at Rose with fierce eyes.
"Do you know how worried I was? You suddenly disappeared leaving only a note saying you were going out to play, without any indication of where you went and not taking any bodyguards with you. I almost died worrying."
"I used a disguise artifact so it was fine."
"That's not the problem!"
Eva's nagging continued until Rose's tired steps headed toward the bedroom. Rose, who had removed all her disguises, threw herself onto the bed and flopped down face-first.
Eva asked, seeing that Rose was genuinely quite tired.
"So. What exactly did you do out there to come back like this? I can see how exhausted you are."
"...You're asking now after giving me a thorough scolding?"
"Should I not ask then?"
"No! Please listen to my story!"
Rose needed somewhere to vent anyway. Eva, knowing this, temporarily calmed her anger and crossed her arms, waiting for Rose's words.
"Hey. Are men originally that simple?"
"Simple? What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, think about it. I'm a top star, right? And I'm young and pretty! I have lots of money too!"
"So?"
"Usually in this case, all men show interest in me. They all try to look good to me. They make passes at me too!"
Perhaps sensing something from Rose's explanation, the corners of Eva's eyes rose.
"Rose, you don't mean..."
"No, it was safe. Really."
"How can it be safe without bodyguards! I told you to hide your identity, but were you actually revealing it?"
"Th, there was a bodyguard though."
Rose retorted timidly.
"What? There was a bodyguard? Wait, Rose, don't tell me... you went to see that man?"
Eva thought of Osian. Rose avoided Eva's gaze and pouted her lips.
"Why exactly?"
"Just, I got curious. Still, we had a good atmosphere that day but he just left abruptly."
"...So, what did you do when you went there?"
Contrary to her expectation that Eva would be angry, Eva calmly asked back.
"Eva secretly approves of that man too, huh?"
"Never mind that, what happened?"
Feeling like she'd get hit if she joked around more, Rose hurriedly answered.
"I just wanted to know about the power I handle."
"You, don't tell me you even told him about that?"
Eva's eyes widened. Eva, being the manager, naturally knew about the healing power Rose handled.
"I already showed it once on the Sky Island."
"...Sigh. And then?"
"But even so, that man, how should I put it? He wasn't very surprised. Rather, he said he'd teach me how to handle my power well."
"So you went there to learn that?"
"Yeah. Among other things. Honestly, I was expecting something. I thought we might have some personal conversation and build a friendship."
If the fact that a top star had a personal meeting with the opposite sex was revealed, paparazzi would come running with fire in their eyes.
Rose was constantly exposed to such dangers anyway, so she always paid attention. She, who had been as careful as possible herself, was different this time.
Eva let out a small sigh. It wasn't that she didn't want to scold Rose, but she understood her feelings to some extent.
'That man named Osian.'
Honestly speaking, she had to acknowledge him. He was a man whose shortcomings were hard to find. She had completed basic research on him from when he came in as a bodyguard.
'He's the owner of records that are all unbelievable.'
His successful requests as a fixer alone were substantial. There was even secret information that couldn't be obtained even with extra money. Rather than gaps in his career, he had done secretive work that couldn't be known publicly. Requests that were far too grand for a mere fixer to handle.
Appearance? His appearance goes without saying. Eva, who didn't have good feelings toward him, made the proposal. Beyond simply being handsome, he had unique charisma and atmosphere.
Honestly, she couldn't understand why someone with such a face would hold a sword and do dangerous work. Wasn't he walking a rough and difficult path while avoiding the easy one?
That said, it wasn't that there were problems with his personality or abilities either. She could be certain from having met him directly. Though his personality was more taciturn compared to others, he was in the upper tier just from how he responsibly completed the work he was assigned. His abilities go without saying.
A man who seemed more perfect the more you tried to find flaws. The only flaw, if any, would be his eccentric habit of putting ice and water in his coffee?
It was natural for Rose to show interest in him as a member of the opposite sex.
"So, what did you do?"
"Physical training."
"What did you do?"
"I said physical training! Phy! Si! Cal! Train! Ing!"
Eva's eyes widened, then seeing Rose's tired appearance, she burst out laughing despite herself.
"Ahahaha!"
"Eva. Is this funny?"
"Keke. My goodness. To think the great Rose went to meet a man personally only to come back thoroughly beaten!"
Rose pouted her lips but Eva kept letting out small laughs even as she tried to hold back her laughter.
"Whew. Hah. Ah, it's been so long since I laughed like this."
"Yeah. Well, I'm glad you had fun at least."
"That man is really something too. To think there's such an attractive woman approaching and he doesn't even give her a glance."
"It's not that he didn't give me any attention. I even received personal instruction separately."
"But there wasn't that kind of atmosphere, right?"
"..."
Rose, properly hit by a straight pitch, shut her mouth tight.
"I'm starting to get a sense of what that man is like too. To think there was such a rare species in the world."
"The people around him were similar too. They were all unique."
"Ah. You mean those knights. Hmm. Well, that's fortunate then."
Eva shrugged her shoulders and said readily.
"Go there often."
"...Are you serious?"
"Have I ever said empty words about things like this?"
"Eva, you're going to regret this. What if I actually develop feelings for him? Tomorrow's newspaper front page will have a top star scandal as big as a door!"
"Yes, yes. Try your best. Or should I put up an advertisement for you? That Rose is looking for a partner."
"Ah really! I'm going to sleep so get out quickly!"
Rose huffed and pushed Eva out the door. After sending Eva out, Rose lay on the bed huffing.
She recalled the time she spent with Osian during the day. My goodness. No matter what, still, when there's such a beauty here, he doesn't show any interest?
She couldn't just keep taking it like this.
Though Osian hadn't intended it, his attitude properly got on Rose's nerves. There was one thing not well known to people. Rose had stronger pride than people thought.