The physical body of a polymorphed dragon was similar to a human’s. It consisted of around 200 segmented bones. Apart from the skeletal structure, they also had muscles, nerves, blood vessels, a digestive system and more, which acted in a similar way to a human body.
In other words, they appeared exactly like a human from the outside.
However, they weren’t humans.
All education facilities including Lair were created to match a human’s standard. The objective of military academies was to cultivate excellent soldiers which translated to fostering fighting ‘humans’.
They, however, were dragons.
It wouldn’t be a problem for Bom who only did what she needed to do, nor would it be a problem for Kaeul who had not a single interest in becoming a soldier.
But it was different for the daughter of the red race.
They were a soldier from birth and would be perfected into a monarch throughout their life. The life at Lair for such Yeorum might have felt like wearing a smaller pair of shoes. Every step forward would have been frustrating and bothersome.
“…This might not be the first time Yeorum is feeling that way.”
Bom replied after listening to Yu Jitae’s words.
“Maybe she’s been feeling like that ever since the admission.”
The Regressor nodded in response.
He remembered about the time she fought with Sophia Vorkova. When Mihailov pressured her, she threw her fist and smacked his face. Instead of simply saying that Yeorum was violent, it would be more correct to say that she would show a firm reaction to the stimuli approaching her.
Was giving up on learning from Yu Jitae similar to the fist she threw at Mihailov?
“…”
He felt skeptical.
So what?
Was it wrong to give up on learning from others to try and do something on their own? If that was her process of adapting to Lair’s system, was there a need for him to intervene and change something?
He had never contemplated such things before throughout his regressions, so the Regressor was having trouble finding a clear solution.
“Ahjussi.”
After a deep contemplation, Bom opened her mouth. As always, she had a sulky yet indifferent expression that made it hard to read her thoughts.
“Help Yeorum a bit more please.”
“Why.”
“If ahjussi helps her…”
Bom carefully selected her words and opened her mouth.
“Yeorum will be more happy.”
***
A dragon becoming happier was more than enough of a reason for him to intervene. However, the situation wasn’t simply resolved just because he decided to help her.
“I’m not learning from you okay?”
Yeorum downright stopped his words. Her face was devoid of the usual mischief and it seemed that she had resolved herself already.
“I’m fine by myself so you don’t need to follow me like today.”
“…”
“To be honest, having someone follow me is weird and annoying.”
While saying that, Yeorum turned around. Therefore Yu Jitae had to go a step closer.
“I can teach you.”
Yeorum halted her feet and turned silent for a split second.
“…You know, aren’t you also a human?”
Still with her back facing him, Yeorum opened her mouth.
“…”
“I know you’re very strong and that you’re great. But you’re still a human and not a dragon.”
She slightly turned her head back and continued.
“There seems to be no dragons on Earth. No matter how great you are, you wouldn’t know how my tail moves, right?”
Then, she pushed her butt out and gently shook it a few times.
Indeed, he didn’t know how to move a tail. But when Yu Jitae tried to persist in trying to persuade her, Yeorum hated it and ran away.
“I don’t want to. I don’t want to!”
He thought to himself that it would be useless to stop her by force. He thus decided to quietly follow her from behind.
“Ah, just go back! You stalker!”
“…Stalker?”
“What are you if you’re not a stalker? Why are you following me for several days now; do you like me that much? Well, I can see why. Female dragons are pretty, and I’m on the prettier side as well.”
“…”
“…What. What’s with that face… Ah! So when are you going to stop following me!”
She suddenly shouted which made the surrounding people glance at her. They then realised it was Yeorum and turned away as if they hadn’t seen her.
The Regressor scratched the back of his neck as Yeorum heaved out a sigh.
“Whatever; a kidnapper or a stalker…”
“I’m the teacher. A teacher. The one that will be teaching you from now…”
“Ah, who cares!”
She ended her sentence with that and focused on her training.
Yu Jitae once again felt slightly strange.
A guardian following a cadet – this was also a regulation made by the humans. The Red Dragon was accepting that as if it was natural and had come to terms with it. It was the proof that Yeorum was trying to adapt herself into Lair.
“Don’t follow me!”
…In any case, Yu Jitae had no choice but to watch over Yeorum from a distance. It was frustrating, but there was no other option.
*
Where Yeorum headed to was the ‘Elemental Resistance Training Room’. In here, cadets could touch the elemental orbs with their skins and train by using mana to raise their elemental resistance.
Buzz! Buzz!
Yeorum touched the lightning orb as she carefully began raising her resistance against lightning. Since her innate resistance was extraordinarily and incomparably higher than a human’s, she started with Level 7. It was like the final level for normal cadets so the instructor heaved out deep sighs as he watched on.
She did not even spare Yu Jitae a glance.
Maybe he should give up for today.
He then remembered about this food which Kaeul and Gyeoul both wanted for dinner.
‘A super super spicy chicken!’
Nod nod…!
Thinking that he should just buy that, Yu Jitae walked out from the training room.
“Uut? Ahjussi?”
A chubby cadet recognised him and walked closer. He was a boy who smiled brightly without any signs of falsehood.
Who was this again.
“Do you remember me? I’m Hisaki Soujiro!”
“…Ah, right. It’s been a while.”
He was the cadet who had done the Anti-demon War Simulation with Yeorum in the past. The slightly depressed-looking girl, who was always with him, was nowhere to be seen this time. Wearing a bright expression, Soujiro chatted about several topics to Yu Jitae.
When he quietly listened on, he realised that the stories were unexpectedly about Yeorum.
“Ah and these days, Yeorum had a slight conflict with the professors.”
“A conflict?”
“Yes. Yeorum is very individualistic right? So Yeorum tends to fight professors and instructors quite often. It feels like, ehh they’re fighting again? I was always trying to stop them but… aht, umm…”
Soujiro suddenly stopped his words and scratched his hair. He appeared to be thinking that he might have said too much.
“I see. And then.”
“Umm, she wasn’t in a good mood after hearing a mouthful from Professor Ha Yoon but the fight she had after that with the Moonlight study group didn’t end well either. I think her pride might have been hurt back then.”
Ha Yoon? That was the name of the combat skill adjunct professor that told him to manage Yeorum properly and the Moonlight study group was the study group operated by Ha Yoon.
‘In the Moonlight study group there are cadets from a Level 5 martial art society’, added Soujiro.
He thought this must be it.
A fight between a human trained by a human’s method and Yeorum who trained by imitating a human’s method. If she had lost in that fight, he could understand the obstinacy in Yeorum’s attitude.
In fact he was surprised that she was able to maintain a normal appearance.
The red race had an extremely strong pride and the Red Dragon from previous iterations might have been in a seizure.
“…Is that so?’
While Yu Jitae was quietly pondering about something, the door of the Training Room was pushed wide open as a somewhat gloomy girl, Kim Ji-in, dashed out.
“Oi, oi, Soujiro!”
“Huh, huh!? Why!”
“Come in and stop Yeorum…!”
During her speech she saw Yu Jitae and widened her eyes. Before Kim Ji-in opened the door, he had already turned his body towards the training room because of the noise inside.
“The, umm… good afternoon?”
“Right. Why is it so noisy inside.”
Soujiro momentarily thought about saying that he didn’t hear anything but decided against it.
“Right, umm…!”
Kim Ji-in urgently explained the situation.
“Yeorum is about to fight the professor again!”
*
But from what Yu Jitae saw, it wasn’t as serious as what Kim Ji-in had said.
“Cadet Yeorum. Don’t you think you’re overusing the lightning orb?”
“Like I saidd, unni. How many times do I have to say that I’m fine?”
“I’m a ‘professor’ teaching combat skills to cadets. Cadet Yeorum, be mindful of your words.”
“Haigo…”
“Where is your guardian? I met him the other day and talked to him regarding it but you still haven’t gotten rid of your habit.”
“Don’t you think I would’ve done it ages ago if it was necessary?”
“A cadet!”
Professor Ha Yoon raised her voice.
“Is young and immature! Cadets are inexperienced and require protection and education! For now stop with the orb. Right now! If you do any more, you might get incurable injuries to your eyes and your blood vessels!”
Yeorum bit on her lips. The eyes of the Moonlight study group cadets behind Professor Ha Yoon were unpleasant.
Do I duke it out? She pondered for a bit but soon shook her head. Whatever the case, she didn’t want to cause harm to the entire household.
Holding back her frustrations, she was about to take her hands off the orb when someone walked up. She lifted her head and found Yu Jitae.
“…”
Yeorum frowned while Professor Ha Yoon called Yu Jitae with a slightly brighter expression.
“Ah, you came right on time. Sir Guardian Yu Jitae. I told you before but Cadet Yeorum is still carrying out her training on her own accord. Didn’t you educate her about it yesterday?”
“No, I didn’t.”
Hearing the response that came out so naturally, Ha Yoon blinked her eyes.
“…Sorry what was that?”
“Professor. Just leave it be.”
“What are you talking about right now?”
Yu Jitae deeply stared at Professor Ha Yoon’s face. The short and thin middle-aged woman had an unfamiliar face but he was used to the sharp gaze of a surviving soldier of the front lines.
“She’s a cadet under my supervision. You can leave her be.”
“The lightning orb is especially dangerous. It’s not as easy as just saying that the guardian will be responsible for it. You should be aware of that yourself, I believe?”
The Regressor’s gaze slowly travelled down onto the orb. It was a glass orb the size of a fist.
What’s so special about this thing.
He silently placed his hand on the orb. Due to the safety device set by Yeorum, a shield appeared at a distance that matched Level 7.
Clank—!
But the Regressor’s hand destroyed the shield and approached the orb. The closer he was, the stronger the output.
Finally, Yu Jitae’s skin touched the orb itself. Then, lightning sparks of the max level, Level 20, covered Yu Jitae’s hand and violently wriggled around.
Blue sparks of lightning splattered everywhere.
Buzzzzzzzzz—!!
Startled, Ha Yoon distanced herself and covered her face with her arms.
“Mister Yu Jitae—!”
Level 20 was a dangerous level even for a superhuman well-versed in mana control. It was more so because this was the lightning attribute which could burn someone to death with one mistake.
But standing inside the flickering lightning sparks, Yu Jitae looked way too calm. It meant that he was a lot stronger than what she thought.
Due to that, Professor Ha Yoon was about to ease her startled heart, but that was when Yu Jitae casually tossed the orb over to Yeorum.
The professor immediately shouted from surprise.
“What are you—!”
Even the Moonlight study group cadets standing behind the professor were astonished as Yeorum dazedly received the orb with her two hands.
“Noo…!!”
But nothing happened after that.
Buzzzz—!
The lightning sparks merely continued flickering.
Did a cadet just grab a Level 20 lightning orb? Unable to understand the situation, Ha Yoon and the cadets widened their eyes into circles.
“How is it.”
“Well, it pricks a little.”
Yeorum replied with a bitter face.
Professor Ha Yoon frowned with a blank face.
Pricks a little? That didn’t make sense. Generally, a young superhuman at a cadet level holding a Level 20 orb would have their eyes burned while also possibly having a heart attack.
However, no such signs were being shown by Yeorum right now.
“I thought so.”
This should be enough.
Yu Jitae decided to chase Professor Ha Yoon away.
“Did you see that. Sorry for making you worried but you can go now thanks.”
She was dumbfounded and had trouble understanding but couldn’t think of any words to say. “…You take the responsibility yourself as a guardian. Then we’ll be on our way” she said as she turned her body around. Towards her back, Yeorum threw her middle finger up.
“Ah, and also.”
When Yu Jitae opened his mouth, Professor Ha Yoon turned back. Thinking that she was caught, Yeorum slowly lowered her middle finger with a serious expression but Ha Yoon wasn’t looking at Yeorum.
“I would like to borrow my name as a guardian and request for an announcement for all the instructors of the training rooms.”
That was a rightful request as a guardian.
“…What would you like to say to them.”
“Do not interfere with Cadet Yu Yeorum’s individual training session. Your policy and Lair’s are not suited for Cadet Yu Yeorum.”
“…”
Professor Ha Yoon gave a frown.
Those words which denied her way of teaching, as well as Lair’s system itself as a whole, sounded like it was touching a corner of her pride as a professor.
“Please tell them that.”
She felt a lump in her throat but didn’t feel like refuting his words the moment she looked into the guardian’s eyes. His request strangely felt like a command being given by a large existence gazing down on herself.
For some reason, she couldn’t go against it.
Of course it must be stemming from her own inferiority complex considering that Yu Jitae’s attitude had been polite throughout.
While telling herself that, Ha Yoon suppressed her emotions.
“I will… do so…”