# 28. Hero Luna's Awakening (1)
"Luna, what is your sword?"
Lee Jun-woo was serious.
Luna turned that question inward.
*What is my sword? He can't be asking about the type of wooden sword!*
She'd never thought about it.
I was just a villager who'd never swung a sword before.
I didn't wield a sword with the mindset of a knight.
I only swung my sword to beat this old man.
*Then, isn't my sword a 'winning sword'?!*
That's the answer!!
Luna responded to Lee Jun-woo.
"My sword is a winning sword! A sword to beat you, old man!"
"...Remarkable."
"Yes?"
"I'm remarking at how incredibly stupid that answer is."
"Huh?"
But I answered seriously?
Lee Jun-woo's wooden sword came down on Luna's head.
"Kyeng!"
"Wrong answer. Think about it again, Luna."
"Geez, I'm telling you my sword is a winning sword! Why are you deciding it's wrong!"
Thwack—
Lee Jun-woo raised his wooden sword again.
Luna, as if nothing had happened, began contemplating deeply.
*Hmm, my sword...*
A sword to beat the old man.
To beat the old man...
*Why am I trying to beat the old man?*
The answer was close by.
Smirk—
Luna shouted confidently.
"My sword is for escape... no, wait, haha. Let me think about it again!"
"Good thinking, Luna."
Since Lee Jun-woo raised his wooden sword, Luna decided to reconsider.
If a sword for escape is wrong.
Why am I trying to escape?
Rather, why am I staying here?
*I'm staying for money.*
Though I'm forced to stay, my goal is money.
Then.
What am I earning money for?
That's...
"A sword for my family... a sword to protect my family!"
"Correct, Luna."
A sword to protect her family.
That would gradually expand in scope, extending to a sword to protect people.
Because a Hero is destined for such a fate.
Lee Jun-woo was satisfied with Luna's answer.
"Yes, Luna. Your sword is a sword to protect. Then I'll teach you how to protect."
"Oh, ooh!!"
A sword to protect.
Am I finally learning swordsmanship!
Luna gripped her sword tightly at Lee Jun-woo's words.
What kind of swordsmanship would he teach?
Though she hated to admit it, Lee Jun-woo's swordsmanship was refined and sharp.
Luna was filled with anticipation.
"Now, teach me! Teach me swordsmanship!"
"...First, I'll teach you how to hold a sword. Your stance is wrong."
"Huh?"
Off to a rocky start—
Lee Jun-woo approached Luna.
Luna appeared to be holding the sword properly on the surface.
However, only the 'surface' was polished—there were mountains of points to correct.
"Luna, stay still. I'll show you."
"Yes? St-stay sti— Kyaak! Where are you touching!"
"I'm correcting your stance. Stay still."
Lee Jun-woo examined Luna's body.
Like fixing a machine, he found the mistakes and reassembled them.
"Your front leg is too far forward."
"Ah, I got it—! I'll pull it in my— Aak! D-don't touch me!"
"Be quiet. Don't make a fuss."
In Lee Jun-woo's eyes, Luna was just a child.
He felt nothing in the process of correcting her stance.
Only Luna was embarrassed alone, rejecting Lee Jun-woo's touch.
Lee Jun-woo took a position embracing Luna from behind.
"The hand holding the sword shouldn't be rough, but gentle..."
"Y-yes...? G-gentle...? Eh...?"
"...Focus, Luna. Do you want to go back to basic training?"
"N-no...! I'll concentrate!"
Luna felt like her head would explode, but she hated basic training, so she matched her body to Lee Jun-woo's movements as much as possible.
*...The old man's muscles are really firm.*
Discovering a new side.
Luna learned swordsmanship happily during the training.
And.
There was a pair of red eyes watching their training...
Creak—
"O-old man... have you come to hate me...? So you went to Luna... and are happy there...? Please, please don't abandon me... old man..."
Biting the flesh of her fingers.
Hare watched them from the window that wouldn't open.
Anxiety and jealousy became kindling, setting fire to Hare's heart.
"...Luna is a thief... while I'm gone, she's like that with the old man... it's too much... she said she wasn't interested in the old man... but she has such a happy face... hic,"
Hare's eyes, bloodshot from having no tears left to cry.
Her gaze was fixed on the two people.
And while in solitary confinement.
Hare was realizing what her mistake was.
"I shouldn't have been caught... so the old man could never notice... I needed to be more cunning and meticulous..."
If you don't get caught, it's not a crime.
I should have planned more precisely.
Though the direction wasn't right.
Hare was reflecting in her own way.
In Minerva's Library, where only owl hoots could be heard without Lee Jun-woo.
There, Minerva drank coffee and checked the story so far.
"The confinement is going smoothly! The Thief will become a bit more like a Thief. A very good situation."
The book in Minerva's hand titled 'Juliana Hare.'
It contained Juliana Hare's future, predicting that confinement would have a positive effect on her.
Mainly, effects on Hare as a Thief, not as a human.
"She'll realize her mistake from a failed plan and plot more meticulously next time. Very good, right Meowng?"
"Hoo— Hoo—"
The librarian owl of Minerva's Library.
Meowng for short, nodded its beak up and down.
"Right, I don't like that her obsession with Jun-woo is growing a bit... but the anxiety of possibly being abandoned means she won't try to kill her companions. Even if she does act on it, she'll move so meticulously that it'll never be noticed."
A Thief must be meticulous for the future.
Lee Jun-woo also experienced confinement in the 'thinking room' once.
A method of making someone realize their mistakes on their own and think in their own direction.
Even Minerva thought it was an excellent plan.
"...It's a bit immoral by human standards! But Jun-woo used what he learned from his teacher, so he'd think it's the right method, right?"
"Hoo—! Hoo—!"
Meowng agreed too.
Nerdia Aina.
The name of the person who took Lee Jun-woo as a disciple when he entered his first year.
A talented Mage, but she lost her life for Lee Jun-woo.
And it wasn't an exaggeration to say Lee Jun-woo was influenced by all of Aina's actions.
*'Four months. That's how long I taught you, Lee Jun-woo. Do you have something to reflect on?'*
*'It's my first time, how can I do well from the start? Just give me a little more time.'*
*'How rude, my disciple. I have no choice but to make you realize it forcibly. Now, go in, Jun-woo.'*
*'Yes? Go in where...'*
*'The period is 30 days. Figure it out and come out. If you can't, you're expelled.'*
*'...What?'*
Thud—
Aina, dissatisfied with the progress in magic, locked Lee Jun-woo in the thinking room.
For 30 days, Lee Jun-woo suffered the pain of loneliness.
However, pain becomes nourishment and makes people grow.
Confined in the room, Lee Jun-woo could precisely identify what was wrong with his magic and what he was doing wrong.
It was truly a room made only for 'thinking.'
Minerva got goosebumps all over recalling Jun-woo's past.
"Ugh, that's a completely crazy teacher. He learned from a weird person, so Jun-woo became weird too..."
But well, the Hero Party has to defeat the Demon King.
There's no method as effective as that!
"And Aina had a terrible personality, but she treated Jun-woo well. That makes it even sadder though..."
"Hoo... Hoo..."
Meowng pitied that woman Aina too.
Aina, who sent away the disciple she loved at the moment of death.
Knowing better than anyone that if she said she loved him, those words would become a curse and pierce Lee Jun-woo's heart.
She left the world without even conveying her feelings.
"Ah, whatever! The past is done, the present and future are important! Meowng! Bring Jun-woo's future right now!"
"Hoot—!"
Meowng saluted and returned with a book in its wings.
The piping hot new edition of 'Lee Jun-woo's Future.'
There are various variables in the world, and the biggest variable for Jun-woo is the 'Hero Party.'
Minerva had to check every time a new edition came out.
Lee Jun-woo was someone who should have died originally.
He's someone who escaped the fate of death.
Because the world desires the end of one who defied death, Minerva always checks Lee Jun-woo's future.
If the only human Apostle Lee Jun-woo dies, Minerva will be forgotten from the world.
Minerva opened the book and began reading.
"What changed in this new edition... hmm..."
Let's see...
Hmm...?
Nothing special until the middle...
The ending...?
"Jun-woo, why are you in Luna's hometown 'Aden Village'? And why do you die?"
Luna's hometown, Aden.
There, Lee Jun-woo meets his death.
With less than a month remaining.
"Wh-what?! Damn, to keep Jun-woo from dying, what kind of problem should I give him..?! Ugh, my head hurts!"
Minerva, who always thinks about Lee Jun-woo, got a headache.
"Hehe, today's swordsmanship training was fun!"
Luna swung her wooden sword up and down to remember the stance.
*'Use your entire arm to swing the sword, not just your wrist.'*
Following Lee Jun-woo's words, Luna swung her sword.
"One!"
Whoosh—
"Two!"
Whoosh—
"Three!"
"Stop!! Stop swinging in the room...!! I'm dying!!"
"Oh, right. Estia was here."
I was too focused on the sword to notice...
Estia was crumpled in the corner.
Since the wooden sword had just grazed her face, her heart was pounding.
"Th-there's a person here! Huh?! I almost died!! I'm already sensitive enough without Holy Water!!"
"Ah, sorry! Mistake! Mistake! I'll swing more carefully next time!"
"...If you swing carefully, will I not get hit? Goddess. Please pray that I survive today... Please pray that I don't die from that wicked sword..."
Whoosh— Whoosh—
Hearing the sound of cutting through the air, Estia clasped her hands and prayed in the corner.
Such a desperate sight of Estia didn't enter Luna's eyes.
Luna's concentration was currently at its peak, and since she was correcting her swordsmanship stance, she didn't notice her surroundings.
"Like this, with the leg forward... if I slash sideways..."
Crash—
"Hi-hiik...!! Goddess...! Today I ascend to heaven...!! Please, grant me one Holy Water before I die...! I earnestly beseech you...!!"
With Estia's cry, Luna's training continued.
And in Luna's heart, someone's voice was leaking out.
—He...ro...
She was concentrating, so she thought it was Estia's voice.
But it was clearly someone else's voice.
At that voice, Luna...
"If I change the stance like this, it seems more efficient? Or not?"
She didn't hear it because she was concentrating.
The more Luna's swordsmanship developed.
That voice seemed to become clearer.