Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “I... I Allow You to Call Me Alice!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After lessons end, Alice unexpectedly stays behind instead of rushing to sword training.
• She awkwardly admits that Cui Ciyou’s unconventional teaching methods—using sword combinations to explain arithmetic and role-playing historical events—were interesting and successful.
• Alice proudly recounts defeating the “treacherous minister” in their historical exercise, clearly seeking Cui Ciyou’s praise.
• Although she still finds arithmetic, writing, and noble etiquette difficult, she confesses that studying with him was “not so unpleasant.”
• In a major gesture of trust, Alice permits Cui Ciyou to call her simply “Alice” rather than “Lady Alice.” She also promises to address him as “Ciyou” instead of insulting him with names like “bastard” or “pretty boy.”
• Cui Ciyou accepts, then playfully suggests she should call him “Teacher Ciyou,” provoking Alice’s familiar embarrassed and fiery reaction.
• Despite her sharp words, Alice’s hostility has noticeably faded, and Cui Ciyou recognizes that their relationship has significantly improved.

Character Developments

• Alice: Takes an important emotional step toward Cui Ciyou. Her pride and tsundere-like defensiveness remain, but she openly acknowledges enjoying his lessons and shows gratitude and acceptance. Her willingness to use his name and allow him to use hers symbolizes growing trust.
• Cui Ciyou: Demonstrates patience, encouragement, and emotional sensitivity as a teacher. He recognizes Alice’s progress and gently teases her, showing that he now feels comfortable enough in their relationship to joke with her.
• Their relationship: Shifts from hostility and formal distance toward mutual familiarity, warmth, and personal acceptance.

Significant Themes

• Learning according to individual strengths: The later notes explain that Alice’s academic struggles are not due to low intelligence. She has difficulty with abstract symbols such as numbers and writing, resembling dyscalculia or dyslexia, while excelling at direct perception, reasoning, and physical action.
• Practical and sensory education: Cui Ciyou’s approach translates abstract subjects into concrete experiences, such as using sword strikes for arithmetic and role-playing for history.
• Recognition versus labeling: The chapter challenges the simplistic idea that poor academic performance equals stupidity, emphasizing different learning styles and abilities.
• Trust expressed through names: Allowing someone to use a personal name becomes a meaningful symbol of intimacy, respect, and acceptance.

Character Interactions

• Alice seeks praise through boastful descriptions of her achievements, while Cui Ciyou responds with sincere encouragement.
• She struggles to express gratitude and affection, eventually doing so through the formal-sounding but emotionally significant permission to use their first names.
• Cui Ciyou’s teasing about etiquette briefly restores their usual argumentative dynamic, but the exchange is now playful rather than hostile.
• His final reflection confirms that Alice’s softened attitude and willingness to connect represent a genuine breakthrough in their bond.

Summary: Alice’s Progress and Daily Life at House Boreas

Over several months at House Boreas, Cui Ciyou settles into a peaceful and comfortable life as Alice’s tutor. His playful, practical teaching style—supported by Teacher Edna and Ghislaine participating as “students”—produces remarkable results in Alice’s education.

Key Developments in Alice’s Education

• History: Alice becomes capable of listening and retaining information, though her interest is limited mainly to heroic battles, powerful warriors, Demon Kings, and legendary weapons. Teacher Edna interprets this as evidence of Alice’s noble intelligence, while Cui recognizes that the stories appeal to Alice’s combative nature.
• Arithmetic: Alice learns addition and subtraction within one hundred by applying numbers to sword swings, blocking success rates, and battle scores. Cui plans to teach multiplication through swordsmanship-based mnemonics. Ghislaine also improves rapidly, becoming able to calculate her wages and expenses accurately.
• Reading and writing: Alice can write numbers and her own name, “Alice,” across a sheet of papyrus. She proudly displays her work and eagerly seeks Cui’s praise. Her diary-writing remains extremely simple, consisting mostly of phrases such as “Today, lost” and “Tomorrow, win!” alongside crude drawings, including an unrecognizable sketch of Cui.
• Swordsmanship: Alice shows her greatest talent in combat. She eagerly trains with Ghislaine, even on rest days, and rapidly develops strong footwork, attacks, and defensive movements. Her competitive spirit, refusal to lose, and instinctive aggression make her especially suited to the Sword God Style. Even Ghislaine, a Sword King, repeatedly praises her exceptional potential.
  Alice’s progress is far beyond what she achieved in the original timeline, and Cui feels that her tutoring has finally become successful.

Cui Ciyou’s Life at the Estate

Cui enjoys the Boreas family’s luxurious hospitality: a high salary, excellent meals, comfortable lodging, and access to a large library. The maids are friendly and occasionally flirtatious, though he politely rejects their suggestive offers. Butler Alphonse, manservant Thomas, and Lord Philip treat him courteously.
Lady Hilda is the main exception. She frequently watches Cui with an intimidating, hostile intensity, apparently still resenting the time he beat Alice. Cui privately compares her glare to a comedic “killing-you-with-your-eyes” technique and regards her as petty.

Character Interactions and Relationships

• Cui and Alice: Their teacher-student relationship becomes increasingly effective and affectionate. Cui understands how to connect Alice’s love of combat to academic subjects, while Alice constantly seeks his approval.
• Cui and Ghislaine: Ghislaine serves as both Alice’s sparring partner and Cui’s study companion. She improves academically, especially in financial calculations, while continuing to train Alice in swordsmanship.
• Cui and Teacher Edna: Edna is impressed by Alice’s transformation and credits Cui’s innovative methods, though she misunderstands the true source of Alice’s interest in history.
• Cui and the Boreas household: Cui is generally respected and well cared for, but Hilda remains suspicious and resentful toward him.
• Alice and Sauros: The chapter hints at a strong resemblance between Alice and her grandfather, Sauros. Both are loud, energetic, and rough-tempered. Sauros is portrayed as the family member who likely spoiled Alice and helped shape her carefree personality.

Major Themes

• Education through personal interest: Cui succeeds by adapting lessons to Alice’s passions rather than forcing conventional instruction.
• Hidden forms of intelligence: Alice is not naturally drawn to traditional academics, but her understanding emerges when knowledge is connected to combat and competition.
• Growth through encouragement: Alice’s pride in writing her name and her desire for Cui’s praise show how positive reinforcement fuels her development.
• Nature versus guidance: Alice’s fighting talent seems innate, but her academic abilities flourish only after receiving suitable instruction.
• Domestic comfort and comedy: Cui’s peaceful life, the eccentric Boreas family, flirtatious maids, and Hilda’s hostility create a lighthearted contrast to the dangers and instability of his earlier life.

Chapter Summary: “Sauros, Who Lived for the Moment”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cui Ciyou reflects on Sauros Boreas Greyrat, lord of Fitoia Territory and Alice’s grandfather. Sauros is portrayed as an unapologetically lecherous nobleman with a particular attraction to beastfolk women.
• While drinking fruit wine with Ghislaine and discussing Alice’s swordsmanship, Cui Ciyou accidentally discovers Sauros engaging in an intimate game with a rabbit-eared maid in the courtyard.
• The embarrassed maid notices Cui Ciyou and flees, leaving an extremely awkward silence.
• Ghislaine unexpectedly remarks that she would mate with Cui Ciyou and notes that she might not be able to bear children outside mating season. Cui Ciyou is stunned by her bluntness and misunderstands her sudden declaration.
• Sauros emerges from the bushes while still poorly dressed and jokes that Cui Ciyou and Ghislaine must be romantically involved. He also suggests that Cui Ciyou’s refusal of his maids indicates unusual sexual preferences.
• Cui Ciyou denies any romantic relationship with Ghislaine, explaining that he regards her as an older sister and that he is attracted to women. He also sarcastically tells Sauros to dress properly.
• Sauros attempts to assert his authority as the lord of Fitoia and demands to be addressed formally. Cui Ciyou mocks his sudden noble affectation, comparing it to the behavior Sauros dislikes in his son Philip.
• Cui Ciyou reminds Sauros that he and Ghislaine are powerful fighters—respectively a Sword Saint and Sword King—and calmly analyzes the manor’s combat strength. He jokingly threatens to cut Sauros down.
• Intimidated, Sauros immediately retreats behind humor, claiming his arrogance was only a joke. Afterward, he privately admits that Cui Ciyou’s calm assessment of the manor’s military strength is frightening.

Character Developments

• Cui Ciyou: Demonstrates his bluntness, rationality, and confidence. Although he is disgusted by Sauros’s behavior, he handles the situation with dry sarcasm and shows that he is constantly assessing threats and power balances.
• Ghislaine: Reveals her extremely direct and unconventional way of thinking about relationships and reproduction. Her calm, literal statement contrasts sharply with Cui Ciyou’s embarrassment.
• Sauros: Is shown as shameless, impulsive, lustful, and fond of living according to his desires. However, beneath his loud and domineering exterior, he recognizes genuine danger and quickly becomes cautious when confronted by Cui Ciyou’s strength.
• The rabbit-eared maid: Her discomfort and embarrassment highlight the power imbalance surrounding Sauros’s behavior, though the passage presents the encounter primarily through comedic awkwardness.
• Cui Ciyou and Ghislaine: Their relationship is clarified as non-romantic from Cui Ciyou’s perspective, with Cui Ciyou viewing Ghislaine as an older-sister figure despite her apparent willingness to pursue him.

Significant Themes

• Power versus social status: Sauros tries to rely on his position as a noble lord, but Cui Ciyou points out that actual strength matters more in the manor’s immediate power structure.
• Hypocrisy and performance: Sauros criticizes Philip’s artificial noble demeanor yet briefly adopts the same authoritative behavior himself. Cui Ciyou exposes this contradiction.
• Bluntness and embarrassment: Ghislaine’s straightforward comments, Sauros’s shamelessness, and Cui Ciyou’s discomfort create much of the chapter’s humor.
• Predatory privilege and moral discomfort: Sauros’s treatment of the maids emphasizes how his rank allows him to behave without fear of consequences, while Cui Ciyou’s reaction signals moral unease.
• The contrast between appearance and reality: Sauros appears bold and domineering but is easily intimidated by Cui Ciyou’s threat, revealing that his confidence is partly theatrical.

Character Interactions

• Cui Ciyou and Ghislaine: They casually discuss Alice before being placed in an awkward situation. Ghislaine’s unexpected proposal shocks Cui Ciyou and exposes their very different ways of thinking.
• Cui Ciyou and Sauros: Their exchange is confrontational but comedic. Sauros invokes his noble authority, while Cui Ciyou responds with sarcasm, tactical analysis, and an implicit threat.
• Sauros and the maid: Their encounter establishes Sauros’s persistent sexual misconduct and the maid’s embarrassment and discomfort.
• Sauros and Ghislaine: Sauros misinterprets Ghislaine’s comment as evidence of a relationship with Cui Ciyou, adding to the misunderstanding and humor.

Chapter Summary: Ambiguous Rank Assessment, Ranks Determined by Superiors

Key Plot Points and Events

• Late at night in the Boreas Library, Cui Ciyou reflects on the power structure of the Jobless Reincarnation world.
• He concludes that strength is the most important factor determining a person’s fate, comparing it to money and social influence in his former life.
• He studies his own abilities:
  • A body powerful enough to rival Saint- or possibly King-level swordsmen.
  • Magic Nullification, making him highly effective against spellcasters in close combat.
  • Mysterious Mental Power, currently most useful for perception.
• Despite his strength, Cui recognizes major weaknesses: his swordsmanship remains crude, relying mainly on instinct, speed, and overwhelming physical force.
• Through nightly study, he researches magic, the three major sword styles, and the power rankings used in this world.
• He determines that magic has the greatest versatility and potential, while swordsmanship offers superior immediate destructive power in direct combat.
• Since he appears unable to use magic, Cui resolves to refine himself as a specialized “weapon” through swordsmanship.
• His research reveals that swordsmanship ranks are not based on measurable, objective standards. Instead, stronger practitioners—or recognized authorities—decide whether someone has reached a particular level.
• This discovery deeply confuses and frustrates Cui, whose previous-world thinking was based on quantifiable performance.
• He examines the contrasting promotion standards of the three sword styles:
  • Sword God Style: generally based on recognized skill and authority.
  • Water God Style: advancement depends on successfully blocking and countering a Sword Saint’s full-power attack.
  • North God Style: anyone who defeats a Sword Saint by any method qualifies, including poison, deception, ambushes, or teamwork.
• Cui is particularly unsettled by the North God Style’s lack of rules and its emphasis on victory at any cost.

Character Development

• Cui Ciyou becomes more self-aware and analytical about his combat potential. Although already exceptionally powerful physically, he recognizes that raw strength alone is insufficient.
• His hunger for knowledge grows as he studies magic and swordsmanship in an effort to understand the world and improve his chances of controlling his own destiny.
• He develops a strategic preference for swordsmanship because he lacks magical talent, while also acknowledging magic’s broader and more flexible potential.
• His rational, scientific worldview clashes with the subjective and tradition-based systems of this world, revealing both his adaptability and his lingering attachment to his former life’s standards.
• He gains a more nuanced understanding of the three sword styles and begins to appreciate the North God Style as a dangerous, unpredictable form of combat.

Significant Themes

• Strength and autonomy: Cui believes power is necessary to avoid being manipulated by others and to determine one’s own fate.
• Knowledge versus instinct: Physical power alone is not enough; true growth requires systematic understanding and refined technique.
• Magic versus swordsmanship: Magic represents versatility, creation, and limitless potential, while swordsmanship embodies specialized destructive power.
• Subjectivity of authority: Rank is not objectively measured but granted by stronger or more respected figures, exposing the world’s hierarchical and subjective nature.
• Different philosophies of combat: The three sword styles reflect distinct approaches—direct offense, defense and counterattack, and unrestricted pragmatism.
• Rules versus results: The North God Style challenges conventional ideas of honorable combat by valuing victory above method.

Character Interactions

• Cui’s earlier training with Ghislaine improved his foundations in the Sword God Style and introduced him to North God techniques.
• Ghislaine also serves as an example of the world’s vague rank system. She believes Alice has reached beginner-swordsman level but can only explain this through instinctive judgment—“it just feels like it.”
• Cui reflects on Alice’s development and the difficulty of objectively evaluating her strength.
• He studies the reputations of figures such as Perugius, Gal Farion, and the legendary Kalman, using them to understand the relationship between power, authority, and combat ranking.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cui Ciyou studies the world’s swordsmanship ranking system and concludes that its theories are confusing and poorly documented.
• He compares the three major sword styles:
  • Sword God Style: Focused on pure strength and combat technique, with advanced training centralized at the Sword Sanctum.
  • North God Style: Practical and survival-oriented, favored by adventurers.
  • Water God Style: More defensive and elegant, popular among educated nobles and knights, though its advanced techniques are closely guarded.
• He contrasts swordsmanship with magic, whose ranking system is clearer and based on the spells a mage can cast.
• Unable to make full sense of swordsmanship theory, Cui Ciyou decides he may need to ask Ghislaine for practical explanations.
• Alice enters the study and immediately begins bombarding him with questions about books, language, swordsmanship, and famous warriors.
• Alice’s recent fascination with adventure stories is revealed. After Cui Ciyou read The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth Adventure to her, she became especially interested in adventurers and labyrinth exploration.
• Alice asks Ghislaine to recount her old adventures, but Ghislaine’s brief, poorly detailed descriptions disappoint her. Alice therefore continues relying on Cui Ciyou as her storyteller.
• Despite wanting to study and plan in peace, Cui Ciyou gives in to Alice’s pleading and begins reading Alex’s Hero’s Tale, which describes North God II Alex facing a legendary Frost Dragon.

Character Developments

• Cui Ciyou: Becomes increasingly familiar with the world’s martial and magical systems, though he remains frustrated by the secrecy and vagueness surrounding swordsmanship. He also shows a reluctant but genuine willingness to indulge Alice, taking on the role of her personal storyteller despite his irritation.
• Alice: Develops a strong interest in heroic adventures, famous swordsmen, and labyrinth exploration. She is curious, energetic, persistent, and particularly attached to Cui Ciyou because she enjoys his storytelling voice.
• Ghislaine: Is shown as an accomplished but extremely laconic former adventurer. Her combat experience is impressive, but she lacks the patience or narrative skill to satisfy Alice’s curiosity.

Significant Themes

• Knowledge versus tradition: Swordsmanship knowledge is fragmented by secrecy, elitism, and poor documentation, while magic has a more accessible and systematic ranking structure.
• Education and cultural literacy: The chapter humorously contrasts physical combat ability with the ability to explain or preserve knowledge.
• Storytelling and imagination: Alice’s fascination with adventure stories highlights how tales can inspire curiosity and shape a child’s view of the world.
• Unexpected companionship: Cui Ciyou’s attempts to study alone are repeatedly interrupted, yet his interactions with Alice gradually create a warm, familial bond.

Character Interactions

• Cui Ciyou reflects critically on Ghislaine’s likely inability to explain swordsmanship theory, though he still considers asking her for help.
• Alice constantly questions Cui Ciyou and treats him as her exclusive source of stories and knowledge.
• Alice compares Cui Ciyou favorably to Teacher Edna, insisting that he reads better.
• Alice brings Ghislaine and Cui Ciyou together for adventure-story sessions, exposing the contrast between Cui Ciyou’s expressive narration and Ghislaine’s blunt, minimal recollections.
• The chapter ends with Cui Ciyou surrendering to Alice’s enthusiasm and reading her the heroic tale of Alex and the Frost Dragon.

Chapter Summary:

Sword King, a Slash That Surpassed “Light Speed”

Key Plot Points and Events

• On Alice’s scheduled day off, Lord Sauros takes her to the family manor for an outing and promises to teach her basic riding skills.
• Taking advantage of his free time, Cui Ciyou visits the training grounds to question Ghislaine about the Sword God Style’s ranking system.
• Ghislaine explains the progression from Advanced Swordsman to Sword Saint and Sword King:
  • Advanced Swordsman: Can perform the Soundless Sword, a slash fast enough to surpass the speed of sound and make no audible cutting noise.
  • Sword Saint: Can use the Soundless Sword instinctively and consistently, striking at the instant a thought arises. Sword Saints can also wield the Sword of Light, a slash so fast it appears instantaneous to the human eye.
  • Sword King: Must surpass the Sword of Light by perfectly uniting Battle Aura, willpower, technique, and weapon into a single overwhelming attack—described as moving beyond even light speed.
• To demonstrate the difference, Ghislaine unleashes a devastating slash that produces a brilliant flash, a warped energy afterimage, and the apparent effect of tearing through space.
• Cui Ciyou is left stunned by the terrifying power of a Sword King.

Character Developments

• Cui Ciyou: Demonstrates his serious interest in understanding the Sword God Style and its principles. His questioning reveals his analytical nature and desire to measure the true limits of swordsmanship. Ghislaine’s demonstration greatly shocks and broadens his understanding of high-level combat.
• Ghislaine: Although initially relaxed and catlike while resting, she becomes an authoritative instructor. She clearly explains the hierarchy of swordsmanship and confirms her own extraordinary strength by demonstrating a King-level attack.
• Alice and Lord Sauros: Their relationship is briefly highlighted through Sauros’s affectionate treatment of Alice and his eagerness to spend time with her.

Significant Themes

• The pursuit of ultimate speed and power: The Sword God Style is defined by increasingly rapid and destructive attacks.
• Mastery through unity: Higher ranks require more than physical strength; they demand perfect coordination of technique, Battle Aura, willpower, body, and weapon.
• Limits of human perception: Terms such as “Sword of Light” and “beyond light speed” emphasize how advanced sword techniques appear supernatural to ordinary observers.
• Knowledge as a path to growth: Cui Ciyou seeks precise explanations rather than relying on vague written descriptions, showing the importance of understanding the principles behind power.
• The awe of overwhelming strength: Ghislaine’s demonstration reinforces the vast gap between ordinary swordsmen and true masters.

Character Interactions

• Lord Sauros and Alice share a warm, affectionate family outing, with Sauros enthusiastically caring for his granddaughter.
• Cui Ciyou approaches Ghislaine directly and respectfully for instruction.
• Ghislaine responds concisely but thoroughly, teaching him the distinctions between the major Sword God Style ranks.
• Her final demonstration transforms the lesson from theory into a frightening display of real power, leaving Cui Ciyou deeply shaken and impressed.

Chapter Summary: Magic, the Third Form of Energy Beyond Battle Aura

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• After witnessing Ghislaine unleash a devastating slash, Cui Ciyou learns the Sword God Style’s power hierarchy:
  • Soundless Sword: Supersonic speed, achievable by Advanced Swordsmen.
  • Sword of Light: Near-light-speed slash requiring Battle Aura, technique, and mental focus; characteristic of Sword Saints.
  • Beyond the Sword of Light: A slash exceeding light speed, associated with Sword Kings.
  • Above Sword Kings are the Emperor-level and legendary God-level realms.
• Ghislaine explains that her master, Sword God Gal Farion, and the two Sword Emperors have reached those higher levels, though she herself remains far from them.
• Cui Ciyou becomes troubled by the fact that he possesses no Battle Aura, wondering whether this prevents him from ever mastering the Sword of Light or advancing to Sword King.
• He theorizes that his unique Mental Power may function as an alternative energy source. Since it can sustain the Anti-Magic Field, enhance his perception, and accelerate recovery, he reasons that it might also replace Battle Aura in swordsmanship.
• He successfully performs the Soundless Sword through physical strength and speed alone.
• By channeling a portion of his Mental Power, he produces a sword slash resembling the Sword of Light.
• Finally, he draws upon all of his Mental Power, physical strength, and willpower at once. His sword releases an indescribably brilliant flash that appears to surpass the speed of light.
• The achievement comes at a severe cost: Cui Ciyou suffers overwhelming pain in his mind, suggesting that forcing his Mental Power beyond its limits has caused serious strain or injury.

2. Character Developments

• Cui Ciyou grows from merely observing established swordsmanship to actively challenging its fundamental principles. His lack of Battle Aura initially causes insecurity, but his creativity leads him to seek an alternative path through Mental Power.
• His confidence increases as he discovers that his physical abilities allow him to master the Soundless Sword effortlessly.
• He demonstrates remarkable ambition and determination by attempting techniques normally dependent on Battle Aura, ultimately creating a possible new form of swordsmanship powered by Mental Power.
• Ghislaine is portrayed as a knowledgeable but still developing swordswoman. Her explanation reveals both her respect for the highest Sword God Style practitioners and her determination to reach their level.

3. Significant Themes

• Breaking established limits: Cui Ciyou questions whether traditional requirements are absolute and searches for a route outside the accepted Battle Aura system.
• Magic and swordsmanship as different applications of energy: The chapter proposes that magic and sword techniques may share the same underlying principle—energy guided through different methods.
• Innovation versus tradition: Cui Ciyou’s Mental Power may represent a third energy system distinct from both magic and Battle Aura.
• The cost of power: His successful light-speed or beyond-light-speed strike demonstrates immense potential, but the intense pain afterward emphasizes that extraordinary strength carries serious physical and mental risks.
• Ambition and the pursuit of mastery: Both Cui Ciyou’s challenge and Ghislaine’s resolve reflect the desire to reach the Emperor- and God-level realms.

4. Character Interactions

• Cui Ciyou questions Ghislaine about the Sword God Style’s upper ranks, and she explains the distinctions between Sword Saints, Sword Kings, Sword Emperors, and Sword Gods.
• Her explanation inspires both awe and frustration in him, especially because he lacks Battle Aura.
• Although Ghislaine does not directly guide his experiment, her demonstration and description of the Sword of Light provide the model he imitates.
• Cui Ciyou’s subsequent breakthrough serves as an implicit challenge to the conventional swordsmanship system she represents, suggesting that his Mental Power may allow him to follow a path unavailable to ordinary swordsmen.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cui Ciyou tests a theory about his unique Mental Power by unleashing an ultimate sword strike without a defined target.
• The attack succeeds, producing a slash that surpasses the speed of light and reaches a realm comparable to, or beyond, the traditional Sword of Light.
• The technique leaves Cui Ciyou suffering severe dizziness, nausea, pain, and near-total exhaustion because it almost completely drains his Mental Power and strains his brain and nervous system.
• Cui realizes that his version of the Soundless Sword relies on his enhanced physical body, while his version of the Sword of Light combines physical strength with Mental Power. He theorizes that higher sword realms require the perfect unity of will, power, and speed.
• He concludes that his Mental Power may grow through repeated depletion, overuse, recovery, and accumulation.
• Ghislaine witnesses the attack and recognizes its extraordinary speed despite the absence of Battle Aura. She declares that Cui Ciyou has legitimately become a Sword King.
• Later, Alice returns from an outing with her grandfather and enthusiastically recounts seeing giant spiders in the forest. Her cheerful presence helps Cui feel less exhausted despite his lingering headache.

Character Developments

• Cui Ciyou: Gains a major breakthrough in understanding and controlling Mental Power. He effectively reaches the Sword King realm through a completely unconventional path, using physical strength and Mental Power instead of Battle Aura. However, the technique is currently dangerous because it leaves him nearly defenseless after one use.
• Ghislaine: Moves from shock to intense admiration. Her recognition gives Cui formal confirmation that his achievement qualifies him as a Sword King.
• Alice: Remains energetic, innocent, and affectionate. Her excited storytelling provides a comforting contrast to Cui’s painful breakthrough and reveals her close relationship with her grandfather.

Significant Themes

• Innovation beyond established systems: Cui proves that the highest sword realms do not necessarily require conventional Battle Aura.
• Power and sacrifice: His ultimate strike demonstrates immense potential but carries a severe physical and mental cost.
• Understanding one’s abilities: Cui advances by analyzing the principles behind Battle Aura, mana, physical strength, and Mental Power rather than simply imitating traditional techniques.
• Recognition and identity: Ghislaine’s acknowledgment confirms Cui’s new status, even though he remains an abnormal Sword King without Battle Aura.
• Warmth amid danger: Alice’s lively return emphasizes the ordinary affection and companionship that balance Cui’s dangerous pursuit of strength.

Character Interactions

• Cui internally analyzes his breakthrough and its risks after using the technique.
• Ghislaine examines and questions him, then enthusiastically congratulates him and physically pats his shoulder—nearly knocking him over because of his weakened state.
• Alice excitedly shares her forest adventure with Cui, while he listens tiredly but responds with a gentle, affectionate attitude.

Chapter Summary: “The Blue-Haired Girl, Roxy, Was a Mature Adult”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cui Ciyou attends the weekly meeting to review Alice Boreas’s education alongside swordsmanship instructor Ghislaine and etiquette teacher Edna.
• Upon entering the reception room, he unexpectedly finds a nervous blue-haired mage waiting to apply for Alice’s tutoring position.
• The mage introduces herself as Roxy Migurdia, a graduate of Ranoa Magic University.
• Roxy explains that she is a highly skilled mage: a Saint-level water mage, with advanced earth, fire, and wind magic, as well as intermediate healing magic.
• Because she looks like a young girl, Roxy anxiously insists that she is actually a mature adult. She explains that members of the Migurdia race stop physically aging in appearance around fourteen.
• Cui immediately recognizes her as the legendary Teacher Roxy from the original Jobless Reincarnation story.

Character Developments

• Cui Ciyou: His routine as Alice’s tutor is interrupted by Roxy’s arrival. He is deeply shocked and fascinated by seeing a major character from the original story alive in front of him. His recognition of Roxy reveals his continued awareness of the connection between this world and the story he remembers.
• Roxy Migurdia: She is presented as exceptionally talented but socially awkward and insecure. Despite her impressive magical qualifications, she is visibly nervous during the interview and self-conscious about her petite appearance and youthful face. Her earnestness contrasts with her supposed aloofness.
• Alice, Ghislaine, and Edna: They do not directly appear in the scene, but the meeting establishes the importance of Alice’s education and the possibility that Roxy may join her team of instructors.

Significant Themes

• Fantasy becoming reality: Cui’s encounter with Roxy blurs the boundary between the fictional story he remembers and the living world he now inhabits.
• Appearance versus identity: Roxy’s childlike appearance conflicts with her actual age, experience, and professional abilities. Her repeated insistence that she is an adult highlights the danger of judging people solely by their looks.
• Insecurity and self-worth: Although Roxy is highly accomplished, she remains anxious about her race and appearance, showing that skill and confidence do not always develop together.
• Fate and unexpected encounters: Cui’s ordinary tutoring routine changes dramatically when a central figure from the original narrative suddenly appears.

Character Interactions

• Roxy awkwardly introduces herself to Cui and attempts to establish her qualifications.
• She nervously bows, stammers, and avoids eye contact, while Cui silently observes and recognizes her.
• Their first interaction is shaped by contrast: Roxy tries to project professionalism and maturity, while Cui privately finds her appearance childlike and struggles with the surreal realization that she is truly the famous Roxy.

Chapter Summary: “Please Wait a Moment”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cui Ciyou meets Roxy Migurdia, who has arrived to interview as a magic tutor for Alice.
• Roxy mistakes Cui Ciyou for the master of the estate because of his youthful appearance and his role as Alice’s tutor. Cui explains that he teaches Alice arithmetic, reading, and writing.
• Cui is stunned to see Roxy in person, recognizing her as a beloved character from Jobless Reincarnation. He struggles with the realization that she is real rather than fictional.
• Roxy also studies Cui with curiosity, noting his unusual black hair and eyes, refined appearance, lack of detectable mana, and uncertain racial identity.
• Philip arrives and formally rejects Roxy’s application. He explains that House Boreas does not plan to hire another tutor or place much emphasis on Alice’s magical education, adding that Cui is already a suitable tutor for her academic studies.
• Roxy is visibly discouraged by the rejection. Her posture collapses, and she prepares to leave quietly.
• Cui remembers the original story, in which Roxy would later become Rudeus’s tutor and help him overcome his isolation and trauma.
• Unable to accept Roxy leaving in such disappointment—or losing the chance to know her—Cui impulsively calls out for her to wait, stopping her before she exits.

Character Developments

• Cui Ciyou: His initial composure breaks when he encounters Roxy. His memories of his former life and emotional attachment to the fictional character resurface intensely. Although he cannot explain his motives, he realizes he genuinely wants to protect the connection between them and prevent her from leaving.
• Roxy Migurdia: She is shown as observant but socially nervous, especially in the presence of aristocracy. Her identity as a demon race member makes her cautious because of widespread prejudice. Her confidence as a mage is weakened when Philip rejects her, revealing her vulnerability beneath her professional exterior.
• Philip: He remains calm, formal, and authoritative. His polite rejection nevertheless makes it clear that he controls the household’s decisions and considers Cui adequate for Alice’s current education.
• Alice: Though absent from the scene, her education is central to the dispute over whether she should receive magical training.

Significant Themes

• Fiction becoming reality: Cui’s encounter with Roxy forces him to confront the transformation of a familiar fictional character into a living person.
• Emotional attachment and identity: Cui’s feelings are stronger than his rational understanding, suggesting that his memories and former-life affections continue to shape his new existence.
• Prejudice and social exclusion: Roxy’s anxiety about revealing her demon-race identity reflects the discrimination faced by demons in human society.
• Missed destinies and changing the story: Cui knows Roxy’s original path but begins to interfere with it, raising the possibility that his presence will alter established events.
• Loneliness and compassion: Roxy’s quiet disappointment evokes Cui’s sympathy, while the scene emphasizes how a small act of kindness may create an important connection.

Character Interactions

• Cui and Roxy initially observe one another with mutual curiosity and uncertainty.
• Philip’s arrival changes the atmosphere, making Roxy tense and deferential.
• Philip’s formal rejection leaves Roxy discouraged, while Cui becomes increasingly distressed by her loneliness.
• Cui ultimately breaks with Philip’s decision by calling out to Roxy, creating a moment of suspense as she stops before leaving.

Cui Ciyou offered Roxy a well-paid position teaching him the Demon God Tongue, and won her agreement by promising unlimited desserts. After they shook hands, Philip privately concluded that Cui Ciyou was a lolicon.

• Cui Ciyou asked Roxy to teach him the Demon God Tongue and offered one Asla Kingdom gold coin a month, along with room and board.
• Roxy questioned Cui Ciyou’s unusually generous offer while he worried she would leave for Buena Village and become Rudeus’s magic tutor.
• Cui Ciyou promised Roxy all the desserts she could eat, and she eagerly accepted the position.
• Cui Ciyou introduced himself to Roxy and shook her hand as Philip watched and privately judged his interest in her.
• Roxy blushed and tried to withdraw her hand, and Cui Ciyou finally released it.

Cui Ciyou hired Roxy Migurdia as his Demon God Tongue teacher and arranged a safe place for her to stay in Roa. They parted with lessons set to begin the next day, while Cui Ciyou struggled to express his concern for her.

• Cui Ciyou noticed Philip’s suggestive reaction after he hired Roxy, then asked Philip for time off to find her lodging.
• Cui Ciyou searched inns near the Boreas Estate, looking for a clean place where Roxy would not face discrimination.
• Cui Ciyou chose a friendly landlady’s inn and paid a month’s rent for Roxy’s room.
• Roxy worried that the inn was too expensive, but Cui Ciyou said its proximity would make daily lessons more convenient.
• Cui Ciyou gave Roxy the room key, and Roxy said they could begin lessons the next day.

Cui Ciyou looked forward to his first Demon God Tongue lesson with Roxy, who had spent the night preparing a makeshift textbook. The lesson began with Roxy explaining her materials and plans for teaching him.

• Cui Ciyou returned to the lord's mansion after arranging Roxy's lodging and spent the afternoon distracted by their upcoming lessons.
• Cui Ciyou tidied and prepared the classroom before Roxy arrived for their first lesson.
• Roxy brought a handwritten notebook and explained that proper Demon God Tongue textbooks were nearly impossible to find in the Asla Kingdom.
• Roxy told Cui Ciyou she had stayed up preparing an introduction to the language and would tailor each following day's lesson to his progress.
• Cui Ciyou noticed Roxy's exhaustion and realized she had worked through the night to prepare for him.

Cui Ciyou tried to persuade Roxy to slow down her Demon God Tongue lessons so she could rest, pretending he was a poor language student. Roxy agreed to teach at his pace, and their careful first lesson left Cui Ciyou wishing it would last longer.

• Cui Ciyou accepted Roxy's notebook and urged her not to exhaust herself preparing lessons.
• Roxy explained that careful preparation was her responsibility as his teacher and that his generous fee motivated her to help him learn quickly.
• Cui Ciyou asked Roxy to slow the lessons and review material at his pace, claiming he was not talented at languages.
• Roxy agreed to take her time and began teaching Demon God Tongue pronunciation, grammar, and basic vocabulary.
• Cui Ciyou deliberately made simple mistakes while Roxy patiently explained the material throughout the morning.

Cui Ciyou baked honey cookies for Roxy after deciding the local desserts were too crude and sugary. Roxy loved them and pleaded for more, leaving Cui Ciyou facing her eager request.

• After finishing his lessons and work, Cui Ciyou stopped at a dessert shop but judged its sweets crude and overly sweet.
• Cui Ciyou went to the House Boreas kitchen, where Merry let him bake with the available ingredients.
• Cui Ciyou baked a batch of honey cookies and carried them to Roxy's inn.
• Roxy tasted the cookies, praised their balanced sweetness and honey fragrance, and asked whether Cui Ciyou had made them himself.
• After Cui Ciyou confirmed he had, Roxy complained that there were too few and asked him to make more.

Cui Ciyou became flustered by Roxy’s sweetness and hurried out of the inn after offering her cookies, leaving Roxy amused and looking forward to their next lesson. Outside, Cui Ciyou replayed their interaction while Roxy privately decided she could enjoy this kind of “dessert” without worrying about sugar.

• Cui Ciyou saw a cookie crumb at Roxy’s mouth and struggled to keep himself from reaching out to touch her.
• Cui Ciyou awkwardly called the cookies payment for Roxy’s tutoring and warned her not to eat too much sugar.
• Cui Ciyou invented an excuse to review grammar questions, said goodbye to Roxy, and fled the inn.
• Cui Ciyou leaned against a wall outside and replayed the sweet moment with Roxy in his mind.
• Roxy watched Cui Ciyou leave, smiled at his embarrassment, and looked forward to teaching him the demon god tongue tomorrow.

Cui Ciyou continued his orderly daily routine of training, tutoring Alice, and studying Demon God Tongue with Roxy. The chapter ended with him reading Alice a story about the hero Ars before his nightly meditation.

• Cui Ciyou followed his usual schedule of physical and sword training, lessons with Alice, and study with Roxy.
• Cui Ciyou reflected on Alice’s unusual personality and noted that Ghislaine had learned simple multiplication and division.
• Cui Ciyou prepared desserts and escorted Roxy back to her inn after their lesson.
• Alice came to the library and asked Cui Ciyou to read her a story about Ars, the hero who defeated a demon king.
• Cui Ciyou read Ars the Hero and the Six Sages to Alice, then kept to his nightly meditation routine.

Cui Ciyou found Alice waiting angrily in the library and tried to figure out what had upset her. When she refused to answer, he teased her about not blinking, leaving her adorably stunned.

• Cui Ciyou entered the library and found Alice sitting rigidly on the desk, glaring at him in anger.
• Cui Ciyou considered whether Ghislaine, her lessons, or his earlier punishment with a scabbard had upset Alice.
• Cui Ciyou asked Alice why she was angry, but she remained silent and kept glaring.
• Cui Ciyou pretended to feel unwell and said he would leave to rest.
• Cui Ciyou pointed out that Alice had barely blinked and asked whether her eyes felt dry, leaving her blank-faced.

Alice confronted Cui Ciyou over the desserts he made for Roxy and demanded a share of her own. When his casual explanation made her feel she was getting leftovers, she attacked him, and he stopped her with Magic Nullification and warned her against another night raid.

• Alice grabbed Cui Ciyou and angrily questioned him about the desserts he had been making for Roxy.
• Cui Ciyou apologized and promised to make desserts for Alice too, while reminding her that she had agreed to stop calling him names.
• Alice thanked Cui Ciyou, then grew furious when he said he would make her portion while preparing desserts for Roxy.
• Alice attacked Cui Ciyou with a longsword, but he suppressed her Battle Aura with Magic Nullification and took her weapon.
• Cui Ciyou warned Alice that he would spank her if she tried another night raid, and Alice could only curse at him.

After Alice disappeared from the estate, Cui Ciyou concluded she had been kidnapped and began planning how to find her. He decided to seek Roxy’s tracking magic, alert Philip to seal Roa City, and investigate the servant Thomas.

• Ghislaine told Cui Ciyou that Alice was missing and that no one could find her scent anywhere on the estate.
• Cui Ciyou ruled out Alice running away and concluded that someone had kidnapped her.
• Cui Ciyou recalled Thomas’s role in Alice’s kidnapping in the original story, despite the event occurring years earlier than expected.
• Cui Ciyou planned to ask Roxy for tracking magic, have Philip seal Roa City’s entrances, and investigate Thomas.