episode_0007

childhood (2)

“One, two, three, four! one two three four! One more lap!!!”

“Heo, heo, heo, heo, heo… Yes! Your Majesty!!”

Yuno was running on the parade ground with knight trainees aged around 18 to 19. Although they had just joined the trainees, they had gathered only the best talent from all over the Balkan Empire after going through a rigorous examination process, so their physical strength was that of a knight. They were trainees of the Imperial Guard Knights, which boasted physical strength. However, they could not keep up with the running speed of Prince Yuno, who was only 11 years old.

Moreover, Yuno was running a lap first, pushing the trainees who were lagging behind, and the knight trainees gritted their teeth and followed Yuno because it was clear that if they fell behind while the Prince was running together, they would be scolded to death by the knights after the physical training.

However, some trainees who lacked stamina began to fall behind, and each time Yuno increased his speed, the number of trainees who fell behind increased.

Watching Juno and the trainees’ physical training from the podium, Count Liechtenauer, leader of the Imperial Guard Knights, and Viscount Speyer, vice-leader, were smiling brightly as they watched the training of the prince and trainees.

“Huh~ His Majesty the Third Prince is truly amazing. You already have such good stamina, strength, agility, and all other physical abilities… hehehe. I know you’re turning 12 next month, so I’m sure you’re already looking forward to it. Director Liechtenauer”

“Hahaha, that’s right. Don’t you overwhelm practitioners who are 7 years older than you with bare-handed sparring? When you turn 12 and learn swordsmanship and even manage mana, I think you will be able to surpass me in no time.”

“No matter what, is it really necessary to overcome the leader, the strongest sword master in the empire, so quickly? Well, I won’t know when the Third Prince becomes an adult”

“Huh~ This person? Hahahaha”

Count Liechtenauer and Viscount Speyer were so excited about Prince Juno’s further development in the future that they began discussing whether future swordsmanship classes should be conducted separately from regular trainees.

“By the way, vice-captain. Can I do this? I heard that the princess sent as a hostage from the Kingdom of Leon will soon arrive through the capital’s spatial magic circle in the afternoon. The person in charge of security is the vice-captain, right?”

“All preparations have already been completed. We will be leaving in about 15 minutes, so until then I would like to see more of His Royal Highness’s training. If you grow up like that, won’t you become the same person who will take charge of our knights and military affairs department in the future?”

“That’s right. I also have very high expectations. Hahaha”

While the two were talking like that, Yuno finished running on the parade ground and started doing strength training that he was doing personally. Of course, he invited the trainees to join him, but more than half of them failed in the race, and the trainees who had exhausted all their stamina trying to keep up with Yuno’s speed on the training ground just fell to the floor and wriggled.

Viscount Speyer’s eyebrows twitched as he saw this, and on his way out of the training center for guard duty, he saw Jude, the leader of the 8 Horsemen, who was currently in charge of the basic training of trainees, and called him over.

“Sir Jude!!”

“Yep! Vice-captain! Did you call me”

When the respected vice-captain called him, Jude ran over to give a military salute and waited for orders with a pounding heart.

‘Ho… Could it be that he wants to put me in charge of guarding the princess of the Kingdom of Leon today?’

Jude did not yet have enough experience to carry out such an important mission, but the title of captain meant he was the most talented horseman in the class, and in fact, Jude’s skills were comparable to those of quite high-ranking horsemen, so he was secretly looking forward to it. However, the words that came out of Viscount Speyer’s mouth hit him on the back of the head.

“Wasn’t it wonderful to be in charge of overseeing the training of the 12th class trainees?”

“Yes, that’s right… Did any problem occur?”

“It’s not a problem, but… hehe, it seems like training has become quite comfortable these days? I saw trainees falling behind and unable to keep up with the 11-year-old Prince going around the parade ground”

“Ah… that is…”

“Ah, of course it’s not Sir Jude’s fault. Physically, His Royal Highness can already be called a knight. It’s just that when I was young, if my physical strength wasn’t there, I got through it with my mental strength… but these days, things are so… tsk tsk”

“Ah… sorry!! I need to get their minds!!”

“It’s not that Sir Jude’s education was bad. What I’m saying is that I don’t like the attitude of the trainees. Hmm… Sir Jude!! Let’s do our best! The leader saw this and was very concerned!”

After saying that, Viscount Speyer patted Lord Jude on the shoulder and left the parade ground to go on guard duty.

Jude’s veins appeared on his forehead and his complexion turned red, much to the disappointment of the respected Count Liechtenauer and Viscount Speyer. And that anger went all the way back to the 12 Horsemen trainees.

“A set of 8 riders!!!”

Jude gathered all of his classmates and shouted, pointing to the 12th class students lying on the parade ground.

“The leader says these bastards are a mess and tells them to reform their minds first!”

“Huh? What happened?”

“In front of the leader, I was unable to keep up with His Highness’s training and fell behind. At the same time, he told us to take responsibility and develop grit since we were the ones to educate those bastards mentally”

“If you tell me to develop grit…”

“The main mission of our Knights of the Guard is to protect the royal family, but those guys are the kind of guys who will give up their mission and run away if things get difficult. Should we suffer such dishonor?”

“No!!”

“Then screw it!! If these guys get beaten up, their mental strength will grow!”

Jude took the initiative and jumped into the 12 horsemen and began to attack the captain trainee himself. Then the remaining 8 horsemen also jumped in and harassed them.

Puck Puck Puck Puck

“These bastards!! Get out!! What have you guys been doing so far? I think the Empire is giving you food to eat while you sleep in training!! Huh?”

Kwasik Kwasik Kwasik Kwasik

“What are you guys doing!! Aren’t they people who want to become imperial knights!! What if you become weaker than the Prince you are supposed to protect!! Rather than searching then, search now!!”

“Wow… seniors!! His Majesty the Prince is such a gifted person… we… gasp!!”

The leader of the 12 Horsemen tried to make excuses, but since he was the leader of the horsemen, Jude was controlling the situation himself, so it was of no help.

“There is no need for such excuses! Just hit it!!”

After some time had passed, Jude stopped the beating under the pretense of mental education and gathered the 12 riders. The 12 riders had their whole bodies in tatters, but they felt like they would continue to be beaten if they didn’t move, so they gathered in the center of the training ground, dragging their unmoving legs.

“I know that His Royal Highness has better physical strength than you. but!! Even if you can’t keep up, you shouldn’t be left behind!! The head of education believes that this is all a problem caused by your lack of grit. Therefore, starting today, every day after dinner, you will be fully armed and run three times around the outskirts of the imperial palace”

The faces of the 12 Horseman trainees turned pale at Jude’s words. The length of the imperial city walls was approximately 7km. Going around it three times wasn’t that hard of a training for those who aspired to be knights, but going around while fully armed was something completely different from a regular canter, so their complexions turned pale.

“Sir Jude~ Would that be enough? I’m trying to help you”

“Yes, Your Highness! Please order!”

The voice of the devil-like prince who provided the reason for the hellish training that was not even in the Eight Characters was heard in the ears of the trainees.

‘no! What else is that devil-like bastard going to do?

‘Your Majesty, please keep your mouth shut and you will be helping us. Your Majesty, please~’

Unaware of the true intentions of the trainees who were cursing him, Yuno left behind these words that seemed like a lightning strike.

“First come first served!”

“Your Majesty. What if you say it’s first come, first served?”

“There are a total of 100 12th class trainees, right? After one week of strength training, exclude 1st to 5th place from training the next day. Then, from then on, we will run like crazy. And for the 10 people who were eliminated out of the 20 on the last day, go back to the next 10 days and only the first place winner is excluded. I guarantee you that if you repeat that for a few months, they won’t have to worry about Lord Jude physically”

Jude was secretly impressed by Prince Yuno’s methods and vowed to completely destroy the 12 Horsemen in the prince’s way.

The already harsh training became even harsher thanks to the prince’s suggestion, so the eyes of the 12 Horsemen trainees were full of resentment toward the prince, but it was clear that if they showed up, they would be punished even more by their seniors for disrespect, so they gave up everything. I prayed for rain every day in the sky.

“Now! Did you hear? After dinner tonight, everyone will gather in front of the back gate of the imperial palace by 19:00. The costume is fully armed except for swords. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand!!”

“Now that everyone seems to have had some rest, let’s move on to the next training!!”

The 12 Horsemen trainees grumbled about whether being beaten was a break, but they could not say a word to their sky-like seniors and were taken to the sword training range.

Yuno thought it would be fun if she participated in the evening and tried to resume strength training again, but stopped for a moment when she heard a voice coming from behind her.

“Yuno oppa~~~”

“Yuno, take a break”

To the place where the voice was heard, his older sister Isabella and younger sister Marie were running carrying snacks and drinks. Of course, the maids were restlessly following behind the princesses, but they didn’t care about that and hugged Yuno with bright faces.

*2The princess and Yuno’s older sister. Isabella Erica Windrage von Balkan childhood illustration