episode_0049

“Ainel, are you ready for training?”

“Yes, yes…”

“Good.”

Ainel Shukriad.

When introducing himself, he said that he had experience in both adventure groups and mercenary groups, and that he used a spear as his main weapon.

“Can I not lift the shield?”

“Yes… I prefer this side.”

It seems that he is not the type to use a shield and spear at the same time, as he was in charge of the vanguard.

He is holding a spear that is longer than he is tall.

Even though I was trained in swordsmanship by Angelica, I have never used a shield.

But now that I have it in my hands.

First of all, we need to find out what kind of skills the guy has.

I think it would be better to have it to hold out safely.

“If you’re ready, jump in. I’ll evaluate your skills first.”

Since mana use is prohibited, there shouldn’t be a big problem.

The tip of the spear he’s holding isn’t even sharp.

“Me, really?”

“You were the ones who wanted weapons training. Did you change your mind now?”

“Oh, no!”

“Then come on.”

“Well, then… Eight!”

“!?”

-Thud!

I barely managed to block it by raising my shield.

Whenever this crazy bitch hesitated, she’d poke her spear right between my eyebrows.

Even the attack did not end with just one attack.

Repeated stabs at breakneck speed.

And it’s aimed squarely at my face.

‘I knew this would happen…’

This spy bitch.

The true colors were immediately revealed.

Twist your upper body to avoid the tip of the spear.

If that doesn’t work, turn your head and look around precariously.

The shield is down.

Because it was too heavy to block all of the guy’s attacks.

The attack is repeated in a cycle of dozens of stabs.

I dodged all the attacks like a possessed acrobat.

“Oh… Ainel. Are you hitting me a little?”

“Tsk. That doesn’t make any sense.”

The voices of the guys watching did not reach my ears.

I just avoided the guy’s attacks and prepared for the next one.

‘Still, I can see everything.’

All attacks are directed at my forehead.

If you dodge, you go back to the location you dodge from. If you dodge again, you go back to that location.

The tip of the spear, thrown in the shortest distance, grows huge at incredible speed.

But it’s definitely slower than Angelica’s sword.

So, I was able to adapt quickly and gradually find more and more freedom.

“Is that all?”

I asked while avoiding it.

As soon as I spoke, I saw the strength in both hands of the guy holding the spear.

“No!”

-Whew!

The tip of the spear suddenly twists into an orbit like a snake’s head.

Wasn’t that guy serious yet?

But the situation didn’t change because the speed didn’t increase.

“If this is all you have, I’ll start fighting back soon.”

“Eight!”

“!?”

In addition to the attacks that were consistent with stabbing, a swinging attack has now been added.

-Thump!

He took a step forward and swung his spear, blocking it with his shield.

It was an attack that took advantage of the weapon’s length, but its trajectory was easy to read.

‘hmm…’

This may not be all there is to the skill.

‘It seems like he has no intention of revealing his identity yet.’

The guy didn’t show his true colors even though I beat him so hard that he bled yesterday.

But what about today?

Yesterday it was a thin stick, but now it is a thick metal sword whose edge has not yet been sharpened.

Yesterday, the skin might have been torn and bleeding a little, but today, a bone might be broken.

But will it be possible to keep your identity hidden until the end?

“I guess this isn’t necessary.”

I threw the shield aside.

As I took an attack stance with my sword raised, the guy backed away.

Perhaps the idea is to make full use of the creative reach.

At this distance, no matter how much you swing your sword, it won’t reach his body.

But I have feet too.

Regular running was the only thing I did on the first day, and from the next day onwards I did interval repeats, ultra-short dashes, obstacle course laps, and other training that athletes would do to build up my explosiveness.

-Ta-at!

I put strength into my ankles and kicked the ground.

The distance narrowed in an instant.

Surprised dilated pupils.

And the spear that was not recovered after the attack.

The guy’s movements feel like they’re in slow motion.

Swing a sword.

A simple slash to the side.

An attack that cannot be avoided by anyone who loses their balance while attacking.

“Ainel!”

Someone shouted, but it was too late.

My attack had already dug into the guy’s side.

The sound of metal hitting metal rang out loud.

“…Ugh!”

It’s not like I put all my effort into it.

It’s not like I had any intention of killing my opponent.

It was just a normal blow from when I was sparring with Angelica.

But Ainel was thrown to the side, screaming in pain.

It was my perfect victory.

“Ah, Ainel!”

“Are you okay?”

“Ugh… Ugh… ”

I looked down at the guy groaning in pain.

‘What a bitch.’

Hold on to that.

Even at the moment of being attacked, there was not even the slightest wavering.

Even at this very moment, the guy is perfectly playing the role of an incompetent trainee.

It’s just amazing.

“Your skills are terrible. Is this the level of skill you were hoping to train in martial arts with?”

“Is that what you’re saying now? Isn’t Ainel hurt!”

“You should be thankful that it ended at that level. If it had been real, you would have died. Do you know how many young people who dream of becoming knights die every year?”

“What are you talking about…”

“Shut up! You are here to become knights. Do you intend to be a weak knight who begs for mercy from your enemies? If you lack skill, train more! Get stronger! Starting tomorrow, I will double my physical training. Those who don’t think they can keep up, quit right now.”

“……”

The silence flows.

Then someone said,

“Tomorrow is my first day off in ten days…”

“Are you planning to rest with that skill? You guys are shameless until the end.”

I turned around absentmindedly and threw the sword I was holding onto the floor.

The armors I was wearing were taken off one by one.

“Next time, we’ll pair up and repeat the fighting drills until one of us falls down like that guy. If you don’t want to end up like that, you better prepare thoroughly.”

I took off all my gear,

“Pack up your gear, put it in the storage room, and return the key to Instructor Amy. That’s all for today’s class. However, if you want to do some personal training, I won’t stop you.”

I left the training ground without even turning my head once.

As expected, no one caught me.

* * *

“Ugh…”

“Ainel… I think something is wrong with the ribs…”

“What are we going to do? We can’t just leave it like that.”

“It looks like the bone is definitely broken. No matter how much you feed it, low-grade potions won’t help. You need to use at least medium-grade potions.”

“Intermediate… Ainel. Do you have any money? If you do, I’ll go out and buy it for you.”

Late at night.

I made Ainel drink a low-level potion while she was suffering, but it had no effect.

There’s no doubt the bone is broken.

The plate armor was so dented that the bones couldn’t have been intact.

Ainel didn’t have enough money, so the other three ended up having to pool their money together.

With that money, I asked the dormitory instructor to get me an intermediate potion and fed it to Ainel.

Only then did Ainel regain her composure and fall into a faint sleep.

Sienna opened her mouth after confirming that Ainel was sleeping.

“Tsk. That crazy bastard. To bring this kid to this state.”

“It’s stronger than I thought. If it’s that strong without even using magic, it must be even stronger in reality.”

I thought it would be bad from just hearing rumors, but it wasn’t.

The four people in the room were astonished at the skills Adrian had demonstrated.

He is clearly an enchanter.

He is not a magician specializing in attack, much less a knight.

So I ignored it.

I also thought that the court tutors were just people who used their family’s power to become tutors.

But the reality was different.

“How can I get revenge… on such a monster.”

Ember muttered.

“Revenge? Are you thinking of something like that?”

Sienna asked.

“You can’t just keep taking it like this. Don’t you feel wronged?”

“It’s unfair… I want to kill him. But thinking about it and actually taking revenge are two different things. If you get caught wrong, you could die. He’s a noble and we’re commoners. At least for now.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Come on. Don’t make me the target of all the trouble.”

“Hannah. What do you think, Hannah?”

Of these, Hannah Rones is the most reserved.

She opened her mouth.

“If you want revenge, you can do it after you become a knight.”

“After becoming a knight… But can we really become knights like this? We just run all day long?”

“Tsk…”

It seemed hopeless.

Even without that, it seems like he’s falling behind the guys from the academy in many ways, and the instructor in charge is in that kind of condition.

That doesn’t mean the other instructors were helpful at all.

Even the director of the orphanage is ignorant of all this.

All four of them barely made it this far, not on their own, but with the help of a friendly noble.

The way to repay that favor is to somehow become a knight.

But then things got really messy.

“Haa… A long-awaited holiday…”

“Aww, it’s annoying! It’s annoying!”

Hannah put down the book she was reading and spoke to the two frustrated people.

“Let’s go to sleep. We have to train tomorrow too.”

“Training? Are you really going to do it tomorrow? It’s a holiday?”

“Yeah. We should. It’s not like everything the instructor said was wrong. If we, who are behind, want to catch up with others, we have no choice but to increase the training time and intensity.”

“Hannah…”

“No matter what happens, I must become a knight. That is the only way I can repay Lord Netradi for sending me here.”

“……”

Everyone thought of the people who had brought them here.

“Tsk…”

“In return…”

No one in this room had any intention of giving up their dream of becoming a knight.

At least for now.