Ch.314314. ····May you rest in peace.

“Vice-Captain, I heard you only received one hour of training, so why are you struggling so much?”

Hartwell, one of the Imperial Knights, sits down on the floor with a thud to talk with Harold.

“…You haven’t received training yet, have you?”

“No, I’m in the fourth group, so I’ll go in after the third group finishes.”

The solidarity among the Imperial Knights was tremendous.

A strange camaraderie of “you should suffer too” had formed, and they deliberately didn’t tell the other groups about the brutality of the training.

The second group members were the same.

Even the third group members who were about to go in would likely not say a word to the fourth group waiting for training.

Harold wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and spoke.

“…I think I’m having a harder time because I haven’t been feeling well lately.”

“That’s strange. The other members don’t look very happy after their training either.”

“Does it seem that way to you too?”

“Yes, it seems… Selden Alphonse, was it? It looks like everyone has complaints about training with him.”

“…Haha, perhaps.”

“So this time, as the representative of the Imperial Knights, I’m planning to teach this Selden Alphonse a proper lesson.”

At Hartwell’s words, the first group members resting beside Harold bit down on their molars, trying to hold back their laughter.

It was a vivid demonstration of human cruelty.

Of course, that applied to Harold himself as well.

“A talented person like you certainly deserves to give Selden Alphonse a piece of your mind!”

“Right? I mean, how can a mage presume to teach swordsmanship to knights?”

The members who had received training first chimed in to support Hartwell.

“That’s our Hartwell for you!”

“Yes, you should strongly speak your mind to Selden Alphonse as our representative!”

“Exactly! A mere mage has no business teaching swordsmanship to us Imperial Knights!”

Had there been such tight solidarity even during the succession war?

They were pushing Hartwell into the pit as if they had planned it all along.

“Ah! I almost hit Selden Alphonse from behind!”

“And now our Hartwell is going to confront him directly?!”

“Wow… if Vice-Captain Harold becomes Captain, will Hartwell be the most likely candidate for Vice-Captain?”

Gradually, Hartwell’s shoulders rose.

With a face full of confidence, he spoke.

“Vice-Captain Harold, just trust me! If we communicate well, today’s training might be over before it begins.”

“Is that so…?”

“Honestly, isn’t it inefficient to divide us into groups of fifty and train three times? It would be more efficient to gather everyone and train for three hours at once!”

Hartwell was repeating exactly what Harold had said.

The first group members were trying so hard not to laugh that their lips were almost bleeding.

While Harold was shaking his head at his members, the third group who had just finished training appeared.

Their steps were staggering.

Their bodies were covered with fatigue and pain.

Sweat mixed with blood trickled down their foreheads through their disheveled hair, and their breathing was so rough it seemed like it might stop at any moment.

On top of that.

They shot resentful glances at the first and second group members, as if asking, “Why didn’t you warn us?” while grinding their teeth.

The third group members began to lie down on the ground one by one, supporting their unbearably heavy bodies.

In the midst of this, Harold raised his voice to offer them some encouraging words.

“Hey, our Hartwell here says he’s going to talk to Selden Alphonse so we don’t have to do this kind of training.”

At Harold’s words, their previously heavy eyes instantly lit up with life.

A firm resolve of “I can’t be the only one to suffer.”

That was the only driving force that could move them now.

“He’s going to say something to Selden Alphonse? Isn’t that a bit much even for Hartwell?”

“Come on, Hartwell is among the top five skilled members of the Imperial Knights, so he can definitely speak up!”

“That’s right! If I were as good as Hartwell, I would have given that Selden Alphonse, who just stands there with his hands behind his back giving orders, a piece of my mind!”

Hartwell looked at Harold with his nose in the air.

“Looking at the state of our members, it seems Selden Alphonse is being too harsh. Well, being a mage, he probably doesn’t know how to train knights properly and just runs them ragged.”

“Still, Selden Alphonse’s swordsmanship is better than expected.”

“Oh please… no matter how good he is, have you ever seen a mage defeat a knight with swordsmanship? Besides, before I joined the Imperial Knights, I went up a mountain with a mage to hunt monsters. His stamina was so poor… I can’t even count how many times we had to stop and rest on the way up!”

Hartwell was excessively confident.

Harold thought to himself.

At this rate, he might really get killed by Selden Alphonse…

At least, because of his position as Vice-Captain, he decided to act a little more conscientiously than the other members.

“Selden Alphonse’s swordsmanship is indeed better than that of an ordinary mage.”

“That’s probably why His Majesty the Emperor approved the training. But swordsmanship training… it would have been much better if we had anti-magic training instead.”

“…Perhaps.”

At that moment, the fourth group of knights began entering the underground training arena.

Hartwell stood up and lightly dusted off his backside with his palm.

“Vice-Captain, I’ll be going now.”

As Hartwell gradually moved away, Harold watched him disappear from his sight and tightly closed his eyes.

“…May you rest in peace.”

*

KWAAAANG-!

BANG-!!

The thunderous sounds erupted without pause.

Selden Alphonse once again opened his palm.

“Flame Explosion!”

Countless red spherical objects appeared in the air and exploded in sequence, creating intense flames.

Hartwell swallowed hard and raised his shield.

Yet the heat of the flames still penetrated through the shield.

Selden Alphonse was indiscriminately unleashing magic as if he had become a rebel mage himself.

‘What, what is this…’

Hartwell clenched his teeth.

He had heard rumors about Selden Alphonse’s extraordinary magic and thought they were exaggerated…

But now they seemed vastly understated.

How many spells had he seen during the succession war?

However, the magic Selden Alphonse displayed was worlds apart from what he had experienced.

Unlike the rebels’ magic that could be easily deflected with a sword, Selden Alphonse’s magic melted swords.

An unquenchable flame.

Yet the flames continued to burn brilliantly.

Moreover.

When Selden Alphonse closed his hand, the flames disappeared at once, but when he opened his palm again, fireballs appeared out of nowhere and exploded instantly.

It was truly maddening.

The knights receiving the training, like Hartwell, felt both respect and fear toward his magic.

Selden Alphonse lightly dusted off his palms and spoke.

“Hey, who was it that suggested anti-magic training earlier?”

Hartwell, who had been hiding behind his shield, straightened his back.

The confident expression he had shown in front of Harold was completely gone, replaced by the disciplined demeanor of a knight.

“It, it was me!”

“Right, thanks to you, the fourth group of knights has been granted the honor of receiving anti-magic training.”

The Imperial Knights reflexively turned their heads to look at Hartwell.

Hartwell tried to avoid the resentful gazes directed at him and continued speaking.

“Haha… as expected of Selden Alphonse, who swept away all the rebels with just two spells!”

Ding-a-ling.

It was a desperate struggle to survive.

However, Selden Alphonse continued without any change in his expression.

“Actually, I personally thought we should do more magic training, but I didn’t even try because I was worried the power might be too much for the members.”

“Is, is that so?”

“Thanks to you speaking up first, I was able to cast my magic with a clear conscience. Thank you very much.”

How could he possibly ask for swordsmanship training in this situation?

Hartwell looked at the other members with tearful eyes.

They looked ready to kill him as soon as they left the underground arena.

Finally, he swallowed his pride and knelt before Selden Alphonse.

“I, I understand how amazing your magic is, Sir Selden Alphonse. I think this is enough anti-magic training.”

“Tsk, I don’t think I’ve properly given you anti-magic training yet…”

“No! It was excellent. Besides, we are knights, not mages. Like the other groups, we would also like to receive swordsmanship training from you.”

“Hmm… is that so?”

Selden Alphonse’s meaningful smile.

Then he drew the wooden sword at his waist and raised the corner of his mouth wickedly.

“Since we’ve saved a lot of energy with the anti-magic training, shall we properly play with swords this time?”