Ch.93Chapter 93: What Awaits at the End of the Wait…

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The indoor training hall in the garrison district of Night Haven was filled, as always, with the sounds of weapons wielded by knights immersed in their self-discipline.

The whistling sound that naturally accompanied the swing of a sword.

The heavy ripping noise made when thrusting a spear through a specific space.

Even the dull impact sounds like hammering metal, produced by those who threw punches and kicks into the air without wearing even gauntlets, let alone wielding weapons.

In this training hall filled with the sounds of knights exerting themselves to hone their martial arts to the extreme.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

There was one place where uniquely crisp explosive sounds resonated.

There, even the proud knights who typically showed no interest in others’ training had stopped their own practice and stood still, directing their gaze toward it.

At the center of the knights’ attention was a man with blue hair.

Holding in one hand a spear enveloped in a bluish aura similar to the color of his hair.

The man was demonstrating dazzling training movements, handling the spear in his hand freely with either one or both hands.

As he continued to wield the spear, more and more knights from the surroundings gathered to watch his practice.

The knights who stood motionless could not hide their surprise and admiration.

What was causing these Imperial Knights—who could rightfully be called bundles of pride—to involuntarily utter exclamations of admiration?

Naturally, it was because the momentum felt in the man’s training movements was accompanied by actions that even the noble Imperial Knights watching silently could not disregard.

Exquisite—no other word could describe the spear technique displayed by the blue-haired man, which exuded movements that blended flamboyance and precision.

Just as he seemed to be thrusting into the air, in an instant he would subtly twist his wrist to transition into a slashing motion.

Just when he appeared to be entering a slashing motion, he would alter the trajectory to execute a frontal thrust.

He even demonstrated the art of transitioning from what looked like a thrust using the spear blade to a sweeping motion using the shaft.

It was exquisite and intense.

Despite the extraordinary burden each movement must have placed on his body.

The man’s expression as he continued his training showed no sign of the fatigue that should naturally appear during such intense movements—not even a single drop of sweat on his forehead.

This alone was astonishing enough, but there was one more reason why the knights were even more amazed as they watched his training.

“He’s not circulating any fighting energy at all while performing those movements.”

“Is it natural talent? Or has he already reached the state of Muguk (No Extremes) at such a young age?”

“Either way, it’s impressive. Well, the Empire’s greatest martial family didn’t earn its name for nothing.”

“Watching him makes my motivation surge every time. Magnificent, truly magnificent.”

As the knights’ comments suggested.

The man performing such intense training before their eyes was doing so without circulating even the slightest bit of fighting energy through his body.

The knights watching couldn’t help but acknowledge.

Despite continuing movements so dynamic they could only be described as extreme rather than merely energetic.

The martial prowess demonstrated in his training movements, performed without deploying even the minimum fighting energy to protect his body.

And how remarkable it was that the man showed no signs of fatigue as time passed, continuing to demonstrate nimble movements.

With each explosive sound that carried the weight of lethal intent—movements designed to deceive the opponent’s eyes while executing exquisite techniques, not merely flashy but containing the weight of determination to finish an opponent with a single strike.

“Oh…”

“Did you see that?”

“I only hear the sound of wind.”

“Could anyone block that?”

The members of the Imperial Knights, famous for their high self-esteem, pondered how they might respond to the high-level spear techniques demonstrated by this young man who had barely shed his youthful appearance.

Bang! Bang! BANG!!

As the intensity of the explosive sounds increased with each movement.

“I couldn’t block that.”

“I can barely see him, let alone his spear. How could anyone block it?”

“Impossible. Completely impossible.”

“The level of the Cradle students participating in this Subjugation Festival is incredible.”

“Indeed. Every one of them seems worthy of at least a veteran knight’s emblem, not just an ordinary knight’s.”

They had to calmly acknowledge that this man was a level above them, imagining themselves unable to properly block his attacks.

The man had suddenly appeared at the training hall yesterday with his friends and requested sparring matches with the Imperial Knights members who were engaged in their training.

Starting with his first opponent, he had defeated ten knights in a row without allowing a single effective hit, claiming victory in all matches. He was a student from the Cradle who had come to participate in this Subjugation Festival and also the young heir of the Burnstein family, one of the Empire’s representative martial houses.

“By the way, who was he supposed to spar with today?”

“Who was it… wasn’t it that Lanos kid who had a fairly even sword match with the Proxian heir yesterday morning?”

“The vice-captain’s brother, right? We’re in for quite a show today.”

“Will it be alright? Looking at this guy’s skills, it might end rather anticlimactically.”

“If you had seen that match yesterday morning, you wouldn’t be saying such things.”

“Well, there’s no point in getting worked up about it. We’ll see everything once the participants arrive and the match begins.”

“Since we don’t know when the other participant will arrive, let’s just continue our training for now.”

After briefly expressing their admiration for the spear technique demonstrated by the man, Excel Burnstein.

The knights discussed the upcoming match between these young prodigies before realizing it wasn’t time yet, and returned to their positions to resume their training.

As the intensity of the knights’ gazes began to fade.

Kuwoong-!!

Excel Burnstein finished his “light” warm-up before today’s match by striking the end of his spear against the floor—the spear that had accompanied him through his exercises—and then rested it on his shoulder.

Until just now, Excel had been demonstrating movements so intense that anyone would consider them far beyond a simple warm-up.

“Huaaawn…”

Yet after completing those movements, he was repeatedly yawning with an expression that showed not the slightest tension.

Needless to say, not a single drop of sweat had appeared on his forehead.

Despite the knights’ admiration for his continued training without showing any signs of fatigue, even after a considerable time had passed since their initial amazement.

Almost as if to demonstrate that this level of movement placed no burden whatsoever on his body.

Excel’s demeanor as he waited for his sparring partner, displaying boredom beyond mere composure, could only be described as the epitome of ease.

However, this display of composure was short-lived.

“Hah… I told Kal yesterday to come straight to the training hall after breakfast, but he’s late.”

Soon, his mouth uttered a soliloquy that combined the seemingly incompatible feelings of impatience and boredom.

He didn’t know.

That the friend he was supposed to spar with today was currently being held up somewhere he had briefly stopped by before their match.

Therefore, Excel simply stood in place waiting for his friend, even though the appointed time was almost upon them, rather than going to fetch him.

He trusted his friend.

Though they had often bickered and maintained a relationship that straddled the boundary between friendship and rivalry since childhood.

He trusted this friend who was more reliable than any other man he knew.

And so.

Five minutes had passed since the appointed time.

“…”

Excel’s lips remained sealed.

Although the appointed time had passed.

He firmly believed that his friend would arrive soon.

Another five minutes passed.

“Hmm…”

The slight murmur that escaped Excel’s expression indicated that the scale of boredom and impatience he had been displaying was now tipping toward impatience.

Another five minutes passed.

“This guy… Surely not…”

After fifteen minutes had passed with his friend still not appearing in the indoor training hall, Excel’s doubts began to surface.

Excel recalled his friend’s reluctant expression yesterday when he had proposed the sparring match over dinner.

“…Is he not coming because he lacks confidence?”

For a moment, this suspicion escaped his lips, but.

“No, that can’t be.”

He shook his head lightly, dismissing the doubt he had just entertained.

Perhaps a few months ago, but.

Given what his friend had shown recently, he would certainly challenge him regardless of the outcome.

Yes, based on his recent behavior.

Having abandoned his self-destructive past.

The current version of his friend, who spared no effort in training himself rigorously day after day.

Would never pass up the opportunity to challenge an appetizing opponent like Excel Burnstein.

“Hurry up, man.”

Excel continued his monologue as he waited for his friend who would arrive eventually.

…Another four minutes passed.

Nineteen minutes had now passed since the appointed time.

“…”

At this point, a certain assumption arose in Excel’s mind.

It was that his friend, Kal Lanos, who would never refuse to challenge him.

Might be deliberately employing psychological warfare to compensate for the handicap of his relatively inferior skills.

By intentionally not keeping the appointment time.

Creating a psychological gap by making him, who had arrived first and was waiting, feel impatient.

A somewhat crude but quite effective psychological tactic.

“…Well, I’m not at a level to be shaken by something like that.”

Though he was reluctant to admit it aloud.

Excel Burnstein was confident that he held a slight advantage over his friend in all aspects.

“Come whenever you want, even if you burst through the ceiling to ambush me from the sky, I’m ready to counter.”

He proudly tapped the Thunder Spear Keraunos resting on his shoulder, simply waiting for his opponent to approach.

As he calmly prepared for his opponent’s psychological warfare, his ears caught.

Creeeeak-!!

At last, the sound of the large entrance door to the indoor training hall opening.

When the sound reached him exactly twenty minutes after the appointed time, Excel realized that the person he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

“Hey! I was waiting so long my neck almost stretched out of shape…!!”

Excel called out boisterously with a playful voice toward his friend whose figure was gradually emerging through the doorway, but.

“…”

His exclamation did not continue to the end.

The reason was that his friend’s appearance as he squeezed through the training hall door was quite comical.

“Sorry I’m late.”

More precisely, it wasn’t Kal, who was calmly apologizing for being late.

“…”

It was his fiancée, who was also Excel’s childhood friend, Lilliansiz Proxian, who wore a very complicated expression as she clung—that was the only appropriate word—to his friend’s left arm.

As they entered the training hall, most of the knights’ attention was focused on Kal and his fiancée, but.

“…”

While Kal, understanding the meaning of these gazes, maintained silence with his head bowed deeply.

“…?”

The contrast with her innocent, almost naively natural demeanor as she entered.

Was so intense that Excel had to struggle mightily to suppress the laughter that threatened to burst forth.

He barely managed to prevent laughter from escaping his lips, but he couldn’t help his expression from slightly contorting.

So he lowered his head slightly, trying to compose his expression, but.

‘Ah…’

In the midst of this, something crossed Excel’s mind.

‘…Is he trying to damage my mental state by flaunting their couple status?’

The one element that he, who prided himself on not being inferior to Kal in anything else, envied his friend for.

The thought that his friend might be engaging in psychological warfare by showing off his successful love life and happiness.

“…”

Excel felt his expression, which he had been struggling to compose with his head lowered, instantly return to normal.

And as his expression returned, he realized.

Whether or not Kal had really intended this by arriving in such a manner.

Looking at the two people entering so harmoniously together.

Excel had to admit that he was indeed feeling envious and quite shaken at the moment.

‘He got me there.’

With a bitter smile, Excel watched his friend slowly approaching and thought to himself.

Whatever the outcome might be.

If he got the chance to land an effective hit on Kal, he would teach him just how painful the shaft of Keraunos could be.

As Excel completed his mental preparation for the match.

Crackle-!!

A massive amount of lightning, which any martial artist of the Burnstein family would naturally wield, began to circulate around his body.