episode_0018

water lily (1)

The next morning. Yuno came to the training center with Eliza for basic physical training as usual. But today there were two people I hadn’t seen before.

“Yuno~”

“Oppa~~”

“Huh? sister? number of animals? What happened this morning? Don’t you have any other class schedules?”

Isabella and Marie would normally go to the classroom in the empress’ palace for other classes after breakfast, but for some reason, they ended up at the training center.

“Ugh, no matter how much you call me Catherine, I’m so angry that I lost without even being able to properly resist… I’m going to do some physical training together starting today”

“Me too! If I train a little with my brother, I think I can make it difficult for the enemy to approach, and even if I allow them to approach, I think I can avoid at least one or two attacks, right?”

‘Well… the princess will never go to battle. I wonder how many times the two of them will have to fight like that… It wouldn’t be a bad idea to build up their stamina…’

Yuno thought so and started running with Eliza after receiving assurances from both of them that they should never get caught up in their own pace.

As Yuno began to run around the parade ground at an incredible speed, Eliza, who was trying to catch up with Yuno as much as possible, fell behind after a while, while Isabella and Marie ran slowly and watched Yuno’s training.

“Wow~ After he fainted and woke up, he seemed to be faster?”

“Oppa, aren’t you still unable to use mana? Why so fast?”

“That’s right… Knights have to transmit mana through their bodies… The method of use is completely different from ours, but it’s unique ”

It wasn’t just them who felt this, Yuno was also surprised by her body becoming much faster and stronger than before.

‘What…what is it? I’m clearly not using mana… but I can feel an incredible energy!! I don’t think I’ll ever get tired no matter how much I run!’

Juno was so absorbed in his own training that he forgot that Isabella, Eliza, and Marie were around him.

Catherine and Liechtenauer were watching from afar as Juno showed no sign of fatigue even after running on the parade ground for an entire hour without a moment’s rest, and was lifting a large iron block even after activating his weight bracelet.

“Kwikkk That guy… I heard you were preparing to teach? I think you must be quite sick to your stomach because it was stolen from me, right?”

“Keuuu There up there for for for for for for for to to be a man… Teach your bastard straight!! Otherwise, my sword will not leave you alone!”

“Hmph!! How scary do you think your sword is? If I don’t teach you properly, what will you do?”

In fact, if Catherine and Lichtenauer collided, there was a very high possibility that there would be no winner, so Lichtenauer just glared at Catherine. But after a while, Lichtenauer seemed to have come up with a clever trick and spoke with a smile on his face.

“Heh! In that case, we have no choice but to drastically cut educational remuneration! I heard you have a lot of debt in the capital’s pubs… Let’s just wait… I’ll tell the Minister of Finance…”

“Chi… you bastard! The stigma of my life, threatening me with alcohol… Hahaha, why would the Commander of the Knights of the Guard do this?”

Catherine smiled humbly for a moment, but after a moment her expression hardened and she spoke to Liechtenauer.

“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you properly anyway without making threats like that. What chance would I get twice in my life to see a body like that? Rather, I should have at least asked him to join me as a disciple”

“Well… that’s probably true. Because I too have watched His Highness the Prince since he was young and wondered how strong he would become”

“Then it’s a bit weird to say chicken instead of pheasant… but what about him? A princess from the Kingdom of Leon. I saw him yesterday and saw that his talent is no joke”

When Catherine suddenly spoke, pointing to Eliza, Lichtenauer looked at her with an expression of surprise.

“Hmm? You mean Princess Eliza? What kind of swordsmanship will you teach the princess? Moreover, teaching the princess of an enemy country the swordsmanship of the Imperial Knights, the sum of 500 years of imperial history? If I go back to the Kingdom of Leon and teach it, my head will be hung, right?”

“Hey… Aside from that, it seems like the princess is really into our prince, right? When I tried to attack the prince for a test, he just rushed at me with an expression of frustration that he couldn’t kill me”

“Hmm…. I understand. I’ll make a suggestion to His Majesty at lunch. The owner of the Knights of the Guard is the Emperor, so I cannot do as I please without permission”

Even as he said that, Lichtenauer’s eyes were focused on Eliza.

Although she could not compare to Yuno’s movements, Eliza also showed quite high athletic ability and showed good movements as if the time she had spent training with Yuno was not in vain, so Lichtenauer wanted to take Eliza on as his student.

‘Hmm~ It wouldn’t be a bad idea to teach a pretty princess rather than just teach sweaty guys. And it looks like your relationship with the prince is close… It wouldn’t be a bad idea to just hold off and teach him.’

In this way, Juno and Eliza were each given a teacher, and starting in the afternoon, they began taking lessons from Catherine and Lichtenauer.

Eliza broke up with Juno and headed to the Knights’ Training Ground to begin receiving swordsmanship training from Liechtenauer along with the trainees of the Knights Guard.

The knights’ sword training itself wasn’t that difficult to follow the basic movements thanks to the physical training I had with Yuno, but when I received personal instruction from Lichtenauer, I had to roll around a lot.

Liechtenauer used all kinds of applied postures and strange sword moves to exploit Eliza’s weak points, making it difficult for her, who was now at the basic level, to avoid, let alone block.

” Block the incoming sword and then slash right away! Is there anything that will change just by giving strength and holding on? Always focus on defense, but attack and defense must be done simultaneously”

“Haaap!!”

“Don’t move hastily! It is important to feel the sensation of the sword being attached”

Lichtenauer’s teachings were harsh, and even if she didn’t like a movement even a little, he would immediately kick her and knock her down.

However, every time Eliza touched the floor, she remembered herself for not being able to protect Yuno, so she gritted her teeth and got up from the floor and swung her sword.

“Yes! That’s it! Guts! Guts is the most important thing. There is an enemy that seems impossible to defeat, but if you grit your teeth and persevere, you will somehow find a breakthrough.”

Lichtenauer was very happy with Eliza, but he drove her away again.

While Eliza was being rolled around by Lichtenauer, Yuno headed to the private training room built on the first basement floor.

Catherine had already arrived and was waiting there, and as soon as Juno entered, she welcomed him with a loud voice.

“Welcome, Yuno! As I said yesterday, this is Catherine Aragorn, who will be teaching you from today. Eh~ Before the actual class… let’s attack this teacher with all our might. It doesn’t matter what skill or weapon you use!”

Kwaang!!

As soon as Catherine finished speaking, Juno attacked Catherine without any hesitation, as if he wanted to make up for yesterday.

“Is this the only movement of the fist? All movements are concise! Move faster!!”

“Keuuu!! Ha pressure!!”

In between, Catherine checked the movement of Yuno’s arms and legs, and gradually corrected Yuno’s posture by kicking her with her hands and feet.

Whiik!! Quang!

“It was good just now! My posture has become very simple. But how will you respond if the other person does this?”

Catherine threw sand from her pocket on the face of Juno, who was pushing her against the wall, and Juno closed his eyes in embarrassment at the unexpected surprise attack.

Wow!!

Immediately afterwards, Catherine’s fist hit Juno’s chin. Although it was a fist without mana, its power was enough to knock Yuno unconscious.

When Juno fainted and fell, Catherine threw a bucket of water she had prepared on Juno’s face and forcibly woke him up.

“Uh! Whoa whoa!! Hehehehehehe… Master?”

“From now on, we will spar once a day before class. As you saw just now, I will attack you with all kinds of cowardly tactics. So, you too, give your fair share and fight fair and square. Do you understand?”

“Yes! Okay!”

Until now, he had been training alone, and when he occasionally had bare-handed sparring or wooden sword sparring with the Guard Knights, the high-ranking knights treated him with too much regard, and since the trainees were opponents that he had to control, Yuno had no one to give his all to.

That’s why Yuno liked Catherine’s refreshing teaching style.

Her personality was clearly revealed in the following classes.

“It is safe to say that your body is already almost complete. Therefore, classes with me will focus on specific fighting moves, how to use terrain features, and mana training”

“Well… how do you train mana? The Knights’ Order combines swinging the sword according to the prescribed sword path and practicing mental techniques… but since the mana hole is in the dick… I don’t think that’s right… ”

“If that’s the case, don’t worry about it. Our school’s training method has nothing to do with the location of the mana hole. Now, watch what I do carefully”

Catherine ignorantly brought a thick and large piece of metal in front of Juno and struck it down with her bare fists.

Kwaang!!

Then, a fist-sized groove was created in the piece of iron and the piece of iron was crushed.

“Now look! How are my fists?”

“Yes? Are you okay? Didn’t you use mana anyway? Since you are a master… if you are wearing a badge”

Takkong!

“Uh-huh~ Do you think I was just trying to show you such a demonstration? What is mana? It is the power that resides in all things in this world. All living things contain mana. And when living things are injured, they naturally send mana to help heal”

“Yes… That’s true, but…”

“Then, if you continue to intentionally abuse your body and injure it, won’t the mana continue to float around your body and make you stronger? For example, as a result of training your body every day, your cardiorespiratory endurance and strength have almost reached superhuman levels, even though you cannot use mana”

“Then really?”

Yuno was skeptical, but looking at his teacher’s mouth, he believed it was not true. But the words that flowed from Catherine’s mouth shattered Juno’s hopes.

“Yes. Starting today, you will hit this steel punching bag with every part of your body. I will hit the parts of the body that cannot be hit with this metal ball, so don’t worry too much”

“Cho… If I do that from the beginning, won’t it be difficult to train every day due to injuries? At first, be gentle…”

Juno gathered up the remaining fragments of hope and brought them to Catherine, but she completely crushed them to dust.

“Hahaha, don’t worry. After stimulating you like that, I will stabilize your body with meditation, and you will feel your body recovering naturally. If you repeat that, your mana will grow, and your body, which you thought was already at its limit, will be able to develop further. As you know, muscle growth is based on repeated stimulation and nutritional supply. Just strengthen it a little and supply mana instead”

‘Aaaah, what’s going on!! I was reincarnated like this to live comfortably…but this is too bad!! If it’s going to be like this, there’s no point in training and attracting attention!!’

Yuno was deeply regretful, but it was already too late.

“Well, you just have to suffer a little bit from now on. I know very well that this is a difficult process because I have also experienced it. But if you just endure it! You too can be like this!”

Catherine took out the dagger hidden between her martial arts clothes and stabbed herself in the arm.

“Oh!! Master!! What now…. ah?”

Juno was startled and ran to Catherine, but she spread her arms without notice. Yuno’s eyes widened because her arm, as seen by Yuno’s eyes, did not have any wounds, but rather the dagger that had been stabbed was bent.

“How do you feel? This is the result of our Aragon style training. This is why I can fight knights with weapons even with my bare body, and that is why I am called a Fistmaster. Of course, I am the only one who has reached this level… Yuno, you will be able to reach a much higher level than me.

‘This… this is amazing… if you can have a body like this, you’re really immune to assassination, right? Even if it’s a little painful, I must learn properly’

As the results of his training were revealed before his eyes, Yuno had no choice but to have confidence. Yuno’s eyes began to burn with enthusiasm for training, and Catherine smiled happily as she looked at it.

*Catherine’s class illustration