The Genius Prince's Secret Training
The royal knight training grounds were separate from the main area.
But the place Godfrey had taken me to was his personal training ground, tucked deep inside the knights' training facilities.
Even though it was small, it was designed so no one else could disturb my practice.
Godfrey escorted me there with an eager, triumphant look on his face and pushed me in with swagger.
“Try demonstrating it for me, Your Highness.”
“I will demonstrate, but why did you insist on bringing me to your private training ground?”
“To prevent the rumors from spreading that the prince is lying.”
“What? Such nonsense!”
Creating sword qi was nothing unusual for me now.
In fact, I could have done it with a spoon right here in the room without needing a training ground at all.
Yet Godfrey was already certain I would fail.
The stubbornness of an old man who was convinced he alone was right.
It didn’t sit well with me.
I acknowledged that he possessed skill, but belittling others was unacceptable.
But what I was about to show him was no ordinary sword qi.
In recorded history, no one had ever produced sword qi with only a single circle.
“I have one request.”
“What kind of request?”
“If what I say is true, promise you’ll grant me one favor when the time comes.”
“Heh heh, fine. If you demonstrate sword qi, I’ll carry you on my back across the entire kingdom, no matter the request.”
“Don’t decide it so lightly.”
Godfrey stopped laughing at my serious tone.
“I am serious, Godfrey.”
“Mm……”
Godfrey’s expression grew complicated.
“Very well. I accept.”
“Now watch.”
I picked up the practice sword from the training ground.
Drawing in the mana within my body and pouring it into the blade took no more than five seconds to form a brilliant blue sword qi.
This was my first time wielding mana in this life.
It felt far more natural and easy than in my previous life.
The blue sword qi was also deeper in color and more stable.
I swung the revealed sword back and forth right in front of Godfrey, but he showed no real reaction.
He simply watched my sword qi with a blank expression.
“Why are you like this, Godfrey? Why so silent?”
“Your Highness.”
“Yes, Godfrey. You’re ready for my request, aren’t you?”
“Your Highness, ugh, gah……”
Godfrey’s lips trembled as the words began to spill out.
Could this be……
The moment I felt uneasy, Godfrey dropped to his knees with a loud thud on the training ground floor.
“This Godfrey von Aden can die without regret! I can face King Erdin with honor even in death!”
Tears poured from the eyes of the giant-bodied old man like rain.
I knew Godfrey was emotional, but this was the first time I’d seen such a display.
“You don’t have to cry that much……”
“In our kingdom, and especially with Prince Erewon being called a genius of swordsmanship! Since he’s already producing sword qi, he’ll surely reach the master level soon!”
“That’s impossible. I’ve only just begun producing sword qi.”
I could already make sword gang if I wanted, but there was no need to reveal it yet.
I didn’t even have enough mana to create one right now.
At that moment, Godfrey sprang up from the floor.
“This isn’t the time to hesitate! Right now!”
“Right now?”
“We must tell everyone!”
No sooner had he spoken than Godfrey scooped me up in his arms and dashed out of the private training ground, pounding his feet on the ground with strength.
“Eek, Godfrey, calm down!”
“Do I look calm right now? I can’t calm down!”
So overjoyed was he that he even twirled me around while holding me aloft.
The knights training around us were startled by Godfrey and snapped to attention.
“Commander, you’ve arrived! And the prince too?”
“What are you all doing, idiots!”
“We’re in the middle of training!”
“Is training more important right now? Look at this, look at this!”
“What do you mean?”
“You fools. Look at the sword the prince is holding!”
The knights stared blankly at the sword in my hand and their jaws dropped open.
The next day arrived.
I found myself in the midst of an interrogation.
In a sealed room, three people sat before me: Kingdom Knight Commander Godfrey, head of the Solea Magic Tower Sieun, and my father.
All three wore expressions heavy with complicated circumstances as they stared at me.
Of course, even though Godfrey maintained a serious face, his composure kept slipping as he wiped away tears of emotion that kept spilling from his eyes.
My father spoke first.
“Tell me everything.”
“Even if I speak like this, it’s hard to call it anything but a miracle.”
“A miracle? That you produced sword qi with only one circle? That’s no miracle. It’s something that can’t even be expressed with the word ‘miracle.’”
My father’s voice mixed joy and disbelief as he clicked his tongue.
Sieun beside him nodded in agreement.
“This has never happened in history. Not even in legends. How could such a thing……”
“Heh…… All thanks to my hard work teaching him. His Majesty the King told me not to teach the prince swordsmanship, but I persevered anyway……”
While the two serious men spoke, I wondered why Godfrey was even here.
“I simply changed my mind. I don’t even know how to explain this. Why don’t you touch my body instead?”
“That’s what we’ve been waiting for!”
At my words, both Godfrey and Sieun shot up from their seats.
“Heh heh…… Your Highness, relax and stay still. I’ll personally examine your body and announce to the world that the prince is a genius.”
“As a magician, I wanted to touch it more slowly…… No, I wanted to study it properly.”
Sieun stepped forward with a sinister, lingering touch that gave me goosebumps.
In the end, my father cleared his throat.
“You two, behave yourselves. No matter what, he’s my son, the king.”
“Understood. Your Highness, may I examine your body first?”
“Of course.”
Sieun carefully placed his hand on my body.
I felt his mana probing every corner of my body.
A faint chill ran through me.
“This is impossible. How is this possible……”
Sieun, eyes closed in concentration, let out constant exclamations of amazement.
After examining every inch, Sieun finally exclaimed loudly.
“How is this possible!”
“Sieun, why are you so shocked?”
“Your Highness’s body has no circles at all.”
“What? My son has no circles? That’s possible?!”
My father and Godfrey knew I originally possessed one circle.
Yet using sword qi had not only failed to create more circles but had completely erased them.
“That’s impossible. Let me try too……”
Godfrey then touched my body with his rough hands, his face showing emptiness.
“How can such a perfect body exist. This Godfrey von Aden has never seen anything like it in my entire life. Thanks to the way I trained you, you could become this?”
Godfrey was so moved by his own achievement that he burst into tears again.
“Your Highness. May I ask one thing, though it’s impolite?”
The man who had been standing blankly for a long time asked with a serious expression.
“Ask anything.”
“Did you contract with a demon and learn its name?”
“Ah, a demon?”
For a moment, my master’s sinister “Hehehe” laugh flashed through my mind.
“I’ve never done that.”
“But if you hadn’t made a contract with a demon, how could this be……”
Sieun collapsed back onto his seat with a thud.
Since the two hadn’t explained what happened, my father grew impatient.
“Explain to me too. Now!”
“Normally, producing sword qi would require multiple circles in the heart. But in Your Highness’s case, the entire body has become one massive circle. That’s why mana can be freely controlled regardless of the number of circles.”
At that moment, Sieun forced his eyes wide open.
“Your Majesty, this concerns the safety and future of the Solea Kingdom. You must stop rumors from spreading further from now on.”
“That’s true. Godfrey has already been running around telling everyone, but we have to do something about it now.”
“I’m ashamed. I got too excited for my age……”
“Your Majesty, especially the Magic Palace must never hear of this.”
The Magic Palace, the center of magic on the continent.
A place where only those who dedicated their lives to studying magic gathered.
Unaffiliated with any power yet supported by the most forces in the world.
The problem was that they didn’t hesitate to use dirty methods to advance magic.
If they learned my body’s state, they might kidnap me and dissect it.
They had plenty of reason to.
“But personally, I want to study Your Highness’s body. Please grant me permission.”