Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Dragon Demon Princess (1)
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1
The Balan Forest was no place for humans to live. It might have been marked as part of the Lurein Kingdom's territory on maps, but in reality, the inhabitants were not humans—they were the magical beasts that threatened them.
That was why the Western Border Guard of the Lurein Kingdom was not an army meant to fight other humans. Their purpose was to monitor the movements of the beasts in the Balan Forest and protect the kingdom's lands from their threats.
Yet, right in the heart of that forest, a group of humans had gathered. They were not from the Western Border Guard; they wore suspicious black garments.
"The one heading to the fortress is Princess Arrieta."
"Not the Dragon Demon Prince, but the Dragon Demon Princess?"
"Does it matter either way?"
"No, if the Dragon Demon Princess's power lives up to the rumors, this many might not be enough to handle her."
They exchanged suspicious words. Even gathered in the midst of a land ruled by beasts, they showed no sign of unease.
"I thought they'd let the Dragon Demon Prince rack up merits since he just debuted, but sending the Dragon Demon Princess all the way out here..."
"Maybe they figured deploying the prince where he could appeal to the people right away would be better than whatever's happening in this remote western frontier."
"Hmm. Fortunately, word is she doesn't have a huge escort."
"Then we should manage somehow. They say the Dragon Demon Princess is powerful, but she's still just a young girl."
One of them suddenly spoke up.
"But is that ruin really the cursed one left by Kallos?"
Kallos.
He had been Azel's friend, a hero recorded in history as one of the greatest archmages.
Kallos's magic was said to far surpass the standards of his time. Even now, over 150 years after his death, the immense value of what he left behind was still recognized.
The ruins discovered by the Lurein Kingdom's Western Border Guard in the Balan Forest were believed to be ones left by Kallos. Upon receiving the report, the royal family had hurriedly dispatched Arrieta Bail Lurein—the princess known as the Dragon Demon Princess—along with numerous mages.
"We can't be sure yet. It's just a guess."
"Well, there aren't any proper mages out here, so they might be jumping to conclusions and making a fuss."
"If it really is Kallos's ruin, we can't just sit idly by. But for now, no need to stir up trouble. We'll watch and wait. And I'm telling you in advance: no reckless moves until the Dragon Demon Princess arrives."
"Of course. We don't want to put them on alert for no reason."
2
He never moved quickly. He moved very slowly, sluggishly. Each step was taken with utmost caution, tediously slow, to the point where yawning seemed inevitable as he threw punches and kicks into the empty air. Yet somehow, he maintained perfect balance.
What was even more astonishing was that, despite moving so slowly, sweat poured from his entire body like rain. As if he were the hardest-working person in the world.
On his bare upper body, undeveloped muscles twitched as they strained to move his flesh. Watching them, it almost seemed like you could hear the muscles screaming.
"Hoo."
How long had he been at it?
He suddenly let out a sigh and relaxed his stance. Picking up the towel he'd set aside, he wiped himself down and muttered.
"Ah, this is tough. My body's such a mess; even this is killing me."
"That's some strange training."
Rick, who had been watching Azel train, voiced his incomprehension. Azel looked at him and asked.
"Strange?"
"Yeah."
"What's strange? How?"
"You're exercising by moving that slowly? And sweating that much doing it? I don't get it."
"Don't knights here only do fast refinement and skip slow refinement?"
"Slow refinement?"
"You know... alternating between fast and slow refinement to balance your techniques. Fast refinement is the usual quick-movement training, while slow refinement is the opposite—moving extremely slowly to prevent your body from being swept away by force and to correct flawed postures."
"Never heard of that training method. Maybe because I'm not a knight, but it doesn't sound like normal training."
"Hmm. Yeah, it's not something soldiers would use. Anyway, that's beside the point—you're wondering why I'm sweating, right?"
Azel approached Rick as he spoke. Rick shrank back with a vague sense of danger, stepping away hesitantly, but Azel grinned suspiciously and grabbed his shoulder.
"Feel it for yourself."
Boom!
A heavy thud echoed in that instant.
No, that was just Rick's misconception. In reality, no sound occurred. It was merely the pressure bearing down on his entire body that made him mistake the vibrations inside for sound.
"Guh!"
Rick groaned and dropped to his knees.
His body felt as heavy as lead. No, it went beyond that—some force seemed to grip his flesh and crush it. From within! Because of it, he couldn't even stand, let alone move a finger.
Azel looked down at him and asked.
"Get why I was sweating now?"
"W-What... is this..."
"My special training method. Try moving in that state. It'll really toughen you up."
"U-Ughhh..."
"By the way, the energy I just injected into you lasts about 30 seconds. Even just lying there, it'll be hard to breathe from the pressure, so you'd be better off gritting your teeth and moving bit by bit to offset it."
Azel kindly explained, then slipped on his top and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Grk... ugh..."
At his words, Rick began trembling and straining with all his might to move. When he managed to flex his limbs slightly, he felt the pressure on his organs ease just a little.
'He did body technique training for an hour without faltering in this state? Is this guy a monster?!'
Rick could barely crawl on his belly, yet Azel had done an hour of what he called slow refinement training—a body technique workout. And he was just a Spirit Order practitioner with not a single Life Ring yet. What superhuman ability was this?
As if reading his thoughts, Azel spoke up.
"Heh. What's the big deal? That's just the constant baseline pressure I maintain, and I apply much stronger bursts in key segments as needed. If I put that load on you, your body would shatter."
'Th-This is already enough to shatter me!'
Rick couldn't even speak properly, so he shot a protesting glare. But Azel just watched him flail about with delight.
'You devilish bastard.'
The 30 seconds that felt eternal to Rick finally passed, and the pressure crushing his body began to fade. Suddenly, his body felt light as a feather, and he slammed his head into the ground with a groan.
"Ughhhh..."
"How was it? Manageable?"
"I-I'm dying."
"Even for a military doctor, aren't you too frail for a soldier? Don't you train at all?"
"Damn it. I do basic training."
"And you can't even handle that?"
"Eeeeek!"
Rick ground his teeth and hauled himself up. Glaring at Azel, he said.
"How do you endure this load with that scrawny body?"
"Of course, it's not just brute force—I mobilize mana force too. It's training to balance muscle power with mana force controlled by Spirit Order. Anyway, this lets you build muscle in every nook and cranny of your body in a short time."
Spirit Order practitioners, who could control even bodily functions normal people couldn't, could train in ways ordinary folk couldn't imagine if they wanted. Azel's method was one such way.
After that round of training, Azel sat cross-legged for a moment, sinking into meditation. He formed a dense mana force aggregate that glowed with light, then cupped it in his hands and drank it down.
'Hmm!'
In that time, his entire body's spirit veins had activated. The energy flowing through them was faint but circulated without blockage.
'At least I don't have to reopen them from scratch. Lucky.'
Normally, a human's spirit veins—unlike blood vessels—were inactive and blocked. In Spirit Order training, one activated and cleared them to create pathways for mana force circulation.
Making all the body's spirit veins functional took a great deal of time—one of the most crucial tasks in Spirit Order. But fortunately, Azel's spirit veins were merely severely degraded, not fully sealed again.
'And I've made one Life Ring for now.'
A small ring of solidified mana force encircled a blood vessel at the edge of his heart. It was created by densely compressing mana force into shape and continuously infusing fresh mana force to stabilize it.
It was still too incomplete to encircle the heart itself. But the key point was that Azel had produced a stabilized Life Ring in just one day. Less efficient than one directly around the heart, but it roughly mimicked Spirit Order techniques.
Having checked his condition, Azel said.
"Alright, time to eat."
"You never miss a meal."
"Three squares a day are precious."
Azel hummed as he left the tent.
3
Once again, Azel polished off seven servings. He stuffed himself until his belly swelled, chugged water, and still felt no stomachache—then patted his full stomach in satisfaction after eating an astonishing amount.
"Ah, so full. After starving so long, you really appreciate real food."
"You've put on some weight already—do you need to eat that much?"
Rick asked, fed up.
Compared to last night, Azel looked much fleshier. He was almost approaching normal weight now.
"Hmm. I'm planning to go back to normal portions after today. Not everything I eat gets absorbed into my body—plenty comes out the other end. To build muscle, I need more fat first."
"Yeah, yeah, must be nice."
Rick shook his head. Of course, Azel paid no mind to his attitude.
After eating, the two headed straight for Zail's tent. Zail was receiving a report from his adjutant, so they waited outside briefly.
"Hmm. Kept you waiting."
He dismissed the adjutant and offered Azel and Rick seats.
Rick asked.
"Did the scouts find something?"