Chapter 23
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 23: Crushed by the Disaster I Brought Upon Myself (3)
Fortunately, hell training didn't start right after the spar.
Master left saying he just came once to see if I was doing well at the academy upon my parents' request.
After the storm-like reunion ended, I washed my body covered in sweat from the spar and came out.
As I dried my body and waited for a moment, Asel came out before long, and a few minutes later, the Saintess and Kairin arrived too.
The four of us became quite close while training together during the school closure period.
Since we fought a common enemy called warlocks, it was easy to get close, and since all four of us were sincere about martial arts even within the Knight Department, our hobbies and preferences matched well.
You ask where Kyle, another Male Lead Candidate of the Knight Department, went?
Unfortunately, since he had the status of a Prince, he was helping with the maintenance of the academy and couldn't participate in our training.
While Asel went ahead, I sent deep condolences inwardly to him who would be busily ground down and rose from my seat.
"Then shall we go."
"Where do you want to go?"
"Kairin, is there anything you want to eat?"
"Since we used some strength today, meat would be good."
Since the thoughts of kids who use their bodies are all similar, our destination was eventually decided as a meat restaurant.
Thinking of a meat restaurant reminded us of the attempted assassination of the Saintess, so we tactfully found another place.
How long has it been since the terror occurred for another incident to happen, but still, there was no need to go out of our way to visit a place with uncomfortable memories.
Entering the restaurant, we each ordered the menu we wanted to eat and shared light small talk until the food came.
"The person who was there after the spar, you said he was Ethan's master, right?"
"That's right."
"It was the first time seeing Mr. Ethan struggle like that."
"Hmm, I was a bit surprised too."
In today's case, the topic of conversation was my master.
I hadn't talked about my master usually, and perhaps because the first impression was intense thanks to the conversation exchanged with Master right after the spar, all three people asked about Master.
Especially the Saintess's curiosity was the biggest; perhaps because she had suffered from me usually, she seemed to have many questions about the master whom I couldn't even budge against.
However, since I didn't know well what kind of person Master was either, the only stories I could tell were the eccentricities he committed.
I told them a few anecdotes related to Master.
Like the time he threw me into a goblin village and told me to break through frontally.
Or the time he gave me only a single spear and told me to pierce a huge rock.
Even the time he told me to bring an egg in front of a mother monster incubating eggs and calmly fried an egg to eat while his disciple fought risking his life...
Since it was an absurd thing no matter who heard it, the Saintess couldn't hold back awkward laughter and eventually burst out laughing.
"Ahaha! That's just like Mr. Ethan's master!"
But the reactions of the other two people were a bit different.
They were laughing too, but rather than bursting out laughing at my master's absurd eccentricities like the Saintess, it was like...
'Reminiscing memories...?'
Weren't they smiling a smile as if looking back on their own childhood at a friend's memory story.
That conjecture turned into certainty before long.
"Hmm, I have an experience like that too. In the past, after Father dealt with most of the undead looking over the castle walls, he threw me out of the castle telling me to deal with a ghoul."
"Me too. When the Family Head went to subjugate Orcs, he made me accompany him and made me duel. Since it was a crippled guy, I could barely win, but I really thought I was going to die then."
Kairin and Asel calmly laughing and telling stories outside of common sense.
Hearing their stories, my and the Saintess's expressions became subtle.
I was absurd not knowing there were so many people like my master in this world, but looking at the faces sitting at the same table, I began to understand.
First, the Male Lead Candidate Asel.
Does it need explanation?
An ordinary Male Lead Candidate cannot exist.
Furthermore, a Male Lead Candidate whose martial part stands out?
Due to the nature of Romance Fantasy where the Female Lead's initiative is strong, the more amazing the combat ability the Female Lead has, the easier it is to become an ordinary person.
Think about the Saintess.
She only received training for a few months, but as the protagonist buff combined with the Holy Sword, doesn't she possess skills equivalent to us who have trained for decades since childhood?
Since the Saintess herself and even the Holy Sword only have growth left in the future, for Asel's individuality to come alive, talent is basic and a special past or ability was also essential.
How about the other side?
Kairin is the commonly called Northern Grand Duke's Daughter.
The youngest daughter of Grand Duke Balt guarding the border at the northernmost tip of the Empire.
I didn't know I would see a Northern Grand Duke's Daughter in a Romance Fantasy, but unless it was this level of position, it would be difficult for a woman to become the Saintess's friend, so I could understand sufficiently.
Since she only has older brothers above her, she must have grown up receiving considerable love, but the North doesn't just embrace her because she's a woman.
Barbarians coming down south from the unexplored lands of the North and undeads that started occurring on a large scale since decades ago.
To protect the North from them, Northerners had to become warriors regardless of gender or age.
Furthermore, how heavy would the responsibility of the Grand Duke located at that head position be.
Therefore, the children of the Balt family were in a position where they had to take responsibility just for the reason of being born.
Those who dedicate their lives to protect the North in exchange for receiving all sorts of support in the barren North.
One of them was the woman in front of my eyes, Kairin Balt, so her past also had no choice but to be extraordinary.
....Thinking about it, suddenly I felt pity for myself.
'No, those guys at least have reasons, but why me...?'
I just wanted to become a knight and raise my value...?
Couldn't I have just received the elite course while being pampered like children of ordinary noble families?
Only now do I say it's good because I became strong, but honestly, back then I thought I was dying every day.
Since I came to a fantasy world, I followed Master's training somehow pretending to pack romance; if not for that, I would have quit long ago.
The problem is that there is still a long way to go.
The Saintess's journey is only just beginning, and since I felt a wall against the warlock's chimera, I invited disaster myself saying I want to become strong...
'Haa...'
The future was bleak.
After finishing the meal, we parted ways naturally.
Asel and I headed to our respective dorms, Kairin headed to the commercial district saying she had something to buy, and the Saintess headed toward the church.
I heard the Saintess realized the necessity of Holy Magic after the last terror and is receiving private tutoring separately from a priest she knows.
She wanted to take regular lectures, but since it was a school closure period and the academy's administrative system was practically paralyzed right now, it seemed she was taking classes separately.
Seeing the Saintess who was crazy only about the sword change like that, it seemed this terror certainly changed many things.
I hoped she would please grow well in the future too and protect the peace of the continent.
The next day.
I headed to the training ground early in the morning as usual.
Training had already become a habit due to Master's training, so since I reached the state where my eyes opened and my body moved on its own when the time came, it wasn't hard.
Usually, Kairin would arrive similarly to me and Asel and the Saintess would come when it became morning, but today there was an uninvited guest.... no, one other person.
"Uh, you came?"
"Yes."
"Right, let's warm up. Run."
Master starting training nonchalantly as if he knew I would naturally come.
If I hadn't come, did he come without saying anything intending to do something?
....He would have barged into the dorm saying the disciple slacked off a lot while he didn't see him and conducted mental education, right?
I praised myself for not neglecting training usually.
Warming up was doing exactly what I learned from Master, so it wasn't different from what I used to do.
The problem was from after this.
Around the time I ran around the training ground, stretched, and warmed up to some extent, Master threw a wooden spear to me and said.
"Let's see how much you changed."
I had no choice but to go up to the sparring arena, grip the spear, and take a stance.
On the other hand, Master just standing blankly with the spear leaning on his shoulder.
Since it meant for me to attack on my own to anyone looking, I sighed and moved my feet.
I narrowed the distance little by little, but Master still had no movement.
Looking at him yawning calmly, someone who doesn't know might think he's provoking, but that person was just annoyed.
When I narrowed the distance to some extent, I advanced by surprise and extended the spear straight.
It was an attack with a long reach that even someone who knows spears a bit would have no choice but to suffer.
But the person in front of my eyes wasn't someone who knows spears a bit, but someone who knows well.
"Disciple, somehow only petty tricks increased."
"Since there were many swordsmen attacking uselessly, it seems I formed a bad habit while dealing with them comfortably."
Master grabbing the spear nonchalantly.
He let go of the grabbed spear and beckoned with his finger as if telling me to attack again.
This time, when I thrust the spear in succession differently, only then did Master grip the spear and block my attack.
As I continued a few more attacks, Master nodded and said.
"I roughly know your level."
"How is it?"
"It's so boring I want to kill you."
"No, not by Master's standards."
What is a human on the verge of becoming a Master saying while dealing with an Aura User.
When I corrected the standard, Master stroked his beard grown blackly, pondered, and said.
"If you get terrorized by warlocks about ten more times, you might hit Expert? Did the warlock not give something like a notice for the next terror plan?"
This crazy person.