Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Southern Kingdom (3)
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The incident started like this.
Other training halls began to feel a sense of crisis.
When they started seeing our very existence as a threat, they took action.
They used their own trainees to attack the students coming to our hall.
They beat them up so badly they couldn't even show up at the training hall anymore.
If a leg or an arm got broken, they'd back off while issuing a warning.
"If you go back to that training hall, we'll make sure you never walk again."
Repeat that enough times—beating and warning—and before long, people would stop coming to our hall.
Once that happened, the other established halls could go back to operating smoothly.
A classic method, but a pretty effective one.
The problem was that we were the ones getting hit by it.
"What do we do?"
The moment Irena threw out that question, we burst into laughter.
It was an absurd situation.
Not that it was an unstoppable force we couldn't fight back against.
"I never thought something like this would actually happen."
"They've got some guts. Must not be afraid of much."
"They might see it as us invading their territory."
It was just funny.
So ridiculous, so outrageous.
Nail watched us suddenly start laughing with a bewildered look on his face.
Then he grimaced and urgently prodded us.
"W-We really could get killed if this keeps going!!"
Only then did we stop laughing and nod.
This wasn't just some petty squabble—it was a signal shot, a declaration of "let's see what you've got."
We sprang into action right away.
By the time we got there, the thugs had already vanished.
I gathered the trainees I'd rescued at the training hall.
The root of this mess was simple.
Us challenging the entrenched powers that had already staked their claim?
No, that wasn't an issue at all.
For one thing, it was questionable whether those guys, who were facing an existential threat after just a few months, even qualified as "entrenched powers."
"Right. The real root of the problem..."
I trailed off for a moment, scanning the trainees gathered in the training hall.
Even after expanding to a new location, there was plenty of room for everyone.
"...is that you're all weaker than them."
Irena's expression turned subtle at those words.
She shot me a look that asked if that was really it.
I ignored her and pressed on steadily.
"If you were stronger, they wouldn't have been able to beat you and send you packing. You wouldn't have caved to their threats."
This was part of the solution I'd come up with.
The extreme measure would have been storming their hall and smashing their dojo—but that was a last resort.
'That'd draw way too much attention. We're good as we are now; any more, and it'd be trouble.'
So the second option I'd devised was this:
If the trainees were getting threatened by others, make them strong enough that no one would dare threaten them.
Threats and violence are only used against worthy opponents.
If the opponent doesn't measure up, violence can't be applied.
Take an extreme example.
If I were one of Irena's trainees and a group from another hall came to threaten us?
I'd turn the tables and crush them.
Because I'd have the power to do it.
I condensed my philosophy and logic into my words, preaching to the trainees.
"Violence doesn't target the strong. Once they think you can fight back, that hand stops."
Mutual assured destruction isn't a phrase for nothing.
I knew better than anyone that peace without power is an illusion.
I clenched my fist tight and slammed it down on the floor.
"Why are you training here? Why are you spending your precious time coming to this place?"
I continued the speech.
Irena narrowed her eyes, staring at my face.
It was the look you give a stranger.
She shook her head slowly and lifted her chin.
"The answer is simple. To get stronger. To become knights. And knights who cave to outside pressure? Is that what you want to be?"
"From now on, I'll train you all properly. For the next month, we'll provide room and board here."
Irena's face filled with shock in that instant.
I finished the speech regardless.
"I guarantee it."
After a moment of silence, thunderous applause and cheers erupted.
Once the speech ended, I had a brief talk with Irena.
"You sure about this?"
"...Who knows. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't come up with anything better."
My speech had been pretty provocative, laced with forced hype.
But it wasn't like I fully believed it or fully didn't—it was somewhere in between.
The reason people came to a swordsmanship hall was to hone their skills, improve, and get stronger.
But quitting because of outside threats?
Then what was the point of coming here in the first place?
If you didn't build your skills and prove it yourself, nothing—your aura, your strength, none of it—mattered here.
Above all, without backbone, what good was all the swordsmanship you'd learned?
"It makes sense and all... but why give a speech like that?"
"To fire them up, I guess? To motivate them."
Not everyone thinks like me.
Plenty get scared of immediate violence and lose sight of the big picture.
Some might even believe it could be solved peacefully.
In fact, a few trainees' eyes had gone distant during it.
This speech was a stimulant for them.
"Even if they're sleeping here, what about food?"
"I've got a restaurant nearby lined up."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Under the promise of full room and board, the training hall turned into a full-blown battlefield.
Before the sun even rose, we dragged the trainees out to the plaza.
A winter-training-style warm-up to forcibly wake dormant muscles.
Repeating basic stances with weighted wooden swords.
Followed by sparring.
The training was similar to what we'd done at the hall before.
Except rest times were drastically cut, and training hours nearly doubled.
That alone was enough.
They'd learned form-focused swordsmanship.
We were teaching combat-focused swordsmanship.
Falling down, rolling—didn't matter.
Stab the guy with your sword first, and you win. That mindset.
It was like what we'd done at the training camp.
Except there, stopping midway meant you died for real; here, you just passed out briefly.
A few cried. A few quit.
We didn't stop them.
It was their choice.
But the ones who stayed changed.
A month later, just as we'd expected, the thugs made their move again.
The spot was a secluded alley.
One trainee heading home alone after solo practice became the target.
I hadn't even ordered it, but the trainees had schemed up a lure themselves.
Three of them immediately tailed the trainee.
Average-looking faces twisted into sneers.
"Where you been? It's been a month already."
"Guess you still didn't learn. We told you never to go back to that hall."
One of them raised a fist.
In that moment, five hidden trainees charged at the three.
One thug tackled into a wall and tumbled down.
"...W-What the hell?!"
"This guy's lost his mind...!"
The trainees shouted without hesitation.
"Beat 'em! Beat 'em all!"
"See how you like it!"
"You trash. Three years of training, and that's all you got?!"
After that, it was one-sided violence.
The three were thoroughly subdued by our six trainees.
All of them collapsed with serious injuries to arms or legs.
Starting with that incident, revenge swept the city.
At first, it was paying back trainees from other halls who tried violence or threats.
Soon after, it expanded to hunting down those who'd done it before.
Organized moves.
Two weeks later, threats against trainees had plummeted.
Instead, people started flocking to our hall.
"Is this the training hall with the swordsmanship master of profound inner power?"
"Swordsmanship master? Nah, rumor says it's a retired Sword Master..."
Along with even more ridiculously exaggerated rumors.
"Sword Master? Weren't they just retired mercenary couple?"
"Rumors go weird directions sometimes."
Sword Master was one of the Southern Kingdom's unique titles.
Equivalent to Sword Saint in the Empire.
The difference? There's only one Sword Saint, but seven Sword Masters.
And they were called the Southern Seven Powers.
Irena snickered at that.
Peek into her thoughts, and—
"Southern Seven Powers, huh? You be number one, Ian. I'll take two."
—that was it.
"How about joint first?"
"That works too."
Peaceful days continued for a while.
Then, an instructor from another hall showed up.
"I've come to learn a thing or two."
It was right in the middle of teaching trainees.
A woman with cat ears strode up and challenged me to a duel.