The Seed Planted in Princess Arian
My request surprised not only Princess Arian but also King Royus. It was only natural, as from their perspective, I didn't appear strong at all.
'Even if I go to the academy as a Mana Awakener, there's a difference in levels.'
The original heroines and Seo Moon-hyun were among the top tier even among academy students, and they didn't fall short compared to active 'Heroes'.
Of course, it's rare for academy students to reach that level, but the protagonist's generation was simply a golden generation. Even dozens of ordinary academy students couldn't match those at the top.
'They must be guessing my level is around that.'
My black hair must have fueled that suspicion. No wonder black hair carried a bad reputation among Mana Awakeners.
Awakeners, unless in special cases, had unusual hair colors from birth unless they were incompetent or not powerful. The Seo family all having blue hair and blue eyes was an example.
"I'd like that. [Father, would it be alright to invite this person to my training room?]"
Despite her pure and gentle appearance, Princess Arian, who enjoyed honing her power as a Mana Awakener, seemed subtly pleased with my suggestion. She immediately asked King Royus in Liberin language if she could invite me to her training room.
The training room, being a place for Mana Awakeners' training, had various protective measures that could withstand the aftermath of their battles, making it a good place for sparring.
'She calls him Father instead of Your Majesty even in Korean.'
Recalling how Princess Arian addressed her father King Royus in the original work, King Royus nodded.
"Your training room is yours, so do as you wish, Arian."
With King Royus's permission, Princess Arian stood up. I also stood up, wearing my mask and hood.
'King Royus. He seems to want Arian and me to build a relationship.'
He seemed to have taken a liking to me, but he didn't appear to intend to force it on Arian. He was simply hoping, deep down, that her heart would naturally lean toward me.
'Arian will become my wife, so that wish will come true.'
Of course, she wouldn't be my only wife. I planned to make all the heroines abandoned by Seo Moon-hyun in the original work my women.
* * *
The private training room for the princess of the Liberin Kingdom was located some distance from the reception room. During the move, there were royal knights following to escort Princess Arian, but after dismissing them all, she entered the training room alone with me.
It might seem defenseless, but since my identity was the heir of the Yucheon Group, it was a solid guarantee. If the heir of the Yucheon Group were to kidnap the princess, the world economy would be shaken, and the Yucheon Group would face legitimate pressure from the Liberin Kingdom.
'In other words, that's impossible.'
There was the belief that the world's largest corporation wouldn't commit such a foolish act of self-destruction, along with Princess Arian's confidence in her own abilities. Moreover, the barrier set up inside the royal castle would recognize the king or his successor as its master in emergencies and take protective measures if harm was inflicted upon them.
Creak-
That's why Princess Arian closed the door to the training room without any hesitation.
"You can take off your mask now."
"Understood, Arian."
As I removed my mask and spoke, her pink eyes widened slightly, and that sight strangely reminded me of a rabbit.
"You called me Arian?"
"Yes. Since Arian came all the way here to fulfill my request, I should show some courtesy as well, shouldn't I?"
"Hehe~ What's that~ Then can we just skip the sparring like this?"
I answered Princess Arian—no, Arian—who asked playfully with a smile.
"Hmm, then I suppose I'll have to call you Princess Arian again."
"Then we'd better start right away to avoid that."
As Arian said that, she took out a sword similar to a rapier hanging on the wall of the training room and held it in her hand. Although rapiers were originally specialized thrusting swords for actual combat, they had the weakness of being ineffective against armored opponents. However, they could certainly cut as well, and being specialized for thrusting with a blade over 1 meter long was an advantage in the era of Mana Awakeners.
'Just like in the original.'
In the original work, Arian's main weapon was also a rapier. This rapier, fitting for a princess despite being in the training room, had decent performance, but it was completely different from the weapon Arian brought when she entered the academy in the original story's main timeline. Naturally, a sword hanging in the training room couldn't be the same as the one the princess took overseas as her primary weapon.
"Now, Seo Moon-jin, please take out your weapon as well. There are various types of weapons in the weapon storage over there, so pick one that suits you."
Since I couldn't have brought a weapon to the meeting with the King of the Liberin Kingdom, Arian, naturally assuming I had no weapon, pointed to the weapon storage attached to the training room and spoke. Various swords, spears, and other weapons were displayed there. That weapon storage was clearly prepared for Arian to experience fighting against various weapon types by allowing her opponent to use diverse weapons.
'The Seo family had something similar too.'
Although I, who hadn't awakened mana, couldn't touch them, I remembered seeing it before being expelled. And right now, I didn't need those weapons.
"It's fine without one. Arian, I'm sufficient with my bare hands."
"...Are you sure?"
Using bare hands instead of a weapon was naturally disadvantageous unless it was a very special case. Even when using mana, there were issues with distance, and the fact that direct blows would be inflicted on the body upon collision. Apart from that, there were those who focused on developing abilities centered around bare-handed combat, but they were an extreme minority, and even they could only properly exert their power after accumulating a certain level of skill.
"No problem. With your skill, Arian, it's impossible for you to injure me."
Did my words sound like a provocation? Arian's expression turned serious.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
Arian usually wore a soft smile on her pure and gentle appearance, but unexpectedly, she had a playful side and a personality that pursued strength. And contrary to her appearance, she also had a subtly strong sense of pride.
"Then I won't know if you get hurt. You agree, right?"
"If that happens, I'll give you 1% of the Yucheon Group's shares at market value."
1% of the Yucheon Group's shares, worth over 3,000 trillion won, would be 30 trillion won even then. Even if the Liberin Kingdom was an advanced and wealthy country, it was too large an amount to simply overlook.
"I'll believe you'll keep that promise."
Since it had become a matter of national interest, Arian took a more serious stance. However, since her attire hadn't changed, the white thighs visible through the side slit of her skirt stood out even more.
"Yes, come at me."
As soon as my words fell, Princess Arian thrust her sword straight forward.
Zzzzt-
At the same time, I could see lightning energy along with mana enveloping her sword.
'That's it.'
Arian Liberin. Her main attributes were light and lightning. Even now, she was attacking while handling lightning energy, but in the future, she would demonstrate the power to control real lightning. She wasn't a heroine for nothing in terms of combat power.
"Then here I come!"
Announcing her attack, she thrust her rapier at me, and I dodged it simply by lightly moving my feet. I had no intention of displaying overwhelming power in this sparring. Showing an unfathomable overwhelming power was a beginner's method. Instead of blocking by showing an overwhelming gap in level using mana, I dodged all her attacks lightly without even letting them graze me.
Although I had removed my mask, I was still wearing the hooded robe, and I leisurely dodged all of Arian's attacks without letting them even touch the robe.
"You're fast!"
Realizing that none of her attacks were landing on me, and that my skill was by no means below hers, Arian's attacks became even fiercer. Her thrusts, fast like lightning, would have been fierce against her peers. Especially when facing Arian, dodging backward was tantamount to suicide.
Shuuu!
The moment she thrust her sword and I dodged to the side, a single sharp beam of pure white light shot straight like an arrow from where I had been standing. And although the beam that hit the wall faded, because the walls of this training room were specially treated, it merely faded away, but I knew well what kind of power it would have had outside. It could lightly penetrate a person's body and even explode, so its power couldn't be underestimated.
Among the top-tier academy students in the main story timeline, Arian Liberin was among the top in attack power alongside Yee Eun-chae, and in terms of penetration, she even surpassed Yee Eun-chae, who boasted tremendous attack power with her overwhelming physical abilities.
"Your ability is strong, but you're still inexperienced."
But from my current perspective, she was much more inexperienced than in the main story timeline. Even Seo Moon-min-hye, who had grown under my gradual teachings, was younger than her by a year but stronger.
"I'll go all out."
At my words, Arian's face hardened as she enveloped even stronger lightning energy on her sword while also imbuing the tip with light energy.
'If she becomes too strong, I won't be able to keep Seo Moon-hyun happy, which would be troublesome, but I should teach her a little.'
It was only a little, after all. Thinking that, I instantly closed the distance to Arian and lightly struck her hand.
"Argh!"
After subtly infiltrating mana to dispel the power held in Arian's hand, I placed my mana-wrapped hand blade against her neck.
"It's over."
Arian's pink eyes trembled with shock at the one-sided defeat.
"You're... strong."
"No. It was Arian who was inexperienced. If you knew the method, you could have easily won against the power I just displayed."
At my words, Arian's pink eyes lit up with curiosity and longing. The bait I threw was an irresistible temptation to her, who had a great desire to become stronger.