Chapter 217
Chapter Title: The Fruits of Training
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News of the integrated Lumerne entrance exam spread across the continent, sowing chaos in many regions.
Traditionally, Lumerne held separate exams in the West, North, East, South, and Central regions.
Five different provinces hosted the tests.
But an integrated exam was a completely different approach from anything seen before.
For the applicants, the sudden replacement of the regional exams with a single integrated one was bound to cause confusion.
There were no restrictions on who could apply for the Lumerne entrance exam.
The method was simple: once the test location was announced, applicants would travel to that region to participate.
However, the applicants themselves were responsible for the expenses required to attend the entrance ceremony.
In other words, costs like warp gate fees, lodging, and food would be incurred.
But with the exam location changed for an integrated test, the expenses would inevitably be much greater than anticipated.
While the relatively affluent noble families wouldn't have a problem, many of the students applying to Lumerne were commoners.
Naturally, voices of complaint began to rise from the applicants.
But these complaints vanished when a new announcement was made.
Lumerne had decided to cover the warp gate and accommodation costs for all entrance exam applicants.
All an applicant needed to do was bring the examination ticket issued in their respective region.
It was an astronomical expense, but Lumerne didn't seem to mind.
With the financial burden lifted, the number of applicants naturally increased.
Of course, this didn't lead to an explosive surge in numbers.
The Lumerne entrance exam was notoriously difficult.
Every year, countless unskilled applicants lost their lives.
Moreover, the exam was broadcast live.
No one wanted to risk their life with mediocre skills or suffer worldwide humiliation.
And so, as people all over the continent focused their attention on the Lumerne entrance exam, all eyes turned to Loren, the capital of the Rodren Empire, which had been chosen as the test location.
Amidst the great uproar surrounding the Lumerne entrance exam, six figures appeared at the Jerdinger Family's training grounds.
It was none other than Leo and his knights.
“The… the training grounds!”
“We’re back!”
Carin, Julan, and Valerie cheered, pressing themselves against the main gate of the training grounds.
Carin and Julan even showed an extreme reaction, planting kisses on the gate.
Seeing this, Austin’s eyes narrowed as he spoke.
“What is this disgraceful behavior in front of Young Master Leo?”
“Young Master Leo doesn’t really care about this kind of thing.”
“That’s right, Austin.”
At fourteen, Carin and Julan were the most vibrant of the five.
Valerie, who was the same age, was as big and composed as Austin, so these two were the designated mood-makers of the knightly order.
Watching the two act like children, Austin’s gaze hardened further.
While Martina was the de facto leader, Austin, as the eldest, was in charge of discipline.
The two flinched and immediately stood at attention.
Valerie shook her head at the sight.
“Young Master, what are your orders for us?”
“Everyone, return to your rooms and rest. I’m going to see Uncle Jis.”
“Yes, sir.”
At his words, Martina gave a nod, dismissing the knights.
As Carin walked back to her room with Martina, she said,
“I missed my bed so much!”
“Hehe. Me too.”
“Young Master Leo’s training was definitely a huge help, but…! It was just so hard! Especially the sleeping and eating!”
Carin shook her head as if she was sick of the memory.
Sleeping in the mountains wasn't an issue.
The problem was *when* they slept.
Leo didn't leave the knights alone even when they were sleeping.
Just as they were about to fall into a deep sleep, a pebble would come flying out of nowhere.
Of course, it wasn't infused with Aura, but it flew at an incredible speed.
So, it was common to get hit if they let their guard down.
Getting hit was fine.
The problem was that getting hit meant a thirty-minute physical training session with Leo.
It was called physical training, but it was closer to torture.
Thanks to that, they were throwing up day and night for three straight weeks.
Meals were also self-sufficient.
Another problem arose here.
Leo would launch surprise attacks to plunder the food the knights had gathered.
If they were careless, not only would they lose sleep, but they would also have to go hungry.
Naturally, all the knights were on edge.
“I barely got any sleep. Ugh! I may be a knight, but my skin is a mess!”
Carin, a teenage girl conscious of her appearance, looked crestfallen.
With brown hair and green eyes, she was quite pretty.
Looking at Carin, Martina gave a bitter smile.
She was just as much of a mess.
*Still, the one who suffered the most must have been Young Master Leo.*
For the past month, Leo had pushed the five trainees relentlessly.
In other words, it meant that Leo was the one who rested the least.
*And yet, to see him perfectly fine… He’s truly amazing.*
Martina clicked her tongue as she thought of Leo.
After roughly unpacking in their rooms, the two headed straight for the showers.
“Yay! Hot water!”
Martina burst into laughter at the sight of Carin jumping up and down, enjoying the hot water.
Just as the two finished washing up, changed into clean clothes, and were leaving the showers…
“Oh my. Girls, look at this.”
“The hero candidates have arrived, have they?”
Other Jerdinger trainees snickered as they looked at Martina and Carin.
Their eyes held clear ridicule.
Seeing this, Carin’s face flushed with anger.
Martina sighed softly and patted Carin's shoulder, as if to tell her to ignore them.
Carin bit her lip and was about to walk away when…
“Did you want to remain Young Master Leo’s knights so badly you had to lie?”
“Give it a rest. Stop wasting Young Master Leo’s time.”
Martina froze as she watched the girls speak with mocking laughter.
Then, she turned her head.
“Do you think we’re the same as you?”
“What?”
“We, at least, chose to become Young Master Leo’s knights for our own reasons. We’re not like you, who shrewdly chose him for the sake of your careers after his true worth became known.”
“Ma-Martina!”
Carin exclaimed in alarm, pulling at Martina’s arm.
Martina shook her off.
“What did you just say?”
“Are you done talking?”
“No, I’m not. The Lumerne entrance exam? Young Master Leo told us about it first. He said we could get into Lumerne! He affirmed our potential!”
Martina’s brown eyes blazed.
“Just as we chose Young Master Leo, he chose us. Talk all you want. The day you become his knights will never come. As long as he believes in us, we’ll never give up!”
“Ha? Did that special training or whatever make you blind?”
“No matter how hard you struggle, you’re still mid-ranked trainees.”
Martina scoffed at the trainees who were sneering at them.
“How long do you think you’ll be stronger than us?”
“Heh? Then how about a spar, Martina?”
*Fwoosh-!*
A wooden sword, which Lumerne trainees always carried, was swung at high speed.
Watching the wooden sword stop just before her nose, Martina clenched her fists.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
“Feeling confident, are we? How about a bet? If you lose, you resign from Young Master Leo’s knighthood.”
“Alright. But what will you do if you lose?”
“We’ll resign as Jerdinger trainees.”
Looking at the girl’s condescending expression, Martina said,
“Deal.”
“Hehe. Then let’s meet in the training hall in thirty minutes.”
As she watched their backs disappear from the showers with peals of laughter, Martina’s face fell.
“Carin! What do I do?!”
Carin let out a deep sigh.
“You really have a tendency to lose your temper sometimes, Martina.”
Carin scratched her head and shrugged.
“What’s done is done. We’ll just have to face it head-on.”
***
All the Jerdinger trainees gathered in the training hall.
Seeing this, Julan’s face fell.
“Austin… what do we do now?”
“I’m sorry, everyone.”
At Martina’s apology, Austin shook his head.
“No. This was bound to happen sooner or later.”
Austin, Julan, and Valerie had also been tormented by the ridicule of the upper-ranked trainees as soon as they returned to the training grounds.
“Since it’s come to this, let’s show them the results of our training.”
At Austin’s words, Julan’s expression turned gloomy.
“It’s true we’ve gotten stronger through the training. But it’s only been a month. One month.”
He didn't feel like his skills had improved dramatically in just one month.
Especially since they had been beaten one-sidedly by Leo in their spars right up to the day they returned.
“You really can’t see what’s in front of you, can you?”
“How should we take you down?”
The upper-ranked trainees snickered, looking at the five of them.
“I’ll go first.”
With a tense expression, Austin picked up his wooden sword and stepped onto the training hall platform.
A trainee as muscular as Austin stepped up to face him.
While all the trainees were watching the duel between the two…
“It’s Young Master Leo.”
“Young Master Leo came to watch?”
The trainees began to murmur as they spotted Leo standing at the back of the training hall with his arms crossed.
“I still don’t get Young Master Leo.”
“I know, right? The upper-ranked trainees want to be his knights, so why did he take those guys away to train for a month?”
The Jerdinger trainees wore expressions of incomprehension.
As Leo heard them, he let out a smirk.
“Young Master Leo. Don’t stay in the back, please come watch from the front.”
A well-built boy came up to Leo and said.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Endian Therius.”
Watching Endian introduce himself with confidence, Leo recalled a knight named Pierce whom he had met at a party a month ago.
*Is this his son?*
With that thought, Leo walked forward with an indifferent expression.
As the trainees parted to make way, everyone looked at Leo with eyes full of admiration.
Every trainee here had trained with Celia and had seen Lis several times.
So they knew the overwhelming skill of both Celia and Lis.
The scion of the Jerdinger family, who had surpassed Celia to become the grade representative and succeeded Lis as the student council president.
There might be those in Lumerne who looked down on Leo, but not here.
Becoming his knight was as good as securing one's position within the family.
He was literally an object of aspiration, someone they wanted to serve.
*Isn’t he recruiting more knights?*
*Lady Celia’s knighthood has a roster of thirty.*
*Next time, I’ll definitely…*
Everyone looked at Leo with longing in their eyes.
Reaching the very front of the training hall, Leo crossed his arms and looked at Austin.
“Young Master Leo…”
Austin bowed his head as if in apology.
Austin knew how much effort Leo had put into training them for the past month.
And now, they had foolishly gambled away their positions as his knights.
He couldn't help but feel guilty towards Leo.
Leo smirked at Austin.
“Austin.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Go easy on him.”