Sign the Contract Carefully!!!!!!
“Sign the contract carefully!!!!!!”
“Hoo…… hoo……”
The training hall inside the Legrian mansion. It had been neatly organized, unlike before. Albert had personally overseen its restoration. Before he vanished from this world, the mansion’s training hall had been filled with memories of his father. He would swing his sword alongside his father during sword training. Elena would awkwardly mimic them from the side, while their mother worried about how to sell off their father’s armor. Because the place held so many memories, Albert had poured a considerable amount of money into restoring it.
“Haa, still not enough.”
In that training hall, Grating was swinging his sword at a training dummy with all his might. The dummy was no ordinary one. It was a special construct built by Hot and enchanted by Grandel, sturdy enough to withstand almost anything.
‘Lord Albert made this dummy especially for me!’
He had been deeply moved when Albert first presented it. A training dummy crafted specifically for him! What knight wouldn’t be touched by such consideration? But Albert’s true thoughts were quite different.
‘If it breaks easily, I’ll have to make another and buy more materials. That’s a waste of taxes, a waste of national funds. Better to make it sturdy from the start so I don’t have to spend more money.’
He simply hated spending extra coin. Grating, of course, had no way of knowing this and remained moved by what he believed was Albert’s thoughtfulness toward him.
“I have to work even harder.”
Grating’s body, drenched in sweat from swinging his sword, looked as though it had been caught in a sudden downpour.
‘I haven’t done anything since coming here.’
After becoming a knight of the Legrian territory, Grating had accomplished nothing. While Albert was away, several monster attacks had occurred, yet he had been completely useless.
‘Even orcs weaker than Red Bear were too strong.’
Rumor had it that monsters spilling out of Monster Land were far stronger than those in other regions. At first, he had thought, ‘Monsters are all the same. What difference could there be?’ But after experiencing them firsthand, he realized the rumors were no exaggeration. The orcs here were twice as strong as those elsewhere. He hadn’t stood a chance.
‘The guards were strong, though. Especially their captain……’
The guards were indeed powerful. They possessed enough strength to slay an orc single-handedly. Though it wounded his pride, Grating knew he couldn’t defeat them in his current state. The gap was that wide. And the Guard Captain, Aiden, was a monster in Grating’s eyes.
‘Overwhelming muscles. Honestly, I thought just training muscles like an idiot wouldn’t make someone strong……’
But after watching an orc’s head burst like a watermelon right before his eyes, he had no choice but to change his mind. Aiden was overwhelmingly powerful. He looked like an ogre in human form. The memory remained vivid.
“Chwiik! Die, human!”
The enraged orc, breathing heavily, had discarded its usual wooden club and charged with clenched fists. Its strength couldn’t be ignored. Even barehanded, orcs were formidable enough to crush iron armor. Yet their speed was slow relative to their power, and their attacks were mindless swings without technique. A little training would allow anyone to dodge them.
But Aiden didn’t dodge.
Thud!
The orc’s fist, capable of denting iron armor, slammed into Aiden’s abs. An ordinary person would have collapsed or vomited their insides from the impact. Yet Aiden merely looked down at the orc with disdain.
“Is that all? You think those pathetic forearms and biceps can break through my Braum?”
The corner of his mouth curled upward, revealing his immense pride in his muscles. And rightly so—Aiden’s physique was the ideal form, a perfect specimen built from blood, sweat, tears, and extreme protein intake. Ninety-nine percent effort and one percent talent had forged the ultimate muscle man. That was Aiden.
“Chwiik!? My wrist!”
Instead, the orc’s wrist had snapped.
“Hmph. That’s what happens when you challenge my Braum with such pathetic muscles. Come back when you’re stronger.”
With that, Aiden casually swung his fist and burst the orc’s head. A creature’s skull was the strongest bone, meant to protect the fragile brain. Yet Aiden’s monstrous muscles rendered it fragile.
‘……I’ve occasionally wondered what goes on inside a simple-minded orc’s head……’
He never expected to witness it in real time.
‘I didn’t want to find out this way……’
“Just now…… didn’t you tell that orc to come back stronger?”
If its head was burst, how could it return? Grating voiced the question that had suddenly occurred to him. Aiden lightly dusted off his hands and replied,
“If it can’t even withstand a punch like that, this life is over for it. It’ll have to try again in the next one.”
“……”
Grating swallowed the words rising in his throat: Who could possibly withstand that punch?
“Since everything seems fine, I’ll go deal with the remaining orcs.”
What followed was an overwhelming massacre. Aiden’s power was extraordinary. Even dozens of orcs were nothing more than talking pigs standing on two legs before him. Every swing of his fist burst an orc’s head. When they attacked, he didn’t dodge—he blocked with his muscles and countered lightly.
“With such flimsy muscles, you dare challenge my quadriceps…… No, forget it. You’re hopeless. Go eat some protein and train your muscles before coming back.”
Everything circled back to muscles with him. His muscles served as armor against attacks, and his fists became weapons that shattered opponents.
‘He’s strong.’
Grating could tell. Aiden was strong enough to receive exceptional treatment anywhere else. To an outsider, he might seem like a simple muscle enthusiast or even a pervert, but his muscles weren’t for show—they were forged for practical use.
‘I can’t even imagine how much effort it took to build a body like that.’
It was somewhat puzzling that such a man served only as Guard Captain, but……
“I want to become that strong too.”
A fierce longing ignited in Grating’s eyes. He wanted to grow stronger. Much stronger than now. To that end, he trained relentlessly, sparing no effort. Yet……
“Still not enough.”
Grating swung his sword at the dummy, but the blade failed to cut through, merely embedding slightly.
“Kuh……”
He was still weak. Despite all his efforts, he couldn’t even properly slice through a single dummy.
‘I have to become stronger…… If I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes…… To protect others, I must grow stronger……’
Grating gritted his teeth.
‘The reason I left that place was to become stronger. To cast aside my past self and forge a new one!’
He couldn’t give up now. Grating gripped his sword again, determined to continue training.
“Whoa, Cheese Grating~ You’re working hard.”
Albert had come to the training hall.
“Ch-Cheese Grating? My name is Grating, sir.”
“Ah, my mistake. Your name is so delicious I keep getting confused.”
“N-No, it’s fine.”
“Whatever.”
Albert had some free time. He had originally planned to visit the fairies with Richel to discuss business, but Richel had gone out to the territory to meet with merchants, leaving him with a bit of spare time.
“Nicely dressing it up with the fancy word ‘business,’ aren’t you?”
“While planning to turn the factory into a washing machine that keeps spinning.”
“It’s basically a slave operation.”
‘……’
“Isn’t staying silent a bit too much!?”
“This is being ignored!”
“Don’t you know ignoring people these days can get you killed!?”
‘Murder? There’s no one who can kill me.’
“You’re annoying.”
‘You curse sometimes?’
“Birds of a feather flock together, you know…… Being around you, Lord Albert, makes me turn out this way.”
“⁽⁽◝( ˙ w ˙ )◜⁾⁾”
‘……’
Albert decided to ignore the System. Its increasingly irritating emoticons were becoming annoying, but he brushed it off. In any case, with time to spare for various reasons, he had come to the training hall and found Grating training there.
Albert had been gradually training him, but it still felt somewhat insufficient.
‘I was going easy on him.’
The System had made a fuss. What if the person dies or ends up crippled? Do you want to see that? So he had held back. But Albert had seen it—the burning passion in Grating’s eyes, the desire to grow stronger.
‘I was getting impatient anyway. Maybe it’s time to train him properly?’
The territory needed more knights. Lately, he had been farming Iron Ants alone whenever iron was needed. It was time to find someone to take over. A bus driver was urgently required. But finding such a knight anywhere wouldn’t be easy, and the strong ones were all tied to their own families.
‘Then there’s no choice, is there? If there are no strong ones, I’ll just have to level up the weak ones.’
“Don’t you want to become stronger than you are now?”
“Huh?”
“I asked if you want to get stronger. Don’t you want to level up?”
“Level? What’s that…… No…… More importantly.”
Grating slowly nodded at Albert’s question about wanting to grow stronger.
“Yes, I want to become stronger.”
Albert’s lips curled into a chilling smile at the resolute answer.
“Really? Perfect. Then how about signing this contract?”
Albert pulled a contract from his robes. The System commented upon seeing it.
“Where on earth do you keep pulling these contracts from?”
‘I’m a man who’s always prepared. You have to have these things ready in advance.’
“What is this?”
“What else? A contract. It’s to make sure I’m not held responsible for any unforeseen incidents.”
After reading the contract Albert handed him, Grating’s face turned pale upon seeing one particular clause.
“But…… what does this mean? ‘In the event of death, Albert Legrian bears no fault whatsoever, and Grating fully acknowledges this.’?”
“It means that even if you die during training, it has nothing to do with me.”
“……”
Why would someone die during training? Seeing the question on Grating’s face, Albert waved his hand dismissively with a laugh.
“Hahaha, all sorts of things can happen during training. Arms breaking, organs rupturing, and if you’re really unlucky…… hearts stopping. That happens quite often, you know.”
“……”
No, that doesn’t happen, does it? Broken bones during training might occur, but organs rupturing? Hearts stopping? Why would that happen often? Why?
“Come on, no need to worry about that. It’s nothing.”
This is nothing? Why is that nothing? Isn’t it important? It’s the part that needs the most attention.
“What? You don’t want to? Is your desire to grow stronger only this much?”
At Albert’s words, Grating felt something sink heavily within him. That’s right. Just moments ago, he had been thinking he would do anything to become stronger. Yet here he was, frightened by a mere contract.
‘I really am a fool……’
“……Has anyone who trained under you become stronger?”
“Of course.”
“How strong did they become?”
Albert casually held up two fingers.
“Second in the world.”
“Huh?”
“The guy who trained under me became the second strongest person in the world.”
“And first is……?”
“Me.”
“……”
He declared it with absolute confidence: I am the strongest person on this continent. It was an impressive level of self-assurance. Yet it was undeniable, because Grating had witnessed his power in battle before. The awe he had felt then, the thrill, surged through his body once more.
‘That’s right. Lord Albert is strong. If I train under someone like him, I can become strong too. Then……’
He could stand tall before them. He wouldn’t be looked down upon anymore.
“Alright, I’ll do it!”
Grating signed the contract. Albert smiled in satisfaction.
“Good choice. Opportunities like this don’t come often. You’ve just boarded the bus.”
“The bus? What’s that?”
“It’s there. You’ve boarded the reliable bus of the strongest hunter, who’ll turn a low-level like you into a high-level.”
“What on earth does that……”
“No need to understand it with your head. Just……”
Albert’s smile gradually turned sinister before he grinned wickedly.
“You’ll naturally understand once you experience it.”
“……”
Later, when Grating had become the strongest master, his grandchild asked him while reminiscing about the past.
“Grandpa! That person who made you so strong! If you could go back to the past, would you train under him again?”
The innocent question from his grandchild was pure and filled with dreams. As a grandfather, he couldn’t shatter that dream. Grating smiled brightly and answered.
“Are you crazy?”
If he returned to that day, he would tear up the contract immediately…… And he would say that one should never sign contracts carelessly. Instead of asking if anyone had become stronger, he should have asked how many out of how many survived the training. Whether there were any survivors at all. Grating came to say it like a habit.
Master or whatever. That was hell.