Temporary Trainees
Strength has increased by 2 points.
Agility has increased by 1 point.
Stamina has increased by 1 point.
"Hah…"
A hollow breath slipped from Raon's lips.
This is real.
The tremor that had begun in his forearms spread through his entire body. He clenched his fist and felt a grip a fraction stronger than before.
He hopped lightly in place. His body felt as light as if a small lump of iron had been pulled out of him.
So when the stats go up, the actual body changes too?
"Did you take the system This King created for a fake, then?"
This is insane.
Raon clicked his tongue. Raising his physical abilities just because he had trained past his limits — it was a reward so outrageous he barely knew what to do with it.
He was about to call it a cheat when the second wave of messages appeared.
The messages claimed that because he had endured Wrath's interference, his stats would rise even further.
"What is that?"
Raon gave no answer. He simply let his eyes shine, riding the thrill flooding through his body.
"W-what is the meaning of this? Additional stats for overcoming This King's interference?!"
You don't know either?
"Of course not! This system has never passed into another's hands, and This King has never failed to seize a human body!"
Wrath turned into a blue flame and zipped back and forth in front of Raon's eyes, darting like a bee. He seemed just as bewildered.
That would explain it.
Raon was nodding when a heavy thud rolled down from the platform.
"Good work, everyone."
Rimer stamped his foot, grinned, and clapped his hands.
"Urgh…"
"Nngh…"
"Damn it!"
At that cheerful smile, the children who had given up and dropped out twisted their faces and hung their heads.
"Hah…"
"We barely made it."
"I really thought I was going to die."
The ones who had lasted to the end, by contrast, wore exhausted but proud smiles.
"Don't worry. I'm not planning to cut anyone today."
"Huh?"
"What?"
The children stared, eyes wide, at the lightness in Rimer's voice.
"I said you'd be taking a test. I never said I'd decide today."
"Oh…"
"I-is that true?"
"It is. That said, if you keep training the way you did today, most of you are going to fail."
"What?"
"W-what is that supposed to mean…"
The children looked up at Rimer in confusion. More than fifty of them had run to the end today; the idea that most would fail was hard to swallow.
"I clearly told you to run at full power, but you all paced yourselves. Out of a hundred and sixty, only one of you ran all-out from start to finish."
Rimer's gaze rested on Raon for the briefest instant.
"Everyone else rationed their stamina as they ran. And some of you pathetic ones still quit anyway."
"Ugh…"
"Th-that's…"
Caught out, the children flushed red and could not lift their faces.
"And those of you who cheated by using aura during a stamina drill just so you wouldn't fall behind — you ought to be ashamed."
"Nngh."
The words were barely out of Rimer's mouth before Burren and several other trainees bit down on their lips.
"Frankly, I don't care what you do. You're the ones taking the test, not me."
Rimer's mouth curled. It was a peculiar smile, slyness and gravity mixed together.
"From this moment on, you are all temporary trainees. Pass the exam in six months, and I'll strip that 'temporary' off the front."
"W-what kind of exam is it?"
The green-haired boy who had tried to offer Raon a snack earlier raised a hand, his eyes already glazed.
"Where's the fun in telling you that? I won't rank you, but I will pick a head trainee, so work hard."
"How are we supposed to work hard, exactly?"
"I'll give you a hint. Simple and direct."
Rimer cracked his neck with a string of pops and looked down at them. The ones who had quit early and the ones who had run to the end alike had light in their eyes.
"For the next six months, complete the training I assign you exactly as instructed. Don't add your own ideas. Follow my word alone, and you will pass. Guaranteed."
"Oh!"
"I-is that really true?"
"That sounds too easy."
Told that all they had to do was follow, the children's faces brightened as if they had stepped into sunlight.
"I don't lie. Follow my instructions and you'll pass. However…"
The corner of Rimer's mouth twisted upward.
"It won't be easy. I'll give the orders and leave you to do as you please. If you go off and do your own thing like you did today, every last one of you will fail — except one."
"Ugh…"
"That's…"
Urgency settled over the faces of children who were only twelve and thirteen: they could not simply go home.
Two of them, however, looked as if none of it had anything to do with them. Raon and Runaan listened to Rimer and did not so much as change expression.
"Damn it…"
Burren, who had finished today's training in first place, did not look pleased. Rimer had not spoken his name, but he had rebuked him all the same — and praised Raon. Burren had run faster than anyone, and still he felt as if he had lost to that wretched collateral.
That arrogant bastard!
Burren was not watching Rimer talk about the exam. He was staring at the back of Raon's head.
"From now on, you'll be staying in the dormitory attached to the 5th Training Ground. The facilities and the treatment are both top-tier, so enjoy them for the next six months."
Rimer pointed to the lodging visible behind the training ground.
"Ugh…"
"So that's the dorm…"
Even the promise of the finest treatment did not brighten their faces. They knew the privilege they had been given came with an expiration date.
"Since it's the first day, that's all for now. Go rest if you want, or stay and train however you like. There's an indoor training hall on the left — use it freely."
With that, Rimer came down from the platform. Halfway down the stairs, he turned back with a sly grin.
"Ah, one more thing. There's no status here. Kings, commoners, slaves — all equal. Get along with your fellow trainees."
He waved as if he truly had nothing left to say, and left the training ground. Half the instructors followed him out; the rest leaned against the walls and watched the children.
"That insolent pointy-eared bastard…"
What exactly about him bothers you?
Raon looked down at Wrath, genuinely unable to follow.
"That look on his face, like he has everyone in the palm of his hand. It infuriates This King. How dare he look down on This King. Ten thousand years sealed in ice would not be enough."
…
Even with the reason spelled out, it made no sense. Wrath really did seem to be a lunatic.
Best to ignore him.
Raon gave a slight shake of his head and circulated the Ring of Fire, easing his exhausted body and mind.
I should take a look at the training hall.
He ignored Wrath's muttering and headed into the indoor hall Rimer had pointed out.
"Nngh…"
"Raon Zieghart."
"How did he even run like that?"
The collaterals and the children of the vassal families could not take their eyes off Raon's back as he went in. The gap between the information they had and the Raon they had seen today was simply too wide. They still could not believe he had lasted longer than they had, when they had been steadily training their stamina for years.
"It's the elixir, obviously."
Crain Zieghart, the collateral who had picked a fight with Raon that morning, wrinkled his nose.
"Th-the elixir?"
"The ones in the Annex were abandoned by the direct line, weren't they?"
"Right. They're the bottom even among the collaterals. How would he get his hands on an elixir?"
"Even if he did, it wouldn't have been anything good."
"It wasn't from the family. I heard the Saint of Rags gave it to him before he left."
Crain even supplied that particular detail to the collaterals who were still wondering.
"Ah!"
"The Saint!"
"So in the end, that guy didn't run on his own ability. It was the elixir."
"And he still has the gall to act superior!"
At the mention of an elixir from the Saint of Rags, the children's faces went cold.
"Tsk!"
"Lucky bastard!"
"A collateral eating an elixir on pure luck. Nothing about him sits right."
Crain watched the jealous light kindling in the collaterals' eyes and smiled.
"Which is why I was thinking."
"Hm?"
"Shouldn't we teach that arrogant bastard a lesson?"
"He even talked back to Lord Burren, didn't he?"
"We should set the mood, at least."
"Then today, when he heads to the dorm…"
"Stop."
A low voice cut in from the side just as the collaterals began laying plans to ambush Raon.
"L-Lord Burren?"
"That is the sort of thing that stains the noble name of Zieghart."
Burren swept a cold look over the collaterals.
Pathetic.
He disliked Raon Zieghart as much as any of them, but using numbers to crush someone was a vile, ugly thing. As people who bore the Zieghart name, he would not stand by and watch them scheme something like that.
"He's a worm who'll drop out soon enough anyway. Ignore him and get to training."
He narrowed his eyes as if they were not worth his time, and left the training ground.
"Ah, um…"
"H-he told us not to."
"Mm."
"Are you all actually stupid?"
Crain clicked his tongue at the collaterals, whose shoulders had already dropped.
"What?"
"That wasn't 'don't do it.' That was 'do it.'"
"Huh?"
"He doesn't want to stain his own name, so he's telling us to handle it. You couldn't even pick up on that?"
"Ah?"
"I-is that what he meant?"
"Obviously. Get ready. If we educate Raon properly, Lord Burren will be pleased."
The four trainees huddled together and began working out how they would set Raon straight today.
And behind them, the eyes of Runaan Sullion — who had not looked at anyone — turned toward a single point.
Not Burren, who had run in first. Not the collaterals or the children of the vassal families. Not even Rimer, who had once been called the Mad Blade of Zieghart.
Raon Zieghart.
Her gaze followed the back of the boy who had run in the lower-middle pack until the very end. Then she murmured a single word.
"Strange."
Rimer left the training ground and climbed Bukmang Mountain, which rose behind the Main House. He reached a tiger-shaped rock on the mountainside and looked up.
"There's a visitor on my napping rock."
At the greeting, the blonde old man standing on the rock — Glenn Zieghart — looked down.
"What happened?"
"Why are you asking me that?"
Rimer leaned his back against the rock and let out a hollow laugh.
"As you well know, my lord, my eye for people is one of the best. But I couldn't see Raon. I couldn't get a proper read on his condition."
"……"
"He was clearly at rock bottom. Like a dry rag wrung out so many times not a single drop would come. I still don't know how he ran to the end."
Curiosity and astonishment sat together in Rimer's smiling eyes.
"Burren and Runaan have the finest talent, and the other children aren't bad either. They'll be pillars of the family someday. But…"
"You can't get a read on Raon. Is that it?"
Glenn's gaze went past Rimer toward the 5th Training Ground.
"That's right. Talent, potential, future, disposition — none of it is visible. I haven't encountered anything this opaque since the day I first saw you, my lord."
Rimer laughed under his breath.
"Ever since my aura core was wrecked, every day had been boring. For the first time in a while, I smell something interesting."
"Your role is not to catch scents. It is to raise these children into martial artists worthy of the Zieghart name."
"I know that, of course. I'm Zieghart's most loyal servant, aren't I?"
Rimer nodded with the lazy swagger of a street thug.
"If you were not a patient, and if you were not my comrade, your head would already be off your shoulders."
"Well now. So wrecking my aura core comes in handy some days."
"……"
Glenn's gaze lingered on the area of Rimer's aura core and heart, then he turned away.
"You asked to be the trainee instructor. Don't get distracted by oddities. Do your job."
"Of course. I have a feeling someone I can entrust my future to will emerge from this class."
Rimer turned his gaze toward the training ground, following Glenn's.
"You mean Burren or Runaan?"
"Could be. Could be among the recommended students. Could be a commoner with nothing but grit. Could be a child the family abandoned."
"It is mere coincidence. That child will struggle to become a martial artist."
Glenn said that, and descended Bukmang Mountain. Rimer watched the back of the martial artist he respected more than any other, then grinned.
"You say that, but you know full well it isn't true."
Raon checked the various machines and equipment in the indoor training hall, then stepped back outside.
Not bad.
The gear was exactly as Rimer had said — the finest, and the latest models. It was a hall that made its intent plain: follow, and they would raise you properly.
Training itself had started in the afternoon, so the sky was already dark. He left the training ground and was about to take the long way around toward the dormitory when a low voice sounded from the alley on his right.
"Hey."
Raon turned his head. The four collaterals who had picked a fight with him that morning were staring him down, their faces murderous.
"I heard you ate an elixir before you even turned one."
"And then you had the nerve to act all high and mighty."
"If I'd eaten an elixir that good, I'd have left you in the dust ages ago and been right on Lord Burren's heels."
The four of them swaggered closer, putting on a weight they did not have.
"So even brats like these look down on you. This King wants to bite his tongue and die."
Don't worry.
Raon's eyes blazed like furnace fire.
This time, you'll get the scene you've been dying to see.