The First Wager

"A bet?"

Raon's eyes narrowed to slits.

"What kind of bet are you proposing?"

The offer had come out of nowhere, and he couldn't begin to guess what Wrath was after.

"No need to tense up. This King neither lies nor deceives. I'll show you myself."

The instant those words faded, a new message bloomed before his eyes.

The meaning was obvious the moment he read it. Win the wager, and Wrath would hand over a piece of his power.

"So you want me to take first place in the official trainee exam Rimer mentioned?"

"Precisely. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠He said he would definitely select a first-place finisher, so the result will be unambiguous."

"Hmm…"

A few points still didn't add up.

"What's a Random Trait?"

"One of the traits This King possesses will be granted to you. Though of course, its rank will be lowered to match your inferiority."

"A trait…"

Raon studied Wrath, who burned with blue fire as if someone had doused him in oil. The creature called himself a king of the Demon Realm at every opportunity. Raon couldn't take that claim at face value, but Wrath was clearly no ordinary being. Even a randomly granted ability stood a good chance of being useful.

"One more thing — and this is the important one. What does it mean that failing generates ten points of Wrath's emotion?"

"Exactly what it says. A portion of the wrath This King carries will be generated within you."

"So ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you're saying you can control my emotions?"

"Nothing so grand. The wrath This King would pass to you is barely a speck. No more than a drizzle. However…"

Naked anticipation melted through Wrath's voice.

"Like clothes soaked through by a drizzle. Keep taking in This King's wrath, and no matter how strong your mind, there will come a day you can no longer keep that emotion in check."

"That's what you were after?"

Raon looked down at Wrath with cold eyes. The creature had given up on seizing his body in a single stroke, and was now trying to steal it piece by piece.

"You've already realized that your body changes according to the stats on the status window. Accept this wager, and you will take one more step toward your revenge."

Wrath urged him to take the bet in a voice far too calm for a monarch of wrath. For the first time, the thing actually irritated him.

But why go to the trouble of a wager?

Now that Wrath had confirmed the existence of his true body, all he had to do was draw that power across and crush Raon's mind into submission. Why bother with a scheme this roundabout? It made no sense.

"As This King already told you, the power of This King's true body is bound to you. If that power could simply be drawn forth, This King would have taken your body already."

Wrath answered as if he had plucked the thought straight from Raon's head.

"You haven't lied about any of this?"

"This King is a monarch of the Demon Realm. This King may be many things — but a liar is not one of them."

"Hah…"

Raon let out a thin sigh. Wrath was right. The creature was clearly a lunatic, but he had always answered questions with complete honesty.

"A poison apple I have no choice but to eat, then."

Every stat raised by two, plus a special ability on top of that. There was no refusing it. The risk of failure, by comparison, was relatively small — though it would become dangerous if it accumulated.

"Hmm…"

The 5th Training Ground was full of gifted children. Runaan and Burren went without saying, and even the collateral branch members and recommended trainees possessed unusual talents of their own. An ordinary child wouldn't even dare look at first place.

But he was a reincarnator.

No matter what the exam turned out to be, no matter how brilliant the other children's gifts, if he used the life he had already lived, he would never lose.

"Fine. I accept."

"A wise choice."

Through the rising message, Raon locked eyes with Wrath. The creature was smiling — a smile steeped in the certainty that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he would win.

So Raon smiled back the same way.

Dawn the next day.

Burren pushed open the training ground door and stepped inside. The sun had not yet risen, yet his hair was combed smooth and his training uniform was pressed crisp. He looked every inch the noble.

"Hm?"

Crain and several collateral branch members — the same ones who always greeted him with excessive enthusiasm — offered awkward bows and turned away.

What's that about?

The thought had barely formed before yesterday's events surfaced in his mind.

Don't tell me they went after him.

Burren frowned. No matter how much Raon grated on him, going after the boy personally was an act that would stain the great name of Zieghart.

Pathetic.

He was about to walk over and give the idiots a piece of his mind when the door opened and Raon came in.

"Hm?"

The boy looked completely unharmed. No bruises, no cuts — nothing to suggest he'd taken a single blow. If anything, he looked more self-assured than he had the day before.

"Hhk!"

"Hiek!"

The moment Crain and the other collaterals laid eyes on Raon, they spun around like dogs with their tails tucked and jammed themselves into a corner.

What? What on earth happened here?

Burren swallowed dryly. He had no idea how the situation had turned.

"Hey."

Unable to stand it, he approached the collaterals, who were still trembling.

"B-Burren, sir!"

Crain and the others rounded their mouths and bowed their heads.

"Why are you shaking like that?"

"Th-that's…"

"Nngh!"

The collaterals clamped their mouths shut the instant they saw Raon standing behind him. What sat in their eyes was unmistakable fear.

They're afraid of Raon — not me?

What had Raon done to terrify them like this?

"N-nothing happened, sir."

"That's right. Really, it was nothing."

"Heheh!"

The collaterals scratched the backs of their heads with strained little smiles.

They got beaten instead, didn't they.

There was no other explanation. The collateral brats had gone to "educate" Raon and come back on the receiving end. Burren turned and looked at Raon. The boy stood there quietly, as uninterested as he'd been yesterday.

So he'd been hiding some ability?

A snort of laughter escaped him. A talentless invalid concealing his strength was still nothing more than a speck of dust.

Struggle all you want.

He'd still be at the bottom either way.

Raon was rolling the stiffness from his neck when his eyes met those of the collaterals he'd "spoken" with the day before.

"Urgh!"

"Ghk!"

They let out grotesque little noises, as if they'd come face to face with a demon, and shuffled backward.

"Huh?"

"What's going on?"

The other provisional trainees watched in confusion as the same collaterals who'd been cursing Raon to his face just yesterday now flinched away from him.

Raon turned toward the sound of a snort. Burren. The mockery — or perhaps contempt — in that gaze was completely unconcealed.

He probably thinks nothing I do will matter.

Burren's thoughts were written all over him. A boy with no talent could flail all he wanted, and it wouldn't change a thing.

He's dead wrong.

Talent meant nothing to someone who possessed the Ring of Fire. By the time the provisional training period ended, he would have left Burren far behind.

"That snake-eyed look is infuriating. Rip them out."

Here we go again.

"Back when This King resided in the Demon Realm, anyone who dared roll their eyes was—"

Be quiet.

Raon flicked the bracelet. A burst of static cut Wrath off mid-sentence.

"Y-you little—!"

You talk too much.

He ignored Wrath and was about to circulate the Ring of Fire when the training ground door opened.

The hinges groaned, and Rimer strode in with the instructors at his back. The instructors formed perfect ranks; Rimer, by contrast, trotted up onto the platform with light, almost skipping steps.

"Sleep well?"

Rimer looked down at them and grinned.

"Yes, sir!"

The provisional trainees answered at full volume, even though the sun had yet to rise.

"Even if you've been building your stamina, you ran at something close to full power yesterday, so it must have been rough. Which is why…"

Rimer gave a big, satisfied nod, still smiling.

"Run again today. Full speed!"

"Huh?"

"A-again today?"

"The more you push human stamina to its limits, the further those limits expand. Run at full power. Until I tell you to stop."

While the children were still grimacing, two figures exploded off the ground ahead of everyone else, just as they had the day before. Runaan and Burren. Unlike yesterday, they held nothing back, pouring every ounce of strength into their stride.

"Ugh!"

"Running again?!"

The children who had expected to learn something today started running anyway, irritation plain on their faces.

"More running? How tedious. This King could make you strong without this kind of training. If you would only look upon your blood and your enemy's—"

I like it, actually.

Raon cut Wrath off, filled his lungs with the dawn air, and drove his foot into the earth.

"You like it? Endlessly running while choking on sand?"

Because the more I run, the stronger I get.

"You fool! If you handed your body to This King, you could become the strongest within a year—"

That wouldn't mean anything if it wasn't me.

He shut Wrath's nonsense down in a single line and let his feet fly.

I'm faster than yesterday.

Whether it was the rise in agility and stamina, he could run harder now. The collateral branch members and a few recommended trainees he'd only managed to catch at the tail end of yesterday's session — he was matching their pace from the very start.

"Huh?"

"Nngh…"

"R-Raon?"

The children in the lower-middle pack stared at him, eyes wide, wearing expressions that asked what he was doing up here with them.

The growth really is fast.

Raon allowed himself a small smile and ran alongside them. Between the Ring of Fire and the stats, his rate of improvement was nothing short of magic.

Even at a full sprint, though, Burren and Runaan pulled steadily farther ahead. Their talent and the sheer volume of training they'd already accumulated were not something he could close the gap on. Not yet.

The environment isn't bad, though.

They were being forced to use everything they had, and there were plenty of children ahead of him worth chasing. For training, it was the best possible setup.

Raon glanced at Rimer, who was dozing on the platform. The man looked endlessly frivolous, but his methods were sound.

Your training. I'll make good use of it.

"Stop!"

The run that had begun at dawn finally halted after the sun was up.

"Ghhhk!"

"Haaah—!"

"Hahk!"

Without exception, the children collapsed onto the training ground and gasped for air. Most of them had run at full power, and unlike yesterday, almost no one was still on their feet.

"That's it for dawn training."

"D-dawn…"

"Not even morning. Dawn…"

At the words dawn training, the children shook their heads in disbelief.

"The air is clean at dawn, and it creates an environment where mana is easier to sense. You'll keep running even after you become official trainees, so you'd do well to get used to it fast."

Rimer twirled a finger in the air — a little gesture of children running without end.

"Go eat breakfast."

"After running like that, how are we supposed to eat…"

"I-I can't eat!"

"You expect this to go down?!"

The children lay where they'd fallen, moaning.

"Eat anyway, even if it's hard. Training continues after this. An empty stomach won't last. That said — the choice is yours, same as last time."

Rimer left them with that and vanished, as if to say they could figure it out themselves.

"Making us eat right after a run like that…"

"W-we've got to eat, though. Even if we throw it up later."

The children staggered into the dining hall. Perhaps because the training from dawn had been so brutal, the meal was light rather than greasy: warm soup, soft bread, mildly seasoned meat, and a few vegetables. That was all.

"What a miserable spread."

"Still, I can get this down, at least."

The collateral branch children watched Raon, who was staring quietly at the food on his tray.

"Look at him."

"He's not eating."

"He was raised so preciously at the Annex. You think fare like that is going to sit with him?"

"True. He's at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bottom of the ranking and he's an invalid — he probably only ever got special treatment."

They snickered and needled him, but Raon's thoughts were running in a completely different direction from what they assumed.

They're giving us a meal?

After training was over, maybe. But in his previous life, he had never once been given food in the middle of training. Even at a younger age than he was now, he'd had to fend for himself — tearing up weeds, hunting beasts, whatever it took. Being handed a meal had never even occurred to him as a possibility.

This place is actually the best…