The Test of Presence
"Presence?"
Raon grimaced. I thought he was going to test stamina and mental fortitude. Considering every drill Rimer had assigned them so far, the exam should have been about stamina and willpower. His choice, instead, was presence.
"Presence, he says?"
"He's going to test those children on presence…?"
"That man still doesn't know where to draw the line."
The children's parents raised their voices as well, clearly caught off guard by the contents of the exam.
"I'm the instructor here, so I'd appreciate it if everyone kept quiet."
Rimer snorted and waved them off.
"Presence is something you couldn't peel out of a warrior's life even if you wanted to. I intend to test that vital ability—so why is everyone so unhappy about it?"
He wasn't wrong. Presence was the harmony of a warrior's temperament and caliber. It was common enough for a warrior of overwhelming presence to strip the enemy of their will to fight before a single blow was even exchanged.
"The children have barely begun to learn aura. A test of presence makes no sense."
"There are even children who haven't learned aura at all."
"This exam is far too unfair!"
"You really don't understand, do you? Presence is not simply the manifestation of aura."
Rimer wagged a long finger back and forth like a pendulum.
A chill green wind swept through the entire training ground on the heels of his unyielding voice.
This is…
Raon narrowed his eyes. Just now, Rimer had unfurled his presence without using aura at all—as if proving the very words he had spoken.
"If you still have complaints, why don't you take them up with the Family Head?"
Rimer spun on his heel. The gravity of a moment ago vanished as if it had never been; he grinned and bowed his head before Glenn.
"My esteemed Family Head. Is a warrior's presence something created by aura?"
Hah.
Raon let out a short breath. To drag the Family Head into this so suddenly—this man, no, this elf named Rimer, was impossible to predict.
"That's not wrong. Even those who have never learned aura come to possess a presence of their own, shaped by the way they have lived."
"Now that's our Family Head!"
Rimer turned back around, clapping his hands.
"Mm…"
"Well."
"If the Family Head himself has said so…"
Because Glenn had spoken in person, no one—direct line or collateral—pressed the matter any further.
"That pointy-ear is finally saying something This King can agree with. Presence cobbled together from the likes of mana, demonic energy, or aura is a fake. Only the presence built from achievements carved into the soul is the genuine article."
Wrath nodded as if the matter were settled.
"This reminds This King of his days in the Demon Realm. When those half-baked demons started running amok, This King raised a tremendous presence and made those fakes submit—ugh!"
Sensing another lengthy rant coming on, Raon flicked the bracelet.
"Over the past six months, these children have endlessly crossed the limits they thought they had. Thanks to my meticulous training…"
"Don't lie."
Burren's father—Glenn's second son, Karoon Zieghart—rose from his seat and fixed Rimer with a glare.
"More than one or two people saw you sprawled out napping during regular training hours. Did you even train them properly?"
"I heard the same. He only shows up for training and takes no interest whatsoever."
"They said he sleeps every day and just leaves the children to train on their own!"
"Oh, you're well informed."
Rimer wasn't flustered in the slightest. If anything, he nodded along, as if impressed by their intelligence network.
"That, too, was part of my training."
"That was training?"
"When someone gives everything of their own will, versus when they give everything because someone else told them to—which one achieves more?"
"The former, of course."
"Exactly. What I wanted from these children this time was that mental fortitude. I can raise their stamina and their technique, but raising their will is no easy thing. I wanted to select the children with outstanding mental strength and cultivate them."
Rimer's tone was the same as always, but there was a sagelike weight in the words themselves.
"The children who overcame their own limits have forged a caliber of their own, however small. That will be of great help to their futures."
At the confidence in his voice, no one else could find anything to say. The parents' eyes sparkled instead with anticipation, wondering just how much their own children had changed—exactly as he had claimed.
"Since everyone seems to understand, we'll begin the exam—"
"One last question."
Karoon did not back down. The distrust that had settled in his eyes was as sharp as ever.
"Even if the trainees all did the same training, the level of caliber each of them possesses is different. How do you intend to test that?"
"I'll look at how much they've grown from the temperament they had at the start. The temporary trainee who achieved the most growth takes first place."
"By the start, you mean the children from six months ago? You're telling me you remember the temperament of every one of more than a hundred and sixty children?"
"If I couldn't even do that, I ought to quit being an instructor."
Rimer grinned, and Karoon's expression sank even colder.
"Now then—since the interlopers, or rather, the parents, have all given their approval, we'll begin the exam at once. Runaan, come stand in front of me. Everyone else, step back."
Runaan gave a small nod and took her place before Rimer. The rest of the children fell back.
"Runaan Sullion. The presence I am about to release is at a level you can endure—if you have trained with everything you had."
Rimer went on with that same light smile still on his lips.
"Break through my presence and touch my body, and you pass."
"Yes."
Runaan answered quietly and nodded.
"Then we'll begin."
Rimer closed his eyes and opened them again. A green light flashed in his gaze, and a tremendous presence surged forth.
A crushing wave of pressure roared down over her, and Runaan's blank expression shattered.
"Nngh!"
She bit down on her lip and curled in on herself like a shrimp.
"Using aura is an automatic failure. Awaken the mental fortitude you've built by enduring all this training."
"Hup!"
She forced down the aura she had been about to circulate and took a step. Cold sweat ran down her forehead, but she held on to the end, advancing in small, careful strides.
Her hand reached out—slow, but precise—and closed around Rimer's sleeve.
"An easy pass. I can see the results of training with everything you had."
Rimer grinned and patted Runaan on the head.
"Haa…"
Runaan slipped off to the side, breathing hard.
"Next, Dorian."
"Ah—m-me? Already? Is it really me?"
Dorian, who had been hiding behind Raon, poked his head out, trembling. He fidgeted nervously with the pouch at his belly.
"H-how is the order even decided…"
"However I feel like it. Get out here."
"Eugh…"
Dorian squeezed out a tear and walked forward. He looked for all the world like he was being dragged to a slaughterhouse.
"Uwehk!"
The dry heaving started up again.
"You saw what Runaan did. Break through the wall of presence I unfold with the mental fortitude you've built through training."
"C-can I even do that? I'm famous for having no mental fortitude at all…"
"Then you fail."
Rimer released his second wave of presence. It was distinctly weaker than what he had used on Runaan. So it was true—he sent a different level of presence at each child.
"Uhehek!"
Dorian made a noise like a startled raccoon and stumbled backward.
"Retreat any farther than that and it's an instant fail."
"Auwugh…"
"I'll give you one last piece of advice. You're a coward, but you trained with sincerity. Trust yourself and come in."
"Y-yes, sir."
At the steadiness in Rimer's voice, Dorian shut his mouth. Then, slowly, he started forward.
He staggered like a toddler taking his first steps, but he didn't fall. Slow, but sure, he advanced, and reached out his hand.
Dorian's fingers touched Rimer's waist.
"You pass. You have far too little confidence for your actual skill. From now on, hold your head up and—"
"Bleeegh!"
Unfortunately, Dorian was too busy throwing up to hear a word of Rimer's advice.
"Hmm. Next."
Rimer called the next name without missing a beat.
The sun, which had hung as if it knew no height, sank toward the west, and by then most of the children had taken the exam.
A fair number had passed—but many times that number had failed, and burst into tears.
Strangely enough, the small handful of children who had been spurred on by Raon and trained their stamina near him had, for the most part, passed. Those who had followed Burren and polished swordsmanship or fist techniques instead of stamina, however, had seen more than half of their number fail.
As the exam wore on, Burren's expression hardened into something cold. Then, with only Raon left after him, his turn arrived.
"Burren Zieghart. Step forward."
"Yes."
Burren took his place before Rimer with heavy steps. His face was twisted in a way anyone could read.
Of course.
Raon smirked. Contrary to Burren's expectations, a great many of the trainees who had trained with him had failed. His pride would be smarting.
"Then let's begin."
Rimer unfurled his presence with that smile still in place. A presence on the same level as Runaan's crashed into Burren as a storm of green wind.
The roaring pressure hammered down, and Burren bit his lip until it bled.
They endured this and still walked forward?
The presence he had watched from the side and the presence he felt head-on were dimensions apart. He could hardly believe that Runaan—the coward who had given up competing with him—had broken through something like this.
"Khnnngh!"
Even biting his lip, his feet would not move. It was far too much.
Is he making it stronger just for me?
The suspicion flickered, and he glanced back at his father. But Karoon only sat with a rigid expression and did not move. Which meant there was nothing wrong with the exam.
"Your talent is special. Among a hundred and sixty gifted children, the ones who can match you can be counted on one hand. However."
Rimer smiled faintly and went on.
"You and the children who followed you wasted your time. In the hours you spent practicing sword forms that were nothing but empty shapes—forms whose true meaning you didn't even understand—you should have been training your stamina and your mental fortitude."
"Khnnnngh!"
Burren bit down until blood ran and forced himself forward. The aura in his core was rising of its own accord.
"You used aura whenever things got hard. Use it this time and it's an instant fail."
"I-I won't use it."
He crushed the surging aura back down and stamped his feet. Every step sent pain through him as if he were walking on lava.
Hah.
A cold gaze pricked at his back. His father's.
If I can't overcome this, I'll be discarded…
The faces of his two older brothers—abandoned for failing to please their father—flickered through his mind. He would not become that kind of loser.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
Burren let out an ugly cry and an uglier expression that a direct descendant should never have shown, and half-crawled forward. With every last scrap of strength he had, he seized Rimer's clothes.
"You pass."
Rimer gave a short laugh and snuffed out his presence.
"Haa—haa—!"
Burren flopped onto his back and gasped for air. It was a sight no one had ever seen from the boy who was always so composed.
"You're still twelve. Stop pretending to be a grown-up and train in a way that fits your age. If you only look up while you walk, you'll trip over a tree branch."
Rimer offered Burren his advice as well, then turned his head. The smile at the corner of his mouth deepened.
"Last—Raon Zieghart."
"Yes."
At the call, Raon stepped forward.
"Ready?"
"Of course."
"Then let's begin."
Rimer's presence exploded outward. A force beyond anything he had unleashed on Runaan or Burren became a storm and swept over Raon.
"Raon!"
"Young Master Raon!"
Sylvia's and Helen's cries rang out from behind him.
"Is this really my exam?"
Raon furrowed his brow. When he had first arrived here, his caliber hadn't even reached Runaan's or Burren's—it had fallen short of even the mid-to-low ranked children. Considering that, this presence was far too powerful.
"Who knows?"
Rimer shrugged.
"The talent I saw in you is above Runaan's or Burren's. Try enduring it."
"Is that so?"
Red flames ignited in Raon's eyes, submerged in the green wind.