Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Episode 005 (1)
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─Thud, thud.
Two sets of footsteps echoed across the long, stretching corridor.
The footsteps weren't coming from the outer quarters used by the trainees. They rang out through the corridor at the very heart of the main headquarters.
Naturally, the owner of one of those pairs of footsteps was none other than Kuhn.
It had been two days since he'd passed the exam and taken a rest in the infirmary.
Now, upon hearing that the Chief Administrator wanted to see him, Kuhn had left the infirmary and was on the move.
Leading the way ahead of him was a Senior Instructor serving as his guide, walking along the same corridor.
Thud, thud─.
Was it because his mind was filled with questions? Or perhaps because the healer's skills were that impressive?
Fortunately, walking wasn't all that difficult.
There was some lingering muscle ache and soreness, but that was it—nothing he couldn't endure.
Before long, the long corridor came to an end, and a staircase stretching left and right upward came into view.
It was the stairs leading to the upper floor.
As Kuhn climbed them, he lightly wiggled his fingers.
'The Chief Administrator wants to see me, huh?'
He'd asked the Senior Instructor guiding him why, but all he'd gotten back was to find out directly from the man himself.
The instructor didn't seem inclined to say anything more.
Kuhn rolled his eyes with a displeased expression as he recalled that moment.
'Hmm.'
Truth be told, it wasn't as if he had no guesses at all.
'The most likely reason has to be related to passing the first gate.'
After all, he was the trainee who'd cleared the first exam with the best score.
As such, there was ample reason for the Chief Administrator to summon him regarding a reward.
Of course... even so, as just a trainee, there were parts that were hard to accept on that basis alone.
'But...'
If he assumed the Chief Administrator knew this body's true identity, the story changed.
He'd already noticed that the Senior Instructors watching him sometimes had a gaze different from the one they gave ordinary trainees.
'Different from the regular instructors too—sharper, more cautious somehow.'
No matter how steep his recent growth had been, it was a look he wouldn't show unless he knew this body's real identity.
Thinking that way, it wouldn't be so strange if the Chief Administrator knew who he was.
Kuhn let out a light scoff as he muttered to himself.
'Wants to check the youngest young master's changed appearance in person?'
After sending him to the Lion’s Den to die themselves?
From Kuhn's position, having taken on the youngest young master's role, it felt rather absurd... but anyway.
By then, his footsteps had brought him right in front of the door to the Chief Administrator's office on the top floor.
"This is the place."
The Chief Administrator's office was on the highest floor of the main headquarters.
It was so high up that even through the window, he could clearly make out parts of the Lion’s Den's landscape.
'One's the training ground of the Three Dens, and the others...'
As Kuhn glanced sideways at the Lion’s Den's vista, the Senior Instructor cautiously reached out toward the massive wooden door.
"Go on in."
─Creaaaaak.
With a heavy sound, the wooden door swung open, revealing a man beyond it.
A black half-mask, long hair grown out like a lion's mane over it.
And a dark brown coat thick with the scent of cigars.
Striking, but nothing particularly special about his appearance.
Yet despite that... the moment Kuhn faced him, he felt a chill run down his spine unbidden.
Cold sweat beading in his palms, his heart clenching tight─.
It wasn't any force or presence he was facing. It was instinct.
An instinct only Kuhn could feel, one belonging to someone who had once surpassed human limits.
The soul of Kuhn, who had once reached the Swordmaster realm, was suddenly sounding the alarm.
'Just facing him gives off this much pressure...'
There was only one kind of person who could exude such presence.
Kuhn cautiously murmured the name in his mind.
'...Sword, master.'
A transcendent being who could slice through not just rocks but towering castle walls like cheese with a single sword.
Famous knights renowned in their regions, even knight order captains, were mere mortals before them.
Depending on the situation, they could overwhelm an entire legion single-handedly.
A one-man army.
That was what a Swordmaster was—a term for such superhumans.
He'd thought things were off when an Expert-level aura user was assigned as Senior Instructor.
But to think they'd placed a true superhuman who'd reached the Master realm as Chief Administrator.
Are they insane─?
Or does that mean they're that serious about the Lion’s Den?
As Kuhn felt his evaluation of the Jordic Family updating in real time, he subtly shifted his gaze.
A quick, discreet glance swept over the Chief Administrator's full form once more.
'Swordmaster—at minimum, fully transcended superhuman level?'
Even among Swordmasters, the gaps between them were clearly defined.
In fact, some Swordmasters could handle five or more of their peers at once.
And...
In that regard, the Lion’s Den's Chief Administrator was an opponent even his hunting dog self couldn't guarantee victory against.
'Assuming no holds barred, win rate around 6 to 4?'
Even that would require steeling himself for the worst—half-crippled at best.
If lucky, lose an arm.
If not, spend life confined to a bed.
Not an opponent to take lightly.
No matter how much it was the Jordic Family, they couldn't have that many such powerhouses.
'At least around the top 50 in rankings. In that case...'
His mind spun rapidly with the question.
Along with it, the positions of several likely candidates flashed and vanished in his head.
'Pretty high-ranking vassal family head. Or a powerhouse from the council of elders, or...'
Maybe even one of the knight order captains bearing the name of lions, the Jordic Family's pride.
Rumors said each of them had reached the Swordmaster realm or equivalent.
All of them had the skills and ability to serve as Lion’s Den Chief Administrator without issue.
'Among them, the most likely is...'
His thoughts chained one after another, and it didn't take long for Kuhn to settle on an answer.
'Probably the latter.'
No matter how much it was the Jordic Family, appointing a vassal family head or elder as Chief Administrator wouldn't be easy.
'Excluding the Red Lion Knights known for their mages...'
As Kuhn focused on gauging the Chief Administrator's identity, the Senior Instructor's voice flowed into his ears.
"As ordered, I've brought trainee Ethan."
The Chief Administrator nodded and gestured, then looked at Kuhn and spoke.
"Nice to meet you. You're E-than, right."
At a glance, nothing special about the greeting.
But through that greeting, Kuhn could confirm the man before him knew his true identity.
'As I thought, the Senior Instructors' gazes I've felt weren't my imagination.'
Otherwise, there wouldn't have been that brief hesitation when saying his name.
A short, subtle pause that other trainees wouldn't have caught.
Hiding his inner thoughts, Kuhn bowed his head.
"Greetings, Chief Administrator."
As if he'd noticed nothing, perfectly composed.
The Chief Administrator nodded and continued.
"Normally, this wouldn't require me to step in, but I called you here because a trainee passed the first trial all on his own."
As he said... since the Lion’s Den began, Kuhn was the first to pass the first gate solo.
An achievement even past graduates—who'd pushed out old vassal families and raised new ones—hadn't accomplished.
And now the rumored youngest young master had done it... so as Chief Administrator, he needed to confirm it personally.
'While I'm at it, see how much he's changed from when he first entered the Lion’s Den.'
Kuhn replied calmly to Veil.
"Just got lucky."
"Luck, huh..."
He trailed off, then quirked up the corner of his mouth.
At the same instant, a razor-sharp aura sharp enough to chill to the bone flowed from his body—whoosh─
Regardless, the Chief Administrator pressed on.
"Even with luck, the unprepared can't seize it."
That he'd been able to grasp that luck was thanks to sufficient effort and skill—he muttered as much, then suddenly straightened his posture.
Smooth─.
"Oh, right—I forgot to mention the reward for passing the first gate. First off... congratulations."
As if he'd truly overlooked it, he continued to Kuhn with a nonchalant expression.
"Starting five days from now, trainees who've passed the first gate will enter seclusion training. Three days have passed already, so two days left tomorrow."
"Seclusion training, sir?"
"Yes. The duration is one year from when the first gate fully concludes."
In other words...
'Trainees who failed the first exam lose out on about two months of seclusion training?'
This differential might even be one of the rewards for those who passed the Lion’s Trial.
And the Chief Administrator's words weren't over yet.
"And..."
Trailing off, he pulled something from a desk drawer and placed it on the table.
The earlier posture shift had been to retrieve this from the drawer.
'...An elixir?'
About the size of a finger joint, dark indigo like the predawn sky.
"This is a special elixir made by the main family. Given to all who pass the first trial, it boosts your mana capacity upon consumption."
As Kuhn thought, it was an elixir.
A pill-form elixir crafted through the Jordic Family's secret arts, no less.
Still, as a first-trial reward, its effects probably weren't top-tier.
But...
Even so, being a Jordic elixir put it leagues above the haphazard junk from riffraff.
'Handing out something like this to mere trainees?'
Unthinkable back when he was raised as Loberian's hunting dog.
And─.
As Kuhn reined in his surprise, the Chief Administrator spoke once more.
"Finally..."
The rewards weren't over yet.