Ah, Master—My Master (Part 2)
Now, let me tell you how I ended up meeting my master, Cardia. The scene shifts to the past. Over ten years ago.
—Hah, am I finally hitting my limit?
At fourteen years old, I was starting to feel the ceiling of my growth.
—As expected, the Silver Wolf Knight Order's training methods just aren't cutting it anymore.
From the tender age of six, I'd been training on my own, bit by bit. Then, from age ten—four years in—I'd fully adopted the Parates family knight order's regimen up to age thirteen.
The Silver Wolf Knight Order of the Parates family—one of the five prestigious orders known as the Empire's Five Fingers. Naturally, their daily training and tempering were on a whole different level from your average knight order.
Running through treacherous mountains with sandbags or training iron armor strapped on, without any aura arts. Sparring with blunted weapons in bouts as real as actual combat, honing each other's skills. Pushing the efficiency of refining mana into aura by deliberately exhausting themselves with Silver Wolf Style aura arts until they collapsed.
Even when they got injured, slashed, had muscles and ligaments tear, bones break, or organs twist—they endured with emergency treatment, recovery potions, and priests' holy power healing, pressing on silently. That was the knight order's way.
—"Lady Aren wants to train with us?"
—"What's that about?"
—"She requested it herself."
—"…Why?"
When a ten-year-old kid like me insisted on training alongside those knights, all sorts of rumors flew around…
—"Rumor has it she wants to witness the hardships of the proud Parates knights up close."
—"Lady Aren? For that reason?"
—"Of course that's just the rumor. When someone asked her directly, she said she wanted to get beaten up by you all to get stronger."
—"Ah, that makes sense."
—"She said it's good for her to get stronger, and even better since you'd get stronger from beating on her."
—"Yeah, that tracks…"
Thanks to the chaos I'd wreaked in the family from six to ten, the knights saw me as a Chihuahua that could take on wolves without a leash.
And so, at that young age, I dove into a "fun" training routine that reminded me of my active-duty military days.
Of course, thanks to strong insistence from my father, mother, older brother, and little sister, I didn't spend every single day from dawn to dusk with the knights.
—"Lady is a real monster…"
—"Has anyone ever mastered Silver Wolf Style that fast?"
—"Her mana reserves aren't huge, but her aura handling talent is insane."
—"Even Lord Zirken wasn't this good at her age. That little body keeps up with the brutal training—impressive."
Days filled with the joy of growing stronger by the hour, improving, evolving.
—"Damn, couldn't land a single hit again today—got pummeled."
—"She's small and slender for her age, but that punch packs a wallop, and the speed…"
—"She said she doesn't care if she breaks one of her own limbs. For real?"
—"No fear in her at all. It's been two years training together, and she's already smashing senior knights head-on."
The knights training with me didn't seem to enjoy it as much…
—"With talent like that, the Parates future is bright!"
—"Bright? If she keeps this up, surpassing the lord is a given."
—"Talent that eclipses even the lord…"
—"The family's prodigy…"
I could definitely feel how much the entire knight order adored me.
And so, after years of training and tempering with them, by age fourteen…
—"Lady Aren beat the vice-captain in just seventeen exchanges!"
—"Someone on the verge of High Expert that easily?!"
—"Isn't Lady Aren only fourteen?"
—"She's gotten way too strong…"
There were no more equals for me in the Silver Wolf Knight Order. The only one clearly stronger, worth learning from, was my father and captain, Zirken Parates.
But he was so busy, constantly away on errands, leaving no time to train me. Suddenly, at fourteen, I was adrift.
…It's about time, huh.
Invited to a tea party hosted by the neighboring count, the perfect age to school some spoiled young ladies. At the tail end of childhood, I made my resolve.
I need to go find them.
Someone to be my master.
I need a new master!
With that decision, I sifted through candidates worthy of being my master now.
Truth be told, for someone like me aiming beyond the ordinary realms, options were slim. Top-tier Masters—High Masters. Those bearing the star titles granted only to the era's absolute best.
The Empire's top pick would be the Sword Saint, but… would he even take me as a disciple? He appears alive in the original story too, a top-tier ally NPC depending on your playthrough. But he never takes disciples. Even in his old age, he never placed anyone beneath him.
Next, the Bow Saint… an elf who masters multiple weapons beyond Master level, but as a wanderer, tracking her down is near impossible…
While jogging lightly and racking my brain with no one coming to mind, the vice-captain approached from afar.
—"Lady, the patrol route for three days from now is set. Take a look!"
—"Oh? Show me here."
He spread the map before me. A quick glance—it was the deepest route since I started training, descending from the farthest point.
A direction I'd never gone, completely off our usual paths. Once a year, twice actually, they swept deep into the mountains for emerging monsters. The time had come.
I'd joined patrols with father's permission a few times before, battling various monsters to gain experience.
—"Haven't gone this deep in four years. Wonder what we'll find…"
The vice-captain shuddered, recalling a fight with an ogre variant stronger than usual. But that wasn't the point.
Pak— Like a spark, one piece of info flashed.
'Deep in the Dragon's Ridge Mountains, there's a legend of a sealed Dragon Slayer, right?'
A brief three-line mention in the setting book, but impossible to ignore.
Dragon Slayer Cardia. A girl who appeared out of nowhere during the dragon-human war centuries ago. Her feats transcended humanity, slaying triple digits of dragons to etch her name in legend.
Her martial art: Dragon Extermination Style. An art that guaranteed absolute victory against dragons—no exaggeration. Even against gods among dragons.
It could reliably slash and wound them, reaching the realm of divine authority.
And from what I knew, Dragon Extermination Style was incredibly powerful even outside dragon fights.
An art to extinguish dragons, whose existential power dwarfed humans'. No way it'd be weak against lesser foes.
'Where that Cardia is sealed…'
I recalled the setting book's map at the end. It was probably not far from this route. Perfect geographic luck.
But I didn't know the exact spot. Just that deep in the Dragon's Ridge Mountains, inside a cave shaped like a dragon's maw.
Still, when I was at a loss, this was a golden opportunity.
—Can't go with the patrol. They'd never let me go deeper.
No matter my strength, the knights still treated me like a young lady. Training injuries were fine, but me risking monsters? Never.
Sorry to the ever-toiling knights, but… I'd tail them secretly, snag some benefits, and push further.
Three days later. I prepared quietly, left a note in my room saying I was just stepping out—not running away—and slipped off.
Tracking the twenty-man patrol, I climbed the mountains.
—"Hold position! Front lines block, flanks counterattack!"
—"Filthy lizard spawn!"
As expected, once past a certain line, monsters strong enough to solo a village started appearing.
—"What golem is that huge?!"
—"Sharpen your aura more! That sword aura won't cut it!"
—"Archers, handle those wyverns!"
From C-rank or below: lizardmen, wild boars, dark wolves.
Then B-rank+: golems, cyclops, wyverns blocking the knights.
Disasters for regular soldiers, but no match for knights.
The patrol deftly exterminated them, collected valuable magic stones, and pressed on.
—Thought I might help if needed, but no need.
Keeping enough distance they wouldn't notice, I followed for over three hours.
A few stray monsters spotted me midway.
—"Kwaaaagh!"
—Slice.
—"Kwaa—agh?"
—"You too. Slice."
I killed them faster than the knights would notice—no risk of detection.
Soon, we reached the destination. I waved goodbye to the patrol veering sideways along the route. They wouldn't see.
Thanks to them, I'd conserved stamina and mana perfectly. Safe to venture deeper solo.
I'll treat them to good booze on my dime at the next gathering, I vowed, plunging further in.
—Man, no place more of a pain in the ass than this…
The deepest part, untouched even by the three families managing the range. Not on patrol routes, just circled vaguely on maps.
Blazing through it myself—nothing more frustrating.
Monsters: B-rank minimum, occasional A-ranks.
The B-ranks we'd sliced through earlier could match senior knights one-on-one by standard order metrics.
A-ranks rivaled knight order captains. Released in a city, they'd rampage until top experts arrived.
Even I couldn't solo A-ranks reliably, so I hid my presence, focusing on finding the cave.
—Ha… damn, finally…
Even as sunset neared, I kept searching. Only after dark did I find the cave like a yawning dragon's mouth.
—Was gonna camp in some secluded cave if needed, but luck's on my side today…
Wiping sweat from my face, I stepped inside—
—"Whoa! Damn, you scared me!"
A strange girl's voice pierced directly into my mind via telepathy.
So urgent, like a man in the desert spotting an oasis. I trudged in, and soon spotted a rusted sword embedded in stone.
—Ah, the classic seal setup. Man, these game devs love sealing people in weapons.
Muttering, I gripped the hilt without hesitation.
With a whoosh, I transferred to a white space…
—"Waaaaaah!!!"
—"Whoa, why are you hugging and crying right away?!"
—"It's been exactly 274 years since I last saw another person!!!"
That's how I first met Cardia, who flung herself at me and burst into tears without a second thought.
"…And that's the gist of how we met here, and I took you as my master."
"Mm! Yeah! —Huh? Is it?"
"Oh, I guess I never told you this one? I told so many old stories, but skipped this?"
Cardia, riding piggyback on my shoulders, closed her eyes and pondered deeply.
"—I dunno! Feels kinda familiar!"
"I'm pretty sure I did. You only remember what you wanna remember, Master."
"I've been stuck here so long—can't remember everything!"
Seeming pleased with the rare piggyback, she rested her chin on my head and grinned.
"…I see. A meeting befitting the director, I suppose…"
"Befitting me how?"
"Chasing some old legend into the depths of these deadly mountains to who-knows-where—that insane action screams Director Aren…"
Cardia giggled at Gia's words.
"That's right! Back then, she looked all delicate but was a total gorilla!"
"Still on about the gorilla thing. Anyway, we've reminisced enough—now spill it."
I'd gotten straight to business upon arriving. My story-loving (though not remembering) master wanted to play first, so I'd indulged her with the piggyback tale time.
"Ah, right, yeah. You asked if there are super strong Dragon Fang Soldiers around."
"Yes. Haven't seen one myself, but they sound ridiculously powerful."
"Forgot at first, but I remembered! It's from an old tale Terminus told me!"
I froze at the name she dropped.
'Terminus'.
The ancient dragon who sided with humans. My master's master—and the father figure who raised the orphaned her.
At the mention of that grandmaster, I straightened my posture a bit.