On another day, I gathered the children and organized activities to improve their physical fitness.
Marianne didn’t neglect her training even in this remote place. She boasted that she had been running in the fields and doing physical exercises whenever she had time, even while I was too busy taking care of Rubel to notice.
She hadn’t done it entirely on her own. Benjamin had stuck by Marianne’s side, helping her.
Marianne said that I was better at teaching, but Benjamin was better at encouraging.
I tended to point out the detailed aspects of each movement, telling them to do this and do that. That was because everything I had learned was in that style. It was a training method to follow Namgung’s Righteous Path.
However, Benjamin’s teaching was simple and honest. He believed that they would learn as much as they sweat, so the asceticism they were currently undertaking would lead them to the right path. He added encouragement with his magnificent voice, making them run and run, lift and lift until they were driven to the brink.
I pushed the child until they were on the verge of collapsing, but Benjamin made the child collapse for sure.
Only when Marianne was retching as if scraping out her insides and unable to stand on her own two feet, did he nod in satisfaction, saying that she had finally taken another step forward.
I came to observe the training and was greatly impressed to see Marianne casting Restoration Magic on herself while whining.
“Indeed… With Restoration Magic, she can push herself this far without getting injured. I thought it only reversed fatigue, but I didn’t know it could heal even this.”
“Young Lady Philodendor is a Wizard, after all. I learned it this way too.”
“…Um… I’m not okay at all…?”
“Healing the condition with magic… It’s not turning back time, but healing torn muscles… It’s only natural that muscle strength improves with repetition, so why didn’t I realize this until now?”
“Healing Artifacts are expensive, so they’re rarely used for muscle pain. But Marianne can cast Restoration Magic on herself, so I didn’t think there was a need to spare her body.”
“Spare me… please…”
“How much weight did Marianne lift just now?”
“She lifted 80kg for 4 minutes. Yuil Mountain Range Military Gear is mostly around 30kg, so being able to exercise with this much weight… It would be enough if she could repeat it five times in a row with rest periods.”
“Hey, you two. Are you listening to me? Can you hear me? Hello?”
“40kg in each arm?”
“Yes, about that much. Of course, I don’t mean she should do it entirely with arm strength. If she internalizes the proper posture to balance her body, it should be manageable.”
“Hey!”
Marianne, who had been muttering to herself, scraped up the grass from the ground and threw it at Benjamin. The way she was venting her anger made it clear that she still had energy left. I thought it seemed like a pretty useful method, so I praised Benjamin a few more times.
I also had them Sparring, in the order of Bill, Rubel, and Benjamin.
Bill Brown around this time last year, no matter how you looked at him, was only at the level of a First-rate beginner and couldn’t even control a portion of his aura at will, but he had improved quite a bit in the meantime.
But it wasn’t enough yet. The child was hopping mad, jumping up and down, because I was afraid of hurting the immature sprout and didn’t push him too hard, just leisurely swinging my sword. I couldn’t help but chuckle every time he rolled his large body like a rock. I deflected his sword and let his attacks flow away, giving him various pieces of advice.
Rubel was a Peak Martial artist. When I first met him, he was a First-rate Martial artist, but he had steadily achieved results over the years and had now reached the Peak realm.
Every time the child parried the sword I swung, my heart fluttered with satisfaction and joy. He said he was working hard to train to become a Sword Master even during his busy work, and the sword that resembled mine more and more each day was mesmerizing. I was pleased and patted his head a lot after the Sparring, praising him greatly.
And that guy Benjamin had grown into a master who was almost equal to me.
“…Hoo.”
“Shall we take a break?”
“No, let’s go right away.”
I planted my feet on the ground and blocked the weight of the guy who kicked off the ground without hesitation, entirely with my sword. I wrapped his aura with my aura and slammed it straight into the ground, causing a cloud of dust to rise in a large circle for a moment. It was as if a tall pillar was receiving the power of lightning and channeling it into the ground.
Gasps and exclamations escaped from the children who had come to watch.
Even the Child who had no interest in swordsmanship had many things to admire in their own way, so they had flocked like clouds when they heard that we were Sparring.
To my eyes, I could clearly see the child stepping eight paces in the correct footwork sequence, but to their eyes, it would only appear as if he had moved like a flash of lightning before they could even blink. How amazing and fun would it be to see a nimble and quick peer?
I had deliberately drawn a line on the ground at a certain distance to prevent the children from getting hurt, but neither of us was unskilled enough to not avoid the heads of the children craning their necks to watch. We didn’t care and swung our swords as we pleased.
When swords imbued with power collided, there was a loud bang.
When swords without power collided, there was a clanging sound, like jade beads spilling onto a silver platter.
Benjamin deliberately bent his body and kicked up dust with his feet. I wasn’t someone who would be fooled by such tricks.
He hid his presence for a moment.
The bewildered child stabbed where I should have been. I was right behind Benjamin, holding my sword against his neck. Ha. Benjamin, exhaling a large breath, took the strength out of his shoulders and sheathed his sword.
“Is this that? That, Professor Roberts’?”
“Yes.”
I blew away the thick dust with an exhalation and also composed myself.
“Are you tempted now?”
“A little. I didn’t expect you to use… stealth in a one-on-one Sparring.”
“Still, it seems like you’re making quite a bit of progress. Was that the Imperial Swordsmanship up to the second form, and then the Siren sword technique in the third form?”
“Yes. That’s right. I’ve been trying various things, but I still don’t know what my wall is.”
We shook hands, meaning we had both done well and were grateful. The sound of clapping hands was loud amidst the settling dust.
Among the many gazes looking at this side, I easily found Rubel’s dark eyes and smiled. The way his usually gentle eyes were narrowed fiercely was also cute, like a sulky cat.
The longing for a Martial artist who had suddenly surpassed him in skill was almost palpable.
It was natural that I was more skilled than him since I was originally walking a path I already knew, but Benjamin originally had less skill than Rubel. It was only natural for a confident young Martial artist to be jealous.
But how could Benjamin, who was only focused on swordsmanship, be compared to Rubel, who was dragged around by meetings and politics and made an effort to learn the sword in his spare time? I tried to hold back from laughing, fearing that the child would sulk, but I couldn’t help but smile.
Wanting to take care of him, I went to Rubel’s side and helped explain the Sparring just now. The child stiffened his expression coldly, but in a weak voice, he went on and on about how frustrated and upset he was that he had missed a few of Benjamin’s footwork with his own eyes.
I soothed him by saying that he would be able to do it soon too, and that I would help him.
After getting grimy from training and sparring, we washed our bodies with Clean Magic with the help of the assigned wizards. It was a big deal to draw water and heat it in the wide plains, and it was also embarrassing to strip naked and wash our bodies in an open place. Once again, I realized how good magic was.
I told him about that on the way for a walk in a clean outfit, and Rubel nodded in agreement. With each step we took side by side, the well-groomed grass rustled past our boots.
“Young Master Claudian seems like he’ll become a Sword Master soon, right?”
“Yes. Although it’s said that those from the academy grow quickly… I was a little surprised that his skills improved so much faster than I had imagined. Actually… I thought Benjamin would become a Sword Master when he was twenty years old.”
“…Benjamin?”
“Yes?”
“Ah, no. It’s not like you and Young Master Claudian… are on a first-name basis.”
That was a funny thing to say. How many years have that child and I been together, and now he’s saying this?
“Haha, I’m just being polite in front of others. There’s no way we’d be that formal when we see each other so often.”
“…That’s, right.”
“Ruben also went from Upper Sword Expert to Top-tier in just two years, didn’t he?”
“You’re not one to talk, Mika.”
“I’m… I see. I also became a Sword Master faster than I thought.”
That was right.
In my previous life, I became a First-rate Martial artist around the age of twenty, and I was called a Peak Martial artist a little before I turned thirty. I became a Transcendent Peak Martial artist after I turned forty. It took me about ten years to climb each step. Even that was an early stage because I cultivated myself every day.
So even after being reborn, I vaguely thought that if I worked hard, I might be able to become a Transcendent Peak Martial artist at the age of twenty-five… That was because I didn’t know how to quickly accumulate Internal Energy without using excellent elixirs.
I didn’t know I would reach Transcendent Peak at the age of fifteen. It was ten years earlier than I had originally expected.
It was thanks to scraping together all the talented people from a land as large as, or even larger than, the Central Plains and gathering them at the academy, and learning steadily under good teachers. It was an achievement that was not mine alone.
And that’s not the only thing I’m grateful for.
“…Certainly, the Hunting Festival seems to be a more appealing event than the New Year Festival.”
“Because you can Sparring?”
“That too. I like seeing the open meadows.”
“…You, yes. You also liked botanical gardens. Gardens, too.”
“Yes. I didn’t even know I liked it… but I feel good when I smell the grass.”
“Shall we come together next year?”
I didn’t answer right away to the sudden question.
I stopped walking for a moment, and Rubel also stopped. Above our heads, we carried a sky full of stars, and beneath our feet, we stepped on black grass buried in darkness. I quietly looked at Rubel’s face, where the moonlight was shining brightly.
After a while, Rubel smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“…No. I was just saying… In the Yuil Mountains, you often don’t participate in social events on time… I’m just, disappointed.”
“Rubel.”
“…I know, I know.”
“Ruben.”
“…”
The child took a deep breath. I calmly grabbed his wrist. I gently patted the back of his hand. The child’s fingertips were cold. The desire that had settled in one corner of my heart was wriggling and expanding its place as it pleased.
Looking into those dark and dim eyes, my throat became inexplicably dry. Thanks to my best efforts to make my voice sound without clumsiness, the words I uttered sounded calm and serene even to my own ears.
“You once said that it’s good for things not to change.”
“…”
“I will not change. However… It’s okay for Ruben to change.”
“…That’s.”
“I hope you can help me so that I can go and come back with peace of mind.”
“…”
“Would that be okay?”
“…Yeah.”
The child wiggled the hand he was holding, then asked in a very small voice.
“Can I, hug you just once?”
It was a voice so small that I wouldn’t have heard it if I hadn’t reached a certain level. I looked around once. The sound of a song coming from afar lingered at my feet.
…The night breeze was cool.
I was determined to give this child everything he wanted. But I didn’t trust myself, and I was afraid that I might do something bad to the child, so I couldn’t answer right away. The child’s wheezing breath tickled my ear. How could I ever stand up to this child?
After a long time of deliberation, I opened my arms and offered him my embrace.