Chapter 28 – Preparation (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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At the academy, the day began with a vigorous run.

By now I had long since gotten used to Instructor Lee Won-bin’s morning training routine aimed at turning every cadet bald.

I never thought I’d say this with my own mouth, but before I knew it, I had gone beyond simply fitting well into academy life and reached the point where I was actually enjoying living here.

“One, two, three, four. Your voices are too quiet. Again!”

“””””Yes!”””””

The cadets shouted out spirited responses and cadence. Looking only at that, it didn’t seem much different from the morning training we always did.

Chloe was seated in a chair set off to one side of the training ground.

She had a metal crutch propped beside her and was gesturing toward me. I answered with a weak wave of my own, then took up the rear of the running line.

The man at the front, leading the cadets with a whistle, slowed down and came to run beside me.

“Your feet are slow. Did you injure your legs during the test too?”

“No, sir.”

The green training uniform with three lines drawn down each side. Normally it would have looked ridiculous, yet when this man wore it, it somehow looked as sharp as an expensive set of high-performance athletic clothes.

The bulging muscle fibers visible beneath the uniform. It was a perfectly balanced body, hard to believe belonged to an old man with white hair.

And on top of that, his well-proportioned features were those of a handsome older man without a single flaw. Back in his day, he had surely shaken the hearts of countless women.

Sword Emperor Siegfried von Nibelung.

Half a century ago, he was credited with outstanding achievements in the battle against the Fourth Legion Commander Basmon and was effectively regarded as humanity’s greatest combat power.

If there was anyone who could even be compared to him in martial strength, perhaps it would be Spear Star Richa de Muir.

But since Spear Star was the kind of person whose stats were all dumped into raw strength, some people argued that in pure physical might he have the advantage. Even so, most people still sided with the Sword Emperor.

In the latter half of Miracle’s Blessing M, during the Second Human-Demon Great War, the Sword Emperor was the man fated to inherit the title of Sword Saint, which had originally been the proper epithet of Aron Nibelung, the Hero of Origin’s right-hand man and the first Sword Saint.

Not only that, he later became Leon’s sword master, and from the middle of the story onward his importance increased drastically.

‘Sword Saint.’

As far as I knew, even Leon van Reinhardt, wrapped head to toe in protagonist buffs later on, never managed to inherit the title of Sword Saint in the end.

Back then, the community had been flooded with all kinds of posts by players desperate to add those two dazzling characters beside their nickname.

But not a single post ever appeared claiming success in obtaining the title. One player even uploaded a screenshot of the reply he got from the game company after asking about it, and the wording had been something else.

『The acquisition of that title by protagonist Leon van Reinhardt had been designed to be systemically “impossible.” We apologize for the inconvenience.』

Siegfried, the next Sword Saint.

Whenever he gripped the hilt of a sword, everyone looked up at him with eyes full of awe. A veteran swordsman who had risen into the realm of embodying a man’s romantic ideal exactly as it was.

…But.

That Sword Emperor, the object of everyone’s admiration, was currently matching strides with me, an ordinary academy cadet, while we ran. The metal whistle hanging at his neck swayed like a bell.

If I absolutely had to compare the situation to something, it felt like jogging side by side around a training field with a four-star general on the level of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. If anything, what I felt was even more intense than that.

Any man who had served in the military would probably get chills stiffening the back of his neck in a situation like this.

So what would it be like for me, who was actually living through it? If I’d never served in the military, maybe I wouldn’t know, but as someone who had completed his full term, this was truly beyond awkward.

The pressure made it hard even to keep my breathing steady. Sweat ran down my temples and along my cheeks.

Even Instructor Lee Won-bin, built like a sturdy wall, kept glancing this way anxiously. And then there were the jealous looked the cadets kept shooting at me on top of that. I clicked my tongue softly and let those gazes slide past.

“A warrior’s foundation comes from physical strength and endurance. No matter how talented a warrior may be, without a sturdy body and unbreakable grit, he cannot bring out his true strength. These trainings that seem insignificant are what become the groundwork that allows one to grow further. Stop trying to cut corners and keep up properly.”

“…Yes, sir.”

The way he spoke was thick with the smell of old-school lecturing. When I trailed off the end of my answer, the Sword Emperor’s expression hardened and he barked:

“Your voice is too quiet. Are you still not even fully weaned off your mother’s milk?”

“I will correct it!!”

“Good.”

Apparently satisfied with the volume, the Sword Emperor nodded once and then shot back to the front at unbelievable speed.

The dust he kicked up only scattered after he was already gone. At the sharp whistle, the cadets scampered after him like a pack of rats.

He had to be over seventy, but whether he was taking some incredible tonic or not, he showed no signs of fatigue at all. Sage Media maintained her youth by constantly manifesting her unique blessing, but the Sword Emperor moved about as though he had cast old age aside entirely.

‘Does he age in reverse or something?’

I shook my head to clear away the stray thoughts piling up.

To begin with, this old man was a mysterious figure in the game too, someone who hated public exposure to an extreme degree. And yet, bizarrely enough, I kept running into him.

Even nobles famous for their status bowed their heads just to try and exchange a single word with him, but he kept showing up to see me like he was just dropping by on a casual stroll.

It had been like that at the entrance ceremony, and it had been the same a few days ago too.

As if it weren’t enough that he had come to visit me every single time I was hospitalized, now he’d even taken the position of co-homeroom instructor for Wolf Class.

If I at least knew the reason, it would feel a little less unfair, but there was no way that man, famous for his silence, would tell me.

I had barely managed to survive the brink of death in the first exam and thought I was finally returning to ordinary life.

And yet there had never been a disruption quite like this.

The main story of Miracle’s Blessing M, which had gradually begun slipping out of place, had now properly gone off the rails.

“…Ha.”

I didn’t want to think about it too deeply… but the uneasiness surging up in my chest made a blurred sigh slip out.

After the running drill ended, every cadet sat on the dirt of the training ground and looked up at the Sword Emperor. Their eyes sparkled brightly.

Some cadets twitched their cheeks in excitement, and some were even swallowing hard as they waited for his lips to move.

There were even groups from Dragon and Star Class who had skipped their own lessons just to come watch the Sword Emperor.

With his arms crossed, the Sword Emperor looked down at the cadets. His stern face still carried a seasoned gentleness.

His bright golden eyes moved slowly, as if weighing them one by one. The cadets silently cried out with all their hearts, praying that the Sword Emperor would look at them in particular.

Then, in a composed voice, the Sword Emperor began to speak.

“It is important to face enemies using knowledge. But on the actual battlefield, the mind rarely functions as smoothly as one would like. The attacks of demonic beasts do not wait for you to finish thinking them through.”

The Sword Emperor gave a small nod toward Instructor Lee Won-bin. In response, Lee Won-bin brought out all manner of metal weapons and laid them on the ground.

There was a wide variety, from standard double-edged swords to spears, hand axes, and even bows. For some reason, a couple of Daiso sashimi knives were mixed in among them.

“From now on, outside of field training, the use of your personal weapons will be strictly forbidden. Instead, pick up the weapon in front of you that fits your hand and make it familiar.”

Shock spread across the cadets listening. Weapons passed down from their families were practically extensions of themselves.

So the Sword Emperor’s decree forbidding the use of those weapons probably felt to them no different from being told to hand over an arm each.

At the Sword Emperor’s words, the cadets murmured for a while. Then a male student with piercings cautiously raised his hand and asked:

“Sword Emperor, I have a question. Could you tell us why our personal weapons are being forbidden? I think it makes sense to grow accustomed to the inherited weapons passed down through our families, if we are thinking of our future.”

Even at the cheeky question, there was not the slightest sign of displeasure on the Sword Emperor’s face. If anything, he seemed to like the question and answered after smoothing the crease between his brows.

“A good question. But fundamentals are important in all things. The more one relies on a high-grade weapon, the more likely one is to neglect the basics and grow lazy in training. And before long, one mistakes the weapon’s performance for one’s own power.”

“Wouldn’t that be all the more reason to master the use of such weapons and compensate for one’s shortcomings?”

It seemed the male student took this as his chance, because he replied again in a tone thick with outward humility. His yellow-bellied desire to get noticed by the Sword Emperor was painfully obvious.

“Even if one possesses an excellent weapon, if the user lacks ability, it is no more than a pearl necklace on a pig’s neck. And masters do not blame their tools. That is all.”

I felt a jolt of familiarity and flinched. For no reason, I found myself nodding with a bit of satisfaction.

The student who had asked the question still looked unconvinced, but perhaps he had been overwhelmed by the Sword Emperor’s aura, because he asked nothing further.

“Once you master the fundamentals, the weapon too will naturally become familiar in your hands. Cadets who become proficient in using ordinary weapons will likely receive high evaluations during the class promotion examination at year’s end.”

“R-Really!?”

“I guarantee it.”

As soon as the Sword Emperor said that, excitement spread across the cadets’ faces. They belonged to Wolf Class.

For those desperate to move up, humanity’s strongest himself had just made them a direct promise.

One after another, the cadets rushed forward to grab not heirloom weapons, but mere tools made of metal.

Some still tilted their heads, unfamiliar with the sensation. But most of them were already giggling as they swung the weapons experimentally and tried them out.

Only then did I brush the dirt from my rear and stand up. After the rush had passed, all that remained were a trident that looked like a farming tool and two sashimi knives.

I scratched lightly around my eyebrow with my index finger and picked up the two sashimi knives, tucking them into my waistband.

The Sword Emperor flicked a sideways glance in my direction.

‘As expected, that old man…’

Once he had confirmed that every cadet was holding a weapon, the Sword Emperor spoke again.

“To help you grow accustomed to your weapons, today we will be doing paired sparring.”

The atmosphere among the cadets instantly became restless. No matter how much the academy valued practical combat, sparring with cold blades rather than in a subspace was bound to feel shocking.

“You enrolled in this academy to grow into true soldiers who carry on the will of the Hero of Origin, Balor Hoakin. Without confronting danger, one cannot become a true warrior.”

As if he had expected their reaction, the Sword Emperor continued in an even tone with his arms crossed.

“Even so, if you thoughtlessly point blades at one another, you’ll all lose your heads together. So before we begin the pairings, I will first demonstrate a sparring match myself.”

“No way, we get to see the Sword Emperor’s sword?”

“This is insane. I’ve only ever seen it on Nootube, I can’t believe I’ll get to see it in person!”

“Damn it, Sword Emperor! I knew I could count on you!”

The boys whistled and cheered loudly. The murmuring was loud enough to carry past the training grounds.

“Quiet down, quiet down! Everyone sit down!”

Instructor Lee Won-bin, sweating heavily, tried to calm the boys. But it was nowhere near enough to cool the heat of youth once it had been stirred up. Lee Won-bin covered either his forehead or his scalp and let out a sigh.

I almost wanted to offer him a word of comfort. It was hard enough already for him to lead the class together with the Sword Emperor, and now, even if it was just for a demonstration, he seemed to have been assigned the role of sparring partner too.

Lee Won-bin’s head looked especially barren today. He seemed pitiable in more ways than one.

Lee Won-bin awkwardly picked up a double-edged battle axe. At that, the Sword Emperor gestured for him to step back.

Lee Won-bin tilted his head to the side with an uncertain look. Then the Sword Emperor turned his gaze toward the cadets.

A moment later, his eyes settled on me.

“Cadet Kang Geom-ma, step forward.”

That single sentence came from the Sword Emperor’s mouth.

At once, every eye focused on me.

…Damn it.