Sir Hero, It’s Time to Train!

The sky was exceedingly clear. Despite it being winter, it did not feel cold and chilly, making it seem more like a cool and refreshing autumn day.

Christian, gazing blankly at the sky, simply absorbed the warm sunshine, lost in quiet contemplation.

‘With the year turning, I am finally sixteen.’

Being sixteen meant receiving some semblance of adult treatment.

Although the kingdom’s law stated that adulthood began at eighteen, other countries recognized adulthood at sixteen.

As a result, the laws of the Rondel kingdom seemed somewhat behind when compared to the continent’s general law.

Even though a new year had begun and Christian had turned sixteen, it did not bring any dramatic changes for him.

He still sought to find August Varian…

‘I shouldn’t have vouched for that…’

It seemed like a mistake to have vouched for something, even though it wasn’t he who vouched for it.

Yet, merely being the one who recommended it left him dragging his feet over the situation, as if he had made a mistake endorsing it himself.

“I am Bunion Twellin of the Twellin Baron family! It is an honor to witness the swordsmanship of the Worden County! You, Christian Worden! Though young, since we are to clash swords, let us do so with honor…”

“…”

Christian genuinely wondered why everyone coming up here felt the need to introduce themselves with their family background.

He was sincerely curious about this phenomenon.

‘Is he not done yet?’

Christian lowered his gaze and focused forward.

The speech from this Twellin Baron Bunion or whatever did not seem to have an end. Although Bunion kept rambling, none of it registered with Christian.

Waaaah—!

Twellin! Twellin! Twellin!

Worden! Worden! Worden!

Christian! Make that loudmouth shut up!

Glory to the Aries Order!

…and in between, there was Aira’s overwhelming cheering, but the shouting from everyone helped to substantially neutralize the opponent’s mental attack.

“Haaa.”

Christian sighed, raising his practice iron sword.

“W-what?! W-wait! I’m not done speaking! Before this glorious duel, there remains the great achievements of our 7th ancestor, Hagrian Twellin!”

“It is an honor to duel with the esteemed Bunion Twellin of the Twellin Baron family. Now, let’s begin.”

“Ah, thank you. Huh? Begin?!”

Even before he started his speech, the declaration to begin had already been given, so there was no issue with starting abruptly.

However, Christian’s disregard for the noble etiquette of listing the other family’s achievements left Bunion Twellin baffled.

‘I haven’t heard the glorious achievements of Worden yet…’

Kwoosh—!

When Christian slammed his foot onto the ground, the solid training ground floor trembled.

Contrary to expectations of an immediate assault, neither Bunion nor the observing spectators reacted when Christian stomped on the floor.

Bunion quickly tried to list the achievements of his 7th ancestor, but…

Boom—!

“Aaaaah?!”

The wave that rose from beneath Bunion’s feet was like a geyser, launching his body high into the air.

As Bunion flailed helplessly in the air, Christian sighed, seemingly wondering why he was even doing this. He swung his hand nonchalantly.

Paaang—!

“Urgh?!”

The wave directed at the flailing Bunion in mid-air was not powerful enough to slice him in two, merely intended to clear the nuisance from his sight.

“Ahhhhh?!”

Bunion soared towards the spectators. If left unchecked, both Bunion and the spectators could be in a dangerous situation. Still, Christian remained on the training ground, apathetically, as if he had completed his task.

“Ooh!”

A radiant white light enveloped Bunion’s body before he crashed into the spectators, safely transporting him to the medical room.

Worden! Worden! Worden! Worden!

“What sort of clown show is this,”

Christian muttered, wishing to escape immediately, but held back upon seeing Roscarle’s enthusiastic cheers from the premium seats.

“Why is the embarrassment always my burden?” he grumbled.

Indeed, he would never vouch again. Damn Caedwin. This is all that bastard’s fault.

***

“Wow! Christian! You were amazing… Ugh?!”

“You idiot! Didn’t I tell you not to show up in front of me for a while?!”

Caedwin greeted Christian with a smile as he entered the waiting room, but Christian responded by punching the laughing face without hesitation.

Caedwin, having been struck in the face from his unguarded condition, fell backward, but Christian did not stop there; he followed up with a stomp.

“Aagh! Aagh! It hurts! Are you still… urgh?! Still mad…”

“Because of you, I’m doing this ridiculous clown act!”

“It really hurts! But, why is this… arg! I-I’m sorry, it’s my… fault.”

Just as Caedwin was realizing the painful fact that he could literally get beaten to death, thankfully, aira intervened to calm Christian down.

“Stop it; you’re making me embarrassed.”

“Yeah, Christian. We’re not alone here, so calm down and beat him up later.”

“Elder brother, why suggest beating me up later?”

Aira frowned as she stepped in to restrain Christian, while Liber quietly pushed Caedwin aside to prevent Christian’s kick from reaching him further.

Only then did Christian cease his kicking, still gritting his teeth at Caedwin, appearing to have calmed down somewhat.

“Why do I have to play along with children’s fights?”

“… This isn’t a kids’ fight; it’s a martial arts tournament rich with tradition and history of the Aries Order.”

Ignoring Liber’s absurd comment, Christian sighed deeply.

But to Christian, this martial tournament or swordplay contest seemed little more than a children’s playtime. Knowing Christian’s skills, Liber continued to offer apologies.

“I’m sorry, Christian. We really didn’t anticipate this. Who would have guessed Marquis Ferdida would also recommend you for the tournament…”

As Liber stated, Christian merely asked for a recommendation letter from Marquis Ferdida for the martial tournament, solely for the sake of the two—specifically, for the sake of Liber and Cotra family’s domain.

Even participating was already an honor for the two individuals, leaving both of them quite desperate; likewise, Marquis Ferdida was also eager for him to participate, thus granting permission readily.

Yet contrary to Christian’s original intent, his name appeared on the list of participants.

And there lay another small problem…

“You’re not the only one having a hard time. When my maternal relatives heard you entered, they forced me in as well!”

“Ha…”

Upon hearing that Christian was entering the Aries Order’s martial tournament, the Miles Viscounty quickly proposed Aira, forcing her into the competition.

Despite Evan personally visiting and earnestly requesting, aira’s opinion did not matter; it felt more like a notification of an already decided situation.

In essence, the two siblings were involuntarily pushed into a tournament they had no desire to join, leaving them both quite disgruntled.

“… You should increase the intensity of the gravity array training once you’re home.”

“And battle him in unlimited matches until you win.”

“Are you trying to kill me?!”

As Christian and Aira both glared with a killer intent at Caedwin, threatening him, all color drained from his face.

Yet Caedwin dared not resist and merely squatted in the corner, praying for the siblings’ anger to subside.

He instinctively sensed that provoking them any further would not end with mere kicking.

“Quit being uncouth. Do you think this is your home?”

“Hmm?”

A familiar voice reached Christian, who still seemed unsatisfied. Apparently, it had the same effect on Aira, who turned their heads together.

There stood Riley Miles, exceedingly self-assured for his age, maintaining a perpetually cold and aloof demeanor.

“What is he even doing here?”

Christian asked, seeing Riley.

“Because of you two,”

Riley snapped.

“Us?”

As Riley grit his teeth, aira quietly whispered to Christian again.

“He got forced in here like us. Our maternal relatives recommended both me and him since you were participating with Elder brother Liber and Caedwin.”

“Ah…”

Aira clearly had no intention of addressing her cousin, Riley, with formal speech.

Moreover, they were not whispering but practically laying it out for all to hear. Riley barely contained his temper.

“Poor thing, huh?”

“Shut up. And…”

Riley grit his teeth, glaring at Aira as he added,

“This time, I won’t go easy.”

“What nonsense are you spouting? Didn’t learn anything yet?”

Seeming to have said everything he wanted, Riley turned to Liber just before he left.

“Riley, I won’t go easy either.”

“You don’t matter.”

“….”

Showing no interest at all, Riley turned and headed to his seat. Liber continued to intently watch Riley’s retreating figure, eyes filled with fiery determination.

“To meet that guy, you’ll need to at least reach the finals. Elder brother Liber, someone like you can surely do that, so don’t waste your energy too soon,”

Christian advised.

“Yeah, I got it,”

At Christian’s words, Liber’s tense demeanor finally relaxed. He carefully returned to his seat, regulating his mana through slow and deep breaths.

‘What’s this? There actually are quite a few capable individuals?’

With Christian’s anger now subdued, he surveyed the waiting room. Though the competition seemed at a child’s play level, not everyone was just chaff.

‘Is it because it’s a competition with such a long history? Once in the finals, there may be some fun individuals around.’

Since it held the title of the largest martial arts competition in the western continent, Christian held onto such hopes. Meanwhile, a sigh echoed from beside him.

“Sigh, if this were any other time, I’d be pulverizing my body with strength training.”

“… Put that down. Consider this chance as an experience.”

“Experience? How does this help?”

“You’re underestimating it again. Even if you’re exceptional for your age, not all here are of our age. There could be people more skilled than you.”

Just from among those visibly present…

While Christian spoke, aira scoffed, responding with confidence.

“I’m not going to be complacent again. Once I hold a sword, I’ll give it my all.”

“Good. That’s enough for now.”

Seeing Aira seemingly more reliable than before, likely having grown from the spar with Riley, Christian offered a light chuckle.