Metun furrowed his brow, watching Raon as he hid his presence like a wild animal.
“Has Raon been hiding his strength on purpose?”
“He wasn’t hiding it, but he did that to teach the other guys a lesson.”
Rimmer snorted.
“Teach them a lesson?”
“After receiving some attention, my students started getting delusional, thinking that they were actually really strong. They arrogantly believe that they are always ahead of the others, without realizing that there are plenty of people as strong as them.”
He smirked and pointed at Raon.
“The only person who judges his own abilities objectively in the fifth training ground is Raon. That’s why I wanted to teach them a lesson.”
“Wait! No way, were you actually in that pub because…”
“Yes. I went to the pub you frequent on purpose. I wanted to make the fifth and sixth training ground fight each other by taunting you.”
“Rimmer…”
“Don’t look at me like that. You were aiming for us as well.”
Rimmer turned around to look at Metun, smiling softly.
“Hmm…”
“I’ve been watching the way you’ve been teaching them well, and the children’s wholehearted efforts. No one is going to look down on you in the future.”
“Hmph.”
Metun frowned and turned his head. It seemed he liked the compliment since his cheeks had become slightly red.
“But Rimmer, you are also mistaken about one thing.”
He turned his face back, with vivid eyes.
“Mistaken? What kind of mistake?”
“The battle isn’t over yet.”
Metun raised his hand and pointed at Raon, who was standing in front of Kein.
“The Raon’s aura is a mid-high level fire attribute cultivation technique, which isn’t anything special. However, Kein is born with the fire attribute’s disposition, and has acquired a highest tier cultivation technique. Raon is unable to win against Kein in this matchup.”
As Metun finished speaking, a crimson flame flared up on Kein’s blade.
“Ah, this is another mistake.”
“It’s fine as long as you realize. The result…”
“No, it wasn’t about me, but you.”
Rimmer giggled. He turned his head and pointed at Raon, who was drawing his sword.
Whap!
A very small flame ignited on Raon’s blade.
“Open your eyes and watch.”
Rimmer’s eyes were burning red, much like the flame ignited on Raon’s blade.
“How the small flame will engulf the bigger flame.”
***
Kein Zieghart furrowed his brow, watching the small flame ignited on Raon’s blade. It was as beautiful as a flower, but it was too small.
‘It’s small.’
The small flame could barely cover the end of the blade. It was too thin to cut through anyone.
‘But there must be something about him.’
He couldn’t have become the top trainee by playing hopscotch.
Considering which opponents Raon had faced and won against so far, that energy must’ve been extraordinary.
‘But I’m stronger.’
He kept cultivating his aura non-stop for two years after getting injured. Swordsmanship would’ve been a different story, but he didn’t lose to the regular swordsmen in terms of the aura’s quantity.
Moreover, since he’d acquired the highest tier fire attribute aura and could use it to engulf Raon’s flame, the match was already decided.
Unless he was taken off guard, he could obtain victory, reversing the unfavorable situation.
“Here I go!”
Kein brandished his sword and kicked off from the ground.
‘I need to break through it with power.’
Raon was famous for his talent in swordsmanship. In order to avoid getting dragged around by his techniques, he needed to finish the fight in one fell swoop using speed and power.
“Haa!”
Right before he pummeled Raon’s shoulder with his flame sword, he raised his head.
Huh?
Serene eyes.
He got goosebumps as he looked at eyes that didn’t match the situation at all. He brandished the sword containing that small flame.
‘It’s too late.’
Putting strength into his waist and thigh, he completed his attack.
Clang!
The moment the two swords clashed, he fueled up his aura to full power.
Wham!
The flame rising from the blade was burning fiercely, as if it was going to engulf Raon as a whole.
However, something unexpected happened.
Tsssk!
The small flame at the end of Raon’s sword started engulfing the huge flame covering Kein’s blade.
“Wh-what is happening?!”
Kein’s eyes widened.
‘How does this make any sense?’
Such a small flame was engulfing his flame, when it should’ve been the other way around. It was unbelievable.
He met Raon’s eyes over the sword. His eyes were even calmer than before. He still had a lot of room to spare.
“Arrrgh!”
——————
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Kein grit his teeth. Using all his energy from his energy center, he sliced with his sword.
The aura exploded fiercely, to a point where a red line was drawn in the air, but Raon stepped up instead.
Whir!
His sword was changing from a heavy boulder to a sharp wind.
The silver blade was penetrating him like a beast’s fang.
“Huff!”
Kein hurriedly used his aura to slash his sword.
Clank!
‘I blocked it.’
‘I certainly blocked it, yet what is my sword…’
It was a single strike. In a single strike, the training sword shattered. He couldn’t believe such a small flame contained such a tremendous amount of power.
“It’s not over yet.”
The sound of wind could be heard once again, and his back was hurting as if it was being crushed.
“Kugh!”
Unable to withstand Raon’s punch, Kein was struck to the ground while screaming.
“Kuuu!”
As he was standing back up and enduring the pain of his ribs being crushed, he heard Raon’s voice from above him.
“Matchup?”
Raon tilted his head with an innocent expression.
“What’s a matchup?”
***
After beating down Kein, Raon sat on the tree trunk once again. After waiting a while, the fifth training ground trainees showed up through the bushes.
Some of them had fallen, but most of them had returned nice and healthy. Martha was holding the enemy’s flag.
“Th-that thing, I mean, isn’t that person Kein Zieghart?”
Dorian was looking at Kein, whose hands were tied up, with soulless eyes.
“That’s right. When the battle started going badly, he came here immediately.”
“Wow, the young master really never loses.”
A few trainees, including Dorian, smirked. They were saying that he was amazing.
“It was just like you said.”
Burren approached him with an awkward expression.
“The incomplete ‘Intuition Sword’ was easily tricked by the feints, so much that it was ridiculous.”
He scratched his head, then breathed out slowly and started talking again.
“I believed I could do better than you as a commander at least, but that wasn’t the case at all. If you weren’t here today, we would’ve lost to the sixth training ground.”
The trainees behind Burren nodded in agreement.
“I acknowledge you as the top trainee once again. I’ll follow your orders from now on without any complaint.”
He thumped his chest and turned around. His ears turned completely red, showing that he was embarrassed once again.
Stab!
Martha stuck the sixth training ground’s flag into the ground.
“I don’t really like it, but he’s right. I hate to say it, but the best contributor in today’s victory is you.”
She said that if his instruction ended up being weird, then she was going to give up on that promise.
“Raon.”
Runaan, who came back in a better shape than anyone, nodding strongly—as if she was telling him good job. It was her way of complimenting him.
Looking at those three people, one after another, Raon smiled lightly.
‘This is how the fifth training ground should be.’
* * *
* * *
“Ha…”
Metun smiled bitterly. His gaze was fixated on Raon, who made Kein kneel after beating him up.
‘I didn’t expect that small flame to be that strong.’
Raon’s small flame didn’t lose to Kein’s large flame. Instead, it was overwhelming in terms of ferocity.
Rimmer wasn’t talking nonsense when he said it was going to engulf the other.
‘It’s not just the power, he was also watching his opponent properly.’
Kein’s flame was certainly strong, but there was a gap at the bottom of the blade where he couldn’t cover it with aura.
It was a small gap that was difficult to notice for a trainee.
‘However…’
He’d noticed it.
Raon Zieghart had noticed Kein’s mistake and swung his sword at that weakness to grasp his victory.
‘Amazing.’
He thought Kein’s perception was amazing, but Raon’s was even better. His perception was so sensitive and polished, to the point that it was still difficult to believe despite having witnessed it.
‘He’s insanely gusty, too.’
Analyzing the enemy’s weakness and swinging his sword in a spur of the moment wasn’t something just anyone could do. His mind was already on par with qualified swordsmen.
“Haa…”
Metun sighed and stood up. He turned around and nodded.
“I have no choice but to acknowledge him.”
“Hehe.”
Rimmer, who was half lying down, nodded in satisfaction.
“I complimented that boy, but why do you look so satisfied?”
“Because he’s my student.”
“What about it? He must’ve been training on his own while you were playing around.”
“Well, something like that did happen before.”
Rimmer snickered and got up.
“Then let’s go.”
“Where?”
“They think of each other as rivals, but they don’t antagonize or hate each other. Since they are all under Zieghart’s name, this is a good opportunity to get acquainted to each other. Let’s give them a feast.”
“Hmm, that’s a good idea.”
“You are paying for it, right?”
“Alright.”
Metun nodded. Since he made a bet with Rimmer, paying for the children’s food wasn’t a big deal.
“I knew you were a generous guy!”
Rimmer smiled and ran towards the trainees gathering around Raon.
“We are going to feast with someone else’s money!”
***
Raon took his fork and knife, watching the food piling up on the long rectangular table.
He cut the grilled pork in front of him into a small slice and put it in his mouth. The skin was crispy, the meat was moist, and it melted in his mouth. The taste was strong, but extremely delicious.
Wow! This is so good. I love it. It’s a condensed flavor that captures the King of Essence’s picky taste.
‘I agree, it’s pretty good.’
Try eating the pie over there next. Ever since Devildom, the King of Essence has loved pies. Every morning and evening…
Raon ignored him and ate the stew on his right side. It was soft and tasty.
Th-this isn’t bad either but listen to the King of Essence. Pie! It’s a pie!
‘Such a place existed around here.’
As soon as the battle ended, Rimmer had brought the trainees from the fifth and sixth training grounds to a restaurant inside the domain.
He was worried because the restaurant’s exterior looked old, but the dishes were varied, and the taste was great. It seemed an excellent chef had cooked using quality ingredients.
‘And yet…’
He looked around while eating another slice of pork. The atmosphere was as lethargic as an old piano wire. The fifth training ground, who came out victorious, and the sixth training ground, who had lost, were both depressed.
‘I guess it can’t be helped.’
The fifth training ground almost lost to the sixth training ground that they believed they could easily win against, and the sixth training ground had lost despite having prepared thoroughly. Both parties being depressed wasn’t anything strange.
Of course, that wasn’t the case for everyone.
“I’m realizing once again that I really taught them very well.”
Rimmer giggled while drinking the most expensive black beer.
“Giving out that advice was great, but did you see how they followed that advice? My students are really amazing.”
“You didn’t do anything today.”
“Who do you think taught Raon? It was me! Therefore, his achievements are also mine.”
“Haa…”
The two of them were having a reflection meeting on the battle. Although, it didn’t sound like a reflection meeting. Rimmer was just boasting, instead.
On the other hand, the sound of eating was the only thing that could be heard from the trainees’ table, just like a lunch after training. Thinking that it couldn’t be helped, he was about to eat his fried chicken.
‘Was his name Dunn?’
The big guy that fought against Martha at the center came up to her.
“You were stronger than I heard. Your attack and defense were both great. You were amazing at the first encounter, but I was really freaked out when you started aiming for the sword formation’s gap on the second encounter.”
Just like his honest appearance, Dunn told her how he felt. Martha seemed flustered, as she dropped the broccoli from her fork.
“Won’t you train with me one day? I’m sure it will be helpful for both of u…”
“Scram.”
Of course, Martha shook her hand without even looking at him.
‘I guess she isn’t going to start rampaging at this rate.’
Raon secretly nodded. Martha would’ve normally started punching him already, but the way she answered signified that she took a liking to him.
“Sir Burren.”
Decal also moved next to Burren, seizing the opportunity.
“Do you have anything to say?”
Burren frowned and raised his head.
“Do you usually practice feints?”
“Not that much.”
“They looked like very polished feints to me. They looked so real that I couldn’t give up on the opportunity. I ended up going for it like a dog on a bone.”
“Ahem!”
Burren’s face went slightly red. It seemed that he liked the compliment.
“Well, your ‘Intuition Sword’ was also pretty sharp. I couldn’t find any way to break through it until I started using the feints. It was the first time my swordsmanship was countered so hard….”
Burren complimented Decan in return.
“But we still lost to Sir Burren in the end. We really couldn’t do anything once you started using the feints at the end.”
“Well, the swordsmanship is one thing, but my aura is better than yours, so…”
It seemed Burren took a liking to Decal’s honesty. He was even turned around, talking about swordsmanship and aura.
With that as the trigger, the trainees that had been reading the atmosphere started to talk about the battle, visiting the ones they’d faced.
They discussed which parts were amazing, and which parts were troublesome, as if they were having a debate.
“I heard you like ice cream.”
“Mhm.”
“Which ice cream?”
“Bead.”
Runaan was also sitting in front of a cute-looking girl. Whether they were having a proper conversation was questionable.
“Heave ho.”
He could hear somebody sitting next to him. When he looked next to him, it was the sixth training ground’s top trainee, Kein Zieghart, that he fought against at the end.
“It was my complete defeat. I didn’t expect you to break my sword by attacking the spot where my aura was weak.”
He nodded his head, face full of admiration.
“I’m guessing it wasn’t a coincidence, right?”
“That is correct, sir.”
Raon nodded honestly.
“You don’t need to talk so formally. We are both trainees, after all.”
“Okay.”
He didn’t need to refuse if he wanted him to talk casually, so he nodded.
“I believed I was the best at my age in terms of perception, but apparently that was my arrogance.”
Kein smiled, with the expression of having accepted everything. It was different than before. Meeting a member of the direct line with such a personality was rather refreshing.
“That was a great lesson for me, both tactically and mentally. Thank you.”
“A lesson?”
“Thanks to you, I learned that I shouldn’t be careless until the very end, and that I need to prepare for the plan’s failure. You probably told me all that in order to teach me a lesson.”
Kein stood up and slowly lowered his head.
“You are my benefactor. Thank you.”
“Uh…”
Raon tilted his head.
What is he even saying?
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