Chapter 60

Chapter : 60
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Seeing his eyes turn red while he practiced alone, he was clearly not merely someone with a lot of anger.

It was almost to the level where rage toward the world was packed tightly inside his body, yet Leo only smiled awkwardly, looking puzzled.

“So, why are you doing this?”

“You have to get angry. I’m telling you, that is how you can bring out the power.”

“I’m not a machine. It is not as though I can control my emotions however I want, right? Ah, well. If you mean pretending to be angry instead of actually getting angry, I can do that. Should I shout or something?”

“No.... Sorry. It seems impossible for now.”

Tap, tap.

Leo struck the floor of the training ground with his practice sword. He rubbed the floor of the training ground with the tip of his foot.

“Actually, I think I understand what you are talking about. I do feel something sometimes. I know this is what you mean, but it was not when I felt truly angry.”

“What does that mean?”

“There is some friction with the guy I share a room with in the dormitory, and I do think it is really irritating, but that Frenzy?”

“Berserk.”

“Ah, yes. That. I do not feel that kind of power. But the name is really impressive. It sounds like I would become incredibly strong just hearing it. You named it yourself, did you not?”

“That is not it.”

“Is there someone else who named it? May I ask who?”

“No, I am sorry.”

“Pardon? Why are you apologizing?”

“Because I am sorry, let us stop here for today.”

I needed to prepare a word to replace Berserk.

---

Even during vacation, I had gripped a sword alone whenever I had time. Since I had started anyway, it felt uncomfortable to remain stuck against a wall, and if I did only a little more, it felt as though I could break through it. Of course, I was probably not the only one who thought that.

The Empire had countless knight orders, and dozens of times more knights than that.

There were quite a few swordsmen around my level, and most of them never reached Expert.

That was how thick the wall was. But vaguely, I felt I might be different. The more I swung my sword, the firmer that thought became.

The Sword Aura covering my blade.

That could be called proof of an Expert. When a swordsman reached a certain level, gained insight, and understood mana, their body awakened, and they became able to wield Sword Aura.

I used Sword Aura after skipping that process. It was entirely thanks to my understanding of mana.

Even though I lacked insight into swordsmanship and the physical awakening, my use of mana compensated for it.

Then could I not reach Expert in another way?

The awakening of the body began with the expansion of mana flowing through the fine meridians. Then before gaining insight, could I not simply move mana directly and open the fine meridians myself? The precise mana control that should have been impossible before Expert was possible for me.

When I explained this method to Katarina, she answered.

“Do not.”

She spoke firmly.

“With your talent, it will take two years at most. There is no need to take a dangerous path no one else has walked. Do not do something stupid.”

“If I can bring it forward by two years, then that is enough to....”

“If I tell you not to do it, do not do it.”

“Yes, understood.”

“More importantly, let us check how much you have improved.”

During vacation, I had focused more on magic than swordsmanship.

Because of that, there had been no visible growth, but when I crossed swords with Katarina, I had many more options than before.

That was true even though I did not use magic. By learning magic, I had handled mana.

I had become noticeably more skilled at circulating mana inside my body. When swinging a sword, I controlled my breathing and controlled my mana. For greater strength and swifter movements, the body, breath, and mana had to move organically together.

When thrusting a sword, one had to draw out every situation before the thrust.

For example, I would pull back the sword, inhale oxygen, hold my breath, release mana through Force Release, and extend my arm.

But because crossing blades with another person was what it was, I could not always move as I pleased. Even while trying to thrust, I sometimes had to change to a slash in response to my opponent’s movement, and at times, I even had to roll across the ground.

At moments like that, my breathing and the flow of mana broke down.

As my understanding of mana rose, I gained an advantage there.

“You have improved a lot!”

After we crossed swords, Katarina gave that assessment.

“And that makes it even stranger.... Why are you not an Expert?”

“Pardon?”

“Magical Power, the amount of mana, each individual technique, no matter what I look at, you are Expert-level. So why are you still there? I told you before, did I not? Two years if you were late. Looking again today, it would not be strange for you to reach Expert right now.”

Katarina scratched her hair and continued.

“To be blunt, compared to when I reached Expert, there are many parts where the current you are better.”

“Hmm.... What could it be?”

When one reached Expert, the meridians opened. As the meridians opened, the flow of mana accelerated. Yet I was producing movements similar to theirs even with my meridians closed.

Katarina and I put our heads together and thought. After hearing her words, it did seem strange. What more did I have to do to reach Expert? Neither of us was particularly good at speaking, nor were we especially clever, so we talked for a long time, saying whatever came out of our mouths as it came.

Words, once spoken aloud, let one instinctively tell whether they were true or false, and there were many cases where two fools produced a better idea than one smart man. Between the two of us, we roughly laid out an answer.

“Try everything. Everything you can do.”

I showed every sword technique I had learned from Katarina. When it came to swordsmanship, Katarina was the answer sheet. I only had to follow her, so there was even something religious about it. I believed in her blindly and tried to steal everything.

“This was the problem.”

Training. Practice. Tempering.

They were words with similar meanings. If replaced with English, the foreign language most familiar to Koreans, a slightly different word appeared as well. Drill. It was a word mainly used in sports when training by repeatedly performing a movement, and most of the training I did fell under this drill.

I familiarized my body with the movements of swordsmanship and practiced so the right movement would come out reflexively according to the situation.

That was how Katarina’s swordsmanship had melted into my body. Even without going through my brain, the optimal sword form sprang out immediately.

“Is that not a good thing?”

A moment’s judgment determined victory and defeat. I had worked to choose the correct answer without even thinking, so it was ironic to be told now that this was the problem.

“If we divide it into good or bad, then yes, it is good. You perform swordsmanship far better than what you actually understand. In real combat, it would help a great deal. But what you and I are doing right now is not real combat, is it?”

“Ahh....”

I studied swordsmanship with Katarina again. When I had learned before, I had only memorized the conclusion and the answer sheet. Since I liked rote learning, I had simply accepted whatever I was told to do and moved on. Thanks to that, I had grown quickly until now. But if this was why I could not cross into Expert, then I would have to set it aside for a while.

“You breathe in oxygen after finding your center of gravity.... After that, you gather mana.... When using Force Release, from low to high, from the point closest to the axis....”

“Why do I have to do it that way? Does that not slow down the sword form? Rather than doing that, it would be better to....”

“Ahh, that is because....”

I argued with Katarina as we disassembled and assembled sword forms. I did not think doing this would change my swordsmanship. Even now, I was already choosing the correct answer. Interpreting why it had been the correct answer only now seemed like a waste of time, but I quietly followed Katarina.

When it came to swordsmanship, no one could match Katarina.

---

One thing remained. Navier and Kartea’s relationship seemed quite plausible, and I had thought it was almost secured, but several months had passed in that state. I had thought the fish was already caught, but just as Navier had said, there seemed to be a nonzero chance that things might simply fade away like this. I could not simply wait. I had to move.

As I had done so far, I would create an incident. After deciding that, I searched for a method, but by this point, I had run out of means, and there were no methods that seemed properly safe.

The most common method was, astonishingly, an assassination attempt by poison or pretending there had been one, but that would make the matter far too large, and I was reluctant as well, so I decided to exclude that alone.

Then what was there?

A gift. There was bound to be at least one occasion where they exchanged gifts. When I spoke to Navier about that, she smiled as though relaxed.

“If it is something like that, then it is the field I am most confident in. Choosing gifts is my specialty.”

“Ohh, what will you give him?”

“A horse. A horse. His Highness the Crown Prince enjoys hunting and is skilled at riding, so there cannot be a better gift than this. Among my acquaintances, there is a ranch that imported a famous horse descended from Otoma’s bloodline. If I ask nicely, I think I can obtain one. There is no better gift than that, is there?”

“Ahh. He would be pleased to receive that.”

“Yes, of course. In official settings, he would ride a horse from the Imperial Family, but everyone wants to try changing horses at least once....”

I had come half-decided on an answer, but after listening to Navier, my ears perked up, and her words seemed quite right.

Even if I were the Crown Prince, I would be happier with a proper horse than something like a handmade handkerchief.

“But you know, has His Highness the Crown Prince not already received several horses as gifts?”

“Of course he may have. But the horse I can obtain is different. The horses offered by other people were certainly famous horses too, but this one descends from Otoma’s bloodline.”

“Is that so impressive?”

“Yes! What kind of horse do you think Otoma was? In the past, among the wild horses of the North, it was the largest and fiercest horse, and dozens of barbarians died trying to tame it, yet....”

After listening to her explanation, it seemed this was correct.

People were moved even by trivial gifts. But if that was so, could they not be moved enough by gifts that were not trivial? I felt something was off somewhere, yet I also thought I might follow Navier’s opinion.

“Wait.... The horse does sound truly good, but would something that feels more heartfelt not be good too?”

“An expensive gift can contain plenty of sincerity. In fact, because it is expensive, it contains even more sincerity. If you mean the time spent choosing the gift, then I will spend that much time selecting the horse as well.”

Navier spoke very confidently and smiled.

“However, whenever I have followed your opinion so far, it has never gone wrong, and everything has gone well. So I will think about it a little more this time too. If not a horse, what would be good?”

In the original, Bishot had actively stepped forward and created episodes when it came to Agares and Ian, but when dealing with Jefrin and Kartea, she had been somewhat passive.

She had received gifts from Kartea, but she had hardly ever given any.

What had Kartea given Bishot?

Right, flowers.

“Ahh!”

Only after reaching that point did I remember. There was a special flower for Kartea. I had forgotten its name because my sister had made it up carelessly, but I remembered the meaning of the flower, so I could find it.

It was a flower connected to Kartea’s deceased birth mother. In the original, Kartea had gifted that flower to Bishot and explained the story behind it.

This would do.

“Let us go with flowers.”

“Flowers?”

When I smoothly explained my idea, Navier’s eyes sparkled.

“Good. I think it is very good. But would it not be slightly awkward? It is rare to give flowers to a man, and among them, giving a flower variety that is not commonly used as a gift might seem strange.”

“Hmm.... I think that could happen.”

For that reason, I placed an envelope into the Academy suggestion box.

-It is a warm summer. It is the season when the sun god’s vitality heats the ground beneath the blazing sunlight. The Academy functions as a place of education open to all, while also serving as a place of social activity....

It was a suggestion that a flower festival be held after the midterm exams. I had said I would support part of the festival costs, so they would not refuse. If they were going to hold a festival anyway, would it not be good to do so while spending someone else’s money?