Sir Hero, It’s Time to Train!

Wave.

The term Wave referred, in simple terms, to the method of manifesting mana externally rather than internally.

Among the many derivative techniques, the essence of Wave application lay in freely shaping the externally manifested mana and restructuring it in one’s unique way.

“Application techniques possess endless possibilities. They range from something as straightforward as using body activation to incredibly complex techniques that are hard to emulate. Just like the suction you just saw, making the nature of mana sticky can help grab an enemy’s weapon or even climb walls.”

Christian, in an unusually calm tone, explained. This signified the importance of the topic, but Aira, listening, seemed discontent as she puffed out her cheeks.

“Why are you looking at me with that expression?”

“Why did you swing the sword right away when you could explain it so kindly?”

“Doesn’t the explanation sink in better after your body has caught the sword here and there?”

“… Your ears are just asking to have this sword sunk into them too, aren’t they?”

When Christian grinned at her, Aira ground her teeth and held up her sword.

“Well, anyhow, you’ve grasped it well, haven’t you?”

“That’s true, but can’t you show something flashy and dazzling like what Father did instead of this?”

“This kid’s focused only on outer appearances. No matter how strong the technique is, it’s useless if it doesn’t hit. First, you must master the basics to handle any situation flexibly… Never mind. I’m wrong for trying to explain it with words.”

When Christian sighed deeply, Aira hurriedly changed her expression, fearing she might be subjected to another sparring session disguised as a lesson.

“No, it’s not like that. I’ll listen diligently. It’s about flexible response over sheer power, right? I’ve been listening, I promise!”

“Yes, that’s correct. Then, you need to create flexible situations to respond flexibly.”

“But why insist on teaching me by making me experience it firsthand?”

“That’s obviously because it’s the fastest way to awaken Waves.”

“… What kind of nonsense is that?”

Aira couldn’t hide her bewilderment at Christian’s words.

However, Christian only seemed to question whether all of this really needed explaining.

“Literally, the fastest way to awaken Waves is to get hit by them a lot.”

“Wait a minute. You’re saying to understand Waves, I need to get hit by them?”

“Yeah.”

“…”

Was he serious with that?

Without voicing it aloud, Aira conveyed her silent disdain and thoughts to Christian with her eyes.

“As you continuously receive someone else’s mana, your body reacts with resistance, defense mechanisms, and self-protection!”

Christian replied with a cheerful smile, seemingly understanding her skepticism.

“Of course, if you can’t control the flow of mana, it’s all for nothing. Well, you’ve felt that once already, haven’t you?”

Something seemed to dawn upon her at those words, and Aira, slightly agape, looked at Christian.

“Then was your purpose for teaching me body activation application…?”

She had learned a method to enhance efficiency by applying body activation only to a part of the body.

Over a week, she employed this body activation and its applications while sparring with Christian.

Initially, she had swung wildly without knowing what she was doing, but now, she used it with the thought of landing at least one hit on that obnoxious face.

“It seemed about time to move on to the next step. Although awakening Waves may still require more time.”

Christian leisurely walked past Aira, heading toward the weapon stand set up on one side of the training ground. When had he prepared them? An array of practice weapons was neatly arranged on the stand.

In addition to swords and spears, they had gathered all sorts of potential weapons, from massive scythes and forks to chains with hooks.

“You can’t waste precious time, right? Once you take a few hits, you’ll get the hang of it.”

Christian, who had been pondering in front of the weapon rack, picked up a spear and pointed it at Aira with a slight smile.

“There are those who give up after getting hit, but I’ve seen people who make everything their own just to get hit one less time.”

Instead of responding to Christian’s words, Aira cautiously increased the distance between them. Christian gave her a small smile, recognizing Aira’s swift judgment.

“That’s right. When facing an opponent with a spear, many mistakenly believe they must always close the gap, but the correct approach is to measure the exact distance by keeping the distance open and assessing the spear’s range. After all, even a guy with a spear has no choice but to close the gap if you’re outside his range.”

Christian instinctively praised Aira for understanding the range.

For a moment, the two faced each other without moving.

Aira seemed to be watching Christian’s movements, ready to respond rather than charging in willingly. Christian moved as Aira desired.

Christian took a step forward and thrust the spear. The range advantage of the spear combined with Christian’s incredibly fast speed.

‘Is this guy serious!’

The spear’s thrust became a single point aimed straight at Aira’s face.

Startled by Christian’s direct attack at her face, Aira instinctively turned her head to dodge it, and simultaneously, her body reacted first, using her sword to strike up at Christian’s spear.

‘You get a taste of it too!’

Seeing Christian’s body wide open, she charged into his space.

‘… Is he smiling?’

However, contrary to Aira’s expectations, the spear rebounded by her sword and fell with a terrifying speed towards Aira’s head as she tried to close the distance.

Boom—! Crackle—!

Sensing something was wrong, Aira immediately rolled to the side.

But Christian’s spear, like a living snake, scraped the ground and chased Aira.

“Ugh?!”

The tip of the spear halted precisely in front of Aira’s nose. Despite being blunt due to practice, it appeared sharper to Aira than any polished sword.

As Aira swallowed hard, Christian spoke.

“Knocking up the spear like you did just now is not a bad judgment. However, considering the opponent’s capability, doing so is amateurish. You’re foolishly handing back an attack opportunity to your opponent.”

Aira wanted to retort, but experiencing the disparity in capability physically left her speechless.

Christian tapped Aira’s sword lightly with the tip of his spear as she stood up, looking frustrated and glaring at him.

“You might be wondering how to assess that capability, but if you at least acknowledged that I know how to use Adhesion, you should have been suspicious when your sword knocked aside my spear.”

When Christian lifted the spear, Aira’s sword clung to it as if magnetized, following up as if it were part of him.

“Then you should have said that from the beginning.”

Aira, instead of voicing her grievances to Christian, blamed Lady Laura who had taught him with such a reckless method.

Unaware of how her image was being tarnished because of him, Christian leisurely continued, “From now on, we’ll spar using various weapons. If you’re going to get hit, it’s better to gain experience being hit in different ways, right?”

“What? You seriously can handle all those weapons? Did Lady Laura teach you all that?”

“Why? Does it sound like a lie?”

Garcia is an excellent knight, but the weapons he could wield were limited.

Typically, he used only a sword, aside from a few pieces of equipment used to hunt monsters or demon beasts.

Handling such a variety of weapons is a challenging task even for veteran mercenaries. Aira naturally found Christian’s claims doubtful.

‘Even with a counter, it wasn’t the work of someone using a spear for the first time.’

Despite the disparity in skill, it wasn’t as if one could be defenselessly overpowered by using a weapon for the first time. It would be more reasonable to assume that he was as proficient with the spear as with the sword.

It was still hard to believe, but Aira, with a rather serious expression, pointed her sword at Christian. Indeed, as Christian had mentioned, gaining experience with a variety of weapons was incredibly valuable.

“Alright, are you ready? You need to get used to all the weapons over there. If you don’t get used to them…”

“What, what then?”

“What else would it be? You’ll just keep getting hit.”

“You’re really crazy. How could you call this training?”

“Isn’t it a coincidence? I said the exact same thing to my master when I heard it. Aren’t you curious about what happened to me after I said it?”

“Not curious at all. I’m not curious in the slightest, so there’s no need to tell me!”

Aira charged at Christian with dissatisfaction.

Of course, she realized throughout the entire day that acting emotionally like that didn’t help at all.

***

The demon realm in the west of Rangar, was largely unexplored due to minimal human interference.

The region was filled with enormous forests, lakes, and was bordered by the sea, creating colonies of wild animals and various monsters.

Cities in the Rangar region, known for having more monsters than humans, were closed-off and practical, unlike other cities. This was also true for Flamme, the central city of the Count Worden’s territory.

Flamme was not very large for being a central city of the Count’s territory.

Nevertheless, the large and sturdy walls surrounding the entire city stood firm as a dependable shield against any external invasion.

“The numbers have increased again. It seems there are more than ten of them already.”

Fog, a soldier guarding the outer wall, quietly mumbled as he observed a group of monsters gathered a short distance from the wall.

“Indeed. What are they doing, exactly?”

Gale, who stood beside Fog, shook his head in confusion.

While it was common for stray monsters to drift near human cities, seeing them gather in groups as they were now was a rare occurrence, leaving the guards bewildered.

“Are those things out on group sightseeing?”

Moreover, what was even more perplexing was that these monsters were not displaying any threatening behavior.

They merely gazed blankly at the city gates and disappeared by nightfall. Then, the next day, they appeared again with their numbers increased, which had been repeating for several days.

“This is supposed to be a minor issue compared to others, right? They say it’s worse by the east gate, western gate, and southern gate.”

The rumor had spread widely within the city, to the extent that there was hardly anyone unaware of it.

People expressed worries instead of complaints about the higher-ups’ decision to close the city gates, and the soldiers on the front lines felt the same.

“What do the nobles plan to do? Are they going to take them out?”

“Who knows. They say the knights went out to the south gate and drove them all away…”

“‘Drove them away’? As soon as the gates opened, the monsters bolted away.”

Tackling these monsters was an obvious task. Particularly, the northern gate, being a road leading to other territories, had to be more vigilant about security.

Even attempting to deploy stationed troops and knights in Flamme proved fruitless, as the monsters would scatter as soon as the gates opened, as if they had been waiting for it.

“This is beyond annoying.”

“Ah, even the knights are on edge because of this, aren’t they? I heard Sir Garcia has threatened to hang the heads of monsters on the gates.”

Indeed, the knights had grown vexed due to this issue.

Everyone knew that Sir Garcia, the overall commander of city defenses, was not the type to stand by quietly in the face of these monsters’ provocations.

“Anyway, I just hope nothing serious happens.”

Fog felt uneasy, as though the group of monsters were deliberately scouting them.