Sir Hero, It’s Time to Train!

“Ugh…”

The shock was so terrible that it was a miracle he was still alive. As the pain surged as if his head might have been smashed, Caedwin moaned and tossed his body.

“Hah?!”

But only for a moment. As if realizing why his head hurt so much, Caedwin’s eyes snapped open, and he quickly stood up.

Grinding his teeth, Caedwin looked around for Aira. As he searched, his sharp eyes soon landed on Liber, who was watching him closely, causing him to flinch.

“You’re awake?”

“Elder brother Liber?”

Realizing he was in his room and not the training ground, Caedwin’s face turned beet red.

“D-Did you carry me here after I fainted?”

“The Priest came to check on you, but it seems your body is tough, so fortunately, you weren’t seriously injured,” said Liber.

“Tsk!”

How is that fortunate?

Caedwin wanted to shout, but he could only clench his fists tightly and grind his teeth. Watching him, Liber spoke.

“Aira is amazing. I didn’t see the fight with my own eyes, but even the aura she gave off wasn’t ordinary.”

“… I was careless.”

“Careless? Caedwin, I never thought I’d hear those words from you.”

“…”

As Caedwin avoided Liber’s gaze, Liber chuckled softly and said, “Carelessness is as good as death. Even the weakest prey shouldn’t be underestimated. Isn’t that what our fathers always taught us?”

“I do know.”

Although they now occupied territory claimed by humans, the Rangar region had once been a constant struggle for survival even before the Great Expansion era.

People in these parts grew up hearing not to be careless, instilled into them by parents and mentors, a custom that remained intact.

As such, making excuses about carelessness was something the heir of a family that held a portion of Rangar should avoid.

A single moment of carelessness could cost countless lives.

Caedwin also felt a sense of self-reproach for his hasty words, his face shadowed with regret.

“Even so, she’s really incredible. How did she grow so much in such a short time?”

“In the end, the name Worden has proven itself again!”

Caedwin said.

The shame of losing to Christian wasn’t just about carelessness—it was an insurmountable difference in talent and skill.

Losing to someone younger was mortifying and frustrating, but sometimes an insurmountable barrier can become a goal for someone.

Caedwin felt the same way. He spared no effort to surpass the wall that was Christian.

But the feeling of defeat from being overwhelmed by someone he underestimated, Aira, without even swinging his sword, was hard to overcome.

“She couldn’t even fully use body activation before, so what kind of training did she undergo…?”

“If you were so thoroughly defeated, did Aira use Wave?”

“…”

He didn’t want to admit it, but he couldn’t ignore what he had witnessed and experienced.

More than Aira’s ghastly face and a body akin to a human weapon, the most vivid memory was the mana gathered on her wooden sword.

The explosive movement and speed contrasted with the graceful glow of mana wave. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from it.

“That’s impressive. The rumors must be true. So, the talk of subduing a demon beast must also be true… I wonder what type it was?”

“Damn it!”

Caedwin let out a harsh sound as he fell back onto the bed. Then he pulled the blanket over his head, hiding from view.

Liber could only smile wryly at Caedwin’s discouraged state.

“Get some rest. We’re leaving for the capital early tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning? Aren’t they exhausted…?”

“Yeah, one would expect them to be tired if they really ran all the way here, but isn’t it impressive?”

“Impressive? More like foolish.”

“Get some sleep.”

Satisfied that Caedwin was fine, Liber left the room. As Liber was about to leave, Caedwin spoke up.

“Doesn’t it bother you, elder brother Liber?”

“Huh? What doesn’t?”

“Even those kids have mastered Wave. Don’t you feel envious?”

“Envious? Well, maybe a bit.”

Caedwin peeked over his blanket at Liber.

But Liber’s face showed no difference from usual despite claiming to be envious. He stood there with his usual pleasant smile.

“But if talented kids can inherit the Count Worden’s family, wouldn’t that be a good thing for the Rangar region?”

“A good thing, sure. But in the end, it’s your family and ours doing all the hard work.”

Caedwin’s family, the Humbleton Barony, located in the eastern Rangar, was surrounded by rugged mountains.

They relied on mining from the mountains for income, but the monsters and demon beasts inhabiting the mountains were immense threats.

The southern Rangar was even worse. The Cotra Viscounty had become the boundary between human territory and monster land, concentrating most of its power on this border area.

However, without significant production within the viscounty, poverty was inevitable.

The continuous sacrifices on the frontlines in Cotra Viscounty, and the supply of food from Derin Viscounty as well as equipment from Humbleton Barony, along with the…

… Worden County’s capital and occasional dispatch of troops for large monster subjugations were why Cotra Viscounty hadn’t crumbled yet.

Caedwin couldn’t help feeling disgruntled.

“Why does your family make sacrifices in the most dangerous places, and the Worden family gets all the credit?”

“Could there be any sacrifices to talk about? The Rangar region practically belongs to the Worden family. It’s not for us to question what our ancestors decided.”

“Sigh. You should show some dissatisfaction sometimes. Being too kind has its limits.”

“I do complain. I always grumble about why there’s no good bakery in our territory.”

“Fine, I get it. You should go rest too, elder brother.”

To Liber’s nonchalant response, Caedwin frowned and pulled the blanket over his head again.

However, once Liber exited the room, he leaned against the door and sighed instead of heading to his own room.

“Not envious…?”

Though he hadn’t voiced it to Caedwin, Liber indeed felt envious of the Worden family, especially for the two siblings.

It was hard not to envy them.

“If only people in our family could focus solely on training, talents like those siblings or the Count Worden could emerge…”

Even now, countless people were sacrificed on Cotra Viscounty’s frontlines.

Unlike territories in other regions, where populations grew, Cotra Viscounty’s population hardly managed to maintain its numbers.

Relaxing within the mansion and focusing on training was an impossible thought.

Promising future talents were pushed to the frontlines before their potential could bloom, and many perished that way.

Liber was no different.

As the heir to Cotra Viscounty, from the time he became aware of things, he had constantly clashed with monsters on the frontlines. He had escaped death several times.

That was why he was envious.

“Wave…”

A remarkable talent to have grasped the Wave at fifteen.

Probably the youngest in the Rangar region and among a rare few in the kingdom.

Denying such envy would be a lie, but feeling jealous of a family so extraordinary seemed futile.

“Someday, our family too…”

The dream to raise the family to surpass Count Worden.

It was possibly a dream shared by every family in the Rangar region, perhaps from the time they split from the root named Worden long ago.

*

Even late at night, Christian did not rest.

After a simple dinner, he sequestered himself in his room, meditating in silence, seated on the floor, focused on increasing his mana sensitivity.

Or, in a way, this could also be considered part of his rest.

The training in mana sensitivity, paired with a mana shower, helped wash away the fatigue of the body, aiding in the replenishment and stabilization of mana.

“Hoo…”

With his slow and shallow breaths, mana gathered around Christian, slowly stabilizing, much like the spatial domination shown by Roberto.

For someone with Christian’s level of mana sensitivity, gathering the mana in the air around him was effortless. Absorbing it entirely was not difficult either.

However, he intentionally refrained from attracting too much mana. Aira was training her breathing technique in the next room as well, so he kept it within a manageable level.

Christian trained intensely in the mana sensitivity exercise for some time and silently opened his eyes.

“As expected.”

The gathered mana around Christian had already been absorbed.

He spread his palm and gently summoned a mana wave, and a slightly different colored and shaped mana wave manifested on his palm. The nature of the mana had altered slightly.

“Is this due to the Spirit Stone in Zephrys’s Wings? Or is it the unique mana trait of Count Worden?”

Infusing mana with attribute doesn’t simply come from high mana sensitivity.

As mana accumulates, its natural elemental energy mixes with the body.

Certain conditions must be met, from the mana path, characteristics, to the accumulated characteristics of natural mana—to reach a certain threshold, for the characteristics of your body and the mana you use to align.

However, this contemplation was not long.

“Well, let’s think positively. It’s not like I can’t do it, or haven’t done it before.”

These were all things he’d experienced.

Realizing something slightly earlier posed no significant issue for Christian.

In fact, considering his age, it wasn’t too late.

“If this is due to the influence of the Spirit Stone and mana from Zephrys’s Wings…”

Christian pondered deeply.

“… Aira might be capable too.”

He was about to begin teaching her about understanding the Wave, its methods, and practical applications.

Squeezing one more aspect into it shouldn’t cause much of a change.

“The journey to the capital won’t be dull.”

Christian stood up, stretched broadly, and smiled.

Unlike Christian, however, Aira’s body shivered slightly during her mana sensitivity training next door. Her complexion turned pale with an unsettling feeling.