Chapter 80
Wake up at 6 a.m.
Physical training of reaching the top of the back mountain and returning.
Breakfast.
Even this much is enough to make most children drop out as a matter of course.
However, the children in the training center were far from the ordinary category.
They are children who entered after breaking through a competition of hundreds to one. Although they are indeed immature and scatterbrained, since their skills are proven, there was no child dropping out already.
“Uh, ah…… Huff, I’m dying, heuk, kunah.”
Except for Daphne who received punishment.
Resting time before swordsmanship class begins. Daphne was lying flat on the training ground floor, panting heavily. Joshua had abandoned Daphne and left long ago.
‘It’s touch and go.’
Signs are starting to show little by little.
Signs that the body is about to go into chaos.
These past two days are among those that Daphne endured relatively well. If it had been at home, she would have collapsed long ago.
‘It must mean that her body is tense in its own way.’
But that effect seems to have worn off now as well. The tickling in her chest area felt exactly like the sensation right before vomiting blood.
‘I feel like I shouldn’t push myself any more…….’
Daphne murmured as she looked around her surroundings. She could see children gathering in groups of twos and threes. They were preparing for swordsmanship class.
“I have to push myself…….”
No choice.
It’s the first class, so she couldn’t show herself collapsing already.
Daphne staggered to her feet. At that very moment, Kenrick started walking over from the building.
“Hey. Aren’t you supposed to line up?”
“Where’s the line?”
“Don’t you know?”
“If you don’t know, how would I know?”
“Aha.”
The children quickly took their positions and stood in line. The posture with hands behind the back and back held straight was quite a sight. Kenrick lifted the corner of his mouth in a smirk.
“Good morning, gentlemen.”
“Good morning!”
Kenrick examined each of the children’s faces one by one and raised his eyebrows.
“All faces look not bad. This is a passing grade.”
“Thank you!”
He drew the sword sheathed at his waist. And while pointing at the children one by one with the tip of the sword, he continued speaking.
“This instructor’s class is swordsmanship. However, I will not teach sword forms. I will teach basic posture correction and defense, and furthermore, how to handle mana. Understood?”
“Understood!”
There were children who answered confidently, but most were slightly intimidated by the word ‘mana’. Because the majority were commoners, they had never even encountered the ‘ma’ of mana.
“Mana? Can I really learn something like that?”
“Can we manifest mana? Isn’t it too late?”
“I heard you have to manifest it at least before the age of 10.”
Unlike the anxious commoner children, the noble children were snorting. Because all of them could already sense mana, and there were even children who could faintly coat their swords with sword aura.
“From the start, can lowly commoners sense mana? They can’t, right.”
Teppy snickered and muttered. Joshua, who amazingly caught the small whisper, glared at him with flashing eyes, but Teppy did not notice.
The murmuring grew louder.
“Everyone, quiet.”
Kenrick clicked his tongue and slung the sword diagonally over his shoulder.
Of course, manifesting and sensing mana before the age of 10 is the norm. In Kenrick’s case as well, he began to feel mana around the age of 8.
But to say it’s impossible after that would not be true. Even if late, you can start anytime. As long as you have the belief that you can do it and perseverance. Thinking it’s too late is solely one’s own prejudice. That is why Kenrick wanted to instill hope in these children.
“Sir Bertio Akion, who was called the continent’s strongest, also sensed mana at the age of 16.”
Daphne, who had been spacing out, perked up her ears the moment she heard the name ‘Bertio’. Sensed mana at 16?
-Hmph, I was a genius from the beginning. I’m on a different level from you.
Yeah right. Liar.
Daphne snickered as she recalled Bertio who had been so arrogant in front of her.
“Among the Guardians, there are even those who sensed mana after passing 20. Compared to that, you all are not late. Understood?”
“Ah… Understood!”
“Repeat after me again. Not late. Understood?”
“Not late!”
“Good.”
Kenrick nodded while making eye contact with each individual child.
“Come out one by one and take a wooden sword. I will teach you how to grip the sword first.”
At that moment, Rachel raised her hand high.
“I have a question. We already know how to grip the sword and such, do we really have to learn it?”
“Good question.”
Kenrick answered as if he had been waiting. And he tossed a wooden sword to Rachel. Rachel, who received the wooden sword unexpectedly, stared blankly at Kenrick, and Kenrick dropped the sheath he had slung over his shoulder downward.
“Grip tight and block.”
Swish!
His sheath lightly struck Rachel’s wooden sword.
“Kyaaak!”
Thud, roll-
The wooden sword fell from Rachel’s hand and rolled across the ground. Leaving behind Rachel who wore an expression of disbelief, Kenrick once again slung the sheath over his shoulder.
“Did you see? If you don’t grip the sword properly, you can’t even block such a simple attack properly. The basics of the sword are the hands. To say you already know it all when you don’t even know how to apply force to the hands or how to utilize them—that is arrogance.”
He said toward the noble children.
“You’ve been rotten from the basics. Any objections?”
“…….”
Rachel Amon was a child with not bad skills. No, to be precise, she was a child with quite good skills. There was even a story that not long ago, she made the eldest son of a marquis’s family, who was two years older than her, drop out in just two exchanges.
But for such Rachel’s sword to roll away from an attack that was merely like a ‘tap’—it was unbelievable, and they naturally felt intimidated. Most of the noble children were like that.
Except for Morris Stone.
“I have an objection.”
Kenrick smirked and tossed a wooden sword to Morris, doing exactly the same as he had to Rachel.
“Block.”
“Hup……!”
Morris seemed like he might hold out a little, but his sword fell to the floor just like Rachel’s.
“Damn!”
Morris gritted his teeth, feeling his stinging palm. It was obvious that he was frustrated from this attack he was experiencing for the first time.
But Kenrick did not comfort his anger. Because that kind of anger would become the driving force for growth.
“Any more objections?”
Kenrick looked around at the noble children once. Most were casting their eyes downward or pretending not to notice. So Kenrick naturally turned his head toward Daphne, who was staring piercingly at him.
“Daphne trainee. Any complaints?”
“No… I mean, none!”
“For someone with none, you were glaring at this instructor.”
“I was just looking!”
“Block.”
Aish. I was really just looking because it was amazing.
Daphne barely caught the wooden sword Kenrick tossed and applied force. Thud, and Kenrick’s sheath struck Daphne’s wooden sword.
“Hup!”
But surprisingly, Daphne’s sword did not roll away. The eyes of the children, who had been watching with bated breath, began to fill with shock.
“Once more.”
“Ugh!”
Daphne blocked the second attack as well.
This was not blocking with brute force. Up until just now, she had observed Kenrick’s movements and his attack, then instead of clashing against his force, she had simply let it flow away. Of course, it was an extremely high-level feat, but for Daphne, it was easier than lying down and drinking soup. ……Though her hand did hurt.
“Hoo.”
Kenrick, retracting the sheath, stroked the corner of his mouth as his eyes sparkled.
He had clearly seen Daphne’s performance in the subjugation unit with his own two eyes. But that had ultimately been the ‘reaction of the Black Butterfly disease’. He had not thought that Daphne’s physical abilities were exceptional.
However, the current Daphne……
‘Excellent.’
Her sword-gripping posture, her breathing, her intuition—everything was perfect.
‘As expected, directly taught by the Grand Duke?’
Kenrick smiled bitterly and opened his mouth again.
“In this training, trainee Daphne is excluded. It seems she has learned the basics properly.”
“Oh. Thank you… sir!”
Daphne, who had been inwardly cursing Kenrick with all sorts of expletives, suddenly jolted in surprise and smiled.
She had wanted to rest anyway because her stamina was running low—perfect. While the others train, I’ll rest. Hehe.
Humming a little tune like that, Daphne retreated to the back and flopped down.
“Everyone, begin. Place your dominant hand on top and grip the sword.”
And thus, the first class began.
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