After giving my parents some spending money, I left the lord’s castle with Yulian and spotted Arisa lingering outside.
When Arisa saw us, she flinched in surprise, straightened her clothes, and slowly approached.
“......Ahem. What a coincidence?”
Yulian spoke to Arisa as she cleared her throat and glanced at us.
“It isn’t a coincidence. You’ve been coming every day to ask where Lord Lumio is.”
“Th-That’s......”
“Really? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Whenever I told her you were absorbed in something inside the Magic Tower, Lord Lumio, she always left as though it were nothing important.”
A blush spread across Arisa’s cheeks as though some embarrassing secret had been exposed.
“I only came because I was following Uncle Aleph...... T-To help with work! There are monsters outside, so I thought I could help guard people too!”
“Then why were you looking for me?”
Silence followed for a moment.
Arisa blinked before speaking in a quieter voice.
“I thought I might learn some magic from you. If I start doing guard work, I could end up in dangerous situations. I can control my power well enough not to go berserk now, but actually using it is still difficult.”
Come to think of it, I had only made her into a mage.
I hadn’t actually taught her anything about magic.
In my previous life, Arisa had learned everything on her own, so I had naturally assumed she would do the same this time.
But there was no reason for her to repeat the experience of learning with her life on the line while drowning in anger and sorrow.
If anything, this was better.
If I taught her personally, I could make her far stronger than she had been in my previous life.
There was probably no one who understood Arisa’s potential better than I did.
While I was thinking, Arisa hesitantly muttered,“......Well, if it’s too much trouble, you don’t have to teach me.”
“I was planning to teach you anyway.”
“Really?”
“I can’t turn you into a mage and then just abandon you, can I?”
There was, however, one fatal flaw on my end.
In my previous life, I had never had a disciple.
I hadn’t even had a teacher.
So I had no idea what ‘teaching’ was actually supposed to involve.
For me, learning meant watching someone use a technique, copying it, and stealing it for myself.
“If you’re going to work as a guard, combat techniques would be best. As it happens, I was planning to go outside and hunt monsters.”
Monster cores were easily damaged.
If Arisa froze the monsters with her cold, it would also be easier to extract their cores intact.
‘Two birds with one stone.’
Yulian, who had been listening quietly, frowned as though he had heard something strange.
“What do you mean, go outside?”
“I’m going to hunt some monsters nearby. Ever since Arisa became able to control her cold, many of the monsters that scattered are still lingering in the area.”
And—
I told him the truth.
There was no reason to hide it from the two people who already knew about the Magic Tower.
“I need monster cores to develop the Magic Tower.”
Yulian had watched everything from the appearance of the Magic Tower and the treatment of my illness to the enormous profits I earned from scrolls.
He should understand how necessary it was.
“It was already far too dangerous during the incident in Kardum. You even exhausted all your magical power and collapsed. There’s no guarantee this time will end safely either.”
But at the same time, he was also a friend who worried about Lumio’s safety as much as my parents did.
I could understand his reaction to some extent.
“What if we tell the lord and ask the Northern Knight Order for help?”
“......You know my parents would never approve, don’t you? And if the knights help, we probably won’t be able to extract the cores intact. That would defeat the entire purpose of the subjugation.”
Monster cores were considered useless.
In truth, there was nowhere to use them except the Magic Tower.
If I ordered the knights to subjugate monsters without damaging their cores, they would obviously complain.
They would think they were risking their lives for something pointless.
“Back then, you had no choice because the village was in danger. But this time, you’re deliberately choosing to do something dangerous.”
“This is for the territory too. If we reduce the monster population nearby, their attacks will be considerably weaker when they raid us.”
“......And what if I stop you anyway?”
“I’ll go by myself.”
Yulian didn’t know.
He hadn’t seen the future I had.
He didn’t know why I needed to develop the Magic Tower even if it meant taking risks.
This wasn’t something I could persuade him about.
At that moment, Arisa tactlessly cut in.
“I’m going with him.”
“There are plenty of monsters outside that we know nothing about. There was that Ogre too. Kardum nearly fell because of it.”
Arisa flinched at the sharp observation.
“When I saw Lord Lumio collapse back then, I realized something. If Lord Lumio had been seriously injured or died in that battle, I would have regretted protecting Kardum.”
Yulian stepped in front of me.
“No matter what you choose to do within the kingdom, I’ll follow you. But if you intend to leave the kingdom, I’ll stop you by force if necessary. That is why I remain by your side, Lord Lumio.”
In my previous life, Yulian had risked his life to save me.
Knowing that, I couldn’t entirely dislike seeing him refuse to cooperate now.
“I can protect myself.”
Beside the lord’s castle stood the Knight Order’s barracks and a small training ground.
I started walking toward it and continued,“If I can beat you in a spar without using magic and without letting you hit me even once, you’ll quietly come with me. How about it?”
“Without using magic?”
“It’ll prove I can protect myself even when I’m low on magical power. If I lose, I’ll do what you said and find another way to obtain the cores.”
Once inside the training ground, I returned the knights’ greetings, picked up a wooden sword, and tossed another toward Yulian.
“What are you thinking so hard about? Are you already scared you’ll lose to me?”
I lightly prodded Yulian’s pride.
He was a knight with just as much potential as Arisa.
You’re one of the people I want to teach too.
“You won’t change your mind afterward.”
“Of course not. Look how many witnesses we have.”
Knights who had been resting in the barracks began coming out one by one when they heard something interesting was happening.
“Lord Lumio is sparring?”
“He’s holding a wooden sword.”
“Wasn’t he supposed to be talented in magic?”
“Yulian must be teaching him some self-defense.”
One of them stepped forward with a smile and offered to referee.
After sending Yulian and me to opposite sides, he clapped his hands.
“Take it easy so no one gets hurt.”
Apparently, they still thought we were playing around.
But Yulian’s breathing was far too serious for this to be some children’s performance.
“......I know you’re not someone who gives up easily, Lord Lumio. If you’re willing to do this without magic, that means you’re that confident.”
The moment he finished speaking, Yulian kicked off the ground and shot forward.
A thrust so swift that it was difficult to follow with the naked eye.
“I’ll take this seriously.”
Just as he said, an ordinary mage wouldn’t even have been able to react before losing their sword.
But after countless battles, I could see the trajectory clearly.
I lightly twisted my upper body and let the thrust slide past me, then tapped Yulian’s wrist with the base of my wooden sword.
“......!”
Yulian’s eyes widened in shock as he retreated and opened the distance between us.
He immediately corrected his stance and unleashed a flurry of attacks at even greater speed.
The watching knights apparently couldn’t follow the exchanges with their eyes either, because concerned voices began to rise.
“They’re not playing around.”
“Shouldn’t we stop them?”
Despite their concern, I still had enough composure to answer.
“It’s fine.”
I had seen countless swordsmen in my previous life.
Why would something like this frighten me?
Dodge, block, thrust, swing.
Yulian’s sword never touched me.
Mine, on the other hand, struck his shoulder and abdomen.
“Ghk.”
Even after being struck in the solar plexus hard enough to knock the breath out of him, Yulian didn’t stop his sword.
WHOOSH―
Yulian’s blade swept past me, making my hair flutter.
That was dangerous.
I could see his swordsmanship improving in real time as we fought.
At this rate, he might actually hit me once.
‘I need to finish this quickly.’
I waited for Yulian’s next strike, dodged it, and immediately brought my sword down hard.
I intended to strike his arm and make him drop his weapon.
At that moment, sword aura surged from Yulian’s wooden sword.
The wave disrupted my posture and pushed me slightly backward.
“Sword aura.”
“You won’t be able to block me anymore. Please give up.”
“Now that is frightening.”
Despite my words, I was still smiling.
***
I remembered the countless swordsmen I had met during my life as a wanderer.
Some swung their swords savagely and brutally.
Others wielded them with meticulous precision.
Sometimes I killed them.
Sometimes I fought beside them.
Throughout it all, I witnessed countless displays of sword aura.
Yet the knight who survived the longest among them wasn’t someone skilled at using sword aura.
He couldn’t use sword aura at all.
He was simply the knight most faithful to the fundamentals.
Only he survived until the end.
While traveling with him as a companion, I learned his swordsmanship for survival by watching him.
Somewhere between savagery and precision.
‘How do you beat knights who can use sword aura when you can’t even use it yourself?’
He answered my question.
‘You need to know how to turn their strength against them. Sword aura is magical power infused into a sword to explosively increase its destructive force. That means it consumes a lot of magical power, and most knights aren’t particularly good at controlling it.’
He performed a sword dance, pretending to duel an invisible opponent.
‘That makes their attacks simple. Watch the direction their shoulders and knees move, and you can predict where they’ll attack. The rest is easy. Coat the edge of your sword with a faint layer of magical power, angle it, and let their attack slide away.’
As he deflected the imaginary sword strike, he spun once and swung his sword back with even greater speed.
‘At the same time, you take that explosive force for yourself and use it to cut them down. Of course, it won’t work against a knight who’s vastly stronger than you. Talent is ninety percent of this profession.’
‘Ten percent is enough to make a living.’
I respected him.
I never even learned his name during the time we traveled together, but it felt as though he had shown me that effort could overcome a lack of talent.
He had left as strong an impression on me as the Sword Saint I later met in the South.
So I watched carefully and learned everything I could.
“I didn’t know you were skilled with a sword too, Lord Lumio.”
The brightly glowing sword aura illuminated Yulian.
His gaze sharpened like that of a beast.
“You handle sword aura better than I expected too.”
I praised him as I extended my sword.
Yulian chuckled at that and charged again.
“But.”
Yulian’s sword came straight down in a brutally simple yet powerful vertical strike.
“You’re too obvious.”
You raised your arms too early.
Your legs are moving far too honestly.
‘You might as well be charging at me shouting, Please hit me.’
I waited until Yulian had fully committed to the swing, then slightly twisted my body and raised my sword at an angle.
Yulian’s sword slid down mine and cut helplessly through empty air before slamming into the ground.
THUD!
After redirecting his blade, I moved as smoothly as flowing water and swung my sword in a simple straight line.
“If these were real swords, you’d be dead.”
My wooden sword stopped directly in front of Yulian’s throat.