Kainik walked along, his reddish-brown hair swaying.
The training camp he had returned to after roughly seven years had barely changed.
Memories surfaced with every building he passed.
“What a nostalgic sight.”
He had made many memories since becoming a special investigator, but those from the training camp remained the most vivid in Kainik’s heart.
Back when he still lacked everything and trained day after day out of a desire to become stronger.
The sense of accomplishment from overcoming trials alongside his companions and ascending another level.
Those memories were treasures he could never forget.
“That was the Red class’s communal facility, wasn’t it?”
Kainik looked around with movements as light as a leaf riding the wind.
He was roaming the training camp instead of resting partly because he wanted to revisit his memories.
But he also wanted to look over the Red class trainees in advance.
‘I never expected the director to ask us to come.’
When Ragon contacted him and asked him to oversee the Red class test, Kainik could not help being surprised.
It would have made sense for the graduating Blue class, but calling him in for a Red class test raised the difficulty far too high.
Of course, he would hold back against the trainees.
“Even so.”
Kainik was confident he could subdue every trainee here with a single pinkie.
No, he might not even need his pinkie.
He would hold back, but even restraint had an appropriate limit.
And Ragon had not told Kainik what that limit should be.
“I suppose he wants me to judge for myself.”
Kainik chuckled.
He looked forward to seeing what made this class so exceptional that Ragon had made such a request, but he also felt sorry for them.
No set limit meant he was to eliminate the trainees without mercy if they failed to satisfy him.
That was why he wanted to observe the Red class trainees beforehand.
“I can’t stand unanswered questions.”
Kainik had been like this from birth. If something made him curious, he would ask directly even before the Emperor.
Had Kainik not become the youngest person ever named among the Continental Fifteen Swords, he might have disappeared without a trace long ago.
“Ah, come to think of it.”
Kainik stopped on his way to the Red class communal facility.
He had forgotten to change out of his uniform.
For a moment, he considered simply going as he was.
“But they’d obviously recognize me.”
Observant trainees would identify Kainik from nothing more than Luverth’s initials embroidered on his uniform.
That would defeat the entire point of going to see the trainees.
“I’d like to change into training clothes......”
After a moment of thought, Kainik’s head shot up as though he had hit upon a good idea.
“Instructor Alia is here!”
He did not know whether she still oversaw the Red class here.
But if she did, she might give him a spare set of training clothes.
“She’s strict, but kind.”
It had been so long that he did not know where she was staying.
So Kainik drew up his aura and released fighting spirit throughout the training camp.
It was fighting spirit, faint enough that only the instructors could sense it, but intense nonetheless.
Naturally, there was no way any trainee could sense Kainik’s fighting spirit.
“W-what is that......?”
No one knew that Ivan alone shuddered in response to that fighting spirit.
***
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Alia glared at Kainik, her face filled with irritation.
She was not the only one.
Nearly every Red class instructor had sensed Kainik’s fighting spirit and come rushing over.
That was how intense Kainik’s fighting spirit had been.
“Haha, was that a little excessive? I held back considerably.”
Kainik scratched his head with an awkward laugh.
“You take your jokes too far. I thought an enemy had infiltrated the camp and nearly launched sword energy at you.”
Karl let out a deep sigh. It truly had been a bolt from the blue.
After all, overwhelming fighting spirit had suddenly erupted within Pandora, which had not permitted a single intruder in hundreds of years.
“Don’t worry! I can easily block Instructor Karl’s sword energy now.”
Kainik raised a reassuring thumb at Karl’s sigh.
His words might have sounded offensive, but Karl was not upset in the slightest.
The current Kainik could probably block Karl’s sword energy with his bare hands.
“Goodness... Kainik, I knew you had already joined the Continental Fifteen Swords, but I never imagined you had reached such a level at your age......”
Pritt, another Red class instructor, exclaimed in admiration.
He could not help marveling at the young man who had already far surpassed him despite being less than half his age.
The other instructors reacted the same way.
“If you have already reached this level, you could even aim to become the next greatest swordsman on the continent.”
“You were exceptional even as a trainee, but I never imagined you would grow this much. All I can say is that I’m astonished.”
The instructors surrounding Kainik voiced their admiration one after another.
“So, Kainik, why did you spread that fighting spirit?”
Alia alone addressed Kainik with a blank expression.
“Ah, it’s nothing important. I was wondering if I could borrow some training clothes.”
“Training clothes? Why exactly do you need them?”
“I’m going to look at the trainees taking the test tomorrow. They’ll obviously recognize me if I go dressed like this.”
Kainik shrugged. Alia frowned as though he were giving her a headache.
“I thought making the Continental Fifteen Swords might have improved you somewhat... It seems your personality is unchanged.”
He had released fighting spirit merely to borrow training clothes.
He had not changed at all from his days as a troublemaker who tried to sneak out of the training camp whenever the opportunity arose.
Had Kainik lacked talent, Alia would have used every means at her disposal to expel him.
That was how notorious Kainik had been as a troublemaker during his trainee days.
“You’ll lend me some, right?”
Kainik looked at Alia with sparkling eyes, acting adorable.
“...Follow me.”
After considering it for a moment, Alia turned away as though she had no choice.
She knew perfectly well that whether she lent him training clothes or not, Kainik would find some way to go see the trainees.
She decided not to waste her strength resisting.
“I’ll say this just in case. Do not cause a disturbance.”
Alia warned Kainik after he changed into the training clothes she had given him in a flash.
“Of course! I’ll only look, nothing more.”
Kainik answered confidently, telling her not to worry.
It was not a particularly trustworthy answer, but Alia said she believed him and let him go.
Now dressed in training clothes, Kainik ran straight toward the communal facility.
Even dressed like everyone else, his distinctive aura naturally drew the trainees’ attention.
‘Should I have changed my hair color too?’
Reddish-brown hair was uncommon but not truly rare, so he had not bothered changing it. Surprisingly, it still seemed to stand out.
Mealtime appeared to be over, so Kainik headed for Communal Fitness Room One, where he expected the largest crowd.
‘There are fewer people than I expected.’
Most of them seemed to be resting in preparation for the next day’s test.
Even so, the room was not completely empty.
Kainik spotted trainees diligently conditioning their bodies even on the day of the test.
“Oh, quite a few of them look promising, don’t they?”
Kainik raised an eyebrow at the Red class trainees, whose level appeared higher than he had expected.
He could understand to some degree why the director had called him.
“Let’s see.”
Kainik began examining the trainees he would be evaluating one by one.
Appearances did not reveal everything, but someone at Kainik’s level could gauge their abilities ‘roughly.’
As Kainik’s keen eyes dissected the trainees, wondering what they might be hiding, his gaze abruptly stopped in one place.
‘What......?’
Kainik unconsciously flinched.
One trainee was staring straight at him.
***
Ivan had sensed Kainik’s presence before he even entered the fitness room.
It was because traces of fighting spirit still clung to Kainik.
Of course, there was no way Ivan could know what that fighting spirit actually was.
He had simply felt an eerie sensation that raised goosebumps across his body. As that sensation intensified, he naturally turned toward its source.
‘That guy......’
Ivan fixed his gaze on the reddish-brown-haired man.
It was a face he had never seen before.
The man wore training clothes, so he appeared to be a trainee, but no matter how Ivan searched his memory, he did not recognize him.
‘Is he an instructor?’
Ivan could reach no other conclusion.
The source of the eerie sensation he had felt earlier and still felt now was clearly that man.
It resembled the energy Karl had released on the first day. It was even more chilling and unpleasant, but Ivan could vaguely tell that it likewise originated from aura.
At that moment, perhaps sensing his gaze, the reddish-brown-haired man looked directly at Ivan.
Ivan quickly lowered his eyes.
‘I shouldn’t get involved with him.’
He did not know why an instructor was pretending to be a trainee in the fitness room, but if he kept staring, the man might say something a graduate school professor would, like, ‘Hey, student. If you have time, could you help me with something?’
“What’s wrong, Ivan?”
Kamel, who was working out with him, asked in confusion. He did not appear to sense any energy.
“Hey, hey. Turn your head back, bastard......! He’ll notice!”
Ivan quietly scolded Kamel. But it was already too late.
Kainik had started walking toward them.
“Well, hello, friends?”
Kainik greeted them in a rather easygoing voice, glancing between Ivan and Kamel.
“Thank you for your hard work, Instructor! I have business elsewhere, so I should be going!”
Trying to escape the situation, Ivan gave Kainik a stiff salute and immediately turned away.
But the moment he did, Kainik caught him and forced him back into place.
‘What is with this bastard’s strength?’
It felt as though a giant had seized him.
“Instructor? What are you talking about?”
Kainik gripped Ivan’s shoulder so he could not flee and asked.
“Aren’t you an instructor?”
“No?”
Kainik shook his head at Ivan’s question.
That was strange. Ivan had clearly sensed energy from him surpassing Karl’s.
Ivan gave him a disbelieving look, and Kainik became certain inwardly.
‘He really did sense my fighting spirit.’
Otherwise, Ivan would never have mistaken him for an instructor out of nowhere.
Kainik let out an incredulous laugh.
Was the Red class not the stage where trainees were only just learning aura release?
He had released his fighting spirit so faintly that only the instructors should have been able to sense it.
Even that fighting spirit had now been erased, leaving nothing but traces.
‘Interesting.’
Kainik had expected the trainees to be skilled from the moment Ragon summoned him, but he had not imagined one at this level would exist.
“I’m a trainee here too.”
Kainik shamelessly lied.
“I-is that so......? I’ve never seen you before.”
“There are a lot of people here, so I’ve been using a different fitness room. I came to this one because it’s the day before the test.”
Since Kainik knew the facility, making up an excuse was easy.
Although he still found it suspicious, Ivan did not challenge Kainik’s explanation.
‘No matter how I look at him, he seems like an instructor.’
If the man was going this far to pretend to be a trainee, he must have a reason Ivan should not pry into.
“I suddenly have goosebumps for some reason......”
Only after Kainik drew closer did Kamel feel the trace of fighting spirit and rub his arms.
Though not to the same extent as Ivan, Kamel’s reaction was enough to catch Kainik’s eye.
‘Could it be?’
Kainik was reminded of someone by Kamel’s face. He could not help asking.
“Are you the Frost Duke’s son?”
Kamel acknowledged it with a displeased expression.
“I am.”
Kamel hated being exalted because of his father’s fame, so the question was unwelcome.
“I knew it. I thought you looked alike.”
“You sound as though you have met my father.”
“Yeah, I met him once.”
Kainik had encountered the Frost Duke while pursuing a criminal organization hiding in the North.
The Frost Duke had personally set out to destroy that organization as well, which had committed any number of illegal acts while trying to expand its power in the North.
‘He was a frightening man.’
Mistaking Kainik for one of the organization’s members, the Frost Duke had attacked him, and the two crossed swords until the misunderstanding was resolved.
Kainik remembered the Frost Duke saying it had been a long time since he had seen a brat properly withstand his sword.
“What are your names?”
Awakening from his brief recollection, Kainik asked Ivan and Kamel.
The two hesitated before answering, and Kainik extended a hand with mischief blooming across his face once more.
“Ivan, Kamel. Since we’ve met, let’s shake hands!”
Of course, he had not offered his hand merely because he wanted a handshake.
Kainik’s aura had already left his dantian and was flowing toward both palms.