“Will you really find it enjoyable Sparring with me after Sparring with the Knight Commander?”
Richard could not hide his bewilderment.
“I am no match for you, Young Master.”
What could someone who Sparred with the Knight Commander possibly gain from fighting him?
Richard had witnessed Rodos’s abilities firsthand from right beside him.
For Sparring to benefit both sides, their abilities needed to be at least somewhat comparable.
“That is not true.”
Rodos shook his head.
There were always things one could learn even from someone less skilled than oneself.
“There are also things I want to know.”
Rodos had questions about Richard.
‘Why could I sense Life Force from him?’
It was something he had wondered about even before taking Richard on the subjugation mission.
Richard also seemed to have questions for him.
In that case, there was no better way to have time alone than Sparring.
‘I also want to test my new power.’
On top of that, Rodos wanted to experiment with the power of cold he had newly acquired.
Richard could not understand him at all.
“Then could we not simply talk?”
Was there really any need to Spar?
However, Rodos drew his tomahawks and spoke.
“For warriors, crossing weapons is conversation.”
“Yes….”
“Follow me.”
Richard shook his head.
Fighting spirit was blazing in Rodos’s eyes.
They were the same eyes he had shown while killing the Deathfrost Dragon.
“I would really like some rest….”
Richard sighed and followed Rodos.
***
“This should do.”
Rodos stopped in a corner of the Training Grounds.
Since group training was underway, there was no one nearby.
“Are we Sparring right away?”
Richard asked as he drew his sword.
Rodos nodded.
“Treat it as real combat and give it everything you have.”
“Yes. I suppose I should.”
Richard assumed a stance.
Although he had fought alongside the Young Master before, this was the first time they had Sparred.
He remembered the way Rodos had fought the Deathfrost Dragon, but he still intended to do his best.
Backing down from a fight before it even began would wound his pride.
“Here I come!”
Richard charged quickly.
He was unquestionably faster than before.
However, Rodos merely stood still and watched him approach.
“What are you doing?!”
Richard frowned and swung his sword.
No matter how great the difference in their abilities, having Rodos simply stand there irritated him.
CLANG!
The attack carried considerable force, but Rodos easily blocked it with only the tomahawk in his right hand.
“!”
Richard’s eyes widened.
Despite how easily his attack had been blocked, he immediately retreated.
The moment an attack was stopped was often the most dangerous moment.
“Real combat certainly helped you grow.”
With those words, Rodos charged at Richard.
“Why are you so fast?!”
Richard quickly retreated again to widen the distance, but it was useless.
SLASH!
Rodos’s two axes had already cut across his body.
“Urgh!”
Richard clutched his side.
Blood was flowing from the wound.
Rodos appeared to have controlled his strength, as the cut was not deep.
“Wait!”
Richard had no time to worry about his injury.
Rodos continued attacking without pause.
CLANG!
Richard raised his sword and blocked the tomahawk, then immediately thrust his blade forward.
He could never win if all he did was defend.
Richard’s sword cut Rodos’s cheek.
Blood trickled down the cut.
“Oh?”
Rodos’s eyes widened slightly.
“I am not finished yet. Hah!”
With another battle cry, Richard swung his sword toward Rodos’s chest.
Rodos did not evade.
He took the sword strike with his body and continued charging at Richard.
SLASH!
A deep gash opened across Rodos’s chest, and blood poured from it.
Yet Rodos rammed straight into Richard without so much as changing his expression.
BANG!
“AAAAAGH!”
The heavy impact sent Richard flying through the air.
Richard quickly got back to his feet and assumed a stance, but bewilderment filled his face.
“I know that landed properly! Then why?”
Richard could not understand it.
That attack should have been blocked or avoided.
Instead, Rodos had simply taken it and continued attacking.
He had seen the same thing during the subjugation mission.
Rodos fought exactly like his father had.
The fighting style of the North.
Why would the Young Master of a prestigious family of mages fight that way?
“What is this absurd fighting style?”
“The fighting style of the North.”
Rodos answered immediately.
Green energy began rising from his body.
At the same time, the wound on his chest rapidly closed.
“What? You can use Recovery Magic too?”
Richard could not understand what he was seeing.
The instant the green energy touched Rodos’s wound, it healed.
“It is not an absurd fighting style. It is a method of combat possible precisely because they are warriors of the North.”
Rodos slowly approached as he spoke.
“You possess that power as well.”
“What are you talking about?”
Richard could not understand.
He had that same power?
The power to regenerate wounds?
“I will show you.”
At that moment, Rodos charged.
He intended to awaken the Life Force that seemed to be obstructed within Richard.
From this point on, he also planned to pressure Richard while using the Cold Energy he had recently acquired.
‘I should have protected him less during the subjugation.’
Rodos had been there when they fought the Deathfrost Dragon.
Whenever Richard had been in danger, Rodos had saved him, preventing his Life Force from manifesting.
To awaken Life Force, Richard needed to be driven into a corner.
Only when he genuinely felt that his life was in danger would his Life Force finally manifest.
With that in mind, Rodos focused.
Cold Energy flowed around him, and frost began forming across his tomahawks.
“!”
Richard swallowed hard.
He could feel the same chilling energy from the Young Master that he had felt from the Deathfrost Dragon.
CLANG!
Rodos’s two tomahawks slammed into Richard’s sword.
“How am I supposed to block this?!”
Richard barely managed to defend himself with his sword and recoiled in horror.
The cold released by the impact had frozen the hand gripping his sword.
‘He is serious!’
His instincts screamed at him.
Give it everything you have.
Struggle to survive.
Otherwise, you really might die.
LEAP!
Rodos jumped into the air.
The two tomahawks raised high above him gleamed in the sunlight.
He plummeted down and brought them crashing toward the ground.
BOOM!
The earth caved in with a deafening crash, and a blast of frosty wind swept outward.
Richard barely escaped by throwing himself aside.
“This lunatic!”
Richard breathed heavily.
If not for the instincts he had developed during the battle against the Deathfrost Dragon, it would have ended there.
WHOOSH!
Rodos did not stop.
Through the cloud of dust, razor-sharp axe blades came toward Richard.
Richard twisted his body aside and thrust his sword forward.
He could not see, but he could sense Rodos’s presence beyond the dust.
“I am not going to stand here and take it!”
It was a skillful attack that made excellent use of his restricted vision.
CLANG!
However, Rodos swiftly blocked the strike and seized Richard’s arm.
Cold Energy spread through him, freezing Richard’s arm for an instant.
“My goodness!”
Richard was dumbfounded.
The Young Master seemed to know exactly how he would move.
Richard forced his frozen arm to move with all his strength.
CRACK!
The ice finally shattered, freeing his arm.
WHOOSH!
At that moment, Rodos charged through the frost.
SLASH!
The sharply frozen axe blade cut across Richard’s shoulder.
His Leather Armor was sliced open, exposing his bare shoulder.
“Guh!”
Richard clutched his shoulder.
He could no longer keep up.
Rodos continued attacking regardless.
With frosty wind accompanying his relentless assault, Rodos looked like a blizzard given human form.
“Urgh!”
Under the unceasing barrage, wounds multiplied across Richard’s entire body.
SLASH!
Unable even to counterattack, Richard curled inward and was driven into a corner.
All he could do was barely raise his sword to prevent himself from suffering a fatal wound.
SLASH!
“AAAAAGH!”
Richard screamed in pain.
Rodos’s tomahawks slipped past Richard’s sword and left deep wounds behind.
“I surrender!”
Unable to endure any longer, Richard dropped to the ground and declared his surrender.
But Rodos did not stop attacking.
“I told you to treat this as real combat.”
With those words, he pressured Richard even harder.
“Hah… Hah…!”
Covered in blood, Richard looked as though he might collapse at any moment.
‘He has reached his limit.’
Richard was at his limit.
He was now in a condition where even a minor wound might lead to death.
“Why… Why are you taking this so far?!”
Richard shouted.
He could not understand why Rodos was trying to kill him.
In the end, perhaps Rodos was no different from the other Young Masters of this prestigious family of mages, men who placed their own amusement above the lives of others.
“That is enough.”
Rodos stopped attacking and stared at Richard.
It was as though he were waiting for something.
“You are no different from the other Young Mas— Huh?”
Richard, who had been shouting angrily, widened his eyes at the change occurring within his body.
Green energy was flowing from him and healing his wounds.
“It is warm.”
The energy was warm.
Like gentle spring sunlight in the afternoon.
“That is Life Force.”
Only then did Richard nod.
It was the same energy Rodos possessed.
‘So this is why he pushed me….’
Richard understood.
Rodos had driven him to the brink of death in order to awaken his Life Force.
“We will end the Spar here.”
Rodos helped Richard to his feet.
Richard was no longer in pain.
Nearly all of his wounds had already healed.
“I appreciate you awakening my power, but was it really necessary to push me until I was almost dead? I am not a monster or an enemy! I genuinely almost died!”
Richard finally unleashed everything he had been unable to say earlier.
“Everyone born of the North carries Life Force within them. However, that Life Force often remains dormant deep inside and never manifests. To awaken it, one must face mortal danger. That is why warriors of the North willingly throw themselves into deadly situations.”
“Is that so? Then could you not have told me beforehand?”
Richard erupted in outrage.
Swinging axes at him without saying a word….
The Young Master was definitely not sane.
“The blood of the North flows through you. Why?”
Rodos paid no attention.
Resolving his curiosity was more important.
“Were you really that curious about it?”
Rodos nodded.
Richard thought for a moment before revealing a story he had never told anyone.
“My father said the North was his homeland. I do not know the details because he never told me much, but he said he moved to the South with my grandfather when he was young.”
“I see.”
Rodos nodded.
Just as he had expected, the blood of the North flowed through Richard.
“What was your father’s name?”
“Horn. He said he was Horn of the Ashen Tree Tribe.”
Rodos’s eyes widened.
The Ashen Tree Tribe.
There was no way he would not know them.
Before Rodos had even risen to the position of Great Warrior, when he was still young, the tribe had left the North and migrated elsewhere because their values differed from those of the other tribes.
Blood had even been spilled during the process, and as a result, the people of the North had come to despise them.
‘The past is not important.’
Rodos did not care.
It had nothing to do with Richard.
What mattered was the present.
One could never move forward while remaining bound to the past.
“Even the Knight Commander does not know. Do not tell him.”
“I will not.”
“Then why do you fight like the warriors of the North, Young Master?”
“Because I learned from a northerner.”
Rodos answered immediately.
Richard could only nod.
It was an answer with no unnecessary embellishment.
“Then I look forward to tomorrow as well.”
“Tomorrow…?”
Rodos gave a brief farewell and left the Training Grounds.
However, he had not gone far when he stopped.
A Mage wearing golden robes was blocking his path.
“Move.”
Even after being told to move, the Mage remained where he was and respectfully bowed.
“Young Master Rodos. Lady Nerva has summoned you.”