1.
“...Keep up. Move. With me.”
Early the next morning, Kun headed toward a new destination under the escort of the Third Moat instructors. After leaving the Lion Library and spending one more night in the infirmary of the main keep, he had just returned to his sector’s charge.
Marching beside Kun in a column was a group of trainees, around twenty in all, including the Silver twins and Taylor Rosetta. Every one of them had managed to pass the first Lion Trial. Since Kun had spent the allotted five days between the infirmary and the secret archive, his schedule had lined up with the others, and today all of them were being transferred to the training camp for closed training.
Although those who had failed had been promised a second chance two months later, for now the only survivors in the Third Moat who had passed selection were the ones walking in this column.
Whether the old medic’s skill had exceeded expectations or Kun’s body simply recovered faster than normal, walking felt surprisingly easy.
At this rate, the wounds will not split open again even under intense movement.
The medic’s work had been astonishingly practical and precise. Even Kun, who in his days as the Calamity-Class Hound had crossed the line of death more than once, had to admit that the old man’s skill was among the best he had ever seen.
Recalling the master’s nimble hands, Kun swept his gaze over the children walking beside him.
After the first trial, around twenty remain. If another group about this size is added after the second exam in two months... then the total will be no more than fifty?
Almost a hundred trainees had been cut in half after only the very first stage.
Numbers like this after only the first test...
It was becoming clear why Lion’s Moat was infamous for its monstrously low graduation rate. And at the same time...
It is also clear why every one of those graduates possesses strength above the norm.
Those who passed through a sieve like this again and again had no need for anyone to confirm their talent.
What was more, every trial they cleared came with a reward for further growth...
The system was fundamentally different from Roverian’s Fox Den, where nothing existed but cruelty. In the Fox Den, fighters were squeezed dry and forced to grow under the threat of immediate death, while Lion’s Moat balanced the stick and the carrot with near perfection.
The Fox Den only crushes people with extreme pressure, while Lion’s Moat motivates and cultivates them.
There was no need to explain which system was superior. With bitterness, Kun thought,
In the end, an imitation remains an imitation. It can never surpass the original.
Those thoughts stabbed painfully into the very core of where the Black Foxes had come from. Sunk in that self-mocking irony, Kun suddenly lifted his head and looked at the mountain trail stretching ahead.
Even so... how much farther are we going? To house fifty people, the building would have to be considerable.
Kun frowned slightly. More than half an hour had already passed since they had left the Third Moat’s living quarters, yet the closed training camp still had not appeared anywhere on the horizon.
So they really hid it well.
Impatience made Kun flex his fingers. After spending five days in the infirmary, he wanted so badly to move that the urge seemed to itch in his bones. But...
...I cannot do that while we are marching.
Still, he had no intention of wasting time. With a cold expression, Kun sharply straightened his fingers into a sword seal. As before, he extended his index and middle fingers, and at once images and knowledge from Sword of Ominous Dream began surfacing in his mind.
Of course, I did not get very far in two days, but...
Despite that modest thought, his gaze remained utterly calm.
His eyes were not merely analyzing the technique. It was as though he were peering into the abyss itself. In truth, even after spending an entire day in the infirmary studying the manuscript, he had only managed to advance ten pages. The depth of the art was so immense that even Kun, who had once reached the rank of Sword Master, could not fully grasp it.
Sword of Ominous Dream is a technique of a transcendent level.
And that is exactly why... if I can master it properly, it will not only help me survive in Lion’s Moat, but become a powerful weapon in the coming clash with Dawnbringer and Roverian.
But at the same time...
It is a double-edged sword.
His gaze grew even colder. Kun understood perfectly well that history was full of swordsmen who had died from arrogance, convinced of their own superiority after only a shallow study of great techniques. If he wanted to avoid their fate, he would have to devote unimaginable effort to truly comprehending Sword of Ominous Dream.
Only one question remains: how did a technique like this end up in the cellar of the Lion Library among all that other junk?
As he had already noted, most of the books in the Lion Library were of average or, at best, moderately high rank. And yet among them there had suddenly been something that stood head and shoulders above everything else. The theory that the book had simply been mixed in by accident during transport felt doubtful.
Just in case, I briefly showed the cover to the senior instructor on my way out...
The man had only looked at the old book in surprise, as though wondering how such a shabby relic had ended up there.
There had not been even a hint of recognition in his eyes.
A technique unknown even to the senior instructor of Lion’s Moat, a warrior of the Expert rank.
That means House Zoldic either does not know of it at all, or it has been completely forgotten...
The thoughts were beginning to tire Kun out, and he slowly shook his head.
“Phew...”
He still did not understand why his Supernatural Power and Divine Madness had reacted to that manuscript in particular. Concluding that he would find no answers for now, Kun gave himself a small shake and turned his gaze to his surroundings.
By the way... what is this?
He could feel strange looks clinging to his back, his shoulders, and his face. More precisely, it was not one stare, but many.
“Ugh!”
“...Ah!”
The moment Kun turned around, several of the trainees instantly looked away in alarm. But before long, their curiosity got the better of them again.
“He really came back?”
“I wonder if he has fully recovered.”
Sensing no envy or malice in those looks, only curiosity and something like awe, Kun let out the faintest smirk. Apparently, his duel with the instructor had left an unforgettable impression on the children.
Even so...
Kun felt a trace of puzzlement.
It was only one duel, and they are already looking at me like that.
Children were still children. Even with the harsh status of Lion’s Moat trainees, their gazes were surprisingly straightforward. And most importantly, that kind of attention worked in his favor. Kun had never sought conflict for amusement, nor had he enjoyed wasting time tormenting the weak.
If this keeps up, there should be fewer fools eager to provoke me after we come out of closed training.
Unfortunately, Kun’s hopes were not meant to come true. He did not have long to wait for disappointment.
2.
“We have arrived.”
The senior instructor stopped in front of an enormous round building.
“This is where you will begin your closed training starting today.”
The structure was colossal, hundreds of meters across. Its sheer scale was overwhelming. The trainees, mouths hanging open, could not hold back their cries of amazement.
“Wow, so this is the training camp?”
“It is my first time seeing a place like this!”
Even Kun could not suppress a crooked smile at the scale of the place.
Well, the Zoldics are still the Zoldics.
Without exaggeration, the building looked like a small fortress. What was truly striking was that the family could afford to assign a structure of this scale to something as ordinary as training.
While some admired the facade, others began exchanging puzzled glances.
“But those bars on the windows and those heavy iron doors...”
“Does this not look more like a giant prison than a training hall?”
The observation was accurate. The building really did resemble a massive prison made up of countless solitary cells. The only difference was that this was a training complex, so the “cells” were spacious, and there were a great many of them. It was that number of rooms that drew Kun’s attention.
“...”
When he had heard the words closed training, he had not expected resort conditions. The prison-like atmosphere did not bother him in the slightest. Places like this always put him in the proper frame of mind. But...
There are too many rooms.
Kun narrowed his eyes, estimating the scale.
If each room has one door and one barred window... then there are around a hundred of them here?
That would have been enough to house every trainee in the Third Moat without exception. And yet after the first test, there were at most fifty or sixty of them left. Even allowing for extra space just in case, there were still far too many rooms.
Or else...
A thought flashed through Kun’s mind that perhaps someone else trained here as well. Turning his head, he saw that some of the other trainees seemed to be thinking the same thing. And at that moment...
“Looks like we are a little late.”
A stranger’s voice rudely cut into their ranks.