After hearing the report, Instructor Katen dragged one hand down his face.
“Shuren and Jake are dueling in the training hall?”
“Yes, sir.”
Katen was flustered.
Jake, the leader of the troublemakers, and Shuren, who stood at the very bottom even among branch families, were fighting each other.
“There is no need to worry too much. It is only a duel between trainees.”
The assistant instructor who had come to report it spoke as though it were nothing serious.
They knew Jake's group used duels as an excuse to cause trouble.
But both Jake and his lackeys had powerful families backing them.
That was why the assistant instructors and instructors alike had been watching from the sidelines, mindful of the higher-ups.
‘I was thinking it was about time we intervened.’
But now their leader himself had stepped forward.
Something had finally happened.
“I am going to the training hall immediately.”
Katen said that and started walking.
The lackeys were all roughly equal in strength.
Jake was different.
Naturally, Jake was certain to win the duel.
He had received extensive support from his family even before entering the training center.
Shuren, however, was different.
‘That boy has spent months doing nothing but basic sword forms.’
The talent Shuren had first displayed had been extraordinary.
He had not only lit a Stage 5 Mana Stone, but shattered it.
Yet after that, he had not particularly distinguished himself.
Shuren merely followed the training center's curriculum in silence.
Of course, Katen's belief that Shuren was a great talent who would bloom late had not changed.
Even so, Jake was currently ahead of him.
Katen quickened his pace.
Given Jake's personality, there was no doubt he had always had his eye on Shuren.
‘He plans to use this opportunity to crush him properly.’
Then there would be no more thorn in Jake's side at the training center.
‘I just hope he does not get hurt too badly.’
Katen sincerely meant it.
He liked Shuren.
Shuren came from the most fallen family in the entire training center, yet his determination to grow was extraordinary.
Katen wanted that determination to be rewarded.
Shuren was not someone whose budding potential should be crushed by someone like Jake at the training center.
‘As I thought!’
As he approached the training hall, Katen could hear a commotion.
THWACK!
The sight that entered Katen's eyes was……
Jake getting beaten with a wooden sword.
“Instructor! Stop that bastard!”
“That bastard Shuren is cowardly ignoring the rules of the duel and attacking Lord Jake……!”
Jake's lackeys rushed over to Katen and begged him to stop the situation.
‘What in the world…….’
Even Katen was quite flustered.
He had naturally assumed Shuren would be the one taking a beating.
Instead, Shuren had beaten Jake half to death.
Still, from an instructor's standpoint, it seemed he had to stop this.
“End the duel at once!”
But Shuren did not listen.
THWACK!
Instead, he struck Jake once more with the wooden sword as Jake tried to get up.
“Shuren! Did you not hear me?”
“Instructor Katen.”
Shuren spoke without taking his eyes off Jake, who was sprawled on the ground.
“The duel cannot be stopped.”
“Why not?”
“Until one side surrenders or becomes unable to fight. Is that not the rule of a duel? But Jake has not lost the will to fight. Nor is he unable to continue.”
“Even so, there is no need to beat him this brutally…….”
Katen trailed off as he examined Jake's condition.
‘He looks covered in wounds, but none of them are critical.’
With that many visible injuries, it should have been impossible to avoid a serious wound.
But Jake's condition was not like that.
Which meant—
‘There is a gap in strength between them.’
Shuren was holding back against Jake.
‘Shuren was this strong?’
Katen could not help being shocked.
“The Pellantz Family loves its rules so much, after all. This duel should continue.”
Katen had nothing to say to that.
Shuren was absolutely right.
“Still, now that even the instructor is here, it would be better to end this, right? So surrender.”
Shuren showed mercy.
“I…… can't…….”
Jake gritted his teeth.
He desperately tried to stand.
“You haven't been hit enough yet.”
Shuren shook his head.
THWACK! SPLAT!
Shuren's wooden sword flashed out like lightning.
“Gah!”
“The boss is going to die!”
Jake's lackeys screamed in horror.
‘He really has no blood or tears.’
Even Katen was appalled by how little mercy Shuren showed.
‘Hmm. Should I hit him one more time?’
Just as Shuren thought that and prepared to bring the wooden sword down—
“I…… surrender!”
“……What?”
“Surrender! I said…… surrender.”
Jake timidly muttered it again in case Shuren had not heard him.
“Really?”
Shuren answered with a grin.
Seeing that, Katen also let out a sigh of relief.
As an instructor, things would become troublesome if Jake were seriously injured.
“You said surrender with your own mouth, right? You admit defeat?”
“B-but…… who hits someone…… while they're preparing a technique……?”
Jake seemed to feel wronged.
Even though he could barely pronounce the words properly, he still voiced his complaint.
“What? Want another hit?”
“No!”
The moment Shuren made a motion, Jake shouted in terror.
“You're going to keep spouting nonsense? Are you going to say the same thing on a real battlefield with a hole through your chest?”
“…….”
Jake fell completely silent.
“A battlefield isn't a place for pampered young masters to stand around posing. It's a place where people fight desperately with their lives on the line. You should be grateful you dueled me today. If you hadn't learned this lesson from me, you would've died somewhere on a battlefield before long.”
After saying that, Shuren looked at Katen.
“Instructor. I made sure not to hit him hard enough to kill him, but I think he still needs first aid.”
“Understood.”
Katen nodded and ordered the assistant instructors to take Jake to the infirmary.
Shuren resumed his training as though nothing had happened.
‘He is no ordinary child.’
Katen felt it once again.
He had only seen the final few moments of the duel.
But even from that alone, he could tell that Shuren's stance and swordsmanship were extremely practical.
‘We do not teach anything like that at this training center. And his family does not even have a knight, so there is no way he learned it from them.’
That only made Katen find Shuren even more impressive.
The boy had been born with a razor-sharp instinct for combat.
‘I was already planning to warn Jake's group about their excessive behavior soon.’
Thanks to Shuren, it seemed he would no longer have to.
Of course, Shuren probably had not acted with that intention.
Katen thanked him inwardly all the same.
***
Two days later.
After hearing that their son had been injured, Jake's parents came to the training center.
In principle, once a child enrolled, outside interference was forbidden.
But that rule did not apply to powerful families.
“Our son! Where is our Jake?!”
“He is recovering in the infirmary.”
Guided by an assistant instructor, the two stormed toward the infirmary.
“Jake!”
When they saw Jake's condition with their own eyes, tears welled in their eyes.
Jake was still asleep.
The swelling and wounds covering his body had yet to heal.
“How dare that bastard do this to our Jake!”
Jake's father,
Atun Pellantz, roared with his eyes blazing.
“We took pity on them after their fall and accepted them as a branch family, and after only two hundred years, they have already forgotten who their masters are!”
On the day of the duel,
the training center had sent a messenger to Jake's family and explained the incident in detail.
But they forgot all about that and remembered only that Shuren had beaten Jake one-sidedly.
And they were furious.
“Dear. We cannot let this go. Should we not crush that lowly thing called Shuren?”
“My heart feels as though it is being torn apart seeing our son like this. But the training center is a place where ability is judged. As outsiders, there is no way for us to intervene…….”
“Are you really going to do nothing?”
“I am furious about this matter as well. Hmm…….”
Atun fell into thought for a moment.
“Right. There was that.”
“Dear, did you think of something?”
“I thought of a way to legally destroy that boy's future. And a way to drag his entire family down with him.”
His wife's eyes lit up at Atun's words.
“In a few months, there will be the Formal Trainee Exam. We simply have to make him fail then.”
“That is a good idea, but…… can we not take revenge right now?”
“I told you. We can take care of two things at once. For that, painful as it may be, let us endure for a few months.”
Atun answered while firmly holding his wife's hand.
“But what if our son loses? You never know. If that Shuren boy uses another cowardly trick like this time…….”
“Do not worry. We cannot personally crush him, but we can hire a private tutor for our son. No one in this training center will dare make an issue of it.”
“That will work!”
The two looked at Jake with satisfied expressions.
This time, their son had lost because of an unfortunate accident.
They showed their determination to make absolutely certain he would not lose next time.
***
A few days after Shuren and Jake's duel,
Katen called Shuren aside after training ended.
“You called for me?”
“Yes, Shuren.”
Shuren wondered why the instructor had summoned him.
‘Is he going to scold me?’
But what came out of Katen's mouth was the exact opposite.
“About Jake, the boy you dueled. Do you know what kind of family he comes from?”
“Yes. I understand his family is considered one of the most prominent even among the direct line.”
“Then there is no need for a long explanation. His family will not leave you alone. They will probably try to make you fail somehow during the Formal Trainee Exam.”
“Hmm. Probably.”
“That is why I called you. If you are willing, I can take measures so Jake and his family cannot do that.”
“Pardon?”
Shuren wondered if he had heard correctly.
An instructor at the training center was willing to go that far for him?
‘Well, of course instructors are supposed to do that, but…….’
This training center was different.
They might all bear the same Pellantz surname, but there were enormous gaps in status between the different families.
And the instructors and assistant instructors here were, to put it harshly, people who had failed to succeed within the Pellantz Family.
For Instructor Katen, one of those people, to stand against Jake's side meant opposing the direct line.
‘Does he have some ulterior motive?’
Judging by the way Katen had acted before, he was not saying this to harm him.
Shuren thought the man was probably doing it sincerely for his sake.
So Shuren decided to accept only the sentiment behind the offer.
“It is all right. You know I defeated Jake through pure skill, Instructor.”
“That is true, but…….”
“And even if this training center is run by the Pellantz Family, they would not go so far as to hire an assassin and send one inside.”
Katen was startled.
To hear such a grim word as assassin from the mouth of a child……
“You are right. But Jake's family has been petty enough to hire a private tutor for him.”
“What?”
Shuren was dumbfounded.
‘Good grief. They keep going on about justice and all that, yet behind the scenes they bring in an outside tutor?’
They were only doing it because they knew there would be no consequences.
Shuren could feel just how much power Jake's family possessed.
‘If even the training center is like this, I don't need to see the rest to know what it's like.’
The Pellantz Family was rotting away.
Not that Shuren had any reason to worry about it.
If anything, seeing them collapse was exactly what he wanted.
‘Let him study under his precious tutor as much as he likes.’
It would not change anything anyway.
“Thank you for telling me. But you do not need to take any special measures. It will be far more crushing for him if I beat him through pure skill.”
Katen had needed considerable resolve to make the offer.
Yet he did not feel offended in the slightest at being refused.
‘His mindset is already that of a knight.’
Katen was worried about Shuren, but at the same time, he could not help looking forward to what would happen.
“Then I will return to training.”
Shuren bowed politely and headed for the training hall.