'How on earth does someone that age have the experience of killing so many lives?'
Doflamingo was greatly shocked, but he didn't let it show. He wore an uncharacteristically solemn expression, which surprised Rohan instead.
"Something wrong?"
"No. Today I'll teach you a simple but important technique."
At some point Doflamingo was wearing his usual impish expression again. Black smoke roiled in his hand.
"Black magic is just a word those mage fellows made up to lump together all the magic they don't understand. Everyone thinks it's all about puppeteering corpses, but there's stuff like this too."
Rohan watched his hand with an indifferent look. The black smoke dripped from Doflamingo's hand to the floor.
The smoke hit the floor and touched Rohan's shadow. The black smoke hid within the dark shadow.
In that instant, Doflamingo raised his hand and swung it at Rohan. Rohan reflexively raised his arm.
A black mage's physical attack could be blocked easily. That was what he thought.
SMACK!
But Rohan took the palm right on his forehead, and his head snapped back.
"Wh-What was that!"
His body wouldn't move. The arm he'd tried to raise felt as if it had caught on a rope and been yanked back.
Rohan tried moving again. His arm moved without any problem.
When he looked at Doflamingo, the man was grinning with the corners of his mouth raised.
"What on earth did you do?"
"One of the techniques you can do with dark mana. The Shadow Art."
"The Shadow Art?"
"That's right. An art where you hide black mana inside a shadow and then seal the opponent's movement in an instant. It's fairly easy to learn, too. But the effect lasts only a single moment."
Rohan's face brightened. He struck his palm with his fist.
"What an incredibly useful technique."
Doflamingo looked at him in surprise.
"I thought you'd find it boring, but you like it more than I expected."
"Of course! Fights get decided in a single instant all the time."
Rohan, who had fought more life-or-death battles than anyone, knew well how precious a split second was.
"You really are a strange one. How can a mere ten-year-old kid talk like a seasoned warrior?"
"Because I'm that special. If you've got anything else, bring it out. Stuff I can learn fast."
"This is enough for now. You still have plenty of time, so there's no need to rush."
Rohan looked disappointed.
A thirst for power was essential for anyone trying to reach a high realm, but from Rohan, he sensed something beyond that.
Something anxious, and terribly urgent.
But Doflamingo didn't ask about it. He knew Rohan wouldn't answer honestly.
'This brat is full of schemes.'
He had known the boy wasn't ordinary from the moment he wasn't fazed at the sight of him.
'Though I didn't know it was to this extent.'
Was it a good thing?
He felt this child could become the cornerstone for achieving his long-cherished wish. But at the same time.
He also felt a fear that, the other way around, this child might swallow him whole.
The corners of his mouth rose on both sides. Rohan recoiled at his sudden change of expression.
"Now what?"
Doflamingo felt goosebumps rise on his arms. How long had it been since anyone had excited him this much?
He started to reckon how long it had been, then gave up. It was far too long ago.
***
A month later.
The year turned, Rohan became eleven, and he was promoted to the intermediate course along with Leon.
The intermediate course instructor was Orin Baltran, of the collateral line. He was Rohan's older cousin.
Being of the collateral line didn't mean he had to exalt the direct line unconditionally. If Rohan later lost the contest for the headship, he too was destined to become collateral in the end.
What was more, Rohan was a trainee who couldn't flaunt his family. And yet, while the other trainees were warming up, he was nowhere to be seen, and then he came ambling onto the training ground late.
Even Leon, who had been promoted with him, had come out early to warm up. Baltran or not, he was showing respect to the seniors who had moved up before him.
But Rohan, one hand stuffed in his pants, looked dazed as if he'd just woken up.
'Progress is way slower than I thought.'
Of course, Rohan had gotten up early too and come straight from mana training. His head was stuffed full of how to raise a pillar of black mana, which wasn't making any progress.
The problem was that Orin had no way of knowing this. In his eyes, Rohan was simply putting on airs, trusting in the Baltran name.
As he saw it, a Baltran's faults had to be pointed out by a fellow Baltran.
"Rohan. Why are you late?"
Rohan's eyes went round. He looked as if he didn't understand what that meant.
"I came out on time for training. Training hasn't started yet, has it?"
Orin closed his eyes to swallow his anger. If he let his emotions out as they were, he felt he'd do something drastic to a direct heir.
'I heard the youngest was mature beyond his years. I suppose rumors can't be trusted after all.'
He opened his eyes again. He fixed Rohan with a fierce stare.
Rohan avoided his gaze and pretended to look elsewhere.
'Is he playing games with me?'
A vein stood out clearly on his temple.
"Rohan! With that attitude you will never grow strong. There are many trainees here stronger than you. Show some respect."
He had said it with every ounce of patience he had. But Rohan fired back shamelessly.
"There are many people stronger than me? Really?"
What insolence was this? However much Rohan had stood out in the beginner course, this was the intermediate course. Most of the trainees were three or four years older than the eleven-year-old Rohan. Many of them were already past puberty, so the difference in size, and in looks, was huge.
At a glance, it was like the difference between an adult and a child.
As Orin was left speechless by the unexpected attitude, Rohan stepped forward in his place.
"Then let's find out. You seniors over there. Fight me."
The ones Rohan pointed at were all trainees due for promotion at the end of this year. All three were fifteen, four years older than Rohan.
They hadn't stood out the way Rohan had with his early promotion, but they were trainees who had steadily kept up with the course in their own way.
When Rohan pointed at them, they flinched. Without realizing it, they had become conscious of the Baltran attached to Rohan's name.
A fellow Baltran had no need to. Orin was furious at Rohan's insolent attitude.
"Fine, I permit it. Taeo. Show that insolent brat the level of the intermediate course."
The one of the three whose name was called stepped forward. He was a trainee who already had the build of an adult, with bulging muscles on both arms.
Rohan turned and went to one side of the training ground. A few weapons hung there.
Rohan took down a spear. Seeing it, Orin shouted.
"Don't you use a sword?"
"What eleven-year-old has a main weapon?"
Rohan answered curtly. He had a point. He hadn't been swinging weapons for very long.
But that also meant he had hardly ever used any other weapon.
"Your insolence pierces the heavens."
Taeo came forward, twirling his sword. He'd been cowed by the Baltran name only for a moment. Rohan's attitude had wounded his pride.
And that was just what Rohan wanted.
'It only works if we fight for real.'
The onlookers would feel it too. Whether the opponent had truly fought all out or not.
If his opponent fought while cowed by the family name, winning would mean little.
"I'll give you a chance, even now, to take up the sword you brought."
Taeo knew the sword Rohan had brought was an item from the family's treasure vault. Still, he wasn't worried about losing.
However much Rohan had stood out in the beginner course, he was only an eleven-year-old kid. If anything, fighting a kid wielding an unfamiliar weapon would hurt his pride even more.
"No. I'll use this."
Rohan swung the spear and took his stance. Rohan had more experience with the spear than anyone here.
In his past life he had been a mercenary. He hadn't had a solid footing from the start.
After being all but thrown out of the Andelian family, becoming a mercenary had been the choice he had no choice but to make, to survive. Without money, he was in no position to be picky about weapons.
He had no money to spare on weapons. When his weapon wore out, he took one from a dead mercenary and used that. Not just spears; there had been times he carried a bow, and times he didn't even have that and used a blunt wooden stick with sharp spikes hammered into it.
For Rohan, finding a weapon he wasn't used to was harder than finding one he was.
"You come first. You should at least get one attack in so you have no regrets."
The trainees who had come up from the beginner course with Rohan knew that was an obvious provocation. They didn't know exactly why, but Rohan didn't like to strike first.
But Taeo, who didn't know this, lashed out his sword in anger. Rohan didn't dodge; he lightly raised the spear to block. With a little force, he changed the sword's path, then relaxed so the sword slid down along the shaft.
"Your chest is wide open."
Rohan spun his body around once and struck Taeo's chest with the shaft. With a thud, Taeo staggered back a few steps.
Taeo rubbed his chest. The blow wasn't strong, but he was stunned at how easily he'd let an attack through.
'Did I let my guard down without realizing?'
Taeo couldn't accept that he'd shown an opening. It had to be a fluke.
The trainees who had been promoted with Rohan, on the other hand, felt a sense of déjà vu.
Here we go again. For the three who had fought Rohan directly especially, the nightmare of that day was coming back to life.
Taeo steadied his stance again. Rohan smiled.
"I'm giving you a chance just this once."
Taeo thought it was Rohan's provocation. This time he waited calmly. Then Rohan thrust the tip of his spear first.
Taeo dodged, leaning his body aside. With Rohan's arms stretched straight out in front of him, his chest was exposed.
'I'll return the favor.'
Taeo closed in on Rohan's body. When using a spear, letting an opponent get close decided the fight.
Sure of his victory, Taeo swung his sword.
WHACK—!
The sound came before his sword even reached Rohan.
'What?'
And strangely, his jaw hurt. Taeo had no idea what had happened until the moment his vision tipped backward.
The watching trainees' eyes went wide. At some point Rohan had spun the spear around and struck Taeo's jaw upward with the other end of the shaft.
The most astonished of all was Orin.
'When on earth did he learn spearmanship to that level?'
No, Rohan hadn't had the time. Even if he'd used a spear from the very beginning, considering his age, it was impossible.
'He was born with it.'
Legendary figures always had a tale that followed them. That they had wielded every weapon skillfully from childhood.
Orin felt he was witnessing that legendary path with his own two eyes.
Of course, if Rohan had read Orin's thoughts, he would have scoffed.
Where would you find a genius like that?
Every one of them was a skill he had acquired in his past life, fighting fiercely with his life on the line.
Taeo lost consciousness without even knowing what had hit him. As he toppled backward, Rohan caught his back with the shaft just before his head struck the ground.
Rohan looked at Orin. His eyes told him to call the match.
"R-Rohan wins."
It ended simply. The trainees who had fought Rohan in the beginner course thought it was actually lucky that Taeo had passed out. Otherwise, Rohan's thorough education in fear would have begun.
But Rohan had never intended that in the first place. This time he had a different goal from back then.
"Call the medics. His jawbone's probably broken."
While Taeo was treated by the medical staff and withdrew, Rohan called out the next opponent.
"Next opponent, step up."
Rohan shouted, looking at his next opponent, then tossed the spear aside. While everyone looked at him quizzically, Rohan turned and went back to where the weapons hung.
After looking for a moment, Rohan picked up a whip. He gripped it short, tugged it a few times, then cracked it hard downward.
CRACK—!
"Mm. It's in decent shape. I'll use this for the next bout."
Everyone's jaws dropped. It had been astonishing enough that he'd beaten a trainee about to be promoted using a spear, which he had never once used in the beginner course, and a whip was an even stranger weapon than a spear.
The whip hadn't even been hanging there as a weapon in the first place.
It was only something Orin used to give signals during training.