Mato got up, watching Rohan warily. Rohan stood at ease, one hand on his hip.
Blue light was still rippling along his own wooden sword. If he struck by surprise now, might he have a chance?
There was no time to hesitate. Mato thrust his sword at once.
SWISH!
A blue flash cut across Rohan's waist. He no longer bothered to worry whether it was all right to injure one of the Baltran direct line.
Please, let it work. Mato could only pray desperately.
But contrary to his hopes, Rohan's form vanished again. Once more, he had appeared at Mato's side.
WHACK—!
Mato crumpled again. He couldn't even feel the pain.
Fear had numbed his senses.
Watching him, Rohan clicked his tongue inwardly.
'Tsk, tsk. Still can't use mana properly.'
For trainees still in the beginner course, releasing mana outward to use its power was the whole of how they used it. Rohan, on the other hand, was circulating mana inside his body to speed up his physical movements.
Freon knew this too, which was why he said nothing when Mato used magic power. Rohan was using mana the whole time; he just wasn't letting it show.
Not knowing this, Mato got up again and swung his sword. The result was the same.
WHACK—!
Struck again, in the thigh this time, he went sprawling on the ground. He had his pride too, so he tried his best to read Rohan's movements.
But he couldn't. After being struck several times, Mato was bruised all over.
Mato sat slumped on the ground and looked at Freon. The instructor was watching them with a somewhat blank expression.
'......Has he forgotten his job?'
But then he realized Freon was locking eyes with Rohan. He understood from the look in Rohan's eyes.
'Ah, he's telling him not to call the match yet.'
In the previous bout, too, Freon hadn't declared a winner. Even after Tomoda went down, the bout went on because Rohan kept going, and it ended when he held out his hand.
'Even the instructor is doing what this kid says.'
Mato's eyes wavered. Rohan filled his wavering vision.
His neck hurt. Suddenly, Rohan looked enormous.
As a trainee, one couldn't flaunt one's family. But the youngest young master of the Baltrans was no longer just a trainee. Wasn't even the instructor already acknowledging him as a Baltran?
"Get up. We still have a bout to finish."
Seeing Rohan smiling so kindly, Mato felt fear. Rohan held out his hand.
The hand looked like the gaping mouth of a viper. He understood why Tomoda had recoiled from it.
"I-I'm sorry."
Mato backed away and dropped to both knees. The watching trainees looked puzzled. Rohan, too, looked at him as if it were strange.
"You didn't do anything wrong to me."
"N-No, sir. I failed to recognize the great Baltran."
Mato pressed both hands to the ground and bowed his head. Where would a mere twelve-year-old have learned such a posture?
The fear that had taken over his body before he knew it had made him do it.
Rohan's expression changed. It was the face of a family head looking at a member of his house. The smile was gone, yet it felt more comfortable than before.
Mato had acknowledged Rohan as his superior. To him, Rohan held out his hand.
"If you stand on my side, you have no need to fear this sword. My sword will become a sword that fights for you."
This time he took the hand without fear. Mato swore inwardly.
He would never become Rohan Baltran's enemy.
Mato conceded defeat and went back among the children. Now there was just one opponent left.
Kazman, top of the class.
He was the only trainee in the beginner course to have reached the 2nd Stage of the White Ice Ring. In terms of magic power alone, he was on the same level as Rohan.
'This time I'd better be a little nervous myself.'
That didn't mean he was thinking about losing. Top of the class or not, it was nothing of a talent compared to his eldest brother, Rohas.
In handling magic power and seasoned swordsmanship, Rohan could already beat a trainee who had reached the 3rd Stage of the White Ice Ring.
Even against the 4th Stage of the White Ice Ring, depending on the user's swordsmanship, he was fully confident he could win.
The 4th Stage of the White Ice Ring was one of the requirements for completing the advanced course. It meant that if Rohan gave it his all, no trainee could match him.
The two stood facing each other. Kazman no longer looked to Freon either. He knew this bout was being run by Rohan.
"Young master. Let's begin."
"I told you not to call me that."
Kazman ignored him and held his wooden sword forward. With a snort of laughter, Rohan tapped his wooden sword lightly against it.
"You come first."
"After watching the two before me, I don't feel like it. I'll yield the first strike to you."
Just as expected.
Befitting the top of the class. Kazman showed a composure unsuited to a twelve-year-old.
The trouble was that the ten-year-old Rohan standing in front of him was even more grown-up.
"All right. I'll attack first. You can use magic power. Ending it in one blow is boring now, so do your best to block."
"Yes. Understood."
Without hesitation, Kazman coated his wooden sword in blue light. Rohan hesitated for a moment.
If it clashed with a sword wrapped in magic power, Rohan's wooden sword would break. In fact, that was why Rohan had yielded the first strike before. So he could dodge attacks without having to clash swords.
'This got a little annoying.'
He had to avoid their swords clashing. Rohan swung his sword in a small arc using only his wrist.
The sword went for Kazman's wrist. As if he'd expected it, Kazman pulled his hand back. He too tried to use his wrist to knock Rohan's sword away.
'......As expected.'
The first attack was a feint. He had turned what Kazman would predict against him.
Rohan's sword traced a spiral. Just as in the bout with Tomoda, Rohan's sword coiled around Kazman's.
Kazman opened the hand holding his sword. As the sword dropped, Rohan's sword lost its path.
Below, Kazman's other hand was waiting. The corners of Kazman's mouth rose.
The hand that caught the falling sword thrust at Rohan.
Got him! Kazman cheered inwardly. He only hoped the youngest young master, about to be hit by his sword, wouldn't be hurt too badly.
"You have to watch to the end."
But Rohan, who had been right in front of him a moment ago, had vanished. The sword had clearly already been touching his chest.
"I'm a little disappointed. You should have been able to see it."
Before he knew it, Rohan was standing at his side, bringing his sword down.
WHACK—!
The wrist Rohan's sword struck limply dropped its sword. He felt no pain. Only bewilderment filled his head.
The mystery he couldn't possibly solve turned into fear. Rohan was still standing beside him.
Kazman felt it. Rohan was waiting for him to surrender.
Realizing the difference in their level, Kazman knelt without regret.
He understood what Rohan had meant. He, at the 2nd Stage, should have been able to see Rohan's movement. But he couldn't.
'His inborn level is different.'
Was this what it meant to be of the Baltran direct line? The child before him had a talent unlike his own.
Of course, Rohan would have snorted if he'd heard that. Even his siblings couldn't compare to him, who had come back against the flow of time.
Rohan, who had crossed the line between life and death countless times and risen to the seat of the strongest on the continent, was already surpassing the level of a genius in every respect, to a degree that surprised even himself.
'So this is what it means to have talent while you're young.'
Even forming a single ring, what he gained was different. With every achievement, Rohan absorbed every technique he could possibly take.
Just as a snowball grows bigger by absorbing the snow around it every time it rolls across a snowfield, Rohan too was taking everything into his hands without letting a single thing slip.
So the gap between him and the children watching him now would only keep widening.
Kazman, kneeling in front of him, must have felt a wall of talent he could never catch up to in his lifetime.
Just as Rohan had felt from his siblings in his past life.
But Rohan had no intention of growing arrogant over something this small. These children were not his rivals.
"As long as you do well, this sword will never be turned on you."
The evil beyond the Wall. He had to be able to point his sword at those giants. The children here had to stand on his side in that fight and face the enemy together with him.
In Rohan's eyes, Kazman sensed Gion. The dignity and overwhelming presence he had felt when he saw him.
Rohan was already being acknowledged by the trainees as the Northern Grand Duke's heir.
"I will keep that in mind."
In the end, Kazman bowed his head too. With that, Rohan had earned the right to be promoted along with them.
When he casually raised his head, he saw Leon meet his eyes and flinch. In his past life, Rohan had been the one rolling on the ground under Leon's kicks whenever Leon got bored.
'I guess I've achieved something, at least.'
He wasn't particularly happy. There was still a mountain of things he had to do, far more than he had done.
***
Gion stood atop the Wall, looking down. Below, the carcasses of great fur-covered monsters blanketed the snow.
He had taken care of every one of them himself.
"So Rohan has been included among those up for promotion."
Ron, who was kneeling on one knee behind him, answered.
"Yes, that is so. He won his spars against 3 trainees up for promotion. According to Freon, all three were among the very top, and the youngest young master's victory was one-sided."
Gion looked back. He had noticed that Ron had added a qualifier he hadn't needed to.
"One-sided. What do you mean by that?"
"They say he subdued all three without allowing a single attack."
Gion's eyes sharpened. He meant he had no wish to play word games.
"You are not trying to catch my interest with that alone, surely."
Ron swallowed once. With a single remark, Gion spoke as if he had seen straight into him.
He had served at his side for a long time, but reporting to Gion was something he could never get used to.
"To relay exactly what Freon told me, he said to me, Young Master Rohan Baltran made all three of the ones he faced into his own people."
"Made them into his own people."
Gion murmured Ron's last words as if chewing them over. He looked pleased.
It was an expression rarely seen, enough that Ron flinched in surprise.
"Interesting. Passing the Succession Ceremony was not simple luck."
Hadn't it already been judged a stroke of heavenly luck by Rohan's own confession? Ron thought inwardly, but Gion had already concluded it was no luck.
"Good work. You may go now."
Ron bowed his head in farewell and rose. Watching him turn and go down the Wall, Gion thought.
'He called him Rohan Baltran.'
He had attached the family name after his first name. He had added the honorific "young master" after that too, but that was nothing compared to Baltran.
'I clearly told him that trainees have no family.'
Freon was a cautious man. He was not one to easily forget Gion's orders.
'He made him forget, then. So those three trainees were not the only ones he made his own.'
Gion barely held back a burst of laughter. That was how astonishing Rohan's growth was.
A mere ten-year-old was already showing the qualities of a family head.
He was proud of the youngest's achievement. But it was just as dangerous.
The moment his other siblings came to see Rohan as a rival, it would be hard for him to stay alive.
'That is for him to overcome.'
Before long, he was looking down below the Wall with a cold expression.
The ruler of the North. The Northern Grand Duke. Head of the foremost house of swordsmanship on the continent. A man who held all these titles did not give his smiles away cheaply.
***
Summoned by Gion, Rohan headed to the castle with Leon. But when they arrived, Gion was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Joanna Baltran, the mother of Rohan and Leon, greeted them.
'......Mother.'
It was the first time he had seen her since his regression. Children of the Baltran direct line could not see their parents while they were trainees unless given special permission.
He had seen Gion's face not long ago thanks to the Succession Ceremony. This time it was thanks to a gift-giving ceremony held for the Baltran direct line upon promotion to the intermediate course.
It was a reunion after a long time. Counting the years of his previous life, had it been close to 20 years?
He couldn't cry, so he closed his eyes. He held them shut tight for a moment and endured it by thinking of something else.
"You must be tired."
At the gentle voice, he opened his eyes again. A pale face with large eyes filled his vision. She had wrinkles from bearing so many children, but she was still beautiful.
"Mother."
"Yes."
Rohan couldn't find the words to go on and just stood there looking at her. How long had he waited for this moment?
If he hadn't heard the news of Mother's death in his past life. If she had still been alive.
Rohan might have come back to the family a little sooner.
"We've been apart only a year, and you already missed your mother? You still have a long way to go before your training is done. What will you do?"
At his mother's scolding, Rohan grinned mischievously. For now, he had truly gone back to being a ten-year-old child.
"It won't take long. In 2 years, I'll have finished all my training."
2 years? Joanna wondered if she'd heard wrong. The normal length of each course was 3 years. For Rohan to finish both the intermediate and advanced courses from here, he would need 6 years.
"There must be some mistake......."
"1 year for the intermediate course. 1 year for the advanced course is plenty."
He said it so crisply that she couldn't believe he was speaking out of ignorance. What was worse, Leon beside him was trembling. He was taking Rohan's words completely seriously.
"R-Rohan has grown quite bold."
How could a child like this have come out of her womb? She was proud, yet she also felt something a little foreign about him.
It felt like meeting a son she hadn't seen in a very long time.
"Um... Mother. What about the gift-giving ceremony?"
Beside him, Leon asked carefully. Joanna, catching herself, smiled again.
"Yes, that's what we're here for today. The family head is giving you both the chance to choose an heirloom from the treasure vault to mark your promotion to the intermediate course."
Strictly speaking, it wasn't the family head's will, but the family's rules. From the intermediate course on, lessons were held with real swords instead of wooden ones. Trainees might be said to have no family, but that didn't apply all the way to the Baltran direct line.
By giving them the chance to choose one of the family's heirlooms, the family gifted them a chance to get ahead of the other children.
Rohan knew this well too. One of the reasons he'd chosen the cave with the Spirit Beast egg was the weapon he would pick here. And he had already decided which weapon he would choose.
'I was so shocked to find out the sword that guy stole came from our family's treasure vault.'
In his past life, it had come out much later than now. Until then, it had been a weapon left in the vault gathering dust. The reason was clear.
'No one in this family could draw out that sword's power.'
He himself was the exception, of course. Rohan intended to choose that sword.