'This makes him an ideal test opponent.'
Ikael looked the large man before him up and down.
The bastard looked twice Ikael's size and twice his age, but he did not seem especially threatening to Ikael.
In his previous life, Ikael had reached the rank of Seven-Star Knight.
This was the sort of disparity that made him willing to take the opponent on.
"Desert bastard, has your tongue turned into a mummy?"
All the while, the large man had no idea whom he was picking a fight with and kept tapping Ikael's head.
He had mistaken Ikael for the desert boy completely.
"If you have a complaint, be sure to say it, all right? I am dying to beat you."
"The feeling is mutual."
"What?"
The large man was about to say something more, but Ikael was faster.
THUD!
Ikael threw a punch without hesitation.
'Ikael is Recrit too. No matter how sickly he is, he should be able to handle a bastard like this.'
But the next moment, Ikael's expectation was spectacularly wrong.
"-?"
The power was not sufficient.
CRASH—
"Guh... Guuuh..."
"A-Are you all right?!"
"What in the world was that?!"
The power was not merely sufficient. It was excessive.
The large man flew away and crashed down in the distance like a heavy cannonball.
A thick cloud of dust rose around where he had landed.
"W-What in the world is this bastard?!"
The large man's gang turned to Ikael with shocked eyes.
Ikael was just as bewildered.
But he was soon able to understand.
'Recrit.'
He was far more agile and powerful than expected.
This was undeniably a Recrit body.
'I want to test this body some more.'
Something surged up within Ikael.
"A-Aargh!!"
Then the large man rose from amid the shattered debris.
He looked as though he could not believe it.
"You... You desert bastard!!"
SWISH!
The large man snatched up a wooden sword lying nearby and rushed at him.
It appeared he had finally decided to fight in earnest.
Ikael faced him calmly.
"Have you ever been to the desert?"
"What kind of bullshit is that?!"
WHOOSH—
The large man's wooden sword came sweeping down, and Ikael simply ducked at the waist to avoid it.
"You keep going on about the desert."
"I have not been. I will go there today to make a mummy out of your corpse—!"
SWISH!
The large man's wooden sword skimmed beneath Ikael's feet.
Again, Ikael simply turned his body and avoided it.
All the while, he looked straight at the large man.
Tap.
Ikael put one hand on the training ground's flagpole.
"If you knew the desert, you would not be able to charge at me like that."
THUD—
Using the flagpole's recoil, Ikael drove out a kick with all his strength.
The next moment, the large man...
BOOM!!
"A-Aaargh—!!"
He flew away with an unsightly scream.
The same scene as before repeated itself.
The large man drew a heavy arc through the air, smashing through the training ground's fence.
'What in the world is that bastard...?'
The large man's gang watching nearby could not hide their bewilderment.
There was twice the difference in their body sizes. How could he push him back so overwhelmingly?
"Y-You bastard!"
The large man stood up, wiping the blood at the corner of his mouth.
Slide—
Ikael had pulled out the flagpole altogether and taken up a fighting stance.
The slender flagpole had never looked so threatening.
'This is a good opportunity. I should use him to find out everything about Ikael's body.'
"Come at me."
"You bastard, will you not put that flag down?!"
The junior knights who had been watching were already shouting in excitement.
The Recrit flagpole they admired was in the hands of a mere desert boy. To them, it was an insult.
"Raaaah!"
The large man, now thoroughly enraged, drew his wooden sword again and rushed at Ikael.
WHACK—
With a simple movement, Ikael swung the flagpole and hooked his foot.
THUD—
The large man flew through the air and crashed into the ground.
'His accuracy is not bad.'
The movement of the flagpole was clean.
The large man got up again.
"Grrr, you are going to die by my hand today—!"
WHACK. THUD—
"Aargh!"
The large man's head jerked back toward the sky, then immediately slammed into the ground.
His vision spun.
The flagpole had struck his chin and the top of his head in succession.
'The agility of his attacks is not bad either.'
Hack, spit.
The large man spat out a tooth along with blood.
"Aaaaargh—!"
The large man let out a feral cry and charged like a bull.
He seemed to intend to put everything he had left into a single blow.
Tap.
Ikael faced him head-on and adjusted his grip on the flagpole.
'I will test one last thing.'
Accuracy, agility, and next was strength.
Flap—
Ikael's red flag fluttered.
The large man's view was obscured for an instant as he was buried in the flag.
His wooden sword cut across the flag, not Ikael's body.
Rip.
Ikael's eyes showed through the cleanly opening red gap.
'One last test of strength.'
THUD—
Ikael brought the flagpole down on the large man with all his strength.
'Let us see. The flagpole or the large man—which will break?'
"Hey!!"
The large man's companions rushed over in alarm.
The large man's form slowly emerged through the dust.
"A-Are you all right?!"
The large man lay there, barely able to open his eyes.
His leather armor was gouged along the exact path of the flagpole's strike.
It was a slender but powerful mark.
At this rate, several of his bones had to be broken.
Ikael grinned.
"That is some strength."
If he had struck with ordinary strength, it would have been the flagpole, not the large man's armor, that broke.
This confirmed it.
Ikael was not some sickly young master. He was unquestionably a child of Recrit.
Having confirmed what he wanted to know, Ikael turned away in satisfaction.
'That should be enough.'
Making too much of a commotion would not be good, so he decided to return now.
After all, he had come only to test Ikael's body.
But the large man lying on the ground gestured. It seemed he had something to say.
"What is it?"
It was only the brief instant Ikael looked his way.
The large man's hand moved quickly.
CRACK!
"Ugh!"
The large man suddenly swung his wooden sword.
Ikael nimbly turned his body and avoided the sword.
Had his reflexes been any slower, he would have been caught without a chance.
But he could not help the sword grazing him slightly, and an impact traveled through one side of his helmet.
CRACK—
Yet the helmet immediately split apart.
Ikael's eyes widened.
'He can use an aura?'
To create this much force with merely a graze, it was surely the power of aura.
This was the Lower Training Ground, where One-Star and Two-Star knights gathered, so it was not an Aura Blade. It was no more than a crude Aura Discharge.
But it was by no means something to dismiss.
It was enough to cut a person down with ease.
The junior knights shouted.
"Are you crazy?! Do not make this any bigger!"
"Hey, are you really trying to kill someone?!"
But the large man's companions' attempts to stop him no longer reached his ears.
It was the first time he had been beaten so badly. The bastard had completely lost his mind.
"Just die, you desert bastard!"
CRACK—
The large man thrust his sword toward Ikael.
Ikael stared with both eyes open at the aura blade driving toward him.
In that brief instant, many thoughts crossed Ikael's mind.
'If it hits me, I will definitely die.'
He reflexively put up the flagpole, but a mere piece of wood could not oppose aura.
The instant they touched, it was sure to shatter to pieces.
There was only one thing that could oppose the sword before him now.
'Only aura.'
It was the moment that thought came to him.
WHOOSH—
Ikael felt something surge up from his heart.
It was a heat like flame.
A sensation of a vortex of fire raging wildly inside his heart.
It felt as though his whole heart had been heated in flame.
The moment he felt that it might burst apart.
THUUUNG!
Ikael's flagpole and the large man's sword collided.
An enormous boom erupted.
"What...?"
The group watching with their mouths open were startled.
The result had defied everyone's expectations.
BOING, BOING!
Like a skipping stone, it was not Ikael but the large man who bounced lightly away.
"Aaargh!"
The large man's sword did not merely break. It scattered into fragments.
There was not even a scratch on Ikael's body as he watched it.
"H-Hey! Are you all right?"
The large man had fainted outright, foam at his mouth.
"This is impossible..."
The junior knights could not believe their eyes.
To fight this well against the strongest man at the Lower Training Ground.
And he had even drawn on aura.
What in the world was this boy?
Could he truly be the desert bastard they always bullied?
As everyone stood in confusion, the senior knight responsible for the training ground rushed over.
"What in the world is this commotion?!"
The sight before the senior knight was absurd.
The large man's eyes were rolled back as he lay unconscious, and his wooden sword had completely shattered into scattered pieces.
And the boy who had caused it all stood there, holding the flagpole with utter calm.
'Surely he did not do all this with a single flagpole?'
Knights sparring with one another at the training ground was common, so the senior knight had not bothered to come out.
But to overwhelm an opponent to this extent was neither easy nor common.
"You, what in the world...!"
The senior knight glared at the boy before him, his face a mixture of shock and anger.
Then.
Slide—
The boy removed his helmet.
If the questioning became serious, he would have no choice but to reveal his identity.
So he removed the helmet without resistance.
But the face concealed beneath it was entirely unexpected.
The senior knight's eyes widened.
"Gasp. Y-Young Master Ikael?"
A boy white all over, from his silver hair to his pale skin, like snow crystals.
Yet his eyes were sharp enough to cut.
It was Ikael, Recrit's youngest son.
The senior knight recognized Ikael and immediately dropped to his knees.
He did not know how sickly Young Master Ikael had managed something like this, but one thing was certain.
If he made a mistake, the entire Lower Training Ground would have to offer their heads.
"You bastards, what are you doing?! Kneel before Young Master Ikael at once!"
"Young Master?!"
The junior knights looked around in confusion.
"Gasp!"
Those who had grasped the situation first fell to their knees.
"W-We greet Young Master Ikael!!"
Starting with the knights closest to Ikael, they began to fall to their knees in a rush.
Eventually, everyone in the training ground bowed their heads.
The bastards who had picked fights with him directly bowed so low that their heads seemed buried in the ground.
But Ikael, seemingly uninterested, merely nodded once and left the training ground.
Step, step—
As Ikael walked along, he saw the desert boy from before ahead of him.
The boy tried to say something, but.
Press—
Ikael took off the half-broken helmet and pressed it down onto the boy's head.
"Ugh!"
"My apologies. It got damaged. Send the bill to Ikael Palace."
The junior knights watching from afar murmured among themselves.
"That desert bastard knows the young master?"
With an attitude far too calm for someone who had turned the training ground upside down, Ikael walked away unhurriedly.
Even after Ikael left, the training ground was filled with all kinds of speculation and murmuring.
But none of that mattered to Ikael now.
There was only one thought in his mind.
'Aura.'
The aura that had burst out momentarily at the training ground was not Recrit's cold aura.
It was an aura he had never used in either his previous life or this one.
'But I have felt it once before.'
When he met Desert Dragon Pkelon, it was the aura he had felt exactly once.