Chapter 7

The sparring match between the much-discussed Baran Dumbest and Ian Ainel among the students.

Baran Dumbest.

The only heir of the Dumbest family, known as a prestigious knightly lineage.

In contrast to the continuous production of male heirs from the rival Brilliant family, not even a daughter was born in this generation of the Dumbest family.

Amidst the aging head of the family, Baran Dumbest was finally born.

At that time, the head of the family was so delighted that he held a grand banquet and gave generous gifts to the guests who came to celebrate his wife's pregnancy, which became a famous anecdote.

Despite being raised with great care, Baran realized that he was the only one to succeed his father and began to push himself relentlessly.

The sword of Dumbest is strong.

If it was said that Dumbest was weaker than Brilliant, Baran believed it was not a problem with Dumbest but his own fault for slacking in training.

Effort never betrays you.

Moreover, he does not blindly believe in talent.

He despises those who ignore others' sweat under the name of talent.

Since he had no absolute talent within him, he was confident that if he worked harder than anyone else, he could become stronger than anyone else.

Thus, Baran always moved forward like a stubborn and massive bear.

Today, he also intended to crush his opponent, who relied solely on talent.

'If you only have a lot of mana and no proper technique or experience, it's not difficult to deal with.'

He decided to destroy the concept of talent itself.

Baran chose a frontal assault.

Let's see if you can lead the sparring match with that impressive mana amount you're so proud of at the Mage Academy.

To Baran, the current Ian Ainel was the same as the monster he faced in his last training before leaving his family.

Physically, Baran had no choice but to lose to the monster. The monster, with its massive body, had more mana, but...

Baran won through the swordsmanship of Dumbest, the skills he had honed, the proper use of mana, and a meticulous strategy.

This time was no different.

The sweat he had shed welled up, and he felt a sense of buoyancy.

The distance between him and Ian Ainel widened.

A distance that mere innate talent could not bridge.

Ultimately, everything would be proven by effort.

Thus, Baran intended to take the lead in the sparring match and push forward.

...

But what is this situation?

Ian Ainel, who was considered one of the five jewels of the Mage Academy due to his mana amount.

When the sparring match began, he showed no signs of using mana.

That would be fine. It could be that he hadn't learned how to use mana.

However, the problem was...

Despite Baran using mana, Ian Ainel was evading his sword with remarkable flexibility.

"What the hell is going on here?"

The sword of the boy, soaked with sweat, fell powerless.

For the first time, Baran felt his own incompetence.

He intended to break through with swordsmanship.

However, his swordsmanship was being negated by Ian Ainel.

He tried to overwhelm with the experience gained from numerous sparring matches, the flow of sparring learned from his family, the use of techniques, and psychological warfare.

In reality, he was the one being overwhelmed.

He wanted to show that with just a large amount of mana, he could do nothing.

However, the reality was that Baran Dumbest was using mana alone to strengthen his body.

In the end.

Baran, who intended to secure a complete victory through orthodox means.

Was being completely overwhelmed by a frontal assault.

"How? No, why...?"

If he had this level of swordsmanship, it was obvious that he would have learned how to use mana.

Baran, who couldn't help but express his doubts.

But Ian, who was completely focused on the sparring match, did not respond.

At that moment, a student's voice reached Baran's ears, who was lost in confusion.

"Could Ian Ainel be trying to show something?"

"What?"

"That he's not just about having a lot of mana."

The voice of a student with glasses made Baran's head turn involuntarily.

What is he talking about now?

"Think about it. With that level of swordsmanship, he would have naturally learned how to use mana. He would have known about his own mana amount long ago. So why did he come to the Knight Academy instead of the Mage Academy?"

"Wow, amazing."

"Chilling!"

The students, who understood the implications of the glasses-wearing student's words, looked at Ian Ainel with admiration.

Even though everyone had already figured out what he was going to say, the glasses-wearing student seemed to want to finish his statement.

"Because he has even more outstanding swordsmanship! That's why Ian Ainel came to the Knight Academy! Where did such a monster come from?"

Huh.

It was absurd.

Despite having a superior mana amount compared to other students at the Mage Academy...

He came to the Knight Academy because he was more confident in his swordsmanship.

And to show the entire first year that he wasn't just a nobody who got in with just a lot of mana, he was facing Dumbest with only his swordsmanship?

Until now, Ian Ainel hadn't said a single word.

His tightly closed mouth was like a locked lock, but he was roaring more fiercely than anyone else through the sparring match.

Don't judge me lightly.

I am a knight who wields a sword.

Baran felt an intensely dizzying sense of defeat, but he also retracted the mana that had spread throughout his body.

"Alright! Let's go at it head-on!"

A battle of swordsmen, where mana has no place!

* * *

'What the hell is he saying?'

I could hear the voice of the glasses-wearing student, but I couldn't help but laugh.

It wasn't that I couldn't use mana.

In fact, I could use more mana than before after summoning Nelson.

Of course, it wasn't a satisfactory amount, and compared to Baran, it was ridiculously small.

Still, there were reasons why I was continuing the sparring match without using mana.

First, I needed to fine-tune my body.

'My body still isn't keeping up properly.'

Due to excessive mana, I had a weak body since childhood.

I often suffered from frequent illnesses and had weak stamina, to the point where I would get out of breath with the slightest movement.

My current body is the result of forcing my weak body to grow.

This was my first sparring match with such a body.

I was gradually realizing the areas I needed to improve and train, which I couldn't notice through simple training.

Second, I found it interesting to observe the development of knights' swordsmanship and mana usage over 300 years.

I didn't know, but it seemed that knights had made significant progress in how they handled mana.

It was surprising to see how the rough swordsmanship of Dumbest had become quite sophisticated.

Through this sparring match, I could reflect on my own shortcomings and was interested in the advanced mana usage, so I deliberately continued the match without using mana.

Lastly, I was intrigued by Baran Dumbest as an individual.

For a 17-year-old, he had quite excellent skills.

"Alright! Let's go at it head-on!"

But suddenly, the kid canceled his physical enhancement and charged at me.

Bang!

As a result, the intense sparring match that had been going on ended abruptly, with Baran being hit on the head by my sword and falling down.

I was not just amused, but bewildered.

"You had no idea why I wasn't using mana, did you?"

There were too many openings.

In such a situation, if he canceled his physical enhancement, well...

It seemed there was nothing more to gain, so I just ended it quickly.

"Winner... Ian Ainel."

The professor, who was in charge of the match, looked surprised that it ended so suddenly.

Moreover, the other students looked at me with a strange mix of admiration and emotion.

"He proved his skills with swordsmanship, not mana."

"A knight. Isn't that the true form of a knight?"

"I've heard that recent knights rely too much on mana."

"Looks like the top of our year is already decided. The competition for second place will be intense."

They were building a strange image of me, but...

What caught my eye the most was...

Our knight squad's youngest member, waving his hand and giving a thumbs up from the window of my room.

* * *

The red-haired girl, Maria Rayrose, was filled with frustration because her sparring partner didn't even make her break a sweat.

Her first sparring match at the prestigious Knight Academy.

She was excited just hearing about it, but the frustration hit her hard when her opponent collapsed weakly after a few swings of the sword.

'Sigh, so frustrating.'

How could she release this frustration?

While Maria was stomping her feet like a child, she heard the commotion of the students.

"Quite a big match."

"Big match? Ha, it's just a bunch of barking."

Big match?

Curious, Maria looked at the central sparring area.

Baran Dumbest, whom she had already marked as a target before entering, and a silver-haired boy she had never seen before.

'A commoner?'

From his posture to his shabby clothes.

Of course, Maria personally liked this look, but...

No matter how much mana a nobody had, if their fundamental swordsmanship was poor...

'Ah, so that's him?'

She had heard that among the new first-year students, there was one who had enough mana to enter the Mage Academy.

She realized that the silver-haired boy was the one they were talking about from the conversations around her.

'Well, just having that much mana... probably...'

What could a commoner with just a lot of mana do?

Feeling a deep sense of disappointment again, Maria decided to watch Baran Dumbest's swordsmanship and propped her chin on her hand.

But as the sparring match progressed, her eyes widened, and by the end, she was clenching her fists.

"What a lunatic!"

Her lips formed a perfectly clean curve.

* * *

"Indeed, Captain! You are amazing!"

Nelson swung his fist in the air, imitating the swordsmanship he had seen during the partial formation test.

"Is this how it was? I didn't expect you to show such swordsmanship with a 17-year-old body."

"You would win if you fought me now."

Although I casually replied that it was nothing, it didn't seem that way to Nelson.

"What are you talking about! Swordsmanship can't be judged by strength alone! Your swordsmanship is truly amazing, Captain!"

"..."

It's a bit embarrassing when you praise me so much.

"But you don't need to eat, right?"

"Yes, it's fine. I'm a summoned creature, after all."

"But if I bring food, it might look a bit strange."

"But I can eat."

He slightly opened his mouth to show that he had teeth and a tongue, subtly showing off.

I reached out my hand to him.

"If I summon you for too long, I'll get tired."

"After being summoned, I don't use much mana unless I'm particularly active!"

Nelson disappeared in a white light.

I wanted to keep him summoned as long as possible, but even with the use of a summoning stone, there were risks.

If Nelson was discovered by someone, it could lead to a complicated situation.

Since I planned to come back after eating to study summoning, I wasn't too guilty.

So, I headed to the dining hall for dinner.

'There are so many dishes.'

I thought they would just put a big pot of stew and let us serve ourselves, like in the old knight squad.

But to my surprise, a variety of dishes prepared by professional chefs were set up.

Honestly, this was the moment when I most felt that 300 years had passed.

I chose the steak that caught my eye first.

Since the first day was free for the new students, I picked the most expensive one.

Most of the other students seemed to have the same idea, as they were mostly cutting and eating steak.

They had only met yesterday, but they were already forming groups and chatting happily.

'It would be nice if there was someone skilled in magic.'

If this were the Mage Academy, there would be a lot to learn.

'At best, they're just kids who swing swords. Even if they use mana, it's just to wrap it around their swords.'

While thinking about this and cutting the steak, I found it much tastier than expected, and I couldn't help but smile.

'Tom would have fainted if he saw this.'

I thought of Tom, who used to say that knighthood comes from a hungry spirit.

He said he swung his sword in the mountains to forget his hunger because he was so poor as a child.

He claimed that he became the Silver Lion by keeping that mindset.

At the same time, I remembered Nelson saying, "Don't you get hungrier when you swing your sword?" and getting a punch for it.

Enjoying the food with these memories...

"Hey."

A red-haired girl sat next to me and spoke.

From her first impression, she seemed to have a combative personality.

Having seen all kinds of people as a knight squad captain, I could tell at a glance.

She was the type who would often cause trouble if accepted into the knight squad.

But there was one thing that caught my eye...

'Red hair?'

Red hair that reminded me of a red rose.

Ignoring my thoughts, the girl propped her chin on her hand and picked up the meat I had cut with her fork.

"Hey, let's have a match later."

"..."

"I was originally aiming for the Brilliant and Dumbest heirs, but you seem to be the strongest among the new first-year students."

Yeah, I thought such kids would come forward since I stood out in the sparring match.

I had already attracted a lot of attention when I entered the dining hall.

Sighing, I pointed to the girl's mouth with my fork.

"That fell on the floor and you put it next to it."

"What? Spit! Ugh! No wonder it tasted strange!"

"Don't eat it. By the way, your name is...?"

I hoped the name I was thinking of wouldn't come up, but...

I couldn't finish my sentence because the voices of male students interrupted me.

"What? Are you the one starting trouble?"

"Behave yourself."

And a moment later.

Something flew and landed on my steak.

Curious, I poked it with my knife...

It was the ice cream that came as a dessert.