Sir Hero, It’s Time to Train!

The words from Liber about the Contre Viscount family’s sword and magic being dirty were, surprisingly, not an exaggeration.

“Ugh?!”

Even though it was a dull practice sword without an edge, it was not made of wood but of iron.

Furthermore, with the slight mana infused in it due to body activation, Liber’s sword itself was intimidating.

‘It really is messy, isn’t it…?’

When Christian first faced Liber’s sword, which darted straight for his eyes, he was taken aback.

Usually, such sparring was meant for recognizing each other’s skills and exchanging techniques, not for delivering lethal blows.

Hence, targeting vital parts or aiming to kill was against the implicit rule.

But Liber’s initial attacks solely focused on vital points right from the start.

Although Christian had agreed to let him swing freely, experiencing it firsthand felt messy to the extent that he was left speechless.

Clang—!

Liber’s persistence and his continuous focus on a single point meant his sword, when deflected, used the rebound force to spin his body, followed immediately by a kick.

“Hah…”

The kick was not merely a kick. As his foot swung, it scooped up dirt from the ground to block Christian’s view.

Even if it got into his eyes or simply momentarily obstructed his sight, it was effective.

When Christian swung his sword to blow away the dust, he saw Liber aiming for his lower body.

In that instant, Christian and Liber’s eyes met. Christian smiled as he raised his sword, prompting Liber to retreat quickly.

“More impressive than I imagined.”

“I told you, our family’s swordsmanship is somewhat like that.”

“Somewhat? It’s more than somewhat?”

It felt less like a sparring match and more like a brawl between mercenaries.

Anything that could be used was utilized, and any weakness was relentlessly targeted. The aim was to incapacitate the opponent as swiftly as possible.

Efficient, yet the dirtiest method of fighting from an outsider’s perspective.

“Still, I like it.”

“… Are you serious?”

“Yes. It’s more okay than I thought it would be? You don’t just fixate on the sword but make full use of the surroundings while appearing to target only the opponent’s weakness…”

Christian pointed to a spot near his thigh where his clothing was slightly nicked.

“…and exploiting unexpected areas. Very strategic.”

“When strength is lacking, one must use their wits. It’s our family’s tradition.”

Just like his master, utilizing everything that can be used and thoroughly countering the opponent with whatever means necessary—Christian, having been taught the same, didn’t find Liber’s actions to be cowardly or unsavory.

Rather, he considered them to be smart and efficient methods.

“Then I’ll come at you again.”

“I suppose it’s about time I launch a counterattack.”

Christian lowered his sword slightly, opening his chest as if inviting Liber to attack. Seeing this opening, Liber hesitated for a moment.

‘A counterattack?’

During the earlier exchanges, Christian solely blocked and dodged Liber’s strikes without once aiming his own sword.

It was as if saying ‘do everything you can’, Christian had solely focused on defense. Now that he mentioned striking back, it was inevitable for Liber to feel the tension.

From the previous interactions, Liber realized—his five-year-younger sibling was not beneath his father in the least.

‘No, it feels even more daunting than when sparring with father.’

Liber could only wear a wry smile.

Before the sparring, Christian had deactivated the magical artifact that restrained Liber.

With the oppressive force gone, Liber felt lighter than usual and even recharged his stamina and mana with a potion. His condition was arguably optimal.

On the contrary, Christian was still under the influence of the gravity array—twice as strong as what Liber had experienced.

Despite being in a situation that could have easily bruised his pride, Liber approached Christian with genuine seriousness.

“Hup!”

Dispersing the mana from his mana reservoir throughout his body, Liber approached Christian at his maximum speed, swinging his sword.

His target this time was the neck. Though faint, mana was imbued in the strike.

‘Will he block it, evade it, or…’

…counterattack?

Liber considered every possible scenario Christian might undertake.

But this move he made…

“…!”

Liber’s sword, which was darting towards the neck, suddenly blurred as if changing its trajectory, slicing diagonally instead.

The faint mana pulse on the sword extended close to an inch long, disrupting the perceived gap Christian had anticipated.

‘He never expected this.’

Liber smiled, curious to see how Christian would react. Christian felt the same anticipation.

Creak—!

Clang—!

Christian deftly parried the diagonal slash from Liber. But that wasn’t all.

Whoosh—!

“What?! Huh…?!”

Dust flooded Liber’s view. Christian had replicated and modified the previous dirty trick used by Liber to concealed his actions.

He swung his sword upward to scatter the dirt. Yet, what astonished Liber more was something else entirely.

‘I clearly slashed first!’

Yet, Christian’s sword, swung later, had already deflected his attack.

While the dust hindered his view momentarily, Liber quickly regained his composure.

No, he tried to.

“If you plan to blind your opponent, ensure it’s effective. If it doesn’t go into their eyes…”

Using the rebound from the deflected sword, Liber moved backward, feeling a chill.

Through the dust, Christian’s presence was distinctly felt, accompanied by a faint glow of blue flame-like mana.

Boom—!

Christian, channeling mana, punched through the dust, causing an eruption of mana.

“Ugh?!”

With the mana explosion, the dust was swept over Liber.

“What the heck is this?!”

As Liber quickly closed his eyes and shook off the dust, he noticed something unusual.

The dust clinging to his body started restricting his movements.

Forcing his eyes open slightly, Liber saw Christian pointing a sword at him.

Christian smiled gently at the struggling Liber and said, “By infusing the dust with mana that renders it sticky, you send it flying at your opponent. This not only blinds them but also restricts their movements—an efficient tactic.”

“You can use mana like that?”

“Mana is a versatile tool. Its utility is practically limitless depending on how you choose to use it.”

“Heh, heh…”

This transcended merely exploiting surrounding objects by bestowing appropriate mana to counterparts.

Christian seemed to speak as if it was only natural to him, yet to Liber, it felt novel.

It wasn’t that such things went unthought of, but rather such things were often deemed impossible.

What Christian showed was essentially transforming the properties of mana at will.

Those who mastered such property change were commonly referred to as…

Mages.

Even such mages required time for incantations, and their peculiar mana reservoirs were incompatible with those of knights.

“Christian, could you possibly have learned magic…?”

“Magic? No, just a simple wave application. It’s nothing difficult.”

“…”

As Liber hesitated, searching for words, the sticky soil that bound his body began to solidify.

“But Christian, this seems to be hardening?”

“Oh, right. I was using it after so long, I forgot about that.”

Liber, unable to open his mouth or blink, merely rolled his eyes towards Christian.

Christian, reaching his hand towards Liber, paused for a moment.

“Uh, how do I undo this again…?”

… That was a joke, right?

*

Luckily, after a little time, the soil that had restrained Liber weakened and fell away, allowing him to move.

Without any injuries, Liber simply dusted himself off and sat down for a break. Christian watched from a short distance with a satisfied smile.

He was genuinely impressed with Liber’s skill and his practical experience, noticing the balance between Liber’s body and mana was well-honed.

Furthermore, the swordsmanship and combat style, albeit appearing crude to outsiders, deeply struck a chord with Christian.

‘I won’t be bored on the road.’

Since they had to travel together anyway, Christian had more than enough time to consider what to do with Liber.

With thoughts for the future forming an amused grin on his face, Christian was approached by Aira.

“Aren’t you going to just rest too? I’ll handle the cooking.”

“Cooking? Aira, what you make isn’t food. Adding water to rice doesn’t make it a meal.”

“Hey, I was just trying to be considerate!”

“Think before you speak. Don’t think after you’ve already said something.”

“Ugh!”

Although he spoke more harshly than usual, Christian had no choice.

Without intervention, Aira would inevitably ruin their precious food supply by either starving everyone or feeding them with it. Disaster was all but assured.

Aira’s face flushed red, yet she quickly calmed herself, seemingly aware of her less-than-stellar cooking skills.

“More importantly, what did you think?”

“Think about what?”

“Elder brother Liber’s display of the Contre family swordsmanship.”

“The Contre family’s swordsmanship, huh…”

After pondering for a moment, Aira spoke again.

“Wouldn’t it be hard to call it swordsmanship? It’s more like watching mercenaries brawling.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

The swordsmanship of the Contre family closely resembled the survival struggles of mercenaries, unlike the methods of knights who insisted on head-on duels.

“Still, I didn’t think it was bad. We aren’t fighting humans, right? There’s no such thing as cowardly when it comes to survival.”

“Really? Do you truly believe that?”

“Of course.”

With her chest puffed out full of conviction, Aira’s words showed no sign of falsehood.

Indeed, as Aira mentioned, in the Rangar region, there were no distinctions between cowardly or brave when people typically faced monsters.

Not just the Contre family, but other lords’ knights and soldiers didn’t insist on head-on battles against monsters. Dominating the enemy was their primary goal.

“Hohoho. I see.”

“Stop laughing like that. It’s creepy.”

Even as Aira backed away, Christian paid no heed, continuing, “Alright. Let’s also learn how to counter opponents efficiently from now on.”

“More learning?!”

“We’ll also step further into learning the endless applications of the wave application.”

“I’m already learning plenty about dirty tactics!”

Aira, having faced numerous dirty tricks already, felt rightfully indignant.

It was impossible to guess what other sly, shameless tactics they’d come up with next.

She just wished they’d keep it in moderation.