Sir Hero, It’s Time to Train!

“Riley…”

The moment Liber stood on the stage and faced Riley, his aura transformed.

They were contemporaries who had entered at the same age, during the same period.

However, there was an enormous gap between the two.

Liber, from the region of Rangar, and Riley, who became the center of the noble faction since the day of enrollment.

Back then, their respective positions weren’t crucial.

“You’re still the same.”

Liber could never forget his first impression of Riley.

Riley was so strong and ruthless that even the classmates and seniors, from various knight families, hesitated to spar with him, and his talent was overwhelming.

To be honest, Liber envied Riley. He envied the environment where one could swing a sword without worries.

He envied the talent and even the confident and self-righteous demeanor Riley possessed.

Moreover, despite having a good family and outstanding talent, Riley never rested or settled for reality, and his tenacity was enviable.

“The level of Aries Church’s martial arts tournament is truly low. For someone like you to make it to the finals.”

“… I just worked hard.”

Like you.

But he couldn’t bring himself to say that.

He simply drew his sword silently, and that was enough to shift Liber’s momentum significantly.

Indeed, Liber didn’t have a particularly good family background, and their family’s finances were severely lacking.

In such a family, there was only one thing Liber could do.

“I worked hard enough.”

At least in terms of effort, he prided himself on never falling behind Riley.

However, Riley snorted at Liber’s words, his face full of disdain.

“Effort? Don’t make me laugh. From the moment you ran away from the academy, you lost the right to even mention effort.”

“Haha, I guess so. But… you knew I ran away, didn’t you?”

“Hmph. I don’t bother remembering losers like you.”

When he came to the capital, Riley couldn’t even remember Liber upon seeing him.

Yet now, he was strangely pleased that Riley remembered he had run away from the academy.

“Academy….”

Liber smiled wryly at the thought.

The academy was a place of ambition for the young and youthful of the Rondel kingdom.

A state-approved educational institution where admission alone was tough, and graduation even more arduous.

One could learn everything required of a noble, from letters and martial arts to politics, art, etiquette, and culture.

Getting admitted brought great glory to one’s family, and graduating meant opening up wide paths for one’s future.

Particularly, academy graduates naturally formed factions due to their close-knit bonds, leading to the formation of the Academy Faction alongside the royal and noble factions based on new bureaucrats.

Yet, there was a place that was removed from all these interests—Rangar.

Dominated not by the ‘Worden’ but rather the ‘Cotra’ from the periphery, this place naturally fell off everyone’s radar.

Existence just to be ignored, that’s what Liber Cotra’s position in the academy was like.

“I once harbored expectations that if I worked hard enough, I might achieve satisfactory results. After all, it was the greatest academy in the kingdom of Rondel, right?”

“….”

But no.

It didn’t take long to realize the academy wasn’t as pure a place as he thought.

A place where effort required financial resources.

A place where effort needed power.

Effort also had… its limits.

Liber’s effort was enough to garner some attention.

He had the talent to get admitted to the academy, and his efforts caught the eyes of several professors.

However, this was only the case for those professors similar in circumstances to Liber, ones who weren’t part of any ‘faction’.

Desperate, Liber gradually drew attention from other students, working hard enough to be called the tenacious one from Rangar.

The attitude of his peers towards him also changed gradually.

Initially, they treated him as if he didn’t exist, but it became increasingly severe, eventually reaching life-threatening levels.

It even affected Caedwin, who also hailed from Rangar.

Seeing that his peers’ malice directed towards him was now affecting his dear younger brother, Liber could endure it no longer.

“Even though I quit the academy, I haven’t spent my time idly since then.”

“Hmph. Not interested.”

Snorting, Riley drew his sword.

“Then and now, you still don’t care about someone like me.”

In truth, despite sparring with him several times at the academy, Liber never once managed to defeat Riley.

Even so, Liber never stopped trying to beat Riley. And here they were, facing each other once more.

“It won’t be the same as during academy days.”

Despite being at the center of the academy’s faction, Riley never bothered with what others around him did.

When his peers tormented him and Caedwin brutally, Riley simply swung his sword in silence.

Yet, Liber harbored no resentment towards Riley for not intervening or for watching silently.

Possibly, Liber’s awareness of Riley stemmed from a longing for an image he could never embody—a sense of inferiority towards Riley, who lived a life completely different from his own.

However, he now discarded such complexes, igniting a sense of rivalry.

Though it was merely his solitary thought, the desire to win against Riley became a newly found objective.

“Hu….”

Liber took a deep breath as the referee announced the start of the match.

Clang—!

Klang—!

Without any prompting, Liber and Riley delivered a deadly blow towards each other.

***

“Aagh. Why does this hurt so much?”

It took longer than expected for Aira to receive treatment and come out of the infirmary after the match, leaving her face filled with exhaustion.

“Sigh. Is this holy energy treatment really good or bad?”

Indeed, holy energy demonstrates outstanding recuperative powers in bodily healing, even more so than potions.

However, there was one minor issue with using holy energy for treatment.

“It’s more painful than being stabbed with a sword….”

While healing the body, the tiny fragments of external mana lodged within it react to the holy energy, causing significant discomfort.

Still, due to the repelling force, cleansing foreign mana left by others in the body is possible, but stopping because of the pain isn’t an option.

Self-expelling the infiltrated mana isn’t impossible, but it takes too long, and, with Aira’s current capability, she couldn’t perfect this expulsion.

“Well, at least I can rest a bit now.”

Having left the infirmary, aira headed to the player stands, soon spotting Christian and waving.

“I’m out.”

Yet, for some reason, everything was quiet. Not only Christian but the others seated in the stands were silent as well.

It felt as if everyone was ignoring her, making Aira pout in displeasure.

“Che, calling it a kids’ fight or what…but huh?”

Aira, sitting beside Christian, turned her gaze towards the window in curiosity to see what kind of match he was watching so intently.

“What…?”

Witnessing the match, aira’s eyes widened as she quietly exclaimed a small admiration.

“Why are they fighting so dirtily?”

At the spot where she stood before, two men were fighting like maniacs.

It was a blood-drenched brawl.

***

The skill difference between Liber and Riley was all too apparent.

Liber had just awakened to waves, whereas Riley had already reached the seasoned stage—a wall that seemed insurmountable.

Be it mana capacity, adeptness in wielding mana and waves, the dedication and time put into training, they were all in Riley’s favor, and Liber was well aware that he couldn’t beat Riley with conventional methods.

“What I do best.”

Riley’s relentless attack was fierce from the start, loosening one’s guard would mean an end.

Despite purely evading attacks, Liber’s body was soon soaked in blood.

“The way of our Cotra family….”

As Riley’s sword slashed Liber’s left shoulder, Liber retaliated almost simultaneously, cutting Riley’s thigh.

“Ugh?!”

Though Riley was somewhat surprised by the sudden strike, it wasn’t too deep a wound.

Continuing his attack unperturbed…

“This…!”

“….”

They exchanged blows several times. Riley frowned deeply, dissatisfied that Liber managed to land a hit.

“What tricks are you pulling?”

Noticing something odd after this pattern repeated several times, Riley paused.

Panting, Liber merely gave a faint smile in response to Riley’s inquiry.

“Tricks?”

It indeed seemed like trickery from Riley’s perspective.

A counterattack so reckless it seemed suicidal, aiming to strike in the gaps by deliberately taking hits.

But the one at a disadvantage was naturally Liber, having taken more blows.

The outcome was so obvious that Riley inevitably found it strange.

“Satisfied to have landed a few strikes on me, is it?”

“Who knows.”

Without an answer, Liber simply took a breath, aiming his sword at Riley with a sharp gaze.

At this, Riley scowled and held the sword tighter, calmly summoning his mana.

His plan was to forget the unnecessary and end it swiftly with waves.

But then…

“…?”

Despite having numerous wounds, Liber stood straight. Riley sensed something off.

Why was he standing so firm?

Although he had no fatal wounds, numerous cuts were inflicted, and he bled.

Yet, Liber stood there, undeterred, directing his sword at Riley.

Witnessing this, a small smile appeared on Liber’s lips.

“Yes, Riley. Growing up in a blessed environment, you’re bound to be like that.”

There was one thing that Riley lacked.

And the one thing Liber surpassed Riley in.

“Battle experience.”

As if the wounds all over Liber’s body had healed, the bleeding ceased.

Being from a family that had dealt with monsters for generations, the Cotra family had developed methods to tend to injuries in emergencies.

They contracted muscles to close up wounds and wrapped mana around to reduce pain.

Instead of blood, they circulated mana, all established through consistent real-world experiences in mana manipulation within the Cotra family.

“I will win.”

By any means necessary.

Even if it meant employing dirty, underhanded tactics, utilizing every last means.

“I will win.”

Liber wished for victory.

A deeply personal desire instilled since the academy days.