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Chapter 61

So he intends to test our stamina first.

It was true that this was first on the list of things to check.

If I used my internal energy, I could run for three days and three nights, but this time I chose to run with only my physical strength.

Honestly, since my regression, I hadn’t placed too much importance on training my physical body.

Unlike internal energy, which could grow explosively in a short period, physical strength could only be grown through consistent effort over a long time.

Of course, that didn’t mean I could forever ignore training my body.

To become the Strongest Under the Heavens, both my internal and external energies needed to be excellent.

I don’t think I would lose to anyone here in terms of internal energy.

Taking into account the incident that had happened in the Gem Mountains and the mystic bead I’d obtained...

Right now and for the foreseeable future, I didn’t think I would lose to anyone in terms of internal energy.

On the other hand, my external strength, my body, was probably the worst among the people here.

The body is very honest. It becomes stronger the more stress you place upon it, and it will weaken as much as you let it.

At the age of 15, after having failed in my First Blessing Ceremony, I had practically wasted a full year at this point.

It was my own fault I had become this weak.

Of course, I would need to deal with the pain that would come with trying to get back into shape.

I diligently followed after the Instructor of the Hunt.

Breathing became hard about 30 minutes into the run, and my head became dizzy about 30 minutes after that.

The tempo was faster than I’d expected, and my body’s condition was worse than I’d expected.

Thus, my goal for today was to try and make up for this failure of a body.

I guess I’m still holding on thanks to raising my stamina just that little bit while traveling through the mountain range...

If not for that, I would’ve collapsed 10 minutes into this exercise.

At some point, my vision started to blur as well.

Not yet.

I held on and continued to run.

A person’s body is stronger than one expects.

By my standards, someone had reached their limit when they threw up.

Although my throat was starting to dry out, I couldn’t feel any sign of throwing up.

I was still far from my limit.

Is this why we were called out here even before breakfast?

If we had eaten something, a lot of people would’ve thrown up already.

No matter what, the role of the Instructor of the Hunt was to teach us.

Although the young heroes were being treated harshly, it wasn’t because he held ill will toward us.

But he wouldn’t be expecting anything extraordinary either.

Due to these thoughts, I was sure this run would end before noon.

***

The run that had started early in the morning indeed ended before noon just like Luan expected.

“...”

The Instructor of the Hunt looked at the six young heroes who had followed him the entire time without lagging behind.

If there are no major accidents, these six will probably survive and complete the camp.

It was a sense he had obtained after overseeing many training camps.

Hector Bednicker, Sellen Goodspring, Evan Helvin, Mir Giant...

These four had been promising prospects from their Houses even before the training camp and the Blessing Ceremony.

But even among the six here, the one that had stayed within ten steps behind the Instructor of the Hunt the entire time was a young boy.

Charon Woodjack.

The son of Hyde Woodjack, the man called the Strongest Ranger of The Empire.

Although he had sweated a little, his breath was stable.

He’s already looking like a professional.

The Instructor of the Hunt looked at Charon’s face.

The young boy had a scar going across the bridge of his nose.

For the warriors of the plains, scars weren’t a weakness but a medal, an opinion the Instructor shared.

He expected Charon had a few more scars under his clothes.

In any case, such a young boy having a scar like that wasn’t ordinary.

A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say. The Instructor could tell just how Hyde had taught his one and only child.

In truth, Hyde was one of the grandmaster candidates that the Lord of Blood and Iron had scouted.

However, the Lord of Blood and Iron had changed his mind for some reason after meeting him. Due to the importance of the mission Hyde was responsible for in the swamp, this wasn’t particularly unexpected.

And...

The Instructor of the Hunt looked behind the five young heroes.

There stood a person who had piqued the Instructor’s interest for a different reason.

So he finally completed the run.

Luan Bednicker.

He was panting as if he was nearly out of breath, but he had ended up following the whole way without dropping out.

He was the holder of a level of persistence and grit that the Instructor of the Hunt had never seen before.

Although he was the last among the six here, he had experienced the most pain and overcome it.

It would be a lie to say the Instructor of the Hunt didn’t feel proud of him.

Honestly, he wanted to give Luan a point...

“Charon Woodjack, Hector Bednicker, Sellen Goodspring, Evan Helvin, Mir Giant.”

But that was impossible.

The Instructor of the Hunt was an instructor for the training camp, and if the points given out by the instructors were inconsistent, then the order of the training camp would be broken.

“You five will receive two points.”

After saying that, he looked toward Luan, but Luan didn’t seem to give any particular response as he just stood there recovering his breath.

Perhaps he still didn’t know the importance of points?

That’s certainly not the case.

Luan didn’t seem like an idiot.

“...Afternoon training will begin after lunch. The precise time will be announced then, so return to your rooms and rest for now.”

“Yes.”

The Instructor of the Hunt left the young heroes behind and returned to his room.

Although the lodging for the instructors was shiny on the outside, it wasn’t as shiny on the inside.

The reason the outside was made to look so fancy was to motivate the young heroes.

The Instructor of the Hunt went down to the cafeteria to get his lunch, which was also his breakfast.

After taking the plain foods in particular, he sat down and felt someone walk around him.

“Quite the early lunch.”

The one who sat opposite him with a smooth smile was the Instructor of Martial Arts, Juan.

“I skipped breakfast.”

“As expected of Teacher Tanko. Since the young heroes didn’t eat anything, you didn’t eat anything either? Haha, I’ve learned another lesson today.”

“...”

The Instructor of Martial Arts was the type of person the Instructor of the Hunt didn’t really like.

He recognized Juan’s talent and the results of his education, but for some reason, the methods Juan used didn’t align with the way the Instructor of the Hunt taught.

It was weirdly unpleasant.

“Now that I think about it, are you the one taking the afternoon lesson, Teacher Juan?”

“That’s right. Haha. I’m getting a bit nervous. I heard that there are many children of especially noble houses this time around...”

Although it might be nitpicking, the Instructor of the Hunt didn’t like Juan’s thought process either.

No matter how noble their blood was, after entering the training camp, they were just young heroes.

That was why the instructors needed to focus on their aptitude, their talent, and their tenacity.

The Instructor of the Hunt didn’t want to stay here any longer, so he put the half-bread into his mouth and stood up.

“I’ll be going first.”

“Sure. Right. Was there any young hero in particular who caught your eye?”

“...”

There were a few.

The one who received most of his attention was an unexpected individual.

However, as if he had no intention of revealing that, the Instructor of the Hunt just shook his head and left.

* * * * *

* * * * *

“Fuu...”

I only got up after my breathing calmed down.

I felt a bit dirty due to being drenched in sweat and dirt, but I didn’t feel like washing myself either.

Much harsher training than this probably awaited us this afternoon.

And it’s not like the baths are open right now.

I headed to the cafeteria to sate my hunger.

Thankfully, there wasn’t a set portion for the food. I could eat as much as I wanted.

I mainly took the meats and piled them on my plate before taking a seat and digging in.

The training camp’s cafeteria wasn’t too highly regarded by the nobles here, but it matched my tastes quite well.

Although it wasn’t particularly seasoned, it didn’t have any weird smells or bad textures.

More than anything, the nutrients were balanced pretty well.

But then someone took a seat right in front of me.

“Hey...!”

It was Sellen.

I kept chewing my food as I answered, “Hello. Why do I feel like we meet while eating a lot—”

“Shut up. What happened?” Sellen asked while cutting me off.

Only then did I remember my last meeting with her.

She’d reacted like I had come back from the dead.

I swallowed my food as I answered, “It was dealt with.”

“What?”

“It was dealt with. Isn’t that why I’m here?”

Sellen looked at me in disbelief before speaking more quietly.

“Did you defeat that monster by yourself?”

It wasn’t as if she would believe me if I told her the truth.

For a better flow of conversation, I added a small lie.

“Someone from the house helped me.”

“Who?”

“You wouldn’t know even if I told you.”

“Shut up and tell me.”

“Hey, we’ve only just reunited, but why are you so aggressive? The important thing is that we both made it out alive to meet again.”

“Don’t try to change the topic. Answer me.”

This girl...

I was going to show her what changing the topic really looked like.

“Before that, what’s your secret?”

“...What secret?”

Sellen tilted her head with a calm expression, but I didn’t miss how she flinched a little.

“You said you’d tell me a secret if I made it out alive.”

“...Hm. D-did I?”

“Uh, yeah. I heard it with my own two ears, swear on everything. So tell me, what is it?”

“...”

“What’s with that expression? Was your secret that big of a deal? Are you actually a man or something?”

“A-are you serious?” Sellen shouted in shock.

Of course, my eyes weren’t so bad I couldn’t distinguish a man from a woman.

“Or do you not have a secret at all? Perhaps you just said that? Now that I think about it, seeing your reaction, you just said that because you didn’t expect me to make it back alive, right?”

Sellen raised her voice. “That’s not it!”

She took a look around afterward before letting out a sigh.

“...Just, I never expected to tell you in this way. Damn it.”

“Then why did you make a promise like that?”

“...I don’t know. I wish I could go back in time and slap myself in the face.”

Unexpectedly, I was the one who flinched a little when she said that.

It was a thought I had had multiple times since my regression.

“...It’s not right to say it here. I’ll tell you later.”

“Got it. More importantly, why did you attend this training camp?”

“That’s what I should be asking. Why are you here? Don’t you know just how dangerous this training camp is?”

At this point, someone might think she was the Bednicker, not me.

“It’s my House’s event. I got a blessing as well. I would become a laughingstock if I didn’t join.”

“That’s... true.” Sellen hesitated for a moment before continuing, “...After joining this training camp, is there any way to leave in the middle of it?”

“No.”

“What if you suffer a serious injury?”

“They’ll probably let you rest in the infirmary in the instructor lodging. We have a grand master who’s a current priest: the Instructor of Healing. That person will heal you.”

“...”

It was a weird reaction.

Although it was known that the Bednicker training camp was dangerous... was it something the daughter of Goodspring should be this scared of?

Although the training camp’s death rate was decently high, with Sellen’s skill, she shouldn’t die.

Seeing how she was acting, it didn’t seem she’d joined the training camp to meet me, so she probably had a different goal.

“What is it?”

“...I’ll tell you later.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to be treated like a crazy bitch.”

What did she mean by that?

In any case, Sellen left without saying anything further. She even picked the seat farthest from me to eat her food.

Maybe she was annoyed with me or something, but she didn’t look in my direction even when I stared at her.

Her personality is so weird.

Although she wasn’t a bad person, her words were too rough to say that she was nice, and talking to her wasn’t that comfortable either.

It seemed like she was hiding a lot as well.

In any case, I decided to file Sellen Goodspring away in my mind as a prickly person.

As soon as Sellen left, someone ran up to my side and sat next to me.

“I remembered...!”

It was the girl with the freckles, Pam.

“What?”

“The rumor about the engagement between the youngest son of Bednicker and the third daughter of Goodspring!”

She pointed at me.

“The youngest son of Bednicker!”

“Me.”

“The third daughter of Goodspring!”

“Sellen.”

“As I thought!”

Pam was hyperventilating.

Her condition seemed dangerous.

“I was wondering why a Goodspring joined the House Bednicker training camp...! But with a situation like this happening behind the scenes, it’s only obvious, obvious!”

Karis approached us and pressed down on Pam’s head.

“Ah, you’re so noisy. Be quiet.”

My roommate Evan also arrived with an expression filled with curiosity.

“So she’s your fiancée. I was wondering why you were so close.”

“We’re not close. And it’s been a long time since our engagement got called off.”

“Ack! That was true as well! Huh! Wait! So the engagement’s already been broken, but your love for each other hasn’t disappeared, and you’re both going to leave your houses and elope...”

Pam went off like a cannon even while her head was being pressed down.

Evan looked at me for a moment before saying, “You were pretty impressive in this morning’s lesson. I honestly didn’t expect you to complete the whole run.”

Was he changing the subject for me? How considerate of him.

“I thought I was going to die. I haven’t gone that hard in a while.”

“Haha. Good one.”

“You, on the other hand, got third. You passed at the top.”

“I’m confident in my physique.”

“...”

I looked at Evan giving a bashful smile.

Evan Helvin.

The third son of House Helvin. He used the sword as his main weapon.

He used the secret swordsmanship, Raven, created by his father and family head, Doz Helvin.

It wasn’t completely off the table that he might just have the same name.

I continued to think as I stabbed the meat with my fork.

I didn’t know for sure yet.

This guy, who always looked so exhausted...

Was he really going to become the greatest criminal on the face of the continent in the next 10 years?