Chapter 62
The most surprising thing about the training camp was that it was filled with individuals so famous that even I had heard of them at least once.
There was nothing that needed to be said about Hector and Sellen, but there was also Charon Woodjack, who had claimed first in the morning run, as well as the Executioner of House Rubyeta, the Black Knight of Chevalier, the young Nightwalker tribe leader, and the future hero of the beastmen...
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that this was a gathering of the future heroes who would become the pillars of The Empire.
However, the name I had heard most among them was definitely Evan Helvin.
It wouldn’t even take 10 years.
In just five years, nobody in The Empire wouldn’t know the name “Evan Helvin.”
In the next year or two, Evan would enter the hero institution, Heroes. Then, as a member of Heroes, he would accumulate grand achievements and receive the expectations of The Empire.
That was why the betrayal of the hero Evan Helvin was called the Worst Betrayal to Humanity in History.
I looked at Evan.
He had grey hair and the innocent face of a boy.
I didn’t know much about House Helvin. From what I could remember, it was just a small house in the countryside.
It was true that he had a faint trace of the blood of heroes within him, but to date, House Helvin had never produced an excellent hero.
Even so, Evan had become so famous that even I had ended up hearing about him.
From a young age, he had trained in many different swordsmanship styles and produced results. Each of his swordsmanship teachers had praised his talent.
News of this had quickly spread to the Imperial City as well.
I don’t think he’s a bad guy by nature.
In truth, there was only one of two possibilities.
Either he was so truly evil that he fooled even my intuition...
Or an incident occurred that turned even this innocent kid into the worst criminal imaginable.
Since we’ve ended up as roommates...
The answer should become obvious if I observed him for a while.
However, what if the result was that he truly was that evil, and there was no room for even a sliver of doubt...?
I don’t know.
I decided to think about that later as I ate my final bite of meat.
***
Upon going out to the field after eating lunch, I saw the ones who had dropped out during the run collapse to the ground after returning to camp.
It was interesting in many ways to see these haughty nobles crawl on the ground like worms.
I sat down a small distance away and watched the situation.
After some time passed, knights appeared.
They were carrying a noble on each shoulder, and without any consideration for the floppy nobles, the knights just threw them onto the dirt floor.
“Guhek.”
“Ugh...”
So they were still alive.
Maybe because they had grown up eating well, they were all pretty sturdy.
Although they were the children of noble houses, most of the Great Houses were martial houses.
It wouldn’t be entirely correct to consider them sheltered brats since they would’ve started their own training when they were young.
“S-so hungry...”
I saw one of the young heroes crawl toward the cafeteria.
I could feel their drive to survive.
You can do it.
I cheered for the young hero’s survival instinct, but a heartless human blocked their way.
“Stop,” said the knight.
As the young hero looked up with a pitiful expression on their face, the knight seemed to truly have no heart as he coldly responded, “Lunchtime is over.”
“Th-that can’t be. I haven’t even eaten breakfast...”
“You should’ve returned earlier if you wanted to eat.”
“Guyak...”
The young heroes all collapsed while making odd sounds.
Truly, it seemed food was the best way to control and punish these young heroes in this environment.
Although I felt the tactic was cowardly and shameful, the fact I felt that way about it meant it was working.
Even though there was no limit to the portions, the daily activities were harsh, and exhausted people became hungry quickly, no matter how much they ate.
“All right. Looks like everyone’s got their rest. Gather up, the afternoon class is beginning.”
Although I had rested well, eaten well, and had enough time to digest the food, there were countless kids who had just arrived and were still crawling around on the ground.
Of course, it didn’t seem they were going to question the instructor’s words either.
The other instructors kicked the kids who couldn’t move to round them up in the center of the field.
“Are you okay?”
“U-ugh...”
I could see Evan helping out a few of them. He braced them or even carried them on his back to move them.
He looked and acted just like a model citizen.
He seemed the type to incur losses upon himself for others.
In any case, when the young heroes stopped swaying and stood straight in the middle of the field, a man climbed atop the platform in front of them.
He was a young and handsome man, but his lips were thin, so his face was uneasy to look at.
“Hello, young heroes. I am Juan. As the Instructor of Martial Arts for this training camp, I will be teaching you all the basics of martial arts.”
He spoke with a smooth voice, perhaps the first smooth voice I’d heard since the start of the training camp.
It was unsettling to hear an instructor speak with that voice.
“Ehm...”
Juan scratched his cheek as he looked back at the young heroes standing there like zombies.
“The instructor for your morning training was Teacher Tanko, right? It seems you’re all very tired. It can’t be helped; since today’s the first day, we’ll proceed with the lesson while sitting down.”
“Oh-oh...!”
“Thank you... thank you...”
At those words, most of the young heroes fell on their butts.
These were the kids who had hesitated to roll in the dirt yesterday, but it seemed that thought couldn’t even compete with their physical exhaustion.
However, I felt something was slightly off about the Instructor of Martial Arts.
At a glance, it seemed like he was being nice to the young heroes and was granting them a moment of rest...
But at a time like this?
Today was only the second day of the training camp.
The Instructor of the Hunt hadn’t treated the young heroes harshly because he wanted to.
The young heroes had been treated harshly—even more than was necessary—so that they could get used to the training required during the camp.
But the rest this person was offering was loosening the tension that had been building up.
Sure, it’s nice right now...
But who knows?
Everyone would be treated like trash during the other lessons anyway, so would this moment of rest be any good for the young heroes?
Of course, I could just be twisting his intentions as a result of my paranoia. Maybe the Instructor of Martial Arts really was a kind and compassionate person.
“Then, the lesson will begin.”
I raised my head.
Since the other instructors would start marking us now, my points could be deducted if I didn’t show that I was paying attention.
I couldn’t afford to look bad since I was aiming to take first place.
First?
I was slightly startled by my thoughts.
The words the Lord of Blood and Iron had said to me in passing had ended up becoming my goal.
Maybe because I’m confident.
I had felt in my core that the Lord of Blood and Iron was someone who properly rewarded achievements.
If I finished this training camp in first place, I was sure that it wouldn’t end with just a few words of praise. I might receive something even greater than the mystic bead.
“Martial arts began as a way to protect one’s body, but that has changed. Many new categories of martial arts have appeared. Martial arts specialized for a specific weapon, a specific body part, to fight a specific enemy, to fight in a specific environment, or even for those born with a rare bodily constitution or form.”
At that point, someone raised their hand.
“What do you mean by ‘rare bodily constitution or form’?”
“Someone born with only one arm, with a lame leg, or blind.”
“Ah.”
“Such people naturally can’t practice martial arts the same way.”
The lesson was mostly about the theory of martial arts itself.
The heart one must have as a martial artist, the signature martial arts of The Empire and its characteristics, the pros and cons of each martial art... training and sparring, things one must be careful of in real battle, and so on.
Honestly, most of the information here should already be known by the young heroes who were children of martial houses.
His voice was pleasant to listen to, but the class itself was boring, so a few young heroes nodded off while sitting on the ground.
“Please wake up.”
When he saw them, the Instructor of Martia Arts only gave a quiet warning and didn’t even give any real punishments, not even a deduction in points.
The one who got called out just let out a dumb laugh as if he was fully relaxed.
In any case, the boring lesson soon ended, and dinner was upon us.
“You cannot enter.”
“N-no...!”
The young heroes with less than 10 points all collapsed to the ground in despair, but no one tried to challenge the instructors since they had all seen what happened on the first day.
The hungry young heroes roamed around the cafeteria like zombies, and I watched them as I ate my food.
“...I never thought being able to eat dinner would make me so happy,” Evan mumbled in a low voice while sitting next to me.
Now that I thought about it, he had gotten two more points today.
It was enough to make up for the deduction from yesterday.
“I’ll need to be thankful for each meal I have in the future.”
For some reason, when I heard Evan say that, it reminded me of my time on Spirit Mountain.
When I had starved for a week straight, I had even considered eating pebbles off the ground.
“...”
I had never expected the training camp to make me remember that moment.
A blessing in disguise, as he used to say...
I flinched as I remembered something my eldest senior brother used to say, and I let out a quiet sigh.
Maybe it was because my heart had become uncomfortable, but I didn’t feel hungry and ended up eating less than half of what I usually ate.
* * * * *
* * * * *
During the evening training, the Instructor of the Hunt appeared again.
There were eight grand masters, but the frequency he was appearing here was a bit alarming.
Although it didn’t seem like there were any hierarchies among the grand masters, this man probably had the position of head instructor for this training camp.
“For evening training, you will be sparring. Use the weapons that will be handed out and form pairs. I will give you five minutes,” the Instructor of the Hunt said with a calm voice.
Then, he added one more thing: “Also, the person who wins the spar will be awarded one point, and the one who loses will have two points deducted.”
Murmurs were heard from the young heroes at that shocking announcement.
Among them, one person who looked to be in disbelief raised his hand.
“I-isn’t that unfair? How is it only one point when you win but two points when you lose?”
I was wondering who it was, but it turned out to be Karis.
With a smirk, the Instructor of the Hunt responded, “Karis Earthman, you have quite an optimistic view of life. It makes me want to open up your head and look inside to see if you have a flower garden in there.”
At that chilling response, Karis instinctively clutched his head with his two hands.
“Listen closely if you want to live a long life. Don’t make the mistake of thinking there will always be a reward just because you tried hard. This world won’t remember your suffering. If you have something you wish to gain, you can only crawl toward it from the bottom. On the other hand, there will be moments where one failure makes you lose everything in life.”
I ended up nodding without realizing because of how aligned those words were with my own attitude toward life.
The Instructor of the Hunt, Tanko... Based on his appearance, he seemed to be a minority from the plains, and from what I had heard, the people there grew up living alongside nature from a young age.
He’d probably had the law of the jungle ingrained in his mind before he’d even reached puberty.
Karis just stood there dumbfounded while the quick-witted ones had already started moving.
“Hey... you. Want to spar with me?”
“N-no. You’re a Chevalier...”
“Then what about me?”
“Hmm. I want to fight a regular swordsman...”
Most of the young heroes moved quickly to find someone weaker than them.
Only now did they understand the weight of losing two points.
Currently, most of the young heroes had 10 points.
As soon as they dropped below 10 points, they wouldn’t be able to eat dinner... and they were afraid of what additional penalties might appear in the future.
The young heroes had finally felt the weight of the points.
However, among the confusion of looking for only weaklings, a few duels had started.
“You won’t regret it?”
“Of course not.”
I hadn’t expected this.
Hector was sparring Sellen.
I watched the scene with anticipation.
Personally, I expected Hector was a level above her.
Hector was older than her, and since he had blessings from the First Blessing Ceremony, he was probably more proficient.
But that didn’t mean Sellen would definitely lose.
I understood since we’d fought together for a brief period: Sellen wasn’t on the level of a regular young hero.
She likely wouldn’t have any problems even if she was thrown into a real battle right now.
But then the Instructor of the Hunt spoke to me.
“Why aren’t you looking for an opponent?”
I continued to look at Hector and Sellen as I replied, “I want to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“I know that there are a total of 39 young heroes in this training camp. If everyone forms pairs, there will be one person left. Who will that person spar?”
“They will spar against me.”
“...!”
Hearing that, the young heroes who hadn’t formed up yet all froze.
The prowess of the Instructor of the Hunt was known throughout The Empire.
Honestly, it was expected since he was a guest that the Lord of Blood and Iron had personally scouted.
However, because he focused more on educating his students, he wasn’t counted among the strongest on the continent.
Still, it would be embarrassing to try and compare him to an ordinary young hero.
“If they spar against you and lose, will they still have their points deducted?”
“Naturally.”
“I see.”
I nodded as I looked forward again.
The remaining young heroes began to hurriedly form up.
“Hey! Just fight me!”
“S-sure.”
“Do you want to spar against me?”
“Ugh... it can’t be helped.”
The nobles from good houses and those who were avoiding fighting others began to form up. They believed that would be better than sparring against the Instructor of the Hunt.
“Why are you standing still?” the Instructor asked me as I stood there watching the others.
I nonchalantly answered, “Didn’t you say that the remaining person will spar against you?”
“I did.”
“That is why.”
Confused, the Instructor of the Hunt furrowed his brow for a moment...
But he soon let out a laugh while baring his teeth.
He probably found it funny for the same reason I did.
Knowing this, I laughed with him.
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