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The moment of shocked silence lasted for a short time before the mercenaries all cheered at the interesting show.

“I can’t believe such a brave man exists.”

“It seems that humanity’s future isn’t that dark!”

Yohan Wolf Frost was the only one who scoffed in disbelief. “A duel? Kamila! Even if it’s just a joke, this is going too far. How can you duel with a kid like this—”

“Let’s just wait and see.” The mercenary leader, Eltoram, stopped Wolf, who was desperately trying to dissuade Kamila.

“Even when the Seven Sword Saints’ successors and the children of the Three Great Swordsmen came, she didn’t pay them any mind and kicked them out.”

“…!”

“Now she’s giving this kid a chance to duel? Doesn’t that mean she sees something in this arrogant brat?” Eltoram’s evaluation was strangely generous. Was it because he’d felt Kaisen’s strange spirit during their previous encounter?

He continued. “Didn’t you see the brand engraved on his cheek? Isn’t it the brand of the Balkrush Clan, which is causing destruction wherever it goes? That means he’s a warrior recognized by the chieftain of Balkrush. Don’t you think he will show us something?”

Even after hearing those words, Wolf’s eyes, reflected through the glasses, were filled with questioning. ‘Why on earth is Kamila…?’

She was the direct disciple of Raminea Alter Aradamantel, a hero who was praised as the strongest Fake Warrior of her time. Even famous imperial knights often failed to last more than three moves against her.

‘Will that scrawny, starving boy be able to withstand even one move against such a powerful being?’

Kaisen gripped the sword that’d been thrown his way. He’d never held a longsword before, and the weight of it overwhelmed him. Unable to lift it with one hand, he gripped it with both; only then did the sword stop shaking.

“I’m going to ask you one question, so answer me…” Instead of unsheathing the holy sword from her back, Kamila picked up a branch from the ground.

“…You’re fighting with that?” Kaisen asked.

“If you want, you can as well. Anything can become a weapon.” Overwhelming momentum… no, daunting killing intent followed. It was a mere tree branch, but the air around it seemed to burn.

Even more suffocating was Kamila’s question for him. “Now, the question is… do you truly believe it was your fault that your mother died?”

His throat constricted. It was a question he couldn’t answer.

Kamila seemed to already know, though. “You’re pretty weak, so what on earth could you have done?”

For a moment, his mind went completely blank.

“Why do you blame yourself for not being able to do anything when your mother was killed by the uruks?” Kamila hoped her teacher’s son wouldn’t blame something as vague as the world. She hoped he’d have a clear objective like she did. “Isn’t that only natural?”

‘Don’t despair.’ If he gave up in the face of overwhelming despair, he would one day give up on life.

“You were just born weak. If you want to blame something, blame the world. What can you do?” She couldn’t let him hate the uruks. It was too dangerous. Instead… ‘Change your object of resentment to me.’

Kaisen’s sharp senses wouldn’t allow him to give up on life.

“It’s natural that you couldn’t do anything back then! You survived because you couldn’t do anything!” Kamila said.

A surge of emotions rose from deep within Kaisen’s heart. ‘What is this feeling?’ It felt like lava was exploding in his chest. The throbbing heat urged his forward leap.

“Oooh!” Cheers rose up among the mercenaries in an instant.

“The little guy ran in first!”

“Haha, he’s as brave as any knight!”

Only Kamila’s old friends, Wolf and Eltoram, furrowed their brows in surprise.

‘I’m getting more and more confused.’

‘Lady Kamila is provoking him? A kid?’

Just as Raminea was the hero who’d succeeded Rista Alter Schirpin, her student, Kamila also showed her power as the strongest Fake Warrior of her time. She was the leading warrior among the existing Fake Warriors, so what was so special about the boy that she was acting in such a way?

Eltoram and the senior mercenaries suddenly held their breaths and focused on the boy’s reaction. What on earth would he show them?

Pooow—!

They only saw the boy fall down before he could swing his sword.

Kamila decided the match with her fingers alone. Rather than using the branch she’d playfully grabbed, he just lightly dodged back and flicked the boy’s forehead.

Of course, Kaisen didn’t win. The thought flew out of his mind when he was sent rolling multiple times from the blow.

“What was that?” Captain Eltoram and the senior officers tilted their heads and exchanged glances. “He doesn’t even know how to use a sword?”

“No. It doesn’t look like he learned martial arts at all, let alone swordsmanship.”

“How did he get recognition from the Balkrush Clan?”

The Fake Warrior approached Kaisen, her expression not showing a hint of her emotions. “It’s not your fault or your mother’s fault.”

Kamila unsheathed her teacher’s shortsword from her waist. It emitted an eerie, phosphorescent light. “It’s the fault of Fake Warriors like me for not always being there! Not you! Don’t bark at me for revenge or any such thing while looking like you’re about to cry.”

The moment she swung the small sword with all of her might, the onlookers gasped in shock.

“Kamila!”

“What…? Is she really going to kill him…?”

“Oh, my god! She speaks like a villain, but I actually believe my lady is a good person!”

Of course, she didn’t kill the boy. Wolf rushed over and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that shortsword stuck right next to Kaisen’s head.

Kamila threw the sword’s sheath at Kaisen’s face and said, “What kind of revenge can a talentless brat get? Teach you how to use a sword? I’ll take revenge for you, so take that and get the hell out of here.”

She bit her lip. She didn’t know what happened, but Mistress Raminea died protecting that brat. The fact that the boy didn’t know how to use a sword at his age meant that her teacher didn’t want to drag him into the world of swords.

‘I don’t dare change the decision my master made after careful consideration.’ Kamila started to turn away from the boy. “!”

Thump—

Something grazed the armor on her shin.

‘A branch…?’It was a lowly attack that would’ve meant nothing in a real duel.

“My attack was successful, right…? You said anything could be used as a weapon.”

Kamila, Wolf, Eltoram, and all the mercenaries were at a loss for a moment when the boy, who they’d thought fainted, made his move.

“What happened…?” someone mumbled.

“Well, since it touched her… it’s the lady’s defeat…?”

The mercenaries kept their mouths shut and looked the other way after Kamila gave them a fierce glare.

“Are those really a little boy’s eyes?” Eltoram was also surprised. The boy had the eyes of a warrior. They were eyes that would never lose their fighting spirit… did that mean the boy had the makings of a first-class warrior?

“Kaisen, are you okay? Kid! Wake up!” Wolf hugged Kaisen after the boy truly fainted and checked his condition. “Kid! Kid! Hey, you two! Get the tent ready. You, bring the medicine I tell you to. Quickly!”

* * *

“This place is…” The next evening, when the ash-covered fields turned red with the setting sun, Kaisen opened his eyes. The smell of delicious oatmeal seemed to stimulate his hungry stomach.

Wolf, who was sitting by his bedside, smiled brightly. “Are you awake now? I’m glad.”

Kaisen tried to sit up from the bed but fell down again with a groan. Pain surged throughout his body. It felt like the built-up fatigue from the past month had exploded. Above all, the bump on his forehead was really painful.

‘Was that really a flick on the forehead? It felt like someone hit me with a smithing hammer.’

Wolf carefully scooped some oatmeal from the pot into a bowl and handed the bowl to Kaisen. “Let’s start with nutrition. That way, you will get better quickly.”

“I can eat by myself…”

“Don’t overexert yourself. It must be hard to even move.”

Kaisen tried to argue but couldn’t. Wolf’s eyes were so calm and kind. Who on earth was he to be so kind to someone he was meeting for the first time?

“How does it taste? Is it too bland? If so, I’m sorry. It’s been a while since I made oatmeal with medicinal ingredients.”

After struggling for a while, Kaisen ended up quietly munching on the oatmeal. It was bland. Honestly, it had no texture. Kaisen wondered why a single tear formed in his eyes before he even realized it.

“Was it so delicious that it brought tears to your eyes?” Wolf asked. “How touching.”

“No, it was so tasteless that it brought tears to my eyes.”

“I see. The food I made is trash. Huh, I knew it would be like that. I’m pretty much trash at everything except magic…” Wolf seemed to suddenly feel discouraged. He sat down, a gloomy atmosphere around him, and began to write in his notebook.

‘What’s wrong with this man…?’ Kaisen wondered. He hadn’t been moved by the taste. Rather, it’d been a long time since he had such warm and hearty food in the same manner his mother had made for him in their day-to-day lives.

It was around the time he finished eating the oatmeal that Wolf suddenly handed him an apple and said, “I’m sorry.”

“For making me eat food like this?”

“No, I’m talking about Kamila. Even though she looks cold, she’s actually a very sweet person.”

“That woman?

“It’s true. She became like that after our leader died.”

‘Leader?’ Kaisen tilted his head.

Wolf spoke in a dreamy tone. “Most Fake Warriors have a teacher. The leader of our corps was Kamila’s teacher. She was a truly great person…”

“…?”

“After our leader died, Kamila didn’t show affection to anyone. No, she didn’t even show any emotions. I just can’t figure out why she indulged you today.”

“I guess she really liked that leader,” Kaisen mumbled.

“Kaisen, we all liked her. Not a single one of us had anything against her.” Wolf gave a miserable smile full of bitterness, pain, and sadness. He put his hand on Kaisen’s head. “I apologize on behalf of my poor friend. Kaisen, please forgive her.”

“I don’t need an apology or anything! Just teach me how to use a sword! Then I can forgive anything!”

“…”

“I can learn now, right? She said that just touching her would be a win!”

With a low sigh, Wolf resolutely shook his head. “That’s not true. Do you think Kamila will admit that it was her defeat?”

“Then I’ll try again and again.”

“Until when?”

“Until she agrees.” Hatred that bordered on obsession was like a sharp blade. Even if he was told to give up his hatred and desire for revenge and to live away from the front lines, he wouldn’t listen.

“Even if she tries to teach you, what happened today will only happen again. Kaisen, do you know how to read?” Wolf presented a book far out of the ordinary—a grimoire only experts could understand.

‘Numbers…?’ Rows of numbers? What did it mean? The numbers were written in a haphazard manner with a strange sort of governing pattern, but he couldn’t figure out what they meant.

“You can’t read these, right?” Wolf asked. “Your situation right now is the same.”

“…?!”

“You’re trying to learn the core without even knowing the basics. As you can see, Kamila is not a great person who can teach you step by step from the basics.”

“Then what should I do?” Kaisen asked with tears in his eyes.

Wolf’s kind smile did not disappear. “You might be able to learn if you do as I say. I can’t be certain because it’ll depend entirely on your talent.”

‘Talent…?’ He’d been beaten up before he even understood what was happening. Did he have talent?

Wolf tapped Kaisen’s forehead with his thumb. “Eltoram said you have a warrior’s talent. Get some rest now, and I’ll teach you step by step after you recover.”

“Do nothing and rest?” Kaisen asked.

“Yes.”

“There is no need to rest. You can teach me right now! Why bother? The basics are amazing!” Kaisen shouted, giving a miserable appearance as tears formed in his eyes and his arms trembled from the force with which he clenched his hands.

The boy continued, “Nothing… I couldn’t do anything… Even when my mother died… but even now, I can’t do anything…”

“Kaisen…”

“The uruks, those bastards are running around freely! Fuck the word ‘nothing’! They all need to be killed! As fast as possible! All of them! No exceptions!” Crying out in anger was an inherently solitary exercise.

“Haaaa.” Wolf sighed deeply as he watched the seething tears in the boy’s eyes. The world was truly miserable. There was no such thing as a warrior who destroyed evil and brought peace to everyone.

After some time, Wolf put his pure white wizard cloak over his shoulders and weakly smiled. “Would you like to follow me? If you can, that is.”

Kaisen stood up and continued to cry.

Wolf’s strides were short and slow as he walked ahead, his cloak flapping around him. He was kind. Even though he walked ahead, he looked back and waited. “What do you think are the basics of swordsmanship, Kaisen?”

Kaisen followed Wolf up the slope of the nearby hill.

Wolf advanced gently and slowly. Glancing up at the night sky, they saw it wasn’t yet consumed by the summer’s volcanic ash, and the wild grass in the area embraced the gentle light of the four moons.

“I’m not well versed in swordsmanship, but I’m curious about many things and asked the leader about it,” Wolf explained.

“What did she say?”

“She said that footwork is the foundation and core of all martial arts.” In terms of linguistics, it might be compared to grammar and words. “It’s about here,” Wolf muttered as they stopped at the top of the hill.

When the man opened his palm, a frost-colored magic circle appeared and spun. Another appeared and overlapped with the previous one, and then a final circle was born.

It was categorized within the empire’s 7-star magic system as a 3-star spell that only high-ranking wizards could cast. Of course, there was no way a bumpkin like Kaisen would recognize it and be impressed.

Claaaaang—!

The moment Wolf grabbed the three-layer magic and broke it, Kaisen’s eyes widened. ‘What is this? A hallucination?’

A shadow of ice appeared on the hill’s highest point. Notably, the shadow held a sword.

Wolf explained the spell. “This is a 3-star spell called ‘Active Pursuit: Clone’. Only judicial officers may use it, and I imitated it with my ice attribute as the base.” Wolf gestured, and the white shadow began a violent yet elegant dance.

“This…?” Kaisen felt dazed and confused. It wasn’t just because the sword dance was mesmerizing. Rather, he had seen the same moves almost every day from his mother.

For a moment, he could barely suppress the pain in his heart—it felt as if it were being torn apart.

Wolf spoke in a soft tone. “This is a reproduction of Kamila’s movements.”

‘Kamila’s movements…?’ Kaisen wondered. Was his mother really Kamila’s teacher?

“That woman has a sincere side to her, and even now, she trains in swordsmanship at the times the leader originally set. That’s why it’s easy to copy her with this spell.”

The moment Wolf snapped his fingers again, the shadow froze in place. “This sword dance contains the essence of the swordsmanship that Kamila accumulated over nearly 20 years. It is impossible to successfully attack her when you cannot even keep up with her footwork.”

“…!”

“As I said before, Kamila has a pathological attachment to the leader, and she always follows the teachings she left behind. Among those lessons was, ‘Become a wonderful woman who always keeps her promises.”

Wolf grinned and added, “I don’t expect you to copy everything. First, you need to be able to copy her footwork perfectly. Only then will you be able to beat Kamila.”

It wasn’t that Wolf had a secret plan or anything like that. He only recalled when Kamila began her education in those dazzling days of their youth, back when she first became Raminea’s student.

“How about it?” he asked. “Can you try it?”

Back then, Raminea also asked Kamila the same. Kamila, who was the illegitimate daughter of Belchester, one of the three great swordsmen of the empire at the time, had answered by roughly following her teacher’s steps.

Of course, Raminea’s footwork was on a different level. Still, Kamila had imitated the movements based on her natural talent.

‘What is this?’ The kid in front of him was doing the same thing. Was that why it seemed like the image of young Kamila superimposed itself on Kaisen’s back for a moment? A mixture of longing and astonishment appeared in Wolf’s eyes.

‘What the hell is this…?’ Even though Kaisen might not have been able to move freely due to his injury… he was still able to follow along at a similar level.

Wolf let out a short exclamation without meaning to. He’d also tried to follow along, but he couldn’t continue from the third step.

‘Overwhelming… no, is this what they call violently talented?’ He scoffed in disbelief. ‘Kamila, you say Kaisen has no talent? Don’t be ridiculous. He simply hasn’t had the opportunity to learn.’

____