“Huff.”
After performing all twelve forms of the River Footwork, Raon exhaled lightly.
‘That was pretty good.’
His body moved exactly the way he’d imagined, following the flow and posture he’d wanted.
It felt like watching himself from a third person’s point of view.
It seemed that using the ‘Ring of Fire’ to understand the flow before moving his body was going to be a pretty good way of learning martial arts in the future.
“Hmm?”
Raon furrowed his brows. The training ground should’ve been noisy with everyone training their footwork, yet it was as silent as a library.
Raon felt a strange gaze from behind and turned around.
“Crazy…”
“Wh-what…?”
Burren and Martha were both out of their mind with their mouths wide open, and Runaan waved her clenched hand. From the movement of her mouth, he could tell that she was asking him to teach her.
It wasn’t just the three of them. Every trainee and instructor alike had their eyes so wide that they were about to pop out.
“Why are you…?”
“Raon.”
Raon turned around once again to the surprised voice calling out to him. Rimmer, who used to be lying on the platform, was standing in front of him.
“Did you know the River Footwork?”
His green pupils were lightly oscillating, like a freshly strummed harp’s cord. He was clearly surprised.
“No, that was my first time seeing it.”
It was similar to the shadow footwork he’d learned in his previous life, but he’d never even heard about River Footwork.
“Then how…”
Rimmer skipped lots of details, but Raon understood what he wanted to ask because of his expression.
“How shall I explain it?”
Raon slightly smiled, while scratching his neck.
“I could read the flow.”
“Read the flow?”
“Yes. When the instructor was demonstrating the footwork, I saw its flow, instead of the postures and their order.”
The River footwork had a similar flow to the Shadow footwork he’d learned in his previous life. That was why he’d managed to figure it out rather easily.
“Instead of looking at a tree, I looked at the forest. That’s how I managed to understand its flow.”
“Huh. Wow.”
Rimmer simply grabbed his head and exclaimed. It looked like he was at a loss for words.
“I thought it’d take at least a week.”
He murmured that he didn’t think the footwork he’d finally managed to find with such difficulty would be finished so easily.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, no. That’s nothing to be sorry about. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”
“Hmm…”
Raon secretly licked his lips.
‘Did I do it too fast?’
The moment he saw the footwork he’d felt exhilarated, so he reenacted it. He didn’t think Rimmer would be so surprised by that.
‘Well, I was also pretty confident in my footwork in my previous life.’
As an assassin, his might wasn’t on par with a Master, but his footwork was one thing that didn’t lose to a Master’s.
To be surprised by those mere steps, humans are really pathetic. Back in devildom, the King of Essence created the ‘Ice Flower Step’, in which a single step could freeze an entire mountain and ocean…
‘Ah, sure.’
Raon tapped away Wrath, who suddenly started boasting about himself.
“Ahem.”
Clearing his throat, Rimmer turned around with his hands behind his back.
“Well, you certainly did well for your first time, but your posture is still lacking. The flow is fine, so pay attention to the forms. You can ask the other instructors questions, except for me.”
“Understood.”
Raon nodded and turned around. Certainly, he felt like he could do a lot better since it was his first time doing it.
“What!”
“W-we have to teach that?”
“I think he is better than me…”
The instructors shook their heads with long faces, brows furrowed until it looked like their eyebrows were reaching their cheeks.
* * *
* * *
After the River Footwork training, Martha left the training ground alongside with Camel.
“That footwork looked pretty decent.”
Camel smiled while scratching his chin.
“It’s suitable to serve as the basis for the footwork that the master will hand down to you. It would be better to learn it properly.”
“I see.”
Martha nodded lightly, walking towards the main building.
“My lady, did something happen?”
Camel felt like she was different from usual, so he walked right next to her.
“Haa…”
Martha, who was staying silent, turned her head with a frown.
“How difficult was that footwork to learn?”
“Hmm, it was basic footwork for sure, but it’s not exactly easy to learn. The flow was rather complicated.”
Camel closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
“Since my lady is also talented in footwork, three days should be enough to understand its flow.”
“Three days? Fuck…”
Martha shook her head with dumbfounded expressions.
“My lady?”
“Then, is it possible for a trainee to learn it at once?”
“A capable warrior would be able to copy it as soon as they saw it, but it’s impossible for a trainee. They lack theory, knowledge, and experience. In short, their martial art is simply too shallow.”
“But there’s a guy who did it.”
“What? What do you mean…?”
Camel’s eyes widened.
‘Was that possible?’
Although the River Footwork’s steps were pretty basic, its flow was still very refined.
It was impossible for a trainee to grasp it right away, unless they were a monster that’d been learning martial arts ever since they were born.
He saw Martha, who still looked surprised.
That expression reminded him of one trainee.
“No way. Did the young master Raon do that?”
“Who else can it be except for that crazy guy?”
“What the…?”
Camel covered his mouth to stop himself from cursing.
“Can you explain the situation?”
“After the demonstration ended, everyone started to practice. He was just standing still with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes when the training was about to end, and then…”
Martha described everything about that surprising scene in the training ground.
“Hah…”
Camel shook his head.
‘He is nuts.’
He stayed still for a while with his eyes closed, which meant he learned the River Footwork in his head.
‘He can use mental imaging at his age…’
He’d thought Raon was slightly talented, just enough to make the annex building receive a sliver of light.
However, that wasn’t the case.
Raon Zieghart was a monster that could become a bridge to connect the main building’s light to the annex building.
‘I have to report this right away.’
That was very important information. He needed to tell Denier about it right after walking Martha to the main building.
“Hmm?”
He suddenly realized he couldn’t see Martha anymore. When he turned around, she was following from behind with her head lowered.
‘Tsk, I was too inconsiderate.’
It hadn’t been long since she’d lost to Raon, so he needed to be more thoughtful.
“My lady, the young master Raon and my lady have different kinds of talents. It’s not about which one is better…”
While comforting her, Camel closed his mouth after meeting her eyes as she raised her head.
‘Those eyes.’
Martha’s eyes weren’t those of a loser.
They were the eyes of a challenger.
They were the eyes of a beast that would prey on whoever was running ahead.
And they were the same eyes he’d seen back in the White Blood Religion’s branch office, where he’d first seen her.
“I’m glad.”
Martha smiled devilishly.
“The guy that won against me isn’t a fake.”
The bloody smile appearing on top of her graceful figure was an ominous sight.
‘I was mistaken.’
Camel swallowed. Martha wasn’t disappointed by her lack of talent compared to Raon.
She was exhilarated at the thought of beating Raon, who was stronger and more talented than her.
Martha wasn’t the kind of person he needed to worry about or be considerate to.
“My lady.”
Camel bowed his head and Martha walked past him.
Her small but confident back seemed to show him her future.
The fiercely beautiful swordsman, looking down on the world from the throne.
***
“... That’s what happened. Does it make any sense that a child of his age learned the footwork in his head? My lord’s grandson must be a genius!”
Rimmer grinned, looking at the tiger rock at the Northern Grave Mountain where they’d usually meet.
“Are you his butler or something? You only talk about him whenever we meet.”
A dignified voice came from the top of the rock, and Glenn’s expressionless face appeared.
“I’m just satisfying my lord’s curiosity.”
Rimmer didn’t stop smiling despite Glenn’s cold atmosphere.
“Aren’t you surprised that your grandson learned the footwork with mental image?”
“It can’t really be a mental image. You must be at least the highest grade, Expert, in order to learn a martial art with mental image.”
Glenn waved his hand dismissively, but he couldn’t hide the slightly vibrating corners of his lips.
“Just as he said, he must’ve read the flow of the footwork by looking at the forest instead of a tree. River Footwork’s core is the flow, after all.”
“Even so, isn’t that amazing? Who else could do that?!”
“......”
Glenn didn’t respond. With his hands clasped at his back, he kept staring towards the main building below the mountain.
“You must be overjoyed. I’m glad I came to tell you about it.”
Rimmer checked Glenn’s expression with a furtive glance and smiled.
“Silence. If you finished talking, go away. You should pay more attention to the other children, like I’ve always said.”
“Do you not trust me? I’m the Sword of Light. The Sword of Light. Of course you don’t have to worry about it.”
“What kind of Sword of Light is a dying man?”
Glenn shook his hand to express his annoyance, but Rimmer leaned his back towards the tiger rock instead of leaving.
“Hmm, the servants in the main building look rather busy. Are they preparing for something?”
Rimmer whistled, looking at the people in the main building actively running around.
“It’s not a preparation, but there will be some visitors.”
“There are going to be visitors?”
“The envoys from Owen Kingdom will be coming in a few days.”
“Owen Kingdom’s envoys…”
Rimmer furrowed his brows. As a kingdom located at the center of the continent, Owen was one of the Six Kings along with Zieghart.
“I see.”
Not many forces maintained a favorable relationship with Zieghart. That’s why he thought it was weird for there to be a visitor, but it ended up being the Owen Kingdom, which was somewhat close to them.
“Who is the leader of the envoys?”
“I heard it’s the third prince. Well, it should actually be Duke Tartan.”
“Oh, that crazy bastard became a duke in the end?”
Rimmer smiled brutally, hearing the name Tartan.
“Oh? Wait! Isn’t the third prince of Karten still pretty young? He should be at the same age as Raon or Burren…”
“I don’t know about that, since I couldn’t care less.”
“I see.”
Rimmer nodded. Unless the king himself came as an envoy, there was no need for Glenn to care.
“Order the trainees to maintain a tidy appearance since they could be seen at any time.”
“Huh? Why?”
“The third prince is coming along with the knight trainees in the kingdom, and they said they wanted to witness the training of swordsmen and trainees.”
“And did you allow that?”
“Of course I did.”
Glenn’s thick red gaze was directed at Rimmer.
“Being seen doesn’t make Zieghart’s sword weaker. We never hide, nor run.”
“... I haven’t heard that for a long time.”
Rimmer murmured that he used to hear that every day and smiled bitterly.
“Go away now that you are satisfied. You are the head instructor, so how long are you planning to be absent from the training ground?”
Glenn frowned, lowering the corners of his lips.
“Yep!”
Rimmer bowed after raising his hand, as if he were saluting. He turned around and started going down the mountain, then suddenly stopped.
“Hmm…”
He licked his lips while watching the fifth training ground from afar.
‘The third prince and knight trainees, huh…’
Knowing that the Owen Kingdom’s envoy had people at Raon’s age, he suddenly got a great idea.
Rimmer turned around at Glenn, and grinned.
“Your face, you’ve come up with some strange idea again.”
Glenn frowned, as if he saw something unsightly.
“No, it won’t be strange.”
Rimmer grinned like an old fox and shook his head.
“Because it will be helpful to the young Zieghart’s sprouts.”
