The blue moon was looking down on the world from the night sky.
Inside the open area, Raon unwrapped the bandage covering his arms and legs.
Though he wasn’t completely recovered, the flesh had almost finished growing back. It seemed he could start training once again.
‘Then.’
He smoothly kicked the ground, gathering the aura from the ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’.
Raon reached around the lake in no time. It was an extremely fast footwork, one that even his shadow couldn’t follow, but his expression was grim.
“Tsk.”
Raon clicked his tongue and narrowed his legs.
‘This isn’t it.’
The first step that Glenn had shown him was vast enough to reach anywhere in the continent, and free enough to achieve any kind of movement.
It couldn’t even be compared to the ‘Heavenly Advance’ of the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’ that he had just used.
‘He said it was a step that could achieve anything.’
Glenn described the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’ as omnipotent and well-rounded. It was such an arrogant and haughty thing to say, but it was irrefutable after witnessing the steps.
‘I shouldn’t be thinking about speed or strength.’
Raon’s might was less than a speck compared to Glenn’s. He needed to work on his foundation for the big picture rather than trying to copy him.
‘Let’s try again.’
Raon used the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’ along with the ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’. The slow yet heavy steps looked like a fierce charging bison.
“This isn’t right, either.”
Raon shook his head and corrected his posture. He repeated over and over and over again, and he used the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’ until sunrise.
“Damn it…”
Raon frowned upon seeing the rising sun. Acquiring the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’ wasn’t easy, despite possessing a talent that increased his learning speed.
Honestly, he felt like he was still completely clueless.
‘No, it’s probably the way it should be.’
The ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’ was a footwork incorporating the enlightenment of Glenn, the continent’s strongest man. It was natural for such martial arts to be difficult to acquire.
Have you still not managed to learn that footwork, despite disturbing the King of Essence’s sleep to practice? You are so pathetic that you are making me cry.
Wrath came out from the bracelet and laughed at him after having been silent the whole night.
The King of Essence understood it right away. I’m starting to feel sorry over the human’s inferiority.
‘Okay, you’re cool.’
Raon sighed briefly and sat down. Since his body still wasn't completely restored, he was feeling tired from practicing overnight.
Pfft, it’s obvious you are having difficulties. You are like a worm, crawling on the ground and trying to look up into the sky. A worm should look at the worm’s sky instead.
‘A worm should look at the worm’s sky, huh…’
Raon murmured Wrath’s slander and looked at the North Grave Mountain, located behind the annex building.
‘Now that I think about it…’
Rimmer had told him something similar in the North Grave Mountain. When he was teaching him about the attributes, he had told him Raon needed to decide the flow of his affinity by himself.
‘I wonder if the same goes for this footwork.’
Raon reexamined the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’. Glenn’s ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’ looked transcendental. It didn’t look like a footwork that existed in reality, but a mysterious step that could jump over space and time.
‘I’m not at that level, and that’s not what I’m trying to achieve.’
He shook his head. What he wanted to achieve was something more realistic.
He had only two goals. He wanted to protect the people in the annex building, and he wanted to stab Derus Robert in the throat. That was everything he wanted.
‘And for that…’
Raon straightened his back and closed his eyes. He took a step while thinking about the people he needed to protect and the man he needed to kill, no matter what happened to his body.
Stomp!
It was a different vibration.
The intense flow, starting from the mana circuit at the sole of his feet, pierced through his entire body like lightning splitting the sky. Freedom was incorporated in his body’s movement.
He started to draw his own picture.
The picture’s background was filled with the steps, incorporating the freedom that would allow him to protect his loved ones and snap the neck of his sworn enemy.
Whir.
Raon opened his eyes. His eyes were burning brightly, like the rising sun.
“……”
He looked down on the ground. His first step hadn’t moved his body, but his mind had moved.
The step was the mind, a martial art that could be only acquired by putting his mind into it.
The rough sketch of the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’ that he wanted to finish that day was completed at once.
[You’ve acquired the Supreme Harmony Steps.]
[Supreme Harmony Steps (One-Star) was added to traits.]
Raon clenched his fists. Upon acquiring the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps' that he thought he would never manage to learn, the sense of accomplishment and exhilaration he felt was twice more than usual.
[The learning speed of the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’ has returned to normal.]
The learning ability that helped him acquire the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’ disappeared at the perfect timing, as soon as he finished learning it.
Since the sun was slowly rising, the ability only lasted for a night.
‘It was the right choice to come out to train immediately.’
If he didn’t have that ability, he wouldn’t have managed to acquire the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’ even after a year, let alone in a day. Disregarding his injury to train was the correct answer.
What is this…?
Wrath’s coldness trembled violently. like a candle in the wind.
What have you done? How did you do that in such a short time?
“Your words were the key.”
Key?
“You told me that a worm should look at the worm’s sky.”
So what?
“Just like you said, I have my own objective, and Glenn has his own wish and objective. That’s why I don’t need to copy what he did exactly. I incorporated my wish in the footwork.”
Raon murmured that ‘it just worked when I did that’ with a cheeky expression.
Even then, you shouldn’t have been able to acquire that footwork so easily.
“You are right. Your system was really helpful by increasing my learning speed. I’m just realizing that they were both thanks to you. I’m really grateful.”
Keuh, the King of Essence has never done that…
Wrath’s blue coldness puffed up and looked like it could explode at any time.
“Don’t be so angry. I was just stating the truth.”
Raon smiled and wagged his finger. It was as Raon was about to provoke him even more to make him burst out in anger that he heard it.
“Raon!”
Sylvia came running out through the window behind the annex building. She looked as agile as Rimmer.
“I told you to rest! Why do you look like this?”
“Aww.”
Raon sighed. He wasn’t scared of the monarch of devildom, but he couldn’t go against his mother.
* * *
* * *
Raon got dragged into Sylvia’s room, and she looked angrier than Wrath.
“Raon, what did Mom tell you?”
“I-I wonder…”
Raon scratched the back of his head and avoided Sylvia’s gaze.
“I cl-ear-ly told you to stop training until you are completely recovered!”
“M-maybe you said that…”
He could clearly remember her telling him that, but he turned his head and tried pretending that he didn’t know anything.
“Seriously!”
Sylvia wrinkled her nose with her arms crossed.
‘Ugh…’
Because Sylvia was scolding him, Raon felt even more uncomfortable than when he fought against the Blood Raving Demon. He couldn’t understand why it was so difficult to listen to her preaching.
“Raon.”
Sylvia leaned forward to meet his eyes. Her eyes were full of worries and sorrow. Raon lowered his head, unable to face that heavy expression.
“Yes.”
“I know why you are trying so hard to train.”
She continued while caressing his shoulder.
“You want to become stronger because you are worried about mom and the annex building.”
“……”
Raon’s lip trembled slightly. Probably because she was his mother, or because she had spent a long time with him, Sylvia knew exactly what he was thinking.
‘That’s not all, though.’
No one should’ve been aware that revenge was also driving his actions.
“Thank you. And I’m sorry. It’s all Mom’s fault that you have to think that way.”
“That’s…”
“You don’t realize how happy I was when I heard you became the top trainee, won the spar, and had a great achievement during the mission. However…”
Sylvia caressed his shoulder, her mouth tightly closed.
“You don’t need to do all that for my sake. Remember what Mom told you before: you should do what you want to do for yourself, not for our sake.”
She smiled as she spoke. Her unruffled smile was proof of her sincerity, which touched his heart even more.
“I’m telling you once again, your mom is happier than ever right now, so you don’t need to strain yourself. You should walk at your own pace, Raon.”
Over eighty percent of his injuries were already healed. Some exercises were actually beneficial for him in his current state, and Sylvia was also aware of that fact.
However, he couldn’t tell her that as he faced her gaze.
“…I got it.”
Raon nodded with a throbbing heart.
“Promise?”
“Mhm.”
“Great!”
Sylvia clapped her hands and stood up. She smiled brightly, unlike a moment before.
“Everyone, enter!”
“Yes!”
The room’s door opened following her call and every maid in the annex building, including Helen, entered the room.
“Hu-huh?”
Raon’s jaw dropped. He was aware that the maids were standing outside, but he hadn’t expected her to call them inside.
“You heard, right? Report to me right away if Raon tries to train or use his body for anything.”
“Yes, my lady!”
The maids smiled brightly and bowed.
“Haa.”
Raon shook his head and sighed.
“She got me…”
Kuhahaha! It feels so great to watch you being played with.
***
“Huff!”
Burren sighed, the sound as heavy as a lump of lead.
‘I’m too distracted.’
He couldn’t help but blush upon remembering what happened the day they fought against Eden. All he had then was a loud voice, unable to do anything.
Realizing that he would’ve died if Raon hadn’t been there, he was too ashamed and embarrassed.
“I need to move my body.”
Since he didn’t want to run into anyone, he went to the small training ground located in a corner of the annex building.
Despite it being a small training ground, it was properly maintained. Burren drew his sword and swung it.
Whoosh!
The suffocated feeling subsided with the sound of his sword cutting through the wind. Burren kept swinging his sword, using his footwork in satisfaction.
How much time had passed?
When Burren came back to his senses and raised his head, a few swordsmen and trainees could be seen in the training ground.
“Haa…”
Burren wiped the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve and sheathed his sword.
‘I managed to get rid of the worthless thoughts.’
Exercising was the correct answer, since all the distraction from before was gone.
‘I should retu…’
It was as he turned about to return to the Central Martial Palace that he heard them.
“Sir Burren!”
“It’s been a long time!”
They were the collateral children that didn’t even go to the sixth training ground after failing the fifth training ground’s exam because their pride was hurt.
“Are you already training after having gone through all that?”
“As expected of Sir Burren!”
The collaterals exclaimed with glittering eyes.
“I just came to exercise because I was frustrated.”
“Frustrated… Ah! I see!”
The child with a wide forehead on the right narrowed his eyes and nodded.
“That story was incorrect after all!”
“What story?”
“The rumor that Raon killed the Green War Demon and fought against the Blood Raving Demon, that’s a fake rumor, right?”
“I thought the same thing. There’s no way that underhanded guy would’ve killed the Green War Demon and bought time for other people’s escape.”
“It must’ve been Instructor Rimmer that did all that and pretended it was all Raon’s achievements. Instructor Rimmer likes him, after all.”
Even though Burren hadn’t said anything, they were certain that Raon had lied.
“That’s really dirty. Those living in the annex building are all shameless…”
“Hey.”
Burren bared his teeth and glared at the two trainees. Facing his threatening pressure, the trainees flinched and blinked.
“Do you think Zieghart is a ragtag that gives out accomplishment without a proper investigation?”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, th-that’s…”
“Raon Zieghart killed the Green War Demon and didn’t retreat a single step in front of the Blood Raving Demon. None of the trainees, including me, would've survived if it wasn’t for him.”
“Ugh!”
Threatened by Burren’s growling voice, the collaterals collapsed to the ground.
“Bring them to me if you hear anyone spouting such bullshit in the future. I’ll personally close their mouths.”
“Ah, yes!”
“I’m sorry!”
Burren left the training ground after glaring at the trembling trainees.
“Ah…”
While he was headed towards the Central Martial Palace, he stood still and looked up at the sky.
‘I see.’
He finally realized why he felt so frustrated, and why he felt so nauseous.
‘It’s because I still couldn’t accept him.’
He had done his best to catch up to him after realizing how much effort he had made.
When he thought he had finally caught up to him, Raon was running ahead of him once again—going much faster and further than him.
During the matches against the Owen Kingdom, the actual battle training against the orcs, and the mission this time, Burren hadn’t really managed to do anything special. Meanwhile, Raon’s achievements had always been overwhelming.
‘I was jealous…’
Despite being silent, Raon had great leadership. He could read through all situations while also possessing an excellent might.
He was saying that he would catch up to him on the outside, but he was actually jealous of his abilities on the inside.
“Hahaha!”
He burst into laughter. Jealousy was a natural emotion for a human being. He felt comfortable after realizing that fact.
‘I wasn’t that great of a person.’
However, he had no intention of showing that ugly feeling on the outside. He needed to keep it on the inside and use it as fuel to catch up to Raon.
‘I told you already that I won’t give up.’
Burren bit his lip. He returned to the Central Martial Palace with lighter steps.
***
“Young master, are you going to go practice by any chance?”
Helen walked up to Raon as soon as he left his room.
“I’m not…”
Raon shook his head and walked towards the lobby.
“Young master, where are you going?”
Another maid examined his clothes sharply.
“I’m going on a stroll.”
“Hmm, have a good walk.”
Raon waved his hand and opened the door to go outside.
“Young master? No way, are you here to train…”
“I’m not.”
The man that was cleaning the windows outside the annex building also asked him about training as soon as he saw him.
“Young master…”
“Train…”
People he met on his way towards the garden behind the annex building kept asking him where he was going and what he was going to do, to an annoying extent.
“I’m just on a stroll! A stroll!”
He grimaced at the maid hanging out the laundry in the yard and ran to the garden.
“Phew!”
Raon sighed. He was completely caught in Sylvia’s trap. He wouldn’t have been tricked by anyone else, but he was weak against her in many ways.
‘It’ll be impossible at this rate…’
The maids were taking the opportunity to hide everywhere and watch him.
If he started using footwork in that situation, Sylvia would immediately come out like a cuckoo from a cuckoo clock.
‘Well, fine.’
It was a relief that it happened after he finished acquiring the ‘Supreme Harmony Steps’. It would’ve been really depressing if that happened while his learning speed was increased.
‘I guess it won’t hurt to take a break once in a while.’
Raon relaxed, sitting on a bench in the garden. Upon realizing he wasn’t going to move, the maids also stopped watching him.
“Y-young master!”
As he was enjoying the refreshing wind and the smell of the grass, a maid’s voice could be heard from the annex building.
“We are in trouble!”
Raon opened his eyes and turned his head, seeing a maid on the verge of tears running towards him.
“Hmm?”
Raon stood up from the bench, hearing the maid’s expression and urgent voice.
“S-Sir Raden Zieghart came to visit.”
“Raden?”
It was a familiar name.
He was the son of Glenn’s fourth son, Balder, and he apparently returned to the house recently with an achievement.
“Why is he here?”
“I-I’m not sure. He became violent towards my lady as soon as he arrived…”
Raon didn’t hear anything else. ‘My lady’ and ‘violent’—those two words were the only ones that Raon could hear.
“Where is that bastard?”
Raon’s eyes sank into darkness, just like back in the days when he was an assassin.
