"Now that we know the cause, we just need to find a complete cure. If we can understand the power held by the Red Stone, we might find the answer. If you feel burdened, well, then, take this."
Suddenly, Kishiar, who had stood up from his place, went over to the stove. Yuder wondered what he was doing, and to his surprise, he detached one of the decorative gems embedded in the sheath of his divine sword and came back. It was a slender, rhombus-shaped red gem.
"With divine power filled in it, carrying it should considerably slow down the progression."
"I'm not sure if I can accept such a valuable thing..."
"If you don't accept it, I'll have to come up and hold your hand every day, won't I? Ah, maybe that's what you hoped for?"
"Thank you for your consideration."
Yuder did not refuse a second time and quickly accepted it with a bow. Kishiar laughed.
"I'll overlook it until the range of that mark goes beyond your elbow. It should be fine up to that point. But not any further."
His words were extremely affectionate yet firm. After all, wasn't his intention to train the members to find out about the Red Stone?
In the history of the empire, Kishiar might have been the only imperial family member to treat a subordinate of humble origin with such care. However, Yuder didn't find it pleasant.
Yuder’s return changed many aspects of Kishiar. However, some aspects remained the same.
In his previous life, even after the unpleasant incident involving Yuder, Kishiar had always been kind to him, and although he had built walls, he had treated him more than fairly. One couldn't deny that he was a very peculiar character, but he was never a bad person.
But how did it all end up?
'I need to figure out everything I can before my vacation ends.'
If he wanted to avoid getting entangled with Kishiar and protect his life, he needed to understand him better than in his previous life. There was still too much he didn't know.
For the next five days, except for meal times and sleep, Yuder trained Kanna and Gakane without a moment's rest.
Even the spectators were exhausted, but Yuder never showed any signs of fatigue. So, naturally, Kanna and Gakane could not show their tiredness either.
The two realized that all the training they had received in the Cavalry was nothing compared to Yuder's training. As they got a bit comfortable, he increased the difficulty, and as soon as they got used to that, he immediately noticed and tried even harder training.
It was astonishing how well he could come up with such brutal training methods.
"That's it for today. Let's take a day off tomorrow."
And finally, on the sixth day, Yuder quietly declared the end of the training with a face no different from when he started. Kanna and Gakane simultaneously collapsed on the training ground floor.
"Ah... I guess this is what feeling like death feels like..."
"Gakane, it's not feeling like death for me, I'm already dead."
Despite their words, the expressions of the two lying down were significantly brighter. It was because they had achieved clear results during the hellish six days.
Gakane had come to understand the limits of his shadow clone, and the movement, attack power, and defense power of the clone had grown so much that it couldn't be compared to before. It was thanks to being ripped and rolled thousands of times under Yuder's sword.
Kanna too had succeeded in selectively reading only the information of the book, not the heavens, from a book that spanned the sky. Thereupon, Yuder trained her in a similar fashion to place both hands simultaneously on two objects and read only the information from one, and when that was successful, he began to drop the objects very slightly from her fingertips.
At first, she thought it was impossible to read an object from a distance, but it wasn't. Kanna learned the astonishing fact that as long as an object merely touched the swirling energy flowing from her hands, she could read its information without touching it.
Of course, the distance was only about the length of a fingernail for now and the success rate was very low, but she would gradually increase it.
"Yuder, we're training with the other classmates starting the day after tomorrow, right?"
"Yes."
"Haha. I'm looking forward to it. Really."
Gakane laughed cheerfully with a face caked in dust. Yuder wondered if Gakane had become a little strange due to the excessive training over the past six days.
'As long as we continue like this, there won't be any sudden deaths wherever we go.'
Gakane's death had not yet come, but the situation was constantly changing, and they didn't know what would happen next.
However, if Gakane didn't lose his strong desire to become stronger and continued to train, he could achieve a rate of growth that couldn't be compared to the past.
"But Yuder. We're taking a break tomorrow, right? Do you have something to do? If not, with me..."
"Huh? I thought I heard a noise in the training ground, and here everyone is?"
As Gakane was about to say something to the absorbed Yuder, someone popped their face out from the dormitory. It was Ever, who had gone back to her hometown for vacation.
"Ever! You're back now?"
"Kanna. I came back early after seeing my family. But......"
As Kanna stood up with a half-smile, Ever began to approach with a smile but stopped short.
"Why do you all look like that? Covered in dust."
"Oh, yes. Hahaha. We three didn't take a vacation, right? We had nothing to do, so we did some independent training and ended up like this."
"But what kind of training did you do to......"
Kanna stuttered as she glanced at Yuder's expression. It wasn't time to let the other members know why they had been training so hard. Fortunately, Ever didn't suspect much.
"Training is good, but do it moderately. But if you've been here the whole time... Do you know when those strange people outside arrived?"
Ever's last question was directed at Yuder. After a moment of thought, Yuder opened his mouth.
"Strange people, what do you mean?"
"Oh. Didn't you see? I saw a suspicious duo on my way back to the dormitory. They were going around the Imperial Knight's grounds, grabbing anyone and asking about the Cavalry, so I avoided them."
"A duo?"
"How could such people enter here?"
Kanna and Gakane asked, their faces full of incomprehension. Yuder, hearing the word "duo", pondered for a moment before throwing a question at Ever.
"Did you happen to get a good look at their appearances?"
"One was an old man. He had a very long beard. And the other was young, but they didn't look like a grandfather and grandson."
The look in Yuder's eyes changed instantly. He seemed to know who they were. It was Thais Yulman, the elder mage of the Pearl Tower, whom he had met in the imperial palace, and his apprentice. As if recalling the same memory, Kanna turned her surprised face toward Yuder.
"Yuder. Could they be the ones we saw at the imperial palace...? Did the Count send people again?"
"It has nothing to do with the Count."
Yuder answered succinctly, shaking his head.
"But the people we saw, they must be the ones. They said they're looking for the Cavalry. We should go meet them."
"In that state?"
Ever asked incredulously. Yuder glanced down at his uniform, which was more dirty than its original black, and nodded.
"Yes."
"Yuder. I want to go with you."
"Me too."
Upon hearing this, Kanna and Gakane immediately rose to their feet and volunteered to follow. Every time they moved, dust billowed up, causing Ever to crinkle her nose.
"Nobody will believe the three of you are from the Cavalry in that state. I'll come too."
The Cavalry's quarters were situated in the most remote corner of the Imperial Knight's compound. The Knights, proud of their Imperial Knight's ground, treated the intruding Cavalry as an eyesore, practically ignoring them as if they didn't exist.
It was easy to enter the compound of the Imperial Knights, but no one among the wandering Knights reacted to the name of the Cavalry. Therefore, anyone visiting the Cavalry for the first time could never find their destination.
Respected elder Thais Yulman of the Pearl Tower and his apprentice, Alik Pelgin, were also struggling, wandering around the vast compound since morning.
"Master. Wouldn't it have been better to send a formal letter to Duke Peletta expressing our wish to visit first? If we continue like this, we'll spend the whole day wandering around."
"You imbecile. Make sense. Do you think if I said I wanted to go there, the Duke of Peletta would welcome me warmly? If the Red Stone is in their hands, they wouldn't accept any outside visitors, especially us from the Pearl Tower! So it's best to go and try our luck!"
"But first, we need to find them to take a shot, don't we? Moreover, we're not even sure if the stone is really there."
"We've already confirmed it's not in the palace. There's nothing more certain than the information leaked by the Duke of Diarca. They purposely leaked it to me, so we have nothing to lose. Stop complaining and move forward."
Alik felt extremely aggrieved. Their purpose wasn't suspicious at all, so what was wrong with contacting them beforehand?
He had long gotten used to his master's eccentricities, but it was heartbreaking to see himself suffer like this.
"There are a few more Knights over there. Go ask them."
Just then, a few Knights with flashy swords appeared before their eyes. The Knight in the lead, who was guiding two young men, was particularly arrogant and sharp-looking, undoubtedly from a noble family.
Alik, pushed by his master, timidly approached them.
