A man screamed and ran out. Seeing this, others followed, thinking it was okay to leave too. It was natural to seek an easier way once one person did.
Even those who withstood the pressure slowly became exhausted. They felt like they could hear insults that weren’t there. They wanted to scream to clear their minds and get out.
Quickly, quickly, quickly. As the remaining ones neared their limit, Glen was the first to leave, followed by Fubuki and Bowlan. True, too, began to walk heavily towards the exit.
However, he tried to stay a bit longer to strengthen himself. He slowly moved towards the exit. He overtook True as the others left.
Only he remained…
True staggered out. Sweat soaked his clothes, sticking to his body. He supported himself on his hands, breathing heavily.
“It seems the record this year is nineteen minutes.”
Batsubatsu said. Only nineteen minutes, despite the immense mental pressure and enduring until their limits. It felt like such a short time, almost despairing.
“Well, that’s about average. I’ve heard some lasted an hour in the past…”
“Um.”
“What?”
“Someone’s still inside…”
Alpha pointed. Everyone looked to see a boy standing calmly inside. He stood there, not exhausted like the holy knights who had left.
The few who remained wondered how he could look so calm.
“……Is this a trial? Can this really make us stronger?”
He questioned the training like an innocent child. Could this really make him stronger? It seemed too easy.
Boring. He didn’t come here for this. Ignoring the mental pressure, he placed his hands on the ground and resumed his push-ups.
(Is he a monster…?)
No one could stay sane under such mental pressure. Everyone wished to escape as soon as possible. Except for the first-rank holy knights, no one had stayed long in this room.
But, there was a secret: the longest anyone could stay was an hour. Perhaps some could last longer.
However, no one had ever done push-ups under such pressure without showing any emotion.
Even Batsubatsu knew this was an extraordinary place. He had only lasted twenty-one minutes. He remembered vomiting and crying upon escaping.
“Boring… What a farce. I’d rather spar than this.”
He continued the push-ups while voicing his disappointment. He had far exceeded an hour before he realized. Wiping off a bit of sweat, he left the room. Without resting, Fei began practicing his sword swings.
“……Fei, from Maria’s orphanage.”
Magnum watched the afternoon mock battle training from his office. Fei, who wasn’t allowed to participate, was practicing alone. Magnum decided Fei’s poor star magic manipulation and lack of attributes made him unnecessary for the mock battles.
Magnum held a report. Memories of training Maria, Marumaru, Batsubatsu, and Kakukaku as a special forces instructor resurfaced.
“That’s right. Batsubatsu says he’s an extreme anomaly, quite shocking.”
Kakukaku reported indifferently. He considered Fei a third-rate, no matter how strong his mind was.
“He did push-ups in that room… His mental strength is commendable.”
“Yes, but mental strength alone isn’t enough. His poor star magic manipulation makes him useless.”
“That’s true. I don’t want him. He doesn’t meet my training criteria. Tell him there’s no place for him here at night.”
“Yes.”
Kakukaku responded and looked around the office. Magnum watched Fei practice alone with his sword.
He had no intention of changing his evaluation. A noble spirit was useless. If it could change anything, no one would suffer or die. He knew this all too well.
──Time passed, and night came. The cold intensified, visible in their breath. Fei, having been told he had no place to stay, swung his sword to keep warm.
This was his usual routine. Morning, noon, or night, he practiced whenever he had time.
He practiced star magic manipulation with his sword swings. Batsubatsu had to acknowledge Fei’s dedication. Just one day, but it was enough to consider reevaluating him.
Batsubatsu watched Fei from the castle window. He kept swinging his sword. Perhaps he would keep going until morning. He had sweated more than anyone during training, despite not participating in the mock battle.
(You can’t help but feel the potential)
A man approaches Fei, who is brimming with potential. Though Fei couldn’t hear his voice, he could tell what he said by the slight movement of his lips.
“It’s pointless to try so hard.”
Kakukaku said this to Fei. Fei glanced at him slightly, questioning if that was all he had to say.
“Your star magic manipulation is so clumsy. It’s useless. You don’t even have many long-range attack cards. You’re talentless, so why not just give up and open a flower shop?”
(That guy… Still as sharp-tongued as ever.)
Kakukaku was a holy knight known for his sharp tongue. He had clashed with Batsubatsu several times because of it, but they understood that he wasn’t a bad guy at heart. Still, saying such things in this situation seemed malicious.
“When you hold us back, it distracts the other holy knights. You only have a sword, and you can’t even manage basic enhancement magic. What can you do with that?”
“…”
“So, give up──”
“──I’m not the kind of person who changes my path based on someone else’s words. That’s my answer, and I’ll say no more.”
Kakukaku felt as if cold water had been thrown over him. Without caring, Fei swung his sword desperately, using his clumsy enhancement. Disheartened by the seeming futility, Kakukaku left.
Seeing this, Batsubatsu also left, with a faint smile.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
Night fell. Fei breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath. He knew sleep was important, but with training tomorrow, he decided to sleep outside, leaning against the castle wall. Then, a beautiful voice reached his ears.
“Fei… come over here.”
“…What is it?”
“It’s cold out here. Let’s sleep together in my room.”
Arthur came to invite Fei to sleep in her room. Naturally, the cool-headed Fei refused, but she forcibly pulled him along. Unable to resist her pure strength, Fei was dragged away.
“If you catch a cold, it’ll be trouble. To my room, let’s go!”
“…Hey.”
“Come on, come with me.”
“…”
Fei stopped resisting. He must have realized that arguing was useless. He let Arthur pull him towards the girls’ dormitory, which was normally off-limits to boys. In truth, Arthur had a “wise” scenario with True, but that scenario was cut by Komatsuna.
TLNOTE: wise scenario = seggs
As they sneaked through the dormitory, they ran into Alpha, who was returning to her room after picking flowers. She looked at Fei suspiciously, wondering why a boy was here so boldly at night.
“Hey, you… um, this place is…”
“Uh, um… Fei is… fine…”
──Introducing suddenly shy Arthur!!
Arthur was shy and usually only talked normally to Fei, Bowlan, True, and Yururu. Being somewhat of a nerd, she quickly became close to Fei when she realized they were alike, but she couldn’t talk at all to someone like Alpha.
“But they say all boys are beasts.”
“Uh, um, Fei is… not like that, and he promises to live a healthy and cultured life.”
“Uh, okay…”
What she was saying didn’t sound like something you’d say to someone your age, and Alpha seemed a bit taken aback. Watching this, Fei thought,
(──You’re not a politician, so there’s got to be a less formal way to say it.)
Fei gave Arthur a cold look. Arthur bowed and quickly pulled Fei into her room.
“Come on, Fei, come to bed.”
“No.”
“You don’t need to be shy. I’ll hug you and make you feel better.”
“No need.”
“If you don’t sleep in the bed, it’ll affect you tomorrow.”
“I’ll be fine. I can keep warm here.”
“Hmm… It’s not cute to refuse when you should lean on someone. And you want to train at full strength tomorrow, right? If you sleep with me, you’ll recover better. Are you going to compromise, Fei?”
“What…?”
“If you don’t sleep with me, it means your commitment to training is that weak, right? Fei, are you compromising?”
“……”
Compromise, a word Fei, as the protagonist, rejected the most. He hesitated. Compromise, compromise… Fei didn’t want to do an event like this because it could break his cool character.
But compromise… Fei couldn’t accept that.
(Haha, Fei’s hesitating. It’s too early to try and beat your big sister.)
“Come on, come to big sister. Here, here.”
Arthur patted the bed twice. Fei hesitated, torn between compromising and maintaining his cool pride.
And, his stubbornness against simply doing as Arthur said. Fei was hesitating, the decisive Fei who acted instantly and considered blood as fashion was hesitating.
“Okay, fine. So you want to compromise, Fei?”
“──tsk”
The sound of his tongue clicking reached her ears, which to her was the sound of victory. Fei, looking extremely displeased, turned his back to Arthur and lay down on the bed.
“…I’m sweating, just so you know.”
“Fei’s sweat is odorless. I don’t mind. It’s proof you worked hard. Rest well tonight.”
“…Sorry for the trouble.”
“It’s fine… but… let me hug you.”
Arthur hugged Fei from behind, her chest pressing against his strong back. Arthur had a great figure, so Fei couldn’t help but be aware of her as a woman.
“…This is a bit embarrassing.”
“Then stop.”
“No, I won’t.”
Arthur acted like a doting little sister. The intense training had made her slightly develop a sisterly tendency. She wanted to rest Fei but also wanted to feel secure with him.
She didn’t mind his sweat. Despite his age and with a beautiful woman like Arthur doing such a thing, most men would not be able to keep their reason, as was the case with True in the original story. Fei’s steel heart rejected any advances.
Arthur sensed this, feeling both sad and reassured. But if he ever lost his reason and became a beast, Arthur would likely accept it.
Feeling safe, Arthur fell asleep.
Even in sleep, she held Fei tightly.
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