Chapter 90. Training is Supposed to be Hard (2)

Butler shouted.

“Are you… toying with me!?”

In that moment, Butler’s anger exploded, and he broke away from Matthew. Then he immediately charged in again, swinging his sword fiercely and attacking Matthew.

“No. No, no, that’s not it…”

Matthew was flustered by Butler’s attack and tried to make some excuse. But he didn’t know what was happening to him right now either, so he couldn’t make an excuse.

Actually, there was something he wanted to say.

There was, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it to his opponent. Because…

‘Why are you so slow?’

Matthew was too timid to say this honestly to his opponent.

He could see everything.

There was no other way to explain it.

He could see all of his opponent’s sword movements, and his body could respond faithfully to those attacks.

‘How can this be?’

Matthew, even as he moved his own body, couldn't believe this reality.

In fact, it wasn’t that Matthew hadn’t felt anxious while continuing the training Patrick had made him do.

It wasn’t swordsmanship, nor was it Aura Blessing; he had only continued with pure physical training.

And it was a strange training method that focused more than 70 percent on the lower body.

He trusted Patrick’s skill and thought that there was no other way, so he did everything he was told, but he couldn’t help the doubt and anxiety that sprouted in a corner of his heart.

As the test got closer, he started to think that he should start practicing swordsmanship, but…

[Swordsmanship? What swordsmanship? A guy who can’t even control his own body. Build your body first.]

…was how Patrick had dismissed it.

Honestly, he was anxious.

He wondered if this was really okay.

What held Matthew’s heart together at that time was the teaching he had heard from his father.

[Son. If you have decided to believe in something and put it into practice, push through until the end, until you get a result. Even if it leads to a loss, you must not stop in the middle.]

[What if I actually suffer a loss then?]

[That’s a gain.]

[How so?]

[You can learn the lesson that ‘doing this leads to failure,’ can’t you? The accumulation of such experiences is what leads to great success in the future.]

Although he was a man who had devoted himself to the path of a merchant rather than the knight his family yearned for, the father Matthew knew was a giant.

Matthew knew full well how amazing it was to achieve overwhelming success in one field.

That’s why he was faithful to his father’s teachings and could follow what Patrick told him to do until the end.

And now…

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!”

Butler’s continuous attacks, flying without rest.

Matthew calmly blocked those attacks.

The two’s wooden swords clashed fiercely in the middle, making a clear sound.

Clack, clack-clack-clack.

Faced with Matthew’s perfect defense, Butler’s impatience reached its peak.

He had intended to win easily and finish it, but he hadn’t expected it to take this long.

His breathing had already become rough, and fatigue had built up to the point where the grip on his sword was aching.

But his opponent, unlike him, looked very calm.

His breathing hadn’t become rough at all, and his expression was serene.

‘Am I weaker than that Matthew? Me?’

When people face a reality they don’t want to admit, they tend to struggle.

Just like Butler right now.

“Uwaaaaaaaak!”

The power and speed of Butler’s wooden sword, which he swung with all his might, increased. But…

“Tsk tsk tsk…”

“It’s not even a proper brawl.”

“He is mentally immature.”

The professors could clearly see that Butler’s posture had completely collapsed.

Butler’s sword, which charged forward recklessly for the sake of attack alone, without any thought for defense, showed too many openings.

And those openings were clearly visible to Matthew, who was facing him.

‘Now.’

The two arms raised high above his head to bring the sword down.

The torso that had become completely empty because of it.

It was an obvious opening that anyone who wasn’t an idiot could see.

In that moment, Matthew’s foot and sword moved forward for the first time.

He smoothly extended his left foot forward, laid the sword held in both hands horizontally, and naturally lowered his posture.

An unshakable central axis.

A gaze that looked at the point of impact until the very end.

All of that became the result, and Matthew’s wooden sword flew, maintaining a perfect horizontal line with the ground.

Poooowk!

“Keoooook!”

Butler, who was struck squarely in the torso, had to let out a painful groan and fold his waist in half.

Even though he was wearing a leather armor, he felt a shock as if his waist was breaking for a moment.

“Kuh…. keureureureu…”

Watching the collapsing Butler, Matthew looked at his own sword as if he couldn’t believe it.

Did I just land an attack?

‘Don’t tell me I won?’

What resolved that question was the command of the professor who was acting as the referee.

“Matthew wins!”

“W-…. wooooooooooh!”

Matthew raised both hands high and shouted loudly.

The thrilling sense of accomplishment that can only be felt by those who have been rewarded for their efforts.

This thrilling feeling spreading from head to toe throughout his entire body.

Seeing Matthew, who was engulfed in an ecstatic feeling he had never felt before in his life, Patrick let out a chuckle and said.

“That’s what victory is.”

Victory.

It was a mysterious magic that turned a timid boy into a single swordsman.

“Haaap!”

The opponent was pushed back in strength by the forcefully swung wooden sword.

The moment he discovered the space created as the opponent staggered backward, Matthew’s foot boldly moved forward.

A single step that cannot be taken without courage and confidence.

The gap narrowed by that single step perfectly exploited the opponent’s opening.

“Huh…”

Faced with the sharp attack coming from a difficult angle to defend, the opponent swung his sword in a flurry, flustered.

There was no way such a sword could have power in it, and as a result…

Claaaaack!

The wooden sword flew high into the sky, leaving the opponent empty-handed.

Matthew aimed his sword at the opponent’s neck and composed his ragged breath.

What brought the dazed opponent to his senses was the referee’s voice.

“Matthew wins.”

7 matches, 5 wins, 2 losses.

That was the record Matthew had left so far.

At the point where he had already achieved 5 wins, Matthew’s passing was decided.

Even if he lost all the remaining matches from now on, Matthew’s passing was decided.

“How did he…”

“No way. This is impossible.”

“Don’t tell me it’s fixed…. Hey, Butler, you didn’t go easy on him, did you?”

“……”

Butler glared at the person who asked if he had gone easy, as if he could kill them.

“What do you take me for…”

“No, but it doesn’t make sense, does it? What did he do?”

“What did he do? He didn’t do anything but physical training.”

“Right. But how did he get so strong? He was the weakest among us at the time of admission.”

“……”

In fact, this statement represented the feelings of all the first-years.

It was hard to believe that he had gotten so strong in such a short period of time.

But what was even harder to believe was the way he had gotten so strong.

While they were diligently sparring, swinging their swords, and cultivating their Aura Blessing, Matthew had only done physical training all day.

Of course, he came earlier than anyone and left later than anyone, but so what?

Even so, the only thing that increased was the number of sandbags he wore on his body.

So how could such a result come about?

The people who had personally dueled with Matthew and lost had even more incomprehensible expressions.

If you ask why they couldn’t understand…

‘There’s no room for excuses.’

‘I just…. just lost.’

They who had fought him directly knew.

Their loss to Matthew was not due to carelessness or anything else.

Matthew was simply stronger.

That was all.

No matter how much they thought about it, they couldn’t understand, but that was really all there was to it, so there was nothing else to say.

Of course, Matthew was also starting to show signs of exhaustion now. He was, but…

“Haap!”

Still, the discipline and momentum of the moment he swung his sword were stern.

“Hoho…. Amazing.”

“His fundamentals are very solid.”

“He wasn’t originally at that level, and in fact, his admission was also…. Hmm, wasn’t it like that?”

The professors were also impressed with Matthew’s development.

Since he was a student who had entered through a donation, they hadn’t really expected much.

They thought he would just endure for one semester and then drop out, so he would get the record of having been an Academy dropout, and that would be it.

But seeing Matthew now, it seemed there was no need for such worries.

A solid posture and a disciplined sword extending from it.

At that level, he was top-class among the first-years.

“Excellent. I thought his attitude in class was sincere, but I didn’t know it would be to this extent.”

“It seems he had talent from the beginning.”

“Even so, isn’t it a result of talent being supported by effort and environment?”

“That’s right. I knew he would be great from the sincere attitude he showed during the theory lectures.”

“He seemed to concentrate sincerely during the Aura Blessing cultivation time as well.”

“Come to think of it, he is the only friend who submitted a report in my class, the liberal arts class.”

“Hahaha. Indeed, it’s rewarding to have taught him diligently.”

While the professors were playing the ‘we taught him well, oh so proud’ game, Professor Leyte alone was seeing the reality accurately.

‘Taught him well, my foot.’

Most of the education at the Academy’s Knight Faculty was self-study.

If you personally asked questions about swordsmanship or Aura Blessing, they would answer, but the rest relied on the individual’s self-study.

Since it was a physical education department where rolling on the ground was more important than theory in the first place, it was natural.

However, among them, Matthew was almost exclusively taught by Patrick.

‘He kept on with only physical training, so I wondered what he was thinking, but was this it?’

Leyte, who had reached the 7-star realm, had a slightly different eye for things.

The student named Matthew’s aura amount was not superior to the other students’.

In fact, it was a little lacking.

But his solidly trained body more than made up for that lack.

By strengthening his trained body with aura, his strength, speed, and stamina had all been overwhelmingly increased.

Especially the solidity of his lower body was phenomenal.

No matter what posture he swung his sword in, his lower body, as solid as if it were made of rock, maintained his balance.

He had the upper hand in strength when exchanging blows and was able to make choices half a beat faster than his opponent.

‘Training the body… I’ll have to ask him later. It seems to have a deeper meaning.’

In the end, Matthew’s duel came to an end.

The result was 7 wins and 3 losses.

In a match where he only needed to win five times, he had won seven times.

Although Matthew was out of breath from the continuous duels, a deep smile was on his lips from the proud result he had achieved.

A professor said this to Matthew.

“Matthew.”

“Yes. Yes!”

“You pass. You may go down.”

“Thank you.”

Matthew was so happy that he could have cried.

No, he actually did cry.

He knew he had no talent.

Knowing that, he had forced himself to enroll in the Knight Faculty with the sole determination of becoming a knight to resolve the regrets of his grandfather and father.

There, he was targeted by Roist and endured harsh bullying, but he held on tenaciously to become a knight somehow.

After that, he was saved by Patrick, but what followed was a grueling training.

The training, which was close to torture, in which he feared waking up every day, had finally produced results.

Matthew knew who he should be most grateful to at this moment.

“Patrick. Patrick!”

Matthew immediately ran towards Patrick, his benefactor and friend.

Come to think of it, how much had that friend suffered all this time?

To teach someone as untalented as him, he had stayed late at the training ground every day to watch over his training, and when he collapsed, he would carry him to the dormitory.

Half, no, more than half of what he had achieved now was thanks to Patrick.

So, to share the joy, he spread his arms wide and with a bright smile…

“He’s smiling.”

Flinch.

Matthew’s body, which had been running like a dog meeting its owner after a year, momentarily stiffened.

And only then could he see it.

The expression on Patrick’s face, which was looking at him, was a mixture of anger and annoyance.

“He’s smiling. He’s smiling. He’s freaking smiling.”

“Uh, uh…. Patrick?”

“A loser bastard who lost three times is freaking smiling. Ah! Or maybe he’s lost his mind? Is that why he’s smiling?”

“Um, I won seven times…”

“So what? I taught you myself, so of course you’d win against some brats!”

Stab, stab, stab.

The other first-year classmates were deeply hurt.

Matthew, unaware of this, said.

“If I hadn’t been tired, I would have beaten the other three too.”

Stab, stab, stab.

Again, someone’s precious feelings were hurt.

“Something to be proud of. You’re proud of beating some brats.”

“Hehehe…”

Although Patrick scolded him, Matthew’s smile did not fade.

‘Well, he must be happy.’

Victory is sweet.

The sweetness, like the heavenly ambrosia, has an addictive charm that makes the effort to taste it again not seem wasteful once you’ve had a taste.

Moreover, Matthew had never won before.

He had always looked up to those above him from the perspective of the weak and only envied them.

Matthew had won for the first time today.

He had seized victory with his own hands and succeeded in rising above others.

It was only natural that he was happy about this.

‘Well, I’ll let it slide just this once.’

Patrick lowered the hand he was about to smack Matthew’s head with and said to him.

“Enjoy it only for today.”

“……”

“There’s a long way to go.”

“Alright.”

Seeing him nod his head seriously and answer, it seemed no further scolding was necessary.

And anyway, he couldn’t scold him any further.

“Patrick Schneider!”

Because the professor had called Patrick’s name.

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