Chapter 442 – Lacking Ingenuity
The people of the Empire were gradually beginning to grow bored.
The reason is that Earth’s story—or rather, his training regimen—consisted of nothing but a monotonous, uneventful routine that showed little variation at this point.
“Hey~, maybe we should head home for a bit?”
“Hmm~, this is kind of boring.”
“Seriously. You’d think the son of a hero would be doing some more impressive training, don’t you think~?”
Earth’s training scenes were broadcast to the world.
And the content wasn’t anything particularly outlandish—no ritualistic ceremonies or demonic contracts. It looked like “ordinary” training.
Therefore, since there was no issue with airing it, no one understood its true meaning at that point.
That’s because Earth’s training consisted of nothing more than the “strength training,” “sparring,” and “running” they had just been watching.
“Ah, I get it now. Talent isn’t the only thing the hero’s son lacks. He lacks imagination… in other words, ingenuity when it comes to training.”
And at that moment, in a corner of the Imperial City, the Imperial Knight units that had been standing by “to subdue the citizens should they cause a commotion” also sighed in exasperation as they watched Earth.
“Yeah. He should base his training regimen on a clear goal—’This is what I want to become’—and figure out what skills to develop to achieve it. Instead, he’s just endlessly doing mundane drills.”
“That’s true. Now I understand why he’s always been inferior to the princess and Rebal. He’ll never get strong like this. He’ll have no choice but to resort to underhanded tricks like he did in the Imperial Tournament.”
“In my assessment, that brat isn’t just lacking in pure swordsmanship with a Magic Sword—his magic skills are overwhelmingly deficient. He’ll have to forge a much more powerful Magic Contract.”
“Yeah, if that kid had become an Imperial Knight, I would’ve drilled a much better, more efficient training method into him.”
“And on top of that, is this really the time for ‘that kind of thing’~?”
Not only the common people of the city, but even the Imperial Knights were harshly critical of Earth’s training regimen—despite him being the son of the Hero.
“At that rate, it’s no good”— words that could only be spoken by those chosen as Imperial Knights.
And amidst Earth’s monotonous training regimen, the only noticeable change so far is that he’s been spending more time coaching boys his age whom he met at Cacretale.
〔Oraaaa!!〕
〔That’s sloppy! Don’t hit just to relieve stress, imagine your opponent!〕
Oratski, a rough-looking boy from Cacretale, slams his fists into a punching bag with all his might.
He raised his voice as he strikes the bag.
Following suit, the cheerful-looking Mortriage, the somewhat gloomy-looking Mobner, and the overweight Budeo all work up a sweat together.
〔Hey, Mortriage! Mobner! Budeo! Let’s spar, all three of you at once, bring it on! Mobner, try harder to evade my left! Mortriage cast bit-class magic at me from mid-range. Budeo, look for an opening and hit me!〕
〔〔〔Osu!!〕〕〕
〔What’s wrong, Mobner! It’s just a slowed down left handed flick! If you can’t handle this, you’re not worth talking to!〕
〔Ku~, a utsu, u, gu~〕
〔Mortriage, next, thunder! No, come on! You can dexterously use various attributes! Instead of half-heartedly learning powerful magic, you should learn how to activate basic magic instantly in quick succession! Next, wind!〕
〔Ts, 【Bit Wind】!〕
〔What the hell is that! Wha puh!?〕
〔No! You’re not quick enough! You can’t hit anyone with that, and even if you did, it wouldn’t hurt much! Get a moment’s step in and put your entire weight on it!〕
He trained alongside them from the perspective of a coach.
He taught martial arts and magic in a way that closely resembled real combat, and the four boys respond seriously to his guidance.
〔Hah, hah~… right. That’s it. The rest is all muscle training. As I told you, while you’re in pairs and one is on the bench-press, the other will spot.〕
〔〔〔〔Ou!〕〕〕〕
The reason why the boys are so serious.
Their goal was to surpass a man named José, their classmate and the presumed “strongest candidate in Cacretale”.
It’s to become stronger than they are now.
Earth, even at the expense of his own training time, accepts the requests of Mortriage’s crew and gives them passionate instruction.
To those who knew nothing of the situation, he might have seemed like “a guy with a big heart”.
However, from the perspective of the people of the Empire, who already hold biased views……
“Man, he’s acting all high and mighty toward ‘people weaker than himself,’ isn’t he?”
“So, since he can’t beat the chosen geniuses, he finds people weaker than himself and plays the instructor to protect his pride, is that it?”
“At this rate, won’t he lose to that super-muscular Machio guy or that José fellow at the Cacretale tournament too??”
“Whoa, whoa. So the hero’s son can’t even beat a bunch of nobodies from a closed-off country like Cacretale……”
That’s the only way they could see it.
And that wasn’t all.
What’s more, even the students from the academy who were in the same school as Earth……
“Hey, Earth…… what if he loses in that tournament…… won’t that be bad?”
“Exactly! Even though he’s the son of a Hero, and supposedly a student at the Imperial Academy just like us, if he were to lose to some unknown from an isolated country…”
“Yes. It’ll be a stain on the Imperial Academy’s reputation!”
“Huh…… if that happens… I’ve already decided what I’m going to do after graduation, but I’ll be laughed at just because we’re classmates…….”
That’s right, at this point they “don’t know anything”.
However, that was only natural.
No one knew what Earth’s goals were during this period or what purpose his training served…
In fact, no one, not even within Cacretale, knew the answer to that.
“Ugh~, isn’t it embarrassing to look back on your past self……”
“Uooooooh, how embarrassing! Even though it was only a few months ago, I was so timid even in sparring, Ora!”
“Waaaaah, it’s really taking a toll on my mental health~”
“I… I was so fat……”
Seeing their earlier selves from the beginning of their training—when they were even more inexperienced than they are now— Mortriage’s crew squirmed with embarrassment.
Of course, the fact that they find it “embarrassing” is also a sign of how much their strength has improved since then.
“Nyah~, that takes me back~. But isn’t it great? They look so fresh and innocent. My seniors, Mortriage’s crew, working hard alongside Big brother, they looked really cool, y’know~”
“Yeah, I suppose they were all hard workers who ‘wanted to change themselves’. And now all four of them have become splendid… and they even have nun girlfriends, too♪.”
“Un. They were doing their best with Older brother.”
“”””Ugh……””””
“”””…… ♥””””
Karui and Tsukshi teased Mortriage’s crew, while Amae sincerely praised them. And the ones blushing were Mortriage’s crew, along with the “four sisters”.
And on the other hand……
“Training together with Earth… huh…”
Phianse felt “envious” of Mortriage, who had a fulfilled expression on his face, and at the same time regretful.
“Unlike Rebal and Fu, who were studying abroad, I’ve been in the Empire the whole time, so I should have had plenty of times like that… Even though I was paired with Earth in mock battles and classes… we never did that kind of thing together…….”
“Princess……”
“Well, it’s not like anything would have changed if I’d trained with him… after all, Earth did become that strong… still, I never imagined it would involve such relentless, steady training…… was that it?”
“…… Yes, that’s true. Certainly, when we came here to Cacretale, we learned more than ever about the importance of strength training and endurance training with a ‘clear goal,’ a ‘mental image,’ and ‘numbers and times’ in mind. And although it probably won’t show in this recording, he was likely doing Vier training when he went to bed……”
Phianse, overcome with regret at the thought of what he could have done back then, was met with a wry nod from Fu.
But on the other hand……
“Still…… I just can’t accept it.”
“Rebal?”
“I understand the importance of steady basic training. But even if he was training in Vier at night… I don’t think that alone would be enough to defeat even that Paripi… What really matters is the kind of training Earth was doing in Vier……”
Even though he understood the “importance” of what Earth was doing, Rebal felt that “there must be more to it”.
If this were all there was to it, could he defeat Paripi just by doing the same thing? When asked that question, Rebal couldn’t nod.
And that has been the case since the Imperial Match.
“Earth says he was doing running drills and things like that before the Graduation Match, but… I still think that’s not enough… Above all, I can’t imagine that ‘Breakthrough’ or whatever it’s called could be mastered just from that.”
“There must be more to it than this…” Rebal said aloud.
In response to Rebal’s question, both Phianse and Fu nodded, “Certainly …….”
However, that was because they hadn’t yet grasped the “true purpose” of Earth’s training.
“That’s true. ‘Master Vasalar’ also said that the technique Earth used was called ‘Breakthrough’, but he didn’t know how to acquire it…… Indeed, I can’t imagine that could be learned just from this training alone.”
“That’s right…… or rather, now that I think about it…… Why does Earth use that Breakthrough to deplete his magic before he goes running……”
That’s right, nobody knows yet.
Because Earth’s training days had an important purpose beyond simply improving his physical abilities.
“To be honest, even I don’t really understand the intent behind Earth’s training around this time……”
“Mr. Machio.”
Standing beside Phianse, Machio whispered as he looked back on that time.
And then……
“But this is just the beginning.”
“Just the beginning? What do you mean, Mr. Machio?”
“Earth’s training at this point in time… no, from this point onward… will, frankly speaking, transform into a life-threatening and grueling regimen.”
“””Life-threatening!”””
Yes, aside from those who witnessed those days at Cacretale, no one else knows this yet.
That Earth wasn’t drinking any water at all.
Sads Translates 