Sir Hero, It’s Time to Train!

Christian had plenty of personal training time. This was because his swordsmanship master, dame Laura, had left the estate alongside the head of the house for inspections and monster subjugation.

For Christian, who needed time to adapt to his body, it was a very welcome situation.

“Huff, huff.”

Thus, he was able to devote all his time to himself without anyone’s interference.

“Hrrmph! Hoooo.”

His trembling arms had already lost their proper sensation, and the floor was soaked with sweat. However, Christian refused to give up and pushed his palms against the ground.

‘Luckily, I’ve activated my body.’

If not…

“Fwoop!”

He took a deep breath, bent his arms once more, and used his last bit of strength to lift himself again.

‘I wouldn’t have thought to train my body this way.’

He did push-ups using only his right arm, with his left hand placed on his back. To compensate for the lack of intensity, he wore heavy wristbands on both arms and heavy ankle weights and a belt on his waist made of the same material.

“What are you doing…?”

“Huff, huff. Huh?”

Hearing a voice beside him, Christian stopped his movement and looked up with difficulty. Aira was standing over him, looking down intently.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I am. But, can you grab that bag over there…?”

Christian collapsed back onto the floor, panting heavily. With trembling hands, he managed to raise a finger, pointing at a nearby bag.

Even an enemy would have pitied his appearance, prompting Aira to instinctively rush over and retrieve the bag from the floor.

“Open it, and give me what’s inside…”

“You’re not doing this on purpose, are you?”

“I’m hurting right now. Can you really say that after seeing me like this?”

“…”

For some reason, it seemed like he was struggling even more…

Though she felt uneasy, Christian’s state was indeed pitiful.

His sweat-soaked face appeared beyond exhausted, as though he was stricken with a serious illness, with pronounced dark circles under his eyes.

Moreover, his entire body was drenched, resembling a drowned rat, and he sat gasping for air, his body shivering non-stop.

Anyone who saw him, including his mother, would likely command a priest to be brought immediately without question.

Aira opened the bag and checked the contents.

“A potion?”

“Uh, yeah. Could you please give it to me…”

“You want me to feed it to you?”

“Yeah. I can’t feel my hands.”

“They seemed to move just fine earlier.”

“When the training rhythm breaks, this happens.”

“You’re definitely doing this on purpose, right?”

“No, I’m not.”

“…?”

His last reply came out so smoothly and quickly that Aira’s suspicions toward Christian grew deeper.

However, not feeding him made it seem like he might just wither away, so Aira released a deep sigh and opened the potion bottle.

She then carefully brought it to Christian’s mouth and fed it to him.

“Ah, right. This feels normal. In the past, my master used to forcibly shove potion bottles into my mouth, pour it all over my wounds… and if I lay down for more than five minutes, she would kick me to get up.”

Fortunately, she seemed like the gentle master from her younger days, not the rough one from back then, as she tenderly fed me the potion.

Wary that the potion might spill or cause me to choke, her careful and concerned demeanor was quite refreshing.

“Phew…”

“Are you okay?”

After downing an entire potion bottle, Christian took a deep breath and nodded.

“Money really does the trick. Though it’s only a half-baked medicine.”

While potions had less restorative power than holy magic, nothing excelled at healing wounds and restoring stamina like them.

He had scraped together every bit of money he had and barely managed to buy ten bottles.

Although they were outrageously expensive, forcing him to ration them at one bottle a day, if he extracted a large sum from Aunt, Aira would have no worries about using potions freely.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yeah. I can move now.”

His trembling stopped, and his breathing steadied. Indeed, his condition visibly improved. However, Aira’s worry didn’t completely dissipate.

“What on earth have you been doing lately?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know. The duel with Sir Garcia is right in front of us, but you haven’t done any proper training…”

“I’m training right now, aren’t I?”

“This? Isn’t this torture?”

“Ha, do you call this torture after seeing my body?”

Christian abruptly stood up, throwing off his top.

His muscles, although not yet perfect, were well-defined, and his skin was a healthy tan.

The body of a once thin and pale boy had grown into that of a warrior with toned muscles.

“Put your clothes on, it’s disgusting.”

“Di-disgusting?!”

But didn’t you once say I had the perfect physique?!

Though he felt immensely wronged, Aira’s gaze was clearly not approving.

Defeated, Christian could only pout and pick up his discarded clothing to wear again.

“You’d be better off improving your mana sensitivity instead of building such a body. What good does it do…?”

“It’s better to discard fixed ideas. Mana is a good tool, but not a perfect one.”

“A good tool?”

“Yeah. And you need an excellent craftsman to handle such a good tool.”

As Christian pointed to his own body and smiled at Aira, she tilted her head, seemingly unable to understand.

“A strong body embodies strong mana. As the body hardens, the mana becomes purer.”

He repeated the process of compressing his overwhelming mana to increase its purity and building his body to withstand the density of the compressed mana.

In doing so, he would wield immense mana incomparable to those who merely bulked up.

Aira, clearly not grasping these facts, shook her head and said.

“I don’t understand. The body is just a supplementary means. Of course, contrary to mages, some use their bodies, but with mana, you don’t need to train your body like you do now, do you?”

“That’s why I say to increase the mana, you need to train your body. If you practice the same way as others, you’ll spend your whole life following behind them.”

“It’s not others, but the family’s method. And everyone emphasizes the importance of mana.”

“That’s the trap. You don’t necessarily have to follow an already established path. I am me, and you are you. Once you learn how to walk and run, you should determine your own direction, right?”

“Direction to progress…”

“This is my direction and my path. I’m going to grow stronger my own way.”

“Um.”

Aira’s disbelief in these words made Christian feel frustrated.

“I’m telling you, this really helps.”

“How can that help… huh?”

Christian swiftly untied the heavy armbands, leg bands, and belt attached to his arms and legs, and fastened them onto Aira.

“Hey, wait. What are you doing?”

“Give it a try.”

“Why should I?!”

“If I beat Garcia, you’re mine. So, get a feel for it now and prepare yourself.”

“Wh-why am I yours?! Ugh?!”

A tightly bound leg band and belt. The sudden weight pulling at Aira’s arms made her body lurch forward.

Christian clicked his tongue at the sight of Aira.

“Tsk tsk. If your body is that weak, what’s the use?”

“Sh-shut up! Aren’t you going to take this off?!”

“You take it off.”

“I can’t take it off!”

“Right, it won’t come off. I’ve linked it with my mana, so it won’t release without permission.”

“You bastard?!”

“Ahem, no bad words. Only nice words, nice words.”

“Where did you learn such cruel techniques?!”

From you, in the future.

Ian’s master had clad his limbs in heavy protective gear, bound his arms separately from his legs, and thrown him into the middle of a lake.

If he wanted to survive, he had to find a way to climb out—if he were to die, at least he should die having touched the ground.

Thus, this was not a personal revenge but merely following his Master’s brilliantly devised training method.

“Don’t worry. It can be removed it if the wearer’s mana resonance surpasses mine.”

“Ugh!”

Of course, that wouldn’t be possible! Aira clenched her mouth shut, feeling that shouting in frustration would only leave her with a large wound on her pride.

Christian grinned smugly at Aira.

“Well, I’m not asking you to do it.”

“You are forcing me, you punk!”

“Tsk tsk. If you’re sluggish just from this, what’s the use?”

Aira threw a punch. Somehow, the power wasn’t there, and its speed was noticeably slower than usual.

Christian dodged it easily and gave a playful smile.

“Swinging a sword doesn’t rely solely on arm strength. Your core and leg strength are just as important. You’re building strength in your core, legs, and arms simultaneously, as well as your endurance. Isn’t that like hitting four birds with one stone?”

“Ridiculous! What I want to learn or—no, steal from you isn’t this!”

“Then keep trying to learn and steal it. I’m going to take a shower.”

“Hey, hey! Aren’t you going to release this?!”

Christian slowly picked up his bag and leisurely walked past Aira, who, still unaccustomed to the weight, couldn’t react at all and just yelled at her place.

‘I was like that too, at first.’

Back then, he thought that his master coldly turned her back on him, but that wasn’t the case. She had hurriedly left to stifle her laughter.

Just like what he was doing now.