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Chapter 104

Maybe even more than Luan.

Usually, Tanko was the one who launched the first attack in their spars.

He would charge at Luan like an animal as soon as he concluded that Luan had finished preparing himself.

However, that wasn’t the case today.

“...”

Tanko’s senses were in no way inferior to a wild beast’s.

His extremely enhanced senses immediately caught the irregularity without his logical mind having to decipher it, making him hesitant to charge.

Of course, Tanko couldn’t explain this cautious feeling, so he couldn’t be sure of the reason.

Was it a simple mistake?

Dash.

At that moment, Luan arrived right in front of him.

Tanko used his palm to swat away the fist Luan launched and then took his stance again.

Luan’s movements were completely different from yesterday.

His force and speed were greater, but more than that, Luan no longer had any wasted movements.

It was such a smooth straight punch that it nearly made him exclaim.

If that’s the case...

The look in Tanko’s eyes changed.

He chose to ignore the unknown uneasiness he felt and focus on his target.

Bam bam bam!

A succession of attacks were exchanged at short range.

Through this exchange, Tanko belatedly realized that he’d used both of his arms, but he didn’t think too deeply about it.

He even forgot that his target was a young hero he was supposed to be teaching.

For some reason, he recalled when he’d roamed the Great Plains and been judged a great warrior.

Suddenly, Tanko felt something absurd.

This is difficult...

He began to feel overwhelmed in this melee combat.

Tanko had refined his ability to fight at this distance over hundreds of battles. It was the distance that he most desired and was most confident in.

No matter the opponent, he was confident he could suppress them and win... but that wasn’t the case this time.

He wanted to add two steps, maybe even three steps of distance between them.

Smack!

That impatient feeling led to his next attack.

Tanko spun and hit Luan in the chest with a roundhouse kick.

“...!”

At least, that was what he’d expected, but Luan had crossed his arms to block the attack.

However, it seemed Luan wasn’t able to fully absorb the impact. Luan’s body lifted off the ground a little and was pushed back.

The most surprising event of this spar happened next.

Luan took his stance in the air and landed on a tree.

Notably, Luan did not land on a tree branch. He landed on the side of the tree, horizontally.

And before his body could be dragged down by gravity...

Crunch!

He moved like lightning directly toward Tanko.

Tanko couldn’t help but concede that in that moment, he lost track of Luan’s movement.

Crack!

The moment he felt contact on his instinctively stretched-out fist, a loud sound echoed.

“Huh?!”

“Wh-what...?”

The other young heroes who were focused on their own spars turned to look at the source of the noise.

Tanko didn’t turn them away.

There was no need to.

“...”

He looked down at his hand.

Normally, an attack was a deliberate action made by an individual to convey force to a target they were aware of.

That was why what Tanko had just done wasn’t an attack.

Luan had run into his fist, which had been on a set trajectory.

By himself...

Had Luan used an incomplete skill?

Maybe Luan couldn’t handle his speed due to a lack of proficiency.

But if that wasn’t the case, if Luan had done that on purpose, then—

Luan’s voice came from within the dust cloud.

“It’s my loss.”

Tano looked toward the cloud direction with a complicated expression in his eyes before belatedly asking, “...Are you all right?”

“Ehm. It seems so.”

Luan got up, looking fine but sounding a little embarrassed.

“I think my arm is broken.”

***

What happened to people who were injured during the training camp?

It wasn’t like they could go home.

Unless they were about to die, they were not allowed to leave the training camp even if they had lost a limb.

The injured young heroes were moved to the nurse’s office in the instructor’s lodge... and the person who was acting as the nurse here was my goal.

Juniang looked at me with a bored expression.

“It’s not broken. There’s just a small crack in your forearm.”

“Ah.”

“It’s not serious, so just rest here for today. You’ll be out by tomorrow or the day after at the worst.”

“Don’t I get a potion?”

“This is why young masters are...” Juniang clicked her tongue. “Do you know how expensive potions are? It’d be a waste to use one on an injury like that.”

“Then what about healing it with divine power?”

“Sorry, but I’m not talented in that area.”

I mean...

She wasn’t a heretic inquisitor for nothing.

Most likely, she specialized in combat.

There were four beds in the nurse’s office.

“Where is Hans?”

“Hans? Ah, the one who got carried in the day before yesterday. He’s healed a lot, so I sent him back to his lodging.”

“I see.”

Then there shouldn’t be any interruptions.

* * * * *

* * * * *

“I’m leaving. Take your medicine and rest for today.”

“You are a heretic inquisitor of the Church of the Sun, right, Instructor?”

Just before she was about to leave, Juniang glanced back at me.

“I am. What about it?”

“I heard that the faithful of Aton are especially sensitive to demonic energy.”

“A baseless rumor.”

Baseless rumor?

When I blinked twice, Juniang continued, “There’s a disgusting energy we can sense when cultists are doing something, but if you want to become a heretic inquisitor, you first learn how to detect that smell. Well... since we experience demonic energy more often, we’re able to detect it better than regular people.”

Ah.

“Then have you perhaps felt that energy during this training camp?”

The moment Juniang turned to look at me, I realized that my prediction was correct.

Although her eyes were filled with suspicion, she wasn’t looking at someone who she believed was talking nonsense.

As I thought, even at this point, Juniang felt that something was off.

If that’s the case...

There was no need to drag this out.

My goal was to give this person a little bit more certainty.

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’ll say this directly: a cultist has infiltrated this training camp.”

Juniang blinked widely before letting out a dry laugh.

“...Haha.”

Of course, her laughter didn’t last long.

“Listen closely, kid. Although I’m a cleric and a heretic inquisitor, I’m also a grand master, a person of House Bednicker.”

“...”

“Be thankful that you are a Bednicker. If you weren’t, you’d have to pay for that insult.”

I didn’t back down at the active heretic inquisitor’s cold threats.

“A high priest could conduct a demon-lord summoning ritual here—”

Juniang cut me off. “Hey, do you not know what you should and shouldn’t do?”

“...”

“Be careful with what you say. You’d shake in your boots in front of a low-ranking demon, let alone a high priest. Really? A demon-lord summoning ritual?”

“I understand that you don’t believe me, but I entered this training camp under orders as well.”

“Don’t even try to lie. Information was hidden from me, a grand master, and was instead shared with the dropout of Bednicker?”

“...”

To be honest, this was a little surprising to me.

Of all the people in the camp, I’d at least expected to be able to talk to Juniang about the plan.

Not because she was a grand master but because she was part of the Church of the Sun.

There was no possibility that Juniang could be a member of the Church of Darkness.

Maybe she’s saving her own face.

That was my guess.

Maybe House Bednicker and the Lord of Blood and Iron didn’t consider the grand masters that important.

“You should know the reason.”

“What do you mean?”

“The family head’s famous saying.”

“...”

Juniang closed her mouth, but she must’ve realized what I was trying to say.

—Possibility lies dormant in blood.

The fact that the Lord of Blood and Iron gave his sons dangerous missions was proven by Rudbick.

That was what I was repeating in my mind as I acted this out.

I’ve been given a special mission by the Lord of Blood and Iron to join the training camp.

“Enough trying to convince me with your words. Give me something more solid.”

“Shall I? Among the knight instructors, there is someone so skilled that you can’t tell how strong they are, right? A man who is too strong to be a common knight?”

“...”

“He’s the one I came in with for this mission.”

After selling out my father, I sold out his brother—Rook—as well.

Juniang closed her mouth.

Yeah.

The one who had told me about that before my return was none other than Juniang herself.

“It’s understandable if you don’t believe me. A cultist in the territory of House Bednicker, and a high priest and a demon-lord summoning ritual on top of that. However, you should know that I was ambushed by the cult on my way to the main house.”

“...”

“I’ll at least say this: House Bednicker’s territory is no longer safe.”

Something was changing within the Church of Darkness.

Considering the positions they held in the continent and the power they possessed, I didn’t think it was wrong to say that times were changing.

I wasn’t saying all this for no reason.

The incident in the Gem Mountains, what had happened with Hariba, and even the tragedy of the training camp...

I was giving my assurance as someone connected to all three.

“Of course, there is nothing we can be certain of. That’s why we need your help as well. But if you can’t accept that now, just treat me as someone who is out of his mind. Well, you could even send a report to the main house in that case.”

Of course, that last one was a bluff.

“...”

Juniang’s mouth closed.

She didn’t show any external emotions, but I could tell that she was seriously contemplating what I’d said.

I could also tell what the response would be.

“...If you are lying, by Lord Aton’s name I will not let this slide.”

The fact that she used the name of her god meant that she was quite serious.

Despite how she looked, Juniang seemed like a devoutly faithful person.

Because of that, I smiled.

“All right.”

“So? What do you want from me?”

“It’s nothing much. For now—”

I gave a short outline of the operation.

***

The Instructor of Doctrine, a heretic inquisitor, and one of the instructors for this training camp, Juniang promised her cooperation.

With this, my chances of success had increased by practically 20 percent.

If I added Rook as well, it might be enough for us to face the high priest...

But I didn’t feel like that was enough.

The high priest had a secret weapon.

A suicide action where he used himself as an offering to summon the demon lord.

It was a method of mutual destruction. To stop it from happening for certain, I needed one more person.

Of course, that person needed to fit some criteria.

They needed to be as strong as Rook and Juniang.

And I needed to be able to trust them without a doubt.

Although it was just two criteria, not a lot of people qualified.

Firstly, all the young heroes were disqualified. Even the strongest, Charon, couldn’t compare to the instructors.

Sellen’s one attack was strong enough, but since it ate away at her life, I passed...

There could be someone qualified among the instructors...

But I don’t know.

I had seen that quite a few instructors were on Juan’s side during the training camp.

Although they certainly weren’t all minions of the high priest, I couldn’t ignore the possibility that they could be brainwashed or messed with in other ways.

But...

I smirked.

I had already decided who the last person would be.

Someone at least as strong as Rook and Juniang, and someone I felt I could trust even more than them.

If I could gain the aid of that man, our chances of victory might be above 90 percent.

The problem was that that person wasn’t currently within the campgrounds...

It can’t be helped.

I looked at the ring on my finger.

The black ring I’d received from the Lord of Blood and Iron.

Vwoong.

As I poured my mana into it, it immediately responded.

Just like before, I was transported to some room.

If there was one difference, it was a little bit darker this time.

I heard a low voice.

“...What’s up with you?”

From the direction of the sound, I saw Asad sitting there looking disheveled.

It seemed he had been sleeping on the sofa, and judging by the book that had just dropped, he had probably been using that as his pillow...

For now, I was relieved.

If I had ended up meeting my father after using the ring like he’d said I would, this might have taken much longer.

The one who could directly solve my problem right now was this Archmage right here.

“Hello.”

“Luan Bednicker...” Asad let out a yawn. “You should be in the training camp right now.”

“I have a request.”

“A request? For me?”

“Yes.”

I looked at him.

“I want to leave the training camp’s area for a bit, so please release the barrier for a moment.”

Asad rubbed his eyes as he responded, “What are you trying to do?”

“There\'s someone I need to meet.”

The information Asad had shared with me before I’d regressed: Rook Bednicker was not the only person who had been sent as insurance.

—The Instructor of Swords and Blades, Calzark.

That man was the final piece in my plan.