In the training field after lunch, Ryner was fighting against the heroes one at a time while everyone else was waiting for their turn as they kept some distance. Having decided on an order beforehand, when the one fighting the instructor got hit, he would withdraw and the next one would take his place.

“That’s it, don’t block it head-on. Just change the direction.” [Ryner]

Both he and Prince Alex were fighting with a cross-shaped wooden sword in their hands. Alex was on the defensive as he parried Ryner’s sword strike. He raised his sword above his head horizontally and on the moment of impact, he would let his sword tilt downward, causing Ryner’s blade to slide to the side. After a few more similar exchanges, Alex went on the offensive and attacked with a horizontal slash to which Ryner stepped backward to dodge by a paper-thin margin.

Alex quickly grabbed onto the blade of his sword with both hands and swung it down on his opponent’s shoulder, aiming to strike it with the edge of the guard. Seeing this, without changing that lazy face, Ryner used the butt of the handle to push his enemy’s weapon to the side as he hit right in the center of the guard, causing him to miss and stagger forward from the momentum of his attack. At the same time, Ryner used this chance to stab him in the middle of the chest which made him tumble a few steps backwards.

With the winner decided, the prince lowered his sword and someone else jumped in to take his place. A guy with shoulder-length black hair and sharp blue eyes rushed at Ryner with two short wooden swords in each hand. As one of the heroes, he possessed S rank magical abilities, but for this training, body strengthening was limited to C rank. As such, everyone only reinforced their body to the degree that they won’t get severely injured from being hit.

He swung his two weapons as he charged forward. His instructor was dodging as he kept stepping backwards to keep the same distance between them.

“Be careful when you rush your opponent. Don’t get tunnel vision.” [Ryner]

Just as the high schooler vertically swung the short sword in his right hand downwards, Ryner parried the attack by hitting the side of the blade while sidestepping to the left. He then immediately grabbed the back of the head of the running hero with his left hand and tripped him with his left leg as he pushed his face down in the ground.

With that as the signal, a girl with her blonde hair cut short and her brown eyes glaring at Ryner attacked with her staff, forcing him to jump back from his initial position. As she spun her staff around, she used swings and thrusts to try and hit him. Once more, while stepping backwards, he kept dodging them all effortlessly while yawning. However, although seeing that caused her glare to intensify, the high schooler didn’t take his bait and stopped attacking to plan her next move. For the past week, they had seen plenty of his taunts and what happened to those who reacted to them.

“Good job. Keep your cool, be patient and control your anger to make it work for you. Look for a weakness, for an opportunity to strike and if you can’t find one… make one.” [Ryner]

Ryner rushed at her once he finished talking and she quickly responded by thrusting her staff right in his face. Without stopping, he ducked below it and hit it upward with his sword which caused her to stagger as the staff jumped up vertically. Spinning around once to gain momentum, he attacked her left shoulder with a horizontal slash, but she reflexively brought her spear to the left to block the blow.

However, Ryner let go of his sword mid-swing, causing it to fly at the staff and bounce away. At the same time, he crouched down and keeping the same spinning motion, he knocked her off her feet with a sweeping kick while she was surprised from this unexpected move. As she fell onto her back, another person left the crowd and jumped at Ryner’s back. It was Jayce. But, his fist missed its aim as the target rapidly rolled to the side. Chasing after him, he unleashed a flurry of punches as Ryner either dodged or knocked them away.

“Good, good. Surprise attacks, ambushes and cheap shots are all legal in combat. So long as you don’t regret it, it’s not dishonorable.” [Ryner]

Jayce tried to kick him in the stomach, but Ryner jumped back just far enough to be a few millimeters away from the sole of the foot of the outstretched leg. The young hero then lunged at him with a right punch to which his adversary leaned to the right as he grabbed the forearm that passed in front of his face with his left hand and pulled it towards him. Jayce staggered forward and Ryner drove his right elbow in his diaphragm as he stepped forward.

“Gaha!” [Jayce]

Flinching from pain and with the air knocked out of him, Ryner let him go and used a palm strike to push him away with his left hand, sending him tumbling backward. The next challenger that was running while hiding behind Jayce’s body was surprised to see him get sent his way, but he quickly jumped over him and raised his sword over his head. The hero with light brown hair and green eyes behind a pair of glasses wildly slashed left and right at his opponent. Then, instead of pressing on, he jumped back and threw a wooden knife that he concealed in his back pocket.

Against this surprise attack, Ryner calmly caught it and threw it back to which the owner evaded to the side while panicking. Using this chance, he grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and ran towards the hero as they once more exchanged blows with the high schooler attacking and Ryner dodging.

“That’s it. Use everything at your disposal to get the advantage in battle. And if you’re still outmatched… cheat.” [Ryner]

Saying so, he evaded the sword and moved in front of his opponent’s face before blowing the handful of dirt at him. Coughing from the unexpected attack, he quickly stepped back while randomly waving his sword around and rubbing his teary eyes.

“*Cough cough*H-hey! That’s from- ugh!” [Random hero]

“Yes it is.” [Ryner]

He couldn’t finish his sentence because Ryner punched him in the chest and knocked him on the ground.

“Oh!” [Ryner]

As he turned to the side, a sword was suddenly thrust at his face. While exclaiming with mild surprise, he tilted his head a bit and turned his eyes towards the perpetrator who was glaring at him and keeping his weapon right next to his face.

“You’re getting faster, huh kid?” [Ryner]

After he casually asked his question, Ryan horizontally swung his sword at his instructor’s face. Ryner completely bent backward to dodge the incoming blade and started falling down head-first. Believing that this was a great chance, Ryan raised his sword to strike him down, but quickly jumped back to dodge the two rising kicks. Before he hit the ground, Ryner used both hands to support himself as he was in a position similar to a bridge and used his momentum from falling to raise both his legs. If Ryan had charged in, he would have been hit on the chin and the match would have ended. Ryner made a backward flip and landed on his feet before staring at the young hero as he evaluated him.

“(Hmm, he managed to keep his cool. So he is learning after all).” [Ryner]

For the past week, whenever they fought, Ryner would bait Ryan into attacking him by calling him a kid. He would always get mad and rush at him, letting his guard down and losing quickly. But, this time he managed to stay calm and saw the attack.

“Don’t think you’ll keep winning all the time. I will defeat you!” [Ryan]

With his declaration, he charged at Ryner and unleashed a series of strikes from every angle. Having received training from Cain and accumulating battle experience as one of the vanguard in the group of heroes, he was much stronger than he was in his old world. Furthermore, with body strengthening magic reinforcing his flesh and bones, there were no normal teenagers or adults that could move like he did. He was confident that he was a battle-hardened warrior and a hero that few could rival.

However, faced with this onslaught, Ryner easily dodged all of his attacks by a paper thin margin without changing his sleepy expression. This greatly annoyed him as he kept pressing on and attacked even faster, but he still couldn’t touch his opponent at all. Then again, this was only to be expected. After all, to a monster that triumphed in battles that no human could survive, something of this level was child’s play.

“You’re losing it kid. Concentrate. Watch your opponent and your surroundings.” [Ryner]

“Tch! I don’t need you to tell me that!” [Ryan]

He yelled after hearing his casual warning and did a roundhouse kick. Ryner stepped back and Ryan took this chance to jump back and put some distance between them. Then, just as quickly, he threw his sword at his enemy’s face. The attack was easily dodged as Ryner slightly tilted his head to the side. But, this was only a distraction as Ryan was right behind his sword and unleashed a punch while smiling because he believed that he finally got him. Contrary to his expectations, his fist was hit away like a fly and missed its mark. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he kept attacking, forcing his adversary to move backward as he kept parrying his punches like it was nothing at all.

“Calm down kid. I’m playing with you~. Calm down~.” [Ryner]

Seeing all of his attacks being effortlessly parried and hearing how he talked without a care, Ryan grew more and more impatient until he lunged at him and struck with his right fist, putting everything he had in it. Anticipating this, Ryner sidestepped to the left which caused Ryan to punch the wall of the training field. He flinched from the unexpected impact and pain because he didn’t notice at all that Ryner was leading him near the walls. During that small opening, the sleepy-looking man grabbed his fist with his left hand and pulled it towards him. Then, he placed his right leg behind Ryan’s own right leg and pushed him with his right hand. Losing his balance and being pushed down, Ryan fell on the ground and groaned in pain from his right wrist being twisted.

“(So he still falls for cheap provocation. But well, I guess he’s growing.)” [Ryner]

Ryner stood over him while twisting his right wrist with one hand. He looked at the crowd around him that simply tiredly sighed from seeing the same result. No one had managed to best him for a week. Letting Ryan go, Ryner walked away as he spoke loudly for everyone to hear.

“Alright people, take a break!” [Ryner]

Rubbing his aching wrist, Ryan grunted in displeasure from losing again as he slowly stood up. While everyone dispersed into smaller groups, his three longtime friends, Jayce, Aria and Elena, made their way to him as they tried to cheer him up.

“Hey, you okay?” [Aria]

“If it hurts anywhere, I can heal it right away.” [Elena]

“No, I’m fine. Elena, you don’t need to worry about me. You should treat the others instead.” [Ryan]

Thanking his two worried friends, he asked the healer of the group to look after the others with a small smile.

“I already treated everyone. So, don’t hold back and tell me if it hurts.” [Elena]

She gently told him while smiling. Unlike her usual look, Elena now combed her fringe to the right and had a braid on the right side of her face that was tied with a red string with two round golden bells. Her best friend, Aria, didn’t change her hairstyle as she still had shoulder-length black hair and a longer lock held by a simple hair tie that reached her middle back. But, she also had a similar string wrapped around her left wrist.

(*Author note* I keep forgetting to mention, But Aria’s hairstyle is based off of Id when he had his hair cut. So, imagine him as a cute seventeen years-old girl, but with the uncut part reaching the middle back only… Because he’s a guy!)

The two now walked around with Ryner’s gifts after receiving them three days ago. Although the rest of the group initially objected when they heard who they got it from, no one complained about it anymore after a while since the presents seemed harmless and the two girls were quite happy with them.

‘If he was going to get you guys a proper gift for an apology, he should have at least gotten you bells that actually work.’ was what one of the girls said as she examined the silent bells. In fact, they were some people that wanted Ryner to give them something less cheap-looking.

“No, I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt anymore. See?” [Ryan]

Ryan closed and opened his hand and flexed his wrist to show them that he was alright. Although he was smiling, it didn’t look like his usual refreshing smile because he was still bitter from losing. Understanding his feelings, Jayce slapped him in the back.

“Hey, cheer up! It’s not like it’s the first time you lost to him right?” [Jayce]

“Oi muscle-head, that’s not how you cheer someone up.” [Aria]

The dark-skinned man’s words didn’t have much effect since Ryan furrowed his brows while looking dejected.

“Oh right. Then, if it makes you feel any better, I also had my ass handed to me on a silver platter! So, it’s not like you’re weak or anything!” [Jayce]

“Why do you even bother…” [Aria]

“Um, Ryan, cheer up.” [Elena]

Saying so while showing a big smile, Jayce repeatedly slapped the depressed Ryan’s back while Aria put a hand to her forehead and was shaking her head tiredly. Elena, flustered, tried to encourage her friend that looked even gloomier than after his fight as he slumped down.

“*Sigh* However, Jayce is right about one thing. We’re not weak. Ryner is just too strong without magic, but if we do use it, then we’ll win for sure.” [Aria]

Putting her hand down, Aria said to her friend who looked up at her after hearing her words.

“Just think about it, Ryner doesn’t seem to be able to use magic at all. So, who do you think would win between him and us who can punch through steel?” [Aria]

“… You’re right. I completely forgot about that!” [Ryan]

Her words worked as the expression on his face became more energetic. Looking up at the sky, he clenched his fist in front of his chest.

“He may be good in combat techniques, but that’s not enough to win against powerful monsters! Besides, he’s probably had years of training while we only began four months ago! I’m just being impatient! We’ll eventually reach his level in techniques for sure! No! We can grow even stronger!” [Ryan]

He completely recovered from his defeat and was pumping himself up. While Jayce and Elena were happy to see him in high spirits, Aria frowned when she heard his words.

“Aria? Is something wrong” [Elena]

Noticing her best friend’s serious expression, Elena quizzically called out to her.

“No… Just had this feeling for a while now but… Does anyone feel like something is weird about our training?” [Aria]

“Weird? Like what?” [Ryan]

“Well, the way he trains us is unique but…” [Elena]

“I think it’s pretty cool though. The game of tag is awesome.” [Jayce]

After everyone gave their opinion, Aria shook her head as she raised her hand to tell them to put a stop on the subject that had nothing to do with what she meant.

“No, not that. I mean our other training from before, the one with Cain and the knights.” [Aria]

“What’s weird about it? Sure, we’re learning about magic so it is pretty weird, but-“ [Ryan]

“That’s the thing. We learned how to control our mana and cast different spells, but we didn’t learn a lot of fighting techniques like we’d expect after four months.” [Aria]

“Didn’t we learn plenty? I’ve gotten good at handling a sword after all.” [Ryan]

The three of them were all looking at Aria who was suddenly bringing up this strange topic.

“I mean, look at Prince Alex. He’s way better at sword fighting than Ryan.” [Aria]

“Isn’t that because he’s been training since he was young? Besides, if you have a small mana pool, then you need to focus more on your fighting skills, right?” [Ryan]

“I don’t get it. What are you trying to say Aria?” [Jayce]

“I’m saying that… Doesn’t it feel like our training’s much too focused on magic than fighting? It feels more like what a magician would go through, even though we fight with swords in close-range combat all the time.” [Aria]

She said while gesturing with her hands, trying to explain to her friends the nagging feeling she had that grew more and more as they trained under Cain and that was made clearer to her after going through Ryner’s training. Having always been a sharp girl, she had noticed this discrepancy and was now trying to tell her friends about this vague sense that something was wrong.

“Well, yeah. In this world, magic makes the difference. With body strengthening, you don’t need to dodge arrows, you can just take it. And the demon race that we’re supposed to fight against apparently has fighters that are really good in magic, so we’ll need to match them to win.” [Jayce]

“Jayce is right. Think about it, even though they said Kelly has a huge mana pool like us, she can’t control it at all, so she can’t fight. Without magic, she’s an ordinary human.” [Ryan]

“Without proper control, Miss Skye can’t use any spells, not even the most basic body strengthening. So, isn’t it normal that Knight Commander Cain focused more on our magic control?” [Elena]

Jayce explained while shrugging his shoulders as he didn’t understand what the problem was exactly while Ryan had more question marks popping up above his head every second as he tried to figure out what the problem was. Elena was looking at her friend worriedly, wondering what was bothering her.

“No, I know. The first thing anyone learns is to control their mana and use body strengthening, I get that. You can become a superhuman in an instant so I get that’s it’s important, even more so if you can shoot fireballs everywhere. But look, we saw the other soldiers train in combat too, right? Way more than us who had to learn a bunch of spells.” [Aria]

“I know we’re not going through the same training as the other soldiers, but isn’t that just because we’re S ranks so we have our own style of training?” [Ryan]

“Yeah, like how the stronger guys in gyms always lift the heavier weights.” [Jayce]

“Is that a good comparison?” [Ryan]

“Isn’t it? It’s like different training for different levels, right?” [Jayce]

“Then, wouldn’t it be better to say it’s like how the better swimmers take more advanced class while the beginners need to learn how to swim first?” [Ryan]

“Who the hell compares fighting with swimming?” [Jayce]

While the two boys were derailing, Elena approached Aria who looked frustrated from not being able to properly express her worry.

“Aria, is there something wrong with the training?” [Elena]

She asked as she held her hands together and looked at her friend with concern. The two boys also turned their attention to Aria who slowly shook her head and looked at her feet, trying to find the right words.

“I don’t know… It just feels like we skipped a few steps… Like we’re being rush to get strong as fast as possible.” [Aria]

“Um, but isn’t that normal? They say the demons are really strong and war could break out any moment.” [Elena]

She asked in an uncertain voice while tilting her head to the side. Aria looked at her roommate before agreeing with her words.

“Yeah… I guess it is.” [Aria]

“(But, they should teach us more anti-personnel techniques in that case, like Ryner does. Also, if the demon race is such a big threat that they needed to summon heroes, why isn’t the human race in danger of extinction? Why haven’t they attacked yet if they have the upper hand?)” [Aria]

However, her worries didn’t disappear at all. Not voicing her thoughts on the matter, the talk moved on to what they should do next time in order to beat Ryner.