Episode 20
If there were any wounds, Amy would have insisted on treating them. However, there weren’t any, so Amy stayed quiet with a puzzled expression fixed on the three of us, settling into the strange atmosphere. In this way, she felt like a nanny, not a maid. It was weird to say this about a girl younger than me, but the way Amy took care of me was over the top. Meanwhile, Barris continued with his sword training.
Silent Night.
Despite what happened in the banquet hall, the Duchy of Felicity maintained a festive atmosphere. The story didn’t spread wide. Even if it did, people would have considered it as a common fight between some aristocrats.
“Will it be okay?”
I read a book silently when Barris, who stopped swinging his sword, turned to me carefully.
“What do you mean?”
“Prince Baltian is the most promising candidate for the Crown Prince of the Voltiz Kingdom. Wouldn’t it be possible for him to hold resentment over this incident?”
“Let him do whatever he wants.”
When I calmly moved my gaze back in the book, Barris laughed bluntly. Then he put his sword down and plunged into the seat.
“How is Winley?”
“I think she was so stressed that she fell asleep a while ago.”
“You should sleep soon because your tournament starts tomorrow. Your match is in the first round in the draw.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
He closed his eyes quietly as if there was some kind of fire burning in his mind. “Although it looked weird, you destroyed him once. But I’m not satisfied yet.”
“Then?
“I will smash Prince Baltian with my own hands.”
With this, I saw his determination. Barris was an expert intermediate. Prince Baltian of the Voltiz Kingdom, whom I faced, was a beginner. Although Barris’s skill was slightly above his level, you still couldn’t guarantee anything if you were on the same level with them unless there was a distinctive difference.
He probably knew this. A bitter smile came out. I would love to teach him the swordsmanship I learned, but a one-day lesson wouldn’t make a big difference.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be great.”
He was choosing mana with his eyes closed and smiled at my words.
“Of course. Whose brother am I?”
“Are you trying to flatter me?.”
“Haha!”
His smile disappeared quickly in his face. He seemed serious in his way.
“Hmm…”
Out of my curiosity, I immediately focused my eyes on the mana as I sat on a branch and watched Barris sitting on the floor of the garden, whirring about. His rotating mana soon came into view and spread out evenly and wide.
Clean.
That was the first thought I felt when I saw his mana.
Honest and gentle.
It wasn’t a bad move. However, I felt like there was a part that was a little blocked.
‘Should I help him just a little bit?’
If this method were known, wouldn’t it cause an uproar? It was a completely different method, destroying the concept of the most common training method. There was a reason why so many large groups of martial arts people worked hard to implement casting off one’s old self. I often didn’t use this trick, but I didn’t want to be stingy with my brother’s matters.
Besides, a vindictive Baltian could do something stupid to Barris.
“Barris.”
“Yes?”
“Let me give you a massage.”
As I calmly stepped down from the branch and walked close to him sitting, he closed his eyes and waited for my hand. It would hurt a little.
“Ouch?! Brother?!”
“Well, you must have been a little tense in your muscles.”
“Well, wait for a second!”
“It seems to be too stiff.”
As if massaging his shoulders, he clenched his teeth and gasped under my touch. Although he probably wanted to writhe, he couldn’t even properly resist the pain because he lost all his strength.
“What the…heck!”
“Whoa, it is pretty bad.”
‘He is just massaging me, but why is my whole body sore?’
He was probably thinking this.
‘I’m sorry, but it’s not just a massage, boy.’
I spread the mana by stimulating his shoulders with my hand, which would shake it up to become active without his awareness. With this simple explanation, it was obvious how much difference it would make. I had heard a Thai massage was one of the best.
“Yola Pongtai!”
“Hey! Oh! What are you talking about…ahhh?!”
The massage took me a while to make his body flexible, in which mana was hardened in his shaking, writhing body. I smiled as I was satisfied with the mana’s flow in his body, which changed slightly.
‘Ah, I forgot the insurance.’
Disregarding Barris catching his breath, I collected mana in my right palm. Then, mana began to shine in the form of a small, elaborate magic square with my will, and I hit his back as soon as I finished it.
“Ouch!!”
“Boy, you need to get some rest. Just go and sleep.”
His scream resonated out when I hit him on his back once more. Nevertheless, he didn’t forget to check if the small golden magic square engraved on his back was fixed. He was also giving me a strangely dissatisfied look. He probably had no clue how some of his body structure changed as I twisted with the massage that I gave him a little while ago.
* * *
The day was bright, and the Continental Swordsmanship competition officially began. Although the tradition itself was quite old, it was also an important game in its way, which had maintained peace between nations without any accidents. The discord that occurred here would soon spread to disputes between countries.
Although the war wasn’t eradicated on the continent, it would be true that such a harmonious competition was suppressing the war as much as possible. I remained in the dorm on the pretext of being unwell, sitting on the bed, condensing mana with my fingertips, and repeating to release it.
“I feel there is enough manas for Aura Blade, but why am I still not able to recast?”
While supporting everyone else, I couldn’t check my body properly. To be clear, I knew that my body was moving a lot differently from its normal orbit, but it was too far off from what I expected.
Bone metamorphosis. The heroes of the corridor all spoke together and expressed it that way. It was self-evolution that changed itself when the body was to hit the limit of growth. Humans had the only advantage, who didn’t have spirit affinities like elves and long lifespan, toughness and delicacy like dwarves, and powerful magic power like demons. If you embraced everything, it would make the bone metamorphosis happen.
Ordinary bone metamorphosis happened with humans that had too much mana or other strength that couldn’t be held in their body. So, when the expert reached the level of Sword Master, the mana that had grown to the limit would gather rapidly based on certain enlightenment and evolve by itself. Stronger muscle strength, a strong body, and a younger appearance were one thing, and one’s longevity would also be extended. It was like a tremendous reward for your efforts.
If so, how should I explain my case? Most of them were still asleep, but I had returned with an unbelievable amount of mana in my body. It was like the mana that needed to be accumulated slowly was filled in at once.
‘It wasn’t normal to go there while I was in a coma in the first place.’
There was no effect without a cause. There must be a reason why I fell into the Corridor, but that wasn’t what I cared about now. All I wanted now was my well-being and longevity. My life was too short in my past or present life, so I had a little obsession with life. The goal of my life was to eat well and live well for a long time.
I wasn’t going just to watch and let people ruin my plan. In terms of safety, a prince’s status was safe enough to be incomparable with ordinary commoners, but in a different sense, it was more dangerous. As there was no power, I had to protect myself. However, I felt lost since the bone metamorphosis hadn’t yet occurred.
“It changed well in the corridor.”
I worried while suppressing the complaints that popped in my head.
‘Shall I just force to change it?’
If the knights, who look forward to pioneering the land, heard me, they would have a stroke. There were many possible solutions, but the effect wasn’t worth trying. Eventually, after contemplating, the conclusion I made was to hold. The metamorphosis of the bone structure happened naturally when a direct load or trigger was given to the body.
No matter how many experiences you had, the realm of the human body and mana was unknown. What if I tried and failed? It would be like forcing something that had less than one percent chance of success and pushing it into the reinforcing machine. It wasn’t worth considering my priceless body as a piece of data.
“Majesty, it’s time for Prince Barris’s match to begin soon.”
“Already?”
“If you’re late, you might miss the game…”
When I focused on training mana in silence for a long time, Amy suddenly peaked out her head and reported with an anxious look. She looked worried at the possibility that I might do something absurd again. What did I do? Although I often did weird things in front of her, was it quite disrespectful?
“Amy.”
“Yes, Yes?”
“Let’s go.”
“Hah. Yep!”
As she looked at me with an anxious expression, she bowed her head in surprise. There was a lot to find out, but for now, we had to stick to reality. Didn’t I learn enough in the corridor that I shouldn’t be impatient? I slowly changed into comfortable activity attire and left.
* * *
The arena of the Duchy of Felicity was a truly beautiful stadium. The maximum age limit for the participants of the competition was 20 years old. It was a competition among young boys, but it wasn’t such a low-level game considering their talent. All of these were talented sons representing their respective countries.
It wasn’t easy to enter into the expert level even if the average knights were recognized for their skills and status as knights. When it came to royal knights, most of them were experts, but ordinary knights could deal with mana only a little bit. In that sense, Barris’s talent was quite outstanding. I headed to the special audience seats of the nobles above the normal audience seats that filled the stadium.
It looked like they could have accommodated more people without these special seats, but I wouldn’t protest against this. Soon, the crowd began to cheer. I saw a boy above the stadium posturing for victory.
“Oh, Davey!”
Winley, looking out of the glass and chewing cookies combatively, was delighted to find me. “Hey, how is your body?
“Not bad.”
Even if I died, I wouldn’t tell her that I couldn’t go because I had to go to the bathroom.
Stupid bowel movement!
If I couldn’t solve it with the bone metamorphosis, I might have to use divine power.
“Where is Barris?”
“He will start his match soon.”
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