Inside the Imperial Palace of the Friedelia Empire, Primel Castle. The Second Princess always invests 18 hours a day in muscle training.
"Princess. Do you have any plans for tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow should be lower body training day.”
“I’m asking for your schedule, not that.”
“Ugh!”
Bang!
A heavy thud echoed as a hexagonal barbell fell to the ground. Then, Karina wiped the sweat dripping on her face and raised her upper body.
Second Princess Kerina Primelia, she was a monster among monsters which could lift a total of 7,500 kg in the three major exercises (squat, deadlift, and bench press), and was known to be strong enough to grab a troll's head and pull it sideways with her bare hands alone.
“Why are you asking for my schedule?”
“It’s because the First Princess' movements are a bit unusual.”
“Hmmm…. It’s a pity that I can’t train my muscles. It wouldn’t be just a pointless resistance, would it?"
Until the Hero appeared as her guardian, everyone in the empire agreed with the sentiment that the First Princess', Perina, would win the succession battle this time. After all, she was someone with a natural talent for muscle training and someone who was supported by a War Hero who had lived on the battlefield for decades! In addition to that, she also enjoyed the privilege that only the First Princess can enjoy, which is monopolizing rare drugs in the Imperial Palace from a very young age. So, throughout history, the First Princesses often won the succession battle, and it was expected that this time would not be much different.
However, with Hero Ivan by her side, it wouldn’t be the same. He’s special, he’s someone who brought a very systematic and scientific muscle training method from ‘another world’, and it was incomparable to the muscle training method of this world! The First Princess, Perina, who sweats blood and sweat every day, could only lift about 7,000kg in the three major exercises, which was far below the Second Princess, who could lift a total of 7,500kg in the three major exercises. Moreover, her growth rate was also much faster than the First Princess, so it was only natural that the First Princess would prepare for a contingency plan in case she lost the succession battle, which was to create a rebellion.
“So laughable. She doesn't trust her own muscles and is relying on cowardly schemes. Don't worry about it, you can leave…"
“I understand…” The loyalists following the Second Princess, Kerina, had to worry a bit, but she said she didn't care, so they couldn't get her involved in this anymore.
Yes, no matter how hard the First Princess tries, in the end, she will not be able to defeat the Hero and the Second Princess' strength. Their worries were nothing but trivial.
‘We also don’t have to worry about the Third Princess. It is already obvious that she will undoubtedly lose.’
* * *
Among ordinary people who couldn't use magic, if someone could lift around 500 kg in 3 major exercises, they could be said to be an extremely fit person. And if they hit 1000 kg in the 3 exercises, it's safe to say that they have reached the pinnacle of the human body.
An F rank hunter could hit an average of 750 in 3 exercises. Hitting 1000kg in the 3 exercises with a normal human body without magic or aether or any other energy was not necessarily good. It was because, by doing so, the body would become heavy, dull, and an enormous amount of time would be invested in maintaining the muscle. But for a hunter, who had to stay on the battlefield for several days, or even weeks, such a thing was simply impossible.
In other words, muscle couldn’t determine someone's fighting power.
“Didn’t you say that the succession battle would be evaluated based on combat power?”
"That’s so…." The Third Princess, Yerina, bowed her head towards Yoo Seodam as sweat dripped profusely on her gloomy face. She tried to hide her trembling arms behind her back. Just now, she tried to measure her stamina again, but it was still as hopeless as ever.
“What a pain in the ass. What can a weak person like you who couldn’t even lift 100kg in the three major exercises do?”
“At least I can do 100…”
"Is that so? Didn’t you exercise every day? That’s all you can do?”
“…” Yerina’s cheeks dyed red as she saw Yoo Seodam lift the same dumbbell she had been exercising with only one finger.
Yoo Seodam decided that he couldn’t let things continue like this. In the first place, her skeletal structure was the problem. There is one thing that people here weren’t aware of, muscle was also a talent. The natural skeleton structure, protein digestibility, etc., every little talent was combined to eventually achieve the perfect muscles. In a world where everything is determined by muscles, it’s natural for Yerina, who had a disastrous muscle talent, to be judged as talentless.
“What will we do, Professor…?” Aracelli worriedly asked. However, when Yoo Seodam was about to answer, the words couldn't leave his mouth when he saw Aracelli’s destructive action.
"What are you doing?"
"Yes? Oh, I'm sorry…”
Rumble! The weight of the barbell that Aracelli hurriedly put down on the floor was 150 kg. It weighed 1.5 times more than the total weight the Third Princess could lift in the three main exercises. However, Aracelli easily held it in her hand.
“How did you do it? aren’t you currently in a weakened state?”
“Uh… That’s right… But, I recently completed the third circle of the double circle, so I can do it now.”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“Ummm…. I'm good at circulating magic to strengthen my body, so I can just… do it?”
‘Crazy…’ Yoo Seodam exclaimed in his head. From what he knew, basically, people of Murim as well as swordsmen could only quickly distribute their magic power to various parts of their body to create superhuman power because they accumulate it in their danjeon. However, it was almost impossible to do so if someone gathered the magic power in their heart.
In his own case, both his magic and physical abilities could be easily strengthened because he gathered the magic power both in the danjeon and the heart even without a circle. But Aracelli was distributing the magic power to the body very naturally while collecting the magic power in the heart. It was absurd
Then, Yoo Seodam had a sudden thought.
‘If Yerina had no talent for muscles whatsoever, would it be right for him to still train her to gain muscles?'
This world was basically a world where everything was determined by muscles. And in such a world, the protagonist, Ivan, receives a perfect [Protagonist Correction] for the subject ‘muscles'. Even if he infused modern scientific muscle training methods into Yerina, Ivan would still somehow figure out a better muscle training method. Therefore, it's impossible to win purely based on muscle alone. He had to change his strategy to win the succession battle.
“Let’s change the plan."
“Sorry?”
“Let’s not train your muscles. Even without it you are still healthy enough. Instead, you need to learn magic.”
“If I learn magic… My mother is going to kill me.”
That’s right. There was magic in this world too. However, it was judged as something for weakling as it was only taught by skinny, weak and glasses-wearing scholars who were stuck in the corner of their room.
Fireballs flying? Like the sunset in the sky, they could shatter it with a single fist heated with a burning passion!
Lightning bolts flying? With a strong will of steel and strong muscle, it would only tickle!
Ice spears flying? Even in extreme cold, the hot pectoral muscles will never freeze!
Muscle!
In this world where everything is resolved with muscles, there was no place for such things like magic. Therefore, in the end, its progress was bound to be slow…
“It wouldn’t be a problem since there’s Aracelli’s magic. And, we will fight for the throne with magic as well as with great dignity. Isn’t there a saying that the strong is the law? What if magic is stronger than muscle? Can they still criticize it as nothing but tools of weaklings?”
"Ah…" Convinced, Yerina nodded her head. Then, Saeran, who had been listening quietly, added.
“I think it’s a good idea. 50% of the results of the battle for the throne are reflected in muscle, but there’s still the remaining 50%, based on dignity, manners, politics, management and interpersonal relationships. It cannot be ignored.”
“But Saeran…. There are no princesses who study such things in this day and age.”
“I know, Princess. But now we have to do anything we can.”
In other words, she would challenge the throne by breaking the tradition of ‘only muscles' that had never changed in the long 500 years of history.
Yoo Seodam, who was thinking like that, suddenly realized that he was thinking too much in a ‘normal’ way. Come to think of it, isn't it too natural for a princess to study dignity, manners, politics, etc? Since this world was abnormal from the beginning, it was only by thinking in a normal way that it became abnormal.
It's a really funny world.
“But there is one problem.” Saeran sighed and said.
“What is it?”
“Dignity and etiquette were hardly taught by the royal family, so all the teachers had been kicked out from the royal palace.”
"What? Wait a minute, does that make sense?”
"Yes. Nowadays, they are treated as human cultural assets that protect the old traditions, and they live in the most dangerous and remote countryside of the continent, preserving knowledge so that it does not disappear.”
“What’s wrong with this world… How about politics? The empire occupies half of the world. Doesn't it need politics?"
Yerina shook her head.
"We do not need it… The empress will smash anything and anyone who doesn't listen to her.”
"Wow…"
When Yoo Seodam started to think that it was possible to govern in such a way, another thought came to his mind.
“…Then what is this empire's ‘policy’?”
“…”
“There’s no policy for the people. Whether it’s welfare for the elderly, or the law on public safety…”
"There’s none.. Everything is solved by force. The people too.”
“It’s a wonderful country.” Yoo Seodam sarcastically said before laughing out loud since he now had a rough idea of just
much the people were suffering under that policy. However, it was of no concern since the story of the people wouldn’t be included as most of the story would be focused on ‘muscles’ and ‘succession battle’.
“Is this really a country?”
It's more like wilderness.
* * *
Fortunately, the maid Saeran knew one of the locations of the scattered teachers around the world. It was located in a place where ordinary people couldn't easily go to, but if you borrowed the power of the woodcutter Yoo Seodam, there would be no problem to go there at all.
The most important subjects for Princess Yerina would be ‘dignity' and ‘charm', ‘politics', ‘intellect', and finally ‘communication'. Muscle strength and communication were both taught in the Imperial Palace, but most of the communication methods taught there were how to use frivolous communication methods such as ‘how to ignore others' and ‘how to cut someone's words'. Well, it’s a necessary technique, but it’s not all there is.
Yoo Seodam and his party arrived at a place called the ‘Blue Great White Shark Coast’. Immediately, Saeran immersed her bare feet in the white, fine, soft sand. She looked at the princess—who was enjoying a dip in the sea with a satisfied look on her face—and said.
“Princess, do you see the island across the sea over there?”
"Yeah. It's a pretty island. Do we have to cross there?”
"Yes, that’s right. The terrain here is very special, so no boats or bridges are needed. Now, would you like to see it?”
Saeran dipped her feet in the sea. But her feet did not sink; rather, they were floating on top of the water.
“Although it is only about 5m wide, the shoreline here and the other side are connected by ‘solid seawater’. It is a mysterious bridge created by nature.”
“Wow…”
It was indeed a very strange phenomenon, but, for Aracelli and Yoo Seodam, who had seen a lot of unusual things, it was nothing but ordinary.
“Hmm. Sea, huh?”
As Saeran and Aracelli walked behind the princess and walked through the transparent bridge, Yoo Seodam, who was watching the sea carefully, took off all his armor and shoved it into his inventory.
“Hey, woodcutter. What are you going to do?”
“This is the sea, it’s a waste if I don’t go swimming. Let's go get some shrimp tempura."
“…don’t you have to fry shrimp in flour to cook shrimp tempura?”
However, the Yoo Seodam didn’t answer Aracelli’s question and plunged into the sea. At that sight, Yerina burst into laughter, saying that he was such a funny person. Saeran hurriedly smiled awkwardly as she looked at the place where he disappeared without saying a word.
“Anyway, shall we go?” Although the distance was a bit far away, Yerina had no time to get bored as she crossed the bridge. It was because a lot of fish jumped out of the sea while they walked and even some good-natured dolphins approached them. After chatting with Aracelli, who seems to be her age (only her appearance), they finally reached the island.
‘Why do you say this is a dangerous place?’ It’s a place full of such beautiful and mysterious animals! Yerina thought so, and then followed Saeran toward the centre of the island. There was only one building built on the island, however it was almost the size of a mansion, and it was beautifully decorated with beautiful red bricks and opaque glass windows, boasting a very splendid appearance.
“Who are you?” An old woman slowly walked out of the hut when they got close. When she saw Yerina, her eyes widened. “Aren’t you the Third Princess of Primelia? Did you come here to look for a guardian?”
“I came here to learn about dignity.”
“Dignity? Are the muscle head princess going to come and lift me up? If you're joking, shut up."
“No, I'm not joking! I want to learn it in order to revive the tradition from 500 years ago.”
“…”
The old woman narrowed her eyes and looked at Yerina with sharp eyes. Saeran swallowed his saliva without realizing it. She had heard that the old woman in front of them enjoyed leisurely fishing in the countryside, so she was at a loss why such a woman would have such fierce and sharp eyes as well as a muscular body tempered from actual battles.
Then, soon after, the old woman withdrew her eyes and chuckled.
"That’s fine, I guess. I know for fact that even the most courageous female warriors would not have crossed the fearful ‘White Bridge of Death’. It's been years since a princess who had the courage to learn dignity… After several dozen generations, a princess who barely came to her senses has finally appeared.”
But there was something in her words that Yerina couldn't understand.
"Is it really dangerous? There were only mild fish…”
Yerina said that in a bewildered way and looked at Saeran with ‘Is that right?’ gaze, It was to ask her for confidence in her own words, but Saern quickly avoided her gaze.
‘Ummm…?’
Before she could even understand what's going on, a loud bang could be heard from her back. When she turned around, she could see Yoo Seodam dragging a gigantic fish with a drenched body.
“This hotel really has good service. They even prepared a meal for me when I’m swimming.”
"Uh… Wait! Isn't that a pestier fish? It tastes so good and I heard that it is a rare species, so it’s hard to even catch 10 of them a year…" Saeran said. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't recognize the biosensor radar, a product of modern science, held in Yoo Seodam's hands, so she was simply amazed.
“Is that so? I picked up the most nutritious one. Anyway, study hard and work hard. I will prepare the food for you.” After creating an environment similar to a refrigerator by magic, Yoo Seodam took out all the cooking utensils stored in his inventory. Then, Aracelli, whose cooking skills were at the level of a restaurant chef, immediately started preparing to cook.
Saeran looked blankly at the both of them before turning her gaze to the sea.
‘How did he prevent every single monster from the sea of death from approaching us, and even caught a pestier fish that only inhabits the deep sea…?'
Is he really an ordinary woodcutter?
Saeran thought that they might have indeed found a miracle for the princess.
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