Chapter 10
After finishing his first greeting with his descendant, Luke returned to the main house.
His steps carried a somehow complex and subtle emotion.
'That was Surging Frost, wasn't it?'
Luke recalled the secret technique his descendant had shown moments ago.
A sharp chill that covered his vision in an instant.
It was clearly the secret technique he had created, 'Surging Frost.'
And it was the real deal, containing the true essence properly at that.
'How did that guy end up using that?'
Luke let out a hollow laugh, finding it absurd.
He recalled the time when he had first demonstrated that technique in the past.
"My word, the frost truly rolls in like surging waves. It seems even more splendid than the Frostwind Sword."
"For a technique made merely as a test to reach this level, as expected of the Patriarch!"
"I shall record it in the secret manual at once! Such a secret technique must be widely passed down to later generations!"
"Karin, don't make a fuss. This takes too long to prepare, so it can't be used in actual combat. It's merely a ceremonial technique."
"Huh? But I was already recording it."
"You and your useless antics again!"
He had thought of it as a minor passing incident back then.
A technique he had made merely as practice while unleashing the Frostwind Sword.
But it seemed those foolishly loyal knights had gone and recorded it in the secret manual.
So that was how that technique had been passed down to his descendants.
Seeing his descendant using such a technique as if it were some great secret art left a bitter taste in his mouth.
'He can't even use the mainstream secret techniques properly, yet he uses something like that correctly.'
This was the current state of Syunelden.
When even the direct bloodline couldn't learn proper secret techniques, how could vassal knights learn them?
Still, in this bleak situation, he had seen one small hope.
'That boy, his skill is hopeless, but his potential alone was worth acknowledging, wasn't it?'
The fact that it was a technique with a long preparation time also meant it was that much harder to use properly.
To use 'Surging Frost' properly, one needed innate mana control.
Without it, no matter how much one comprehended the true essence, it was difficult to use properly.
However, Theo had recreated that technique almost perfectly.
To the extent that if Luke hadn't known the technique's weakness, he might have been caught off guard.
'It's fortunate he at least shows promise.'
With his personality already in ruins and his current skill hopeless, if he hadn't shown any potential either?
He might have revised his plans, regrettable as it would have been.
Putting the eldest son at the forefront so that he himself could operate beneath the surface.
It had been a good idea, but it wasn't so essential that he needed to waste precious time on a worthless boy.
Fortunately, that boy's talent was enough to remind him of the knights he had personally trained in the past.
Moreover, the current Luke was in a state of having realized far more than in the past.
If raised well, he might become a disciple more outstanding than any he had raised before.
'I must hurry with the preparations.'
Recalling the days when he had trained disciples in the past, Luke headed to the White Silver Hall.
It felt as though the screams his disciples had shrieked here over two hundred years ago could still be heard.
* * *
That evening.
Theo came out to the White Silver Hall.
Honestly, at first, he had tried to ignore Luke's words.
There was no need to obey just because his younger brother told him to.
But the moment he lay in bed, an inexplicable anxiety crept up on him.
Luke's cold voice from their last meeting wouldn't leave his head.
In the end, rather than staying here uncomfortably, he decided to go out to the hideout.
'I'm going out because I promised. Not because I'm scared.'
Muttering so, he came out to the backyard, but the one who had called him wasn't even there.
All that was there were tools whose purpose he couldn't even guess.
Theo's eyes darted around busily.
After confirming there was no one here, he spat on the ground.
"How dare you make me wait? I came here personally like this."
"Sorry, sorry. I said I'd hurry with preparations, but there was a lot to do."
"Surprised me."
Startled by the voice from behind, Theo whirled around.
Luke had already come right up behind him.
If the opponent had intended to harm him?
He would have died right on the spot.
A shiver.
Theo trembled without realizing it.
But what was in Luke's hands wasn't a sword, but some metal lumps.
'Was he planning to bash my head in with those instead of a sword?'
That thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"It's not like that, so don't worry."
"W-what?"
Theo was genuinely flustered.
Did that bastard go so far as to read his mind?
Of course, that was only Theo's delusion.
No matter how outstanding Luke was, there was no way he had learned something like mind-reading.
He had simply spoken because that thought was written all over Theo's face.
Theo felt his pride wounded even more by the fact that he had been frightened by his younger brother.
'On the outside, he doesn't look any different from before.'
He carefully looked Luke up and down.
No matter how he looked, this was definitely the younger brother who used to flinch just meeting his eyes.
At best, he had exercised a bit more since then.
He absolutely didn't seem to possess the strength he had shown at the Northern.
'Should I just bash him from behind?'
He had that thought, but it vanished quickly.
Because his younger brother showed not the slightest opening.
And due to a strange charisma, he felt himself shrinking without realizing it.
It was such an unfamiliar feeling that even he was confused.
The only thing certain was that coming here obediently had been a good idea.
Thud.
Clink.
While Theo was analyzing Luke this way and that, Luke assembled the metal lumps he had brought onto a metal bar.
Shortly after, Luke finished assembling and stood up, dusting off his hands.
"You came all the way here, so can I take it that you want to train with me too?"
Theo shook his head internally.
But he didn't show it outwardly.
Whether he didn't show it or couldn't show it, he wasn't sure.
"A direct bloodline of a martial family must possess the proper qualifications."
Meanwhile, Luke continued in a solemn voice.
'You say that even though you put down your sword a long time ago.'
That thought suddenly occurred to Theo.
But right now, he didn't have the nerve to pick a fight over such things.
"Before we start training in earnest, let's solve the most urgent matter first."
"What's urgent?"
"Stamina."
Luke spoke, his voice thick with mockery.
"You were too weak to learn the qualifications of a martial family."
Theo's face twisted up fiercely.
In his life, he had been called every name under the sun—insolent bastard, ruffian, good-for-nothing, son of a bitch—but he had never been called weak before.
Who was he?
Was he not called the greatest talent of Syunelden, its only hope?
Never before had someone openly mocked him as weak.
His pride suffered a deep scratch.
But Luke hadn't even grazed a hair on him for ten minutes straight, so he had no room to argue.
The best he could do was watch Luke with a sulky expression.
"If you're unhappy, want to try this with me? Who knows, my assessment might change after seeing it."
"What is this?"
"These are things I usually use when I exercise; I brought them here to train with you."
"So I just lift this?"
"We'll take turns lifting it."
It seemed he just had to insert the metal lumps into the bar and lift it.
It didn't look very difficult.
"Did you call me weak?"
"A lot."
Those words scratched at Theo's pride.
At the same time, he thought this was an opportunity.
A chance to crush that bastard's arrogance with strength and make him his old self again.
'I don't know what trick you pulled at the tavern, but there's no way I'll lose to you in a contest of pure strength.'
Theo was overflowing with confidence.
"I'll definitely do more than you, so watch closely."
"Oh, I'll look forward to it."
"Alright, how many? Thirty? Forty?"
"Shall we start with a hundred as a warm-up?"
"One hundred…?"
"Why, scared?"
"Not a chance. You think I can't do a measly hundred?"
"Then you go first."
Luke's confidence bewildered him, but Theo was still sure of himself.
But he didn't know.
That it was over five hundred meters from the Small Moon Hall to here.
And that Luke had moved all this equipment here by himself.
* * *
"Nnnngh!"
Theo lifted the metal bar with lumps attached to both sides.
His face was already flushed red with blood.
Crash!
"One hundred."
Theo shouted 'one hundred' and threw down the bar.
It had been somewhat manageable at first, but the moment he passed sixty, his chest felt like it would tear apart.
Surely Luke had just spouted a high number to scare him beforehand.
But he had managed to complete all one hundred reps.
That way, he could mercilessly mock that arrogant brother.
"That enough?"
"Yeah, well… if you're done, I need to do it now, so move aside."
Luke, without much reaction, lay down on a stone bench.
Then he began to lift the metal bar as if it were nothing.
'What?'
Theo's mind went blank watching the bar rise up smoothly.
"…Ninety-nine, one hundred."
Tap.
Luke, having reached the target count in an instant, set the bar down.
Unlike himself, the way he set the bar down was impossibly smooth.
As if he had just done a warm-up.
'My main exercise was his warm-up?'
He absolutely couldn't accept it.
Strength was determined by the amount of mana that could be infused into the muscles and its efficiency.
In other words, the greater one's mana quantity or the finer one's control, the stronger one's power.
And Theo was a body that had trained mana from the moment he took his first steps until now.
There was no way he would lose to a younger brother who had quit halfway in both quantity and control.
'Surely that bastard is struggling too; he's just hiding it.'
That was the only way he could think of it.
But Luke shattered his doubts.
"Then shall we do the main set?"
Luke said all too nonchalantly.
"Are you pulling a fast one on me right now?"
"A fast one?"
"Didn't you spout a high number because if I can't do it, you don't have to either?"
"Why would I do that? This is just my warm-up. You're too weak to keep up, that's all."
"You're bluffing. I've humored you enough, so I'm leaving now."
Theo stalked off toward his room.
Swoosh!
Luke blocked Theo's path.
In the blink of an eye, a distance of ten paces had closed.
"Didn't I tell you before? The weak must shut up and listen to the strong."
"Who says I'm weak?"
"Then show me. We can have another round right here. My body's already warmed up, so no need for a separate warm-up."
Gulp.
Theo swallowed without realizing it.
The image of Luke lifting that metal bar as a warm-up suddenly came to mind.
Could he really win against that guy?
He wasn't confident.
Especially since he had been toyed with by him at the tavern.
But he couldn't be dragged around by his younger brother like this.
"Let's have a proper match."
In the end, Theo acted tough out of pride.
But he didn't realize his physical condition was not normal due to the exercise just now.
"Exactly the reaction I wanted."
A wicked smile formed at Luke's lips, and he charged at Theo.
"W-what? So suddenly?"
"I don't give up the first strike."
Bam!
And for a while, heavy impact sounds and a man's screams echoed through the White Silver Hall.