He didn’t need to emphasize it repeatedly, he had planned to do it anyway. To begin with, the very idea of leaving through a window isn’t normal. Opening the front door with Riel, Kain stepped in, grabbed his shoes, and left.
While doing so, he grumbled about what took them so long to come out.
With dumbfounded expressions, Riel and Yuda exchanged glances, let out a hollow laugh, and followed Kain.
They opened the mansion door, entered, and moved along the corridor to the training ground.
It was afternoon, and since the Sabnak family, though honorary nobles, didn’t maintain a knight order, the place was empty except for Kaseun, Kain, and Yuda.
Kain picked up two children’s wooden swords hanging on the outer wall of the training ground building.
He held one himself and tossed the other to Yuda.
Riel, standing behind, saw the wooden sword flying through the air, yelped with a “Hik!” and stepped back.
Yuda reached out, precisely caught the handle of the flying wooden sword, and swung it lightly.
‘There’s some stamina drain, though.’
He trained with Kaseun in the morning and practiced alone in the afternoon. Fatigue had built up considerably. On top of that, he’d sweated a ton and felt grimy. He hadn’t said anything while Riel and Kain were coming, but Yuda was worried about whether he smelled of sweat.
And honestly, with his current skill and condition, dueling with Kain, who’d trained under Kaseun for so long, felt daunting.
But since Kaseun still wouldn’t duel with him, this duel with Kain was an opportunity.
They moved to the center of the training ground, facing each other with practice wooden swords raised.
Kain just grinned as if it were fun or exciting, showing no signs of tension.
That must mean he’s that confident.
‘But he’s still just a kid without a class.’
Before becoming an adult, Kain is chosen at Yophiel’s temple as 〈Gabriel’s Sword _ Holy Swordsman(Hidden_S)〉. It’s a class with high potential and tons of bonuses granted upon job change.
Truly a cheat class fit for the game’s protagonist.
But that’s in the future, not now.
Right now, he has the advantage with his 〈Black Claw _ Shadow Magic Swordsman(Hidden_A)〉 class.
The concern is the gap in experience. Unlike him, who’d only trained for a year, Kain had been taught by Kaseun since he was younger.
His judgment and response skills would naturally differ.
“Ready?”
With Yuda lost in complex thoughts and unmoving, Kain made the first move.
Gripping the sword with both hands, he charged fast and struck downward. Yuda lowered his stance and angled his wooden sword upward to block.
The moment a solid “Thwack!” hit, he knew the strength advantage was his. Kain seemed to realize it too, showing a slightly flustered look. Yuda immediately knocked Kain’s wooden sword aside and thrust toward his solar plexus.
It was a counter Kaseun had taught him. If it went like this, he could hit Kain’s solar plexus. But Kain wouldn’t go down easily, stepping back just in time to dodge by a hair.
“Guess you did learn from Grandpa, huh?”
“Of course! Even if I only learned for a year!”
The wooden swords clashed with a “Thwack, thwack!”
Kain grinned awkwardly, moved his wooden sword, and in an instant, Yuda’s sword pointed downward.
‘He deflected it?’
He’d meant to thrust straight, but it aimed at the ground.
Startled, he tried to pull the wooden sword back to defend, but Kain’s sword was already at his throat.
He froze, staring at Kain with wide eyes.
A thrill ran through his entire body, tingling.
Yes, this is it. This is what he wanted.
Only with this experience could he learn to handle things properly!
Yuda suppressed the urge to cheer.
“Hm, but you definitely lack practice experience.”
Kain stepped back with a playful expression, continuing as if showing off.
“When linking moves, you’re slow because you’re overthinking. I’m still learning too, so I can’t give much advice, but you need to get used to it. Then you can move fast like me—pow, pow!”
“Wow, Kain, you look cool for once!”
Watching from a distance, Riel clapped like a seal and praised him, and Kain shrugged his shoulders.
For a typical kid, this would’ve hurt their pride, but for Yuda, it was a truly meaningful time.
“One more time—let’s do it again. No, let’s keep going.”
“Huh? Well, it’s not that fun for me… but okay! It’ll be fine. Let’s do it!”
“Thanks.”
Yuda smiled brightly, genuinely. Winning wasn’t important.
Having a practice partner was what mattered!
Seeing Yuda like that, Kain raised his wooden sword as if he had no choice.
And so, Yuda could finally try out things he’d only thought or imagined.
If I move like this, the opponent will react like that.
And then I can move like this here!
Huh? That didn’t work, how about trying this instead?
Yuda grinned while swinging his wooden sword. And as expected, Kain blocked them all. Not just blocking but he would counter in a flash, aiming for vital spots. In a real fight, he would have died over ten times already, but Yuda wasn’t discouraged.
He never thought he had any talent. Now that he thought about it, he once tried kendo for a month, but even then, he couldn’t move his body the way he wanted. He hadn’t been motivated or desperate at the time. It was just a casual idea, something like, “Maybe I’ll try it for some exercise.” And during duels, he would unconsciously hold back, worried that his padded opponent might get hurt, all because of a misplaced sense of caution.
But this moment was different. With all his strength, he pressed Kain without pulling back mid-strike. He was adapting to this situation. With each failure, he was steadily stepping toward victory.
And right now—
After precisely tracking the incoming sword, he deflected it with a “Thwack!” and, without stopping, placed his wooden sword at Kain’s neck.
“Huh?”
He couldn’t be sure if Kain had let his guard down or gone easy on him. But judging by probabilities, the surprised look on his face made the former more likely.
Hoo—Hoo—
Breathing heavily while staring at Kain’s face to cool off, Yuda glanced at his wooden sword. Its tip was precisely aimed at Kain’s nape. He slowly lowered the wooden sword.
The fact that he had succeeded for the first time filled him with pride. And as Yuda won once, Riel, who had been watching quietly from her seat, cheered and stood up.
“Wow! Yuda finally won? Is it over now?”
At first, the rapid clashing of wooden swords was interesting, but later, it became utterly boring for her. She barely stayed awake because the sight of the two sweating and moving looked pretty cool.
To be exact, she had been watching Kain from start to finish, but not dozing off was enough. As Riel stretched long with a yawn, Yuda wiped the sweat from his forehead.
[Through dueling, you’ve grasped some swordsmanship you only knew in theory.]
The system log flashed, so he checked it briefly, but it wasn’t a big deal.
Turning off the hologram window, Yuda felt intense discomfort from the sweat dripping all over his body.
His already sweat-soaked clothes got wet again, sticking to him clammily.
The discomfort made him frown, but a contrasting refreshment rose from deep in his chest.
It was a feeling he had never had since coming to this world.
Exhausted and sitting on the floor, Riel seemed to recall something and scurried to the training ground building. Soon, the small girl struggled to carry a large basin with her tiny body and set it before Kain and Yuda. The basin, filled to the brim with cold water, held several towels inside.
Riel gave Kain a towel, and Yuda, unable to wait, reached out and grabbed one himself.
“Thanks, Riel.”
“Ah! Uh, I wanted to hear that from Kain first! I didn’t bring it for you!”
It could’ve felt hurtful, but Yuda just chuckled.
He knew. Riel likes Kain. It’s a common novel trope, called childish and clichéd, but he’d set it up thinking, “Isn’t a childhood friend a man’s dream?”—a silly notion.
And to keep her relevant mid-to-late game, he’d made her a rare and useful mage.
For now, she’s just a D-rank mage, but later, she’d be recognized by the Rangritsa Magic Tower, able to rise to an A-rank great mage or tower master.
With a pouty face, Riel looked at Yuda.
“Hey, Yuda, I’ve got a question.”
“Sure, go ahead,” Yuda said, wiping sweat with the towel.
“You lost so much. Why were you smiling so happily?”
“Because it was fun.”
“Heh? Fun? Even though you lost?”
Even Kain looked at Yuda, surprised by the answer.
Under their gazes, Yuda felt shy.
Their admiring looks just felt awkward.
“Fun”. There wasn’t a shred of a lie in that word.
“Yeah, even if I lost, it’s just today’s loss. I’ll keep practicing, and someday I’ll win. I’ve got talent, so I can beat Kain like I just did.”
“What? That’s annoying. Kain will win tomorrow and the day after! He won’t lose to you! Right?”
At Riel’s words, Kain just smiled awkwardly, saying nothing.
Yuda stood to put the sweat-drenched towel back in the basin, but his trembling legs gave out, and he plopped back down.
Looking closer, it wasn’t just his legs—his arms were the same.
His whole body felt heavy.
“Did I overdo it? I might get sick if I’m not careful,” he thought.
“You okay?”
He nodded at Kain’s question.
It caught him off guard. No matter how tough it got, he’d never been this exhausted before.
“A short rest, and I’ll be fine.”
“How about just sleeping here tonight? Grandpa won’t mind, and there’s plenty of empty rooms.”
He wanted to say he was fine, but his tired body made walking home seem tough.
Checking his condition quietly, Yuda sighed and asked for the favor, and Kain ran to the house, saying to wait a bit.
Watching Kain’s back as he ran, Yuda lay flat on the training ground.
‘Lying down feels better.’
The cool breeze made him want to fall asleep as is.
With his eyes closed, he felt like he’d really doze off, so he looked at Riel.
Bored—should he tease her a bit? Talking with kids his age like this had been a long time coming.
All he had done since coming to this world was boring stuff like library, stamina training, sword practice.
Most kids teased him as a cursed orphan and ran off, and even those who approached rarely had good intentions.
Those he’d scared off never came back, so being alone became natural.
It felt oddly surprising that today, Kain and Riel approached, talked, dueled, and stayed together with him. Noticing his stare, Riel furrowed her brow.
“Ugh, what.”
“You like Kain, don’t you?”
The reaction was instant—she hiccupped, and her face turned red in a flash.
She seemed super flustered; her mouth twitched visibly.
Giggling, Yuda laughed, and Riel stomped right up to where he lay.
“Y-You! H-How’d you know! W-was it obvious?”
“No, I just said it.”
Her shocked expression turned wary in an instant.
Riel lowered her voice, growling like a cautious cat.
“You tell anyone, you’re dead. Got it?”
He chuckled softly and nodded.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep it a secret.”
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***Author’s notes***
Maybe you’ll tell me to pursue Riel. But no-no, that’s a no-no.
I can say this about Riel heading toward Kain:
“Let her go.”
She’s not that important anyway. How could a protagonist who just arrived in this world mess with them?
She’s wrapped up in modern ethics. Well, maybe later, but for now, it’s unnecessary.
Heh heh. I’ve got someone more to my liking prepared.
Wow, I thought it was a lie that newbies could post three chapters in a row like this—but it’s real.
So many people doing triple, quadruple posts.
…But, everyone, I’ve been invited to a Joara lunch event tomorrow, so I’m heading to Seoul.
Since I’m leaving early this morning, I’m short on time. (Haha. Is it okay to say this?)
I’ll probably meet other writers there, right? I’m not sure if a nobody like me should go, but I’ll eat well, listen to stories, and catch up with a friend I haven’t seen in a while.
Since I’ll likely spend the night at a PC bang in Seoul, I’ll set the July 3rd post on reserve.
P.S.) No one’s waiting for me at Seoul Station, right?
Honestly, with Joara Noblesse prices going up, I want to show you all more writing.
It’ll take some time, but I’ll try my best to post consecutively^^.
