章 5: Chapter 5: Thundering Watering Firing School

"No chance. Nada. Null. Zero."

"Knight Captain!"

Isaac held in the urge to click his tongue at Joel's shout. He had somehow fallen asleep and was pushed on his bed. He knew he could afford to rest in Joel's presence since the stalwart butler would handle everything. But alas, the very same butler that Isaac trusted had woken him up like a chicken warning the forest of the falling sky.

Whatever. This wasn't the time to sleep anyway.

Isaac had come over to the training grounds of the Grim Rose Knight Order, the Order ran and managed by Count von Athenus in the main house's estate. Magic wasn't the only thing that the family of Athenus was known for, their capability as generals and leaders, as swordsmen and wizards, all of them were one of a kind in the entire empire, to the point that even the emperor would ask for the current count's opinion before waging war anywhere.

Naturally, there was no better place to find great swordsmen than the knight order ran and managed by the count family.

But, the evaluation of the knight captain…

"There's no chance you're winning, young count. You won't even last the qualifiers." The knight captain flicked his unruly red hair to the side and scratched his stubble as he eyed the young count top down.

"Knight Captain! Victor! This is no way to behave!"

"Look, Joel," Victor raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and shook his head. "I respect young Isaac, ok? I know full well how strong he is. Heck, you have no idea what it feels like to be this monsters personal guinea pig for new spells."

Isaac nodded.

"So, I say it with all that respect in mind when I mention that the chances of winning are zero. The young lord can't register for this competition. Maybe if magic was allowed, he would have been a force to be reckoned with despite being a researcher, but swordsmanship? For that, the young lord would have to do a thousand pushups every day for twenty years straight."

"I do seven hundred," Isaac said. The two others in the room looked at him with slightly surprised eyes. They didn't think the wizard was one to work out physically. "Can't you compromise, captain?"

"Ah, here I thought you had a naturally blessed physique. I am relieved you work out," Victor averted his gaze slightly. "That said, young Isaac. Would you compromise and say a wizard who can barely perform basic spells can manage to beat an advance-ranked wizard in a few weeks?"

"No chance. Intermediate at least. Either that or me."

"What the—Hey!"

"It's the truth."

"Haha," Victor placed his palm on his forehead and sighed.

"Anyway," Isaac continued. "I am not here to beat a swordsman normally. Joel is a fool."

"Hm? What then? Are you planning to cheat and use magic?"

"Victor! The young lord would never—"

"He would."

"I would."

Joel's retort was mercilessly sliced down by the other two. He clicked his tongue and turned away.

At that time, Isaac pulled out the sword hanging from his waist out of its scabbard. Covered in the shabby scabbard, it was nothing more than a simple training sword of the knight order, but as the blade was pulled out, Victor could only watch it with his breath held tight.

"Enchanted sword… Isaac, those are not allowed."

"It's not enchanted," Isaac said, pulling out the blade completely and holding it in front of his eyes without as much as a subtle change in his expression. "This is a blade no one other than I can use. It's made to handle my magic and my magic only. This sword is one with me. Does it not fit the creed of the knights, captain?"

"What kind of? Did you make this sword yourself? Just now?"

"Took a month."

Victor sighed again, the fourth time in the small conversation. But, the vigor of his lord was conveyed perfectly to him. And, were he to be honest, he didn't like hearing the rumor that an upstart knight could defeat his monster of a lord. If it was training him a bit… that fell into his responsibilities too.

"Very well, young lord." Victor walked over to the wide arena of the training halls. The other knights had been kicked out long back, leaving the rubber-matted floors empty. At the back of the hall was a rack filled with wooden swords. Victor grabbed one and spun it in his hands before resting the blunt blade on his shoulder as he looked at the ceiling of the room.

"Come," he said. "Let's test you, and this blade of yours—"

A crackling shot of lightning swerved through the air, aimed right at Victor's temple. The captain hurriedly infused his blade with his Ki and knocked the approaching lightning away to the ground.

"Coward!" he screamed.

"Naive, captain." Isaac took a stance with the sword between his eyes and pointed the tip at the knight. With a grunt, he kicked off the ground and rushed ahead. "There's no cowardice in battle!"

Sparks flew out as metal clashed against wood. Then fire clashed against wood, water against skin, and lightning against soul. An intense battle broke out between the knight captain and the young count.

The battle lasted an exact 21 seconds.

And ended with the young count lying face-first on the floor, the sword away from his hands.

The knight captain, on the other hand, was taking in deep breaths as he watched the young count.

His sword had snapped in half, and a small burn had planted itself on the back of his palm.

"Isaac…" the knight captain called out, calming his breath each second.

Isaac emotionlessly raised his head off the ground and looked at the knight captain.

"What do you plan to call your style… when you register."

"How about… Thundering Watering Firing School?"

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