“Ha.”
Quietly loosening up his body, Enoch let out a hollow laugh and bowed his head.
“Well, well… No wonder it looked like a good fit for you. You were aiming for it all along, huh?”
A few days ago, Enoch had sent a question to the Duke of Gray, asking why they hadn’t extended an invitation to Kane. But even without receiving an answer, he already knew.
Cherrya had her sights set on Kane.
It was obvious—Benedict Emblem, the only one in the Emblem who could match wits with Jade Gray, must have pulled some strings behind the scenes.
“What do we do about this…?”
Enoch squinted his eyes as he glanced at Cherrya.
Perhaps startled by her snickering to herself, Kane quickly distanced himself from her.
By the looks of it, Cherrya was determined to have Kane in her grasp.
Kane aspired to join the Gray Knights, and Enoch didn’t think that was a bad choice for him.
“If Cherrya finds out about this, she’ll throw a fit.”
Despite muttering those words with concern, a faint smile spread across Enoch’s lips.
If Cherrya wanted Kane so badly, he was willing to let her have him. However, that didn’t mean he would make it easy.
“This is going to be interesting, for once.”
The academy, which had been rather dull, had turned into a stage for excitement with Cherrya’s arrival.
Enoch, still stretching his body, suddenly felt a pang of regret that she hadn’t enrolled in the academy with him.
Even though Cherrya had been coldly rejected earlier, she appeared entirely unfazed and confidently stood beside Professor Melvine.
In response, Professor Melvine nodded as if to signal the start of the session and raised his voice.
“Everyone, gather around!”
The students had likely warmed up enough by now, and it was time for the official Emblem training to begin.
“You all probably have confidence in your skills and pride in being part of the continent’s renowned Academy Swordsmanship Division! If you graduate safely, you’ll likely have ambitions to join a prestigious order of knights, right?”
At Cherrya’s words, the academy students gathered in front of her and responded energetically.
“Yes, that’s correct!”
“What do you think is the most important quality in a knightly order?”
In response to Cherrya’s question, the students each voiced their thoughts.
“Exceptional skills!”
“A cool-headed mindset!”
“Public recognition!”
Many answers came from various directions. However, the response Cherrya was seeking did not emerge.
“There’s something even more important than that! And that is teamwork!”
Hearing Cherrya’s words, the students looked puzzled and confused.
Teamwork—it was something naturally expected of knights who ended up in the same order.
Yet, for some reason, the students found it difficult to grasp why it was considered the most crucial factor.
“In an era of peace, the individual capabilities of knights were of utmost importance. However, we are now living in chaotic times, where monsters are abnormally appearing throughout the continent. The most critical issue for any order of knights today is how effectively they can carry out exterminations.”
“……..!”
At Cherrya’s words, the students nodded and their eyes lit up. She was right. These were rapidly changing times for the continent.
The massive surge in monster appearances had become a common and severe problem for all nations. Among the orders of knights, Emblem had adapted the quickest to these new conditions.
‘The fact that we get to learn their methods is incredible!’
The students’ eyes burned with determination. Seeing this, Cherrya smiled and asked them.
“You all know where this year’s graduation exam will be held, don’t you?”
“Yes! The Carmedan Jungle!”
The Carmedan Jungle. If Lutinas had the Kratyn Forest, then the Carmedan Jungle was the infamous monster habitat of the Pavan Kingdom.
The Pavan Kingdom had routinely conducted monster extermination missions there, but the population of monsters had begun to increase steadily. Eventually, the damage caused by these creatures had even spread to nearby territories.
At one point, the situation had become so dire that the Pavan Kingdom abandoned border defenses and dispatched all their knights to the Carmedan Jungle.
Even then, it wasn’t enough, and they had to enlist the help of the Seffield Emblem to eradicate all the monsters within the jungle.
Afterward, the jungle remained quiet for a long time. However, recently, monster activity had been reported once again, and the number of creatures was now rising rapidly to previous levels.
“The king of the Pavan Kingdom proposed to the academy that the graduation exam be held in the Carmedan Jungle. Many of you probably think that excelling there will make your name known throughout the kingdom.”
“That’s correct!”
“But forget that notion. Focus on exterminating as many monsters as possible, rather than seeking personal glory! If you put your objectives and goals on the same level, you’ll never achieve the fame you desire.”
Cherrya’s words left the students speechless, their eyes blinking in silence.
“Today, we’ll learn how to form battle formations and how to suppress your sword.”
“……..”
Suppressing their swords? The students couldn’t help but pout. That phrase meant they wouldn’t be able to stand out, after all.
For students who dreamed of becoming renowned knights like the members of Seffield Emblem, individual glory was of paramount importance.
“Aren’t you curious as to why Emblem is not just known across the Lutinas Empire, but throughout the entire continent?”
“…We’re curious!”
Thinking of the fame of the Emblem knights, the students set aside their reluctance, at least for now.
“I’ll teach you how much power a knight can wield when they suppress their own sword and learn to blend it with others’.”
Cherrya made her remarks and glanced at Enoch. In return, Enoch looked back at her, raising one corner of his lips in a faint smile and nodding.
A calm yet powerful sword amidst harmony—this was the hallmark of the Gray family’s swordsmanship. It didn’t stand out individually but revealed its true strength when wielded collectively, embodying the essence of Gray’s technique.
‘This is no easy feat. Just today, Lucas managed to snip my hair.’
‘You need to enhance your ability to read the sword with your senses, not just your eyes. If you train your body to instinctively react to presences, it’ll help even more.’
‘Is it okay to share the Gray training techniques with Emblem? If your grandfather knew, he’d foam at the mouth and faint.’
‘We made a promise—to figure out how to do this together. I’m curious about how the Emblem knights can swing their swords with more power than ours, even when undergoing similar strength training. It just doesn’t make sense.’
‘During training, we attach sandbags to our arms and legs. Once accustomed to that, we increase the locations—wrists, shoulders, waist, calves, thighs. This way, even when using just half the usual strength without the sandbags, our strikes feel much more powerful.’
Over the five years Enoch and I had corresponded, we didn’t exchange a lot of letters. However, we made sure to communicate the essentials.
The Gray knights needed to learn how to integrate Emblem’s techniques, just as Emblem had to incorporate Gray’s principles.
It was an effort we gradually initiated after realizing, during our time in the Lowes Mountains, the necessity for two knight orders, as different as water and oil, to merge their methods.
“This graduation exam will be a profoundly significant moment for both you and me.”
It was time to demonstrate the results of the training we had painstakingly developed with Enoch.
Though Enoch might have gleaned some understanding from Emblem’s widespread fame across the continent, I had always wanted to show him firsthand what we had achieved.
