Raon swallowed nervously as he watched Glenn and Rector, who crossed the walls from right and left respectively.
'What's happening right now?'
Their surprised, round eyes suggested that they probably either didn't notice each other's presence or didn't expect them to appear at the exact same time to say something similar.
"What are you doing right now?"
Raon called out to Glenn and Rector, who was standing there awkwardly, but they didn't even look at him.
Glenn was glaring at Rector with a displeased expression on his face while Rector was meeting Glenn's eyes with a furrowed brow.
"My lord, Sir Rector!"
Raon shouted their names, and they looked at him at the same time.
"Hmm, I came to see you because you told me that you would do a daybreak training today. I was curious as to what kind of training you were going to do, and we made a promise, after all."
Rector was the first one to approach him. He said that he came to help with his training with serious eyes.
"I see."
Raon nodded after listening to Rector's explanation.
'He did indeed say that.'
Rector had told him that he wanted to help his sword practice on the way to the annex building, and he also asked about the daybreak training when Raon was guiding him to his room. It was totally understandable that he was there.
"My lord."
Raon murmured that it was understandable and looked to his right.
"Why did you come here, my lord…?"
He was slightly anxious because he couldn't guess why Glenn was there at all, unlike Rector.
"Ahem."
Glenn cleared his throat and swept his disheveled hair up. His eyes used to reveal his panic but had frozen like the northern wind.
"I told you before that I had another reward for you."
"Ah…"
"I'm going to personally teach you instead of giving you a book of martial arts."
He declared that he was going to personally teach him since a vivid display of the sword was the befitting reward for a golden tablet rather than a book of martial arts.
"Err…"
Raon swallowed nervously while looking back and forth between Glenn and Rector.
'What's happening right now? Am I dreaming?'
His sense of reality was fading away because the two swordsmen who were unmatched within the continent came to see him at the same time to teach him the way of the sword.
"So, you both came to the fifth training ground so early in the morning in order to teach me swordsmanship, right?"
"Yes."
"Indeed."
Rector and Glenn nodded at the same time.
However, they were glaring at each other instead of looking at the person they came to teach.
'It's so cold.'
He should've felt hot because he'd been swinging a sword until a moment ago, but coldness was welling up all around his body as if he were inside the northern sea because of the cold atmosphere created by Glenn and Rector.
Raon bit his lip while looking at the space that felt like sparks were appearing from the clash.
'What am I supposed to do?'
If Glenn and Rector came to teach him one after the other, it would've been a great opportunity for him. However, it was difficult to deal with because they came at the same time.
He couldn't think straight anymore and was unsure of what to do.
* * *
After a short moment of silence, Glenn was the first one to act.
"Sir Rector."
Glenn raised his chin with his hands clasped behind his back.
"He is a swordsman of Zieghart. Receiving my teaching seems to be the correct course of action."
He lowered the corners of his lips heavily while emphasizing the fact that he was the head of house and Raon was a member, which was the most important relationship.
"That is true."
Rector slowly nodded. Raon thought he would yield, but he smiled faintly without even taking a single step back.
"However, I made the promise with Raon first. It was yesterday. I told him that I would help him with his sword practice for a while. The same goes for this training."
He had indeed said that he would help with the training, but he'd never said anything about the daybreak training. He even added something he'd never said to claim that he had priority.
"Since even his teacher, the Sword of Light, gave his permission, the one who promised first would have the priority, don't you think?"
"Hmm…"
Rector calmly voiced out the reason why he had the priority even though he was panicking.
Raon could see that Glenn was clenching his fist when Rimmer's name was mentioned.
"Even if you were the first to promise, Raon is a member of Zieghart. The matter of the house should always take priority."
Glenn bit his lip slightly. He seemed to think that he couldn't surrender.
"That depends on the case. Raon is on vacation right now."
Rector didn't lose either and kept arguing until the end.
They were shooting their frightening glares at each other, claiming that they would be the one to teach Raon without yielding in the slightest.
"…This is endless."
"Indeed. Since it has come to this…"
Glenn and Rector continued their frightening argument behind the guise of composure before they looked at Raon instead.
"We should ask Raon himself."
"Yes, we should."
The ferocious eyes that used to glare at each other were directed at Raon at the same time.
"What do you want to do?"
"Hmm…"
Raon grasped his wrist upon facing the sparks flashing from Glenn and Rector's eyes.
'What a tremendous pressure.'
Even though they weren't releasing any aura or pressure at all, Raon was still feeling a tremendous amount of pressure. He felt like his heart was going to shatter into pieces just from their gazes.
'What should I do?'
Since they were both priceless martial arts, he didn't want to miss either Glenn or Rector's teachings.
He felt like his brain was trembling, but he had to figure something out no matter what.
However, he had the feeling that he was bound to miss one of them no matter what he tried.
No, that wasn't even the issue. They could end up fighting, and the training ground could be blown up.
"Ugh…"
Raon contemplated while biting his lip, and the two people's presence gradually intensified.
Umm, the King of Essence is hungry. He is going to save some for later.
Wrath suddenly started talking in his sleep with his mouth protruding from the ice flower bracelet. He looked like he was eating something in his dream.
'He is seriously so useless…'
Raon was about to flick Wrath's mouth with his finger but stopped himself.
'Save some for later? Yes, there's no reason to eat everything right now.'
He changed his perspective and realized that their competition to teach him was actually a golden opportunity.
"It's true that I promised to train with Sir Rector, and it's also true that my lord was going to give me another reward."
Raon nodded and faced their gazes. His eyes weren't wavering anymore.
"So let's do this."
"Hmm?"
"Do what?"
They leaned forward slightly at the unexpected response.
"I'm currently confident in the powerful sword, heavy sword, and swift sword, while I'm still inexperienced in the variable sword, illusion sword, soft sword, severing sword, flexible sword, and explosive sword."
Raon listed the sword principles that he was still inexperienced in while looking at the questioning eyes of the two people.
"You could pick three of them each and train me, then check who was the better teacher afterward."
"Erm…"
"Hmm?"
They dropped their jaws at the same time because they'd never expected that Raon would blatantly suggest a teaching competition.
"Hah."
Glenn gasped while looking at Raon.
'Look at him.'
Regardless of his displeasure against Rector, he was curious how Raon would deal with that situation—but he'd never expected them to prepare a scenario for them to compete.
He couldn't tell whether he should call him bold or insolent.
'However…'
He had no choice but to play in his hand because there was no escape even though he knew what was happening.
"Hmm…"
Rector also licked his lips while looking at Raon's composed eyes.
'Edgar, this is unexpected coming from your son.'
Unlike his son, who was purely an upright man, his grandson knew how to take advantage of the situation.
He started laughing in his mind upon seeing that even Glenn was contemplating it because he had no other choice despite being called the Destructive King of the North.
'This makes me like your son even more.'
He realized there was no escape from his grandson's plot and decided to thoroughly fall into the trap.
Raon clenched his fist while looking at Glenn and Rector's eyes, which were embarrassed at first but became as passionate as a fire afterward.
'This should be the correct answer.'
He wasn't too sure why they were doing it, but since they were competing against each other, preparing a scenario where they could go all out was the correct course of action.
They must've thought that he was being insolent, but they should've had no other choice than to play along with it.
'I can control my progress during the training.'
He figured that he could keep having them teach him in the future by controlling his progress to prevent them from sulking. It was pretty much a never-ending supply.
"Do you not want to? If you don't want it, then I'll go with the other…"
"Not at all!"
"I'll do it!"
Raon murmured that they should leave if they didn't want to, and Glenn and Rector shook their heads at the same time.
"I'll teach you the variable sword, soft sword, and flexible sword!"
"In that case, I'll be in charge of the illusion sword, severing sword, and explosive sword."
Glenn and Rector immediately decided on what sword principles they were going to teach.
"Alright."
Raon's mouth curved into a faint smile as he looked at the two, who were eager to compete.
"Since I'm currently on vacation and I promised with the Sword Demon beforehand, I'll have him teach me until lunch and receive my lord's teachings in the afternoon."
He decided to train with the Sword Demon first because he didn't completely understand his personality yet, making Glenn wait because he was definitely going to reward him considering his personality. After all, he always rewarded people accordingly.
That was the only way he came up with to learn swordsmanship from both of them.
"Huhu!"
"Hmm…"
The Sword Demon victoriously raised his chin while Glenn clenched his fist while frowning.
They looked like the victor and the loser were decided. However, Glenn couldn't argue against him because he could somewhat understand why Raon had said that.
"Please come back after lunch, head of house. It's my turn now."
The Sword Demon was also frowning, probably because he couldn't stay with Raon all day long, but simply smiled for the moment.
"I'll be back at noon."
Glenn violently uttered as if he was grinding his teeth.
"At noon? Isn't that too early?"
"It's only natural that lunch takes place at noon."
"We've always trained until 2 P.M."
"As for us, we always eat lunch at noon."
"Then you need to give him some time to eat…"
Glenn and Rector proceeded onto round two. Raon's sense of reality faded away once again as he watched the Destructive King of the North and the Sword Demon fighting over lunchtime.
Raon slapped his own cheek while watching their serious argument to gain one hour.
'I'm not dreaming. Seriously, what's happening right now…?'
In the end, since Glenn wanted it to be at noon while Rector wanted 2 P.M., they reached the consensus that it would be 1 P.M., and Raon could finally start his training.
"We've lost a lot of time."
Rector sighed and walked up to him.
"Let's get started right away. We are already too late."
"Yes."
Raon nodded. He felt like he'd been hallucinating because of how composed Rector was once again.
"Variable sword, soft sword, flexible sword, illusion sword, severing sword. and even the explosive sword. You must be trying to achieve a versatile sword higher than the others."
Rector slowly nodded and continued.
"What is the path that you truly desire?"
"I want to become a swordsman who won't yield to anyone."
He said the exact same thing that he'd told Rimmer and Sylvia at some point. He'd never changed his mind.
"I see. That's why you want the versatile sword…"
Rector smiled faintly and stopped clasping his hands behind his back.
"For now, try using the Fangs of Insanity with nothing but the principles of the illusion sword."
"Understood."
Raon bowed politely and drew Heavenly Drive. He removed the ferocity, speed, and power of the Fangs of Insanity and incorporated it with nothing but illusion.
Heavenly Drive spread around like sunlight brushing past the window and created a dozen blades that swiftly fell.
Speed, power, and ferocity were gone, but the illusion looked like a flower was blooming from the sword.
Raon displayed the illusory Fangs of Insanity from the beginning to the end before he lowered Heavenly Drive.
"Was this your first time trying to incorporate nothing but the illusion sword in the Fangs of Insanity?"
The Sword Demon raised his eyes while stroking his beard.
"Yes."
"Amazing. You must've put a lot of thought into it."
He praised him, saying that it was a nice change and that he felt like he saw a different illusion technique instead of the Fangs of Insanity.
"Let alone those weaker than you, even the warriors at the same level as you will have a hard time dealing with it. However, your goal is even higher, isn't it?"
"Indeed."
Raon nodded, saying that it was naturally true.
"It needs a lot of improvement in that perspective. Let's start with the first technique. Your skill was flashy, but it wasn't exactly difficult to find the real sword. The most important part about an illusion sword isn't the number of illusions but how realistic they are, even if you only end up with one."
Rector kindly explained in detail which parts needed improvement and when his sword wavered.
'He really is amazing.'
He was the Sword Demon for a good reason since he managed to notice which part needed to be fixed and which part needed to be improved after only seeing it once.
"Since we found the wrong answer, it's time to find the correct answer. Try using the Fangs of Insanity again while keeping what I just told you in mind."
"Yes."
Raon rolled his lips into a smile while thinking about Rector's sincere advice.
'It's going to be fun for a while.'
* * *
Glenn looked down upon the fifth training ground while standing on a hill in North Grave Mountain.
"Damn it."
He clenched his fist tightly while speaking insults out loud. It was rare coming from him.
'How could this happen…?'
He was trying to act quickly before Raon and Rector got even closer to each other, but his actions came far faster than anticipated.
'Was he aware of what I've been thinking?'
Ever since the first time he'd seen Rector, Glenn had noticed his affection and obsession towards Raon. Rector must've noticed that the change of reward the day before was an unusual occurrence and immediately tried to become his teacher.
'What a sly old man.'
He was a fast thinker and was quick to put it into action, befitting his name as the Sword Demon.
'What's even worse is…that he is actually good at teaching.'
If he was teaching wrong or did anything strange, Glenn was going to immediately barge in and blow him up. That was what he actually wanted to do, but the Sword Demon was teaching Raon with all his heart. It was to the point where there was nothing to criticize.
"Haa…"
Glenn bit his lip tightly and glared at him fiercely.
'You want to be his grandfather? I'll never let that happen.'
He kept thinking about how Rimmer mentioned that Rector looked like Raon's real grandfather. To be honest, he even had a nightmare the day before where Raon called Rector his grandfather instead of himself.
'This is no good.'
He figured he would need to beat Rimmer up a bit more after he returned. It was unbearable how uncomfortable he felt.
Glenn anxiously counted the seconds on the clock and bit his lip.
'I can't lose this. I'm the one who will raise my grandson.'
* * *
"Haa…"
Raon sighed while lowering Heavenly Drive.
'This is a bit taxing.''
Rector's lesson was as detailed as always, but the training that was driving him to exhaustion was a lot tougher than before because of the competition with Glenn.
Raon didn't even have time to breathe as he kept practicing the parts that needed improvement, and he had to work his body and mind to the full extent.
He was glad and exhausted at the same time because he hadn't done such hard training for a long time.
'I'm worried I might not last for the head of house's lesson.'
He was looking forward to Glenn's lesson after lunch, but he was also worried at the same time.
You will recover with lunch.
Wrath learned about the situation when he woke up after everything was decided. He shook his head at Raon, telling him that he should stop thinking like a weakling.
Pineapple Girl must've thoroughly prepared for lunch. He's already looking forward to it!
He loudly licked his lips. He seemed to be thinking about a full meal on the table.
'I wonder…I don't think so.'
A chill ran down his spine from the premonition that Wrath's wish was not going to come true, but he remained silent for the moment because he would get noisy otherwise.
"It's still not enough. You can move even faster in your current state!"
"Understood."
When Raon was about to swing the Fangs of Insanity while following Rector's advice, an extremely powerful gaze could be felt from behind him.
"Ah…"
He turned around to check, and Glenn was leaning his back towards the wall, his eyes sparking with a crimson light. He seemed to have arrived in advance to wait for his turn even though there was still some time left.
"Argh, we still have some more time. Keep going."
Rector ordered him to keep swinging his sword since it wasn't lunchtime yet.
"Yes."
Raon broke out in cold sweat and used the Fangs of Insanity according to the advice he'd been given. The number of illusions was decreased, but the swords dancing in the air looked as realistic as a real blade.
"Stop right there."
Raon finished the first technique, and just as he was about to move on to the second, Glenn raised his hand.
"It's 1 P.M."
"Hmm…"
Rector frowned after checking the time. However, he couldn't argue against him because of their promise and licked his lips in regret.
"Head of house, it's indeed 1 P.M, but Raon is going to eat lunch with m—"
"That's unnecessary."
Glenn shook his head, taking something wrapped in paper from his clothes and throwing it at Raon.
"Err…"
Raon caught the thing that Glenn threw at him. The touch was familiar.
Th-this scent…
Wrath's lips trembled in anxiety as he looked at the object wrapped in paper.
"Don't tell me…"
Raon unwrapped it while wrinkling his nose. His guess was right. The Nadine bread that he'd been eating from time to time was inside.
"There's no time for food. I'll teach you what true swordsmanship is."
He waved his hand to urge Raon to wield his sword while saying that wasting time for food was a luxury for warriors.
This damn geezer!
Wrath barked and charged at Glenn.
How dare you feed him the rubber bread. You must have a death wish! Let's fight right now!
He violently swung his fist, challenging him for a one-on-one duel.
Raon sighed. while looking at the Nadine bread. It was still warm, at least.
'I like the idea of getting stronger, but…can I really survive?'