CH Extra 31

The 1st Royal Order of Knights was famous for being a group of absolute monsters.

There was also a saying that you had to give up being human if you wanted to join the 1st order. That you could only join if you were able to break a rock with your bare fist and make at least five soldiers fall with a single thrust of the sword.

And because the 1st order only picked monsters like the ones mentioned above, the test was infamous.

“…..I’m screwed.”

Shuraina despaired at the upcoming exams.

She had been reviewing the magical knight exams and she had just read that magic stones weren’t allowed. They accepted magic knights, but the knights seemed to want people who were more skilled in swordsmanship than magic when it came to them. Seeing as they weren’t allowing stones in there and all.

If they banned the use of stones, then that meant that she had to pass the test with purely her own magic and skills. And she wasn’t too confident about it. She wouldn’t be able to use any magic that gave her buffs when it came to strength or stamina.

Shuraina really wanted to get into the 1st order. It had been something she had wanted for a long time now, and she had put in a lot of time and effort into it. So no matter what, she wanted to accomplish it.

The only thing that kept her on her guard in this comfortable, peaceful world was her dream of joining the knights. The reason for her need for this was because of her past life, and she always ended up looking back at herself when she thought of her past life.

Shuraina started training intensely for the upcoming exams with Hylli. She called Hylli almost every day to train, and she ended up seeing him more than when they were in the academy. For some strange reason, though, she felt like she was reminded of the past whenever she saw Hylli and that made her try harder. The two of them played around, too, but they mostly trained. Dueling, training, practicing. Duel, train, practice. She was pretty confident when it came to magic, so she put down her magic and exclusively practiced her sword.

She woke up, swung her sword, ate lunch, swung her sword, dinner, stabbing. Her blade dulled quickly because of how much she used it. She sometimes swung or cut through trees or stones, so her blade was eventually going to dull if she didn’t use an aura around it.

So Shuraina was currently out with Hylli to buy a practice sword. She thought it would be a good idea to buy it in bulk, so she was choosing blades that were cheaper and sturdier. Hylli, whose hobby was collecting swords, picked out good swords and handed them to Shuraina.

“I’m telling you, you’re not going to have a problem. Your power and stamina might be a bit lower compared to the other knights in the 1st order, but you’re the best at utilizing both magic and swordsmanship. And utilization is a pretty high portion of your score, so you’ll be able to score pretty high. You don’t have to be so nervous.”

Hylli said as he swung a few swords in front of the stand. He checked the makeup of the new swords and raised a single brow. He seemed like he didn’t get it.

“No, but because you can’t take any stones. You just have to thrust the sword only based on your magic level, right? I feel like I need to get some tougher training.”

Shuraina said, standing crooked in front of Hylli as he swung the swords. She was covered in sweat and dust from their training only moments ago, and she was talking about more. Hylli was just as dirty, though. Hylli stretched out his hand to dust off the dirt on Shuraina’s hair and face. He seemed content with the sword from before–he paid and grabbed a few more swords made by the same artisan.

“You want to increase the intensity of our training?”

“Yes.”

Hylli stabbed a long sword into the ground and leaned his hand and head onto the handle.

“Hmm……”

The training was intense enough. They were already training on a level much higher than an average person. And she wanted to raise the intensity of it? Shuraina was already pretty used to the training, so most training wouldn’t give her any muscle pain. If they kept training like this, improvement would be minimal.

Shuraina seemed to want a short-term training that would drastically raise up her skill level. No matter how painful it was, that is.

He suddenly remembered a suitable training for her, but he soon clicked his tongue and shook his head. It had been what he had used to increase his strength and stamina, but it was pretty painful.

“You’d choose to improve your skills no matter what.”

“Of course.”

When Shuraina spoke confidently, Hylli wiped the nervous look on his face and snickered.

“Then, Shuraina. Give me some of your time. I’ll make sure those worries of yours go away.”

He said confidently, patting her back. At Hylli’s request for her time, Shuraina rolled her eyes thoughtfully before nodding widely. His smiling face seemed slightly evil so she was pretty annoyed, but his confidence erased her worry.

“Good. Then I’ll meet you at the square in two days. You might want to bring a month’s worth of supplies.”

She couldn’t really understand Hylli’s excitement. She frowned. But two days later, Shuraina understood his evil grin.

Shuraina hung from the edge of a cliff precariously as she screamed.

“Hey! You *beep beep*! *Beep beep*!”

Expletives, ones that she never used, poured out of her mouth. Hylli stared up at Shuraina from below the cliff and smiled widely.

Currently, Shuraina and Hylli had set up camp in the middle of the forest where they had been training for the past few days. Hylli and Shuraina were currently staying at a place that royals would come in secret. The trees and grass were quite well kept. Hylli had cleaned up the place before Shuraina had come.

This place could only be reached through curtain-like tree leaves, so most people couldn’t discover this place.

Shuraina had set up camp in such a deserted area–she put down her belongings and trained from morning to early morning. Just as Shuraina, no, Hylli had wanted, the training from hell took place.

“Don’t give up! You’re almost there!”

Hylli cheered as he munched on some snacks. She was so tired that curses slipped out of her mouth as soon as she spied Hylli.

“You royal prince *beep beep*! *Beep beep*!”

“I’m telling you, this is good for your stamina and arms! Hurry up and come here for some snacks.”

“Wipe off that grin of yours!”

“Haha, I don’t want to!”

Hylli was lying comfortably on the ground and watching her misery. He was so annoying. Shuraina calculated how much she had left before felt a wave of misery pass through her. And, she soon turned her miserable gaze to Hylli. But Hylli responded with a negative and denied her unspoken request.

‘Okay, the extremely busy future crown prince is taking his precious time off to help me with my stamina. I shouldn’t curse and complain about it.’

“Eaaaaaagh! Hylli Orde Ianesssss!! You *beep beep*! *Beep beep*! *Beep beep*!”

She was so tired that her words wouldn’t follow her thoughts. Her words and thoughts refuted each other.

Shuraina was currently climbing up the cliff with only her arms. She poured all of her power into her arms as she clung to the cliff. It was already hard enough to climb up the cliff, but Hylli had added weights to her arms and legs and had given her stones to carry on her back.

This was an arm exercise. Arm strength was the most important part of swordsmanship, so she was working on her arm muscles by only using her arms to climb up the cliff. It felt like her arm muscles were ripping apart.

“Eugh, ugh….. I can’t hold it anymore.”

Her arms shook and she felt like she was going to fall. She didn’t have any protective gear on her, so her heart was pounding. Her magic and aura, which was providing her strength, soon began to run out.

Shuraina’s hand soon gave way.

Shuuuuuuuuk. Her body fell from the cliff. Shuraina zoomed down to the bottom of the cliff, but she didn’t scream. This was the sixth time she had fallen, so the sensation was familiar to her now.

“…..wow. You went a bit further this time, huh?”

Hylli had been waiting at the bottom and had quickly caught her when she seemed like she was going to fall. Shuraina was as limp as cooked spinach, so she just blankly stared at the sky. She placed her hands neatly on her stomach.

“Okay, let’s take a ten minute break and try again.”

Shuraina’s expression was comfortable, as if she had resigned herself to this. Then, she pretended to gently stroke Hylli’s hair before gripping it tightly. A transparent tear made its way down her expressionless face. Honestly….. It was too hard….. It’s too hard……

Shuraina turned to Hylli and gave him a pitiful look. But he was resolute.

“No whining. Get stronger, Shuraina.”

“My body hurts…..”

“I thought that was going to be case, so I brought muscle recovery potions! Don’t worry about getting sick! Haha. I don’t like you being in pain, either.”

“…….”

No, she would prefer getting sick at this point. Cooked spinach Shuraina slowly shook her head. Hylli didn’t even understand an inkling of Shuraina’s thoughts as he put his hand into his bag and took out countless bottles of unknown liquid. Then, he laid Shuraina down on the ground and poured the potions into her mouth.

The potions were so effective that her muscles instantly recovered. Her magic and aura were back to their optimum levels, and her body was recovered enough for her to stand up straight without any issue.

“Here, break time’s over now. Let’s go up again. You’ve gotten faster and stronger, so I’m going to add more weights.”

“……”

When Shuraina didn’t stand, Hylli raised her up and added more weights to her legs, which were tied to make sure she couldn’t use it. He carried her on his back and took her back to the front of the cliff.

Shuraina stared blankly at the cliff in front of her and raised her head. Duuun. It was so tall that she couldn’t even fathom its height. When she just blankly stared at the cliff with a dumb expression on her face, Hylli took out a watch and helped her stand.

“Then we’re starting in 3 seconds. One, two. Three!”

“…..N, no. Hold on.”

“Start!”

“……”

As soon as he finished speaking, Shuraina stretched out her arm and zoomed up the cliff, rocks in hand. She could go higher up if she was quick in the beginning and gained speed. She complained about how hard it was, but she responded well to Hylli’s training.

Her body wasn’t in pain, even during her 7th climb, but her mental state was a mess.

Her body moved in rote memory as she climbed up the cliff. She suddenly remembered the times she had trained with Hylli during the academy. Back then, she had overlooked Hylli’s training instead of the opposite.

She had made him fight dozens of high-level monsters back then. She had cast a spell that would help him escape only when it became dangerous. If he seemed like he was doing well, then she made him fight bare-handed. Hylli didn’t need any training with the blade because of his skills, so he had only needed to work on his fighting sense.

And because of that, Hylli had to get hit, run, and escape countless times.

“I trust that this isn’t revenge.”

A chill ran down Shuraina’s spine as she spoke. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. Exhaustion wracked her frame. She gritted her teeth. Her limit was around the half-point of the cliff. She had reached her limit and had gotten slightly further now.

And then, Shuraina fell again. It was her 7th fall. Whoooooosh. She had screamed when she had first fallen, but now she just held up her arms and let herself fall. She couldn’t even curse at this point. She didn’t have the strength to.

“Upsy-daisy. Good work.”

Hylli caught Shuraina and stared at her limp, noodle-like body before carefully stretching his hand towards her face.

“Don’t eat your hair.”