Chapter 44: First Training at the Combat Order (2)

I had only swung the sword lightly. But the Reinhardt blood, stirred by the brief swordsmanship demonstration, heightened my senses.

The hushed conversations of the cadets sounded as if they were speaking right next to me.

“Wasn’t that strange just now? Count Julian swinging the sword properly until the end. He shouldn’t have the stamina for that.”

It wasn’t wrong. It was a real metal sword, not a wooden practice one, and I had swung it 50 times in the proper stance.

It wouldn’t have been a problem if I had done it carelessly, but it certainly wasn’t easy.

“And his form was clean, without any unnecessary movements. There was no wavering in the sword until the very end. Honestly, all his movements were superior to mine.”
“No way! Your skills are the best among us, Leif. The Count was performing some made-up swordsmanship, not the Imperial Swordsmanship. Maybe you mistook it because of that?”
“Yeah, Leif, you must have seen it wrong. Not wavering the sword is something any properly trained cadet can do.”

The cadets seemed puzzled by my swordsmanship. They had mixed opinions, some saying it was good, others saying it was bad.

Well, it was true that I hadn’t held a sword in days due to various events since arriving in the Imperial Capital. By the Combat Order’s standards, it might have been lacking somewhere.

‘Well, I don’t think it was bad at all. But for an accurate assessment, I need to observe Instructor Darren’s reaction.’

I glanced at Instructor Darren. His expression was as stern and serious as before. But upon closer inspection, his right eyebrow was slightly raised.

What did it mean? I decided to wait for him to calm the cadets down. As expected, he shouted at them.

“Everyone, be quiet! Focus!”

The cadets immediately fell silent. Darren, the tiger instructor. It seemed everyone listened to him well.

“And Count Julian, no, Julian, I’ll ask you. What were you thinking when you performed that swordsmanship just now?”

Darren asked me. I was momentarily puzzled but answered calmly.

“I performed the basic movements of Chapter 1 of the Imperial Swordsmanship, as you instructed. Was there a problem?”
“Problem? There is a problem. Because what you performed wasn’t the Imperial Swordsmanship.”

The cadets murmured at his words.

“See? It was fake after all. As expected. Even with the Imperial Swordsmanship, it takes a whole year of training to master Chapter 1. There’s no way Count Julian, who didn’t participate properly in training, could do it right.”
“I noticed some unfamiliar movements mixed in. Maybe the Count was just swinging the sword however he felt like it?”

Another cadet immediately refuted that statement.

“That’s not true. A sword swung randomly lacks power, and it shows. But Count Julian’s sword contained all the principles between Forms 1 and 5. Moreover, the aura it exuded was even greater than the Imperial Swordsmanship. It couldn’t have been fake.”
“Aren’t you overestimating him, Leif? You always have too much faith in the Reinhardt family. It’s an unknown swordsmanship, not the Imperial Swordsmanship, so how could it contain those principles?”

Instructor Darren raised his hand again to stop the brief commotion. And he declared,

“You fools! You all know one thing but not the other!”

The cadets focused on him. Darren continued in a raised voice.

“It’s definitely not the Imperial Swordsmanship. But saying it’s something you’ve never seen before is nonsense. That is, if your eyes aren’t just for decoration. Then, Leif. As the representative student of the Combat Order, will you share your impressions?”

Darren pointed at a cadet. The gray-haired cadet named Leif was a commoner and the representative of the second-year swordsmanship class.

“Yes, Instructor Darren! The swordsmanship Cadet Julian performed was definitely different from the Imperial Swordsmanship.”
“How was it different?”
“The basics embedded in the swordsmanship were the same as the Imperial Swordsmanship. Variations of the basic thrusts and cuts from Forms 1 to 5. There was no difference in the first five repetitions.”
“Hmm. As expected, you saw that far. What about after that?”
“The next five repetitions were different from the Imperial Swordsmanship. Even the simple variations were filled with a majestic aura… It was definitely similar to the Imperial Swordsmanship, but it felt like a more advanced version.”
“I see the class representative wasn’t chosen for nothing. Leif saw it correctly. Then, I’ll explain.”

Darren pointed at me with his instructor’s baton.

“The swordsmanship Julian performed wasn’t the Imperial Swordsmanship, but the Lionheart Swordsmanship. So, it’s natural that it would be unfamiliar to you.”

At the mention of Lionheart Swordsmanship, the cadets’ atmosphere changed instantly.

“Lionheart Swordsmanship? Are you talking about the official swordsmanship of the Knights of the White Night?”
“That’s impossible. Lionheart Swordsmanship is a top-tier swordsmanship that can only be learned after joining the Knights of the White Night.”
“Even for the Reinhardt family, that’s absurd. The Count couldn’t even swing a wooden sword properly until last year. How could he know the Lionheart Swordsmanship, which only the sword demons of Essenmunt learn?”

Darren shouted at the cadets who still couldn’t comprehend it.

“You fools. No one but Leif seems to know how to appreciate swordsmanship. Listen to me carefully from now on.”

Darren explained briefly. The Lionheart Swordsmanship of the Knights of the White Night was a swordsmanship that had been constantly refined against high-ranking magical beasts near Permafrost, the continent’s most dangerous Chaos Gate.

The swordsmanship created by the previous head of the Reinhardt family.

At the time of the Great War 20 years ago, the Lionheart Swordsmanship was superior to any other knight order’s swordsmanship on the continent.

“That’s why the current Margrave of Essenmunt, Margrave Wilhelm, modified the Lionheart Swordsmanship into the Imperial Swordsmanship so that even ordinary swordsmen could learn it. In other words, the foundation of the Imperial Swordsmanship is the Lionheart Swordsmanship. So, it’s natural that the swordsmanship Julian just wielded contained the principles of the Imperial Swordsmanship.”

In other words, the Imperial Swordsmanship was an inferior version of the Lionheart Swordsmanship. All the cadets’ eyes suddenly focused on me.

‘Oh dear. I tried to perform the Imperial Swordsmanship, but was the Reinhardt blood stronger than the Common Swordsman trait?’

The Imperial Swordsmanship, as Darren said, was a standardized swordsmanship that even ordinary swordsmen could learn. That’s why I could easily grasp it with just the system’s trait.

So, I had intended to perform the Imperial Swordsmanship I had learned beforehand. But it seemed the Lionheart Swordsmanship had come out unconsciously while I was focused.

“Of course, the swordsmanship I instructed was the Imperial Swordsmanship. But since its roots are in the Lionheart Swordsmanship, it’s something to be praised.”

Then, he scolded the cadets severely.

“Clearly, Julian didn’t waste his vacation. He didn’t just come back after fully resting like you all did. How is it that some of you have become worse than before the vacation?”

It was true that I had frequented the training grounds for the parade preparations, although the trait had also helped.

“Only Leif was able to accurately recognize the difference. If you’re not idiots, you should memorize the swordsmanship Julian just showed you. And everyone except Julian and Leif will repeat Forms 1 to 5 ten more times. Begin!”
“Begin!”

Because of me, the cadets had to repeat the 50 swings. I didn’t feel any particular sympathy for them.

‘Well, even if they didn’t know better, they still looked down on me.’

I enjoyed watching Instructor Darren glare at the cadets as they repeated the exercise.

And I received an unexpected reward for using the Lionheart Swordsmanship earlier.

Titles were a game system related to my status, such as Demon Lord’s Successor, Saint’s Son, and Reinhardt Family Successor.

In other words, it meant I could acquire more game currency by performing tasks related to the title. In the case of this title, it would probably be related to Pantheon lectures or training.

‘Wait a minute. Does that mean I wasn’t an official cadet until now?’

Come to think of it, it was strange that Julian wasn’t expelled considering what he did in his first year. They might not have expelled him, but the faculty probably didn’t recognize him as an official cadet.

After confirming it with the system, I leisurely observed the cadets’ repetitive training. My proficiency increased as I identified their weaknesses with the Swordsman trait.

I felt like I was getting closer to the Reinhardt bloodline.

The repetitive training was over. Instructor Darren gathered the cadets again and this time, shared important information.

“You all probably know that the reserve squad was formed earlier than usual last week. The Order Council has given permission to inform the reserve squad members of the reason.”

Due to the nature of the Combat Order, most cadets were part of the Imperial Guard reserve squad. So, Instructor Darren didn’t hide the truth from the cadets.

“A large-scale mobilization order will be issued from the Imperial Palace this fall. In other words, there will be a Nest raid.”

The cadets erupted in a commotion at his words. Instructor Darren didn’t stop them, as if he had anticipated their reaction.

‘The Nest. As expected, the information is being revealed at this point.’

The Gates and magical beasts that appeared on the Iceland continent 100 years ago. Not long after their appearance, the magical beasts absorbed parts of the human system.

In other words, they established a hierarchy among themselves and formed groups. A vertical structure consisting of kings, knights, and soldiers.

Among them, the magical beasts that had established themselves in large Gates and turned the surrounding areas into dungeons. The Empire called these large Gates, which had become the magical beasts’ bases, Nests.

The Monster King residing in a Nest evolved into a more dangerous magical beast than its original rank, feeding on the fear and obedience of its subordinate magical beasts.

“The Nest…? Is it true? There haven’t been any dangerous magical beasts near the Old Imperial City recently.”
“The Old Imperial City, of all places? It’s not an Imperial-grade Nest, is it?”
“Imperial-grade? No way. There haven’t been any Nests of that rank recently. Maybe Kingdom-grade, but…”

Fear crept onto the cadets’ faces. Darren reassured them.

“However, there’s no need to worry too much. The problem is just the sheer number of magical beasts unique to Nests. As you said, the Nest to be raided in the fall is Kingdom-grade. A Nest of that level isn’t a difficult task for the Holy Empire’s current power.”

Usually, the King of a Kingdom-grade Nest was considered one rank higher than a Type 1 magical beast. And it was rare for a Nest to evolve to Imperial-grade.

‘Because they’re usually subjugated before they reach that level. The most recent case of an Imperial-grade Nest was the one that appeared near the Old Imperial City’s Gate 20 years ago.’

The reason for the mobilization order was obvious. A Kingdom-grade Nest had appeared in the Old Imperial City, not far from the Imperial Capital.

Darren continued,

“However, since the Nest’s location is the Old Imperial City, thorough preparations are necessary. That’s why you, as reserve cadets, will be deployed on missions early to gain experience beforehand. It’s a kind of rear support.”

Darren was right. Also, this Nest raid event was the most crucial event in the first part of the Demon Survival scenario.

‘If the protagonist doesn’t perform well, the genre changes drastically to a dark fantasy from the second part onwards.’

Actually, the Nest Darren mentioned was underestimated. As a result, many people in the subjugation team would die.

Especially the cadets caught up in the event. There would be casualties even among the main characters, including the heroines.

The casualties could be reduced depending on the player’s actions. But even after 1000 hours of playtime, I had never succeeded in a perfect clear. It was an event with that high a difficulty.

However, since this place where I was now was reality, I was determined to make the autumn raid a complete success, no matter what. It would be something only I could do in this world.

“So, although today is the first training after the start of the school year, we’ll start with sparring right away. I’ll balance the sparring partners based on your first-year grades. Fight properly, to the point where you have to crawl out of the training ground!”

Instructor Darren checked the documents he had brought and called out the cadets’ names. I, too, was assigned a sparring partner as an official cadet.

“Julian von Reinhardt. Your sparring partner is Lucia May.”

At those words, a cadet flinched and looked at me. Our eyes met for a moment.

A female cadet with pink hair. A face I was very familiar with.

Julian, the protagonist of Demon Survival. And Lucia May, the playable character you could choose if you didn’t choose Julian.

As another protagonist, she was a character who would play a very important role in the autumn Nest raid event.