Sir Hero, It’s Time to Train!

Huff— Huff—

Its heavy breathing reverberated around, sending a threatening signal with every part of its body.

The massive body, shaped by grayish muscles, was a formidable weapon by itself, and the menacing red eyes, filled with ferocity, seemed enough to paralyze one’s entire nervous system just by meeting their gaze.

The master of the forest, the ogre.

Despite its size, which easily exceeded twice that of an adult male, the sound of its footsteps was almost inaudible.

Known as the genius of hunting, the ogre excelled at hiding itself.

It hid its presence and silenced its movements, and sometimes, it even concealed its murderous intent perfectly.

The prey of an ogre often died before even realizing it was being hunted. For this reason, it was extremely difficult to encounter an ogre directly.

If one was lucky, they might sense its presence right before being hunted; if they were skilled, they might spot the ogre watching them from hiding.

But unlike its notorious reputation, this particular ogre’s behavior was somewhat strange.

It continuously scanned its surroundings while making threatening noises, and at times, pummeled trees with its fists.

-Grrr…

Lastly, it flared its nostrils, sniffing the air, much like prey being pursued by a hunter.

The ogre used every method available, but it could not find any trace of the hunter.

However, the inherent survival instinct present in any living creature continuously alarmed it.

They were still nearby, watching it from somewhere close.

There was a certainty about the unknown entity targeting it, yet the realization of being unable to verify it induced immense fear, something the ogre realized only then.

-Creak.

-Creek, grrr!

As the ogre continually weighed its rational instincts, it finally made a choice.

Whoosh!

The ogre leaped from its place, capturing the view of the forest in one glance.

Then, envisioning an escape route, it grabbed the thickest and sturdiest branch it could find.

The branch snapped under the ogre’s hefty weight, but it managed to switch to another tree with agile movements.

The ogre’s choice was guided not by reason but by instinct. Its logic suggested there was no immediate threat, but instinct persistently warned it to leave the area.

Hence, the ogre derived the best method to flee from the spot and chose it.

It made a choice……

But at times, the best choice might not always be the correct one.

“See? Ogres have a tendency to climb to higher places when they sense a threat to their life. Once you understand this, hunting them becomes much easier.”

-Creak?!

The ogre startled at the sudden human voice and looked up. Higher than itself. From there, a black shadow dropped rapidly, approaching it.

A human, unusually small for this location. Yet, the ogre barked in frustration as if it realized what the small human was.

-Roarrrrrr!

This was it. The one targeting and hunting it was this creature.

Furious at being chased by the small human, the ogre attempted to snatch Christian from mid-air with its swinging arm.

“Quiet, won’t you!”

However, Christian deftly tilted his body to avoid the ogre’s grasp, swinging his sword as he passed by.

Ssssh—!

The mana wave faintly emanating from the blade effortlessly sliced through the resistant skin of the ogre. The wave, coursing through from the sword, wrangled the ogre’s muscle fibers, snapping its tendons.

-Howwwlll?!

The ogre’s body quivered violently as it plummeted to the ground. However, from such a low height, an ogre wouldn’t be expected to die.

Though not as regeneratively potent as a troll, the ogre had considerable regenerative abilities, with its severed skin already healing.

Christian, confirming the ogre’s attempt to rise from the ground, shouted.

“Aira!”

“I know, right?!”

Aira, hidden perfectly within the shadows of the trees and foliage, was already in motion even before Christian shouted.

One step, two steps…

A wave erupted beneath Aira’s stepping feet, supporting her body and creating a firm ground mid-air.

Traversing the air instead of the heavily forested ground, she reached the ogre’s landing site in the shortest path possible.

“Three!”

The ogre widened its red eyes at Aira, who had rapidly approached within its immediate vicinity.

And it saw. The small human with eyes that were eerily red, much like its own.

Schink—!

Aira maximized body activation and detonated a wave near the hand gripping the sword to gain propulsion. The ogre, oblivious to Aira’s sword swing, found its head severed.

Thump.

Aira, without needing to maintain balance any further, separated the head from the body.

Above the tree, Christian witnessed Aira’s decisive strike and gracefully landed on the ground.

“Tut tut. Still not used to it, are you?”

“Hoo.”

Aira grimaced slightly at the ache in her wrist. After cleansing the blood from her blade with mana, she sheathed the sword and turned.

“This is way too difficult. Just infused a little mana, and it hurts like crazy!”

Triggering waves at will from any part of the body seemed simple but was, in fact, a highly intricate technique.

The challenge lay not with the mechanism of implementation but in assessing how much mana the body could endure.

If one used less mana out of fear of harming the body, it became a waste; exceeding what the body could handle placed significant strain.

Even the suitable amount would continuously burden the body, necessitating the precise distribution of required mana each time.

This wasn’t merely a problem solved by having vast mana capacity or high-quality mana.

“With such poor mana resonance, how are you going to make a proper knight?”

“Didn’t you also bruise a lot back then?!”

“Bruising and breaking a wrist are different issues. You might end up unable to use one arm forever.”

“I’m still in the adaptation phase!”

About to retort, Aira could only complain and stop upon seeing the unscathed Christian.

“How do you manage to use multiple wave techniques simultaneously?”

“I tried, and it worked.”

The ability to deftly utilize wave techniques of different natures indicated remarkable mana resonance control to suppress or avoid mana backlash.

While Aira deeply envied this ability, she didn’t feel the previous sense of defeat or inferiority.

Rather, she believed that whatever Christian could do, she could too, and shrugged it off with a dismissive smile.

“Really? Then I can do it soon too.”

Aira’s demeanor made Christian smile, partly hiding his surprise.

‘How long has it been since you mastered the wave, yet you use it so adeptly? As expected of Master.’

While others struggled with the basics, Aira was already freely applying it.

Though not yet able to execute multiple techniques simultaneously, she was adept at employing it where needed, modifying her movements accordingly.

‘Adjusting the mana reservoir must have indeed been helpful.’

Upon realizing the wave, the first task Christian undertook was to improve her mana reservoir.

Though Aira recalled the ordeal as a nightmare, Christian reassured her that no such dangerous incidents would occur this time, and they completed it safely.

It was more of a remodeling, altering small aspects rather than completely dismantling and recreating the mana reservoir anew.

The body, mana, and reservoir are intricately connected; thus, none should excel or lack compared to the rest.

Typically, the growth of the body, mana, and mana reservoir is synchronized, so improving one without the others is extremely rare but necessary for the body when acquiring tremendous mana through fortune.

“Hey. It’s about time, right?”

Noticing Christian’s pleased gaze upon her, Aira furrowed her brows and spoke quietly, as if making a significant decision.

“Again?”

“Of course. This time for sure.”

Christian’s face also grew solemn at Aira’s words, an aura of determination lingering faintly. Aira grinned, baring her teeth, as if ready to start anytime.

“Ready?”

“Go ahead.”

As Christian agreed, Aira grinned slyly, clenching her fists tightly.

“Rock, paper, scissors!”

“Scissors!”

Opposite Aira, who presented her open palm, Christian displayed only two fingers. At that moment, Aira’s expression twisted in frustration.

“Ah, seriously!”

“Hahaha, you really just want to lose or something?”

“Why do you always win?!”

“Observing minute muscular changes will let you know what I’ll play.”

“That’s totally a scam?!”

“It’s skill, not a scam. If you can freely apply this someday, we’ll have an entertaining match.”

Beyond mana resonance, dynamic vision is a knight’s crucial skill.

Unlike mages who attack from a distance, knights are always at the forefront, exposed to enemy threats. Thus, reading enemy movements is essential for survival.

“I’d find chopping off your wrist easier.”

“Can’t win at rock-paper-scissors, but threaten my wrist?”

Aira had never once won against Christian. She pouted, kicking the ogre’s corpse gently.

“Ugh, cutting its neck might’ve been unnecessary…”

“Well, I’ll carry the severed head for you. Are you giving it to Aunt as a gift?”

“Will she be pleased this time?”

“You can always hand it over to the garrison if she’s not. No need to worry too much.”

Despite grumbling, Aira effortlessly hoisted the enormous ogre, several times larger than herself.

Most of it dragged on the ground, but the tough ogre hide wouldn’t get scratched even if they carried it like this.

Christian also picked up the ogre’s head and drained the blood. Observing his skilled movements, Aira asked.

“But is it okay to just be hunting like this? Swinging the sword more would be better.”

“Aira, training isn’t just swinging a sword safely hidden away. Unless accompanied by real combat experience, you won’t improve.”

“Sparring with you feels like real combat.”

“It’s not the same. Sparring is planned, while real combat varies with your condition. Enemies won’t wait because you’re unwell. Finding optimal efficiency regardless of your physical state is your job.”

“Tsk, so basically figure it out myself.”

“Yeah. After surviving a few life-threatening situations, you’ll realize it too.”

Christian’s eerily chilling words sent shivers up Aira’s spine. But instead of retorting, she dragged the ogre ahead.

She was careful not to provoke Christian, fearing the consequences might be severe.

“They say a good experience is being ambushed by assassins once or twice.”

‘Laura, what on earth……what did you teach him?!’