Sir Hero, It’s Time to Train!

“Why is this lodged in my body…”

That Arsenal had taken its place in this body’s heart.

No way, was the ‘Arsenal of Souls’ not just some fancy name, but something truly inscribed into the soul?

It wasn’t a misconception.

The Arsenal resembled the intricate tattoos crafted painstakingly by the past-life Christian.

No matter how tightly it was sealed, it couldn’t be mistaken.

“Ha…”

Christian let out a small scoff.

He attempted once more to prick at the Ether Weapon nestled in his heart with his mana, but the Ether Weapon remained unresponsive.

Rather, it seemed to give a dismissive snort and bounce back.

‘Why is this thing acting this way?’

No matter how much he tried to trigger a reaction from it using mana, it stayed the same. As if saying, ‘You think you can wield me? Dream on.’

His joy turned into frustration, but only for a moment.

It wasn’t entirely incomprehensible, so he had no choice but to acquiesce.

“Given that activating the Ether Weapon now would leave my body completely devastated.”

Having the Ether Weapon embedded in this body, to begin with, was nonsense.

Fundamentally, Ether Weapons are forged by merging immense mana and mana stones, requiring a corresponding amount of mana to house it.

“This means it’s locking itself up to prevent any harm to my body.”

However, the current Christian lacked the mana to activate the Ether Weapon.

The Ether Weapon understood this and locked itself to protect its user.

Thankfully, not everything was bad news.

He lived in a body precariously close to death, yet now had gained hope to escape that danger.

“This body wasn’t devoid of everything, but was being filled with new potential.”

The Ether Weapons was a heritage he bore to honor the wishes of his companions. He couldn’t yet wield it or even touch it, but to him, it was an invaluable asset.

“Above all, being a true family connected by blood with my master…”

They had felt like family even before, but there was a unique bond with a true blood family.

Thus, Christian could finally breathe a sigh of relief and smile.

‘From now on, I’ll live hard, so please don’t be too harsh on me.’

He didn’t know why it was embedded in his body.

Was it fate, destiny, or perhaps a miracle under the guise of inevitability?

Christian Worden.

Thinking of how his elder sister ran away, the family fell, and everything seemed to go awry, he believed someone forcibly grabbed him from the brink and stuffed him into this body.

So… let’s have a drink in the afterlife. As a family member of the Master, I’ll treat you to a drink then.

He smiled quietly, looking up at the ceiling.

“Alright then!”

Christian jumped off the bed and started doing push-ups madly, shouting.

“I need to build a body capable of wielding you fast!”

Yes, the body! The body!

A robust physique is an excellent vessel, and an excellent vessel can hold a great amount of mana.

“Aha! Just you wait, you damned dragonkin! I’ll put a dozen swords through your skulls!”

I’ve done it once, why not twice?!

***

“Lady Neria! Going to visit him personally is a bit…”

Milly, the maid following Neria who was walking briskly ahead, didn’t know what to do.

Despite Milly’s anxious demeanor, Neria spoke with a discontented expression.

“Should a mother have to call her sick son to come to her?”

“He doesn’t seem to be sick, though. Sometimes, giving someone time alone is important…”

“Sick! He’s really sick! My son is very unwell!”

“Yet he’s spent the whole day in the training grounds.”

While there was some commotion over him getting hit on the side and treated in the infirmary, he got up immediately like it was nothing, so no one was truly worried.

In fact, the bigger buzz was about how Christian Worden let Aira land a real hit for the first time…

“But he got his revenge well.”

Rumor had it that the son, upon waking from the infirmary, took Aira straight to the private training grounds and gave her a sound beating, a story rapidly circulating within the estate.

Frankly, given the interest in even the smallest of actions between the two, it was impossible for news such as this to go unspoken.

“But what are you intending to say to young master Christian?”

“What else? He needs to be scolded.”

“You, my lady?”

“Then will my husband who left the house do it?”

“Well, technically, the head of the household did leave home, but he went out for work.”

She sighed, speaking as if to say, “I’m the one suffering because of my runaway husband,” a demeanor that could easily be misunderstood by anyone overhearing their conversation.

For Milly, who served her closely, this situation was rather nerve-wracking.

“Really going to scold him?”

“I’m going to give him a sharp telling-off, how dare he…”

Neria’s expression turned quite serious.

Her appearance was exceedingly youthful, with expressions that plainly revealed her emotions. Due to her small stature, Milly, despite being younger, perceived Neria as if she were the younger sibling.

As the youngest child of the Marquis Ferda, she was raised with abundant love and tended to behave immaturely for her age. Yet in truth, it wasn’t bothersome.

At least she didn’t boss around or harass her subordinates, which made her a good person to serve.

Except…

“Forgetting the dinner appointment! And he promised to eat with his mother!”

“Ha…”

“Plus, our Chris supposedly skipped a meal. What if he faints?”

“Skipping one meal won’t make him collapse.”

“I’d faint.”

“… True enough.”

Milly let out a deep sigh at her mistress’s confident words.

However, Neria merely glanced at Milly as if wondering, “Isn’t it weirder not to feel faint when hungry?!”

Then she calmly headed towards Christian’s room without stopping.

Reaching her destination, she unhesitatingly flung open the door of her adolescent son’s room.

“Chris!”

Though initially intent on scolding, she wore a bright, innocent smile as she opened the door.

“Hahaha! Just wait, you damn Dragonkin! I’ll shove twelve swords into your heads!”

Seeing her son intensely doing push-ups while laughing maniacally, she quietly retreated and closed the door behind her.

She understood, at that moment, why people advised against opening a teenager’s door without knocking.

“Milly. What was our son doing just now?”

“I, I’m not sure?”

Although it seemed like she had seen something she shouldn’t have, Milly hesitated to comment any further.

***

If Christian were to evaluate his current mother, it would probably be like this,
“Are you really okay? Without having eaten, or properly resting. You had me worried.”

“But really, did you get hit by Aira? Honestly, I still can’t believe that.”

“Like a puppy…”

In this life, she was his mother. Clearly older than Christian in his past life as well, yet her mannerisms, speech, and expressions betrayed none of that.

Those who didn’t get along with her might mockingly think, “Did she age backward, tsk tsk,” but those close to her found her endearing and lovable.

“Chris. Are you listening to me?”

“Oh, yes. I’m listening.”

“Mm, it doesn’t seem like it.”

“No way, I’m listening to you with both ears wide open.”

“Uh, mother?!”

“… What?”

The shocked expression on his mother, looking like a startled puppy, initially took Christian aback. Milly, the maid accompanying her, also appeared quite taken aback.

Did I say something wrong?

As Christian tilted his head in confusion, Neria, suppressing her urge to cry, spoke with difficulty.

“M-mother? You promised… You said you’d call me ‘mom’ until you turned eighteen…”

“…”

At the age of fifteen, you couldn’t call her ‘mother’ and had to say ‘mom’? What kind of promise was that?!

Faced with Neria’s teary-eyed face, Christian felt a bit flustered but quickly sighed deeply and said,
“I, I misspoke today because of so many things. Uh, um… Mom?”

“Yes!”

“…”

Her pouting face quickly brightened. Perhaps she was trying to live youthfully, or maybe… she’s just always been like this and always will be.

Honestly, that’s a bit scary in its own way.

“But are you really okay? You haven’t eaten and supposedly spent all day sparring with Aira?”

“No, I didn’t beat her… No, I did hit her, but, ah, how should I explain this? Anyway, it’s a bit different from that.”

“Different?”

“I did hit, but the nuance and meaning are different. What I did was strictly a spar…”

“Yeah, it was a legal beating so that the opponent couldn’t escape, right?”

“…”

That was true, but…

Something still felt a bit off.

Christian thought that no matter how he explained, it would seem strange, so he simply shut his mouth.

Watching him, Neria spoke up.

“But that was too much, Chris.”

“Pardon?”

When his mother looked at him with a displeased expression, Christian flinched.

“Even though it upset me to hear that Chris was getting beaten by Aira, I don’t think such revenge is right.”

“As I said, I didn’t want to hit or take revenge…”

“No talking back!”

Despite his attempts to explain, Christian shrunk back at his mother’s glaring eyes.

“No matter what, even if the adults around you urge you on about being rivals, you and Aira are family. Acting on emotions is never a good thing. Understand?”

Yet, a mother was indeed a mother.

Even if she wasn’t his biological daughter, family was still family.

The concern for Aira’s master was mingled in, making Christian feel quite peculiar.

It was significant that his current mother also worried about his master, apart from himself…

“Sigh. Even if she’s in pain, she won’t be able to say so, and Liana probably won’t even notice. I’ll get you good medicine; go apologize to Aira later and give her the medicine. Got it?”

Christian’s satisfied smile made Neria tilt her head in confusion.

“Chris?”

“Oh, ahem. It’s nothing.”

“Hmm, are you planning to not listen to your mom at all now?”

“No way. It’s just that I was reflecting on how I got carried away emotionally without paying attention to those around me, as you said, mom…”

“Aha! That’s my boy! I’m so proud!”

“…”

Neria beamed, apparently pleased with Christian’s words, and ruffled his hair affectionately.

Christian’s splendid golden hair unmistakably resembled Neria’s.

If Christian were just a little older, people might mistake them for siblings.

Assuming, of course, that Neria didn’t age any further…

“Oh! By the way, you haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

“Uh, come to think of it…”

Reflecting on it, the first thing Christian did after waking in this body was knock out his master’s head, and after regaining consciousness, he beat his master relentlessly in the training ground before returning to his room.

In other words, it hadn’t even been a full day since he woke up.

‘I am a bit hungry.’

Having been used to hunger from his previous life, Christian thought it would not be a problem, but now it felt different.

Thinking about not having eaten anything made his stomach growl loudly.

“Training Aira is good and all, but as Mom said, remember to eat during meal times, Christian.”

“It’s not that I enjoy beating Aira…”

“Even though I sometimes forget to eat when fighting with your great-aunt, I’m fully grown, and you still need to grow more. So you must remember to eat regularly, got it?”

He wanted to question why fighting with her great-aunt would cause her to forget meals.

Truth be told, he was a bit curious about that part.

But as Neria rose from her seat and held out her hand, he instinctively took it and stood up.

“Come, let’s go. I told the dining staff to prepare lots of your favorite dishes.”

“Oh…”

“Today, I’ll let you overeat as a special occasion. How’s that? Aren’t you grateful to Mom?”

“Yes.”

A mother.

Was this what all mothers were like?

Taking concern even for a son who skipped a meal by finding him to ensure he was well-fed.

-“And you? Isn’t having two mothers a wonderful thing?”

His master’s sarcastic words seemed to echo in his mind.

Was that revenge for what he had said in the past?

But…

“Having two mothers, I’m actually fine with it.”