The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

Chapter 49: The Sword of the Sun (1)

The day after I had shown Iris the spicy taste of the Republic.

[Don’t contact me for a while.]

I clicked my tongue as I looked at the message floating on my Hero Watch.

“Was the ginger tea too much after all?”

I felt a bit of regret belatedly, but at the time, I had no choice.

\'How could I have resisted?\'

I never thought of myself as someone who enjoys other people\'s suffering, but...

Seeing Iris, who boasted that this level of spiciness was nothing, crying her eyes and nose out, I couldn\'t resist the urge to mess with her a bit more.

\'Well, what\'s done is done.\'

The best thing now is probably to wait quietly until her anger subsides.

"Now then, let\'s see..."

Originally, today\'s schedule included a sparring class meant only for the warrior candidates, but a notice had come out late last night that Professor Lucas was canceling due to health issues.

"He was fine just yesterday, so what\'s with the sudden health issue?"

I sent a message through the Hero Watch out of curiosity, but no response came back.

‘It’s probably nothing serious.’

After all, it\'s Professor Lucas we’re talking about.

Even if his condition was bad, he would probably recover quickly as if nothing happened.

"Well, I\'m meeting Berald later this evening…."

Which meant I had plenty of free time until then.

\'Maybe I should head to the training grounds.\'

It seemed better to move my body rather than sit around idly in my dorm room with nothing to do.

‘It’s not like I can use the training grounds freely like I did during my leave of absence, though.’

Originally, before the end of the break, I had planned to borrow some money from Juliet—no, to ask for a loan to apply for a personal training ground.

But I ended up running into Berald in the middle of my scheme, and that plan was thwarted.

‘Well, can’t be helped.’

Thanks to yesterday’s sparring match with Instructor Vincent, people were paying more attention to me than usual, but I couldn\'t just stay cooped up in my dorm swinging a sword.

“Alright.”

I grabbed my sword and headed to the training grounds.

Since it hadn\'t been long since the end of the break, there weren\'t many candidates using the public training grounds.

“Oh?”

“Isn’t that the guy from Class C in practical combat training?”

“Hey, a guy who even beat an instructor isn’t just some nobody. He’s been faking being bad all this time, apparently.”

“But why? There’s no benefit to deliberately being at the bottom.”

“No idea. But I heard some people in Class C are even comparing him to ‘Yuren Helios.’”

“Come on, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?”

“Right? Those Class C guys have never even taken a class with Yuren. They\'re just making a fuss.”

Of course, just because there weren\'t many candidates didn\'t mean I wasn’t drawing attention.

\'It\'s a circus here.\'

I gave a wry smile as I glanced at the candidates who started whispering the moment I walked in.

I passed by them and headed to a quiet corner of the spacious public training grounds.

After setting down my towel and water bottle, I began to warm up with some light martial arts moves.

Whoosh! Swish! Crack!

The air resonated with the sharp sounds as my fists and feet sliced through it.

The sound was so powerful that it was hard to believe I hadn’t used any mana.

\'Looks like my body’s in good shape.\'

When I first returned, my body had been nothing more than that of a clueless idiot who worked hard without knowing better, but after two months of constant training, it had undergone significant changes.

My abs were sharply defined, and my upper body was covered in lean muscles with not an ounce of fat.

My lower body, from my waist down to my thighs and shins, had developed muscles so strong that they resembled those of a big cat.

Some might question whether it was necessary to train so rigorously when I could just enhance my body with mana, but that’s a naive mindset only those who hole up and use mana for casting spells would have.

\'Why pour mana into a branch to make it as strong as steel when you could just use a steel weapon in the first place?\'

The same goes for the body.

Even if you\'re using the same amount of mana, the difference between enhancing a weak body and a trained one is enormous.

\'Still not enough.\'

Thanks to the knowledge I’d gained from Berald, my body had improved quickly compared to the time I invested.

But to have a near-perfect body, like I did in my previous life, I couldn’t afford to slack off in training.

“Hoo.”

Once my body was warmed up, I drew my sword and began my real training.

“Sss…”

I took a deep breath and swung the sword in my hand.

Starting with the basic forms of the Sun Sword, from the first to the fourth stance: upward slash, downward slash, horizontal slash, and thrust.

The four basic movements, which could be called the foundation of swordsmanship, were executed one after the other.

Whoosh! Swish! Slash!

Though I still referred to it as the Sun Sword for convenience, the swordsmanship I practiced had evolved so much that it barely resembled the original.

‘It changed even more after I leveled up recently.’

At this point, even if Yuren from my previous life were to come back, he wouldn’t recognize the sword techniques he once taught me.

\'But that’s fine.\'

Even if the original form was hard to recognize now, the roots of my swordsmanship still lay with Yuren.

\'So don’t worry.\'

Whoosh!

A bead of sweat dripped from my forehead.

The sword, imbued with a gray aura, tore through the surrounding air ferociously.

\'Don’t worry, Yuren.\'

Even if you forget,

I will remember.

- Don’t be too anxious when you swing your sword.

- Empty your mind. Slowly.

- Think about where the sword wants to go, not where you want it to go.

The lessons you taught me.

The realizations you shared.

Even after hundreds of years, even after thousands of years.

I still remember them vividly and clearly.

“Hoo.”

I took a deep breath, slightly winded, and sheathed my sword.

‘Though, just because I remember them doesn’t mean I fully understand them.’

To be honest, I still don’t get what he meant by "think about where the sword wants to go, not where you want it to go."

\'Seriously, why did he always have to say things that sound so profound? How is anyone supposed to understand that?\'

As I recalled the days when I had learned swordsmanship from Yuren, a small laugh escaped my lips.

Clap clap.

Just then, I heard a clear sound of clapping. I turned my head in the direction of the sound.

"Impressive."

What I saw was a young man with radiant, golden hair shining like the sun.

"You…"

"Oh, I\'m sorry for watching your training without permission."

The golden-haired youth bowed his head politely.

"Nice to meet you. I am Yuren Helios, a third-year candidate in the warrior division."

"……"

I was so taken aback by Yuren’s unexpected appearance that I remained silent.

Perhaps he misunderstood my hardened expression.

Yuren scratched his head awkwardly, flashing an embarrassed smile.

"I apologize for showing up so suddenly without a word."

"Oh, uh, no, it\'s fine. But why are you here looking for me?"

"Yesterday, I happened to see you sparring, Dale."

"Ah."

Did he see me sparring with Instructor Vincent?

"After watching that duel, I couldn\'t resist the urge to spar with you myself."

So that\'s why, despite having his own private training ground, he came all the way to the public one to find me.

‘As expected, he\'s still the same.’

From long ago, whenever he heard a rumor about someone skilled with a sword, he’d hunt them down like a starving hyena with fire in his eyes.

This was so typical of him.

I stifled a laugh and nodded.

"Alright."

I had been wondering how to strike up a conversation and build a rapport with Yuren anyway, so I couldn’t let this opportunity slip by.

"Ah… thank you!"

"Feel free to speak casually. We\'re in the same year, after all."

"Okay, I’ll do that."

"So, do you want to spar here?"

"No. I have my own private training ground, so let\'s go there. Here... there are too many eyes on us."

Yuren turned his head to glance at the murmuring candidates around us.

Was it because Yuren had arrived?

Just moments ago, there were only a few people around, but now it seemed like the candidates were gathering in droves, threatening to fill the entire training ground.

"Let’s go before even more people show up."

"Yeah."

As Yuren led the way, the crowd parted before him like the sea, as if witnessing one of the seven gods\' miracles.

‘I thought I was getting a lot of attention lately, but being next to Yuren makes me realize it’s nothing in comparison.’

Well, it made sense.

After all, the candidate walking in front of me was the famous heir of "The Sun’s Sword," Reynald Helios.

This kind of attention was only natural.

"This is my training ground."

"Wow, this place is amazing."

Though it wasn’t as large as the public training grounds, the neatly organized interior, the walls filled with training equipment, and even the private showers and sauna—this place put the public facility to shame.

‘Seeing it in person makes me want it even more.’

Like a country bumpkin newly arrived in the city, I looked around Yuren\'s private training ground, swallowing hard.

"So, how should we spar?"

"However you\'d like."

"Hmm... how about we start without using any mana?"

Yuren suggested cautiously.

‘Seems like he knows I don’t have much mana.’

Yuren, on the other hand, had far more mana than even most professors, let alone other candidates.

He must have realized that using mana in a sparring match wouldn\'t allow for a fair fight between us.

‘Well, he’s not wrong.’

Without using a Stigma amplifier, the sheer difference in our mana capacities would be over tenfold, so I\'d naturally be at a disadvantage in a magical duel.

"Alright, let\'s spar without mana first."

"Thank you."

I gripped a wooden practice sword and stood in front of Yuren.

When Yuren manipulated his Hero Watch, a hologram appeared in the middle of the training ground.

[Training mode confirmed.]

[Sparring starts in 5 seconds.]

[4, 3, 2, 1.]

As the numbers floating in midair disappeared—

Whoosh!

Both Yuren and I kicked off the ground simultaneously, charging toward each other.

And then…

* * *

“Hah… hah… ugh!”

Yuren collapsed, gasping for breath.

“This… this doesn’t make any sense….”

Trembling, he stared down at his sword lying on the ground in disbelief.

I drank from a nearby water bottle, waiting for him to recover from the shock.

“Dale!”

Yuren suddenly jumped up and strode toward me.

Grabbing my hand tightly, he exclaimed in a trembling voice,

“Who… who in the world taught you that swordsmanship?!”

Who do you think, idiot?

‘I learned it from you.’