Chapter 30

Chapter 30

This wasn’t the first time Lin Winterbell came to see me.

A month ago, she suddenly showed up at the annex at dawn and challenged me to a fight without warning. True to her bold nature, she didn’t bring any other knights with her and came alone.

At the time, I had been training by myself in the training grounds. Whether she knew that or not, she brazenly asked for a spar. It felt like she had been holding a grudge against me ever since we returned from the Bakal Mountains and came looking for the right opportunity.

Her conditions were that she wouldn’t use aura, and if her knee touched the ground even once, she would consider it a loss.

Additionally, if I won, she promised to truthfully answer any one question within her knowledge. In return, if I lost, I had to kneel, bow my head, and say three times, ‘Sister, I’m sorry for acting out of line all this time.’

Those weren’t bad terms for me. I already knew that Lin Winterbell was far stronger than I was at the time, but I wasn’t the type to turn down such a good opportunity.

I didn’t like her either, and chances to go up against someone of her level didn’t come often. My thinking back then was that I could make up for the difference in power with experience.

The result was my defeat.

We must’ve swung our swords for nearly five hours without rest. Honestly, calling it a spar was misleading — it was hardly different from a life-or-death battle.

Because I pushed my mana to its limits, I ended up lying on the floor of the training grounds, trembling and gasping for breath.

If things had gotten just a bit worse, I might’ve suffered mana reflux.

Even though I lost, it was a fight from which I gained a lot. It also made me realize just how much of a blessing it was to be born with Winterbell blood — and helped me roughly gauge the combat level of my siblings.

Lin Winterbell was far stronger than I had imagined. Compared to her, Ron was child’s play.

Her martial skill seemed to represent what kind of path those with Winterbell blood were supposed to walk — and what path they were capable of walking.

“Sister, I’m sorry for acting out of line all this time. Please, accept the apology of your foolish younger brother, kind-hearted Sister.”

A promise was a promise, so after I lost the duel, I got on my knees, bowed my head, and gave the answer she wanted.

That day, I think I saw her look satisfied for the first time. It was the most content expression I’d ever seen on her face.

I wasn’t particularly angry. My pride was a little hurt, sure, but I had accepted the duel knowing from the start that I had no chance of winning. So in my own way, I was at peace with it.

“Let’s do it again in fifteen days.”

“Fifteen days? Why? You think it’ll be different then? You do know what it means when a swordsman says they won’t use aura, right?”

“Yes. I know.”

I simply wanted to make sure I wouldn’t forget that moment—so that next time, it would be Lin Winterbell kneeling in front of me.

That was all.

Really.

It wasn’t because I was angry or anything like that. I swear I hadn’t lost sleep for days thinking about what happened that day.

Exactly fifteen days later, we sparred again, and the result was a draw. The moment Lin Winterbell’s knee touched the ground, her blade grazed the side of my neck.

“Huh? What the hell...? What happened during those fifteen days? You’ve become a completely different person. What the hell did you do?”

“…Nothing much. I just trained a little, like usual.”

In truth, it hadn’t been like usual. It definitely wasn’t “nothing much.” If anything, the opportunity I had during those fifteen days had led me to a revelation—calling it a fateful encounter wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Because in that brief time, I received direct instruction from Arkan.

The King of the North.

The Noble White Wolf.

One of the Five Demi-Gods, a transcendent who had reached the realm of transcendence.

And the Sword Emperor.

A being who earned the title of Emperor through swordsmanship alone.

He personally trained me.

I didn’t know what possessed him, or what his intentions were, but thanks to Arkan, I inherited one of the conceptual techniques that only direct descendants of the Winterbell family were allowed to learn—‘Snowblossom.’

“…Don’t misunderstand. I’m not teaching you this because you’re special. These are things every direct descendant of Winterbell is required to master. I simply found it distasteful that you had neglected your duty out of laziness.”

Snowblossom was a technique that scattered aura into fine particles and spread it across the surroundings. It was named so because the sight resembled white snow blossoms drifting through the air.

But despite its poetic name, it wielded overwhelming, domineering power, true to Winterbell swordsmanship.

Back then, the Snowblossom I used had been “incomplete.” But the one I would use today…

“Sister, what will you do if I win this time?”

“You? Beat me? Puhahahaha! You fearless little bastard. You got lucky and managed a draw once, and now you’re talking like that?”

“Are you afraid you might lose?”

With Lin Winterbell’s personality, provoking her like this would…

“Me? To you? Hah… You’ve got to be kidding me. Ran Winterbell. If I lose to you this time, I’ll give you whatever you want. What are you putting on the line?”

Just as expected, she bit instantly.

If Ron Winterbell was firewood, then Lin Winterbell was a wildfire. It might not show on the surface, but considering how all my other siblings have fiery tempers too, maybe the problem wasn’t Arkan Winterbell, the Patriarch, but Lydia Winterbell, the Duchess.

“I’ll give you the Behemoth.”

“Oh? That’s tempting. You’re saying you’ll hand over the sword with the Mythical Age beast sealed inside it, aren’t you?”

【W-What nonsense are you spewing! How dare you offer me up without my permission! Cancel this at once!】

Don’t worry.

There’s no way I’ll lose in my current state.

But Lin Winterbell seemed just as confident.

The Winterbell blessing wasn’t limited to the body alone.

Aura control, understanding of swordsmanship, insight into sword paths, mana sensitivity—every area related to the sword manifested talent.

That’s why their growth was on a level completely incomprehensible by normal standards.

And Lin was no exception.

If I was a reincarnator, she was a genius.

If I had grown stronger, then she had too.

‘So she must’ve had another breakthrough during that time.’

---

When I arrived at the training grounds, I asked Lin,

“Sister. Would it be alright if my subordinates watched our spar?”

The Harlan Mercenaries and the annex residents had already gathered before I noticed. It seemed their training was over, as even Legion was there. Ah, now that I looked closer, Cecil, Bestia, and Attica were with them too.

“I don’t care if they watch, but are you sure? Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if you get humiliated in front of your subordinates?”

“Well… that’s not something you need to worry about, is it?”

“Kihihi. True. I like it. The more spectators, the more fun it’ll be, right?”

That malicious smile made her intentions painfully obvious. She was probably planning to crush me without mercy in front of my own people.

But I felt the same.

I was planning to make that woman kneel in front of them, too.

Ah, and it’s absolutely not because of that loss from before. I’ll say it again—it’s really not.

…It’s not.

【The more I see you, the worse off you seem to be, day by day.】

You’re mistaken. Just your imagination.

From the distance, I heard Attica’s voice cheering.

“Dad! You better not lose to that ugly human! Got it?”

“Of course, Attica.”

A beat later, Lin Winterbell realized she was the “ugly human” and let loose a barrage of curses.

“Hey! You red lizard! You wanna die? Say that crap one more time and I’ll turn you into elixir on the spot!”

Sticking out her tongue, Attica jumped into Cecil’s arms. It seemed the two had grown even closer over the past month than I’d expected.

I moved to the edge of the training grounds, did a light warm-up, then activated a 7th-tier enhancement spell I had developed in the past—Bloodfire Body Strengthening.

Bloodfire Body Strengthening was a buff-type spell that condensed mana to stimulate the heart, accelerating blood flow and causing the blood throughout the body to boil.

Once heated, the body could produce increasingly explosive strength as time passed, but the backlash on the body was considerable.

Great power always came at a price.

In the past, I couldn’t even dream of using it with such a frail body, but things were different now. Thanks to all the effort I had put in, I had restored the Winterbell physique and could now use Bloodfire Body Strengthening with relative ease. Of course, the vast amount of mana possessed by ‘Ran Winterbell’ helped a lot too.

Though it could only be used once per day, that was a problem that would resolve itself over time.

‘Just being able to use it now is already more than enough. Even when I was Van Descartes, I didn’t use it unless the situation was truly dangerous.’

Unless one possessed the blessed body of a Winterbell, it was only natural for this spell to place a heavy burden on the body. And with the minuscule mana reserves I’d been born with, even a single use used to bring extreme fatigue.

In return, its effect was unquestionable.

Savoring the sensation of my entire body boiling, I gripped the Behemoth in my hand.

“Are you ready, Sister?”

“Anytime.”

We stared each other down, then charged in without needing a signal.

Kwaang!

The clash of our blades created a sonic boom, and fierce wind swept across the training grounds. Without missing a beat, I broke the rhythm down further and pressed forward with an aggressive assault.

The effect of Bloodfire Body Strengthening was clear.

Neither Lin Winterbell nor I were using aura—or even mana.

In other words, this was a contest of pure physical strength.

And yet, I wasn’t being pushed back. No, I was overwhelming her. The smile that had been on Lin Winterbell’s face all this time had started to distort.

“……”

“Not looking so good, are you?”

“Shut up!”

A pale blue mana flared around her blade.

In the end, the fact that she used mana meant she was admitting she couldn’t beat me with strength alone. Even though I had activated Bloodfire Body Strengthening, the fact that I was overpowering her with brute force alone showed just how far I had come.

‘He’s become a completely different person.’

Sshhk!

The tip of her sword grazed my shoulder. Just by activating her mana, her speed and power had surged drastically.

At most, I could maintain Bloodfire Body Strengthening for 30 minutes. I never intended to drag this duel out from the beginning.

Manifestation.

Each breath I exhaled turned into a cloud of white steam. A chill enveloped my blade, and ice crystals scattered into the air. Expecting me to use an aura blade, Lin Winterbell quickly created distance.

But contrary to her expectations, the aura I released scattered in all directions, transforming into snowflake-shaped crystals.

The range covered the entire training grounds.

It looked as if snow were falling from the sky.

Winterbell-style Illusory Sword – Fourth Conceptual Technique.

“Snowblossom.”