Chapter 73
100 days.
100 days could be considered quite a long time. If you had to endure 100 days doing nothing but eating three meals a day and staring at a wall, there would be no Hell quite like it.
But, what if you chose one task and did nothing but that like your life depended on it for 100 days…?
What if you immersed yourself in that one thing so deeply you couldn’t tell if it was day or night, or whether your eyes were open or closed…?
If that were possible, 100 days might actually be a very short time.
“Oh? It’s snowing.”
At some point, Youngest could feel that truth firsthand as he watched the first snow.
The air, which had grown cold before he knew it, filled his lungs, and the soft snow piled upon his shoulders.
The 100 days promised by the Leader had already passed a few days ago.
‘…It really was a Hell-like 100 days.’
Especially for Youngest, whose physique was more slender than those of the other elder brothers, the experience of undergoing the same External Cultivation Training and developing his Combat Sense while getting beaten by the Leader was inevitably grueling.
Squeeze.
Youngest flexed his arm and slowly looked at it.
It hadn’t grown much larger than before…, but his arm was as hard as a club soaked in oil.
It was what the Leader called ‘Practical Compressed Muscles’.
Youngest had managed to achieve a physique similar to the Leader’s after his strenuous efforts of building muscle and getting beaten, though it couldn’t compare to the Leader’s.
‘Wait…, then just how much did the Leader get beaten…?’
Youngest suddenly recalled the words the Leader had let slip while beating them to a pulp.
‘Back in my day, getting hit this much was just a warm-up…, tsk tsk.’
“…Haha, elder brother really went through a lot of hardship.”
Still, Youngest didn’t think that hardship was in vain.
At first, it was hard to understand what it meant to learn by getting hit…, but as he actually kept getting hit, his sense of the Saber Art grew sharper.
The Leader’s Saber Art was so esoteric that it was difficult to understand just by watching and listening, but facing it and actually getting hit made it much easier to understand as a whole.
Thanks to the Leader’s efforts…, the Executives of the Green Forest were able to somewhat internalize the Leader’s Saber Art into their bodies, even if they hadn’t reached mastery.
After that, they gained some breathing room and were able to resume their daily routines.
“Elder brother Bangsam!”
“Yes, if you take this toll pass…, huh? Youngest.”
The place Youngest had come to was the Entrance Pavilion, which could be considered the core of the Mountain Path.
Youngest found Bangsam working hard there and massaged his shoulders with a smile.
“I came to relieve you. You’ve been working without a break for half a day today.”
“Ah, is it already that time? Ughhh…”
Bangsam was in charge of the Entrance Pavilion, but since he couldn’t work alone all day, Youngest also jumped into the work recently.
Bangsam stretched as he stood up and patted Youngest’s shoulder.
Sitting in one spot and dealing with hundreds of Merchants was no easy task, but now that it was over…
“I can finally rest. I’ll leave it to you then, Youngest.”
“Eldest Brother said you should come over when you’re done working, though. He said he’d give you some Sparring.”
“…”
…It was the beginning of an even greater Hell.
At the mention of Sparring, Bangsam’s eyes darted around and he began to sweat, despite the weather being this cold.
“…Fuck, isn’t beating us up actually that gentleman’s hobby? The promised 100 days have passed, so why again… Ah, I don’t know. I’ll just run…”
“He also said he’d find and kill you if you ran.”
“Son of a bitch-!”
The Leader was a man of his word. And there was no one in the Green Forest… who didn’t know that fact.
Bang Sam-i had no choice but to head toward the Leader, wearing the expression of a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
“Stay strong, elder brother.”
“…Work hard too, Youngest.”
Even so, Bangsam didn’t forget to offer words of encouragement to Youngest. Youngest waved his hand at Bangsam.
Then, he sat in the Attendant’s seat.
As Youngest took his seat, the Merchants recognized his face and gladly greeted him.
“Oh! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you! Do you happen to remember who I am? It’s nice to see you again like this, so…”
“Yes, but I still won’t give you a discount on the toll.”
“Tch.”
Due to Youngest’s stubbornness, the Merchant clicked his tongue and placed his luggage on the table for inspection. Watching the Merchant, Youngest also smiled and accurately inspected the luggage to calculate the toll.
Youngest’s handling of the work was thorough, without an inch of hesitation. It was difficult at first, but as he got the hang of it, he was able to adapt quite quickly.
Bangsam grumbled every time as if this work was exhausting, but Youngest rather enjoyed this position where he could interact with various people.
“Alright, next-!”
He thoroughly calculated and collected the toll from this Merchant as well, and turned to the next customer.
“Uh…?”
…Youngest had no choice but to freeze upon seeing the next customer’s face.
“You are?”
* * *
“Huu…, huu…”
“…”
Dongryong must have been very exhausted, as he was heaving rough breaths.
It is understandable. Right now, Dongryong is Sparring one-on-one with me.
The first Sparring involved the rest of the Subordinates attacking me all at once. But after the promised 100 days had passed, I felt the need for individual Training and decided to look after the Subordinates one by one like this.
Of course, since a normal Sparring would be too easy for me, I imposed a penalty on myself.
My penalty when facing Dongryong was…, to use only one hand.
Using only one hand reduced my combat power to far less than half, but this level was just right for facing Dongryong.
In fact, Dongryong was sweating profusely as if it were raining all over his body, seemingly overwhelmed by just this much.
“Dongryong, aren’t you going to focus? What are we going to do if a bastard who’s the Deputy Leader is struggling here? Huh?”
“…Eek!”
Paat-!
As if provoked by my words, Dongryong filled his Saber to the brim with Internal Energy and leaped.
As Dongryong swung his Saber, the wind blew and a fierce flow of Internal Energy could be felt.
Dongryong was currently executing a Stance of the Wind Wave Saber Art and rushing at me.
The Wind Wave Saber Art was one of the Saber Arts I had taught the Subordinates.
The principle of the Wind Wave Saber Art was to generate a powerful Saber Wind, manipulate it at will, and fiercely cut down the opponent.
Kwaaaaa-!
In that regard, the current Saber Wind was quite fierce, and Dongryong’s Aura was intense.
At this level, he could certainly go somewhere and say he had learned the Wind Wave Saber Art.
However…
“It’s still lacking.”
Because the Wind Wave Saber Art has large movements, if the caster fails to completely fill the area around their body with Saber Wind, it inevitably leaves many openings.
At least from what I could see, openings are spotted all over Dongryong right now, and…
Swaaack-!
I thrust my Saber, scabbard and all, into that opening with one hand.
Crack-.
“Ugh-!”
Stabbed in the side by my Saber, Dongryong groaned in pain, but…
Chwachwachwachwa-!
“…Oho?”
The Saber Art was not countered and was still being maintained. Looking at his expression, Dongryong had almost reached a State of Selflessness with the single-minded determination to smash my head in.
‘Was I that wrong?’
Flustered by Dongryong’s tenacity, I had no choice but to blame my past self.
Because I was probably the one who made the current Dongryong like that, having beaten him so ruthlessly.
‘Did I beat him because I wanted to-! This bastard doesn’t even understand his Leader’s heart-!’
Filled with a sense of disappointment, I pushed straight into Dongryong’s side.
Pababa…
As I did, I could see Dongryong’s energy scattering and his strength gradually fading.
But at that moment…
Spin-.
“…!”
Dongryong instantly withdrew his energy, spun his body, and…
Paat-!
…shook my Saber before launching another strike.
Because he had withdrawn his energy, the intensity wasn’t strong, but since my Saber was already extended, it was difficult to react.
At this, I also tried to twist my body to evade, but…
Thud-.
…by then, the tip of Dongryong’s Saber had already touched my shoulder.
“…”
“…”
This was the first time Dongryong’s Saber had touched my body. At this unprecedented event, an awkward silence flowed for a moment, and then…
“Yeeaaaah-!!”
Soon after, Dongryong’s ecstatic roar filled the mountain.
“Finally-!! Did you see that, Leader? My Saber touched the Leader’s body-! Aaaaaah-!!”
Saying so, Dongryong looked like he was about to burst into tears at any moment.
I gave Dongryong a wide grin, and then…
“Dongryong.”
“Yes, Leader.”
“The Sparring isn’t over yet.”
“…Pardon?”
…I swung my Saber just like that.
Smaaaaack-!
“Aaaaagh-!”
Naturally, the defenseless Dongryong was struck head-on and fell backward. I smacked Dongryong a few more times in midair.
“Hey, you bastard. I told you to treat it like actual combat, didn’t I? Would you do this to an enemy in actual combat? 'It touched your body, so it’s my victory,' something like that?”
“Keheok…, Leader. I, I was just so happy that I…”
“Damn it, you bastard. Take another hit.”
Smack-!
As I swung one more time, Dongryong fell backward as if he had fainted. Today’s Sparring with Dongryong was over.
“Alright, then next is…”
“…!”
Looking to the side, Bangsam, who had just returned from work, was standing there awkwardly.
“Bangsam, come here.”
“No, Leader. I just got back from finishing work and I’m so exhausted…”
“Training is like actual combat. Actual combat is like Training. Right now is a situation where an enemy has ambushed you when you’re dead tired after finishing work.”
“…If it’s Training like actual combat, can I just run away like in actual combat?”
Even before opening his mouth, Bang Sam-i was already twisting his body to run away.
I smiled at Bang Sam-i and continued speaking.
“Since it’s actual combat, of course you can run away. However, right now I am a Martial Artist with a setting that ruthlessly inflicts even more pain upon those who abandon their honor and flee.”
“…That’s a really dog-shit setting. Fuck.”
Paat-!
Bang Sam-i spat out a curse and rushed at me.
Seeing him rush in like that even after getting beaten so much for 100 days, it was clear that was indeed a spirit befitting Rank 3.
I raised my Saber, pondering where to smack Bang Sam-i.
It was the moment our sabers were about to clash.
“Elder brother-!”
“Hm?”
“Eh?”
Hearing Youngest’s voice, the two of us suddenly stopped our actions and looked to the side.
Looking to the side, Youngest was indeed standing there, even though it wasn’t Youngest’s Sparring time at that moment.
It was definitely time for Youngest to be doing his daily routine. Just as I was about to say something to Youngest for coming here despite that…
“Youngest, why…, ah… Uhh? What the?”
…I was so surprised to see the person next to Youngest that I couldn’t easily continue speaking.
“You…”
“It has been a while, Great Hero.”
Just as she said, she, whom I hadn’t seen in a really long time, was smiling brightly without any pretense as she looked back at me.