Chapter 8: A Challenge
"Outside, all of you. We’re running behind as it is."
"The sun’s not even up yet though..?"
"Don’t sass me, boy."
Emmanuel struck a child over the head with the backside of his fist.
While the rest of the cadets shuffled out of the room for morning training, Emmanuel scanned his eyes over the dwindling barracks and frowned when he noticed a face missing.
"Where’s cadet Solomon?"
"He didn’t come back to his bunk last night, sir." One boy answered.
Emmanuel frowned at that news.
Cadet curfew was a strict thing around here. More so for the first through third years.
After seeing just how hard Solomon had worked on his regimen the past few weeks, Emmanuel couldn’t believe that the boy would be so irresponsible.
"Morning, Good Sir."
Emmanuel turned around and looked down.
Standing in the middle of the hallway side by side were a glowing Solomon and a seemingly exhausted Raizel.
Both young boys seemed to have already been through a considerable workout on their own judging by the lingering sweat and disheveled clothes.
"...And where have you two been?"
Solomon burped, and Emmanuel saw what seemed like blue glitter waft from his mouth.
"Forgive our impropriety, but my brother and I went out for an early run this morning. I hope you don’t mind." Raizel smiled.
Emmanuel raised his brow at the young master’s particular choice of terminology. He hadn’t received any reports that the two children were this close.
Though bi’an did mean ’sword brother’ in their native tongue, you would be hard-pressed to find someone actually treating them as such.
In Emmanuel’s time in the clan, he had only seen the Patriarch do so with the First Sword.
This sort of development was definitely going to raise some eyebrows.
"...Recruits said that Cadet Solomon did not return to the barracks last night. That true?"
Raizel curled his lip upward in a hateful sneer. "Who would dare accuse my right hand of breaking the rules? We simply left a bit earlier than normal to get a jump on the day."
Solomon thought that Raizel was a very convincing person when you didn’t know he was full of shit.
Evidently, Enmanuel seemed not to have the patience to deal with him when he was like this.
"You know what? I don’t care. Just get your butt to the pit and get ready for-"
"Sir Emmanuel. I have a request." Solomon suddenly said.
The knight narrowed his eyes in displeasure.
"You got quite the pair of stones on you. Do you think interrupting me when you’re already late to start your morning routine is a wise decision?"
"..." There was something different in Solomon’s eyes this morning. It was defiant and uncompromising.
Emmanuel was intrigued.
"Well? Out with it."
"I want to challenge another cadet in an official duel."
Emmanuel was no longer intrigued and simply thought that Solomon had just lost his mind overnight.
Clearly, Raizel was just as shocked.
"The hell are you talking about, nitwit!?" Raizel mushed Solomon’s face with his palm. "You don’t know what you’re asking!"
"I know exactly what I’m doing, twerp, now don’t mush me!"
"I’ll mush you if I want, scrub! You don’t mush me!"
"I’ll mush you every time you mush me, rich boy!"
"Fuck you!"
"Fuck you!"
Emmanuel watched the two children who, despite seeming thick as thieves a few seconds ago, were now putting their hands in each other’s faces and swearing.
He wondered if this was what it would be like to have kids.
"Enough."
A bit of aura seeped out of Emmanuel’s body. His eyes pulsed with an azure light.
The aura of an advanced knight is great enough to knock most children and small animals onto their rumps with minimal exposure.
Which was why Emmanuel’s jaw almost fell open when neither kid reacted like they should have.
They stopped their fighting and stared at him as if to ask, ’Is that necessary?’
And there was only one way that was possible.
"You two can both... use... aura?"
""Sort of."" They shrugged.
Now, Emmanuel actually did let his jaw fall open.
Using aura is far different from using magic. Mages can start practicing as soon as they learn how to read and follow instructions.
However, for those who are aspiring to be swordsmen, the practice is different.
For the first fifteen years of a knight’s life, they are expected to train their bodies only. This is for two reasons.
One is so that they can use that time to naturally accumulate mana from their surroundings and store it inside of their bodies.
The second is so that they can train their muscles to withstand the burden caused by using aura imbued attacks.
It is thought to be largely impossible to activate the aura in one’s body without a special ceremony.
Emmanuel knew neither Solomon, nor Raizel had undergone such a thing. And yet they could still use aura well enough to withstand his own.
Emmanuel took a closer look at the two and saw that neither of them had started forming cores yet.
"Haaa... when were you going to tell someone you could use aura, cadet?"
Solomon shrugged at Emmanuel’s question. "I didn’t think it mattered. I only figured it out yesterday."
"Yesterday?"
"While watching the seniors train."
The more questions he asked, the more Emmanuel had to concede that he didn’t understand these two at all.
They were both their own enigmatic little monsters.