“Kail Doryeom—!”
“Kail Doryeom, where are you?”
The voices of the maids and servants searching for me reached my ears. I stealthily avoided them and dashed off in the opposite direction.
After running for quite a while, I finally arrived at a certain destination. Well, it was always the same place I’d escape to anyway.
“Ah, young master. Are you running away again?”
“Heheheh! Yeah! Are you going to tattle on me again?”
“No, how could I… However, Viscount instructed me that if you run away here, he wants me to give you an even tougher training session. Are you sure about this?”
“Of course, it’s better than studying.”
At my words, Leon Knight smirked. It was a smile that seemed to promise making me regret saying those words.
But I was actually counting on that. Over the past few days, I realized there was a limit to exercising alone.
“Then let’s begin. Young master. First… let’s start with running.”
“Eek—.”
“You’re not going to say you don’t want to now, are you?”
I hate cardio. But he is someone who can send me back to the study room with just one word. There’s no valid reason for me to defy him.
‘What can I do? I have to follow his instructions.’
With heavy sighs, I began running across the training ground.
It has been five years since I reincarnated into this world.
I was adapting to this world.
* * *
Over the span of five years, I realized that this world is the same universe from the last game I played before I died.
How did I figure it out?
“Our Diaros Empire has a history stretching back over 5,000 years…”
The name of the country gave it away. Not only that, many of the settings that used to give me headaches in the game were applied exactly the same way in this world, so I was even more confident.
This world is a game. And not just any game—it’s that messy trash game I used to play. The realization pissed me off.
To vent my frustration, I acted up to my tutor.
“This feels like something I’ve heard before.”
“Yes, I mentioned it before. And you failed it every time on the tests. That’s why I’m explaining it again. You keep forgetting.”
“Ah…”
Now that I think about it, I’m not very good at studying. While arts and physical education are my strengths, I can’t feel the need to memorize things for humanities or sciences.
When I don’t see the necessity, naturally my interest and achievement drop, which leads to poor grades, which in turn lowers my interest further—an endless cycle of failure.
Even after dying and coming back to life once, this habit hasn’t changed. I still prefer playing outside to studying.
“I want to play.”
“You can play after finishing your studies.”
“…I have a question. Why do we have to study this stuff?”
I am a noble, the eldest son of a powerful viscount family.
In other words, much like the nobles in medieval Europe, I don’t really need to work.
Study? That’s what commoners are for. Calculating money? Let the commoners handle that too.
I am a noble, and nobles are gods.
However, the tutor shook his head and countered my question.
“It’s because you’re a noble.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“There’s something called noblesse oblige, young master.”
Unfortunately, this world wasn’t as easygoing as I thought. A world where nobles are given more responsibilities.
Is it because this is a game world? The developer must have had their head in the clouds.
‘There’s nothing I can do about it…’
I painfully turned my sluggish brain and began stuffing the empire’s history into my short-term memory.
By passing the teacher’s pop quiz with that knowledge, I quickly left the mansion and headed to the training grounds.
On the training grounds, the family’s dedicated knights and soldiers were enthusiastically running around and training.
As I approached, Leon Knight turned his head upon sensing my presence.
“Oh, young master.”
“Leon.”
“Are you done with your lessons?”
“Yeah. They said I can play now.”
“Play, huh.”
Leon chuckled at my words.
In reality, Leon realized through Kail’s words that this young master was completely lacking in common sense.
‘Saying “play” after all that pressure…’
Normally, kids at this age don’t look forward to grueling training. Whether they’re from noble or knight families, it’s the same.
Children of nobles or knights are ingrained with duty and responsibility from an even younger age. They endure it somehow, but none of them consider training as “play.”
“Well then, shall we push ourselves harder today?”
“Yeah. Hey, Leon, I want to learn swordsmanship.”
“Swordsmanship, you say?”
At my words, Leon paused briefly. After thinking for a moment, he nodded, deciding it wasn’t entirely inappropriate.
“If that’s the case, I’ll teach you swordsmanship after today’s stamina training.”
“Okay!”
“Are you that excited?”
“Of course! It looks cool, wielding a sword.”
In my previous life, I never learned martial arts. People automatically respected me just by looking at my size, so there was no need.
There was no point in learning fighting skills when I didn’t need to fight. And I wasn’t the type to pick fights either.
But in this world—a game world—if I reincarnated here, things are different. Though I don’t remember the ending clearly, I do recall it was an action-based game.
‘One day, I might have to fight others. Even if they aren’t humans, maybe monsters…’
It wouldn’t hurt to learn swordsmanship in preparation for such occasions. Isn’t swinging a sword and defeating villains or monsters the dream of every man?
Following Leon’s orders, I ran across the training ground and did strength exercises until my arms and legs wobbled.
Though it took longer to perfect my form during the rare strength training—probably because I’m so light—I didn’t find it too difficult to complete the required reps.
Leon noticed this fact and slightly frowned.
“Hmm… Since you have relatively strong strength compared to your weight, we should focus on flexibility and endurance for now.”
“I agree with that approach.”
While strength training from a young age isn’t bad, overdoing it can hinder proper bone and muscle development.
Proper strength training should start during puberty, when male hormones—natural steroids—are fully active.
“Then, as promised, I will teach you swordsmanship.”
“Yeah!”
“Here, take this first.”
Leon handed me a wooden sword used for practice. Since children-sized wooden swords weren’t available, it was a standard soldier-grade wooden sword.
Upon receiving it, I struggled to lift the wooden sword. Just raising it put immense strain on my arms.
Seeing me struggle with the wooden sword, Leon quickly snatched it away and picked up a sturdy wooden stick nearby.
“Sorry, young master. For now, we’ll use this as a substitute for training, and I’ll find a proper wooden sword suited for you later.”
“…Yeah, thanks.”
It was embarrassing to train with a simple stick, but there was nothing I could do. There’s no point in trying to learn anything with a wooden sword I can’t even lift.
When starting weightlifting, the same principle applies. Starting with weights you can’t control increases the risk of injury. You should gradually increase the weight under control.
“Alright, young master. The essence of swordsmanship lies in three techniques: vertical slash, horizontal slash, and thrust.”
Leon demonstrated by swinging his sword downward, horizontally, and straight ahead.
A technique often described in martial arts novels as the Three Talent Sword Method (Heaven, Earth, Man).
…Honestly, it’s pretty unimpressive.
“Uh, can’t I learn something cooler?”
“Cool techniques? Hahaha. Young master, you’re not ready for that yet. Moreover, such techniques can only be taught directly by Viscount himself.”
“…Dad?”
I forgot.
My family, the Meyer Clan, is a knightly house that once produced a legendary swordsman.
Naturally, the direct descendants are trained in secret sword techniques passed down through generations.
Even Leon, the viscount’s personal knight, hasn’t learned these secret techniques. Only direct descendants can teach them.
“Yes. So, until Viscount returns from his expedition… let’s focus on building the basics.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll demonstrate again. The downward strike is like this, the horizontal cut is like this, and the thrust is like this….”
After finishing his guidance, Leon left to train the soldiers.
Since I couldn’t expect him to watch me forever, I repeated the sword techniques he taught me, practicing with the stick.
Let’s go lightly—just 100 repetitions each.
* * *
“Hey! Keep your waist steady!”
“Yes sir!”
“You won’t even be able to cut a goblin’s neck with that stance! Keep your arm closer to your side!”
“Understood!”
While yelling commands to train the soldiers, Leon occasionally wiped sweat and glanced behind him.
After teaching swordsmanship earlier, it was natural for his eyes to fall on the young master.
‘Is he doing well…?’
Leon sneakily turned his head to check Kail and saw that he was following the exact techniques he had taught.
After confirming a few more swings, Leon redirected his attention back to training the soldiers.
Half an hour later, after disciplining the soldiers, Leon looked at Kail again.
‘Still going? Incredible.’
Kail was still swinging the sword.
An hour later, after the training ended—Leon stared in astonishment at Kail, who was still swinging his sword.
‘What in the world…’
Leon wondered if Kail was pretending to swing the sword just when he was watching.
But that wasn’t the case. His arms were trembling from having swung the stick countless times, and he struggled to maintain balance due to shaking in his abdomen and legs.
His calves were cramping, and his eyes lost focus.
He was in a state where collapsing immediately would be surprising. Yet, Kail continued to swing the sword.
Exactly as Leon had taught him initially, reproducing the moves perfectly, like a machine.
‘How is this possible…?’
Even after half a lifetime of knightly training, Leon found it impossible to replicate the same precision every time.
There was only one person Leon knew who could perform like this.
“Swordsaint….”
Bell Meyer, the first patriarch of the Meyer family.
The Swordsaint who earned the title of viscount—if he could do this, it made sense.
In other words, Kail possessed such extraordinary talent that he could be considered the reincarnation of Bell Meyer—a true genius.
Thud!
“Young master!”
Upon seeing Kail collapse, Leon quickly rushed to support him. Thankfully, he hadn’t hit anything dangerous.
Holding the sweat-soaked boy in his arms, Leon frantically called for a maid. Shortly after hearing his voice, the maid rushed over, shocked, and hurried to fetch a doctor.
