Part 1: Reason to Get Stronger
Today, like any other day, as soon as the rooster crowed, I woke up, did my personal hygiene, ate a bit of self-cooked breakfast, and headed to the training ground.
I usually start with a light warm-up by running a few laps around the yard at a moderate, slow pace according to 'Water God Style' standards to warm up my body. Then came stretching exercises to make my body more flexible without worrying about pulling a muscle. Next were light exercises: 100 push-ups, 100 pull-ups, and 100 sit-ups.
And finally, skill training.
As a Water God Style swordsman, I have to practice breathing and sensing the environment. Today is a late spring day, so petals occasionally fall, which is exactly what I was waiting for.
Holding the wooden sword in my hand, I began to swing.
*Whoosh whoosh*
My goal wasn't to cut the petals; on the contrary, I wasn't allowed to hit them.
What I was doing was swinging the sword in paths to create gusts of wind strong enough to keep those petals floating in the air. One petal, two petals, then three. Soon, hundreds and thousands of petals were swirling around me as if caught in a tornado.
The scene right now must look like something out of an anime.
Indeed, normally no swordsman could do what I'm doing. This phenomenon is possible due to the existence of battle aura.
Battle aura not only enhances strength, speed, and senses, but it can also help the wielder affect the environment. Just like how Ken once cut a tree branch nearly ten meters away from him, or the ultimate Secret Art that Master Reida possesses, capable of delivering a fatal blow the moment an enemy intends to attack.
Master Reida herself told me that everyone's battle aura affects the environment differently depending on how they trained to affect their rank on the categories.
Just like how I possess and use Perfect Reverse. Usually, the user completely neutralizes the attack and reflects the damage back. However, when I use it, sometimes the initial damage is still partially transmitted to me. The match with Isolde is an example.
I hypothesized that it was because my body wasn't strong enough to use the secret art truly effectively (because my Strength Battle Aura is weak as heck). And that seems to be the real reason. I tried using the secret art in sparring matches with Eris, and the damage seemed to be completely negated, sometimes even causing other strange effects like cutting her sword in half.
So I came to the conclusion that my strength is really important in using Perfect Reverse. And depending on the amount of strength I use on that skill, its effect will differ.
For example, if I use less strength than 'required', I will take some damage and possibly lose my weapon. If I use more strength than 'required', the opponent's weapon will be 'destroyed'; more accurately, I can cut through the enemy's weapon like cutting peanut butter, as I practiced with Eris - who is stronger than me when it comes to raw power.
Meaning I don't need to be stronger or weaker than the opponent, but I need 'balance' to use the secret art. Because if I use just enough strength, it will be the jackpot to create the word 'Perfect' in the secret art I'm using. It's not necessarily stronger or weaker than the enemy's attack, but simply 'enough' in a certain situation. Meaning with the same enemy, that 'enough' force can change.
Complicated, right?
That's why it's called a 'secret art'. If it were simple, Water Kings would be everywhere.
The only way to know when it's 'enough' is to rely on experience and the ability to control one's own strength. That's why I'm training with petals; this is an exercise for me to use the minimum amount of strength and slowly build it up and train my 'control'.
Or so I'm told. Since this is also the exercise Master Reida told me to do, not something I came up with myself.
Maybe someday, through this exercise, I will achieve 'perfection'.
And when that happens, many miraculous things will appear. First of all, the opponent's weapon may be destroyed, I won't take damage back, and the enemy will receive all the damage they should have caused multiplied many times over (according to my preliminary calculations, about to the power of 2.5). You could say it will be exactly the skill that beats anything and gets stronger with stronger enemies.
In addition, if I achieve a high level of battle aura like 'King' rank, for example, I can even counter magic. According to Ken, I just need to slash, breaking the magic attack at its 'weak point', and it will automatically take damage from my slash. Truly magical.
Honestly, I don't really understand the principle behind it. Because if analyzed physically, this sounds like total nonsense. But indeed, 'physics' in this world has many things very different from Earth, so I decided to ignore it and not ask too many questions. After all, the Longsword of Light slashes at the speed of light, right? Compared to causing damage to a mage by slashing at a magic attack, it's less absurd. Because if the Longsword of Light could really touch the speed of light, Sword God Style swordsmen would have created a nuclear explosion every time they drew their swords.
I'm still alive after dozens of times being hit by that move, so I can confirm physics in this world is thrown out the window when it comes to high-level skills involving 'battle aura' and 'mana'. Instead, I decided to focus on training to reach the word 'perfect' in my Secret Art. But to use it, I have to be as strong as the opponent, so that's not easy at all. In fact, I still haven't been able to reach that 'perfect' point despite training for many years.
That's why I started the strength training series like now. Because I need to enhance muscle strength and the ability to control strength more delicately.
I need to be stronger.
For what? Not that I want to become the strongest like in some shounen series or anything. Or because I want to defeat Isolde? Well, yes, she's still a target for me to surpass, but in this case, not exactly.
The reason why I need to be stronger is quite a long story. Let's start with what Philip told me yesterday when we were alone:
"I just proposed to Ghislaine to be my mistress, but she refused."
I swear I wanted to kill that guy right then and there.
But luckily I heard the important keyword 'refused' in time. So from angry, I switched to gloating mode and flashed a very bright smile.
In short, Philip is like any other Boreas man; he also loves beast folk. But I'm not sure if it's because of loyalty or what, but he doesn't have any other wives besides Hilda. Yet suddenly he got the urge to bag Ghislaine, which is a bit weird. So I had to ask for the reason.
"I also want to be choked between those legs, haha. I think you understand too, right, Atur?"
"Yes, I understand very well!"
So we nodded in agreement. I didn't expect to have a friend with the same hobby. Thinking back, Philip himself occasionally gets beaten flat by Lord Sauros a few times and is still unfazed, does he also have M blood? I'm not M, I just like touching a toned, sweaty body. And the only thing better than one toned, sweaty body is two toned, sweaty bodies, muahaha!
Anyway, that circles back to why I need to be stronger.
It seems the Beast Race has a quite interesting culture where during the mating season, males will challenge the female they want to mate with and other males with the same goal. If they win everything, they will have the right to marry the female and become a couple.
Quite like how Princess Khutulun would only marry someone who could defeat her in a wrestling match. This shows that the Beast Race seems to value their warrior tradition very much.
Even though this mansion is full of beast folk maids...
I don't mind, hehe. But if I have to compare, warrior muscle beast folk have one and a half times the points compared to maid beast folk.
That's a personal preference, please don't judge.
So my goal is now quite clear: become stronger to defeat Ghislaine and marry her.
Although as far as I know, Ghislaine is 'at least' 20 years older than me, it seems beast folk have a longer lifespan than humans. By the time I start getting old, maybe Ghislaine will be too, and we can live together until the twilight years with a bunch of silver-haired children and grandchildren, hahaha!
...
Part 2: Doodling
The weather is quite nice today. Suddenly I felt like doing something artistic.
Calculating from when I was 4 until now, I regularly spend a whole day each month writing poetry. Eventually, it became a habit. However, today I wanted a change of pace.
So I took pen and paper out to the mayor's mansion's flower garden to draw flowers.
Actually, I'm not good at this subject. Back on Earth, I didn't even care much about drawing. However, in the last months of my previous life, I had a thought of becoming a mangaka or animator to create works that could touch the hearts of fans.
However, I gave up after about two weeks of 'trying'. Actually, I don't regret that much because in the end, I was still quite satisfied with the last period of my life. And the fact that I died a ridiculous death by a truck while trying to save my student is also something quite proud of.
I wonder what the press will write about me after I die?
Ah, speaking of that, I'm a bit scared. If they dig up information like I used to be a pervert, it would be humiliating. If someone said I was just accidentally there while stalking the female student I was in charge of, I'm screwed, aaaaaaa!
I mean 'she' was cute but I won't touch my student alright? I'm not that low. And I heard somewhere that she had a boyfriend or something too.
Ah… So whatever, let's just ignore the past life stuff.
That's also why I went to practice drawing and sightseeing, mainly to forget those miscellaneous thoughts.
"Oh."
But just as I went out to the flower garden, I had to sigh because I saw someone I didn't think I would meet in such a romantic place.
"Oh, someone like you also has the leisure to admire flowers, Young Master Atur?"
"Hello, Sir Ken. I didn't expect you to have such feminine hobbies either."
"Isn't drawing flowers kind of feminine as well?"
"Kuh..."
Unlucky, indeed. Why can't I even have a peaceful morning. My luck is truly terrible.
"Anyway, what are you doing here?" I asked, trying to avoid a sarcastic confrontation with this person.
"I just came to admire the flowers."
Ken replied with a slight smile as he reached out to touch the edge of a blue hydrangea branch, cherishing it as if it were a gem. Honestly, I felt a bit awkward seeing that man having this tenderness. Honestly, I was a bit scared seeing this scene because whenever a serious-looking character suddenly becomes gentle and has a flashback, it's a death flag.
Even though I don't like Ken picking fights and being sarcastic, he's still the one who protected me since I was very young, and my first master too. Thinking about me growing up and him becoming old and weak and dying also makes me somewhat heartbroken.
Ironically, the people I should be worrying about like that should be my parents.
I sighed and sat down next to Ken, looking straight at the flowers swaying in the gentle breeze of spring.
"I think you already know this, so I'll say it first."
Suddenly Ken spoke up again. His gaze was still looking forward.
"If you want to confront Prime Minister Darius, you will become an enemy of the Water God."
Yeah, I know. I once heard rumors about Master Reida establishing the Water God Style headquarters in the Royal Capital Ars also at the invitation of that old Darius.
That must be why I planned to give up that intention a few times already.
Not because I'm afraid of fighting Master Reida. But because I don't want to put the two of us in a difficult position. So I had a plan to wait for one or both of them to die of old age before calculating further.
"I won't confront my master." I confirmed "You must be relieved to hear that, right?"
"Good." Ken nodded in satisfaction.
Honestly, I can understand why Ken reminded me of this. Because Darius is supporting the First Prince to become the next king of this Asura Kingdom. And surprisingly, the Boreas family of Lord Sauros, whom I am relying on, also shares that idea.
So now I might be forced to stand on the same side as Darius if I want to take down Pilemon.
It's complicated. And troublesome too.
I was just supposed to come out here to paint. And here we are, talking about politics.
"Sigh..." I sighed. "What do you really want, Ken?"
This is the second time I've asked this question. I know my knight is a complex person. He lived longer than me in both my previous and current lives combined, experienced many things from being a noble, adventuring, then becoming a guardian knight. Ken has many calculations, so many that I don't even bother to care and just go along with his wishes.
Ken didn't answer.
Because I know he must be questioning himself.
I think the problem I see in Ken's conflicting actions lies in the fact that he might not even know what he wants.
Maybe so.
In the end, Ken really didn't answer me that day but just sat there looking at those beautiful blue petals.
I also forgot about painting and just sat there, looking at them as well.
Those petals really made me think of Isolde.
And maybe Ken himself was thinking of someone too.