Chapter 41: I Became a Swordsman in the Middle Ages

Newbie Gacha (8)

“Hmm, looks like you’ve still got one or two swings left in you. Let’s try blocking three more.”

The new knights were getting a firsthand taste of hell.

Cecilia wanted to see their limits.

More than that, she wanted them to surpass those limits.

To that end, she made a decision:

Infinite PK.

If you’re suddenly attacked, you’re too confused to react.

But if you keep getting attacked? You’ll desperately find a way to survive!

In other words, she was forcibly injecting ‘enlightenment’ into them.

“This is too much… I think I’m going to die…”

Most of the knights had long since hit the wall.

Just blocking one or two of Cecilia’s Sword Aura was enough to make their hands go numb.

But somehow, Cecilia always knew when they hadn’t reached their ‘true limit’, like a ghost.

Even knights who were convinced they couldn’t go on anymore found themselves able to block another strike, to their own surprise.

During this process, many knights instinctively awakened their Blessings, creating new techniques that hadn’t existed before.

Some even figured out how to maximize efficiency with minimal mana, learning to use their Blessings in ways they hadn’t realized were possible.

Of course, it was absolute hell.

They desperately wished for this to end quickly, but time felt like it had stopped.

To make matters worse, Cecilia was using a real sword.

Any thought of just 'tanking it' with their body was quickly abandoned.

“But…”

Even hell eventually has an end.

Cecilia eventually brought in some soldiers and set up five tents for them.

There, the knights were finally allowed to rest.

The freezing cold was still unbearable.

Groans echoed throughout the camp, many from having been kicked by Cecilia repeatedly.

“I can feel myself getting stronger.”

There was no denying it.

As brutal as the training was, it was worth enduring.

“I’ve been stuck in a rut for over a year. Nothing I did made a difference.”

“I finally get why Windsor Knights are so strong.”

The recruits nodded in agreement.

They’d never experienced anything this harsh in their lives—

But being able to feel themselves improving made it bearable.

“Let’s hold on. When this training ends, we’ll be stronger than ever.”

“Uuurgh…”

“B-Betty! Are you okay?!”

“Let me cast one more buff before I die…”

One major reason why none of them dared complain about the training… was Beatrice.

She lay on the ground, groaning and clutching her stomach, her entire body wrapped in bandages.

She had been targeted the most out of anyone.

Even while sparring with the others, Cecilia would occasionally fire off wind bursts of sword energy specifically at Beatrice.

“Your mana regeneration is fast.”

That was the reason.

Thanks to it, Beatrice had blocked more strikes than anyone else there.

Knowing how terrifying Cecilia’s strikes were, the recruits looked at Beatrice with a mix of admiration and awe.

‘If even a girl’s enduring this much…’

‘There’s no way I can show myself up as a man.’

To make matters worse, Beatrice’s uniform was different from the others.

She wore the same one as Cecilia.

Windsor’s standard uniforms were enchantment-grade, with better defense than most armor on the market.

But Beatrice was in a skirt.

Which meant—Cecilia, merciless as ever, aimed only at her legs.

— Those legs just look too easy to hit.

And she’s the one who put her in this uniform!

Beatrice’s eyes welled with tears.

“M-My stomach… It hurts so bad…”

“Your stomach? Why—? Ohhh… right. You did take a ton of calf kicks…”

That’s when the other knights realized why Beatrice was clutching her abdomen.

The cause was mana exhaustion.

She had already burned through her reserves, and Cecilia had pushed her to squeeze out every last drop.

A knight’s mana is stored in the lower abdomen.

So if you force it out when it’s already empty… this was the result.

And Beatrice had no choice but to use it the moment it regenerated.

Now, everyone understood her pain.

“…Poor girl.”

The recruits genuinely felt sorry for Beatrice.

***

Meanwhile, the merciless instigator of this whole ordeal—Cecilia—was cheerfully heading back to headquarters with a stack of paperwork.

‘They were way more promising than I thought!’

Thanks to her “Newbie Gacha,” Cecilia had come to one conclusion:

The pulling rates were way better than expected.

Here were the results:

S-rank: 1

A-rank: 4

B-rank: 15

By the way, the ranking system was entirely made up by Cecilia.

In her view:

S-rank = With some consistency, they could practically freeload their way to Sword Sovereign.

A-rank = They’d need real effort, but could potentially reach Sword Sovereign.

B-rank = Sword Sovereign might be a stretch, but Sword Emperor was within reach.

Of course, Blessings were only as strong as the person using them.

For the record, Cecilia’s own Blessing was only A-rank.

‘I knew I’ve got an eye for talent.’

The sole S-rank was Beatrice.

In Cecilia’s view, only three Blessings were qualified as true S-ranks:

Space-Time, Light, and Darkness.

Those three were so overwhelmingly powerful, you could call them game-breaking.

“Didn’t expect you to come to me first…”

Cecilia arrived at the Vice-Commander’s office.

Edward looked surprised to see her.

Handling new recruit affairs usually fell under the Commander’s authority—that was Kairon’s standing order.

— Since he respected the chain of command, we should do the same. Besides… if I plan to retire soon, it’s good for Edward to start learning the Commander’s duties in advance.

When Cecilia explained this to Edward, he nodded.

“Hm. Chain of command, huh… I didn’t really have any lofty intentions though.”

Cecilia, curious, finally asked the question that had been on her mind.

‘Did he really help me because he were planning to ask something of me later?’

“May I ask why you helped me with the cleanup?”

Edward smiled gently.

“We’re in the same Order after all. Helping each other is only natural.”

His soft smile looked genuinely kind.

Cecilia stared off into the distance and murmured,

“…You don’t have to fake it with me.”

Immediately, Edward’s expression turned cold.

“Tsk.”

He clicked his tongue and crossed his legs arrogantly.

“You seriously don’t remember our bet?”

“…Oh.”

“I told you I wouldn’t get in your way. But sitting still isn’t really my style either.”

He shrugged.

“And this way, you’re less likely to get in my way when I go for Commander.”

In short: Let’s stay out of each other’s way. Keep things clean.

Cecilia agreed.

She had never intended to block Edward’s ambitions in the first place.

“Well then… here’s my report.”

She handed him the document.

“It’s a summary of the current new recruits and their rankings.”

Edward accepted the report and examined it closely.

“Huh. Never seen a classification system like this. You came up with it?”

“Yes.”

Edward furrowed his brows.

Was there a problem? Cecilia’s tier list was flawless, or so she believed.

Then, it hit her—

‘Oh, right! This is a the Middle Ages!’

From a medieval perspective, classifying the divine blessings granted by the Goddess—something sacred—with mere human rankings might be borderline blasphemous.

Panicking, Cecilia pulled out her lap blanket and began searching for a corner to perform her signature move: "Reflective Cecilia."

But—

“……This is actually quite good.”

Edward, after some silent contemplation, stroked his chin and nodded.

“What’s the criteria? I mean, I read the parts about some ‘rank’ levels—but what exactly did you use to judge them?”

Cecilia, caught off guard by his unexpected approval, answered awkwardly.

“Practicality in combat and potential. I rated them based on those.”

“Such as?”

“Well… using my own Blessing as an example: its combat practicality is A, its potential is S, so it averages out to A overall.”

That meant Edward, who was also a natural element-type like her, had an A-tier blessing too.

Edward tilted his head, eyeing Cecilia with mild disbelief.

“I’m just… A-rank? That’s it?”

“I’m A-rank too, you know.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Aren’t both of us considered the kingdom’s top talents?”

It was a fair point. Edward’s epithet was “Sacred”—a term used not only to denote sacredness as a royal scion, but also one given to sudden, godlike prodigies.

‘Man, I really wanted an unchangeable title too…’

On rare occasions, someone’s epithet becomes so iconic that it remains fixed for life—never changing, even as their rank rises.

Cecilia, who had a considerable attachment to her current epithet, had hoped for that kind of prestige, but it was impossible. A "Sword Princess" had already existed about 100 years ago.

“Elemental blessings aren't particularly efficient in battle,” Cecilia explained.

“They’re foundational, sure, and their ceilings are high, but their base power isn’t that practical. Like… your Fire Blessing, for instance. Something like Flameburst would be an advanced form of that.”

“Which would make Flameburst the descendant, not the superior. Since it stems from Fire.”

“Nope. Fire still loses to magma.”

“I can create magma too. Want me to show you?”

Edward glared sharply.

But Cecilia refused to back down when it came to Blessings.

In this field, I am the undisputed authority!

She shot back stubbornly:

“That’s only because you worked really hard. Do you have any idea how hard it is to transform basic fire into magma?”

“……”

Edward’s pupils trembled slightly.

“…I see.”

‘Is it because we both have elemental blessings? She hit a nerve I didn’t expect.’

Truthfully, the word “effort” was an unfamiliar one for Edward.

— He’s a genius!

— The future of the kingdom is secure!

Everyone called him a prodigy. They praised him endlessly.

But no one acknowledged the grueling effort behind it.

They just assumed he got where he was because of natural talent.

And now Cecilia had inadvertently touched on that hidden truth.

‘Well… her storm magic isn’t exactly something a ‘mediocre’ person could replicate either.’

Pfft.

Edward let out a quiet chuckle.

He put down the documents with a slightly softened attitude and spoke.

“Why is the Blessing of Light ranked S?”

“Because it’s S in both combat practicality and potential.”

“But you said combat practicality is about power, didn’t you? Wouldn’t light be lacking in that?”

In the modern world, people understand just how powerful light can be.

But in a medieval setting, that’s much harder to grasp.

For example, in theory, concentrating enough light (photons) in a single spot can create a black hole.

It’s also capable of triggering gamma-ray bursts—events more destructive than nuclear explosions.

Of course, that kind of thing is practically impossible.

But the point is: you don’t even have to go that far to appreciate how powerful light can be.

Because nothing exists faster than light right now.

“So, Vice-Commander Edward, if you had the Blessing of Light, how would you use it?”

“I’d gather ambient light to form Sword Aura… Ah, I see. That would allow me to concentrate tremendous energy with surprisingly little mana. And in the process, I could obscure the enemy’s vision as well.”

Edward nodded, visibly impressed.

“Evaluating the Blessing itself, rather than current skill—that’s a useful classification. We could apply this across the Order. Think you can go categorize everyone in the Order for me?”

“Yessir.”

Cecilia accepted the task without complaint.

It was a necessary step.

Especially with more and more newbies expected to arrive in the future, it was best to establish clear system now.

“And one more thing, I wasn’t planning to tell you this yet,”

Edward said with a subtly amused expression.

“But seeing you come up with something like this is admirable. So I’ll let you in on something important.”

“Okay.”

Cecilia didn’t think much of it.

Because as far as she was concerned, the only thing that truly mattered to her was the newbies.

“You should hurry with the recruit training.”

“I’d rather take it slow, over the course of a year.”

“I guarantee you won’t have that much time.”

Cecilia tilted her head in confusion.

Edward raised one corner of his mouth.

“There’s a scent of war in the air.”

At those words, Cecilia’s eyes sharpened.

“The western front?”

The demons had been launching major offensives in the West.

And Cecilia herself had recently crushed an operation involving “Deception”—a major figure whom the demons had clearly valued.

She’d already predicted that their aim was to collapse Gartane, the western front.

They wouldn't back down so easily, so she thought the offensive in the West would intensify soon.

That, at least, was within her expectations.

But Edward said something entirely different.

“No. In fact, the western front is remarkably stable. There’s even talk of pushing the front line deeper.”

“...That can’t be right.”

Cecilia blinked.

The demons wouldn’t give that up.

“Not just the West, the South is quiet too.”

“And the North?”

“Same there. But we received some intel from the Empire.”

The Kingdom of Lianen was surrounded on all sides by Demon King’s forces.

Of all its borders, the North was the most dangerous.

Why? Because it was believed the Demon King’s castle was located somewhere in that region.

But the Kingdom wasn’t the only one sharing a northern border—there was also the Empire.

So the Kingdom and Empire had jointly maintained that northern defense.

“They’ve spotted numerous high-ranking demons, including one or more of the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings. The strange part is… none of them have launched an invasion.”

Cecilia frowned, deep in thought.

That didn’t make any sense.

What were they doing, holding a tea party?

Then Edward said:

“Doesn’t this seem familiar? Not something we often see in our kingdom—but something common in other nations: The war suddenly pauses, and the powerful figures start gathering near the capital.”

At that moment, a single thought struck Cecilia like lightning.

“...A power struggle?”

“Exactly. This is purely speculation on my part…”

Edward’s tone turned cold.

“But I think the Demon King… is dead.”

Next Chapter