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The weekend passed, and Monday arrived.
Mons found a house faster than expected.
This time, it was a detached house twice the size of the old accommodation.
The rent was also doubled, but it was still manageable.
Nubes, who came to see the new house, gaped.
"Wow, the house is big, Davian."
Bellum smiled and looked at Davian.
"Oh, Davian. It's quite spacious. Is it a honeymoon home?"
Whoosh.
Flames erupted on Davian's palm.
"Okay, okay. Can't I even joke around?"
Two-story building.
On the first floor, there is a large living room, a kitchen, and one room.
Bellus decided to use this room.
Up on the second floor, there are two rooms and a large reception room.
Each was Davian's and Mons's room.
Being a detached house, the fairly large backyard could also be used freely.
Liber, who quickly looked around the house, shouted.
"At this rate, we don't need to rent an academy study room anymore? Is this going to be the Gray Bear Exploration Team's headquarters?"
"Oh, headquarters. Sounds cool and good, right?"
Latia, who was looking around the house, replied.
"But isn't the academy much safer? Security-wise."
"Is that so?"
Davian, who was listening to his friends' conversation, shook his head.
Of course, the academy is much safer right now.
It might be the safest place in the entire continent, except for the royal palace.
But considering the various quests that will arise inside and outside the academy, being inside the academy is by no means safe.
As Liber said, Davian planned to use this house as the 'headquarters' for Davian's group.
He planned to build new, high exterior walls and bring in various magical tools for defense.
He also planned to purchase a large amount of magic stones and cast defensive magic on the floor and walls.
To do that, the current budget was not enough.
But money can be earned.
Bellus, who even volunteered for the move-in cleaning despite being told not to, came down from the second floor.
"Did my seniors arrive?"
"Oh, hi Bellus."
"What's with the apron? Is Davian making you work?"
"Ah! No! Davian told me not to, but I insisted on doing it……."
Meanwhile, Mons, who was tidying up the backyard, also came inside.
Bellus smiled brightly and said.
"I'll cook for you today! Let's have dinner together at home!"
Bellum turned to Bellus.
"Bellus, you? You know how to cook?"
"I've been cooking since I was little, living with my grandfather. I'm confident!"
"Really? Then I'll help too. We need to go grocery shopping, right?"
"I already did all the grocery shopping at the early morning market!"
"Oh, is it like a housewarming party? What can I help with first?"
Bellum, who rolled up his sleeves, took Bellus to the kitchen.
Latia, who was watching Bellum and Bellus's backs, plopped down on the sofa.
"I want to help, but I've never done it before."
Bonita also sat on the sofa.
"Me neither."
Liber and Nubes also sat on the sofa.
The large sofa, arranged in a square shape, was large enough to seat twelve people.
Liber opened his mouth.
"Shouldn't we make a plan now? We have to go find the fifth trace of the Archmage."
Davian, who was talking with Mons about decorating the house, also came and sat on the sofa.
"Yeah. I was going to ask anyway. What is your older brother doing now?"
Liber made a troubled expression.
"Well…… he's settled down in Mane City. He's waiting for us to come there."
Nubes asked.
"Liber, your older brother must be very angry, right?"
"Probably. Because he lost all four traces so futilely. According to the family's informant, he also requested additional troops from the family. He hired more mages and mercenaries too."
"What? Isn't that cheating? There are only seven of us."
"There's nothing we can do. Anyway, my older brother started it first in the name of the family."
Bonita asked.
"Davian, what's the plan? A head-on fight or sneaking in and taking it?"
Davian slowly shook his head.
"A head-on fight with our manpower would be impossible."
Liber sighed deeply.
"Sneaking the fifth trace out won't be easy either. He must have planted watchers at every intersection. It's almost impossible to get the Claw of the Light Dragon Insaneness without being caught by my older brother."
Bonita crossed her arms and leaned deeply into the sofa.
"It won't be easy. We even had an exploration team inauguration ceremony, and we have to produce results before the vacation ends."
Latia asked.
"Liber. Tell us about your older brother. What kind of person he is. We need to know our opponent to make a plan, right?"
"Hmm……. My older brother. First of all, he's skilled in swordsmanship. I heard he's about to take the 7-star swordsman test."
"7-star? Oh, he's too strong, isn't he?"
"And he's thorough in everything. He carries out everything according to plan. There are no gaps."
"It's getting more and more hopeless. Doesn't he have any weaknesses? Any gaps?"
"He doesn't like women, he doesn't drink, there's nothing really……. Ah! He enjoys gambling a bit? But that's only when he's not on a mission. You can't really call it a weakness or a gap. He's on a mission now, so he won't even go near a gambling den in Mane City."
Davian's eyes sparkled.
"When he's not on a mission?"
"He practically lives in a gambling den outside of swordsmanship training. My father scolded him at first, but since my older brother strictly distinguishes between work and personal matters, he doesn't say anything anymore. He has never neglected his mission or harmed the family because of gambling. He's even good at gambling. He rarely loses."
Davian slowly nodded.
"There might be a way. A way to get the Claw of the Light Dragon Insaneness. Maybe even the next one and the one after that. Of course, we can't avoid a full-scale war as we get closer to the last trace, but this method will work for a while."
"What is it?"
"Gambling. You said he's not doing it now because of the mission. I know he distinguishes between work and personal matters, but your brother must be very restless right now."
"I guess so. But my older brother never goes to a gambling den while on a mission. Trying to lure him into a gambling den to do something won't work from the start."
"Then we'll create a gambling den. And a very exciting one at that. We have an interview with the President tomorrow, so let's leave right away on Wednesday."
The next day.
Elton Academy President's Office.
Knock knock.
"Who is it?"
"It's Davian Nornes."
"Ah, Davian. Come in."
Davian opened the door to the President's Office.
A space he had only been to once in his 3rd playthrough.
President Hugo Moulton guided Davian to a tea table prepared on one side of the President's Office.
"So, you went all the way to the Demon Realm and brought back a junior who will enroll next year?"
"Ah…… yes. How did you know?"
"It seems that rumors about your actions, Davian, are starting to spread noisily throughout Elton City."
Who is listening to and spreading these rumors?
Even after rescuing Bellus, his friends came rushing over the very next day.
"It was a trap to lure me in. I couldn't let an innocent candidate die because of me."
"Yes. The heart that cares for others more than oneself. That is the first quality that a hero must possess."
He has no intention of becoming a hero.
But as he felt in his 3rd playthrough, when he follows quests, people around him always say things like that.
"I don't have any intention of becoming a hero."
"Haha. You're humble, Davian Nornes."
An attendant approached President Hugo and asked.
"Shall I prepare tea?"
"No, that's alright."
"Yes, Mr. President."
After the attendant stepped back, President Hugo stared deeply into Davian's eyes.
Then, he scanned Davian's body here and there.
"It's been moved."
"Yes?"
"The energy that was floating emptily without being absorbed into the heart, dantian, or muscles. Not a single bit is left, and it has all scattered into the muscles of the whole body and been absorbed."
He accurately noticed that Davian had distributed all 70,000 mana points to external force in the cave he entered to rescue Bellus.
Davian was reluctant to run into President Hugo for this reason.
However, he couldn't keep repeating 'I don't really know' to someone who knew exactly where and how much mana points were distributed.
"I have my own unique cultivation method."
"Is it a family's secret cultivation method? I haven't heard that the Nornes family has anything like that."
"No. I learned it myself when I was young. My constitution is a bit different from others."
"A different constitution……. Yes, that's the only way to explain it. Anyway, you were born with a tremendous constitution, Davian."
President Hugo's gaze, as if piercing through people, was fixed on Davian's eyes again.
He was unbearably uncomfortable, but Davian somehow didn't want to avoid that gaze.
While forcibly receiving President Hugo's gaze.
"Davian. What do you think is the ultimate essence of swordsmanship?"
Suddenly, the ultimate essence of swordsmanship.
His swordsmanship has been improving rapidly these days, but he has only been holding a sword for five months.
There was no way Davian would know what the ultimate essence of swordsmanship was.
All he knew was what he saw in the 1st-year basic swordsmanship textbook.
What was written there…….
"Mana Sword?"
An answer that even a six-year-old who picks up a sword for the first time would give.
The highest form of aura in the basic swordsmanship textbook, Mana Sword.
He was having a one-on-one meeting with Hugo Moulton, the greatest swordsman on the continent and President of Elton Academy, and he could only blurt out this answer.
Davian felt a bit ashamed at that moment.
But what could he do?
He had never even thought about the ultimate essence of swordsmanship yet.
He might know the ultimate essence of the 4 elemental magic, but swordsmanship was not at the stage where he could think about that yet.
"You know it well. That's right. Mana Sword. That is the ultimate essence of swordsmanship."
Is that right?
Well, it's such an obvious answer that comes out in the basic swordsmanship textbook, but it must be true.
"There are various theories that claim the ultimate essence of swordsmanship, such as the sword and will becoming one, the sword acting on its own according to my will, me becoming the sword, and the sword becoming me."
He thought that it would have been much more plausible if he had answered with one of those.
Only then did he remember terms like divine sword unification or using the sword with energy that he had read in martial arts novels when he was in Korea.
He should have made up something by combining those.
"However. All the people who speak of such empty ultimate essences of swordsmanship do so because they have never properly experienced Mana Sword. As expected, Davian Nornes, you are not tainted by formalities and are truly facing the ultimate essence of swordsmanship."
That's not it…… I just said the highest level of aura form in the basic swordsmanship textbook.
Because that's all I know.
"Let's go. I will show you Mana Sword today."
Hugo Moulton stood up from his seat.
The reason he told the attendant not to bring tea was because of this.
Today's conversation with Davian was not to be held here in the President's Office.
"Let's go to my personal training ground."
One-on-one tutoring with the President of Elton Academy.
A situation that would make the upper-grade swordsmanship students faint.
"Yes, Mr. President."
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