40. Small-Time Trash

Reet had decided to take Charlotte as his apprentice the day before.

Early in the morning, he called her out to the training grounds and began coaching her immediately.

In the meantime, Aira was still asleep. Newly hatched dragons slept for long stretches.

Reet had learned that Aira would sour whenever he introduced her to new people, so meeting Charlotte made him somewhat anxious.

“Master, I’m honored to study under you!”

Charlotte bowed energetically the moment they met.

“Yeah, likewise.”

Reet found himself slightly overwhelmed by her enthusiasm.

I wonder how she managed to stay so straightforward all this time, despite having lived such an underprivileged life.

Reet couldn’t help but admire her.

And surely this purity would become the driving force behind her growth.

“All right then, before we start training—let’s assess where you stand.”

“An assessment?”

“Yeah. First, let me tell you one good thing about you, Charlotte.”

When Reet said this, Charlotte clutched her fists to her chest and looked at him with hopeful eyes.

“It’s that you can ‘properly see’ your opponent’s attacks.”

“See them?”

“That’s right. You tracked my movements accurately. Not to brag, but being able to follow my attacks when I’m enhanced by the Sacred Fortification Skill—that’s actually a real strength.”

As Reet spoke, Charlotte’s face broke into a full smile.

“But there’s one major weakness.”

“Yes! Tell me anything! I’ll work hard to overcome it!”

“The weakness you need to fix is tension.”

“…Tension? You mean…putting too much strength into it?”

“Exactly. You’re putting too much force into all your movements. If you eliminate that, your techniques will hit harder, and your speed will improve dramatically.”

When Reet said this, Charlotte looked momentarily confused.

“But if I don’t put force into it, won’t the impact be weak?”

Just as Reet suspected, Charlotte had never received proper martial training.

“That’s wrong. Tension is when you’re ‘bunched up inside.’ Try squeezing your fist as hard as you can. The force gets locked inside, right?”

When Reet explained this, Charlotte squeezed her small, round, childlike hands tightly.

“…Yeah, that’s true, but…”

“An attack is an impact against your opponent—movement toward the outside. That’s completely opposite to tension.”

“…Ah, now that you mention it, that does make sense.”

“Without tension, you get power and speed. So eliminate the tension from all your movements.”

“O-okay! I’ll do my best!”

“Good. Let’s start practicing right away. First, we’ll practice jumping and charging at an opponent without tension.”

Reet stood beside Charlotte and explained.

“When you kick off the ground to charge, you don’t tense up. Instead, you completely relax and let gravity pull your body down, then bounce off it with that rebound. That’s the foundation of everything.”

With that, Reet demonstrated it.

He crouched smoothly, his body weight drawn down by gravity and transmitted to the ground, and in reaction, that force returned as power—

As a result, Reet jumped with incredible speed and height, barely using any force at all. Rather, it was because he didn’t use force that his jump was so swift and powerful.

“Wow, that’s amazing!! You’re barely kicking the ground hard, but—!”

“Once you can do this to some degree, you can fight even against strong opponents.”

“I understand! I’ll do my best!”

With that, Charlotte attempted the relaxed movement by mimicking Reet.

But it wasn’t that simple. Her movements became stiff and awkward, and she actually tensed up more.

It wasn’t going to be easy.

Especially since she had spent years training in isolation. Bad habits of tension were deeply ingrained.

“Hmm, let me think…”

Reet recalled how he had been taught this technique long ago.

How had he been taught back then?

“Oh right, I remember.”

Reet clapped his hands.

Charlotte tilted her head.

“Let’s try a test of strength for a moment.”

Reet said this and thrust both his palms forward, keeping his elbows against his sides and positioning them at Charlotte’s chest level.

“Push with your palms against mine. Whoever gets pushed back loses.”

“I see!”

Charlotte honestly thrust both her palms forward.

“Push as hard as you can.”

“Yes!”

Their palms made contact, and Charlotte pushed Reet with all her strength.

Reet relaxed appropriately to maintain balance between them.

And then—

Reet suddenly released all tension while rotating his body and slipping around to Charlotte’s side.

“Huh—”

Having suddenly lost her target, Charlotte’s body stumbled forward.

“Now! Step forward with your right foot!”

Reet commanded sharply.

Charlotte, blessed with quick reflexes, heard him instantly and almost instinctively thrust her right foot forward.

Her small foot planted firmly on the ground.

The forward momentum, rebounding at an angle against the ground, converted into forward propulsion.

It became—an unexpectedly large leap.

Since it was completely unexpected, Charlotte couldn’t land properly and stumbled slightly as she touched down.

But—

“Wh-what was that just now?!”

Charlotte’s expression suddenly lit up.

Apparently, she had felt the sensation of tension disappearing and the raw power that emerged in that moment.

It was exactly as Reet intended.

The moment when you’re pushing hard, and then suddenly your support vanishes.

In that instant, a person enters a true state of relaxation—complete removal of wasted tension.

If you surrender to gravity, your body flows like water down a slope.

That was the body control technique that any master of the martial arts would use.

“Try charging again while holding onto that sensation.”

When Reet said this, Charlotte immediately attempted it.

This time, it was easy.

The sensation remained fresh, so she could reproduce that moment of complete relaxation.

Without wasted tension, like a bouncing ball, her body shot forward straight and true.

A leap of distance and speed that bore no comparison to before.

If her straightforward fist could ride on that momentum—the impact would surely be tremendous.

“It’s like I have wings!”

Reet was amazed at how quickly Charlotte grasped it.

She had just never been taught by anyone before. Now that someone was teaching her, she believed what she was told with complete sincerity and executed it.

That was why she picked things up so fast.

If she can do this to any real degree, she’ll definitely perform well in the platoon leader exam ahead.

And if she did well in the exam, it would benefit Charlotte herself. A strong performance would open the path to becoming a registered knight.

Perhaps that day would come faster than expected.

As Reet watched Charlotte and nodded in satisfaction—

“So, you found yourself a new master, huh?”

Suddenly, a mocking voice rang out.

When Reet turned around, there stood the knight who had been Charlotte’s master until yesterday—

Rand.

A Seventh Rank knight of the Central Knight Order.

“Never thought I’d see someone picking up such a filthy homeless dwarf as an apprentice…”

Rand approached Reet while speaking.

“And it turned out to be that famous knight, Reet, too. Never took you for a lolicon.”

Reet’s sudden rise from Classless to Seventh Rank knight had become the subject of rumors among the knights, and Rand had come to know of him one-sidedly.

“But honestly, I’m grateful. Thanks to you, I have one less rival.”

Rand laughed with a disgusting snicker and continued.

“I mean, this dwarf is what you see—a talentless piece of trash who can’t use any real techniques. It’s an insult for her to even think of becoming a knight. She’d be better off becoming a prostitute and doing what dwarves are cut out for.”

At Rand’s despicably cruel laughter—

Reet clenched his fists tightly.

When Reet glanced at Charlotte, her face was badly twisted.

The straightforwardness from just a moment ago had vanished.

Seeing that, Reet—

“—Hey, hold on. You’ve got this all wrong.”

He glared at Rand with a sharp look.

“What do you mean, wrong?”

“I believe in her efforts. I think Charlotte and I can win the platoon leader exam. Especially—”

“What?”

“Especially against small-time trash like you, she’ll crush you in an instant.”

When Reet said this, Rand’s face turned beet red all at once.

He looked ready to draw his sword right then and there.

But he retained just enough sanity not to start a brawl before the exam.

“You bastard. If I get matched against you, remember this. I’ll kill you.”

He spat those words and turned on his heel.

Reet glared at his retreating back.

Once he confirmed that Rand had left the training grounds, he finally turned back to face Charlotte.

Charlotte’s eyes had gone wide, so Reet immediately realized his mistake and apologized.

“Ah, sorry. I got a bit carried away. In all fairness, he was your teacher…”

Reet felt that his behavior was unlike himself.

Even when his father had abandoned him, he hadn’t spoken with such harsh words.

But he couldn’t just watch someone working so hard right in front of him be degraded without saying anything.

Still, it didn’t sit right with him, and he continued to apologize, scratching his head. “Sorry.”

But in the next instant—

Tears spilled from Charlotte’s large eyes.

Reet was taken aback.

“Sorry! I surprised you!”

When Reet said this, Charlotte shook her head vigorously.

“This is the first time anyone ever told me they believed in me.”

At those words, Reet was at a loss for words.

Eighteen years of life, and no one had ever believed in her.

Could such a thing even be possible?

What kind of harsh environment had she lived in?

And yet—

She had desperately trained her fists without anyone to believe in her.

Reet knelt and embraced Charlotte.

“—Let’s definitely become a knight. Let’s beat down all those who looked down on you.”

When Reet said this, Charlotte nodded through her tears and whispered, “Yes.”