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Chapter 1
“Katarenia Donovan.”
“…….”
“What have you been holding a sword to protect all this time?”
A dim sunset spilled across the office.
Count Donovan stared at his daughter, who stood awkwardly like a criminal.
“If you had been even a little braver, your mother and your youngest sibling would not have died.”
A razor-sharp rebuke fell.
A few days earlier, Kata’s mother and youngest sibling had passed away.
Her mother died in a fierce battle, and her sibling suffocated in a burning manor.
“If the ‘hero’ spoken of in the prophecy is you… then at the very least, you should have protected them.”
As the count irritably tugged at his cravat, Kata—who had been standing like a wooden statue—flinched. Instead of arguing back against her cold father, she quietly lowered her head.
The count let out a long sigh as he looked at the unmoving crown of her head.
Tears were dripping steadily from beneath her bowed face.
“Get out.”
“……”
“Get out. I don’t want to see you.”
That day, Kata was only ten years old.
It was a fact neither the count, nor the world, nor even Kata herself had properly considered.
Katarenia Donovan.
The eldest daughter of the Donovan House. At five years old, she manifested sword aura as the youngest ever recorded.
It was absurd genius.
There had once been a time when the Empire buzzed endlessly with her story.
“A five-year-old who can use sword aura!”
“If, as the Saint’s prophecy says, the youngest awakener truly slays the Demon King…”
Katarenia Donovan was said to be the hero who would bring an end to the Demon King.
The citizens of the Empire spoke it in unison.
“But they were all wrong.”
Arkan Knights’ Order headquarters.
Standing on the upper level of the indoor training hall, Soram looked down at the lined-up rookie knights. His gaze was fixed on a knight with short wheat-colored hair.
“She couldn’t even kill a single monster, let alone be a hero. She was nothing but husk.”
On the day the seal of the Donovan estate broke, Kata fainted the moment she saw a monster.
Count Donovan lost his wife, his daughter’s reputation, and the Emperor’s trust all at once.
On top of that, she never managed a second awakening.
Considering that promising swordsmen typically achieved their second awakening before fifteen, the conclusion was already obvious.
The genius had fallen.
“I heard her entrance exam results for the Knights’ Order were quite good.”
His squire, Lea, spoke cautiously, and Soram scoffed.
“So what? She’s still only a first-awakener.”
“W-well… that’s true.”
Lea, also a first-awakener, fell silent.
Soram asked,
“Who is Donovan paired with today?”
“Xenon Korer.”
“Oh, this is interesting.”
He smiled faintly, as if amused.
Today was the first training day for the rookies. They were assigned random partners for sparring.
And Xenon Korer was the top-ranked rookie, his strength overwhelming. Even from afar, his imposing build and sharp gaze stood out.
He held a blunt-ended longsword and looked down at Kata with obvious displeasure.
As soon as the instructor signaled, the spar began.
“Huh? W-wha—?”
“What the—”
Within seconds, Soram’s brow furrowed deeply.
Katarenia Donovan’s skill was far worse than expected.
“Much… worse.”
He had suspected she was unsteady from the start.
But she didn’t manage a single proper counterattack. Even though this was sparring without sword aura.
“…She looks terrified,” Lea murmured.
As she said, Kata’s condition was strange.
Her arms trembled thinly, and her legs, which should have supported her, wobbled helplessly.
The moment Xenon’s face twisted slightly as he pressed her, Kata suddenly threw her sword away.
“……”
Has she gone mad?
Soram watched as Kata ran to the corner, braced herself against the wall, and vomited in an ugly, uncontrolled manner.
Suddenly deprived of his sparring partner, Xenon looked thoroughly displeased. Instead of checking if she was alright, he stared coldly at her hunched back.
As the retching subsided, Soram said flatly,
“Best ever.”
He didn’t take his eyes off Kata as she shakily stood up.
“She’s going to have quite the grand initiation.”
On the night of the rookie knights’ first training day, an initiation ritual was always held.
And in that ritual, the most foolish rookie was “purged.”
What mattered most was how much humiliation that rookie endured in front of everyone.
How many opportunities would a newly adult noble ever have to be humiliated? Most of them, raised as aristocrats, felt crushing shame from even minor insults.
“Katarenia Donovan. You must have been called a genius when you were young—now you’re completely ruined.”
They would press hard on their temples.
“Even the Supreme God Semasiar would cover his nose and avoid a coward like you.”
Several seniors would surround and mock her.
“Still the same as ever, are you? Still afraid of everything?”
They would dig up painful memories.
By the end of it all, the poor rookie’s face would be a mess of tears and snot.
If the other rookies watching learned to fear disobeying their superiors, the initiation was considered successful.
But—
“……”
“……”
Lea’s expression twisted.
Kata blinked with a completely unfazed face.
“Is she… lacking awareness?”
Just earlier she had been vomiting so disgracefully, yet now her face looked oddly bright and clear.
In fact, the seniors mocking her looked more exhausted first.
This was problematic. Lea stiffly turned her head toward Soram, signaling with her eyes.
What do we do?
“…A rookie like you needs proper guidance.”
Soram spoke slowly.
“From now on, report to Training Hall 2 every day at 4 a.m.”
“Yes!”
Kata replied brightly.
Her response was unexpectedly energetic.
Soram raised his brows slightly.
“Every day. Not a single day missed.”
“Yes, understood!”
“…If you are even one minute late, the entire rookie class will be summoned because of you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind!”
“……”
The next day, around 4 a.m.
Xenon, who had been focused on training, slowly withdrew his sword aura. The blue glow fading around him disappeared.
Turning his head, he saw Kata repeatedly glancing beyond the training hall.
‘Idiot.’
Xenon frowned.
There was no way Soram would arrive on time. He wouldn’t even be surprised if Soram didn’t show up all morning.
And yet Kata fidgeted like a dog waiting for its master, stretching her neck to look around.
As always, she was far too poor at predicting others’ malice.
In the end, Soram appeared only two hours later.
It was clearly intentional lateness, but Kata’s eyes lit up as she sprinted forward and shouted,
“May the blessing of Semasiar be upon you!”
It was a powerful greeting.
Soram, walking with his hands behind his back, paused slightly under her energy.
“Good! Morning! Sir Soram!”
“Hmm.”
He scanned her lively face with mild displeasure and said bluntly,
“Today, one hundred laps around the training hall.”
“…Pardon?”
“Are your ears blocked? I said run one hundred laps.”
Kata blinked blankly, and Soram’s lips curled.
“To deal with regenerative monsters, basic stamina is essential. If you can’t maintain your initial pace, you’d better prepare yourself.”
One hundred laps. It was an absurd number.
Xenon assumed Kata would protest this unfair training.
The rookies’ schedule was already intense. Burning so much stamina at dawn would make it impossible to keep up the rest of the day.
But Kata looked around as if measuring the training hall, then nodded.
“Yes!”
“……”
And she actually started running. No tricks, no shortcuts—just honestly running along the edge of the training ground.
