IHETF 10

Episode 10. The Beginning of Training (2)

The hill was so steep that even grown men were known to stop and rest at least once on the way up.

At its summit, two middle-aged merchants had laid down their packs and were enjoying the cool breeze.

“Whew… I’m getting too old for this. After this trading trip, I might just call it quits.”

“Quit? Don’t make me laugh! You’ve got that little one to raise now—you’ll need every coin you can get! Honestly, having a kid at your age just shows you’ve still got some fire left!”

They exchanged light-hearted jokes as they caught their breath from the hard journey uphill.

While they were idly chatting, one of the merchants suddenly stopped mid-sentence and turned his head.

“…Hey, do you hear something weird?”

“A sound? What sound?”

The unexpected question made his companion turn as well. At first, he wasn’t sure, but soon he heard it too.

Zkreeeek— Zkreeeek—.

A strangely irritating, grating noise that crawled under their skin.

Their faces scrunched in annoyance.

“What on earth is that?”

“No idea.”

As they tried to figure out the source, they quickly noticed something else:

Zkreeeek— Zkreeeek—.

The sound was getting louder.

“It—It’s coming this way, isn’t it?”

“G-grab the packs!”

If the sound was getting clearer, it meant that something unknown was approaching.

The two men, seasoned from years of traveling the continent, instinctively shouldered their packs to be ready to flee at any moment.

But just as they prepared to run—

A new noise mixed in with the grating sound.

Zkreeeek— Nghhh!
Zkreeeek— Huuuhhh!

Odd, labored groans followed the screeching.

The strange chorus made the two freeze in place.

Then, over the crest of the hill, the source finally appeared.

Zkreeeek— Hehhng!

First came a round head with striking black hair.

Zkreeeek—

The grating sound echoed again.

“Huk!”

And then, like the sun rising over the horizon, a boy’s pained, sweat-soaked face slowly emerged atop the hill.

He looked so utterly exhausted that the two merchants almost felt the fatigue themselves just by looking at him.

Then the thing behind him came into view, making them blink in confusion.

‘Is that… a cart?’

But not just any cart.

It was—

“You brat! If all the manners you lost had turned into muscle and stamina instead, you’d be climbing this hill on your hands by now!”

—A cart carrying a loud-mouthed, cantankerous old man.

Zkreeeek—

“Nnngh!”

“All that racket from just pulling a single cart? Pathetic!”

“Urgh.”

“At this rate, you’ll wet yourself!”

“D-damn… old bastard…”

“Kehehe, haven’t you already?”

“Y-you cursed… geezer!!”

The black-haired, golden-eyed boy, Yuri, ground his teeth and kept dragging the cart.

Finally, he reached the top of the hill.

Zkreeeek—

The cart rolled to a stop right in front of the two stunned merchants.

Thud—

Yuri collapsed like a corpse.

“Khak— huff—!”

Flat on his back, on the verge of passing out, he reached a trembling hand toward the merchants.

“W-wa… waaaater….”

Though they had never met him before, the sight of that shaking hand stirred their sympathy. The merchants hurried over and pressed a waterskin to his lips.

Sluuuuurp—

Yuri gulped so desperately that the waterskin shriveled in seconds.

“Buurrp!”

He let out a loud belch, then grabbed the merchant’s hand with tearful gratitude.

“B… Bless you…”

“Are you all right, lad?”

“I’m… fine. More importantly… how long does it take to get to Chrom Port from here?”

“Chrom? On foot, around four days, I reckon.”

“Four days, huh…”

Yuri’s face stiffened at the answer.

Johan, sitting in the cart, chuckled.

“What’s wrong? Think you can’t make it? You gonna quit here? That wouldn’t be so bad either.”

“……”

“Tsk tsk, I really overestimated you. What’s the point of living if you can’t handle even this?”

“……”

“Oh dear, when will this half-wit ever become a proper human being.”

“Kh!”

“Go on, just give up and drop dead. It’d save us both the trouble. If you’re going to quit, do it quickly—I’ve no time to waste.”

Yuri’s forehead veins bulged as Johan cackled from the cart.

“You miserable…”

Gritting his teeth, Yuri forced himself upright.

“Thank you… for the water.”

He gave the merchants a brief nod, grabbed the cart’s handles, and started moving again.

Zkreeeek—

The cart resumed its agonizing journey downhill.

The two merchants simply stared blankly at the boy’s retreating figure.

“…What on earth was that about?”

“I… have no idea.”

Meanwhile—

Huff— huff—

As Yuri descended the hill, hot breaths escaping his mouth, he clenched his teeth.

‘Damn it…’

This was insane. No matter how many times he thought about it, this situation was just wrong.

But he had no one to complain to.

He’d brought this upon himself.

“Damn it all…!”

The moment he cursed, his mind replayed the last three weeks of hell.

Running and walking while dragging the cart. Resting while tied to it. Even eating and drinking while pulling it.

Sleep? Only when he passed out.

Anyone who saw this would call it lunacy, not training. And they’d be right.

Worse, Yuri’s oversized soul was actively damaging his physical body. Overexertion could easily kill him.

And yet—

‘Son of a… it’s actually working?’

Despite everything, his stamina was steadily increasing.

On the first day, he’d vomited and fainted within two hours.

But day by day, the number of times he collapsed decreased, and the amount of time he could keep pulling grew longer.

Now, he could even climb steep hills without collapsing immediately.

‘Damn… if only it didn’t work, I’d have quit ages ago…’

Though the training felt like torture, his stamina—and even his overall health—were undeniably improving.

‘Whatever that old man did, this ridiculous cart training is helping me.’

So he had no choice but to keep going.

Of course, it wasn’t just effectiveness that kept him going—his pride refused to let him quit over something like this.

No matter how much Johan nagged behind him, Yuri stubbornly kept moving.

“Hey! I see your legs slowing down, boy! Move it! At this pace we’ll reach Chrom next year!”

“……”

“Never forget—strength begins with a sturdy lower body! And for a man, there’s nothing more important than—”

“If you keep spewing nonsense, I swear I’ll—”

“Watch your mouth! These are pearls of wisdom you’ll thank me for later!”

…Of course, Yuri didn’t only train silently.

He’d tried more than once to sabotage the cart.

‘I can handle physical pain. That’s my choice. But that old man sitting pretty back there? No way!’

He’d decided early on: if he couldn’t quit, then at least Johan would have to walk too.

So he tried everything—leading the cart over rough terrain, “accidentally” tipping it, even throwing big rocks at it when Johan wasn’t looking.

But—

‘What the hell is this thing made of?! Solid steel?!’

The cart should have broken down long ago, but it didn’t have a single scratch.

‘That old man definitely tampered with it. No other explanation.’

Yuri ground his teeth furiously.

“What are you dawdling for? Even a slug moves faster than this!”

Enraged, Yuri roared and sped up.

“Uwaaaaahhh!”

Johan cheered like a delighted coach.

“Oh! At last, faster than a slug! More, boy, more!”

“You cursed old maaaaan!!”

“Right back at you, brat!”

“Waaaaaahhh!”

And so, with his furious cries echoing, the creaky cart hurtled south toward the Cradle.

When Yuri opened his eyes again, the clear blue sky filled his vision.

‘I passed out again.’

Three weeks of this, and fainting had become routine.

‘Still daytime… guess I wasn’t out for long.’

Lately, his unconscious periods were getting shorter—sometimes as little as an hour.

Normally, such brief rest wouldn’t heal a body this battered.

But miraculously, every time he woke, his body felt completely renewed.

His limbs, once heavy as iron, now felt light as feathers.

“Ughhh!”

Stretching, Yuri glanced at Johan lounging in the cart.

‘He must be doing something to me while I’m out.’

Otherwise, his insane recovery made no sense.

The moment Yuri’s gaze sharpened, Johan barked,

“You’re awake? Then move! You planning to lie there all day?”

Reflexively, Yuri scrambled up and grabbed the cart.

His body moved automatically now.

‘I’ve been brainwashed…’

Three weeks of this had conditioned him completely.

He felt a sudden pang of sadness—yet his legs kept moving anyway.

After some time, Johan finally changed the subject from nagging to something else.

“What do you know about Mache Art?”

For once, it was a constructive question.

Yuri, caught off guard, stammered.

“Uh… I guess… just the basics? What everyone knows?”

“And what exactly do you know?”

“That Mache Art developed rapidly when the ancient Easterners settled here… They mixed their knowledge with local techniques, and that became the foundation of modern Mache Art?”

“So you have picked up a few things.”

“Yeah, from a retired mercenary I met. I was kinda interested back then.”

“Oh? And?”

“That’s it.”

“……”

“He wanted payment for the rest, so I bailed.”

“Tsk.”

“Oh! But he did say that though it’s hard to learn since it uses mana, if you master it, you’ll never go hungry as a warrior. He even told me to hurry back with money.”

“…You know less than you think.”

“Huh? That’s wrong?”

“Not exactly wrong. Just incomplete.”

“Then what is it, exactly?”

“Mache Art is the practice of cultivating mana while training the body, rooted in proper martial theory. It’s the name for all techniques that use the body to generate and release magical power.”

“…Magical power?”

“Magical power, or ‘horsepower,’ measures how much force you can generate with one unit of mana. One horsepower means producing one unit of strength from one unit of mana.”

“So 100 horsepower means 100 units of strength from one mana?”

“Oh, impressive.”

“…I’m not an idiot, you know. So basically, the higher your horsepower, the stronger you are?”

“Horsepower isn’t the only measure of strength, but it’s the most common. It’s used everywhere—including the Cradle you’re headed to, and in official exams.”

Johan went on to explain:

• Even untrained people can instinctively produce 1 horsepower at times.

• 100 horsepower equals twice the strength of an average adult man.

• You need at least 1,000 horsepower to qualify for the first official test.

• Horsepower measurement is expensive, but Cradle students can get tested for free as many times as they want.

Yuri listened intently, soaking in this new knowledge.

Then curiosity bubbled up.

“So then…”

He asked the obvious question anyone would at this point.

“What’s your horsepower, old man?”