Wow!

  ?

  Lucien found himself utterly amazed by the sword, Darkness. The upper bodies of the dummies had toppled to the ground, and just as the sword halted in its path, a tremendous gust of wind followed in its wake. He ran his hand through his hair and slicked it backward, which had become thoroughly ruffled by the powerful rush of air the sword unleashed.

  ?

  He knew these dummies were far from ordinary, for they were crafted from the strongest metal found in the empire. Even the training knights who had tried to cut them, at best, had only managed to leave a few dents. The marks left behind by the knights were still visible to him even now, though the scratches resembled nothing more than the faint trace a child’s fingernail might leave on human skin, insignificant and hardly worth a second glance from him.

  ?

  Those pitifully weak marks left by the knights filled him with anger, making him fear for the future of the Duskbane house if matters continued in this way.

  ?

  Previously, even Lucien himself had only succeeded in fully cutting through the dummies after two or three attempts with his other swords. But today, he had managed to slice through not one, not two, but ten dummies with a single blow.

  ?

  And that was achieved with just a single swing of his sword—though he had certainly poured much of his strength into it, not his full might, but enough to cleave through the dummies without causing the walls that stood behind the dummies to crack and shatter.

  ?

  "You are truly marvelous, Darkness. You will be my sword from now on, my cherished companion," Lucien said as he gazed at the blade. The sword remained silent, clearly still unwilling to accept Lucien as its new master.

  ?

  "Follow me, and I shall let you bathe in the blood of your master’s killers," Lucien promised, and for the first time, the sword hummed, as if it was pleased by the prospect of avenging its previous master.

  ?

  Lucien turned to the knights and troops, whose jaws hung open so wide that a hand could have fit inside. At once, they snapped their mouths shut, some hastily wiping away the drool that had begun to trail down their chins.

  ?

  "Disgusting and pitifully weak," Lucien growled at the knights and troops. They immediately stood ramrod straight, their pupils shrinking as fear seemed to freeze them in place and grip their hearts.

  ?

  Lucien felt a certain satisfaction at how they quivered beneath his gaze alone, yet he was also angered by how weak they were, to cower so easily before a mere intimidation from him.

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  ?

  "Who is in charge of training the new recruits?" Lucien asked coldly.

  ?

  A man clad in gleaming red and white armor stepped forward from among the band of knights. His hair had turned gray, streaked with white that hinted at his advancing age, though his face had not fully revealed the passage of time. Most of his beard, however, had become almost completely white. The man bowed his head to Lucien. "My lord, I have been tasked with training them. How may I serve you, my lord?"

  ?

  "They are pitifully weak, so weak that I feel as if I am looking at ants. How long do they train each day?" Lucien asked, his voice betraying his barely restrained fury. He pointed his sword at them.

  ?

  The man in charge of training shivered and answered, "They train eight hours each day. Training begins at seven in the morning and ends at five in the evening, with a two-hour break from eleven to one for lunch and rest."

  ?

  "You are being far too lenient with them. Do you think their enemies will show such mercy? Their enemies would cut off their heads without hesitation. From now on, training will begin at five in the morning, and the lunch break will last only an hour. Give them five-minute breaks at regular intervals, but nothing more than that. Training will continue until eight in the evening," Lucien ordered, his voice carrying across the entire ground.

  ?

  The ground fell utterly silent. Even the sound of breathing, which had been present before, seemed to cease, as everyone held their breath.

  ?

  Lucien did not wait for an answer, and the man in charge of training remained silent, unable or unwilling to offer a reply or rebuke his orders. He had given his orders, and they would be obeyed. No one could object to him even if they wanted to. He was the heir of Duskbane Duchy and their future lord.

  Before turning away, he added, "Train and become strong. The weak cannot be choosers. Those who cannot keep up with the training will be dismissed. The Duskbane have no place for losers, and the beasts out there will offer no second chances either."

  ?

  Under the gazes of the many knights whose faces had turned deathly white due to the blood being drained out of their heads, Lucien returned to the palace, gripping the sword tightly in his hand.

  ?

  He gazed down at the sword, once again marveling at its capabilities. It was truly a wonderful weapon, and he felt a deep sense of satisfaction at the thought that it now belonged to him.

  ?

  He sighed inwardly, realizing just how much he was praising the sword. But the sword deserved every bit of it.

  ?

  He placed the sword inside the dimensional ring. At first, the sword resisted—not just a little, but with far more stubbornness than he would have liked. Yet after much effort, it finally disappeared into the dimensional space.

  ?

  Lucien wondered why Darkness had resisted entering the dimensional ring. Had the sword been placed in a similar space before he received it? Perhaps Darkness disliked the sensation of being confined in darkness and hated being placed in such a space again. He did not have the answer to this puzzle, but all he could do was piece together his guesses and hope they were close to the truth.

  How ironic, he thought, that a sword so dark would be afraid of being trapped in darkness.

  Lucien remembered gazing into the dimensional space inside the ring for the first time as a child. The interior was a vast expanse of darkness, so open that he believed he could fit an entire bedroom of his, with ample room left for other things as well. And his bedroom was not small either; it was very big, so big that it was five, no, ten times bigger than his previous world’s room.

  ?

  Truly, this world had solved so many of the problems his previous world faced. In his former life, he had to lug around suitcases and huge, bulky bags when he moved out for the first time to live independently, but here, in this life, he could simply wear a ring and store countless belongings inside it.

  ?

  Lucien felt somewhat blessed to have been born into this magical world. This life had its own ups and downs, but it was still far better than the life he had lived before.