Mightiest Melee Magician

After we came out of the Director’s office, the guest professor Lord Coulter Pirante and I went towards the reception desk on the first floor of the main building.

Lord Coulter had a name tag with ‘Guest Professor’ written on it on the right side of his chest.

It gave him a bit of ‘authority’ that let him enter specific areas within the academy that normal people wouldn’t be able to.

“Ehm. So this is how it feels to be a professor.”

“……”

Finding his situation amusing, Lord Coulter rubbed his name tag while smiling a bit.

It was quite an undignified expression that bordered on stupidity, but as soon as we entered the reception room and sat opposite each other, his gaze had a sharp dagger hidden within it.

“Good to see you. Then, should we start getting to know each other genuinely?”

“Yes. My name is Ruin—”

“I know. Ruin Ardell. I heard it last time. What I want to know is different. After the test last time, I returned to my territory and analyzed the injuries on the defeated ogre.”

“…and then?”

“I didn’t have time to think during the test, but I found something funny. The fatal injury given to the ogre wasn’t through magic.”

“……”

“Its bones were broken. That ogre’s jawbone.”

Those sharp and direct words towards me.

He was definitely a knight captain.

Someone who was impossible to figure out.

I closed my speechless mouth.

During the test, I had cast Mana Burn Explosion and punched the ogre with it in its jaw.

Mana Burn Explosion was a spell that inflicted fatal burns through an explosion, so it was not normal for a sturdy ogre bone to break because of it.

However, the bone had broken.

Lord Coulter knew this fact too.

“The spell you had cast. I went and researched it a little bit… It’s a spell that inflicts burns through an explosion, right? Then how did the rigid jawbones of the ogre break like that?”

Lord Coulter narrowed his eyes.

“How did you do it? It didn’t seem like a feat you could pull off with your strength alone.”

He was asking me how I could break an ogre’s bones with just the strength in my fist?

I contemplated how to reply.

As I struggled to talk, Lord Coulter receded his serious gaze and smiled brightly.

“Well, it’s not a question I desperately wanted the answer to. If those other professors haven’t been asking you about your outrageous strength… there must be a reason. No, is it impolite of me to even ask this question in the first place?”

“Yes, it is.”

“That so? I apologize.”

Lord Coulter accepted it quickly with a bored smile.

Neither Director Tiron nor Professor Hydel had asked me about my power.

This was in part because of the ideology of magic that researched a myriad of topics and subjects.

Thankfully, it seemed a similar concept also existed within the knights.

“However, as a guest professor who will be instructing you in martial arts, I need to know the basic status of your body. Immensely strong. Is that all I should know?”

I nodded.

At that reply, Lord Coulter narrowed his eyes and asked,

“Stronger than me?”

Nod nod.

As I nodded again, Lord Coulter asked once more, seemingly itching with curiosity,

“Then, stronger than an orc?”

Nod nod.

At that, Lord Coulter stood up, looking like he would explode at any moment.

“Then… even stronger than an ogre?”

“……”

You should know since you saw me last time.

As I stayed silent and stared at Lord Coulter, he suppressed his excitement and sat back down.

“If such a young kid says he’s that strong, do we need to do an arm wrestle or something… Even I’m pretty confident in my strength. I don’t think my curiosity will let me stay still.”

“You’ll regret it.”

“Hm? You. How could you draw such a conclusion for me? What would you do if I’m stronger than the ogre?”

“Sir Knight has also drawn conclusions about me already.”

“……”

“And I could really be stronger than an ogre. I’m not bluffing.”

“Really? Then let’s go! Face me!”

Lord Coulter rolled up his sleeves and put his arm on the table.

“Please don’t regret it. Your arm might break.”

I very gently grabbed his hand.

“……”

Would he have felt the ‘difference in strength’ here?

As I weakly started to insert strength into my grip, Lord Coulter’s complexion changed and started muttering something like, “Yeah, let’s just stop here.”

“Damn, you cocky kid. Nothing wrong with going easy on you…”

What was this guy?

However, I didn’t sense any malice from his tone.

It just looked like…

Some screws were loose.

However, this joking tone was just one of the things that defined him.

The main image that the name Coulter Pirante possessed was the fact that he was the only 6th-Rank knight in the eastern part of the continent.

Nicknamed ‘The Shield of the East’.

If we consider that only 5 6th-Rank Knights existed within the Radian Kingdom, the level of skill he possessed became obvious.

Maybe that’s why the look in his eye changed whenever talk about ‘training’ started.

“Well, I’m over this meaningless arm wrestle. I heard from Professor Hydel… He said you’re a special case of a magician where you can only fight in melee range. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“From what I saw last time, your movement is quite good. It’s concise and without unnecessary movement, to the point where it’s hard to believe you learnt it by yourself.”

The punching and kicking I had practiced for the last few months were all affected by my quest.

The counter incremented towards the 3000 only when the movement was precisely what was needed.

I used only constant repetition to find the perfect movement that progressed the counter.

That’s why there was no unnecessary movement and it was accurate.

However, it’s limits were also clear.

Lord Coulter pointed this out straight away.

“However, to be honest, it becomes very apparent that you had no martial arts training. That’s why it’s predictable. It could have worked on a simple-minded ogre who had never had to face a magician like you, but against a skilled and observant knight, your movements would all have been seen through. True masters can know where and how you will attack by just looking at your shoulder and hip movements.”

It was a fresh shock.

Right.

The movements that I made were all honest.

It was as if I’d learnt the movements from a textbook and had mastered it.

The movements I could use in real scenarios were also lacking.

However, if I were to learn proper martial arts?

“If you learn from me, your movements will change from the basics.”

Then…

A question naturally arose in this position.

“Why?”

“…Hm?”

“Even if you teach me martial arts, it won’t be of any benefit to Sir Knight. Since you’re a guest professor, you won’t be receiving that much money from the academy either… You’ll have to bear with the inconvenience and discomfort of coming into work at the academy. You’ll be shouldering all that just for me…”

At my question, Lord Coulter muttered while rubbing his mustache,

“A young kid like you is already considering the costs and benefits between people…”

“Yes?”

“I’m saying there’s no need to consider everything when an adult is lending a helping hand.”

“……”

“Kugh… Fine. If you’re that curious, I’ll tell you. Let’s say it’s an investment of sorts”

Lord Coulter’s expression became serious.

“I met someone who could become a great magician, and if I could be of help to this future magician… wouldn’t it be a worthwhile investment?”

* * *

* * *

Right.

I understood.

Lord Coulter may require my help sometime down the line.

And what he said was right.

Right now, there was no need to be so shrewd to calculate everything when an adult was lending a helping hand.

I would enter the Grand Festival as the representative of the academy, and they had specially invited a guest professor in case it would be helpful.

Lord Coulter was also holding onto some expectations and specially teaching me too.

”It seems you don’t see me as a reliable person. If you’re worried about the lessons, you don’t have to be. I was the youngest to obtain the 6th-Rank position in the east of the Radian Kingdom…”

“No, that’s not the problem.”

“…Hm? Then…?”

Right.

Let’s not try to think too hard.

I couldn’t deny that this would definitely become a great opportunity.

I stood up from my seat and bowed my head towards Lord Coulter.

“Then, I’ll be in your care, Sir Knight Coulter… No. Guest Professor.”

Then, seemingly embarrassed by the words ‘Guest Professor’, Lord Coulter twisted his body a bit.

“Uh. Wow. It’s a bit awkward hearing it like that. Just call me Brother.”

“…Brother?”

“Why? Even if I’m like this, I’m still in my 20s.”

“……”

There’s no way.

* * *

Sir Knight Captain Coulter—

No.

‘Brother’ Coulter came to find me at the academy’s outdoor training area every day at 11am, as promised.

First lesson.

The thing Lord Coulter taught me first was none other than ‘Footwork’.

“Do you know what’s the most important thing for a knight?”

“Um… the eyes?”

“The eyes are important. However, the most important thing for a knight is their feet.”

The foot.

“The overall balance of the entire body is maintained by the lower body. The part that helps in putting strength into your sword is also your foot. The direction of the foot is also used to predict your opponent’s next move. The importance of the foot is too much to even explain. That’s why you need to first learn how to ‘walk properly’.”

The most ideal way of walking.

A way of walking with concise and steady steps while using the minimum amount of strength.

A light way of walking where the shoulders were relaxed and the most surface area of the foot at any one time was used.

To find this method, I walked around the academy for the whole day.

To erase the thoughtless way I walked for the last 16 years and find a new way to walk was an insanely difficult thing to do.

Lord Coulter would constantly follow behind me, and when I stepped carelessly…

Slap!

“Ack!”

I didn’t know where he found it, but he would smack me on my shoulder with a bamboo stick that made quite the slapping sound.

“Hehe… Again!”

“……”

He was snickering like he found my situation funny.

However, one thing was for certain.

As I put more thought into the way I walked, there were some benefits that I started to notice.

After learning footwork, the next thing I learnt was a basic martial art based on the ‘Heavenly Martial Arts’ that was commonly taught to all the knights at the training center.

“Excluding sword techniques, the Heavenly Martial Arts consisted of a total of 36 martial movements.”

This was news.

The fact that a simple kick, punch, and spin kick had this many variations.

I knew that the knights didn’t simply learn how to wield a sword, but for them to learn such systematic martial arts…

Using the newly learnt footwork, I began training in a variety of punches, kicks, and spin kicks.

Thanks to this,

Body Arts VII

Passive

The Body Arts skill had suddenly raised all the way to level 7.

Unlike the random movements, being taught properly in a professional lesson allowed my experience to greatly increase.

‘For learning new things to be this fun.’

For the last 6 years, I only studied magic.

Learning something unknown, something outside of magic, was quite an enjoyable experience.

Lord Coulter seemed to be enjoying our meetings too, and at one point, he said,

“You… Aren’t you learning pretty fast?”

“Am I?”

“Are you a knight or a magician… I don’t know if it’s because you never slacked off on your daily exercises or not, but your foundations are pretty solid. Looks like we can intensify our training a bit.”

“That’s good. We don’t have much time left.”

“So… What are you thinking of doing after graduating from the academy?”

“After I graduate? I don’t know?”

“You… What are your thoughts on entering my knight order? I’ll specially raise your wages to two times the normal.”

“Hm. I don’t like that.”

“Huh? For a kid to be this sly. Ok, then, how about 3 times?”

“I’m fine.”

“How about 4 times? If it’s this much even I…”

“I said I’m fine.”

“If it’s 4 times the normal rate for a beginner, even Lord Gagun wasn’t paid like that! Why is such a young kid so greedy…”

Speaking of Lord Gagun, he was the Radian Kingdom’s only Sword Master.

The fact that he received 3 or 4 times the normal pay when he was a beginner knight wasn’t of interest to me.

“The money’s not the problem.”

“Then?”

“I have a lot of things I want to try out.”

“What do you want to do so badly?”

“Hm… I don’t know.”

“You nonsensical kid. Don’t make me so curious. Start over again!”

“Okay. Hehe.”

In my 16 years of living.

I spent 10 years in the Ardell Territory.

And the other 6 at the academy.

Unlike everyone else, I had never traveled, and had never even been to the capital city of the Radian Kingdom either (they say I went with my father when I was young, but I didn’t remember it).

Looking at it like this, the Grand Festival, opening on the 7th month of the year, may be my first real time traveling…

I still had a lot of things to experience.

And a lot of things to see.

That’s why I planned on thinking deeply about it for the remaining few months.

Slap!

“Again!”

Well, after fully learning Martial Arts.

——