The Genius Magician Hides His Swordsmanship - Chapter 25

Chapter 25 Dolph and Gibson

Admun led the red-eyed boy down a narrow alley by the shop.

“Red-eyes.”

Even though he had lived only in Las, he could not help but recognize the signs of a Delemar. Which made it all the more confusing.

“What I saw yesterday was real.”

I, as Ain Khan. In front of him had clearly proven myself to be a descendant of Adonis Khan. The embarrassment quickly made his mouth fall open.

“Lord Ain. What is this?”

Impatient, Admun broke the silence.

“Those eyes belong to the Delemars, don’t they?”

Finally, he said the name, Delemar.
The ruling family of the Pentagram, the force that had put them in this situation. It made no sense that someone with those eyes could be a descendant of Adonis.

‘Hah. I’ve been meaning to explain this to you for some time, but I didn’t realize it would be so soon.’

Ain furrowed his brow in thought.

‘Listen to me. I can’t explain everything to you right now. But I can assure you one thing. I’m the owner of this place.’

“I’m confused.”

‘I understand. But can’t you just trust me now?’

With those words, the color of my eyes turned black.

‘I can change the color of my eyes like this. Now, because of the situation I’m in, I have no choice but to pretend to be of the Delemar’s blood… believe me.’

The confusion raised even more. This is a peculiar situation. Since this person is of the Delemar’s bloodline, it could have been that he was acting like Khan’s descendant.

“But even the barrier inside the underground plaza has been broken…”

Even for the great Delemars, it would be impossible. The wizards of the Magic Tower, who are said to have vast knowledge and experience, have not been able to break the outer barrier for three years. It wasn’t a barrier this young boy could break as soon as he saw it.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but to me this person is still a descendant of Khan.”

Admun was so determined. He’s definitely not from Delemar’s bloodline, but I still can’t rule out my doubts.

“So that’s how it happened…”

Instead, I decided to ignore it first.

“Lord Ain, so, you came to Las with the intention of infiltrating the Magic Tower.”

He deliberately continued to speak more exaggeratedly.

“That’s why you disguise yourself as a Delemar. Is it the disguise technique that Adonis Khan left behind? They said that changing one’s eye color is something not even a wizard can do!”

Only then did Ain slowly opened his mouth

‘……That’s right.’

The look in his eyes was strangely soothing. As if he was saying. Thank you for going along with this.

“Tell me the truth someday.”

He clenched his fists. To be entrusted with any secret. To build that kind of trust, he vowed to try harder.

“Is that chubby student your friend from the magic tower?”

I smiled and waved a sailing hand at the restaurant group.

‘Ah, he’s a descendant of the Gibson family. A knightly family that was close with Adonis Khan in the past. However, he’s in the tower now, but he’s someone that will become a knight someday.’

“The student called Ain, Ian, is that the alias you use in the magic tower?”

‘Ah, yes, Ian Delemar. You can call me that.’

* * * 

It was for the best. I couldn’t tell Admun now that I was Adonis. It would have been ridiculous to him.

“You’re pretending to be a Delemar.”

It was a ridiculous story, actually. Admun must have known that there was no way that someone could pretend to be a Delemar, and the Delemars wouldn’t know it. He was aware of this, so he couldn’t get rid of his doubts.

He just chose to trust me this once.

‘You’ll find out gradually from now on.’

Naturally, Admun joined our table.

“Who is this handsome guy?”

Drew stared at Admun in awe.

“We met when I was at the Delemar household.”

That’s how I ended up talking to Admun with evasive words.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Admun Dolph.”

“Oh! I’m Drew Gibson. Please take care of me!”

My heart was pounding because of the situation, but why am I frowning now?

‘Dolph and Gibson…’

It was a scene I thought I would never be able to see again. My comrade and friend from a thousand years ago.

I can’t help but be moved by the fact that they’ve gathered together again.

“Student. What is it?”

With tears in my eyes, Admun asked anxiously.

‘It’s nothing. Let’s leave after we’re done eating.’

I just wanted to spend more time with these guys.

‘I was going to teach Drew a few moves, but I think we should all go together.’
[You want to teach Admun too?]
‘Yeah. He also has a lot of things to work on.’

There were many positive aspects of having someone to train with. At the Delemar Academy, just like Ariel and I worked hard, the other kids also worked hard beyond simple competition because they had a good influence on each other.

“Drew.”

“huh?”

After pondering and staring at the dish, I looked up.

‘Shall we train somewhere other than the Magic Tower today?’

“Oh, good!”

“Is Admun free?”

“Hey, of course.”

Then, Drew’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, is Admun joining us too?”
“Yes he is. Go outside first.”

“Okay!”

It seemed that Admun liked it quite a bit. As I planned, I grabbed Admun, who was about to stand up.

‘Before you go out, I have something to ask of you.’
“Just say the word.”

I conveyed a request close to his ear. Admun, who heard the contents, tilted his head for a moment, but

“All right.”

He nodded his head without asking why.

* * * 

We headed to an inn near the market. It wasn’t shabby, but it wasn’t luxurious either. It was the accommodation that Admun chose.

“Why are we here…?!”

Drew looked at me and whispered.

“For me, this much is more than enough.”

“You should have gone somewhere better. You don’t have to worry about money.”

Even with the pocket money I received from the Delemar house, I would’ve been able to afford a high-class accommodation, I then smirked.

“It’s okay. This is enough. I’ve been homeless for three years, this is heaven.”

“ I wanted to treat him better, but what can I do? He said he liked it.”

‘It’s an old place, so the room is big.’

Accommodations these days have good facilities but they tend to be narrow.

‘Rather, it would be better for training.’

After closing the door, the strength training session began.

“Student, is this really helpful?”

It was natural for Admun to have doubts, as he had only been asked to do 1,000 push-ups.

“Of course. We need to start with strength training first.”

He hurt his leg, so I scooched down and stood up and watched him crawl.

“That it is.”

Drew, on the other hand, moved lightly as if he was accustomed to it.

‘Now Drew needs to be taught about Aura properly.’

I gestured to Drew, who worked hard to fill in the number of sets.

‘Didn’t you say you felt a strange energy before? It seemed like something was accumulating in your body.’
“It’s similar to Mana, but with a slightly different feel. It feels much better than mana.”
“Okay. From now on, you will gather it in your body like mana.”
“Gather? Where?”

“In addition to muscle building, you’ve practiced feeling muscle stimulation. Take advantage of that sensation and use your muscles to accumulate energy. Like this.”

I began demonstrating it.

I closed my eyes and breathed slowly. Like the air floating around, I felt both mana and aura.

Energy naturally enters my body every time I inhale. Mana settled in a circle around my heart.

Aura naturally approached the place where the Dantian was.(Dantian, Lower abdomen)

However, aura cannot remain in the Dantian. With nowhere to go, it tried to escape through exhalation.

At that moment, the nerves in my muscles bristled.

My abs, latissimus dorsi, pectorals, deltoids.
As the muscles of my whole body twitched, the aura reacted.

The energy that was hovering around the muscle as if exploring it soon settled there. As if it was their home.

I opened my eyes and saw Drew and Admun were gaping.

It was only natural to be surprised. It was because the bright yellow-looking energy was overflowing and dispersing around my body.

[You’re now free from the trance.]

A phenomenon that occurs when a high-level knight trains with aura. The gathered aura revealed their forms and emitted light.

It was as if it had found a good bowl to stay in.

“Wow… awesome. What was that just about?”

“This is what the two of you will do from now on.”

Of course, it would be impossible to do it similar to me right away. There was a time when I practiced it whilst sleeping and eating.

“Okay, then Drew, close your eyes and practice this. Admun, he will teach you fighting techniques.”
“Oh! Okay!”

Drew straightened up and closed his eyes. But Admun puts on an apologetic expression.

“Even if he’s a student, I can still overpower him physically, can’t I?”

I thought so too. After all, it was magic, not martial arts, that defeated him.

“Of course, I haven’t perfected my martial arts, but that doesn’t mean I should be taken lightly.”

Drew whispered in Admun’s ear.

“When you strike with your fists, you have a tendency to wiggle your shoulder joints. Your shoulders shouldn’t move. It makes it easier for your opponent to read your attack.”
“Huh? How did you figure that out?”
“I watched your movements yesterday and saw the flaws. Don’t look down on Khan’s descendants.”
“Ah. I see.”

Admun lowered his head and stood in a stance. It was a basic martial arts stance.

‘That’s right. The width of your feet is perfect for explosive leaps. But your fists are too high. That leaves the abdomen open, so it’s easier to get hit there.’

The class went on for a while.

‘They’re not quite strong enough yet.’

Drew and Admun were quickly exhausted.

[Still, it was enough to give any adult knight a hard time.]

I trained all day when I was young but what can I do?

‘We’ve all worked hard, let’s call it a day.’

The kids’ smiles returned.
But, after we left, Admun wanted to do 1,000 more push-ups.

‘You have to take it slow, feel each stimulus.’

“You’re leaving, students? And you want me to do more?”
‘Of course, so you can grow faster.’

He was older than us, so it’s natural for him to train harder.

* * * 

By now it was dark outside. Drew and I walked to the magic tower.

“I think I learned something.”

Drew, wiping the sweat from his brow, rolled his shoulders in satisfaction.

I couldn’t hide the upturned corners of my mouth either, thanks to the black bag in my hand.
Thud.
With each step, I could hear the sound of the liquid.

[Will this be okay? Your body is still young.]
‘Who cares. My mind is already that of an adult.’
What was in the bag was alcohol. I’d gotten it from a restaurant through Admun. He was 18 years old. He could buy alcohol.
Though I had to use the excuse that I needed it to make a sacrifice to Adonis.

‘How long has it been since I had this? I’ll go back to my room and savor it.’

And with that, I entered the magic tower with the black bag.

“Where have you guys been?”

A voice called from up ahead. Andrei was looking at us, with his axe-like eyes.

‘Oh, was today’s inspector that old man?’

There was one in the tower, too. However, he doesn’t actually work here. Wizards are very private and they don’t like to be around people. So, he was just there for show.
‘But why is this old man out here?’
[I guess he has nothing to do]

I was forced to approach him.
‘We had a meal outside.’
“Until this late hour? Do you think that makes sense?”

Then Drew proudly stuck out his belly.

“Hehe. I ate so well. It was a little late because I bought this and that at the market.”

However, Andrei didn’t buy it.

“There is a rumor that traces of the centrifugal members were found in Ias today. So, for the time being, come back early.”

The centrifugal members. They terrorized the whole continent in the name of freedom. I know about such organizations because they also existed in my past life.

“Even in Ias?”

This city is with the tower. It was a little surprising that they appeared in a place with a large number of high-leveled wizards.

“That’s why this old man was out.”

Only then did we nod.

[But I don’t think that’s important right now]

Oberon pointed to Andrei’s eyes. His gaze, which was looking at us, was immediately directed to the bag in my hand.

“But what’s that?”
‘Oh… I packed some leftovers.’

I tried to hurry, but the old fox didn’t miss his prey.

“Take it out.”

His wrinkled hands extended towards the bag.

[To be continued…]