There's something that makes isekai protagonists different from other fantasy heroes: "they don't train much". Alvar(Hiroki) thought.
He had a hunch that would be the case for him as well, but he was severely wrong.
There is a limit to how much you can push yourself in training. You can't repeat the same exercise for long periods of time and hope to recover.
Not to mention, catching up with the superhumans in this world takes times: years even if you are talented, that is when usually the talent or OP skill saves the day.
But his case might be different!
Sweat dripped from Alvar's forehead and neck like a faucet and splashed down onto the wooden floor. His focus stayed locked on making another rep, then another, and then another while the System counted:
989, 990, 991…
"A thousand!"
Pant.
He collapsed onto his face after completing the upside-down standing push-up.His hands were raw, and his breath came out in rough, uncontrollable gasps.
[IT IS TIME FOR FOOD!!!] exclaimed the System.
Despite being exhausted and somewhat disgusted, he had to guzzle the food as fast as possible to get to the next training.
Slurp.
"Is this really necessary ?"
"Not to mention- three days is not really a lot of time to do anything, and you said they will check my magic core when we arrive at the guild for the registration"
"What are we gonna do if we don't succeeded in opening a mana core ?" he asked.
[IT IS POSSIBLE WE WILL MAKE IT. IF NOT, YOU WILL JUST CALL IN SICK. IT IS BETTER TO BE FOUND WITH NO ID THAN NO MAGIC CORE.]
"Now that you mention it—" he paused to take another loud slurp, "—do all beings have an ID here?"
[TECHNICALLY YES. MOST BEINGS ABOVE FIVE YEARS OLD HAVE AN ID. IT IS DIFFERENT FROM NATION TO NATION.]
"Just like…"
[A PASSPORT? YES.]
"..."
He narrowed his eyes at the empty air, as if the System were hovering right in front of him."Stop reading my mind! That is weird!"
[I AM NOT ALIVE. WHAT IS WRONG WITH IT?]
"But you're conscious, no? And you definitely sound judgy."
[Y… YES.]
He leaned back, suddenly uneasy. "What about my private thoughts? Do I… not get those anymore?"
[WELL, I WON'T BOTHER YOU.]
He squinted, unconvinced at first—then shrugged. "Really? Okay then. Since you only know what I've already thought about… you don't know just how much of that content I consumed in my teens." A slow, wicked grin crept across his face. "Enjoy."
He recalled the most outrageous ones buried deep in memory.The recollections were so vivid that even the System became uncomfortable.
[Ping!, Private Mode has been added as a skill!!!]
[THIS WILL ENCRYPT YOUR THOUGHTS INTO A LANGUAGE I DO NOT KNOW, SINCE I CANNOT CUT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN ME AND YOU, THAT IS.]
"How considerate of you. We will be best of friends, I can feel it."
[…]
***
Another session of training began, but this one focused on breathing consistently despite the weight pressing on his chest.
It was wild how this worked, but the System shifting most of the mana stored in his body to his chest made him experience difficulty in breathing.It felt as if three people — each capable of eating three people — were sitting on his ribs. It was suffocating.
Also, how did the System do that?
Hours passed, and it was already 6 PM, the same hour most knights in the Flame-Well Brigade would have returned from patrol — if the Bridge Ambush hadn't happened earlier that day.
Among the knights not required to patrol was Lieutenant Isolde.
"Dame Isolde, how in the world did you come this fast?"
The speaker, Captain Noch, a tall, red-haired noble with a lean, arrogant posture, stepped into the doorway. His tone was a mix of suspicion and condescension. He looked down his nose at her.
"I thought you were… incompetent?"
Her blonde brows twitched with anger, but she kept her composure."I got lucky."
"You get that, at the very least," he exhaled, expression sour. "It is very fortunate that there was an explosion of a magnitude capable of alerting you miles away from the target — an explosion made by a mere F-rank who has only three missions under his belt."
He took a shallow breath.
"Is there something this report has not said?"
"No, sir. That is all there is to it."
"Well, more or less, you have succeeded. I will tell Fathe— I mean, the commander, about the boy. Just keep an eye on him."
"Yes, sir."
She left and felt relief flooding her chest.She avoided looking up and entered her own office.
It was very unclean — papers stacked everywhere, equipment scattered out of place — but the chaos felt deliberate, almost comfortable.
She sat down and allowed herself one breath—
WHOOSH—THUD!
The door burst open, and the short-haired knight entered with Theodore.
They walked up to her, and the short-haired knight complained, "Could you clean your room at least a little, please? Or let me do some of it for you. This is getting ridiculous."
"Just pass an eyesight test and we'll talk then," Isolde replied.
Theodore chuckled. "Brutal."
"Hmmp. Making fun of someone's eyesight is not very knightly, don't you think?" the short-haired girl said, sitting down.
Isolde smiled faintly. "Do you have good news then, oh mighty Archer Veronica?"
"Well, we have one good news and one bad news. It could be worse, I guess."
"The bad one is?"
"The boy that was with us yesterday — Alvar Walter — it seems he has no family."
"He has no parents? I guess it could get worse."
"No. He had a father, an uncle, an aunt, and a grandma. All of them were murdered using a blade we are familiar with."
The blonde knight's eyes widened — for a moment, she even forgot to breathe.
"Not only that — Grit testified to being the one responsible for their deaths, as well as their entire village. All murdered."
Isolde gestured to Veronica with her eyes to continue, as the rest was obvious.
"Since we couldn't believe him, we had to investigate it, and we found that the whole village had been shut down a while ago. It was an order by their mayor, who claimed the village was dealing with some 'diseases.' No one suspected a thing."
"The result of the investigation was countless corpses ranging across different age groups, all piled up in a warehouse."
Isolde closed her eyes, her fists clenching beneath the desk.
"They only took Alvar afterwards. Grit testified that Alvar was conscious when all of this happened. Seriously… I can't blame him for forgetting everything."
Isolde slowly lowered her head, sadness shadowing her face.
Theodore, equally saddened, said, "It is just sad all around. Him forgetting about this might be for the better. I can't imagine the pain he went through."
Silence stretched among the three…
And Veronica finally continued, "And the good news is… the Guild's expedition party has cleared the 4th ______."
"What!!!" Isolde stood as the good news caught her of guard!
Post-Training
[THAT SEEMS TO BE ENOUGH FOR TODAY.]
The System released the compactly stored mana from his chest and spread it evenly throughout his body. Alvar felt his physical state returning to normal — his breathing steadier, easier — until at last it felt like his lungs had unlocked a new sense altogether. Warm and cool rushed his body at once blessing him with a great sensation.
[AT THIS RATE, WE MIGHT SURPASS OUR GOAL. GET READY FOR ANOTHER FOOD SESSION.]