The Imperial Supreme Commander Has Returned - Chapter 6

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Empire’s Commander-in-Chief Returns — Chapter 6

“Stand over there.”

The Senior Instructor had brought him to the Training Ground.
A reasonably fine facility, built exclusively for instructors.
Delram moved to where he’d been directed and took his place.

Yet he didn’t simply stand idle.
He shifted his weight, clearing away loose stones from the immediate area with quick flicks of his boots.
Obstacles that would interfere with training.

The instructors, for all their titles, were hardly exceptional men.
They were merely a handful of veterans selected from the ranks and given some basic coaching.
And so they differed little in essence from ordinary soldiers—and despised individual practice just as much as any of them did.
Which was precisely why the Training Ground had fallen into such disrepair.

The Senior Instructor’s eyes flickered with something like recognition.
Inspecting the ground was the first thing one did before any training session.
But the boy standing before him was a conscripted soldier.
There was no reason he should know to do such a thing.

“Do you know why I called you here alone?”
“No, sir.”
“I’m going to teach you spearmanship.”
“Thank you, sir.”

The Senior Instructor studied Delram once more.
In most such circumstances, it was natural for questions to follow—
Why teach me? How should I proceed? And so forth.

The boy offered none of that.
No confusion, no nervous tension—only precise answers to what he was asked.
The essential bearing of a soldier.
As a superior officer, the Senior Instructor could not help but be satisfied.

“Excellent! For the next five days, you will train under me in spearmanship. It’s straightforward: I demonstrate, you replicate.”
“Understood, sir.”
“The spear art is called the Imperial Spear 12 Forms. It’s not an advanced technique, but a soldier would need to achieve rank four merit before being permitted to learn it. This is a form of spearmanship that trainees could never attain—consider yourself honored and focus yourself entirely.”
“I will commit it to memory, sir.”

And so the lesson began.
The Senior Instructor demonstrated first; Delram followed.

The Senior Instructor watched with the keen eye of a hawk.
The title “Senior” might be affixed to his rank, but an instructor remained an instructor.
Which meant that in Delram’s week here, like every other instructor he’d encountered, the stick would come before the words if he made a mistake.

Human nature dictated that one learned when struck.
That was the Training Camp’s philosophy, and the instructors’ method of education.

“……”
“Ha! Hah!”

But such a moment never came.
The Imperial Spear 12 Forms, composed of twelve techniques in total.
It was true that compared to the secret spear arts of the nobility, it lacked refinement.
Yet it was far from hastily assembled.
It was the fruit of study by Mana-trained knights of officer rank, pooling their knowledge to distill the very essence of spearmanship into its forms.

In short, it meant learning it in a day or two was impossible.
That’s why the Senior Instructor had mentioned five days.

But Delram was different.
A single demonstration.
That alone was enough for him to master it perfectly.

The first six forms, he could understand.
They were fundamentals—showing how to thrust and strike.

But the latter six forms were another matter entirely.
Defense, evasion, deflection, and counterattack.
To execute such techniques with a long spear shaft, one needed a deep grasp of each form—and yet he had it.

‘What extraordinary talent!’

The Senior Instructor felt a cold sweat break across his skin.
The boy had been a conscripted soldier.
Still, from the moment Knight Obern ordered him to teach this one separately, he’d sensed something unusual about him.
But this—this was beyond reason!

Barely thirty minutes since the lesson began.
The Imperial Spear 12 Forms, which had moved somewhat awkwardly at first,
now flowed with grace, each transition seamless, each strike rending the air itself.

‘Is such a thing even possible?’

Though he had never become a Knight, the Senior Instructor was himself a Mana User.
And over his middle years, he had taught countless trainees.
In that time, he had witnessed many who bore the mark of genius.
Yet none of them had ever done this.

A genius among geniuses!
At last, the Senior Instructor understood what true talent meant.

“Stop. Hold a moment.”
“Yes, Instructor.”
“You’re picking this up faster than expected. Tell me—do you understand that the Imperial Spear 12 Forms are actually one continuous sequence from form one through twelve?”
“Ah, I did sense something like that, vaguely.”
“Then try it. Let me see.”

Delram hefted the spear again and began the Imperial Spear 12 Forms.
This time, there were no broken, staccato movements.
From the first form through the twelfth, the flow descended from above to below, winding like water, smooth and continuous, until twelve separate techniques became one.
This was the true essence of the Imperial Spear 12 Forms.

And then it happened.
Around the seventh form, as he began the rapid consecutive thrusts—
a chilling sound suddenly tore through the Training Ground.

Crack!
“What—what is that!”

The Senior Instructor cried out in alarm.
The sound had unmistakably erupted from the tip of Delram’s spear.

His shock came from more than just the sound.
Without thinking, the Senior Instructor had already stepped backward.

It was pure instinct—a step backward.
In that instant, his heart felt as though it had been pierced clean through.

“What did you just do?”
“I… well…”

The Senior Instructor pressed urgently.
But Delram, who was ordinarily so decisive, hesitated for once.
His face said: Should I even tell him this?

“It’s going to sound mad, sir, but… may I speak freely?”
“Go ahead.”
“The wind… it showed me.”
“The wind? Ha.”

The Senior Instructor let out a dry laugh.
How many times had he been startled today? He’d lost count.
Delram looked at him curiously.

“Sir, do you happen to know what it was?”
“No. But every genius I’ve ever known says something like that—they pull off some impossible technique and then spout nonsense like this.”
“The wind showed me, sir?”
“That’s absurd! And of all the nonsense to spout, yours is in a league of its own.”
“I apologize.”
“That’s enough training for today. Go and rest—”

The Senior Instructor turned away, his tone final.
Yet unlike the precision of his movements, his retreating figure somehow seemed smaller.

“Wait, sir.”
“What is it?”
“May I stay and practice more? There’s something I almost understand—something on the edge of my mind, and I need to grasp it.”
“Do as you wish.”
“Thank you.”

Delram grinned—teeth bared like a child who’d found something wonderful—and lifted his spear.
Like a boy delighting in a discovery.

After that, the Training Ground rang with the Wind-Piercing Sound all day long.
He skipped lunch and trained until dusk fell.

* * *

‘Insane. What is this?’

When he deployed the thrust from the Imperial Spear 12 Forms.
The instructor was amazed—but the one truly astounded was Delram himself.

Before the Return, there were many Knights who wielded the sword better than Delram did.
There were many Knights who handled the spear with greater finesse than he did.
The same held true for blunt weapons, striking techniques, the bow, the shield, the whip—all of it.

But to master every weapon at the highest level?
Throughout the entire Empire—throughout the whole Continent—there was only one such person.
That person was Delram.

And so people called him by a name.
Master of All Arms—the Weapon Master!

The spear, of course, was no exception.
So he could unfold the Imperial Spear 12 Forms with his eyes closed.
The hesitation at first was simply from how long it had been.
After swinging it a few times, the technique settled back into his fingertips with familiar precision.

‘But what is this…?’

Yet that thrust from moments ago had been different.
It carried no Mana, merely the Imperial Spear 12 Forms—a rudimentary spear technique—unfolded for form’s sake.
And yet the power contained in that thrust was beyond imagination.
It had shot forward at such tremendous speed that his eye had barely tracked it.

‘No, it wasn’t just speed.’

If anything, it felt too light.
As if friction itself had vanished—there was no resistance whatsoever against his fingertips.
That was no accident, the way the wind itself seemed to guide the spear.

‘Extraordinary.’

Delram clicked his tongue inwardly.
If he poured Mana into that technique, who could possibly evade it?
It would be a strike of certain death—powerful, swift, and absolute.

But the most astonishing part lay elsewhere.
It was that Delram did not understand it.
As the Empire’s supreme commander, and as a Weapon Master.
Delram had studied every weapon art imaginable, achieving mastery in all of them.

Yet he had never heard of such a technique, never seen it before.
It was a power entirely unknown to him.

Those who had reached mastery understood this truth.
The unknown is fear itself.

This was why a Knight did not deploy secret techniques carelessly.
He only used them when absolutely certain he could kill his opponent.
Because what is known can be prepared for.
And what can be prepared for ceases to inspire dread.

‘But how do I do this…?’

That was the crux of it.
He had used it, yet he could not reproduce it.

So he would begin now to understand it.
Repetition, and investigation.
These were among the things he did best.

Shwish-shwish-shwish!
Tap-tap-tap-tap!

Alone in the Training Ground, Delram began to swing his spear.
Not merely the 12 Forms, but every spear technique he knew.
From mercenary schools to renowned clans, they unspooled like tangled thread.

Thrusting, slashing, parrying, evading.
Overwhelming, subtle, strange, and deceptive.
The vast Training Ground was soon consumed by the shadows of his spear.

His Mana was still limited, but his knowledge and experience remained intact.
Thanks to this, it was a thrilling spectacle to behold.

His purpose was singular.
To recreate the thrust he’d glimpsed moments before!

‘What?’

How long had he been at it?
Delram suddenly felt his body hollow out.
A current of wind rose, sweeping from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet.
In its wake, it cleared away everything that had been blocked.

At the same moment, infinite freedom flooded through him.
Was this what it felt like for a man to soar through the sky like a bird?

—This way.

The strangeness didn’t end there.
He heard a whisper.

It wasn’t a voice with physical substance.
Nor was it the kind that echoed directly in the mind like Transmission Magic.

Rather, it was the voice within.
Something deep in his body seemed connected to another presence.

That presence was speaking.
Your spearpoint should go here, it said.
Delram answered its guidance willingly.

Whoosh—crack!
Snap!

The spear pierced through the practice dummy with astounding ease.
He’d succeeded in recreating it.

Yet the sound that followed was deeply disappointing.
Just a snap?

“…I’ve lost my mind.”

Even so, Delram murmured while staring at the practice dummy.
The dummy that had worn an iron helmet like a real enemy.
Its head had vanished without a sound.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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