There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 66

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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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Episode 66.
The Outdoor Training Ground, which had been buzzing with the heat of sparring, froze in an instant.
With one rough kick that sent Maximilian DiGrave crashing to his knees, every eye in the place snapped toward Padilla Bondeiz.
“Answer me, DiGrave.”
Her tan eyes, fixed on Maximilian, gleamed with fury.
“I—I don’t understand what I did wrong!”
My lord spoke with what bravery he could muster, but his voice was already trembling.
No one dared laugh at his terror.
Anyone in this place would be in the same position if they were Maximilian DiGrave.
I was no exception.
‘No wonder the Nox cadre seemed so untouchable.’
Even as a bystander, my skin crawled and my limbs went cold from the overwhelming presence radiating from Padilla Bondeiz.
It wasn’t killing intent.
But the fact that it stemmed from pure rage made it far more terrifying.
The Padilla Bondeiz I’d encountered until now had been a jovial woman, but now she was wrath incarnate.
“You don’t know what you did wrong?”
At her sharp question, Maximilian’s back flinched.
“I—I apologize, ma’am!”
My lord seemed ready to beg for forgiveness first and ask questions later.
A wise choice, it seemed.
Better to grovel and live than stand firm and perish.
Yet Maximilian’s action of pressing his forehead to the ground only poured gasoline on Padilla DiGrave’s fury.
“If you don’t know the reason, you deserve more punishment.”
With that chilling statement, she flicked up his wooden sword from the grass with the tip of her foot and caught it.
And then, a beating began that was too brutal to watch with open eyes.
Crack! Thwack! Whack! Snap!
As every conceivable sound filled the air, Maximilian couldn’t even manage a proper scream.
At best, he could only eke out gasps—”Hck!”, “Huh!”—between the blows.
‘Good heavens. Merciless. Absolutely merciless.’
Watching the brutal scene unfold before me, I found myself grimacing and shuddering without meaning to.
Padilla Bondeiz was a grand master of the Bludgeoning Technique.
How did she manage to strike only the most exquisitely painful spots with such precision?
Moreover, she never touched a place she’d already hit, careful to leave no lingering damage.
Instead, she methodically worked her way from head to toe, sparing no part of his body.
Top to bottom, front to back.
“M—Max…….”
“Is she actually killing him……?”
The trainees huddled together like frightened animals, trembling with terror and worrying for their comrade’s life.
Those who didn’t understand how professional Padilla Bondeiz’s beating technique truly was could only see it as a scene from hell itself.
When the beating finally ended after what felt like an eternity, Maximilian DiGrave lay sprawled across the grass like a limp piece of meat.
“Huh… huh……”
His once-pristine face was ruined with tears and snot, a testament to his agony, yet he seemed too broken to even wipe it away—managing only to tremble where he lay.
“Maximilian DiGrave.”
“…Y—yes, ugh…”
“Before the sparring began, I set down exactly one rule.”
Though Padilla Bondeiz had reduced a healthy man to a broken thing in mere minutes, her breathing remained perfectly steady.
“To compete using only pure skill, without deploying Aura Manipulation. But you violated that rule.”
“M—me……?”
Maximilian DiGrave sputtered out in confusion.
“I never used Aura Manip—oh.”
“Yes. Just before your final strike.”
“……I’m sorry, ma’am.”
My lord’s face twisted.
It was psychological anguish, not physical pain.
In the way he scraped his forehead against the grass, self-loathing and shame radiated from him.
‘So it wasn’t intentional after all.’
This wasn’t the kind of lord who could act composed while beaten like that.
Which meant he truly hadn’t known.
‘It’s possible.’
An unconscious attack where Aura synchronized involuntarily with the strike.
It was a mistake that could happen occasionally if one’s mastery of Aura wasn’t refined enough.
At the climax of the sparring match, Maximilian DiGrave had been wringing out every last ounce of strength.
I shifted my gaze from my sniffling lord to Padilla Bondeiz.
‘To detect it from that distance……’
The Aura Manipulation had flared and vanished like sparks within his body, never manifesting outwardly.
As one of Nox’s cadre, I’d never underestimated Padilla Bondeiz’s abilities.
Yet it seemed I’d need to revise my assessment of her martial prowess considerably upward.
‘One way or another, Nox is full of monsters……’
At that moment, the club—or rather, the wooden sword—that had been pointed at Maximilian DiGrave this whole time swung toward me.
Whoosh!
“Runelk Ains.”
“Yes?”
I startled.
I snapped to attention with a nervous reply.
“Why did you just stand there and take it?”
“……I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch your meaning?”
“You knew Maximilian was using Aura.”
“I had no knowledge of that.”
My outer composure was intact, but my inner thoughts were anything but.
‘How did she figure it out?!’
To be honest, when Maximilian DiGrave deployed his Aura, I’d deliberated for a brief moment.
Should I raise my hand and report his rule violation to claim a Judgment Victory?
But I hadn’t done so.
Unlike Maximilian DiGrave, Runelk Ains had never received proper Swordsmanship instruction.
Moreover, only someone who could deploy Aura could sense Aura.
So how could I have detected my lord’s violation?
It’s a logical contradiction.
Unless Runelk Ains was born with such exceptional Mana Sensitivity that he was a once-in-a-generation prodigy.
Instead, I’d capitalized on Maximilian DiGrave’s mistake to secure a clean, impressive victory.
“But you clearly reacted.”
Padilla Bondeiz narrowed her eyes, her suspicious gaze unwavering.
Explaining it all like this made it sound drawn out, but the moment I’d spent deliberating was infinitesimal.
Less than half a second—the blink of an eye!
I put on my most honest face and played dumb.
“I appreciate your confidence in me, but I truly didn’t know.”
And I added a subtle closing line.
“Had I known, I would have reported it to you immediately and accepted the Judgment Victory.”
“Hmm.”
Padilla Bondeiz’s glacial gaze softened slightly.
There!
Even you can see it makes no sense, right?
Overlooking an opponent’s rule violation and losing anyway!
“I suppose that’s true.”
The club, which had seemed ready to dance through the air, finally lowered.
‘I’m alive……!’
As I exhaled in relief, Padilla Bondeiz’s declaration reached my ears.
“The victor of this sparring examination is Runelk Ains.”
No one applauded or cheered.
Everyone was too busy clutching their chests in gratitude that another scene from hell wasn’t about to unfold.
“From this moment forward, Runelk Ains is hereby a trainee. From the instant you entered the Training Barracks, you are all one family under the name of Nox. I’ll tolerate appropriate competition, but excessive animosity among family will not be forgiven.”
“Yes, understood!”
The trainees, finally recovering their wits, answered in unison with vigor.
“If any of you are caught unfairly persecuting Runelk Ains under the guise of being a mid-entry trainee,”
Padilla Bondeiz swept her gaze across the now-rigid trainees, her warning tone sharp.
“I will treat it as a challenge to me, the one who approved your entry. Understood?”
“Yes, understood!”
“Now all of you return to your training.”
The moment the dismissal was given, everyone scattered without so much as a backward glance.
The way my classmates hurried inside with the still-prostrate Maximilian DiGrave spoke of their urgency.
I watched their retreating figures, those of defeated soldiers, then bowed respectfully toward Padilla Bondeiz, who still regarded me with suspicious eyes, and thought to myself:
I would need to be just as careful with Padilla Bondeiz’s gaze as with Killian Nox’s.

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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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