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With cloth bags filled with sand resting on both shoulders, Tatsumi bent his knees on the spot, lowered his hips all the way, and then straightened his knees again.

Just how long had he been doing these so-called squats?

At his feet, sweat had trickled down, staining the sand a deep gray. And surrounding Tatsumi—who was gritting his teeth and continuing the squats—were about ten boys his age, slumped on the ground, exhausted and breathing heavily.

“Come on, come on! What’s the matter? Are you done already? At this rate, who knows when you’ll ever become a full-fledged soldier priest!”

And standing before Tatsumi and the others was a man.

His large, muscular frame was encased in sheet-metal armor, and a sword hung at his waist. The sacred emblem representing the God of Savaiv was engraved on the chest plate of his armor, clearly marking him as a soldier priest.

He appeared to be in his mid-forties. Bearded and with a stern face, he had the very air of an “instructor.”

The “instructor’s” eyes were fixed intently on Tatsumi, the only one still bending and straightening his knees.

It was a sharp gaze, as if he were glaring at an enemy, but Tatsumi had no time to worry about it right now.

The sandbags slung over his shoulders weighed about 8 kilograms each. Since he was carrying them on both shoulders, he was doing squats while bearing a total additional weight of about 16 kilograms.

In fact, Tatsumi’s physical strength was at its limit. The only reason he was gritting his teeth and pushing himself through was sheer willpower.

The boys, who had exhausted themselves and were sitting on the ground, silently watched the lone Tatsumi.

Tatsumi continued doing squats for a little while longer, but finally, his last reserves of willpower ran out, and he collapsed onto the ground.

Seeing this, the “Instructor” let out a smirk across his bearded face.

“All right, take a break for about half a koku ¹! Make sure to eat something while you have the chance! But don’t overeat—it’ll make things tough later. Keep it moderate!”

With those words, the soldier priest acting as the instructor strode away from the training ground behind the temple.

The ten or so boys left behind also slowly got to their feet and left the training ground. They were probably going to eat, just as the instructor had told them.

The only one still sprawled out on the ground in a star shape was Tatsumi. One of the boys who had stood up approached him, peered down at him from above, and called out.

“Hey, Tatsumi. Are you still alive?”
“Yeah, Barse… I’m hanging in there…”

Still lying on the ground, Tatsumi raised only his right hand and waved it weakly.

The boy who had spoken to him—Barse—grabbed Tatsumi’s waving hand and pulled him to his feet.

“You’re off to eat too, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan.”
“Then let’s get going. Your wife’s waiting at the usual spot.”
“N-no, I’m not married to Chiiko yet…”

Barse, who had helped Tatsumi to his feet, looked utterly dumbfounded upon hearing those words.

“What the hell are you talking about? You live together, and she even makes you a boxed lunch every day, right? Whether you’re married or not, Lady Calcedonia is practically your wife, no?”

Barse gave him a smug grin, and Tatsumi blushed, ignored him, and started walking away in embarrassment.

The two were headed for a corner of the temple garden—their usual lunch spot for the past while.

.

The sound of a knock on the door echoed through the room. Giuseppe ordered his new assistant, a High Priest, to announce the visitor, and after confirming who it was, he granted permission for them to enter.

“Excuse me.”

Bowing slightly, the instructor who had been drilling Tatsumi and the others just moments ago stepped into Giuseppe’s office.

“Good work, Captain Oujin. So, how are things? How are the apprentice soldier priests coming along?”
“Heh, they’re still just fledglings at best.”

In response to Giuseppe’s question, the instructor—known as Oujin—made his stern face even more severe.

Currently, the Temple of Savaiv has five squads of soldier priests, each consisting of about 15 to 20 members, led by a commander known as a “Soldier Captain.” Above these five Soldier Captain stands the “General Command,” the overall commander of the soldier priests.

Morganaik, who had left the Temple to live among the common people, was once one of these Soldier Captains. Since Morganaik’s departure, the soldier priest who had served as his assistant had been acting as Deputy Captain and is expected to be formally promoted to Captain in the near future.

However, although Oujin holds the title of Sixth Soldier Captain, he does not command a squad. He is the one solely responsible for training the apprentice soldier priests.

“Especially that brat named Tatsumi—the one Your Eminence forced onto us as an apprentice… He’s a total lost cause.”

Oujin sat down in the chair Giuseppe had offered him, crossed his arms, and spoke bluntly.

“He’s got no stamina, no muscle strength to even support his weapons or armor, and to top it off, he doesn’t even know how to hold a weapon properly. Even the idiotic sons of nobles these days are at least a little better than that. I’m putting up with him because Your Eminence recommended him, but if it weren’t for that, I’d have kicked him out on the very first day.”

Curving his beard-covered mouth into a “へ” shape, Oujin continued.

“Whenever I’d make him do physical training with the other apprentices, that kid was always the first one to collapse. That was guaranteed.”

Giuseppe noticed a subtle change in the tone of Oujin’s voice and deftly raised just one eyebrow.

“I see. It ‘was,’ is it?”

In response, Oujin also let out a sly grin at Giuseppe’s sharp observation.

“Yes, that’s right. It ‘was,’ indeed. Lately, that kid’s usually the one who lasts until the very end. It’s been about thirty days since we started training the apprentices, and that kid has undoubtedly improved the most. To be honest, I’ve actually started to enjoy pushing that kid to his limits lately.”

Oujin wore a carefree smile, like a child who’d found a new toy.

.

“Here you go, Master. Barse, please don’t be shy—help yourself, too, okay?”
“Oh, thank you as always, Lady Calcedonia. But man, I’m lucky to have a friend with such a beautiful, kind-hearted, and talented wife!”

Hearing Barse call her “wife,” Calcedonia smiled happily. Then, she eagerly handed the lunch she had prepared to Tatsumi.

“No, really! Thanks to becoming friends with Tatsumi, I get to eat a homemade bento from the Holy Maiden herself. I can’t thank Tatsumi enough.”

While making such flattering remarks, Barse accepted the lunch Calcedonia had offered him.

About thirty days had passed since Tatsumi and the others had begun their martial arts training as apprentice soldier priests, and at some point, having lunch together as a trio had simply become the norm.

“But aren’t I actually getting in the way? Wouldn’t it be better for Tatsumi and Lady Calcedonia to be alone together?”

As he said this with a mischievous grin directed at Tatsumi and Calcedonia, Calcedonia herself, far from looking embarrassed, smiled happily instead.

“It’s fine, Barse. Master and I are always alone together at home, after all!! Right, Master!?”

Chalcedonia wrapped her arms around Tatsumi’s waist, pressing him against her ample bosom, and looked up at him with a beaming smile. Tatsumi, on the other hand, was bright red in the face and silently tucking into his lunch without saying a word.

Seeing the two of them like that,Barse flashed a “I can’t deal with this” expression for just a moment, but quickly suppressed it and began eating his lunch as well.

“But neither Master nor I knew that you were aiming to become a soldier priest, Barse?”
“Well, I heard that Tatsumi was going to start martial arts training, so I thought, ‘Why not join him?’ I started out taking it lightly, but I regretted it almost immediately. Calling Instructor Oujin’s training ‘tough’ is an understatement.”

When training began, there were over 30 people participating as trainees. But over the course of these 30 days, the number of participants has dwindled one by one, and now it’s down to about 10—just one-third of the original number.

“Hehe. I also received instruction from Instructor Oujin when I was just starting out. I remember collapsing in tears countless times myself.”
“Whoa, that old guy doesn’t go easy on women either?”

Tatsumi and Calcedonia laughed at Barse, who looked thoroughly disheartened.

“But hey, thanks to that, I get to enjoy Lady Calcedonia’s cooking every day. As a thank-you, I’ll take the two of you to a restaurant that serves delicious food next time.”

Hearing this, Tatsumi and Calcedonia exchanged glances before replying with smiles, “We’ll look forward to it.”

.

“After all, that kid—even if you push him until he collapses every day, he shows up for training the next day with a completely unfazed expression. His recovery ability alone is nothing short of incredible.”
“That’s all thanks to Calcie, isn’t it? I suppose she’s healing Sonny with magic.”
“Ah, Calcie was with that kid, wasn’t she? That explains his recovery.”
“Well, in Sonny’s case, I would say he’s working hard on more than just martial arts training.”
“Come to think of it, that kid isn’t just training in martial arts—he’s also receiving basic instruction in magic from Your Eminence and Calcie, isn’t he?”

Currently, Tatsumi is undergoing magic training alongside his martial arts practice. Lately, he’s finally been able to sense a faint trace of the Outer Element, and it seems he’s taken his first step toward becoming a magician—or in Tatsumi’s case, a magic user.

“Besides, that kid listens to what we say and carries it out without question. It’s interesting to train someone like that, someone without any strange habits, since they grow in a straight line.”

Tatsumi, who has had no martial arts experience up to this point, is, so to speak, a blank slate. Because of this, he readily accepts Oujin’s guidance and follows it without any doubt.

After all, a student as receptive as him must be a rewarding student for the instructor as well.

“For now, I’m only having the apprentices work on building their basic physical strength, but some of them are starting to demand that we begin training with weapons. They’ve already got experience and confidence, and precisely because of that they’re the most troublesome. Right now, they’re grudgingly following my orders, but it’s obvious to anyone that they’re seething with dissatisfaction. It’s about time they start acting rebellious.”

Oujin has instructed countless apprentices over the years. He knows exactly when their discontent is about to boil over.

“Oh ho? So, are you planning to teach them how to handle weapons soon?”
“What are you talking about, Your Eminence? It’s still far too early for them to handle weapons.”

With that, Oujin twisted his stern face into a smirk.

.

While engaging in lighthearted conversation, Tatsumi, Calcedonia, and Barse began cleaning up after their meal.

At that moment, Barse suddenly noticed the plain, rugged bracelet Tatsumi was wearing on his wrist.

“Hey, Tatsumi. What is that? A gift from Lady Calcedonia?”
“Huh? Oh, this? This isn’t from Chiiko—I borrowed it from Giuseppe-san.”
“Giuseppe… Seriously, you just casually refer to the Supreme Pontiff as if he were some retired old man from the neighborhood… I really think that side of you is amazing…”

Barse shrugged in exasperation. Even so, his gaze remained fixed on the bracelet Tatsumi was wearing.

Tatsumi noticed this as well, and raised his hand slightly to show the bracelet clearly as he explained.

“This bracelet is a magic item that seals away magic… Uh, I think it’s called a Magic Sealing Apparatus in our language?”

When Tatsumi turned to Calcedonia to confirm, she nodded in agreement with his words.

“Hmm, an apparatus that seals away magic, huh… So that means you really are a mage after all?”
“It seems that was the case. That said, I’m apparently a bit of a special case, so neither Chiiko nor Giuseppe-san noticed at first.”

The bracelet Tatsumi borrowed from Giuseppe functioned exactly as he had described.

In this world, magic-sealing devices are difficult to manufacture, so their price is astronomically high. Perhaps that’s why even Giuseppe, as generous as he is, didn’t give the bracelet to Tatsumi—he merely lent it to him.

Just like when he was splitting firewood the other day, Tatsumi, who hadn’t yet fully mastered controlling his mana, might unconsciously absorb the mana around him and end up strengthening his body.

Since he’s currently in the stage of building a foundation, relying on mana would hinder his training. Having come to that conclusion, Giuseppe lent Tatsumi this bracelet from his personal collection.

Incidentally, collecting magic-sealing artifacts seems to be one of Giuseppe’s personal hobbies. However, even the Supreme Pontiff doesn’t reportedly own that many expensive magic-sealing artifacts.

“All right then. Let’s get going, Tatsumi. If we’re late, Instructor Oujin will give us an earful again.”
“You’re right. See you later, Chiiko.”
“Yes. Have a safe trip, Master, and Barse.”

Caledonia stood there, watching intently until the backs of Tatsumi and Barse, walking side by side as they left the temple grounds, disappeared from view.