That's right, that's what paladins are like.

Self-discipline...self-discipline!

Having reaffirmed his belief in self-discipline, Rowan looked up at his fellow young reserve soldiers in the training field.

He quickly found a young girl who was diligently practicing her knight's sword skills, training her agility and mental attributes. Rowan needed the girl's help.

"Leona".

Rowan called out the girl's name, and the girl, Leona, immediately sheathed her sword and obediently walked towards Rowan with her knight's sword.

Unlike Rowan, who has pure black hair and eyes, Leona is a "native" of Cydwell.

She has naturally wavy, long brown hair, which she has tied into a ponytail and is hanging behind her head, bouncing very bouncyly with her movements.

Leona's skin, which is darker than Rowan's, and her facial features, which have traditional Adonis features, symbolize that she does not come from a noble background.

Fortunately, Leona's features are exquisite enough, her light brown eyes are bright enough, and she has a curvaceous figure that doesn't match her age. These advantages can barely make up for her humble origins.

Unfortunately, Rowan never cared about Leona's background, nor did he care about her face.

He only noticed Leona's excellent physique, which allowed her to practice swordsmanship meticulously for half an hour without breaking a sweat.

And her great figure.

The two exchanged a glance, and then Leona followed Rowan without saying a word as they walked towards the dormitory building where the reserve soldiers lived, which was not far away.

"Damn it! Leona is such a good girl..."

"Did they 'go back to their room' again? Tsk... How utterly debauched! Is this still a paladin?"

"Hmm? How are you sure they went there...?"

The reserves who remained on the training field grumbled about the backs of the man and woman, but some still didn't understand why they were making such a fuss about the two.

"Oh……"

Another girl answered his question:

Leona always came out of Rowan's room drenched in sweat from exhaustion!

But her clothes weren't soaked... How could they not be soaked if she didn't take them off?!

"Oh, this..."

Interestingly, some of the fair-skinned reserve members did not comment on Rowan and Leona's situation.

Perhaps in their view, Leona, rather than Rowan, was the one who "benefited".

A "son of a bishop" would be a noble in any country, and being chosen by Rowan should be an honor for Leona, who comes from a commoner background.

Young people always have the strongest imaginations, but the reality is neither as sordid nor as complicated as they imagine.

Although Leona did immediately take off all her clothes after entering Rowan's room with him...

Clang!

But then, Leona drew her sword and adopted the starting stance of basic knight swordsmanship towards Rowan, who was deep inside the room.

"Let's begin."

After Rowan nodded to Leona, Leona immediately stepped forward steadily and swung her sword at Rowan with both hands!

The reservists' dormitories were single rooms, but they were only small rooms of less than ten square meters.

Rowan's dormitory room contained only a bed, and Rowan had removed all the other furniture that was in the way.

Therefore, he nimbly retreated half a meter and approached the wall behind him, but still managed to dodge Leona's slash.

For the next fifteen minutes, the unarmed Rowan could only dodge and weave in this narrow space, doing his best to avoid Leona's slashes!

Furthermore, Rowan forced himself to keep his gaze fixed on the girl, and had to accept the distraction of the girl's youthful body swaying back and forth in front of him!

This was the best way Rowan could find to train his agility and mental attributes.

A few days ago, Rowan chose Leona, a girl who possessed both diligent swordsmanship training and a great figure.

Despite Rowan's generous bribery, Leona is not going to go easy on him.

Every swing of her sword was delivered with all her might, and each one was aimed at Rowan's vital points!

If Rowan is not careful, he could really be injured or even killed by Leona!

Fortunately, Rowan had already done the same exercises several times.

His ever-increasing basic attributes allowed him to focus intently on the muscle contractions on Leona's body without any distractions.

This gives Rowan nearly 0.5 seconds to anticipate Leona's next attack and thus determine how to dodge it.

Thanks to Torovan, Leona has also mastered the technique of attacking with all her might, setting aside any sense of shame.

Even though she only used the most basic knightly swordsmanship, each move was quite sharp.

Unfortunately, Rowan always skillfully avoided the flashing swords and shadows in the room, thanks to his highly focused attention.

The sword blade, which whistled and cut through the air, never managed to land on Rowan.

In the blink of an eye, fifteen minutes had passed.

"alright."

Rowan, back in the center of the room, called out to Leona, which made her stop swinging her sword.

"Huff... huff..."

Both of them were panting heavily, their faces flushed and covered in sweat.

But only those who witnessed the "sword fight" firsthand will understand that there is absolutely no ambiguity between them.

After barely sheathing her sword, Leona didn't even bother to put on her clothes. She stood there, leaning on her sword with both hands, staring at Rowan, who was also trying to catch his breath.

"You... what kind of monster are you? Do you have demonic blood?"

Including today, that makes a total of six "practice sessions".

But I still can't hit this kid?

"No, I am just like you, a human being, a paladin in training."

Rowan smiled and shook his head at Leona, which slightly eased the murderous aura that had been building up in the room.

After each practice session, Leona couldn't help but ask Rowan the same question and receive the same answer from him.

"I don't believe it..."

Leona straightened her back after taking a towel from Rowan and wiped her sweat in front of him.

A young girl's sense of shame?

Please! This is a man who could exhaust himself to death just by dodging in a cramped little room!

Leona already knew that Rowan meant her no harm, otherwise she would have been completely defenseless.

But she simply couldn't understand how someone her age could successfully develop agility and willpower (mental strength) in this way.

Rowan glanced at the training boost in the system: Agility +0.7, Spirit +0.5. Then he poured two glasses of water from the kettle in the corner of the room and drank one with Leona.

"Your swordsmanship is getting better and better...hehe."

Incidentally, Rowan also pulled out a prepared banknote from under the pillow on the bed and handed it to Leona.

"I'm sorry, I know you mean well, but that's the one thing I don't want to hear from you!"

Thanks to Torov, Leona even found that her swordsmanship had improved significantly.

Moreover... Leona, who had just accepted the reward from Rowan, touched the £100 note with mixed feelings.

At first, when Rowan brought up the deal with her, Leona was indeed after Rowan's "reward".

Leona, who came from a poor family and had younger siblings to support, initially thought Rowan was only after her body...

After all, Rowan had bluntly asked himself:

"Want to earn a hundred pounds? If so, come to my room."

Looking back now, Leona has a feeling that he might as well have just been interested in her body.

The first time I followed this boy into his room, he made me take off all my clothes...

Fortunately, he only asked me to attack him; he didn't fight back or retaliate, he just dodged.

But even in this cramped room, no matter how hard he swung his sword, he still couldn't hit him...

The thought filled Leona with an indescribable sense of frustration and absurdity!

Her gaze as she looked Rowan up and down began to become increasingly complex.

No, the more I think about it, the angrier I get!

Leona, having set down her water glass and banknotes and channeling her anger into a fighting spirit, drew her sword again and angrily asked Rowan:

"continue?"

Rowan looked at Leona with some surprise. Although he had more exercise than Leona, the knight's sword in Leona's hand was not a weightless weapon.

The two were probably about the same level of fatigue, but Leona caught her breath faster than him. Her recovery ability was actually better than his.

Human potential is terrifying. Even with a system by my side, I'm still not as good as Leona in terms of recovery.

Meeting the girl's fiercely competitive gaze, Rowan, feeling he couldn't refuse her kind invitation, could only straighten his back:

"Um... my practice for today is over, but if you'd like to practice..."

"Then let's continue!"

About twenty minutes later...

Leona, who was so tired that she could barely hold her sword, finally walked out of Rowan's room wearing dry clothes.

The girl carrying the sword staggered as she silently climbed the stairs, taking some time to return to the dormitory floor belonging to the female paladins.

But as soon as Leona stepped onto this floor, she immediately received subtle stares from several girls who were chatting together in the corridor.

These girls were just discussing Leona's "whereabouts," and Leona heard their voices from the stairs.

However, she didn't quite understand, because listening to the girls' discussion... it seemed like they were jealous of her?

"Leona..."

A young girl came to Leona's side.

She glanced at Leona's dry clothes and the sweat on her forehead, then at Leona's flushed face.

In the end, the girl couldn't bear it any longer and tried to persuade Meleouna:

"With your swordsmanship being so good, it's only a matter of time before you rise to prominence. You really... don't need to sell yourself for money..."

"..."

Leona really wanted to tell her "well-meaning" companions how she had mastered her swordsmanship.

But Rowan had a deal with her, and just now this girl had been the one who made the most ruthless remarks about herself and Rowan!

So Leona shook her head at the girl in front of her, as always:

"It's not what you think...it's not that complicated..."

"Then what exactly is it? You always come back from his room looking this tired, but your clothes aren't even wet, you..."

The girl became excited, but all she really wanted to know was how Leona had gotten in touch with Rowan.

How much does she actually "care" about Leona? This is actually a question that, if asked, would seriously damage the relationship between fellow reservists.

Having been exposed to society at a young age, Leona possesses the composure to not easily show weakness in front of this young girl, as well as the emotional intelligence to avoid offending anyone.

She silently touched the banknotes in her pocket with her still sore and tired fingers. After thinking about it carefully, it seemed that Rowan was much more "decisive" than these pretentious girls!

"Leona! Say something! What did he do to you? Do you think we can't figure out the truth?!"

No matter how much the girl raised her voice again, Leona just shook her head silently and didn't say a word.

"Yes, Leona, just tell us, we'll help you."

"Yeah yeah."

The other girls also moved closer to Leona, each of them seeking confirmation from Leona of the answer they were imagining.

"Ahem! Ladies!"

Melissa's voice suddenly broke the girls' argument.

She had actually been there for a while and had overheard the other girls asking Leona questions.

Unlike the other girls, Melissa immediately saw that Leona had simply exhausted herself from practicing her swordplay.

The muscles in the little girl's arm were still throbbing with blood.

"I'm here to inform you that there is a 'trial' going to Forest Edge Town tomorrow. Get ready and depart tomorrow morning!"

Also, Leona was tired from sword practice; you can tell by touching the muscles in her arms.

Practicing swordsmanship?

The girls looked at Leona in surprise, and the girl standing in front of Leona even reached out and grabbed Leona's arm.

Beneath the burning hot skin, the muscles that were still trembling and pulsating slightly immediately sent an undeniable throbbing sensation to the girl.

The girl then looked at Leona with surprise and delight:

"So you guys were just practicing your swordsmanship? Leona, why didn't you say so?"

Leona's expression was complicated after Melissa exposed the truth.

On her beautiful face, still glistening with sweat, her pale pink lips pursed slightly, but she didn't say anything more.

"Trials? Captain Melissa, we've only been in the preparatory camp for a week... Do we already need to undergo trials?"

Some of the girls focused their attention on Melissa, who was about to leave, and asked the older woman a question.

"Trials are necessary, and time is meaningless, because you will certainly experience more and more trials in the future."

Even if you are knighted and become a true paladin, the "trials" will still be everywhere...

Melissa wouldn't tell these girls that tomorrow's trial was actually a test of that boy with an amazing background.

She wouldn't reassure the girls that she would do her best to protect their safety.

Because "undertaking trials" and "facing evil" are the "missions" that run through a paladin's entire life.

The sooner these girls become familiar with this "mission," the greater the benefit will be for them.