"We'll be doing something different for today."

Reivan's somewhat monotonous days as Aizen's second prince were shattered by just a few words from his teacher — the one with the least amount of hair.

"Uhm, what exactly are we going to do, sir?" Reivan looked up from the floor while massaging his left shoulder. Today, he'd almost gotten his entire left arm torn off by an ice boulder's charge.

Donovan's droll voice echoed within the underground training room. "I usually leave you to handle all of your other duties after morning training, but today, you'll be coming along to join the squires."

"Oh...?" The prince raised a brow in surprise. He didn't train with others too often. At most, he'd wrestled and sparred with the twins, but he lacked the opportunity to do it with other children.

The reason was obvious though. Reivan had too many abilities, which gave him too much of an advantage against his peers. Hector and Helen were somewhat fine though, since they were quite excellent in their own ways.

Another reason is that he was royalty. He assumed that it wouldn't make for a pretty picture if the knights saw him getting turned into a donut by Donovan all the time. Privacy was a good tool to protect his reputation.

'But why are we doing this now...?'

The old bastard, seemingly having seen straight through his thoughts, explained. "It'll be a good experience. You can broaden your horizons by comparing yourself to others in your age group."

"Yes, sir." Reivan nodded before shakily standing up.

'It's not like I have a choice. You don't look like you'd take a NO for an answer...'

It was a good thing that Minister Polino had grown enamored with work after the fat bonus Reivan chucked at him, so there likely wouldn't be a problem in his office. All of the ministers who usually worked there had also come back from their leaves, so there was even less of a need for concern.

There was only one problem...

"What about the morning court session?"

Donovan shrugged. "There just needs to be a member of the royal family present in those kinds of things. The white kitten will go in your stead. She's not royalty by blood, but it'll do."

"But sir..." Reivan frowned as he scratched the back of his head. "She's only eleven years old."

"You're twelve. There's not much of a difference."

'...Touche. Good luck, my dear little sister from another mother. I hope those old guys treat you well.'

He was pretty sure they would, though. Jiji was impossibly adorable, so they likely wouldn't shout too much in her presence.

"Your father has also approved of this. And the girl herself seemed eager to attend."

"Oh. Well, I guess it's fine then."

With that out of the way, Reivan felt a little better about figuratively throwing his sister to the wolves. He now had the entire morning and a bit of the afternoon off.

Donovan domineeringly declared. "Let us go."

"Yes, sir."

Reivan's vision blurred as he was dragged across the air.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at their destination — a training ground.

Upon arrival, Donovan wasted no time in telling him to don the disguise he wore whenever he went out as "Van" and basically told him to "fuck off" in a polite yet gruff kind of way.

That's why Reivan found a nice and quiet corner to keep to himself, all the while observing his surroundings.

"Yep, this is a training ground, alright..." Reivan commented to himself, unable to think of a better way to describe his surroundings.

The training grounds had a ground of compacted soil, racks of blunt practice swords stationed to the side, and a few benches here and there. Despite the weather being mild in Aizen, the blazing sun was still able to warm the open area considerably. And every so often, a pleasant breeze would blow past, pushing some of the hot air towards the walls — the walls that could be vaguely seen across the trees surrounding the sandy training ground. There were also tall towers in what Reivan assumed to be the cardinal directions.

Describing his surroundings in his head didn't help Reivan figure out where he was, though.

'Where the hell am I...?'

Since Donovan dragged him here too fast for his eyes to see, Reivan couldn't trace the path he'd traveled. He was pretty sure he wasn't in the palace, though. Having lived there for most of his second life, it would be too much of an embarrassment if he hadn't noticed such a wide-open space within the palace's walls.

'It's probably still within the capital though.'

The Sword Star's mountain looked way too close to be that far away from the capital. Although the mountain's size messed with Reivan's sense of distance sometimes, Reivan was still willing to bet that he was still inside the city.

"Guess I'll wait..." Reivan shrugged before trudging over to one of the benches. But on his way, he realized something.

'It's so fucking hot...'

Ever since he could remember, he loved the cold and hated the heat. This fact hadn't changed despite his reincarnation. Naturally, sitting down under the sun was a really bad choice, unless he wanted to get soaked in sweat.

And so, he hauled ass toward the trees, seeking refuge in the shade they provided and wiping a trace of sweat from his forehead. Not wanting to mess up his clothes, Reivan chose to lean on a tree's trunk instead of sitting on the dirt.

"Now what..." Reivan scanned his surroundings with a bored expression. "That old bastard... Couldn't he have just brought me here when something was already happening...?"

His shoulder still ached a little from getting almost torn apart in their previous training session too. A few dozen minutes of rest would've been greatly appreciated.

While thinking of ways to kill time, Reivan suddenly noticed movement on the other side of the field.

"Hmm...?" Reivan craned his neck and narrowed his eyes a bit, observing the newcomers.

It was a group of five children, four of which were boys while one of them was a girl. All of them were wearing some sort of uniform that looked surprisingly similar to the ones actors wore in kung fu movies.

'Uh... What were they called again...? I know what a cheongsam is since anime girls wear it during fan service episodes, but I keep forgetting what the other one was called...'

Reivan's face twisted into a grimace as he dug around in his chest of nerdy knowledge. Eventually, his eyes lit up.

'Changshan! They're called changshan!'

The changshan that the kids wore flowed elegantly down to their ankles. Its predominantly white fabric was accented with blue trimmings on the edges and sleeve cuffs, adding a touch of color to the ensemble. Not to be missed was the collar, which was high and straight, adorned with a golden wolf symbol. As for the uniform's sleeves, they were wide and airy — presumably to allow for ease of movement during combat.

And underneath their changshans, Reivan could make out black pants and boots.

'Squires...'

Even if Donovan hadn't mentioned it, the symbols on the children's collars were a dead giveaway that they weren't ordinary children.

'Their uniforms sure look cool. I want one too...'

The one he'd been wearing was perfectly fine too, but Reivan liked these better than his tracksuit. He'd be sure to request a couple later.

'Anyway, should I say hello...?'

Just as he noticed the group of children, they also noticed him. Reivan thought that the common thing to do here was to go over there to say hi, or at least give them a friendly wave.

But then he soon caught sight of other groups of children closing in on the training grounds from all sorts of directions, presumably having come from the walls' vicinity.

'Oof. I guess I'll stay here and be alone then...'

It was fine if it was just a handful of kids, but going in front of a few dozen strangers and introducing yourself was a bit much to expect from a somewhat antisocial recluse like Reivan, especially since he was the "new kid".

'Wait a minute, I'm not being weird here, right? It would be stranger if someone was comfortable making a show of themselves in front of this many people...'

Choosing to huddle back and lean harder on the tree trunk, Reivan chose to observe his surroundings instead. If he met someone's eyes, he'd smile and nod, but doing anything more was too high of a hurdle.

Even if everybody else was a twelve-year-old.

With nothing to do, Reivan decided to check these kids out using his [Supreme Insight].

~^+— Unit's Statistics —+^~ Name: Julan

Species: Human

Realm: Mortal

Age: 12

Sex: Male

Special Abilities [None] Might: 34 Extra Skills Elemental Affinities: None [None] Favor(To Reivan Aizenwald): (Loyalty / Awe / Curiosity) 63 / 100 Threat Level: N/A

'Well, I guess this makes them stronger than most adults...?'

Reivan couldn't help but feel a bit underwhelmed though.

'Am I the weird one here...?'

He didn't expect them to be at the same level as him, who had multiple special abilities and unlimited access to resources. But at the same time, he expected more out of them.

Reivan shook his head free of such thoughts. Just the fact that a bunch of twelve-year-olds had higher overall physical capabilities than adults was an amazing enough fact in and of itself.

'Besides, maybe they're not all at this level...?'

He took a look at a few more children's status screens with [Supreme Insight], but he couldn't find anyone with a significant difference from the first one he'd looked at. The highest he saw had thirty-nine Might, while the lowest one had thirty.

'Hah. This is bad. I'm letting my arrogance get to me...'

Even if he was significantly stronger than these children, they had most likely learned things he hadn't. As such, Reivan put away his conceited thoughts and chose to simply observe how the kids acted.

'Hm...?'

As he surveyed the others in the training grounds, Reivan suddenly noticed something strange.

'Was I wrong...?'

Initially, he'd thought that everybody else here trained with each other regularly and that he was the newcomer. But seeing the groups of kids curiously eyeing other groups made it apparent to him that they were strangers to each other as well.

'Well, that makes me feel a bit better. But I'm the only one who came here alone so...'

Luckily, his loneliness wouldn't last too long.

"Reiv— Uh, I mean Van...? Is that you?"

Reivan's eyes widened at the familiar voice. He turned around, and after seeing the person he expected, broke into a smile.

"Hector! You're here?" he took hurried steps forward and closed the distance with his best friend. "And with Helen, too."

Naturally, he didn't miss the pretty black-haired girl standing a step behind Hector. He mentally noted how they were also wearing changshans, and reinforced his desire for one as well.

Helen nodded. "It's been a while."

"A while...?" Reivan chuckled. "Didn't we see each other last week?"

"That's what I would call "a while"." the girl's lips curled into a small smile. Seemingly realizing something, her head tilted slightly to the side as she asked, "Why are you here?"

"My teacher made me come."

"Your teacher...?" Hector raised a brow. "The one without hair?"

'Pfft.'

Reivan barely held back a snicker as he put on a serious expression. "Don't let him hear you say that. Also, try to keep the back talk to a minimum, alright?"

The confusion on Hector's face deepened as he frowned. "Why are you talking like we're gonna meet him?"

"Uh, because you most likely will?" The prince in disguise drolly retorted before shrugging. "Anyway, you've been warned. I've fulfilled my obligations as your friend."

"What about me?" Helen suddenly chimed in.

Reivan looked the pretty little girl up and down before shrugging again. "I think you'll be fine. You're not as much of a brat as your brother, so just try to stay quiet unless he asks you something."

The girl nodded. "I'll do that."

"Hey, who're you calling a brat, huh?" Hector draped his arm around Reivan's shoulders and pulled him into a headlock — which Reivan easily slipped out of in a manner of seconds.

'He's gotten stronger too.'

Reivan couldn't help but notice how much more effort it took to escape from Hector's headlocks than usual. As such, in the name of watching over his friend's growth, he used [Supreme Insight] again.

~^+— Unit's Statistics —+^~ Name: Hector Mercer

Species: Human

Realm: Mortal

Age: 12

Sex: Male

Special Abilities [Persistent Perseverance]

[Underwhelm] Might: 64 Extra Skills Elemental Affinities: [Wind] [NONE] Favor: (Trust / Brotherhood) 96 / 100 Threat Level: N/A (This unit's favor is too high)

'Yep, this is the kind of stuff I'd expected from all the squires here. And Hector went up three points in one week...? Wow.'

Reivan was sure Hector wasn't undergoing doping like him. So the boy's growth was a pleasant surprise.

'I almost want him to tell me his secrets.'

Since he'd looked at one twin, Reivan thought that he might as well take a look at the other one.

~^+— Unit's Statistics —+^~ Name: Helen Mercer

Species: Human

Realm: Mortal

Age: 12

Sex: Female

Special Abilities [Peerless Perfection]

[Overwhelm] Might: 321 Extra Skills Elemental Affinities: [Lightning] [Wind] [Limit Break] [Qi: Unleashed]

[Keen Intuition]

Favor: (Trust / Friendship / Attachment) 89 / 100 Threat Level: N/A (This unit's favor is too high)

'...Monstrous.'

Absolutely monstrous.

Reivan knew that unlocking one's qi made a huge difference in the growth of one's might — and even provided a huge increase in Might directly upon unlocking — but he still thought Helen's growth was a bit too fast.

'Donovan's a real piece of shit for bringing this monster here.'

The biggest villain for today was definitely that bald bastard. If the other kids knew just how wide the gap between them and Helen was, wouldn't they fall into despair and hopelessness? Wouldn't some of them give up on their knightly aspirations?

'Hell, even I'm feeling slightly demoralized...'

Of course, he was happy that his friend was doing splendidly. But at the same time, he was also working hard. Every night he soaked his bed with sweat and blood because of those disgusting things he injected into his body.

And yet here was Helen, the genius.

Reivan sighed to himself. He knew that Helen also trained hard, but perhaps it was human nature to inherently assume that they worked harder than everyone else around them.

'Bad habits...'

It was a good thing he noticed this right away, so he could work on removing it. No benefit could be gained from such envy.

'But still...'

Reivan's fists clenched without his knowing. He felt the competitiveness within him burn with a vengeance.

'I have to keep up with her.'

No.

'I have to surpass her.'

Surpass the genius.

Reivan smiled. He wouldn't forget this particular goal any time soon.