Chapter 231: Definitely Not a Mage

“Yeah, mage my ass!” Julius yelled out as the man snuck a left hook underneath his guard. Crashing a fist into his liver, leaving Julius in pain.

It had been almost a week since he had dinner with Richard and his family. During that time, whenever he wasn’t training with Richard, he and Reinera had made repeated attempts at the training course.

They both managed to make improvements as well. Reinera consistently completed the second section and was making good progress with the third section.

Julius on the other hand was still on the difficult fourth section, but he was slowly getting better with each attempt. While he had not gotten to the end yet, he felt like he was getting close and from Rebecca’s reaction, he was doing much better than anyone at his level should be doing.

That made him feel much better about his progress. However, he didn’t let her know that.

Reinera was feeling extra competitive with him recently. She wanted to catch up with him and his progress, even going so far as to receive some amazing skill level gains to her physical skills.

But she was still frustrated that she wasn’t quite able to close the gap, no matter how hard she tried.

She was probably used to being the most successful one, considering her status as a genius and all.

But to be fair, Julius had some major advantages. For one, he had an amazing skill that allowed him an unfair perception of the entire training course as well as practice utilizing this skill to great effect.

He also had an affinity that was regarded as one of the best affinities for physical fighters.

He chided himself for getting distracted as he received another blow to his knee.

While Richard was supposedly a mage, the man could fight like a demon. It reminded Julius of Edwin. Their styles were very similar.

Julius couldn’t help but feel his heart clench at the thought of his previous mentor. He had to use [Sage of Savagery] to temper his emotions.

The main difference was that Edwin used shadows and deception whereas Richard used Julius’s own perception against him.

Richard quickly understood that Julius was able to sense any of his attacks, leading the man to take advantage of that. He would attempt very subtle feints that nobody other than Julius could sense, but then punish Julius if he ever fell for them.

The other one was that unlike Edwin who had been Tier 4, Richard was a genuine Tier 5.

“Why didn’t you become a close combat fighter?” Julius asked as he parried a punch and checked the follow-up leg kick from Richard.

Richard paused for a moment. He wasn’t even close to out of breath, he looked so at ease as he casually took Julius apart.

“My family is a House full of warriors. We have an extensive history of being some of the best frontline fighters in the Empire. But I didn’t want to go down that route. I stubbornly insisted on becoming a mage, much to my family’s displeasure,” Richard said with a laugh.

“Why did you want to become a mage so bad?”

Richard looked over where Rebecca was helping Reinera with some of her skills with an embarrassed look. “I met a girl.”

“You met a girl?” Julius asked slowly, in disbelief as to the reason.

“Yes, a girl. My heart was captured the moment I laid eyes upon her. It was as if fate herself placed my darling right in my path,” Richard said dramatically.

“I still don’t understand why a mage though.”

Richard gave him an affronted look. “Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to impress her. She was a mage herself and I wanted to show her that I could be just as amazing as her. She didn’t have any interest in a guy who beat someone up with a hammer or sword.”

“And it worked?” Julius asked, surprised.

“Not a chance,” the man replied instantly, laughing boisterously afterward. “No, we found other things in common that brought us together. And then…”

“And then the rest was history,” Julius finished for him with a knowing grin.

“And then the rest was history,” Richard repeated with a bright smile toward his wife and son before turning to look at Julius. “So what about you and Grace? You two are about the same age.”

“What about us?”

“Well, I thought it was curious that the two of you were traveling alone. You see, a noble-born daughter like her would normally have retainers or guards escorting her, and yet she just has you.”

“What makes you think she’s a noble born?”

“Oh, please. Anyone with two eyes can see it. Her whole demeanor says it, although it seems like she is getting more comfortable with my wife and that facade is fading away,” Richard noted.

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Julius could only shrug. Richard had a good point. Reinera, especially when she wanted to, could act very noble like. It wasn’t that subtle.

“So?” Richard asked.

“Huh?” He asked while looking at him.

“I mean, what’s the story between you two? How did you guys even come to Blumand? Like I said, you don’t often see two noble children running around alone in such an isolated part of the Empire.”

“Two noble children?” Julius asked, surprised.

“Well, there is no way you are some average commoner. You are far too monstrous to be that. You might not be a noble, but someone trained you. People don’t just become that powerful without any assistance or massive luck. People might assume you are a commoner based on your lack of etiquette but I have seen noble born who act like thugs and commoners who act like spoiled princes. Behavior can be learned,” Richard said to him with a grin.

“Also I can’t see how Grace would be allowed to just run off with a lone boy, nobles don’t like that sort of thing. You obviously have known each other for a while, but I can’t comprehend the dynamic. At first, I thought you were some sort of bodyguard her family trained, but you don’t act with the subservient attitude one would have if that was the case. Most families don’t allow their guard dogs that much freedom, especially not ones who teach their daughters that much etiquette,” Richard said with a knowing look on his face as he observed Julius.