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Yoseim was a manor located about a day and a half away from the village. Upon hearing that the lord had fled to Yoseim, Sophia couldn’t help but make a very displeased expression.

Although the manor wasn’t far from the territory and was even quite close in terms of distance, its location was unfortunately upstream of the water veins—the exact opposite side of where the contamination was spreading. In other words,

“It means that the lord also noticed the source of the water vein contamination.”

If he hadn’t known, it would’ve been one thing, but to know and still take no action, only fleeing to save his own skin? Sophia slightly curled her lips.

“Isn’t it my life’s joy to take down scum like this?”

As she smirked, Conra, who was riding alongside her, made a horrified expression and replied,

“Master, do you realize you’re making a face that a clergy member shouldn’t be making?”

“Kukuku, is there a face only clergy should make and a face only life’s failures should make? I’m going to plunder what those failures delude themselves into thinking they own. Doesn’t that make me the failure of failures? This master is making a perfectly appropriate face.”

While Conra was making an “ooh” face at Sophia’s declaration, there were others making “what the heck” faces—namely, the accompanying soldiers, the tax collector who was being carried like luggage in the wagon, and the knight Raymond Gamlin.

‘What kind of clergy talks so violently? If you just listen to her words, it sounds like something a nomadic chieftain would say.’

But regardless of what others thought, Sophia paid no mind.

The night before arriving at Yoseim, even while camping, Sophia didn’t skip teaching Conra. Of course, this time it wasn’t just mindlessly training his body—ahem, refining it—but rather a session of seated learning.

“From what I see, the development of your ethereal muscles and ethereal brain is quite commendable. You probably already know the reasons: first, your innate talent, and second, the supply of life force from druidic techniques and the consumption of elixirs made through alchemy. Understood?”

“Yes, Master.”

“On the other hand, I’ve been observing how you’ve been utilizing your ethereal muscles and ethereal brain, and it seems your training methods have been a bit haphazard.”

When the Reverse Muscle Technique reaches a certain level, one gains the ability to discern others’ Reverse Muscle Technique levels, and the same goes for the Reverse Brain Method.

Of course, the discernment is vague, so one can’t see every detail of the muscles or the intricate weaving of nerve fibers, but that too depends on one’s level. This is why a high-level master can dominate a lower-level practitioner.

Because one can glimpse the opponent’s ethereal muscles or ethereal brain, one can predict their next move or spell activation.

Moreover, Sophia had possessed strong spiritual abilities since her past life. With her accumulated spiritual insight combined with her achievements in the Reverse Muscle Technique and Reverse Brain Method, she could now see others’ ethereal tendons and nerve bundles as if reading palm lines.

Of course, this was Sophia being weird, and it didn’t make sense by conventional standards. But Conra had lived in the forest with only his parents since birth, and since both parents were of high levels, he didn’t find Sophia’s words particularly strange.

After all, even Conra could vaguely discern the Reverse Muscle Technique level of someone lower than him—specifically, Raymond Gamlin, who was being carried like luggage in the wagon.

“As you know, to raise the level of the Reverse Muscle Technique, you need to move your body, and to raise the level of the Reverse Brain Method, you need to use your head. Some say there’s no royal road to this kind of training, but that’s not actually true.”

“Then, are you saying there’s a correct answer even in this path?”

“Common sense would say so, wouldn’t it? Everything has efficiency and rationality. Otherwise, why would similar efforts yield different results? Isn’t it a bit lazy to attribute it all to talent?”

To put it bluntly, even the elixirs Conra had learned in alchemy had their own usage and dosage, right? These were the results of generations pursuing efficiency, safety, and rationality. So, dismissing efficiency and rationality by saying “there’s no royal road” is just absurdly lazy and ignorant.

Thinking about it, the changes in Conra’s ethereal muscles during the few days he had been with Sophia were distinctly different. Sophia had systematically and precisely trained his muscles, measuring the limits of his strength and squeezing out every last drop.

At the same time, she carefully adjusted the training schedule to prevent any single area from being overworked. In other words, no part was left idle; everything was evenly worked.

Suddenly, Conra thought that, according to Sophia’s teachings, even this method of training the body and mind could become its own field of study.

“Alright, since you’ve understood up to this point, now focus on absorbing what I’m teaching you.”

The training Sophia ordered was bizarre from Conra’s perspective. The memory techniques she called the “Palace of Memory” and meditation methods were understandable, but what followed was truly…

Flooded with puzzles, mind maps, diagrams, and hand games (like playing rock-paper-scissors with both hands) that were supposed to enhance memory, cognitive ability, analytical skills, precision, reasoning, and computational power, Conra couldn’t understand how any of this was supposed to help with brain development.

But the results didn’t lie.

“Wait, this is…”

The next morning, when Conra habitually tried to memorize a spell, he noticed that his spell socket capacity had slightly increased overnight and was left speechless.

+++++

The party, having set out early in the morning, arrived at Yoseim around noon. Yoseim was a manor, but there was no building that could be called a castle. The only structure in a position to be called a keep was the mansion built for the lord’s residence. Though it was sizable by general standards.

The villagers of Yoseim, seeing the wagon with its door smashed heading toward the lord’s mansion, buzzed with curiosity. Regardless, Sophia confidently led the way on her horse, with Conra following behind. The soldiers, anticipating what was to come, began preparing themselves with resigned expressions.

Finally, the moment the party arrived in front of the lord’s mansion.

“Halt! This is the residence of the rightful ruler of Breuhmat!”

Before the guard could finish demanding the visitors’ identity and purpose, Sophia, with a *shing*, drew her longsword and shattered the mansion’s gate in one strike, declaring,

“Go in and inform Lord Louis Bergson de Breuhmat that Paladin Nun Knight Sophia de Chazel has come on behalf of the Church Order to hold him accountable for the plague incident.”

“Huh?”

The guard, stunned by the shocking performance and the overly calm tone, stood dumbfounded. It seemed the content of her words hadn’t fully registered. Sophia repeated herself, this time with a bit more killing intent.

“What are you doing? Go in and deliver the message.”

“G-got it!”

The guard, pale from Sophia’s killing intent, scrambled into the mansion. Soon, the sounds of chaos and murmuring could be heard, but Sophia paid no attention.

After some time, it wasn’t the lord who appeared in front of the mansion but his knights and soldiers, radiating hostility toward the unwelcome guests. Sophia didn’t bother waiting to deal with them. Her chest swelled.

“Scram, you brats!”

*Rumble rumble rumble.*

The Lion’s Roar, amplified by her diaphragm and the mystical power of Kundalini, echoed with the assistance of the “Chivalry Legacy” and “Hero’s Trials Legacy,” recreating the “Sound that Shakes Heaven and Earth.” Originally a roar that shattered evil spirits and sorcery, knocking out the weak-willed, this roar, enhanced by ethereal muscle lung capacity and the Sound Wave Amplification Spell, became a force far exceeding its original power.

Simply put, this single roar rendered all the military force gathered in front of Sophia powerless in an instant. Some with strong mental fortitude managed to stay standing, but they were no match for Sophia even before the roar.

The Lion’s Roar was just Sophia’s way of avoiding the hassle of dealing with these insignificant figures, not out of any concern for their numbers.

Sophia, paying no attention to those staggering to stay upright, slowly rode her horse toward the mansion. Upon arrival, she saw that all the mansion’s windows had shattered from her roar.

“Will those inside be okay?”

Conra, tilting his head, asked. In his mind, most of the opponents inside were likely incapacitated by the roar.

“The lord will probably be fine. He has good guards.”

Sophia, who had seen the inside of the mansion through echolocation the moment she roared, replied. Surprisingly, the lord had a considerable master by his side. The movements to protect their lord, anticipating the chaos Sophia would cause, were not something an ordinary person could manage.

 

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