After Esiocles Emanuele, the clergy, joined the group, their journey became even smoother. Of course, it was only natural since the clergy, who used to roam the Alps Mountain Range like it was his backyard, had joined them.

Unlike his avant-garde fashion of being barefoot and shirtless, which allowed him to traverse the Alps’ eternal snow, icy terrains, wetlands, and swamps without a care, Esiocles Emanuele surprisingly often guided the group to comfortable resting spots where people could lie down and sleep.

When Conra, intrigued by this unexpected side of the clergy, asked him about it, Esiocles replied, “Although I seek enlightenment and have taken on this form to get closer to the natural environment of the sacred mountains, it is precisely because of this that I know better than anyone else that we must never underestimate the natural environment of the sacred mountains. In fact, whether one wears clothes or not is irrelevant, but having a shelter to protect oneself from the elements and sleep is a completely different matter. Do you understand this principle, little brother?”

Conra roughly understood the context of Esiocles’ words and quickly agreed, although he couldn’t fully empathize. While he did agree that a good living environment was important, he couldn’t help but internally disagree with the notion that what one wears is unimportant.

‘Originally, the saying about not being bound by what one wears didn’t mean to go around like a barbarian warrior with just a minimal piece of cloth and flexing muscles.’

Conra began to think that perhaps the clergy were always like this, as Esiocles casually twisted words to suit his convenience. He wondered if his prejudice against clergy might not be a prejudice after all.

Well, the clergy Conra had encountered so far were Sophia de Chazel and Hildegard, both Nun Knights, and now Esiocles Emanuele. While Sophia and Hildegard might consider themselves normal, to Conra, they were just as strange as Esiocles, albeit in different ways.

Of course, proper clergy from the Church Order would find this very unfair.

But since there were no proper clergy around to correct Conra’s prejudice, the situation remained unchanged.

With their path becoming faster and their accommodations more stable, Sophia spent her spare time teaching her disciple.

By now, Conra had become accustomed to Sophia de Chazel’s exercise methods. At this point, Sophia introduced Conra to a new training regimen.

Kettlebells, stone locks, weightlifting, stone blocks, club bells, mace bells, gym ball exercises, various gymnastics, PT exercises, CrossFit, parkour, contortion, flying yoga, and even Sphere Exercises, which Sophia had created by combining Tai Chi Sphere, Qiankun Sphere, and the Eight Trigrams Palm’s Sphere Rotation. Sophia changed the training menu every evening, effectively pushing Conra’s muscles to their limits.

Esiocles Emanuele also began to take an interest in Sophia’s training of Conra. Being someone who had trained extensively to achieve his own physique, Esiocles soon joined Sophia and Hildegard in researching methods to push muscle performance to its limits.

And the main beneficiary of this research was none other than Conra. While it was driving Conra crazy, he couldn’t complain. After all, it was all for his training, and Sophia, Hildegard, and Esiocles were doing the same or even more intense exercises right beside him.

“Ugh… ugh—!”

‘I’m dying. I’m dying! I’m dying!’

While lifting weights and performing lunges or squats on wooden stakes, Conra couldn’t help but let out sounds of agony.

He could feel his thighs burning. Maintaining perfect balance on the wooden stakes was much harder than he thought. And having to perform lunges or squats in that state? It was nothing short of a nightmare.

“Don’t think weak thoughts. Didn’t you say you wanted to move like me when you saw me floating in the air? To do that, you need to be able to handle this training. Let’s aim for your thighs to be twice as thick as they are now.”

Hearing Sophia’s words, Conra clenched his teeth. He shouldn’t have said he wanted to learn qinggong after seeing Sophia defeat the dragon. What’s the use of regretting now?

The day before, he had to do cross holds and handstands while holding rings, and the day before that, he had to do windmills with weights attached to his limbs, and the day before that, he had to do parkour in a straitjacket. Compared to those, doing one-handed snatches on a gym ball seemed like nothing.

As a result of this grueling training, by the time the group left the Alps and the distant Bishopric of Toirento came into view, Conra’s movements had transformed remarkably. He could now exert his maximum strength and stamina at any time, and the stability of his salmon jumps had improved beyond comparison.

The harsh exercises in the high-altitude, oxygen-thin environment had sufficiently stimulated and changed Conra’s physique.

Now, even Karl, who had defeated the boy in the past, could be defeated without much difficulty. Sophia had once said that she would make Conra surpass Karl soon. Conra began to think that perhaps his master was truly keeping that promise.

…Otherwise, she wouldn’t be treating her only disciple like this.

Conra didn’t know about Sophia’s philosophy that ‘a disciple should be treated in a way that they neither die nor live comfortably.’ Even if he knew, it wouldn’t change anything, so it was probably better that he didn’t.

In any case, they had now reached the point where the Bishopric of Toirento was visible. The group made a strange expression as if they hadn’t seen a city in a long time.

“This is the northernmost Bishopric of Toirento in the Kingdom of Rotaringia…”

Unlike Conra, who was filled with emotion, Sophia, Hildegard, and Esiocles all had indifferent expressions. To them, the Bishopric of Toirento was just another ordinary city or one of the many bishoprics.

Although it was a land where councils were frequently held due to its transportation conditions, that was all. Their sensibilities weren’t delicate enough to find meaning in such things.

Seeing their expressions, Conra grumbled that these people probably wouldn’t change their attitude even if they found the Iron Throne and Crown of Rotaringia on the side of the road. And the boy’s speculation and imagination were mostly close to the truth.

+++++

There were still a few days left before the council in the Bishopric of Toirento began. Fortunately, unlike other cities and towns the Nun Knights had experienced before crossing the Alps, the Bishopric of Toirento had relatively low concentrations and damage from the Instruments. Being a bishopric, the clergy had stepped in to mitigate the damage.

Thanks to this, the Nun Knights could finally rest and recuperate upon arriving in the Bishopric of Toirento. Although Esiocles Emanuele was arrested for public indecency at the gate, it wasn’t a big deal. Given his status, he would be released soon.

What was important was that as soon as the Nun Knights passed through the gate of the Bishopric of Toirento, an invitation letter arrived from the Bishop’s Keep.

“Hmm, judging by the handwriting, it’s an invitation from that old man.”

Hildegard said as she looked at the handwriting on the invitation letter. Sophia also nodded in agreement after examining the letter.

“Yes, it’s a letter from His Eminence Cardinal Andrea, the First Seat of our Paladins. What business does His Eminence have with us? Do you know?”

“If you don’t know, how would I? But if I had to guess, perhaps he wants to hear a more detailed report from us before the council begins?”

Sophia agreed with Hildegard’s speculation. Her thoughts weren’t much different.

“Regardless, since the old man is the Knight Commander, we should go if he calls.”

“That’s true. It’s about time we gave Conra a break, and Esiocles won’t be released until tonight. So, let’s give the boy a good rest today.”

Upon receiving the news of a day off from Sophia, Conra jumped for joy, feeling liberated. While Sophia and Hildegard were away, he planned to enjoy a peaceful nap without any interruptions. Just the thought of it made him cheer.

Of course, his excitement was quickly suppressed by a flick from Sophia, who was annoyed by his excessive joy.

*Thwack—!*

With a clear and melodious sound that resonated through the world, the boy’s head bowed forward.