Chapter 14
Chapter 14: The Boy Won’t Submit Without a Fight
In the medical area of the Crimson Flame Knight Order branch of the Holy Temple of Light, the room’s lighting was soft and warm, and the air was filled with the faint fragrance of herbs.
Cynthia stood to the side with her arms crossed, her gaze fixed intently on the healer treating the wound on Sean’s arm.
The healer’s hands flickered with gentle green light—the radiance of healing magic. As the light flowed, the ugly wound on Sean’s arm gradually healed, eventually recovering completely without leaving even a trace of scarring.
Cynthia frowned slightly, feeling somewhat puzzled.
She recalled the scene when she had examined Sean’s body earlier. Sean’s muscle definition was clear, obviously the result of long-term training, but why didn’t he know even the most basic combat techniques? This made her feel somewhat incredulous.
“Sean, do you really not know any combat techniques?”
After the treatment was complete, Cynthia dismissed the healer with a wave of her hand. She couldn’t help but ask, her tone carrying a hint of inquiry.
“I apologize, Lady Cynthia. I’ve had no magical power since childhood and cannot sense any elemental forces, so I don’t know any magic either.”
Sean looked up at Cynthia, showing a helpless smile on his face, then added:
“Although I usually exercise my body, as for combat techniques… I truly know nothing.”
Regarding this, Sean wasn’t lying. His body essentially came from another world—a world without magic, where ordinary people wouldn’t learn combat techniques either.
Cynthia frowned even more. She recalled Sean’s previous performance, which indeed showed no magical power fluctuations, and he couldn’t even cast the most basic defensive magic.
Although she had some doubts about Sean’s answer, she didn’t continue questioning. Time would prove everything, and if Sean dared to deceive her, she would make this guy regret it.
However, Sean’s situation made Cynthia feel somewhat uneasy. If Sean truly had no combat ability, wouldn’t he be like a lamb for slaughter on the battlefield?
Cynthia fell silent for a moment, then began calculating in her mind.
She still knew very little about Sean’s constitution and abilities. At least she hadn’t yet figured out how to soothe mental power and amplify magic without physical contact. Most likely, Sean would have to accompany her onto battlefields for some time, but now Sean was no different from an ordinary male—perhaps even worse, since ordinary males at least knew some magic.
Battlefields changed in an instant, and no matter how powerful she was, she couldn’t watch over Sean constantly. So having him learn basic combat techniques was quite necessary—at least to ensure he wouldn’t die easily.
If she carelessly let Sean die or get seriously injured, her goal of becoming Grand Commander would become even more unreachable.
So Cynthia made her decision:
“Sean, starting today, I’ll teach you some physical combat techniques.”
“Thank you very much, Lady Cynthia.”
Sean was slightly stunned, then nodded.
Although Cynthia’s motives weren’t pure, he knew that in this magical world, he was indeed too vulnerable. If he didn’t learn some combat techniques, he might not have any ability to resist when problems arose in the future.
“You must participate in all my regular training sessions from now on. I’ll notify you when the time comes.”
Cynthia considered this for a moment. She couldn’t entrust this training to others—what if they discovered Sean’s special constitution? As a saintess, she had her own exclusive training room, so there was no need to worry about being discovered by others.
“I’ll follow all of Lady Cynthia’s arrangements.”
Sean respectfully bowed.
After Sean’s wound completely healed, Cynthia left the healing room to handle knight order affairs.
Before leaving, she instructed Sean that he could move freely for the rest of the day, but he couldn’t have physical contact with any females and couldn’t leave the Crimson Flame Knight Order branch premises.
“Remember, you’ve already promised in the contract to keep things secret. You cannot let others know about your constitution.”
Cynthia’s tone carried a hint of warning.
“I trust you’ll be careful.”
“I understand, Lady Cynthia.”
Sean nodded, watching Cynthia leave.
He stood at the healing room’s entrance, looking down at his completely healed arm, marveling at the high skill level of the knight order’s healers.
However, after getting injured earlier, he also realized he needed to get something for self-defense. In this magical world, having only physical techniques was useless.
Sean knew clearly in his heart that Cynthia’s purpose in teaching him physical techniques was simply to give him some self-preservation ability while still making him dependent on her. This way, he could never escape this Crimson Flame Saintess’s grasp.
But I won’t let you have your way.
Sean warned himself mentally.
Sean wandered around the knight order while familiarizing himself with the terrain.
Before he knew it, he had arrived at the area where magical weapons were manufactured.
This was one of the knight order’s core areas, where the air was filled with the scent of metal and flames, and blacksmiths were busily working.
Sean stood to one side, quietly watching those blacksmiths use simple flame magic to smelt metals.
Their techniques were skilled, and flames danced in their hands like obedient spirits, melting metal into liquid form and then shaping it into various weapons.
However, Sean soon noticed something strange. The black parts left behind when magic-rich ores were hammered were casually discarded by the blacksmiths to one side, where they had already formed a small mountain.
He was somewhat curious about this. Even though he knew nothing about forging and smelting, he could see that these black stones were superior to ordinary ores in both luster and texture. Why were they being thrown away like garbage?
Sean approached one of the blacksmiths with this question.
“Uncle, what are these black stones, and why are they being thrown away?”
The blacksmiths were all male, and in this world where women were superior to men, males would stick together, especially in places like the Holy Temple of Light where the ratio of males to females was severely unbalanced. Seeing a new male face felt quite welcoming.
“These are Black Death ores, the result of black mist corroding ordinary ores. Most ores on the continent have been corroded by black mist. The Black Death parts cannot transmit magical power and act as insulators. They’re useless to mages, let alone for making magical weapons. I’ve heard that prolonged contact can even affect mental power, so we separate them out and discard them.”
The blacksmith looked up, saw it was a young man, assumed he was a new worker, and explained enthusiastically.
Sean blinked. He remembered this world’s historical setting.
A thousand years ago, unexplainable black mist began appearing at the edges of the continent called Hermes where humans lived. This black mist would pollute the land, corrode the minds and bodies of animals and plants, and transform them into bloodthirsty magical beasts. To this day, seventy percent of the continent had been corroded by black mist, becoming black wasteland where nothing could grow. When people entered the black lands, their mental power would be corroded, and when their minds collapsed, their bodies would transform into mindless magical beasts.
So this corrosive black mist also affected ores.
“Uncle, could you give me some of these Black Death ores?”
Sean looked down at those Black Death ores, a thoughtful glint flashing in his eyes.
Although these ores were useless to mages, they might have different significance for him.
“Take as much as you want. We’re going to throw them away eventually anyway.”