Riser
patreon
37-17
🕑 Added 2025-08-02 21:17:52 +0000 UTCEP.17 Master (2)
The woman who appeared threw the broken door behind her, exuding an overwhelming presence, and thrust out her large chest as if to show off her impressive figure while shouting,
"Who is it? Which one of you is Yuno? Is the brat already whining? Shouldn’t you just be sucking on your mommy’s breast instead of acting all cocky?!"
"How dare you speak such insolence to His Highness the Third Prince!"
The four royal guards who were protecting Yuno and the Empress in the room rushed at her all at once, but their swords were instantly knocked away, and they were grabbed by the collars and thrown into the hallway.
"Ugh... Th-this martial art... Is this the person the commander spoke of...?"
As the guards who were protecting the palace were tossed aside, Isabella and Marie stepped in front of Yuno, each activating magic and spirit arts.
"Oh~ Even at such a young age, you can cast offensive magic like Fire Bolt and use gnomes aggressively? Impressive."
Isabella readied a Fire Bolt to launch at her, while Marie summoned a gnome to grab her legs.
"But... it’s still just child’s play!"
Boom!!
"Kyaaah!!"
When the woman stomped her foot hard on the ground, a tremendous shockwave erupted, instantly dispelling both the Fire Bolt and the gnome, and knocking Isabella and Marie unconscious from the impact.
After glancing at the two fainted girls and confirming they were not in mortal danger, the mysterious woman slowly approached Yuno.
"Hmm~ This is unexpected. There’s another with excellent talent here?"
At that moment, Eliza, who had secretly picked up the fallen guards’ swords, charged at her with a sword in each hand.
"Die!!"
"You’ve trained quite a bit, but you’re still undeveloped and stuck. Too sloppy!!"
Eliza was instantly disarmed, and with both wrists caught in the woman’s grip, she was subdued.
"Hahaha, I didn’t know there were four princesses. Ah~ you! You must be the princess sent as a hostage from the Leon Kingdom, right? But then, isn’t the prince your enemy? Why are you trying so hard to protect him?"
"That’s none of your business!! Let me go!!"
Eliza kicked and struggled fiercely with her wrists caught, but it had no effect on the woman.
"Well, it’s not my concern... Just stay quiet for a bit, Princess."
With a karate chop to the back of the neck, Eliza was knocked out and lay quietly on the floor.
Having neutralized all resistance, the mysterious woman slowly approached Yuno. But Yuria stood up, spreading her arms to shield Yuno, and the woman reached out toward Yuria.
Just as Yuria saw the hand coming and closed her eyes tightly, Yuno finally came to his senses.
"What’s going on? Why are you looking for me? Since you didn’t kill my sisters or Eliza, it seems you want something from me."
Yuno gently pushed Yuria, who was standing protectively in front of him, aside and faced the woman head-on.
"Oh! I thought you were just a wimp protected by girls, but I guess not?"
"What…what did you say to our Yuno?!"
Yuria shouted in anger at the woman’s crude words, but Yuno, instinctively sensing she was an overwhelming powerhouse, calmed Yuria and politely introduced himself.
"Sorry for the late greeting, I just woke up from fainting. I am Yuno Alexander Windrage von Balkan, Third Prince of the Empire. This is my mother, Yuria von Balkan, Empress of the Empire."
But instead of responding, the woman threw a punch at Yuno’s face.
Whoosh!
"W-what are you doing? Don’t you have any manners…ugh!!"
"You dodged that? Not bad... But this one... huh? You’re holding up?"
Yuno barely ducked the left hand aimed at his face, but the right hand that followed landed squarely on his abdomen. However, Yuno endured the punch with his superhuman abdominal strength and immediately counterattacked with a punch of his own.
"Hahaha! Impressive! For a kid who can’t even use mana to have this speed! Whoa~ that last one was actually dangerous!"
Yuno threw punches and kicks with all his might and speed, but the woman easily dodged and taunted him, causing Yuno to bite his lip.
'This woman... she’s not at the level of an ordinary knight... at least an advanced knight... maybe even...'
He briefly despaired at the thought she might be a master, but quickly regained his composure and pressed her to the opposite side of the room.
'I have to seize an opportunity while she’s just toying with me... and that’s now!!'
When he finally saw the wall behind her, Yuno spread his arms wide to block her retreat and attempted a tackle.
"Heh! Isn’t that a bit obvious? Well, I’ll give you credit for trying. But you won’t get me with just that…huh?!"
The mysterious woman easily jumped over Yuno’s waist-high tackle, aiming to finish him off. But Yuno’s real target was her ankle.
"Got you!!!"
Yuno grabbed her ankle and tried to slam her to the floor. However, she moved at incredible speed, easily pried his hand off, and chopped the back of his neck, knocking him out and escaping the predicament.
"Ugh!!"
Thud.
"Whew~ This kid!! He’s something else? To make me use mana... I guess Lichtenauer was right to treasure him."
"W-who are you…? What are you doing here? Why are you doing this…"
As Yuria supported the unconscious Yuno, she quietly asked, noticing the woman’s fierce aura had faded.
"Hahaha, Your Majesty the Empress, was it? Sorry... I never learned proper manners, so please forgive me. Lichtenauer asked me to check out the kid and maybe teach him, so I came to see him. I didn’t mean for it to go like this at first..."
She awkwardly laughed as she looked around at the thoroughly wrecked prince’s palace. "Well, I only broke the door... the rest was your kids, so don’t blame me. I’m broke these days... just trying to make some money for booze. It’d be a problem if I had to pay for damages. Hahaha."
Yuria could only sigh deeply as she watched the woman scratch her head.
A little later, when Yuno, Isabella, Marie, and Eliza all regained consciousness, Yuria called the attendants and maids, told them to keep quiet, and had the scene cleaned up.
"I already gave Her Majesty a rough explanation, but let me introduce myself again. My name is Catherine Aragon. I came at Lichtenauer’s request to teach you."
Eliza’s eyes widened in shock.
"C-Catherine Aragon? The world’s only Fist Master? That’s you?"
"Well, I’m not the only one. I have a master and a junior, but I’m probably the strongest, so it’s not exactly wrong. Hahahaha."
Hearing her identity, Yuno also looked surprised.
"But… what do you mean you’re going to teach me? I don’t have a mana hole, so even if you did…"
"What are you talking about? If that huge energy pouring from your lower body isn’t mana, what is it?"
At her words, Yuno finally looked down at his own lower body.
"Uh…? But Count Lichtenauer said I didn’t have a mana hole…"
"Hahahaha, that guy said your mana hole was in your balls, so he couldn’t check it properly. Hahahaha! Looks like you’ll never have to worry about stamina. You know that the place where your mana hole is develops a lot, right? Most knights have it in their heart, so their stamina is especially good."
At Catherine’s words, Isabella, Marie, and Eliza all blushed.
"So… I can use mana now? I was so disappointed, thinking all my training had been for nothing…"
"Right. You really trained hard, didn’t you? I never thought I’d have to get even a little serious against a rookie who couldn’t use mana. You’ve got a good sense for fighting..."
"Thank you… But Count Lichtenauer said he’d teach me himself… why did he ask you…"
"That guy’s a total stick-in-the-mud and a rule-follower. He can only teach what he’s learned himself. With that rigid mind, I don’t know how he became a master. Most of the swordsmanship in the Empire is for people whose mana hole is in their heart. That’s 99 percent of people. But where’s yours? In your balls, so it doesn’t work as well, right?"
Yuno finally understood why Catherine had come to teach him.
"Then, Catherine, your mana hole isn’t in your heart either?"
"Right! I’m even more unusual than you. I have two mana holes one in each of my proud breasts. That’s why they’re so big. Hahahaha."
She said this incredibly embarrassing thing without the slightest hint of shame, making Yuno’s family blush instead.
"Anyway, the training method my school teaches doesn’t care where your mana hole is. So, what do you say? Want to learn from me?"
Catherine reached out her hand to Yuno. Without a moment’s hesitation, Yuno took her hand and shook it.
"Yes. I’d like to learn from you, Catherine. I look forward to your guidance!"
"Alright! From today, you’re my disciple, so call me Master from now on. While we train, I don’t care about status, so be ready! Got it, Yuno?"
"Yes, Master!"
And so, Yuno became the disciple of Catherine Aragon, the world’s strongest Fist Master, and from that day on, devoted all his time outside of liberal arts classes to training.
