"Hahaha...!"
Kaelen waited for his apprentice on the mountainside with a pleased face.
'What a windfall.'
Not only had he received a large sum of gold for tuition from House Sterling, but soon, an apprentice with the innate talent of an Astral Vessel would be coming to see him.
Kaelen, who had already planned for years how he would train an apprentice if he got one, eagerly awaited Julian's arrival.
—How long will it take? Will this really cure Julian's laziness?
To the worried Cedric, Kaelen had declared with a confident voice.
—To freely wield my Aetheric Ten Blades, one must train their aura for at least twenty years. Besides, the reason Julian has become lazy is that he has never used his body. So, if he learns the sword from me and exerts himself, his slothfulness will naturally be cured, so don't worry!
—Master Vaelor! Please take good care of my son.
Cedric, befitting the master of a large merchant syndicate, handed over a heavy velvet pouch filled with his sincerity, and Kaelen, who received it, had to struggle to calm his twitching lips.
—Don't you worry about a thing!
Having gained a large tuition fee and trust from the lord of the premier merchant house of the Silver Province, and also acquiring a genius apprentice born with an Astral Vessel, Kaelen had achieved not just two, but three birds with one stone overnight.
In a good mood, Kaelen hummed a tune and, for the first time in a long while, took out all ten of his masterwork longswords and carefully wiped them with a dry cloth.
Until his apprentice came to find his master.
"Haha. Come quickly. I will let you taste a new world of martial heights."
****
A week passed.
The ten longswords placed on the rock were so polished that their steel blades were not just sharp but gleamed blindingly in the sun.
Nevertheless, there was no one before Kaelen.
"Th-Th-This damn brat!! When the hell is he coming!"
It had already been a week since he said he would visit soon, but there was no sign of Julian.
Just as Kaelen, whose patience had reached its limit, was about to storm into the Sterling estate fuming, someone appeared at the foot of the mountain.
It was none other than Cedric's captain of the guard, Thorne.
He came up the mountain with a large bundle slung over one shoulder.
"...I'm sorry, Grandmaster."
Upon meeting Kaelen, Thorne immediately offered an apology and put down the bundle he was carrying on his shoulder.
"What is this?"
As the furious Kaelen fumed, Thorne quickly untied the bundle.
Inside it was none other than Julian.
"Ugh—!"
Julian, who appeared with a half-dead face, was looking around with a dazed expression, as if he hadn't fully woken from his sleep.
"Young Lord Julian showed no signs of waking up, so I brought him myself."
"..."
Only then did Kaelen realize that Julian was an even bigger lazy bum than he had thought.
'He's a tough nut to crack!'
Kaelen encouraged the weary Thorne.
"You've worked hard."
"Then, if you need anything, please call upon the estate anytime."
After finishing his words, Thorne went down the mountain, and Kaelen cleared his throat in front of his new apprentice.
"Ahem—! You may already know a certain amount about me, but as I have become your official master from today, I will tell you about myself. I am Kaelen Vaelor, the creator of the Aetheric Blade Arts, a telekinetic aura technique that did not exist in the Empire before me, and I have risen to the ranks of the Five Grand Swordmasters of the Empire with the sword art called the Aetheric Ten Blades. The Empire calls me the Aetheric Blademaster."
At this point, anyone's eyes would sparkle.
Especially when they heard the words 'Five Grand Swordmasters of the Empire,' they would drool and bow their heads in reverence.
Thinking that Julian would be no different, Kaelen looked at his apprentice with expectant eyes.
However, Julian was staring blankly into the air with the dead eyes of a salted cod.
"Where are you looking?"
"I'm not looking at anything."
"Why?"
"Just because."
At Julian's absurd answer, anger welled up in Kaelen, but he had to suppress it.
He couldn't get angry on the first day with an apprentice he had worked so hard to get.
"From now on, you are my apprentice, so you will call me Master."
"Yes, Master."
When Julian unexpectedly complied, Kaelen, feeling pleased, picked up one of the longswords he had placed on the rock and said.
"Seeing is believing! It's better to see it with your own eyes than to hear about it."
Kaelen said with a confident voice.
"This is an aetheric blade."