CHAPTER 18.

I Became a Training Partner

* * *

Mikhail, who works as a martial arts instructor in Millerain, was a promising talent in the martial arts world since childhood.

With innate muscles and exceptional stamina, he ranked 5th in the Empire Martial Arts Tournament and had been invited to the palace banquet several times. However, his fame came to an end at the age of 34.

While walking at night, he was assaulted by masked men without any warning.

After getting severely injured in the incident, he could no longer stand in the arena. Thus, the alternative he chose was to become a martial arts instructor.

For him, whose athlete life had ended, the new job was a sanctuary and the driving force of his life. However, as the Northern preliminaries approached, his efforts began to falter.

“What’s the point of participating in such a competition? We won’t be fighting with snow here.”

“I have no intention of going to Monchen. I just want to settle down here with my family.”

“I have no intention of competing with those pretentious accents. Winning in Millerain is enough for me.”

The athletes he had trained with care and effort had no intention of participating in the martial arts tournament. This was due to their increasing exclusivity and caution towards outsiders as time went on.

Athletes born and raised in the secluded Millerain under the mountains preferred family and hometown over money and fame, and they enjoyed fighting in the small training grounds under the mountains more than in lavish arenas.

For Mikhail, whose life goal was to win in the Empire Martial Arts Tournament, this was something he could not understand.

“How can I change their minds?”

It was a lifelong task for Mikhail. In order to earn the honorable badge of being the best martial arts teacher in the North, he had to somehow make one of them win in the preliminaries.

Would morale improve if they got new training clothes? It was when Mikhail was pondering this that he visited a clothing store in Rain Mill Village.

It was there that he coincidentally discovered a source of inspiration that caught his eye.

“Is there anything I can do to earn pocket money today?”

“Outsiders cannot work here. Do you have a residence registration?”

“Well, I don’t have that…”

“Then I’m sorry, but please look somewhere else.”

The woman who was begging for a job from the shop owner, with ‘outsider’ written on her forehead as if to indicate so, was a rare beauty in Millerain. Moreover, her bright orange hair stood out in Millerain, where dark hair was predominant.

Furthermore, when she turned around, Mikhail felt as if his breath had been taken away. If a middle-aged man felt this way, how would young men in their early twenties with vigorous vitality feel? Besides, weren’t they all unmarried men?

Mikhail himself had spent many nights carousing with noblewomen from Monchen in his youth, but the athletes were men who rarely saw women of their age throughout their lives.

‘Wait. If I use her…’

At that moment, Mikhail’s eyes sparkled with an idea.

A foreign beauty. And young athletes who refused to go outside. Mikhail anticipated what would happen when these two groups met.

Regrettably, she seemed to be heading towards a tavern door. He couldn’t let her be taken away like that.

Mikhail spoke to her urgently with a desperate voice.

“Are you looking for a job by any chance?”

After that, it went as he desired.

The lady from Southern Bistiman readily agreed to become a sparring partner for the athletes and followed him obediently.

Mikhail briefly left her at the training ground and went to find the athletes’ lounge. The athletes were already wiping off their sweat after practicing matches against each other.

“Listen up! I have arranged a special time for you all.”

The athletes turned to look at Mikhail with narrowed eyebrows. They seemed unimpressed.

The muscles they had trained rigorously to withstand the harsh Northern weather were sturdy enough that Southerners couldn’t easily match them, but the problem lay in their mental strength. Being disconnected from the competitive world, they did not understand intense efforts.

“A special time? What does that mean?”

Rather than words, Mikhail gestured towards Rosé, who was standing on the training ground, as a demonstration to the athletes by slightly opening the door to the lounge.

The rapid contraction of the athletes’ relaxed muscles was instantaneous. Mikhail smiled meaningfully and said,

“She will be your opponent for a week. Each of you will take turns to showcase your skills when your turn comes.”

Mikhail’s intention for Rosé to demonstrate her skills in front of the athletes and strengthen their resolve for the competition was unfortunately interpreted differently by the athletes.

Perhaps it was due to the strenuous physical training that had been going on since morning. The athletes’ eyes turned cold like beasts.

“By the way, on the last day, we plan to have one-on-one matches. So be careful not to drain water amongst yourselves unnecessarily until then.”

While water was slang among former martial artists for sweat, these young men here did not understand it.

In the end, his deep intention behind fighting one-on-one like beasts on the last day when they met the beautiful foreigner was also interpreted differently by them.

So from today onwards, she would be sharing her body with one athlete at a time, and on the seventh day, she would face them all at once.

Although it was a cumbersome rule, the athletes reluctantly accepted it. After all, if she were to face all of them, even she needed to be mentally prepared.

However, they couldn’t shake off their uneasy feeling. One woman against several men seemed too harsh of a task.

For them, who had lived upright lives, it went against their conscience. Did Mikhail know about this uncomfortable feeling among the athletes?

He quickly put an end to their concerns with a few words.

“Remember this. She likes strong and tough athletes. Prove that you are worth something to her by showing your strength. Fight and conquer. That’s the best you can do.”

As Mikhail proudly considered his encouraging speech as excellent advice, the athletes opened their eyes wide, realizing an unexpected fact.

There was a saying in Millerain: Only the brave marry women.

Having grown up in an environment where the ratio of men and women at marriageable age was extremely unfavorable, they had always deeply engraved that saying in their hearts.

Although she was a foreigner, once she became their wife, that problem would naturally be resolved. The problem was surpassing all these competitors and capturing her.

― Remember this. She likes strong and tough athletes.

Strong and tough men. That was what they were most confident about after living their whole lives dedicated to martial arts.

* * *

“When are the athletes coming out?”

Rosé anxiously shifted her feet and leaned against each other while looking at the door of the lounge.

It had been 30 minutes since Mikhail went into the lounge to call the athletes. Standing alone on the training ground, which was just a field, she felt awkward and uncomfortable.

Were there twelve athletes? Mikhail had informed her that each athlete’s sparring time would be 15 minutes.

The match took 20 minutes, but it was shortened by 5 minutes to cultivate the habit of winning quickly during practice.

“It’s like fighting in martial arts, right?”

Rosé had previously watched a neighborhood martial arts match with Muho. At that time, men used various techniques to throw their opponents while their upper bodies were exposed.

Leg sweeps, throws, striking, twisting arms, and so on…

It was not an exaggeration to say that the mature men fought in the arena by embracing and rolling around with each other. The reason why many female spectators gathered was also because of this.

Recalling that time, Rosé rolled up her sleeves and looked down at her slender wrists. No matter how much she had increased her physical strength and muscle power through the system, what she could see was a small and skinny body.

Even the martial arts practice clothes provided by Mikhail were too big. Perhaps because all the athletes were men, there were only men’s sizes available, making her look like a child wearing her father’s clothes.

It was fortunate that they could be adjusted with a waistband. If not, her chest would have been exposed, and her pants would have slipped off.

“I apologize for keeping you waiting, miss.”

While Rosé anxiously examined her practice clothes, Mikhail came out with the athletes.

Rosé rolled up her long sleeves and examined the faces of the athletes.

‘Oh… they selected based on looks again.’

The characteristics of Millerain men were white skin, distinct facial features, and dark hair color. However, Rosé wanted to add one more thing to that.

The huge treasure hidden in those pants that couldn’t be concealed.

Between the athletes’ legs were muscles that others didn’t have. Solid and thick like rocks, hanging down to the thighs. The material of the black pants they wore was so thin that the massive bulge was not hidden.

Such a thick object didn’t match their handsome appearance. It was no coincidence that an A-tier target card was drawn above them.

“As I explained, the sparring time is 15 minutes per person. Since it’s the first day, let’s just warm up our bodies, and we’ll start practicing techniques from tomorrow.”

Mikhail briefly explained the rules of the match and then stepped aside to allow the athletes and Rosé to get acquainted. Men and women naturally fall in love in secret places.

Thus, with Mikhail disappearing from the practice field, the match began. Rosé’s first opponent was Sigurd, a 21-year-old.

He was half lost in looking at Rosé’s face up close. Rosé, who was only one-third his size, was cuter than the dog he raised, named Ralph.

Of course, it wasn’t just cuteness. That stubby nose, cute lips, and below that…

Sigurd blushed. Everything else was small and cute, as if it could fit in one hand, but why was that part so big?

“I-I’m Sigurd. I look forward to our match.”

As Rosé exchanged greetings with him, she discreetly read the A-tier target card hovering above him. As expected, it was a body and face blessed by the god of creation.