Namgung Se-ga, the warrior, was reincarnated in Romance

When Benjamin nodded and said “Yes,” Bivan Otiff handed him a carrot that he had been holding.

With a confused expression, Benjamin carefully grasped the carrot, and the professor, smiling brightly, instructed him.

“Crush it.”

Benjamin Claudian did as told.

Rather than simply applying force to break it in two, he gripped the carrot with both hands, compressing it to crush it as if squeezing it all at once.

The thin juice from the crushed carrot spilled down his wrist to his elbow. The fully crushed carrot clumped together into a round mass, spilling between his fingers.

Gasps of astonishment were heard from all around.

However, crushing a single carrot was not difficult for a top-tier martial artist.

Even if my hands were smaller and I couldn’t grip the top and bottom of the carrot at once, I could still do the same thing.

Yet, Bivan Otiff nodded as though he had made an important discovery.

While everyone stared with wide eyes, the professor quickly asked again.

“What do you think when you approach a horse, Claudian Young Master?”

“Eh? I don’t really think… anything…”

“Think again.”

“…I think I hope it doesn’t get scared of me…”

“And?”

Benjamin thought for a while again, and then, uncertainly, responded.

“…I guess… I don’t want to hurt it?”

“That’s it!”

The sound of clapping echoed loudly.

I still didn’t fully understand, so I stared blankly, but Shayden seemed to have understood immediately and let out a chuckle.

The area became noisy with a mix of confused and amazed expressions from the children.

Bivan Otiff, noticing that Benjamin still didn’t understand, calmly explained.

“It seems that Claudian Young Master isn’t confident in controlling his strength. Occasionally, there are students in the swordsmanship department like that—those who have never been weaker than anyone else in their entire lives.”

“…Yes?”

“See, when Claudian Young Master approaches a horse, he makes this expression and repeats this in his head: ‘I won’t break you… I might crush you… No, I won’t break you…’”

Because of the exaggerated and humorous expression and tone of Professor Bivan Otiff, I, too, finally understood and let out a small laugh.

I had never felt threatened by Benjamin, so I had never considered such a reason.

Benjamin looked down at the carrot in his hand with a stunned face.

“Horses are such sensitive creatures that they can sense that and run away. Right now, I’m here, and after seeing each other for a few days, they’ve become somewhat accustomed to it. Claudian Young Master was extremely cautious when approaching, so the horse tolerated it to some degree.”

“…”

“Just now, Claudian Young Master’s expression was, even to me, scary. I mean, if a tiger came creeping up to me saying, ‘Hey, I won’t eat you,’ and then nudged me, I’d scream and run away too.”

“What, that’s…”

“Think it’s a joke?”

Benjamin, about to refute, looked at his hand, then at Professor Otiff, and then back down at the carrot in his hand. Professor Otiff asked again.

“Do you think the horse would be crushed?”

“….”

“That’s right. But it could very well be crushed.”

“…Yes?”

“With that kind of strength, you could hurt a horse, so you need to be careful. In my opinion, Claudian Young Master needs to learn how to lose. It’s not about sparring, but you know—learning how to lose by pure strength.”

“…Learning to lose by pure strength…”

“Like arm wrestling or testing your strength by squeezing hands with someone or something that won’t break. The goal is to find the level of grip that allows you to avoid hurting people or animals.”

Benjamin suddenly looked up at me.

That made sense. I had promised to help him, and as a martial artist of his level, I had been training my strength and grip steadily, even though my body was small.

I wasn’t the kind of person whose arm could be easily crushed just because I was arm wrestling.

When I nodded with a smile, Bivan Otiff, following Benjamin’s gaze, also nodded in approval.

“You’re lucky to have such a good friend. Once you learn to control your strength well and remove your fear, the horses won’t be so afraid of you either.”

“Yes, Professor.”

Benjamin Claudian, with a much brighter expression, bowed respectfully.

Bivan Otiff handed Benjamin a towel to wipe his hands and offered a few encouraging words before finishing the lesson.

As the students began to leave one by one, I watched Benjamin, still standing in place, carefully wiping his hands.

It was something I hadn’t understood after observing him for several days.

Though my greatest and most respected teacher remained Maelro Sanson, every other professor had their own qualities worth learning from.

It was truly fascinating and amusing to think about how he had read the fear in this boy’s eyes.

Shayden, with a playful smile, tapped Benjamin on the shoulder and asked teasingly.

“You’ve never been weaker than anyone else in your life?”

“…Well, thinking about it, I guess that’s true.”

“Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen you touch anyone else. You don’t grab anyone’s wrist, or even tap their shoulder… Actually, now that I notice, you don’t approach anyone at all. Is it because you’re afraid you’ll break them? Was that it?”

“…Uh, yeah… Yes.”

We didn’t leave the training ground immediately, as we had agreed on something earlier.

Sitting on a pile of hay, we continued to speak to the horses, as we had become accustomed to over the past few days. Between the round eyes of the horses looking at us, Benjamin hesitantly began to speak.

The Claudian Marquis and his wife were both masters of the highest level in martial arts. They were at the sword expert level of the highest rank.

It was only natural that their children would inherit strong physical traits.

Benjamin was the youngest of three brothers, and he said there was a significant age gap between him and his two older brothers.

The oldest was thirty-five, and the second-oldest was thirty-three, which meant a twenty-year gap with the oldest.

When Benjamin had previously boasted about his family, he had been modest about it, saying that the only thing they were generous with at home was food, but their whole family had been focused on sword training, and it seemed Benjamin had been deeply influenced by that.

“…You’re the shortest in your family, Benjamin?”

“Yes. My older brothers say I’m still young, and I’ll grow taller until I’m in my mid-twenties.”

“Wow…”

Benjamin was already quite tall, over six feet (about 180 cm), and now he was expected to grow even taller, which made me think of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and how they might cry in envy.

It was hard not to laugh when imagining little Benjamin standing among his tall family members.

Benjamin continued, speaking quietly.

“Since I was little, the most common thing I heard was… ‘If you fall, fall by yourself. Don’t grab someone else, because if we fall, we won’t get hurt, but if we grab you, your arm will break.’… That kind of thing. My brothers had already gone through it, so I thought it was normal… just like when I touch something, it breaks.”

“What do you mean, it breaks? Like breaking a desk or something?”

“…Yes, desks or tables, usually.”

“…They break?”

“Yes.”

I watched as Shayden moved a step away from Benjamin and sat down next to me. I could tell he was teasing Benjamin, but Benjamin, for some reason, looked somewhat disappointed and furrowed his eyebrows.

Thinking back, I realized I had rarely seen Benjamin touch someone first.

The few times he had tapped my shoulder, he had done so lightly, almost as if using just his fingertips, then pulled back immediately. The boy always sat silently with a stoic expression, observing his surroundings.

I now understood why Benjamin never reacted when someone like Shayden or Marianne would tap or poke him. He would just look down on them with his hands behind his back, seemingly aloof.

I extended my hand to him with a smile as I thought about how young beasts often cause trouble when they don’t know how to hide their claws.

He had spent years training to control his strength, trying not to harm others. It had shaped him into who he was now.

It wasn’t something to tease or worry about. I knew it was something that time would solve, and that gave me peace of mind.

Benjamin hesitated but gently placed his hand over mine, unable to stop himself from laughing heartily.

“I’m fine. How about an arm-wrestling match?”

“…Is that okay?”

“Yes. I promised I would help you.”

“…But, Ernhardt Young Master…”

“Just because my hands are small doesn’t mean I have no strength. If needed, I’ll use my aura.”

Since the table might collapse under our hands, we ended up doing the arm-wrestling on the pile of hay.

After five rounds, Benjamin had won once and lost four times, looking at me with disbelief. Although I had known him for a few months, this was the first time I saw him smiling so brightly.

The first round was a loss for me because I had underestimated him.

Having struggled with so many tests of strength in my younger years, I hadn’t encountered someone as strong as him since Panga. I remembered the day he had crushed a mountain to take it down and roll it down a slope to attack a band of bandits—nearly being buried alive by the dirt. The memory was still vivid.

I had firmly resolved not to raise him in that way.

In fact, by the second round, I had used my energy to reinforce my body from my shoulders to my fingertips, which allowed me to win. Even though my bones and muscles had become stronger than iron, Benjamin’s grip still caused his skin to redden as he squeezed.

The fact that he couldn’t read my internal energy technique was a blessing.

“Didn’t you just use your aura…?”

“Yes.”

He asked again, surprised, but I just lied and told him the same answer.

He asked two more times, and each time, I gave him the same response.

Seeing his smiling face, I didn’t regret reinforcing my body with internal energy.

Although Benjamin was only fifteen and had this much strength, I thought maybe a spear or axe would be more suitable for him than a sword. However, not knowing the true status of spear and axe techniques in the Sirun region, I decided to ask Sanson first.

If spear techniques were less respected than sword techniques in this world, there would be no need for him to wield an axe.

“Definitely, Benjamin Young Master’s strength is impressive. It’s a great asset for a martial artist, so let’s practice adjusting your grip in various ways from time to time. I’ll help you.”

“…Yes!”

During dinner, my hand still felt numb from the effort, making it hard to hold my utensils, but I didn’t let it show.