## Chapter 83 – Paulo’s Hall
Mecca.
It is the name of a large city in Saudi Arabia and refers to the holy city that Muslims must visit at least once in their lifetime.
And in every field that exists in this world, there exists a Mecca with corresponding fame and ability.
Groden, Barmhausen, Chaoxing, and Sistina.
Like everywhere else people live, there were many similarities, such as slums teeming with petty thieves and criminals, and streets where each country’s main industries thrived.
However, as each country had different foundations, the four nations each had distinct characteristics.
And among them, one of the places that could be called the Mecca of the Kingdom of Groden was Paulo’s Hall.
Training tools scattered everywhere, reminiscent of a secluded training center.
And swordsmen training their bodies using those tools scattered around, and people engaging in sparring, burning with the heat of fierce competition.
For students who had only experienced training at the academy level, the scene before their eyes was simply astonishing, and they all began to exclaim with their mouths wide open.
“Wowwww!!”
“Don’t stick your face out and watch carelessly.
You never know where a sword might fly from.”
“Wowwww…”
Count Paulo de Kenadien, a swordsman renowned in the country hundreds of years ago and one of the heroes of the global human territory reclamation war.
He was famous for his immense physique, incomparable to other humans, and for wielding his sword without faltering from any injuries due to his insensitivity to pain.
However, the truth that inevitably applies to all humans—aging—seemed to be something he could not escape either.
Feeling that even holding a sword had become difficult, he had no choice but to retire from the front lines, and what he created in his retirement was this place, Paulo’s Hall.
“I’ve only been here once, but it’s best to be prepared.”
“Prepared? What do you mean… Eeek…!!”
– Clang!!
As Lucia sighed, watching the students, who were distracted by the wondrous sight, a male student, tilting his head as if he didn’t understand, was about to ask a question.
At that moment, a fragment of a broken sword that had flown by and grazed his ear was embedded in the wall behind him, causing the male student to collapse in his seat as if his soul had left his body, drawing everyone’s attention.
Watching the male student making strange groans, Lucia warned him again.
“That’s why I’m telling you to be careful.
Nothing is strange here.”
There are truly terrifying stories circulating about Paulo, the owner of this Paulo’s Hall.
There was a rumor that his limbs were half-rotted due to injuries, but because he couldn’t feel the pain, he was engrossed in training with that body, and a doctor who happened to pass by discovered him and treated him, barely saving him.
Perhaps because of such rumors, which were closer to urban legends than legends, Paulo’s Hall was a place where people with a fanatical obsession with training gathered, hoping to receive good energy.
A prime example was the long-haired man who owned the broken sword blade that had just flown over.
The man, shirtless with flowing hair that reached his shoulders, was sweating profusely, wielding swords in both hands like a dual-wielder, and relentlessly swinging them as if he intended to cut down the solid iron pillar in front of him.
Anne, who had been watching the scene with a seemingly nonchalant expression, couldn’t help but feel slightly intimidated by the man, who replaced the broken sword with a new one and began cutting the iron pillar again, sparks flying.
“Keuhak!! Heuhaak!! Euaaaak!!”
Was that a shout of encouragement, or a scream?
Moreover, the most serious problem was that he wasn’t the only one committing such bizarre acts.
There was a man cutting an iron pillar with a sword, of course, but also a man wielding a long iron lump of a size that was ambiguous to call a sword, and a man being beaten by it while shouting.
And even a crazy-looking woman with a dagger, not a longsword, was randomly cutting up a chunk of raw meat that seemed to have been procured directly from the market, accompanied by cackling sounds.
As the students, looking pale, hesitated at the sight of the madness itself, Lucia walked forward without hesitation.
“I’m from Saint Flansina Academy.
Lucia de Borgia, assistant instructor in the swordsmanship department.”
“Hat!! Hat!! Haaat!!”
“Heehee!! Hehehehe!!”
Despite Lucia’s rather assertive greeting, everyone was busy doing their own thing.
Lucia, watching the scene quietly, turned around and began to speak to the students.
“Well, as you can see, the swordsmen here are busy with their personal training.
So, try to observe appropriately, being mindful of the situation.
If anything happens, ask me or Professor Edward, who came as the supervising professor.”
Lucia, who seemed to have bitten her tongue slightly in the middle, was trying to hide her embarrassment by hardening her already stern expression.
Following her introduction, Edward, the supervising professor who accompanied them to Paulo’s Hall and the homeroom teacher for the first-year students, stepped forward and began a long speech with clapping sounds.
“There’s no one here who doesn’t know my face, right?
At the request of Professor Zeppeli, who is in charge of both the swordsmanship department and the third-year students, I’m participating in the guidance instead.
You guys will have to do that too when you enter the fourth grade and become graduating students.
So, I got some cooperation, and after the practitioners’ personal training is over, they will pair up and give you lessons.
Until then, just observe quietly?”
“Oooooh!!”
As Edward finished his usual cheerful lecture, the students, their fear devoured by curiosity about this place, scattered in all directions to observe the training of the people they had been watching.
“Professor, do you want to go with us?”
“Let’s go see that together!!”
“I’m not a student, and it’s rude for me to watch other people’s training.
You guys go and see it yourselves.”
“Yesss…”
Some of the giggling female students invited Edward, but he neatly rejected them.
As all the students scattered, only Edward, Lucia, and one girl who was probably staying for the same reason as Lucia remained.
“Aren’t you going, Lucia?”
“As you said, I’m no longer a student.
I’m not that girl from those days anymore.”
“Then… I’m feeling nostalgic, so shall I just take a break and look around for a bit?”
“That sounds like a good idea, let’s do that.
Anne, you should also look around and gain new experiences.
The swordsmen here will be beyond your imagination.”
Anne, forced to turn around by Lucia’s firm instruction to gain new experiences, had no choice but to leave the two of them behind.
As she turned back, she saw Edward, oblivious to everything, chattering excitedly as if he was feeling nostalgic.
“It wasn’t like this in your time, but it seems a bit harder now that some time has passed.
So, I’m looking into new fields these days.
I’m learning the basics of magic from Professor Eloise…”
She felt a little uncomfortable while watching the scene, but knowing that there was nothing she could do right now, Anne straightened her shoulders with the mindset of thinking positively and began to move forward.
‘Now… now…
It’s not the time yet.’
She was just a young student.
Even comparing herself to Lucia, she was far from enough, so there was no way she could catch his eye.
Now was the moment to develop her abilities.
Taking a small breath, Anne’s eyes sparkled as she began to look for someone who was doing training that would be helpful to her.
.
.
.
‘Can’t find one easily…’
Contrary to her initial determination, Anne couldn’t find a practitioner who resonated with her heart as much as she had expected.
Perhaps it was because there were only strongmen and all sorts of strange people doing incomprehensible things, so the stimulation was too strong.
But without giving up, Anne wandered around and unknowingly reached a sparsely populated area of Paulo’s Hall.
‘This side is… an unused space…?
Should I go back…?’
“Ugh…”
At that moment, as Anne began to hear a small, unidentifiable sound, she carefully began to move towards it.
A place where rooms in the form of secret chambers, mainly used by those who do not want to be disturbed by others while training, were gathered.
But for some reason, as she heard small sounds and whispers that seemed far from sparring or attacking something, like the other students, it might have been natural for her to feel curious.
“Euhheung… Aaaah… Delicately… That’s it… Ahhht…!!”
At the sound that seemed to stimulate the primal senses and peripheral nerves of humans, Anne, who had stopped in front of the door from which the sound was coming, looked around.
The middle of a corridor where only she was standing without anyone else.
As it became clear that there was no one around, Anne, who was finally able to shake off the uneasy feeling she felt for no reason, carefully brought her ear to the door from which the small sound was still coming and listened to the sound.
“Just a little shallowly… Euhheuk…
It’s not always good to go deep…!!
Yes. There…!! There… Because… Haeueut…!!
If you do it with your hands too… Seoeot…!!”
Anne felt as if her face was turning red for no reason at the voice filled with subtle emotions that she did not know.
It was a situation where she felt as if she shouldn’t eavesdrop even if someone didn’t tell her, but was curiosity like that?
“Haaang… Haaat…!! Just a little… Strongerrr…!!”
Anne’s heart, which had been listening to the sound from beyond the door without being able to move from the spot as if her feet were nailed to the ground, was pounding, and at that moment, her rough breathing suddenly became louder.
Before Anne, who was more surprised than anyone, could even cover her mouth, someone’s loud voice finally began to be heard from inside the room.
“Come in.”
