Colonel William Reese could see that the situation had gone sideways.

On the surface, at least, it didn’t look like the plan had changed. Kang Jin-Ho was about to confirm the combat strength of the members of Area H26 from the Special Operations Command, 15th Special Operations Battalion. That was all.

However, an extra layer of complication was added on top, which had morphed this simple demonstration into a sort-of argument fueled by emotions.

This wasn’t what we wanted, though...!

Willie Reese honestly believed that, even if Kang Jin-Ho was basically a King in East Asia, he’d have no choice but to acknowledge the strength of the American soldiers after seeing them in person. That was why Kang Jin-Ho’s group was brought to the largest base in the region, Area H26.

If Kang Jin-Ho acknowledged their strength, the ensuing conversation should become so much smoother... Or at least that was what Willie Reese believed. He was no fool, so he knew some kind of scuffle might break out during the visit, but this...!

That idiot major...!

Willie Reese could tell that Major Jimmy Bower had let his emotions get the better of him.

Then again, Bower probably had never had an outsider insult the battalion he oversaw so openly like that. Soldiers were prideful creatures, to begin with. And on top of that, martial artists were also very proud creatures, so as a man who was both, Jimmy Bower must’ve been a very proud man.

...And his competitive streak must’ve been set alight by what Kang Jin-Ho had said!

Before Willie Reese could say something, Jimmy Bower spun around and roared at the top of his voice.

“Attention!”

Willie Reese’s outstretched hand, which was meant to stop Major Bower, lifelessly covered his face instead.

Goddamn it!

If he knew this would happen, he wouldn’t have brought Kang Jin-Ho here in the first place!

“We have guests today! As I’ve briefed you all yesterday, this guest is incredibly important to our cause, so give him a proper welcome!”

As Jimmy Bower’s roar echoed in the field, the soldiers stopped training and rushed toward where he was. Even the soldiers in the small training rooms in the walls fixed their attire and rushed outside at full tilt.

Watching them getting in line in the proverbial blink of an eye was worthy of a stunned gasp, indeed!

Wowsers. Americans were also good at stuff like this, huh.

Lee Hyeon-Su observed this development in sheer amazement.

He figured this type of... “close-order drill” was a North Korea specialty, but this example seemed to suggest that America was pretty good at it as well.

If he was being honest, Lee Hyeon-Su had this preconceived notion about American soldiers being a bit more free-spirited and not as strict on such things, but this sight proved to be the wake-up call he needed.

Kang Jin-Ho muttered. “They are well-trained, that’s for sure.”

“I agree, my lord. Even I feel they deserve some praise,” said Wiggins.

Kang Jin-Ho and Wiggins were impressed by this sight. But that was about it, really. Their reaction was similar to spectators being impressed by circus performers, not martial artists who had encountered genuinely powerful enemies.

Jimmy Bower slowly turned toward Kang Jin-Ho, then flatly spoke. “If you’re ready to change your opinion now, I won’t go ahead and embarrass you in front of so many people, sir! You’re an important state guest, after all. By the way, we do not differentiate between drills and real combat. Sir.”

“I see. That’s a good mindset to have,” said Kang Jin-Ho, the corners of his lips twitching weirdly.

Lee Hyeon-Su thought, Well, looks like he’s barely holding his laughter in.

His discernment had improved to a point where merely looking at Kang Jin-Ho’s expression was enough to figure out what his boss’s mood was like at that moment.

As for what Kang Jin-Ho was feeling right now... He found this situation utterly laughable, but he still tried to hold his laughter back in consideration of the other party’s pride. At least, that was what Lee Hyeon-Su could tell from Kang Jin-Ho’s expression.

Jimmy Bower coldly asked, “Are you still insisting on doing this, sir?”

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly took out a fresh cigarette and mouthed it. He then flicked his finger to ignite the cigarette and leisurely puffed away.

After taking a couple of puffs, he glanced at Jimmy Bower. “Stop wasting everyone’s time and let’s get to it. Will everyone attack at the same time?”

“...”

A vein visibly bulged on Jimmy Bower’s forehead. And his blazing glare suddenly shifted over to Willie Reese.

What are you looking at me for, Major?

This was why martial artists could be so...!

“It seems our guests from South Korea do not understand the situation they are in,” said Bower through his clenched teeth. “To prevent any unintended mishaps later, allow me to show our guests the level of training our soldiers have received. We will demonstrate our strength right here, right now. Although it will be an indirect demonstration. If that is still not enough to change their minds... Then, we’ll have to consider different methods, now won’t we?”

Bower was implying that, even though he wouldn’t mind causing a scene right now, he’d let this one go just this once for Reese’s sake.

Reese couldn’t quite figure out if he should shed a tear of gratitude or start insulting Bower for ignoring his superior officer and complicating the matters all on his own!

Dammit. Maybe I should’ve brought along his direct superior!

Maybe the battalion commander could have done something, but not Reese. He was a part of the Department of Defense, after all.

Not to forget, the Special Operations Battalion, or SOB for short, was directly under the battalion commander. Soldiers from this battalion wouldn’t willingly follow the orders of higher-ranked officers from other divisions.

“Harris! Barton! To the front!”

As soon as Bower’s roar left his lips, two men rushed out from the file. They stood at the front of the pack while facing each other.

Bower growled. “Usually, we are not this considerate toward outsiders. However, we’ll still hold a simple demonstration to fix any misunderstandings you might have. Men! Ready!”

The two soldiers got into position. Lee Hyeon-Su furrowed his brow and quietly asked Kang Jin-Ho.

“What are they doing, sir?”

Kang Jin-Ho replied disinterestedly while puffing away at his cigarette. “How should I know?”

“I get that they want to show us something, but...”

“We’ll see.”

That was when the two soldiers suddenly lunged at each other.

“Oh, wow!”

Lee Hyeon-Su let out an impressed gasp at this sight.

These soldiers were fast. Thanks to their uniforms, they just didn’t look like martial artists, but seeing their movements helped Lee Hyeon-Su with finally overcoming that prejudice.

They are better than I thought?

Lee Hyeon-Su narrowed his eyes. The way these soldiers attacked before moving back looked very natural. As far as their speed was concerned, they could be around the mid-tier... No, upper-tier within the Martial Assembly’s ranks.

Well, there you go. As expected of the damn Celestial Empire.

America probably lacked the know-how on nurturing martial artists, so how did they manage to get this far? Lee Hyeon-Su couldn’t quite figure it out.

Bower noticed Lee Hyeon-Su’s stunned face and spoke in a more relaxed tone than before.

“We combined traditional mana training methods with modern combat martial arts. Fundamentally, the old-school martial arts are too antiquated to be useful in the current era.”

“...?” Lee Hyeon-Su stared weirdly at Major Bower. “Modern combat martial arts? You mean... Like jiu-jitsu? Mixed martial arts? That sort of thing?”

“It’s more similar to close quarter combat techniques, actually.”

Lee Hyeon-Su deeply scowled. He had already witnessed something similar recently. Didn’t the Chinese government soldiers rely on a new-type of martial arts that used military-issue combat knives?

Of course, this and that weren’t exactly a one-to-one comparison.

The martial arts of the Chinese soldiers were closer to dagger arts than modern combat arts, after all. Their goal was obviously to minimize the inconvenience of lugging around various weaponry but still retain the maximum destructive power in close combat situations.

That line of thinking made sense, in a way. Soldiers could just use guns to deal with distant enemies, after all, instead of relying on other types of martial arts. But these Americans apparently had combined basic mana training methods with modern combat arts.

Oh, wait. I can see it now.

He was wondering why these people were moving so fast, but after taking a closer look, this exchange of moves began resembling a boxing match instead.

They threw speedy jabs, weaved in and out of the range, then adjusted their distance with nifty footwork. Stuff like that was nearly unheard of in Eastern martial arts.

“Mm...?”

Lee Hyeon-Su furrowed his brow.

Their short but precise strikes and swift movements could all be seen as destructive. And on top of that...

“Knives!”

When Bower shouted that, the two soldiers backed off before pulling out combat knives attached to their thighs, their focus never leaving their opponent.

Oh, I see.

Knife fighting was broadly similar in concept to boxing, wasn’t it?

Those daggers had sharp edges, so even a casual brush could injure the target. That meant the soldiers didn’t have to swing their daggers with excessive strength. The optimal way of fighting with daggers was to keep some distance before rapidly closing in to strike briefly before backing off again.

If this was a sport, wouldn’t it be somewhere between boxing and fencing?

While keeping their empty hands in front and their dagger-holding hands tucked closer to their torsos, the two soldiers intensely stared at each other, waiting for an opening to present itself.

Tension taut enough to cut with a knife filled the air between the two men.

“Fuu!”

A short burst of exhale later, two daggers brimming with azure blade qi shot toward their targets at unbelievable speeds.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The noises of the blades scything through the air sent chills down the listeners’ backs.

Sweat scattered in the air before dropping to the floor every time the soldiers thrust and swung their daggers. That alone proved how focused these men were right now.

“Hah!”

A dagger smacked away the incoming blade before shooting toward the opponent’s throat at near the speed of light.

“That’s enough!”

Bower shouted, prompting the two soldiers to stop and back off before standing at attention.

Bower then turned toward Lee Hyeon-Su. “So? What do you think?”

Lee Hyeon-Su furrowed his brow. What did he think? Well...

“That was an excellent demonstration.”

Lee Hyeon-Su genuinely wanted to applaud the soldiers right now for that wonderful show.

Training martial artists like soldiers and finding suitable combat methods for them couldn’t have been a simple undertaking. Even Lee Hyeon-Su had to resort to terrorizing the Yeongnam Group martial artists in order to simplify the brain-racking task of managing them, didn’t he?

Culturally speaking, “juniors” were expected to show respect toward their “seniors” in Korea. Even then, controlling the Korean martial artists still took a lot of effort. But this was not Korea, but America, where such culture did not exist. So, seeing such well-trained, well-behaved martial artists in this place genuinely impressed Lee Hyeon-Su.

Major Bower explained triumphantly. “As you can see, the strength of our soldiers is undeniable. And I can confidently say we won’t lose to anyone on Earth. No, let me correct myself. I believe we can easily overwhelm anyone on Earth!”

“Fuu-woo...” Kang Jin-Ho suddenly exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke and glanced at Bower. “Are you finally finished?”

“I’m... sorry?”

“If it’s indeed finished, let’s move on. What should we do now?”

Bower grew flustered as he stared at Kang Jin-Ho. “I don’t quite follow, sir. Wait... Are you thinking of fighting our men? After witnessing our demonstration?”

Kang Jin-Ho’s eyes grew colder, more withdrawn. “That’s enough horsing around. I’m starting to get bored with this nonsense.”

Bower’s expression grew hard and icy when he heard that. “Assembly Master. Mister Kang...!”

“Should we prove it to you?”

“...? Sorry?”

“I’m asking you. Should we prove how useless all this is?”

Bower clenched his teeth and forced his voice out. “Very well! Prove it to us. If you can win against five of our men in one go, we will acknowledge all of our training methods have been wrong!”

“Five?” Kang Jin-Ho chuckled and shook his head. “Nope. One should be enough.”

Bower smirked back derisively. “Since you were labeled as one of the Kings of East Asia, I figured your pride would be just as lofty, but it seems I was wrong, sir. You can’t possibly save face by fighting only one soldier.”

Kang Jin-Ho plainly muttered while puffing away. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I won’t be the one fighting, after all.”

Bower and Willie Reese’s gazes immediately shifted over to Wiggins.

“That won’t change anything, sir. The former Knight Wiggins facing off against a single American soldier? The entire world will have a good chuckle at that. Shouldn’t we make that at least three soldiers for the sake of fairness?”

Kang Jin-Ho finally smirked. “Three? No, it should be more like thirty. Or is it three hundred?”

Wiggins hurriedly waved his hands in denial. “My lord, I’m not a spring chicken anymore. Please, let’s do it in moderation. My joints and back have been aching recently, after all.”

“Really? Don’t be a baby, though.”

Bower grew impatient and tried to rebuke Kang Jin-Ho in irritation. “Then, what are you asking us here, sir? If you want to fight only one, then sure, we’ll accommodate you. However, in return, our soldiers deserve to be...”

“Keep quiet.”

When Kang Jin-Ho disinterestedly commanded, Major Jimmy Bower froze stiffly on the spot, his lips still wide open.

He couldn’t immediately figure out why he was paralyzed like this. His body was refusing to heed his brain’s command and did whatever it wanted for some reason!

Lee Hyeon-Su tutted loudly at this sight. “Hah. That’s why you should’ve known your place.”

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Lee Hyeon-Su. “Chief Lee. You fight.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll... Eh?”

Who must fight now?

Me?

...I beg your pardon?!