Noor was walking through a corridor with Gilbert, wondering what on earth the man wanted from him. He was exhausted and just wanted to go home. Eventually, they arrived at a sparring ring. Curious, Noor asked what he wanted, and Gilbert replied that he wanted a mock battle. This reminded Noor that he hadn’t had a proper training partner since attending all those schools.
Gilbert casually mentioned that, despite appearances, he was quite famous in the Royal Capital. He then invited Noor to pick a training weapon from the wall. Noor grabbed a sword immediately, thinking this was a godsend for a budding adventurer.
Once ready, Noor wasn’t sure how strong Gilbert would be, but he welcomed the opportunity to train with someone more skillful. The other guards present couldn’t believe anyone would dare fight their Captain.
The battle began. Noor was instantly impressed by Gilbert’s polished movements, perfect pace, and control. It was clear Gilbert had trained like a maniac to reach that level. But soon, Noor noticed something odd—the captain’s movements were strangely slow.
After a moment, Noor realized Gilbert was intentionally holding back. He asked him to stop and told him he didn’t need to hold back so much. That caught Gilbert’s attention, and he even wondered if he had been slightly restrained because his opponent was just a normal human. Apologizing, Gilbert unleashed his full power.
Suddenly, Noor noticed Gilbert was much faster—but he could still evade all the attacks. More importantly, every time Noor dodged, Gilbert left himself completely open, almost like he was luring him in. Noor kept thinking the captain wasn’t fighting seriously, suspecting he had set a trap.
Gilbert then attempted a sword skill, faint but precise—but Noor still managed to dodge with some effort. Realizing he could handle more, Noor encouraged Gilbert to speed up. The captain was startled by the challenge, and it made Noor seriously consider that Gilbert might finally be giving it his all.
In that moment, Noor reflected on his own growth. All those 14 years of relentless training had made him stronger—and he finally understood just how much he could handle.
Noor even thought he might actually win the mock battle—until Gilbert unleashed a powerful skill called Drag RVE, one of his best moves. The attack caught Noor completely by surprise. He barely managed to dodge it, but the effort left him humbled. Immediately, he admitted defeat and left the manor feeling troubled.
The other guards were dumbfounded that anyone could evade that attack—but comforted themselves by noting that Gilbert had been using a practice spear with a wide tip.
Meanwhile, Gilbert reflected on his own journey. From the start, he’d shown natural talent with the spear. The more he trained, the more polished his technique became, and the stronger he grew. Unfortunately, he quickly grew bored because he couldn’t find a worthy opponent. His master eventually told him to go to the capital, where power was being amassed for an upcoming war. Even there, battling demons and skilled warriors, he found no one who could truly challenge him. Winning came easily—but it wasn’t enough.
One day, while resting, the swordsman instructor approached him, noticing Gilbert’s gloomy expression. Despite having earned the prestigious title Spear Sovereign, Gilbert dismissed it as just another bothersome label. This amused the instructor, who hadn’t realized that a title equal to his Sword Sovereign rank could be such a burden. Gilbert even expressed a desire to fight the instructor, but the man took him lightly, only hinting that someday someone might surpass him.
Back in the present, Gilbert wondered about the kind of person who could defeat a Minotaur alone. Noor made no sense to him—he showed no interest in lavish rewards, was even discourteous in the king’s audience, and didn’t seem to care about recognition. Yet, when pushed, Noor had faced Gilbert’s final attack—the move was faster than the speed of sound, his strongest technique, and used recklessly just to let Noor feel the spear’s power.
Despite not fully understanding how it happened, Gilbert knew one thing: for the first time in a head-on battle, he had been thoroughly defeated. Even more astonishing, Noor had admitted defeat himself.
As Gilbert observed the aftermath, he noticed huge cracks in the floor—he had no idea when or how Noor had created them. The young adventurer had left a mark that went far beyond skill alone.
Nevertheless, one thing was certain: Noor had evaded Gilbert’s best technique while the captain was at full strength. This meant our young hero had finally found the worthy opponent he had been searching for.
From Noor’s perspective, the attack had been nothing short of spectacular—but oddly, it crushed his confidence. After using Physical Enhancement and Feather Step to dodge it, he convinced himself that his success was only because Gilbert had held back just enough. Otherwise… he’d be dead. Noor even went so far as to think that Gilbert had deliberately warned him that pride leads to death. Oh, the irony! He truly redefined the concept of “undervaluing your own strength.”
Some time later, while resting on a hill and pondering new ways to underestimate his own abilities, Lynn approached him with a special request: she wanted to become his page. Noor had no idea what that meant. She explained that a page was someone who managed their master’s daily needs while absorbing knowledge and techniques. Naturally, he refused.
But Lynn was persistent. She argued that she could be useful—after all, Noor had achieved the highest marks in all six training schools. He dismissed her again, claiming there was nothing he could teach her. “Maybe how to kill a Minotaur,” he quipped, “but I can handle the rest myself.”
Undeterred, she offered her family’s fortune as an instructor’s fee. Noor refused. She tried again, showcasing the most powerful techniques she had learned from the six schools—but he still refused, thinking she had mistaken him for someone worth learning from.
To prove a point, Noor demonstrated Tiny Flame, intending to show her his talent was mediocre. What he didn’t know was that Oaken had told Lynn that the size of the flame reflected both training effort and comprehension. She was flabbergasted to see Noor’s flame several times larger than Oaken’s. Apparently, in this world, size does matter.
She recalled the legends of a boy who had completed all six schools’ full terms in just three months, thinking he didn’t exist—until now. Seeing Noor’s flame, she realized he truly was that prodigy. When he told her his other skills were at the same level, Lynn was completely defeated. She had just made herself look silly by flaunting her abilities in front of a monumentally powerful person. That night, she had to swallow her pride… and probably reconsider her life choices.
Lynn appeared in front of Noor again, immediately calling him Sensei. She had decided—once and for all—that she would follow him everywhere until he accepted her as his page.
Meanwhile, Prince Rain sat in his office, wondering what on earth his father was thinking. Handing a man of unknown lineage the Black Blade? Some plot armor is just that strong. The prince recalled that the sword had been obtained decades ago during a dangerous dungeon expedition with the Sovereign Six. They had ventured to the deepest corner of the Dungeon of the Lost, acquiring a prime relic—the blade itself. Made from an unknown material harder than mithril or chalom, it was completely impervious to scratches, earning it the title of Unbreakable Blade. Clearly, this weapon was far more than just a sword. Rain figured his father had noticed the unrest in the kingdom and was betting on Noor for reasons even he couldn’t fully understand.
Back with Noor and Lynn, they were eating at a street stall. Noor worried that the princess might be seen outside, but she reassured him, saying she was first and foremost… well, a princess. In this episode of How to Be the Densest Creature in the World, Noor kept thinking he shouldn’t be considered an instructor, but every attempt to clarify just made things messier. If only people spoke clearly instead of relying on tropes! Alas… this is anime, and that trope will follow him to the end of time.
Later, they arrived at the guild. The Guild Master noticed Lynn with Noor but ultimately let it slide, offering them a goblin-hunting quest. Since Lynn was a B-rank adventurer, they could take it as a party. Of course, Noor couldn’t resist asking if she was okay with him taking advantage of her rank. She casually replied that she was fine—after all, he was her instructor now. The Guild Master either had a poker face of steel or was deaf, because he didn’t even blink at that revelation.
After receiving the quest details, they left the city for the Forest of Beasts. Noor was excited—it was his first real quest outside the city walls. Lynn was eager too; finally, she would see her Sensei in action. Once in the forest, Noor asked her what she knew about goblins. The question surprised her, but she answered as best she could, assuming it was some kind of test. Her reply confirmed what Noor already suspected: there was nothing he could teach her.
They continued through the forest, puzzled that no goblins had appeared. Soon, Lynn sensed a monster nearby, so they ventured further. Suddenly, the presence she had detected disappeared—but shortly after, Noor noticed the dismembered body of a goblin. After Lynn cast a spell, they uncovered a huge goblin feasting on its fallen kin.
Noor couldn’t believe adventurers actually fought enormous creatures like it was nothing. “They must be some kind of rare mutation,” he thought. Observing Lynn, he assumed she was terrified due to her lack of combat experience. But, in classic ignorance-is-bliss fashion, he told her they had to fight the creature because, obviously, it was just a goblin. This boosted her confidence tremendously—she now believed that even a Goblin Emperor, a fearsome subspecies of the Goblin King, was basically a minor inconvenience to Noor. Misunderstandings were reaching Inception-levels here.
The Goblin Emperor launched its attack, but Noor parried every move with ease. His strategy? Act as a tank while leaving damage-dealing to Lynn. Unfortunately, the monster was incredibly fast, making it nearly impossible for her to land a hit. The goblin even began hurling trees at Noor, who parried them effortlessly. Meanwhile, Lynn quickly spotted a Mana Stone embedded in the monster’s forehead and realized that destroying it could turn the tide of battle.
Of course, the goblin wasn’t going to make it easy. It began throwing more trees, forcing Noor to nearly drop his parry rhythm. Lynn cast a wind spell, repelling the trees and slicing the creature, but the Mana Stone kept healing its wounds. At that rate, their stamina and magic would run out—and Noor realized that if her magic couldn’t pierce it, his sword probably wouldn’t either.
Then, a brilliant (and slightly reckless) idea struck him. He asked Lynn to aim her wind spell at his back. She warned him, “That blast could demolish a castle!” But Noor assured her he could withstand it with his sword. It was their only chance to become faster than the creature. Cue the Goku-level genius-but-idiot protagonist moment.
Lynn unleashed the spell, sending Noor rocketing toward the goblin at incredible speed. Using every skill he knew, he braced himself against the blast and struck the Mana Stone embedded in the monster’s forehead before it could react. The gem fell, and the Goblin Emperor screamed, clutching its head.
Lynn quickly approached, holding the stone, and finished the creature with a precise fire spell—mercifully sparing it any extra suffering. Noor then approached, thinking he was done with goblin-slaying for a long, long while. Clearly, this was why another protagonist for a Goblin Slayer-style scenario had just been introduced.
Noor reminded himself not to get overconfident and dive headfirst into dangerous situations. “What you really should do,” he muttered, “is properly assess your own strength before figuring out what’s dangerous. But hey, that would kill the entire anime premise.”
Some time later, a group of undercover agents briefed Prince Rain about a Goblin Emperor lurking in the Forest of Beasts—an absolute monster, several times bigger than a regular Goblin King. Naturally, the prince suspected something abnormal and immediately blamed the Magic Empire for the incident. The Mana Stone embedded in the goblin’s forehead was even suspected to be a Demon’s Heart from the Holy Theocracy of Mithra.
The agents reported that the princess had only sustained minor injuries. Rain was astonished. The monster had been hidden behind a powerful seal and had likely been lying in wait for days. This implied that even the secret core hadn’t been able to detect it. He then wondered how anyone could transport such a bulky object across the country undetected. “If this was summoning magic, our sensory network should have caught it,” he muttered. The agents? Apparently, “as competent as Disney showrunners,” in his opinion.
When asked about signs in the surrounding area, the agents noted that the number of goblins had decreased, prompting the Adventurer’s Guild to investigate—but unsurprisingly, they had discovered nothing. Rain warned that similar cases might be happening elsewhere, and one agent handed him a report summarizing suspicious events from the past three months.
Back at the guild, the Guild Master congratulated Noor on a job well done. Ever humble, Noor replied that it had been far harder than he expected and gave full credit to Lynn for her contribution. The Guild Master, blissfully unaware that they had actually slain a Goblin Emperor, assumed Noor had merely observed the fight from the sidelines. He lectured him that goblins could be dangerous even for beginners—classic “misinformed advice” style. Frankly, this guy was lucky the city hadn’t fallen under his watch.
To top it off, the Guild Master asked for the goblin’s right ear as proof of quest completion. Noor and Lynn exchanged a glance. They’d, uh… burned the creature. Oops.
