023

"Should I kill her so she won't act up again?"

"Leave her be."

"No, really! Why is she acting up so much when she won't even leave a single mark in history!"

"In the first place, if she were a person who would leave a mark in history, she wouldn't be in a place like this."

"Why! Me! Pan! And Avril and Yuria! There are many!"

"That's what's abnormal. Avril and Yuria just came here. As for you and Pan, isn't it because of your own talent, but also because of the excellent skills of the instructors?"

"Ugh, to pull out such a trap here! If I say no, it's like I'm denying you, instructor!"

Rozalin squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head from side to side as if the choice was difficult.

And Sordian, who was watching that expression, looked as if his stomach was upset.

"What's bothering you?"

"...You should see just once how that witch acts when you're not around, old man. Seeing her act all cute like that here, what I ate this morning..."

"What did you say, you bastard?"

Rozalin turned her head in a direction where I couldn't see her and growled.

Her expression must have been very wicked, because Sordian looked even more horrified.

I calmed Rozalin down and said.

"Anyway, it seems we have to prepare for two days from now."

"Is there a reason we have to fight on her terms?"

"There's no reason to fight. But there's no reason not to fight either."

"Then we can just not fight!"

I smiled bitterly instead of answering.

Seeing my expression and the situation, Rozalin seemed to have read my mind and beat her chest in frustration.

"So why is this the instructor's fault!"

"The academy suddenly changed because of me. Mr. Sordian, Ms. Gwen... in fact, they were sacrificed because of the sudden change."

"So that's all Avril's fault... ugh, this is so frustrating!"

I understand Rozalin's feelings.

Even Sordian himself had a pathetic expression, as if asking why I was living my life like that.

But somehow.

"I'm a teacher."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everyone else can live selfishly. They can think only of themselves and live rationally. But I am an educator who talks about and teaches you how to live and your worries."

So sometimes, even if it seemed frustrating, I had to do the right thing.

Because there have to be people in the world who live like that.

"Hey! Do you think so too?"

Rozalin turned her head and shouted at Yuria, who was standing behind me.

Yuria hummed in thought for a moment and then opened her mouth.

"As expected of the Great Master."

"That's not what I asked!"

"The standard for judging right and wrong was God. But now that God is dead, as humans create their own standards of right and wrong, the act of simply doing what is believed to be right, regardless of means and purpose, is that not the true good? As expected of the Great Master."

This girl, could she speak for so long?

I looked at Yuria with slightly surprised eyes.

For someone who had just praised me with such grand words, her expression was, as expected, dead.

"Tsk, it's my fault for asking that zealot. Her sermons are just grand..."

Well, she did say she was originally a Saintess.

The priests of the Holy Kingdom were always people who worked hard to spread the faith.

A position like a Saintess would have been familiar with unraveling complex religious doctrines.

"Aish, I was going to find something cheaper and give it to you!"

Just then, Rozalin, annoyed, handed me a book.

It was a book that was crumpled and messy, as if it had been soaked in water.

"The cheap swordsmanship the instructor was looking for."

"Where did you get it for it to be in this state?"

"I got it at a gambling den in another fief."

"...A gambling den?"

"Hati! Not me, Hati! Hati! Look at his head! He has no hair, so he even drew a black snake on it. Doesn't he look like someone who would frequent a gambling den? Phew, I'll teach him well!"

Poor Mr. Hati.

I smiled at Rozalin's bluff and opened the book to look at it.

The letters were smudged in the middle, but it was fine.

Because it was a book with very few letters in the first place.

'The title of the swordsmanship manual is Fel's Three Swordsmanships? It seems to deal with literally three swordsmanships.'

The book showed a horizontal slash, a cross slash, and a thrust.

As if intended for an illiterate audience, most of the stances were accompanied by pictures.

The pictures were crude, the upper and lower body were stiff, and without any mention of what or how to aim, it just talked about swinging the sword itself.

'It doesn't even show the grip.'

If it were a basic swordsmanship, it should start with the basics, like how to hold the sword and where to position it.

But this book had none of that and only talked about the moment of the thrust.

'Simple.'

I think I know why it's called a third-rate, trash swordsmanship.

The swordsmanship was too simple.

Typically, swordsmanship, or martial arts, pursues a unity of offense and defense.

It's not just about attacking, but about blocking the opponent's attack within the line of attack and pursuing an organic movement to counterattack again.

But this swordsmanship only talks about how to attack.

And.

'What's with this hand gesture?'

A meaninglessly flashy hand gesture interrupted the attack.

A movement that looks flashy to people who know nothing about the sword.

When swinging the sword with the right hand, you take a praying pose with the left hand or make a flapping motion with the left hand.

What on earth.

"This is a real mess."

"I got it for a good price, right?"

At this level, it seemed like it could be used somehow.

"Let's go."

I headed to the training ground with Yuria, Rozalin, and Sordian.

It was late at night, so there was no one in the training ground.

I heard that Pan was training with Bridget at the Class A training ground these days.

They would bicker and discuss the sword, and when they encountered a problem they couldn't solve, they would come to me.

Thanks to that, I can have this training time.

"Shall I be your opponent?"

"No, let's just swing it according to the book first."

I first slowly took the stance as shown in the picture.

It felt more like just standing and swinging a sword than a stance for swordsmanship.

'Is it okay to do this like this?'

After picking up the sword and taking the stance, I felt a tingling sensation at the tips of my fingers.

It was a slight pain, but it was a pain I could endure.

I raised the sword with both hands, then slowly brought it down with one hand, and took a stance with my left hand raised to my chest as if in prayer.

I felt a feeling like being pierced by glass from my right elbow, but there was no problem with swinging the sword itself.

"It works."

Still, it's something to be able to swing a sword to this extent.

It's not a pain that makes me grit my teeth, it's just a slight tingling.

It was a much better result than in the past when I could only minimize my movements and endure.

I turned my head and looked at the audience.

They all had dazed expressions.

"That's, swordsmanship?"

"Wow, I thought it was trash, but it's even more trash."

"Swordsmanship, insult, successful."

The expressions of the three were quite a sight.

Especially Sordian, who was looking at me with an even more disgusted expression than when he saw Rozalin earlier.

When our eyes met, he opened his mouth as if in disbelief.

"What on earth is that left hand doing?"

"I wonder."

"You're holding the sword with both hands, so why are you only striking with your right hand?"

"I don't know either."

"Why are your neck and gaze looking diagonally, not at the tip of the sword and the opponent?"

"That's."

It's not a swordsmanship I created.

I released the stance and checked my body.

Just then, Yuria slowly approached and gently placed her hand on my arm.

The lingering pain slowly disappears.

"How is it?"

"This is a normal moderate injury. A normal person could endure it about four times. Even I now could heal and prolong your life about twenty times, but if it goes beyond that, we'll have to consider a severe disability."

"It's gotten a lot better."

At my words, Yuria nodded.

Sordian next to her had a look of disbelief, but I was serious.

My body was one that could die from just one proper swing of the sword.

But now, no matter how cheap the swordsmanship, I could swing it about twenty times.

"What's going to change by swinging a trash swordsmanship like that twenty times?"

"Good. I'll show you."

"What?"

"Would you mind a spar?"

At my words, Sordian's eyebrow twitched slightly.

"Cassian. I'm trying my best not to have any feelings towards you. I know you saved me, and I know that all of this happened because of that bastard Avril. But if you act like that, I can't help but have feelings."

"Hey, brat, you, to our instructor..."

"I'm not talking about a serious spar."

I placed my hand on the shoulder of Rozalin, who had gotten excited on her own.

"This sword, it only has three forms. So just three exchanges. How about that?"

"Teacher! Just do it with me!"

"That won't have much meaning."

Rozalin's sword and Sordian's sword were of different natures.

Her sword pursues a path that the opponent cannot block even if they know it's coming.

Since she uses her unique elasticity and power, my swordsmanship will be completely swallowed up.

But with Sordian's fast sword.

I replayed the scene Sordian had shown in his spar with Pan in my head.

In the meantime, Sordian had brought a wooden sword from the corner of the training ground and stood in his spot.

He had an annoyed expression, but it seemed he was trying to suppress his emotions somehow.

"Mr. Sordian."

"What."

"This spar will be helpful to you too."

Sordian had an expression as if to ask what that meant.

It wouldn't get through to him if I explained it now.

Let's tell him after the spar.

"Come."

Sordian took his stance and aimed at me.

It seemed he was going to take my sword head-on.

If that's the case.

I slowly took my stance.

'To enter Sordian's blind spot, I need to step...'

I slightly modified the basic stance from Fel's Three Swordsmanships.

I refined the initial standing posture, and to allow my feet to move freely, my knees...

Zing.

'Ugh.'

The moment I tried to modify the stance a little, the tingling pain that had been there before shot up my spine.

It was a pain as if my right Achilles tendon was about to snap.

'This is the limit.'

I stepped, finding the boundary of pain I could endure.

A posture that was still uncomfortable to move in, but one where I could still move forward.

In that situation, I raise my sword.

'Let's change the timing and trajectory of letting go of my hand.'

Placing my palm on my chest is nothing more than a cool pose.

But I create a reason to let go of one hand, leaving room for interpretation.

For example, what if this one hand is for defense?

It becomes a shield to protect my neck, heart, and other internal organs.

If not, what if it's a way to accelerate the speed of my right hand?

Like the Iaijutsu of the East, I give resistance with my left hand and let my right hand shoot out in an instant.

Countless images flash through my mind.

According to those images, the muscles of my right and left arms move on their own and take a stance.

Pain slowly starts to rise from the muscles that have moved as if being squeezed.

"Hoo-up!"

I quickly swung my sword before that pain could even begin.

It was more than just a simple horizontal slash; it was a slash that bounced off my left hand and drew a strange curve.

And it was a sword with a trajectory that seemed to disappear into Sordian's blind spot and then suddenly reappear.

"Hup!"

Sordian raised his eyes and swung his sword with a kiai, taking a step back.

The two wooden swords clashed where his right arm had been just a moment ago.

Thwaaack—!

Immediately after the collision, my wooden sword fell to the ground.

My right hand was trembling uncontrollably.

Drops of blood, from a cut I didn't know when I got, fell from my palm.

My vision blurred slightly, but soon a warm feeling began to envelop my body.

It seemed to be Yuria's divine power.

I forced a smile and looked at Sordian.

"I don't think we'll need three exchanges. What do you think?"

The reason I could be so confident.

It was because of the sleeve of Sordian's left arm.

A short clash, and Sordian's sleeve, which he couldn't avoid, was torn and fluttering.

Sordian had a rather dumbfounded expression.

"Well, I'll be damned, it works?"

Rozalin also laughed as if in disbelief.

"Wow, I brought you a cheap one, and you changed it like that?"

Wouldn't this be useful enough?

Just as I was about to end today's training with a smile.

Thump.

Yuria, her nose bleeding again, collapsed with a thump.

Uh, huh?

* * *

"Cheap or not, the sword is forbidden!"

"No, I..."

"You almost died!"

"The one who bled was not me, but Yuria over there..."

"What's the point of bringing me a cheap swordsmanship! You just make an advanced swordsmanship like this and hurt your own body!"

"I'll try to use it more cheaply next time."

"Shut up!"

I was scolded mercilessly.

In the end, that evening, under Rozalin's supervision, I trained late into the night, swinging Fel's Three Swordsmanships cheaply, just as it was in the original.

"I told you to swing the sword even more trashily than that!"

It was a training that made me feel a sense of self-loathing in many ways.

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