As Expected of My Daughter
The training ground behind the cottage. Zenle stood facing Elia, taking in the iron-armored training dummy that was one solid beating away from becoming scrap and the footprints of precise footwork etched into the hard-packed sand.
“……”
Elia gazed up at him with faintly expectant eyes, her lips pressed together as if they might part at any second. The sight was so endearing that Zenle allowed himself a quiet, inward smile before clearing his throat.
“Ahem. Then, as I mentioned earlier, we’ll begin with the proper way to grip the sword. First, could you hold the practice blade in whatever way feels most natural?”
“Yes!”
At his prompt, Elia adjusted her hold on the wooden sword and settled into a stance with surprising ease.
…Oh?
Zenle couldn’t stop the quiet burst of admiration that rose in his chest the moment he saw her posture.
It’s… actually pretty good.
Maybe it came from watching Kael train every single day. This had to be the first time she had ever held a real practice sword, yet her form was already remarkably solid. For a five-year-old’s first attempt, the level of completion was hard to believe.
Of course, because she had copied Kael exactly, the width of her stance and the angle of the blade tip were slightly off for her own body. Still, those were trivial details. Zenle had been worried she might have developed bad habits practicing alone; instead, he was more than satisfied. With only a few visible corrections, her posture would be flawless.
“Mm. Very good. Your stance is far better formed than I expected.”
“R-really?”
Zenle gave honest praise for what Elia had absorbed so well by watching over Kael’s shoulder. There was no reason to use harsh training methods on a five-year-old. At her age, praising what was done right and gently correcting what wasn’t proved more than enough.
“There are still a few unfinished parts, however. I’ll correct them for you now.”
“Yes, Master!”
After the praise, Zenle adjusted the noticeable flaws until her form was perfect. Elia let out a small, uncomfortable sound. It was only natural; the posture she had grown used to was being changed. But this was the foundation she would carry with her as she grew, so Zenle spoke with an unwavering expression.
“From now on, every time you swing a sword, you must begin from this exact stance. If you can’t assume it naturally when you start learning proper swordsmanship later, you won’t be able to learn it at all.”
“Understood, Master.”
“Good. Then starting today, before every training session, you will hold this posture for ten minutes.”
“T-ten minutes…?”
Elia’s eyes rounded in shock. The idea of remaining motionless in such an uncomfortable position for a full ten minutes seemed to strike her as monumental. Still, the only thing that truly carved a movement into the body was time. If she were older he would have demanded thirty minutes or even an hour, but for a five-year-old, ten minutes was a reasonable compromise.
“We begin now. Every visible movement adds one minute.”
“Y-yes…!”
“Be…gin!”
The moment the word left his mouth, Elia’s eyes widened with fierce concentration as she locked every muscle in place. Zenle watched her for a moment, then began drawing lines in the sand five meters apart.
She doesn’t have any real muscle yet, so weight training would be pointless.
Her current body would start aching after twenty simple sit-to-stands. There was no need to burden an undeveloped frame with weights. What she needed was full-body conditioning through natural movement—running, climbing slopes, exercises that would build both muscle and endurance at the same time.
If they raised the difficulty gradually from this young age, by ten she would already surpass her peers in strength and stamina. That was when she could begin true swordsmanship with a wooden blade weighing three or four kilograms instead of a feather-light practice sword.
The sword style every swordsman dreamed of—Kael’s swordsmanship.
Five years…
It sounded like a long time, yet it also felt strangely short. After the war, spending another stretch of years like this to train the child Kael had adopted felt like the most meaningful duty Zenle could take on.
This is perfect.
It was far better than wasting away in the knight order with nothing to do. Becoming the master of the daughter Kael had taken in gave his days real purpose.
Once the running lines were drawn, Zenle scanned the area for a suitable slope and glanced back at Elia.
“Nngh……”
She was drenched in sweat yet still held the posture with stubborn steadiness. Even though it was only a practice sword, the fact that she kept it perfectly still in such an awkward position was genuinely impressive.
Her perseverance is outstanding.
Most children her age found it torturous to stand still in a comfortable pose for even a minute or two. Yet here she was, past the five-minute mark in an uncomfortable stance, and she still hadn’t broken form. Her powers of endurance were clearly exceptional.
She copied the stance perfectly on the first try, and now this level of patience… She has more talent than she appears.
It might have been premature to judge after less than an hour, but Zenle truly believed it. Sharp observation and natural perseverance eventually crossed into the realm of innate talent. Especially for a child so young.
Deciding her talent might exceed even his expectations, Zenle marked a gentle hill near the training ground.
That slope should work nicely.
After scouting a few more locations, his gaze drifted toward the cottage window. Through the glass he saw Kael’s back as the man moved busily about the kitchen.
He really has lost every last trace of his old sharpness.
Even before the war, the Kael who had taught them had been a razor-edged man—one who seemed ready to cut anyone who approached carelessly. Now he looked like nothing more than an ordinary father preparing a meal for his child. The disconnect left Zenle feeling a strange sense of cognitive dissonance.
So having a child really did change a person.
It was still a mystery to Zenle, yet after seeing so many examples, he could almost understand the feeling.
While he stood lost in thought—
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
“Kyaaak?!”
Zenle let out an undignified yelp as Kael suddenly appeared beside him, tray loaded with snacks in hand.
“M-Master! When did you get here?”
Even though Zenle hadn’t completely dropped his awareness of his surroundings, Kael had approached without a sound. It was only a small thing, yet it drove home the gap in skill between them.
“Your skills have improved even more in five years,” Zenle said.
“I’m barely holding on to what I had. You, on the other hand, seem stronger than before.”
There had always been a significant gap between them, but Zenle hadn’t expected it to feel this wide even after he himself had grown stronger. Kael claimed he was only maintaining his level, yet the thicker muscle and stone-like calluses on his hands told a different story.
He had shed his old ferocity, yet his skill had only deepened. The realization made Zenle smile despite himself.
“At this rate, maybe I should be asking you to teach me again instead of training the young lady.”
“Hah… still talking nonsense, I see. If you want to learn swordsmanship, go ask ‘her.’ She’ll teach you well enough. She was the best among all my students, wasn’t she?”
“I’d rather not learn at all than learn from that rude woman. She calls swordsmanship boring and uses it like a club. You think I’m crazy enough to study under her?”
“Well… you two never did get along. Speaking of which, how is Elia? Think her physical training will go smoothly?”
Zenle pushed the old face that had flickered through his mind aside and turned at the question.
“Heek… hic…”
With only the final minute remaining, Elia was struggling yet still holding the posture with minimal shaking. Zenle watched her for a moment, then nodded.
“Yes. She has excellent perseverance and keen observation. If we build her stamina properly, she should be ready to begin swordsmanship by ten at the latest… perhaps even eight if things go well.”
“Hmm… I knew she had good perseverance, but observation?”
“You didn’t know? When I told her to try the stance, she copied yours perfectly on the first try.”
“…Really?”
Kael’s eyes widened in genuine surprise. A mix of astonishment and several complicated thoughts swirled in his golden gaze. After a brief moment of deep consideration, he gave a small nod to himself.
“As expected of my daughter. She’s a genius with the sword, too.”
“……”
A hopeless daughter-obsessed fool stood right there, rendering anyone who saw him speechless.