Chapter 17: The Swordsmanship Guild
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 17: The Swordsmanship Guild
The guild trainees surrounded the training grounds. I stood at the center, facing Andrei. It seemed he wanted to give the trainees a lesson. But among them, I saw a familiar face.
Piole, who I thought had gone home after being told to leave, was standing in the front row. She must have thought I wouldn't recognize her in full armor, but the murderous glare in her eyes gave her away.
As I stared at her, Piole raised a finger to her lips, then made a throat-slitting gesture.
‘Snitch and you die!’
It seemed she realized I’d recognized her. In truth, there was no need to snitch.
“Ugh. That damn girl…!”
Andrei, who was looking in the same direction, groaned again. If I could recognize her after all this time, there was no way Andrei, who had lived with her for over twenty years, wouldn't.
“Piole hasn’t changed a bit, has she?”
“That’s the problem.”
That was the end of our small talk. Silence fell, and a wind carrying the scent of the sea swept between us. Andrei drew his sword. I drew mine in response.
“First, let’s see what you’ve got. Come at me.”
I didn’t hesitate. Andrei was said to be the strongest knight in this area. No matter how hard I, who had spent my days slacking off, tried, he wasn't an opponent I could handle.
The only thing that mattered was dragging out the duel for as long as possible. I glanced down. A small window had appeared in the bottom right corner the moment I pointed my sword at Andrei.
[Calculating experience points. Opponent's level is high. Acquiring bonus experience points.]
I wondered how much experience he would give me.
“Here I come.”
I took a step forward and thrust my sword at the same time. My target was Andrei’s neck. I could see his eyes following the tip of my blade. He smiled with his eyes, like a grandfather watching his grandson’s antics.
It happened in that instant. A flash of white light shot from Andrei’s hand and crossed my vision. At the same time, a powerful force traveled through my sword. The blade I had thrust was knocked far off target. My hand and body, connected to it, were nearly pulled along by the force.
“Keuk.”
I barely managed to recover my sword and looked forward to see Andrei aiming his sword at me in the same stance as before.
“A thrust is fast and powerful. It allows you to land an effective blow on an opponent with little force. But because it’s so powerful, every school of swordsmanship has well-developed countermeasures. My style utilizes the structural strength of the sword to its fullest. This time, try thrusting slowly.”
I thrust my sword just as I had before, only this time, it was incredibly slow. Andrei also slowly brought his sword into the path of mine.
He didn't seem to be using much force, yet the tip of my sword was pushed aside. I was using two hands and all my strength, yet I couldn't beat Andrei’s one-handed block. It was like watching a magic trick.
“The structural strength is weakest at the tip of the sword.”
Only then did I notice where our swords had met. Come to think of it, Andrei had used the base of his sword to meet mine before, too. I had thought it was a coincidence, but it had been calculated.
The tip of the sword, where the structural strength is weakest, versus the base, where it is strongest. It meant that if you could just get your blades to meet, deflecting a thrust was easy.
“Then is a thrust meaningless?”
“Of course not. The motion of deflecting a thrust is inevitably linear, and there are many ways to use that to your advantage. Try to deflect my sword like I just did.”
Andrei, who had been thrusting leisurely, stopped the moment I swung my sword to deflect his, then continued his motion. With just that, he dodged my sword and landed a successful thrust.
I looked down at the tip of the sword touching my neck.
“So in the end, it’s the person that matters?”
Andrei grinned.
“Correct.”
Andrei’s instructional duel continued.
“Ultimately, swordsmanship is just a way of thrusting and slashing. In particular, techniques applied to the same type of sword are predictable. That’s why victory isn’t decided by which style you use, but by who has put in more effort.”
It seemed Andrei wanted to emphasize the importance of effort.
My own thinking was gradually changing. I had been under the illusion that I could become strong just by leveling up. However, the combat I had experienced firsthand wasn't something you could win simply by having superior physical abilities.
It was helpful, to be sure, but it was meaningless without the skill and experience to back it up.
“I’m coming again.”
“You’ve got guts. Come.”
He didn’t refuse, so I swung my sword. A diagonal slash from upper right to lower left seemed like it wouldn't be as easily deflected as a thrust.
I was wrong.
Andrei’s stance changed in an instant. From holding his sword at his waist and pointing it up, he lowered his body and pointed the tip of his sword at the ground. From that position, he took a diagonal step forward and simultaneously twisted his sword upward.
Clang—
Sparks flew.
Andrei had done nothing more than place his sword in the path of mine without much effort, yet my full-power diagonal slash was deflected far too easily.
“Don’t try to overpower your enemy with brute force. A person using their full strength tires out much faster than you think. Especially if you’re facing multiple opponents, that wasted stamina will cause bigger problems. As I said before, you must use the structural strength of the sword.”
Just as he said, Andrei had used the base of his sword, where its structural strength was greatest, to block my diagonal slash.
“Again.”
This time, I aimed for Andrei’s upper body, which seemed relatively open since he was holding his sword at his waist.
Andrei raised both hands above his head, pointing the tip of his sword down as he thrust. My sword, which had been aimed at his head, was stopped by a cross block and could advance no further. In contrast, his sword touched the hollow between my collarbones.
It was a defense and counterattack that happened in the blink of an eye.
Gulp.
Of all places, it was a gap unprotected by my chainmail. If this had been a real battle instead of a duel, that single move would have killed me. I felt a drop of cold sweat trickle down my cheek.
“The purpose of swordsmanship is not to kill the enemy, but to protect your own body. Taking it a step further means defending and attacking at the same time. That is the essence of my swordsmanship: the unity of offense and defense.”
“Hah…”
Andrei withdrew his sword and stepped back to his original position.
Only then did I let out a sigh of relief. We had only exchanged two blows, but my heart was pounding like crazy, and my clothes clung to me like a spiderweb, soaked in sweat.
“Now you see that an instructional duel is meaningless at this point, right?”
Andrei, on the other hand, wasn't even breathing heavily. I realized that even if I reached the same level as him someday, I still wouldn't be able to beat him. Levels were important, but swordsmanship was more important.
My desire grew stronger.
“Not yet. This time, I’ll try to defend.”
“How arrogant—!”
The response came from among the trainees surrounding the grounds. The husky voice was clearly Piole’s. For a moment, all eyes focused on her. She flinched and ducked behind the other trainees to hide.
“Hah.”
Andrei looked even more exhausted than when he was facing me.
In the meantime, I tensed my body, ready to block Andrei’s attack no matter which direction or method he used. Just then, a drop of sweat that had collected on my eyebrow fell.
“Here I come.”
Andrei swung his sword like lightning. At first, I didn't even realize it was a sword. It just looked like a white dot. Only when that dot grew larger and neared my neck did I realize it was an attack.
The force and speed contained in the blade stimulated my imagination. For a fleeting moment, I pictured myself with my neck pierced by the sword.
In that instant, the sword drew closer.
‘I can’t dodge it.’
The moment I judged that a complete dodge was impossible, I twisted my body as much as I could, intending only to prevent it from piercing me. But my body, contrary to my will, was too slow, while Andrei’s sword was still as fast as a beam of light.
Gulp.
In the blink of an eye, the sword was aimed at my neck, only a finger’s breadth away. How could I have failed to react at all until the sword was this close? What would have happened if my opponent had been Roland? A chill ran down my spine once more.
‘Still, I saw it.’
Andrei’s attack was like a single flash of light. But I had definitely seen it. I replayed the beam of light that had approached me moment by moment. Unlike my body, my eyes had followed the attack from beginning to end.
A thought suddenly occurred to me. I could probably delay investing my bonus points a little longer. I raised my head. Andrei was looking at me with a strange smile.
“Can I challenge you again tomorrow?”
“Nonsense!”
Once again, it was Piole who answered.
Andrei, however, thought differently from his daughter. He replayed their last exchange in his mind. Allen hadn't been able to move until the sword was at his neck. But he had seen it—Allen’s eyes, which had followed the sword from the beginning of the attack to the end.
‘Seeing is the beginning of everything.’
He suddenly remembered when he first met Allen. Even then, his eyes had been the same. He had readily agreed to become his swordsmanship teacher after confirming that talent. It had been a mistake, in the end.
In any case.
Andrei realized Allen’s talent was still there. If his desire to become stronger was truly sincere, and if he could make up for the time he had wasted in debauchery…
‘It’s not too late.’
Having reached that conclusion, Andrei felt a bitter taste in his mouth. His gaze fell on his daughter, who had run out and was now fuming. Talent for a scoundrel, while his daughter trained like a madwoman to overcome the weakness of being born a woman—how unfair could life be?
But that was reality.
“Piole. Do you want me to extend your week to a month?”
“I-I’m not Piole!”
That was why Andrei couldn't bring himself to scold his daughter harshly as she fled while making a pathetic excuse. Clicking his tongue as he watched Piole retreat, he turned back to face Allen.
He was waiting for an answer.
“If you train properly, I will give you a chance.”
He didn't trust him yet, but perhaps it was alright to give him one more chance.
That’s what Andrei thought.
*
The next day.
Jin, who had arrived at work early in the morning, sat down at a vanity. It was a common waiting room where they could rest for a bit before starting work.
“Do westerners have a different standard of beauty?”
Jin believed she was better than Lucy, the ace. When you added the rare factor of being an Easterner, she was far superior. Yet Allen had been satisfied with a light kiss and had left her alone.
She couldn't understand it.
Confident in her own beauty, she didn't look for the cause in herself but in Allen. As a result…
“Don’t tell me, his preference is…?”
Just as she was having a thought that would have made Allen frown, Lucy plopped down at the vanity next to her.
“Busy getting all dolled up this morning?”
Her tone was strangely sarcastic. Her face in the mirror looked utterly exhausted, a result of Zaken working her without rest.
“…”
Jin chose silence, as if Lucy wasn't even worth responding to. In the mirror, Lucy’s face contorted into a frown.
“Oh my, are you ignoring me? Because you trust that scoundrel? Ha, that’s hilarious. You still haven’t learned your lesson after what happened yesterday? He’s not your Prince Charming. He’s just a scoundrel.”
Jin couldn't help but let out a small laugh. A scoundrel? Him? If anything, she found Lucy foolish for having been close to him for so long without realizing his true nature.
“Is there any man who comes here who isn’t a scoundrel?”
“Sir Roland is different from other men.”
“Why? Is he going to rescue you from this gutter?”
“Of course! Sir Roland likes me, you know?”
Jin shook her head.
“You think a womanizer who changes women daily, sometimes even taking on two at once, would sacrifice a fortune for a mere brothel ace? Wouldn’t it have been faster to ask Sir Allen? I heard he was quite kind to you, even if he is a scoundrel.”
“Hmph, I’d refuse to be saved by a scoundrel like him.”
“It seems you’re the one looking for a Prince Charming.”
Jin couldn't understand it. Roland was an errant knight with no background. He had no wealth, nor was he devoted to one woman. His only virtue was that he was kind to women, but the problem was that he was kind to all women. In her opinion, that was no virtue at all.
Allen, on the other hand, was the heir to a knightly family with its own territory. His bad reputation was a flaw, but now even that was suspected to be an act. In her eyes, he was a big catch, incomparable to the likes of Roland.
It was all because Allen knew her future and was being cautious, but Jin truly believed this.
“Ugh, you…!”
Lucy shot up and glared at Jin. Her nostrils flared, looking as if she was about to grab her by the hair at any moment. But before she could, someone intervened. It was one of Zaken’s subordinates.
“Sir Allen is here.”
“Hmph. Go on, have fun with your scoundrel.”
Lucy snorted and left first, seemingly to greet Roland, who always came with Allen.
But Roland was nowhere to be seen. Lucy looked around, as if in disbelief.
“Oh my, it seems your Prince Charming didn’t come today. Surely, he hasn’t grown tired of you already? If so, what a pity. What will you do?”
Walking past Lucy, Jin gave her a mocking smile and confidently approached Allen. However, Allen’s expression hardened slightly as he looked at her. The cause was Zaken, who was standing next to him.
“Even for you, Sir Allen, I cannot tolerate assault! Jin is now a citizen protected by the city law!”
“Assault?”
Only then did Jin remember the act she had put on yesterday. Just then, her eyes met Allen’s.
“Hic.”
The hiccups that started then didn't stop for a long time.