Martial Arts Academy (2)
The Kalari Payat Martial Arts Academy. Even within Parvata, capital of the Shah Zar Kingdom, it was a place of considerable fame and established tradition — a school that drew throngs of students day after day seeking instruction.
Whether you dreamed of becoming a knight, a soldier, or an adventurer, the saying went that if you were in Parvata, you passed through this place…
…or so claimed the auntie hawking odds and ends out front of the academy.
I wasn't sure it was quite that grand, but the sheer volume of people coming and going made it clear the reputation wasn't entirely undeserved.
"Crowded," Caesius observed — her first impression of the academy, and an accurate one. There really were a lot of people.
I glanced over at Clara, worried the press of bodies might unsettle her, but she seemed interested enough in the academy itself that the crowd barely registered. She simply watched the people training.
Even from outside, the practice grounds were visible — clusters of students gathered around instructors, learning something or other.
Is that a staff?
A long wooden pole, spear-length but without a blade. Seemed right. They really did teach everything here.
"…Albrecht, what are you going to learn?"
Clara looked curious about my choice. I'd already told Caesius as much, but for now my plan was simply to find a weapon that suited me.
"I'm going to try a few of them first."
With that, I stepped inside. Given how many people came and went, a new face barely drew a glance. Everyone was focused on their own business.
I was grateful for the indifference. If Clara or Caesius attracted attention, things would get complicated fast.
"Hello."
I approached the front desk. The receptionist greeted me with a bright smile.
"Oh, hello! What brings you in today?"
"Are you still accepting student registrations?"
"Of course. The Kalari Payat Martial Arts Academy accepts applications around the clock, twenty-four hours a day. Do you have a particular instructor in mind?"
"No."
Finding out what I was actually good at came first — I hadn't decided who to study under or what to learn. The receptionist didn't find this strange at all and continued cheerfully.
"Then what sort of martial arts are you interested in?"
"Close-quarters combat techniques. I haven't settled on a weapon yet, though — is there any way to try a few out?"
"Absolutely! You're welcome to sit in on any of our instructors' classes as well."
She looked me over as she spoke.
"Have you studied anything before? You look like someone who's done quite a bit of physical training…"
"I haven't studied anything formally."
"Oh, is that so? I must have been mistaken."
Years of farm work and trailing after a monstrous hero's party had apparently sculpted a physique that invited assumptions. I did cut a fairly solid figure, after all.
"Still, your foundational fitness looks more than adequate. I think you'll do well no matter what you choose!"
The lip service here was excellent. She knew how to make a person feel good.
I found myself smiling. Then Clara tugged firmly on my sleeve.
"…Albrecht. If you want, I can teach you dagger techniques."
"Huh? …Oh. Sure, if it comes to that."
No matter how I looked at it, dagger work didn't seem suited to someone my size — but I'd keep the offer in mind.
"Shall we start you with a basic sword, then? Follow that staff member over there and they'll let you try every weapon you'd like."
"Ah, thank you."
I was starting to understand how they ran their business. I hadn't decided what to learn, how long I'd stay, or even whether I'd register at all — and they were already rolling out this kind of service.
Treat a customer this well and it becomes awkward to walk away empty-handed later. Unless you were shameless enough not to care.
…They know how to sell.
Make the customer feel good, and they profit in turn — a genuinely well-run operation, in the best sense of the word.
I followed the staff member to the close-combat weapons area.
"Feel free to try each of these one by one."
"I can just use them however I want?"
"Yes, of course. As long as you don't break anything, it's fine."
I was only testing them alone — no risk of snapping anything. I nodded and picked up a sword first. Farm-honed strength meant I at least avoided the embarrassment of being unable to lift it, and I swung it around with relative ease.
"Hmm."
It felt a bit heavy, though. Being a two-hander left one hand occupied, which was a shame.
Reach's a little lacking, too.
For nullifying magic with my ability and immediately pressing the attack, it felt just slightly short.
I set the most conventional sword aside at that and moved on.
Next was a spear. As its appearance suggested, it was considerably heavier and longer than the sword. I gripped the shaft with both hands and thrust, but it didn't flow smoothly.
The reach is more than enough…
But it felt a touch too heavy.
After that I tried a shortsword — far too light, and of course far too short. I didn't even touch the battle axe; just looking at it was enough to kill any urge to pick it up.
"Hm?"
Among them, though, was something with an unusual shape. I picked it up immediately, and the moment the staff member saw what I was holding, he asked:
"Are you familiar with the Sabokgeom?"
"Pardon? …Yes, somewhat."
A whip-sword — its blade segmented into multiple pieces linked by a sturdy wire, allowing it to bend and undulate like a snake. That was why it was called the Sabokgeom. The construction let you crack it like a whip, the multiple edges leaving devastating wounds.
That same construction, however, made it extraordinarily difficult to handle. Unlike a normal sword, where the basics were simply swinging up, down, left, and right, this thing writhed and snaked like a whip. Misjudge it and the user could easily catch a blade edge and injure themselves badly.
It demanded delicate control, yet you still needed power behind every strike — a weapon riddled with hazards for a beginner.
"Many people take an interest in it, but given how dangerous it is, we don't typically recommend it."
"…Yes, I know."
Even accounting for those dangers, though, it was an extremely appealing weapon. By nature, the Sabokgeom covered not only close range but mid-range as well.
And it wasn't as heavy as a spear. A Sabokgeom needed to flex freely, so the blade itself couldn't be that weighty.
The trade-off was a more fragile frame — a hit to the wire would snap it more readily than other weapons…
If someone's close enough to strike the blade itself, I probably wouldn't have it extended anyway.
A close-combat weapon that also covered mid-range was enormously attractive. Handled well, it might even be more versatile than a spear.
And more than anything…
A weapon that doesn't exist in the real world. I'd like to try one at least once.
A little of that masculine fantasy was stirring, too.
I mentally marked the Sabokgeom and looked over the rest, but having already settled on one, nothing else quite caught my interest.
One thing did stand out for sheer novelty, though.
"Isn't this just a club?"
"Correct. Some people prefer blunt-force weapons, so our academy carries a full range of bludgeoning arms as well."
"Ah…"
Easy to learn, certainly, and a solid steel club was hardly useless in a fight. No edge, but threatening in its own right.
Its raw power would fall short of something like a proper battle hammer, of course — but for sheer ease of use, nothing else came close.
Maybe I should learn this one too.
I was curious what club techniques even looked like. I had time to spare now, and money enough to spare as well.
"…No harm in learning more than one, right?"
After wrapping up my rough trial of the weapons, I returned to the front desk. There were no Sabokgeom or blunt-weapon classes scheduled for today, so unfortunately I couldn't sit in on an instructor's lesson.
"Welcome back! Have you decided what you'd like to study?"
"The Sabokgeom and the club… well, blunt weapons."
"Two subjects! What passion!"
Not a word about it being too much.
"How long were you thinking of enrolling for?"
"I'd like to keep coming until I've learned everything."
"A full course typically takes about half a year. Shall we set it at six months?"
Shorter than I'd expected.
"That's shorter than I thought."
"It's not all that short, really. Our academy provides instruction — we don't raise you from the ground up."
Her words corrected a quiet misconception I'd been carrying.
Right. Of course.
A martial arts academy's primary purpose wasn't to cultivate its students into finished fighters — it was to teach. Cultivation followed as a byproduct, but the classes themselves were the main event.
Like school: the teacher covered the material in class, and reviewing and mastering it was the student's job. The teacher didn't keep repeating the same lesson until every student understood.
This wasn't a personal master-and-disciple relationship.
"We do offer advanced courses as well, of course. If you find yourself wanting more, I'd recommend applying for those later!"
"I see."
"So — six months, two classes. Shall I proceed with that?"
"Yes."
There was no reason not to study here. I was short on knowledge as it was.
"Practicing after class is fine, right?"
"Of course! Our practice grounds are open to all enrolled students at any time."
"Around the clock?"
"Yes. Plenty of people train late at night or in the early morning."
"Ah."
That made sense.
I nodded and went through the registration process with the receptionist.
"Would you prefer to pay in full upfront, or put down a deposit and pay the remainder per class as you attend?"
The second option seemed fine in theory, but coming to the desk to hand over money every single time sounded like a hassle.
"I'll pay in full."
"Very well — twenty-five silver per course, fifty silver total!"
Six months of instruction made for a decent sum, but compared to real-world private tutoring costs, it was more than reasonable.
I paid the fifty silver and completed my registration. The receptionist handed me a token identifying me as an academy student.
"You'll need to bring this every time to attend class!"
"Got it."
"Sabokgeom classes begin the day after tomorrow, on Thursday — just come then. Blunt-weapon classes you can start as early as tomorrow, so I'd recommend coming in. That course is already underway, and you'll want to catch up on the material as best you can."
I'd assumed I'd be joining midstream for both, but apparently the Sabokgeom course was starting from the beginning.
"I'll keep that in mind. What time should I arrive?"
"Here's the schedule!"
She handed me a calendar with a full year's class times written out.
"Thank you."
"It's the least we can do. Welcome once again to the Kalari Payat Martial Arts Academy! We hope you leave with results you're proud of!"
Registration complete, I stepped back outside. Caesius, who had been quiet until now, finally spoke up.
"Of all the options, you pick the difficult Sabokgeom?"
"I know it's hard. But it looked like the best fit."
"Looked like the best fit?"
"Yeah. I think it'll work well with my ability. The Sabokgeom has long reach, so I won't have to close the distance all at once."
"In that regard a spear is rather superior."
"A spear doesn't seem flexible enough. And the Sabokgeom looked fun."
I added:
"They said if I turn out to have no talent for it, I can switch to something else."
"…Well. Trying it out can't hurt."
The way she said it sounded an awful lot like she was already certain I'd fail.
Erinn bet I'd fail too, you know — and look how that turned out, you damn lizard.
"…"
For a moment, without meaning to, I thought of them. It hadn't been that long since I'd transmigrated, yet somehow I'd grown attached enough that just recalling them left a hollow ache in my chest.
…Don't think about it.
That was for the best.
"…Albrecht."
Clara spoke up.
"…Are we going to look at houses now?"
"Yeah…"
We did need to. But what Clara had said earlier came back to me, and I hesitated. A little flustered, I asked:
"…You really want to live together?"
"……Yes."
Clara chewed her lip slightly, then rolled her eyes up to look at me. Carefully, she offered her reasoning.
"…I don't think we need to spend the money twice."
She wasn't wrong, but right now it felt like the kind of situation where we should…
"She has a point. I see no need to rent separate houses."
Caesius piled on, and any chance I had of arguing my case evaporated. By any normal standard of thinking, I was pretty sure I was right…
"…Do you want to live alone, Albrecht?"
Clara's question left me momentarily without an answer — not because of any hidden meaning, but because the look in her eyes was so utterly, purely sincere.
…Tch.
I felt like someone fretting over nothing.
Clara clearly had no intention of budging. Caesius's opinion didn't really matter, but Clara's did.
"Alright then… let's go look at houses first."
If I couldn't break her stubbornness, I might as well tour some places and try to talk her around along the way.
Before long, though, I had to change my mind and accept Clara's position.
"…How much?"
"This one will run you fifteen gold coins. Housing prices in this neighborhood have skyrocketed lately. The kingdom's been pursuing more open policies, so foreigners have been flooding in to live here."
The house priced at fifteen gold coins consisted of a single bathroom with a tub, one small bedroom, and a living room so cramped it barely deserved the name.
Perfect for one person living alone — but the building was old, the facilities worse than most inns, and they wanted fifteen gold for it. Astounding.
No different from housing prices back in Korea…
I had money to spare, sure, but Clara and Caesius needed somewhere larger than this. That meant something more expensive, and buying two separate places would drain every coin I had on hand. Then there'd be nothing left for daily living expenses.
I had savings, but accessing them meant tracking down the Aurum Aquila Trading Company all over again…
Wondering if this agent was gouging me, I checked other brokerages. Everyone was quoting similar prices.
"…Albrecht."
Clara called my name and looked at me.
"…"
…Fine. No choice.
Better to sink thirty gold into one decent house than buy two of these dumps. That would be an irrational waste any way you sliced it.
We weren't staying a month or two — we were looking at half a year, maybe longer. The house needed to be comfortable.
So I paid thirty-five gold for a place with two bedrooms, a reasonably spacious living room, and a separate toilet and bath.
…Ridiculously expensive.
I half-suspected the developers of Dungeon in Evil were Korean and had priced everything based on capital-region real estate. The game's temporal setting wasn't even a modern housing bubble, for crying out loud.
"…House. Nice."
Clara, for her part, seemed satisfied. It was a fair-sized place with clean, relatively new facilities — a solid find, all things considered.
"It falls short of this body's lair, but it will do."
Caesius mixed in some nonsense, but she looked reasonably content as well.
"We've got the house. Next we'll need furniture."
"…Furniture."
Clara's eyes lit up at the word, pupils sparkling as she asked:
"…Now?"
"Well, I'd like to, but…"
I shook out my coin purse.
"I'm broke at the moment."
"…Ah."
"We've spent almost everything… so if we want to furnish the place, I'll need to find work."
"…Work?"
"Yeah. Class is tomorrow morning, so once that's done, we'll head over."
"…Where?"
She was asking the obvious.
"The Adventurers' Guild, of course."