The Long-Awaited First Lesson
The days slipped by before I knew it, and the date of my lesson under her had arrived.
The manor was so vast that I needed the butler to guide me to the training grounds.
Alice, it seemed, had been waiting for our appointment—she was already standing on the field with a live blade in hand.
The training grounds I arrived at were equipped with everything from straw dummies to iron ones, and even running tracks marked out across the ground.
“Welcome. This is the training ground.”
“It's enormous...”
“Is it? I see it every day, so I hardly notice anymore.”
“Now, before we begin our spar—every person has a Trait. Am I right?”
“Yes. You told me the day I collapsed.”
“The bearer of a Trait can perceive the name and nature of the power they possess. I don't know why, but just as I've known mine since the moment I was born, it's simply something we remember. That was true for me, and every other knight commander says the same.”
“Then... to learn the sword from you, my lady, would I need to reveal my Trait to you?”
When I asked warily, she simply smiled and shook her head.
“There's no need to be on guard. I'm not asking you to tell me. If I had approached you seeking some kind of advantage, I'd have exploited your weakness back when you suffered your Trait Pain and gone for the kill then and there.”
She had a point.
If the lord of a territory had approached me with ulterior motives, I'd have been at her mercy in an instant.
'There'd have been nothing I could do except die...'
After all, this wasn't just any territory—this was the family that served the Azure Dragon of the Four Divine Beasts.
With my Trait not yet even awakened, resistance would have been impossible.
“Well, enough idle chatter. From this point on, I'm going to see what you're capable of. Have you ever held a weapon?”
I shook my head at her question.
“I expected as much, so it's fine. Then first, we'll need to pick you a weapon.”
With that, Alice stepped aside, revealing the backdrop she had been concealing.
Before me stood a display of weapons, each one planted upright. There were swords and spears, the first things that came to mind at the word 'weapon,' but also crossbows and bows, tonfa, even hammers—a wide and varied arsenal.
As I was scanning them, one weapon caught my eye.
The moment I laid eyes on it, I knew—that was the one. Before I realized it, my body was already standing before the weapon display.
The effect of the Trait, One Who Watches the Heavens, will be applied through the Shortsword.
The weapon I had chosen was a shortsword.
Even though it was an utterly ordinary blade—one I had no idea how to grip—my body moved toward it all the same.
It was longer than a dagger, shorter than a longsword, a weapon that somehow seemed to be missing a screw somewhere. But I walked toward it regardless, and at last took it into my hand.
“Yes...”
“That's your Trait at work. It means this is the weapon through which your Trait's effects manifest most effectively.”
Despite having chosen it myself, I wasn't happy with my weapon at all.
One look told me that its reach was barely longer than a dagger's, and I doubted I'd be able to properly respond to an opponent's attacks with it.
Perhaps reading the expression on my face, Alice smiled and spoke up.
“Not to your liking?”
I nodded in answer to her question.
“I don't see the advantage of a shortsword. It doesn't have the reach of a longsword, and it's not discreet enough to move and throw like a dagger. And defensively, I doubt it can match a longsword.”
“Let's start with the longsword's flaw: it's heavy. It's true that it's better suited to defense than a shortsword, but because of that weight, anyone who isn't thoroughly trained risks having their blade snapped in the worst case. And if your sword breaks, you're left fighting on with nothing—your one and only weapon gone.
The dagger's flaw is the opposite of the longsword's—its reach is simply too short. It's the most vulnerable when it comes to defense. In a one-against-many fight, the dagger's weaknesses come to the surface easily. Its advantage lies in felling enemies unseen, and in open combat that advantage vanishes entirely.”
“The shortsword's strength, on the other hand, is that it overcomes all of those weaknesses. Being shorter than a longsword, it lets you react and adapt more easily on a battlefield where circumstances shift in an instant, and its longer reach than a dagger makes it easier to strike enemies even when fighting many at once.
That said, the shortsword is awkward. If your skill doesn't back it up, it becomes the worst weapon of all—too weak to defend with, too weak to attack with.”
Hearing all that, my first thought was, is it really going to be fine, like she says? My second was that I'd just have to try it and see.
“I'll give it a try first.”
“Good. Experiencing it for yourself is the best teacher. Shall we begin?”
Shing—
A silver longsword slid from its sheath at Alice's hip, and I drew a small shortsword from my own scabbard, readying myself for the spar.
“Attack me first. I won't attack during this spar. I won't counterattack either—only evasion and defense. Come at me, whenever you're ready.”
With those words, Alice let her braided hair swing as she taunted me.
I immediately swung my shortsword upward in a rising strike.
As if the shortsword had been made for me, it soared freely through the air exactly as I intended.
'This is pretty good, actually?'
For a moment I wondered whether I should really be swinging a blade this fast at a person, but I quickly shook my head and dismissed the thought.
'She's a knight commander. Like she'd get hurt by my sword? Not a chance...'
Whoosh—
The instant I swung, my blade lost its target entirely, slicing through nothing but empty air. Refusing to be discouraged, I squared my stance again and brought my sword down in a vertical strike—but—
CLANG!
Alice blocked it with ease, as if she had seen it coming all along. Then she spoke to me.
“First lesson. Do not look at the spot you intend to strike. It makes your attack path glaringly obvious. Anyone who has reached a certain level of mastery would be able to counterattack you every single time.”
The question—then how am I supposed to attack without looking?—flashed through my mind, but I resolved to continue the spar for now.
'The more I use this weapon, the more natural it feels in my hand...'
Soon I corrected my stance and moved into a horizontal slash, aiming swiftly for her flank.
Though I had never once held a sword before, let alone swung one, my blade cut through the air straight toward Alice.
CLANG!
Just as our blades were about to meet, I loosened my grip and let the sword flow, slipping past her attempted block—and in the same breath, I bent my upper body back and moved around behind Alice.
'Now!'
Just as I believed my attack had landed, Alice's voice reached my ears.
“Second lesson. Do not relax just because you think your attack has landed. Never let your guard down until your blade has actually connected. Lose your focus, and you might just lose your life along with it.”
Just as I swung my sword toward her back, Alice's reverse kick knocked the blade right out of my hands.
“Ugh!”
The force of the kick left me no choice but to let go of my weapon.
The sword I'd dropped went sailing through the air—and in the same moment, Alice's longsword came to rest against my neck.
“I win, don't I?”
“I lost...”
After the spar, Alice decided to teach me her swordsmanship—the Imperial Shortsword Style, said to be something only knights were permitted to learn. She also promised to instruct me in posture correction and footwork alongside it.
“Now, spread your feet shoulder-width apart—and at all times, you must be ready to move nimbly in any direction.”
“If I attacked you from the left diagonal, how would you respond?”
“I'd try to dodge as best I could.”
“Wrong! That's the worst possible move. Your opponent wields a longsword with greater reach than yours—how do you expect to evade it? And if their agility is faster than yours, it's a guaranteed loss.”
“The correct answer is to press in. I told you, didn't I? You must be ready to move nimbly in any direction. Use the shortsword's strength. If you simply get close enough that the longsword can't respond, most people will panic. Now, let's try it.”
With that, Alice attacked from precisely the left diagonal.
Following her advice, I didn't think of dodging—instead, I deflected her attack and pressed in, aiming for the opening she'd left behind.
Of course, Alice blocked even that.
'Are all knight commanders monsters? What is with those reflexes? She's moving faster than a human being should.'
“Well done. That's exactly it. Don't slow your sword down just because you're up against me. Your blade will never reach me anyway, so swing with full confidence. Understood?”
“Yes...”
“I can't hear you. Louder!”
“Yes!”
“That's better. It's not that you're lacking—it's just that the gap in skill is enormous. And honestly, you're doing remarkably well. Have you ever handled a sword or a blade before?”
“No?”
In my previous life, the only knife I'd ever held was a kitchen knife.
“Impressive... You've never once held a sword in your life, and yet you're keeping up with my lessons?”
“It wasn't easy, but I managed to keep up.”
“You... you absolutely must join our knight order. I'd hate to let a talent like you slip away.”
“Haha... I've made up my mind to become a knight, so I'll set that as my goal...”
“That's it for today's lesson. Our next spar will be this Saturday. That's when I'll teach you the swordsmanship you've been waiting for—seven forms in total. Come prepared. I'll head in first. The training ground is yours to use as you like.”
“Yes, my lady!”
Answering her in a loud, clear voice, I set about reviewing the footwork and grip I had just learned.
When Alice entered the manor, the butler came out to meet her and asked,
“My lady. Will you be bathing right away?”
“No. Treatment first.”
Alice's shoulder guard was spitting blood.
The butler's eyes went to the wound, and having served his lord for over a decade, he quickly read the situation and dispatched a maid to summon the family physician.
“To think she'd be wounded... in a spar with a mere regular knight, no less...”
Then the butler cast a glance at the maids nearby and spoke.
“You there. Please fetch the physician. It seems we have a truly extraordinary talent on our hands.”
At the butler's words, Alice smiled faintly and said,
As though she found it fascinating.
“I was sure I blocked it. And when I came to my senses, there was already a cut on my shoulder.”
“To wound you, my lady—remarkable. We absolutely must recruit him into our knight order.”
“Agreed. I can't let another order snatch up such a gem.”
And so, while Hyun trained on the field, Alice was quietly harboring a rather scheming ambition(?).