Auntie
I arrived at the personal training room.
“The facilities have really improved. Back then, there was just a single straw dummy standing around.”
Erde let out an impressed sigh.
“That’s because Master’s age…”
I felt it.
If I said any more, I would die.
And not in a joking way. I would actually die.
Just like her friend Seah, she was ridiculously sensitive about any mention of her age.
She looked like she was in her early twenties, so why did she hate it so much?
Women’s hearts were truly a mystery no matter how much you tried to understand them.
“Master. But why couldn’t you find the training room? Did the location change?”
“It’s not that… it’s just that the last time I came here was decades ago… Ah.”
Erde, who had been carefully thinking, suddenly stopped talking.
She had accidentally mentioned the passage of time.
“Ahem! Anyway, since a tiny bit of time has passed, my memory’s a little hazy.”
“That makes sense.”
I gave a suitably vague reply.
If I nitpicked everything, I was probably going to get hit.
“How do you even use this? Why is it so complicated?”
Erde, who had been fiddling with the training room settings, tilted her head in confusion.
‘You’re a mage, though.’
There was no way Erde didn’t know how to configure these settings.
According to Seah, before me, she had been the person with the highest potential to succeed as a mage.
There was no chance she couldn’t do something like this.
Sure enough, Erde scratched her head and sneaked a glance at me.
“Ethan. Do this for me.”
Erde struck a coquettish pose in front of the touchscreen.
“Coming, coming.”
When I tapped the touchscreen, a hologram popped up.
“Hmm. What should we go with…”
Erde rested her face on my shoulder and breathed softly.
The fragrant scent of her hair accompanied it.
“This one?”
She rubbed her body against me and smiled seductively.
“Please get off.”
“Why~?”
“You’re pushing yourself too hard in front of Isana, aren’t you?”
She was pretending to be relaxed, but her pupils were trembling.
Unlike the naturally seductive Katrina, this kind of atmosphere really didn’t suit Erde.
“Is this the romance special lecture?”
“N-no, it’s not that… I was just testing… to see how that child would react.”
That was probably the truth.
Even while acting seductive, she kept glancing toward Isana.
“It is only natural for my husband’s master to test his wife’s qualifications. A master is like a parent, after all.”
Isana placed a hand over her chest and spoke gently.
“Since Lady Erde is like a mother-in-law to me.”
Isana strangely emphasized the word “mother-in-law.”
“Hmm. It does look like Ethan would have a hard time handling this.”
Having apparently reached some kind of understanding on her own, Erde nodded.
She looked at me with pity and patted my head repeatedly.
“I should have taught you how to deal with women when you were young. Though I guess it wouldn’t have meant much.”
“Isn’t it a shame that it didn’t?”
“Yeah. Even if I taught you, there’s no way they wouldn’t try to seduce you. Yep.”
“I have never seduced anyone. And when is this romance special lecture going to…”
“Ahh. Doesn’t look like you need a special lecture. There’s only one thing you need to remember.”
“What is it?”
“Just push them down. That solves everything for you.”
Erde gave me a thumbs-up.
‘What an irresponsible…’
“Wasn’t the reason we came to the training room because of that?”
“I need to see your results. Here, draw your sword.”
Sring—
I drew my sword.
“What should we do…”
“How about we just hunt some monsters?”
“No. Monsters don’t have intelligence, so their attacks are too simple. It wouldn’t be suitable for evaluating your progress.”
“Beating up a straw dummy obviously wouldn’t work either.”
Sigh.
I could already guess what she was going to say next.
“Shall we check how much my disciple has grown after so long?”
“Please go easy on me.”
“Go easy? What do you mean, go easy? Ethan, considering your skill, I have to go all out too.”
“Are you going to use magic as well?”
“…That might be difficult.”
I hadn’t really expected it.
Erde had shown extreme aversion to magic all this time.
It seemed related to some incident.
Just like Seah, she wouldn’t tell me about it.
‘She’ll tell me someday.’
There was no reason to dig up her trauma.
“Then I won’t use magic either.”
“Good. I also want to see more of your swordsmanship progress.”
I snapped my fingers.
The training room transformed into a sparring arena.
“Let’s see how much you’ve improved. Whether you slacked off while learning magic, or whether you’ve bloomed into an even more splendid flower.”
“You’ll be in for a surprise.”
“That’s a good attitude.”
Erde drew her sword.
At that moment, her expression changed.
The Erde from before was gone.
Only a master stood there, coldly evaluating her disciple’s sword.
“Hoo…”
Erde surpassed Valtterion with pure swordsmanship alone.
She was undoubtedly the strongest opponent I had faced so far.
Of course, even before I descended the mountain, we had exchanged blows many times.
Back then, Erde had matched her sword to mine.
Because the gap in skill had been overwhelming.
But not anymore.
I now stood on equal ground with Erde.
“Ethan, I won’t yield the first move.”
“Let’s start freely, then.”
“Okay.”
I gripped my sword tightly.
Experts usually didn’t just rush in blindly. They analyzed the opponent’s habits first.
The opponent’s breathing. The way they held their sword. Their footwork. The flow of mana. Where their gaze was directed.
They looked for openings, predicted the next technique, and so on.
There were many things to consider.
But Erde and I knew each other too well.
That was precisely why we couldn’t act recklessly.
We held each other’s weaknesses while simultaneously exposing our own.
“Master. After the spar, I have one question.”
“You can ask now.”
“Do you know about aura?”
I twitched my heel slightly.
It was a distraction while speaking.
Erde wasn’t fooled and answered.
“I do.”
“Then why didn’t you mention it when you were teaching me the sword?”
“Because it’s inferior. My sword is superior.”
Erde’s eyes gleamed.
The flow of air shifted.
A chilly breeze brushed my bangs.
My bangs fluttered, momentarily blocking my vision.
And then Erde charged.
With terrifying momentum, her sword strike came rushing in.
The exposed opening was at the collarbone.
I twisted my body and thrust my sword in return.
Erde took a step back, then immediately closed in half a beat faster.
I stared directly at Erde and swept her leg.
Her eyes flashed as she stabbed her sword into the ground.
Then she spun once around it as an axis.
Thud!
A kick slammed into the side of my head.
The sensation of my brain exploding flipped my head upside down.
I grit my teeth and steadied my stance.
Damn it. I was really going to die.
Swearing internally, I unleashed a rapid barrage of sword strikes.
Lightning-fast slashes that drove Erde back.
But this level wouldn’t work on her.
The goal was simple: push Erde away so she couldn’t land any more clean hits.
Because that was the only purpose, the swordplay itself was shallow.
“Husband! You can do it!”
Encouraged by Isana’s cheer, I twisted the corner of my mouth.
I placed my hand on the mana core near my heart.
“Master. Let me show you something interesting.”
It was a new technique I had been tinkering with for a while.
I had considered giving it a name but decided to put it on hold for now.
‘If I really had to name it.’
Square.
Square would be good.
Because it squared the performance of the mana core.
Thump!
The mana core heated up and began operating explosively.
“That’s… magic?”
“No. It’s different from magic.”
Magic was fundamentally based on circulation.
But what I was doing now was not circulation.
I had purely modified the mana core itself to upgrade its performance.
If I added amplification on top of this, I could draw out truly explosive firepower, but…
That would be magic.
I was only using mana manipulation.
“Master, this is my first time testing this too.”
My head was spinning.
A nauseating sense of disgust crept up my throat.
This was only for a moment, and it was already this bad.
If I used magic, I could compensate for this drawback, but as I had said many times, I had no intention of doing so.
Side effects?
Those were things only the weak experienced.
I raised my sword.
The blade flashed brightly before instantly being dyed a dark crimson.
Above it, a haze rose softly.
I had simultaneously manifested and wrapped my sword energy.
Scrape—
I dragged my foot forward.
My vision wavered.
Erde’s body blurred.
But I advanced anyway.
Clang!
The two swords collided.
Ziiiing!
The metallic scream rang out.
The vibration transmitted through the hilt.
I dragged my foot sideways and flicked her sword away.
The two blades would clash again.
But I had to break common sense.
Instead of blocking, I watched my master’s sword.
The world slowed down.
Erde’s sword thrust forward with the intent to tear me apart.
Erde could stop, but she wouldn’t.
If things continued like this, I would be mercilessly slaughtered by that well-honed blade.
How much would it hurt?
It would probably hurt like absolute hell.
I might even have to spend a few weeks in the hospital.
‘But I have no intention of letting that happen.’
I examined Erde’s sword more closely.
Within my blurry vision, a bright light appeared.
A specific part of the sword was shining as if it held the sun.
Found it.
My thoughts accelerated.
My eyes returned to normal, and everything became clear.
Among it all, that light was especially bright.
I slashed at that light.
Slice!
‘Wow.’
Erde’s sword was cut like a sheet of paper.
The cut surface was incredibly clean, wasn’t it?
I could probably sell just that part for a good price.
“I lost.”
Erde admitted defeat.
I had defeated Erde with pure swordsmanship.
“Cough!”
Of course, if it had been a real fight, I would have been beaten to a pulp.
If I fought like this, the swordless Erde would have beaten me like a dog on a lucky day until I died.
‘Still, I won.’
Even if I fought stupidly, winning was what mattered.
It wasn’t like I was going to consider the aftermath in a real battle.
Even in an actual situation, I would have fought this way anyway.
“You pushed yourself too hard.”
Erde smiled brightly as she supported me.
“Are you… satisfied?”
“It’s a case of the student surpassing the master. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I started teaching you.”
“Is that so.”
A master who only hoped for her disciple to surpass her.
Was that what a master’s heart was like?
I didn’t know.
If my disciple surpassed me, I felt like I would be upset.
‘I guess I’m not cut out to be a master.’
I chuckled and continued my bloody coughing fit.
Blood completely soaked my clothes.
“Isana, please guide us.”
“Understood.”
We left the training room and headed for the dormitory.
We were going to meet Seris, who was with Linea.
“I’ll lead the way.”
Isana walked with light, graceful steps.
Erde followed behind her, and I was being carried in Erde’s arms.
Lately, it felt like I was being held by women more often.
The silver lining was that at least Erde didn’t call me her “little prince” or anything like that.
“So this is it. I’ll have to remember.”
“Is there any point in remembering?”
After all, Erde would be leaving soon.
“What kind of lonely thing are you saying? I was officially invited here, Ethan.”
“Huh?”
Before Erde could answer my question, Isana opened the door to the dormitory.
“Master!”
Linea came bounding out, panting heavily.
And then she saw it.
My blood-soaked appearance.
And the unfamiliar woman (by Linea’s standards) holding me.
“L-let go of Master right now, you, you auntie!”
“Oh.”
Next chapter: Linea dies.