The Sword Saint's Brutal Training
After our master-disciple relationship somehow formed in that haphazard way, the Sword Saint and I headed toward one of the academy’s four training grounds, excluding the main arena.
It was my first time using a training ground during regular class hours since the senior-junior exchange matches. For some reason, both my arms had already begun to throb.
On the way there, the Sword Saint glanced back at me and asked,
“I’m not sure you can really call that a fight…”
“Ah. So that’s what you were curious about.”
I immediately understood what the Sword Saint meant. He was asking why I would take the risk of breaking my arms by stubbornly using them instead of a sword. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t thought about it myself, but…
“Hmm. I figured that might be the case.”
Parry was a technique that could only succeed by clashing impact against impact at the absolute limit of timing. Controlling part of my own body and using a sword or other cold weapon were on completely different levels of difficulty. In fact, before my spar with Senior Hina, I had tested it against Stelle using a wooden sword…
‘Whoa?! H-Hint…!’
‘…It’s nothing.’
‘B-But Hint! Your wrist…!’
I had tried to parry Stelle’s strike with a wooden sword and ended up twisting my wrist badly. At the time I thought there was no way simply blocking Stelle’s attack would do that much damage, but honestly I nearly burst into ugly sobs. I only held back because I thought I might actually die. Professor Felicia’s glare had been particularly memorable.
‘If you come crawling to me with this nonsense again, I’ll kill you next time, got it?’
‘I’m sorry…’
As expected, the scariest and strongest person in the academy really was the school nurse. She was the only woman capable of rendering even the Sword Saint powerless. Terrifying indeed, Professor Felicia.
The Sword Saint nodded without much reaction. He seemed to have expected as much.
“That does seem likely.”
What the hell? Why does hearing the truth make me feel so annoyed?
The Sword Saint grinned mischievously and jabbed me in the side. Even though it was a light touch, it felt like being smashed by a massive boulder. I clutched my side and collapsed to the ground.
“That was… only possible because I was pumped full of drugs, every buff imaginable, and the best equipment. My stats are only around E-class or D-class.”
“As you say.”
Of course, if I truly had to win no matter what, gritting my teeth and using every possible means, I could probably manage it. But on the stage of the first arc that was right around the corner, I wouldn’t be able to bring in any external aids. In reality, I really couldn’t win.
“By the way, do we really have to use the training ground?”
“I see. That makes sense.”
When we arrived near the training ground, the sounds of students training hard could already be heard from inside—explosions, magic power drawing circles, fists colliding—and…
-Awoooooooo!!!!! -Auwooooooooo!!!!!
Wolves…? And the only situation where two wolves would howl at the same time was one specific case.
“If that’s the case… then I suppose we have no choice.”
I let out a small sigh and entered the training ground with the Sword Saint. Honestly, I didn’t particularly want to leave a strong impression on the S-class students, but it couldn’t be helped. Now that Stelle had already advanced to S-class, there was no need for me to stamp my presence on them. I just hoped the two battle maniacs who represented S-class wouldn’t come charging at me and throw the original story off course.
“Wow… Every time I come here, it brings back memories. I used to visit this place often back in the day too.”
“Now that you mention it, you were an academy graduate, Sword Saint.”
After passing through a tunnel-like corridor, the view suddenly opened up and the entire training ground came into sight. There, two battle maniacs were fiercely clashing.
The Amazoness warrior Titania’s fist tore through the air as it charged forward. Blocking that B+ ranked monstrous strength—the peak of a first-year’s physical power—was one man’s magnificent abs.
This time it was the warrior of the great plains, Greg’s turn. A fist larger than the girl’s face swung toward her, but she fearlessly took it head-on. The exchange of devastating blows that made even my knees weak just from watching. Each strike carried enough power to easily crush a person’s skull. A contest of pure strength with no guards whatsoever. I couldn’t tell if this was a fight between hero candidates or a territorial dispute between primitive gorillas. A monstrous battle of titans was unfolding right before my eyes.
“…That really is a bit much, isn’t it?”
“What class is that even supposed to be?”
We quietly moved to a corner of the training ground. Fortunately, there were other students on the opposite side, and everyone seemed completely absorbed in the monster parade, paying us no attention. Except for one person.
“Huh? Hint! What are you doing here?”
With the sound of cute pitter-patter footsteps, Stelle, Hati, and Skoll came running over.
- It has been a while, Brother.
- Oppa! Got anything for us today?
Whether it was because I was close with Stelle or because I had also received Fenrir’s recognition, both Skoll and Hati were quite fond of me. I stroked the heads of the two wolves as they rubbed against me.
“I’ve started receiving instruction from the Sword Saint starting today.”
“That’s amazing. One-on-one lessons with the Sword Saint himself.”
Stelle’s eyes sparkled. She seemed genuinely envious of the fact that I was receiving personal instruction from the greatest and strongest hero of the modern era. Her exclamation also drew the attention of the other S-class students, who began glancing in our direction. On the other hand, I—who could roughly guess what kind of “lessons” I was about to receive—couldn’t exactly smile about it.
“It’s not exactly something to be envious about.”
“Kugh!”
The sword swung slowly, then suddenly vanished. An ultra-acceleration that mocked my dynamic vision as it tried to keep up—it felt no different from teleportation. Naturally, its destination was my body. The wooden sword slammed into my side with such force that I was sent flying into the distance.
“Haa… Haa…”
This was already the nineteenth knockdown since class began. Some kind of liquid poured down onto my half-dead head. Fortunately it wasn’t brain matter—it was a high potion the Sword Saint was sprinkling on me.
The Sword Saint tossed the empty potion bottle far away. Already six empty bottles of high-grade potions—each one expensive enough to make my hands shake just thinking about buying one with my current finances—were rolling across the ground. The first-year S-class students who had looked envious of our lesson earlier were now trembling as they watched, aside from the two battle maniacs who were still fighting.
The frivolous, relaxed attitude from earlier was gone. The man swinging his sword before me was unmistakably a hero. But the same strike flew toward me again as I barely managed to stand and reset my stance. The attack started slow, then suddenly accelerated sharply. This time, I accurately tracked the strike with my eyes. My body moved to follow them, attempting to parry the incoming threat. But at that exact moment, my balance collapsed completely. The Sword Saint had swung his leg and kicked my knee at the same time as the sword strike. Of course, because he had also disrupted his own posture, the sword strike wasn’t as sharp as before. I didn’t go flying this time and instead retreated while rubbing my aching temple.
And furthermore—
As he continued speaking, the Sword Saint swung his sword. A beautiful silver line drew slowly through the air toward my shoulder. I knew this one. It was one of the techniques I could learn from the Sword Saint in the game.
"Sword Saint Style—"
⟨ Crescent Moon ⟩
My arm shot up and parried the Sword Saint’s strike, cutting off his words. His eyes widened.
“Haa… Haa… Who knows…!!”
This time the sword swung even more slowly—so slowly that even I could see it clearly. But I couldn’t parry it. With a dull thud, the blade landed on my shoulder. It didn’t even hurt much.
“Haa… Haa… So that means…”
The dignified, hero-like demeanor from earlier had vanished. The Sword Saint laughed with genuine delight, sounding almost frivolous.
This damn sadistic Sword Saint. A vein throbbed on my forehead.
Even my usual sly poker face was bound to crumble after dying six times in a row. In response to my shout, the Sword Saint answered with his sword rather than words. Another strike I couldn’t react to. Before my body could even flinch, the blade landed on my left arm.
Before he even finished speaking, a strike carrying sharp pain drove into my left arm. Fortunately he hadn’t swung with the intention of sending me flying this time, so I stayed on my feet. The Sword Saint flashed that trademark smile of his again.
He reminded me of how, during my spar with Hina, she hadn’t been able to stop her greatsword properly no matter how hard she tried, ultimately cracking my skull. Of course the fact that it was a greatsword played a part, but his point was that a sword meant to stop and a sword meant to strike were fundamentally different.
Ha. He had blocked off every escape route. What more was there to say?
I stood up and reset my stance.
Once again, countless strikes of the fastest sword poured down without mercy. Stelle, who had been watching from afar, closed her eyes and turned her head away. Screams echoed throughout the training ground.