Echoes of the Sword Saint
“……Master?”
Louis doubted his own eyes. For some reason, the girl’s figure overlapped with his master’s. It was impossible. Truly impossible. Yet Louis felt an overpowering sense of familiarity from Elia. The way she stood with sword in hand. The habit of closing her eyes and drawing breath through her teeth right before a spar. Every last detail was identical to his master.
It could be coincidence. There were countless people in the world, after all. But the instant she moved with the blade, her motions matched his master far too perfectly.
When he had learned swordsmanship from the Sword Saint, Louis had crossed blades with him every single day without fail. The total number of bouts easily surpassed several hundred. That was why no one understood the sight of his master facing an opponent with a sword better than Louis.
“Wh-what kind of nonsense are you spouting?”
Elia returned the Holy Sword.
“Anyway! I won!”
She spun on her heel. The golden hair cascading down to her waist swayed gently, releasing a faint, sweet peach fragrance.
“I’ll take some time to decide what favor I want.”
She strode quickly out of the rear garden, the motion carrying the distinct air of someone trying to flee the scene.
“Wait!”
Louis caught her arm.
“You. Who taught you swordsmanship?”
Master. The word had slipped out before he could stop it. Naturally, there was no way this girl could be his master. It was an impossible notion. The Sword Saint Adrean van Rycard had left this world long ago. Louis had witnessed the funeral and the sealing of the coffin with his own eyes. Unless his master’s soul had somehow taken residence inside the girl… but that defied all common sense.
Which was exactly why he was curious. How could she wield a blade exactly like his master?
“I practiced on my own.”
“Teach me. Those movements cannot be learned through solo practice.”
“It’s the truth. I really did practice alone.”
“You already seem to possess more than enough real combat experience, too……”
Yet strangely, Elia showed no signs of having been trained by another. Her palms were soft. Her frame was delicate. She did not possess the body of a warrior. Nevertheless, she handled a sword with clear familiarity and zero hesitation. Boldly thrusting a blade at a person—not a demonic beast—was no simple matter. It was proof she had done so many times before. Even if they had not been real battles, she must have sparred dozens, even hundreds of times.
And that was not all. From the brief display of movement, she also appeared accustomed to enhancing her physical abilities with mana. To be skilled with the sword was impressive enough, but to command both mana and Holy Power? He hardly knew where to begin his astonishment.
“You truly learned everything by yourself?”
Louis’s blue eyes studied Elia with keen interest.
“How many times must I say it…!”
Elia broke into a cold sweat. This is troublesome. She knew her disciple’s stubborn nature all too well—once he sank his teeth into a question, he would not let go until he received a satisfying answer. Simply insisting she had practiced alone would never shake him off. But it was the truth…!
Elia’s swordsmanship consisted of techniques she had mastered herself. To be precise, in her previous life. Until the memories of her past life returned, she had been nothing more than an ordinary girl.
Hmmph…… Even if I told the truth, he wouldn’t believe it. I understand. If I were in his position, I wouldn’t have believed it either. It simply doesn’t add up.
No matter how much natural talent for swordsmanship one was born with, wielding a blade well and acquiring proper swordsmanship were two entirely different matters. Even a prodigy needed someone to open the path for them. For a swordsmanship genius to emerge, they would have had to encounter the art through another. In a rural village like this, such opportunities were rare, and the chance to encounter the Sword Saint’s techniques was rarer still.
Had she truly learned it alone, she would have displayed something novel—raw, unpolished swordsmanship. In contrast, Elia’s style was meticulously refined.
Louis continued pressing her with questions.
“He’s so persistent…!”
It brought back old memories. Whenever Louis had been taught a new technique, he would pester his master with questions until he mastered it. He had even woken his sleeping master in the middle of the night to ask. Sometimes he would stay up practicing until he succeeded and go three whole days without sleep.
At any rate, he needed some kind of answer. Elia racked her brains. Since she usually solved problems with her body rather than her head, clever improvisation was not her strong suit.
“…Very well.”
Louis’s eyes sparkled.
“I was told to keep it a secret… but I suppose I can tell you.”
Elia put on her best performance and quickly constructed an excuse that would let her escape this situation.
“I learned from a certain old man.”
“An old man?”
Louis’s interest deepened. Several swordsmen rose in his mind. The first, naturally, was his master. But he immediately shook the thought away. Time-wise, it was impossible for his master and this girl to have met.
“I don’t know his name. I found him collapsed in the forest and helped him, so he taught me various things. Swordsmanship, how to handle mana, that sort of thing.”
That was the story she had wrung from her brain—creating a mysterious stranger.
“Do you remember what he looked like?”
Elia shook her head vigorously.
“It was so long ago……”
“By any chance… do you know the name Adrean? Adrean van Rycard.”
Of course I know it. How could I not?
“Hmm…… Ah! I’ve heard of him. The Sword Saint, correct?”
To be exact, the previous Sword Saint. The title belonged to someone else now. Before he died, he had recommended the commander of the 10th Knight Order for the position, and that young upstart had truly become the new Sword Saint.
“You know of him?”
“Yes. That old man told me about him.”
She kept thinking furiously.
“He said that long ago… he had learned the sword from that person.”
“What?”
Louis’s eyes widened. It seemed he was willing to believe her for now.
“He… mentioned that he learned it when he was drifting in the demon world many years ago……”
It had happened decades earlier, before he had become the Sword Saint. While carrying out a mission in the demon world, he had fallen into a trap and spent a full year lost there.
“I’ve heard that story…!”
Of course he had. It was when I was still an intermediate knight. That day the wind was unusually calm and the battlefield was quiet. I was carrying out the mission my superior had given me……
Whenever he drank, he would corner Louis and recount his adventures in the demon world. That one-year gap in his life. Now she had simply inserted a mysterious figure into it—a person who had learned swordsmanship from Adrean.
Naturally, no such person existed. Adrean had survived that year in the demon world alone. He had only told Louis about the major events, so the younger man knew none of the finer details. Therefore, the story carried a degree of plausibility.
In other words, it was a hastily constructed setting: another disciple of the Sword Saint whom Louis had never known.
“He said it was truly only for a short while.”
“Why?”
“Um… I heard they encountered a fiend in the middle of it, fought, and became separated. He managed to return safely afterward, but he retired due to his injuries. After that meeting in the demon world, they were never able to meet again.”
This much should be enough, right? Not a bad improvisation, if I do say so myself.
Louis’s expression grew solemn. So his master had had another disciple. He had not fully accepted it, but since the story was plausible, he chose to believe Elia’s words. He had heard many tales from his master, but not all of them. It was only natural that some remained unknown to him. Above all, if she had learned swordsmanship from another of his master’s disciples, it explained why he kept seeing his master’s shadow overlapping with Elia.
“Where is that person now?”
“I don’t know. He stayed in the forest for about a month before suddenly disappearing one day. Without a single word.”
Hmmph! I’d say that was a solid excuse!
Elia was quietly impressed with her own quick thinking. She had planned to meet her disciple again someday, but facing him in this form felt strangely awkward. Becoming a woman was bad enough. Wearing a nun’s habit on top of it? The habit itself was not the problem. The issue was that nothing fit this body properly, leaving her cleavage blatantly exposed. She had grown used to it by now, but… Ahem. Ahem.
“Is that sufficient now?”
“Ah… yes.”
His feelings were complicated. Still, Louis nodded. When he considered his master’s turbulent life, nothing that happened would seem strange. The possibility of another disciple was entirely plausible. Countless people had wished to receive the Sword Saint’s teachings. He had often observed other knights’ training sessions as well.
“Um…… may I ask one more thing?”
Elia, who had been turning to leave for the convent, paused and faced Louis again.
“That left arm……”
She pointed at Louis’s left sleeve. She had been bothered by it since earlier. The large coat draped over his shoulders fluttered in the breeze. Through the gap, she could see that the sleeve was empty. Elia frowned.
“……What happened to it?”