Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: My Senior
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Someone I never thought I’d see again had appeared before me as my senior.
Was this a coincidence, or was it a scheme arranged by the Book of Fate?
My mind grew complicated for a moment, but since worrying wouldn't reveal any answers, I decided to accept things as they were.
She was my senior.
And I was scheduled to learn ancient swordsmanship from her.
*‘Good news and bad news all at once.’*
The good news… was that thanks to this knight, some of my anxiety had faded.
The woman I’d seen before was the very picture of a just knight, faithful to her convictions. It made me trust her master, Grand Duke Laitena, a little more.
The bad news was that I wouldn’t be learning the sword directly from the Grand Duke.
It was a shame, but not something to be completely disappointed about. After all, she was also Grand Duke Laitena’s disciple. I would be able to experience his teaching methods, albeit indirectly.
*‘By the way…’*
I narrowed my eyes as I looked at the woman standing there in a daze.
*‘…Is that a fashion statement?’*
Blonde hair and blue eyes.
A neatly pressed uniform.
Shining boots.
A posture as sharp as a blade.
Everything was perfect, but…
*‘What’s with her hair?’*
She had her bangs gathered and tied straight up. A tuft of blonde hair sticking out on top. It had been tied carelessly, with stray hairs sticking out here and there, which looked rather comfortable and even a bit cute… but when seen with her perfectly crisp uniform,
*‘It looks a little ridiculous.’*
She looked as if she’d been lazing about at home reading a book with her hair tied up haphazardly, then hastily threw on her uniform and rushed out.
But the Grand Duke walked past her without a single comment about her hairstyle.
“Go ahead and greet your junior. I have business with the mages here.”
The Grand Duke gave me a nod and disappeared into the lord’s castle.
The woman and I were left at the main gate, staring blankly at each other.
For a while, the woman wore a bewildered expression, but she soon seemed to recall her duty and straightened her posture.
Her dazed eyes sharpened in an instant.
“What do you think you’re doing? What are you supposed to do when you see your senior?!”
A sudden rebuke that rang out thunderously.
It was abrupt, but I wasn't clueless.
*Right, the junior’s here, so you’re going to pull rank, is that it?*
Well, no reason I couldn't play along.
I placed my hands atop my sword’s pommel, offering a salute.
The woman returned the salute with a serious expression.
After exchanging greetings, I spoke.
“Fancy seeing you here.”
It was an expression of pure delight at seeing her again.
But the woman’s brow twitched and furrowed.
“Fancy seeing you here? Is that any way to speak to your senior?!”
*Hmm, she’s really making a big deal about my tone.*
My rebellious spirit, forged from living half my life in the lawless Roverland, stirred, but I held it back for now.
This woman was going to be my instructor.
That meant I had to make a good impression.
“My apologies.”
I quickly switched gears and corrected my tone, but my dear senior’s nagging was just getting started.
“I don’t know what kind of life you’ve lived until now, junior! But from this day forward, you and I are our master’s only two disciples. Is that not so?!”
“…It is.”
“To avoid bringing shame upon our master, we must be mindful of our every action. Always maintain a neat appearance! And proper conduct!”
Whoa…
This wasn't her first time dressing someone down.
Standing ramrod straight, she scolded me in a booming voice, her presence formidable.
*‘Hmm… Unlike how she first appeared, maybe she’s not a pushover?’*
When we fought the cultists, I was effectively in the position of power, so I’d thought she was a bit of a pushover… but meeting her now as my senior, I was getting the strong impression that she was anything but.
“Especially a neat appearance! Do you not understand how important first impressions are?! When was the last time you polished those boots! And why is your cloak draped so crookedly! Your hair is a mess! Do you have any awareness of your station?! Walking around like that, what makes you any different from a bandit!”
My senior, reprimanding me heatedly.
I straightened my posture and took her scolding in stride.
I had to make a good impression, after all.
But she was so strict. She seemed like the type who wouldn’t give an inch.
*‘That must be… just the hairstyle of this era.’*
A quick glance. I looked at the tied-up tuft of hair sticking up from my senior’s head.
The way it wobbled and the cloud of stray hairs kept drawing my attention, but I forced myself to ignore it.
*If that’s the fashion of this era, I have to accept it, right?*
Someone as strict as a true soldier wouldn’t neglect her own hair.
But my senior seemed to have caught my fleeting glance.
“What is it? Why do you keep glancing at my hair?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Glancing around like that is a very bad habit! Composure starts with one’s gaze…!”
My senior launched into another lecture, as if she’d found the perfect excuse.
However…
“Um, Iodine…”
One of the knights watching from the side called out to her cautiously.
“Yes?”
The knight who had called her repeatedly pointed to the top of his own head, trying to give her a hint.
“Yes? What is it?”
Her eyes wide with a dazed expression, my senior fumbled around her forehead until her hand touched the tuft of hair sticking straight up.
*‘Oh…’*
I had never seen someone’s face drain of color so quickly in real time.
“Have I… been like this the whole time? In front of Master, too…?”
At her question, the knight nodded with a miserable look on his face.
Stiffly, she turned only her eyes to glance at me.
Ah… wasn’t that the very ‘glancing’ she had just forbidden me from doing….
As our eyes met, my senior’s face slowly began to flush,
“Aaaargh!”
and she ended up covering her hair with her hands as she fled through the gate.
“Pwahahahaha!”
“Oh man… What’s she gonna do? She was trying so hard to look cool for her new junior…”
“Pfft. She’ll never fix that habit. Always forgetting one little thing.”
The knights burst out laughing as they watched my senior’s retreating back.
I, too, stared at her back and slowly nodded.
Because now I knew for sure.
*‘My senior. She’s a pushover after all, huh?’*
It was the moment that all-important first impression was made.
***
My senior was a strong-willed person.
Despite having fled like that earlier, she reappeared in the evening with a perfectly composed face.
Her hair, of course, was now neatly combed down.
“Your name is Lansen Vanroah, correct?”
“Yes.”
“We’re only now formally introducing ourselves. I am Iodine Serom. His Grace the Grand Duke’s one and only… no. Now, one of his only two direct disciples. I am also a member of the Horizon Knights, His Grace’s personal knight order.”
After calmly finishing her introduction, she gazed at me intently and spoke.
“I went and asked Master. I said that you, Lansen, might be stronger than me, so what could I possibly teach you? But Master told me that you cannot properly handle Sword Ki, junior.”
“Yes. If you mean that… shimmering haze, I believe my skill is at a rudimentary level.”
“I see… so the colored Sword Ki you displayed back then was possible because of your unique constitution?”
Unique constitution.
It was a term I’d heard from Grand Duke Laitena on our way here.
In the era I came from, the basics of swordsmanship involved directly absorbing mana from the atmosphere through breathing and the skin to form an aura core below the navel.
But it seemed the people of this era were incapable of that.
I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it.
Putting aside the fundamental question of why they couldn’t do what everyone in my time could,
*They can’t manipulate mana directly?*
*But you all have aura, don’t you? What’s that, then?*
Iodine explained that part clearly.
“We typically handle mana indirectly, through a power we call ‘spiritual power’ or ‘will’.”
“Spiritual power? Will? Is that different from handling it directly?”
“It is. First, you must awaken the soul of the sword.”
“The soul of the sword…”
“Yes. We call it the Sword Spirit. The Sword Spirit has only one will: ‘to cut.’ When you commune with the Sword Spirit and manifest that will to cut into reality, that becomes Sword Ki.”
“Ah…”
Indeed, the haze-like energy used by ancient swordsmen was strange. The amount of aura was scant, yet it possessed an absurd cutting power for such a small amount.
“Mana is merely drawn to that will. We don’t move it directly. Once you establish Sword Ki with spiritual power, mana clings to it and strengthens it. Mana simply assists.”
Gradually,
the pounding in my chest grew stronger.
*‘It’s completely new…’*
A new form of swordsmanship, built not on mana and aura, but on the entirely different foundation of soul and will.
*Such a power existed in this world?*
A completely new, infinite world was slowly revealing its true face to me.
“A constitution that can directly handle mana must be a great advantage. Just by condensing mana and imbuing it into your sword, you can display enough destructive force to shatter most Sword Ki. Just as you did back at the cultists’ chapel.”
For a moment, a flicker of envy entered Iodine’s eyes.
But that emotion was quickly replaced by firm will and pride.
“However, you must not forget that spiritual power is the pillar, and mana is the roof. If you try to build only the roof of mana without setting the pillar straight, the castle will not stand for long before it collapses. You are strong now, Lansen, but you must remember that by setting your foundation right, you can become much, much stronger.”
Iodine urged me with a stern gaze.
Unlike during the day, her perfectly neat appearance now gave her a rather cool air.
“As Master said this afternoon, I will be in charge of your training, junior. Master has been incredibly busy lately and has left again. It seems he will be away for another month. I will do my best to pass on his teachings, so please try not to be too disappointed.”
“Understood.”
*Wait, when did the Grand Duke even get back for him to have left again already?*
I was hoping I could learn at least a little something from the Grand Duke… what a shame.
I could only hope that Iodine would be a good teacher.
“Now, before we begin our formal training, I will assess your current skill level, junior. Draw your sword and raise your Sword Ki. Sword, draw!”
At the thunderous command, I drew Vanroah.
As the pure white blade was revealed under the sunlight, Iodine let out a gasp of admiration.
“What a magnificent sword…!”
She even broke her ramrod-straight posture, her eyes devouring every inch of Vanroah.
“Wow… what is this?”
“What’s it made of?”
She wasn’t the only one.
The knights who had been pretending not to watch from all over also swarmed in.
*This feels pretty good.*
Seeing Vanroah, the symbol of my royal family, being recognized like this.
Basking in the smug feeling, I released my Sword Ki.
*Communing with the soul of the sword, the Sword Spirit, and manifesting its will upon the world.*
*Whoooom—*
Vanroah trembled faintly, emitting a distinct, shimmering haze.
I felt a little smug.
Even though I’d only learned it by watching others, the Sword Ki I produced was even clearer than what Iodine had shown at the cultists’ chapel.
“Hmm…?”
“Mm… As expected…”
But the onlookers’ reactions were a bit strange.
Lukewarm, you could say.
Iodine was the same.
“I’ve seen enough. Now, try raising your Sword Ki with this sword.”
What Iodine handed me was an ordinary iron sword.
I was a bit puzzled, but I did as she asked.
“Sword, draw!”
At Iodine’s command, I drew the ordinary iron sword.
I attempted to commune with its Sword Spirit.
But…
*Whu… whu…mm*
*Wait, what?*
*Why isn’t this working?*
The Sword Ki wouldn’t come out.
The sword responded to my call with a faint vibration, but it was completely listless. After vibrating once or twice, it fell silent….
I was flustered. It had been working just fine, why not now?
“Just as I thought.”
Iodine nodded as if she had expected this.
When I questioned her with my eyes, she answered calmly.
“Sword Ki is the manifestation of the power of the soul within a sword.”
She extended a long finger and pointed first to Vanroah, then to the iron sword in my hand.
“In other words, the better the sword, the deeper its history, the stronger the power of its soul. The reason you could draw out Sword Ki so easily, junior, is because that sword of yours is just that magnificent. To put it another way…”
She drew out her words before finishing decisively.
“Your current skill level is such that even with a sword that magnificent, you could only draw out that much Sword Ki.”
Ah…?
*So a better sword means stronger Sword Ki…?*
It was a concept vastly different from modern aura, which wasn't picky about weapons aside from differences in aura conductivity and durability.
*‘…Is that why?’*
A memory flashed through my mind: Ksias’s red aura being effortlessly sliced apart by Vanroah.
I had thought its power was amplified to an absurd degree by combining ancient Sword Ki and modern aura… but that wasn't all there was to it.
*‘Vanroah itself is a sword with evil-smiting power, so that power must have been imbued in its Sword Ki. That’s why it was so easy…’*
While I was reeling from this new revelation, Iodine snapped into a formal stance.
“Then I will give my assessment. Your current skill level is Low-rank Expert. And even then, barely at the entry level.”
“Low-rank… entry level…”
“Yes. The low rank is the stage of the Reading Sword. It refers to the state where you can read the heart of the sword to draw out Sword Ki and swing the sword along the path it shows you.”
It seemed to refer to the exact sensation I’d felt when fighting Ksias with Vanroah.
“This is problematic, however.”
Iodine frowned.
“And right during the Exchange Meet, of all times… At your current level, this is quite a problem.”
*What’s that?*
“I will explain the details later. For now, just remember that it is an important event. In any case, you must reach the middle rank—the stage of the Body Sword—by the last day of the Exchange Meet in two weeks. …This has become quite a headache.”
Iodine’s brow furrowed.
But I was more curious about something else than the Exchange Meet.
“What is the stage of the Body Sword?”
“Mid-rank Expert. It is the stage where you can accept the sword’s energy into your body. You gain various physical abilities and can read and utilize the sword’s will more keenly.”
It was fascinating.
Ancient swordsmanship.
Wasn't it boundless?
“Then what is your rank, senior?”
At my question, Iodine puffed out her chest and said,
“I recently reached the high rank of Sword Expert, the stage of the Entrusting Sword.”
*The stage of the Entrusting Sword?*
“It is the stage where the sword moves on its own. You can cut faster than the speed of thought.”
*Wait, the sword moves before you even think?!*
*Does that mean… your reaction time is literally zero?*
For a swordsman, that was…
*‘That’s completely broken, isn’t it?’*
*Thump.*
I coveted it… so much.
A day and a half had passed since I came to the ancient era.
I now had a goal.
The stage of the Entrusting Sword!
I gripped the sword in my hand tightly.
*‘Alright. Tonight is for special training!’*
First things first… I’ll start by drawing Sword Ki from this ordinary iron sword…