“Here I go!”
“Brace yourself!”
A boy yells at me with a high-spirited shout.
What I have is a standard wooden sword. That said, it’s not the length that I and the Rebelio Knights usually use, but it’s a little shorter.
Eventually, they should be able to handle proper equipment, but wooden swords are quite heavy for those who are not used to wielding swords. Even though it’s long and thin, it’s solid wood, so there’s no way it’s going to be light. Well, in other words, it takes a certain amount of proficiency to handle its weight and length well.
“Yah!”
“Yeah, you’ve gotten a lot sharper.”
The boy with a wooden sword…… Lumitte’s angled slash was deflected by changing the trajectory with the wooden sword I held in my hand.
He originally studied swordsmanship, so compared to everyone else, he’s got more solid foundations. In addition to that, he also followed Thyssel’s fairly intense training, so you could see the results.
“Kono…!”
“Hoi.”
Without releasing the deflected wooden sword, I made one step further in and rounded up my sword to center it again. And while watching the wooden sword tip coming from the bottom right of my eyes, I also drop the tip of my sword and counterattack.
Gyarin, the sound of wood striking against wood resounded.
If we hit each other head-on, I’m still stronger in physical strength. That’s why I put a lot of weight on parrying Lumitte’s swordsmanship without interfering with his technique. It feels more comfortable for the sword wielder to feel his momentum still going.
As I said earlier, Lumitte’s swordsmanship is fairly decent.
That said, it’s relatively speaking, these are still students studying Sword Magic at the Magician’s Academy. As a person who usually trains with the Rebelio Knights, there is still no way I can’t deal with this level of sword attack. I don’t know how it will be a few years from now.
“…!”
“Hm?”
Lumitte had his torso stretched from my round-up, now he forced his body backward and dropped his sword’s edge in the opposite direction from earlier.
I wonder what he’s doing? If you say he’s afraid of my counterattack, just jump back and get some space. If you attack continuously, you don’t need to twist your body to create a moment to tense and charge your strength. I can’t read his next move, and I had to pause to think.
For the time being, it’s dangerous to think at this distance, let’s step back from my side. If there is some kind of action, should I wait and see before acting?
“Sei!”
“Oh?”
Much faster than the answer popped in my head, Lumitte answered with the correct option.
It’s a swing that his sword could visibly not reach me. Putting aside the delicate distance, it was a distance that everyone could clearly see it would not have hit me in normal circumstances. Nevertheless, Lumitte swung his sword.
And what is comes from the edge is a threatening wave, clearly different from the wake of a normal swing.
“Oh, that’s amazing,” I said.
In other words, Lumitte used Sword Magic.
Its power and speed are unbelievable even compared to Thyssel’s. If you have some experience in battle, you can dodge easily even after seeing it. In fact, I could easily avoid it by shifting half my body once I saw it was coming.
However, I honestly think it’s wonderful that he performed “magic using a sword”, which is different from just fighting with a wooden sword. I’d go so far as to say his talent will start to shine so quickly if it is polished and guided in the right direction.
“But well, one strike doesn’t end things,” I said.
“Aideh!” Lumitte cried.
But that’s that, this is this.
He fired a wave of Sword Magic, and I advanced toward Lumitte’s head while he was wide open, and then struck him with my wooden sword. He made a soft voice befitting that of a young noble boy.
If this has deadly power, range, and unavoidable speed, and it is a move that can guarantee the death of your enemy, there is no problem. That may be the case in the future, but at least not for now. Therefore, it was inevitable that I’d hit Lumitte’s body with my wooden sword, while he was satisfied with that spell and exposed himself so much.
“Ah, thank you very much,” Lumitte said, bowing while rubbing his head.
“Likewise,” I said, returning the gesture. “But, it’s amazing, you’re able to use Sword Magic already.”
That second half was quite the surprise.
I don’t understand magic at all. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think it will be easy to master. However, in such a short period of time, even though you could say it was just a coincidence, I think the speed of his growth is frightening to have fully manifested his Sword Magic now.
“I practiced during the holidays,” Lumitte replied. “But it’s still difficult to cast a spell while moving.”
“I see, is that how it was?” I said.
The Magician’s Academy has been out for the summer, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the student’s progress has stopped. In fact, like this, Lumitte and other serious people are working hard to improve themselves without attending lectures at the academy.
Well, it’s important to rest and change your mindset to resting. In fact, it’s already difficult for me to stay tense both physically and mentally for prolonged periods, so I also rest moderately.
However, when I was young, I used to swing my sword recklessly. I have no intention of forcing the young children of today to do so, but forcing them to do so when they can do it is also a fine option.
“Uosshya! I win!”
“Kuh…! That’s so unfair! You’re much stronger than me!”
“That can’t be helped…”
When I was thinking about that, it seemed that another dueling pair had ended just a little away from where I and Lumitte were.
It was Nazia and Feledora who were clashing with wooden swords. They also continued training at their speed, but without stopping.
It seems that Nazia won this match-up. Feledora complained about it, but honestly, there’s nothing you can do about the difference in muscle strength between men and women. It’s even more so with her because Nazia is blessed with his physique.
“There, there,” I said. “Sword Magic has the potential to overturn that disadvantage. You’re just beginning.”
“Hmm… If Mr. Beryl says so…”
If you strike each other head-on without any strategy, basically the one with the best physical strength and physique wins. There are skills to overturn that, but from that point of view, Sword Magic’s techniques are wonderful. Of course, although it rests on the premise of being decently skilled, it still has the potential to easily overturn such a disadvantage.
Well, without such projectiles, it’s Alexia and Selena who are turning their disadvantage around without such projectiles. Henblitz would definitely be stronger in an arm wrestling match. Techniques are a truly mysterious and profound thing
“Toriyah!”
“…!”
And there is another pair that is dueling beside us.
It was Miu and Cindy.
Cindy makes full use of her surplus physical strength to attack all the time. Her sword arm is still at a stage where it feels uneasy to use it in actual combat, but it seems that it will be quite difficult to deal with endless blows unleashed from a body that does not tire.
On the other hand, Miu handles them well. Since she was originally the type that excelled in agility, dodging Cindy’s sword would be relatively easy for her.
However, it was only to dodge it, and she was inexperienced in terms of how to connect that to a counterattack. This is simply due to the lack of skill and knowledge at present. She can avoid it for the time being, but she doesn’t know what to do from there, it was like that.
“… Fu!”
“Obuffeeh?”
“Oh”
I was thinking that this was Cindy’s victory for Cindy’s tenacity and Miu’s reduced physical strength. Now Miu sharply swung her sword and struck Cindy’s side. It was a splendid blow when she saw the moment she could attack. It looked quite painful.
“Cindy, are you okay?”
“Gu, gigi…! I-I’m okay…!”
When I hurriedly called out to her, she didn’t seem to be all right. Miu isn’t strong, and I don’t think it was strong enough to break a bone, but even so, it usually hurts when a wooden sword strikes your side. It hurts all the more if you don’t have resistance to it. Being strong and being tough are two different things.
It’s odd to be fine after being beaten with a wooden sword. In other words, the Rebelio Knights are usually odd. No, as someone who makes a living through martial arts, it might be right.
“Seems you were able to turn things around for you,” I said.
“…… Fuhn.”
When you give her a compliment, it’s the usual reaction.
It’s the same at home, but during the lectures of the Sword Magic Department, she’s even more standoffish about it. But it’s always like this, so I don’t really care either. This must be what she is. So if Miu is forced into a clear inconvenience, I should intervene somewhat, but it doesn’t seem so at the moment.
“Now then, how about over there?”
When the duels are over, I shift my gaze.
And where I looked, I saw dozens of students doing practice swings with Thyssel’s lead.
It’s been a while since I finished my business at Bidden Village and returned to Baltrain.
The summer vacation at the Magician’s Academy ended when the days were getting shorter and the temperature was still hot. For the first time in a long time, I’m in the middle of Sword Magic lectures at the academy.
It won’t be long before the daytime temperature settles down, and it’s going to get cold without even having time to feel that it’s become a pleasant season. The workings of the four seasons go around regardless of human convenience.
And there was also the incident that Deputy Headmaster Brown caused before the summer vacation, and as a result, the number of students taking the Sword Magic Course increased considerably. Even now that summer has passed and early autumn has approached, the number has not changed much, so it seems that there are not many dropouts. But well, the hard part is that it’s not exactly zero drop-outs.
As for me, since Thyssel’s lecturing got on track, I haven’t lectured that much and haven’t even been here. As I said, it’s the first time in a long time since the summer vacation between the last time.
“Master, I want you to supervise those children. I will do the basics for everyone else here.”
When I showed up to the lecture, that’s what Thyssel told me to do today.
This is a matter of course, but there is a considerable difference in proficiency between the five people who followed Thyssel’s lectures from the beginning and the dozens who joined later. Moreover, the first five are the elite who have endured the unreasonable and reckless training of Thyssel’s.
Naturally, the difference in proficiency is born, and the plan she came up with to do something about that difference leads to this current situation. In other words, change the teacher according to the progress of the students.
This is a rough job that can only be done because there are two people, me and Thyssel, but I think it’s effective.
We can’t just throw people who can’t even make a satisfactory swing into a duel, and we can’t just let people who have finished learning the basics and want to aim higher just do the basics endlessly.
In the end, if the chicks that Thyssel is teaching now become something to some extent, they should be able to participate in the duels, and if that happens, I will be discharged from my role in the truest sense.
After that, the only thing I could do was become a training partner like I had with Lumitte earlier. After that, I’ll just be here to liven things up. I can teach them about swords, but when it comes to magic, I don’t know anything.
However, from now on, when I attend lectures at the Sword Magic Department, I intend not to lose even once in a duel until they graduate. Even if the opponent uses sword magic like Lumitte earlier. I will moderate myself accordingly, but I will not let my guard down.
Of course, I’ve never fought a mock battle expecting to lose, but ever since I won against Pops, that feeling has become even stronger.
The realization comes relatively late.
I won the meeting with Pops and became aware of my own strength. It was in the carriage heading for Baltrain from Bidden Village that I began to think that I would live to be proud of that, from now on.
After that, well, at the same time, I also started to feel like I should get on top of things and spend my time without being arrogant.
I guess I need to change my self-evaluation from “not weak” to “strong”.
Of course, I can’t say that I’ve mastered the sword at this stage, so I’m going to continue to devote myself to it, but I want to avoid being complacent in the process. Sitting cross-legged on your own strength and taking an arrogant attitude is nothing but foolishness. To begin with, I don’t practice swordsmanship to boast.
So, I try to stay humble but don’t belittle myself, but it’s difficult.
Even if I defeated my Pops, who was the strongest swordsman in my mind, the scenery I see would not suddenly change. In other words, the way I feel doesn’t change so suddenly. I guess there are things that I have to be conscious of and change them.
“Speaking of which, is it still only you, Lumitte, who can handle Sword Magic to some extent?”
I was thinking about various things while taking a break from the dueling group, but now I’m standing here as a temporary lecturer, so I can’t keep worrying about it.
While watching the students swinging wooden swords at Thyssel’s command, I asked that random question.
“No, the other four can do it as well,” Lumitte said.
“Is that so? That’s amazing,” I said.
It seems that Lumitte is not the only one who can cast Sword Magic.
Well, this is the Magician’s Academy and this place is a lecture of the Sword Magic Department, so I guess it’s the starting line after being able to cast the spells.
However, although I was watching the other children’s duels, it didn’t look like they were using sword magic. I guess Lumitte is right, it’s difficult for him to practice using his magic while moving.
“In that case, then is Miu able to fire spells, too?” I asked.
“… Well, for the moment…”
""
Lummite said the other four could, as well. In other words, Miu should also be included there.
Sword Magic that Miu uses.
A bit, no, I really want to see it. I have a feeling that I’ll probably be refused even if I ask to see it secretly at home, so I can’t miss this opportunity.
“Right. I’d like to see what everyone’s Sword Magic is like now,” I said.
“…”
If I say that I only want to see Miu’s Sword Magic here, it will be reflected as my bias toward her. It’s not a good position to be in, as a teacher. Here, I should make a proposal to see everyone’s progress in Sword Magic. And it is also true that I really want to see their forms..
It’s always nice to see the growth of those that come after you. This is what Sir Henblitz said, and I think it’s true, too.
Let’s take a look at the trajectory of their growth here.
