Chapter 138: CH 138

“Morning, everyone,” I said.

“Good morning!” one of the Knights replies.

It’s the next day, after talking with Miu and getting her approval to return to my parent’s house with me.

In the end, what I do is not that different from usual, so I went to the Knights’ training ground as always.

It’s been a while since the morning sun peeked over the horizon. This training ground is almost never empty no matter what time you go. In other words, no matter when you step in, there will usually be someone there.

That’s how much they care about their martial arts, or rather, their dedication is high. Although this itself is very pleasing, if this temperature continues rising, it will be a big problem if I stop at the wrong time, so I have to be careful as their instructor.

That said, it’s not like I’m here 24/7, and this training ground is open even when I’m not there, so when I think about it calmly, there are far more hours in the day when I’m not there than I am.

Even so, there is something like a desire as a leader that I do not want to show off such a lax reputation because I’m being watched by others. Well, since everyone here is a knight who is excellent both physically and mentally, it’s unlikely I’ll make such a mistake.

“Sir Beryl! May I spar with you?” one of the Knights said.

“Alright, let’s do it,” I said.

Hence, most of the members that had been here since earlier this morning are especially driven. Far from just having a high dedication to martial arts, they are hungry to use them.

This soldier, Evans, was one such person. He’s a young knight about the same age as Kuruni, but he’s a lively and good man. It’s just an evaluation from my point of view, so I honestly don’t know how he is as a knight.

“Let’s go!” Evans cried.

We take a distance from each other and then bow. Shortly after, Evan rushes in.

Yeah, good speed. Relative to Alexia and Selena, he’s bad, but even so, to most swordsmen I know, he’s more than enough.

“Hou.”

“… Nghn!”

I use the tip of my wooden sword to catch his blade and twirl it.

I’ve got pretty good eyes. I’m confident that I can handle it at an average speed. And Evans seemed to lose his balance, but he was able to hold on with muscle strength alone.

Henblitz and the others are far superior in terms of simple muscle strength, but as expected, Evans is still a Knight of Rebelio. What’s amazing about him is his flexibility.

Like this, there are some differences in each skill, but all of the Rebelio Knights have wonderful qualities. Kuruni’s power is one of them. Alexia seems to have two, three, or four talents all at once.

“Seiyah…!” Evans yelled, reacting with a slash as he twisted back to his original position.

“… Toh!” I cried.

However, such a reckless, easy-to-see move is easy to counter. It might be nice to catch someone off-guard, but even though it’s practice, this is a proper match. No matter who the opponent is, I’m not conceited enough to let my guard down, no matter who I’m facing.

“Fuh!”

“Uwah… woah, woah, woah!”

After denying Evan’s opening attacks, the attacker and defender are switched.

It’s my turn to attack, but as I said earlier, this is practice. The goal is not to smash the opponent with all your might, so you should focus on the least number of moves with reasonable force.

Evans is impressing me. He forcibly overcomes my attacks with only reflexes.

Terrifying eyes and reaction time. And enough physical strength. A definite premonition crossed my mind that if he continues training like this, he might end up becoming a legendary fighter.

“Hoi, one strike,” I said.

“Agh! I’m hit!” Evans cried.

Finally, as he raises his right arm, I made an upward slash at the blind spot to his left. If the opponent’s eyes are good, you should strike where they can’t see. It’s easy to say it, but even I worked hard to hone this skill, so I was not going to let him beat me here.

“Sir Evans, your eyes and reactions are pretty good,” I said.

“Thank you very much!” Evans said. “Even so, I think I’m a long way away from you, Sir Beryl, and Captain Alexia…”

“Put comparing yourself to *me and Alexia aside…” I said. “Let’s do our best, shall we?”

“Yes!” Evans cried.

He’s made of pretty good stuff.

I think his eyes are good too, but here it’s closer to in-born ability than honed skill. You can call it talent.

And to be honest, it’s pretty hard to train good eyesight. In the first place, I don’t really know how to train this.

It was only after I started learning swordsmanship that I realized that my eyesight is good, not just in the sense that I can see things clearly in my vision, but that I can perceive motion and situations. Though admittedly, the Old Man’s eyes shouldn’t have been as good as mine and I’m the one getting beat up by him.

“However, you’re relying a little too much on your eyes,” I said. “It’ll be easier if you make predictions based on your opponent’s sword and their center of gravity. Take the time to etch that in your heart.”

“Understood!” Evans said.

And no matter how good your innate ability is, it is meaningless unless you cultivate the skill to best make use of it. In that sense, Evans is still developing and can be said to be an unpolished gemstone.

Since I was teaching swordsmanship at the dojo, although it is rare, there have been some students who are so-called geniuses with outstanding talents, or who are close to it. For example, Alexia or Thyssel.

In that sense, Selena was probably a genius too, but she left Bidden Village as a child I was taking care of before I started teaching her swordsmanship in earnest. So after that, she was either self-taught or grew up under another teacher. It’s pretty amazing.

The Knight Order of Rebelio is a group of talented people who are geniuses or close to it. It’s strange to compare a swordsmanship dojo master from a rural village with the country’s #1 Knight Order, but it’s also a place where teachers can learn a lot.

It’s my role as a special instructor to discern talent without overlooking it and encourage further growth. It’s supposed to be a lot of pressure, but it’s also worth it. Everyone has the talent to resonate when they find the right chord, so I’m really enjoying it as a teacher.

But unlike them, I’m no longer young. I’m not going to be able to swing my sword with all my strength forever, and that moment is coming ever closer. Even the Old Man had to put down his sword because he couldn’t beat the march of time on his body.

How long will I be able to cross swords with these young and strong men? I have a vague idea that I want to keep swinging until I turn 60, but I don’t know yet if that will come true.

“… Sir Beryl?” Evans asked.

“… Oh, sorry, sorry,” I said. “I was thinking about something for a moment.”

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I don’t know, at least not now. Ultimately, that time will come.

If that is the case, all we can do now is do what we can to prepare for that time. Take care of your health and avoid serious injuries and illnesses. I mean, it’s the same as usual.

“Come to think of it, it looks like you’re continuing your core strength training. That’s a good thing,” I said.

“Yes, I have,” Evans said. “I’ve been conscious of it since you told me, Sir Beryl. At first, my whole body hurt, but…”

“Hahaha,” I laughed.

It’s not a topic to drag on for long, so I consciously change it.

The trunk is not limited to helping swordsmanship but is extremely important in moving the body in general. However, it is surprisingly difficult to train if you are not conscious of it on a regular basis.

“I noticed you tangled with my blade by wrapping the tip of your sword around mine, Sir Beryl,” Evans said. “That made you even more difficult to defeat, so I think it was worth the training.”

“Ah, you mean that Leaf Crush 1 maneuver…” I said. “I think your eyesight is good enough to try it yourself, Sir Evans.”

“Truly?!” Evans said.

“Well, it’s a lot more difficult than it looks,” I said.

“I suppose it is…” Evans said.

The Leaf Crush maneuver.

It’s one of the sword techniques taught at our dojo. I like using it in live combat, too. Being able to gain an advantage without overpowering your opponent is extremely convenient.

It’s easy to say, but it’s actually quite difficult. The premise is the ability to discern the opponent’s sword strength, and in addition, the ability to discern the opponent’s posture and movement of their center of gravity.

By the way, although there are differences in the power exerted, only the disciples who have mastered all we teach can do it… in short, Alexia and Thyssel can do this same maneuver.

On the contrary, I haven’t taught it to Selena and Kuruni. Selena might be able to do it if she wanted to, but it wouldn’t really fit in with her fighting style. As far as she is concerned, I think it’s a good thing her style wasn’t tainted by our teachings.

Selena’s swordsmanship is one of a kind, and if she’s been learning at our dojo for a long time, no matter what she does, she won’t be able to make anything similar. In fact, speaking of Alexia and Selena, the two are both top-ranked swordsmen, but their styles are completely different.

“Either way, your eyesight and reaction speed are excellent weapons,” I said. “While training your core, I think you should increase your responses to uncertainty. Don’t just react to your opponent’s moves, let’s incorporate predicting their next one. Eventually, I think it will improve your accuracy.”

“I see… understood!” Evans said.

Leaving aside for the time being whether or not to touch on the Leaf Crush, they are Knights of Rebelio already, so they simply have to have sword-swinging skills.

The teachings, schools, and habits that each of them has accumulated there are mixed, and their styles are quite individual. In other words, there is not much uniformity.

I try my best not to erase the individuality of the knights as much as possible, but it’s difficult to completely leave them alone as I have some of my preferences.

When I think about it like that, I can see another problem, whether it’s really the right thing to bring all the techniques I’ve been doing at my dojo.

It was good when I was in the dojo. Because there are only people who want to learn our style and knock on our doors.

But not here. There should be techniques and practice methods that match each swordsman. That’s why I feel that it’s somehow wrong to impose our skills uniformly.

I consulted with Alexia about it before, but she only replied that it’s okay if I wanted to do it. Of course, she was a student of mine, so the premise is that the skills I teach are suitable for them.

I’m going to do it while thinking about it for certain situations, but it’s quite difficult. There will definitely be people who say my technique doesn’t match their style.

“Good morning.”

“Good mor-ninngggg!”

And after finishing the match with Evans, the mock duel has come to an end.

As the number of Knights increased here and there, the Vice-Captain, Henblitz, and Kuruni were now peeking in.

“Hey, morning to both of you,” I said.

These two are passionate about their military training as usual, but I think it’s a little unusual for these two to appear as a pair. It’s probably something like a chance meeting at the front gates.

“Kuruni, let’s have a mock battle later,” Evans said. “Best of 3.”

“Oh, sounds good to me!” Kuruni cried. “I won’t lose to you again!”

Evans is probably already warmed up physically and fired up mentally from our sparring.

He is roughly the same age as Kuruni, and it seems that they were welcomed into the Order at the same time. In other words, they are on good terms with each other because they’re the same age and seniority.

As for the results of the mock battle, it seems that Kuruni increased her winning streak at the beginning, Evans recovered from there, and the tables turned, and after Kuruni changed to a zweihander to better fit her advantage, she was catching up on Evans again.

It’s a relationship where the phrase “friendly rivalry” is a good match. After all, the power between these two is so close that they can’t help but spur each other higher and higher.

“Sir Beryl, may I have a moment?” Henblitz asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Mmm, fine by me,” I said. “What happened?”

I have to wonder. If it’s a matter of managing the Knights or something like that, he won’t ask me. Is it something like an order for instruction or something like that?

“Let’s go somewhere else for a while,” Henblitz said.

“Ah, understood,” I said.

It seems it’s difficult to talk in front of everyone, so we move outside the training ground.

Hmm. I have time to think about it for a bit, but I still have no idea.

It’s still early in the morning, so it’s not that hot outside the training ground. A refreshing breeze suitable for a summer morning gently caresses my cheeks.

By the way, what is Sir Henbltiz’s business? I think it’s some kind of consultation, but I wonder if it’s really something I can handle.

“I’ll get straight to the point,” Henblitz said. “Please let me go with you on your return to Bidden Village.”

“Huh?” I asked.

Why?

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