Chapter 71: CH 71

「 Your movements are awful now. 」

「 Eh? 」

What was that? Yeah, I can’t hold a candle against Van, but I’ve been imitating Dean, Ash and Butler’s actions in order to become stronger, you know.

My mind was spinning because of what he said, moreso after a few matches with him. Van knocked me down everytime I attacked. Ha, even though it was supposedly a ‘match’, the difference between our strength was like night and day; he didn’t even move an inch from where he stood.

「 Your movement control is poor, and you’re quite a mess. 」

「 Ugh…」

I averted my gaze.

Yeah, that struck home. I just used my physician ability and copied the moves that I thought were cool, but I didn’t turn it into a cohesive style that I could call my own. My upper body moves didn’t match my lower half stances, apparently. Cheap tricks didn’t work on Van, to boot.

「 How do you imagine your sword? The first one was a lot better than this. 」

「 Imagine… 」

Yep, I took inspiration from fantasy and period dramas, alright. I came from a peaceful place, after all. Back when I still lived there, I would humor Sis by accompanying her to watch movies with the former theme, while I watched the latter with my Grandma as a kid, back when she was still alive.

My eyes drop down on『 Zanzenken 』that I’m still gripping. The swords used in period dramas left a deep impression on me, but this one was fashioned after the swords of RPG heroes.

「 I get it now, the sword is different, huh. Let me see. 」

『 Zanzenken 』 transformed right on cue when Van said that. Yeah, from 『 Zanzenken 』 it turned into 『 Zantetsuken 』 . Wait, wait a sec, you could’ve just made it into a normal Japanese katana — no, no, you could’ve added some fantasy vibes to it!

Zantetsuken is usually a byword for swords with sharp blades, but it’d be so uncool if both the handle and the scabbard were made from plain old wood. Well, it probably won’t have any issues in this world, I guess.

In the end,『 Zanzenken 』turned into a Japanese katana with a touch of fantasy style on the design. It was longer than those used in period drama, but it had a jet-black, lacquered ornate mountings, and a silver chain replaced the sword strap.

The sword was designed so that the colors of the cross-guard, hilt, kougai, kozuka, the ornamental tip of the scabbard, and other parts were quite subdued, but the overall effect was brilliant.

It was absolutely awesome, man.

Thoughts like ‘I don’t want the heroes to see this’ and ‘maybe I should prepare a plain wooden scabbard ‘coz this katana is too breathtaking’ ran through my mind, but well, cool things are cool, no denying it.

「 What a strange shape. 」

「 Yeah, it’s a sword from my hometown. 」

Alright, time to fix my stance. I should point my toes forward if I want to move fast.

My priority was speed, so I stretched a leg backward.

I pulled the sword to my waist, gripped the area between the guard and the scabbard with my left hand, then pushed the guard away with my thumb. Japanese swordsmen use this to check whether the sword would readily come out, and it was also a prep step for smooth unsheathing.

I bent my other knee, twisted the hilt a bit with my left hand, then pulled the sword out. I had to get used to this, or else I might shave part of the scabbard or end up nicking the sword.

Attack! I slashed at Van without any hesitation whatsoever. Oh, no worries, he would definitely survive this. The name『 Zanzenken 』literally meant ‘it could cut all things’, but it wouldn’t be able to surpass the power of it’s maker, of course. It could cut almost anything in the human world, no doubt about that, but not Van’s sword.

Yup, that would probably hold true for Van himself, too.

The sword drew an arc in the air, and I imprinted it’s length on my mind.

It cut through the air, and I memorized the feeling of its weight.

Whoa, this is a lot more fun. I should reset the way I imagine how fantasy swords would work. Actually, the moves in that certain RPG movie — take a step forward, then slash down — probably left a long lasting impression on me, so that’s why I tend to use that as inspiration. Either that, or maybe I was drawing on those flashy moves in shows, the ones that you don’t really understand what’s going on.

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It’s no wonder that I couldn’t come up with the proper movement.

「 That’s better compared to earlier. 」

Van praised me, so I’m a bit pleased.

I was panting for breath by this time, so I thanked Van, and that marked the end of our training session. Riche trotted towards me, so I rubbed him all over before going inside the house.

The grapevine trellis caught my eye, and I was surprised to find a sprout when I peered closer. The season is still chilly, though. Ahh, but it feels so hot right now, like the feeling you get when you haven’t exercised for a long time. Eh…Wait a sec, don’t tell me I won’t get muscles unless I exercise excessively?

My chest suddenly felt stifled, but I tried to press my uneasiness while washing my face. Okay, where’s the milk? I’m going to drink more milk.

「 You’ve worked hard. 」

「 And Van is your opponent, to boot. 」

Mischt and Halfalfa said, and I felt like I was being rewarded with considerate comments from a gorgeous woman and a pretty girl.

「 This book’s interpretation is wrong, as expected. 」

Khadar pointed to the book in question.

「 Go to the Temple in Telmist after 7 days. I’ll arrange it so that you can get the book you wanted. 」

Ludure mentioned Telmist, the name of an island further south of Cavil Peninsula

「 Thank you very much. 」

Uwah, I feel like I need to earn more money before the seventh day ends!

「 I will also help you, so maybe you can pick the crops of your field and cook a dish for me, alright. 」

Pal grinned while staring at me.

「 Me too. 」

Ish said that without a single muscle twitching; he reminds me yet again of those porcelain figurines.

「 I thought you can’t taste it? 」

I’m pretty sure they said that they couldn’t taste anything except for some particular foods.

「 We can taste the things we are attached to and interested in. The things here are interesting enough. 」

Whoa! Bread and salt finally evolved to salad!!

_______

T/N: Zantetsuken ー lit. iron cutting sword. There are various Anime with this sword (Final Fantasy, Lupin III, Soul Blazer, and others). Yasuhiro Kobayashi, a real-life swordsmith, also forged swords that could literally cut iron (hence the name). In this case, Jean is referring to the one that Goemon from Lupin III used, based on the description. See how the scabbard and handle matched? XD FF zantetsuken is a lot more ostentatious.

Uh, I’m not really a sword enthusiast, so here’s an illustration for some of the terms used in the text 

Parts of a Katana

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