In the garden of the mansion, Midea was waving her sword.
Training in swordsmanship, it’s a fixed type of practice-swinging.
What I’ve taught her before, she repeats it single-mindedly.
“You’re energetic aren’t you”
“Master! How is it, my sword?”
“Hasn’t it considerably improved?”
“Really!?”
Midea enquired back with great joy, and I nodded clearly.
“You’ve definitely improved compared to when we first met.”
“I did it ……”
Midea makes a guts pose with a relieved look.
With her straightforward and laudable personality, I just, wanted to get a little more involved.
“I have another sword swing for you”
I took the sword that was leaning under a nearby tree, and set upped the sheath around my waist with my left hand.
Being able to always get it out, my posture is just to that extent.
“Shishou?”
“I’ll be your partner, attack towards me.”
“Eh? But”
“I’ll see how much you’ve improved. Seriously come at me”
“――Yes!!!”
More than some time ago, no, Midea put on her happiest face in quite a while.
She prepared the long sword that she unsheathed, and came at me.
And, slash.
As for the form, it is that blow which I taught.
“――tu!”
I was surprised, its tip seemed to shake with the heat of the air due to it being too sharp.
I grabbed it with my two fingers instead of the sword and stopped it, a serious stopping a sword stroke between one’s bare hands.
At first, I tried to meet her with my sword, but doing that will scatter a ridiculous level of shock waves around.
Thinking so, I pinched and stopped it in order to erase the impact.
“Geh”
I couldn’t stop the shock waves completely, and behind me, dozens of garden trees were cut off in the aftermath of her slash.
“Aaah …… as expected of shishou! You stopped it easily”
No, that blow of yours was amazing, I tried to say that, but I stopped.
Midea didn’t lose heart even though I stopped her blow with all her might by pinching its sword edge with my finger.
Rather, she lightly swings her sword, and ruminates the form.
I should have done this a little nicer…… let’s get into reflecting it by myself.
After all, she is a praiseworthy, and over hard-working child.
Unconsciously, I want to teach her again.
“Midea”
“Yes, what is it ——wawa, my,my body is being bind!?”
“I’m stopping you.”
“Ah, is that so.”
Immediately after I went to bind her body, she was about to panic, but when I said I did that, Midea quickly regained her composure.
I line up next to such Midea, and face in the same direction as her.
First of all, I raised my right hand.
Then Midea does the same, she also raised her right hand.
“Wawa!”
“It’s a little magic, that makes the other party’s body do the same movement, it’s a magic to that extent”
“Amazing! Shishou who can do not only swords but also magic is amazing”
Midea was laughing innocently, she’s not resisting at all.
In short, what I’m going to do with this magic is a two-person haori*, the higher version of such. (TN: haori – “Helping Hands” comedy performance; performance in which one person wears a haori on their shoulders, while another person behind them puts their arms through the sleeves of the haori and feeds the person in front – Wikipedia)
With the bodies being in close contact, it’s the same in the sense that it’s in a nice form, so there are a lot of people who dislike it.
But Midea isn’t like that at all.
Without feeling any particle of resistance from her, she’s left at my mercy.
Her innocent trust seemed commendable again.
“Why are you not asking why I was doing this thing?”
“Come to think of it, why?”
I smiled wryly.
“I’ll teach you a new technique.”
“――tsu! Really!”
“Ah. However, as before, don’t tell anyone that I’ve taught you.”
“Understood! My shishou is Nanas! I’m a student of Nanas style desu!”
Midea faithfully follows the settings I made.
I taught such a Midea with one step ahead. (TN: Hitotsu-saki)
In moving together at mirror copy state, I slowly, and steadily pull out my sword, and set an example.
I decomposed the form of the posture into several stages, and one by one, I slowly do it.
Midea did the same things, as she was forced to do the same movement with my magic.
Her innocent smile from a while ago disappeared without a trace.
Midea has a serious face, and memorizes the pattern with her body.
Yes, with her body.
When you teach something, this is the quickest way.
Rather than explaining it in words that this is the case.
Rather than drawing a picture and leaving it in the form of a book of secrets.
Or rather than telling her to do it after actually doing it in front of her.
Jumping over all such methods, it’s best for a person who can actually do it to interlock their body movements to the other, and make them feel the same movements.
Of course, it’ll be tough to memorize if she simply does it as it is.
“Next is, Midea will try it.”
“Is it okay desu?”
“I will do it simultaneously, if there is one moving, it will go smooth, and if you can’t keep up, you’ll be caught. So memorize it.”
“I see, as expected of shishou!”
Midea was quick to understand, and she was immediately convinced of what I said, and started to move herself.
At first, she was caught just as expected.
But because I’m teaching her how to move as an example, Midea made a steady correction to her fault.
In addition, she immersed herself in it, and repeats it single-mindedly.
Midea memorized it well, so it ended earlier than expected.
“Your movement is already perfect, after that, all you have to do is practice steadily.”
“Yes! Thank you Shishou ―― wait uwah!”
“What’s wrong? ――Oh!”
I was surprised along with Midea.
I wondered at what point she was coming from, and then, nearly ten meters away from our spot, the servants of the mansion that have gathered, were looking at us.
Like some kind of curious onlookers, they were looking over here while secretly talking.
“Wh,why are they gathered like this?”
“Ah……. Shishou”
Midea, who called me, was looking right at the side with an awkward face.
Beyond that was―― the tree which has been cut and has fallen down.
Or rather, they gathered ―― because of that!
…… I’ve done it, Midea is too praiseworthy, that I got absorbed in teaching her unintentionally.
They were seeing it firmly.
“I,is it okay, shishou?”
“……it’s okay, this current form is quite advanced, so I don’t know if they’ll be able to observe it.”
“I see!”
“If they don’t know anything about this, it will only look like you and I are practicing banquet arts together.”
“Certainly!”
I and Midea were in sync.
There is a banquet art such as this, and it should look like that now from the side.
Besides.
“What is it now?”
“I’m not really sure.”
“Practice of synchronized art?”
Because the conversation of the servant onlookers who were talking secretly is also what I expected, I felt relieved.
I was, but.
“That’s the first generation-sama, isn’t it?”
What’d you say?
I heard a line that I somehow can’t allow to pass.
I look at the guy, he wasn’t unusual, just an ordinary servant.
However, his remark was different from that of the previous servants, so the other servants also turned their eyes on him all at once.
“First generation-sama, is it?”
“The first generation-sama, was the sword master of His Majesty the King, right? In that anecdote, they used to tie their hands to each other with sticks, in order to make their body memorize the form of the sword so that their movements would be synchronized.”
Yeeeeeeeeees!
The first generation did such a thing.
“Isn’t that the same as it is right now?”
“Certainly! But they didn’t bind together with a stick.”
“I wonder if it was magic”
“Head-sama can do such a thing!”
Their conversation progresses at an accelerated rate, and they arrive at the truth.
As it is, they will go one step closer to saying “The head-sama is honestly amazing, isn’t he?”.
“Shishou……”
Midea with a troubled face, turns a what should we do look at me.
What the hell, does this mean!
Don’t leave such a nuisance-to-others anecdote, First generation!!
Even though I’ve done some advanced things, isn’t that obvious at the servant level!