073

As soon as the break began, I went to find the regressors.

I knew they would pester Freizier again if I told them what happened in class today.

And sure enough, they were practically buzzing with excitement.

“Again, again, again, the teacher did something fun without me!”

“At this point, it’s basically confirmed that you’re not teaching us Sword Aura because you hate us!”

“Teacher Cassian. I don’t think you have any reason to hold a grudge against me, but thinking rationally, your values and mine clash, so you might feel a little disappointed. I think we need to put an end to such misunderstandings.”

But this time, I could face them with confidence.

“I know how to teach Sword Aura.”

At my words, they, who had been running wild, stopped in their tracks.

“For real this time.”

“O-oh, Great Master!”

“First, Rozalin.”

“Yes! First place! The army is first come, first served! If you’re jealous, you should have enlisted earlier, you brats! I! Am the Grand Marshal! That’s what I’m saying!”

Rozalin shouted incomprehensibly and cheered.

We immediately moved to the training ground and drew our swords.

“Stance first.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Rozalin immediately took her stance.

The basic stance of Vürhelm swordsmanship.

It was the very swordsmanship that all the students of Akarind Academy now used.

“Regressors think too much.”

“Huh?”

At my words, Sordian, who was beside me, gave me a look that said he was wronged because he wasn’t a regressor.

It’s because you have as many idle thoughts as a regressor.

“To be precise, you have too many things to cut down after awakening Sword Aura.”

So, I make the enemy clear.

No, it's a bit more primal than that.

“You need to make the reason for cutting the sword clear.”

“My purpose is clear, though?”

“Leave only the most precious purpose among them.”

I observed the people who had emitted Sword Aura.

I wanted to complete the sword, to put mana on the sword.

In front of the Harpy Queen, Rozalin only wanted to save me.

And Jessie swung her sword without any thought, following my words.

To be precise, she tried to follow my will.

Freizier tried to cut down her future.

‘Jessie was a bit strange.’

Teacher Berlis was right.

Magic is activated when you believe in yourself and have a firm will.

So, I erase everything except that will.

“What is your will?”

“Well… uh…”

For some reason, Rozalin couldn’t answer well and hesitated.

Her confident attitude from just a moment ago seemed to have disappeared.

Why?

I didn’t quite understand, so as I stared at her, I heard a chuckle from the side.

“Bro. Big sister’s purpose is always the same. It’s to protect you, isn’t it.”

“What?”

At Hati’s words, Sordian clicked his tongue as if disgusted.

However, neither Avril nor even Yuria, who had come to watch, denied it.

When I looked at Rozalin, she shouted with a reddened face.

“So what! Why! I told you! I regressed to protect you, teacher!”

Ah, so that’s why you could emit aura back then.

When you became my sword and blocked the Harpy Queen, swinging your sword.

That’s when all your idle thoughts disappeared.

Perhaps because of that admirable sentiment, the corners of my mouth naturally twitched.

“Then let’s think like that. In front of you is the demon that killed me.”

At my words, Rozalin’s eyes instantly became serious.

Her skin was still flushed red, but that also slowly calmed down, and her color gradually returned to normal.

“You don’t know what that demon looks like. You don’t know its appearance. You only know one thing. That it killed me. Since I use a sword, it might have used magic from a distance. Or maybe it took the students hostage? No. It probably didn’t have to.”

Before these people regressed, I must have been very weak.

Wouldn’t I have collapsed helplessly with just a single wave of its hand from the front?

“It probably grabbed my neck easily and twisted it. Or maybe it pierced my heart in an instant. No, even this would be a relief. Maybe I was tortured…”

“That’s enough. I’m angry enough.”

Rozalin cut me off.

As she herself said, the shy and excited look from just a moment ago had vanished, and only the spirit of a single sword remained.

“What a bad taste you have.”

“Then, cut.”

Her feet moved forward smoothly.

And flowed in accordance with the flow of her arm, elbow, wrist, and hand.

“Wait.”

I stopped Rozalin’s movement in the middle.

“Plant your feet a little more firmly, and make your arms a bit more rigid.”

Was it because I could clearly feel her will?

I saw a part to correct in her swordsmanship, which had seemed perfect.

It was a correction made not because it was wrong, but because it was different.

“You said it’s a sword to protect. Then you have to think that I am behind you. You have to minimize my damage and shatter the very thing that threatens me.”

As if refining a spell to match her will, I corrected her arm, gaze, chin, body, legs, and feet.

After a short while, Rozalin assumed a sword stance completely different from her usual one.

The basic stance wasn’t much different from Vürhelm’s middle stance.

However, that stance was neither the destructive swordsmanship she had created just before regressing, when she had lost her arm and only her venom remained, nor the aristocratic swordsmanship she had swung as if it were natural since she learned it as a child.

It was just a sword that contained the upright will of the person named Rozalin now.

“Ah.”

Rozalin let out a gasp of ecstasy and swung her sword.

I had only taught her the stance, but from there, she began to find her own path.

A humming vibration scattered along her trajectory.

It was a trajectory like the blue autumn sky, resembling her.

“I-it worked…”

Even after finishing the vertical cut, mana was still shimmering on her sword.

It was a slightly deeper and clearer aura than Jessie’s or Freizier’s.

“It worked! It worked! Fuck, did you see that, you bastards! This is the Grand Marshal! That’s what I’m saying! Uwaaaaah! Teacher, it was worth coming back to the past! Long live humanity!”

“Ooh, ooh! Big sister! I knew you could do it! Kraaaaah! Long live humanity, for real! Pan, you bastard! We have mana too! You don’t have mana now, do you!”

“Demons die! Crush them! Uwaaah!”

Rozalin started to dance a strange dance with her sword, jumping up and down.

Hati also spread his arms and cried like a child, throwing a tantrum.

He looked like an orc, no, a slightly more primitive gorilla.

I glanced over and saw that Avril also had an emotional look in his eyes.

His lips were pressed together as usual, but I could see that his eyes were slightly red.

Sordian was fidgeting with his sword, waiting for his turn, and the look in his eyes as he looked at me seemed as if it would pierce me at any moment.

“Great Master. Congratulations.”

Only Yuria congratulated me on my success purely and simply.

She came to my side and offered me a handkerchief.

Only then did I realize that there was a faint trace of blood on my lips.

“Just talking this long puts a strain on me.”

“Aren’t you imbuing your voice with mana? It’s for enlightenment, but it’s dangerous if your body gets hurt like this.”

“Still, it’s much easier than teaching by swinging a sword, isn’t it.”

I wiped my lips with the handkerchief and returned it to Yuria.

“Look carefully! This! Is! Aura! You don’t have aura, do you?!”

“Ooh, ooh, ooooh! Ooooh!”

Are they that happy?

Still, she seemed to have gotten the hang of it, as Rozalin was now able to emit aura from her sword quite well.

The duration wasn’t that long, but every time her sword drew a trajectory, the blue light of the water spread her will in the air.

She said she would protect me.

Perhaps because of that, her aura scattering into the air was beautiful.

But this is just the beginning.

“Rozalin.”

“Yes.”

“Congratulations on entering the Aura Walker.”

“Huh?”

Rozalin asked me back as if she couldn’t understand.

So I showed her by moving with a sword myself.

“Try to block it.”

I set up the sword in my heart.

And using my will, I swung the sword towards Rozalin.

Surprised, Rozalin still reacted in an instant and blocked my sword.

There was a blue aura on her raised sword.

Clang.

It was cut right through.

“Ah?”

“Ugh…”

Was it because I overdid it?

Pain appeared all over my body at the same time.

My hands and feet tingled, and my muscles felt like they were being squeezed.

To endure it, I let out a sigh, ‘hoo’, and a warm energy came from behind me.

It was Yuria’s holy power.

“Did you see my aura?”

“Your aura is much clearer and deeper, teacher. And it looks solid. Mine is somewhat translucent and wavers like a wave on the sword.”

“As you can see from Jessie’s or Freizier’s aura, there are stages to aura. This is just the beginning.”

So, Aura Walker.

It meant a state of having been initiated into aura and realizing one’s will on how to proceed.

“Mages also have stages like 1st-circle, 2nd-circle.”

In the world of mages, 1st-circle meant a being who had realized the foreign power that exists in this world, mana, and could utilize it, and 2nd-circle referred to a level where one could transform the pure form of mana into natural attributes such as fire, ice, or lightning.

3rd-circle referred to a being who could strengthen mana.

It was difficult to apply these standards directly to swordsmanship.

‘Because the moment you realize mana, you even embody it in the form of a sword.’

So I connected it with the process of realizing Sword Aura and gave it the name Walker.

Because they are people who have established what their will is and started walking towards their goal.

“Then what is your level, teacher?”

“I’m probably a Runner, I guess?”

I’d be a bit further along than a walker, a runner.

Or it could mean I’m someone who is just learning about mana.

And before regressing, Pan would be…

“Since he used aura proficiently, he would be an Aura Expert. And finally, cutting through space-time is called mastering aura, so I was thinking of calling it Master.”

“Aura Master…”

“Or the name Sword Master is also good.”

“Sword! Master! Ooh, that name feels so epic. I like that one better. It’s not just about aura, it’s about being the pinnacle of the sword.”

Rozalin chuckled as if she liked it.

“Good.”

Then she started packing her things as if she were about to leave somewhere.

Huh?

“Rozalin?”

“Teacher. Since I’ve learned mana, I’ll go get some amazing ingredients. After I come back, I should be able to restore two? No, three of your Mana Roads.”

“Uh, huh?”

“I can cut magic! Then there are a ton of guys I can raid right now to get their ingredients. I can’t stand this, can I? There are magic-users hoarding high-quality ingredients? This is basically suicide for them. Where are they stocking up on magic ingredients and just raising the prices.”

Rozalin’s eyes sank ominously.

“Hati! Hurry up and learn, and let’s go together!”

“Ooh, big sister, don’t go to fun places without me.”

Hati stood up with his mace, looking expectant.

“Bro, I’m counting on you!”

Well, what’s good is good.

That night.

Rozalin, Hati, and Avril awakened Sword Aura.

But there was a problem.

“…No, fuck.”

Sordian did not awaken.

“You just guard the house. You know? Make sure the teacher doesn’t get hurt? We can’t take someone who’s worse than Instructor Jessie. Oops, my bad!”

“Sshiiiaaaaaang!”

Sordian wailed.