079

“Your lectures are too difficult.”

After the lecture, Sordian spoke in an annoyed tone.

Me? Difficult?

I was giving the most comfortable and basic lecture of any I had given.

“I’m not denying that.”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

Jessie, beside me, nodded her head vehemently.

It was a subtle way of speaking, as if she were either flattering me or agreeing with Sordian who was criticizing me.

“Certainly, your lectures are basic. From my perspective, there’s nothing I don’t know in your lectures. It’s a repetition of what I already know.”

Sordian drew his sword and covered his weak points.

It was a light defensive stance, but just from that simple stance, it was clear what he was aiming for.

“That’s the stance for blocking Instructor Jessie’s sword.”

“Yes. That’s right. I’ve thought about it, and with this stance, I think I can block about 7 of them.”

I noticed the subtle change in numbers.

“Instructor Jessie said six earlier.”

“That’s right! I-I couldn’t think of anything other than six sword paths from that stance!”

Instructor Jessie, who now had a strangely military-like way of speaking, said.

“Show me one.”

“R-right now?”

“Do it.”

“Heeek, I will!”

At Sordian’s command, which was almost coercive, Jessie was startled and took her stance.

Is that really the relationship between an academy instructor and a mere security guard?

I offered a silent prayer for Instructor Jessie’s predicament, who had become a punching bag and a guinea pig, and observed her stance.

Instructor Jessie’s basic sword stance.

It was a basic swordsmanship for utilizing mana with a greatsword.

“Now. From here. Show me the six sword paths one by one.”

At Sordian’s words, Jessie glanced at me.

When I nodded, she began to display her sword moves one by one.

The swordsmanship I had pictured in my head from the moment I saw her stance unfolded exactly as I had imagined.

No, it was a bit of a stretch to say exactly.

The swordsmanship I had imagined in my head was a little cleaner and more powerful than this.

With a serious expression, I observed why her sword path had wavered more than I had expected.

And I realized.

“Ah.”

“You see?”

“She’s lacking in strength.”

To be precise, her ability to maintain the sword was weak.

When swinging a sword, not everyone could maintain 100% concentration.

Some parts of the sword flow, some parts have dispersed concentration, and some parts have explosive power.

The very point of controlling strength and concentration.

Because the swordsmanship wavered at that point, the sword was off from the strike point I had thought of by as little as 1cm and as much as 5cm.

“The power was less than I thought, and the distance from the weak point was further.”

“U-uh, I will try harder…”

“No, I’m not reprimanding you. I’m blaming myself.”

I think I understood what Sordian meant by teaching too difficultly.

Even a person whose body was quite built and had swung a sword for a long time was at this level, so there was no way the students could follow.

‘It was the ones like Pan who tried to follow that were clueless.’

No, is it because they tried to implement the most ideal swordsmanship that Pan, Bridget, and the others are so much better than their peers?

“In addition, you pursue a completely theoretical swordsmanship.”

“?”

“You talk about swordsmanship that wouldn’t be used in a real battle. One of the stances you saw, is this it?”

Sordian imitated Jessie and took a stance.

It might have been awkward with a short sword, but he had completely copied the stance, and it looked quite plausible without any openings.

In an instant, Sordian’s body moved.

It was a cut where he leaned his body to the side as if falling and swung his sword in a large horizontal arc.

A method of attacking with acceleration by putting the weight of the greatsword into it while simultaneously dodging the opponent’s frontal attack.

As the body was pulled by the weight of the greatsword, it was a stance with many openings and difficult to advance forward, but…

“That’s right.”

It was the sword path I had seen.

Sordian, who had planted his foot on the ground with a thud, exhaled and looked at Jessie.

“Have you ever used this sword path?”

“N-no?”

“Why is that?”

“M-my body gets pulled too much. In a 1:1 situation, maybe once? It might be useful for a powerful attack, but there are too many weaknesses, and the situation where I can’t control my body is scary, and if the opponent dodges, my back is exposed when I turn, which is also a weakness…”

“Did you hear that?”

Sordian looked at me.

“All those weaknesses can be overcome. That is…”

“I know. This isn’t a debate about swords. If you keep adding and adding theory, in the end, there’s no perfect swordsmanship in the world, it just becomes a game of rock-paper-scissors.”

His eyes were serious.

“The key is that ordinary swordsmen don’t swing their swords while considering such theoretical moves.”

“…So you’re saying that as they get used to real battles, they use the swords they are used to and pursue the most optimized sword that reduces risk.”

“That’s six. Teacher. The last one, can you show me the sword path that neither I nor Instructor Jessie saw? If it’s difficult to swing the sword, you can explain or draw it.”

At Sordian’s request, I held out my hand to Jessie.

Jessie handed me her sword.

A heavy weight.

It felt heavy, more than twice as heavy as the sword I use.

I slowly got into a stance with that sword.

Then my body began to change little by little, as if it were telling me the way to go.

‘The feet are wider. To swing the sword freely, one hand is close to the hilt, and the other is down on the pommel.’

I refine my stance so that my gaze and chin can also move a little more cleanly.

I could feel details that I couldn’t see when I was just looking.

Above all, the flow of mana was different.

‘The sword stance is being modified to fit my style.’

Jessie had awakened her aura with the desire to be like me, to become a better being.

But that is not my will.

My will touches a more fundamental part.

‘I want to see the end of the sword.’

It was to establish a theory and to understand the very essence of the sword, which everyone could know.

As soon as I took the most optimized stance to match that intention, the pain in my entire body felt five times stronger.

“Hmph.”

I took a deep breath and resisted the pain that was shaking my body.

If I were to swing it, I could probably swing it once, but.

“I’ll stop here.”

I released my stance and picked up a pebble from the ground to draw a picture.

“From my stance, the foot goes this way.”

I drew an arrow from where my foot had been and placed it in one spot.

“The other foot is here, and the knee is bent a little more, and here you extend your arm.”

Several arrows overlap.

Where the other arm moves, where the hand moves, and where the head and feet move.

I finished my explanation by drawing the last arrow.

“This way, from left to right, and from top to bottom. The greatsword can rotate like a short sword within a short axis based on its center of gravity and aim at the opponent.”

Did they understand?

I thought so and looked at the two of them.

Jessie looked dazed.

Hmm?

“That was, my swordsmanship?”

“You’ve stolen his swordsmanship. Was the swordsmanship of the Viscount Vürhelm family like this? I was wondering why the Viscount family’s swordsmanship had become a basic swordsmanship, but if it’s like this, the Vürhelm family would be bowing to you for upgrading their swordsmanship.”

“What are you talking about. I just showed the result of Instructor Jessie doing her best for a moment.”

“That’s the part that’s infuriating. Hey, teacher. Have you ever thought about how long it would have taken for Teacher Jessie to find that stance on her own?”

How long, huh.

It was a question I had never thought of.

I now know that I have some talent in swordsmanship theory and learning.

So I shouldn't think and answer based on my own standards. In that case.

“About a year? At the latest, wouldn't 2 years of training be enough?”

“Tsk. At least 10 years.”

10 years, could Instructor Jessie be that incompetent?

I thought so and looked at Instructor Jessie, and she was looking at me with a very hurt expression.

“Y-you didn’t have to look at me so pathetically…”

“…? Sorry.”

“Anyway, this is a really ridiculous swordsmanship. A defense that anticipates and blocks even moves the opponent hasn’t thought of… it’s a real wall from the opponent’s perspective.”

Sordian, who had said that, chuckled.

“But can you do that with the guard captain’s swordsmanship?”

With the Vürhelm family’s swordsmanship, no, with Rozalin’s swordsmanship?

“Well, I can roughly draw all the sword paths that can come from the basic stance…”

Rozalin’s Vürhelm swordsmanship was the one I had looked at the most while teaching the students and during my private training with Rozalin.

Of course, I had grasped almost all of her sword paths.

“Then I’ve found the answer. Winning isn’t the only way. Teacher Cassian. Tell me all of a-the captain’s sword paths. I’ll block every single one of them.”

Sordian said that and rotated his arms.

A new thought came to me.

‘When I first met Sordian and was teaching Pan, we had the exact same mindset.’

When Avril had divided Class A and Class C and assigned only the underachievers to me.

To defeat an enemy we thought we couldn’t win against, we grasped their swordsmanship, gathered information, and pursued a swordsmanship that wouldn’t lose.

Then, little by little, we became more greedy and evolved it into a swordsmanship that could win.

The current Rozalin was a much stronger enemy than the Class A students or Instructor Sordian back then.

I might not be able to create a swordsmanship that can win.

But.

“Understood.”

For some reason, it reminded me of those times, and my heart pounded.

“Since it’s hard for me to swing a sword myself, Instructor Jessie, would you help me?”

“S-so I have to be the training dummy?”

“Oh, that’s great. I needed a dummy that uses aura anyway.”

“A-are you really treating me like a dummy now?!”

From then on, we prepared a swordsmanship to face Rozalin from time to time.

Sordian learned all the sword paths from Rozalin’s basic sword stance, and he obsessively learned not only Vürhelm swordsmanship but also her one-armed sword paths and her current aura sword paths.

“I want to be prepared for all variables.”

In addition to what I had seen, I continued to discover sword paths that Rozalin might be able to use.

I would try the stances myself and swing the sword a few times.

I pushed my body so hard that I even used Yuria’s holy power twice.

The process was quite helpful for me as well.

‘When you delve into a swordsmanship you thought you knew everything about, you see new things.’

There were more sword paths to be drawn from Rozalin’s sword stance than I had thought.

Some of them were also helpful in refining the intermediate swordsmanship I was currently teaching the students.

And there was more that I gained through my rapport with Sordian and Jessie.

“The explanation of the gaze in class earlier was too difficult. The kids don’t understand.”

“Pan and Bridget seemed to understand.”

“If you’re going to tailor the class to them, you should have just taught the excellent Class A kids as Master Avril said.”

“…I’ll refine it.”

Thanks to the two of them telling me the standard for a person of average swordsmanship ability, I was able to create a more universal lesson plan.

About two weeks later.

“Who wants to have a go at me?”

Rozalin returned with a bundle of luggage.

She was covered in dust from a month-long adventure, looking like a truly wild warrior.