The next day, early morning.
When the sunlight pierced the darkness, dyeing the edge of the sky red bit by bit and slowly spreading across the land, the Labyrinth City of Orario, too, was like so great beast roused from sleep, coming alive once more.
The towers of Twilight Manor were bathed in sunlight one after another, and the cold the night had brought was gradually chased off.
A warm feeling settled over everyone who'd woken from their dreams, and quite a few had even co out onto the sky corridor to soak it up.
Of course, the sun was just a side benefit. Most of them actually had their attention fixed on the courtyard.
Down there, two figures were trading blows in a fierce exchange...
Clang!
The sound of steel ringing on steel echoed out, sending faint shockwaves of force rippling in every direction.
A sharp short sword cut through the air, slashing straight at a golden-haired, golden-eyed girl, only to be lightly knocked aside by the scabbard gripped in her hand.
The owner of the short sword was, of course, Leo.
Today Leo wasn't carrying a shield, nor was he wearing any of those various pouches large and small at his waist. He'd co with nothing but a short sword, and he was pressing his attack hard against Ais, who held only a scabbard.
His expression was focused, his eyes sharp. Looking at the delicate-looking girl in front of him, he showed not the slightest sign of holding back. He moved around her in constant motion, the short sword in his hand striking straight at the girl's vital points: her neck, her heart, her back, her stomach. Anyone watching would wonder if he was actually trying to cut her down on the spot.
And yet, in the face of an offensive lethal enough to kill, Ais's expression didn't change from start to finish. She didn't even shift her stance. She just lightly swung the scabbard in her hand, knocking the short sword aside again and again.
A strike at the throat: knocked aside.
A thrust at the heart: knocked aside.
A slash at the stomach: knocked aside.
Even the strike at her back, Ais just turned the scabbard in her hand and swung it behind her, without so much as looking back or turning around, and as if she had eyes in the back of her head, easily knocked that blow aside too.
What's more, Ais wasn't only defending. The mont she saw an opening, she'd strike back, the scabbard slapping down on Leo.
Leo wanted to knock her attacks aside the sa way she did his, but every ti he tried to react, before his sword could even co up, Ais's scabbard had already landed on him, leaving him hissing through his teeth.
The Ais of this mont was, without a doubt, a strict teacher.
"Your movents are too easy to read."
Even while crossing blades with Leo, Ais kept up her comntary in that flat, unmodulated voice of hers.
"It's like every move has a tell before it... that won't do." Ais knocked Leo's slash aside again with the scabbard and said, expressionless, "When your opponent is a monster, they won't read your movents. But when your opponent is an adventurer, they'll see right through you."
"You need to learn one thing. You have to be able to attack from any stance, instantly."
"And keep your eyes on your opponent, but widen your field of vision."
"When you attack, don't hesitate, don't think too long. When you defend, be precise, don't rely too much on your five senses. You need to develop your own combat instincts."
Ais wasn't soone good at teaching others, but she was good at addressing things as they ca.
If you asked her to sit down and think about what to teach Leo, she'd rack her brain and co up with nothing, agonize over it until she couldn't sleep. But the mont she crossed swords with him, she could spot the flaws in him instantly, and tell him how to fix them.
So this past year, scenes like this happened often. Leo's process of learning swordsmanship from Ais was basically a constant cycle of being corrected, advised, and drilled in the middle of a sparring match, getting used to combat, used to swinging a sword, used to thinking in the gap of an instant.
As an ordinary person who'd had to flee in panic from stray dogs back on Earth, the reason Leo had dared to walk into the Dungeon alone before this and fight the monsters down there could be entirely credited to this.
It was because he'd sparred with Ais again and again over the past year, gradually getting used to combat, used to swinging a sword, used to the way the people of this world thought, that Leo had been able to do it. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have even had the courage to step into the Dungeon.
Leo felt this deeply himself, so even when he was struck by Ais's scabbard ti and again, sotis even getting sent flying by a single hit, he'd never once complained. He just kept humbly begging Ais for more abuse... uh, for more instruction, doing his best to adapt to her combat rhythm.
But that thought of his was, without question, a wishful one.
Whump!
Another attack, and Ais's scabbard slamd into Leo's chest before he could react at all, sending him flying.
"Cough, cough..."
Leo rolled across the ground a few tis in an ungainly tumble, then clutched his chest and dragged himself to his feet.
"Are you okay?" Ais looked at him like that and asked. "Do you want to keep going?"
Leo rubbed his chest, took a deep breath, and nodded.
"Of course!"
The more he sparred with Ais, the more Leo realized how much he still had to learn.
Ais hadn't said it outright, but from the speed at which she struck, Leo could be certain she was deliberately holding her ability down to a level matching his.
If this was supposed to be teaching, then even Ais must have understood that just crushing Leo with her Level wouldn't do him any good at all.
So when she sparred with Leo, Ais generally didn't bring out anything close to her full strength.
So how was it that even like that, she could still land hits on him at a speed he couldn't react to at all?
Simple. Because Ais could always find Leo's blind spots and the weak points in his reactions, and when she struck decisively, she could hit him before he even had ti to react.
This was a gap in experience, and a gap in technique.
The strongest female swordsman in Orario, that title hadn't been handed out casually. There was real substance behind it.
That title carried serious weight. After all, in Orario there were Lv.6s and even a Lv.7, but most of them weren't swordsn, and they were n besides, so they didn't count as female swordsn. Still, the fact that Ais had earned that title at Lv.5 ant she couldn't possibly have done so without the real thing behind it.
The alias the gods had bestowed on her was Sword Princess, and the alias the people had given her was War Princess. Either way, both said the sa thing: her swordsmanship was strong, far beyond what most could imagine.
And Leo, who knew the original work well, also knew that the lineage of Ais's swordsmanship was no ordinary thing. It was passed down directly from a great hero of a thousand years ago.
It wasn't necessarily deep, but it was definitely strong. Of that there was no doubt.
Given all that, Leo was never going to be too proud to ask Ais for guidance.
Clang!
As the short sword and the silver scabbard clashed again, Leo and Ais's sparring and lesson continued.
The two weren't going at it terrifyingly hard, but it was undeniably intense.
"That kid really keeps at it, huh..."
"If it were , I'm not sure I could keep going like that."
"He just keeps getting sent flying."
"That's enough to impress you guys? Don't forget, he's the only one Miss Ais ever instructs. If I had that honor, I wouldn't give up easily either."
"Yeah, I don't know whether to envy him or be impressed."
The Familia mbers who'd been watching the two spar chatted in twos and threes along the sky corridor. So sighed, so marveled, so were impressed, so envious.
At first, when they'd seen this scene, all they'd felt was envy, jealousy, and contempt, wondering what an unknown Human had done to deserve being so favored by their princess. But after watching the sa scene for a full year, they'd gradually changed their view of Leo. At the very least, they were impressed that he'd been able to keep at it.
That said, a little sourness was, of course, unavoidable.
"Those two really are full of energy. They can go at it bright and early every morning like that. Just watching makes my body itch."
Tiona, yawning, muttered to herself, hiding inside the sky corridor like the other onlookers.
"You know what, Leo's actually got so sense for it. He keeps getting hit, but the mont Ais corrects him, he picks it up fast. He just fixes one thing and imdiately forgets to keep an eye on the next. Classic case of soone trying to morize with their head instead of their body."
Tione folded her arms and offered her assessnt coolly, and quite a few of the veterans around her who'd spotted the sa thing couldn't help but nod.
They'd seen it too. It really ca down to lack of experience and not yet being able to apply things flexibly, so all you could do was morize by rote. But rote morization usually ans you have to drill it over and over before it really sticks, which was why Leo kept fumbling, unable to cover one side without exposing the other, the front without exposing the back.
"Can't be helped, he's still a newcor."
"He's been learning from Miss Ais for a year, sure, but how much can you really learn in a year?"
"He's only been an adventurer for less than half a month. Isn't it normal for him to lack experience?"
"Once he gets more ti grinding in the Dungeon, gets fully used to combat, and builds up so experience, he should be able to put everything Miss Ais has taught him into practice."
"A disciple of the Sword Princess, huh..."
"Hope he doesn't drag Miss Ais's na through the mud."
The people around were trading lines back and forth, and there was only one who stood out, completely out of place with the rest.
"That guy... why's he always shaless enough to stick to Miss Ais like that?"
Lefiya, gripping the railing, was practically radiating a black aura, every inch of her looking like she'd turned dark, grinding her teeth and cursing under her breath.
Look closer, and her eyes were brimming with tears, on the verge of spilling over.
"Mngh... I want to be personally instructed by Miss Ais too..."
Wasn't that the greatest wish and resentnt in the girl's heart?
No one noticed that over in the northern tower, the window of Finn's office happened to be open at that mont.
The three heads of the Familia were also there, watching Leo and Ais, exchanging their own thoughts.
"Looking at it, Leo isn't bringing out his updated abilities at all. He's deliberately fighting Ais in the sa state as before."
Finn said this with an amused chuckle, and Riveria and Gareth exchanged a glance.
"That kid's doing it on purpose, isn't he?"
Gareth's voice carried a note of suspicion.
"...He's being considerate of Ais, isn't he?" Riveria said, one eye closed. "He's afraid that the speed of his growth would unsettle her, so he's holding back."
The three looked at each other in silence for a mont.
"Looks like our newcor climbing too fast isn't exactly a good thing, either." Finn shrugged. "Forget Ais. If the rest of them knew Leo's growth rate, every single one of them would probably be shaken by it."
"Whose fault is it that the kids in our Familia are all so competitive?" Gareth smiled. "Especially that Bete. If he knew the small fry he's always looked down on was climbing this fast, he'd probably take it pretty hard."
"Lefiya might be in for a shock too, you know?" Riveria glanced toward the still teeth-grinding Lefiya off in the distance, glaring at Leo. "According to Loki, Leo has real talent for Magic. His strongest stat, Magic, is already at A. If he goes down the Mage path, he probably won't lose to Lefiya in the future."
He might not lose to , either. Or even... surpass .
Riveria quietly added that line in her heart.
"A bit of stimulation is actually a good thing. It pushes Familia mbers to grow faster. The trouble is, the young ones in our Familia all love to act rash. Push them too hard, and it'll only make things worse."
Finn licked his thumb, smiling wryly.
"But we can't keep hiding it forever, can we?" Gareth said bluntly. "We can just barely manage to keep it quiet now, but once Leo reaches Lv.2, or higher, then even if we don't disclose his info to the Guild, there's no way we're not bringing a newcor with that kind of potential along on expeditions."
"When that ti cos, with so many people fighting side by side, how could we possibly keep it hidden?"
Gareth's words made both Finn and Riveria furrow their brows.
"Talent like that doesn't stay hidden."
In the end, Finn left them with that telling remark.
"All we old folks can do is keep a closer eye on them."
With that, Finn turned back into the office and stopped watching.
"Just take it one step at a ti, then?"
Riveria sighed, and likewise went back inside.
"A happy kind of trouble, isn't it?" Gareth said with a laugh. "Better to deal with what's in front of us with that kid first."
Rembering the matter Loki had co over to tell them about the previous night, Gareth gave an order.
"When Leo and Ais are done training, have him co see us."
That kid was a treasure of the Familia now. They had to look after him properly.
=-=-=-=-=
200 powerstones for the extra chapter
=-=-=-=-=
Read 40 Chapters ahead at Patreon/NiaXD
User Comments
0 comments from readers