21 – Episode 2. How to Regain the Favor of the Idol Bride (11)
Tap! Tap!
Rina and Forth clashed their wooden swords on the training ground.
As the fierce momentum of the two collided, the sound emanating from the wooden swords became even more exhilarating.
When Rina added speed to her movements, Forth skillfully responded, adjusting to that speed. There was a leisurely feeling derived from experience, yet his expression was tense, separate from that calmness.
Treating it as a simple training, Rina’s unconventional movements seemed to bother him.
“Wow….”
Clara, who was sitting next to me and watching, opened her mouth in amazement. She had been brought here to recover whenever the two got tired.
“It’s impressive, those two. It’s hard to keep up with my own eyes.”
“Is that so?”
I didn’t see anything.
I could only see them clashing their wooden swords.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
With each blink, they engaged in a contest of skill.
Gradually, as if trying to conclude the relentless exchange, Rina lunged at Forth’s torso.
Forth, reacting immediately, swung his wooden sword, but with a fluid, water-like movement, Rina evaded it.
While Forth’s torso was left vulnerable as he hurriedly retrieved his sword, Rina’s sword pierced into his side. However,
Realization!
His hand grabbed Rina’s sword. With a slight exertion of force in Forth’s arm, the sword broke without resistance.
“Not bad.”
“The blue energy emanating from the palm… It’s ‘ki’.”
Blue energy? Could it be mana?
“That’s correct.”
“Come to think of it, Pors was a sword expert, right?”
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“Yes, that’s right.”
Sword expert.
It was a stage before becoming a sword master, where one infused mana—commonly referred to as ‘ki’ by knights—into their body or objects to significantly increase their attack or defense power.
It was a stage that could only be reached by feeling the mana flowing through one’s body, and it was extremely rare for anyone other than a natural-born wizard to sense it.
Even for a wizard, feeling the mana was not easy, so for an ordinary person like me, it was a stage that one could not even dream of reaching.
“Quite impressive. I didn’t think I could evade at that timing.”
“…Thank you.”
He said that, but Pors must not have exerted all his strength against Rena. If he had tried to dodge the attack just now, he could have done so.
He probably thought it would be fine not to avoid it once the sparring was over.
Still, it was quite a valuable sparring session.
It confirmed that Rena’s skills were not bad, and Pors also realized the difficulty in dealing with Rena’s unconventional movements.
This would undoubtedly be an effective attack against Mine as well.
“Was the swordsmanship you used Sporn-style? It felt different from what I’ve seen before.”
“Yes. That’s right. I’ve made some modifications to compensate for Sporn’s shortcomings, so it may have felt somewhat different.”
“I see… That’s why it was much cleaner than the Sporn style I’ve seen. I’ve heard that you’re exceptionally talented, but to compensate for the shortcomings of Sporn is truly remarkable. Every swordsmanship style tends to have its flaws.”
“…I didn’t make the modifications.”
“Excuse me? Then, who…?”
“Abel informed me.”
“Abel…?”
Forus’s head turned sharply, and he looked at me.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t conducted an inspection on the sponsorship side, thinking it might become a favorable point.
Forus’s gaze at me is peculiar. Given the connection to swordsmanship, it’s inevitable for doubts to arise.
Soon, two people who had come down from the training ground stood before me.
“Lord Abel.”
“Good job, Forus.”
I smiled, trying not to show much expression.
“Yes. But more importantly… How does Lord Abel know about the Spons?”
Rinado expressed his curiosity in response to Forus’s question.
Even if I ask, there’s no word that can satisfy their curiosity.
After all, I can’t say I saw it in a novel.
“…I just saw it.”
“Just saw it… Do you, Lord Abel, know how much time it takes for a single swordsmanship to be created?”
“Well… I do know.”
“Let alone messing with techniques like the deep-rooted Spons, which are as old as history. But just by watching, you can discern its flaws…”
Forus muttered with a serious expression.
If I leave it like this, he might ask something like, ‘Can you also improve the shortcomings of Sirius’s swordsmanship?’ in the future, so I preemptively changed the topic.
“How is Lina’s skill, by the way?”
“Oh… yes. Her strength, speed, movements, smooth actions, and timing for penetrating attacks are all excellent. It seems she’s not competing with Miné Hwangnyeo and the top student at the academy for nothing.”
But surely, praising her as the princess of martial arts isn’t the end?
“However… her overly aggressive attitude is the problem.”
“Overly aggressive attitude?”
Lina, who was standing next to her, blinked her eyes. She was taken aback by unexpected criticism.
“Princess Lina, despite embodying graceful swordsmanship, keeps trying to rely on sheer force. It’s also a problem that she excessively depletes her stamina in unnecessary situations where she doesn’t need to use excessive strength.”
It’s a bad habit that I already knew about.
Lina’s style already consumes a lot of stamina. Wasting energy unnecessarily was like shooting herself in the foot.
“Is there anything else?”
“Nothing in particular.”
Seeing Porth’s silence on anything else, it seemed that fixing just that part would be enough for Lina to defeat Miné.
As expected, sparring with Porth was a great help.
“Is that so? In that case, would another sparring session be possible right away?”
“…Yes?”
Porth blinked his eyes repeatedly. Watching him blankly, as if pondering over my words, I called for Clara.
“Clara, could you help them recover?”
“Oh, yes!”
Upon my instruction, Clara closed her eyes and offered a prayer. As her white hair fluttered, Lina murmured in surprise.
“All the fatigue is gone…?”
The original power of the Holy Maiden was not solely intended for recovering stamina.
In the novel, since it took a long time to restore expended sacred energy, and believers could only suffer, the sect had even established guidelines for the manual use of the Holy Maiden’s sacred power.
But it was a story that didn’t concern me.
With the magic purification water in my possession, Clara’s shortage of sacred power was never an issue.
So, I intended to use it freely. The one who gave me the quest must have intended for me to do so with the magic purification water.
…Or not.
“We have less than two weeks until the academy starts. Practicing once a day is not enough for me to be satisfied.”
“What? Seriously….”
“In the future, please spar with Lina whenever there is time.”
“But…!”
“Oh, don’t worry. With Clara here, it won’t affect us at all when it comes to subduing the Veral sect.”
I grinned and patted Clara’s shoulders. Every time I patted her, Clara flinched.
“…Abel, are you a demon?”
Forss chuckled and spoke as if in disbelief.
“Come on. Am I really a demon for this? I even help with recovery. Right, Clara?”
“Oh, yes… If I can be of help to Lord Abel.”
Clara nodded with a bashful smile.
“Mind your own business, Lena?”
In the meantime, Lena, with a furrowed brow, pointed out that she didn’t like me being in contact with Clara.
“So, you’re jealous even over something like this?”
“What, what?! Jealousy, is it not?”
“I get it. I get it.”
I raised both hands in a nonchalant gesture. Clara sighed softly beside me, but I pretended not to notice.
“Now, enough of this trivial conversation. Let’s go back to the training ground. We’ll keep sparring until all the wooden swords there are broken.”
“I’m already regretting accepting Abel’s request.”
“But a knight won’t go back on their word, right?”
“…Indeed, it seems like dealing with a devil.”
I chuckled at his resentful tone.
“If Lena can defeat Princess Mine, I’ll gladly become a devil. So, Poros, don’t even think about leading the training like you did a moment ago.”
“Yes?”
“I mean, don’t go easy on her. Approach the sparring with the intention to kill Lena.”
“But she’s a noble—”
“What does status matter when swords clash?”
I cut him off, speaking assertively.
This was one of the unwritten rules among knights.
At the Academy, where nobles, aristocrats, and commoners freely mingled, discussions about social status were inevitable. One unwritten rule that emerged from this was, ‘During sparring, social status is irrelevant.’
Poros, having been a commoner, surely knew this rule.
“…Understood.”
Picking only the words that favored me, Poros reluctantly agreed and headed back to the training ground.
“Do not worry about it.”
At this point, Miné is not at the expert level.
“Understood.”
As I watched him head toward the training ground, I caught sight of Lina. She seemed reluctant to speak to me.
“Even if it’s for training, the thought of killing… “
“I said I would be tough. I never intended to defeat Miné without the determination, Lina.”
“!”
Lina flinched as I gazed at her coldly.
“If you can’t beat Pors, you can’t beat Miné.”
At the moment, Pors might be stronger than Miné, but I have no choice but to push her to surpass Pors.
“Yes, of course. I was prepared for this.”
She answered boldly, but perhaps Lina will be shattered countless times by Pors. Her pride and self-esteem will be completely crushed.
But after being broken once, she will become even stronger.
Physically and mentally, she will undergo significant growth.
As I watched Lina’s retreating figure, my shirt was suddenly tugged.
“Um… Abel, sir.”
“What is it?”
“Would I be a hindrance if I stayed by your side?”
“A hindrance?”
“I feel like I might cause a fight between the two of you for no reason.”
“Don’t worry about it. We used to fight a lot anyway.”
I casually waved my hand from side to side, speaking as if it were of no importance.
“Still…”
“It’s okay, so just stay by my side. If you’re going to, for a lifetime.”
“Yes, yes?! A, a lifetime?! Th-that’s…!”
“Oh, looks like I’m starting.”
Enjoying Clara’s innocent reaction, I looked out over the training ground.
Fors’s gaze was different from Clara’s. Even though he stood still with his sword lowered, there was a strange pressure emanating from him.
In fact, the tip of Lena’s sword, facing him, was subtly trembling.
“Then let’s begin.”
With Fors’s shout, the duel began once again.
* * *
Overwhelming.
That’s the only word to describe it.
Certainly, Lena did her best against Fors. Whenever there was an opening, she counterattacked. However, facing Fors, who had countless experiences and expertise, it was a trivial skirmish.
This must be the pure skill of Sirius Knights’ commander, Fors. It seems he’s not just a knight who can match the protagonist who has grown for no reason.
That’s why sparring with Fors is more valuable. Such practical experience will be of great help to her.
“Clara, I need healing.”
“Oh, yes!”
I said, looking down at Lena, who was in a mess.
It’s definitely not something that can be called elegance. When Porus saw her covered in sweat and dirt, he spoke with a guilty look on his face.
“Is this what Lady Abel desires…?”
“Yes.”
“But treating you like this, Lady, it’s not right…!”
“Porus, let me ask you this. Are you seeing Lina as a knight or as a lady?”
“No! I…!”
“If you saw Lina as a knight, you wouldn’t have said that.”
He seemed taken aback by my firm remark and quickly lowered his head.
“…I apologize. I have been rude.”
“That’s right, Sir Porus. Please see me as a knight, not a lady.”
As Lina regained her composure and stood up, she spoke.
Although she received Porus’s acquiescence, Lina’s expression didn’t look too bad. In fact, she seemed rather relieved.
“How are you feeling?”
“I feel better. I needed that beating.”
“Are you sure you want to continue?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. But can I use the power of the saint here?”
“You can.”
Looking at the present alone, it might seem regrettable, but Lina’s early growth would be of great help in the long run.
“…I see. So that’s why I was called here.”
With these words, Lina casually dropped the broken sword on the ground and brought a new one. Porus closed his eyes for a long time, as if preparing himself, then opened them.
“I don’t even consider losing to Lord Force. Let’s try again. Until I win.”
Lina wiped the dust on her face with the back of her hand, revealing her determination.
“Fine. From now on, I’ll see you as one of my knights, Lady.”
The two with their swords clashed once again.