176 – The Will You Hold in Your Sword. -1-
My training with Hanna had begun.
One day. Two days. Three days.
I remained in the capital with Hanna until the day of our promised duel, and Hanna also came out to our promised training place every night and swung her sword.
Hanna followed along well.
Perhaps because she was used to arduous training, she didn’t show any signs of fatigue and accepted the training, and she accepted the beginning of the training with a bright smile despite the repetition of her daily routine, which had increased tenfold.
-Butler!
I smiled at Hanna’s clumsy expression as she stretched, her face contorting in pain from the muscle soreness that didn’t even hurt from yesterday, as she greeted me cheerfully.
-Are you in pain?
-Ah… no…!
-Then I guess I’ll have to make you work harder today.
-Eek! I was wrong!
I felt more attached to Hanna because I knew what she was working hard for. And it was nice to see her working towards that goal.
If she had made a clumsy effort, I wouldn’t have felt like teaching her, but Hanna did her best every moment, and despite already being a good enough model student, I often found myself wanting to teach Hanna more because of her attitude as if she were an inferior student.
“Butler?”
Hanna, standing in the middle of the training ground late at night, asked me as I stood still.
Why are you standing there blankly?
Surprised by Hanna’s question, which contained a small question, I shrugged and replied.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment and didn’t hear you.”
“Pfft…! What is that?”
“I guess puberty came late for me.”
“Pfft! Butler is going through puberty?”
“Yes, it’s a time of great change and growth.”
Hanna, sweating and holding a sword, burst out laughing as she looked at me. I smiled along with Hanna, who smiled at every little thing she did, wondering what was so funny.
I guess thinking for a moment embarrassed Hanna. Feeling sorry, I listened to Hanna’s question, feeling the cool night air.
“By the way, why did you call me? Is there something you’re stuck on?”
“Ah… I was going to ask if I’m doing well with what Butler told me.”
“I see.”
I nodded and said to Hanna.
“Then let me see. If you’re doing well.”
“Yes…!”
Hanna raised her sword.
As Hanna closed her eyes and calmly inhaled, a faint aura began to flow from her hand.
A light brown aura.
It was an aura that didn’t seem strong. A warm and vague feeling. It was an aura that felt like it wanted to maintain its current state rather than the intensity of wanting to defeat someone.
No explosive power.
The intimidation that seemed to defeat the enemy in one breath, to put it bluntly, was not felt.
I crossed my arms and stared dryly at Hanna’s aura. Whether the weapon of aura that Hanna possessed could reach Mikhail.
This vague thing was not what I wanted.
I had given Hannah a difficult task.
I ordered her to create her most powerful attack. A finishing move, you could call it. People who use “Mu” need to have their own “Vigi.”
Like how Mikhail had his “Lightning” Vigi, and Ruin had his “Explosion” Vigi, I also asked Hannah to create a finishing move like that for me.
The order itself was vague, though.
Mikhail and Hannah’s abilities were similar, but their orientations were different.
Mikhail had a one-sided justice.
Hannah had a desire for recognition.
I didn’t have such grand goals, but prosecutors generally put their desires into their swords.
If I had to think about it, it would be the will to somehow defeat the enemy in front of me. The will that I have is to swing my sword with the feeling of killing the opponent, no matter who they are.
Usually, the main emotion is to protect someone important, but since life is enjoyable, I felt more comfortable swinging my sword with a simple purpose rather than such heavy emotions.
To put it badly, it could be murderous intent, or to put it nicely… I think the word “subjugation” would be appropriate.
Aura fluctuates and changes according to the prosecutor’s emotions.
Depending on the emotions that the prosecutor puts into the tip of the sword, Aura’s method of operation changes, and it fluctuates and changes according to the weight of the emotions held.
I stared at Hannah’s Aura. Then I shook my head and said to Hannah.
“Hannah.”
“Yes.”
Hannah, who was concentrating, was looking straight at the tip of the sword. Sweat was dripping down her forehead, forming into beads as if to prove her sincerity, but I couldn’t say anything warm to Hannah.
Because what I was going to tell Hannah during this period wasn’t the details of the sword or tips on victory, but the ‘method of operating Aura’ and creating ‘your own finishing move.’
Aura was a weapon that could achieve rapid growth in a short period of time, and Aura was also something that could steadily grow as a prosecutor, so I wanted to tell Hannah about this.
I unfurled my folded arms and said to Hannah.
“That’s wrong.”
“Yes…?”
“Everything from start to finish is wrong.”
Hannah looked at me with trembling eyes. She couldn’t tell what was wrong.
Hannah, who was trying to find the wrong answer from the fundamentals, such as whether the way she held the sword was wrong or whether the direction of her legs was wrong, looked at me with the eyes of an examinee who didn’t know the correct answer.
I walked up to Hannah like that and began to pull out the Tyrfing that was tied to my waist.
A cold wind blows from the blade that is pulled out coolly with a ‘clang.’ The air created by the night was heavy, and a cool breeze blew across Hannah’s cheek.
I took a small breath and said to Hannah.
“Normal prosecutors have something called willpower.”
“The will to kill the opponent in front of you…”
A heavy burst of air tore through the void and spread majestically.
Hannah flinched and looked at the spot where the sword had passed with her eyes wide open, and without hesitation, I swung the sword once more.
-Clang.
“Some people say it’s the will to protect someone important.”
-Clang.
“In my case, it’s the former. ‘If I kill this person, my life will be easier.’ That kind of feeling. Hmm… Maybe it could be said that I want to protect someone. Because I’m included in that someone.”
“Then.”
“What do you have in mind when you swing your sword, Hannah?”
“Is it the will to protect someone? Or is it the desperate desire to win?”
A red Aura begins to form on the pitch-black blade. The sword, which was coolly covered in Aura, was turning the smoke armor red along with its deep murderous intent.
A great deal of aura.
It wasn’t an enormous amount of mana either.
The swordsman who wielded a sword imbued with just enough aura to draw a large line in the void exuded a presence that overwhelmed the room despite his light breathing.
“The Hannah I saw. She was nothing to look at. She had ample willpower to grow stronger, but where that was directed, why she wanted to grow stronger… To put it badly, I couldn’t find it.”
“That’s the academy’s chronic illness.”
I said with a small smile.
“I think it’s something that comes from focusing too much on getting good grades.”
Hannah must have been denying my words in her heart.
That’s because what I said meant that she was wielding a sword with no substance. It was a denial of how desperate she was, how strong her will toward the sword was.
However, it was an undeniable fact that something was lacking. Hannah’s aura was like that, and her growth had stopped.
Miraculous growth couldn’t be achieved by changing trivial things. That’s because a sword as a weapon wasn’t gentle. A sword, a weapon meant to harm people, was too wicked a companion to care about trivial things.
That’s why I smiled at Hannah, who had a hardened expression.
“I don’t think you understand what I’m saying.”
“Yes…”
Hannah told me. She said that she was sincere about the sword.
“Butler, I’m always sincere. I swing my sword because I want to grow stronger and become a respectable person. Butler, you may not know this, but I think I swing my sword with a desperate heart and my passion is stronger than anyone else’s. So when you say that I lack the will…”
Hannah gripped her sword tightly once more.
“Honestly, I can’t comprehend what you’re saying, Butler.”
I nodded at Hannah’s honest answer. That’s because I could definitely tell what she meant.
Passion for the sword. That’s a good feeling, and I think it’s a good foundation for growth.
“Hmm…”
But that alone isn’t enough.
Someday, that feeling will end.
Because the goal was to find an ending.
“Look carefully.”
I gripped the sword in my hand lightly.
The tip of the sword, which trembled slightly in the oncoming wind, was pointed towards the void. Right now, I felt a sense of endearment for the wind that was blowing and scattering my hair, and the leaves that were falling.
I swung the sword lightly.
[Swish.]
Everything is cut.
The falling leaves.
The blowing wind.
The tiny dust that was flying was split apart and lost its energy as it stretched out in a small stroke that drew a line.
As if water had been poured without any emotion, the night was slowly dyed as the ripples of the sword spread gently.
Hannah couldn’t speak. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that she couldn’t speak.
That’s because what she saw was a sword that surpassed her father’s, and for the first time, she thought that someone’s sword was an unreachable realm.
“This is…”
I said with a small smile.
“Did you see it?”
“…”
“It’s like this you swing a sword.”
“What are you doing… No, how did you do that?”
“If you’re a master, you should have this much ability.”
I said, calling Hanna’s name.
“Sometimes, you know. You have to have the emotion that you have to kill someone with the sword and the emotion that you have to protect someone. If you swing the sword with only success in mind, it will end up bland.”
Of course.
“My words may not be the right answer, though.”
Hanna nodded like a broken person.
I couldn’t tell what she had seen.
How far Ricardo’s end was.
I said to Hanna, putting the sword I had drawn back in.
“You can do it too, Hanna.”
“…Me?”
“Yeah.”
Smiling with confidence.
“I’ll make you that way.”