Chapter 7

The Examiner Went Easy on Me… Right?

「Are you the idiot who wants to be an adventurer despite only being a Novice?」

The guild examiner received the exam slip from the receptionist, glaring at me. He was a Swordsman who looked to be around thirty years old, and while not exactly huge, his body was well-built.

…Yeah, I don’t think I can win.

Unlike in BBO, there was no feature here that let you see stats. If there was one, the examiner’s would be probably be ten times higher than mine.

「That would be me. I’d appreciate it if you went easy on me.」

In BBO, there were fields where you could fight without taking any damage, but I can’t expect anything like that here. Hmm, now I kinda want to withdraw from the exam.

「I can’t do that, unfortunately. A Novice adventurer will only end up throwing away his life pointlessly. My duty is to prevent that.」

Looks like he’s not gonna hold back. I get the feeling that once we crossed swords, he’s not going to let me off easy and in the end he’ll pin me down and twist my arm just to make a statement. But I already said I’m taking the exam, so I might as well try.

「All right. Just no serious injuries please.」

「Don’t worry. I’m a professional. I’ll let you off with injuries that’ll heal right away.」

He strode to a corner in the training area where they kept weapons and grabbed a wooden sword. It looks like that’s going to be his weapon of choice. I suppose he wouldn’t use a real sword for an exam. It would be dangerous.

I walked over to the same spot.

「So that’s the weapon we’re using.」

「If you have a sword you’re accustomed with, you may use that instead.」he said, pointing at my sword.

Nah, that would be dangerous.

「It’s a legit sword, you know, with an actual blade.」

「It’s all right. You won’t land a hit anyway.」

I see. He was underestimating me. Considering the difference in our physique, it was understandable.

「Nah, I’ll use a wooden sword as well. Can I borrow one?」

「Pick one you like.」

The reason I’m using a wooden sword is because it’s lighter. I don’t have to kill him, so a wooden one would be favourable.

「…I’ll take this.」

After testing a few of the wooden swords, I settled for a relatively shorter one. The length was perfect for my body size.

「You’re done choosing?」

「Yeah.」

「All right. Then let’s begin.」he said as he faced me.

We were about five meters apart.

「I’ll serve as the referee.」the receptionist said, after confirming that we were ready.

Looks like she’s going to be the referee. I don’t think we’ll need one, though.

「Are both of you ready?」

「I am.」

「I’m good to go anytime.」

After hearing our words, she took a deep breath and declared in a penetrating voice…

「Let the Adventurers Guild admission exam… begin!」

As soon as she said that, the examiner slowly closed the distance between us. I, on the other hand, didn’t move from my spot, waiting to see what he does first. I’ll have a chance when he activates his Skill. A Swordsman’s Skill is way more powerful than a normal attack, but in exchange—save for a few special Skills—they can’t alter their movement.

For example, a『Power Slash』 lets you attack with more than ten times power than normal, but you can’t perform any other action until you follow through with the attack.

For one attack, there’s approximately 0.5 to 0.7 second when he’s vulnerable. With that much time, I should be able to land a blow even though I’m weaker than him. We called this interval the『Recovery Time』.

But the examiner should know about this too. My only choice is to make him use his Skill during a window when I can easily dodge. I’m quite good at these kinds of tactics. However, if he charged at me with pure physical prowess only, not using any kind of skill, then I’ll be in trouble.

I kept my eye on him, trying to see what his move was. When we were about three meters apart, he raised his sword above his head and charged. He’s going to swing downward.

I can’t take this blow. If I did, the fight will turn into a close combat battle of strength which I have no chance of winning.

So I moved half a step to the left, slightly shifting my center of mass. A swing downward is powerful, but easy to dodge. But if I moved too much, my center of mass would be way off, creating an opening for the opponent. So I shifted it slightly with minimum movement, just enough to dodge the attack.

As I was doing so, the examiner, to my surprise, activated his skill『Guard Crush』. It lets one use overwhelming power to break through a target’s defences. If I blocked the attack, I’d get crushed for sure.

But using that skill right now was sheer folly. After all, I was already in my dodging motion. Activating it at this moment was the same as telling me to take advantage of the Recovery Time to attack him.

He could be planning something. There was a possibility that unlike BBO, there was no such thing as a Skills’ Recovery Time in this world. So I tried to ignore the opportunity and watch his next move instead.

But my body already moved to counterattack. It was pretty much on instinct. All the experience I had in BBO wouldn’t allow me to let an opportunity like this slip away.

My center of mass was already shifting forward for the counterblow. Moving back now would only create an opening for him so I gave up the idea and swung my sword, praying that the examiner couldn’t alter his motion.

And as expected, his movement was restricted by the Skill. He just swung downward, not stopping. Now that I’ve successfully dodged his attack, he was a sitting duck.

Then I realized. He probably created an opening for me on purpose. If I showed I can fight, he’ll let me pass. I would understand if he failed me if I couldn’t land a critical hit on such an easy target. So I swung my sword forward.

『Critical hit.』

My sword was wooden so it couldn’t cut him, but the examiner was blown back and sent flying. At the same time, the receptionist’s voice rang out.

「Th-That’s enough!」

It looks like I passed. I’m glad the examiner went easy on me.

「I got knocked away? By a Novice who didn’t even use any Skill?」he muttered, still on the ground, dumbfounded.

He was still pushing through with the act. What a good guy. As I thanked him deep inside my heart, I held out my hand to him.

「Th…Thanks.」he said, getting on his feet and still astonished.

Man, he’s so good at acting.

「So did I pass?」

「I don’t really want to admit it, but since you beat me, then yes, you passed. Where did you learn such swordsmanship?」

「Self-study.」I answered bluntly.

I couldn’t possibly tell him that I learned it from a game in my previous life. Now that I think about it, BBO was a great place to practice swordsmanship. You couldn’t get tired no matter how many times you swung your sword, plus you could do combat training since you don’t get hurt anyway.

Thanks to that, a Skill I couldn’t have mastered unless I trained for several days, I was able to acquire in one day. There was even a feature that let you check data on sword swinging. Back then, my friends and I would study the most efficient way to swing a sword.

「I see. Self-study and yet you’re this strong. The world sure is vast. I never thought I’d be sent flying by a Novice’s sword.」

「No, I was only able to do that because you went easy on me. If you were serious, I wouldn’t have had a chance.」

That was such an obvious opening he created. Even bonus stages are more challenging. Perhaps his plan was to intimidate before the exam started to screen out spineless applicants.

「Go easy?」

「Yeah. You used『Guard Crush』on purpose, right?」

「I’m not sure I know what you mean.」

His face was saying he had no idea what I was talking about. I guess he wants to keep hiding the fact that he held back.

Anyhow, this means my registration to the guild is approved.