Chapter 7 - Training (2)

Chapter 7 – Training (2)

Translated by : betterdays

As Asher made his way to the training grounds, Reika was sitting there waiting for him already. She looked at him and shouted.

“You’re late Asher!”

“I had some rough sleep last night, sorry Reika.”

Reika was upset and came straight up to Asher. Seeing Asher stare at her blankly, she felt flustered and spoke.

“Ar- Are you my seonsaengnim now?”(T/N : For those of you who don’t know korean, this means teacher)

“Well you are my disciple now, and I am your teacher… Do you want to receive honorifics?”

“Huh? I’m not sure yet…”

“Well we need to come to a decision sooner, rather than later.”

Whatever the case was, he was living under the new name of ‘Asher’. He was no longer an old man who was counting his days till death. In this life, he wanted to remain faithful to whatever he did. Even if that was teaching a disciple for the first time. Because of this, he allowed Reika to make her own decisions about whether she wanted to drop or keep the honorifics of a teacher and disciple attitude, since it would contradict their status outside of training.

“Doesn’t it feel uncomfortable though?”, Reika asked.

“Well it doesn’t matter when and where we use honorifics. I’ll use them properly as you want me to. It still won’t change the fact that your family is my employer.”

“Hm, still feels weird. But, whatever! What are we going to train today? The rapier? Lepenia style? Imperial swordsmanship?”

Asher could visibly see the stark change of facial expressions from Reika more often these days. Just like right now, Reika’s eyes were full of excitement. He could guess that it was only natural since it was the first time she had ever learned from someone directly in regards to swordsmanship. Asher just shook his head at Reika’s barrage of guesses as to what they would do.

“No. First we spar.”

“Huh, Why so suddenly?”

“It’s simple. I don’t know the extent of your fighting experience or skills yet. As a teacher, it’s necessary for me to know my student’s limits and capabilities.”

Swordsmanship and fighting experience were different. One could always practice swordsmanship as long as they had a sword. However, it was only being able to implement that swordsmanship in duels where your life was on the line, that made the clear distinction of which was more of a priority to learn.

“You don’t know my skills either Reika, and this will be a good chance for you to learn both your limits and my capabilities.”

“Should I know them? Aren’t you just a bit stronger than me?”

“You’ll see for yourself. Take your posture.”

Asher didn’t say much more and went into position, nodding to Reika to do the same.

“Swordsmanship is different for everyone. Their attitude, skills, practicality of their movements all differ from one another. It’s an entirely new world you are dipping your feet in. The easiest way to get immersed in this as quickly as possible, is to practice.”

“Okay.”

Reika was still a little confused but still lifted her wooden sword in her hand. Seeing this, Asher nodded his head with a smile and lifted his own wooden sword.

Asher took a look at the wooden sword in his hand. It was the sword his sister had given him when he turned 10 years-old in his previous life and had carried it with him all the time back then. But, there was no reason for that same exact sword to be in his hand right now, 20 years after his death.

He had asked Reika about where the lord had found the sword, but she said she nor her parents knew anything about how it got there. This greatly confused Asher, but he cleared his thoughts about it.

‘I can always try to find out later.’

He closed his hand and blinked his eyes slowly, then spoke.

“Come.”

“Ar-Are you sure?”

Reika looked towards Asher with careful eyes. Seeing this for a moment, Asher let out a laugh.

“Why are you looking at my sword with such anxious eyes Reika?”

“Well, you only know imperial swordsmanship… Wouldn’t that make it difficult for you?”

“Ah.”

Noticing that Reika still did not seem to comprehend that he was levels and levels above her in terms of skill, Asher clicked his tongue and shook his head internally as Reika seemed to think that just by knowing Lepenia’s swordsmanship, made her much stronger than most.

“It will be better if you experience this firsthand what I’m about to do. Come.”

“Okay, Whoa…”

Reika after hearing Asher tell her once more to essentially stop worrying so much and attack him with seriousness, focused her eyes sharply. Her muscles tightened up and prepared themselves to explode at any moment and surge with momentum. However, she also kept a well-balanced guard.

“How much power should I use?”, Reika asked.

“All of it, of course.”

Asher replied once more with a nonchalant and indifferent expression as if to taunt her and say ‘try your best already’.

“Okay then.”

With the wooden sword in hand, Reika shot forwards at Asher. In the span of less than a second, she immediately closed the gap and brought her sword over the top, swinging in a downwards motion with assurance.

It was fast. And it was sharp. Asher admired Reika’s swordsmanship inside of himself. He had guessed her full level of strength roughly, but it seemed that was not needed as she was already above his expectations. If she continued to grow like this, she could. Yes. If it was her, she might be able to reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship.

But not right now.

Asher drew his sword and lowered his posture in one gesture. His body moved like a blur for Reika and her face, for the first time, showed fright.

BANG!

Asher purposefully went to parry her sword even though there were several gaps he could have exposed at that very moment. It wouldn’t be productive if he defeated her in less than 1 move.

As the two wooden swords collided, Reika’s center of gravity was shaken and she didn’t hesitate to step back and retreat from the sudden shock that was transmitted to her body through the single strike from Asher. However, she noticed something off with her body from that blow.

“…Urp-”

“Your motion was great.”

Asher subtly commented while giving her some time.

“Ergh”

Reika gritted her teeth as hard as she could to suppress the raging nausea she was feeling at that moment. Soon she decided she needed to continue her attack no matter what. Her pride would not allow her to be made a fool without even taking one blow properly.

Darting back at Asher, Asher took one of his hands off the sword to reduce the amount of force in his blows to allow Reika to show more. However to Reika, this seemed to be as if Asher were simply making fun of her.

The sound of their swords clashing rang out once more throughout the courtyard, as dust flew about the entire training area from the pure ferocity being displayed in Reika’s strikes. Asher smiled faintly. If it was a contest of displaying her raw strength, she wasn’t doing too bad.

He remembered Lepenia’s ruthless words. He had no talent. He knew that. That was the reason he could only practice imperial swordsmanship.

But that only applied to swordsmen who focused purely on their types of swordsmanship and practiced moves and sought the pinnacle of all swordsmanship. He also shared that commonality.

But when it came to being a warrior on the battlefield… It was a completely different story.

“Reika, I thought you were going to teach me as well?”

Asher said in an almost mocking tone. He wasn’t doing it to be rude. He was simply humbling Reika.

Reika’s strikes were incredibly fast for the common eye and even for her, she thought she was putting pressure on Asher. But, every single stroke of her sword was moving as slow as a snail in Asher’s eyes.

Asher had enough. It was time. He reached out with his left hand abruptly and grabbed Reika’s hand gripping the sword. Reika had no time to even react or be shocked. He ruthlessly snapped and broke her wrist. Reika realized what had just happened, and tried to kick her feet away to retreat, but Asher simply stuck a leg out and she tripped her leg movement. He then took his hand gripping her broken wrist and turned her around and pushed her right over.

Embarrassing.

That was all that could be said as the result of Reika’s confidence of thinking she was close to Asher’s level, or that she could even teach someone who had actually reached the realm of a swordmaster, albeit briefly, in his past life.

“Kak!”

Reika rolled on the ground and let out a cry of pain helplessly.

“….What nonsense.”

Asher was simply stating the truth for her.

She looked at her hand with shocked eyes. She was thinking about displaying the full might of Lepenia’s swordsmanship, but couldn’t even form a proper move from the style since Asher had just deflected her balance slightly in each and every clash.

“Sparring and battle are completely different than practicing a swordsmanship Reika.”

He muttered as he crouched down to her eye level.

Reika was by no means weak. In fact for her age, she was incredibly strong. She had even reached such a level of strength compared to any kid her age with absolutely zero teaching and only learned out of a book. It was a monstrous talent that had no equal. This was true since it was the most monstrous level of talent that Asher had ever seen in either of his two lives once he got to see her up close. Not even Lepenia was as talented as the little girl in front of him.

But she was weak. Pitifully weak. Learning and applying swordsmanship in a real battle was what set aside true warriors from show-boats who just flashed their sword around willy-nilly.

As a result, the evidence was displayed clearly for Reika to see. All it took was a simple trip of the legs and grabbing of the wrist to make her monstrous talent crumble in front of someone who was deemed as completely talentless.

“That…”

Reika bit her lips in bitter resentment and spat out venomously,

“That was not swordsmanship!”

“But you’re dead.”

Asher spoke as if it already had happened with a smile. It was clear she would have been if Asher attacked her with the intent to kill her.

Just because reality was cruel, didn’t mean that Reika enjoyed it. It was a result that was hard to accept. She didn’t want to believe that practicing swordsmanship styles and successfully applying them in battle were a completely different matter altogether.

But… if she didn’t want to die in the future being stubborn, she had to accept this and learn from it.

Asher, seeing her change in attitude smiled once more and then kicked her leg slightly. Immediately Reika responded and raised her sword in a hurry and tried to catch him off guard.

The two swords clashed once more.

“You are strong Reika. Skilled even. But, between practice and application, you have a long way to go.”

While saying this, Asher slightly twisted his wrist to redirect the sword to slide off of Reika’s intended trajectory and smacked her forearm.

“AH!” (T/N : This just sounds like torture, not practice lmao)

Immediately after feeling the searing pain, Reika grit her teeth and pulled back immediately. However, this time she didn’t let go of the sword.

She was growing in real-time.

She had the skill, Asher was just straightening out her mindset. And it seemed like it was effective. Now all that was left… was growth.

“What you need is practicality and flexibility. Simply put, do not let your emotions dictate the way your sword moves.”

What was the probability that an incredibly talented person survived their first life and death duel? Asher had seen many talents die early on the minute they were placed in a real life-or-death scenario.

Those talents let their instinct and emotions take over their actions when their lives were on the line. But that was what dug them deeper into their impending doom. True talents would adapt, and learn to control their emotions letting them become less predictable.

A good and experienced warrior, would always be able to exploit someone who relied on their emotions in battle.

The sounds of the wooden swords colliding as Reika tried to keep up and parry Asher’s heavy blows, rang out in the surroundings. However, they became too heavy for Reika to handle and she was becoming light-headed from all the blows shaking her very body every single time she tried to parry them.

Asher saw a gap as Reika was becoming less and less stable from the flurries of blows, and he rushed in with his shoulders leaning forwards.

“Kak!”

“It’s better to abandon the habit of blindly trusting a swordsmanship style when the real battle is in front of you. That alone, will never help you survive on the battlefield.”

Reika was an absolute mess as she heard Asher’s words. She turned her gaze back to see Asher standing about 3 feet away from her. His hands and clothes were completely dirty and stained. His face was scratched up and his hands became calloused. She once liked him like that.

But now, she was filled with eyes of hostility and doubt.

“You…”

“You… Who are you?”, she stuttered while maintaining a fierce gaze locked onto him.

“Well-”

The Captain of the Imperial Guards? The troublemaking boy who was employed here and only was a hindrance to others? The identities clashed together quite a bit and even he was trying to figure it out. What and who, was he really at this very moment?

He thought about it for a brief moment of silence and then opened his mouth.

“Well, first off I am the Young Lady’s teacher.”

That would be all he needed to say for now.

Reika flinched at the words, but then hardened her face with determination and raised herself up with her sword, while she rubbed her wrist and arms that were in pain.

“But this doesn’t make any sense. If swordsmanship is this useless in battle, then doesn’t that mean practicing sword arts and styles are meaningless?”

“That’s not entirely true.”

Swordsmanship was made to become flexible for those who can utilize it best. Those who can pursue swordsmanship with talent and adaptability, become fearsome existences that are known as swordmasters.

“It is because you are too inexperienced, Miss Reika. You have the talent to become much stronger than even me.”

“Then I just blindly relied on it too much? Was it because I didn’t come up with any kind of variations of my own?”

“Why did you blindly rush in to an opponent of whom you know almost nothing about, thinking you could overpower them because you simply had a higher tier of swordsmanship?”

He had lived in the era of heroes. In those times, there were countless and numerous amounts of battles of which several lives were lost.

He himself had been on hundreds if not thousands of battlefields, and survived during that bloody era. He would never lose to some child who had just started learning swordsmanship, no matter how talented she was.

He desperately wanted to pursue the sword even in that life. So what if he was a seasoned warrior? He wanted to walk the path of the sword. So what if he had reached the realm of a swordmaster at the end of his life? It was useless that he could never fully see what was on that realm despite having just reached it for a brief moment.

Emotions raged throughout his chest.

That life was over. He had this one and he would pursue the pinnacle of swordsmanship once more.

‘I will forge my own path.’

He thought to himself. His resolve would never change.

Rubbing her body, and trying to support her weaker limbs, muttered.

“Ehhh, this will be at least a few days of rest to heal my muscle pain as well as sprained arms and wrists.”

“Sure. It will actually be better if you take a rest and don’t come back for a few hours. But after that, make sure you come back as fast as possible to resume your training.”

“What?!”

Reika shouted out in surprise. Asher laughed at the pure and honest reaction of such a little girl trying to take the easy route.

“That was a test, but did you think that was all there was to it? First the measurements of your reaction time and adaptability, which we measure are complete. Now it’s time for physical training.”

“Um….”

Reika broke out into a cold sweat and her eyes darted around.

“I’m actually feeling a bit sick… and um… my shoulder feels a bit funny as well, maybe my bones…”

“I purposefully avoided direct contact with your bones and ligaments, you may have thought them to be broken, but I purely hit your muscles which are most likely in pain right now.”

“Fuck..”

Reika mutturred the most profane word she knew; unbefitting of the young lady of the estate.

—

The Halvark Manor was still standing tall on the estate even after the past 100 years it had been through.  It wasn’t an incredible estate compared to most other estates of nobility, but it wasn’t negligible either. It was average in the very sense of the word.

Some of the younger generation complained that the Manor was too traditional and old-fashioned with it’s lack of renovations. But the older generation knew that the traditionality and consistency of the surroundings around the manor were quite tranquil.

It was an influential family, since it was located quite close to the Capital of the Empire. And it’s geographical advantages were quite enviable by other city lords. But mostly the very dull and tranquil atmosphere was due to the Lord of the Halvark family. It was quite a moderate family with their actions and political stances within the Empire.

He hated quarrels and unnecessary troubles that could be brought to the estate. He would also rule fairly with whatever resources he currently had. It was quite a humble family among the other nobilities.

Lord Halvark was amicable and had a high praise from his citizens. However, his son Luke was… a bit radical to say the least. However, Lord Halvark hoped that his son would eventually change for the better.

“Whoo-”

Venicia, the Lord’s Wife sighed and put the spoon down. She stared at Reika who was still drinking the soup prepared for her, with anxious eyes.

“..Reika.”

“Yes mother?”

Reika flinched and rose her head from the bowl of soup. Venicia sighed once more.

Venicia was so proud when she first gave birth to Reika. Though she shed tears of sorrow when she found out the baby was a girl, she was prideful that her daughter was growing up to be quite a beautiful young girl.

(T/N : Sexism was incredibly common within the feudal eras, I do respect this author for actually having knowledge of this compared to most novels. But it is quite sad nonetheless to see.)

Eventually Venicia could not hold in her thoughts any longer and spoke out.

“… You strongly insisted with your tenacity and I will respect your decision no matter what the results of it turn out to be…”

Exactly one month ago, Reika had come to Venicia asking for her to give Asher the laboring boy, the freedom of schedule in his work. At first Venicia did not understand why this was being requested from Reika.

Reika and Asher’s relationship had one of simple indifference. It wasn’t like the relationship between Luke and Asher which consisted of enmity. It was simple indifference.

Because of this, Venecia’s interest was piqued and allowed her request to be granted. Then a bit later on, Reika had requested for a couple of training swords. When Venicia asked her about why she needed them, the answer she got back was “He said he will teach me swordsmanship”. Venicia thought it was simply someone else teaching her that had stopped by on their way to the capital and allowed her to do so.

But when she found it was Asher… she was quite surprised to say the least. But, Venicia recalled a certain rumor that was floating around the estate the past few days.

It was that Luke had challenged Asher to a duel, yet the results were far from the expected outcome. The most surprising thing was that Luke’s attitude which had been rampantly disturbing until then, was curbed to the side with a form of humility. Lord Halvark and Venicia herself, were quite pleased and surprised with the fact their son Luke had a change in nature. Whether it would only be temporary or not, it was not known, but still pleasing to see.

At this opportunity laid in front of Venicia, she thought Asher and Reika could become quite close with each other. But perhaps, that might have been the wrong decision to make.

Venicia anxiously opened her mouth once more and spoke.

“Have you been okay with it?”

“Hahaha!”

Reika laughed with a big smile on her face. But what Venicia was concerned about was all the dirty specks of dirt and scratches on Reika’s beautiful face. Her hands had also become rough and calloused; unbefitting of a young noble lady in the Empire.

“It’s been like this for over a month now. You leave me with no choice but to be worried.”

Venicia thought it would be some simple thing that Reika requested that perhaps came from a little bit of a romantic emotion from Reika. However, it was clear that it had been over a month now, with the opposite intended result. This time her gaze turned into one that was firm as she glared with disappointment evident across her face, at Reika. Reika, noticing this, quickly stuffed her food in her face and hurried out.

“Well thanks for the meal mother, but I’ve heard enough of it. I’ll be back later!”

“Reika!”

Standing up abruptly out of her chair, Venicia shouted out at Reika who was already off and running to the training grounds.

In the dining room the other 3 of the family were still there. Luke, then stood up and bowed as he spoke.

“Well then father and mother, I will be taking my leave as well.”

As Luke departed, there was silence in the dining hall. Lord Halvark who was eating quietly, spoke with a calm tone.

“Reika is a clever and gifted child, it will be okay I think for her to do what she wants for now.”

“But honey…!”

Venicia bit her lips. She was a great mother and overall amazingly capable woman. However, her soft side was always shown when it came to children. Lord Halvark smiled at the scene and spoke.

“If you still have qualms about it, how about you go and see Asher for yourself?”

“I.. myself?”

Venicia quickly shook her head.

“No I can’t, if I go the citizens and other workers will think I am showing unreasonable favor once more. I’ve already been watching over him quite a bit, but if I make a mistake, the discipline in the manor…”

“Asher has changed.”

Lord Halvark smiled at Venicia. She had spoken as if it were a problem to go check on Asher due to favoritism, yet her body was already facing the door to go see the changes for herself.

It was a child that Venicia treasured dearly, and raised from the shadows. Although she couldn’t show it much due to the implications it had on the line of succession, she cared very deeply for the boy.

“I see.. Then I shall go ahead and see for myself.”

Venicia nodded, turned around and left promptly.

Lord Halvark’s smile, abruptly contorted into suspicion. He picked up his wine glass and took a sip.

“Charon.”

“Yes sir.”

The butler from behind him approached forwards and bowed his head in respect.

“Go and follow after Venicia and report to me in detail whatever happens there.”

“As you command, sir.”

Charon had then left, leaving nobody else within the dining hall other than Lord Halvark. He played with his wine glass and put his hand to his forehead as he fell into thought.

‘I should see for myself if it really is true.’

As a lord, Lord Halvark had seen many people change supposedly but then revert back to their old natures. They would betray, use others and lie. That wasn’t all of them, but it was a high chance.

‘A troublemaking boy suddenly turns into a respectable and dutiful swordsman?’

If Asher had truly changed, then to what extent? And if so.. How would Venicia react?

‘He better not be plotting to use Venicia… because if he is, it won’t just end with being kicked out of the estate.’

Lord Halvark glared at the door with a cold expression as he played with the wine glass in his hand.

—

Chapter 7 – Fin