CH 51

Test Drive

Clang.

Cling.

The sounds of metal hitting metal echoed through the dojo.

I had come in order to train while wearing the prosthetic leg.

“Well, you can swing your sword just fine. That’s a rather good leg.”

“Isn’t it? It was very hard to make.”

But it was well worth the effort it took Rones. Even if I swung hard with my sword, I could maintain my posture without losing my balance.

“However, you cannot help that you stay on the defensive.”

That was just it. When my false leg was in the front, it was hard to move to the right or left. Which made it difficult to move forward. This meant it would be a very bad fit against spears.

“Aye, I’ll be forced to react to my opponent’s movements.”

Wait my turn.

“Also, you won’t be able to use a shield or two-handed sword. I’m sure you already know, but things will be severe.”

I gave up on shields, because the movement when changing to an attack was too big. I had also tried a two-handed sword, but the speed when transitioning from a defensive stance to an attack was much too slow. It was a weapon for an aggressive style.

“However, you can swing a sword.”

“Aye. I can fight.”

We both grinned at each other.

“If you focus on being defensive and reacting, that will make things difficult for your opponent as well. Obviously, if they know your limitations, they might exploit it, but most will not understand you at first.”

The weapon I chose was the bastard sword, which I was already familiar with. However, I held it with two hands.

“Now, you just need to get in a real fight. I’d accompany you, if I could, but…”

In spite of appearance, Jirido was a guard at the royal castle. He could not take time off to go with an Adventurer.

“I’ll start with some goblins.”

“Be less clumsy this time.”

“Aye, I know.”

And then I visited the Adventurers Guild.

I tore off a goblin settlement extermination quest for the E-Rank quest board.

And then I took it to the reception counter.

With these things, it was all about momentum.

“Hey, Ms. Eily.”

I said casually, but she did not look up from the counter.

“I’m doing this one.”

I put the sheet on the counter.

“You cannot accept a quest like this!”

She said in alarm when she saw it.

Well, I couldn’t blame her for that reaction.

“Then put me to the test. To see if I can fight.”

“What?”

“Let me take a guild combat test.”

Surely this wasn’t an unreasonable request.

After thinking about this silently for a moment, Ms. Eily got up from her chair.

“I will ask the Guild Master about it. Wait one moment.”

After waiting there for awhile, the Guild Master came down, along with Ms. Eily and one other Adventurer.

“Mr. Ajifu. I hear that you wish to undergo a test?”

“Yes. Is Deats my opponent then?”

The Adventurer who accompanied the Guild Master was Deats, who worked exclusively in the royal capital. He was a B-Ranker, who had been blessed with a large physique and wielded a two-handed sword that was equally impressive. This would be a challenge.

“Ah, Ajifu. I heard about your leg. That was some ill luck. Do you know, Eily actually told me to hurt you so you wouldn’t do anything reckless.”

But her protests were ignored.

After being in the city for three years, you start to get to know the Adventurers here. And I had trained with him in the past.

“So there it is. The guild has no objections to learning the ability of its Adventurers. However, since you want to be tested, I suppose this means that you’re positive about your prospects?”

“Well, that depends on Deats over there.”

“Oh? You sound very confident, Ajifu.”

I was just glad to be able to to test my new equipment and skills. And so I would not hold back!

…Though, I did not say any of this. I didn’t want him to get cautious.

And so we then headed to the guild training ground. As there was the dojo, I did not come here often. But there were a few other Adventurers using it today.

“That leg looks pretty good. You can walk well without a stick.”

“Rones is very skilled. It was a good thing he was introduced to me.”

“Hmm. Is that why you’re confident?”

Stop asking questions!

I chose my training weapon and faced Deats.

“Hmm? No shield?”

“It’s hard to use with just one leg.”

We both knew how the other fought. And so we kept the right distance from each other.

“On your signal, Guild Master.”

“Aye, then begin!”

Crunch.

I went into a low stance. I looked at my feet in the sand, and started quietly.

The spring of my prosthetic leg held up my weight just right.

“What’s the matter? This is your test. Come at me.”

He could say what he liked. I was careful to keep the weight on my false leg as I slowly moved forward.

“If you won’t come…”

Clang.

As Deats raised his sword from a low stance to a middle one, I kicked the dirt with the prosthetic leg.

And then I thrust with the sword along its movement, and it was swept aside, just like I thought it would be.

“Hyah!”

Now there was an opening in front of him. I slashed downwards, aiming at his hand. But he quickly let go with one hand and stepped back.

At the same time, I used my front leg to jump back and return to my original spot.

I wished that I could have moved in instead, but I couldn’t get greedy.

And so slid forward once again. A drop of sweat flowed down from Deats’s forehead.

The tip of Deats’s sword, which was held at his center, swayed.

Clang.

“Hah.”

As he thrust forward, I swept it away with an upwards slash, and then tried to swing down from above. But he read my movements and retreated.

“Good. I think you might be better now than before your injury?”

Deats said with amusement as he took a step back.

That was ridiculous! I couldn’t even see the thrust earlier. It was just a prediction, based off of his first move.

However, right now, I was happy for this misunderstanding. If he knew that I was weaker than before, I would lose immediately.

And so I grinned back at him confidently.

“Arrgghhh!”

From a slight distance, Deats stepped forward and shouted as he unleashed a sideways slash attack. I couldn’t deal with this attack by moving forward or back.

However, this was what I was waiting for! I blocked it while ducking, with all of my weight on my prosthetic leg, and then I swept it to the side.

Deats’s body swerved! But I was also pushed by the powerful attack, and my body rose a little. This was not a good stance to be in…

“Hyaa!”

I took a step forward with the prosthetic leg, and thrust out with the sword that had been raised. And then the tip scratched Deats’s shoulder.

“Gah.”

He quickly moved away from me. And with his sword still pointing down, he went into a low stance.

In fact, if my prosthetic leg was in front, then it was a pain if he moved to the right or left. It made things difficult for me, but I couldn’t let him know that.

“That’s enough!”

Said the Guild Master.

So that’s it then. Well, I suppose it was enough, if this was a test.

“Very good, Mr. Ajifu. Your movements were not much different from before the accident.”

Deats had felt the same, which is why he had unleashed such a strong horizontal attack. With a two-handed sword and high STR, I had to block it with everything that I had as well.

“However, you should choose the quests yourself. And even if you are in a party, you should avoid fighting large monsters.”

Ah, so he was watching carefully after all.

“Ouch. Yes, while you did win, you can’t keep fighting in that stance, or people will notice.”

Tsk. So he noticed that too.

That’s right, I had no way of dealing with large monsters that required more movement. And this pattern of swinging while putting all of my weight on the prosthetic leg could not be used so much.

“I’m still thinking of what to do.”

Even moving back and forward was still something I could do little by little. But once I was more used to this leg, I could start adding a center stance to the pattern as well.

Besides, by choosing to ‘wait’ all of the time, this strategy of forcing them to make a decision seemed promising.

“Ms. Eily. As you can see, there is no problem, so you can allow him to accept the quest. Of course, if you feel he is trying to do something reckless, then you can reject it without mercy.”

“If you say so, Guild Master.”

Ms. Eily did not look at all pleased.

Regardless, I was able to annihilate the goblins without any issue.