Vol. 1 - Ch. 9 - Days without Blessings_2

"Oh!"The sword of the side cleave comes from the front. It is easier to avoid the sword than to deflect it, and it is easier to connect to the next attack. You take a half step back, and just after the sword passes right in front of your chest, you quickly close the distance and enter the opponent's pocket.

"Kuku!"

According to his previous attacks, this opponent often relies on the upper mid-distance attack. If he closes the distance here, he will try to retreat to the right back and re-set his sword to the upper level. I keep my body close to the opponent and place my left foot first at the point where the opponent's foot is expected to come.

"What?"

The opponent, who was not able to move his feet as he wished, lost his posture. The nose-to-nose combat at such close range often turns into a battle of positions. You can gain the upper hand by first gaining control of the ground and then controlling your opponent's footwork.

I slammed the hilt of my sword into the opponent's stomach, knocking him off his feet. Then I thrust the tip of the sword against his throat as he fell on his back.

"....I give up."

When the opponent's face contorted into a grimace and he surrendered, the people around him gasped.

"Hey, you won again without any blessing, didn't you? And this time it's Nikolai."

"Calm down. This was a fluke, of course."

"No, I don't think it's a fluke, judging from the way he's carrying himself."

Well, I can wield a sword even without the blessing. One year has passed since I joined the group. Even though I have no magical power, I can show my strength in swordsmanship training. If I overwhelm my opponent with my swordsmanship, I can hear some people recognizing me, albeit only a few. The guy I had just defeated got up and went back toward the crowd, and another guy came out in his place.

"The next time," he said, "let's do it with me."

<"....Please.">

He was the commander of the 2nd Cavalry, as I recall. He was dressed in silver armor, the mark of a senior officer and his face was covered with a vicious smile.

"Begin!"

Hearing the signal to begin, I stepped forward at once and swung a lower strike into his shin.

"Mm...

The leader of the unit didn't react at all. My sword stopped right in front of his shin.

"Deaaaah!

I draw my sword, and while circling around to the side of the commander, I swing down a kesa za siri with all my might. This too stopped dead in its tracks. The commander didn't even look at my sword.

"Oh!"

I stepped back once, and after half a second, I stepped forward with all my weight on the tip of my sword and made a thrust. And this too stopped just in front of the commander's chest.

"Oops!"

Seeing this, the commander slashed up from the lower right. He took a large distance and ducked, and you could hear his tongue lashing out at you. I quickly closed the distance and cut with an upper slash with the sword set in the middle. When the upper slash stopped again, the commander threw a side slash.

I immediately drew my sword to guard against it, but just like his armor, the silver sword is naturally permeated with magic power. I was blown away by the powerful force that was twisted into my body from above the sword I was guarding, and I rolled around on the ground two or three times.

'Geeh... hah... Kahaha...'

"I wouldn't even be able to speak even if I tried to surrender, so okay, that's enough."

The commander returned to the crowd. He must have been satisfied.

I'm the only one who knows about magic. Only I know the sensation of having magic power twisted into my magic-less body. Fever, pain, and back and forth agony attacked my entire body.

It was as if every organ in my body was being agitated and stirred. I heard a voice mocking me as I fell to the ground and slumped over.

"He knows he can't reach you, but why was he slashing at you over and over again?And with all his might."

"He's probably desperate."

"He probably doesn't understand anything about magic, so that's possible."

"Ha-ha-ha! That's too bad!" A chuckle erupted from the crowd.

I managed to stand up with my sword as a walking stick and saw a different man standing in front of me.

"Okay, I'm next! Nice to meet you! Morf-kun, right?" Silver armor adorned the man's body.

<"Oh, you're next, Mr. Max?">

"Mr. Max, that's Horf, sir."

"I'm so glad you guys are so kind as to go along with his training without any blessings. Hey, Horv! You should be thanking me!"

I was laughing and holding my sword up while suppressing all the pain in my body.

<"I'm ... I'm looking forward to working with you. Thank you.">

................

"All right, that's it for today's training. After this, we'll have dinner. Please move to the cafeteria. The order was given to end the training.

I knelt down on my knees, my body in tatters, as everyone bustled past me. I somehow managed to get up and leave the training area, only to see a familiar girl with long black hair and red eyes.

"Brother..."

Felicia, who joined the group this year, seems to have gained outstanding magical power in the secret depths of Sangso Shinso, though not as much as Emily. She was assigned to the magic unit and has already shown extraordinary talent in training

<"You were watching, Felicia?">

"Yes... Um, you're hurt..."

<"I'm fine. It's nothing serious. So don't look at me like that."> Felicia's expression remained blank, though she tried to smile.

"I wish I could use recovery magic."

<"Don't worry about that . You're learning offensive magic, right Felicia?">

Felicia was assigned to the First Magic Unit, which specializes in offensive magic. Felicia apparently had a strong aptitude for offensive magic. The first day of her assignment, she was taught the basic magic "fireball," and it is rumored that she suddenly created a fireball three times the size of the model shown by a senior member of the unit.

"Um, brother..."

<"Yes?">

"Why did you slash him like that so many times? If you didn't do it like that, you wouldn't have been hurt so much..."

The way I did it seemed strange even to Felicia's eyes.

<"I know I can't reach them, but I repeatedly slash at them with all my might, which only makes them more displeased and hurt.  As long as I swing my sword with all my might, a new opponent comes out and blows me away, just as if to say, "You're still in good spirits, aren't you?

Surely, if I had stopped at the right place, I wouldn't be so tattered and bruised. But I don't want to do that. I'm learning to use a sword just as Felicia is learning to use magic. You can only make progress if you continue to put all your energy into each swing. Otherwise, what's the point of training?">

"But you don't have to go that far.."

<"Don't worry. It's alright.">

At 16, I had grown even taller. Because I was devoting my training time to strength training, my body was already the largest of all in the Fifth Order.

<"I decided to...">

"Hmm?"

<"Does it make sense... to do so?">

It must have been the words that I squeezed out after being so lost that they burned in my chest. The words that I delivered with my eyes downcast and in a voice that sounded like it was about to fade away, however, certainly contained a strong will.

Without magic power, you can't fight demons.

No matter how fast I swung my sword, no matter how hard I swung it, no matter how sharply I swung it, it would never reach them. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ ɴ0velFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

So why do we continue to swing the sword until it is in tatters?

Why do I continue to wield the sword even though it is meaningless?

These were the words of Felicia, who could not bear to see me hurt, and who was sincerely concerned for her brother. I know my parents told her to stay away from me, but like Emily, she was also a kind girl.

<"I don't know if it means anything . But if I keep swinging the sword, maybe someday it will reach somewhere. We just have to believe in that.">

I looked Felicia in her eyes and said, <"The only thing I know for sure is that if I don't swing it, I won't get anywhere.">

"That kind of......" My answer was probably not satisfactory to her.

I myself think it's outrageous. But I had no choice. I had to believe that my will was meaningful, even if she laughed at me and scorned me.

<"But more importantly, dinner is coming, Felicia. Why don't you go to the cafeteria?">

"Yes. You should come with me, brother."

<"No, I'll join you later. Eat with the troops.">

"...yes"

It's better if no one sees Felicia and me together. I'm not going to do anything that will cast a shadow over Felicia's future, let alone my own.

"I've done nothing but hurt her..."

I muttered to myself as I watched Felicia walk away with a downcast look on her face.