Chapter 181
Chapter 181
On a night when the moon shone brightly, at the summit of the Spitz Snowy Mountains.
Under the moonlight, Bedervel swung her sword and demonstrated.
It was the pinnacle of art, stripped down to the bare minimum of movement, as if painting the beauty of empty space.
Seeing it up close, her swordsmanship looked even more beautiful.
“Now, try following along.”
I stared at it absentmindedly, and only after hearing her words did I manage to draw my sword from subspace.
“If I were to give you a tip, you should always slip into your opponent’s blind spot when approaching.”
Listening to her words, I took a stance and swung my sword. Bedervel shook her head.
“It’s a complete mess, boy. I’ll show you again, so watch carefully and copy it.”
Bedervel demonstrated once more.
I stored it in my mind, then swung my sword again with more sincerity.
Whoong-!
“Like this?”
“……No. It’s a little better than before, but you raised the sword too high. You also put in too much strength, which is a shame. Refine your posture a bit more.”
After hearing her reply, I closed my eyes.
With my vision cut off, I could draw a more concrete image in my head.
Every movement Bedervel had shown, one by one, slowly.
Perhaps thanks to the ‘learning device’, my thoughts organized themselves quickly.
‘Let’s do this properly.’
I turned my back to the moonlight and lowered my breathing.
I bent my knees and placed my weight on my front foot.
I didn’t raise the sword high. If strength went into my shoulders, my movements would slow.
I loosened my wrist first.
Then my arm.
Finally, my waist.
Rather than swinging the sword, I entrusted my body to the sensation of drawing it as if it were sliding.
Before the blade even cut through the air, my body was already naturally preparing for the next movement.
The blind spot Bedervel had mentioned.
Not straight ahead, but a position shifted one step to the side, which I imagined as I moved my foot.
My toes scraped the ground, and my weight shifted naturally.
Whoong-!
With a short, low sound, the sword traced a semicircle.
“How was that?”
“…….”
Bedervel blinked. After sinking into thought for a while, she opened her mouth again.
“Swing it again.”
Whoong-!
Just as I had done moments ago, I took the same stance and swung my sword.
Then I turned my gaze toward her.
“Master, please give me some feedback.”
“…….”
Bedervel examined my face silently for a while. Feeling puzzled, I shrugged my shoulders.
“Is my swordsmanship so bad that you can’t even comment on it?”
“Boy, you’re not doing this on purpose, are you?”
“What do you mean by that?”
As I raised my eyebrows in question, Bedervel soon shook her head.
“……No, no. It was just my imagination.”
After walking a few steps, Bedervel answered me.
“From now on, when you swing your sword, just do it like you did just now. That was a good posture. I was planning to teach you just this one thing for the next few days, but your progress is fast. Let’s move on to the next step.”
Before I knew it, her eyes were sparkling as they reflected the moonlight.
After the first day of training ended and Billet returned.
Bedervel sat beside Polia, silently stroking her chin.
Noticing this, Polia spoke up.
“My daughter, you look troubled.”
“Well, Father. That boy is…… a bit strange.”
“What do you mean?”
Bedervel stood up from her seat, looked straight into Polia’s eyes, and spoke.
“I confirmed it during the first training session today. The boy’s swordsmanship was a complete mess. He hadn’t learned it anywhere, a raw beginner in its purest form……. It was laughable to even call it swordsmanship. That might have been natural. He’s not a knight, just an academy student who’s never properly learned the sword.”
But Bedervel’s expression grew serious.
“……Yet in just three tries. After swinging the sword only three times, he perfectly fixed his posture.”
No matter how many days, months, or thousands of swings one went through, it was impossible to create a perfect posture.
‘Posture’ was something one naturally acquired only after enduring years of hardship and engaging in countless duels between people.
“But this…… it’s impossible.”
“That boy’s talent must be outstanding.”
“Father, since you’re not human, it might be hard for you to feel it properly, but this can’t simply be called talent.”
It was learning ability so frightening that it went far beyond the realm of talent.
It was almost monstrous.
“At first, I thought it might have been a coincidence, so I made him swing again, but the second time was also a perfect posture. I just can’t believe it. Teach him one thing, and he understands ten.”
As the Empire’s greatest swordsman and the commander of the Imperial Knights, she had briefly taught many knights out of obligation.
However, none of those who were said to be exceptionally talented surpassed Billet’s learning ability.
“There was even a perverted knight who pretended to be bad with the sword, then acted like he grew rapidly after receiving my instruction.”
But Billet wasn’t that kind of shady person. He genuinely seemed ignorant of the sword. Today was surely the first time he had ever properly learned it.
“Still, not a single one of them understood why this posture had to be used, or why such an inefficient weapon had to be wielded.”
In the end, like a lone wolf, that swordsmanship became something only Bedervel herself could use.
……But now, it was different.
Someone had appeared who understood her sword.
That was the reason Bedervel, who hadn’t particularly liked teaching others, had taken the initiative to teach Billet.
“Because that boy grows so quickly, I realized for the first time that teaching others can be fun.”
Bedervel smiled as if recalling today’s training.
“My daughter, someone who understands you has appeared.”
“Maybe. For the first time, someone who will understand my sword…… I think it might be that boy.”
Unable to hold it in any longer, Polia burst out laughing as she spoke.
“I hope to hear news of your marriage soon.”
“Huh? Marriage? What are you talking about? F-Father……!”
Realizing the meaning of his words, Bedervel cried out in shock. Her black hair, tied into a single bundle, sprang up.
“Younger men aren’t my type. There’s more than a ten-year age difference!”
“At most, it’s just a ten-year difference. Why should that matter?”
“It matters a lot! Father, you need to calculate time based on human standards!”
“Just kidding. It has been a long time since I last saw you look like that. Living is a joyful thing.”
When Bedervel heard Polia’s reply, the smile vanished from his face. Soon after, his expression turned sorrowful.
“……Father. Do we really have to duel? Can’t you just keep living with me?”
Polia shook her head.
“My daughter. This is my mission, one I have waited for a very long time. The time has simply come, so do not grieve.”
Polia let out a deep breath and added,
“You must raise the boy until he is able to duel me. That is the mission given to you.”
“…….”
Bedervel only nodded silently.
And so…….
A full month passed in the blink of an eye.
Learning Rental End!
Today marked the end of a month-long training.
I stepped onto the summit of the Spitz Snowy Mountains.
As if she had been waiting, the Guardian Deity of Kirhen, Polia, was looking straight at me.
“You have come.”
Kugung-!
Polia bit down on the hilt of the gigantic greatsword that had been embedded in the ground.
“Challenger. Raise your sword.”
She pulled the greatsword out as it was, the massive blade clenched in her mouth.
I drew the Titanium Sword from subspace. At the same time, Shuck’s darkness wrapped around and swallowed the Titanium Sword whole.
“Come at me with everything you have.”
“…….”
I faced Polia, who was holding a greatsword twice my height in her mouth.
Suddenly, my gaze shifted to my hand.
It was trembling, shaking uncontrollably.
The opponent was a ‘Guardian Deity’ who had lived for hundreds of years, defeating monsters without end. No one could stand before her without trembling.
……But what I felt was not fear.
Excitement, dread, and joy were all mixed together…… an indescribable emotion.
I was standing here facing Polia because I had not run away, because I had come to settle this.
If I had judged that I couldn’t defeat Polia, I would have fled without hesitation, promise or not.
Some might call that cowardly, but so what?
What mattered most was my life.
Yet I came here anyway.
Because I believed in myself.
Because I judged that the me who had completed a month of training could defeat Polia.
“Huu…….”
I tightly gripped the sword hilt and took a deep breath.
The trembling in my body greatly subsided.
‘Let’s go.’
When I walked toward Polia, she too approached me.
Relaxed, yet without a single opening to be found. Even an escape route was nowhere to be seen.
That must have been exactly how Polia felt while looking at me.
As the distance between us closed, her neck moved. At the same moment, my arm moved as well.
Chaeng-!
Sword and sword collided.
Despite her overwhelming strength, Polia deflected the attack as if letting it slide past.
Because she blocked it properly, the shock transmitted to my arm was greatly reduced.
Thanks to Shuck’s support, it was even more bearable.
‘It’s big, but it’s not as overwhelming as I thought?’
While blocking her sword, I deliberately stepped into Polia’s blind spot.
Then I swung my blade.
Kaaang-!
As Polia blocked my attack, the friction of steel echoed through the mountains like a reverberation.
With that resonance, a strange feeling began to well up inside my heart.
This feeling was clearly…….
Clearly ‘joy’.
Kaang-!
Chaang-!
Blades collided again and again, sparks scattering.
‘I’m alive.’
Kaaang-!
Once more.
‘This time too, I’m alive.’
The clash of swords was proof of being alive.
‘Now that I’ve crossed blades with her, I roughly know how to handle it.’
Rather than using the swordsmanship I had learned exactly as taught, I tried to apply it.
How long had we been crossing blades like that?
Just as the pain in my arms became intense, something happened to catch my eye.
‘Found it.’
It wasn’t some kind of trap.
I was certain. I thrust my sword straight toward the opening Polia had revealed for just an instant.
Each time Polia’s sword clashed with Billet’s, a sense of longing welled up within her.
‘It feels as though I have met you again.’
The number of clashes had reached dozens.
No, before she realized it, it had surpassed hundreds.
Billet chose his stance, the angle of his sword, the amount of strength to apply—
All of it, using only the optimal choices.
It meant that he had perfectly understood the ‘swordsmanship’ she was meant to pass on.
‘You are certain.’
At first, she had not been sure. That was why she had taught him the sword, to confirm it.
‘I am glad to meet you again.’
The vague feeling she had carried gradually turned into conviction.
‘……Formless.’
Billet’s sword carried the exact same aura as that man’s.
At that moment, at an unexpected timing, Billet’s blade came flying toward her.
……Yes.
This was enough.
Polia did not dodge. She simply closed her eyes.
She had made her decision long ago.
That she would help the one who came to keep the promise, no matter the method.
To the one she judged to be the man she had waited for.
To the one who would defeat her, she would pass on every bit of the energy she had accumulated over hundreds of years.
And the one who defeated her would surely be……
The man Polia had waited for all those centuries.
Polia accepted death with joy.
……However.
She felt no pain.
Polia slowly opened her eyes.
Billet’s blade had stopped right in front of her nose.
“Why…… did you stop your sword?”
“No.”
Billet blinked and opened his mouth.
“There’s no meaning in killing you, you know?”
Hearing that answer, Polia spoke belatedly.
“You must accept all of my accumulated power in its entirety. That is the promise with my master…….”
“I don’t need that kind of crap.”
He mercilessly shattered Polia’s plan.