Chapter 121 : Disguise (3)
Chapter 121: Disguise (3)
“What is it?”
The swordsman answered coldly.
It was a response given after sweeping his gaze over my appearance once.
His eyes were still fierce, but that seemed to be purely a matter of his looks.
‘Well, I guess I’m just overly sensitive right now.’
No matter who looked at me, I was just a commoner child—how could anyone possibly suspect me of being a mage?
If the other party were a mage, maybe, but swordsmen didn’t have that kind of perception.
“You’re a swordsman, right?”
I asked again.
Instead of answering, he pointed at the scabbard at his waist.
It meant that if he weren’t a swordsman, there’d be no reason for him to be wearing a scabbard like that.
“I have something I’m curious about—could you tell me?”
“Say it.”
Since he clearly thought I was just a commoner, the conversation was smooth.
“I want to become a swordsman too…… How can I do that?”
At my question, he once again swept his gaze over my entire body.
It felt as if magic were scanning me, leaving a very unpleasant feeling.
“You can’t. Just live an ordinary life.”
“What?”
How could he say something so cold after just one glance?
His judgment felt exactly like the way I evaluated students’ magic starting from Class 1.
“I’m saying you can’t become a swordsman. Living an ordinary life would be the wiser choice for your future as well.”
“What are you looking at to be so sure?”
“You—how old are you?”
At his question, I calculated the age of this Artel body in my head.
Artel had been thirteen years old at the time of reincarnation.
And since three years had already passed since then, I was now sixteen.
“Sixteen.”
“Sixteen and you’ve got a body like that—you’re far too weak. To become a swordsman, you need a body like steel and stamina like the sea. But just by looking at you, you don’t fit either one, do you?”
By “like the sea,” he probably meant inexhaustible stamina.
“…….”
On top of that, after drinking Vise’s potion, my build had become even more scrawny.
Just as he said, if a swordsman were to punch my body hard, it looked weak enough that several bones would break.
“Is that the condition for becoming a swordsman?”
But that was what I focused on.
I had started this conversation to learn the swordsmen’s training methods in the first place, and I felt that if this continued, I might find them out.
“Of course.”
“Then if my body gets sturdier and my stamina improves, wouldn’t I be able to become a swordsman? You can get strong enough through training, right?”
The swordsman let out an obvious sigh.
“I think you’re misunderstanding something.”
Then he drew the sword at his waist and held it out toward me.
“Try lifting this once.”
The sword he offered was a greatsword, its blade extremely thick.
Its length was about the same as my leg.
‘Just lifting it should be easy.’
Thinking that, I confidently grabbed the hilt of his sword with one hand.
Clang—!
Heavy.
Incredibly heavy.
That was all I could say.
In my previous life, I had once learned swordsmanship from Garent in words alone, at the very top.
But back then, there were no swords in the Magical Society, so I had swung around a manifested form made by transforming a Flewd sphere.
In other words, this was the first time I had ever held a real sword in my hands.
And yet…….
To think that a sword was such a heavy object.
I had never imagined it.
It was in no way comparable to the firewood I had carried in Class 3.
Whether it was because this wasn’t my original body or for some other reason, I couldn’t be sure, but this body right now was undeniably frail.
“You can’t even properly lift a sword and you want to be a swordsman? Not a chance. Wake up, kid. With a body and strength like that at your age, you have no talent. You were born with an ordinary fate.”
Hearing that I was born with an ordinary fate from a swordsman felt strangely unsettling.
But since I hadn’t learned the most important thing yet, there was no reason to back down.
“……If I get stronger, wouldn’t I be able to lift this sword too? Then I could become a swordsman.”
He shook his head.
“You really don’t know anything. Everyone’s skeletal structure is different. And the skeletal structure required to become a swordsman is fixed. That’s talent. Muscles can be built through training, but this skeletal frame is decided the moment you’re born—something even the gods can’t change.”
“Just because of a mere skeletal structure, you’re saying I have no talent?”
“It’s not ‘mere.’ When swinging a sword, even a single difference in skeletal structure changes the amount of force. I’ll give you an example. You—somehow lift that sword and strike the ground.”
At his words, stubbornness flared up inside me.
In the Magical Society, mages trembled just at the mention of my name, yet here at the entrance to the Swordsman’s District, I was being tested by a mere swordsman.
Clenching my molars tightly, I barely lifted his greatsword with both hands.
But perhaps because this body had practically no strength to speak of, my shoulders and arms trembled like an earthquake-ravaged land, as if I were carrying the sky itself.
Still, forcing myself through sheer will, I endured, and after many twists and turns, I finally drove the greatsword into the ground.
Kaaang—!
Deeeng—!
The moment the tip of the blade struck the ground, the resulting vibration traveled through my hands and washed over my entire body. Unable to withstand it, the sensation left my hands, and I ended up dropping the greatsword.
The swordsman shook his head as if I were pathetic, picked up the fallen greatsword with one hand, and demonstratively slammed it into the ground.
Kwaaang—!
It was clearly a different sound from when I had swung it.
Moreover, it was crisp.
And when I looked at the ground, it was completely split apart, like drought-stricken earth.
“…….”
“With just that one skeletal difference you called ‘mere,’ the force changes this much. This isn’t a matter of muscle mass. Depending on the skeletal structure, the placement of muscles differs subtly, and so does their size.”
It was a concept similar to how a mage’s mana differed in quality, density, and quantity.
“That means there are skeletal structures that can’t produce strength no matter how much you force muscle growth—like yours.”
For me, it was a diagnosis no different from a death sentence.
“So wake up from your dream. You don’t become a swordsman just because you want to. Your body has to be unconditionally gifted. You’re a child who didn’t receive that talent.”
As if he had finished saying everything he needed to, the swordsman sheathed his sword back at his waist and turned his back sharply.
“Hey.”
But I wasn’t finished speaking yet.
“Is it still not enough? Wake up from your dream.”
“You tell me to wake up from my dream after saying things like that, but at least tell me how to make my body sturdier first. My life motto is that even if I end up giving up, I should try first before giving up, you know?”
Perhaps feeling a bit of interest in my reply, one corner of his mouth lifted.
“Try before giving up? Sounds like a pretty firm personal belief—almost like a motto of your own. Is there some meaning behind it?”
“Of course.”
“I’d like to hear it. The meaning of that motto.”
“If you give up without even trying, all that’s left is regret. But if you try and then give up, at least you won’t have regrets. It means you gave up because you hit your limit.”
“That’s quite impressive coming from the mouth of a sixteen-year-old kid.”
He spoke while giving a small clap.
“Alright, I like that way of thinking. So in the end, the reason you talked to me was because you wanted to know how to make your body sturdier?”
“Yes.”
“Simple. Stamina that lets you run fast and long even while holding a sword. And strength that doesn’t tire even if you hold a sword all day. How about it? Simple, right?”
“…….”
The swordsman spoke as if he were being quite generous, but to me, it sounded like nothing more than him repeating what he had already said.
“So I’m asking you to tell me how to do that.”
“It’s simple. There are plenty of ways—run all day to forcibly increase your stamina, or lift and lower heavy objects to build strength. Don’t tell me you didn’t even know that?”
“I’m asking because I don’t know.”
“Anyway, that’s how you do it. Judging by your body…… if you do that for about ten years, you might at least be able to take the swordsman academy entrance exam. I don’t know if you’ll become a proper swordsman, though.”
It felt like he was speaking lightly because it wasn’t his problem.
Ten years.
If ten years passed in my current state, this body would already be twenty-six years old.
At that age, having the goal of merely entering a swordsman academy?
That was no different from roundabout telling me not to do it.
“Then I’ll have to succeed within a year.”
I answered confidently.
The reason I specifically chose one year was because that was exactly how much time I had been given.
The time left until I went to the main school and pulled Tyrant down.
That was exactly one year.
“One year, huh…… Is that possible?”
He muttered something that could have been either a rebuke or encouragement.
“Even if I fail, I’ll make it so that failing is acceptable. Anyway, thank you for telling me.”
I had roughly gotten what I wanted.
I gave him a small bow of my head and went on my way.
‘Oh right, now that I think about it, Vise said he was at the boundary between the Mage’s District and the Swordsman’s District.’
Since I had come down here after a long time, I figured I might as well see his face before heading back.
And since I had something to ask Vise anyway, I had more than enough reason to stop by.
Lamik Livia had been resting at the Lamik main residence in the Underworld.
Long blue hair and deep blue eyes.
A slender body with long, flowing curves.
Clear white skin overflowing with vitality.
In appearance, she was quite similar to Nide, a Class 1 professor at the Ed Branch School.
She was Livia, called the greatest beauty among mages.
Whenever it was vacation, Livia would always come down to her family and rest before leaving again.
Unlike Etar, she was one of the headmasters who looked forward to vacation the most.
The reason was that vacation was the period when she could put aside troublesome school affairs and clear her head.
And there was another female mage who had come to visit the family.
Messy, unkempt gray hair, hollow eyes.
As if trying to hide those eyes, deeply sunken eye sockets.
And a body so emaciated it looked like someone suffering from starvation.
Mirne Kabir.
As someone who handled wind, perhaps because of its influence, she had the appearance of someone afflicted with an incurable disease, unlike Livia.
It wouldn’t have been strange if she collapsed at any moment.
Since wind was always wrapped around her body, it felt as if even her flesh had been shaved away.
The two family heads were leisurely drinking tea while facing each other.
“Kabir, how many did you send to the main school this time?”
Livia asked, already accustomed to Kabir’s appearance.
She posed the question without paying any heed to her looks.
“Six. How many did the Lamik branch send?”
“This time, there weren’t any particularly useful ones, so I could only send three. I’ll probably get an earful from that bastard Tyrant.”
On average, the two branch schools sent more than ten students each year.
But since that number had been cut in half in a single year, it was only natural to be mindful of Tyrant’s reaction.
Though they cooperated with each other, their relationship was clearly not equal, but one of superiority and subordination.
By aligning themselves with Tyrant, the two families had achieved tremendous magical progress, and in particular, they had gained power in the Magical Society comparable to that of an Archmage.
Was it because the taste of power they had experienced once was too sweet?
They had reached a point where they could no longer quit.
While Livia and Kabir were drinking tea and exchanging trivial conversation, messages arrived to both of their mobs.
They were messages from Tyrant.
After checking the contents, the two of them let out a sigh at the same time.
Especially when Kabir sighed, a gentle breeze blew.
“He really knows how to be a nuisance, that Tyrant bastard.”
Kabir said.
“Can’t he just let us rest during vacation? Does he really have to bother us with even this?”
Livia complained as well.
It was because a new order had come down from Tyrant.
-Attack the Ed Family.