After causing a tantrum, I managed to return home alive. Of course, that was after surviving the hug monster. Still, after apologizing to everyone for causing trouble and thanking everyone, I managed to celebrate my fifth birthday safely.
And then came graduation day…
I realized that I was dumber than Rudeus. On our graduation day, Roxy cast sparks of colorful blue, green, and yellow dancing in the sky. A Cumulonimbus cloud. It was my first time seeing Saint Magic. It was beautiful. Like art. I want to paint my magic on the skies like that. I probably could, by gathering clouds, wind, and water together and conjuring the spell. But then Rudeus decided to break the miracle.
He waved his hand, and green flows of air danced, hot air beneath and cool air above. Then he let nature take its course… Wait, you could do that? My jaw dropped as I fell to the ground.
“I admit defeat.”
It’s science. Once you figure out some things, you can naturally understand and replicate them. That was understandable. The problem is that Rudeus was the one to do it. Wasn’t he supposed to be worse than I am? If this is the standard of worse, what the hell am I? Unredeemable trash?
Tch. The plan was to control magic circles to build up a simpler control system than waving your hand around to keep the wind from scattering. Then just pour mana into the system and let it work on its own. It wasn’t perfect per se; however, as long as one had enough mana then anyone could cast said spell using this magic array. But now it’s no different from a joke against this. Hah.
“Are you ok?”
Rudeus asked, surprised that I suddenly got on my knees.
“Just being petty.”
I glared at Rudeus, pouting. Of course, as an adult I shouldn’t be this petty. But I AM petty, okay? Tch. Just wait. One day I will make you admit that I’m superior as a mage. As we return to the house, my eyes linger towards the small back ahead of me.
Roxy Migurdia. My first magical tutor in this world. To be honest, we weren’t that close. It’s not that I hate her or anything—rather, I would have preferred to be closer to her than ever. It’s just… I feel like I was third-wheeling Rudeus and Roxy for some reason.
For starters, Roxy was a terrible teacher. While I did mention it before, I feel like this is a matter that is quite concerning. Sometimes she starts to go on with a whole conversation about topics that are completely unrelated to the lesson at hand and turns back abruptly as if nothing had happened.
If I hadn’t had a single clue about the things she said, then I would be as blind as a bat. I didn’t really bother since I know these things and because the one who was learning was Rudeus. That might have been why she thought I was lazing around.
Then there was THAT incident… Well, in short, there were a lot of reasons why we weren’t as attached. Or it may have been my one-sided perspective.
After all, Roxy would probably not even remember that I was her student once she became an actual professor with better students. Not that it really mattered, though. Well, we weren’t distant at least, since I had extra classes on demology. Ah no, wait, that’s the wrong word for that; it’s just the language.
…
Regardless, graduation went smoothly. What I didn’t expect was Roxy’s sudden casual mentioning before she left.
“Right, one more thing, Laurel.”
“Yes?”
“Cats don’t meow; they nya.”
“…”
My face went flushed red. Roxy laughed and patted my head before walking away, waving her goodbyes in the air.
“Study hard~”
Hey! How am I supposed to react if you just casually toss a bomb and leave like that? Argh! Yet, to my dismay, Roxy wasn’t going to stop and explain herself. But what was I supposed to do now? I was high back then. Alright?
I sighed as I stared at the small figure leaving further away as I made a promise to myself. Next time, our meeting wouldn’t be that of a student and a teacher, but that of one mage to another. I hopefully awaited that day to come.
Rudeus was frowning curiously as to what she whispered in my ear, but I didn’t want a third-no, fourth party to know about that incident, so I simply changed the subject.
“Hey Rudeus, want to learn swordsmanship from me?”
“What?”
“We both know Paul is bad at teaching. While he may have improved significantly the past few weeks, he still sucks. So we might as well compare notes.”
“… Good idea.”
…
There are three schools of swordsmanship. Sword God Style, whose philosophy is that attack is the best defense. Water God Style, whose philosophy is defense, deflection, parrying, and countering. And finally, North God Style, whose philosophy is to win by any means. Literally. Throwing dirt, tossing knives… It was more like a strategy than a sword art.
I have a feeling Paul was dismissing the North God Style. That said, personally speaking, I think I follow said philosophy more than anything. After all, what part of struggling to survive looked clean? Even knights fight with dirty tactics… In my world at least. While I don’t really know the techniques of the three schools, I do know how to use a sword. And therefore, I can teach the basics, at least better than whoosh whoosh.
Rudeus wasn’t bad with the sword. Surprisingly, unlike what the novel suggested, Rudeus knows how to handle the sword. The problem, however…
“It’s your mentality.”
“Huh?”
“The reason why you're bad with the sword. It’s your mentality.”
"What do you mean—…?!”
Rudeus stared down at the tip of my blade as it pointed towards his neck. Silence ensued for a minute, and Rudeus stared back at me with a frown. It was an assessment that came from both what is written in the novel, as well as my own experiences with Rudeus.
“What was that for?”
“Do you not see the problem?”
“?”
“If I were holding a real sword, you’d be dead. How can you stand there so calmly without even trying to dodge? You swing your sword like you’re trying to stay fit."
Rudeus’s expression indicated that he was still confused, so I explained further.
“Unlike magic that works when mana is poured in, swordsmanship is a spot for competition. Not for health, but purely competition. How are you supposed to win a fight when you don’t have the required aggression to chase after victory?”
Rudeus's eyes widened in shock, as if he himself realized it as well, but before he could say anything, a wooden sword reached his throat for the second time. He reacted this time, but it wasn’t fast enough.
“Rudeus, you think too much. While thinking isn’t bad, you have too many excessive thoughts, and it’s affecting your ability to react in time.”
Paul was staring from afar to check on us, but it seems that he wasn’t going to interfere with what I’m doing, so…
“It seems that there’s a need to change tactics. Let’s simply gain combat experience first.”
I said, changing the way I grip the blade and swinging it a few times. From what I could tell, Rudeus often makes mistakes when something goes wrong. So we’ll just have to make him get used to everything not going as planned. I stared at Rudeus and said seriously.
“Ignore styles and everything else. There are only two things you need to think about. How to hit, and how to not get hit. Use every means and method possible.”
“Wait, huh?”
And before he could move, the fight between me and Rudeus began.