Shirogamine’s merciless sword came swinging straight for the side of my neck.
“In other words!”
Shirogamine shouted.
At that instant, the blade’s path changed. The neck had been a feint. She reversed from the front edge to the back edge and came for my ribs. That part deserved some credit, but she had too much momentum.
“You treated only Yukine to a meal! Leaving Sera and me out!”
She was loud, so I stepped in and struck Shirogamine’s wrist with the back of my fist. What Shirogamine was swinging was a training sword. Its edge had been dulled, but if it hit, the force carried all the way to the bone. It was heavy too. Which meant that when her line was knocked off course, the force of her charge and the centrifugal pull made Shirogamine’s body stagger.
I swept her leg.
“That is practically compensated dating! This is a problem, Master! What is the meaning of this?”
Shirogamine remained loud even as she fell. That spirit of hers, at least, was impressive. The impact of her fall sent her sword rolling across the training mats.
“Don’t let go of your sword just because you get knocked down.”
At the very least, I figured I should give advice that meant something. While I was at it, I stepped on the sword that had left Shirogamine’s hand.
“And stop talking. You’ll bite your tongue. Also, if you get knocked down, get back up immediately. As long as your opponent is standing in front of you, there isn’t a single good thing about lying on the ground.”
“Master, answer the question!”
Shirogamine demanded it stubbornly, but I ignored her and turned around.
Because there were still two more.
In the large room floored with training mats, Sera and Yukine Indo stood ready with training swords in hand. Sera gripped hers in both hands, held in a high stance straight ahead. Yukine held hers one-handed, her body turned slightly sideways. By now, including Shirogamine, all of them had changed into tracksuits for training.
“Next.”
I kicked Shirogamine’s sword away, retreated a single step, and measured the distance between myself, Sera, and Indo. About five mats. White winter sunlight poured in through the high windows and lit the floor.
“Come on already. Are you scared again?”
This mat-floored training hall was the one Master had used for training. Since it was in Shinjuku Ward, the location was convenient too. Ever since Master died, I had thought many times about selling it off, but at moments like this, I was glad I had kept it.
I often used it myself when training alone, or when running rehearsals after taking an important Demon King assassination job.
“I mean, I don’t really care either way.”
Sera suddenly spoke up. Contrary to her words, she was obviously dissatisfied, and the proof was in how her stance pitched forward.
“Yukine was crying.”
The point of Sera’s sword stayed fixed directly on me without moving. Her concentration was pretty good today. If I mistimed my entry, I would end up paying for it.
“You didn’t say something to her, did you, Mr. Yashiro? Something that’d make Yukine cry.”
“Like hell I know.”
I was sick of this. What was I, a counselor?
“Sera, there is no problem on that point.”
Yukine Indo slowly circled toward my side as she spoke.
“Instructor was kind.”
“Huh?”
“Master!”
Sera’s face turned into that of a street punk, and Shirogamine sprang up and shouted. It was time to end this. I let the tip of my sword droop and shifted my gaze to Yukine.
“You’re all so damn loud. Yukine, you shut up for a—”
At that instant, Sera moved too. She must have been aiming for the moment my attention shifted. Not bad. The issue was figuring out whether or not it was a trap. I heard Sera’s toes slide over the mats. At the same time, Yukine Indo moved as well.
I swung my sword upward. That motion became a movement that used the back edge to knock Sera’s sword up.
“This—”
Once I knocked it up, Sera’s stance collapsed. Her torso opened. Normally I would have brought the sword down and gouged her stomach, but I stepped in hard and limited myself to blowing Sera away with a body check.
“—is an upward-deflecting guard. If it works, you shift straight into an attack. Every school has it, so I don’t need to explain that part. And—”
From the side, Yukine Indo was already jumping in. She swung her one-handed sword, but the motion was a little stiff. As expected, she was not used to it. Still, if she was going to move around against those monsters, against the <Nephilim>, she needed a weapon with a decent blade length.
“The trick to defense—”
I tilted my upper body and drew my sword back.
“—is receiving near the guard.”
Indo’s sharp sword strike. I caught its tip near the base of my blade, close to the guard. I was not about to explain the whole principle of leverage, but the closer to the base of a sword you got, the more strongly it could transmit force. The source of this chapter is NovelPing.
For an instant, we crossed.
A metallic sound rang out, and Indo’s sword went flying.
It did not seem like her grip had been weak. Indo must have let the sword go on purpose. She kicked off the mats and leaped onto my right arm. The arm holding my sword.
So that was her move.
I had been thinking of techniques after receiving near the guard, but this was not bad.
Indo grabbed my arm and shifted straight into a joint lock using her entire body. It was something like a variation on a triangle choke. Closer to wrestling than judo.
“Not bad.”
I deliberately did not resist Indo’s pulling force. I let go of my sword too. Instead, I put my weight into it and fell toward Indo. Before the technique fully locked in, I used my left arm to pin Indo by the collar. Indo thrashed a little, but in barely a second, offense and defense had reversed.
“That said, since this is supposed to be one-handed sword training, use the sword.”
I pressed Indo down against the mats and fully controlled the back of her neck.
“I get that it’s hard to use, but this won’t be training otherwise.”
“Instructor, it hurts.”
“I’m choking you that way on purpose. This is over. You let go of my arm first.”
“Instructor first.”
Call it unbelievable stubbornness, if you wanted. She held on to my arm and kept trying somehow to take the joint. She was practically clinging to me. It looked pathetic, but she had guts.
“This is bad, Yukine! Get away from Master immediately!”
Shirogamine grabbed Indo’s leg.
“For the sake of your moral development, that position is extremely inappropriate. Get off him right now—get off him, you fool! Sera, this is an emergency! Cooperate! Pull!”
“...Hey, Yukine, cut it out. Let go.”
Rarely enough, even Sera got dragged along by Shirogamine and grabbed Indo’s leg. Indo was stubborn. She frowned and firmly shook her head.
“I won’t.”
“You’ve got nerve.”
I decided to use force. I let go of her collar. Instead, I aimed for Indo’s elbow, made a fist, and drove it in hard. The instant I did, Indo’s upper body spasmed, and she released my arm. Shirogamine and Sera were both flung off and rolled over the mats like they had bounced.
“Instructor.”
Indo curled up, holding her arm.
“What was that?”
“The human body has all kinds of vital points.”
I stood slowly. That exchange had tired me out a little.
“I might teach them to you eventually, but little tricks like that aren’t that important. A Hero’s job is to kill Demon Kings. You’re better off thinking about how to inflict fatal wounds efficiently and quickly.”
“With all due respect, Master, a Hero is—”
“Leaving Shirogamine’s opinion aside.”
Shirogamine raised her voice in protest, but that did not matter right now.
“There’s a reason I held this impromptu lesson. First, because you were all being loud.”
“That is because you called only Yukine out and treated her unfairly! I will absolutely bear a grudge over this conduct!”
“Leaving Shirogamine’s opinion aside.”
“No, there really is a feeling of unfairness here.”
Sera had been grimacing for a while now. She seemed quite angry.
“If it’s something you had to talk to Yukine about one-on-one, then tell us that much. I won’t force you to tell me. I’ve got at least that much tact, okay? But keeping it totally secret is just... you know. It’s not good.”
“Fine. My bad. I’ll take that into account.”
“Ah!”
Shirogamine pointed at Sera and me.
“You are clearly treating me differently! Sera, you absolute— Did you bribe Master again? Please tell me what sort of gift is effective!”
The conversation was not moving forward, so I decided to stop reacting to the peanut gallery—or rather, to Shirogamine’s voice. Right. I did not have time to keep playing along with this farce.
“I’m going to be away on a trip for a while.”
“The hell?”
“I’m going too.”
The last one was Indo. Expressionless, she slowly got up.
“If it is Hokkaido. I’m going too.”
“Hokkaido, you say? Master! Then by all means, you must take me—ah, no, if I concede a hundred steps, us—”
“Wait, what the hell is this all of a sudden?”
Sera pushed out her lips.
“Is that part of the secret talk with Indo too?”
“Maybe.”
I decided to say something careless.
“Anyway, I’m going on a trip. Hot springs, beer, all kinds of things. I’ll be gone for a while.”
Then I declared to the three of them with iron resolve.
“I am absolutely not taking you.”
“Master!”
“Instructor.”
“Look, I don’t care either way, but I—”
After that, they condemned me terribly for a while, but that part should probably be omitted. It had no meaning. Right. No meaning at all. Not my stubborn refusal to let them accompany me. Not beating the three of them to a pulp afterward.
I could only conclude that every plan I made was designed not to work.
“Impossible.”
Joe the <Salt> rejected my precious invitation with one word.
To be honest, I had been counting heavily on Joe accompanying me to Hokkaido. Marta was still wandering around like usual, and I did not even know where he was. Ed was busy dealing with the customers who had increased lately. So I invited Joe the <Salt>, since he had to be bored as shit anyway, and this was what I got.
“I don’t have the money,” Joe said.
“And besides, I’ve got old acquaintances in Hokkaido.”
“Your acquaintances are yakuza, right? Are they after your life or something?”
“Yeah.”
Joe drained his beer and growled bitterly. Unbelievable. I had hit the mark. I could only shut up.
“If you’re going, go by yourself. I’m not going to Hokkaido even if it kills me.”
“I get it, Joe. You’re scared of planes.”
“Don’t screw with me.”
Joe made a motion like he was going to bite me. It had been a while since I had seen Joe object this forcefully. I was at a loss, so I shrugged. I decided to use my final strategy.
“Come on, Joe. Let’s go to Hokkaido, soak in a hot spring, drink some beer, and play cards like crazy.”
“And after that, we’re looking for those creepy monsters you were talking about, right?”
“Pretty much.”
“I’m not going.”
“I’ll give you one of my cards. How about <Lightning Servant>?”
“I’m not going.”
He had definitely wavered a little, but his answer was the same. Joe reached for a new bottle of beer, and without even using a bottle opener, he easily pried the cap off with his own teeth.
“Things have felt fishy ever since <Storm Coffin> died. I’m going to keep an eye on things here.”
“Joe, you’re always drunk. Are you even going to be useful as a lookout? You really are scared of planes, aren’t—”
“Shut up! Anyway!”
Joe the <Salt> pointed behind me.
“Take them with you. Their eyes have been annoying me for a while. What are they, ghosts? Yashiro, they’re your jurisdiction!”
I had noticed without him telling me. When I turned around, three female students were staring at me expressionlessly.
And so, the three of them and I set out on an expedition to Hokkaido.