When I switched on the lights, the glare was so brutal I felt dizzy for a second.
And the place was huge.
Huge in a way that told you exactly how flush with cash the Academy was. Shirogamine had called it a “gymnasium,” but “training hall” would have been closer.
There were no basketball court lines or volleyball nets like you would find in a normal school. The entire floor was covered in springy training mats.
“They’re making money hand over fist.”
The words slipped out of me like poison.
“The Academy works day and night to build trust and a proven record of success.”
Shirogamine dragged over a rugged equipment locker that looked like a container on wheels. It held training weapons and a full set of protectors. It looked damn heavy, but the fact that she could haul it one-handed meant she had at least done a decent amount of strength training.
The three students had already changed into tracksuits. Good enough. Shirogamine had tied her long hair back so it would not get in the way, and, annoyingly, she looked full of motivation.
“Now, Master. Please begin the first training session. I’m hoping for something like a killing technique we can learn within the week!”
Shirogamine said it with her hands clasped behind her back, standing at ease. I felt dizzy all over again, for an entirely different reason. If I had to name the problem, it was probably Shirogamine’s violently optimistic personality. And then there were the ones who were too easily influenced by it.
“A killing technique?”
Yukine Indo looked up at me, eyes shining with expectation.
“What kind?”
“There’s no convenient bullshit like that.”
I ignored their demands and pulled a weapon of a reasonable length from the equipment locker. A reinforced-resin training sword. Double-edged. I chose one with an awkward length, neither quite two-handed nor one-handed.
The type of sword called a bastard sword.
Whenever I gripped a sword like that, I always remembered a few of my master’s teachings.
For a Hero, attack and defense with a sword are critically important skills. A Hero on <E3> can use a sword to inflict lethal damage faster than a bullet. That is why Demon Kings often defend themselves with primitive tools like swords and shields.
The recent Lord <Amber Briar> had been an exception. He had possessed a powerful, invisible means of ranged attack, and he was third-rate enough to rely on it. He also needed to use his own “hands” to activate his ability. But any Demon King of a halfway decent level kept at least a sword or shield for self-defense.
So the Academy treating sword combat as an important exam for advancement was, well, probably not wrong.
“Actually—”
Before I noticed it, Sera Pendragon was peering into my face while I was lost in thought. Rude as hell, too. She looked openly suspicious. Her natural blond hair apparently got in the way as well, because she had twisted it up and pinned it in place.
“Why the hell are you wearing a mask?”
“Just in case.”
If our little break-in failed and someone connected to the Academy found us, things would become murderously annoying. I had put on my trusty balaclava and gone with the bank-robber look.
“None of that matters. Pick up your weapons already. We’ll do some light sparring.”
That would let me get a general sense of their skill and problems. Probably. I had never taught anyone anything before, so I had no real idea. But this was always how my master had trained me in swordsmanship.
If it turned out to be wrong, too bad. The fault lay with whoever hired a man with no teaching experience for a job like this. I slapped the equipment locker beside me. This chapter was copied from novelping dot com without permission.
“You can use real swords if you want, but if you do, I won’t be able to hold back. Put on the protectors too, just in case.”
“So practical instruction right away?”
Shirogamine eagerly took up a one-handed sword with a look that said, You understand this better than I expected. In her other hand she held a shield, a small one called a buckler. So that was her specialty after all.
“Do we just... spar with you, Instructor?”
Yukine Indo picked up two daggers, each with a blade about forty centimeters long. Both had proper guards.
“That’s right. Come at me seriously.”
“Seriously? What about you? You’re not putting on protectors?”
Sera Pendragon held a curved, single-edged sword, probably modeled after a Japanese sword. I see. Sera was taller than the other two by about a fist, and she looked like she had some raw strength. A heavy weapon that could be used two-handed would be effective enough for her.
“Don’t get too cute underestimating a professional.”
I shrugged off my coat and threw it behind me. To begin with, if they could land a sword on me, I wanted to see them try. If they managed that, fighting their classmates should be easy.
“Now, I didn’t ask about the Academy’s swordsmanship rules. What kind of game is it?”
I deliberately used the word “game” to jab at their pride, and sure enough, Sera grimaced. Shirogamine began explaining in her place.
“Yes, Master! Our swordsmanship matches, known as ‘jousts,’ are composed of multiple elements. First, during a match, one referee is assigned to two competitors—ah, no. This is a title modeled after ordinary kendo or fencing matches, and in the original sense it is equivalent to a witness for the ‘joust’—”
That was Shirogamine for you, I thought, while both Indo and Sera looked at her in exasperation.
“Sera, translate.”
I decided to ask the one who seemed comparatively capable of normal communication. Sera looked less than thrilled, but apparently even she realized we would never get anywhere otherwise. She continued while fastening her protectors.
“There’s not much to it. It’s simple. No <E3>. If you land one decent hit on the torso, neck, or head, you win.”
“What about arms and legs?”
“They help your score if time runs out or both sides hit at once.”
“Sounds about right.”
It was similar to modern combat-sport rules. Aside from the part where one hit would usually decide the fight. I nodded and raised the training bastard sword.
“All right, let’s start. Come at me.”
I beckoned with one hand. Yukine Indo reacted first.
“Any time?”
“Any time.”
“I see.”
The moment the words left her mouth, she stepped in sharply. Her commitment and speed were not bad. But she was much too linear. I hauled the equipment locker beside me by force and shoved it between us. This chapter is updated first at novelping . com.
“Ugh.”
Yukine Indo’s charge was forced to stop. No, more than that, she went down hard. The plan had worked. Break the momentum of the most decisive, most dangerous-looking one right out of the gate. That left two. They would not come from behind me first. I had thrown my coat that way.
Which meant the next one to attack would be—
“Here I come!”
Just as I expected, Shirogamine announced herself with idiotic honesty and charged in from my right. She thrust the buckler forward and drew back her sword arm, point aimed straight at me. A thrusting stance. She would either deflect my attack with the buckler or bash me with it, then stab or slash when she saw an opening.
Exactly as predicted. Orthodox swordsmanship, too damn proper, built around counterattacks.
I gripped the bastard sword one-handed and smashed the buckler with everything I had. Shirogamine’s balance wavered slightly, but she still maintained her countering posture.
But her buckler defense had already been sealed.
“A one-handed sword and shield make for an extremely well-balanced combination.”
As an act of kindness, I explained while pulling another sword from the equipment locker with one hand. Anything would do, as long as it was a one-handed sword. I hammered it straight at her from the front. Shirogamine tried to receive it with her sword, but the moment the impact broke her stance, I kicked her and sent her flying.
Serves her right.
“But if you lean too hard into countering, don’t do it against someone stronger than you. You’ll have your stance broken easily like that, and then they’ll finish with hand-to-hand techniques. If you’re enhanced by <E3>, there are plenty of cases where a woman can pull out more muscle strength than a man, though.”
I turned as I spoke, preparing for Sera, who should have been closing in from that direction.
I was right. She was coming down from overhead, swinging her Japanese-style sword with both hands.
“You’re just about on par with a man normally.”
It was a fairly powerful blow. I did not bother catching it with the bastard sword in my right hand. Instead, I threw the one-handed sword in my left at her. Sera reacted in the simplest way possible.
In other words, she reflexively knocked away the sword I had thrown.
The bastard sword in my right hand was at the side of her neck an instant later.
“Come on. That’s cheating, no matter how you look at it.”
Sera said something idiotic.
“How is that supposed to help on the exam? Kicking people and throwing swords are both banned.”
“The bigger issue is that you should realize you just said something only a classic dumbass would say.”
I drew the sword back and retreated a single step. Sera looked like she wanted to murder me, but she did not talk back.
“If that pisses you off, then try landing a hit. It’s three against one, isn’t it? Show me a little more of what you can do.”
After that, for the sake of blowing off steam, I beat the three of them down about three more times.
Not because it was my hobby.
That was how my master had taught me.
I did not know any other way.