Mightiest Melee Magician

The lights in the training hall of Ardell didn’t go out until late into the night.

There was only one reason.

It was because of the ‘swordsmanship training’ of the cutest in Ardell, Ruina.

“Sir Bolvar!”

“Young Lady, am I too late?”

Ruina, who was standing in the center of the training hall by herself, replied while pouting,

“You’re 10 minutes late. Didn’t you say you can’t keep a lady waiting?”

“Haha. Forgive me. For being late today, I think I’ll only use my left hand. How’s that?”

“Only your left hand?”

Ruina’s gaze landed on me, and even onto Irene, who was standing behind me.

Maybe because there was an audience today…

“……Alright. Don’t regret it.”

She looked a little nervous.

But she also showed a bit more confidence.

It looked like she wanted to show us her winning against Sir Bolvar.

Irene let out a little laughter at her cute actions, but I looked more seriously at her posture as she gripped her sword.

I didn’t know much about swordsmanship…

‘Looks like she’s been learning well.’

Well, I guess I did learn some body arts and footwork from the knight Coulter Pirante in preparation for the Grand Festival.

With that limited amount of education, I could tell that Ruina’s sword was at perfect balance, and her steps were uniform too.

It was proof of her solid foundation.

I was going to tease her about being a bratty 12-year-old knight, but Ruina’s level had far exceeded what I expected.

“Woah……”

Her attacks were good enough to elicit an exclamation from Irene.

She freely swung a sword larger than herself, and her body was balanced and steady as she moved in and out of attacks.

Naturally, her body hadn’t fully developed, so her muscle mass was lacking, and there wasn’t a moment where she could threaten the Spear Saint with her young swordsmanship.

“Do you see? Lady Ruina’s swordsmanship has grown to this much already. If we’re only considering skills in swordsmanship, not even you would be able to defeat her, Young Master.”

But considering she was only 12-years-old, this was quite the brilliant growth.

Choosing the sword rather than the dress to protect her weak older brother.

Choosing the training hall rather than the banquet hall.

Ruina was truly admirable. I wanted to give her an applause.

If she looked this talented through my novice eyes, how much more admirable would she look with Sir Bolvar’s eyes?

“You’re open here.”

Sir Bolvar lightly and easily parried Ruina’s sword before tapping her side.

Ruina fell back on the ground, but she didn’t tarry and immediately got back up.

She didn’t pay Irene and I any mind from this point on.

She only focused on how to attack Sir Bolvar, and Sir Bolvar focused only on training Ruina.

“It’s common to say that the sword and spear should be an ‘extension of your arm’ and you need to become skilled enough to swing it easily like any other limb, but that is wrong. Rather, it’s the opposite. You need to treat it carefully, more so than anyone else, just as if it was the first time you held the weapon.”

Ruina’s determined stabs couldn’t find purchase, and Sir Bolvar lightly twisted his body, deflecting Ruina’s sword.

“Even if it is a wooden sword you’ve swung thousands of times, even if it’s a sword whose weight you’ve gotten used to, be mindful of every swing you make, just like the first time. And then……”

“……Eit!”

After becoming more frustrated, Ruina started to swing harder, and Sir Bolvar parried with ease.

In a single flash, the tip of Sir Bolvar’s sword was placed at Ruina’s neck.

“Be alert against the weakness that arises from comfort.”

“……”

Clap, clap, clap, clap.

Applause came out automatically in front of the splendid performance.

“We’ll finish up here for today, Young Lady.”

Ruina looked a little mad about losing, but she didn’t throw the sword to the ground or do anything disrespectful.

It was more like she was trying to internalize the lesson from today as she looked upon the hand that she was swinging her sword with.

Ah, what was this feeling?

Was this what my father felt when he saw us?

For my unruly and cute sister to already be this grown up.

I wanted to hug her out of pride.

Then, Sir Bolvar spoke to me.

“Now, Young Master, it is your turn.”

“……”

My turn.

I loosely grabbed a wooden sword propped against the corner of the training hall and walked up.

Rather than reminisce about how long it had been since I held a sword…

9-years-old.

The memory of 7 years ago, when I was sparring against Sir Bolvar saying that a magician needs to know about the sword to face knights, was the first that came to mind.

“You wouldn’t use magic against this old fellow, would you?”

“Of course not. That would break academy regulations.”

“Haha. Alright. This will be very interesting, just like old times.”

Looks like Sir Bolvar was also remembering those times.

The wooden sword felt so heavy when I was young……

Now, it was as light as a feather.

I gripped the sword and swung it around a few times.

Maybe it was because my strength had increased…

Swoosh— Swoosh—!

The sword swished about with incredible speed as if it was going to cut the wind itself.

“Hoh oh……”

Sir Bolvar was amazed.

“I heard that you were doing some body arts. It looks like that was true.”

“Indeed.”

“Swordsmanship isn’t that different to body arts. I’m looking forward to seeing how much you’ve grown.”

Sir Bolvar lifted his sword.

Just like against Ruina, it was in his left hand.

“We’ll start like this for now. Is that ok?”

“Yes.”

He said he’d gotten ‘old and frail’, but I could sense that he was still a strong and greatly experienced knight.

A tiger was still a tiger, no matter how weak.

I lifted my sword, intending to do my best, and hoped to get at least one hit in.

Of course, my posture and stance was quite bad compared to my conviction.

“Then, let’s start.”

A method to face an enemy wielding a sword.

Hadn’t I already learned this at the Grand Festival?

Doom Prime, the most talented magic swordsman.

I thought back to my experience facing Doom and charged at Sir Bolvar.

However, the only thing that I saw…

“Oh, your movement is quite good.”

“……!”

The tip of Sir Bolvar’s blade, unable to be tracked with my eyes, arrived at my neck.

“I was quite surprised at how much your movement had improved since 7 years ago. Should we go again?”

“……”

His skills were so great that I felt ashamed of my previously burning fighting spirit.

I could tell he didn’t even feel danger from that situation.

Were all knights strong like this?

I was now certain that the story of him killing 10 high-ranking magicians by himself wasn’t just a legend.

I felt beyond dejected, to the point where I was just lost.

I could only lift the wooden sword again.

“We haven’t even started yet, Young Master.”

“……”

A beautiful fragment of a memory appeared in my head.

Even though our duels were always filled with smiles…

They always ended with tears.

* * *

* * *

One of the biggest reasons I was feeling lost…

“You’re open here.”

Crack!

“……Euk.”

Sir Bolvar was a spearman.

He was this strong when he was using a wooden sword, and not his signature spear…

9 times I was sent crashing to the floor.

As I was holding this sword, it really just felt like I became an idiot.

It was because my sword couldn’t even nick the edge of his shirt.

“Fuu…… It’s really frustrating that nothing works.”

“No. You’re getting better.”

“Getting better? But I feel like I’ve stayed the same.”

“It’s just that you can’t feel it yourself. Would you like to go again?”

I couldn’t tell what he was talking about as he continued to say I was getting better.

Was this just an appeal to hope?

I wanted to smash this uncomfortable sword into the ground this instant and use my trained fists.

“Fuu…… I’ll go again.”

But I remained with the sword.

It wasn’t because I had some desire to become better at swordsmanship.

I was too fearless against the existence called ‘knights’ for too long.

So I wanted to use this chance to deepen my understanding of their movements.

Yeah.

It was a good opportunity.

This frustration I was feeling right now would become a key motivator for self-growth.

I couldn’t deny this.

I was at my limit.

A smile naturally appeared on my face.

“Young Master, I like that expression you just made.”

“Yes. I’m at my limit right now and I just chose my goal.”

“Goal?”

“I’ll make you use your right hand, Sir Bolvar. Before that, I’m not giving up.”

Sir Bolvar seemed amused by my conviction and gripped his sword again.

“Come forth.”

“……”

There were no openings.

I knew I could do it if I just threw away this ‘useless’ sword and lifted my fists. That I would be able to defeat him.

But I couldn’t do that here.

There was only one chance.

I needed to make an attack that was ‘impossible to block’ with his left hand.

“I’m going.”

I charged toward Sir Bolvar again.

The same path, an honest movement.

A direct attack that relied on my strength.

It hadn’t worked every other time I tried because Sir Bolvar would deflect my strength without ever facing it head on.

Then, how about this?

I quickly twisted my body and changed the trajectory of the blade to strike his left shoulder.

“Your attempt was good……”

However, Sir Bolvar easily took one step back and dodged my sword.

“If you do this, your movement becomes too big and produces an opening like this.”

“……!”

After learning through my body that this was a chance for a knight to counterattack me, rather than attack again, I took a defensive stance to block the blow.

Crack!

“Oh ho……! Didn’t I tell you? You’re indeed getting better.”

“……”

And I succeeded in blocking Sir Bolvar’s attack for the first time.

However, I couldn’t waste this time celebrating.

I had gotten the initiative to attack.

I rapidly decreased the gap between Sir Bolvar and I, feinting a thrust, pushed my shoulders forward before changing directions.

“……!”

Lies beneath lies.

From the point of view of the left-handed Sir Bolvar, he had figured that I was focusing on his left side, it being naturally harder to defend.

However…

“……!”

Sir Bolvar became surprised for a moment and took a step back.

Crack!

He deflected my blade and flung it straight up.

Thanks to this, my sword was embarrassingly thrown out of my hands and landed far away.

A total defeat on my part.

However…

“I-I did it!”

The one that was celebrating was me.

Sir Bolvar had at some point switched to his right hand.

“……Young Master.”

Between the surprise and flustered expression, Sir Bolvar showed pride and admiration for me.

“An attack that is impossible for a right-handed knight to block with their left hand…… Did you plan this? Or was it instinct?”

“Who knows? I did think about it…… but it didn’t go according to my original plan.”

Of course, the attack was a failure.

My attacks couldn’t even touch his shirt. I couldn’t break that wooden sword either.

And I ended up letting go of my sword.

But the reason I could smile in this state…

“……You are very talented.”

I had predicted one of Sir Bolvar’s attacks and made him use his right hand.

With this, I had attained my goal for today.

“Fuah……”

I just fell flat on my back.

It felt as if the ground was sucking me in.

A serene comfort came over me and I felt like I could just fall asleep like this.

But then, Sir Bolvar said something and turned his back.

“I’ll see you the same time tomorrow.”

“……”

What?

Wait.

What did you just say?

——