Chapter 41- The smell of death from the sword training
“What’s the matter?! Are you tired already?”
“Shall we take a break after around 50 bouts?”
“If you were to retreat for even one step, I’ll add another 50 more bouts!”
“It’ll be alright. Humans don’t die that easily.”
“You’re receiving them so you can attack. The moment you begin receiving them, it’ll be over.”
“You’re neglecting your steps!”
The day after I bought the clothes from the other side, Rebecca-san gave me training on sword fighting and horse riding as planned. Well, that was supposed to be the case but……
“Jirou, I don’t mind teaching you horse riding or how to handle the sword but, do you have time for both? If you’re planning to do so anyhow, then you should put all your effort in them to a certain extent.” [Shello]
“I don’t have anything in particular to do until the mansion is completed, so time’s not an issue to me.” [Jirou]
“If that’s the case, I guess 3 days or more should be fine. Then let us head over there, Jirou.” [Shello]
There was a broad smile on Shello-san’s face when he said that, shouldering his large sword (claymore). —- Shello-san then started my combat training, seemingly without stopping. Though to be honest, it felt more like an actual combat rather than a training. Meanwhile, Diana and Marina were guided by Rebecca-san on various different things. We were practically doing our own training separately.
I appreciate the fact that he took a break from his hunting job to make time for my training but, Shello-san’s method of teaching was, how should I put it…..severe? Or should I call it merciless?……. To put it bluntly, I guess I could say that it was a training method that almost had me killed.…..
On the first day, he came at me with his large claymore, launching seemingly endless attacks at me.
Holding a two-handed sword with just one hand, Shello-san slashed at me as I desperately tried to parry using this heavy as fuck two-handed sword that was purchased for the sake of the practice; diagonal slash, downward slash, sideways cut, close-up strike and occasionally a thrust.
Although he was holding back, or rather, even though he delivered those blows without using much force…….just the thought of the continuous blows that come from a roughly 10 kg huge sword looming close to your body was mentally challenging. Above all, it was really harsh itself for a feeble body like mine to swing such a ridiculously heavy, two-handed sword. And you wouldn’t be using just your arms. In order to assume the front stance all the time, feet played an important role as well, making this a full-body workout.
Frankly speaking, I was actually hoping to start from just swinging practices! —-Shello-san did say that, “Going through an actual combat training would steadily instil the desire of wanting to fight in Jirou.” I think that was supposed to be the case. However, 「The more you receive it, the more you want it」 was something that is never possible for me no matter what. Although, I do understand that going through the actual thing would make me improve at a faster rate……
There were many times where I was almost slashed. Even though those attacks scared the pants off of me, I was barely able to avoid them and deflected them with all my might. In other words, I could only resist the sense of impending death with my willpower.
The fight that felt like endless made me lose my sense of time. I had already received episodic attacks of numbness in my hands and my legs were virtually giving away under me as I subconsciously accepted my death.
It would be ideal if I could receive a leisure sword training from my acquaintance so that I could implement countermeasures against enemies. That was supposed to be how I felt it should be. Nonetheless I was drawn into this unusual daily life all of the sudden—-no, actually my common daily life was already ruined the moment I stepped into this other world—– At any rate, I was suddenly thrown into a life and death battle against Shello-san even though he did say it was “training”. But in the end, I was anything but a normal guy who eats mandarin oranges while playing mobile games under a kotatsu the day before… The gap between these two scenarios were incomparable.
The training finally came to an end after an entire day of swinging swords with a break somewhere in between. I almost died, both figuratively and literally……..
The same training persisted even on the day after. Shello-san continued his relentless barrage on me with his large claymore while I tried dodging his attacks.
Frankly speaking, the exhaustion that I felt didn’t look like something that I would fully recover from in just one day. Nevertheless, when I woke up this morning, I found out that I was just experiencing moderate muscle soreness, feeling even more vigorous that what I had initially expected.
I was dead tired yesterday and couldn’t even move an inch in the evening. I was somehow able to return to the inn for dinner by getting into Hetty-san’s carriage, but I ended up sleeping like a log until the next morning after finishing the meal. 1
I wonder……is it even possible for me to make such huge recovery by just sleeping? (after all I slept from evening till morning) Well, seeing that this is a different world, it probably works the same way as a game, enabling my health to gain full restoration once I lodged in an inn.
The gist of the training was the same as yesterday, but I had a feeling I managed to grasp Shello-san’s movement better than yesterday. He might have intentionally created some openings, so I was able to evade the attacks occasionally before performing counter-attacks on him in the process (he dodged them lightly though). Maybe I got used to it a little?
All Shello-san had been saying throughout the fight were basically, “What’s wrong, what’s wrong?” or “It’s good, it’s good” or “There, here” or “Your body movement’s too predictable” so I wasn’t able to tell if I was making any progress or not at all.
Well, I did try adapting various movements from knowledge obtained in mangas though…….
Something like 「Circular Movement」 or 「Crossover Method」. Actually aren’t those from karate?
It was just practice….or should I call it training? However, once it ended, I wounded up sleeping soundly again as soon as I returned to the inn.
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The next day, Shello-san resumed his method of training by slashing at me with his large claymore as I parried and evaded his attacks once again.
Nevertheless, I became accustomed to this extraordinary training by a great deal on the third day. Not only did I parry, avoid and return attacks, I was also able to deflect Shello-san’s counter-attacks from time to time. Well, most of my strikes just grazed him lightly though……
But, could it be that I have come to comprehend the way to use this ridiculously heavy two-handed sword? I found that I could use it easily now without paying mind to the weight unlike when I first wielded it. It wasn’t the same as in Marina’s case the other day, but once you are able to make your movement flow, it wouldn’t be so tiring anymore when you swing the sword. Well, as expected I didn’t spin it round and round like Marina though.
With this, there wouldn’t be any problem even when I switch my weapon back to the magic sword. I should have an easier time swinging it freely considering it is much lighter in weight compared to this sword. On the contrary, I have a feeling that it might be difficult if it ended up being too light for me.
However, in just three days’ time, even if I did go through actual combat as training, my progression was by no means small. Do I have an unexpected talent in this?––Why am I getting conceited now.
Moreover, I was also swinging my sword innocently, totally disregarding the fact that I was actually going through a life and death training. I guess, it was possibly because I possess the appropriate vocation. For some reason, the whole ordeal was fun. It made me wonder if I have a mind of a masochist…..
—-Anyway, dismissing the possibility that I might be a masochist, when we have the discussion in the afternoon….
“It’s obvious that you have a talent in it. You do have ‘swordsman’ as your vocation, so you should be better with swords than anyone else here.” [Rebecca]
Although, considering that Rebecca-san and Marina possessed ‘knight’ as their vocation, there shouldn’t be a great difference in regard to the potential, should it? When I shot that question, the answer I received was, “That’s because a sword is a swordsman’s speciality. I guess when it comes to knights, a sword is not only their strong suit. Spears, shields and horse-riding are included in their area of expertise too, so it’s different than a swordsman.”
「Being skillful only with swords」 kind of crushes the image I have for the vocation, but seeing that it improves one’s skill in such a short period of time, it might be a cheap price to pay. Well, even if I did improve, I would be satisfied as long as I could use it just as a self-defence to a certain extent.
Since, being good at something is not the same as being strong.
“In other words, swordsman is a type of vocation specialized in attack, isn’t it? As for me, I’m not doing this because I wanted to fight. It would be fine so long as I could defend myself.” [Jirou]
I tried asking Shello-san at noon. I wasn’t sure how many battle type vocations are there in existent, but it doesn’t seem to be because the offensive power of the other vocations such as 「warrior」 and 「knight」 are weaker. But rather, 「swordsman」 doesn’t seem like a vocation that is specialized in ‘defence’ no matter what.
“During the time when I was still in the mercenary group, there were several members who possess ‘swordsman’ as their vocations…….but majority of them were the types to charge at the enemies without considering their defence. They never carried any shield with them. If you were to say that they are ‘specialized in attack’, then you were right in a way. They were a bunch of madmen who had not given a thought to their defence from the start.” [Shello]
“I-I see…..In other words, ‘swordsman’ is not really a vocation that is specialized in attack, but rather……” [Jirou]
“That’s right. It is possible that majority of people who acquired ‘swordsman’ as their vocation are the type who have 『aggressive personalities』 when it comes to fighting. That was the reason why, any swordsmen who had not undergone sufficient training would mostly be the first ones to die in battle.” [Shello]
“Oh……Then I might have a hidden aggressive type of personality too…..I was not aware of it at all though.” [Jirou]2
“Hmm….we wouldn’t know that much just from the training. There were many who would experience it only when they entered an actual fight. But, rest assured, Jirou. In these 3 days of training, your defence has gotten pretty decent already. If you were to go on with your training at this pace, normal bandits or thieves wouldn’t be able to do you in easily. Well, you still have a long way to go in terms of offence though.” [Shello]
“Is that so? Certainly I do think that I have become quite accustomed to using the sword, but it has only been three days. Even if I had been focussing on my defensive skill, I don’t feel that I have actually made that much progress…..” [Jirou]
“That’s because you’ve only been training to defend against melee attacks. But it was actually quite a feat for you to be able to withstand that for three days in a row. That level training was supposed to be similar to the mercenary candidate examination….” [Shello]
“As expected, was that supposed to be a really harsh training? I really thought I was gonna die in the beginning….It still feels really intense even now.” [Jirou]
“No well, I actually thought you would give up really soon too. It was unexpected to see Jirou carrying on until the end. Well, you did reap the benefit from that training in the end. The progress you’ve made exceeded my expectation……To be honest though, I was quite surprised.” [Shello]
“?” [Jirou]
“Even though you do have the required vocation, —-you were still progressing slightly too fast.” [Shello]
Based on what Shello-san said, the training that I had gone through in these three days was often given to applicants who wanted to join the mercenary group.
Thus he had already given this method of training numerous times now, but even among those people, my progression was the fastest in comparison or rather, my adaptation was actually way too fast……..That was the gist of it.
So, does that mean that I really have a talent in it? It was something that I should be happy about, but it really didn’t feel that way to me. In my opinion, it merely looked like I was engaged in a sword play with Shello-san…….
“Jirou. You might have not noticed it yourself but, on the first day, you were only able to swing your sword to block off the attacks by impulse. However, it seemed that you managed to wield it normally today.” [Shello]
Are you serious? Come to think of it, there appeared to be many situations whereby I ended up wielding the sword with both hands today…….
I became absorbed in the training so I hadn’t paid any attention to it………
Well, Priestess-chan did mention something like this before. Seeing that possessing the required vocation would make one grow rapidly, the training would become enjoyable to them too. In the end, it was just as she said. The training had in fact became enjoyable as I improved.
Read the chapters at rinkagetranslation.com. The chapters for this series will NOT be posted anywhere else other than on that site itself. If you are reading this from somewhere else then this is chapter has been stolen.
Read the chapters at rinkagetranslation.com. The chapters for this series will NOT be posted anywhere else other than on that site itself. If you are reading this from somewhere else then this is chapter has been stolen.
Hence everyone went to take a look at the finished residence in the afternoon. I’m looking forward to seeing how that ‘devastated place’ turned out.
—-A brief digression. It turned out that during their training, Marina who possesses only one vocation was surrounded and ‘bullied’ by the two of them. (Diana’s version of story)
Diana was fundamentally polishing her bow skills by shooting at Marina (naturally the arrows were fake). Aside from that, Marina was also having a combat practice with Rebecca-san at the same time. So not only did she have to concentrate in her fight with Rebecca-san, she had to avoid or deflect any incoming arrows simultaneously.
Moreover, by using that training as the main foundation, they had undergone quite a variation of routines;
They entered the forest to fight against monsters for combat practice. Rebecca-san and Diana continued with their shooting practice earnestly, the trees were cut down and the firewood was chopped with the halberd, and they polished up on their skills to shoot arrows while on horseback. (They practiced their horseback riding in their spare time as well, so they seemed to have their own share of hard programme too.)
“That girl is Jirou’s shield, so unthinkable for her to not to be of any use to Jirou. Well, our houses are nearby so I could take my time to train her from now on.” [Rebecca]
That declaration to make Marina work her fingers to the bone sounded rather scary. Nevertheless…..
“Marina is getting stronger and stronger since Taichou trained me! I will do my best so I could be of help to my liege!” [Marina]
Well, since the person in question, made that statement positively, there shouldn’t be any problem.