Chapter 12
The commotion that had filled the area just moments ago vanished in an instant.
No—it hadn’t vanished. I had shut it out.
The only target of the information reaching my eyes and ears was Hembritz.
I calmed the waves of my mind and watched my opponent charge.
Good. He’s got a fine fighting spirit.
Though I can see a little too much eagerness.
“—Kah!”
With a spirited kiai, Hembritz lunged in.
Hmm. A high thrust—or rather, he was feinting high before striking at my left side.
Not a bad move, but that leaves his front foot planted out in front. If his attack is read or dodged, it’ll be hard for him to evade a counter.
“—Shh!”
Just as I’d expected, I intercepted the wooden sword coming at me, bringing mine down over it.
I could have stepped back and dodged, but that would have reset the match. Since I’d read him correctly, I wanted to show off a little.
That desire made me choose to counter.
The clack of our wooden swords meeting rang out across the training grounds.
Unlike a thrust, a sweeping strike doesn’t take much force to stop if you catch it at the start and redirect it. That makes it a lot less tiring.
I deftly rolled my sword around at the wrist, keeping it pressed down from above.
By moving as if to scoop up his sword, I sent its force off in the wrong direction and threw Hembritz-kun off balance. That was the idea.
“—?!”
Ooh, Hembritz-kun looks surprised.
But alas, a wooden sword won’t wait for you to get your bearings.
Keeping the momentum of my rotating sword, I sent it straight toward his neck.
I wanted to follow through with the strike, but I stopped just short.
There was no need to finish him off. Besides, at that angle and speed, it probably would’ve been dangerous. The exchange had gone that well, both in my read and my movement.
“Whoa, he turned that around… That’s amazing…”
“He could see the deputy commander’s attack coming…? No way…”
Oh, that’s no good. Maybe because things had gone well, my concentration had slipped a little.
The surrounding noise reached my ears. That was hardly befitting an instructor.
I had to focus again.
I didn’t want to embarrass myself now, of all times!
“Not done yet!”
As I lowered my wooden sword after stopping short, Hembritz charged straight at me again.
A right diagonal slash from high overhead, huh? This time he means to overwhelm me with power.
But alas, not this time either.
A powerful, straight-line attack is terribly vulnerable to force from the side.
I held my wooden sword vertically and deflected the force coming down from above.
Since the wooden swords had no guards, I had to be careful not to catch his hand along with his blade. Hembritz was quite strong, too, so if I deflected it wrong, I’d take a hit.
“Y—ah!”
I redirected his diagonal slash, shifted my shoulder, and struck with the hilt end of my wooden sword.
“Guh!?”
Crap.
I meant to stop short, but I smacked him right on the chin.
Hembritz’s head jerked upward.
“S-sorry! Are you all right?”
I hurriedly called out to him, but the fighting spirit and enthusiasm in his eyes hadn’t faded. It was a sign that the spar wasn’t over yet.
“Don’t worry! I’m coming!”
After rolling his neck a little, Hembritz came at me with even greater force, as if to say we were starting over.
Yep, he’s faster than before.
An upward slash from below.
I dodged by stepping back half a pace.
He stepped in farther, then followed with a cut to my torso.
I blocked it with my wooden sword.
Oh, his face is open again.
No, using the same move here wouldn’t look very good.
Oh, a spinning slash.
A decent combination, and incredible speed.
Then I’ll borrow that move too. Around we go.
“…!?”
From where I was, I couldn’t see Hembritz’s face.
That was because I’d circled behind him in the instant he spun.
Even so, I could tell he must have been surprised.
His sword had stopped, after all.
“Point.”
I brought my wooden sword down toward the back of his head, now completely exposed.
“Ow!”
A hard clack rang out.
“…Shall we continue?”
Hmm, maybe the feeling of having a good match for the first time in ages had lifted my spirits just a little. Normally, I never would’ve asked that.
“—Of course!”
At his answer, Hembritz charged in for the fourth time.
And so Hembritz and I traded blows for about ten minutes.
“I… concede…!”
Finally, Hembritz dropped to one knee, breathing hard, and surrendered in a voice thick with frustration.
Man, that went on a while.
Sparring normally doesn’t last that long. I could only be impressed by Hembritz-kun’s stamina.
Still, it was good exercise for the first time in a while.
And I think I managed to save face, so it wasn’t a bad outcome.
“I-incredible…!”
“The deputy commander couldn’t land a single strike…!?”
“What was that reaction speed…?”
The moment I let my concentration go, the voices around me flooded into my ears.
Come on, it wasn’t that surprising.
Hembritz-kun’s speed and power really were impressive.
He was just a little too linear in his movements. I only took advantage of that opening to stick my oar in. I hadn’t done anything special.
“That was a truly splendid display, Sensei.”
“Thanks, Allucia.”
Allucia offered unreserved praise with a smile.
I accepted a towel that had appeared at some point and wiped away the sweat from the spar.
“Well? What did you think, Hembritz?”
“…I was utterly defeated. I never imagined you were this good… I was terribly rude to you, Beryl-dono.”
“No, I don’t mind. If a man like me suddenly showed up, it’d be perfectly reasonable to have questions.”
The killing intent from earlier had completely vanished, and it seemed the way he looked at me had changed, too.
More than that, though, Allucia’s smug grin stood out.
I’d rather she didn’t do that. It was embarrassing.
“But I’m glad it looks like there are still things I can teach you.”
“Please, Sensei, there’s so much we can all learn from you.”
I muttered that to change the subject, and Allucia immediately jumped in.
I wasn’t just being modest, though.
I’m just an old guy who knows a bit about swordsmanship and has slightly faster reflexes than the average person. This time, my style just happened to be a good match for Hembritz-kun’s.
Besides, there was an age gap between us, and therefore a gap in experience. You can’t learn this kind of one-on-one mind game overnight.
If I’d fought him when I was his age, the outcome probably would’ve been different.
In other words, that was about the extent of the gap between Hembritz-kun and me.
“Since everyone’s gathered, shall we continue the instruction?”
“Yeah, all right.”
Since that exchange, I could tell that everyone besides Hembritz-kun looked at me differently.
Good, good. It’s much easier to work without those skeptical looks.
I may be an unimpressive old guy at heart, but I’d rather fit in than be treated coldly. Besides, teaching swordsmanship somewhere other than my dojo feels fresh.
“All right, then. First, let’s go around and see everyone’s swordsmanship.”
“Hehe. Please go easy on us, Sensei.”
As I spoke and looked around, gazes filled with respect, awe, and nervousness fixed on me.
Hmm. At least the looks of suspicion are gone, but this is a bit much.
“…Well then, is that all right with everyone?”
“Y-yes!!”
“…Y-you don’t have to be so stiff, you know?”
When I called out, the knights answered, stiff as boards.
You don’t have to be that formal. Even if I’ve been given this position called special instructor, I’m just a humble old guy.
…Well, all right.
If we spend some time getting along, that should naturally fade.