Chapter 21
Uncle Luke. His full name is Luke Jegen Daishin.
The uncle with a distinctly Japanese-sounding surname holds the impressive position of Commander of the Imperial Knights.
He’s even a count.
As befitted his position, he’s serious and imposing in public.
But anyone who knows what he’s really like would say this:
‘He’s like a neighborhood uncle.’...
He’s so easygoing, with such a mischievous streak, that he feels exactly like a friendly neighborhood uncle. I never imagined he’d show off that side of himself at a time like this.
“I’m Luke, and I’ll be training you from today onward. I look forward to working with you!”
Reliable, all right. A Swordmaster, no less. Incredibly damn reliable, damn it.
“Due to the recent unfortunate incident, I’ll be stationed here for a while. After all, you’re the future of the academy.”
As Uncle said that with a smile, the students cheered.
Since Uncle was quite handsome despite his appearance, some of the female students even cheered for a somewhat different reason.
...Did the corner of that old man’s mouth just twitch? I definitely saw it.
“Ahem. Anyway. The only thing I can do for you is spar with you. I’ll spar with each of you one by one and point out your weaknesses. If there’s anything else you’d like to ask me personally, come find me.”
When I looked at him disapprovingly, he seemed embarrassed too and hurriedly continued.
“Then we’ll start with Ian, the top student. Ian, come on up.”
“Yes, sir.”
At Uncle’s words, Ian stepped onto the sparring ground.
Ian’s face had stiffened; they must be really nervous.
Well, it’d be harder not to be nervous against the current commander of the knights and a Swordmaster.
Still... it wasn’t a good look.
“Good luck. Don’t be too nervous.”
“...Yeah!”
Ian looked surprised for a moment, as if they hadn’t expected me to cheer them on, then replied with a bright expression.
Well... that was nice to see.
“Ah! What was that?! Such a tender encouragement!”
“Huh?”
It’s just... if the top student looked that grim, the students behind him would lose heart too. That’s all.
“All right! Come at me!”
As soon as Uncle Luke called for the spar to begin, Ian charged straight at him.
Golden energy enveloped Ian’s whole body. Looks like they planned to go all-out from the start.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t gotten a good look at Ian’s mana the last time we sparred. It really shines.
A swordsman who has reached a certain level has a ‘color’ to their mana.
The higher their level, the more unique that ‘color’ becomes. And once they reach the Master level, their ‘color’ finally gains a power called ‘Spirit Authority,’ similar to ‘divine authority,’ but a somewhat inferior version.
In my case, for example, it’s white. The color of pure-white snow falling in the dead of winter.
There are plenty of people with white mana, but I’m the only one whose white is as pure as snow.
And merely being exposed to my ‘Spirit Authority’ for a moment can make you feel as if you’ve stepped into a snowy mountain in the middle of winter.
If I cut someone with my sword, the area freezes, and to a limited extent, I can even freeze ‘concepts’ through my ‘Spirit Authority.’
Uncle’s mana, on the other hand, is a deep golden color that almost looks yellow. His ‘Spirit Authority’ is severance. Literally, the power to cut through anything with his sword.
Ian, by contrast, hasn’t reached a level where their mana can carry ‘Spirit Authority’ yet, but their own unique ‘color’ has manifested.
Ian’s brilliantly shining golden mana reminded me of starlight in the night sky.
-That color is so vivid. Is Ian among the very best in the whole school?
-I heard even the third-year top student isn’t that impressive.
I bet. Ian’s practically at the level just below a Swordmaster. It’s strange for a student to have that kind of power.
...I guess I’m not one to talk. Anyway.
“Haa!”
“Still too weak!”
Ian and Uncle were in the middle of their sparring match.
Ian attacked Uncle with all his strength, while Uncle faced him with nothing but a wooden sword.
Of course, Ian was using a real sword. Not that it changed the outcome.
Uncle casually deflected Ian’s fierce sword with his wooden one.
“Haa!”
But Ian immediately recovered his stance and launched a flurry of attacks.
Yet even though Ian’s attacks would rank among the best in this world, they seemed to have no effect on Uncle at all.
“Light!”
Oh. That spell from before.
He called it Light, but it unleashed an enormous flash and even a deafening boom. At that point, it wasn’t Light at all.
Ian probably intended to rob Uncle of his sight and hearing with magic, then attack with another spell... but he’d picked the wrong opponent.
“Hmph! Cheap tricks like that won’t work on me!”
“Guh?!”
-KWA-BOOM!
“Wait, Ian?!”
Ian was struck in the stomach by the wooden sword and sent flying into the distance.
How hard did that crazy old man hit him?!
I hurried over to Ian and saw him coughing up blood, his shirt completely torn off and his upper body bare.
Ian’s stomach was bruised a vivid purple, beyond merely turning blue.
“Ian, are you okay?”
“Cough... No...”
At least Ian’s conscious.
I hurriedly used my mana to give Ian a cold compress, and their expression eased. This isn’t what I learned Spirit Authority for...
-Glare
“Ahem. Are you all right? You were stronger than I expected, so I put a bit too much force into it.”
I glared at him as if to ask whether he had any sense, and he avoided my eyes as he asked, looking like he knew he’d done something wrong.
“I’m oka—cough!”
“Don’t talk. Just rest, Ian.”
Ian’s in pretty bad shape...
Fortunately, a cleric arrived soon and began treating Ian.
The bruises were disappearing quickly, so the cleric seemed fairly high-ranking, but even the cleric looked taken aback.
He probably hadn’t expected things to go that far. I mean, the man’s a Swordmaster.
“Phew. That was a close one. I’ll tone it down a little next time.”
Uncle said that and climbed back onto the sparring ground.
-Whoa. The top student got sent flying just like that.
Oh, right! We aren’t the only ones here!
I was so shocked I’d forgotten.
I hope nobody saw me give Ian a cold compress?
-Is that what happens to you... This is scary.
-Come on, he said he’d tone it down. He won’t hit us that hard.
-By the way, that kid ran over the second the top student went flying, right? Could it be?
-What, what? Is that how it is?
Luckily, it looks like they didn’t notice my ‘Spirit Authority.’
...I could’ve sworn I heard something weird behind me, but it must’ve been my imagination.
“All right, next!”
After making sure Ian had been carried to the infirmary, Uncle immediately called up the next student.
Since he said we’d go in order of grades, I’d be last.
I thought that as I watched the second-ranked student get knocked unconscious with a blow to the head.
Hm. My turn will be here soon, too.
...
My turn came before long.
That was because everyone before me had been knocked out in no time.
“Ugh... It hurts... Please go easy on me...”
The surprising thing was that Arin hadn’t been knocked unconscious.
As a tank, Arin was sturdy enough to withstand Uncle’s attacks.
Though Uncle had been holding back, too.
“Last one! El! Come on out!”
“El! Be careful! Make sure you show him what you’re made of!“
“Haha...”
Show him what I’m made of...
“I’ll give it a try.”
I answered Arin confidently and took my place on the sparring ground.
Uncle was grinning, apparently looking forward to sparring with me.
Of course, to everyone else, it probably looked like he was smiling because he enjoyed teaching the students. But I knew.
That old man didn’t care about any of that.
“I’ll let you make the first move.”
“Then I shall.”
Third Form.
I charged at Uncle at a speed on an entirely different level from everyone else.
-CLANG!
But my thrust was blocked without effort.
I’d expected that, though, so I immediately prepared my next move.
Oh. For the record, the reason it sounded like metal was that Uncle was holding a real sword.
Saying, ‘Since you’re the last one, I’ll give you the special treatment of using a real sword!’...
What a damn old man.
“Eighth For...”
-CLANG!
“You really are strong!”
“Tch.”
Just as my sword was about to swing in a snowflake pattern, Uncle’s blade interrupted my form.
He immediately swung his sword at me as if it were his turn now.
It was certainly an honest, precise sword.
It wasn’t especially flashy or distinctive, but a sword rooted in the fundamentals was excellent at blocking an opponent’s attacks and piercing their defenses.
The kind of absolute mastery of the basics you see so often in novels.
Each of Uncle’s sword strikes made it clear just how much practice he’d put in.
And if you added his ‘Spirit Authority,’ which could cut through anything... it’d be terrifying.
Of course, right now, he wasn’t using ‘Spirit Authority,’ let alone an Aura Blade.
“Isn’t that a little too serious for a kid?”
“Of course! I can’t afford to let my guard down against you.”
We exchanged words quietly enough that no one else could hear.
Meanwhile, I dodged Uncle’s sword and launched a counterthrust, but he easily evaded it as if he’d already seen it coming.
Neither of us was landing a clean hit.
Normally, I’d keep fighting and look for an opening, but this was only a spar, so I shouldn’t think about that.
Just...
“Let’s finish this quickly. One hit.”
Twelfth Form.