Capítulo 73: Words of wisdom from Adrias
Chris, whose own swordsmanship had been shattered in a single blow, looked on in disbelief as his dueling sword shattered under the vibration.
Serena, who was behind him, and Ivy, who was observing, watched in astonishment.
They could not have imagined it.
The Yunor Sword Technique was a sword with a reputation as one of the top five sword techniques in the Empire.
To break it in a single blow was nothing short of astonishing.
"Chris Yunor."
I called out my opponent's name, forcing him to look up.
"The duel is not over yet, and I'm pretty sure I said 'two for one,' so pick up your new sword."
But he still didn't move, so I finally touched his back.
"You don't deserve the name Yunor if this is all you can muster."
"Who do you think you are!"
I snapped back to reality.
Or maybe I didn't come to my senses, I just turned around.
In any case, Chris is back with a new dueling sword.
"Yeah. I'll do it.
I hadn't even given him the advice he needed yet.
I had to duel him.
"Serena, how long are you going to stand by and tease me from there?"
At the mention of Serena, she flinched and swallowed hard.
Then she calmed down and began to prepare to leave.
"Yeah. You and Chris are a special class.
I know their potential, their growth, their talents.
I'm the one who can give them the right advice.
I sheathed my sword and said.
"Come on."
Chris and Serena rushed toward me.
Chaejaejang!
Boom! Quack!
Whoosh.
Sword met sword.
Serena and Chris were definitely strong.
Fighting with swords alone, without the help of magic and the undead, felt a bit close.
'Still, it's not for me yet.
Mere time spent practicing meant nothing in the face of talent and density.
Of course, Serena and Chris were also unbeatable in terms of talent, but they had yet to blossom.
'They'll grow if I give them direction.
Boom!
Swords clashed once more, and a loud sound that could hardly be called a clash of swords erupted.
It was Serena who was now locking swords.
He's going the wrong way, too.
"Too much force."
With those words, I naturally released my grip on the sword.
Serena stumbles forward as if she's about to fall.
I kicked her viciously and dodged the next incoming blade from Chris.
"What do you think you're going to do with a sword that's neither yours nor mine, and it's only as good as Yunor's?"
"You son of a bitch!"
In a frenzy, Kris swung his broadsword once more, but for some reason, the sword felt heavy.
The Yunor family's sword technique was not like that.
But Chris, feeling limited by his inability to outrun Louis, was making random modifications to his sword.
"I'll show it to you now.
The transforming sword.
In particular, I remembered the light sword I used against Hosan.
Even if I don't use as much effort as I did then, I should be able to get some speed.
Yiying.
A spear!
The sword exploded with a mana-filled sound.
A light sword like the Yunor Sword Method, but my sword had literally reached its peak.
Pfft!
"Kuck...."
The sword swung at a tremendous speed and struck Chris in the abdomen, who couldn't even react.
Probably, if Chris wasn't activating his body with mana, his intestines would have been shaken.
"Ugh."
Chris didn't fall down.
But he looked like he was in a lot of pain.
I kicked him, still unable to stand upright.
"Thud."
"Chris. You're already putting useless thoughts into the sword with your skills, so you'll become the sword, not me, do you understand?"
At that moment, Serena swung her greatsword at me while I was still speaking.
But I didn't let my guard down and parried her sword, diverting my mana.
The 'changing sword' I used this time was a heavy sword.
Boom!
Serena, who had been pushed back by the force, was pushed back a little bit and eventually lost her center.
I threw a punch at the off-center opponent.
Pfft!
Serena, who was sent flying by the punch, shook her head and said.
"I don't understand why you're using such a power-biased sword. Anyone with an ounce of brains would evolve to a form that emphasizes their strengths and eliminates their weaknesses, so why would you want to fight with a force you don't even have an advantage with?"
"... without even knowing it."
Serena muttered, straightening her stance again.
For what it's worth, I probably know more about your sword than your parents.
Serena had a whopping three brothers above her.
Growing up among such men, Serena had developed a complex about physical limitations.
"That's why she's pushing herself so hard, trying to use an energized sword.
But to me, it was just plain stupid.
Why would she use her strengths to walk through thorns?
Of course, there was no one in his age group who could beat him, except maybe Chris or Louis.
Their talent made up for those flaws.
But not after that.
If you keep growing in the wrong direction, eventually that talent will fade.
"If you're actually playing Lewis or Chris and you don't have Serena's direction, three times out of 10, the extras will catch up to her.
Of course, most of the time, you realize and break free on your own.
But now that I'm involved, I can be a little bit of a lubricant.
'Serena's strengths are her flexibility to make smooth connections and her instincts to see her opponent's weaknesses. So we need to back off and focus on speed.
I'd like to give her some direction in her training, but we'll have to wait until we get to know each other.
For now, let's lose a little and see.
This time, I ran first.
* * *
I turned to Serena and Chris, who was lying on the ground after a while of fiddling.
"Hey, there's something I want to ask you two."
"Ha, whoa, whoa...what do you mean?"
Serena retorted, her voice still full of hostility, but she didn't allow for a counterquestion.
Pride at the subject on the floor.
"Why do you guys have swords?"
The question was too abrupt.
Serena and Chris didn't answer, just composed themselves.
"I mean, I'm a mage, but I don't take my sword lightly. It's a boast, and my skills speak for themselves, but even I sometimes wonder. Why do I hold a sword, and what is a sword to me?"
I shifted my dueling sword into my left hand and slowly drew my galakshur with my right.
The razor-sharp blade glinted in the faint moonlight.
"The first thing that drove me to use the sword was 'life' - I literally took it up to save my life. It's a funny story, but I'm a wizard, and I'm not very good at magic. So I picked up the sword to live, and now I'm alive because of it."
I tucked the galakshur away and asked again.
"What drove you to take up the sword? Was it simply your family name? Even if it was, what drove you to never give it up? What does the sword mean to you?"
"Does that matter now?"
"Uh, it's very important. You're not trying to tell me you're just swinging your sword around without thinking, because if you are, it's not a sword, it's a monster holding it."
I pointed at them both with a cold glare.
"You just lost to me, a mage, with a sword, and I didn't use magic once today, only swords."
"...."
"If you're ashamed, throw away your pride. Think about how you can beat me, and of course, Chris, you do the opposite and empty your mind. That's House Yunor's sword method? The late First Lord Yunor will have your back."
"This... whoa."
He looked like he was about to swear for a moment, but he must have realized that the map was embarrassing him.
He'd literally just lost to a wizard with a sword, so what was there to say?
"Don't look for the answer now, but think about it for a few days. The sword is your life, your very being, isn't it? When you're ready to share it with me, then challenge me again. I'll take it anytime. This duel is over."
That's all I need to say, and they'll figure it out.
I don't think I said much, but I got the point across.
"Serena needs to stop being so proud and find her strengths and develop them, and Chris needs to clear his head and go back to the drawing board and reacquaint himself with the Yunor sword.
Of course, if this doesn't work, I can always step in again.
I'll advise them as many times as I need to, I know the path they need to take.
I returned the dueling sword and approached Ivy.
She was looking at us with quite an interesting expression.
"Thank you for your time today. I guess I didn't have anyone else to ask, so I summoned your assistant."
"No, it's okay, it's been fun watching you, and by the way, you're better than I thought, are you always that good with a sword?"
"I'm a genius. Oh, no. You're gifted. Anyway, I'll leave you to it."
"Asshole. That's right. Get lost."
I just smiled and waved at Ivy's cursing.
I accidentally tangled with the Playables, hopefully, that helps.
* * *
Ivy laughed hysterically as she watched Adrias walk away.
'I can't believe he's such an asshole.
From the Voloric estate to now.
He always failed to meet her expectations.
'I thought he was no ordinary bastard.
I had no idea he was that good.
He's almost as good with a sword as this year's tournament runner-up, Vivian Velocan.
Rumor has it that she almost beat the winner, Diane, but I thought that was an exaggeration.
"He's so different, his personality, the way he thinks.
Honestly, what he said to the freshmen earlier had a strange resonance for Ivy.
It made her reflect on her own skills, which had stagnated after reaching a certain level.
The truth is, most swordsmen do.
All they know how to do is swing a sword, so they're using it, and they think less about it.
You don't think about why you're breathing when you're not.
"Funny.
Adrias Cromwell.
He was a strange man that even she, with her lack of interest in others, couldn't help but be interested in.
Glancing back, the chicks still haven't recovered from their mental attack.
That's to be expected.
For all their smugness, they hadn't been able to defeat a mage, let alone one who used a sword.
'And Adrias didn't even use magic.
From what I've heard, he used both sword and magic in the tournament.
Not being able to get him to use magic must have been devastating for both of them.
"It's not the first time I've lost, and it won't be the last."
Finally, Ivy spoke, and Chris and Serena, who had just come to their senses, shifted.
They spontaneously turned to face each other.
It was as if they had realized something.
"Maybe I was giving up," Serena thought.
Serena thought.
She had learned a great lesson from Adrias's words.
Pride.
She hadn't thought she was worthy of that word.
In fact, it didn't fit her.
The reason she wasn't taking advantage of her strengths was....
"I was running away from reality.
Since when?
Ever since she was a child, she'd relied on strength-based swordsmanship to keep from being overpowered by her older brothers, but the compulsion had only gotten worse since she'd come to Monas and met the talented hunk that was Lewis.
Now I realize it was a stupid self-comfortation.
If I can't beat Louis, it's because he's using a sword technique that's unfavorable to me, not because I'm bad.
It was just one of those excuses.
'Is that what you were thinking....'
I was getting tired of my subconscious self.
But this time, I realized it for sure.
I need to find my own strengths and be strong.
At least strong enough to not be embarrassed by Mr. Adrias.
"I must be strong, and I must try again.
Yes. No matter what, I can't live with the embarrassment of losing to a mage with a sword.
That was Serena thinking positively.
Seeing Serena like that, Chris held up his palm.
"...."
His callused grip was torn.
It was a grip that hadn't been broken since he was a child, and hadn't been broken in nearly a decade.
'My sword has a lot on my mind.'
Honestly, I didn't want to hear what the wizard Naboorin had to say, but the seriousness with which he spoke forced me to think about it.
'For what do I hold a sword, what is a sword to me?
To me, a sword is.
Family, honor, reputation, life, perhaps everything in life.
'Indeed.
At what point had he forgotten all of that and followed Lewis?
How my sword has become his shadow, following him.
'Adrias... said he took up the sword for his life.'
Has there ever been a time in my life when my sword was as desperate as my life?
Sure, his efforts were desperate.
But in what direction?
'Do it again. From the beginning.
Just like the grip that had been torn from him when he first learned the sword.
Determined to return to his roots, Chris looked in the direction Adrias had disappeared.
"I will try again. Adrias."
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