บท 4: Start Training.

{Part 1}

3 years old

"Ara, Rein really likes to play around doesn't he?" Zenith said with a smile of a doting mother seeing Reinhard climbing trees and crushing stones to powder in his grip with his tiny little fists.

Looking at his ridiculous strength in such age, everyone in the family already got used to it. That Reinhard is abnormally stronger than kids his age.

Of course they were carefully watching out for him, but until now it seems there aren't any problems with it.

"I wonder where he got that strength?" Zenith wondered.

Paul then gave a proud smile, "It's good, being a swordsman will be no problem."

Paul and Zenith promised each other. If they had a boy then Paul will train him into a swordsman. If it is a girl, then a magician. A stereotypical ideology of this world that men should be a swordsman and women a mage.

Reinhard on the side was just experimenting with Mana. To gain a deeper understanding with it, he needed to practice with it.

-*-*-*-

{Part 2}

*BOOM!*

The entire family ran towards the study room.

A thundering explosive noise came from there...

Paul was the first to rush into the room. "What happened?" he cried out. "Whoa!" His jaw dropped at the hole in the wall. "What the hell? Wait—Rudy! Are you okay?"

The next one who came from the door is Reinhard. Looking at the terrible mess made from the hole on the wall, he was extremely pissed off with the veins in his temples bulging about to burst. His expression turned ugly due to anger.

Next came Zenith and then Lilia.

"Oh, goodness." said Zenith as she came into the room.

Looking at the scattered debris on the floor, a textbook on the floor caught her eye. She deduced that Rudeus must have read the incantations out loud and accidentally used a magic spell.

"Rudy, did you speak some of the words from that book out loud?" Zenith asked.

Reinhard who is busy helping Lilia picking up the debris on the floor to clean perked his ears. Looking closely at the book, he could vaguely read the words in it. It says [Magic Textbook].

'Is that Magic?' Reinhard managed to arrive on the conclusion. At first he thought there was just a monster attack or something and vengefully hold a grudge of whoever made a mess in this house. But thinking about it rationally Rudeus is the only one that could cause this mess.

At first Reinhard thought he is just a creepy pervert who sniff at used panties, but it seems there is more to it than what he sees in the surface. It made Reinhard fall into deep thought.

Afterwards Paul and Zenith started quarreling about wether to make Rudeus a swordsman or a mage.

"Honey, we have to get him a home tutor!" Zenith said. "I'm sure we'll be able to find a great magic instructor in Roa!"

Paul was less enthusiastic about Zenith's suggestion to find me a home tutor for magic. "Hold up, now. Didn't you promise that if we had a boy, we'd raise him to be a knight?"

"But he can already use Intermediate magic at his age!" Zenith rebutted. "With the right training, he'd be an amazing magician!"

"A promise is a promise, though!" Paul

"Don't you talk to me about promises! You break promises all the time!" Zenith

"We're not talking about me right now!" Paul

And so they got into a bit of a spat, while Lilia continued calmly going about her duties Reinhard. The argument dragged on for a bit, until, as Lilia finished cleaning up.

"Young Master Rein, thank you for the help." Lilia bowed at Reinhard.

As for Reinhard, she always thought about him for being a clean freak. Whenever there is a mess that he see, he always organized it and help cleaning. Lilia would always say to let her do the job and let Reinhard play.

"It's okay, Lilia." Reinhard replied as he patted his shorts.

"Father, shouldn't it be alright for Rudy-aniki to be a mage? Don't worry, I'll be a swordsman that you always wanted." Reinhard said.

"R-Rein...?" Paul looked at him a little surprised. He never thought a 3 year old kid would be able to bring a solution to this problem.

No, it would be more accurate to say that it was a compromise. One is a mage, and the other a swordsman. Though it was regrettable that Paul wouldn't be able to train both his little boys as a swordsman...

"That's right! You could just train Rein into a swordsman. Rudy will study and become a mage. You should have no problem with that right!" Zenith accepted the offered solution to the problem immediately.

Paul wants a son that he could teach in swordplay, and Zenith wanted her son talented in magic study with a magic instructor.

It is a win-win situation.

It didn't take long before Paul reluctantly agreed.

-*-*-*-

{Part 3}

"I'm Roxy. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, uh, are—are you the home tutor?" Zenith finally asked.

"Aren't you a little, uh..." Paul managed.

The family were shocked. Looking at her blue hair, she must be one of the Demon Race.

She was clad in brown, wizardly robes, her blue hair styled into braids, her posture prim and proper. Her white skin looked untouched by the sun, and her eyes were somewhat sleepy. Her expression didn't exactly radiate sociability, and despite her lack of glasses, she looked like the sort of girl who liked to hole up in a library with her nose in a book.

In one hand, she carried a bag, and in the other, she held a staff befitting a magician.

"So this is a mage." Reinhard looked at Roxy observing her.

Somehow he could tell, this little girl in front of him is strong. At least at the same level with Paul or higher.

And so, with the first day of magic lecture and Swordsmanship training arrived.

-*-*-*-

{Part 4}

In this morning, Paul had some knightly duties so he couldn't train Reinhard for today.

Reinhard who had nothing to do decided to ask Lilia to teach him about various things taught in school.

Geography, history, common sense, and a little bit of etiquette. While Reinhard is helping her clean during the lessons.

"Lilia, you worked in the Asuran Imperial Palace right? Why did you left?" Reinhard asked.

"Young Master... It was–" Lilia explained.

According to her, she is one of the Palace's combat maids that guards the Royal Family. Lilia was assigned to guard the toddler princess of the Kingdom.

An assassination attempt was made but Lilia managed to protect the princess. But she got injured that even Healing Magic couldn't recover it and his life of a swordsman came to an end.

"Heeh, so Lilia was a swordsman too? You should be pretty strong right?" Reinhard

"Yes, though I am not as strong as the Master." Lilia

Lilia was an Intermediate rank Water God Style practitioner. Intermediate rank means she is an average level. As for the Water God Style, we will talk about that in another time.

"Then, if I have some difficulties I would like to get some pointers from you." Reinhard

"Yes, if the Young Master would like to..." Lilia somehow was at ease with him for the past three years.

Reinhard had always interact with Lilia whenever he got the time. It was for the simple fact that Lilia is a cleaning comrade.

If Reinhard was not an arrogant and glory seeking bastard, then he will be a top-tier housewife... I mean househusband material.

Though he only gets arrogant and stuff when his mindset is in combat mode or he is pissed off.

-*-*-*-

{Part 5}

Afternoon came and it was time to train with Paul.

They didn't have a wooden practice sword suitable for a toddler of his stature, so our focus was on physical training: running, push-ups, sit-ups, that sort of thing.

According to Paul, getting the body used to moving was the first priority. On the days he was too busy to train with Reinhard, he told him to keep up with the fundamentals.

But truthfully, Reinhard was already used to this sort of training. So when he showed off what he is capable of, Paul could only scratch his head and smile wryly.

"I guess you don't need to do this huh... I'll look for some practice sword for your size tomorrow." Paul said and just let Reinhard do the fundamentals.

Reinhard who is already capable of wearing Touki, he didn't even break a sweat with this light training.

Days passed and finally Paul managed to carve a wooden sword fit for him.

Though Reinhard had no problems swinging a normal wooden sword with his strength, the length of the sword and the girth of the grip is not suitable.

So a week after that, Paul started teaching Reinhard the sword forms. Battle stance, footwork, grip, basic strikes, and etc.

And with his outrageous talent and some daily effort, it only took him 4 months to become Intermediate rank in Sword God Style and Water God Style.

Although Paul sucked in being a teacher, Reinhard could keep up with his language.

For example...

"Take a step forward, like 'hngh', and then 'fwam'!" Paul

"Like this?" Reinhard

"No, you dolt! That was a step forward like 'hmph', and then a 'wham'! I said 'hngh' and then 'fwam'! Stay lighter on your feet!" Paul

Though he sucked being a teacher, Reinhard could adapt with his teachings with trial and error.

With his talent it wouldn't take him a few minutes before he could get it.

Given that background, the art of the blade was far more advanced in this world than it was on Earth. A master swordsman could cleave a boulder in a single stroke, or unleash a flash of the blade to strike a distant foe.

Paul had enough skill to accomplish the first one. He wanted to know the principles behind it, so he demonstrated it several times while praising and encouraging him.

'So I need to use Mana in my sword too? What's this? Some type of Armament Haki?' Jokingly remembering the manga series about pirates, he once again focused on his training.

In this world, there were three primary schools of swordplay.

First was the Sword God Style. This style maintained that the best defense was a good offense and focused on high-speed moves with the goal of striking one's opponent first—ideally finishing the fight with a single blow. If the opponent was still standing, the practitioner would continue to strike and feint back until they were victorious. If we had to compare it to something from my old world, the closest thing would be Satsuma Jigen-ryu.

Second was the Water God Style, the polar opposite of Sword God: It was a defensive form, focused on warding off strikes and then countering. Its core tenet was one of nonaggressive defense, which didn't allow the practitioner many openings for attack, but a true master would be able to unleash a counterstrike to any attack coming their way—and I do mean any attack, including projectiles and Magic attacks. Given its focus on protection, this was the sword style of choice for royal guards and nobles.

Last was the North God Style. This was less a sword form than a general battle strategy. It didn't focus on specific moves, but allowed the user to adapt to different situations on the fly. According to Paul, this ad hoc approach involved a lot of cheap tricks and clever ploys, but mastering the style yielded truly fantastical results. Because this style taught one to treat injuries and allowed for fighting even with imperfect posture, it was the favored school for mercenaries and adventurers.

*SLASH*

"Good! You finally got it. That's faster than expected."

And finally Reinhard got what Paul meant of 'Fwam'.

Thanks to his strong dynamic vision, his ability to perceive kinetic energy is strong enough to see the time move slowly on the space around him whenever there's movements.

Every movement requires space and kinetic energy.

Every movements in Paul's demonstration are faster to be learned because of this.

In his past life, his ability was not this exaggerated to see time move slowly in his perception. Or else the truck wouldn't have killed him in the first place.

'What is this power?' Reinhard fell in deep thought.

Even he was surprised with this ability.