20 Chapter 20: Practical Lesson

"Yes, I want to continue to learn how to use the Rapier as my first weapon.", I decided.

"Excellent. Your body has been progressing along nicely so we may be able to move onto the next step."

"Meaning...", I began to say, anticipation appearing in my eyes. Giliath let out a chuckle seeing this from me.

"Yes. You will take the first step in learning how to wield a blade. But there is one more topic regarding Roer we must discuss. One which I hold dear to my heart.", Giliath explained.

He then let his eyes wander past the Schwarz Drache Barrier and the city of Roer itself. He looked more to the northwest, to where the snow-capped mountain ranges were.

"There is a town in the Nortia Province to where it snows all year long. It is a rather lovely sight to behold, with me personally visiting every so often. I've mentioned the town of Ymir to you before."

"You did, father. It's a wintry town famous for its Hot Springs, isn't it?"

"That's right. It even has an open footbath for visitors to enjoy. Roer might be ruled by the Rogner House, but that isn't the only noble house in the Nortia Province. While only counting Ymir, that wondrous winter land is ruled by the Schwarzer Barony."

'So that name finally made its appearance...', I inwardly thought to myself.

"The Schwarzer Barony....From the way you are talking, it sounds like you know them, Father?", I decided to ask. To which Giliath nodded his head.

"I indeed do. This isn't a story I tell often, but I still hold it dear. You've probably wondered why you haven't seen your grandparents, right?", Giliath asked. As he did, a melancholic look appeared in his eyes.

"Grandpa and Grandma? This is the first time you're bringing them up to me, father.", I answered.

"Is that so? Well, while I would like for you to meet them, now is not the time. After all, they are no longer of this world. If we decide to pay a visit to their graves, we will need to schedule a trip."

Hearing father speak about his parents for the first time, I couldn't help but get sad as well, knowing that I wouldn't be able to meet them. Well, not alive at least. Giliath smiled seeing me behave like this.

"You needn't feel this way, my son. I've long come to terms with my parents' passing. It happened quite some time ago. But as result, I was able have an encounter with a man called Teo Schwarzer. Teo's father was a close friend of my father.", Giliath explained a bit.

"Teo Schwarzer?", I continued to ask, to which Giliath nodded his head.

"That's right. Once upon a time due to that unfortunate accident my parents suffered, I became sworn siblings with Teo Schwarzer. Despite them being from a noble household, they still took in a commoner like me where I had nowhere else to go.", Giliath said, diving into his past a bit.

"So this Teo person and you became brothers?", I asked.

"That we did, only for enough to get my own life on track. Even so, I did bear the Schwarzer name during that time. After that, I reached the age to enroll at Thors Military Academy and left the Schwarzer Barony.", Giliath finished.

Hearing the name of Thors Military Academy once again, I became excited. Giliath saw this and let out a chuckle.

"So you've taken an interest in Thors Military Academy, have you?"

"Yeah! I've been reading about a lot of known soldiers who entered that academy. Thors Military Academy was founded over a thousand years ago, right?"

"It was, by the seventy third Emperor of our nation, Emperor Dreichels. Even now, it proudly serves as one of our firmest military institutions to train soldiers. Should you express the interest in enrolling in Thors, I can make it so.", Giliath.

"I know I'm just a kid now, but I know I'll be able to enter Thors eventually. I am the first son of a General of Erebonia, right?"

"Haha, that you indeed are, my son. I currently have plans to enroll both you and little Rean in Thors once you come of age to enter. But it will ultimately be up to you to decide what path to take, Naoto.", Giliath responded with a grin after he heard me ask that.

"I understand, father."

However, before we could continue on, several rustling sounds started to creep closer to us while still on the outskirt of the forest with rolling hills that separated our current position from our villa. Normally if we were closer to a populated area with people, we could come across some passerbys. But between Heimdallr and Schwarz, it was largely left untouched.

Several shadowy figures were now fast approaching us.

That's right, Trailsverse had monsters. And plenty of them to boot. It is known to be a mix of science and fantasy, and monsters filled that role nicely. I quickly took notice of these monsters

" I wish we could talk some more, but I think we've got company."

"Oho. We stood on the outskirts of the Schwarz Drache Barrier to draw some attention, and it worked. Let us make this a practical study session then." , Giliath also responded.

It wasn't just a few shadowy figures. It was well over ten monsters.

Several of them appeared to be large blue-purple squirrels with their tails coated in minerals. Among the others were buzzing blue flying beetles while the rest were large dragonflies with praying mantis-like stingers.

Secretly, I activated Vermillion Eyes to cast Detection, and deep within my mind I saw several red dots soon circling our position in front.

Thankfully father had his weapon, which was one of the standardized swords of the Erebonian military, nothing too fancy. And as that happened, I was able to catch the names of these monsters.

[Jewel Ripper. Lv - ???]

[Jewel Horn. Lv - ???]

[Crimson Dragonfly. Lv - ???]

Of course they wouldn't show their levels. I mean, I was still only Level 1. It looks like miscellaneous actions like studying does not directly boost my experience, so fighting monsters will likely be the way to go for that.

"Naoto, you might want to step back a bit. Or else you might get a bit warm.", Giliath suddenly said to me.

"Are you going to use an Art?", I asked with anticipation.

"Yes. And as for the first tip of being a soldier, always be ready for the unexpected. Soldiers often carry more than one type of weapon for such occasions, like becoming surrounded like this.", Giliath said, pointing to the several monsters in front of us, buzzing around and fast approaching.

I then saw Giliath retrieve a black pistol of sorts while having his sword remain at his side.

"You will mainly learn the Rapier, but Rapiers are best used in close quarters combat. You will still need to answer to middle and long distance range attacks.", Giliath explained to me.

Without warning, Giliath took aim. Bang!

A loud bang struck our ears as the orbal energy revolved in the pistol, shooting an energized bullet at one of the closer monsters. A Jewel Ripper couldn't even react before its body was blasted away, before its lifeless body splattered onto the grass.

"You can also change up your attacks as well.", Giliath continued to say, only to take out his Combat Orbment. Using his spare hand, he opened it. I quickly saw Giliath move his fingers over a couple nodes, only to see his orbments shine a bit.

"Arts activate...", Giliath uttered softly, only to have a magical aura appear around his figure. This aura was essentially Mana of what witches use, but it is channeled through the Combat Orbment. He then jumped back, closer to where I was, and yelled out.

"Flame Tongue!", Giliath said, revealing his first Arts for me to witness. The earth started to shake a bit in the heart of the monster group, only to split apart. Craack! Fwoosh!

All of a sudden, flames began to erupt from that cracked earth, directly causing lots of fire damage to the nearby monsters. I noticed the health bar on the nearby monsters rapidly drop from full health. It only took one Art to cause that amount of damage, so I could only assume Giliath's current level was insanely high.

Which was to be expected of a General of Erebonia, and for what he is to become. I did kind of hope to see a more wide range powerful spell, but the Schwarz Drache Barrier is in the distance, so it would be best not to cause too much of a distraction for them. We don't want trouble coming our way.

Just like that, my practical lesson was now underway.

However, as father started to engage combat with these monsters, the fighting began to spread, and the numbers didn't seem to stop...

*

Don't forget those power stones!