9 Swordsmanship Training

Ralloo watched the plain man from the beginning. He had started watching when he began walking towards the weapons rack. He watched as the man fumbled with the blade in his hand trying to find the optimal grip. He had been watching the man's first swings of the sword. While awkward at first, Ralloo had begun to notice that the man was improving.

•••

Kietn had reached the weapons rack and was looking at the swords. Now, for knights, they would have noticed the differences between some of the swords, but Kietn was oblivious. The swords were put into three groups on the weapons rack. There were light swords, medium swords, and heavy swords. While these were just categories to make weight classification easier, there were still noticeable weight differences for swords in the same category.

Picking up what appeared to be a lighter sword Kietn walked over to where everyone was grouped and practicing sequences. Watching everyone's movements whilst holding the sword, Kietn began to memorize the sequence.

After half an hour of just observing, Kietn held up his sword. Fumbling with the hilt of the sword, not quite sure of where to correctly put his hands, Kietn unsteadily began training. While having no clue as to whether he was performing the swings correctly, Kietn steadily made progress.

••• (A.N. back to Ralloo)

Although he had only watched the man for a short time, he was still impressed with his ability. At this point the man had almost completely mastered the sequence of swings. Taking this chance, Ralloo proceeded to walk over to the man.

"Young man, what is your name?" (Ralloo)

"Kietn, yours?" (Kietn)

"I am Ralloo." (Ralloo)

"So, Kietn, what are you doing?" (Ralloo)

"Uhm, training..." (Kietn)

"Who said you could use that sword?" (Ralloo)

"I didn't know I needed permission." (Kietn)

'My first lie in another world.' (Kietn) (A.N. for those who haven't noticed, people's thoughts will be in apostrophes)

"That's a lie, isn't it." (Ralloo)

"Correct." (Kietn)

"Then why are you still holding the sword?" (Ralloo)

"Because frankly I don't care." (Kietn)

Surprised at his own daringness, Kietn wore a smirk on his face as the two talked back and forth.

"I suppose you are the instructor?" (Kietn)

"Indeed I am." (Ralloo)

"Aren't you supposed to discipline me or something like that?" (Kietn)

"According to the academy's rules, yes. Personally I was thinking about further teaching you." (Ralloo)

"Teach me?" (Kietn)

"Yes, teach you." (Ralloo)

"Are you allowed to do that when you have a class?" (Kietn)

"According to school regulation, I can't." (Ralloo)

"Then-" (Kietn)

"But if you join my class there will be no problems." (Ralloo)

"Hmm. Okay, sounds good I guess." (Kietn)

"Terrific. We can handle registration later. For now, keep practicing. Once you have mastered this sequence, come find me and I will show you another." (Ralloo)

"You might as well stick around, I can feel that I will reach mastery soon." (Kietn)

"Don't get arrogant, I will correct you on each mistake I see." (Ralloo)

Thus began Kietn's first training session with someone teaching him. Occasionaly Ralloo would smack Kietn with his scabbard and correct him on something he did wrong.

*Smack*

"What was that one for?!" (Kietn)

"You didn't distribute your weight correctly during the last flourish." (Ralloo)

"Bullshit, you just like smacking the godly me." (Kietn)

"Ha! You're a long way away from even approaching a god." (Ralloo)

Ralloo had begun to take a liking to this commoner. While he was slightly arrogant and disrepectful, he was still persistent in his training. After over an hour of nonstop swordsman training, he had yet to take even one break. Even more surprising was that the young man's breaths were steady, much less ragged. Impressed with his own foresight, Ralloo mentally patted himself on the back.

•••

The sun was beginning to set and all the students had left. Kietn was still in town square, improving his basic swordsmanship. Ralloo, as usual, would smack Kietn if he did even the slightest thing wrong.

"Kietn, lets call it a day. You should go home and rest up for tomorrow." (Ralloo)

"Ah, before that. May I borrow the sword?" (Kietn)

"U-uh, sure, do what you want. See you tomorrow, I guess." (Ralloo)

"See you tomorrow. Make sure you choose a good sword skill for me." (Kietn)

"Yeah yeah, sure whatever." (Ralloo)

With that the student and teacher duo seprarated. Watching as Ralloo walked away, Kietn was in thought. He was currently thinking about how to further improve this sword art. Eventually deciding upon just trial and error, Kietn once again began training.

•••

The following morning at the start of the first class period, Ralloo left the classroom with his dissatisfied group of students. Arriving once again at the town square to promote his class he spotted Kietn. Ralloo had begun to instruct everyone to begin their training and eventually started walking towards Kietn.

Looking at Kietn, Ralloo noticed right away that his breath was slightly unsteady. Watching the sequence he was performing, Ralloo was shocked.

"Kietn what are you doing?!" (Ralloo)

"Training my swordsmanship." (Kietn)

"What happened with the sequence you learned?" (Ralloo)

"I modified it." (Kietn)

"What do you mean you modified it! You can't just wantonly modify a technique used for countless decades!" (Ralloo)

"Eh, why's that? It was weak in some aspects so I fixed it." (Kietn)

"That's bullshit. What could you possibly know in regards to improving a technique with your lack of knowledge in sword techniques!" (Ralloo)

"Apparently a lot more than anyone else who uses this technique." (Kietn)

"Wh- how dare you!" (Ralloo)

With that said Kietn once more went through the sequence. There were several areas that had been modified by Kietn. The first swing was where he began his modification of the technique. While it was a good first swing, in Kietn'a opinion, it could be better. Aiming to improve the swings throughout the sequence, Kietn had revised countless times over the night.

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You can tell how little I actually know about making a training 'montage' of sorts.