27 Chapter 27

Chapter 27 - Sword Training Controversy

"Let's start by holding the sword properly. Keep your feet stable and grip the hilt like this..."

In the courtyard behind the tavern, Artoria was teaching Adrian and Tom swordsmanship step by step.

Yes, even Tom was learning. His sword skills had been far from proficient in the past; he mostly relied on his cat-like reflexes.

Adrian didn't want Tom to become lazy, eating and sleeping all day. Since Jerry wasn't around to accompany him, he needed to keep active, or he might end up becoming overweight.

So, when they bought bamboo swords, they also got a child-sized one for Tom. Surprisingly, he showed interest in learning, and he imitated the movements quite well. Perhaps his feline curiosity was at play.

As for Adrian, he found the process quite different from what he had imagined.

Just imagine, having a beautiful girl like Artoria correcting your stance and sword grip hand in hand. Even if it wasn't a scene out of a romance drama with magical developments, there should still be a slight acceleration of heartbeats when their hands touched, right?

However, reality was quite different. Due to incorrect posture, Adrian's hand turned red from being pinched; Artoria's grip was quite strong...

Adrian gritted his teeth, enduring without making a sound. His thoughts were wandering all over the place, indicating that he wasn't taking the learning seriously.

"Now let's move on to the thrusting technique..."

"The key points for slashing..."

"When delivering power, you must..."

Artoria explained the essential actions while demonstrating the basic moves. Adrian and Tom followed suit, adjusting their actions as per her guidance.

Once the basics were grasped, the monotonous practice began. Wielding the sword a hundred times could only be considered a warm-up, a thousand times would be practice. Artoria was strict during the teaching, not allowing any mistakes or slacking off.

Adrian managed fine; he had been exercising continuously without breaks. However, Tom seemed to struggle a bit.

Being an unscientific cat, his physical stamina was quite limited. Whether it was hosting a piano concert or conducting an orchestra, he ended up drenched in sweat from exhaustion—though both instances had Jerry's mischief involved.

In the beginning, he showed off various cool-looking attack poses, and Tom was enthusiastic and enjoyed it. But after a thousand repetitions, he felt like he would rather be done with it.

After a while, Tom was almost reduced to a puddle, but when he saw Artoria's serious expression, standing in line with them and practicing the sword techniques, he managed to persevere, despite his fatigue.

Stealing glances at their movements for a while, a lightbulb seemed to light up over Tom's head.

The reason Artoria joined in the practice was that after her confrontation with Shanks, she realized that her strength might still be lacking. Unlike when she was summoned through the power of the Holy Grail, she didn't need a Master's magical energy to exist here, and she could rely solely on her own power for combat.

And now, through continuous training, she could continue to grow stronger, even though it wouldn't be easy.

One strike, then another.

Adrian mechanically repeated the same actions over and over until his arms felt sore, until his movements started becoming deformed when he wasn't paying enough attention. Occasionally, a bit of energy would surge on the back of his left hand, giving him some motivation to keep going.

Finally, when he felt like his arms no longer belonged to him, he heard Artoria call for a break.

"Rest for a bit. Use this time to review the key movements. Oh, by the way, have you seen Tom?"

"Tom? He's right next to me, isn't he?" Adrian remembered keeping an eye on Tom's swordplay.

However, when he turned around, there was no Tom in sight—only a wooden board standing there. It had been cut and painted in the same colors as Tom's silhouette. At the front end of the board, two arms-shaped pieces could move up and down, and a bamboo sword was bound to them. It looked as if Tom was holding the sword with his hands, and a rope was tied to the hilt, leading inside the house. Whenever the rope was pulled, the bamboo sword would swing, propelled by a spring-like mechanism, and then be pulled back again as the rope was pulled once more...

Adrian was left dumbfounded. After all, Tom was a master at handcrafting; it wasn't surprising he could create such a contraption. However, the question was, how did Tom manage to replace himself with the wooden board right under their noses?

Following the rope led to Tom easily. He had found a beach chair from somewhere and had set up a small table next to it. He was engrossed in reading a newspaper, sipping chilled juice through a long straw.

Tom hadn't noticed the two people staring at him. He sat there comfortably with his legs crossed. With a simple leg shake, the rope was pulled, causing the wooden substitute outside to swing the sword faster. It seemed as though he was making an effort to train.

"Tom!" Adrian yelled, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the wooden replica outside. He didn't know if he should laugh at Tom's antics or get annoyed.

Tom got startled by Adrian's call, hastily trying to remove the rope from his legs. But in his haste, he bumped into something, causing the beach chair to fold up suddenly and trap him inside. Only his arms and legs were sticking out, flailing in an attempt to get out.

"Haha..." Adrian couldn't help but burst into laughter this time.

Even Artoria couldn't help but suppress a chuckle.

A cat as cute and silly as this, what could one do to him? Of course, the only choice was to forgive him.

After being rescued from his self-inflicted predicament, Tom eagerly brought drinks for both of them and even offered some treats to Artoria. He received a head pat from the "queen" in response.

Adrian wasn't envious of a cat. After rehydrating a bit, he went back out to fully charge the summoning energy and then excitedly started his lottery draw.

"Congratulations! You've won: The Emiya Family's Frying Pan, Taiga Fujimura's Diapers"

"Items have been added to your inventory."

Did they want him to pilfer the Emiya family's kitchenware? Could they swap for a different group of troublemakers? The Dog of Flanders is crying!

And what's with the diapers... Are the prizes from the Cat and Mouse world's lottery still active? The probability of drawing Noble Phantasms seems to have decreased a lot...

However, as his stamina increased, the number of daily draws would also increase, right? Once the draw count grew, there would surely be opportunities.

Even if he disregarded the need for lottery draws, stamina was truly crucial. Those top-tier experts engaged in five-day, five-night, or even ten-day, ten-night battles. Although he wasn't sure if he could reach that level, dreams were a must.

I don't have a favorability system here, so I won't write in randomly that the summoned individuals fall inexplicably in love with the protagonist...

Hmm... Does Tom need love...

Anyway, if you're looking for a brainless protagonist romancing multiple girls, you've come to the wrong place!