20 Fighting Ghislaine

Paul turned to me, "Rudeus, remember a month ago I told you I had a solution to your problem?"

"Yes?"

He then gestured to Ghislaine, "Well. She is the solution. Let me introduce her properly. Her name is Ghislaine 'Muscle Brain' Dedoldia. She is a Sword King."

I widened my eyes at his words and stared slack jawed at the woman in front of me. A Sword King? Not even a Sword Saint, but a Sword King…!? My attraction for her multiplied upon hearing this.

I turned to Paul, "You found me a Sword King to tutor me? Papa, my respect for you just went up a hundred times."

He turned up his nose proudly, "Hmph, your Papa is just that awesome. But don't jump to conclusions; she has not accepted you as her student yet."

Not yet?

"You see, the fee for hiring a Sword King is way too expensive, even if Ghislaine gave us a friends and family discount. But since you are so desperate to improve your skills to the point of being willing to out and become an adventurer, so I found a compromise."

"Ghislaine here is now working as the bodyguard of a young noble lady, whose family rules over our entire Fittoa region. I have worked out a deal with her employers – in exchange for serving as a bodyguard / magic tutor for the young lady, they are willing to fork out the fee for Ghislaine to take you as her disciple."

I nodded my head in understanding. So it would be like a work-study program.

Ghislaine then stepped in, "Indeed. However, there is one condition. Since you will be working as a bodyguard for milady, I will first test you to see if you are capable enough to protect her. If you fail this test, then we don't need to discuss anything further. If you pass, then you will follow me back to Roa and commence your employment as well as your tutelage under me."

Yes I would love to be under you- Ahem, I mean, "I understand. This opportunity to learn from a Sword King is extremely precious. I will not waste this chance Papa has worked out for me. I am willing to undergo your test."

She smiled, though there was a definite hint of ferocity in the smile.

"I have heard from Paul that you are already stronger than him. That is very impressive. Paul may have only achieved Advanced rank in the three sword styles, but he is proficient enough to combine them and achieve a Saint-rank level of strength. I have high expectations of you."

"Know that even though you are Zenith's son, I won't go easy on you. The safety of the young lady is at stake, so I will have high standards. Are you ready?"

"Yes master!" I replied enthusiastically. The prospect of being taught by a Sword King was really firing me up.

"I'm not your master yet."

"Ah, my mistake. I was too excited."

"Fufu, no harm done. Shall we head into the garden?"

We changed locations to the Greyrat garden. Paul, Zenith and Lilia stood at the sidelines, watching with mixed emotions. One on hand they wanted to see Rudeus pass the test and receive the tutelage of a venerated Sword King, but on the other, Rudeus passing also meant he would be leaving for Roa.

I took my place opposite Ghislaine, a fair distance away.

"Am I allowed to use magic?" I asked.

She nods, "Fight me as though you are fighting someone trying to target the young lady. Use every technique, ability and trick at your disposal. If you do not use your full strength, you will fail this test."

"Yes master!" I responded.

This time she did not correct me. She only unsheathed the sword she had strapped to her waist and pointed it at me.

"Then we shall begin."

The next moment, a blast of killing intent was sent towards me. It was an aura that felt like an erupting volcano; an overwhelming presence that sought to suffocate me with just a glare. The pressure would have been assuredly overwhelming had I not had experience with receiving similar strain from monsters.

Thus, I was able to calmly hold my sword in front of me and my gaze did not waver. I let my mana erupt out as well, letting out a small shockwave centered on myself, as mana filled my body and enhanced my muscles.

"Good. You can resist killing intent. And it seems like you have also grasped Battle Aura. You have reached the most minimum standard to apply as a bodyguard. But you have still yet to pass my test."

My grip on my sword tightened. I truly did not want to lose this opportunity that had been placed before me. One had to understand that above Advanced rank, there were only a handful of swordsmen with the titles of Saint, King and Emperor.

Spread across Central Continent, Milis Continent and Begaritto Continent, the chances of encountering swordsmen above Advanced rank was way too rare. And the likelihood of learning from them was even lower.

Moreover, I was also extremely excited to cross blades with a Sword King. How strong are people of that rank? How amazing are King-rank techniques? How would my own techniques fare against those? These are all questions that I would finally receive the answer to today.

"I am coming." Ghislaine let out a warning before she dashed towards me.

[Quagmire] was usually my go to spell when initiating a battle. However, this time I wanted to test out her strength with my body first.

As such, I ran forward as well, meeting Ghislaine in the middle and letting our blades clash.

She was not as fast or as strong as I had expected. Clearly she was limiting her strength to the standards of an Advanced-rank swordsman. Otherwise, it was very likely that I would have already lost on the first exchange had she been using her King-ranked strength.

Mana Reinforcement was weird. Unlike magic, where more mana = more power, just pumping ungodly amounts of mana into my muscles did not equate to me having God-ranked strength. That was not how Mana Reinforcement worked, from my experience.

The most important part about this enhancement technique was not the quantity of mana, but the user's ability to comprehend how to apply it in their movements. Even though I had relatively high sensitivity to mana, being able to instinctively sense its circulation in my body, my limit was still Advanced-rank strength that was slightly weaker than Paul.

I didn't have anyone to teach me how to use Mana Reinforcement after all. Paul used it unconsciously, so everything I knew was self-taught. However, seeing Ghislaine consciously limit her strength and speed to Advanced-rank, indicated to me that she was someone who was capable of consciously controlling Mana Reinforcement. This knowledge only served to fire me up even more, adding to my desire to learn from her.

We exchanged moves, barely moving from our position in the centre of the garden. I could tell that she was in no hurry to unleash King-ranked Sword God techniques. This was only a preliminary examination of my ability.

Likewise, I was more than willing to show her what my swordsmanship was capable of.

The months spent fighting monsters in the forest guided my sword arts, minimizing any wastage of energy and unnecessary movements.

Paul's tutelage also allowed me to showcase my Advanced rank techniques in all three sword styles, combined and incorporated into a cohesive unit. I could effortlessly blend ferocious offense using Sword God attacks, with the airtight defensive techniques of Water God style, while at the same time being able to adapt on the fly using North God techniques.

This went on for about a minute before Ghislaine seemed satisfied with what she had seen. Her next attack was bumped up a notch in ferocity, forcing me to start using spells in conjunction with my sword arts in order to respond effectively.

An orange, fiery glow spouted out from my elbow, allowing me to swing my sword with a speed that surpassed what I was physically capable of using Mana Reinforcement alone. [Afterburner] was a spell that I had recently developed, which would let me boost my speed and strength using magic. It was also the spell that brought me my victory over Paul.

It was a Melded Magic that combined Wind and Fire magic to create thrust that would launch the body part it was being emitted from forwards. I had taken inspiration from fighter jets back on Earth.

Ghislaine was taken by surprise by my sword's sudden increase in speed, but she was not caught off guard. At her level, getting caught off guard would take much, much more than what I was currently capable of.

The beastwoman was able to deflect my sword stroke, before counter attacking with a kick. I was barely able to block the foot that had been aimed at my face, with my forearm, but the force of the blow still sent me flying back. My tiny body was simply not heavy enough to resist the momentum that came with receiving these blows.

I landed on my feet, skidding backwards slightly but then immediately emitted mana from the soles of my feet to generate an [Earthen Dash] launch pad that sent me into the air.

[Afterburner] rocketed from my back and I was able to momentarily fly forward while at the same time using [Air Step] to maneuver myself in the air. I created the aerial platform under my feet and used it to leap towards Ghislaine. Around me, icicles materialized that were similarly launched towards Ghislaine, spread out to prevent her from evading my blade.

Not that she had any intentions of running away in the first place, of course.

Blue Fang landed vertically against her own horizontally placed sword, and I smirked when I see her elbow buckling slightly from the force of my sword, though it immediately straightened right after.

Without waiting for her counterattack, I released the prepared spell I had cast and store under my feet which was pointed at her – [Fireball].

The orange-red ball of fire instantly materialized from the sole of my right foot, and exploded between us point blank.