CHAPTER 9: Sword Practice & Reactions (Part 1)

CHAPTER 9: Sword Practice & Reactions

(Part 1)

[3 Hours Time Skip]

In the practice grounds of the Royal Academy of the Kingdom of Beltram, one can see hordes of small, uniform-clad children lined in rows and rows of straight lines as they wait for the orders from their Instructor. Among them is Rio.

"As nobles, you must have at least a minimum knowledge of martial arts," said a brawny man that stood in front of the students.

Rio is currently in his azmartial arts class and this brawny man is the martial arts instructor of the Royal Academy, who is currently talking about the importance of the knowing martial arts for nobles

The male students all held a wooden sword and shield in their hands, while the female students had wooden staves.

"Continuing on from our last lesson, today we will be learning about form. Repeat the form I taught you last time for ten reps in one set, for five sets. Do them slowly and check how you move. Once you're done, form groups of two and check your partner's movements for five sets."

Ordered the instructor, following which the students began to move - the male students, in particular, swung their wooden swords enthusiastically.

Giving the task to all the students other than Rio, the instructor focuses on Rio as he has a special order to follow, which is to monitor his every action during martial arts class to check if he is really an enemy spy or not, as some nobles still have their doubts even after 5 days of surveillance.

And Rio who is unknown to all these schemes in the dark is rejoicing in his heart as now after this class he will have a reason to cover up why he knew how to use swords. And to tell you the truth, he wouldn't have even cared about all these schemes going in the dark even if he were to know about them.

"Rio. I'll teach you personally since you don't know the forms yet. Follow me." said the instructor, and Rio obediently followed him.

They headed for an area away from the rest of the students and stood face-to-face a moderate distance apart from each other.

"Have you ever held a sword before, Rio?"

"Yes. Technically," Rio admitted. Strictly speaking, the one that he is now talking about is Haruto's experience of holding a katana. The katana Haruto's grandfather owned in his previous life.

"Hm. I see. Then, first, I'll review how well you can use it. Try and land a blow on me with that sword. Come at me when you're ready," the instructor said, holding his sword up.

What an action-oriented man. Rio's mouth twitched in a wry smile at the simple progression of the conversation. This instructor believed in talking through the body rather than words, however, his posture was very practical and refined, even from Rio's perspective, who is just a beginner. His skill appears to be authentic.

'But... what should I do about my stance?', Rio pondered as he adjusted his grip on the sword. He didn't understand the principles yet, but from the training he has been doing for the last four days, Rio is able to grasp a small portion of the correct stances, which is more than enough to let the instructor doubt him. And if that happened, he'd have to explain himself which is something Rio is too lazy to do.

So in the end, Rio decided, 'It's probably best to just use my natural strength. While showing that I am just doing what naturally comes to me.'

Once Rio had decided, he held the sword ready. Though he had never held a shield at the same time as a sword before, he improvised.

Seeing the unfamiliar stance, the instructor asked Rio, "Is that a stance of your own style?"

"Yes, that's correct," Rio replied.

"I see. You seem to have talent." The instructor grinned. In the next instant, Rio took off running straight for the instructor.

Just as he has been practicing for the last four days. He approached, then cut. That's what swordcraft boiled down to.

As though embodying that mantra, Rio approached the instructor and swung his sword with a test swing. The instructor easily received the sword.

"Hmm," Instructor murmured as though he was impressed, staring at Rio's grip and blade control on the sword.

"Good grasp of the sword. Your wrist won't hurt that way." Said the instructor as he evaluated Rio's stance and gripping posture.

And Rio, hearing his instructor's evaluation concluded that this man had excellent observation skills, fitting for an instructor. It wasn't easy to hide the basic techniques he had already learned. That being said, his posture was a bit unique due to his unfamiliarity with holding a shield.

Rio swung the wooden sword again, and again, and again. But the instructor handled them all with an elegant deftness.

Of course. There was no way a child could compare with an instructor in a duel — in both strength and speed.

Rio has to rely on his technical ability if he were to have a chance at landing a blow, but using all the techniques he learned from Haruto's experience with his grandfather in his previous life would also be considered abnormal.

'Well, I doubt he actually expects me to land a blow'. Rio assessed the situation calmly.

"Good! Well done, Rio. Could do with a little more fire in you, but you're suited for knighthood!" the instructor beamed. He was as hot-blooded as Rio predicted. To be honest, it was a bit stifling.

"Unfortunately, I have no interest in becoming a knight."

"What?! Well, you'll be at the academy for a long time. I'll make sure to teach you all the swordcraft a knight needs, so don't worry."

Was that meant to be reassuring? Their conversation wasn't coalescing at all... Rio swung his sword with a bitter smile. Then—

"!" *Swish*

Suddenly, the instructor launched a swift strike against Rio, who due to his improved eyesight calculated the trajectory of the sword swing and reflexively stepped back to evade it.

"Oh! So you can react to that," the instructor murmured in awe.

"You're not meant to be the one attacking, sir." Rio refuted

"There's no rule against it! But now I know your strength. That's enough." The instructor lowered his sword. Rio followed suit.

"As a child, you don't have much speed or power. However, your movements were very refined. You have quite the talent when it comes to handling a sword, but it would've been better if you had incorporated your shield into your attacks." Said the instructor as he gave Rio pointers to improve.

"Thank you, sir," Rio said gratefully.

"Good. Now, we shall move on to learning forms."

"Please, give me your guidance." Rio bowed his head.

Rio spent some time learning Beltrum-style swordcraft from the instructor. As he was rather quick on the uptake, Rio was able to imitate the forms easily after seeing them a few times.

(A/N: from now on it will be Beltrum.)

The instructor found this amusing and showed him one form after another until they lost track of time doing so.

"Ah, I'd better get back soon. The other students have started finishing up." Said the instructor as he realized how fast the time has flown, and the students have completed their assigned tasks.

They walked back to where the other students were. Just then, Rio felt someone looking at him. He glanced over in the direction of the gaze: it was Christina and Roanna.

The other students, who were separated from him, had shown no interest in Rio. The boys were trying to show off in front of the girls with their eager sword swings, while the girls noisily chatted away as they watched them.

"Hmph!" Christina huffed in displeasure and immediately broke their eye contact. Openly showing that she is jealous of Rio due to his talent in swordsmanship.

Next to her, Roanna — who had been Christina's partner for the practice sets — was in a state of shock as she stared at Rio.

'Were they watching me?' Rio questioned in his head. Then as he noticed Christina's jealous expression, he smiled an amused smile in his heart.

Then with a bow towards them to show his respect, he left the place after taking a last glance at the two girls and showing an amused smile to Christina.

As if telling her that he knew that she is jealous of him, which in turn made Christina embarrassed as a light blush appeared on her soft cheeks which she quickly hides, and then she sighed an internal sigh of relief that Roanna hasn't noticed her blushing appearance as she is still in shock and awe as she looks at Rio's departing back.