Chapter 39 - Hengen Muso

Chapter 39 – Hengen Muso

Author's Note: None Today!

"Are you the combat advisor, Elrasla?"

"Yes, I am."

She then turned to Naofumi, who was talking to a healing Éclair.

"After you saved my life, good saint, and the both of you saving my village, I dedicated that life to helping this world."

After waiting for her to finish, I had to ask a question.

"What are you doing to Rishia?"

"Don't you know? Within this girl a very unordinary power sleeps. I believe she has the potential to be the heir to my school of martial arts."

"Fuehhhhhh! Satoshi, save me!"

"Could you maybe unhand her?"

The granny ignored my plea.

"If you're a combat advisor," Naofumi interrupted. "What level are you?"

"I am level 95."

Holy smokes. That was only a level lower than my own.

"What is the maximum level?" Naofumi asked.

"Normally it is 100, but I've heard legends of another class up ceremony that may allow further leveling, and heroes aren't subject to the level cap."

That's good. I didn't want to be limited by the cap, but my party members would be screwed.

"So anyways," I asked. "What weapon do you use for the Hengen Muso style?"

"The Hengen Muso style does not require the use of weapons."

"What?" Naofumi and I cried in unison.

"Any item that the user of the style comes across can be turned into a weapon, which is the true strength and advantage offered by the style. All enemies fall in its wake."

That actually sounds pretty interesting. Might as well give it a shot.

"If what you say is true, Naofumi and I are more than happy to become your disciples."

I punched Naofumi in the side of the stomach.

"Isn't that right, Naofumi?"

"Yeah, yeah. We'd be more than happy?"

Suddenly, a clattering sound sounded from the distance.

"Ugh!" Raphtalia grunted.

During our conversation with Granny, Éclair and Raphtalia had been sparring close to us.

Éclair, still quite injured from my rifle fire, had managed to defeat Raphtalia in a swordfight.

"Just so you know, this woman, Éclair, is also going to work with us on swordsmanship. Please teach us all you can."

"Please include me in your teachings." Éclair bowed. "It would be a great honor."

"Ha! Hope you can keep up!"

"We'll do our best!"

This would be an excellent opportunity to strengthen Rishia, who never had the best combat abilities, and hopefully Welst, Eda and Rojeel, which were at most subpar teammates. Those three had been surprising loyal towards me, since I originally expected them to betray me at some point.

"After we eat breakfast, I shall commence my instruction." Granny announced.

"That works for us!"

The instruction started with a lecture from Granny.

Basically, the Hengen Muso style was first developed so that weak fighters could hold their own against far stronger enemies. The style relied on the user's manipulation of life energy. Heroes, such as Naofumi and I, have enhanced abilities due to the life energy emerging from our holy weapons, which makes it much harder for us to manipulate the life force.

However, according to the old lady, we could increase the power of our special skills using the Hengen Muso Style, and apply those techniques to our skills, making our skills such as Shooting Star Bow and Air Strike Shield much more powerful. Overall, the technique benefitted people such as Indigo and Rishia more than me, but there was still a point to learn it.

"You mentioned that Rishia had an incredible aptitude for Hengen Muso. What would lead you to say so?"

"Good question! The girl has an innate skill for energy manipulation!"

"I could see that, but I didn't think it was that extreme."

"Fuehhhh?" Rishia screamed as Granny grabbed her arm.

"She learns very quickly and will therefore understand the system and master those techniques."

"Ahh, got it."

"What about our parties?" Naofumi and I asked. "Do they have potential?"

"It is hard to say for you two, since you are heroes, but Raphtalia and Indigo have strong talents and have great potential for discipleship."

"How long does it take to learn Hengen Muso?" I asked.

"For a normal person, ten years or so."

I spit some water out of my mouth. Who has time for that?

Granny proceeded to explain more about Hengen Muso, and its technicalities. During this long lecture, Motoyasu and Ren sneaked out of the castle and headed off to do their own things. When I asked them why, they replied with a simple "We can hold our own in a fight and we are sufficiently leveled."

Éclair, having enough of this, decided to speak up.

"It appears that you two reason differently than Satoshi and Naofumi, do you not?"

"Who the hell are you?" Ren growled.

"I am Éclair Seaetto, and I have been summoned to instruct in the sword arts."

"Pff. Your tricks won't make weak people stronger. Only leveling matters."

"Hm. It seems like the sword hero is confident in his sword skills. I wonder if I could teach you a lesson?"

Ren, insulted by her words, took her up on the offer.

"I accept the sparring match."

Mirellia stepped up, interrupting the conversation.

"The knight, Éclair of Melromarc, will have a sparring match with Mr. Amaki, the sword hero. The President and I will referee the match. Is that your desire?"

They both nodded.

"Very well. The duel shall end when one of you have the opportunity to deliver a final blow. Do not make the final attack and do not use overwhelming force. Éclair is also forbidden to use skills that heroes have access to, and neither side shall use magic. All other techniques shall be allowed. Is this agreed upon?"

"Fine."

"You truly are merciful, Queen Mirellia."

"Very well then…" Mirellia said.

"Begin!" I announced.

Éclair and Ren, swords wielded, charged towards each other.

"Haaaaa!"

"Take this!"

Ren's glistening blade aimed directly at Éclair's head, the latter swiftly dodging the attack. Leaving himself wide open, Éclair stabbed at the opening.

"Heh!"

Ren did a barrel roll on the ground, narrowly avoiding being turned into a kebab.

"Eat this!"

Ren wildly charged at Éclair, swiping furiously at her. Due to the poor coordination of his moves, Éclair easily parried and dodged each attack.

"How is this happening?"

"Come at me with everything you've got, sword hero?"

"You asked for this!"

Ren, infuriated, slid towards Éclair and aimed for her ankles. It wasn't the smartest play, but it had some merit to it.

Éclair jumped over the sliding Ren and backhanded him with the end of her sword.

"Oof!"

Ren flipped into the air and regained his footing.

"I'm impressed that you avoided that!"

The fight was getting good. It was time for some battle music. I headed over to the side and grabbed my electric guitar.

I started jamming and playing the solo part of "Through the Fire and Flames" by DragonForce at an extremely fast tempo. Probably motivated and vitalized by the upbeat tune of the music, though it didn't apply any special effects, Éclair was moving faster and faster.

"Yeah!" Éclair exclaimed. "I love this song!"

"What?" Ren asked.

"It's time to get serious."

Éclair elusively avoided Ren's attack, throwing thrust after thrust after slash at the confused black-haired boy.

"Ouch!"

One of the attacks landed on Ren, causing him to flinch.

"Don't let your guard down!"

Éclair, using Ren's retreating momentum, tripped him, causing him to fall backwards onto the hard floor.

"You can't do that!"

Éclair pointed her sword directly at Ren's neck.

I stopped playing the electric guitar, after ending the song off with an epic riff.

"Éclair Seaetto is the winner of this duel."

"I agree as well." Mirellia nodded.

"At first," Éclair commented. "I thought you were using a sword style from another world, but everybody could see that you had your back against the wall at the end."

"What are you talking about? I'm better! You're the noob!"

"How is that the case?"

"I once fought a top player in Brave Star Online, and I beat him!"

"If I beat a Navy Seals soldier in a first-person shooter game," I interjected. "Does that make me a better soldier and marksman than him?"

"Of course not!"

"Well, the same logic applies here. The constraints of a game system and using an electronic interface does not give you practical battle experience, which Éclair has. Why do you think I train my archery all the time?"

"But I managed one of the biggest guilds in the guild!"

"Wow," I commented sarcastically. "I regret I didn't spend my youth wasting away at virtual computer games instead of being productive and getting into the top university on the planet, graduating top of my class."

"Roasted!" Naofumi joined in.

"But-But-Bu-You don't know how VR's like!"

"I do. I played on the Virtual Boy."

"What's that?"

"Only the most advanced system in the history of the universe! It has 500 Terabytes of RAM and 10 Petabytes SSD."

"Wow, really?"

Naofumi broke down into complete hysterical laughter.

"W-Whatever! You're weak, Éclair!"

Saying that, Ren and his party stomped out of the castle. Motoyasu followed as well.

"That's unfortunate." The queen sighed. "Anyways, there is a place in the mountains where you can train. I have prepared filolials to bring you there."

"What are we waiting for?" I asked. "Let's head off immediately!"

Chapter 40 out soon!