A Sword of Strategem

"Goodbye everyone. Make sure that you complete the assignment I passed out before next week. You do have an entire week to get it done, so I expect everyone to turn it in. And, well, we all saw what happened when Iusus didn't turn hers in today. So let's make sure that we encourage each other to complete the small amount of work that I give you."

I waved at the students as they congregated outside of the Martial Arts classroom and said my goodbyes. Soon enough all of the students left the classroom, leaving me alone with Telferr. She was an interesting character. She would joke around in the presence of others, playing the court jester. But in reality, she wasn't stupid like others might perceive her as. Maybe she didn't realize it, but she was making a smoke screen of her own. She cultivated the façade of foolishness which would eventually allow her to sneak her way into a position of power.

It was similar to how Capcis was able to move people to do as she wished without the littlest of knowledge of how to do such. She made a pattern and stuck with it for such a long time that when she deviated from that pattern, it created tumult. But because she was usually so submissive, people decided to go with her plans. Just like how if Telferr were to make a move for power, people would probably laugh it off.

"Oh, she wouldn't do that. Have you seen the girl?"

"She's such an idiot, how could she even do such a thing?"

In fact, even if Telferr said it herself, others would probably think of it as another joke of hers. But then once she enacted such a move, the enemy would be taken so incredibly off guard that they wouldn't be able to react. They would spend all of their energy either not on her or thinking of what they think she would do based on the performance she gave before. Then she would complete her plans, and take control of whatever it is that she's longing for.

Of course, she has yet to do such a thing. That was either because she thought of now as not the right time or that she wasn't aware of the situation she was setting herself in. She was smart, yes, but she wasn't one that was particularly ambitious. And because she lacks that driving force, why would she create such a scheme in the first place?

But it was still a fact that she had made this persona without thinking about it. It was this, along with her strength, that drew me to want her in my faction. I had already put a lot of work into her, and now I recognize her value more than ever. I was unable to before because I was spending all of my free time the last three weeks creating Genesis Orbs. Now that I had accumulated a number that I deemed enough, it was time to work on her.

I stood still and tall as the doors closed. Once they were fully shut, I turned around a faced Telferr. She was practicing with her longsword, as always. It was enchanting to watch. Her style of the sword was much different than mine. I acted something similar to a robot in my movements while she moved like water.

"Such was the difference in swordsmanship," someone might say. But is a robotic movement truly worse than a steady flow? I would argue each style can be effective in its own right. One is smooth and follows no set pattern, changing on a dime. The other is systematic, following not its "gut", but its own programmed patterns and conditionals. Not one style is better than the other. It's only the level of strength you have in your own style that matters. That was why an entire Branch could be made of it in the first place.

In my past life, I practiced both swordsmanship and magic. However, I always found that I was more adept at the sword. That was before I was turned into the Demon King of course. Swords were actually a very popular weapon in this world, with three of the nine regions having the Sword Branch in their top five most used Branches. The Jungle Region wasn't one of them, but, considering the goal I have, I figured that I wouldn't be staying in the Jungle Region for my entire life. That was why I decided to practice my skills.

But that wasn't the only reason. I had a more, current problem that needed fixing, and a good sword would help me with that.

I waited for Telferr to finish her set before walking up to her and asking her a striking question, "Hey Telferr, how do you feel about Convir?"

She was confused for a moment, probably because I would usually say I had something to do and leave without talking much, but once she got over that, she returned my question, "Why do you want to know?"

It would have been a lot easier if she just answered my question, but this probe still told me a lot. Either she doesn't trust me enough to answer a question like that or she's just genuinely curious of why I would ask such a question. I'm 75% sure that it's the latter based on all of our previous interactions, but just to make sure, I'll have to lie.

"Oh, well I was actually planning on getting everyone's opinion. I already asked Hasrem and the old man, so I figured you were next. I'm just not too sure of his actual character, so I wanted to get an idea from others who have been around him longer."

She held her sword up and placed it on her shoulder before raising an eyebrow and saying, "Well... I guess I'll tell you, but you've gotta also tell me what you think of him. He's alright I guess. I mean, similar to you, he scouted me out in school. At the time I just thought, "Why not?" He was giving benefits that I wanted, I pretty much agreed with his notion of not letting the sect become a clan, and it was all pretty simple. All I really wanted to do was cultivate my sword skills, and he offered me a way to do that. So here I am now. Now you tell me."

I crossed my arms in thought, before fulfilling her request, "Convir is an interesting guy. He obviously knows what he is doing and his goal, yet I can't help but think he goes about it the wrong way. He's trying to gather people, enough people to stop the Sect Leader, but he is too isolated. Once in a position of power like he is, you should never isolate yourself. If you isolate yourself, conspiracies will arrive, and you'll lose grip on what you once had. But by keeping yourself around everyone, you can protect yourself from others' schemes- Ah, sorry about that. I went off on a tangent. I must still be in teaching mode... To summarize, Convir is ambitious, which is a good thing. However, he is, in my opinion, too cold."

Telferr was looking at me with full attention before a hiss of air left her mouth creating the slightest laugh. She immediately opened her mouth, and with a smile on her face and laughter in her lungs, scampered on her words, "I'm sorry, I swear I'm not laughing at you or anything. It's just kind of humorous you know. You are a lot different than when we first met, a lot more... serious. But not in a bad way. It's actually refreshing. I like being able to have a declarative conversation without feeling pressured to act weird... By the way, I have listened to some of your lessons for the students. I never knew you were so adept in strategies."

I gave a slight chuckle of amusement to entertain her comment before giving a reply, "Well, when Pulchra died, I had a wake-up call of sorts. And in the past couple of months, I've also been studying constantly on the subject, so I'm happy it's proving useful. You know, I also practiced with the longsword some. Would you like to spar with me?"

She looked surprised at my question before returning to her cool atmosphere, "Well, because of your class, I don't have Spiravit to teach today, so I suppose that I have the time. Go ahead and show me what you've got. And let's not use any cultivation-related stuff. This should be a battle of technique, not Class... In which case, let's go a flat plain."

I nodded my head, and we started our walk over to the battle arena while talking. After a couple of minutes, we finally ended up at a grassy plain. Telferr threw a wooden longsword to me, and after catching it, I walked over to one side of the circular arena. Once I was done, I turned around and saw that Telferr was at the side opposite mine. Once I made eye contact with her, she yelled out a countdown, "On go! Three! Two! One! Go!"

Once she said the keyword, I slowly walked forward. There was no rush. The battlefield was large enough to permit such actions. And not to mention it would place concealment over my true strategy. We both walked forward, taking our time, until we were around 5 meters away from each other. There was a pause, and Telferr opened her mouth, "I'm gonna be honest Quis, this isn't a completely fair match. You must know that since I'm a Coal Class Cultivator of the Technology Path, I have practiced a Physique Technique. My body is most likely leagues stronger than yours."

I flashed her a smile and said, "Don't worry about it. I already considered that before asking for this spar."

As I finished my sentence I jumped to her left side and turned around with a sudden strike. But as I was about to hit her, her body turned and, as if a steady stream, her sword appeared in front of mine and blocked my attack. As soon as she blocked my attack, I tactfully disengaged the clash before stabbing at her leg. I couldn't rely on brute strength, as she would have me beat in that aspect. But I also couldn't rely on speed for the same reason. So what could I do?

Well, there was one large advantage that I held, the experience I had with me. I wasn't just observing her swordsmanship today, oh no, I've been observing it and keeping tabs on it every time I was in here. I had this all planned out since last week. Like I said, I was a robot when it came to swords. I could think on the fly and react, but I was much better at planning in advance. I liked to discover the weaknesses of my enemy and figure out how I would win before ever coming into contact with them. And that was what I did with Telferr.

She was good with the sword, that was for sure, but over my time observing her practicing, I learned that she made a fatal mistake. Whenever she entered what I called, "The Flow State", she would enter a meditative state. It was that power that made her so good with the sword, but if she were to be called out of that state, she would probably stumble about, confused. So all I had to do was that.

She was able to easily block my attack on her leg, but then I did something she wouldn't expect, I continued the clash. I was easily overwhelmed by the clash, and I could tell that she had now lowered her guard on me. My sword was sent flying and sent she swiped her sword to attack me. But when she went to attack, I was already gone. Before she was able to identify where I was, I twisted my leg which caused her ankles to budge and she fell to the ground, meeting me on the grassy field.

As she fell, I pried the sword out of her hand, which was very lax, before weakly stabbing it into her chest, "Well, I guess I win."

I got on my feet and reached my hand out for her to grab as support on her way up. As she got on her feet, she was still a bit stunned, so I decided to take the initiative, "Wanna know how I did that despite your obvious advantage?"

Those words seemed to bring her out of her paralysis as she nodded her head. This was a very important part, I couldn't gloat, or that would breed insecurity and contempt. I had to be graceful in my words so that she would feel inspired instead. This didn't just mean my words had to be correct though, my body language and tone had to be in the right space as well. Luckily for me, I had a wealth of experience in acting.

"Remember my rant from earlier? I was on the topic of isolation. Let me tell you a story about that. There was once an artist who was thought to be an up-and-coming big shot. He then got an order to paint a mural for a church. This was his chance to truly shine, so he wanted to make a mural so great that even the greatest artists of the time couldn't hope to compare to him. But he was very paranoid, "What if these painters steal my ideas and make it before me!" he thought. So he boarded off the church and swore to not let a single man inside to steal his ideas. Soon enough eleven long years passed until he was found dead inside the church. The mural, however, was still alive. But it was below average. The proportions were off, the scenes clashed, and the story it meant to tell was lost."

I looked around the Martial Arts classroom before settling my eyes on Telferr again, "So let me ask you this. Is what you're doing much different than that artist? Yes, you might have a student, but that's it. You spend your time here, endlessly practicing, but with nothing truly gained. If I had to guess, I would say that a while ago you hit a wall that you just couldn't get passed. The problem is that you're isolating yourself. I just took advantage of that weakness, and unless you change your way of doing things, it'll happen again."

She was so enthralled by my words that it took a couple of seconds for her to realize I was done talking. Once she understood this, she asked me, "But then how can I get any better?"

Perfect. This was just the opportunity I was looking for.

My face broke into a wayward smile as I answered her question, "You must sharpen your blade, Telferr. You have been so focused on your technique of the sword that you failed to realize an incredibly important part of the sword: wit. You need wit when wielding a blade. A dull mind breeds a dull sword. Without the slyness of a fox, your sword will never be able to penetrate other's schemes. To do that, you need practice in strategy."

Telferr's eyes were shining with intelligence and inspiration. It was the perfect time to roll the ball, "Telferr, if you stay with Convir, at best you might get the chance to fight a couple of strong adversaries with your sword, but it would be useless because of your lacking strategies. Convir doesn't see you the way I do. I know you are more than a sword and a jester. I know the potential your mind holds. So why don't you join my faction? Yes, you probably won't be able to train your sword as much, but you'll practice a much more imperative skill. Planning, scheming, strategizing. All of the works. So what do you say?"

After a long life of giving speeches and trying to convince people, I have gained the ability to tell when a speech has fallen flat or not. And I could immediately tell, this one belonged to the latter.

She looked at me and the eyes and unhinged her jaw, "When do I start?"