Chapter 5: Swordsmanship and Magic.

He turned five.

A modest birthday party was held.

Apparently this country has no custom of celebrating birthdays every year.

However, it is traditional for families to give something

when a child reaches certain milestone ages.

Those ages are five, ten, and fifteen.

Since one becomes an adult at fifteen,

the system is very straightforward.

Paul gave me a sword as a gift.

Two of them, in fact.

A full-length real sword—long and heavy for a five-year-old—

and a shorter wooden practice sword.

The real sword was properly forged,

with a sharpened edge.

It was not something a child should hold.

“A man must carry a sword in his heart.

To protect those who are precious to him———”

Paul’s moral lecture went on at length,

so I listened with a bright smile while letting it flow past me.

He spoke cheerfully,

but in the end Zenith chided him that it was “too long.”

Paul gave a wry smile

and concluded with “Therefore, keep it put away except when necessary.”

What Paul truly wanted to give me, no doubt,

was the awareness and resolve that comes with holding a sword.

From Zenith I received a single book.

“Since Rudy loves books so much.”

What she handed me was a plant encyclopedia.

I couldn’t help letting out an “Ooh.”

Books in this world are inherently expensive.

Although papermaking technology exists,

there seems to be no printing press—everything is handwritten.

The plant encyclopedia was thick

and explained everything clearly and carefully with illustrations.

I could only imagine how much it must have cost.

“Thank you, Mother. This is exactly what I wanted.”

When I said that,

she hugged me tightly.

From Roxy I received a rod.

A simple item: a thirty-centimeter stick

with a small red stone set at the tip.

“I made this the other day.

Since Rudy has been using magic from the very beginning,

I overlooked it,

but it is customary for a master to make a staff

for a disciple who has become able to use beginner magic.

I’m sorry for the delay.”

So that was the tradition.

Although Roxy disliked being called “master,”

she apparently felt reluctant to ignore custom entirely.

“Yes, Shishou. I’ll treasure it.”

When I said that,

Roxy made a sour face.

—

The next day, serious sword training began.

The focus was mainly on swinging practice and forms.

We practiced forms and strikes against a wooden dummy set up in the garden,

or sparred with my father to train footwork and weight shifting.

It felt very foundational—and very good.

In this world, swordsmanship is regarded with considerable importance.

Almost all the heroes in books are armed with swords.

Occasionally someone wields an axe or hammer,

but they are in the minority.

No one uses spears.

This is because the despised Superd tribe uses trident spears.

Spears are considered the weapon of demons.

That is common knowledge here.

For what it’s worth, several such demons appear in books—

portrayed as indiscriminate killers

who devour both enemy and ally alike.

Perhaps because of that background,

swordsmanship here surpasses what existed in my previous world.

Masters can cleave rocks in two with a single stroke

or send sword waves flying to strike distant opponents.

In fact, Paul can cut through rocks.

When I wanted to know the principle behind it,

I praised and flattered him until he demonstrated it repeatedly.

Having a son who could already wield advanced magic at such a young age

clapping his hands in delight must have put Paul in an excellent mood.

Still, no matter how many times I watched,

I couldn’t grasp the principle.

Since watching didn’t help,

I asked for an explanation…

“Step in sharply—Zan! Like that.”

“Like this!?”

“You fool! That’s stepping in heavily—Don!

It’s step in sharply—Zan! Lighter, more nimbly.”

Something like that.

This is only my guess,

but swordsmanship in this world makes use of mana.

Unlike magic, which manifests visibly like “proper” magic,

swordsmanship specializes in physical enhancement

and reinforcement of metal weapons.

Otherwise it would be impossible to move at ultra-high speeds

or slice through rock.

Paul has no conscious awareness of using mana.

That’s why he can’t explain it.

However, if I can reproduce the effect,

it would essentially be equivalent to learning a body-enhancement boost spell.

I’ll work hard.

—

In this world, there are three major mainstream schools.

The first is the Sword God Style.

An aggressively offensive school that treats attack as the greatest defense,

prioritizing speed above all

with the sole aim of landing a hit on the opponent first.

Seize the initiative and deliver a one-hit kill.

If the opponent survives, continue hit-and-away until they fall.

If I had to compare it to something from my old world,

it would be something like the Satsuma Jigen-ryū.

The second is the Water God Style.

The complete opposite of Sword God.

A defensive school centered on parries and counters.

Its motto is pure defense,

so it rarely takes the initiative to strike.

However, masters are said to be capable of countering any attack.

Any attack—including magic and projectiles.

This is the sword style learned by court knights and nobles,

whose primary role is protection.

The third is the North God Style.

This feels less like pure swordsmanship and more like battlefield tactics.

It includes many techniques for providing emergency first aid during combat

and making maximum use of whatever is at hand in the environment.

Its fighting methods are truly unconventional.

Think Jackie Chan but with swords.

Because it allows one to fight even with injuries or missing body parts,

it is favored by mercenaries and adventurers.

These three are called the Great Three Styles,

and practitioners exist all over the world.

Those who wish to reach the pinnacle as swordsmen

knock on the doors of each school

and swing their swords until the day they die.

However, such people are few.

If one wants to become reasonably strong quickly,

the basics are to dabble in several styles

and take the best parts from each.

In fact, Paul primarily practices Sword God Style

but has also dabbled in both Water God and North God.

Both Sword God and Water God are apparently too specialized

to make a living with on their own.

Incidentally, these sword styles are also ranked:

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Emperor, God.

The “God” in the names comes from the titles of the schools’ founders.

The founder of Water God Style was simultaneously a God-rank water magician.

Sword God-rank and magic God-rank—he was absurdly strong.

By the way,

when referring to swordsmen, people say Water God or Water Saint,

while for magicians it is Water God-rank or Water Saint-rank—

adding “-rank” is the norm.

For example, Roxy is a “Water Saint-rank Magician.”

—

I decided to learn both Sword God Style and Water God Style.

Attack with Sword God, defense with Water God.

“However, Father. From what I’ve heard,

the North God Style seems the most balanced.”

“Rudy, don’t be foolish.

That’s merely fighting with a sword—it isn’t swordsmanship.”

“I see.”

Among the three schools,

North God Style appears to be looked down upon.

Or perhaps Paul simply dislikes it personally.

Despite his dislike, Paul has apparently reached Advanced in North God as well.

“Rudy, you seem to have talent in magic,

but learning swordsmanship will do you no harm.

Become a magician capable of withstanding Sword God slashes.”

“A magic swordsman… is that what you mean?”

“Hm? A magic swordsman is a swordsman who can use magic.

In your case it would be the reverse, wouldn’t it?”

How exactly are they different?

Whether one starts as a warrior and switches

or starts as a mage and switches,

a magic swordsman is a magic swordsman, I would think.

In any case,

training in swordsmanship should have applications for magic as well.

The problem is that Paul performs body-enhancement boosts unconsciously,

so he cannot teach it.

I will have to figure it out myself somehow,

but is it really something one can achieve just by training the body?

I need to uncover the principle somehow…

“…Do you dislike swordsmanship after all?”

While I was lost in thought,

Paul asked with an anxious expression.

Perhaps because everyone says I have talent in magic,

he worries that I don’t want to train in the sword.

But please don’t misunderstand.

I don’t dislike sword training.

It’s simply that I prefer studying alone with Roxy in a room

over sweating vigorously with a burly man in the garden.

I’m an indoors type.

That said, it’s merely a matter of preference.

Having decided to live seriously in this world,

I will put effort into both sword and magic.

“No—I want to become as skilled with the sword as I am with magic.”

Paul seemed deeply moved by those words.

He nodded happily

and readied his wooden sword.

“All right then—let’s start with strikes.

Come at me!”

So simple.

Magic and swordsmanship.

In the end I don’t know which I will rely on more.

Frankly, either is fine.

“Yes! Father!”

But one should repay one’s parents while one still can.

In my previous life I caused my parents nothing but hardship until the day they died.

If I had been kinder to them,

perhaps my siblings wouldn’t have suddenly thrown me out of the house.

So I must treasure my parents.

—

Around the time I took my first steps into swordsmanship,

magic lessons had advanced into considerably technical and practical territory.

“If you cast Waterfall, then Heat Island, then Icicle Field in sequence—what happens?”

“Fog forms.”

“Correct. Then how do you clear that fog?”

“Um… use Heat Island again to warm the ground.”

“Exactly. Show me.”

By using multiple elements in sequence,

one can produce certain phenomena.

This is called “mixed magic.”

Although the magic textbook includes spells to make it rain,

for some reason it does not contain any spell to create fog.

Therefore magicians mix different elements.

In this way they recreate natural phenomena.

In a world without microscopes,

the principles behind natural phenomena have surely not been fully elucidated.

Mixed magic is packed with the ingenuity of ancient magicians.

Well, I don’t need to go to such troublesome lengths.

I can simply create clouds and make rain fall

while keeping the spell close to the ground.

Still, intentionally inducing natural phenomena

is easy to understand.

If I rack my brain, I feel like I could do all sorts of things.

“Magic can do anything, can’t it?”

“It cannot do anything—don’t get overconfident.

Simply stay calm, do what you can, and steadily accomplish what must be done.”

Roxy admonished me,

but inside my head terms like railgun and optical camouflage were dancing around.

“Besides—if you go around boasting that you can do anything,

people will start dumping things you can’t do onto you.”

“Is that from personal experience, Sensei?”

“Yes.”

I see—that’s something to watch out for.

Being saddled with extra work is a hassle.

“But do people really push so many jobs onto magicians?”

“Yes. Advanced-rank magicians aren’t exactly common.”

Apparently one in twenty people can fight.

Among those, one in twenty is a magician.

So roughly one magician in four hundred people.

Magicians themselves aren’t particularly rare, but…

“Those who graduate properly from magic school—

in other words, Advanced-rank magicians—

are about one in a hundred among magicians.”

So Advanced-rank magicians are one in forty thousand.

If one can use intermediate and advanced magic plus mixed magic,

the range of things one can do increases dramatically.

That’s why they’re in such high demand.

Even tutoring in this country requires Advanced rank or higher.

The qualification carries considerable weight.

“There are magic schools?”

“Yes. Every major nation has them.”

I had assumed they existed,

but magic schools, huh.

Here it comes—the school arc?

“But the largest and most prominent is surely Ranoa Magic University.”

Oh—there’s even a university.

“How does that university differ from the others?”

“It has excellent facilities and instructors.

You can receive far more modern and advanced lectures

than at other schools.”

“Were you a graduate of the university, Sensei?”

“Yes. However, magic schools tend to be very prestigious,

so as a demon I could only enter the Magic University…”

Apparently the magic schools that noble children attend

automatically reject non-humans during screening.

Discrimination against demons has lessened somewhat,

but the wind is still strong against them.

“Ranoa Magic University has none of that stifling formality or pride.

As long as the theory is correct,

even unconventional ideas are not dismissed out of hand.

By accepting various races,

they have advanced the study of each race’s unique magic.

If you wish to walk the path of magic, Rudy,

I highly recommend advancing to the Magic University.”

She praises it highly—probably because it’s her alma mater.

Still, that’s quite a ways off.

If I enrolled at five I might get bullied.

“Isn’t it a bit early to decide that…?”

“Yes, you’re right.

Following Paul-sama’s wishes and pursuing the path of swordsman or knight would also be good.

There have been those who studied abroad at the Magic University

after obtaining the title of knight.

Don’t think you must choose only one path—sword or magic.

There is also the path of the magic swordsman.”

“Yes.”

Interestingly,

unlike Paul—who worries I might dislike swordsmanship—

Roxy seems anxious that I might dislike magic.

Lately my mana pool has grown larger

and I’ve come to understand the rules better,

so I’ve been attending lessons half-heartedly.

The magic lessons were forced on me when I was only three.

After two years, I’ve grown somewhat tired of them.

She may have sensed that.

Paul sees my talent in magic,

Roxy sees my enthusiasm for swordsmanship,

and each is suggesting—albeit for different reasons—

that a middle path is possible.

“But it’s still quite far in the future, right?”

“For you, yes.”

Roxy gave a somewhat lonely smile.

“However, the things I can teach you are running out.

Graduation is approaching,

so it’s fine to talk about such things now.”

…………What?

Graduation?