episode_0411

Ethan and I somehow reached a compromise on compensation, where instead of Ethan taking a bet from Harold during our duel, I would take a bet from Ethan during our duel.

Of course, this alone wouldn’t solve the problem of Ethan and I’s sex compensation. After all, Ethan would only reward me after I had won a heart-to-heart duel with him.

‘… It probably won’t be easy.’

As the person who knew Ethan’s swordsmanship skills the best, I couldn’t help but think that way.

Unlike his duel with Harold, where he had previously won a match using luck and trickery, he had never won a single match in his swordsmanship duels with Ethan.

Of course, there was a possibility that Ethan might have tried to take it easy on me, but I also had my pride, so I was going to cleanly give up any victory I got that way.

‘I made the suggestion because I wanted to, but I hope Ethan will do his best and make sure to do it properly.’

The reward was good, but the timing wasn’t bad either. I also felt like I wanted to catch up with Ethan in swordsmanship to some extent starting this semester.

As the number of free weeks increased and I exchanged swords with Ethan, I could not help but clearly recognize the difference between me and him, and that was why I wanted to become stronger. Even though my nature was that of a magician, I had to be able to use both swordsmanship and magic when needed.

‘Even when I go on to live as an adventurer later on, it would be better to learn swordsmanship better for self-defense.’

A day has passed since I made my own decision and proposed swordsmanship to Ethan.

About an hour after Ethan and I entered the training grounds after finishing the work that had to be done in the morning, I sat down on the training grounds floor, completely exhausted from the strength in my hand that had been holding my sword, and was catching my breath.

“Haa, haa, haaa… .”

“… Release, do you want to take a break? You’ve been swinging it for almost an hour without stopping.”

“Whew, whoa, uh, well, then I’ll just catch my breath for about 30 seconds, Master Ethan.”

“… It looks like you should rest more. You said you would rest for 30 seconds earlier, but you got up again and almost got hurt badly.”

“… Phew, then I’ll just take a minute break.”

“… … .”

Ethan’s eyes told him that even a minute seemed short, but he had no intention of extending the break time any further.

It was almost lunch time, and with the after-lunch preparations and afternoon work preparations in mind, there weren’t many opportunities left to spar this morning.

Of course, I know that today isn’t the only day, but I can’t help but feel anxious. I think that the fact that I’m this tired means that Ethan is also tired to some extent.

-Slurp.

“… I’ll do it again, Master Ethan.”

“Okay, release. Don’t risk it, hold on tight to your sword.”

My body was still telling me that it wanted more rest, but my mind wouldn’t allow me to rest any longer, so I barely managed to fill one minute and got up from my seat.

-Kyaaang!

“Keuheup… !!”

And the last duel of the day ended in the most futile way of all the duels so far, with me dropping the sword I was holding in my hand.

“… release.”

“… … .”

… Yeah, in a way it’s natural for this to happen.

No matter how much Ethan and I usually rely on each other and look out for each other, that’s just the relationship between Ethan the swordsman and me the magician. If we were swordsmen fighting each other, it was obvious that this would happen.

The only magic I use is the physical acceleration using ventilation and the sharp blade. Other than that, I face Ethan’s sword with only my physical abilities without using any magic at all.

In terms of basic swordsmanship, it was normal for Ethan to overwhelm me, and more than anything, I had never won a single fight in our swordsmanship duels up until now, so it was realistically impossible for me to beat Ethan now that I had gotten a little bit of compensation.

“… Let’s stop the morning sparring here, Lilith. Even if we swing our swords more, the results will probably be similar. ”

“… Then, if you could just spar one more time… .”

“You know that’s the third time I’ve said that, right? It’s not that I don’t believe Lilith, but I know better than Lilith that it’s not good to overdo it when it comes to swordsmanship training. ”

“… … .”

“And there’s still work to be done in the afternoon, so if you get tired here, your afternoon schedule will also be delayed. If possible, wouldn’t it be much better to let your body rest a bit after eating and then spar with me?”

“… Okay. Then, as Master Ethan said, I will end the morning training here.”

As the sparring went on, Ethan, seeing my movements becoming increasingly unlikely, finally made up his mind and ended the morning sparring.

It was the morning of the first day when I felt grateful for his consideration, but also a little annoyed.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

A week had passed in the blink of an eye since the day Ethan and I began to exchange swords over compensation.

Nothing miraculous like I grew enough to win a game against Ethan in just a week happened.

It was impossible for me to match the level of Ethan, who had devoted about a third of his life to swordsmanship, just by swinging my sword a few days. To do something like that, I would need to have the main character buff, all kinds of elixirs, and a reclusive master teacher.

-Kang, kang, kkaang!

“Release, the strength is draining from your left sword again! Hold it properly, it’ll hurt!”

“Up, aaah… !!”

… Still, Ethan was quite serious about teaching me swordsmanship, perhaps because he was Harold’s son.

Since I’ve been watching Ethan’s swordsmanship for a long time, it means that Ethan has been watching me for a long time, so when we share swords, he can easily teach me my bad habits and shortcomings.

Of course, giving advice to an opponent in a real match meant that I had a lot of free time, which also meant that I still had a long way to go before I could catch up to Ethan.

In reality, I was the one who kept falling for the loopholes that Ethan ‘deliberately’ created, and my body ended up bending during the sparring.

-Whew!

“… … Huh?”

“… Up to there, release.”

-widely!

After seeing him show the same opening over and over again, I thought this was definitely a weak point and swung my sword, but Ethan calmly turned his body to dodge as if he had expected me to move like this.

Since it was an attack made by throwing my body, my center of gravity was off, and I fell forward with just Ethan’s light tap with the handle of his sword.

-Thud!

“… Phew, phew.”

“… … .”

Ethan looked at me with a strangely guilty expression as he saw me lying on the training ground and covered in dirt all day long.

For the first two days after we started training, Ethan would apologize and express his concern every time I fell or got hurt, but after I got angry once and told him not to do it, he just looked at me like that without saying anything.

It’s a conversation we’ve had before, but if you think about your opponent every single time during a swordsmanship match, you won’t be able to display your skills properly.

Contrary to his concern about whether the distinction between public and private was thorough, his swordsmanship itself was still flawless. In a way, it felt even harder to hit the mark than when he had faced Harold.

‘… It’s a swordsmanship that seems to know exactly how I’m going to move in advance.’

It wasn’t just a matter of being able to use magic or not. In the first place, tricks using magic barely worked against Harold.

More fundamentally, the reason why Ethan’s sword is so hard to pierce is probably because… Ethan has seen me handle the sword too many times.

Harold may have the upper hand in absolute swordsmanship, but when it came to dealing with ‘me’, Ethan was more of an expert than Harold.

-Thump, thump.

“I’ll do it again, Ethan.”

“… Yeah, release. I’m ready whenever. ”

Ethan looks at me with a relaxed expression as if he thinks I can easily win no matter when I attack.

Now, it didn’t really matter whether there was any compensation or not. I just wanted to make her feel embarrassed by that expression, which was getting closer.

… No, of course I’m not saying that I don’t want to receive compensation or anything like that.

-Kang, kang, kkaang!

“Yes. Do that, Release! Hold your left hand tight! Always remember to block your right sword with your left hand!”

“You don’t have to tell me this many times…! I know that too…!”

Ethan, who still seemed relaxed, swung his sword while giving me sincere advice, and I threw myself and fell several times to pierce Ethan’s sword.

In the end, the duel between me and Ethan finally ended after five more defeats.