Ch.131Growth (1)

I took a step back.

At the same time, a sharp flash slid downward right in front of my eyes.

Anticipating the impact to come, I slightly furrowed my brow, and sure enough, a powerful gust of wind blew in, violently tousling my bangs.

After the gust that had blown for several seconds finally subsided and my fluttering hair settled down calmly, that’s when Silvia’s excited voice came from in front of me.

“Yes, you’re definitely getting better now, Ash.”

“…Phew.”

After a week of training, I could now perfectly dodge the branch Silvia swung at me.

No, if Silvia continued to swing as she had been doing, it was clear I could dodge even if it were a sword.

But I deliberately hid my excitement and spoke modestly.

“I’ve only just learned how to dodge.”

“That’s true.”

Silvia nodded in agreement with my words.

…

Honestly, I was hoping she would praise me a bit more since this was quite an achievement, but it seemed this was truly nothing special to her.

Well, after trying it myself, I realized that as she said, it was possible if I just concentrated properly.

I could never dodge if I tried to follow her arms and weapon with my eyes as they swung with tremendous power and speed, but the trick was to carefully observe her raised arm and, at the moment just before she swung when her body slightly tensed, to throw myself out of the way.

If it had been a straight punch coming at me, judging the distance would have been difficult, but with a widely swung weapon, there was always that moment right before the attack when the wielder applied force, making it possible to dodge.

Of course, this required not being afraid of the opponent and observing them until the very moment of attack, which wasn’t easy for me from a few days ago when I was just trying to flee in fear.

Get up, look straight, dodge.

Ha, it was exactly as she had said.

“When I or other swordsmen dodge or block an opponent’s sword strike, it’s not some incredible level of predicting the future. It’s just detecting changes in the opponent like this. In other words, you could call it the basics.”

“This is… the basics?”

“Yes, now Ash has acquired the fundamental eye.”

“My goodness, if this is just the basics, the world of swordsmen must be…”

“We don’t have much time, but Ash, you’ve learned quite quickly. Getting scared before even trying is your bad habit.”

I nodded at her words.

I felt somewhat proud that I had learned quickly, but at the same time, I was frightened by the fact that after all this struggle, I had barely tasted just the basics.

Silvia approached me with a broad smile and gently fixed my disheveled bangs with her hand.

I asked her:

“If this is the basics, then what about Alice?”

“Of course. Do you think she would have asked to join the hero’s party if she couldn’t even do this much?”

“Then when you two fight, wouldn’t you both just dodge everything? No one would get hit.”

“…”

Silvia looked down at me with half-lidded eyes.

Her gaze was like… that of a tutor sighing at the naive question of an inexperienced child.

“Obviously we would see and dodge straightforward attacks, but you see.”

In an instant,

in the blink of an eye, Silvia’s branch brushed over my shoulder.

The sound of her arm cutting through the air was like a loud bang, similar to dropping a large pillow on the ground.

“Skilled swordsmen can hide their preparatory movements like this.”

“…Even if you say ‘like this,’ I don’t understand at all.”

Silvia giggled and bent her arm that was extended over my shoulder to embrace my head.

“You’re cute, Ash.”

“…”

“Just think of it as hiding your true attacking intent among various movements. Like walking so slowly that you don’t seem about to jump at all, then suddenly dashing forward from five steps away. Does that help you understand?”

“I’m not sure… So you’re saying I couldn’t dodge if Silvia swung with her full strength?”

“You absolutely couldn’t.”

“…”

“And I can also adjust the trajectory mid-swing.”

“How is that possible?”

“By forcibly twisting it with strength.”

“…”

I suddenly realized how arrogant my little pride had been.

Whether Silvia knew what I was thinking or not, she began to share even more terrifying information.

“Besides that, you can create openings by continuously throwing light attacks so the opponent can’t dodge even if they see them, or deceive their timing, or use a big attack as a decoy while stabbing with a dagger in the other hand, or step out of their field of vision and strike from an unseen position… there are many methods. Of course, your opponent will do the same. In the end, swordsmanship between humans is like a complex game of rock-paper-scissors.”

Indeed, I had barely scratched the surface of the basics.

I felt acutely that I didn’t understand her explanation at all.

Silvia dusted off the dirt from my hair, shoulders, back, and arms, then planted a kiss on my forehead.

“Still, now Ash can easily dodge things like the slow clubs swung by large ogres. And just that alone greatly reduces what Alice and I need to worry about.”

“…Well, after getting hit so many times while learning, I should at least be that helpful.”

“Ash… did it hurt a lot?”

“Three days ago… don’t you remember? When the branch dug into my right arm about a finger joint deep.”

“I stopped before it hit the bone.”

“…”

When I glared at her silently, Silvia smiled awkwardly, then brought her face close to mine and whispered in a seductive voice into my ear.

“Besides… at night, you got plenty of revenge…”

“…”

“Every night… even though you were so exhausted…”

“That’s because Silvia restored me with holy power… I’ve never seen anyone use holy power for such purposes before.”

“Hehe.”

“Who would have thought the hero would be such a pervert?”

Silvia gently bit my earlobe with just her lips and said:

“So, do you dislike it?”

“…”

I silently shook my head.

Silvia let out a sultry laugh at my gesture and pulled away.

“Don’t forget what you’ve learned so far. It’s time to move on to the next stage.”

I gently touched my ear where Silvia’s presence lingered and asked her:

“The next stage… a sword?”

“Hehe, no.”

“…Then?”

“I’ll explain slowly. First, would you take off your shoes?”

“…?”

I obediently took off my shoes as Silvia instructed.

They were the old black leather shoes, the only remaining item from the outfit I had been wearing when I first entered the forest.

Stepping barefoot on the dirt ground, I was surprised by how cool and damp it felt, the sensation quickly spreading throughout my body.

It felt like the chilly coldness was transmitted directly through my feet to my entire body.

Perhaps because of the low temperature, the grass blades between my toes felt as sharp as knife edges.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

“It’s still better to take them off.”

“…Why?”

“Because we won’t be able to get new shoes.”

“…?”

When I tilted my head, not understanding what she meant, Silvia waved the branch in her hand as if to say not to worry about it.

Then without saying anything, she swung the branch at me.

“Whoa!”

Despite the sudden attack, I instinctively dodged her strike.

“Hmm, you’ve learned well.”

“Silvia, what are you doing right n—”

Before I could finish speaking, her attack came flying at me again.

I once more launched my body backward to avoid the incoming branch.

But Silvia didn’t stop and continued her attack.

Dodge, attack, dodge again, and another attack comes flying.

As this action continued relentlessly without pause, I soon found myself running to avoid her attacks.

Silvia chased after me and said:

“Yes, you understand now?”

“No! What is this! Aack, what are you doing?”

“Running.”

“Huh?”

While my breathing was becoming increasingly labored, Silvia spoke in a calm tone that showed no difference from her normal speaking voice:

“Until sunset, you’ll run. If you can’t run, I’ll hit you with the same force that almost broke your arm.”

“No, that’s, uwaaah!”

“Don’t talk, run. It disrupts your breathing.”

I began to run frantically around the lake, trying to escape Silvia who was following me with light steps.

Whenever I seemed to slow down, Silvia’s branch would slap against my back.

It looked like she was whipping a running horse.

“Urgh.”

After running for about thirty minutes, fatigue built up in my legs, and my thighs began to burn and throb painfully.

Naturally, my pace slowed down.

“At your limit?”

“Huff, huff… ugh, huu…”

Unable to answer, I just bobbed my heavy head up and down.

Silvia ran beside me, placed her hand on my legs, and instantly infused them with holy power.

“Not anymore, right?”

“…Huh, huff.”

“Run. If you feel like you’re going to die, I’ll save you. Don’t worry.”

Silvia smiled brightly and slapped my buttocks with the branch.

I jumped forward and asked between rough breaths:

“Why… huff, am I… phew, huff…”

“A month is too short to teach you how to attack. My goal for this month is to make sure Ash can survive while traveling with us.”

“Ahuff, phew, huah…”

“Hmm, getting slower again?”

Once more, a sharp pain flashed across my back.

I gritted my teeth and glared at Silvia.

Silvia playfully made a sad face as if her heart was hurting.

I said to her:

“Y-you… huff, just wait until tonight… haah.”

“…Oh my, Ash.”

Silvia grinned.

“Saying that with such rough breathing… it’s too sexy… I’m getting excited.”

The branch struck my back again.

It hurt more than before.

I must have chosen my words poorly.

However, I wasn’t given a chance to correct myself.

My lungs felt like they were about to burst, and I couldn’t say anything more.

That day, I ran around the lakeside until sunset with Silvia by my side.

.