chapter_0019

Chapter 18 : Genius

After the festival ended, three years had already passed.

A lot had happened during the past three years, but if I were to highlight anything significant, there would only be two things worth mentioning.

First of all, the fact that Ruina and I officially held a wedding ceremony.

After receiving Ruina’s confession at the festival that day, I had a formal wedding with Ruina to become true parents, not just a formal couple.

However, the only difference from a regular wedding was that it was a simple ceremony with only a few guests.

If we had followed the usual procedures to hold a typical wedding, many people would have flocked to try and reserve a wedding hall, so both Ruina and I agreed to keep it simple.

So, we set up a simple venue in front of our cabin and held the wedding. Only Zenre, Elia, Ruina’s parents, and, at Zenre’s strong request, Enoch attended our wedding.

Thus, the wedding was held with only a small number of participants.

Through that wedding, Ruina and I became a true married couple, and after the ceremony, we immediately announced it to the Kingdom of Shardena through Enoch.

We revealed that Elia’s parents were Ruina and me.

Naturally, the news that we had a child spread like wildfire throughout the kingdom and city, but now, three years later, this is not a big deal anymore.

Aside from the wedding, another important event was that after the ceremony, Ruina decided to live with us in our home.

“An elf who has had a wedding ceremony can step down from their position. She’s one of the few elves who can pass on the lineage,”

Ruina explained, mentioning she had stepped down from her previous position. She immediately came to live with us from that day.

Of course, Elia was happy with the situation, and Zenre gave a thumbs-up, saying it was a good thing.

However, I couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy about Ruina’s words and had to ask her.

“Ruina, um… is it really necessary to continue the lineage right away?”

“Ah…! Uh, yeah! Well, since our elves live forever… there’s no rush to do that…”

I was concerned if I needed to create a sibling for Elia immediately, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

After hearing her response, I felt relieved and could genuinely be happy.

After all, I had experienced the hardships of parenting myself, so wouldn’t I be a little afraid of it?

Of course, I’d be happy if a new child came, but I didn’t want to rush into it just yet.

Anyway, now that Ruina had moved into our home, it had already been three years.

After going through three seasons, I had finally welcomed spring again and had recently taken on a new task.

That task was a gift for Elia, who had quickly gained strength and muscles over the past three years.

To be more specific, it was the swordsmanship lessons that Elia had longed for.

“Listen carefully, Elia. Before learning swordsmanship, I’ll first teach you about the mindset you need to have.”

“Okay, Dad!”

Over the past three years, Elia’s physical growth had been much faster than I had expected.

Without giving her any herbs or potions, she simply trained every day, and Elia’s muscles grew at a rapid pace, recovering from overworked muscles in just one night.

Her growth and recovery speed were so impressive that it seemed like she had grown two or three times faster than an average person.

Though I wasn’t sure about her growth rate, the speed at which her muscles and injuries recovered was almost on par with mine.

I didn’t know who Elia’s real parents were, but just like Zenre said, she had a body born with talent.

Thanks to that, Elia grew enough in three years to at least learn a little about my swordsmanship, and today I was about to teach her how to use a sword for the first time.

“So, what should I start by telling you…?”

However, before teaching swordsmanship, I began explaining the mindset Elia needed to have.

I wanted Elia to learn swordsmanship and not go down the wrong path.

But just because I didn’t want her to go down the wrong path didn’t mean I would teach her a soft mindset based on modern ethics.

For example, I wasn’t going to say that swordsmanship should only be used as a last resort or that you shouldn’t hurt anyone with a sword, as those would be trivial thoughts.

This world, the continent of Marika, was one where human life was valued no more than a piece of paper, and it was common for people to disappear without a trace.

It had already been 58 years since I arrived on the continent of Marika.

Since I already knew very well what kind of place the continent was, I started explaining to Elia the mindset she would need to live here.

“First of all, swordsmanship will be a way for you to defend yourself, Elia. Because of that, you have to put a lot of effort into swordsmanship. That way, you won’t be afraid of using it when you face real people.”

“I’m confident in my efforts!”

Using swordsmanship against people was a necessary skill for living in the continent of Marika, especially for Elia, who would soon be facing street thugs who wouldn’t hesitate to challenge her until they saw her real strength.

The only way to defeat these people was by showing them your strength, and in order to use swordsmanship in real life, you had to invest a lot of effort.

It goes without saying that wielding a sword against a living person wasn’t something you could do with a weak heart.

And the mindset I wanted to teach Elia was to stay true to herself during the effort to learn.

“But even if you learn to use a sword against people, you should never kill anyone carelessly. Otherwise, you’ll be no different from the criminals wandering the streets.”

As I mentioned earlier, human life in the continent of Marika was treated as worth less than a piece of paper.

But even in such a continent, murder was a crime, and it was a sin that ate away at the soul.

So, if you have to kill someone, it should only be when you have no choice but to kill them, or you’ll be the one dying.

That’s the only situation when it’s justified to take someone’s life.

“Hmm… maybe I said too much?”

I added that, but upon thinking about it, I realized it might have been too early to tell an 8-year-old like Elia these things.

Of course, nobles who were learning swordsmanship or magic received this kind of education from the age of five, but maybe it was a little too early for Elia to hear all of this.

However, when I saw Elia nodding her head in understanding, I couldn’t help but let out a tired laugh.

“It’s a bit difficult for you to understand right now, right? But when you get older, you’ll be able to understand what I’m saying.”

“No! I understand!”

“Really? As expected, my daughter is a genius. It wasn’t too scary of a story, was it?”

“Yeah! It wasn’t that scary.”

Elia answered with a bright smile when I asked if it wasn’t too scary.

From her expression, it was clear that she wasn’t frightened by my words at all.

Since she often went to the village and saw criminals being carried away, bleeding profusely, or watched gladiator battles filled with bloodshed with Zenre, it seemed she had developed a tolerance for such brutality.

‘Hmm… I really need to guide her properly so she doesn’t go astray.’

Seeing Elia like this, I swallowed dryly, determined to ensure she would not misuse her swordsmanship.

Being accustomed to seeing human blood is one thing, but the moment she starts enjoying it, she’ll be on a path that’s hard to turn back from.

“Well then, shall we start learning swordsmanship?”

“Okay!”

Now, I had finished discussing the mindset I wanted to instill in her beforehand.

So, I gently patted Elia’s head, gripped my wooden sword, and stood before her.

“Alright, let’s start by getting into position, Elia.”

“Okay!”

Elia immediately picked up the real wooden sword she had just received for training, rather than a model sword, and took her stance.

She perfectly demonstrated the basic stance of my swordsmanship, which Zenre had drilled into her over the past three years.

Since she had maintained the posture so often that it became second nature, Elia’s stance was flawless.

Standing in front of her, I also took the basic stance with my wooden sword in hand.

“Alright, watch closely, Elia. I’ll teach you the fundamental sword techniques you’ll be learning from now on.”

“I-I already know how to do that!”

“Huh? You already know how?”

But just as I was about to demonstrate the first fundamental sword technique,

I couldn’t help but look at her in disbelief when she suddenly waved her wooden sword and declared that she already knew how to do it.

What does she mean she knows how? Neither I nor Zenre had ever taught her the basic sword techniques.

As I looked at Elia with that doubt in mind, she smiled innocently and gripped her sword tightly.

“I watched you practice every day! So I can do it!”

Every day, I had been training.

Saying she had watched my basic sword techniques during those sessions, Elia quickly lifted her wooden sword above her head before I could stop her.

“Look!”

“Ah, wait a moment, Elia—”

And the moment Elia swung her wooden sword, I instinctively reached out to stop her, worried she might hurt herself.

Swish—!

But in the next instant, seeing the way her sword came down, I could only lower my hand.

Frozen in place, I could only speak slowly, filled with shock and admiration.

“Whoa.”

If you ask why—

It was because the scene unfolding before my eyes was simply unbelievable.

“You can really copy it perfectly?”

Swish—! Swish—!

Even though she hadn’t yet developed the full strength of an adult, Elia swung her wooden sword precisely along the correct trajectory, producing a slicing sound.

The fundamental sword technique I was about to teach her was already being flawlessly executed by Elia, who hadn’t even formally learned it yet.

Since Zenre had already corrected her stance, she was able to naturally replicate my movements exactly.

Even back then, it had taken Zenre and other highly talented disciples a full year to master this basic sword technique.

“But she did it in just one day…?”

Even though she had watched my training every day, Elia had perfectly replicated the technique in a single day.

Of course, if my disciples had observed my swordsmanship for years, they could have reproduced it with a high degree of accuracy.

After all, they were extraordinarily talented individuals.

Among the talented, my disciples were the best of the best.

But as I mentioned before, even my most gifted disciples, except for one, could only achieve a high level of imitation at best.

No matter how familiar they were with my swordsmanship, there were limits to what could be learned just by watching.

After all, simply observing wasn’t enough to perfectly execute something.

They say even a dog at a Confucian academy learns to recite proverbs after three years, but that doesn’t mean it can fully emulate the teacher.

However, as if to completely defy that notion, Elia effortlessly replicated my fundamental sword technique.

Watching her, I came to a realization—

“Our daughter… is a monster?”

Her incredibly fast internal physical development, her unparalleled healing speed, and her innate ability to perfectly mimic the movements of others.

Today, I finally understood—

Elia possessed a monstrous talent far beyond my imagination.