## Chapter 31 – The Swordsman Guild
The day after registering with the guild.
Lectures began in earnest from the morning.
Unlike my sluggish body and exhausted mind, I had great expectations. This might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, Kim Kat, to be reborn as a true powerhouse.
Of course, just because someone learns swordsmanship worth a measly 5 silver, it doesn’t mean some kind of miraculous buff will suddenly activate and I’ll be promoted to Sword Master, but it was clear that I would at least gain the skills to make some noise in the lower-tier adventurer society. In the first place, most adventurers are guys with no potential for growth. They’re not very interested in self-improvement either.
In that situation, if I invest money to learn something…
I would definitely be superior.
I couldn’t help but get excited imagining myself lording it over adventurers of a lower rank than me. If I really got stronger, even Winia wouldn’t dare to mess with me so easily.
That’s what power is. In this world where power is everything, you need power to live like a human being.
“There are basically two types of swordsmanship.”
Karin, sitting on top of an orc barrel and cleaning her sword with a white cloth, started off. The razor-sharp sword was very luxurious, and seeing the blade had a purple tint, I guessed it was probably made of a rare metal that I had only heard about.
This world’s minerals were also quite different from modern Earth, with minerals like mithril, adamantite, and orichalcum existing. I didn’t know much, but I heard that swords made of such things were unbelievably deadly weapons that could slice people like tofu.
“Two types, you say?”
Anyway, I took my eyes off her chest and focused on the lecture. It was distracting, but I didn’t invest money just to look at some boobs, so I suppressed my lewd thoughts.
“Yes. Two types.”
Two types… I swallowed hard at that syllable.
If this crazy bitch suddenly went nuts and started spouting some bullshit about swords that save people or swords for protecting, I was confident I would foam at the mouth and pass out on the spot.
Please, no… Any middle schooler can spew that kind of scammer nonsense.
I didn’t pay 5 silver to listen to that kind of bullshit.
I’m here to learn killing techniques to protect myself.
“Those who make a living off swordsmanship, no more and no less, just need to keep this in mind.”
“Oh, is that so?”
What on earth could it be?
The way she said it with such gravity, it felt like she was about to preach the truth of cutting flesh and breaking bones – that all that matters is winning no matter what you do – but personally, I thought it was probably a time-honored cheat code like “strike first” or “backstab.”
No matter what situation you’re in, the guy who draws his sword and swings it first gets half the advantage. This was an absolute truth that permeated the world and was no different from my personal belief. If the skills are similar, the guy who strikes first is the one who has the advantage.
“Okay, I’ll explain. There are only two types of swordsmanship. One is swordsmanship for killing people, and the other is swordsmanship for killing monsters. And swordsmanship is a technique to protect myself while killing my enemies. Keep that in mind.”
“…”
I breathed a sigh of relief at that proper statement.
It was quite sensible and logical.
“I was worried that some kind of lame martial arts philosophy would come out, but it’s more practical than I thought. I was so anxious.”
“What do you think of our guild?”
Whether you’re dealing with people or monsters. At first glance, they both seem similar in that they’re just slashing, but the philosophy and principles themselves are completely different. There was a huge difference between killing people and killing monsters.
To explain it concretely, it’s like the difference in appearance between a cockatrice and a bandit.
Actually, they look similar and are hard to tell apart, but anyway, creatures fight the way they’re made, so people with arms and hands tend to use weapons, and cockatrices with beaks tend to fight with their beaks. It was clear that the methods of dealing with them would be different.
“Swordsmanship is a martial art studied to kill the opponent efficiently. If I can’t kill them, I die. But even if I kill the enemy, it’s meaningless if I’m injured. So, how can I kill the opponent with this sword without getting hurt? That’s where swordsmanship begins.”
Ooh… not bad.
“No matter what you do… if you kill the opponent without getting hurt, that’s swordsmanship?”
“That’s right, exactly. You’re good. You understand quickly, which is good.”
It’s like space CQC.
Listening to it, I couldn’t help but nod.
Indeed, even if I killed the enemy, if I got hurt and died from bleeding… it would be completely meaningless. Reality is not a game. No matter how many kills I get, it’s all over if I die. So I had to survive.
“These days, kids are only interested in appearances and overlook that truth. Cool swordsmanship or flashy swordsmanship… it’s really pathetic. That’s all useless. Cutting off the opponent’s head cleanly is cooler than those impractical movements.”
Seeing her subtly say such psycho-like things, I began to trust Karin more and more.
Generally, people who are obsessed with the way of the sword tend to be a little off. How could someone who specializes in swords, which are only used to kill things, be a proper person? It’s more normal for them to be a little screwed up. There are a lot of those kinds of human figures in classic manga like Rurouni Kenshin.
“Anyway, which one do you want to learn? The training period is one month. Of course, you only get one choice.”
“Huh? I only learn one?”
“How can I teach you both in one month?”
Karin added that even a swordsmanship instructor from the Royal Knights would find that impossible.
“Well, basically, if you learn one, the other one kind of follows, but there’s a difference in expertise. So, what’s your choice?”
“Um, then…”
Then what should I learn?
It felt like I only had 1 skill point, but there were two options. Swordsmanship for people and swordsmanship for monsters. I’m an adventurer, so I make a living mainly by hunting monsters. So learning swordsmanship to deal with monsters would be…
“This armor I’m wearing.”
I stroked my iron breastplate that I had recently acquired.
It was taken from a bandit. It was such an expensive item that I would have had a hard time even seeing it if I had only hunted monsters diligently. I still hadn’t forgotten the thrill of that time.
“I killed a bandit and took this.”
“Oh? Really? That’s pretty good.”
“Isn’t it a time when people are scarier than monsters? Whatever the monster, you can somehow deal with it, but if you meet a person with malice, it’s really dangerous. So I’ll learn how to cut people.”
After all, I was the type of person who preferred PVP over PVE when playing games. Even if you maxed out your gear and did a boss raid time attack, it would be meaningless if you had bad controls. The important thing was control. That was true skill.
Well, besides that, the really scary thing was people, not monsters. It’s an era where murderous robbers are rampant. Since you can just kill monsters anyway, it would be better to learn swordsmanship for people for self-defense.
“Good, you thought it through. Then I’ll teach you swordsmanship for people.”
Karin, who had come down from the orc barrel, picked up something like a training iron sword that was placed on a stand behind her. It was a strangely shaped sword with a blunt tip and no blade.
“Okay, let’s have a sparring match.”
“Is it like a skill test?”
“Yeah. That’s it. Draw your sword.”
Karin took her purple sword off her waist and dropped it on the ground. But she told me to draw my sword?
“Huh? Spar with a real sword?”
“You asked me to teach you how to cut people, right? Then it’s more efficient to do it with a real sword. Don’t worry. That’s my specialty. You can attack with all your might.”
She must be confident in her real skills to say such nonsense about facing a real sword with a practice sword. I felt a sense of trust and drew my sword.
“With the intent to kill me.”
“Really?”
“Good spirit. By the way, I’ll refund the entire tuition fee if you injure me. By the way, no one has ever injured me since the guild was founded.”
“Is that so?”
Then start. With those words, I rushed in. Surprise is the best tactic, and striking first is the shortcut to victory. My full-force vertical slash exploded. It was a merciless strike using the natural physique and strength difference due to gender.
ㅡSwoosh!
ㅡThwack!
“What!”
But my sword was blocked very easily, and the blunt tip was stopped in front of my Adam’s apple. Oh shit… if this were a real battle, my neck would have been turned into a scabbard.
“Do you understand a little?”
“A, amazing… a counterattack.”
“Let’s do it a few more times.”
After that, I swung at the air about ten more times. I tried to move as efficiently as possible, eliminating unnecessary movements with the first counterattack in mind, but I was repeatedly countered or even stabbed in the neck before I could even swing my sword, so I couldn’t handle it at all. Every match ended in the time it took me to swing my sword once.
Wow, shit, this is ridiculous. Karin was a real expert. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t land a single hit. Every attack was rendered useless in less than a second, and at the same time, a counterattack that would have taken my life in a real battle flew in.
Honestly, if someone who looked exactly like me attacked me with the same attack as I just did, I would have to leave the match entirely to luck because there would be no real answer.
But she completely dominated me despite the absolute difference in height and the penalty of using a practice sword… As expected. She’s strong. In this world, there are knights who enhance their bodies with mana besides wizards. Is she one of those people? But I didn’t feel like she was fighting me using such an enhanced body.
She purely suppressed me with swordsmanship.
For me, who had only done street fights, fighting such a skilled person was very shocking.
“How is it? Do you get a feel for it?”
“I know it’s incredibly amazing, but I don’t really get a feel for it. How do you do it? Can you see everything?”
“Hmm… what do you think? Watch the opponent’s movements and swing your sword. Since the sword has a crossguard, you won’t hurt your hand even if you just lift it up properly. Be bold. Swordsmanship starts from there, where the sword wraps around the sword.”
I listened to her explanation. Watching the opponent’s sword and swinging is easy to say, but it’s difficult without decent dynamic visual acuity and reflexes. Is that training? This is crazy. It looks harder than I thought.
“Your movements are big. And clumsy. That’s natural because you’re a beginner. It’s okay against similar skill levels, but against someone who has learned even a little swordsmanship, your life would be taken in a second like just now.”
“Certainly, I don’t think there has ever been anyone among the people I’ve fought who uses a sword this well.”
“That’s right. If there was, you would have died a long time ago.”
“That’s true.”
She said that and raised the practice sword again.
“The important thing is memorization. Memorize the coping methods and develop reflexes. That’s the most important thing. Watch my movements carefully and follow along.”
Karin thrust her sword up and turned the blade to the side by rotating only her wrists. I awkwardly followed the movement. I didn’t know if it was good, but she grabbed my wrist and directly adjusted the position as if she needed to fix it a little.
“Lift your hand higher. Turn your wrist a little more to the side.”
“Like this?”
“Yes, that’s the feeling for now. Do it again.”
After repeating the movement a few more times, I came up with a decent-looking form.
“Good. That’s enough. Then I’ll do a vertical slash slowly, so just take the same movement as before.”
“A vertical slash?”
“I’ll do it slowly, so don’t be scared. In sword fighting, the moment you flinch is the moment your head falls off. Got it?”
I was a little scared, but as she said, she stood in front of me and slowly performed a vertical slash. I watched the scene and took the movement of thrusting the sword up and turning the blade to the side as before.
ㅡSssst.
Then Karin’s blade rode down my blade and was blocked by my crossguard, and conversely, my blade aimed at Karin’s forehead. It was the same trick I had just been subjected to.
“Huh? Oh, oh…!”
This is…
“Good job. Do you understand a little now? If the opponent is ignorant and does a vertical slash with all their might, you can deal with it like this.”
I was greatly impressed! I had never known this before. Honestly, I didn’t even know why there was a crossguard on the sword, but I never imagined that it existed to defend against the opponent’s blade like this.
“If the opponent is ignorant of the sword, you can end it in one blow. A counterattack is the best for someone who relies on strength.”
Literally perfect.
“This is swordsmanship. How is it? Do you get a feel for it? Are you feeling motivated?”
“I’m feeling it now! 5 silver is not a waste! Can I call you Guild Leader now!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Thus began my days of training.
