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64. Engagement – Swordsmanship

As the intro video of the treacherous mountains came to an end, Minseo became Leo Dexter in the snow-laden Abrival Castle.

Leo stood in the backyard where the two families were joined, feeling the cold wind brush against his cheek.

[ Achievement: ‘11’th Leo – The speed at which the player merges with Leo slightly increases. ]

Next to him, Lena Ainar turned around, her frizzy straw-like hair dancing in the wind, just like before.

“Leo! Are you listening to me?”

A nostalgic voice.

Her steady gaze, her prominent nose, her cheeks reddened by the cold, and the way she rested her sword on her shoulder—they were all just the same.

For some reason, my nose tingled, but I suppressed the urge to sniffle with a quick “Hrk!”

“Yeah, I’m listening. You want to go hunting together next time, right? That sounds good to me. But I don’t know if it’ll work out since I’m not an Ainar Tribe member.”

Lost in nostalgia, Leo replied indifferently, recalling the stories he had heard before.

Lena chimed in, “That’s fine. I can just whine to Dad,” “The chief said so during the last festival…,” “When is the merchant coming? There’s something I want to buy.” She kept bringing up stories he had heard before.

His feelings were conflicted.

Lena genuinely knew nothing about what had happened until now.

Even though he knew it through Minseo’s memories rather than direct experience, what was Lena thinking as she went out to battle all alone like this?

Lena, who usually was clumsy, showcasing brilliance in moments of crisis. How much heartache did she endure after losing her arm?

When she confessed her desire to become a knight and marry, how devastated was she when my neck was severed?

And how many more tragedies must repeat themselves?

Leo Dexter, who had an exceptionally strong sense of self-love, only wished to live happily with Lena, regardless of clearing or not. Yet, Minseo was anxiously urging him on. Having done nothing in the past scenario, he was restless, overwhelmed by the number ‘11/20’ engraved in his mind.

With a shaky gaze, Leo shared trivial conversations with Lena, before suddenly closing his eyes tightly as if steeling himself.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Skipping out on me? Where are you going?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Tch, you’ll spill it all later anyway. Fine, come back soon.”

Although he found Lena’s presence heartwarming to the extent that he could stare at her forever, he had urgent matters to attend to.

This time, he absolutely needed to avoid the {war} event. If he got dragged into the war, he would meet the Swordmaster—and that meant certain death.

His swordsmanship had improved, but he had no confidence in blocking Count Hermann Forte’s sword that swung without warning.

It wasn’t about the Swordmaster’s signature Aura Blade technique.

It was simply… un-blockable.

After acquiring {Swordsmanship.3v: Bart Style} as a reward from the previous scenario, he learned something.

Swordmasters at a certain level establish their unique swordsmanship style, which varies greatly.

While it’s challenging to define each unique form of swordsmanship, they could generally be divided into two categories.

One had blatant weaknesses but equally significant strengths, while the other focused on basics with negligible weaknesses while accumulating minor benefits.

Katrina’s swordsmanship belonged to the former.

It was filled with tricks and required abnormal movements. Specializing in short battles, it had weak stamina.

The reason Leo and Lena had been able to face Katrina previously was that she was exhausted after combating two groups, and she had also sustained injuries.

Noel Dexter’s swordsmanship, Leo’s father, also embraced the idea of taking advantage of weaknesses while capitalizing on strengths.

However, it had completely opposite aims compared to Katrina’s swordsmanship.

It was a swordsmanship that concealed a hidden depth, preparing for any scenario with a stable approach. Depending on how the hidden depth was utilized, his swordsmanship overall had low explosiveness.

Noel Dexter preferred a somewhat passive method, gradually applying pressure and waiting for his opponent to make an imprudent move, taking minor benefits from that.

On the other hand, Count Hermann Forte’s swordsmanship was grounded in concealing preliminary motions, sticking faithfully to basics unlike the two previous figures.

Swordmasters usually predict and prepare for an opponent’s movements before a sword is swung, but Count Forte focused on blocking that prediction.

His sword had to be responded to with visual stimulus, so gains occurred steadily with each precise moment.

This had no weaknesses, only advantages. While it wasn’t an extraordinary benefit to conceal preliminary motions as anyone with a sword would do so, it was still a matter of proficiency.

If the skilled swordsman’s level varied, Leo had been unable to discern his movements, much like the time he had lost his life.

In a sense, it was practical swordsmanship that was infinitely strong against the weak and could consistently accumulate benefits even among similarly skilled opponents.

And now, Leo sought to utilize Bart’s swordsmanship…

“What are you here for?”

Leo arrived at the blacksmith’s.

“I didn’t come to buy anything, but I need to ask for a favor…”

He spent a good while persuading the blacksmith with a splendid beard.

After emptying all his {starting funds}, Leo returned home. Upon arriving, he found Lena and Noel Dexter lightly sparring in the open lot.

“You’re back.”

After mercilessly kicking Lena as he finished their spar, his father stood before his son as usual. Leo felt a strange sensation from his sword as they faced each other.

During the brief exploratory exchange, while Noel subtly adjusted his sword, he noticed that Leo’s momentum had changed.

“…Oh.”

His son’s bad habit had vanished.

As a right-handed individual, Leo had a habit of leaning slightly to the right, a common trait among swordsmen.

It was a bad habit he had struggled to shake off despite repeated admonitions. But now it was perfectly balanced.

How he had managed to adopt such a exemplary stance in just a day was uncertain, but Noel took pride in his son and launched an offensive.

– Clang!

Easily deflecting his father’s horizontal slash, Leo lowered his upper body and spun around.

A knee strike followed by an upward thrust.

Noel, seemingly having anticipated it, stepped back to evade the slash and struck the thrusting sword upwards.

As he lifted his foot with the intention of pushing his son’s abdomen back, Leo leaped off the ground.

‘Crap.’

A pose lifted alongside the raised sword. Seeing his son’s sword descending with his body, Noel was slightly flustered.

He had underestimated him.

Typically, Leo would have struggled to find his balance from his foot getting pushed back, but he handled the previous maneuver perfectly.

Feeling helpless against having only his back strength to handle his son’s weight, Noel couldn’t help but feel cornered.

– Kaang!

He responded with the same vertical slash as he stomped down with his lifted left foot. Both swords emitted a loud shock, generating a clash.

He was at a disadvantage.

Leo, with the upper hand, accelerated his attack.

Meanwhile, the father, forced to bear all of his son’s weight merely with his back, had no choice but to step back to absorb the force.

It was the first time he had taken a loss against his son.

Noel Dexter laughed brightly. Unable to contain the rising joy, he burst into hearty laughter.

“Hahahahahaha! My son! You’ve realized something!”

He brought his sword into contact with his son’s thrusting blade, twisting it mid-air, redirecting its path, and ruthlessly collided his shoulder into Leo’s chest.

Noel Dexter halted the rush from Leo with a single step and jabbed his elbow into his ribs.

“Ugh!”

Then, with a flick of the sword hilt, he aimed for Leo’s chin.

Leo, panicking, rolled his body backward. Fortunately, his father chose not to pursue him.

The spar wasn’t over yet.

With thoughts of further utilizing Bart’s swordsmanship, Leo attempted to grip his sword with one hand but quickly realized it was unfeasible and repositioned himself accordingly.

Bart’s swordsmanship was surprisingly focused on basic principles emphasizing left-right balance.

As the two clashed their swords, naturally, options between left and right would arise. Except for perfect vertical slices or perfect horizontal thrusts.

Those choices became evident from the moment the grip was established on the sword.

Whether the right or left hand was placed above dictated which direction would have more force.

The reason Bart focused on the ‘left-right’ aspect of swordsmanship stemmed from his left-handedness. Since the beginning of his sword training, he had the habit of placing his left hand above, subtly gaining an advantage in duels against right-handers. After all, left-handedness evolved to have an edge in battles against right-handers, so it was a natural outcome.

Yet the young Bart felt frustrated as this naturally diminishing advantage became more apparent as he faced off against increasingly skilled opponents.

From then on, he began practicing switching the position of his left and right hands on the grip, concentrating on the left-right trajectories of the sword.

Eventually, he came to believe that proper stances from the get-go were vital for achieving perfect left diagonal slashes or right diagonal slashes, and that achieving perfect balance throughout his muscles was equally important.

Hence, Bart’s swordsmanship was completed. Although it took an exceedingly long time for him to finally wield his sword with just one hand while discovering balance at the extremes…

With the ability {Swordsmanship.3v: Bart Style}, Leo began gripping his sword with the left hand up, a departure from his usual approach.

Noel Dexter, noticing the grip change, furrowed his brows and remarked.

“Oh dear—this kid’s really putting himself through the wringer.”

Practicing grip alteration akin to Bart’s was something anyone who had ever held a sword would try at least once.

Yet, Noel thought such practice was pointless. In fact, he had never seen a knight gain any advantage from such practice.

‘What a waste of time,’ he grumbled, as Leo executed a right diagonal slash.

– Clang!

And he lost.

Noel Dexter laid everything on the line to ensure his son wouldn’t waste time with pointless actions.

While the outcome of the spar held no significance, he thought if he could crush any unnecessary behaviors from the son now, he might quickly change his mindset.

Leo also realized his own mistake.

The body of Leo Dexter was not built to smoothly use Bart’s style of swordsmanship. The right side was far more comfortable, while the left side felt off.

Moreover, {Swordsmanship.3v: Bart Style} was well below the level he had previously displayed by the riverside.

‘Damn it. I had high hopes for Bart’s ‘style’… While the ability might be lacking, I need to shape up if I want to use this!’

Leo, for different reasons than his father, grumbled inwardly.

“Wow! Amazing!”

Nearby, Lena, watching the sparring, chirped excitedly. She clapped her hands in pure admiration.

The next day, Derry, Lena’s father, returned from hunting. Noel Dexter celebrated his son’s growth in swordsmanship while having drinks with Derry.

Leo abstained from alcohol. Just like every other time, Lena snuck him some beer and urged him, but this time he declined under the pretense of being tired.

Lena pouted in frustration when her mother scolded her for making too much noise.

After that, Leo avoided the open lot.

No matter how many days he practiced swordsmanship, his skills did not improve. As he had confirmed during the last beggar siblings scenario, Leo’s growth was stunted. Taking in nothing more than what was handed out as scenario rewards remained his limit.

To internalize the swordsmanship skills he had just received, he needed both practice and to build a balanced body, but Leo had even more urgent matters to address.

He kept going in and out of the blacksmith’s, and his father didn’t hound him, respecting the son who had broken through to a new level.

Meanwhile, Lena pushed herself hard in her sword training alone.

Leo had surged ahead. Just when Lena thought she had finally nearly caught up recently, he leapt ahead again due to whatever realizations he had.

Though she didn’t show it, Lena grew increasingly impatient with the thought that she had fallen far behind, often training late into the night before collapsing from exhaustion.

*

The day of fate arrived.

Leo, alongside Lena, joined Derry’s hunting party. With his {Hunting} ability, he quickly earned favor from Derry and the hunting team, forming a tracking party with just Lena.

And just like before, they set out early in the morning to check the traps…

“Huh? I think I found something down below!”

Lena discovered the footprints of the Old Phantom Fox.