Isaac was deep in thought.
“Did I expect too much?”
He knew it himself.
Comparing Silbern now to Silbern a few years later was rude.
But.
Even so, Isaac could confidently say:
“I can’t even touch her toes.”
He thought he’d at least see a glimpse of what she was back then.
He figured he’d be able to see her growth potential and expectations.
“If it weren’t Silbern, I’d have thought it was a completely different person.”
Just looking at the spear, you’d never think they were the same person.
The gap was that big.
Then it was time to rethink things.
“Why?”
Why is the difference this huge?
The question didn’t linger long.
Because Silbern was suddenly standing in front of him.
“What did you say?”
The emotions in her eyes were clear hostility and a strange sense of betrayal.
Isaac, who had acknowledged Caldias’ Spear Technique, now spoke like that after seeing her spear, which seemed to double her anger.
“……”
“Ah, uh, well, it’s not like that……”
Jonathan beside him tried to make excuses, but it didn’t seem easy.
“Sir Isaac, uh, has a mental condition, so he sometimes talks nonsense—.”
“……”
Jonathan was trying to make excuses, but Silbern wasn’t even pretending to listen, glaring at Isaac.
Isaac pondered.
What should he say?
In the past, he’d usually bow his head and apologize in situations like this.
In arguments with fellow disciples or colleagues, Isaac was always the one to bow his head in the end.
Because he wasn’t a swordsman after all.
Though praised as a silent swordsman, there was inevitably a disconnect from actual combat.
“Don’t you have a mouth?”
Silbern glared.
Even the instructors around them were cautious, the tense silence filled with the sound of a chilling breeze.
Isaac, having made up his mind, answered.
“Your spear is worse than I thought.”
“……!”
“Ah, Sir Isaac!”
Isaac declared boldly, facing Silbern directly.
He gestured to Jonathan to shut up, then asked Silbern, whose eyes had widened.
“It’s been bad from the start. The way you hold the spear. If you grip it there, you can’t put all your strength into it.”
“What?”
Silbern was baffled by the sudden comment.
But Isaac was already acting without hesitation.
He grabbed her hand holding the spear.
“What are you doing!?”
Silbern was startled, her shoulders shrinking, but Isaac didn’t hesitate to speak.
“Look. See the wear on the spear shaft? This is where you grip it when you start sparring.”
“So what! I’ve been holding this stance since I was a kid. This is the stance my father taught me.”
Silbern retorted, telling him not to nitpick over something trivial.
“But you’ve grown older. Your body has developed. Naturally, your grip should widen, and your stance should too.”
“Huh……?”
“It’s good to follow your father’s teachings. You’ve worked hard to ingrain them, so even though your body has grown and it feels awkward, you’ve forced yourself to maintain it. But you need to change.”
Isaac adjusted her grip on the spear and crouched to widen her stance to an appropriate range.
Silbern, now like a doll, followed his instructions.
Isaac began to focus as if he were writing.
“You, come here too.”
“……Me?”
Isaac called over Meladik Drakemore, who had just sparred with Silbern.
Pushed forward by the surrounding gazes, Meladik stepped up.
“Do it again.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
Feeling frustrated by the two looking at him, Isaac sighed and repeated himself.
“Do it like before.”
“Ah, um.”
Meladik, pressured, hesitantly took his stance, but Silbern frowned and argued.
“I remember you were pointing out how you insulted me? Why has this suddenly turned into a sparring review?”
“Do as I say. If you still can’t accept what I said after the review, I’ll formally retract my statement and apologize.”
“……”
“Start. Do it again.”
And so, unintentionally, the sparring review of the three began.
* * *
Lunchtime.
While the dispatched nobles headed to the dining hall after training.
A loud shout erupted from a corner of the training ground.
“Meladik! How many times have I told you! There are times when you need to loosen your grip on the sword!”
“Yes, yes!”
Isaac, holding a stick the size of a cane, was instructing Meladik.
Silbern, standing across from him, was genuinely surprised.
‘How can he do that?’
To be blunt.
Isaac looks weak at first glance.
To put it harshly.
He’s a joke.
Silbern could overpower him in a single exchange if they fought right now.
But listening to Isaac talk, he seems incredibly knowledgeable about combat and martial arts.
‘It’s too much to call him a fraud……’
He’s excessively competent.
“Drake’s swordsmanship relies on lightness and footwork. But your grip is too tight, so your movements are stiff. That’s why you couldn’t dodge Silbern’s third strike and ended up blocking it.”
“Yes!”
Meladik, completely dominated, quickly moved and swung his sword.
‘He’s not just knowledgeable about Caldias’ Spear Technique. He’s also very proficient in Drake’s swordsmanship. How?’
It’s not just superficial knowledge.
It’s as if.
He’s someone who’s studied and agonized over it for a very long time.
Isaac’s words carried traces of deep contemplation on the martial art.
‘It’s fascinating.’
The spear in her hand felt unusually awkward today.
After just a few hours of training together.
It felt like a new horizon was opening.
Silbern was bewildered by the mix of unease and excitement.
“That’s better. Practice like that. If you loosen your grip and broaden your perspective, your understanding of Drake’s swordsmanship will improve.”
“Th-thank you.”
Meladik, panting, bowed and quickly fled to the dining hall.
Isaac smiled contentedly, then noticed Silbern in his line of sight and looked surprised.
“Ah, sorry. I tend to forget my surroundings when I’m focused.”
Isaac awkwardly apologized.
He looked a bit foolish, having ended up teaching Meladik while reviewing Silbern’s spear technique, making her almost laugh.
“Ahem, so how was it?”
He asked for the answer to the question he’d posed earlier.
“Was my statement really taken as just an insult?”
“Hah.”
She couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.
Even though she wanted to hold onto her pride, Silbern was surprised to find herself admitting it, feeling both hollow and sincere.
“Fine, I admit it. I understand why you said that about my spear.”
“……You understand?”
“Isaac, you’re right. I learned a lot in that short moment. Honestly, listening to you…… I felt the depth of your spear technique is different.”
Silbern gave a bitter smile.
“It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Me, who’s trained in Caldias’ Spear Technique my whole life, having a lesser understanding of spear technique than Helmunth’s son-in-law?”
“……”
“But accepting that is a different story.”
She began to honestly share her conflicted feelings.
“If you do as you say, you’ll surely grow. But is that really the Caldias Spear Technique?”
“……”
“Isaac, you said it too, right? That our spear technique is great. I want to carry on that legacy.”
Because it’s great, I take pride in it.
That’s why I don’t want to lose my identity.
“This spear has been with me my whole life. Through your teachings, I feel like I’m seeing something new, but if I accept it, my spear will change too much.”
“……”
“I have a duty to protect this spear that my ancestors built.”
After hearing Silbern’s confession, Isaac finally felt like the puzzle in his head was coming together.
‘So that’s it.’
The difference between the Silbern he remembered and the Silbern now.
It’s the fundamental attitude toward pursuing strength.
‘The Silbern I met had already lost everything.’
The Malidan Wall had fallen, the Caldias family was destroyed, and she was left alone.
Family, comrades, homeland.
She had lost everything, and nothing remained outside her spear.
But now it’s different.
She hasn’t yet lost anything precious, so her desire for strength is somewhat lacking.
“You’re foolish, Silbern Caldias.”
What came out of Isaac’s mouth was a rebuke toward her.
“……What?”
“If it were someone else, it might be fine. If someone else at the Malidan Wall had said that to me, I would have accepted it.”
But.
“You can’t do that.”
“What do you know! The Caldias spear is my pride and my heart! How dare you tell me to change it-!”
*Thud!*
The wooden stick in Isaac’s hand slammed roughly against the floor.
“Your name-.”
Like a scolding teacher.
The burning emotion in his dark eyes seemed like a kind of anger.
“What’s your name?”
“What on earth-!”
“I said, what’s your name!”
At Isaac’s shout, Silbern hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“Silbern… Caldias.”
“Right, Caldias! You want to protect your ancestors’ spear? You can’t let go of your great pride? Do you know what that means now?!”
Isaac’s staff pointed at her.
“It means you’re resigning yourself to obsolescence! You’re saying that the path for the Caldias spear ends here, that you’re putting a period on it yourself!”
In his past life.
Isaac, as a swordsman, had taught countless people.
Among them, the ones Isaac disliked the most were those who set their own limits.
Even Isaac, who couldn’t wield a sword due to his injured leg, never gave up and kept striving to move forward.
Those who defined their own limits and stopped walking.
“Look at your spear! It’s the great legacy your ancestors built layer by layer! And you just want to keep it as it is? Protect it because it’s precious?”
Isaac, gritting his teeth, pleaded with her.
Silbern, please don’t become like them.
In her past life, it was only after enduring a cruel tragedy that her mind, frozen by the northern cold, finally broke and she gained enlightenment.
This time.
‘I’ll make her realize.’
Before tragedy strikes.
“Complacency and stagnation, for a warrior, only exist at the moment of death.”
As if entranced, Silbern locked eyes with Isaac.
His scathing words melted her frozen heart and mind.
‘Ah.’
For a moment, Silbern saw a path within herself.
The name of that path was ‘Caldias.’
And it was the path she had walked.
Rough and rugged.
But it was undoubtedly a path.
Laid out by someone before her.
“I ask again, who are you?”
Now Silbern looks forward.
There, the northern snow lay thick.
Because there was no path.
The place she thought she couldn’t go.
“I am, Silbern…… Caldias.”
In the future.
For the descendants who will pass through this place.
It was the path she would carve herself.
“Moving forward isn’t about abandoning, it’s about ‘continuing.'”
Isaac, noticing her enlightenment, smiles softly.
“Where you are now is someone’s endpoint.”
So.
You can start from there.
Before long.
A bright smile had formed on Silbern’s lips.
Not just living in gratitude for her ancestors’ greatness.
But also realizing that she, too, was one of them, walking the same path.
“Huh, hahahaha!”
As a warrior, it was an immense honor.
And a heartwarming sense of anticipation welled up within her.
Slowly.
Silbern bowed her head deeply.
Politely clasping her hands, she spoke her heartfelt words.
“Thank you.”
To the noble person who gave her enlightenment.
“Endless, gratitude.”
When she looked at Isaac again, the smile on his lips reassured her.
His joy at her finding the answer only further uplifted her, and she approached him with renewed vigor.
“Perhaps I can receive more teachings? Not just simple lessons, but ways to further develop the Caldias Spear.”
“If I can help, of course. But first, shouldn’t we have lunch?”
Shrugging and pointing to the Dining Hall, Silbern nods eagerly.
“Then let’s talk more over lunch. Oh, by the way, is there a good direction for me to train on my own?”
“Blindly following my words isn’t good either.”
“Advice! I want advice!”
Advice, huh.
Isaac hesitated slightly.
He did have some advice he wanted to give.
After all, it was something Silbern had struggled with greatly in her past life.
“……Are you sure you’re okay with anything I say?”
“Huh? Of course!”
“Promise you won’t get mad.”
“Huh? I even let you insult my spear. What more could I get mad about?”
With her eyes sparkling, Silbern urged him to speak quickly.
Isaac, looking slightly embarrassed, scratched his cheek and said.
“You should take off your chest binder.”
“……Huh?”
At the sudden advice, Silbern’s body stiffened momentarily.
Then, without realizing it, her hand moved toward her chest before stopping.
“Ca, can you tell?”
Compared to other women, Silbern had been hiding her rather ample figure.
Her pupils lost focus and trembled as she tried to explain.
“I, it’s hard to swing my spear without it. It’s too…… bouncy.”
“You need to get used to it.”
“……Why?”
This is insane.
Isaac pressed his hand to his forehead and spoke in a small voice.
“You might not be able to wear a binder someday.”
“Why wouldn’t I be able to-.”
Silbern’s face turned bright red.
Was he saying that she would grow even more……?
“How, how would you know something like that!”
She shouted in a panic, but Isaac sighed and muttered.
“I know. Anyway…… I know.”
