Chapter 7

Chapter 1, Section 2. This time, the protagonist's master appears.

Please enjoy.

The city of Arcazam.

A city where the Solminati Academy was established, it is famous throughout the continent as a city of learning.

The academy is located in the center of the city, with roads radiating out like a spider's web.

In the northern part of the city, the administrative offices and other political institutions, as well as the mansions of the wealthy, including the nobles and officials who oversee them, are clustered.

To the east is the residential area, where many students of the academy and ordinary citizens live, and to the south is the commercial district, where goods and items from various countries gather, forming the economic center of the city.

There is also an Adventurer's Guild, where students can take on jobs depending on their rank.

To the west is the artisan district, where many craftsmen, such as blacksmiths, doctors, and tailors, gather and compete daily, utilizing the skills of their respective countries.

Outside the city, roads run in all directions, but dense forests spread on either side of each road, blocking people's entry.

These forests are home to many monsters, ranging from those that ordinary people can defeat to those that even veteran adventurers struggle with.

However, generally, the more powerful monsters live deep in the forest, and powerful monsters do not appear around the city or the roads.

In such a forest, a small hut stood inconspicuously. In the courtyard of the hut, a young boy and an old woman were practicing sword fighting.

One was Nozomu Bounty, a student who was failing at the academy.

The other old woman's name was Shino.

The sword fighting was overwhelmingly dominated by the old woman. It was incomparable to the sparring matches with Mars at the academy.

In the academy matches, he had managed to withstand Mars' slashes, but the sparring with the old woman was even more one-sided, and Nozomu was practically a toy for her.

The sword fighting ended in three rounds, with Nozomu being knocked down and thrown. The old woman immediately followed up, swinging her sword without hesitation.

Nozomu concentrated his energy in his legs and exploded it. This was one of the techniques of ki, "Instant Step."

He accelerated instantly and disengaged, but the old woman also used Instant Step, accelerating and sheathing her sword. She moved in front of Nozomu, who had disengaged, and struck with a quick draw.

Unable to stop his momentum, Nozomu rotated his body on one foot to deflect the quick draw, but his stance was severely disrupted.

The old woman's counterattack was closing in.

Nozomu laid his sword diagonally against the old woman's blade and deliberately released the strength in his legs, letting his body fall. The old woman's counterattack slid over the laid sword and missed his body.

However, the old woman's kick followed.

Nozomu judged that it was impossible to avoid the kick in his fallen state. He suddenly exerted force in his legs, flew backward, and inserted the hilt of his sword between the kick and his body, but was thrown a great distance.

Before Nozomu, who had fallen to the ground, could recover his stance, the old woman followed up and pressed the tip of her sword to his neck.

"...I yield."

"Hmm, you still have a long way to go. You need more training."

The old woman sheathed her sword. This old woman, Shino, was Nozomu's swordsmanship teacher.

Their meeting happened when Nozomu was training in the forest.

At that time, he was heartbroken after being rejected by Lisa and had become reckless, training relentlessly.

It was not training but an escape. He trained until his body was in tatters to avoid thinking about his girlfriend.

The extreme harshness and meaninglessness of his training were too much for the old woman to bear, and she began to speak to him.

"It's about time for dinner, Nozomu. Prepare it for me."

"Yes, Master."

Nozomu responded to the old woman's voice. Though he looked tired, he spoke clearly and began preparing dinner.

(He's still struggling, but he's gotten better, hasn't he?)

I watched him and muttered silently.

When I first met him, he was training in the forest, but his condition was terrible.

He had trained so relentlessly without giving his body time to recover that his muscles had withered, his cheeks were sunken, and he looked like a starving child. The skin on his sword-holding hand was peeling off, his joints were inflamed, and his body was in shambles.

I tried to intervene, but he showed no signs of stopping.

His face was lifeless, and there was a dark, negative emotion in his eyes.

Seeing that, I felt a strong aversion and immediately left the scene.

I ignored him for a while, but over time, his dark eyes began to bother me.

No matter how hard I tried not to think about it, his eyes kept coming to mind. I decided to check on him and found him being attacked by a monster.

The monster was a Wild Dog, which lived throughout the continent and usually moved in packs.

As a monster, it was low-ranked and could be defeated by ordinary adventurers, but for Nozomu, who was extremely fatigued, it was a threat on par with a dragon.

He was covered in wounds, and his consciousness was fading as blood flowed from his body. There was no one around to help him.

In a situation where most people would have given up in despair, he did not.

Even though he had lost so much blood that he could have died, he was still fighting the Wild Dog.

"I don't want to die." "I won't give up."

His swordsmanship and tactics were still immature, but the dark emotions in his eyes had transformed into a clear and strong will to live.

The moment I saw that, I had cut down the Wild Dog that was attacking him.

A week later, a young boy was practicing with a katana, not a sword, in front of my hut.

After finishing dinner, cleaning up, and drinking tea, I sat across from Master, who was drinking tea, and I also drank tea.

Since meeting Master and learning swordsmanship from her, I have learned many things.

I felt as if I had seen a light in the darkness I was struggling in.

After being rejected by Lisa and unable to fulfill my vow, I had no one around me. I continued extreme training as an escape from such a daily life, and the Wild Dog attacked me when I was in a terrible state.

In the face of life and death, the desire to die was overshadowed by the will to live.

The will to live turned into the will to survive, and the will not to give up.

Saved by Master in such a dire situation, I became her disciple and continued training.

Thinking about Lisa still hurts, but my heart feels lighter than before.

That's probably because Master is here.

Thinking about this, I looked at Master, who was eating a snack with a full smile. Despite her godlike strength, her youthful appearance made me smile a little.

"What's this? Staring at me like that. You must be in love with me, huh?"

I immediately retaliated against Master's teasing.

"Think about your age before you speak. No matter how much I want to, your age is out of my range...!"

A shock ran through my face as I said something unnecessary. Master had punched me with a quick draw, releasing a shockwave with pinpoint accuracy.

Moreover, the tea snacks on the table were not even disturbed by a breeze.

"Nozomu, what's this?"

Master glared at me with a look that could rival a dragon. I reflexively apologized to protect myself.

"No, nothing, I was just admiring you, Master."

Even a simple retort from me elicited a highly advanced technique from Master.

She may be in retirement, but her strength is undoubtedly among the top in the continent. She even says, "I can match the top swordsmen in the academy."

Incidentally, the best swordsman in the academy is Jihard Roundel, an S-rank knight and a renowned swordsman throughout the continent.

Master, who is on par with such a person, is a mystery.

While lost in thought, I finished my tea, and it was time to return to the dormitory.

"Then, Master, I'm going back to the dormitory."

"Aye, see you tomorrow."

"Yes, good night, Master."

I watched Nozomu's back as he left and returned to the hut.

He has grown stronger. Due to the suppression of his abilities, he himself may not realize it, but it is only a matter of time before his sword skills reach my level.

His growth over the past year has been abnormal.

Originally, his style was more suited to using a katana rather than the straight swords commonly used on this continent.

He was more inclined to use his whole body to cut through rather than relying on arm strength.

What made him strong was his own effort, even if it was an escape from reality.

At first, I made him practice simple sword swings all day and run through the forest relentlessly.

Of course, he was attacked by monsters, but I made him deal with them on his own. I secretly dealt with the ones that were too much for him.

Next came relentless sparring.

Naturally, I used all my techniques to attack him to the point of not killing him.

Being defeated by me, breaking bones, vomiting, and fainting were commonplace. Now, he can barely handle it, and the number of serious injuries like broken bones has decreased.

He has endured the training I imposed on him. An ordinary person would have given up within a week.

Without the suppression of his abilities, he would undoubtedly be able to fight me on equal terms.

Still, he cannot win the sparring matches and his academic performance does not improve, which is due to the suppression of his abilities.

His strength and courage are limited, and his magic power is almost non-existent, so he cannot even use basic magic.

Ki techniques and item enhancements have little effect, and he cannot use enhancement magic.

To make up for these handicaps, he has honed his techniques and ki control, but the techniques he uses are inevitably focused on a single point and have extremely high lethality, making them unusable in the academy's sparring matches.

However, while his explosive strength is affected by the suppression of his abilities, fortunately, his basic abilities such as motor skills and endurance are not suppressed, so he can train them.

However, even if he tries to enhance himself with ki techniques, the effect is not visible, and he can be easily overtaken if the opponent enhances themselves.

It's not going well.

Another concern is that he has not yet set a clear goal for his future.

In the heat of battle, "to live" may be a good reason, but it is not enough for the future.

To become stronger, he needs a "core of the heart."

Without a "core of the heart," he will eventually be overwhelmed by his own power.

And his core has already been broken once.

I don't know what he will do in the future, but I will teach him everything. To prevent him from regretting like I did.