Chapter 49

"Please make me your disciple!"

Diana pleaded to me while prostrating herself on the ground. Hmm, what should I do about this? I glanced over and saw that both Sermya and Rike were grinning. I’ll have to remember this.

"…If it’s okay with you, I can give you one training session a day after work."

"Really!?"

"However, I haven’t formally studied swordsmanship, and I’m not good at teaching, so you’ll have to learn by watching during practice."

"Got it! Thank you!"

Diana was unusually excited. Hmm, if she gets this excited over such things, she must have been quite a tomboy at home… I can imagine how hard young Marius must have struggled. Anyway, this means I have one more daily routine to take care of. It shouldn’t take much time, so it’s fine, but if it starts taking longer as she grows, I’ll have to reconsider.

"Oh, and…"

"What?"

"I forbid you from calling me master or being overly formal."

I need to say this first, or it might become a habit, like with Rike.

"Okay, got it."

And so, I gained my second disciple (not the blacksmith kind).

The next day. Regardless of having a disciple, I still had to forge swords today. I continued producing short swords and long swords, with the same personnel and tasks as before. Sermya and Diana did the casting and finishing, while Rike and I did the final touches. Today, I made the high-end models, and Rike made the standard models, producing about the same number as yesterday.

After that, it was training time. Even though the swords were sharpened, using iron swords would be dangerous, so I quickly made two wooden swords from "well-cut" wood using a knife. It’s a bit of a cheat (since it’s a production skill and a weapon), but it’s interesting that I can make decent items quickly.

We bowed and clashed swords as we did yesterday. Today, I decided to focus on deflecting Diana’s attacks, which were sharp and fast, probably because she had formally studied swordsmanship.

However, I’m not saying that my self-taught style is absolutely stronger. I believe that formal swordsmanship was developed through life-and-death situations. Therefore, my self-taught style, which lacks that foundation, is only useful to me. With enough training, anyone can become strong with proper swordsmanship or martial arts, regardless of talent. I can dominate Diana in one-on-one training, but if it were 100 people against me, I’d have no chance. I can’t handle that many, and I can’t create that many.

But there are things I can do for Diana. I can make her stronger by adding to her formal swordsmanship… I think. If it goes well, she might even develop her own style. Of course, I don’t know how long she’ll stay here, but I’ll do my best to help her as much as I can.

Because of what happened yesterday, Diana tried various things today. How to break my stance, how to distract my attention from where she really wanted to strike. So far, my cheat has detected and countered her attempts, but I think her approach is not wrong.

One problem is that I have no idea how strong Diana is compared to others. I don’t even fully understand my own strength. If this were about blacksmithing, I could see the finished product and test it, but with so few samples, I can’t tell if Diana is as strong as a regular soldier or a legendary swordsman. From the feeling I get from my cheat and testing, she seems to be above average, but it’s not clear, and it’s hard to know how much training she needs. This is something I’ll have to work on in the future.

We practiced for a bit longer than a quarter of an hour and then stopped for the day.

"How was it? Did you learn anything?"

"No, not really. I tried a lot of things. But, I guess I did learn which moves don’t work and how you counter them, so maybe I did learn something?"

"Got it. Well, take your time."

When I said that, Diana looked puzzled for a moment but then replied with a smile.

"Okay!"

From the next day, we started making knives. Sermya had learned to do the initial steps, but with Diana around, I asked her to help with gathering nuts and other materials. They should be fine, but I told them to return immediately if they sensed anyone nearby.

Rike and I stretched, shaped, and finished the metal sheets. The efficiency was slightly lower, but the quality was maintained. Without help, I started with the high-end models, and Rike did the standard models. This time, I let Rike observe and assist me in making a few high-end models to learn the techniques.

"How’s it going?"

"Hmm, I don’t think I can catch up to you yet."

"Well, I’m the master, so it would be a problem if you caught up in a month or so."

I said with a laugh. Rike pouted slightly in response.

"But I want to improve quickly."

"Then, I’ll have Rike help me again tomorrow."

"Really?"

"Of course. Otherwise, what’s the point of becoming a disciple?"

"Well, that’s true…"

Rike said with a slightly troubled smile.

"I might have said this before, but I think you can go quite far if you keep at it. It’s not something you can rush, but don’t worry, and focus on improving steadily."

When I said that, Rike replied with a bright smile.

"Yes! Master!"