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Sword Practices After A Long Time
Author note : ‘Monster Eating Adventurer’ is currently airing!
「We are going to have a sword practice today」
It’s been four days since we returned to the mansion.
Nord-tousan informs us about it after we finish our breakfast.
「Let’s do it!」
The first to react is Eleonora-neesan, someone who loves practicing swordsmanship.
「Ehー? It’s still too cold so it won’t be good weather to practice swordsmanship, right? Look, there’s still snow in the morning even」
Although we can already see the first sign of spring, it’s still winter in the end.
It’s very cold outside.
I don’t feel like going outside deliberately under such conditions to swing a wooden sword and practice.
When I express my unmotivated opinion, Eleonora-neesan glares at me as if saying, ‘Don’t say unnecessary things’.
「I have checked it earlier, and there was almost no snow on the courtyard and it was not frozen either. We can have a practice without any problem」
「I, is that so」
I was just thinking of using Ice Magic to secretly freeze the ground, but it’s difficult now that tousan has thoroughly taken a look at it.
「So, gather at the courtyard once you are done with your preparations」
Putting Eleonora-neesan aside, we can’t reverse it if it’s the head of the family’s - Nord-tousan - order.
Each of us gives a different level of enthusiasm and leaves the living room.
I return to my own room and change from my everyday attire to practice clothes.
It’s really been a while since I last put on these clothes. Since I’m still a kid, I’m growing quickly, and I start to worry about whether the sleeve will still fit, but since our house has a highly capable maid, new clothes are always prepared.
I now resent that capability. Despite feeling sad, I still pick up the wooden sword leaning against the wall and leave the mansion.
「Cold」
Although the height of winter has passed, the temperature in the early morning is still in the single digits.
Even by layering inner wear and long-sleeved clothes for winter, and putting on leather armor over them, it still can’t fight against the cold.
Aah, if it’s inside the mansion, there are heating magic tools, and it’s warm. I already feel like turning around.
「Al, come over here and do some warming-up exercise」
「Yeaーh」
Nord-tousan, Eleonora-neesan, and Sylvio-niisan are already in the courtyard. Being called by Nord-tousan, I also start the warming-up exercise.
I rotate my neck and shoulders, wrists, elbows, and hips, and then bend and stretch my knees.
「Al, push my back」
「Okay, okay」
As I loosen up my joints while warming up my body, Eleonora-neesan gives me such an order, who has already moved on to dynamic stretching.
I go around to the back of Eleonora-neesan, who is sitting on the ground.
「Okay then, I’m pushing alright?」
「Yeah」
When I push Eleonora-neesan’s back, her upper body easily bends forward.
「Ah, eh? Are you still okay?」
Usually, she will stop me around this point, but there’s no sign of her stopping me here today.
「I’m fine. Push more」
「U, un」
I ask her just to make sure, but Eleonora-neesan looks perfectly fine.
It’s a little scary, actually, but I continue to push her back just as told.
Eleonora-neesan’s highly flexible upper body steadily bends forward and finally even to the point where her chin touches the ground.
Eleonora-neesan gently raises her body after maintaining that posture for around 10 seconds.
「Eleonora-neesan, were you always this flexible?」
Eleonora-neesan’s body has always been flexible, but it should not be this flexible.
「I could not practice that much in winter, so I focused on stretching. The greater your range of motion, the better your swordplay becomes after all」
「Hee, so it’s like that. That’s amazing」
Anyone can understand that your swordsmanship will improve when your muscles reach that level of flexibility from stretching, but it’s not something anyone can pull off, even when knowing that.
As always, when it comes to swordsmanship, Eleonora-neesan is very conscious and pays attention to everything.
As I’m admiring her, I notice Sylvio-niisan is giving Eleonora-neesan a smiling look.
Sylvio-niisan was probably the one helping her stretch while I was not in the mansion for a month.
「I’ll help Al next」
「Eh? No, I’m fine」
Having my back pushed by Eleonora-neesan is simply scary.
It feels like my back is cracking and about to break.
「It’s fine. I mean, even if Al throws a punch at me, I can take it」
「No, I don’t want you to push my back until I have such a violent impulse!?」
I don’t want a stretching that pushes me to the point of feeling a crisis in my life.
「I’m just kidding. I adjust my strength when pushing your back, so spread out your legs」
As I stay on guard, Eleonora-neesan suddenly slips around behind me so I helplessly sit down on the ground.
「Don’t hunch your back. Straighten your pelvis more」
「Yes」
As I open both of my legs to the left and right, my posture is being corrected by Eleonora-neesan.
「Then, I’m starting, okay?」
「Un」
Once my posture is correct, Eleonora-neesan gives me a firm push from behind.
I push my upper body forward while exhaling, bending down in one steady motion. Usually, I start struggling halfway through, but perhaps it’s because my posture was corrected that I bend forward a bit more than usual.
「Kuuh…fuuuh!」
Just as the back of my knees is feeling tight and my body is about to scream in pain, Eleonora-neesan stops the pressure on my back.
I maintain that position for around 10 seconds and slowly raise my upper body.
「Haa……」
「How is it? No problem, right?」
「Somehow」
It feels irritating how skilled she is when she stops just at the last moment.
「Let us warm up our bodies by running a bit」
We start running at Nord-tousan’s command after we finish our dynamic stretching.
Nord-tousan runs at the head while we follow behind him.
Nord-tousan’s pace - who is running in front - is faster than usual.
「……Nord-tousan, he seems to be in high spirit」
「He has been staying inside the office to take care of my work within the territories recently, so he is happy he can move his body」
Sylvio-niisan responds with a wry smile when I quietly mutter while running.
With the difference in our length of steps, it’s a little tough for me and Sylvio-niisan to follow, but it’s difficult to tell him to relax his pace, seeing Nord-tousan looking unusually lively.
Although, the speed is still within the category of warming up, so let’s just do our best and keep up.
We run around the courtyard for some time and as expected, my body finally starts to warm up.
A light layer of sweat begins to form on my back.
「Yosh, now that we have warmed up, let’s move on to practice-swinging」
After running around 10 laps around the courtyard, we wrap up the warm-up, take the wooden swords, and move on to practice swinging.
With a ‘heave-ho’, I grab my wooden sword and take up position next to Sylvio-niisan.
「Al stands in the middle」
However, a spot is designated for me.
「Why?」
「You’re thinking of slacking off if you’re at the edge when no one’s watching, right?」
「…………」
That was exactly what I had in mind when trying to take a spot at the edge, so I can’t say anything in response.
The scruff of my neck is grabbed by Eleonora-neesan, and I’m being forced to take the middle position.
Eleonora-neesan, me, and Sylvio-niisan stand side-by-side, with Nord-tousan facing us, setting an example and also as a supervisor.
I’m being treated like a problem child, being forced to sit in front of the teacher’s desk, but I’m clearly the one at fault for having a failing mark in swordsmanship, so there’s nothing I can do about this.
「Now, a hundred times each of overhead swing, middle level sweeps, and upward thrusts, let’s go!」
With a refreshing smile on his face, Nord-tousan announces a brutal number of reps without hesitation.
Since the supervisor’s words are absolute, we can only respond and assume an overhead stance.
And then, we follow Nord-tousan’s lead and begin swinging our wooden swords down.
It feels like it’s been quite a long while since I’ve swung a wooden sword in the courtyard like this.
I’ve been in the royal capital this past month, so I haven’t been practicing swordsmanship and I couldn’t do so since it was snowing a lot before we left for the royal capital.
Now that I think about it, has it been 2 months since I last practiced swordsmanship in the mansion?
Nah, Salva also taught me the royal swordsmanship when I teleported to Lazur, so it can’t be said I haven’t practiced at all. I guess it’s because of that that my body can move more smoothly than I expected.
Thinking it like this, perhaps that well-intentioned but bothersome training wasn’t so bad after all.
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Thanks for the chapter.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited as to how he will pull off the new swordsmanship he learned.
Thanks for the chapter!
ReplyDelete