Alexius walked into the courtyard the next morning, to find several children already assembled there.
Although he had not gotten a close look at them yesterday, he now noticed that there appeared to be around twelve of them in total, training in fighting techniques without mana.
They were sweating profusely, looking like they had just taken a shower in the nearby stream and hadn't wiped off the water, and complaining loudly.
In the corner a tall but slim man with an average look stood with his arms crossed.
"Arthur! What the fuck have I kept telling you? Hold your arms straight, and slash the fucking dummy!"
The man suddenly opened his mouth to bellow, catching Alexius off-guard. 'What the hell? This guy being so tough in front of kids, no wonder that Arkadios lad is such a thug! What is this, boot camp for kids?'
Then, the instructor noticed Alexius walking over, and his tone became calmer. "Ah, you must be the new recruit that Knight Rictor has taken in. He must've pushed you into my care to train in order to barely fulfill that damn Baron's order, eh?"
He chuckled to himself, as if he had just cracked the funniest joke. Then, he looked down at Alexius standing uncomfortably by him, shifting around awkwardly.
"You!" He suddenly exclaimed, startling not only Alexius but the rest of the kids.
"It's your first day, so I'm letting you off easy! There are two rules here: the first is to follow every instruction I give!"
"The second one..." He paused. "It's to follow the first rule! Have I made myself very fucking clear!"
His shout caught Alexius off-guard, bringing him back to the time he had just entered the military: poor, filthy, but determined and looking for a new life.
His eyes suddenly grew teary, not knowing whether missing being screamed at every day from dawn to dusk was supposed to be normal or not.
Noticing his hesitation, the instructor started yelling at him. "You there, newbie! I want five laps around the mansion by the time I'm done with this lot! Now, get a move on!"
Gritting his teeth and forcing himself not to look back, he threw out a "Yes, instructor", and took off.
When he returned, he was covered in sweat and dirt, looking just like the rest of the kids. His clothes felt all sticky and he felt like he was back at his boot camp days. However, there was a silver lining. After the instructor gave him another verbal lashing, he walked over to the weapons rack and gathered the class.
"Kids, I know that you've been practicing with the sword. However, using a sword to slash and stab are nothing but the most basic movements one can perform." The instructor's tone suddenly changed and a glimmer appeared in his eyes.
"The thing is, the sword is an ancient and elegant weapon. It originated many thousands of years ago..."
"...And today, after many years of refining, we have our modern day beginners' technique."
The instructor's overeager voice faded away, as snores suddenly became apparent in the background.
The instructor's eyes suddenly sharpened as he glared at the kids who were trying their best to keep their eyes open.
Spitting on the ground, he said in a loud voice, startling the children who had fallen asleep. "Your task today are to replicate these set of movements..."
He showed off a stab, slash, and stab combo, taking half a step back each time. When looked at, these movements didn't seem too complex and the kids were getting bored, with them starting to chatter away amongst themselves once more, leaving Alexius by himself, watching in fascination.
With his four decades of life experience, he could immediately see the instructor's skill in wielding the weapon of war.
'What the instructor is doing is showing off a set of basic movements. The incredible part is not the movement, but the value in the technique is eliminating as many transitory movements as possible... going from a stab to a slash in the blink of an eye, he could place any level opponent on the backfoot and continue his offensive without ever stopping.'
'This is a good beginners' technique, teaching one a method to eliminate transitory movements and encouraging the novice to add their own movements on top in order for them to unlock their full potential...'
'I certainly can't do something like that. I was never agile or nimble enough... wait, is this guy even a warrior mage?'
Alexius immediately narrowed his eyes. The man didn't seem like a mage at all... all his movements seemed incredibly fluid and fast, but they didn't seem inhuman, like Rowan or even Knight Rictor, whose movements were strangely mysterious at times.
Then, his eyes widened in realization.
'This man... is he a real-life swordsmaster?'
The instructor stopped abruptly, slightly panting from his mouth. The students all stopped chattering upon seeing this.
"Alright! Whoever learns the basic set first of will receive a longer break tomorrow! Start now!"
Alexius watched as his instructor walked off to the shade, seemingly in higher spirits than this morning. Staring at the sword rack, he slowly walked towards it, wallowing in deep thought.
To be honest, having had never trained with a sword, nor even touched a sword in his past life, he had never appreciated the true gracefulness of this weapon of war.
The sword was made of wood, but it was like the finest steel in his eyes. He gripped it hard in his hands, appreciating its weight, like it was the only thing he could rely on, like his own child.
'This... it might not be as deadly as a gun, but it sure as hell can do the job well enough. I must master this, to be able to defeat my enemies. I have just found my answer to my problem: if I truly do not awaken a mana heart, I must train in the sword.'
He looked around as a few kids went over to ask the instructor for tips, thought most tried to replicate what they had just seen on their own. Although he knew that he probably needed some outside guidance, he wanted to try out this sword fighting thing to test out his capabilities.
Just then, a familiar voice that Alexius wished to never hear again sounded.
"Alexius! Looking very fascinated over a toy sword, huh? You should know not to play with them; they're too dangerous for a peasant like you!"
The voice was followed by the sound of laughter. Some of it was genuine, some of it was strained.
"Of course, I'll be kind; return to your mother's farm where you belong, or I'll show you what it means to be versed in the way of the sword!"
The annoying voice once more awoke Alexius from his reverie, causing him to glare at Arkadios. This lad, did he truly have nothing better to do than to pick on people? He really spoke like a corny martial artist who was too full of himself!
"Alright then, please show me!" Alexius said, complete with an overly childlike voice and puppy eyes.
"Oh?" Arkadios was stunned, not having expected Alexius to immediately go for the second option, but he regained his composure soon after. "Then, how many rounds should we fight for?"
Alexius again snickered inside. 'Let's see how good you are, huh?'
...
Arkadios was panting heavily, but the boy in front of him was in worse shape. By this point in time, the small class of children behind him had stopped making any noise and were watching with rapt attention at the scene.
'Dammit! This guy just won't give up, he can't see common sense!'
He panted as he put his sword to the side to block an incoming strike. The strike was crude, but it still contained all the power that the other boy could muster. He couldn't fully block it, instead letting it slide for a bit along the edge of his sword before locking it in place to offset a little of the force.
"Haah!"
Arkadios yelled as he lunged forward, pushing Alexius' sword away with a fluid movement and aiming for the other boy's shoulder with a quick stab.
He was in an awkward position for the other boy to counter, with Alexius having to shift his full body in order to position his arm to intercept Arkadios' sword. Time slowed down as his sword seemed to be the only thing that mattered.
Just as everybody inhaled audibly, waiting for the battle to end in Arkadios' victory once more, the boy suddenly dropped his sword, and, rotating his body to the side, he managed to barely evade the strike. Using the momentum gained from his movement, he grabbed Arkadios' arm, trying to pull him over.
Arkadios, who planted his feet wide part, didn't fall over. Instead, grabbing Alexius' arm, he fell on top of him, knocking the breath out of Alexius.
"Gah!"
The fight turned into a fistfight, with the children on the other side sniggering and chattering to themselves.
"Oh come on, surely this isn't allowed?" Some children complained to the instructor, who just shrugged and continued to watch the show.
On the ground, however, Alexius' mind was racing to get him out of the situation.
His sword-wielding hand, having been restricted by the other boy, was now useless, so he used his left hand to reach for the sword he dropped in the muddy struggle.
However, Arkadios, being in the better, more flexible position managed to grab it before he did, to Alexius' horror.
"It's over!"
He screamed at the top of his lungs as he raised the wooden sword high in the air with his free hand before bringing it down on the boy.
"Enough!" A stern, strict voice sounded. Getting up, he announced. "Class is over; I congratulate Arkadios for his win. However, all of you must remember to report early to class tomorrow; we'll be learning how to ride a horse!"
"Arkadios won again!"
"Wow- he's really too good!"
"Tomorrow is horse-riding?"
"That's so cool!"
Cheers erupted once more amongst the excited children.
...
Alexius sat on his bed, a cloth wrapped around his head. 'At least it's sanitary.' He thought to himself sarcastically while feeling the bruises on his arms and legs.
The fights he had were almost as brutal than the spars in the army, but they were of great help to him, helping him get familiar to the feeling of using a sword and using simple techniques like slashing, stabbing and blocking.
However, he had not won once against Arkadios, showing that his training in the sword was far superior to his own, and that he had still a long way to go.
'I can't become a swordmaster overnight, so I had to rely on the martial arts I learned back on Earth in order to have a fighting chance here.'
'However, since the situation is completely different on these two planets, it was easy to misjudge and go into close-ranged fighting either too early, before the opponent moved, missing an opportunity, or too late, after the opponent already blocked that avenue of attack.'
'It was only with over four decades of experience in combat that I could hold on for a short amount of time.'
He had a headache, as he was stuck in a situation where he had no means to defend himself reliably. He had no intentions of giving this world a chance to screw him over, but it seemed like he truly had no choice.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the manor, the instructor was having completely different thoughts.
'Although this Alexius boy is undisciplined and his technique rough and crude, the fact that he managed to infuse bare-handed combat into sword combat has a great effect on his combat power.'
'At this rate, he has the potential to overcome Arkadios, the top student of the class, after he is further trained. It might take a while, but... for someone who has never touched a sword before, that's not bad at all!'
'The most unbelievable thing is the battle sense he displayed, even surpassing Arkadios at times. No matter how crude his movements were, he was able to predict most of Arkadios' killer moves, allowing him to evade in time and hold on.'
The instructor thought while tossing and turning in bed. Just then, realisation struck him as his eyes widened.
Sitting straight up like a bamboo shoot, he exclaimed: "Dear god! Have I just found a sword genius?"