Chapter 12 – Morning and Sword Style
----- Ryuu POV -----
"Uuu, ugh."
I slowly, agonizingly, regain my unconsciousness, blinking away the sleep in my eyes and wiping away the thin film of paste from my lips.
Stretching with a slight yawn, I think over what had happened the night before while basking under the morning rays.
Although drunkenness from alcohol is not considered a 'poisonous effect', luckily, the hangover effect is, it's partly for this reason that many adventurers choose Abnormal Resistance as their first development ability, other than being immune to dangerous poisons of course.
We had gone to the 'Hostess of Fertility' to celebrate our successful expedition as usual and had a pleasant dinner.
Remembering more from the night, a smile appears on my face, Alise had made some jokes as usual right after sitting down, she always knows how to light up a room.
Then I had a very pleasant conversation with Sirius, the newbie.
It's quite odd, how swiftly I've warmed up to him.
Could it be due to how he saved us on our first encounter?
How he spent his wish to do so?
Or could it be something more related to his character that has seen me quickly find comfort in his presence?
While I initially accepted him into the Familia due to his unique situation, all reservations about him joining our family disappeared as he gained our trust with his honest and caring nature.
As he demonstrated his determination to get stronger and his authentic dedication to see it through, I and the girls' opinion of him changed from acceptance to admiration and fondness.
This is the second time I've felt this fond of someone so fast, the other being Alise, and Mother I suppose, but that is a different feeling.
Although I was certainly flustered when he complimented me under the moonlight that night and in such a romantic and charming way, after thinking it over, he certainly did not know the Elven customs and was simply stating his honest thoughts.
Though that's embarrassing in its own right.
A knock on my door breaks me out of my reflection.
"Who, ahem, who is it?"
The door then opens to reveal Alise with a slightly messy bedhead and a wide smile on her face, from past experience, I know that this is her teasing smile.
"Oh? I'm surprised you're willing to come out of your bed after what happened last night."
What?
Was there something that happened?
An intense feeling of foreboding washes over me as I see Alise's smile widen.
"W-what happened exactly?"
"Oh, this will be good. Do you remember how you got home? Or maybe wonder why your breath smell of wine? You were quite bold after all."
Initially confused by her questions, I try to recall how I got home.
And why does my breath smell of wine?
Slowly, the memories come back to me, with an intense wave of shame to accompany them.
I did that?
What the hell was I thinking?
I acted like I belong in the red-light district!
Much less touching him, I h-hugged onto him like an Elf in heat!
How absolutely shameful!
"A-Alise, h-h-how do I face him after that! How indecent, immoral, humiliating!"
"There there, I don't think it's as bad as you think, you were more cute than obscene, no one thinks less of you."
"Uuu, Alise, I'm a lewd Elf. What do I do now?"
"Most likely nothing, he understands you were drunk and probably won't push for an explanation, though it may be a bit awkward between you two for a while. Besides, I don't think he minded the attention at all."
Another wave of embarrassment washes over me at her words as my face heats up.
"Hahaha, anyways on a more serious note, remember my words from before? It seems you've found a man that you can be comfortable around, and from what I saw last night, makes you happy too, so don't let go of him. Much less than not backing away from his touch, you initiated it, so while it may be too early now, don't let him get away from you."
I nod my head slightly as the heat across my face spreads throughout my body.
"Good good, but wow, to think a drunk Ryuu gets so affectionate, I want to experience that for myself. Now let's go down to eat, Sirius is practicing with Kaguya right now so you won't have to confront him right away."
----- Sirius POV -----
After waking up, I took some time to myself in order to come to terms with the reality of what had occurred last night.
I don't know much about Elven customs, but I do know that they hate being touched unless by someone they immensely love or trust, and I doubt that I fit either of those conditions for Ryuu.
I just hope she doesn't hate me and accuse me of taking advantage of her drunk state.
It seems that my thoughts were clearly written on my face during breakfast, as Astraea quickly assured me that Ryuu wouldn't blame me, but rather blame herself, and to simply let the awkwardness fade naturally.
Though she or Alise would step in if they had to.
Planning on getting ready for another dungeon dive, I'm stopped by Kaguya before I can enter my room.
"Sirius, I see your swordsmanship has grown during the past week. I think you're ready for the next step."
"The next step?"
"Well, let's go outside where I can demonstrate."
We then make our way to the training grounds, only after I had changed into my training clothes of course.
"Now, while your basic abilities are up to par, to take the next step is to form your sword style, something unique where you take advantage of your strengths to gain an edge on your opponents."
"Alright, are you going to teach me your style?"
"No, remember my words when we started training, after learning the basics, you will need to improve on your own, your own style should be unique and personally perfected, that is how the best warriors are made. You will need to create a style on your own, though I will teach you right now what a style entails, and if you become lost on your path I'll provide assistance if necessary."
Oh, she's in complete teacher mode. Or as I like to call it, Kaguya-sensei.
"To make a sword style, you must understand your qualities, both good and bad, and how they translate into your combat abilities. You also want to know what kind of sword style you want. For instance, I rely on acceleration to quickly strike the opponent in their vitals, ending the fight swiftly and efficiently. This was, of course, mostly due to me being a Gojouno, a clan renowned for their assassins in the Far East. Although I do not wish to follow in the bloody footsteps of my clan, my combat abilities certainly reflect my birth. While others may be more affected by their skills and magic, especially those learning combat after receiving a falna, like Ryuu, who has the skill Aero Mana that increases her attack power the faster she runs, thus, her sword style adapted to that and focuses on speed. Now, let's begin our lesson in earnest."
After a fairly long lesson, mostly a lecture with the odd demonstration of how she formed 'attributes' into her sword style.
Once she left, I take Kaguya's advice and sit down in a comfortable position, remembering her words of wisdom while thinking deeply in order to form my own sword style.
What is the essence of my sword?
And this isn't some bullshit from a Chinese cultivation novel, but rather, how do I approach combat with my sword?
Everyone has their own sword style, showing in their movements, stances, strikes, and most notably, approach to combat.
For example, some might have an approach focusing on attacking, in that case, is it focusing on the quantity or quality of attacks?
Is it based on raw power or speed?
Is magic involved, and how does that affect your style, after all, magic is not infinite.
I think about how I approach combat instinctively, I question myself about what I want in my sword style, what am I good at, and what can be learned.
After much deliberation, I decided to have a sword style focusing on attack counters.
A mix of two approaches.
To strike first, and either take advantage of the surprise or when the enemy makes their move, counter and deal a quality strike.
Speed would be a main attribute, as power will come from speed and my stellar magic when needed.
While acrobatics would be another important aspect in order to move fluidly to take advantage of any openings.
Every movement will be made with purpose, guiding me efficiently and safely on the path to victory, any unnecessary flair caused by my movements a bonus to distract my enemy.
This free-form and fluid style would also easily incorporate ranged attacks and dual wielding, which I have become somewhat interested in.
I then stand up, trying to put my 'attributes' into a style, while being sure to not lose any of the basics of combat.
While I can't practice my countering ability without a proper opponent, I can work on my acrobatics, speed, and attacks.
So, clearing my head, especially the distracting thoughts of a certain Elf, I dive into training.
After practicing some acrobatic movements with my sword, I discover something.
Using spins in combat in this world, is not an idiotic move only used for dramatics like on Earth.
It's an actually useful technique, especially in countering, moving a strike to the side when parrying, you are already in the motion of a spin.
Rather than stopping the movement and redirecting your sword towards the opponent, it's more beneficial to complete the spin, adding the additional rotational motion to the strike.
Although you are defenceless for the time you're facing away from the opponent, you should have already dealt with their method of attack with the initial parry.
The longer I think about it, the more benefits I see, you would be attacking on the opposite side of the opponent's weapon while moving towards it to be able to stop it if the enemy attacks.
While doing the spin, you are able to get a visual grasp of the surroundings for a brief moment, and since your sword and eyes would be hidden from the opponent during the spin, upon exiting to attack would give you an additional level of surprise.
As long as the enemy doesn't have a secret second weapon, you should be fine, and even then, the spin is not long enough for a secret weapon to be any more of a factor than before the spin.
Although I certainly did not form my sword style after a single training session, I did understand what path I wish to take.
There weren't absolutely no results though! I added spins and acrobatics to my repertoire though they both need a lot of practice to be used properly in combat.
Thinking about my dungeon dive I plan to go on later today, I decide to stay on the first four floors, focusing on honing my technique with the weaker monsters rather than trying anything new and untested on War Shadows.
Kaguya did say she would accompany me later so I could deal with group battles without retreating, she would also be able to correct me on any mistakes in my new sword style.
So, after eating a filling lunch, notifying Kaguya of my departure, and preparing my equipment, I headed towards the dungeon alongside my trusty supervisor.
I will also intentionally remove the embarrassing memory where Ryuu and I caught each other's sight on the way out before we promptly both averted our eyes.
Yup, never happened.
Although her blushing face was surely cute, my shame at the interaction outweighs it.
Eventually, I and Kaguya reach the entrance to the dungeon, and after a final check that everything I need is in my belt, we set foot inside.