Chapter 6: Extreme Sword Training... And a Bit of Progress in Magic
Ruthar staggered back after blocking a heavy blow with his sword. He couldn't yet comprehend it, but he was still struggling with the basics of sword fighting.
It had been months since he started magic training with Kimara, and he had grown significantly in that area, even to the point of being considered a prodigy.
However, in swordsmanship, he was too weak. His grip on the sword was poor, and his movements were sluggish, almost as if he had no bones in his body to support them.
"You're spacing out, Ruthar!"
Ruthar snapped back to reality as his sword tutor dived quickly at him with his wooden sword, moving too fast to dodge.
Ruthar raised his wooden sword to parry, but instead of doing so, his tutor's wooden sword tore through his own and struck him hard in the gut.
The force of the blow tossed him into the air, and he landed on the ground bruised and in pain.
"Ahhhkk!" Ruthar clutched his gut and cried out in agony. This was merely the beginning of his training, and he was constantly being defeated.
'How can a wooden sword hurt so much?'
"Hahahahaha! Nice one, Hendricks!" Kimara praised from the sidelines, clapping at her husband's skillful display.
She was always on his side.
'No, I can't lose to dumb Hendricks!' Ruthar gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain in his gut as he struggled to his knees.
It felt as though his upper half was disconnected from his lower half, dissected at the gut.
At this rate, catching up to Rotexa would be a far cry.
"What's this?" Hendricks noticed Ruthar's unwavering determination to stand once more. This was the tenth time he had been knocked down in the same way, yet he refused to give up.
Ruthar grinned to hide his pain and said, "You really think a simple hit would take me down?"
Hendricks hesitated before laughing aloud. "You are as stubborn as the goat that breastfed you."
"You are calling Kimara a goat?!" This insult would surely warrant a penalty, a revenge plan Ruthar couldn't pass up.
"Hahahaha! That's true, Hendricks," Kimara laughed again. Noticing the confusion on Ruthar's face, she explained, "As a child, you became very greedy and perverted with my breast, so I fed you with a goat called Miss Nana! If you recall, Miss Nana is still present in this castle."
Ruthar froze, wanting to puke his intestines out. 'Not only do I have a mother and a stepmother, but now I have a goat mother.'
Hendricks grinned as he threw his wooden sword at Ruthar to use. "I don't need that to beat you. I will teach you how your finger can be used as a sword." He was confident.
Ruthar picked up the sword timidly and stood up with a shaky stance, which only boosted Hendricks' confidence. However...
'Friggin bastard, your confidence will be your downfall... I will cheat! Hehehehehe!'
'This is worse than pick-up lines! Using your bro to impress hoes! I'll make sure to break those miserable balls of yours!'
A malevolent smirk peeled across his face as he spoke, "I will be attacking first!"
Without a moment's hesitation, he raced at Hendricks, one hand on his sword and the other outstretched.
Overconfident, Hendricks was too distracted by his plan to impress Kimara and did not notice Ruthar casting a spell until it was too late. The ground below Hendricks cracked loudly, turning to liquid and sinking him to his ankles before solidifying once more.
"Shit! Magi..." By the time Hendricks realized what was happening, Ruthar was already upon him, swinging feebly but with full force at Hendricks' groin.
'I will add a bit of wind magic into the attack and make sure to exert a great revenge on...'
In the corner of his eye, Ruthar saw a blur, faster than anything he had ever witnessed before. In an instant, he knew it was Kimara, oozing with bloodlust.
He instantly realized... Death.
***
It's wet...
Is this liquid from the sky?
Ruthar's eyes sprang open from the wetness he felt. He was still in the training yard, and it was raining.
'Damn, my head hurts a lot. Did I get hit?' Ruthar twitched his eyes and yawned, rethinking what he had done.
'Attacking a guy's balls, cheating in sword training just because I was perplexed... Man, what was I thinking? Things like this make me feel how imperfect I am as a human! Nothing has really changed; I am still a wimp in this life too.'
"Lord Ruthar, you're awake," a squeaky voice spoke from above him, and a face appeared above Ruthar's own.
It was Gandara, looking very much like her mother with her red eyes and the family-wide red hair, the same as Ruthar's. She possessed none of her father's features for now.
From her expression, she was very worried. Having seen him in the rain, she must have ran out to help while the two lovebirds reveled in this.
'I will at most catch a cold here, but healing magic will do me well enough to get through that.'
"Go, Gandara. I like the view here; it's peaceful," Ruthar spoke to convince her, but she only shook her head, and her eyes began to well up with tears.
'This is the peace I want. Let me enjoy it for a few seconds. Catching up to Rotexa is a far cry. I can't win this no matter how hard I try... Stop living in a fantasy, Mark Hemsworth. Even my magic is not going to cut it.'
"Lord Ruthar..." Gandara burst into tears, drenching Ruthar's face with more than just tears.
What Ruthar couldn't believe was:
'How is the daughter of the ruthless Kimara and the courageous, powerful sword master Hendricks this much of a crybaby? Did someone hack the novel? Probably a typographic error.'
"I know... You want to learn swordsmanship so much, but you don't know how. Sorry, so... sorry, you want to be no failure anymore, you want to live... Sorry, Master... Lord..." She fell headfirst onto his shoulder, raining her tears all over him.
This particularly froze Ruthar.
At this moment, he recalled he was chasing an impossible mission and forgot about what he wanted most: a life.
Maybe this was why the author created a character like Gandara.
'A character that healed loneliness, born from evil but good and contented even when she loses both eyes... That was another reason I decided to protect her. Just like me, she will sacrifice a lot for the plot of the novel, that is, if I don't intervene.'
"Gandara?" Ruthar waited for a reply but recieved more tears from her on his shoulder as though she was crying for a dying patient, so dramatic.
"The world is cold, the rain droplets are also cold too, but your tears are warm, you'll be my warmth." He hugged her back making up his mind to thrive harder and become a man deserving her respect.
"Thank you for believing in me, little sis."