Kays Translations

Chapter 29: With the Dark Knights [Afterwards]

The next day, Ren left the mansion just after sunrise and set out for the Lion sanctuary.

Although he was still tired from yesterday, he was relieved to find that he felt unexpectedly at ease. Not willing to rest at this level, Ren was filled with even more motivation than yesterday.

Despite the early morning, the Lion's Sanctuary was still full of knights, just as it was yesterday.

Today Ren met up with Edgar as soon as he arrived in the imperial capital and visited the Lion's Sanctuary, so unlike yesterday, he went straight inside.

The first thing he did was to go to the training hall at the far end of the atrium, and he found the same large man he saw yesterday.

“That was fast.”

“I'm still in training, so I have to work hard when I can.”

“That's a good attitude. I want the young knights to hear it.”

Not to imply that all young regular knights are like that, the man adds.

“Many of us think that becoming a knight is the end of the line. The shamefulness that makes us want to question what we are as knights is really a luxury that has been created in our hearts.”

This is true regardless of the style.

Ren, who was enjoying listening to the story, which he didn’t often hear, followed the man's example and relaxed his body for training.

Edgar, who was also waiting at the Lion's Sanctuary earlier, said.

“Today you will review yesterday's training with me, and if there is time, I will give you some technical instruction with someone else in a real battle.”

“Well, Edgar-sama, in that case, I will duel him as I did yesterday.”

"Oh? Is that all right?”

"Yes. I'm off-duty today, so I can cross swords with him without worrying about the time.”

“I appreciate that. Then come on.”

Yesterday, this man had indicated that he was a swordsman.

There is no shortage of opponents. Ren would welcome a confrontation with a strong man if he thought he could learn a lot from it, and with Edgar's guidance, he would love it.

A few minutes later, Ren finished getting ready and began to review yesterday's lesson with Edgar.

The dark winter morning sky was gradually getting brighter. Edgar is a man who believes that there is no victory in actual combat without theory, so the review was carefully timed.

------Two, then three more days of this sort of thing followed.

The year finally came to an end, and Ren still immersed himself in the training of hard swordsmanship.

He had planned to work with Licia on monster slaying training, but since she and Lessard were no longer able to afford it due to their work as nobles, it was mutually convenient for both of them.

Edgar was Ulysses' steward, so he couldn’t always be at Ren's side, but Ren continued to hone his skills in hard swordsmanship here at the Lion's Sanctuary.

One morning, Edgar came to check on Ren and rubbed his beard.

"Have you noticed, Edgar-sama?”

A knight stepped up to him and said.

“Since when did Ren-dono look like that?”

“Since yesterday. He has been working hard every day until he can no longer move, and he seems to be on the verge of a breakthrough.”

“No wonder he looks different.”

For the knights of the Lion’s Sanctuary, Ren is not an enemy to be eliminated.

However, even though they were training, they were using hard sword technique, in other words, the power of cloak, to confront Ren. Ren's body must have been incredibly exhausted from the constant use of the hard sword.

However, he never gave up and continued to work at it.

“...... I really think he’s going to master the cloak."

“I'm not surprised. The other day I showed you the qualities of Ren-dono, in addition to his hard-working personality, there is nothing strange about it. Even so, Ren-dono has been training hard ever since the day he first came here.”

"Yes, because his body will learn to feel it by constantly receiving the hard sword.”

Edgar turned on his heel as soon as he heard the knight's words.

“Edgar-sama, is it okay not to talk to Ren-dono?”

“Yes, it might be better if I don't speak to him at this time.”

Edgar swung his sword in the center of the training ground, his cheeks relaxed as he looked once again at Ren, who continued to block the hard sword.

Ren is now struggling to get a grip on something.

Edgar was not able to call out to him and interfere with him.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

It was the tenth day of the year, counting from before the beginning of the new year.

It was about eight o'clock in the morning when Edgar looked at his watch and said, "It's about time”.

On this day, Edgar was scheduled to accompany Ren in his training all day.

He approached the large man who was training with the other knights and asked him to stand in today based on his review.

The encounter was the same as before, but somewhat different.

Ren was still struggling with the strength of his opponent's muscles and hard sword techniques, but his movements were different. His body was still tired, but there was no stiffness. The presence of the margin in the sword's flash was able to counteract the impact of the giant sword.

“......Hoh!"

The man couldn’t help but be surprised at this and grinned.

The man was amused to see how much he had grown in just ten days.

Eventually, just before lunch.

For the first time, Ren met the power of the giant sword head-on.

(---- What is it now?)

I don't understand.

How was he able to block the giant sword so differently from a moment ago?

The first time he saw the sword, he was surprised to learn that the shock he felt did not come from the core of his body, but was limited to his fingertips----.

Edgar also felt admiration and the edges of his lips relaxed.

The man muttered, "At last”.

Ren wavered there, his body shaking. He had been training without a moment to catch his breath, and his body needed a break.

“That's enough. We will continue after lunch, Ren-dono.”

“Yes...... I understand.”

Ren thanked the man who had been his opponent, and Edgar led him out of the training hall. The lion's sanctuary doesn’t have a cafeteria, so they left the lion's sanctuary to go to a restaurant outside.

“Hey."

Another knight asked the man who had been Ren's opponent and called out to him.

“The last one?”

“...... Ah."

The man showed his own hand to the knight who came to him.

His hand was shaking slightly.

It was an uncomfortable feeling that he was made to remember in reverse when the giant sword was blocked.

Without knowing they were having such discussion, Ren closed his mouth and thought, while Edgar led him away.

He heard his own footsteps advancing through the Lion Sanctuary, staring off into the distance somewhere.

Edgar, who was guiding him, did not want to speak to him. He knew that every second of this silence was an asset for Ren to grow.

The silence between them continued throughout the meal and most of the time back at the Lion's sanctuary. The few words they exchanged were limited to ordering their meals and talking about their return to the Sanctuary.

It wasn’t until three hours after the afternoon training began that they were able to have a conversation of any kind.

After reviewing the morning lesson, Ren went back to dueling with the large man.

Ren was chasing something he had felt in the morning, and suddenly felt a heat.

Deep inside his body, he felt a strength similar to the impact he felt when he felt the impact created when he received the hard sword technique, this time from his hand.

Something filled his fingertips, his hands gripping the sword.

“Have you opened the gate?"

The other knights, who had been observing the change in Ren's appearance, watched with bated breath.

Ren, wielding his sword in the center of the training area, suddenly stopped moving and stood still.

Seeing this, his opponent, the large knight, also fell silent.

(......)

Ren's body, which had repeatedly blocked the swing of the giant sword, suddenly calmed down. The heat that had been building up in his body disappeared.

Gripping his training sword, Ren recalled the day he had broken the crystal ball in the vial.

The fatigue was gone from his hands, his fingertips, and his entire body, which had been suffering from severe wear and tear.

The truth was that the weariness had not disappeared, but now, for the first time, Ren felt a kind of all-powerful sensation.

“Can you do it again, please?"

Ren asked the man.

Ren who had been quiet suddenly began to speak, and everyone could see a further change in his eyes.

His eyes were different from those of the previous morning.

His eyes were so calm that they thought they saw a part of what Edgar had called a lion before.

“Ah! Shall we go?”

Unconsciously, the man put his muscles into his hand holding the huge sword.

The man unconsciously let his whole body boil over more and more.

He swung down from above Ren's head with a much faster and sharper swing than before.

Ren, who was waiting with a relaxed motion, but with a momentary contradiction of holding the sword, blocks the giant sword on the spot.

"Wha ----!"

The swords clash with each other, and an intense, ear-piercing sound echoes through the air.

On the contrary, the man who swung the huge sword backed up slightly.

Ren swung his arm toward the man this time, switching swords.

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Nu......guh......ohoh......!"

A moment later, the man blocked Ren's swing.

A shockwave shook the sky and spread from between the man and Ren to fill the atrium.

The man dropped the huge sword to the ground with a clang.

The sweat that had been on his forehead for some time dripped onto the ground, and he smiled, showing his white teeth as he regulated his short breath.

"Edgar-sama ......!"

“Yes. It still seems to be limited at hand, but it's a frightening prospect."

What a show they have been given!

Edgar walks away clapping his hands and walks over to the stunned Ren, who is looking at his own hands.

“Congratulations."

It wasn’t something sudden.

It was just that the efforts Ren had put in over the months leading up to this moment in his training in the art of hard swordsmanship had borne fruit.

His own qualities were definitely a part of it.

Through Edgar's sword fights, and through the stand-up matches up to this day.

He finally got a feel for it, and now he's done it.

“Now it is limited to your hands, but in a few months, you will wear it all over your body.”

“Then, this is.....”

"Yes. That's exactly what it feels like.”

Nao tells Ren, who is still staring at his own hand, the words Edgar has always wanted to say to him.

"---- you are a hard-sword wielder from this day forward, Ren-dono.”

The hard sword swordsman, Ren Ashton.

The hand that holds the sword is still one hand, but it is clothed in the magical power that he has refined.

On this day, he finally took his first step as a hard sword user.

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