Gawain Lenard was the greatest Sword Arts user in the whole Eastern Empire, arguably the greatest in the whole world during my time— though he always disputed this and claimed there was one who was greater than him.
But, most importantly… he was one of my closest friends. Unlike the many I associated with, he was a meathead, thinking with his muscles. Still, he was smart enough to realize his limits without a higher proficiency in Magic.
Perhaps that was one thing we had in common that brought us together… we were both Inept!
“Yo, Lewis!” The muscular beast of a man called out to me one day.
As usual, I was doing the most enjoyable thing one could find me engaged in late in the evening— studying.
“You should really let go of your books and do a lot more!”
Gawain had been pestering me for so very long on this very matter, but on this very day, he wouldn’t let me off the hook no matter how much I whined about his persistence.
“You have a great body, Lewis…”
“What the heck, Gawain? Don’t tell me you swing that way!” I quickly responded with mock disgust.
For a moment we both laughed at my not-so-true reply. Gawain had no wife or child, but… he slept with a lot of women— especially when he was drunk. I had to pull him out of so many messes in the past too.
That was the kind of man the greatest swordsman was!
“But, I’m serious Lewis. You’re letting your body go to waste and only exercising your mind. To be a complete person… you need to strengthen both!”
By the time I looked at his face, it was devoid of any tinge of unseriousness. He had the same expression as when he was about to engage in battle, absolute focus and determination!
“You… what are you implying?”
My voice was hoarse and slow, as though trying to dissuade myself from the conclusion I had already reached from what my dear friend was suggesting.
“Lewis… why don’t you learn Martial Arts? I will personally coach you— even the art of the sword!”
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‘It has been so long after that now…’ My mind trailed as I stared at Edward.
Something about him reminded me of Gawain, which was perhaps why I took an interest in the young lad. A thought flashed in my mind that perhaps he was one of Gawain’s countless descendants caused by him spreading his seed to so many women. That would explain a lot, but it wasn’t entirely plausible either.
In any case, what I needed to do hadn’t changed… using my skills, I would crush my foe— just like Gawain taught me!
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“Begin!”
Our match commenced the moment a member of the third party signaled it and acted as our referee. At his signal, dust was launched from the earth as both our bodies moved from where we stood— mine and Edward’s.
WHOOOOSHH
Without hesitation in his eyes and body, Edward charged at me in a simple, straight pattern. Thanks to this, he easily transversed the gap that existed between me and him.
SWOOOSH
His blunt sword slashed at me with remarkable speed, one so great that a normal person would not have seen it coming. However, thanks to my already-peaked body state, I saw the flow quite well.
Bending my back, I pushed my body down and dodged the clean hit while gripping my sword readily.
My eyes caught Edward gasping with surprise, flustered by my quick motion. For someone who claimed to be a Magic-User, such fluid movements betrayed such disposition.
A smile formed on my face as I twisted the lower part of my body and sent my leg flying to his face while supporting myself with my hands on the ground.
FWOOOSH! and BAM! My legs made contact.
“Gurkk!” Edward groaned, feeling the brunt of my offensive move.
Fortunately, he had already moved his hand to block my kick, therefore mitigating its effects. His body was sent a few inches back thanks to the recoil from my blow and I used this chance to further twist my legs to give another hit while ensuring I got back to my standing pose.
Edward, as expected, blocked the second hit and gritted his teeth once more— allowing me to make a flip and return to a normal stance a couple of meters from him.
“Huu…” Nearly visible breath escaped from my lungs through my lips as I set my gaze on Edward.
My body was already feeling excited since this would be the first time since reincarnation that I would be involved in physical combat without the use of magic. Well, to be fair… my body was already being influenced by mana in the first place.
Thanks to the multiple cores I had, channels had formed like veins within me. As a result of the Mana flowing constantly through those channels, as well as my constant tempering, my body’s base state was far superior to a normal one.
“You…” Edward’s eyes narrowed at me both in suspicion and added annoyance.
Judging from his reaction, it was clear he never expected me to be so skilled in combat. Not only had I evaded a strike for him, but I also counterattacked and created more space between us.
Still, merely doing this wasn’t enough. After all, I hadn’t even started using my sword.
“If you keep fighting in an unrefined way, you’ll lose badly,” I spoke.
Loud gasps filled the area as everyone apparently felt the sting of my words for some reason. They looked at each other with disbelieving faces, as though wondering how I could say such a thing.
‘Eh? It’s true, isn’t it? What was with his form? Even a noob could predict that!’
“You dare… call the Martial School of Fundamental Sword Arts unrefined? Who do you think you are?” Edward growled in fury.
After he said this, I fall silent. For a moment, I did not speak. While others may have thought of this as a sign of fear from Edward’s rage, it was something else entirely. I was simply confused.
‘Martial School of what and what now?!’