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Gwen returned to the Opal Black Dormitory after the Combat Practice Class.

Her expression was tense, and despite Marian and other students expressing their concern, Gwen rejected all their kindness and isolated herself in the training grounds.

For hours, she swung her sword without eating.

Vroom! Whack! Thud! Thwack!

The “Sword of the Rock” is a swordsmanship style based on countering an opponent’s attacks. Naturally, she couldn’t practice the “Sword of the Rock” against a scarecrow.

So Gwen was unleashing the “Sword of the Rock” against a phantom enemy in her mind.

Until now, her main opponent had been her master, the swordmaster Jun Chuck. Since he was the strongest person she knew, it was easy to conjure up his image.

But today was different.

Today, the opponent she imagined was Instructor Ion.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

In her imagination, Instructor Ion approached with an expressionless face and launched an attack.

He could read the signs of an attack as well as he wore his stoic expression. He didn’t let out any unnecessary shouts or take deep breaths, delivering lethal blows between his normal breaths.

Gwen slightly bent her knees and braced her toes. She imagined a heavy rock firmly embedded in the ground. Thinking that rock was her, she blocked Instructor Ion’s attack.

“Ugh!”

The imagined Instructor Ion kicked her side faster than she could defend. The imagined Gwen was knocked into a daze from the impact, and Instructor Ion ruthlessly kneeled into her empty abdomen.

“Gah…!”

Of course, the real Gwen felt no damage. However, she unconsciously dropped her sword to the ground. The shock of being hit by Ion resurfaced vividly in her mind.

This was bad. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn’t defend against that attack. Instructor Ion’s attacks were far quicker than her ability to prepare a defense. Even if she managed to get into position, it still had the power to break through her guard.

Gwen picked up the training sword that had fallen to the ground.

After swinging the sword for hours without resting, her breath was at its limit, her whole body was shaking, and there wasn’t a single muscle that felt normal, yet she swung her sword again.

If she let go of the sword now, it would feel like she was giving up.

Giving up was something she hated more than dying.

“That swordsmanship doesn’t suit you.”

‘You don’t know anything…!’

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Whack! Thud! Crunch!

“Is there really a reason to insist on the Sword of the Rock?”

‘You don’t know anything about me…!!’

Crunch! Thud! Crack! Crack! Crunch!

Blinded by anger, Gwen swung her sword and broke the scarecrow’s neck, sending its head floating into the air.

Thud… The broken neck rolled helplessly across the training grounds.

At that sight, Gwen’s eyes gradually lost focus and darkened.

Her eyes were now gazing not at the training grounds, but into a distant past.

Far from the Empire, in a land to the East, there was a place called the “Holy Land of Swords.”

The people residing in the Holy Land of Swords were known as the “Sword Clan,” and each member was an outstanding swordsman.

The Tris family was a branch of the Sword Clan. To be precise, the ancestors of the Tris family, who were once members of the Sword Clan, married an Imperial citizen and started a family within the Empire.

The Sword Clan was a clan that was exclusivistic toward outsiders. Naturally, they didn’t like clan members leaving the Holy Land to build families outside.

If one wanted to marry an outsider, they had to bring both the wife and children to the Holy Land, but the Tris family’s ancestor wanted to live in the Empire with his family.

After prolonged conflicts and disputes, the Sword Clan gave up on bringing the Tris family back to the Holy Land in exchange for two conditions.

First, the ancestor of the Tris family must teach the “Sword of the Rock” as an exclusive inheritance. This meant that no one else was to be taught swordsmanship to prevent the techniques of the Sword Clan from leaking.

The second was that the Tris family had to maintain the lineage of the sword. If the one to inherit the “Sword of the Rock” were to disappear for any reason and the Tris family were to lose their identity as a sword clan, they would have to leave the Empire and be absorbed into the Sword Clan.

Gwen’s father was the head of the Tris family and the only inheritor of the “Sword of the Rock.”

Gwen enjoyed learning swordsmanship from her father. It wasn’t because she loved learning to swordfight, but because that was the only time she could spend with her caring yet busy father.

But happy times are always far too short.

“Father, don’t go!”

“Gwen. I’m really sorry. I have to….”

“I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to hear you say you’re sorry or that you love me! Just stay by my side! You promised to be with me for my birthday this year! Why do you keep trying to leave? Is it such a bother to be with me?”

“It’s not that. My daughter, I’m sorry. I promise I will return.”

“You’re a liar! You always say things and never keep them! I hate you more than anyone in the world! If that’s the case, then don’t ever come back!”

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… Gwen.”

Later, she learned that her father had left to protect people from the war against the demon race.

Gwen, as a child, didn’t fully understand what war was, but she did know that her father had left for something difficult and painful.

She thought she should apologize.

When her father came back, when he returned, she wanted to apologize for the harsh words she had said. That she hadn’t meant to say not to come back, and her words of hatred were a lie. That in fact, she loved him. That she said those things hoping he wouldn’t leave her side.

That was what she planned to say.

But three years after the war began, Gwen’s father returned.

They said his corpse was so torn apart that they could barely recover his head. It was such a gruesome corpse that they couldn’t dare to show it to his young daughter. She heard it was a horrific death.

Gwen always regretted it.

Had she known it would be her last encounter with her father,

She would never have said such things.

Before she had time to mourn her father’s death, the Tris family was thrown into chaos after losing the only inheritor of the “Sword of the Rock.”

The “Sword of the Rock” is passed down solely as an exclusive inheritance. With no time to raise a proper successor before the inheritor died, the treaty with the Sword Clan meant the Tris family should disband and be absorbed into the Sword Clan.

Breaking the treaty was not an option. Otherwise, they would incur the wrath of the Sword Clan. The treaty was sacred to the Sword Clan, and breaking it carelessly would incur a blood price.

Even now, there were numerous opinions about finding a new successor from a cadet branch or negotiating with the Sword Clan. But no appropriate solution was suggested. After all, there was no one in the family who could teach the “Sword of the Rock.”

At that time, she realized her father had been under strong pressure from relatives to bear a male heir while missing his deceased wife terribly, and due to his worries about his daughter getting hurt, he had kept refusing to take a new wife.

He had cherished and loved only her as his one and only child.

She realized far too late.

At this rate, it was clear the Tris family would soon disappear.

Then Gwen stepped up.

“I will be the successor.”

“You? But you’re… a girl.”

“A girl can’t master the ‘Sword of the Rock!’ Don’t be ridiculous!”

“My father taught me the ‘Sword of the Rock.’ I didn’t have time to learn much, but it’s all in my head. So whether you guys acknowledge it or not, I’m already the successor of the Sword of the Rock.”

If she walked the path of the sword, her father’s family wouldn’t have to disappear.

And aside from the family matters, Gwen couldn’t give up the “Sword of the Rock,” the only keepsake her father left behind.

From that point, a grueling training began. No one taught her the “Sword of the Rock,” but based on the hazy memories of the swordsmanship her father had taught her, she diligently taught herself.

She learned not only the basics her father had taught her but also the posture he had shown her while swinging his sword in the training ground, replicating it.

For the first time in her life, Gwen felt grateful for being a genius. Thanks to her talent in understanding ten things from teaching her one, she was able to restore most of the “Sword of the Rock” without anyone’s help.

However, the more she learned, the more she realized the truth.

She would never be able to complete the “Sword of the Rock.”

No matter how much she trained her muscles and strengthened her body, the physical limitations of being a woman were clear. Even if she put in the same effort, a man’s muscles would become much stronger, thicker, and firmer than a woman’s. And that was precisely what was most important in the “Sword of the Rock.”

Her relatives looked at Gwen with pitying expressions.

“What a shame. With such talent, but she’s a girl.”

“If she had been born a boy, she would have surely mastered the ‘Sword of the Rock.’”

“Is this the end of the Tris family? No, if that girl gives birth to a son, it might not be.”

Just because she was a girl.

If only she hadn’t been born a girl.

Gwen had grown tired of being a woman. No matter how much she trained, her body wouldn’t gain muscles, and the relatives who were betting on an unborn boy while she was right there drove her mad. She was tired and disappointed with herself for not being able to master her father’s swordsmanship.

She wanted to show everyone. To her relatives, to herself, and to her father, who was watching over her from the heavens.

That she could do it too. That she would master the “Sword of the Rock” and become her father’s rightful heir. She wanted to say that proudly.

Just as she felt the limits of self-study drawing near, a man from the Sword Clan who had mastered the “Sword of the Rock” came to the Tris family after the war ended.

He said he had come to see if the Tris family was fulfilling the treaty, but it turned out, he had actually met her father during the war and had come to check on how his daughter was doing.

She later learned that the man was called “Swordmaster” by the world.

Gwen kneeled before the Swordmaster and desperately pleaded.

“Please teach me so I can complete the ‘Sword of the Rock.’”

At first, the Swordmaster declined her request, but for some unknown reason, he eventually accepted her as his disciple.

And now.

Gwen stood in this place, the Philion Imperial Academy, as commanded by her master.

With only the conviction to master the “Sword of the Rock.”

“Phew….”

Gwen gripped her training sword and stood before the new scarecrow.

For her, there was nothing but the “Sword of the Rock.” No matter what anyone said, she could not give up this sword. She renewed her determination in her heart and swung her sword at the scarecrow.

With this frustration as a catalyst, she would start again from the beginning. Although she was still lacking, if she kept training diligently without rest, she would surely improve from now.

Gwen was a genius, but ironically, because she was a genius, she also knew all too well the limits of her talent.

That was why she strove.

There was nothing else she could do but strive.

If she had no talent at all, it might have been different. But she had already climbed to the heights she could reach with her formidable talent. No more space was left for her to ascend with talent alone.

Now, there was nothing left but effort.

So Gwen clenched her teeth and swung her sword once more.

In that moment, she felt the presence of another person in the training grounds, which was only occupied by her. Since the opponent was making no effort to hide their footsteps, she immediately realized someone was approaching.

Gwen took a deep breath and set her sword down. Who could it possibly be at this late hour?

“Gwen Tris.”

The person who entered the training ground was Ion.

Gwen’s shoulders tensed with apprehension.

“…Instructor Ion.”

Realizing the situation after seeing the broken scarecrow and the sweat-drenched Gwen, Ion spoke.

“Were you training until this hour?”

“Yes. What brings you to the training grounds, Instructor?”

“I came to talk to you.”

To talk. Upon hearing that, Gwen’s expression faintly frowned.

It was no doubt what he would say—something along the lines of giving up the “Sword of the Rock.” She didn’t want to have such a conversation.

Gwen still held residual animosity towards Ion. While she was at least respectful since he was an instructor, inwardly, she felt quite uncomfortable with the situation.

Just as she was about to use the late hour as an excuse to refuse the conversation, she noticed Ion retrieving a sword from the corner of the training grounds.

Gwen suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

“…Instructor? Why are you suddenly…?”

“Get into position.”

“B-but you said we were going to talk?”

Ion calmly replied while aiming his training sword at her.

“This is the conversation.”

Gwen’s mouth fell open in shock.

 

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