My childish dream of creating the ultimate magic swordsmanship.
I found that romance in Japan today.
When people who are serious about swordsmanship gather and form a lineage, it turns out they can develop something so much further.
That was my brief impression after watching a match of Katsuhata Emika from back in the day.
However, the very fact that such a place in Japan shows great interest in my unique magic made me feel a bit embarrassed.
“Is it true that NoName-chan really created such an amazing magic?”
Emika casually asked me just before the duel began.
“It’s not that amazing.”
“Not amazing? It’s hard to find any 1st-circle magic with that kind of power anywhere in the world! Moreover, the idea of using ‘Arhen’ and ‘Hyprite’ runes for 1st-circle magic is nothing short of genius!”
These people have really analyzed a lot.
While it’s true that developing unique magic isn’t easy, finding the right runes has always been a headache.
The difference between ‘discovering’ and ‘inventing’ magic depends on one’s perspective, but it’s generally said that placing the runes first and then finding the corresponding appropriate magic is considered ‘discovering’ magic.
For example, that’s how the ‘Akashic Records’ or ‘Alchemist’ magic works.
That’s why it has existed through past lives and this life as well.
On the other hand, ‘inventing’ refers to a magician purposefully designing the logical structure of magic and placing the appropriate runes.
Lower-circle magic tends to be less flexible, and large syllable runes are not commonly used.
In that sense, I was lucky to have found ‘Arhen’ and ‘Hyprite.’
“I didn’t come here to fight NoName-chan. If we can work together to develop the magic called Adela even further…”
“I thought Katsuhata-chan was the silent type, but you talk a lot. Was it like this when you lost to that European person?”
As I tried to gently provoke her, Emika’s eyes suddenly became fierce.
As expected of a young child, she showed a weak side to these petty provocations.
“I joined the Katsuhata Sect when I was four, but it wasn’t until I turned ten that I could finally receive permission from my teacher to wield a sword. I believe clever NoName-chan understands what that means.”
Emika stepped forward with her left foot, lifting her heel slightly off the ground.
At the same time, she slightly bent her knees, took a diagonal stance, and raised both arms horizontally above her waist.
Is this karate?
She trained for six years without a sword, so she probably thinks she can beat me with her eyes closed.
I took a coin from my pocket and placed it on my thumb.
It’s a useful item to use as a starting signal when no referee is present.
“Katsuhata Emika, I’ve always wanted to duel with geniuses who work hard like you.”
“…?”
“When facing problems that cannot be solved by effort or talent, I’ve really been curious about how others respond.”
*
Ping-
The coin thrown by NoName sliced through the air, spinning rapidly.
The metal object could not withstand gravity and fell toward the cold floor.
Ping-
As the clear second sound resonated softly, NoName cloaked her entire body in aura and rushed toward Emika like a beam of light.
The distance narrowed in an instant.
“That stings!”
NoName extended her left foot as she charged toward Emika.
Such obvious tricks won’t work on me!
But Emika’s gaze, tracking my movements, was anything but ordinary.
Thanks to her solid guard stance, NoName’s foot collided with her left arm.
To make matters worse, Emika had caught her ankle in a kick.
If I pull her leg now, I can throw her off balance and follow-up with a pounding…
Reality is just an extension of practice.
Emika was trying to replicate a mechanical response honed through countless experiences.
“Are you going to focus?”
In the meantime, NoName’s voice pierced through her thoughts.
“Huh?”
NoName’s body spun quickly in mid-air.
Resistance vanished from the leg she was holding. It was due to a shift in NoName’s center of gravity.
Emika’s decision not to release the ankle turned out to be a miscalculation.
She saw the sole of NoName’s slipper in her line of sight.
Kwa-zi-zi-zi-zi-ck!
A disturbing noise echoed through the auditorium.
It was the sound of Emika’s aura barrier being shattered by overwhelming shock.
“What…?”
Was it because Emika had crouched low? NoName’s freed right foot landed a direct hit to her forehead.
An unorthodox back kick.
In that short time, NoName abandoned recovering her leg and instead extended her opposite leg to mount an offense.
Emika’s body began to topple backward.
Swa-a-ck!
Before her back even hit the ground, NoName grasped her collar and slammed her down.
Bam-!
“Ugh!”
An intense shock hit Emika’s back, causing her to moan.
“Oops, my bad… I instinctively slammed you instead of holding you. Are you okay?”
NoName hurriedly released her grip and dusted off her hands as she stood up effortlessly.
Lying sprawled on the ground, Emika blinked her wide eyes, stunned.
Did I just lose my balance after taking a single hit?
Without a sword, one can tumble on the ground multiple times during a duel without issue.
But if one is armed with a sword, they must maintain their stance at all costs.
That’s why in Japan, from a young age, children practice strengthening their lower body for five to ten years.
NoName didn’t ambush her, nor did Emika let her guard down.
Emika wobbled but managed to get back on her feet.
“How about it? I guess you should pick up the sword now?”
NoName smiled, her eye bags lifting into rounded crescents.
But Emika couldn’t lift the sword.
Wielding a sword against a six-year-younger opponent would be shameful in itself.
Moreover, admitting defeat in that brief moment would be too much for her pride to allow.
“I think I understand why a talent like you lost.”
“Is it because I didn’t practice enough?”
“No. It’s because you practiced too much.”
“…?”
During the post-defeat press conference, her teacher and all the instructors explained that her loss was due to insufficient practice.
But saying it was due to over-practice… what kind of nonsense is this?
NoName shrugged her shoulders as if to explain her reasoning.
“I thought if you had predicted my attack just now, you would’ve definitely won.”
“Of course…”
Balancing on one leg is difficult enough; if both feet leave the ground, a person cannot move at all.
NoName replicated her previous technique and demonstrated the next move.
“You still have both arms, right? Why do you think you can balance your body just on your legs?”
Even if Emika endured a kick that would shatter her skull and didn’t release NoName’s leg, she would have used her hands to touch the ground and continue the assault.
“Truly, swordsmen are the same now as they were then… Who did you mainly practice with?”
“Of course, with seniors and instructors… Ah.”
“Those are all sword users, aren’t they?”
It’s like how a left-handed table tennis player has an advantage over others with the same skill level.
Victory in reality isn’t determined simply by attributes like strength or agility.
“That’s why prejudice is frightening. You probably unconsciously thought that once my attack was over, it would naturally be your turn. While you had to retrieve your sword, our bodies aren’t that simple.”
Rather, because Emika trained assuming her opponent was a swordsman, she likely couldn’t fully unleash her talent.
“The outcome relies on knowing yourself 50% and knowing your opponent 50%. You’re heavily skewed towards knowing yourself at nearly 90 to 10.”
“NoName-chan… are you really a genius?”
“This isn’t something you can know just by being a genius. It’s just… no, it’s something you can grasp through various experiences.”
NoName glanced around and discovered the wooden sword Emika had originally brought at her waist.
Even though it was just a training sword, it came with a magnificent sword sheath.
Holding back the urge to touch the back of her neck in disbelief, NoName said:
“May I borrow this for a moment? Is it okay for me to use it freely?”
“Ah, yes. I don’t mind.”
“See, this sword is… you’ve probably heard that you should treat your sword like a clone, right?”
“In the Katsuhata Sect, we believe ‘the sword is the true body.’”
“Oh my, that’s a bit too arrogant of a thought. In a life-and-death match, if you lose your sword, will you die? Sure, because there’s a 99% chance of dying, that’s why they say to value your sword, but that’s not entirely true. What if your sword breaks or gets destroyed during a duel?”
“My sword will never break.”
“So let’s say.”
“There’s no such thing as ‘let’s say,’ NoName-chan.”
“Ha…”
NoName couldn’t hide her discomfort and let out a deep sigh.
Why’s she being so rigid when I’m trying to give advice?
NoName infused her aura into the wooden sword she held.
From the state of the wood, it seemed like it had been made long ago.
“Emika, there’s no such thing as absolute in this world. Let me show you right now.”
Every object has a limit to how much aura it can contain.
Humans evolved in a way that they could hold aura hearts because the other organs couldn’t contain the aura they generated.
If one tries to hold in more aura than this limit, the aura will express itself by turning color and dispersing into the surrounding area or attempting to explode, which is the phenomenon people often call ‘sword energy.’
But what if I keep pushing more than that?
Overly concentrated energy can cause a ‘contradiction.’
NoName intended to completely destroy the wooden sword by pouring all her aura into it.
What mattered was not the amount of aura, but its intensity.
She just needed to inject more than ten times the maximum capacity for a very short time.
NoName’s golden aura began to fill the wooden sword.
Emika’s eyes widened in surprise at the quite dense aura.
She could feel the aura’s color, temperature, and even catch a whiff of lavender fragrance.
Why isn’t it exploding?
But surprisingly, NoName was the one panicking.
She had never concentrated her aura to this extent before in her life.
The wooden sword greedily absorbed NoName’s aura with no sign of exploding whatsoever.
This only ignited her determination.
If I can’t break this today, I’ll never live it down.
After making such bold claims to Emika, failing to break a mere training sword would be the ultimate disgrace for NoName.
[Lazy: Medusa]
Green sparks crackled as they wrapped around the wooden sword.
As she couldn’t break the sword with her aura, NoName thought of changing some of her aura’s attributes internally to clash opposing auras against each other.
Since handling two types of aura simultaneously was a demanding task, beads of sweat dripped from NoName’s forehead.
“Huff! Now!”
Boom-!
“Kyah!”
Wooden fragments splintered and flew in all directions, even reaching the nearby children.
“Ah, are you okay, kids?”
“Yes! We were just surprised by the loud noise!”
Fortunately, the fragments landed beneath their feet, and no one was hurt.
The wooden sword was shattered to the point that not a single piece could be recognized.
“No!”
Emika plopped down on the floor with a pained expression.
“Did you see? There’s no such thing as absolute. If during a match your sword were to break like this, what would you—”
“Our treasure!”
“Huh?”
“What have you done, NoName!”
“No…”
“This is the wooden treasure granted to us by our master from the Katsuhata Sect!”
Tears flowed down the iron-hearted Katsuhata Emika’s cheeks.
What NoName had broken wasn’t just a wooden sword, but rather Emika’s spirit.
*
Tap-
The old man placed a steaming cup of tea down.
“Thank you for allowing such an impromptu tour of your facilities, but to be honest, I still feel a bit reluctant, Principal Gu On-yu.”
Sitting opposite him, Principal Gu On-yu refilled his tea.
“Not at all. The era of hiding talents is over, isn’t it? I just hope the children can gain broader experiences through mutual exchanges.”
“Broad experiences, huh…”
The old man’s white eyebrows lifted in a question.
Koizumi Yoshihiro was an elder of the Katsuhata Sect and Emika’s personal teacher.
The trip to Korea, initiated by Emika’s stubbornness, had somewhat sudden aspects.
Despite the staunch opposition from the council of elders, she declared she would visit the academy during her rest period.
It could have been viewed as rude to drop in on someone else’s educational setting, but luckily, Principal Gu On-yu had an open-minded perspective.
“I heard that Katsuhata-chan recently hit a wall.”
As Principal Gu On-yu subtly referenced the National Exchange Tournament, the elder’s hands trembled slightly.
“Well… it seems everyone in the world knows about that. Truly, I feel quite ashamed.”
“There’s no need to feel ashamed. It’s better for geniuses to encounter walls early on. Ultimately, they will manage to overcome them, so I believe it’s more important than ever for adults to trust and wait for them. I hope that through this opportunity, Katsuhata-chan can learn something from our NoName.”
“If I’m not mistaken, NoName-chan is only eight this year, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct?”
Principal Gu On-yu smiled brightly.
Koizumi noticed that the principal seemed to be equating NoName with Emika on the same level.
No matter how condescending one might be, to compare Emika to a six-year younger child was something he simply couldn’t tolerate.
“I heard that NoName-chan has never formally dueled before.”
“That’s right. She’s too short, so this year it was tough… She can punch with the best of them, but isn’t it a shame?”
“Haha, yes, it is a shame…”
Unlike the Kyoto people who were used to indirect expressions, it was difficult to tell whether Principal Gu On-yu’s words were sincere.
Amidst all sorts of thoughts swirling in his mind, Koizumi heard a definitive stance from the principal.
“There’s a saying in Korea: Even an eighty-year-old can learn from a three-year-old. If you think Katsuhata-chan won’t gain anything just because NoName is young, that’s a serious misjudgment.”
“I meant no insult to NoName-chan; I’m sorry.”
“Of course, I hope that NoName can feel the high wall of the world through Katsuhata-chan as well. NoName is still young. Besides, she was trapped in a capsule for a long time, so her real social experience is barely over a year. That’s why I allowed this meeting; I didn’t want NoName to be caught in this small well called the academy.”
Principal Gu On-yu had received recent updates regarding NoName from her homeroom teacher.
She had been reported to be teaching magic and aura to all her classmates during lunch.
Some parents had voiced small complaints about this, but since all the students had ‘freely’ chosen this, the teacher had no grounds for intervention.
However, it was also true that NoName had become a bit too overzealous lately.
This could very well trigger a detrimental effect down the line.
“I’ve heard that young Japanese wizards have started using not only swordsmanship but also Western magic… and NoName is an absolute expert in that field. Do you still oppose it in the Katsuhata Sect?”
“Of course! That’s a hindrance to reaching the essence of the sword.”
“Haha, I understand. Even though there’s a bit of an age gap, I’m sure there will be realizations to discover through conversation. A bet would be fine too.”
“Principal Gu has always had great insight, so I trust you. Oh, by the way, the tea is plenty fine now.”
It had already been an hour since Emika left, saying she would briefly meet NoName.
As the dull meeting time with the principal dragged on endlessly, a bodyguard of Emika knocked on the principal’s office door.
Koizumi turned, leaning an arm over the back of his chair, and saw a disheveled-looking bodyguard rush in.
It looked like he had run over in a hurry, his hair tousled.
“Teacher! Teacher! Something serious happened! We need to go quickly!”
“What’s going on? What’s serious?”
“The treasure…! The treasure meant only for the Katsuhata successor…!”
“The treasure? The inherited sword you mean?”
“Yes! The inherited sword has… been broken…!”
“Broken? How did that happen?”
Koizumi doubted his ears.
Did the sword that has been passed down from the 19th century to the 3rd century break?
He glanced back at Principal Gu On-yu, who also could not hide her astonished expression, eyebrows furrowed in disbelief.
“Just for a moment of distraction, the kids were tussling…”
“Tussling? How could that lead to the inherited sword breaking? Guide me!”
