Chapter 12 – Auditore da Sicilia (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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By the time I arrived at the training grounds, Chloe was already sitting on the platform, idly swinging her feet back and forth in crisscrossing arcs.

Whatever had her so happy, she was even humming to herself in a cheerful mood. As I walked closer, she whipped her head around toward me and waved in greeting.

“Oh! Geom-ma, you’re here?”

“What, you’ve already been here? It’s not even seven-thirty yet.”

“Ah, I just got here too!”

“Just now… what time?”

“Six-thirty……”

“We said eight o’clock.”

Instead of answering, Chloe scratched her head and gave me an awkward smile. I let out a small sigh and looked her over.

Her outfit had more effort put into it than usual. Like Abel a few days ago, she was wearing tights and a crop top, and over that she had thrown on a loose training jacket with baggy sleeves.

She always wore a wide school skirt, so I hadn’t noticed before, but seen like this, Chloe’s figure was more defined than one would expect from her small frame.

Now this was a rare sight.

The solid abs clearly outlined across her stomach and the lean muscles visible through the skin-tight tights made it easy to understand why Chloe was so strong.

After I stared for a while, Chloe glanced at me carefully while covering her mouth with the sleeve hanging over her palm. Her round eyes curved into a strange little half-moon.

She really was cute.

Keeping a composed expression, I held out one of the practice wooden swords hanging at my waist to her. I had bought them at the campus mart on discount for thirty thousand won each, so they felt a little light, but I hadn’t had many other options. Taking the wooden sword, Chloe looked down at it for a moment before speaking cautiously.

“Weren’t we supposed to do this with real swords?”

“Huh?”

Had I heard her wrong? This wasn’t some life-or-death duel, so what kind of lunatics trained with real blades? No wonder that chilling Japanese sword I’d seen before was hanging at Chloe’s waist. She was a girl who could look unbelievably cute one second and then send chills down your spine over something completely out of nowhere the next.

“It’s training. If we use real swords, there’s too much risk that we’ll both get seriously hurt. For now, let’s stick to wooden swords.”

“…You’re kind.”

Muttering in a voice that trailed away on its own, Chloe gripped the wooden sword in one hand and swung it through the air a few times. Whoomp. Whoomp. The vicious sound of air being cut rang out. Just how strong did someone’s grip had to be to make that kind of noise with a wooden sword?

Watching her in silence, I couldn’t help clicking my tongue inwardly. If Chloe brought one down in earnest, anyone’s skull would probably split apart like a smashed watermelon.

I wrapped both hands around the body of my own sword. I’d always only held a blade one-handed before, so even though this was just a wooden sword, gripping a longsword like this felt new. Fortunately, since it was outside the required dimensions, the blessing did not manifest.

Not bad.

Before the spar began, I opened my status window one last time to confirm things.

Flash.

== ==

[Blessing of the Sword God]

If it cuts, it would be severed.

◎ Rank of the Flesh: (2▶5) ▷ The size restrictions on swords were eased.

◎ Rank of the Mind: 3 ▷ An aura of intimidation settles into words and actions.

◎ Rank of the Weapon: 1 ▷ Unlock conditions had not been met.

☆ Synchronization Rate: 2%

★【???】

[※ The blessing only activates for swords no longer than 32+(3) centimeters and narrower than 6+(2) centimeters.]

== ==

Maybe because of the steady results of my physical training, the Rank of the Flesh had risen to 5. Contrary to what I had expected, the easing of the sword-size restrictions didn’t seem to scale proportionally with the rank value, so it felt somewhat slow.

Even so, the sword dimensions were less important than verifying the state of my stats, so this level of growth was satisfying enough.

But come to think of it, had blessings always had elements like this? Normally there were cases where the blessing itself upgraded according to proficiency, but as far as I knew, there had never been one with these kinds of additional components attached.

And then there was the string at the bottom made up of nothing but question marks. Even now that my physical body had grown to a certain degree, I still couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

I should look into this more.

As I rubbed my chin and stared at the status window, Chloe shuffled closer to me.

“…Um, Geom-ma? Is something wrong?”

“Ah, sorry. Just a second.”

As expected, it seemed Chloe couldn’t see the status window. From her point of view, I must have just been blankly staring into empty space. Feeling bad that I’d called her out here only to make her wait, I hurriedly closed the window.

“Then shall we start?”

“Please take care of me!”

“Same here. Since it’s our first time today, go easy on me.”

“Ah, okay!”

“I really mean go easy on me.”

We strode apart until we had about twenty meters of distance between us. My plan was to learn everything with my body, from the leap itself to receiving an incoming strike.

Ever since my previous life, I had always learned everything through real practice. No matter how many hundreds or thousands of times you watched a video of someone slicing open a fish, it was never worth as much as doing it once yourself.

I’d realized long ago that when it came to mastering any technique, the feel in the hands mattered more than theory. The reason I had been able to adapt to this academy so quickly was probably also the product of the crash-course, headfirst learning style I’d used since childhood.

Of course, this approach was overwhelmingly more dangerous. But if you weren’t willing to accept even that risk when trying to learn something, you’d be left behind.

If you stopped at merely sacrificing bone and flesh in the process of becoming the best in a field, then that was as far as you would ever go. Only those prepared to carve away their whole body could finally earn the title of the summit.

When I swung the wooden sword a few times as a signal that I was ready, Chloe responded with the same motion. I clenched the wooden sword sharply in my hand and narrowed my eyes. Even if it was only a mock battle, this was my first fight without relying on the blessing, so tension came over me.

Sweat beaded in my hands.

My stance was awkward too.

But the tip of my blade was aimed accurately at my opponent.

As the mood suddenly turned serious, the easy smile on her face disappeared before I knew it. The difference from before was that this wasn’t someone whose reason had snapped, but the face of a proper martial artist.

For a moment, a silence fell as we measured each other.

The instant I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again, Chloe kicked off the ground and rushed in. Her red hair chased after her a beat late.

Shhk.

Chloe closed the gap in only two steps. Whether it was a blessing or her own natural strength, her speed alone was extraordinary.

In the blink of an eye, the wooden sword drove in toward my carotid artery.

The hell, you said you’d go easy!

I twisted only my neck and let the tip of the blade skim past. A booming sound of air being pierced drove itself beside my ear. Right after that, Chloe quickly tossed the sword into her opposite hand and swung it in a diagonal line from below to above.

Krrk!

Maybe Chloe had intended the angle, because I was able to receive it. More precisely, I was only able to receive it. But even though I’d blocked just one exchange, my hands were already tingling as if they were going numb, and cold sweat ran down my forehead.

A chill ran down my spine. I couldn’t afford even a moment of slack.

Using her right foot as a pivot, Chloe spun like a top and unleashed a flurry of consecutive strikes from all directions. That continuous, pointed rain of blows came only for my vital points.

Fast and vicious.

It was unbelievably fast, but there was no wasted movement. Every point of impact stubbornly targeted the same spot on my wooden sword.

Crack.

At the same time the sound of wood splitting rang out, a fracture line spread across the sword in my hand as I blocked. But Chloe’s emotionless chain of attacks did not stop. Even in the middle of that, I barely managed to deflect the relentless battering away. If I let even one hit land, my waist would fold.

My breath caught in my throat.

I clenched my molars and steadied my ragged breathing.

Snap!

In the end, my wooden sword couldn’t hold out and split cleanly in two.

“Ah, ah! I’m sorry! I was trying to go easy, but……!”

[The conditions for Weapon have been fulfilled.]

Only then did Chloe come to her senses and hurriedly pull back to create distance.

[An error has occurred because the Weapon has been damaged.]

Little by little, her figure began to turn pale and blurry.

[Using restraint to begin adjustment of the user’s personality.]

Bzzzt.

[The rank of Man decreases.]

[The inferior manifestation of the Blessing of the Sword God is activated.]

* * *

Chloe called out Kang Geom-ma’s name in something close to a scream. But for some reason, it didn’t seem to reach his ears. However, the killing intent rising from his pitch-black pupils carved into her mind that something was going wrong. Then, as an ominous cloud of dust stirred in the night wind.

Pop!

Stretching his eyes wide, Kang Geom-ma lunged at Chloe in an instant, trailing multiple afterimages of himself.

The very next moment, the split, blunted wooden sword in his hand struck the wooden sword she was holding.

Crack!

Chloe reflexively braced her sword against her body and put her weight behind it to block, but the force of the impact lifted her feet off the ground and sent her flying sideways.

“Kuhk……!”

A groan mixed with pain burst from her mouth.

Even though she contracted the muscles in her arms, the aftermath of the blow carried all the way into her bones. A stinging pain dug through her entire shoulder.

The instant that tremendous strike knocked her center of gravity off line, her unbalanced body tilted to the side.

Using the wooden sword like a crutch, Chloe forced her body upright. A tremor like a convulsion ran rapidly across her entire frame.

Only then did Chloe truly come to her senses. She put strength into her vacant-looking eyes and tried to secure her field of vision.

Even so, she couldn’t completely steady her trembling hands. Faced with Kang Geom-ma’s presence, which had changed so drastically that he was now releasing killing intent even with a wooden sword, Chloe felt fear. There was no room for any other emotion to push its way in.

At that moment, Kang Geom-ma stretched out his arm and fired the broken wooden sword like a shell. She bent her waist to the right and let the launched blade pass by.

In the instant when fluttering reddish-brown hair blocked her sight.

Kang Geom-ma’s forehead touched hers at a speed too fast for her to react to.

Just before Chloe squeezed her eyes shut, his blurring shoulder came into view on her retina.

Tap!

“…Huh?”

“Let’s call it here for today.”

My forehead was faintly throbbing. Kang Geom-ma gave a small smile and held up his lightly clenched fist.

A forehead flick?

“Thanks for helping me practice. I’m heading in first.”

Kang Geom-ma ruffled Chloe’s hair once as if tousling it, then turned his back to her and headed toward the doors of the training grounds, leaving behind only a wave.

“……”

Chloe could only stare blankly at the sight of Kang Geom-ma’s back as he walked away.

* * *

I’d felt it ever since the class assignment test, but Geom-ma’s martial talent held something beyond mere strength. It was less technique and more like raw instinct.

Even though I unconsciously brought out every blessing I had, I still wasn’t even his match. And that was against only half a wooden sword.

Chloe fell into brief thought. Then she pressed at her temple and let out a soft sigh.

I knew he was strong, but…

She forced her way into walking with a body still stiff from tension. The goosebumps running along her spine refused to settle down.

By the time Chloe was just about to reach the threshold of the dormitory, a red-haired man was waiting for her with his back against the wall of the building.

“You look like you’re having fun, Chloe.”

“Brother?”

A faint dryness entered Chloe’s eyes. The man furrowed his brow and continued coldly.

“So you enter the academy, and this is what you do with it? Keeping company with some lowly bastard.”

“…Don’t call Geom-ma that.”

Chloe’s eyes curved gently. Blood seeped from the lips she had bitten down on.

“So his name is Geom-ma.”

“……”

“If you insist on continuing to associate with him, then Auditore will move to eliminate him.”

Silence settled between the two for a moment. Then Chloe steadied her trembling body, hardened her expression, and spoke.

“Even if all of Auditore came, they still wouldn’t be enough for Geom-ma.”

With that, Chloe swept into the dorm building on a cold gust of air.

“Geom-ma, huh.”