Out in the morning fog, I swung my sword with a focus on controlling my breathing. I wasn’t trying to cut the mist, but rather the tiny droplets of water that hung within it. Naturally, that was quite a challenge. It was certainly far more difficult than I could manage as I was now.
I was sure it was something Kaeha could do, though. She might have not had the sharp senses of a high elf, but I expected she could see those tiny water droplets and cut them apart nonetheless. In that case, I needed to reach that point myself someday.
It had been over ten years since Kaeha’s death. I think I had at least made some small progress in approaching her skill level. But after over ten years, I still had so much farther to go.
Maybe because of my visit to Nonna’s grave, I had been feeling rather sentimental lately. I was starting to feel the urge to drop everything and run back to Kaeha’s grave in Ludoria. There was no need for me to rush, but I couldn’t help the feeling.
I focused on my sword, trying to shut out all other thoughts. Little by little, swing by swing, I stretched for that distant ideal. The distance was at once both painful and wonderful. And beyond all that, swinging a sword like this was simply fun.
As I noticed someone approaching, I stopped with one last swing. No one I didn’t recognize would come up to this rooftop. The rooftop hadn’t been so spacious on my previous visit, but with the inn’s expansion, there was a lot more laundry that needed to be dried. That said, there wasn’t that much laundry being done so early in the morning, so I was able to borrow the space for my training.
Still frozen in my follow-through, I glanced over to see Aina peeking at me. She was up strangely early. Had she been woken up by a nightmare? I thought of calling out to her, but if I did so, she might worry she had interrupted me. I decided it was better to keep training for a bit before talking with her.
And so I started swinging again, carefully controlling my hands and breathing. Then, without changing my stance, I spun around and swung behind me with as little movement as possible. Then to the right, and to the left, in four directions, then eight. Each of those careful swings was sharp as expected, so I turned forward and swung again.
I aimed for the quiet power that Kaeha had shown in her swordsmanship. I couldn’t let my multidirectional slashes fall behind my careful, single-directional ones. Even without taking a stance, without preparing herself, Kaeha could strike in any direction with the same lethal force.
My body was dripping, though I couldn’t say if it was from sweat or the morning fog. What did my audience think about my swordsmanship? Was my swordsmanship good enough to inspire any feeling in them? I swung one last time, trying to cut through the nightmare that had brought Aina up here, if that indeed was what had awoken her.
Finished with my training for now, I didn’t even have time to turn around before Aina ran to my side.
“That was awesome, Mr. Acer! It was all like, ‘WHOOSH!’” Her eyes were positively glowing. Apparently she had taken quite a liking to my display. She didn’t really have the words to praise it properly, but her simplistic phrasing—while a little embarrassing—was still nice to hear. Her next words, however, concerned me a little.
“Do you think I could do that?”
I was sure she just admired what she saw and wanted to try it herself. If it was a question of if it was possible for her, then of course it was. After all, the Yosogi School was practically built by swordswomen. Even if their gender was a handicap to them, neither Kaeha nor Yuzuriha Yosogi found it insurmountable. I had even taught this style of swordsmanship to a girl named Zelen myself. Saying she couldn’t do it would be nothing short of lying.
However...I still hesitated to tell her the truth. Aina was a girl living at an inn. Did she really need a sword in her life? Most likely not. Rather, it was likely that having some small measure of combat ability and self-confidence would only put her in more danger. For example, if the city were attacked by Zieden, I couldn’t rule out the possibility of her fighting back and dying in battle. There was no guarantee that not resisting at all would save her either, but if she wasn’t planning on following the path of swordsmanship seriously, then it wasn’t something she should touch at all.
That said, I had been drawn to the Yosogi School out of my admiration for Kaeha. I didn’t really want to deny Aina’s admiration for me out of hand either.
“I don’t know. But swinging things around like this can be kind of dangerous, so your mom might get mad.”
So I deflected the issue. I didn’t have any right to decide how she chose to live her life. If her mother didn’t mind, I would have no reservations about teaching her the basics. But even then, I wouldn’t be spending that much time in Janpemon, so I couldn’t do much more for her than that.
Aina’s face fell in disappointment, but at last, she nodded. Patting her on the head, I headed back inside with her.