“Gh...! Taaaah!”
“Good. Don’t slow down.”
I blocked, dodged, and parried Mewi’s attacks. I held back appropriately when retaliating but defended with all my might. I was also very careful about how I defended. Considering both my own abilities and her future growth, I couldn’t afford to let her hit me yet. Doing so would definitely make me less effective as an instructor.
“Guh...!”
Just as Ficelle had said, Mewi was at the bare minimum level to be able to spar. It wasn’t clear whether this was because Ficelle had a hidden talent for teaching or whether Mewi had an aptitude for swordplay. Either way, it was splendid that she was able to wield a sword like this within one short year. If possible, I hoped her growth would continue trending positively. God only knew how things would actually go, though.
Our exchange focused mostly on me receiving her attacks. Mewi didn’t have much of a repertoire. She’d only learned the basic swings and a few strikes that were derived from them. She was still too inexperienced to strategize and make full use of her techniques.
“Hyaaah!”
“Hrm?!”
And just as I was about to reluctantly bring this to an end, Mewi attacked with a new vigor, overwriting any such thoughts.
It was a normal diagonal slash. Her speed, power, and technique were still inadequate. Whether by blocking, dodging, or parrying, I could stop it, kill her momentum, and go on the offensive. That was what I’d believed—until the moment her blade burst into flames.
“Haaaaah!”
“Whoa!”
My reaction was delayed due to the completely unexpected attack. I somehow managed to dodge, but I’d left quite the opening. Mewi wasn’t one to let such a thing pass—seeing the opportunity, she spun on the spot to slash again.
I didn’t think you’d use sword magic! I didn’t even consider it! Well, I technically knew she was capable of it. I’d seen her use it before. However, I hadn’t expected her to be able to do so in the middle of a match.
Even Lumite had required a fair amount of time before he’d been able to invoke sword magic. Mewi was lagging considerably behind him in terms of technique, so channeling her magic so smoothly—in a way that far surpassed what he’d demonstrated before—had completely exceeded my expectations.
Mewi’s movements hadn’t changed in any meaningful way. I hadn’t seen her accumulating any strength. In other words, she’d truly used magic without revealing an opening. She has a splendid talent for this.
What was more, she hadn’t done so in an underhanded way. She’d used sword magic in a situation that was very close to a real fight. It was astonishing. If she could develop that talent further, she was sure to grow into an outrageously heroic figure. This moment gave me a small but clear glimpse of that future.
“Shyah!”
Even though her swordplay was immature, having flames coming out of her blade changed the situation considerably. From what I could tell, she didn’t send slashes flying at a distance like Ficelle did. Her flames followed the trajectory of her blade. This meant that her second attack, which followed a beat later than the first, reached me at around the same time as the flames from the first strike. It was quite a crafty attack that was rather hard to block with a wooden sword. Though she couldn’t cut me this way, I still didn’t want to get burned.
“Hmph!”
Despite the cleverness of this attack, there was one flaw to pick on: the sword in front of the flames. I repelled Mewi’s weapon somewhat forcefully without hitting her hand. Matching her forward movement, I stepped in and pushed against the base of her blade—right by the hilt. It was kinda like the first step to locking blades. Normally, this would have turned into a contest of strength, but unfortunately for her, she wasn’t at the level to even reach that point. I had a definitive advantage in physique.
“Shhh!”
Mewi’s sword bounced back, and the impact lifted her off the ground. Even though I hadn’t been serious, there was still plenty of force behind an adult man’s weight. Mewi didn’t have the strength to oppose it or the technique to avoid it.
Using that opening, I slid my sword toward her neck, ending things there. It had been a short yet truly satisfying match. I hoped Mewi felt the same way.
“Thank you...very much...” she panted.
“Mm. Thank you for the match.”
Even Mewi could see that my strike would’ve been fatal. That was precisely why she took three steps back and bowed.
“Man, that was amazing,” I told her. “Your sword technique is gradually getting better too. I never expected magic to come flying at me.”
“I practiced...”
“That’s good. There’s no need to rush, but give it everything you’ve got whenever you can.”
“Mm...”
I wanted to take some time to give her my full impressions, but Mewi wasn’t the only one I was teaching here. So, I kept my praise to a minimum. Her movements were still crude, but she hadn’t displayed any bad habits that needed to be immediately corrected. She simply lacked experience. That’s why it’s better to emphasize praise instead.
“I thought it was supposed to be hard to use sword magic on the move,” I remarked.
If anything, this comment was directed more toward Ficelle. Judging by how they had been training their mana earlier, invoking magic while moving was supposed to be difficult. But Mewi hadn’t paused to unleash her attack. She hadn’t seemed hard-pressed to do it either. This was somewhat contradictory to the beginning of class.
“’Cause I’m just making fire...” Mewi mumbled shyly.
“Mewi is poor at converting her mana, but she’s outstanding at conjuring flames,” Ficelle explained before harshly adding, “She sucks horrendously at everything else, though.”
“Erk...”
“I-I see...”