Some time after my trip to Vesparta and settling my grudge with Id Invicius, things finally went back to normal. On one such normal day, I finished my usual training with knights at the office, went back home, and was greeted by Mewi.
“I’m back.”
“Welcome home.”
She had the day off from school today, so she’d spent the entire morning at home. She pretty much never went out to play. Whenever I came back from training, we often spent the time doing some housework and just lounging around.
Cleaning, laundry, and cooking were better done during the day. Well, cooking included making dinner too, but otherwise it was simply more efficient and safer to do things while it was light out.
Anyway, Mewi and I were both the type to quickly get something done once we set our minds to it. We generally finished everything either in the morning or early afternoon. There wasn’t much stuff in our house, so cleaning went relatively fast.
Naturally, this led to us having a lot of free time in the afternoons. Mewi sometimes went shopping in the western district or studied, and lately, she’d taken to going to the institute to exercise. Still, there was a limit to how much time she could kill.
That was why she had nothing to do sometimes—like right now. Exploring the town was a good way to pass the time, but she didn’t really care for that. I saw sightseeing in Baltrain as a fresh experience because of my long years in the countryside, but Mewi had grown up in the city—though she’d spent a lot of that time as a pickpocket—so maybe there was nothing particularly novel about it to her.
“You look awfully bored,” I commented.
“Mm...” she responded lazily. “I’ve done everything I have to do...”
It wasn’t like there was zero amusement available to her, but there was a surprising limit to what she could do at her age. It wasn’t like I could send her out to a tavern so early in the day, and I was entirely responsible for the house’s finances, so she couldn’t go on mindless shopping sprees either.
I gave it some thought. What had I done to kill time at her age? Immediately upon starting that thought exercise, I stopped. All I ever did was swing a sword around... Whenever I’d had the spare time to think, I’d practiced my swordplay. I felt like it wasn’t quite right to force that upon Mewi.
“All right... It’s a little early to start cooking dinner, so how about we practice swordplay together?”
“Huh?”
Well, it was probably fine to ask. I wasn’t forcing her. This was just a suggestion. I definitely wanted her to relax whenever she was at home, but getting rest and being bored with nothing to do were two different things—and she was definitely bored.
I didn’t see Mewi as my pupil, but since Ficelle was teaching the sword magic course that Mewi attended, you could technically say she was the pupil of my pupil. So, it wasn’t strange to invite her out to do some practice swings.
“Oh, I’m not forcing you or anything,” I added. “You just seem bored.”
“Sure.”
“R-Right. Let’s get to it, then.”
A part of me thought she would be against it or lack enthusiasm, but she accepted right away, which threw me off a little. A pretty embarrassing reaction from me...
We had wooden swords at home—just commonplace practice tools shaved down from logs. However, you could also say these were some of Mewi’s few personal possessions. Are practice swords even appropriate for a growing girl to own?
Anyway, it was far better to move one’s body than sit around in a daze. Mewi seemed to have come to the same conclusion, which was why it’d only taken her a few seconds to agree to some sword practice.
So, we stepped out into the backyard. It wasn’t large enough to run around in, but there was more than enough space for practice swings.
“I haven’t been to the institute in a while,” I remarked.
“Hmph...”
The sword magic class at the institute was Ficelle’s, so it wasn’t my place to butt in. Still, I was curious how things were going. I’d spent a lot of time away from Baltrain—most of these trips involved the order, so it hadn’t really affected my job as a special instructor, but as a temporary lecturer for the sword magic class, I’d been largely absent.
Even if I was just a temporary lecturer, I wanted to know how the students were progressing. And I wanted to know about Mewi more than anyone. She wasn’t one to talk much about her day, so my only way of gauging her progress was to observe her during her classes at the institute.
“How has class been going lately?” I asked.
“Mm... After warmups, it’s mostly focused on how to weave mana now. It’s hard.”
“I see.”
It seemed things weren’t going too well for Mewi. The last time I’d gone to watch her class was right before I’d left for Vesparta. I recalled them doing mana drills back then too. I really didn’t understand anything about that part of the class, but if Mewi was saying it was hard, then it surely was. The students I’d sparred with had also had difficulties weaving mana on the move.
That said, there was no reason to feel negatively about struggling to learn difficult things. It was good to be motivated. In all things, you absorbed knowledge faster if you wanted to improve rather than just slogging through reluctantly.
I had no idea how much more training she needed to become a proper wizard. Only those who possessed magic could really assess that, and I had absolutely no talent for magic. However, I knew how much training someone needed to become a swordsman. I definitely had talent in this field, and to a certain extent, hard work could compensate for a lack of natural aptitude. From that perspective, Mewi’s foundation wasn’t bad. She was relatively nimble and had decent reaction time. There wasn’t much that could be done about her current lack of muscle, but that would come with age.
She hadn’t done any real training before entering the institute, so considering that, her rate of improvement was actually pretty good. Her lack of bad habits and preconceived notions made it that much easier for her to accept anything she was taught. And while this might sound strange coming from me, she was blessed with good teachers too—including Lucy and Ficelle.
Those were my impressions of the last time I’d seen her swordplay. It was now time for me to see how she was doing.
“Then how ’bout starting with some light swings?” I suggested.
“Mm.”
We stood side by side in the small yard and began to swing our wooden swords. It was a totally insignificant event on a normal day, but this kind of thing suited me well. Teaching the knights was fulfilling and fun, but if anything, teaching more remedial lessons to younger pupils agreed with me more. This preference hadn’t changed since coming to Baltrain—maybe it was just my innate nature.
“Hah... Hah...”
“Ooh, you’re doing better than I thought.”
“Shut it.”
I stole a glance at her while continuing to swing my sword. I was a little surprised at how proper her form was. She got angry at me for pointing it out, though. Still, I was telling the truth. Even kids with muscular builds couldn’t stop their swords from deviating off course, but there was practically none of that in Mewi’s form.
As for her stamina, I didn’t know how much longer she could keep going at this pace, but at the very least, I could tell she definitely wasn’t slacking off on her daily training. I’d seen some of her power when I’d sparred with her, but at that time, I’d just wanted to offer her an opponent she couldn’t beat—just to see how she’d react. This time was different, though. As an instructor, there were things I could only see by observing her from up close like this.
“Mm. Your elbows aren’t sticking out more than necessary. Looking good.”
“Hmph...”
This time, she only huffed at my praise. She didn’t stop swinging, though. Good job. Now that I thought about it, a year had passed since she’d started learning sword magic at the institute. It was only natural to show some results after a year of effort.
I expected students to get better with practice, but I didn’t see Mewi and the other kids of the sword magic class training every day, so in my mind they’d grown by leaps and bounds. There was no smooth continuity. That made it all the more shocking when I saw them after a while away.