An Old Man from the Countryside Becomes a Swords Saint: I Was Just a Rural Sword Teacher, But My Successful Students Won’t Leave Me Alone! - Chapter 117

117 - The Old Man From The Countryside Sits Down At The Dinner Table

“Oh, that’s right,” I said.

“… What?” Miu asked.

It was after we had prepared our dinner for today, I and Miu cooked together, and we finally sat down at the dinner table.

I thought it would be boring to eat dinner silently, so I decided to ask a question that had been hanging on my mind.

“Why are you having trouble swinging a sword?” I asked.

“… Mnn,” Miu grumbled before she blew on her vegetable soup.

Today’s menu is baked meat, black bread, and stewed vegetable soup. As I said, we simply sliced the block meat and cooked it in the oven, and the black bread was bought pre-made. The soup was also a simple affair, just tossing in the ingredients and simmering them in a pot.

Cooking meals like soups, stews, and pot-au-feu takes a bit of time, but it doesn’t have to be babysat. I can make as much as I like, so I always make a little more than two people could eat. If you’ve got leftovers, you can eat it the next day, and like I said plenty of times, me and Miu both eat a lot.

“… It’s difficult,” Miu said. “I can see just how amazing Prof. Thyssel and you are, Pops.”

“Hahaha,” I said, “I’m grateful just to know that.”

I got a clearer answer than I expected, and I couldn’t help but smile.

Swordsmanship is not as simple as it looks. Obviously, it’s not just a matter of swinging it around. There is a continuous flow and ebb in the techniques, with different ways of positioning and twisting your body.

Of course, they are not something you can learn overnight. Whether or not you can finally grasp a part of mastery relies on tremendous amounts of repetitive practice and awareness. And whether or not you can grasp them requires a balance of both your efforts and talents.

However, how long has that talent been dormant? And how much can the talent bloom with just a person’s efforts? You can’t understand any of this without having swung the sword for a certain period of time.

It was also difficult because, unlike magic, one could not say claim that simply using it meant you had the talent for it. Of course, this isn’t just limited to swordsmanship.

Fortunately, thanks to my bloodline and my father’s teachings, I was blessed with a certain amount of innate skills and the proper environment to nurture them. As with Alexia and the Knights of Rebelio, I would like to pass down my skills and knowledge to Miu as she begins learning swordsmanship.

“You’re good at using your body, Miu,” I said. “If you give it your all, you may be able to get to that level.”

“… Hmph,” Miu snorted before she bit into her meat.

As far as I saw when I visited the Magician’s Academy, Miu wasn’t completely incapable of wielding a sword.

Perhaps because she was pick-pocketing and living life like every day could be her last, her physical condition was poor, and I needed to improve it moving forward.

However, her athletic skill is good. How much force should be applied to which part of the body and how much should it move? She knows it to some extent, probably instinctively.

As far as I know, Alexia and Selena are the two people who are very good at utilizing their bodies. I can’t say that she’ll be as successful as the both of them, but my findings were that if you keep swinging your sword seriously, you’ll end up in a good place.

“How about your magic?” I asked.

“Mm… I’m still at the basics. So it’s kind of difficult,” Miu said.

“I see,” I said.

I know a little bit about her swordsmanship, but when it comes to magic, I’ve got no idea. It’s hard to tell if the Magician’s Academy is teaching her well, so I have to trust them and patiently wait for the results, as with swordsmanship.

If you could teach magic and how to handle it quickly, you wouldn’t have needed the Academy to begin with.

“But, well… it’s still fun, as it is,” Miu said.

“… Mm, that’s what’s most important,” I said.

Miu seems to be a bit more open.

Since Miu started living with me and attending the Magician’s Academy, her edges have started being rounded off.

First, she stopped yelling all the time, and I can sense that she was trying to control and correct her aggressive tone of voice.

Of course, the personality and tone nurtured by her environment before could not be changed overnight, so even the smallest changes are noticeable to the keen-eyed observer.

To put it another way, she’s changed to the point where the results are visible. It must be a good thing.

If possible, I would like you to see her graduate and continue to enjoy her school life, so that she can grow up with good physical and mental health. I think she can make good friends with Cindy of the Sword Magic Department, but what do I know about that?

Well, even though I ended up going to the Magician’s Academy from a strange connection, I’m not going to meddle with Miu’s friendships. Unless things get complicated, this Old Man is just going to shut up and watch. And if trouble does appear? This Old Man may fly in.

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“Pops, will you be back next week?” Miu asked.

“Hmm… maybe I will be,” I said. “I’ll have to work out the details with Alexia and Lucy.”

“… Hmph,” Miu grumbled.

Strangely, Miu was concerned about my schedule.

Is she caring about me? If she is, that makes me happy.

Incidentally, I’ve already explained the relationship between me and Miu to Ms. Quinella at the Magician’s Academy, but what should I do for the students of the Sword Magic Department?

Fortunately or unfortunately, Miu doesn’t seem to care about it, in the good sense. I want to avoid the situation where she’s uncomfortable, and I also want to avoid being given suspicious stares because I’m a guardian and have a conflict of interest.

So, on the surface, I can maintain the appearance of just a temporary teacher and a student. It seems that Thyssel is also moving forward without touching on the subject, so unless something specific is said, I feel like I should continue that teacher-student relationship as it was.

“Is something bothering you?” I asked.

“No… mm… it’s nothing,” Miu said.

I tried to prod a little deeper and then hit a wall.

I thought it would be better not to force the question, so I avoided any further mentions of it.

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The sense of distance between me and Miu is quite unique.

We are not strangers. But that doesn’t mean we’re old friends, either. Appearance-wise, we are like father and daughter, but it is a little difficult to say whether that’s the case beyond it.

It’s true that we live together under one roof, and it’s also true that I’m Miu’s guardian on paper, but what’s the word that correctly describes this relationship? The answer doesn’t seem to be as simple as you’d think it was.

I don’t have any problems with it, but considering Miu’s future, I feel that it would be better to have a bit of mental separation around that.

Anyway, this is not my decision. It’s important to decide for herself what it is, or something like that. Until Miu finds that, I’ll be patient with her and support her as much as she can.

“…… How are they?” Miu asked.

“Hmm? What?” I asked as I tore a small piece off the loaf of black bread.

“I mean… me, compared to the others,” Miu said.

“… Ah,” I said.

Perhaps “others” means the four other students in the Sword Magic Department with Miu.

However brief her words were, it seems she was concerned about how she compared to them, from my perspective.

“As I said earlier, you’re good at using your body, Miu,” I said. “And concerning your swordsmanship, well, it’s a work in progress… but I think you’ll do well.”

“…… Mm,” Miu said.

If I praise her again, she’ll yell at me again.

Perhaps she’s not accustomed to taking compliments. I’d like to continue praising her whenever there’s a chance.

“Speaking of your general swordsmanship, I think Lumitte’s has the most solid skill,” I said. “That’s for now, though.”

As the child of a Viscount Family, Lumitte could swing his sword at home.

With or without those foundations, differences in their skill will appear eventually. Although their progress will be based on their efforts in the future, Lumitte was the most familiar with swordsmanship for now.

“Also, Nazia is probably the most physically fit of all of you,” I said. “He probably has the most physical strength.”

“… What about Cindy?” Miu asked.

“Oh, are you curious?” I said.

“… Not really,” Miu said.

“Hahaha.”

It is quite unusual for Miu to call others by name. What’s more, it’s quite unusual from my perspective that someone mentions another first by name.

“I can’t say anything at this stage, but I think that her honesty and physical strength are good weapons,” I said.

“……I see,” Miu said.

Cindy doesn’t seem to have a background foundation like Lumitte, nor does she have a body like Nazia. She is a girl to begin with, and her raw strength is inferior to the boys.

Still, it’s amazing that she has the honesty and the physical strength to apply it. It is still unknown how much talent is sleeping in her, but it feels good to teach such a straightforward child.

It feels a little strange to compete in swordsmanship at the Magician’s Academy, but it can’t be helped because Sword Magic is built atop it. I wasn’t expecting magic from the beginning, so let’s take it easy and teach swordsmanship, as Lucy told me.

“Do you talk to Cindy a lot?” I asked.

“… Not really,” Miu said. “She just talks to me…”

“Fufu, I see, I see,” I said.

“… What was that? Is there something wrong?” Miu asked.

“Hahaha, my bad, my bad,” I said.

I’m not going to tease her anymore, Miu seems to have had enough, I’ll stop here.

But, well, she seems to be able to live a good school life as it is. Let’s give our best so that I don’t become a shackle to her.