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 36

36 - The Old Man From The Countryside Forgets

“… Heave-ho,” Kuruni said, eagerly holding up the zweihander I picked up for her. “How does it look?”

“Yeah, I don’t think it looks bad,” I replied.

Most of the equipment we had at the dojo were wooden one-handed swords. Kuruni is skilled at shortswords for her main weapon, so I guess she chose that type as an extension of my teachings. I could understand her confusion at suddenly being given a two-handed sword.

“How do you feel holding it?” I asked.

Well, I don’t want to impose a two-handed sword on her. The goal was to find a weapon suited for Kuruni, so if she doesn’t like it, we’ll just look for another sword.

“Mmn…” Kuruni hummed. “It’s not light, but it’s not as heavy as you’d think.”

“Hmm. I think that’s good,” I said.

It’s amazing that a two-handed sword isn’t too heavy for her. Before I knew it, she’d become a brute force, muscle-bound type. If the sword doesn’t fit her, Kuruni would be terrifying with a halberd or a poleax.

In Kuruni’s perspective, the shortsword might have felt like a dead branch. She wouldn’t be able to use the force of her sword very well.

“Ricasso, you said this thing was?” Kuruni asked. “It’s pretty iconic.”

“It is. It’s a little different from a normal two-handed sword,” I said as I helped Kuruni change the way she held it.

Unlike ordinary two-handed swords, zweihanders are characterized by their ricassos, unsharpened sections of blade used as a handle. With these as a fulcrum, you could use the sword as you would a halberd.

You could say it’s a sword with a wider range of tactics than a normal sword.

“I don’t care if it looks good on you, but you still gotta pay for it,” Valder said as he watched us.

“Oh, that’s right,” I said. “How much is it?”

Weapons don’t come for free. For a blacksmith like Valder, it’s undeniably his source of income. I wonder how much this’ll cost, though.

I mean, how has the situation been going? I recommended to her casually, but she should still be undecided. Is this what she wants? This old man thinks she should consider this a little more.

“Right…” Valder said. “Discounted, it’s 80,000 Dalc. That’s my limit.”

“Mmm… I don’t have enough with me…” Kuruni replied.

It’s 80,000 dalc? I think it’s a lot cheaper than usual considering the type and quality of the weapon but Kuruni originally came her to sharpen her sword. Honestly, even I don’t have that much.

The Dalc is the currency of the Kingdom of Rebelis.

It depends greatly on where you live and your standard of living, but if you want to spend a month living in the countryside like at Bidden Village, you could live comfortably on about 100,000 dalc.

In a city like Baltrain, the prices are high, and it’ll cost you about 150,000-200,000 dalc, rent included.

If you go with that perspective of money, 80,00 dalc isn’t cheap. Of course, if you were buying a brand new weapon, it also wouldn’t be cheap. It’s no wonder that Valder offered a discount.

By the way, the inn I’m staying at is contracted for 3,000 dalc a night. It seems they gave me a steep discount for a long-term stay.

I think it’s better to rent a house than continue staying at an inn.

Should I start thinking about that, as well?

“Can’t be helped, wait a minute,” Valder said.

In response to Kuruni’s not having enough money, Valder withdrew to the back of his smithy.

He came out a lot faster than I thought. He had a similar, but slightly shorter, zweihander in his hands.

“With this thing, 20,000 dalc is fine,” Valder said.

“Huh?! Really?!” Kuruni cried.

“That’s cheap,” I said.

It was so cheap I couldn’t help but look over the zweihander.

It’s not as if it’s defective. The blade is sharp and had no chips, I think it’s well-maintained so far as I can see.

“Why is this so cheap?” I asked.

""

I was curious. By all means, I felt that it wasn’t good to sell it for 20,000 dalc.

“Oh, this is something I just made a long time ago for fun, you know?” Valder said. “You could say it’s like a prototype. The blade is a little short, see? It was just gathering dust in the back but I thought that if Kuruni could use it, I could give it away for cheap.”

“I see,” I said, nodding.

This is rare but possible.

It wasn’t just blacksmiths, but all craftsmen worked to hone their skills. Of course, you can’t downplay the role of advertising, but whether or not a blacksmith will flourish depends on their skills.

So, if you craft various things to hone your skills, you could make something like this, and although you have some emotional attachment to it, it’s a bit of a hard sell.

If the quality was bad, you could toss it without hesitation, but if it wasn’t half bad, it’s a difficult matter to handle. I used to get these kinds of swords from Bidden Village’s blacksmith.

“I think it’ll be fine if the blade is a bit short,” I said. “Kuruni is petite.”

It’s not exceptionally expensive as a weapon and it’s not of poor quality.

Yeah, isn’t it perfect for trying out a new weapon type?

Besides, the slightly shorter than usual length of a zweihander could be an advantage. Because Kuruni was small herself, if it was too long, she couldn’t handle it.

“Okie-dokie!” Kuruni said. “I’ll take that one, then.”

“Here you go, thanks for your patronage,” Valder said.

And so, without any doubts, Kuruni easily decided on a zweihander as her new weapon.

No, I did recommend it. Is that alright? I’m a little worried.

“Oh, by the way, Alexia,” I said.

“Yes, what is it?” Alexia said, looking away from the swords on the walls.

It seems she’s interested in swords. I wish I could buy her a new one.

“That zweihander, is it alright in the Knights?” I asked. “Because everyone seems to use a longsword, normally.”

Alexia uses a longsword, and so far as I could see of Vice-Captain Henblitz’s handling, he’s probably good at longswords, too.

I have seen the other members but most of them train with the usual wooden swords. In short, I can see that they’re specializing in longswords.

Under such circumstances, I wonder what it would be like if one person had a two-handed sword.

“If that’s what you’re worried about, there’s no particular issue,” Alexia said. “When you are knighted, you’ll be given a longsword, but it’s just a formality.”

“… I see,” I said.

Seems there’s no issue here. This old man has peace of mind.

No, if you are given a gift, you’d use it. Is it bad if I pushed Kuruni to this?

It’s probably something you get as part of your knighting ceremony. Well, it’s possible it’s just a ceremonial blade, maybe it couldn’t withstand actual battle.

“Ah, Master, Master,” Kuruni said.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” I asked.

The zweihander with the slightly shorter blade comes with a scabbard, Kuruni seems happy as she speaks up.

“I’m using a two-handed sword for the first time, so please teach me how to use it,” Kuruni said.

“Oh, yeah, I see,” I said. “I’ll teach you the basics.”

It would be a problem if you were suddenly handed a two-handed sword.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have the space for that,” Valder said, butting into our conversation.

Hmm, there isn’t a test site here?

The shop is in the Central District, so just the land alone would cost a lot. When it comes to preparing a test site, you’d need a reasonable amount of space.

""

“In that case, let’s do it at the Knight’s training ground,” I said.

“Rodger-dodger!” Kuruni said. “I’m in your care!”

There are surprisingly few places in Baltrain where you can swing your sword without hesitation. I feel that the only training grounds here are at the Knights or the Adventurer’s Guild.

It’s not like you could just wave them around in the streets.

But a two-handed sword?

I recommended it but I’m not too familiar with them, either. Well, as long as you have mastery of the longsword, there are a lot of general principles that carry over.

“Please wait, Master,” Alexia said.

We’d finished Kuruni’s errand and when I thought we’d run over the basics at the training ground, Alexia stopped me. I wonder if there’s a problem?

“You haven’t picked out a new sword yet,” Alexia said.

“Oh, right,” I said.

I completely forgot. Thank you, Alexia.

“Ooh? Master needs a new sword?” Valder asked.

I didn’t miss the mysterious spark in his eyes.

Stop, I’m normal, this is normal!