Practical Drill ~Sword~

Author: Unicoon
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8138gc/8/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

They pulled themselves together for the swordsmanship practical.

The exam itself was one-on-one mock combat with wooden swords.
On the training ground, Lady Ulrika was already working as if it were the real thing.

Wooden sword in one hand, she bounced around.
Opposite her, Holy Knight Govan cut in with practiced skill.

“Secret technique: Fang Chain Slash!”

Govan’s blade stabbed in a chain—a secret art faster than the eye.
Lady Ulrika slipped every strike with easy motion.

“Come, aim properly.”

“Damn it! Why won’t it hit!?”

“Because your sword is slow.”

“Slow? That’s absurd!”

Govan raised his speed.

“Secret technique: Gale Twin Blades! And secret technique: Raging Tiger Barrage!!”

Govan attacked without a breath. Lady Ulrika kept dodging, unfazed.

“Hah… hah… kh!”

“Your movements are dulling. There.”

“Wha—guaah!?”

A wooden sword spun through the air.
Govan crumpled to the ground.
Lady Ulrika’s counter had sent him flying.

“Impossible…”

“Over already? Pathetic.”

A girl who looked like a child looked down on Govan, a burly Holy Knight.
King Zenon and Olivia, watching, could not close their mouths.

“Treating Govan like a child… is a drill even necessary…?”

“Lady Ulrika… you’re too strong…”

“What is this!? What is this gap in power!?”

Govan slammed the ground and roared.
Lady Ulrika, meanwhile, took a cookie from the tin and popped it in her mouth.
Utterly carefree, the opposite of Govan.

“To begin with, you can’t even do the basics… crunch, crunch…”

“I can’t do the basics!? Me, a Holy Knight?”

“I don’t know your title, but your basics are half-finished. You rely too much on technique.”

“Half-finished…!?”

Govan went blank at her unreserved words.

“A fight with swords is enough if you can cut, thrust, receive, and evade. Fine technique and secret arts aren’t necessary… crunch, crunch…”

Lady Ulrika said it flat.
Govan objected, fierce.

“Swordsmanship is not that shallow! It is completed by combining complex forms and advanced skill!!”

“That’s assuming the basics are perfect. Not something for you to say, with unfinished basics… crunch, crunch…”

“I can’t accept that. Nothing surpasses technique!”

“Then I’ll show you.”

“Show me?”

Lady Ulrika put the cookies back in the tin and walked off.
At a good distance from Govan, she took the wooden sword in both hands.

“This is only imitation, but I’ll borrow your technique… Zaren-gan.”

A faltering shout.
And motion far too sharp.

The technique she unleashed was Govan’s secret art, Fang Chain Slash.
The speed and precision, however, were on another order. A tremendous shockwave and gust erupted in an instant.

The castle’s outer wall crumpled, gouged by the blast.
The wind became a tornado and flattened trees.

“Well? I used the same technique as you, but the power is different, yes? That’s because my basics are solid. Basics matter.”

Lady Ulrika puffed her chest, smug.
Govan stayed frozen, eyes wide.

“No… this isn’t… about basics, is it…? Also… my secret technique is… Fang Chain Slash… not Zaren-gan…”

He was not the only one frozen.
King Zenon and Olivia stared, stunned by the force of the technique.

“Your Majesty…”

“What is it, Olivia?”

“Is it truly all right to let Lady Ulrika take the exam? The academy might collapse…”

“Ah… I was just starting to regret this…”

King Zenon stayed vacant a moment.
Then he came back to himself and shouted at Ulrika.

“Ulrika! You’re forbidden to go all out!!”

“What!? What does that mean! I haven’t even used one-tenth of my power!!”

“One-tenth? I was toyed with at one-tenth…!?”

Govan crumpled in shock.
No one paid him any mind.

“I’ll put it another way! At the real exam, use the smallest, lowest power you can—hold back so much it’s too much. Understood!!”

“Hmm… if Zenon says so, I suppose I must… we are friends…”

Lady Ulrika looked bored, lips poked out, and turned away.

“Olivia. I have a request.”

“Yes! What is it?”

“I’ll ask the academy to let you accompany Ulrika during the exam. Watch her so she doesn’t go too far.”

“O-of course!”

“Even so… haa… I’m worried…”

“Yes… I am too…”

“Well, never mind. I’m looking forward to the exam!”

While King Zenon and Olivia worried, Lady Ulrika was in high spirits for the exam.

And so Lady Ulrika finished the practical drill.
Tomorrow, at last, was the real entrance exam.