Chapter 6 Mediale Kingdom Swordsmanship (1)
For light to burst forth from a book.
Though he had read countless books, this was the first time something like this had happened.
It was something he had not experienced even in the library of the Penitudo Mage Tower, which was full of mages.
For that reason, Roden couldn't help but be flustered.
At the same time, he wondered if he had perhaps seen a hallucination.
But it was not a hallucination.
No matter how long it had been since he last read a book.
Even if it had been almost 100 years since he had read one.
It was because his mental state was not so unsound as to see hallucinations.
In fact, Roden's mental state was in much better shape than when he had first possessed this body.
It was only natural, as he had been staying away from alcohol and slowly recovering his health all this time.
It was for this reason that he had refused the whiskey Chevalier had offered.
But to see a hallucination.
It was something that made no sense.
‘Then was there magic cast on the book?’
The possibility of this was not very high either.
The reason was simple.
It was because Roden, who was, for all his faults, a former top-tier 1-Circle mage, could not feel any trace of mana right now.
Of course, someone might have said that Roden couldn't feel the mana because his level was low.
But this was spoken from ignorance.
It might have been a different story if a high-level mage had intentionally concealed the mana in their body.
But not being able to feel the mana of a spell cast right in front of one's nose was theoretically impossible.
Even for an ordinary person.
So, the light that had unfolded before his eyes was not due to magic.
It was correct to see it as a strange phenomenon that could not be explained by magic either.
A strange phenomenon that had not been described in any book.
‘Hah…. After dying once and being possessed, now I'm going through all sorts of things.’
What flustered Roden more than anything was one thought that kept coming to mind.
The thought that he could perfectly perform the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship he had just read about in the book if he just put his mind to it.
‘Why am I feeling this groundless confidence?’
The only swordsmanship the idiot Ernst had learned in his entire life was a single one.
It was the Glockner Swordsmanship.
But this swordsmanship was quite different from the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship he had just read about in the book.
While the Glockner Swordsmanship was flashy and at the same time delicate, the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship was uncomplicated yet well-balanced.
In a word, the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship was a basics-focused style suitable for teaching soldiers.
It was only natural, as it had been created for this purpose and had been consistently improved.
However, that didn't mean that the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship was easy to learn.
As it was basics-focused, it was easy to learn and practice at first, but this was both the beginning and the end of this swordsmanship.
For that reason, executing it precisely was by no means easy.
Rather, the level of completion was divided more starkly depending on the user's proficiency.
In fact, it was a swordsmanship that was nothing short of poison for Ernst, who was not good at the basics to begin with and often fumbled his movements.
And for Roden, who had inherited Ernst's memories and body, it was naturally not easy to perform the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship.
Theoretically speaking, it should have been considered impossible.
‘What’s more, the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship is not a style that simply emphasizes the basics.’
Roden, who had an excellent ability to grasp the essence of a book's content, immediately understood that the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship was a style like a beast hiding its claws.
It was a swordsmanship that suddenly revealed its ferocity when the opponent, in the face of the style's plainness, let down their guard without even realizing it.
However, it seemed that there were almost no soldiers who could display the true subtlety of the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship.
Nico Alcantara, the author of the <Mediale Kingdom Swordsmanship Manual>, also said that it would be impossible for an ordinary person to reach this level even if they consistently trained only in this swordsmanship for 100 years.
However, even if such a person did not exist, it was not right to belittle the level of the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship.
One could tell just by looking at the fact that Nico Alcantara had identified himself as a 9-star knight in the preface of the book.
A 9-star knight, close to the pinnacle, creating an ordinary swordsmanship?
Even if the purpose of creating this swordsmanship was to train soldiers, it was a story that made no sense in the first place.
‘I can't be sure because there aren't many samples, but the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship must be a pretty good style.
Because even in magic, something truly ordinary doesn't hide its claws like this.’
So, there was no basis for Roden to feel confident.
To think that he could perform the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship at once was a very arrogant attitude.
But after reading the book and experiencing the strange phenomenon, an unknown confidence kept welling up.
And so, in the end, Roden, who could not suppress his confidence, quietly picked up his sword and headed outside the barracks.
‘Fortunately, the moonlight is neither too bright nor too dark.’
For Roden, it was just the right brightness to wield a sword.
If the moon was too bright, Roden's identity, which was far from diligent, could be exposed, and if it was too dark, it would be difficult to wield the sword properly.
‘Good. Then let's give it a try.’
And so, Roden held the sword in his hand, relying on the moonlight.
Thanks to absorbing Ernst's memories, the feeling of the sword wrapping around his hand was not as awkward as he had thought.
Besides, this was not the first time Roden had held a sword today.
When he was being called to meetings, he had once held a sword out of curiosity and tried swinging it, relying on Ernst's memories.
And he had been disappointed.
‘…I had some expectations, but it's terrible. Not a single movement is done properly.’
What's more, it wasn't just because it was Roden.
Ernst had also swung the sword in a way that was not much different from what Roden had done.
It was at a level where if he swung the sword ten times, one decent movement would come out.
Such a memory remained.
Anyway, Roden had tried swinging a sword for the first time then, and he had also swung a sword to command his platoon when facing the Imperial Army a while ago.
Of course, Roden did not commit the recklessness of directly facing the enemy with a sword.
Knowing how terrible his movements were, there was no way he would do such a thing.
So, he had just stood at the back with a sword in hand and raised his voice.
‘In fact, even that wasn't very easy. Because it was the first time I saw someone get stabbed with a sword and have their head fly off in front of me.’
He had barely held back the urge to vomit several times, and thanks to that, Roden had been able to barely maintain his dignity as a platoon leader.
At the same time, he realized the necessity of martial power.
Just as a battlefield was a place where one could lose their life to a stray blade.
He thought that if he did not possess the martial power to protect his own body, he would not be able to survive until the end of the war.
‘In that respect, if I can really use the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship, it would be a great help. Hoo.’
Roden, who had gathered his thoughts with a deep breath, finally took the first stance to perform the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship.
It was to aim the sword at the center.
It was a stance that was nothing more than simply aiming the sword, but Roden was able to do it quite naturally.
The proof was that he had succeeded in positioning the sword exactly at the position he had imagined in his head, as if one piece perfectly interlocked with another.
“Hap!”
And so, Roden, who had successfully taken the first stance, tried the next movement.
It was a frontal slash.
Whoosh!
Surprisingly, Roden's frontal slash succeeded in accurately splitting the air vertically.
What's more, the sound was so light and crisp that it was hard to believe it was a beginner's.
‘It feels different from when I just swung the sword relying on Ernst's memories.’
Thinking this, Roden rode the momentum and tried a frontal thrust, which was treated as much more important than a frontal slash in the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship.
Swish!
It certainly felt much faster.
Perhaps because the sword Roden originally had was more specialized for thrusting than slashing, it was even more so.
And so, Roden steadily demonstrated the basics as written in the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship.
All the movements were precise as written in the book, had power, and were fast.
In the end, Roden was able to perform even the final movement perfectly.
‘To think all the movements are performed as I thought. Is it just because they're the basics?’
Roden immediately shook his head.
‘No. Ernst couldn't even do these movements properly. There must be another reason why this is possible. Let's test it further. Now, with the combination moves.’
In fact, this was where it could be called real swordsmanship.
To repeat slashes and slashes, slashes and thrusts, thrusts and slashes, and thrusts and thrusts, to attack naturally and even defend.
Because how well one did this determined the probability of survival on the battlefield and the probability of dispatching the enemy.
And so, under the moonlight, countless straight lines drew a beautiful picture, and a moment later, Roden, who had performed all the movements, stopped in his place, panting heavily.
Surprisingly, Roden was able to perform all the combination moves as he had read in the book.
The path of his sword was so accurate that there was not a single flaw.
‘How is this possible?’
It was Roden's specialty to read a book and draw out the essence contained within to produce better research results.
So, it was not difficult at all for Roden to visualize the movements written in sentences in the book in his head.
But to actually practice it with his body was a different matter.
Just as his mana affinity had repeatedly held him back, and he had ultimately failed to become a 2-Circle mage.
Just because one understood the contents of a book well did not make it possible to do it well.
It would be helpful, of course, but in the end, it was motor skills that put it into practice.
But Roden had performed all the swordsmanship of the Mediale Kingdom just by reading it once.
Of course, its power might be halved in a real battle, but it was an undeniable fact that he had just performed the movements as smoothly as flowing water.
What's more, it wasn't that he had made a strenuous effort to perform it without a single error, but the movements were so comfortable, as if they were already tattooed on his body.
In other words, it meant that Roden had mastered the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship just by reading the book once.
‘Was I actually... talented in swordsmanship, not magic?’
That couldn't be.
Just as the mana affinity Roden had had all disappeared when he was possessed.
If Roden had a talent for swordsmanship now, it was not something he originally had.
It was a talent that remained in this body, which Ernst had failed to take with him when he left.
It was correct to see it this way.
However,
‘Ernst's talent was not very high even within the Glockner family.’
One could tell just by looking at the fact that all his other siblings, excluding Ernst, had reached the stage of 3-star before they turned twenty.
On the other hand, Ernst had barely reached the stage of 1-star by the time he turned twenty.
In conclusion, Ernst's talent was only slightly better than an ordinary person's.
Just as Roden's had been.
‘But to master the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship just by reading the book once.’
The meaning of this was clear.
The strange phenomenon Roden had experienced after opening the book earlier.
That that strange phenomenon had created the current situation.
And so, Roden, who had come to realize why he had mastered the Mediale Kingdom swordsmanship, muttered.
“If I do this well, I might not just be getting martial power to protect my own body.”
However, to be certain of this, there were a few more things to test.