Chapter 71 (1/2)

Volume 1

V4 Chapter 1

⌈Sparring⌋

Deep within the Great Canada Forest stood one of the many elf villages that dotted the forest, Raratoia.

This forest was home to a great number of monsters due to the abundant amount of mana in the area, so a unique wall had been erected around the village.

The majority of the wall’s surface was covered by a myriad of thorns, that even wrapped around its support pillars. Only the lack of gaps in the structure revealed that it was artificially made.

The wall itself was over thirty meters tall and separated the quiet village from the dangerous forest it was built in.

Directly inside the wall was a field of crops and a wide, open pasture for the cattle to graze on. Wooden houses dotted the area beyond those places.

However, these houses were strangely shaped mushrooms. Each house had a slightly exposed wooden deck, eaves that stretched to the top and a unique pattern was carved into the supporting pillars of the houses, allowing a glimpse of elven culture.

The sidewalks were made of beautifully laid cobblestone and street lights were placed at regular intervals

In the center of this idyllic village stood a towering tree that was somehow merged with a large mansion. It served as the home of the elder.

Beneath the tree’s branches, the huge trunk started to become a mixture between the natural and the artificial.

The clear glass windows cut into the trunk that allowed daylight to enter the building, the singing birds that nested in the tree and the natural sunlight that filtered through the branches contributed to the area’s fantastic atmosphere.

In the front yard of the elder’s mansion, two people were facing off against each other with wooden swords in hand. Two other people were breathlessly watching them from the side.

The young woman in front of me, holding a wooden sword, took a fighting stance.

The woman was a bewitching beauty, what with her voluptuous body, lilac skin and snow white braided hair. Her inhuman golden eyes were focused directly on me and she calmly stood still as if she were full of openings.

However, the slight twitches of her long, pointed ears showed me that she was completely focused on every move I made.

The name of the women dressed in traditional elven attire, which was embroidered with an elaborate pattern, was Glenys Aruna Raratoia.

She was the village elder’s wife and one of the rare dark elves on this continent.

I, on the other hand, had the appearance of an over two meters tall, fully armored knight.

This was the body of a game avatar that I used to play as under the name of Arc and I looked liked this ever since I had been thrown into this world.

Underneath my black mantle was a set of full body armor fitting for a mythical knight; fine details had been etched into every piece, along with white and blue undertones.

A jet black mantle, that was inlaid with a pattern seemingly cut from the starry night sky, hung off my shoulders.

The sword and shield I normally carried on my person were replaced with the wooden sword I was currently holding.

There was a distance of three meters between Glenys and l, and we were currently sizing each other up.

Honestly, even with the abilities of this max-level body, I doubted that I could win a contest of pure swordsmanship against an elf who has had centuries of training.

Since we couldn’t keep staring at each other forever, I lifted my wooden sword and charged at Glenys. Thanks to my abnormally high physical ability I was moving rather quickly, yet she had somehow read my movements.

My swing missed by a wide margin as she easily evaded my attack. Just as I tried to strike at the seemingly slow-moving Glenys again, I was struck on the back of my sword hand.

I didn’t actually feel anything because I was protected by the mythical grade 『Holy Armor of Belenus』, but I unintentionally let out an “Ouch.” when I heard the metallic clink from the hit.

“Your movements are so monotonous, Arc-kun. When you advance, you don’t attack, and when you attack, you don’t move.”

“Understood, Glenys-dono.”

When I raised my sword against Glenys again, she simply nodded in reply as I tried to visualize her sword swings in my mind.

However, someone with no prior training couldn’t learn swordplay overnight, so Glenys managed to dodge every one of my attacks no matter how fired up I became, before she effortlessly swatted my sword hand again.

Glenys raised an eyebrow and sighed before she offered a suggestion.

“Would you like to dodge my attacks this time?”

“Alright, Glenys-dono!”

The moment after I replied, Glenys calmly blindsided me with an array of overwhelming attacks. This body’s kinetic vision and reflexes allowed me to dodge, but Glenys’ sword had become a flurry of strikes and if I stopped moving for even a second, she would finish me off.

I continued to back-pedal as I dodged but before long I ran up against the tree and was swiftly hit on my gauntlet and head.

I was stunned for a moment as the sound of multiple cymbals entered my ears and Glenys’ smiling face entered my line of sight.

“It’s my win?”

Glenys started to laugh after she declared her victory.

I thought I would’ve been better at defending myself, but the results couldn’t be denied. Despite these deplorable results I held up my index finger and proposed a rematch.

“Nuu…… Glenys-dono, one more round.”

“Are you sure?”

Glenys held her wooden sword over her shoulder when she asked if I wanted to continue. After that, the scene of me being struck in the head was repeated over and over again.

At one point I broke down and growled in frustration at my lack of improvement while waving my wooden sword back and forth.

The reason we were doing mock battles like this was because my next destination laid in a very dangerous area and I wanted to test my abilities against someone who had actual combat experience.

“Arc-kun, because you react to movement instinctively, it’s rather easy for your opponents to read your movements. Because you don’t read the flow of the battle, you leave yourself open to surprise attacks. You appear to be a knight, so shouldn’t you take pride in your swordsmanship?”

Glenys didn’t even seem tired when she gave her review of my skills.

According to her, true swordsmanship was a complex dance of reading your opponent’s movements as you attacked, and my reliance on my physical ability alone was basically suicidal.

Unless I want my sword to be nothing more that a useless treasure, I needed to improve myself from now on.

While I was busy contemplating my decision, someone else decided to speak up.

“Mother, Arc’s movements may be straightforward but do you think there are a lot of other people capable of reading them?”

The person who raised that question as she approached our location was a female dark elf with features similar to Glenys’.

Her womanly charms were only accentuated by the long-sleeved dress with a hem of modest length and the leather corset she wore.

Her long, snow white hair was tied in a loose ponytail that allowed it to be blown about by the wind and her golden eyes were focused on me.

She was Glenys’ daughter Ariane Glenys Maple.