Magic vs. Swordsmanship

Dawn had only just begun to break.

After a night of poor sleep, Rudeus was forcibly dragged out from under his covers by Hilde and hauled into the yard for sparring.

Rudeus could not have been less willing.

After pulling on his clothes with his head drooping, the two of them each took a wooden sword and went to the backyard.

The sun had just risen from below the horizon. A cool morning breeze swept across the earth, and the thick green grass swayed gently in the wind, like waves of green rolling in from afar, rising and falling.

The two of them put some distance between themselves, then took their stances facing each other.

This was not their first time sparring. Ever since they had begun training in swordsmanship, the two of them had often sparred under Paul's arrangements. After Hilde's swordsmanship was rated intermediate, their sparring was no longer limited to swordplay; magic was allowed too.

However, once that happened, it often turned into Rudeus using magic one-sidedly while Hilde used swordsmanship one-sidedly.

After all, the fields they excelled in were different.

"Are you ready?" Hilde asked.

"I'm ready."

"Need a countdown?"

"No nee—"

Before he could finish speaking, Hilde had already stepped forward sharply, thrusting straight toward Rudeus.

Rudeus's heart jumped, and with a wave of his hand he sent two Fireballs flying at Hilde while retreating to try to keep his distance.

"Whoosh—"

The wooden sword slashed through the air, the exquisite angle of the cut cleaving the fireballs in two and making them dissipate behind Hilde. They only blocked her for an instant, and the distance between them rapidly closed.

Rudeus changed tactics and used Fireball again, only this time his target was not Hilde, but the ground beneath their feet.

Magic had no reaction force.

No matter what kind of magic it was, no matter what form it took, there was no reaction force.

But the impact produced by an explosion caused by magic could be used.

With the dust and shockwave kicked up by the fireball exploding against the ground, Hilde's steps paused for a moment, while Rudeus seized the chance to rapidly widen the distance. And he was not done yet. The instant he broke free of the impact, Rudeus released Mire around the area covered in dust.

This way, as long as Hilde tried to approach, she would fall into the Mire trap.

Then, when that happened, he could use a more powerful spell and turn her into a target...

Would that hurt Hilde?

The thought flashed through his mind and vanished just as quickly. After all, both he and Hilde could use healing magic, and Hilde's special constitution made her less prone to injury. As long as he did not use advanced-tier magic, it should be fine.

Just as Rudeus was preparing to charge his spell, a sudden gale swept through, blowing away all the surrounding dust in an instant.

Hilde's figure was revealed.

She had used wind magic!

"Not bad. Using magic to create a terrain advantage, then laying a trap..."

Hilde smiled, then suddenly leaped upward, jumping straight over the area covered by Mire.

"No, wait!"

Cold sweat broke out all over Rudeus. He had completely forgotten that Hilde could use magic too.

Although her level was not high, and the only magic she could freely use was intermediate-tier, it was still chantless magic.

"Why are you using magic too? That's not fair!"

"You can use swordsmanship too. Otherwise, what are you holding that sword for?"

"That's such a cheap trick!"

Rudeus fired off spell after spell, but Hilde cut them all down directly in midair.

The techniques of the Water God Style were extremely convenient when dealing with this kind of projectile-type magic, almost invincible against it.

By the time Rudeus came back to his senses, the wooden sword was already resting against his neck.

"You're still far too green, Rudeus."

Hilde put a little strength into her wrist and directly pressed Rudeus down to the ground with the blade.

"To be honest, seeing you perform like this actually makes me a little worried. If you run into a powerful swordsman, someone at your level won't survive at all."

"Damn it, swordsmen are such cheats..."

Rudeus gritted his teeth, his face full of humiliation.

His magic had clearly already reached the saint tier, yet in actual combat he could not even beat an intermediate swordswoman like Hilde.

The class balance was a pile of shit.

If this were an online game, the devs would probably have been flamed into regression by now.

"Because that's just how fragile magicians are. Even the strongest magician, if they don't have a powerful body to support them, can't afford to be careless against a swordsman."

Paul stepped out from the side. He had watched the fight from the sidelines.

"So, Rudeus, even if you don't have talent, train hard! A mage who only knows how to stand still and cast magic is basically a live target to a swordsman!"

"Why did this randomly turn into a lecture aimed at me?"

Rudeus bared his teeth in a grimace.

When he looked up, he found a hand extended in front of him.

It was Hilde's hand.

"What are you spacing out for?"

Hilde tilted her head. "Get up. How long are you planning to lie on the ground?"

"Hmph, hmph..."

Rudeus made a piglet-like noise and took Hilde's hand.

Hilde put in a little strength and hauled Rudeus up from the ground.

Just then, Paul suddenly turned to look outside the yard. A carriage was coming this way along the country road. Two fine white horses pulled it, and on the side of the carriage hung the noble crest flag Hilde had seen on the letter paper before, fluttering in the wind.

Had some big shot from the city come to inspect the countryside?

Hilde and Rudeus stared blankly as the carriage stopped at the gate of their yard. Immediately after, the carriage door opened, and a woman with chocolate-colored skin, triangular cat ears, and a fluffy tail stepped out. Her entire upper body was covered only by a leather strap that barely concealed her chest, leaving great expanses of skin exposed to the air.

Wild! The word surfaced in both of their minds at the same time.

"Yo, Ghislaine. Long time no see."

Paul went forward with a smile to greet her, only to be met with a sour face from the woman called Ghislaine.

"We meet again, Paul."

Before long, Zenith and Lilia also came out of the house holding the children.

"Ghislaine, long time no see!"

"Zenith."

After seeing Zenith, Ghislaine's expression clearly improved a lot, and a faint smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

It seemed their relationship was pretty good.

Rudeus and Hilde exchanged a glance, both growing curious about what was going to happen next.

And just then, Paul suddenly said, "Rudy, if I said you had to separate from Sylphy, what would you think?"

"Huh?" Rudeus frowned. "Of course I wouldn't want to."

"You wouldn't, huh? Just as expected."

"But from the very beginning, I planned to handle this the hard way, so..."

Before he finished speaking, Paul suddenly grabbed Rudeus by the collar and threw him backward.

Rudeus was still in midair and hadn't reacted when he saw that Paul had already gripped his sword and was charging toward him.

He hurriedly used the same tactic as before, throwing out magic in an attempt to stop Paul.

But soon he couldn't help cursing himself for being an idiot. That tactic hadn't even been able to stop Hilde, so how was it supposed to stop Paul?

"Swish—"

With a flash of sword light, Paul's sword struck Rudeus hard on the back of the neck.

Although it was a wooden sword, with Paul's skill, he still easily knocked Rudeus unconscious.

Rudeus swayed, then his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Not bad magic."

Ghislaine nodded. Although Paul had taken him down in two moves, Rudeus's reactions just now had still been very quick.

However, if he was going to be Eris's private tutor, magic alone wouldn't be enough.

Hilde glanced at the fallen Rudeus, then withdrew her gaze and tugged at the corner of Paul's clothes.

"Father, who is this?"

"Hmm? Ah, I forgot to introduce her."

Paul said with a smile, "This one was a companion of mine and Zenith's back when we were adventurers. Don't be fooled by that blank look of hers—she's the famous Black Wolf Sword King!"

"Sword King?!"

Hilde jolted violently. What the hell!

Wasn't combat strength on this level supposed to start appearing gradually around the middle of the plot? Why was a character of this level showing up in the starter village?!

The power scaling was inflating way too fast!

"All right, we can talk about that later. Help me get Rudeus into the carriage first."

As Paul spoke, he called Ghislaine over to help carry Rudeus into the carriage. Hilde looked at Rudeus lying there unconscious and, for some reason, felt like something was missing from his face.

Just as she was about to go up and add a couple of strokes, a familiar voice suddenly came from the distance.

"Rudy!"

"Don't take Rudy away!"

"Let Rudy go!"

Everyone turned to look, and saw Sylphy rushing over with her face full of anxiety.