Swish, swish, swish—
A golden-haired girl was meticulously swinging her sword in the dojo's back courtyard.
Sweat had soaked her training uniform, clearly outlining her slender figure.
At the Water God Style dojo today—
Hilde was practicing her swordsmanship.
The aftermath of the young lady's kidnapping several months ago had completely subsided. At first, people could still be heard discussing it in hushed voices on street corners and in alleyways, but eventually, no one mentioned it anymore.
Most people had merely treated it as after-dinner gossip. Once the buzz faded, they stopped caring.
Well, she had never expected such insignificant public opinion to accomplish anything anyway.
Sigh. Back to training.
Since coming to the dojo here in the royal capital, Hilde had come to deeply understand the importance of good teachers.
For example, Paul had considerable talent with the sword.
Yet he had remained stuck at the advanced rank of all three styles.
Setting aside the fact that he himself had been somewhat lax in his training, the key issue was that no teacher had shown him the way forward.
He had had swordsmanship teachers before—the teachers at his school, the Boreas Family's private tutors, and even Lilia's father had instructed him in swordsmanship for a time.
But that had only amounted to laying a foundation.
He had scarcely learned any more advanced swordsmanship theories or secret techniques.
After that, he spent several years as an adventurer. His practical combat ability improved by leaps and bounds, and he even brought all three sword styles he had mastered to the advanced rank.
But in the end, he was still an advanced swordsman.
Because he had not specialized in any one style, and because he had not received truly advanced instruction.
He had talent, but no room to put it to