A First Glimpse of Greatness

"Whoa!"

Radeus was startled awake by his own dream.

"Holy shit, why did I forget all this?"

"No wonder my physical abilities are so much better than normal. So that was why!"

"Actually, why did I get reincarnated into some unknown world of magic instead of going to Jujutsu Kaisen?"

"Whatever, forget it for now. The training later is more important."

It was Roxy's second day at their home. Radeus nudged the still-sleeping Rudeus.

"Hey, time to wake up!"

"Just a little longer..."

Rudeus rolled over and went right back to dreamland.

"Ah, don't blame me, my foolish little brother!"

Radeus grabbed Rudeus and tossed him skyward. Still dreaming, Rudeus only felt himself suddenly grow lighter, turning into a bird soaring through the sky. He flew and flew, experiencing a freedom he had never felt before.

So flying through the sky feels this wonderful! Rudeus thought.

Suddenly, a sensation of weightlessness struck him. Rudeus's wings broke, and he plummeted from the sky.

"Aaah!"

With a thump, Rudeus landed on the bed and woke up instantly.

"Hey, hey, hey! You don't need to use such extreme methods to wake me up!"

"I saved you, okay? Dad's teaching us swordsmanship this morning. If you don't get up, who knows what he'll do when he comes into the room!"

Radeus curled his lip as he spoke to Rudeus.

"Uh..."

Rudeus immediately remembered. Paul had indeed said yesterday that they would be learning swordsmanship this morning. If he overslept, he might get yelled at.

After they washed up and ate breakfast, Paul brought Radeus and Rudeus out into the courtyard. Zenith and Roxy watched from the side.

"Good luck, Rad, Rudeus!" Zenith waved, cheering the two of them on.

"G-good luck!"

Roxy offered a timid word of encouragement from beside her. Her voice was soft and gentle; no matter how many times he heard it, it was the purest young girl's-or little girl's-voice imaginable.

"Heh heh..."

Hearing Roxy's voice, Rudeus broke into a smile like a lecherous old man, giving Radeus the creeps.

Thonk!

Unable to stand the sight any longer, Radeus rewarded Rudeus with a chop of his hand.

"Ow!"

After receiving justice's punishment, Rudeus held his head in both hands and reined in his smile, but his eyes remained fixed on Radeus, as though saying:

What was that for? Ow!

Just look at that sleazy face of yours, you old pervert! Not to be outdone, Radeus glared back.

Watching the brothers fool around, Paul picked them up, one in each hand.

"All right, all right. It's time for my lesson now, so stop wasting time. Swordsmanship is difficult. You need to start young."

"But you're both still little, so for now, just swing wooden swords with me to build up your bodies!"

With that, Paul took out two small wooden training swords sized for them.

"Practice with these. Watch my movements closely! Your form when swinging a sword is very important!"

Paul demonstrated a proper slash in front of them, his posture straight and his movements crisp.

"Wow, that was amazing!"

Radeus and Rudeus both applauded Paul, greatly stroking their father's ego.

"Heh heh, right? Now you two try!"

Rudeus picked up his wooden sword and swung it, imitating what he had seen.

"No, no. It should go swish, but yours is going whoosh. And your posture is completely wrong. Keep your back straight."

Watching Rudeus swing, Paul immediately pointed out the problems.

Radeus recalled Paul's earlier movements, picked up his sword, took a deep breath, and slashed forward.

"Hah!"

"That's it! Well done, Rad. Looks like you have a talent for swordsmanship too!"

Paul glanced at Radeus's form. It was perfect, exactly like his own demonstration.

He got it after seeing it just once. That's my son! He's already seventy or eighty percent as good as I was back then. But Rudeus...

Looking at Rudeus's appalling form, Paul said nothing. He was still young, after all.

Rudeus has a promising future too!

"Rad, your form is already very good, but these are the fundamentals. You need to drill them into your muscles until your body can do it without thinking."

Paul cautioned Radeus, worried that the little fellow would slack off because of his exceptional talent. The fundamentals were still very important.

"Got it, Dad!"

After about ten minutes, Rudeus really couldn't keep going, so Paul could only let them both rest.

Sitting in a chair and drinking water, Rudeus asked Radeus beside him:

"How is your form so perfect? Is there some trick to it?"

"A trick? I just remembered how Dad swung his sword, then imagined myself doing the same thing, and it happened naturally. Isn't that what you do?"

Radeus asked with a puzzled look.

"Heh..."

Rudeus was a little speechless.

Wow, amazing. What do you mean, you remembered it after seeing it once? And you could just do it naturally by imagining it? Do it, my... father!

Now Rudeus knew his talent was most likely in magic. As for swordsmanship, he might as well just practice casually.

"Fool!"

Once again hearing Rudeus's thoughts, Radeus scolded him.

"Are you an idiot? If you don't practice hard, won't you get instantly killed when a warrior gets close? Mages are usually squishy as hell. Have you ever played LoL?"

"Melee mages are all the rage now. A mage who doesn't want to become a warrior isn't a proper mage!"

"Huh, that makes sense!"

Rudeus immediately understood. Indeed, when he played games in his previous life, mages generally died once warriors got close. But if that mage was actually strongest in melee combat, the situation would instantly turn around.

"Great! I'm going to become a great swordsman!"

Rudeus was fired up at once. Back when he played games, he had been a hardcore grinder too. Now that he had a goal, there was only one word for it-grind!

"You can be taught!"

Radeus nodded in satisfaction.

Getting Rudeus to practice swordsmanship and improve his melee combat was partly for Rudeus's own sake. The other reason was that Radeus feared Rudeus would leave him too far behind in magic, so he deliberately got Rudeus to spend more time practicing swordsmanship, giving himself a chance to overtake him by another route.

Poor Rudeus is still dancing in the palm of my hand.

"What about the palm of your hand?"

Rudeus had heard Radeus's thoughts.

"N-nothing. Just thinking about an old idiom."

Radeus hadn't expected Rudeus to hear his thoughts. Luckily, the kid didn't know what the idiom meant, or his plan would have been exposed.

Thank goodness, thank goodness!

"?"

Listening to Radeus's thoughts, Rudeus couldn't shake the feeling that the guy was up to no good.