SLO Chapter 52

[Encounter with the Sword Emperor]

(Dan Side)

The extracurricular class made me realize my powerlessness.

The only reason we had been able to defeat the dungeon boss was because Professor Cirrus had come to our aid.

We couldn’t beat it by ourselves.

If I continued to self-study, I was bound to hit a wall.

As such, I began to study under Professor Cirrus to deepen my understanding of my attribute magic and magic in general.

Professor Cirrus was nothing short of incredible.

Under her guidance, I came to realize that I had been using my attribute magic in the most rudimentary way. Attribute magic held myriad possibilities. I’d never truly understand that until she taught me.

As a family of knights, the Marshall House placed emphasis on swordsmanship and body strengthening.

I had thought that was the most natural way since you fought with your body.

However, my magical studies taught me that I could elevate myself to the next level as a magic knight.

[Boost], my attribute magic, could multiply the potency of body strengthening and other magic.

It could be applied to both myself and my allies, making it a very useful ability.

Just the thought of what height it would reach if I developed it filled me with joy.

I never imagined that just with a better understanding of magic, my possibilities would expand so much and I could become so much stronger.

The spell that Professor Cirrus used to help us defeat the dungeon boss was a mix of support magic and her attribute magic.

With her attribute magic as the base and support magic as the enhancing element, the resulting spell lowered the dungeon boss’s magic resistance.

As far as attributeless magic went, I only knew Clean, Light, and body strengthening.

To raise my attribute magic [Boost] to a higher level, I decided to start studying all sorts of attributeless magic such as support magic and recovery magic.

With [Boost], I could multiply their magical effects.

Magic was awesome… but Professor Cirrus told me I shouldn’t neglect body strengthening.

I hadn’t stopped training every morning.

But I hadn’t seen Luc lately.

Even if he quit training altogether, I wouldn’t stop walking down my path to become stronger.

“Yo. Aren’t you tired of playing around with that sword, boy?”

It was early in the morning, and no other student was around… suddenly, a tall old man called out to me as I was silently swinging my sword.

“What’s your deal, old man? Did you pick mocking others’ swordsmanship as a hobby?”

“Hah, you call that swordsmanship? Don’t make me laugh. Even a five-year-old could do better than that.”

“Wha! Then why don’t you have a taste!”

Being made fun of, I swung my sword at the old man.

However, the old man vanished right in front of me and my sword ended up cutting nothing but air.

“Haa~ there are nothing but talentless kids at this academy. I came all the way here because I was told there was a somewhat good seedling here and yet… Guess I shouldn’t have raised my expectations…”

“Why, you! Body strengthening, [Boost] 5x!”

After studying attribute magic, I could now multiply magic’s effect by 5 times.

With five times the speed and strength from before, I swung my sword, but I still ended up cutting nothing but air.

“Oh, that’s quite decent. You can do it if you try, I see.”

“Shut up!”

“Haha, you’re at least better than the rest I’ve seen. Your spirit is not bad, either.”

The old man had dodged my sword with a leisurely grin on his face. Being stared at him felt disgusting.

“Okay. You passed.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t think you’re the kid he mentioned… but since I can’t seem to find him, I’ll make do with you.”

“W-what the hell are you talking about?”

“Well, I came here because a friend told me there’s a promising kid who trains here every morning, see~. You’re just so-so, so it couldn’t be you.”

A promising kid who trained every morning… Luc’s face came to my mind.

“But I figure rather than training a promising kid, it’d be more interesting to train an ordinary kid to surpass him. Wouldn’t you agree?”

The old man’s words… seemed to imply that he could make me become stronger than Luc.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, right. Forgot to introduce myself. I’m Arthur. People call me the Sword Emperor Arthur.”

“The Sword Emperor!!!”

“Yeah. Surprised?”

This person was the Sword Emperor? The number one in the kingdom!!! SSS rank adventurer!!! Said to be the strongest man alive, the Sword Emperor!!!

“Heh, talk about a funny face… what’s your name boy?”

“…Dan.”

“Alright, Dan. Your swordsmanship is mediocre. Nothing special about it.”

Denied by the Sword Emperor, I looked down.

“But, your spirit isn’t half-bad. And your attribute magic is quite interesting.”

Did the Sword Emperor just praise me?

“Can I become stronger?!”

“Heh, those are good eyes if I saw one. You can, yeah. If you train under me.”

“I’ll do anything to become stronger!”

“Good spirit… Okay. I’ll make you strong. Strong enough to beat anyone. But on one condition.”

“Condition?”

What might it be? Was it money? But I was dirt poor… I didn’t have any other possessions worthy enough for a Sword Emperor, either.

“It’s simple. Surpass me.”

“You want me to surpass you, Sir?”

“That’s right. And from now on, call me master. Got it?”

“Yes, understood! Master!”

And so, began my training under my new Master.

The Sword Emperor Arthur’s swordsmanship was unfettered and specialized in defeating enemies. Compared to it, the Marshall-style swordsmanship I’d been learning was just child’s play.

In the morning, I trained under Master Arthur, and at school, I took magic lessons from Professor Cirrus.

On weekends, I went to dungeons with Master Arthur to defeat monsters and level up.

School and training… both physically and mentally exhausted me, but every day filled me with a strange sense of fulfillment.

Such days went on for about half a year until one day… I was made to realize how strong I’d actually grown… or lack thereof.

Early in the morning, I was doing some warm-up exercises by myself before Master Arthur came as usual when… I found Luc Hugaro Deskustos.

“Luc!”

I was very excited then.

I could beat Luc now, I thought.

“Hm? Oh, it’s you, Dan… you need something?”

“I’ve been learning swordsmanship from the Sword Emperor Arthur and mastered Aura!!! I’ve also been studying under Professor Cirrus, the Witch of the Abyss, and I’m now a bit of an expert in magic. I will absolutely defeat you in the Sword Emperor’s Cup!”

Defeat Luc! I’d definitely beat him.

“That so… Aura, huh? I’d love to see it… I’ve got an idea. This can make for a good test run, too. Let’s have a mock battle, Dan.”

Luc was asking for a mock battle? That was unheard of.

My excitement peaked.

“You sure? You can’t beat me now.”

“Less talk and more battle.”

I held up my sword and faced Luc.

I wouldn’t be defeated like before.

With body strengthening activated and Aura cladding my body, I gathered up my energy.

“Here I go!”

“Yeah, come.”

Raising my sword, I rushed at Luc and swung down my sword at him at the fastest speed I was capable of.

But in the next moment… I passed out.

In my fading consciousness, I heard Luc say, “Hmm. That’s it for the test run, I guess. Did you get the data on Aura?”

I only came to when Master Arthur arrived and woke me up… just what had happened?

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