Chapter 29 : A Male’s Romantic Notions

“Haam.”
How much time had passed like that?
Celine began to feel sleepy.
Come to think of it, how long was she supposed to stand guard?
Since she had volunteered for a task deemed unnecessary, there was no one to relieve her.
Stay up all night? Until when? Just today? Tomorrow too? The day after? When would she sleep?
But lying down in her bedding after just an hour or two of watch didn’t sit right with her pride.
Not that anyone would blame her, but this was a matter of her own conscience.
Conclusion: she would stop when she felt satisfied.
This amount of time wasn’t enough for Celine’s satisfaction.
She had to hold out for at least two more hours.
She’d be a little short on sleep, but that was manageable.
A knight prided themselves on their sturdy body.
Lacking sleep for a day or two wouldn’t significantly affect her physical condition.

“Hoo.”
Celine stood up from her spot.
She couldn’t stay awake like this.
Moving her body was the solution in times like these.
It was perfect timing.
She had stopped her swordsmanship training after getting injured.
For her, who had trained relentlessly every single day since resolving to become a knight, this was unusual.
It was late, but she needed to get back into her routine now and sharpen her senses.
Shwing—the blade slid out.
Feeling the cool touch, Celine began to swing the sword.
The imaginary enemy facing her was the Lizardman Chieftain.
The monster that had dealt her a crushing defeat.
She was determined to review her defeat, improve, and win next time.

“…”
And glowing eyes watched this from the darkness.

Aish, what’s this noise in the middle of the night?
Lena woke up from her sleep.
Her vision, piercing the moonlit night as if it were day, sought the source of the commotion.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the culprit was Celine.
Perhaps trying to be considerate, she was swinging her sword some distance away from the campsite.
But what good did that do?
It was useless against Lena’s hearing, sharper than a beast’s.

“I told you not to stand guard and just sleep…”
Lena could guess why Celine was performing a sword dance under the moonlight.
Night watch was like that.
Being awake alone in the dead of night with nothing to do just makes one sleepy.
Her intention was likely to shake off the drowsiness by moving her body.
Should I go back to sleep now that I know what’s going on?
Lena’s senses were indeed sharp.
But did that mean she was a light sleeper? Not necessarily.
Lena could sleep soundly even if someone was dancing or banging gongs next to her, as long as she decided to sleep.
However, it was perhaps a mark left by her life in the wild.
Monster attacks often happened under the moonlight, making her sensitive to unfamiliar presences.
As such, she could return to dreamland just by closing her eyes again.

“Hmm, I should watch.”
Sleep? What sleep?
Lena’s previously drowsy face regained its sharpness.
Knight! Blades! Swordsmanship!
This was the romance of a male.
So much so that Lena had chosen the Knight’s Destiny right after the Wild Destiny.
Part of it was wanting a topic to discuss since Celine was a Lady Knight, but her pre-existing interest had undeniably pushed her.

[Knight’s Destiny]
It is a path forged by tempering oneself through conviction and advancing with indomitable will.
The mission given to a knight is not mere combat.
It is to protect what is worthy of protection and fulfill the duties assigned.
The owner of this destiny will agonize at the boundary between justice and reality, pioneering the world with unwavering conviction.
The knight shall be tempered through trials and ultimately remain as an immortal legend.

※ Knight’s Vow: Physical fortitude born from conviction.
※ Seasoned Insight: Penetrating insight that sees through the opponent’s moves.
※ Universal Weapon Mastery: Innate skill unhindered by weapon type.
※ Battlefield Pledge (Details below)
Guardian’s Presence, Indomitable Spirit, Soul Strike…

Now that she had chosen the Knight’s Destiny, she needed to learn how to use a sword.
She had heard that basics were crucial when learning martial arts.
Those were the words of the Taekwondo master whose dojang she frequented as a child.
He said that if you develop bad habits, fixing them later takes twice the effort.
But Lena had no teacher to teach her the basics.
There couldn’t possibly be any people in the Great Forest.
Given that Lizardmen wielded spears, there might be monsters fighting with swords.
But the problem was, take a monster as a master?
That was a bit…
In that sense, she was lucky.
Right before her eyes was an expert, a master swordsman—a knight.
A model is a model because one can learn righteousness just by observing it.
A knight was more than adequate as a model.

Lena held her breath and observed Celine.
Her sword dance had a chillingly captivating power.
It was close to the feeling of wanting to ride a roller coaster or a gyro drop, knowing they are scary.
The fear of a blade being swung transformed into a mesmerizing allure under the precise, controlled techniques.
She’s pretty good.
Lena acknowledged.
For someone defeated by mere Lizardmen, her skills were decent.
Watching her, there was much to learn.
If Lena’s movements were divided by ratio, it was 1 part reason and 9 parts instinct.
Celine was the exact opposite.
Every single action had a deeply considered basis.
Is it because she handles a blade?
No matter how well the grip fits the hand, it’s ultimately an external object, just a tool.
Lena watched, mesmerized, engraving Celine’s every movement into her memory.

[Seasoned Insight links with Dexterity (Lv. Max) to deeply analyze the opponent’s moves!]
Celine’s movements, which initially seemed incomprehensible and just “amazing,” gradually came into focus.
Move like this in this situation, move like that in that situation.
When dissecting the movements piece by piece, there was a pattern within them.
Her limbs kept twitching, eager to mimic the movements.
She had a feeling it wouldn’t be too difficult.
There might be awkward parts, but those could be smoothed out by repeating them until they became ingrained in her body.
Should I try?
There should be the sword I brought from the Dragon Lair in my luggage.

Just then:
[Draconis Family Swordsmanship (Lv.1) has been realized!]
[Usage conditions for Draconis Family Swordsmanship (Lv.1) have not been met!]
[Skill will be converted to locked status!]
[Knight’s Destiny connects with Draconis Family Swordsmanship, forging a miraculous link of causality!]

[Immortal Swordsman]
In the distant past, in an era not even recorded, there was a swordsman who traversed the continent bare-handed.
One day, foreseeing a great danger in the far future, he compiled his martial arts and left them as relics.
However, these were scattered due to human greed.
You, who have encountered its traces, might be able to collect them…

Reward: Growth Points…

“Agh, eye-searing light.”
Why is it flashing so brightly in the middle of the night?
Lena couldn’t hide her annoyance and pushed the status window out of her sight.
This thing doesn’t know when to butt in and when not to.
She was just starting to get a feel for how to wield the sword, and it had to break her concentration… Ah.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”
Lena’s eyes met Celine’s.
Celine looked embarrassed and slowly sheathed her sword.

“Yeah. Maybe because it was noisy, I woke up.”
Lena responded boldly.
She was confident because it was the truth.
She really did wake up because of the sword dance noise.
Compared to that, what was wrong with spying?

“…It wasn’t intentional. I’ll be careful from now on.”
Celine looked crestfallen and dejected.
Her shoulders slumped, and her eyes drooped downward, looking tearful.
Despite her stiff manner of speaking, she was surprisingly expressive with her emotions.
Teasing her is quite fun.
Lena inwardly suppressed a laugh and continued.

“So, teach me how to use a sword instead.”

“?”
She sidled up close, clung tightly, and pleaded with a giggle.
Celine, unable to adjust to the sudden shift in atmosphere, looked bewildered, then her face hardened.

“Wait, Lena, could you step back a bit?”

“Ah, maybe you don’t like physical contact?”
She thought girls held hands tightly with friends, so this level of contact would be fine.
It was a typical male misconception.
Well, not everyone is the same.
Lena carefully took a step back.
A line was added to Lena’s mental profile of Celine:
Prideful, shy, dislikes clinginess.

“I’m sweaty. It’s dirty.”
The added line was erased.
Hmm, that’s a sensitive issue.
Lena understood her feelings.

“It’s okay, you don’t smell much.”
Saying “not much” implied there was some smell.
Lena herself didn’t really care.
For someone who lived jostling with monsters, a light sweat smell was nothing.
Being sensitive about every little thing like that would lead to dying young from stress.

“You’ll teach me, right?”
Celine also realized Lena had been teasing her.
How could she be angry when Lena was pleading with a giggle?
However, that didn’t change the fact that she had woken Lena up.
How agonizing it is to have one’s night sleep disturbed against one’s will.
Lena didn’t show any sign of this and passed it off playfully—a warm consideration that felt even more sincere because she hadn’t learned social niceties.
In reality, Lena was just being true to her desires.
Her hands and feet were itching; why bother peeking furtively when she could learn directly?

“Okay, I’ll teach you. Come to think of it, Lena, you also need the strength to protect yourself.”
While the Great Forest was the most dangerous place in the world, human society wasn’t easy either.
Assuming people would be kind and friendly, the opposite of monsters, just because they were human, was a big mistake.
Especially since Lena possessed looks that naturally drew attention even without adornment.
She needed to learn at least one skill to protect herself.
And they hadn’t escaped the Great Forest yet either.
She didn’t know what dangers lay ahead.
Laying the foundation of swordsmanship now could reduce the risk of Lena getting hurt.

“Then you’ll teach me? Wait a second.”
Lena scampered off and took out a sword from her bundle.

“That’s…?”

“I found it in a cave. Its edge is sharp, perfect for use as a butcher knife.”
Celine noticed the extraordinary nature of the sword Lena held.
It would be dereliction of duty if someone who lived by the sword didn’t notice.
The blade was incredibly sharp, its edge seeming sharp enough to cut just by looking, and the hilt’s decoration, though rusted and grimy, held the dignity of a master craftsman’s touch.
Found it? A famed sword like that couldn’t just be lying on the ground… Ah, this is the Great Forest.
An antlion’s pit that devoured those who dared step in rashly.
Countless knights and nobles had died here.
Celine concluded it must be a sword dropped by one of them and accepted it.