小嫂子的味道

I staggered backward rapidly when Req slapped my Requiem sword with her own, standard metal sword. Her attack force was enough to drive me back to the edge of my feet. I somehow pushed forward, crushing and grinding my sword's blade against her.

There was not a single hint of discomfort or stress on her face, she faced me like I was a child in training. She moved a step back and then carefully titled her body to the left, opposing my sword with her right hand.

She let me apply all the force I could. I retreated and changed stances, then returned and dealt a fury of blows, multiple slashes from all directions. But she blocked them all, and at ease that is.

Comparing myself even with a child was probably an overstatement; she was treating me like a newborn infant.

Finally, she decided to take the lead. I sensed it in the air around us, it wasn't exactly blood lust I felt. Whenever a person is going to attack the mana around them behaves in a strange way and gathers around the person.

The skilled ones are able to hide this so that the enemy couldn't notice their moves, but Req made no such effort to do that. Though I'm pretty sure she was capable of it.

For a brink of second her eyes focused on me and me alone, the rest of the world didn't matter to her in that span of time. She pointed her sword toward me, then leaped forward. It was a quick and clean moment, a type I couldn't dream of doing in my current state.

She moved perfectly. Where four inches of movement was required she met the mark precisely, not five-inch, not three inches, not just a little different. No, she moved just the amount that was necessary.

I predicted the move with my gut and all the training I'd done. I could've used [Foresight] but I was having some problems with that and moreover, I wanted to train my body to dodge attacks on its own, not relying on any skill or spell.

But boy was I wrong. Just as I took a sidestep, thinking that I'm probably out of her range now. She changed her tracks in the middle, she stopped in her way in an instant, shifted to the side in front of me, and jabbed me with her sword. All this happened in no more than mere seconds.

I brought my sword up hurriedly in all the rough manner I could and tried to use it as a shield to protect my chest. I failed, but not as badly as I thought I would. The edge of her sword clashed and chipped against the guard of my sword.

Of course, it didn't stop her entirely. A part of her blade reached close and gushed a shallow cut on my hand between my thumb and wrist, releasing a trail of blood in the air.

I was practically blown backward by the shockwave that followed, it was like a stormwind. After I'd taken my time and balanced myself back on two feet, I stood with my back straight and held the Requiem sword down only with my right hand.

Req was getting back into a stance when I motioned her to stop.

"Tired?" she asked, raising her sword toward me.

"It's been a long while, I can't stay here all day and night. We'll continue tomorrow. Besides…" I focused my gaze on the sword she was holding, she did the same.

The following moment the blade of her sword cracked into multiple pieces before it crumbled down on the ground, leaving only the hilt in her hand. Then I turned my head to the side in the direction where once five swords hung on the wall.

Now they were all broken and lying on the ground.

'I'd need to pay extra for this, wouldn't I?' A thought crossed my mind. Even if the price of a standard sword wasn't much, if she broke five every day then in time it'll probably take me to reach the point of perfection I'm hoping…

It was a terrifying thought indeed. A recipe to go bankrupt.

For now, I decided to brush the thought away as I wiped the sweat from my forehead and face. Only then did I realize that what I'd done was paint my face red with the blood I had on the back of my hand. The sweat had also gone inside the cut, and it stung.

I couldn't say I wasn't frustrated by myself.

"Stress can do many things to a man," Req said as threw the lonely hilt on the ground and walked up to me. Her usual smile returned on her face.

"I'm not stressed. I'm just…" tired, was what I wanted to say. But then thought better of it. "Leave it. Can you make me a cloth?" I asked. Wiping the blood in my own clothes wasn't the best idea—considering that I was in the academy uniform. And I've seen her create clothes for herself before.

"I can't," she declared. I passed her a questioning look. "I can only make those for myself, as I am a spiritual being now and possess a spiritual body. You are physical, so you won't be able to touch it, leaving aside using it," she explained.

"Well, I saw that coming from a mile away," I said as I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and wiped my face from it. Unfortunately, it wasn't a big one and I could only wipe my face with it; the blood on my hand still remained.

Finally seeing no other option I first burned my now-blood-stained handkerchief using elemental magic and then summoned water to wash my hands and face.

There was no such thing as CCTV cameras in this world, and I'd make sure to check that there was no trace of someone monitoring the training rooms via a magic spell, so it was safe to use magic.

I mean, if it wasn't I wouldn't have used the Requiem sword. When I was done I rubbed my wet hands on the sides of my pants lightly and then picked up the sword.

As I was leaving a thought crossed my mind. No, actually I'd been thinking this over for quite a while now, and it was frustrating me more or less.

I hadn't been able to use custom magic spells, the very thing I wanted to learn at this academy.

Up until now, I've waited patiently till they were done teaching the basics of elemental magic to the students so we could move on, I didn't say anything because I'd given myself the excuse that I can't use elemental magic via magic circles because I have my own, different kind of way of using it.

Thus I waited for the custom magic lessons, thinking they might offer me something new. But the result was the very definition of disappointment.

I knew the core of the problem, even though I'd been trying to ignore it and shove it somewhere in the back of my mind. For unknown reasons, I could not use magic circles. That was it. The heart of the problem.

It was not that I was unable to use the magic of this world, that was proven wrong when I used a spell through the incantations back in the entrance exam. Rather than that, something was stopping me from summoning magic circles, hence the spells related to that weren't of much use either.

'It was a really, really frustrating thing. Not being able to use custom magic. Originally I'd thought that I'd do some experiments with it but now I just…can't decide. If this went on like this, I'll be at a huge disadvantage in the upcoming Cala—'

I stopped and cleared my mind as soon as I realized what was happening. Req was staring at me intently as she walked beside me as if she were hearing me speak. Then it struck me.

I'd been so tangled up in my thoughts that they were leaking out and she was able to hear them, just like I speak while commuting through our mind.

"Is that all there is to it?" she asked, with a somewhat serious expression—a rare thing for her.

"What're you referring to?"

"Magic. You said you couldn't use it, right? I saw you back then but thought you were restraining yourself for a reason," she said, referencing back to the time when I hadn't been able to use custom magic in the class.

For once, I was glad that she didn't ask anything about the calamity. Though I'm pretty sure I collected myself before that part of the information was leaked.

"Yes. I can't. I don't know why but I can't summon the magic circles," I said casually as she walked toward the exit door.

"I thought so, it isn't that strange," she said, stopping in her tracks. I also held my feet and looked back at her with an expression that stated I wanted to know more about what she said.

She seemed to understand it, as she let out a breath and then folded her legs. Levitating in the air in a cross-legged sitting position, she spoke.

"Let me guess. When you try to channel your mana and imagine the magic circle in your mind, everything goes well. But when you move to the next step and try to summon the circle by passing mana through the image you have in mind, it feels like there is something stopping you, a blockage of sorts. No matter how hard you try to force your way through, it just doesn't seem possible."

She looked at me in search of a response, I said nothing. No, allow me to rephrase that: I gave her the answer she was looking for but said nothing, the silence and a nod was enough.