"Hmm?"

At the moment of contact, there was a huge explosion, and the ground beneath my shoes cracked. The sheer force that Melina put behind her blow shattered concrete and almost blew me off my feet. Even so, I managed to hold firm and tried to fling her off, but she did a back flip before counterattacking. I barely managed to dodge her thrust, and I retaliated with a riposte that almost caught her by the back of her neck.

"!!!"

Melina twisted around and fended off my strike, and then she reversed the grip on her sword and tried to strike me. Despite her swift, precise movements, it was too predictable. I had read her movements almost accurately and blocked her strike.

At first I thought she was trying a feint, but she wasn't. Consequently, when my follow-up defense forced her back, she stumbled and fell.

"Whoa!"

"Sorry, Melina! Are you all right?!"

While I rushed over to a fallen Melina, reaching out to help her out, I saw that she was looking downward bitterly. d.a.m.n it, did I perhaps go overboard? I should have held back more…

For a few moments, Melina kept her gaze lowered, but then she quickly got back to her feet and smiled brightly, brus.h.i.+ng the dust off her gym clothing.

"Don't worry, Sensei! I'm all right! I'm used to this!"

She then strode forward eagerly, almost in my face while clutching her sword tightly, her cheeks flushed in determination.

"Sensei, again! I can still fight!"

I studied her resolute expression for a few seconds, and saw that she looked a little afraid that I would reject her or scorn her…or that I would stop and give up, and then I smiled. Like h.e.l.l I would do something as stupid as that.

"Yeah, let's do that. Once more!"

Melina obediently retreated ten steps and got ready to attack again. This time, I tried to restrain myself despite the ferocious golden aura that she emanated. The first time she attacked, I was almost caught by surprise. I had thought her stronger than she originally was – and let's be clear, she certainly was strong. In terms of magic…she was powerful, especially because she obviously possessed plenty of mana.

Unfortunately, her practical application of mana into her swordsmans.h.i.+p was a little lacking. She was a bit too clumsy and direct, relying almost on brute force – a stark contrast to the elegant, fluid sword techniques that she was executing. With such opposites clas.h.i.+ng against each other, it would be difficult for her to integrate them seamlessly.

For now, I would spar a bit with her and see what other problems she had. Melina charged again, and delivered a perfectly memorized series of strikes that were reminiscent of what I had taught her. They were almost too perfect…except that they felt a bit too robotic. How do I put it? It felt as if she was merely going through the motions.

Clang!

A few more times and a few more exchanges, and Melina was back on the floor. Every time she would get up and challenge me again, and I indulged her for a few more rounds. The more we fought, the more I understood.

Now I realized why there were rumors about Melina being incompetent in swordsmans.h.i.+p, and why her relatives scoff at her attempts to learn it. As I feinted to the left, Melina completely fell for it and I knocked her back, sending her flying.

Melina, despite the fluid and elegant strokes she delivered with her sword, was too rigid. She had committed the sword techniques to memory – to a very impressive degree, yes, but that perfect memorization had ended up being shackles on her. She couldn't stray away from what she had learned, couldn't adapt or change accordingly. Not only that, she was too direct and…honest. She couldn't do any feints, and she was completely deceived by mine, unable to tell apart a ruse from a real attack. While her skills would undoubtedly help her against regular monsters, she would have trouble against a human opponent. Her rigid adherence to what she thought were sacred forms and moves made her extremely predictable and easy to manipulate…as long as one had experience fighting against her, they could so easily counter whatever attacks she threw at them.

"You need to be more adaptable," I told Melina as she lay sprawled on the ground, panting heavily from the exertion. She could barely speak, her sweat-streaked face pale as a ghost and her matted golden hair pressed to the ground. Watching her, I gave an encouraging smile. "You've learned the sword techniques well enough and it's clear that you've put in a lot effort, but your attacks are too predictable. And you need to learn how to react to feints."

"I will do my best, Sensei."

"I know you will." I prepared to sit beside her, but Melina forced herself to her feet, smiling eagerly. Somehow she had managed to recover a bit of strength from lying down for a couple of minutes. How it must be like to be young…I really envied her.

"Sensei, again!"

"Nah…that's enough for today."

"Eh…but I haven't had enough!"

"Maybe you haven't, but I'm afraid your poor wooden sword is done for the day." I pointed at her broken weapon. She gasped when she saw that there was nothing left of her wooden blade except splinters. Evidently she had infused the wooden sword with way too much mana to the point where it couldn't withstand the power and split apart eventually.

"Um…I'll go get a replacement right away!"

Fl.u.s.tered, Melina made to run toward the shed next to her garden, where all her practice tools and weapons were stored, but I caught her by the collar before she could get very far.

"Nope, you won't. We're done for this morning, at least. Any more training would have to be done tonight." Pus.h.i.+ng up my gla.s.ses, I pointed at the sun, which was slowly rising over the horizon and was brightening up the sky into a deep blue. "Have you forgotten that you have cla.s.ses at 9am? You should go get ready, wash up, have breakfast and then head to school. I won't have you using my lessons as an excuse to skip cla.s.s."

"No, I would never!" Melina looked aghast that I would ever suggest a thing. I merely smiled and shook my head.

"I know you wouldn't. I was joking."

"Ah…"

"Young Miss…" Amelia showed up. "It's almost time for school. Let's get you washed up and ready for it. Also, we have breakfast prepared…"

Clasping her hands, Melina glanced down before nodding. She turned back to me.

"Sensei…"

"Yeah?"

"I…I'll do my best in every lesson you give me. One day…I'll definitely be a swordswoman that the Franklin family will be proud of!"

I watched her as she trembled violently, unable to conceal the anxiety that she felt. I felt a pang of mental anguish. For someone as young as her to suffer under such social and familial pressure when she really should be enjoying her youth at that age…it was so unfair.

Right there and there, I renewed my vow to never give up on her, no matter what. I was going to turn her into a skilled and dignified swordswoman worthy of the Franklin name…no, a sword saintess that even the Franklin family wouldn't deserve!

"As I said, I can tell how much effort and hard work you've put into learning swordsmans.h.i.+p," I a.s.sured her. "Your form was perfect, and I'm very proud to see that you've learned the techniques I've taught you so flawlessly in such a short time. You have the potential to surpa.s.s your cousin, this much I am certain of."

"…eh…? Really?"

Melina could scarcely believe what she was hearing, and I didn't blame her. That was the outrageous claim to make, by any standards. Not that I planned to withdraw it. After all, I truly believed that.

"Yeah. So believe in yourself. You just need more combat experience." I drew to my full height. "And whenever you're in doubt, remember this. No one is born knowing how to wield a sword. Everyone has to start from somewhere. Right now you are admittedly quite some distance away from Kureha Franklin, but that means nothing in a few years. Practice. Keep practicing. Swordsmans.h.i.+p, just like any craft, is all about practicing. Magic too. I'll have you know that I started at the bottom of my school rankings, but I refused to give up and continued practicing summoning magic…to the point where I was able to climb the ranks and surpa.s.s the people who looked down on me for being trash or whatever. And if I can do it, so can you."

"Phew…"

Melina sighed a huge breath of relief and smiled, her cheeks coloring from the praise. She then bowed, her golden hair flying up above her from the swift, abrupt movement.

"Thank you very much!"

Amelia came over and clapped her hands, delighted.

"Isn't that great, my lady? He said that your sword form was perfect! That's amazing!"

Melina giggled, partially embarra.s.sed from all the praise she was receiving. She was downright glowing. I hoped that she wouldn't let all this flattery get to her head. While Melina was basking in the glow, Amelia turned toward me brightly.

"Richard!" She addressed me directly. "Please take care of our young miss at school as well!"

"Eh?!" Melina was so taken aback that she couldn't suppress a surprised cry, her jaw dropping. "S…Sensei is accompanying me to school?!"

"Yes," Amelia replied smoothly. "Were you not aware?"

Obviously not…

"Um, apparently I'm supposed to take the cla.s.ses that I would miss in Jing Tian Academy in Saint Teresa Academy. They are treating this as some sort of exchange program." Even though that was technically the rationale behind my exchange program, I had already taken all the credits for my cla.s.ses and completed my coursework back at Jing Tian Academy, so I couldn't see the point of taking another combat magic cla.s.s or whatever in Saint Teresa Academy. Even so, I couldn't be seen doing nothing and slacking off in Saint Teresa Academy. That would leave a very bad impression on the other side, and they would accuse me of making use of connections to get in. Given that it was indeed my connections to Duke Franklin that got me into the school, they weren't wrong, but even so it was unpleasant to be gossiped about and criticized unfairly.

"Ah, so Sensei is an exchange student at my school!" Melina nodded, comprehending. "That makes sense! So we'll be going to school together!"

"That's pretty much it, yeah," I agreed. "So let's get ready. I don't want to be late for my first day of cla.s.s at Saint Teresa Academy too."

"I…I'm going to get changed!"

Fl.u.s.tered for some reason, Melina spun away and ran off, fleeing back into the house. I watched her, a little puzzled, only to realize that she was slightly embarra.s.sed. At the side, Amelia chuckled and shook her head in wonder.

"Like I said, Richard, I'll be counting on you."

"Yeah, okay." My mind was already s.h.i.+fting to other matters. As I said, it would be a waste of time for me to retake combat magic cla.s.ses. Okay, perhaps Saint Teresa Academy was probably a more prestigious school than Jing Tian Academy and they might have a superior syllabus or something, but unfortunately I had spent way too much time out on the field, doing missions, fighting monsters and combating a.s.sa.s.sins. There was little I could learn from academic cla.s.ses on combat magic, not when I had quite a wealth of actual practical experience.

Even so, I still had to take a cla.s.s as a formality, to show the higher-ups and board that I was doing something. That I wasn't wasting my time doing nothing.

Wait…

"Do they have ice magic cla.s.ses at Saint Teresa Academy?" I asked Amelia. Stupid question, of course they would. The real question was whether they had any s.p.a.ce for an extra student this semester.

"I wouldn't know. You will have to go to the school directly and find out," the stunned maid replied.

"Okay. Thanks, I will."

I fervently prayed that they would have some s.p.a.ce to accommodate me. If they did, then this so-called interns.h.i.+p or "exchange" might turn out to be a blessing in disguise…