Chapter 3: My Disciple Might Have Awakened?
Will is 15 years old. Honestly, Will is incredibly weak compared to a typical 15-year-old.
A typical 15-year-old who trains seriously becomes reasonably strong. That’s because in this world, you can attend sword academies. There, you can learn proper swordsmanship for ten years.
At sword academies, you can learn sword school techniques. They’re incredibly good places. There are countless schools of swordsmanship.
The Trelvarner Kingdom has three main representative schools, but entrance requires exams and certain physical health conditions.
By the way, I never entered one. Actually, I used to go around challenging various sword schools back in the day. I was constantly getting beaten up or defeating others—it was quite busy.
So, did Will enter a sword academy?
“Will, didn’t you enter a sword academy?”
“Yes! I couldn’t get in, or rather, I went around challenging dojos and got beaten to a pulp.”
“…Why did you challenge dojos?”
“Because Hero-sama did it!”
Idiot. Will, are you really that stupid? Don’t do such things. It’s obviously a nuisance. Challenging dojos is what idiots do, really.
“I thought I could handle it after watching Hero Dan’s sword technique lectures on Rigid Style, Purple Lightning Style, Mirror Flower Style, so I went to challenge dojos and got beaten to a pulp.”
“Trelvarner’s three great sword techniques, huh.”
Famous three great sword techniques. I remember getting beaten to a pulp too. Though I eventually defeated them all.
“Well, they were fake sword technique lecture books, so they were completely meaningless.”
“You thought you could handle it just from reading books a little?”
“…Somehow, I thought I could. They were Hero-sama’s books after all.”
Baseless confidence. I had that too. So I don’t really want to deny it, but I also can’t let him do reckless things.
“Ah, Hero-sama, I’ll return to the village for now, so please continue this afternoon.”
“Yeah.”
We train in the early morning, but Will seems to be returning to the village temporarily. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen how Will lives in the village. Since I have the chance, I’ll take off my iron mask and go see.
When I remove the mask, I become ordinary-looking me. I also change my name from Dan to [Ban].
I quietly follow Will. He’s completely oblivious that I’m tailing him.
Will lives in a place called Ishi Village. It’s a really ordinary village that would typically appear in medieval fantasy novels.
There are many single-story brick houses.
“Excuse me.”
“Eh?”
“Who are you? Are you a suspicious person?”
While I was observing Will, a small girl spoke to me. She’s probably around the same age as Will. She has distinctive yellow hair done up in twin tails, sparkling blue eyes, and an overall well-arranged face.
“Ah, I’m, well, a passing traveler, that sort of thing.”
“Eh? A traveler… that’s suspicious. You seemed to be watching Will, so do you have business with him?”
“Are you an acquaintance of Will’s?”
“Just a childhood friend, for now.”
For now, huh. This is that, isn’t it. Will, that guy, despite being young, is liked by the opposite sex. Should I expel him?
“Anyway, if you don’t have business, please don’t approach Will.”
I’ve been warned by the twin-tailed girl. Now, if I follow her words, it would be like: “Oh hero, you were warned, but to become unable to move from just that much is pathetic.”
So I’ll ignore it and look around the village, and I found Will again.
“Hey, Will.”
“What’s wrong, Menmen?”
“There was a weird person earlier, so be careful. He was watching you.”
How rude, I’m a hero-sama here.
“Eh!? A weird person!? Hero Dan was also bothered by weird people in the past, so it makes me happy to have something in common!”
Will is the weirder one. Definitely.
“Jeez Will, why are you happy about that…”
The girl called Menmen is looking at Will with an exasperated expression. I’m honestly exasperated too. As I observe, several boys come over to Will.
“Hey hey, Will. Are you still swinging that sword? You’re an idiot with no talent.”
“Just quietly hold farming tools and plow the fields.”
“You failed to get into all the sword academies.”
Oh my, so Will really was called a Misfit. It’s a bit pitiful.
“I’m still going to improve from here on…”
“Hahahaha. You?”
“I’ll also become strong enough to not lose to Dia…”
“To me?”
The guy named Dia seems to be the leader. He has a sturdy appearance and a confident expression.
Seeing him holding a sword, he’s a swordsman.
“To me, who’s at the intermediate level of Rigid Style? You couldn’t even get into a sword academy.”
Rigid Style, huh. And at that young age, he’s at the intermediate level.
Students who enter sword academies have ranks. Based on their overall strength, technique, and body conditioning, they’re classified into four categories: beginner level, intermediate level, advanced level, and master.
While some adults spend their entire lives at the beginner level, this guy reached intermediate level at an age not much different from Will’s. I see, certainly with that, it makes sense that he’d be overflowing with confidence.
“Stop bothering Will! Dia!”
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To be able to speak so boldly to a man holding a sword. This girl Menmen also has quite some nerve.
“Hey hey Menmen, I’m just telling the truth.”
“Will is trying his best too. You should understand that saying such things is rude!”
“But it’s true, right?”
“That’s why!”
“Menmen, it’s fine. It’s the truth, Dia’s right, it’s the truth.”
Will interrupted the two and said it resignedly. After that, he silently picked up his sword and turned his back.
“I can still do it, I can still do it too.”
“Hmm, impossible.”
Dia said that, and Will distorted his face in frustration for just a moment before running away.
“Why does Menmen like someone like that? I’m better, right?”
“Will is stronger than you. Kindness is also a form of strength.”
I see. This Dia guy is annoyed that Will is liked by Menmen.
Leaving the two who were arguing, I followed Will and found him leaning against a tree, spacing out. He seems down, so should I talk to him?
“Hey, aren’t you going to swing your sword?”
“Uwah! W-who are you?”
“My name is Ban, I’m that sort of traveler.”
“That sort of traveler… suspicious. Ah, are you the suspicious person Menmen mentioned?”
“That’s right, I’m a suspicious traveler.”
“…Huh? Haven’t we met somewhere before?”
As expected, does he recognize me? It was the same with Rin, but those close to Hero Dan might recognize me by my aura.
I should change this a bit.
“Hey, I’m Ban. I’m 20 years old.”
I change my first person pronoun from “ore” to “boku.” And I also make my age 20. I’m actually 30, but having worn an iron mask, I haven’t been exposed to any ultraviolet rays. Plus, becoming a hero gave me special abilities, so I maintain my youth.
“I see, you’re five years older than me. So what does Ban-san…”
“I was thinking you might swing your sword. You seem to have time to spare.”
“Eh, well, I’m starting to wonder if I should really continue like this.”
“Because you were made fun of earlier? Did you feel miserable?”
“Ah, yes. You were watching.”
“Well, yeah. I roughly understand your feelings. You believe somewhere inside that you have talent, but facing the gap with reality, you feel like giving up. But you also have feelings of not wanting to give up, and in the end, you don’t know what the right thing to do is, so you worry, right?”
“H-how did you know?”
“Because I’ve lived a long time. I was similar. I thought about giving you advice, but that’s troublesome, so I’ll just tell you the right answer.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Swing your sword. Focus on form and desperately swing your sword. That’s all you can do, right? You can’t use magic either, can you? Then swing your sword. That’s what you should do. Also, muscle training.”
“Eh, swing my sword?”
“Of course. Hero Dan was also weak at first. He was bullied terribly.”
“R-really!?”
“Yeah.”
He was beaten up terribly every day. I still remember it.
“He has no friends. Do you know why?”
“Eh, well, to not put his friends in danger, he keeps his distance…”
“Wrong. It’s because he abandoned them. Time, relationships with others, rest. He abandoned the time to play with those he could call friends, the time to eat meals, everything. To become strong. That’s why he has no friends. He has comrades though.”
“…”
“Hero Dan sought results. The process didn’t matter, he wanted to become strong. He wanted to become a hero. He swung his sword for that.”
“How do you know such things?”
“Ah, well. I heard it through the grapevine, I guess. Anyway, you don’t have time to be depressed, right? Swing your sword.”
“Y-yes.”
Well, that’s about enough for advice. In the end, I just said shallow things in a deep-sounding way.
“Well then, I’ll be going now. Ah, also your self-esteem is too low.”
“Self-esteem?”
“Have baseless confidence that you can do it.”
“Self-esteem.”
“If you want to become strong, imitating strong people is the fastest way. I recommend imitating the thoughts and atmosphere of whoever you think is strongest. Well then, good luck.”
It’s useless to say more than this. If I say too much, he’ll overload. Will is still very weak. I don’t have high expectations, but seeing a depressed young person somehow makes me want to get involved—that’s the nature of a hero, you could say.
Even though I want to quit already. Ah, I hope a supreme disciple appears soon.
Should I go back for now? I need to put on my iron mask before afternoon training…
“T-terrible!”
“A goblin horde is outside the village!!”
Looks like there’s a happening. Now, should I help… no, just a little. Just a little, though it goes against my nature, should I watch? What will Will do?
That guy has too little real combat experience.
If he’s about to die, I can handle it in an instant.
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