Chapter 815: Footsteps of Autumn 2
While we were relaxing, special training for the female knight Fiona was also progressing.
“Anzeros, spar with her lightly”
Urged on by Dianne, Anzeros tilted her head.
“Is it okay for me to go?”
“Yeah. It’d be boring if she was always my opponent”
Though I doubt even an Ace Knight could honestly say whether sparring with Dianne-san was fun or boring. Anzeros tied her hair back with a cord, gripped a wooden sword the length of a short sword, and stepped forward. On the vacant lot at the town’s edge, where patches of withered grass began to mingle with the lush green meadow, Fiona stood holding a slightly longer wooden sword. Her features seemed a bit more dignified than before.
“So I’m supposed to spar with her, Dianne?”
“Yes. Go for it”
I’d finally gotten to the point where I could understand Fiona and Dianne’s conversation, thanks to the Southern dialect lessons I’d been taking lately. It still took a moment for the meaning of words to register, though. And I was still pretty shaky when it came to pronouncing them myself. As Anzeros assumed her stance, Fiona smoothly lowered her hips……oh, she was starting to look the part. You can’t unleash explosive power without lowering your center of gravity. It’s obvious, but just that alone makes a huge difference. However, Anzeros now possesses speed that can keep up with even 100-man Commander Becker and Almeida. She’ll probably hold back, but how much can I handle? 「Let’s see what you’ve got,」 I said, folding my arms. Before me, Fiona suddenly struck first. With a sharp step into Anzeros’s range, she slashes vertically in a single stroke.
“!!?”
Anzeros blocks the strike with a slightly surprised look, unable to believe this blow came from the woman who, until recently, had been completely defeated by children.
“You’ve got it……uwaa”
“Not even close!”
Fiona hammers in another downward strike. Though Anzeros, boasting ogre-like strength in an instant, wouldn’t be overpowered, the literally all-out downward strike threw her off balance just as she was about to move again. Fiona’s sword came down on her once more. By the third strike, Anzeros dodged. The wooden sword struck the ground. But Anzeros’s step back, intended to regain distance and reset the fight, was immediately closed by Fiona. If it had been just the first time, one might have called it catching the observer off guard. But showing this move twice made it clear it wasn’t a fluke.
“Dianne, she……”
“Quite impressive, isn’t she?”
Dianne looked pleased. But Anzeros dodged that second follow-up strike. A third time? She wasn’t going to let that happen. Pulling back for an instant, she deliberately charged forward herself as Fiona stepped in with a reckless rush.
“Nuwaー!?”
Fiona was sent flying about two meters by Anzeros’s body slam. From that tackling stance, she swung her body low and unleashed a shockwave. The airborne Fiona was blown even further.
“Aーーー!!”
Spinning through the air, Fiona slammed into the ground. ……S, She’s not dead, right?
“Anzeros, that was a bit much, don’t you think!?”
“I’d say the crossbow squad guys took hits like that all the time”
“Yeah, but still!”
Come to think of it, we’re pretty tough. ……And from the grass, Fiona stood up, looking relatively unharmed.
“Th, That’s cheating! What was that move?!”
“……What’s she saying?”
Anzeros doesn’t understand Southern dialect. I can’t speak it either. I shift my gaze to Dianne-san, who just shrugs.
“That was a blast attack……I’ve shown it to you and Breakcore several times before”
“That’s not it!”
“?”
“Is body-slamming allowed in a sword duel!?”
Oh, that’s what she meant? ……Dianne sighed.
“It is. Kicks, headbutts, punches—all fair game. That’s the Celesta style”
“You should’ve said so from the start!”
……Oh, so that settles it? Fiona might be more flexible than I thought. Well, maybe enduring Dianne’s hellish training made her resign herself to accepting those rules. But knowing Breakcore means she’s been to the Holy Beast Labyrinth too…….
“One more round. I won’t let my guard down this time”
Covered in grass and dirt, Fiona trudged back to the clearing and took her stance again. She seemed completely unfazed by being blown away. ……I always think this, but she really does have guts.
“What was that?”
“One more swing. I won’t let my guard down this time”
After hearing my translation, Anzeros let out a sigh and reset her stance.
The sparring continued for another thirty swings, with Anzeros winning every single one as expected. But it was also true that Fiona’s growth was quite remarkable.
“What kind of special training did you put her through? She was literally below average, right?”
Laila carried the battered Fiona to the hot springs with practiced ease. Anzeros, Dianne and I headed to the 「Leslie House」. Dianne smiled proudly, a drink in hand.
“Standard training. Except……it was three times the intensity of the course I made Becker and Vincent do back in the day”
“……100-man Special Duty Commander Becker, became a 10-man Captain directly through the Ace Knight exam, right? I’m sure of it”
In other words, it wasn’t training for raw recruits lacking fundamentals. It was training imposed on Ace Knights who were already beyond the level of ordinary soldiers……and then tripled. That’s deadly, right? Normally.
“For this Polka, that’s just right. ……Provided she has enough motivation to endure it”
“So you relied on the healing power of the spirit spring to thoroughly beat her up and train her……is that it?”
“Beating her up sounds rather harsh. I just designed each session to be that edge-of-achievable training—where you could reach it with just a little more strength.”
It’s precisely because of Dianne’s overwhelming experience and her own high ability that she could accurately grasp and control Fiona’s limits like that. And it’s precisely because Fiona possessed such high pride and strong grit that she could be trained so smoothly up to this point.
“Honestly, it’s rare to find such promising raw material. With that level of mental aptitude, most would either grow strong on their own or find their own efficient way of living. I can’t wait to see how far she’ll go”
“But you didn’t teach her any combat techniques at all, did you, Dianne-san……she only ever did straight vertical cuts the whole time”
“I have no intention of teaching sword techniques step-by-step. My style isn’t systematized as a technique. Perfectly mimicking it would be difficult for a short-lived species”
Dianne finished her drink and set down the ceramic cup.
“If you think it’s awkward, you teach her. I only solidify the foundation”
“You mean……”
“Anzeros, Aurora, Sharon, Neia and the Baron……there are those among you who possess techniques designed to be properly taught. I have no desire to overstep my bounds”
I thought I was included with Anzeros, but that would be pushing it, huh. Yeah.
————————
It seems Dianne-san will soon entrust Fiona’s special training to the others to some extent and proceed with the plan to build an immigrant city from Kalwin.
“Establishing the base point and orientation, roughly laying out the sections……paving the roads can probably wait until next spring. With a dragon’s strength, it might actually be easier than ordinary buildings”
“We’ll need to clear some forest over there. Shall we ask Laila-sama to burn it down?”
“Don’t burn it! Don’t burn it! First, we must consult the elves. When it comes to handling trees, deferring to them is the safe bet. We can’t afford complaints later”
Dianne and Emma huddle in a corner of Leslie House, poring over the blueprints and discussing plans. The city plan prioritizes livability and expandability, so preliminary land preparation and defenses around the town must be added later. Polka lacked (or still lacks) the manpower to build and maintain proper walls, so the boundary between town and countryside is little more than a wooden fence. With the town’s small population, defense was manageable with just a few men and the Baron himself. But if this became a town of thousands, even tens of thousands, such makeshift defenses would be disastrous if monsters slipped through. Relying on a dragon’s power for defense is a solution only I can command, but a town is meant to endure for a hundred, two hundred years. I certainly have no intention of building a town destined to vanish before I, a Dragon Rider, die, based on such a cheap, short-sighted plan. Therefore, we must construct a structure that can be properly defended.
“A dry moat for the defensive wall……no, perhaps we should make it a proper water moat? But then……”
“If it’s rough work, we could just summon more silver dragons from Crystal Palace and get it done quickly”
“Even if we could do that, I want to keep it under wraps. Showing off Andy’s power too much to outsiders won’t do us any good”
“I hear Trot is mostly humans, and dragons have good night vision, so we could just do the work at night……”
“Either way, full-scale house construction starts next spring. Let’s proceed without rushing”
I wonder if we’ll need to gather ogre laborers all the way from Talc and Quica for that construction work……I was thinking about that. Come to think of it, I glance over at Cosmos-san at the counter. She’d been watching me the whole time, and immediately gives me a questioning look with her eyes, asking 「What is it?」.
“Cosmos, weren’t we supposed to start calling the kids from Talc soon?”
“Is it okay to call them?”
“……No, it’s not about okay or not. Just confirming the schedule, you know?”
“If it’s okay to bring them, I’ll go pick some out right away~♪ Want to come choose with me? Or should I handle it?”
“Wait, I get to choose!?”
“Of course! Since they’re coming here, I’ll make sure they’re prepared to be impregnated by Master, you know♪”
Between the lines, she’s saying, 「Since we’re adding personnel specifically for you to have sex with, you get to choose, right?」. Wait, I was talking about them being part of your organization’s retreat, not…….
“…If you’re declaring them as that kind of partner, it contradicts what you said to another middle-aged man here the other day about 『Arranging encounters with prostitutes』”
Emma glared at Cosmos. Is she calling her to be offered to me, or does she intend to have her work as a prostitute here as usual? Which is it? Emma was pressing the question for me. But.
“That depends on you, Master♪ If you don’t want her to remain a prostitute, then it’s a matter of getting her off the streets, right?♪”
“That’s a trap, isn’t it!?”
“Enjoying her as a prostitute and her as a client, then impregnating her while maintaining that relationship is one kind of romance, you know♪”
Cosmos-san, knowing full well how strong my possessiveness is, is trying to make me lose control. That’s nasty. ……Dianne-san propped her chin on her hand and waved her hand dismissively, saying, 「Do whatever you like」.