Although Sowol could use sword energy, she was still lacking compared to Laila.
The difference in experience.
No matter how talented Sowol was, it would be too much to fill that gap at once.
While we quickly placed our bets, Sowol and Laila began to approach each other.
As everyone watching held their breath.
-Chaeng!!
The swords collided in mid-air. Sowol, who created sword energy from the start, and Laila, who strengthened her sword with aura, though not sword energy.
Naturally, Laila’s sword had to be pushed back.
After all, sword energy is sword energy, even if it’s crude.
“Ugh…!!”
But experience couldn’t be ignored.
Laila, while being pushed back, quickly spun her body and executed a spinning slash.
As Sowol barely blocked it with her sword handle, being drawn in as if sucked, Laila’s foot kicked Sowol’s abdomen.
-Bbeok!!
“Kugh!!”
The distance opened up for a moment.
Without anyone taking the lead, Sowol and Laila quickly rushed toward each other, and soon, a series of dazzling sword strikes followed.
“Wow…”
“The young miss was this good…?”
“I heard she was learning properly from this master, but to think she’d be this good…”
Of course, my teaching wasn’t insignificant, but Sowol’s skill was due to her overflowing talent.
When I teach her one thing, she basically figures out two or three.
As a teacher, I can’t express how comfortable it is.
“Haaaap!”
“Iyaaaap!!”
Master-servant relationship, or childhood friends who grew up together.
As if such relationships didn’t matter, they were swinging their swords at each other quickly.
And it ended when Sowol’s sword stopped in front of Laila’s chest.
“… It’s a draw.”
One of the onlookers muttered as they watched the scene.
That’s because Laila’s sword was also aimed at Sowol’s chest.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a draw since both would be fatal if hit.
…Great! Just as I thought! I was worried about being wrong, but I’m relieved.
“Yahoo!!!”
“Oi oi! I believed in you!”
These guys. They should maintain a poker face like me.
I maintained my composure as I watched those who bet on a draw with me burst into cheers.
Seeing people grumbling and paying up, Sowol and Laila stood there dumbfounded for a moment before shouting indignantly.
“What! Did you bet on us?!”
“…I didn’t expect even Master to do this.”
“It’s the joy of travel. Since I won a lot, I’ll buy you something delicious when we reach Roberin City.”
I patted Sowol’s head as she puffed up her cheeks and checked my pocket.
There were quite a lot of jingling silver and copper coins.
As expected, betting is the way to gain a lot.
“What makes me angrier is that Master didn’t bet on me winning.”
“They say the winning side is always our side. If you’re upset, you should have been stronger.”
“Uuuu…”
As expected, when hit with facts, she couldn’t say anything.
While Sowol was clenching her fist and trembling, then hitting me lightly, Laila approached.
There was quite a bright smile on her face.
“Wow~. This is amazing! I didn’t know the young miss’s skills had improved this much. Is it thanks to this master’s good teaching!?”
“It’s also thanks to her excellent talent. More importantly, Laila. When you use your sword, you tend to lean a bit to the right.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
I showed the sword to Laila, who tilted her head.
The swordsmanship she used earlier was the Roadbeer style, an aggressive style that focuses on attack.
It’s good in the early stages, but becomes food for counter-type swordsmanship in the mid to late stages, so it would be better to teach her the weak points for later.
“It seems you lean to the right because you’re right-handed. It’s better to use a sword with your left hand too. If possible, it would be more advantageous to wield something like a short sword or dagger.”
“Are you saying I should use two sword styles at once?”
“Yes. Right hand for attack, left hand for defense. It’s good to think of it that way. If you can find a teacher for it, it would be good to learn the Terizen style dagger technique.”
“Hee… Thank you for the teaching.”
It’s just a few words of advice, nothing special. I waved my hand lightly and then turned my attention to Sowol.
“So… you’re next. There’s nothing particularly to criticize. But your sword energy is too weak.”
“Ugh.”
“Make meditation a habit.”
“I understand…”
“And… why didn’t you use Moonlight Slash?”
“I felt my training was still insufficient.”
You thought well.
It’s much better to fight with just the basics rather than using a half-baked sword technique and showing weaknesses.
“Right. You did well.”
“Then will you give me a praise sticker?”
“You didn’t win.”
“…”
“I’ll give it when you win.”
During the journey to Roberin City, I continued to make them spar.
After the draw on the first day, Sowol kept losing.
But that wasn’t a bad thing.
Because there were things to learn even in defeat.
Proving this, in the sparring on the day before arriving at Roberin City, they recorded another draw.
“At this rate, I might lose next time.”
Laila said glumly while reviewing the sparring results.
Like her, Sowol’s expression didn’t look very good.
She seems disappointed that she couldn’t win even once.
“Let’s fight again tomorrow!”
“Haha. From tomorrow, I have to work…”
“That’s true, and if you go to the Swordsman’s Guild in Roberin City, you can learn the basics of the Terizen-style dagger technique. Learn that there and then fight again.”
“Won’t I lose again then?”
“Probably?”
“Uuuu…”
I poked Sowol’s puffed-up cheeks.
With a hissing sound, Sowol exhaled and glared at me with sharp eyes, but I’ve experienced too much to be intimidated by just this level of glare.
“By the way, will you move with us when we arrive in Roberin City, Master?”
“No. I have something else to do. I’ll move with Sowol.”
“I understand. But if anything happens, please contact us at the Rogen Company.”
I don’t think anything will happen particularly.
But there’s no need to refuse goodwill, is there?
I nodded vaguely to the warrior who spoke to me.
“Ah. We’re almost there now.”
As we were talking, the city walls began to appear.
The walls that appeared were several times larger than those of a typical territory.
Roberin City.
It was one of the big cities that appeared in the game as well.
“By the way, what business do you have in Roberin City, Master?”
“Didn’t I say there was something to get?”
“You didn’t tell me what that something is.”
“You’ll know when you see it. And this will be a good experience for you, too, so just follow along quietly.”
“Hmm. Alright. How much money should we take?”
I have enough for the cost of the materials. But isn’t it always better to have more money? It seems So Jung-yang gave her quite a lot of pocket money, so let’s take as much as we can carry.
“Is this enough?”
“That’s too much!”
How much pocket money did they give this kid?!
I knew So Jung-yang was a doting father but to this extent?
I took out only five gold coins from the pocket full of gold coins and threw the pouch to Laila.
“Oh? This is…”
“You worked hard training on the way, so buy everyone a drink with this.”
“Ooooh!! Thank you!”
“But Father gave me this money to take good care of Master…”
“This is enough to take good care of me, so don’t worry too much.”
As I spoke, we had arrived at the entrance of Roberin City.
Since the trade caravan has a lot to inspect, starting from the carts, it would be better for us to go ahead separately.
“We’re going ahead.”
“See you later~!”
As Sowol and I headed towards the city gate, soldiers began to inspect our possessions.
Since we didn’t have any particularly strange items, we were able to pass through the inspection easily and enter.
“Wow… it’s so wide.”
As if to prove it was a big city, what we saw as soon as we passed through the city gate was a well-paved road.
It wasn’t much different from what I saw in the game.
We walked on the paved road with Sowol, who was looking around curiously, and it wasn’t long before we reached our first destination.
“This is…”
“An herb shop.”
Befitting a big city, the herb shop was large enough to use an entire building.
Here, we bought pouchfuls of basic medicinal herbs, antidote herbs, and other miscellaneous low-grade herbs.
“Here. Carry this.”
“Did you come to get these herbs? But herbs like these are also available at our Eastern Trading Company…”
“These are just preparatory materials.”
The real thing is separate. I moved on with Sowol. After walking for a while, where we arrived,
“…Master.”
It was a back alley.
As we entered the back alley overflowing with seemingly unsavory characters, curious gazes fell on us.
It’s natural. The clothes that Sowol and I were wearing really didn’t fit in with this back alley.
“Why did we come here?”
“Because there’s something I need to do here.”
I spread a leather mat in a suitably sunny spot and sat down. Then I shouted.
“You who are sick! You who are in pain! Come to me! I shall save you!”
Help me accumulate healing points.