Chapter 15
Ex Strongest Swordsman 15 is out!
TLN:
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“Hmmm? This is… Sensei, can I ask you something?” (Soma)
There were times when questions were raised by Soma.
“Haa? What is it? Do you have something that you don’t understand? Or did you understand something again?” (Camilla)
However, the reason why Camilla indifferently replied Soma’s question was because she couldn’t answer most of his questions.
What Soma was reading was a technical report that researchers and others usually read, as mentioned earlier.
Camilla went to higher education, but she didn’t progress more from that stage.
If she was asked, there was no way for her to answer his question.
And above all, she also had a problem in that field.
Soma was reading a written result of a magical research.
One year ago, Soma, who hadn’t had much knowledge in magic, read such things, and it wasn’t because he was trying hard.
She didn’t deny that Soma was working hard. In the first place, the knowledge about magic almost couldn’t be learned before the higher education.
Because of that, magic had been totally dependent on talent, and one could use magic if they had it.
There was no need for theory or knowledge.
Unless it was necessary, the people who did research on it was limited, and for that reason, the existing materials regarding magic were mostly research materials.
As a result, the reason why Soma was reading it was because he had to read it in order to gain knowledge about magic.
There were various technical terms and specialized fields, since it was a reading materials for researchers, and it was necessary to know the terms.
Soma was able to read the materials because he had already studied the terms. In short, it was enough to say that Soma was working hard.
However, it was impossible to learn everything of higher education in a year and his study was still on-going.
Since his interest in magic was high, half of the time was like this and the other half was studying time.
Now, let’s return to the main subject.
“Hmmm, it is about what is written here. Is it true that magic basically doesn’t fail and it also can’t fail?” (Soma)
“Well, I can’t confirm because I can’t use magic, but that’s what it says. By the way, that is not limited to magic.” (Camilla)
“Hooh? You mean?” (Soma)
“Yeah, I think that this might be difficult for you to understand, but… when a person who has the Skill activates it, the Skill won’t fail, unless they don’t have a higher ranked Skill than their opponent.” (Camilla)
To put it simply, as long as one had a Special rank Swordsmanship skill, the blow would surely reach the opponent.
There was no exception in this matter.
For example, a slashing attack will cut through s.p.a.ce and slice the opponent, even if the opponent escaped by moving through s.p.a.ce.
Considering that it was a Special rank Skill, it wasn’t strange that the Skill was possible to be used. (Rephrased)
“…Hmm, since the rank was higher than the avoidance and inhibition rank, it is certainly not that strange when considering the situation.” (Soma)
“No, it is quite a mystery. That is the work for researchers to investigate. For us, it’s just good enough to think about it.” (Camilla)
“…By the way, since a Skill can’t fail, is it possible for a Skill to fail by one’s own will?” (Soma)
“Of course, there is no exceptions, remember?” (Camilla)
For this reason, people must have a similar rank of Skill when doing matches.
In a different case, a person with a higher ranked Skill would surely be on the defending side, and not on the offending side.
It wasn’t a match if defending was impossible.
In other words, what Camilla did against Soma was considerably irrational, but… it didn’t count, since the other party was lacking common sense.
“Hmm…” (Soma)
“What’s wrong with that?” (Camilla)
“Although, it is said that it’s impossible for a Skill to fail, I just saw a failed case recently…” (Soma)
“Ooh…you did mention that earlier.” (Camilla)
Camilla knew that Soma continued with his daily routine, but she never accompanied him, except once.
Occasionally, she heard the story during his idle chat.
She had heard about Soma seeing a girl named Aina in the Demon Forest, and she probably knew what Soma did.
Soma also didn’t talk about everything, but it was possible to guess, to a certain extent, by the outline of his questions.
She also knew that Soma was probably an out-of-common-sense existence.
“…The person himself seems to be unaware of something. He understood that Skills are not everything, and yet he didn’t realize about this.” (Camilla)
“Hmm? Did you say something?” (Soma)
“I’m just talking to myself, don’t worry about it. More importantly, I was lying when I talked about why a Skill fails when it shouldn’t fail. There is no exception, but those who have Special ranked Skills are different.” (Camilla)
“A Special rank is an exception… so there is an exception, right?” (Soma)
“It is hard to explain this matter, but… if in layman’s terms, those with Special ranked Skills are those who wield power outside of common sense. That is not an exception, because they are not normal in the first place.” (Camilla)
This explanation was not that difficult.
Those who could slash at s.p.a.ce couldn’t be included according to common sense.
“Hmmm? If it’s about slicing s.p.a.ce, I think that is possible if you swing a sword a little bit, but…” (Soma)
“Please check the meaning of the word ‘normal’ and say that again. Anyway, those who have Special ranked Skills can fail on purpose. The one you saw was someone who had a Special rank, correct?” (Camilla)
“Hmmm… I mentioned to her that it was caused by putting in too much mana or the activation procedure exploding. So, I thought that magic would generally occur…” (Soma)
“Or it is possible that will only happen to magic. I have never heard of it. It is possible because the magic research in this country is delayed. And you, also, understand that matter well.” (Camilla)
“Well… you are right.” (Soma)
Therefore, Soma displayed a bitter face. Most was said to be research materials on magic, but he seemed to know that it wasn’t really the case.
Actually, he knew that it was the propagation of the Holy Doctrine.
Since magic was completely dependent on talent, it was hardly understood how to use it better… no, to be more specific, it was difficult to understand how to learn magic Skills.
If it was a Swordsmanship skill, once a person swung a sword, they would soon learn it and the rank would also advance.
However, magic wasn’t well-understood, especially when the knowledge about learning it was mixed by the Holy Doctrine.
Nonetheless, he didn’t use that excuse. It was the result of his dead-serious research.
He even studied the purpose of the propagation.
However, although researching was originally a common thing, it would be unavoidable to lose momentum if such a propagation was all over the place.
The propagation was becoming more and more, so further research wasn’t conducted.
This country fell into such a vicious circle, and the magic research hadn’t advanced that much.
In other words, there wasn’t that many things that Soma could read. Even if he tried his best, it was difficult for him to get any results.
That was the reason for his bitter face.
“Even so, why would you know such a thing?” (Camilla)
When considering the situation, as emigrants from another country… or possibly, exiles, some of them were probably owners of Special ranked Skills, and they should move in order to secure them as soon as possible.
Although Camilla wasn’t attached to the army, a person with Special ranked Skills couldn’t help not standing out.
If Soma could use magic like normal, someone would find him before long.
If the reason was anxiety, as long as they listened to Soma’s story, such an allegation, like he was an illegal resident, wouldn’t come out. There was no need to worry about that yet.
Everywhere around here was under the Duke’s rule.
And since the Demon Forest was nearby, there wouldn’t be time to worry about such details.
The more important thing was not to let the Demons come.
So, they won’t move unless Soma committed a crime.
In the case of Soma, he would not make a mistake about the true ident.i.ty of the other person. The ident.i.ty of those who lived in the vicinity of the Demon Forest was certain.
And the girl who helped him was—
“Come to think of it…” (Camilla)
Camilla suddenly remembered something.
None of the Duke’s people lived in the surrounding area of the Demon Forest.
And the small village in the Demon territory was—
“…Nah, I don’t think so.” (Camilla)
“Hmmm… lacking of common sense, is it?” (Soma)
“What’s wrong with you? Did you think of something unnecessary again?” (Camilla)
“Again, huh? Am I always thinking about unnecessary things?” (Soma)
“Didn’t I say so? Are you a fool!? Stop making such a face.” (Camilla)
It was bad for her to say that, but nothing happened anyway.
“Anyway… What did you think about?” (Camilla)
“Hmm, I was thinking that if it is possible to be out of common sense, I wonder if I can learn magic.” (Soma)
“Aah… it is certainly out of common sense, but…” (Camilla)
To teach him, who could slice s.p.a.ce with a sword, to use magic when he didn’t have skills—
Camilla had a bitter smile while thinking which one was more out of common sense.
She had decided.
Both of them were out of common sense, and to consider the matters was also out of common sense.
There was no way for Camilla, who had been living within the bounds of common sense, to give judgment.
“Well, why don’t you give it a try? I mean if the other person accepts it.” (Camilla)
“I will absolutely try to ask for it.” (Soma)
Camilla let out a small sigh when she looked at Soma, who made a lively expression as he said that.
And the bitter smile intensified, because Soma himself was out of common sense.
—
TLN:
- Deleted one redundant (affirmative) sentence.
- Added words here and there to make the story flow better. If I got it wrong, please let me know.
- I’m still not sure what does it mean by slicing s.p.a.ce with a sword. Is it like a Vacuum Slash? Or is it like sword technique that cut spirits body? Problem is, Camilla talked as if she already understood what does it mean. Unfortunately, there’s no explanation so far about that yet.