Chapter 256 (Self Edited) – Momentary Reminiscent – Part 2
When Soma recognized that here was a different world, there were two things that Soma antic.i.p.ated. They were swordsmanship and magic.
He didn’t seek a fantasy world in particular, but he sought swordsmanship and magic.
However, the expectation was shattered easily. Especially when it came to magic, there was no spec of hint of it. That was because there was no magic in this world.
There were monsters, and the world was obviously a fantasy world, but there was no magic. It was hard to say how much despair Soma had.
Moreover, even if it used to exist, it was said that the magic had been completely lost at that time. So, it was no longer possible to have hope. If this was Soma after being reborn, not as Soma(相馬) but SOMA(ソーマ) , he might have said that it once existed and it might be possible to revive it. However, when he heard it, Soma, who lived in the present, was doing his best. He couldn’t be so optimistic.
But when it came to magic, it might still have been better to give it up completely. The problem was swordsmanship.
In this world of fighting monsters, there was, of course, swordsmanship. Unlike the original world, the swordsmanship hadn’t declined completely, and it was one of the fine mainstream.
However, the problem here was still the current situation in this country. Although it was one of the mainstream in this world, the swordsmanship wasn’t so necessary in this country. It wasn’t simply because there was no need for martial arts, but it was recommended to use spears or bows in this country.
And if it wasn’t needed, there was no sense of being in this country. Like the adventurers, the teachers had gone to other countries.
The problem was that if he went to another country, there would be people who could teach him swordsmanship. However, Soma, who lived at present, was doing his best. Of course, it was impossible to go to another country.
No, in that sense, even if he learned swordsmanship in this country, he might not be able to pay for it, and… it was bad to be in a position where he learned it halfway. He couldn’t learn it, and yet, he couldn’t give up. Contrary to a healthy life, the acc.u.mulation of dissatisfaction had piled up in his heart.
This was a scene he found in such a situation. Two people with wooden swords were fighting each other. It was natural to jump in there with a lot of vigor and asked them to teach him swordsmanship. That was at least how Soma felt.
Well, he was refused as a matter of course.
There were two reasons. One was simple because Soma didn’t have money. It was a matter whether there was a fool who taught for free.
However, it was kind of incidental, and the real reason was that they were only stopping here in the middle of the trip. They plan to move to another country by ship in a week, so they couldn’t teach him. On that day, they just happened to have mock combat, so that their skills wouldn’t get dull.
However, as it was a commonplace, Soma couldn’t give up that easily. Since magic was impossible, he had a strong feeling that the swordsmanship was the only thing he could have.
Soma wanted to use both of them simply because of his admiration. In other words, the reason was the heart itself said that he wanted to use it, but that didn’t mean that he had a weak desire.
The desire was strong enough to the point of making him prostrating, but unfortunately… Soma was on his way to work. Moreover, it was indispensable for living, and he was a person who was taken care of.
While pulling the reluctance he had very hard, he managed to run and reached in time.
“…It’s been almost five years since then, isn’t it? When I think about the reason, I think it should be up to this point…” (Soma)
Soma shook his arm, thinking about the past, with a bitter smile. A wind noise was heard, and the arm stopped at the place he envisioned. The wooden sword held in his hand was firmly there.
It must be a very awkward scene to the viewers. They might be afraid to call it swordsmanship.
However, it was still the culmination of Soma’s acc.u.mulation so far. It was all about swinging a sword.
However, the previous Soma couldn’t do that much. He could do as expected, even if it looked awkward. That was the most gratifying thing.
“This is this, that is that. Since the first teaching was good… I’m likely to be told that they didn’t teach me.” (Soma)
It was only an event in Soma’s imagination, but it seemed that it really was the same. Then, a bitter smile floated on his face. At least, it was true that he hadn’t been taught swordsmanship. However, if it was to say whether it was unrelated, yes, it was.
At that time, it was the first time he saw swordsmanship in this world. Soma had no choice but to leave that place, but he wasn’t a person who gave up easily.
However, the only thing that he was able to do was to go there the next day. When he arrived at that place, the two of them he saw were training again that day. That didn’t mean that he was able to do anything. After looking for a situation for a while, he had no choice but to leave. When he went there the next day, they had a meeting again.
Soma didn’t know what those two were thinking and doing such a thing. However, the next day and the day after, whenever Soma went, they had a training, which continued until the last day they left.
Moreover, the last day didn’t end with Soma leaving. To Soma who was about to leave, one of them gave him a wooden sword he still held in his hand. He couldn’t teach, but he could only see the results. If he felt like it, that guy told him to keep swinging until the next time they visit here.
Since then, Soma had been swinging. Early in the morning, he woke up earlier than the time to go to help the farm, and from the time he came back to bed, he spent all his time except eating meals, just to swing the sword.
He wasn’t sure if he could say that he was happy, but he couldn’t learn without money anyway. As he continued to help the farmers, his physical strength became much stronger, and he was able to practice all the time. Even in the sweltering heat, even in the cold enough to freeze his hand…
Always.
By the time the year pa.s.sed, the salary had risen a bit, and there was room for money saving, but what Soma did was the same. He swung single-mindedly, swung it again and again.
However, if he said that he did it without thinking, that was wrong. He had tried to swing the sword mindlessly, but while thinking about it, he had tried every move slowly, taking time to check his movements, and tried to swing around aiming only for the number of times and speed. It was because he didn’t get tired of it, but at the same time, he wanted to check and reproduce the state of the swordsmanship inside him.
As mentioned earlier, swordsmanship was obsolete in the original world of Soma. Although it remained in footage which actually taught him, it remained as images. At best, it was only Kendo.
He was interested in Kendo, but… Kendo is a martial art no matter where he went. The purpose wasn’t to polish the swordsmanship, but to polish the mind. It wasn’t the swordsmanship that Soma wanted.
There had been motion traces in the world, and games that allowed him to observe brain waves and move as he envisioned, but Soma rarely experienced them. He had tried it several times, but it felt like it was different.
It seemed that there were some people called Kendo masters, and although there were some movements that could be helpful, he felt something was wrong when he tried it himself, so he didn’t proceed from that. Or if he continued, he might have gotten used to it, but it was a no-brainer.
However, he didn’t think he should have done it, and now he was glad that he did it. That was because he had taken in a lot of what he saw at that time in the movement of the swing.
When he actually tried it, he could see how sophisticated it was. He wished that he had been pretending to do it from that time that it was useless, but at present, he would say it couldn’t be helped.
Anyhow, Soma continued to swing, but those two came around once a year and stayed for about a week. During that time, Soma would be able to see the people who actually wield the sword for only a short time in the morning. Then, he understood that his swing was still not good. And finally, on the morning of the day they left, Soma practiced swinging to be in front of them.
He did it not to ask them to teach him. He just did it with no other meaning. He only asked them to look at the swing and gave a comment. He swung until the last minute and went to help farming as usual. That was it.
If they saw him, they might ask what he was doing. However, Soma didn’t know how his swing was for them, but at least that was a very fulfilling time for Soma. It was the same for the next year, and the year after.
And just the other day, the fifth time was over. It ended as usual, and nothing happened. Even so, Soma had decided to do it and when it was over, he put it into practice.
He stopped helping the farmer who had been taking care of him for a long time. He said it openly. It was just yesterday. He had told the farmer he wanted to stop for a long time, but yesterday, he really quit.
In other words, Soma was unemployed from that day onwards. However, Soma would go out from now on. He had a different purpose than yesterday.
Today, Soma had decided to fight monsters. The time had come to wield this sword. He had been swinging with that intention from the beginning.
“Now… shall I go?” (Soma)
Soma, then, headed out of the inn and noticed that he was unexpectedly calm. To be honest, he was wondering if he would be more scared.
It would be a lie if he said that he wasn’t scared. However, somehow, he felt like he could do it.
He didn’t know if this was because of the effect of continuing to swing, or he was just getting stronger, or he just didn’t feel like fighting monsters.
“Well, if I try it, I will understand.” (Soma)
He didn’t intend to overdo it from the beginning, and if he found it was impossible in the first hit, he would give up at that point. At that time, he was sure that he wouldn’t be swinging anymore. If this didn’t work, he would definitely give up. He put up a bitter smile since he was considering doing this after it took him five years.
“If this doesn’t work, the future is… well, then, I can just think about it at that time, right? That’s why I quit working there.” (Soma)
Even if it didn’t work, Soma wouldn’t go back. If he did that, there would be no point in quitting.
More importantly, it would be rude to those people who stopped him from quitting.
“Hmm… I see. It’s closer than I expected…” (Soma)
In the meantime, he found a monster at the end of his sight.
It was a huge rabbit that was about the size of a human torso. Strictly speaking, it was a monster that could only be seen as a rabbit, and the difference from a rabbit was its size, and the fact that something like a stone was embedded in its forehead,
If the sign wasn’t put into the picture, the rabbit looked pretty as it was. However, its leg strength was strong enough to break some bones if its charging attack hit directly. It was an opponent that people couldn’t be careless of.
However, he wasn’t sure he could avoid being careless.
“Although it’s just a swinging sword, I can do nothing but swinging…” (Soma)
It didn’t seem to be a problem to swing the sword, but it was a matter of how to get closer. Since he didn’t realize that, it seemed he was quite nervous unintentionally.
Fortunately, he had been helping farmers until now and no monster had attacked him. So, this was really his first battle against a monster. It might be unavoidable to get nervous, but… Soma let out a breath and regained his mind.
If this didn’t work, he was prepared to stop. However…
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop…!” (Soma)
When he shouted to inspire himself, he stepped in at once.
However, at the moment, the monster that noticed him, sunk its body at the moment. Although he noticed that it was a sign of an a.s.sault, it was already after it was in motion. So, it was impossible to dodge.
When it came to that, there was only one way to do it. Align the sword with the place that it jumped it. It was too unexpected and it was unclear if that would work, but he wasn’t going to fail…
“This is it!” (Soma)
The moment he thought that the monster had moved, Soma was also swinging his arm. Since he was half-fl.u.s.tered, the movement was intact at the time of the swing. The appearance after swinging off was also the same.
There was no sound. However, there was just a touch.
“Hmm… how should I say it? Surprisingly, it’s something that a human being can do.” (Soma)
While muttering, Soma looked back and there were two lumps. There were lumps of meat that were a monster until just a few moments ago. There was a sharp cut that he couldn’t believe that the monster was cut with a wooden sword.
As a result, Soma naturally loosened his mouth.