Rei had gone to the garden of the Cisne family"s residence to test Baslero"s skills. There, Rei and the others saw Set in the process of collecting fallen tree branches.
「Um, teacher. What is going on?」
Baslero asked Rei in confusion, but Rei didn"t have a clear answer to that question either.
As a result, he just shrugged his shoulders while sighing in surprise.
「Well, I"ve never heard that Griffons have a habit of collecting fallen branches. I don"t think he"s building a nest……well, perhaps the real reason was that they were in his way.」
「Guru~」
That"s right, Set seemed to say with a cry.
The reason why he had gathered up all the big branches that were scattered around the garden into a single place was just because they were a nuisance to lie on top of. Of course, as a Griffon, Set"s body wasn"t so weak as to be hurt by tree branches, but that didn"t change the fact that they were a hindrance to lying on the ground. Because, it was true that he had cleared away the branches to make his stay more comfortable.
Of course, it wasn"t strange for him to turn his head to one side when he lay down in order to have have a comfortable time outside in the snow.
「Ah……fortunately, the tree branches that would have been big enough to get in the way have been clear away by Set. Let"s start now then. Baslero, are you ready?」
「Ah, y-yes!」
Baslero, who had been fascinated by the sight of Set lying down beside the pile of branches he had collected, nodded his head vigourously when Rei called out to him.
「As.h.i.+e, you would be cold if you stay here. You can go back inside the residence. I"ll call you if we get hurt.」
「No. Since it"s the young master"s training, please allow me to watch.」
Although As.h.i.+e seemed to give off a somewhat relaxed atmosphere, she requested not to leave at Rei"s words.
「Baslero and I will be moving around during the mock battle, but you won"t be right? If you just watch silently, your body will get cold and you might get sick you know? If that happened, Baslero would feel troubled. After all, there"s only one maid in this residence.」
「T-That"s true……but……」
As.h.i.+e turned to Baslero with some concer. After all, Baslero had only taught himself how to fight until this point in time. Because it was his first combat lesson, she had a desire to watch and to immediately use healing magic if he was hurt in any way.
However, Baslero, who was her main focus, shook his head as he replied to her.
「As.h.i.+e, I"m fine, you can go back inside. As teacher said, it would be a lot of trouble if you caught a cold.」
As.h.i.+e, had taken care of all the housework in Baron Cisne"s residence. There was no doubt that if she caught a cold as Rei and Baslero had mentioned, it would result in difficulties in various ways.
As.h.i.+e herself realised this at Baslero"s words. While showing a disappointed expression, she gave a bow in apology without Rei needing to say anymore.
「Then, pardon me. Rei-san, thank you for your time. Call me immediately anyone gets injured. I"ll run over right away.」
「I understand.」
After seeing Rei nod, As.h.i.+e went back inside while looking back at Baslero several times.
「You"re quite loved.」
Rei said that to Baslero with a smile as he saw As.h.i.+e leave.
Hearing that, Baslero replied with a smile. However, that smile would be best described as an embarra.s.sed one.
「As.h.i.+e is a maid that has stayed with my family. ……For me, I just want her to be happy.」
Those were the words he said in a manner unlike that of a 10 year old.
「That"s right. But, if you become stronger than you are now, you shouldn"t have to worry about getting injured. ……Well, let"s stop talking shall we. Are you ready?」
「……Yes-!」
Replying to Rei in a loud voice, he pulled out the long sword that hung from his waist.
Although it was a long sword, it was only a long sword to Baslero.To most adventurers, it was something closer to a middle length sword.
While watching him, Rei took out his weapon from the Misty Ring. However, he didn"t take out his signature Death Scythe, which was the weapon that basically represented him. Neither did he take out the dark green tipped Thorns Spear nor the Dagger of Running water with a blue jewel embedded in its hilt. Instead, he took out an iron spear he had seized from bandits during his rank up test.
「……I heard that you use a scythe which is taller than you.」
Baslero looked at the spear and spoke as if he was slightly offended.
Looking at Baslero, he seemed to be quite blunt about it.
「That"s correct. My usual weapon is definitely the Death Scythe, but sorry, I"ll be using this for now. In the first place, this mock battle is to gauge your ability. If that"s the case, this iron spear will be enough.」
「Hmph……」
After hearing Rei"s words, Baslero"s cheeks flushed with anger and indignation.
Even though he knew there was a great difference between his and Rei"s competence, it seemed he wasn"t happy that Rei wasn"t taking this seriously.
「Then, if I can hit teacher, will you fight me seriously?」
「Ah……that is right. Well, if you can do that.」
「Gurururu~」
Set, who had been watching them while lying on the snow, gave a cry.
「……Teacher. That Griffon. Was he called Set? What is he saying?」
「Well, I wonder. I don"t exactly understand what Set says. But I have a general understanding.」
「That"s good enough. Could you please tell me what he was saying?」
What the meaning of his cry could more or less be understood by the feeling Set gave off. That is to say, the general message he wanted to convey.
「……He thinks it"s impossible for you to hit me, even if the heavens and earth flips over.」
Of course, Rei didn"t fully understand what Set wanted to say. But still, what Rei said wasn"t too much different from what Set"s cry would have meant. Rei spoke as he though about that.
「-!? ……I understand. Then, I will show you that you"re wrong. ……Here I go!」
He was being looked down on. Replying to Rei, Baslero pulled the sword from his waist and slashed towards Rei.
「Hyaaaa!」
His attack was swung with a spirited cry. Rei avoided it by pulling his right leg back and twisting his body to the side to dodge.
「Ku-!」
Although it had been a confident attack, it was simply dealt with by avoiding it. He swung the sword diagonally, as if to chop off the top of an object.
「Oh.」
The metallic sound of Rei repelling the iron sword with his iron spear echoed into the surroundings.
(Teacher uses a spear! Since that is the case, I can also attack like this!)
Baslero felt some resistance and raised a cry of joy in his heart. He slashed with his sword diagonally, downwards and across, chopping and thrusting.
However, his thrusts were dodged and continued to be strung along. Although Baslero continued to attack for another minute, he still couldn"t hit Rei. And……
「You"re not paying attention to your feet.」
Along with Rei"s word, Baslero had his feet tripped by the b.u.t.t of the iron spear and rolled to the ground.
(Well, even though he"s fallen over, it was on his backside and he didn"t take any serious injuries. I don"t have to worry about injuries myself because I"m wearing the Dragon Robe.)
「Ku-!」
Baslero fell to the ground, but he got up again and readied his sword.
「It"s okay, you can still keep going. Come.」
「Yes! Hyaaaaaa!」
Replying to Rei, Baslero dashed forward and closed in with his sword.
Avoiding the swings of the sword or parrying them with the handle of the spear, he watched and considered Baslero"s movements.
(In terms of his movement, considering he"s only 10, he"s quite good. ……However, that"s only for his age. Maybe he would be a match for a single Goblin……I guess. Given that, it would still be difficult to be an adventurer. Well, it doesn"t mean he"s going to become an adventurer right away, a situation where something happens to Mouet right away is unlikely, so I guess I"m just overthinking it
Rei thought to himself at Baslero"s offensive. Considering that he was a 10 year old and he had gotten to this stage by teaching himself, he admitted that Baslero had talent for the sword. But……
「Look, you"ve become careless with your footing again.」
The handle of his spear knocked Baslero"s feet from under him as he was about to attack again.
「Uw!」
「What happened? Are you done already?」
「No, not yet!」
He wasn"t allowed to give up. He stood up again, stiffening his lips.
(That"s the bad side of being self taught. Because his sword technique was learnt by himself, no one has pointed out the weakness in his footing. And because it was never pointed out, it has grown into a habit of his. If a monster is a little smarter, they"ll definitely see the opportunity. In that case, correcting the weakness in the positioning of his feet should be the highest priority.)
「Haa, haa, haa……fuuu……」
Baslero took a deep breath to adjust his breathing as he exhaled roughly.
Normally, this would be a decisive moment to attack, but in this case, it was just a mock battle to see how far Basrelo could fight. In order to do that, Rei decided it would be better to see all his strength and waited silently until Baslero was ready.
And even though Set was lying down watching from some distance away, he could tell the end of the battle was approaching. He watched the movements of the two people with his round eyes.
「……Here I come!」
Baslero finished adjusting his breathing and squeezed out the last of his strength into his sword.
Baslero"s attacks had been evaded or blocked by Rei and he had been hit back many times. As a 10 year old kid, he was exhausted enough that he wouldn"t be strange for him to run out of strength at any moment. However, the speed at which he attacked was the was the fastest Rei had seen from him today.
「Hah-!」
Along with his spirited cry, he mustered the last of his strength and made a final sweep with his sword. Of course, that attack was still made by a 10 year old kid. However, the attack he made with his full strength and the power and speed that some G rank adventurers would have had difficulty avoiding.
When Rei felt the speed of of the attack, he took a step back. To Baslero, his attack was done to the limit of his ability. But that one step was an endless gap and the sword simply pa.s.sed by Rei"s eyes.
「Phew-!」
He was. .h.i.t with the handle of the spear. Locking up the blade of the sword with the handle of the spear, Rei twisted them up.
「Ah-!?」
Baslero gave a cry as the sword in his hand disappeared in an instant. The next moment, he heard the sound of his sword falling to the ground a short distance away.
「What, so easily……」
It was unbelievable to him that his attack was dealt with so easily. Looking at his hand and then the sword that had fallen on the ground several times, he eventually looked at Rei incredulously.
「What, did you expected to be able to hit me? I"m still a rank C adventurer. No matter what the situation is, it"s not that easy to be hit by a kid.」
Rei said that to him, but when saying that, he had forgotten that he only looked the age of 15 and as an adventurer in this world, he had a delicate looking physique. After all, considering looked about 15 years old, he was only 5 years older than Baslero.
However, to a kid, a 5 year difference in age was big. Even if it was just 1-2 years, the difference in physical strength would be quite large, not to say 5 years.
「Uuu……」
Still, he must have been quite confident in his sword skills. Baslero turned to look at Rei while groaning regretfully.
Rei smiled and spoke while gently brus.h.i.+ng Baslero"s head.
「At any rate, I"ve got a general understanding of your skill. Pleased to be teaching you for the next week.」
Thus, Rei was hired by Baron Cisne as a combat instructor for about a week.