I gripped my sword properly with my left hand on the end of the hilt, while my right held above it, separating the two by the length of a fist. I wonder if it"s due to the nervousness, but I could feel my palms beginning to circulate with a burning sensation of heat.
My father"s sword was a saber. It was quite dubious whether my sword could properly be sparred against in terms of quality. And, the saber my father held wasn"t a magnificent precious sword, but just a regular one. The sword doesn"t quite go hand in hand with my father"s appearance… …. I think that my father should spar with a sword as great as mine.
My father was a sword length apart from me, and calmly said something contrary to my expectations.

"Once we start, be prepared to win and knock me down."

You weren"t kidding.

"To start, I will be thrusting down onto your left shoulder, so let"s see how you receive my sword."

Mm, it"s the sword form I practiced recently. So, I will go for the right shoulder, turning my falling sword to the left…
Sseuk.

When my father"s sword swung close towards my shoulder, I had shrugged back my shoulders. His saber narrowly grazed me.
Eh… … I don"t think this was the swing that I practiced.
Turning, I spun around a quarter of a circle. The position of my father facing me also moved towards me at the same angle.

"Next!"

In a moment, my father closed the distance quickly as he thrust his saber down onto my left shoulder.

Ahhh!

I needed to quickly switch feet and move, but my feet weren"t moving as quick as I thought. I lost my breath while evading the stabbing saber narrowly. Ah, I"m sure that there"s going to be some scolding…….

"Fabian."

My father, after separating his distance from me, spoke as he aimed his sword at me.

"What did I say about what you need to do with your feet?"

"… … to fix my feet on the ground as much as possible. To move as if you were dragging your feet on the floor."

"So you haven"t forgotten."

Eh, my memory is quite good… it"s just that I always forget at the most critical times.

Nodding his head, my father returned back into the fight.

"Now, let"s start for real."

From that quiet tone came my father immediately thrusting his saber towards my side. With two steps forward from his right foot, he swiftly arrived in front of me.

"Haya-!"

While I was concentrating on his feet, I quickly evaded the sword that was thrusting towards my shoulder. As if I had forgotten the lessons my father had just taught me, I was reminded sharply that I had forsaken my position as if I was at the level of having a street brawl with children… ….

"Raise your sword up!"

He quickly rose his sword again and thrust it towards me. Seeing this, I realized that when the sword came at me, I need to either evade or raise my sword. If not, I will either be injured, or even die… … Ahhh!

I realized I could"ve been injured or killed while trying to repeat these obvious words. Thanking the heavens for helping me realize the truth, I raised my sword over my head. Diagonally, as soon as my sword clashed indirectly , a fragment of the saber"s blade breaking off could be heard. My sword sc.r.a.ped through the saber"s blade.

Gugugugug-

I had recollected myself.
Those two hilts of iron chunks were clearly sharply-edged swords. And the blade of my sword was a monster that couldn"t be chipped.
My father"s?
Although his weapon was a normal saber didn"t really match with his splendid plate of armor…… No, no, the saber was a good sword. It"s my sword that was so absurd.
I could get hurt, and killed!

Moving my right foot one step back, I lowered my stance. Keeping the weight of my balance in check, I aimed for the moment the collision between my sword and his would be raised up.
As I slashed my sword diagonally upwards from my right, I strengthened my grasp.

"Haiya!"

My sword attacked upwards, drawing a large, oblique semicircle.
My father"s saber was only one-fourth in size compared to mine in terms of the blade"s thickness. If I attack with my sword relentlessly straight-ahead, then he"ll either be flung backwards or have his saber  broken. My arm strength was quite strong after all.
My father, with a sideways step with his left leg, pivoted towards me. He quickly lowered his stance.
My sword slash was slow. I couldn"t react fast enough. Since my body wasn"t quite accustomed to it yet.
My father"s sword flew past mine below, as he aimed for my left waist.
The serrated blade that was coming from the right with his left knee greatly bent down.

"Take my blow!"

Uh, what should I do at this time? At this time.
I recklessly grabbed my sword and pushed it towards the saber that was flying towards me. d.a.m.n, it"s such a great shame for my sword to not have a pommel in this moment.
Ahhh, I regret not equipping my gauntlet as well!

Kakw.a.n.g!

Ugh…Ah…… It was so painful that it forced my mouth open.
The handle part, the source of that serrated sword that propelled towards me, I had recklessly pushed my sword in that manner. But, due to my miscalculations, my hands slipped, causing the majority of my grip to be loosened. In this kind of spar, it was definitely necessary to have a gauntlet on. Wanting to strengthen my hands as close to my father"s hands as possible, I had not equipped it on when practicing despite receiving the gauntlet.
Although I barely fended off my father"s a.s.sault, my waist remained exposed.
And my fingers felt as if they were on fire.

"Ughhhhhhh……."

In the midst of my painful groan, I heard my father speaking in a very calm manner.

"If you attack like that, you"ll act without planning the next step at all. If your opponent still has energy left in this condition, and is still holding onto his weapon, then it"s no different than the opposition gaining victory."

That main point was quite stabbing. I too was having that kind of thought… Ahhk!
My father walked up to me and grabbed a hold of my hand.
"It seems my blade sc.r.a.ped the flesh . But it"s not a huge wound."

Ah, so this was the difference between a father and a mother?
I lowered my sword with difficulty. Although I tried to open my hand, I was too dazed, but my father literally opened out my hand.

"Ahhhhk!"

My father started to touch each finger separately after opening my hand.

"Are your fingers fine?"

"…… Probably."

Other than the fact that it was excruciatingly painful, the wound wasn"t as significant. On the contrary, the blisters on my palm that were disappearing seemed to be more b.l.o.o.d.y in appearance.
To say it again… … my palm was that b.l.o.o.d.y.

"We"ll start again. Even if you have such a wound, there"s no opponent that would let it slide."

Although you"re technically right, can"t you return back to a father than an enemy?
My father not even hearing what I was thinking - if I think about it again, of course he couldn"t hear my thoughts. I was too accustomed to having people know what I was thinking about - raised his sword again.

I have to continue. Well, there"s no opponent that really would step away from this.
A momentarily thought.
Attack was the best defence!

"I"m coming!"

With the sword raising upwards in a flash, and one short step, and one large step, he instantaneously advanced forward in two steps with a balanced stance.
Rapidly closing the distance.
A sword that slashed through the air from the right.

My father who silently placed his sword onto mine diagonally. It was a perfect stance that wasn"t even a tad wrong from the manuals. Probably, as the two blades clash, he"ll slide it towards… …
Clang! ! !
That severe, cutting, metal-cracking sound.

"Ah……."

My father"s saber broke apart just like that.
Two large pieces crashed onto the ground. Of course, it was just the blade. My father was still gripping onto the hilt.
As if I still lacked much training, it wasn"t going as I had planned.
But I couldn"t distinguish whether this worked out for the better or for the worse.

"Your arms are trained well it seems."

There was a slight impact on my father"s arm. Literally throwing away the sword onto the ground, he momentarily dangled his arm.

"I"m, I"m sorry Father. What should we do?

My father smiled. I wondered how to describe that smile.

"To break like this means that the two swords are levels apart……anyways, excellent. Although there"s no guarantee that you"ll win wielding against a similar sword, this fight is no different than the fact that you won. It seems the rewards were there for the one month you trained diligently."

While I was briefly confused in the moment, my father approached and inspected my sword. The way he looked at me and at the sword was levels different. Unlike me who was wielding it forcefully, he looked at it as if he was looking at his child.

"It"s a good sword. Despite breaking its opponents sword, there isn"t a single chip. It seems that it wasn"t made by any normal blacksmith. You said that Mr. Genz gave it to you?"

"Yes."

"Handle it with care. It"s not easy to try and grab hold of such a sword in your life. Even I who had devoted myself to the sword up to this age had only heard about it through stories, but this is the first that I encountered such a sword in reality."

This fella is that great of a sword?
… But why does it feel as if this sword is becoming heavier as I listen to those words.
Sword, lose some weight, just some. What did you eat for your weight to become like this, possibly……?

… While I was holding a silly conversation internally, my father took his eyes off my sword and walked back to the backpack he put down under a tree when he previously climbed up the hill. He brought something large out of it.
Huh, what"s that?
Something that I only heard about…….

TL Afterword

That fight was pretty interesting to see (Dam, how great is that sword in real life. Name it MC, come on!)

PR Afterword

Fabian of the Merchant Corps vs a Knight!

Translator: Calvis
Proofreader: Sai101