Chapter 8: Chapter 8
"No! You're only two years old mister! And didn't you say you want to be a mage?" My mother disagreed before my father could even say anything as she placed a pot of stew on the table, Lilia following ever so slightly behind.
"I want to do both." I revealed casually as I grabbed a plate from Lilia's hand and gave it to my father. She may be our maid but it didn't hurt to help her every now and then. Besides, she was like a second mother to me.
In the past, I had no parents at all and now I had two loving mothers and one good but irresponsible father. I think of it every so often but in my last life I only sinned but somehow it ended up in me going to my own heaven anyway.
"Both?" Both of my parents mumbled in surprise as though the idea never occurred to them. I don't want to stroke my own ego but in this life, I could be called a genius of the highest order, a man made genius but a genius nonetheless. Something like learning both the sword and magic isn't impossible, at least not for me.
"Mhm. Mom says I'm smart and dad says I'm strong so I want to train in both." I explained while Lilia calmly continued with her duties. She wasn't surprised so maybe she knew I would say this? It wasn't exactly an impossible conclusion, I had expressed interest in both before.
"I may be overstepping my boundaries but I believe there is no reason not to. The young master is young, he has plenty of time to discover what path he wants to follow and knowledge in both fields would help no matter his choice." Lilia advised my two stunned parents.
I plan to be a magician above all else as it is, in my own opinion, the true path to power but that doesn't mean I'll abandon swordsmanship. In a world where swordsmanship is so advanced it would be foolish to not at least try to learn how to wield one.
"I mean, I don't mind. What do you think Paul?" Zenith said unsurely. Her main concern for me not learning swordsmanship in favor of magic is that I'll have a higher chance of being injured as they fight on the front lines so learning both should have lessened her worries.
"A swordsman using magic? That sounds good. I'll start training you before patrol every morning." My father agreed, the idea that I'll be a mage using a sword never even crossing his mind.
It wasn't something he did on purpose, he just couldn't imagine me as anything but a swordsman. Maybe it was because of his parents who pushed the same beliefs onto him from what I've heard.
"Thank you." I stated sincerely. My progress would be hindered if I waited any longer, my body is in the best time for development and I must take advantage of it and soon the lack of proper direction would show.
|SoA|
Before now I couldn't have trained in swordsmanship as it would be worse for the body than anything else but now my body should be able to take the strain if I mitigate it using mana. Training my body at this age will be a tedious process but it will eventually show results.
"Your body isn't ready for swordsmanship, so we'll start with training up some muscles!" My father said with a smile on his face, his hands leaning on a wooden sword he stabbed into the ground for whatever reason.
Mother will definitely get mad at him for that.
Throwing a wooden sword in my direction I caught it with only minor difficulty and looked at him strangely. Didn't he just say we'd be training my muscles? Perhaps it's a training method passed down in this world?
"So we're going to spar! If you know how good your pops is then you'll have a good goal!" My father declared proudly infuriating me to no end. For a moment I truly believed he had a good reason. How foolish of me.
If we're going to spar I have no way to win even if dad tied his arms behind his back. I may have trained in sword fighting in my previous life but even the heights I reached in my last life only allowed me to be below even the lowest ranking of a combatant by this world's standards.
"Don't worry I won't be fighting you. Until I have to leave for work I'll give you free rein to hit me as much as you want. If you can obviously." My father teased with an aggravating smirk on his face.
Taking a deep breath I raised my sword into a basic stance. He was just trying to infuriate me to make my movements worse, something he probably learned when he was an adventurer to keep himself alive.
Dashing forward I flooded the muscles currently in use with a portion of my mana to increase my physical abilities as much as my body could handle. It was a sloppy imitation of my dad's use of his mana when fighting but it'll have to do.
Even with the restrictions, he gave himself it was impossible for me to strike him so I would instead use this chance to improve. I'll fine tune my use of mana to enhance my body, grow more accustomed to my small body, and eventually, I'll hit my dad.
But for now, I need to focus.
Paying attention to every detail of my mana I swung my sword as fast as I possibly could at my father's face. My range was limited and so I needed to keep him in range for as long as possible. Normally it'd be an impossible feat but with my father merely testing me it should be possible.
"You're not half bad! Still far off from your old man though." Dad teased with an irritating smirk on his face as he leaned back just enough for my wooden sword to sail harmlessly past his chin without even a trace of contact.
I don't want to use magic in this test as not only am I learning swordsmanship but I also don't want to feel as though I cheated in this fight but sadly it was necessary for the future. My father is the type of person to only feel the need to train when the reason hits him in the face and I plan to be that reason.
Reversing my momentum using wind magic I created a vacuum of wind between my sword and dad's chin that pulled in nearby air and my sword along with it, my speed reaching beyond what I was physically capable of.
Flooding my body with even more mana my speed increased one more. It was a foolish attack that would hurt me more than it would ever hurt dad, but it was necessary to get his head out of the pit of overconfidence he has created.
With my heightened senses, I could both hear and feel every muscle that I strained and every creak of my bones from this action but I continued on. I'd be sore for a few days but the reward is worth the risk.
With a resounding smack, my weapon hit dad in the chin, a look of surprise appearing in his eyes. I had no confidence to be able to act as though I was trying my hardest due to his experience and so I risked minor physical injury in order to use the mix of utilizing magic for the first in front of him as well as a sudden increase in physical ability to surprise him enough to hit him.
Of course, it would never be possible if he took our spar as anything more than playing with his child. If he was even the faintest bit serious I wouldn't have been able to hit him even with everything I had done.
"Huh?" My father muttered, his hand rubbing his not even red chin. His eyes seemed glazed over and full of surprise but I ignored it as well as the excruciating pain I was experiencing. My pain tolerance trained in the orphanage in my last life ensured I wouldn't make a noise however it was still extremely painful.
With my senses strengthened to such a degree I can confidently say that such a small injury that wouldn't even take a day to heal naturally felt worse than the professional torture I experienced both in the orphanage and out.
"Since I hit you, I'm going to go to mom." I said calmly despite the overwhelming pain I was experiencing. My mother was set to teach me healing magic as it was the safest form of magic after my lessons with dad and he seemed too out of it to continue.
Besides, he needs to reach the conclusion that training is necessary himself albeit with a few nudges in the right direction. It's possible that he simply lays down his sword from depression but he is Paul Greyrat, genius swordsman and playboy extraordinaire, he won't give up from something so small.
"Ah, yeah." My father responded back dumbly as I walked away. Knowing him, he'll be back to normal in a few hours at most.
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