The Hero’s Disciple Has Returned

Affairs never go as expected.

Then what about affairs conducted on a national scale?

Naturally, all sorts of incidents and accidents occur.

The Empire’s hero candidate plan was no exception.

“Master, I will do my best today as well.”

The boy Leo, he was selected as a hero candidate and became a disciple of ‘Cliff Sword’ Drew Mace, who was at the superhuman level. However, the problem was that being at the superhuman level doesn’t necessarily mean one is a person of excellent character, and in that sense, Drew Mace was among the worst.

-Hey! Go to the village and bring some alcohol!
-You call this a side dish?!

Drew Mace had no intention of teaching his swordsmanship from the start. Despite having reached the superhuman level that not just anyone could achieve, he was living the worst life, seeking only alcohol every day, and having a disciple didn’t make him live properly.

The reason he became like this was because of his swordsmanship. Mace swordsmanship, his family’s style, was called ‘barrier swordsmanship’ and had a high reputation enough to shake an era. But that was literally in the past tense. Although Mace swordsmanship clearly had many advantages, unfortunately, no one had ever become the strongest with that swordsmanship. Of course, just having a somewhat excellent swordsmanship would have been enough to do well as a swordsman, but… Unfortunately, the Mace family, including Drew Mace, couldn’t give up their desire for the strongest swordsmanship.

As a result, the family began to walk the path of decline, and as people started to leave one by one saying they would find their own way, it collapsed even faster, and in the end, only Drew Mace was left. Drew Mace rose to the superhuman level to prove that he could become the strongest with his family’s swordsmanship, but… What became certain was only that he couldn’t reach the strongest with Mace swordsmanship.

In the end, he put down his sword and picked up a liquor bottle instead

And thus began his worst life.

Hero candidate Leo had to spend his days struggling to take care of the suddenly appeared terrible master imposed by the Empire, without properly learning anything under Drew Mace. But Leo never complained even once and always took care of his terrible master with a smile. To the master who never properly taught him anything.

Did such sincerity pay off?

One day, Drew Mace picked up a wooden sword instead of a liquor bottle and taught Leo the Mace swordsmanship.

It was just for one day

And Leo was able to spend that day thinking it was truly the most rewarding day.

And he went to sleep believing such days would continue.

The next day

‘Cliff Sword’ Drew Mace never opened his eyes again.

Whether Drew Mace sensed his own death and spent that day wanting to leave something for his disciple, or he just randomly felt like it, or he was trying to live a new life but unfortunately met such a sudden death… No one knows the truth. In the end, whatever the case, Leo was left alone after properly learning for just one day.

When such a thing happens, the Empire should have found a new master for the hero candidate left alone… But the Empire didn’t even know Drew Mace had died, and to begin with, they weren’t competent enough to handle matters that swiftly… In the end, Leo was left alone.

Left alone, Leo picked up the wooden sword.

Although it was just one day

He swung and swung without rest to perfectly master what his master had taught him during that one day. He swung, and swung, and swung again with all his might in front of his master’s grave.

Because he had no master, he couldn’t know if he was doing it right, but nevertheless, Leo continued to swing without rest.

Leo thought these days wouldn’t change.

“It’s pathetic.”

Until a girl spoke to him.

That girl had beautiful silver hair and jewel-like mysterious and beautiful eyes. She was clearly not the kind of girl you’d expect to see in such a rural area. She must have lived in an amazing household, managed by servants. Leo didn’t know much about such things, but he could clearly tell that the girl in front of him was a special person.

“Um… Who are you?”
“You must be the hero candidate Leo, right?”
“…Eh? Ah! That’s right!”

He had become Drew Mace’s disciple as a hero candidate, but since he had never properly received such treatment, Leo was surprised at himself, thinking ‘Ah! I was a hero candidate!’

“You must have had a hard time under such trash.”

The moment he heard those words, Leo felt a surge of emotion.

“Master is not trash.”
“……? If Drew Mace isn’t trash, then what on earth is trash?”
“Master is not trash!”

Leo was an orphan. For such a Leo, Drew Mace was the first to become his guardian. Certainly, he was a person who hadn’t properly done anything as a guardian. Leo wasn’t turning a blind eye to that fact.

But…

Even if it was just one day…

The day before master passed away…

The time he spent with him was real and true, no matter what anyone said.

That day was for Leo

An unforgettable precious memory for a lifetime.

That alone is enough for Leo. It’s fulfilling. That’s why no matter what anyone says, Leo didn’t think of his master as trash.

But as if unaware of such things, the girl just repeated the same words.

“He’s trash. He took you in as a disciple but didn’t leave anything for you, right? He probably just made you run errands for alcohol. If that’s not trash, then what is?”
“Master left something for me!”
“That sloppy swordsmanship that doesn’t even have proper basics? If that’s all Drew Mace left, he’s nothing but trash.”

At that moment, Leo noticed the sword at the girl’s waist.

“I request a duel! I’ll show you clearly what Master left for me!”

♧♧♧

Sera found the hero candidate Leo in front of her very curious.

That’s because she was like a ‘senior disciple’ to him. In numerous regressions, she had served various masters, and one of them was Drew Mace. Naturally, Sera also had to endure all sorts of hardships under him. If she hadn’t been aiming to learn various swordsmanship styles at that time, she wouldn’t have stayed under him with such patience. But what she gained with such patience was nothing but Drew Mace’s futile death.

Usually, those at the superhuman level have long lifespans, but in Drew Mace’s case, despite being at the superhuman level, he completely abandoned the sword and lived a thoroughly degenerate life… It was like he cut his own lifespan short. In the end, Sera had to learn Mace swordsmanship through others. It was possible because although the Mace name was abandoned, Mace swordsmanship hadn’t completely disappeared from this world.

She happened to have business in this area and thought ‘There might be a hero candidate suffering similarly to me?’, so she stopped by and discovered hero candidate Leo… That’s how it came to this.

At first, she just thought of introducing the place where she was taught Mace swordsmanship…

‘How did it come to this…’

Since Drew Mace was trash, she naturally thought that if she talked about it, they would find common ground and things would go well. But apparently, unlike her, Drew Mace wasn’t that much of trash to hero candidate Leo.

‘Certainly, although it’s sloppy and a mess, he did learn the basics.’

To think that trash Drew Mace would teach someone the basics of Mace swordsmanship. Sera, as a senior disciple of sorts, couldn’t help but be surprised. He had died without teaching Sera anything at all. Despite her exercising patience and doing everything he told her to do…

‘Well… I didn’t follow him that sincerely like this kid. Maybe it’s something like ‘a person’s sincerity can change people’?’

She’s not particularly interested. She didn’t even feel any complaints like ‘Why did he teach him but not me?’ about the unfairness. To her, all masters except Jade were beings that no longer evoked any emotions. She just accepted it as it was.

‘But… When will this end?’

“Cough! Cough!”

Leo was already dirty all over with soil. He tried to attack and got sent flying, tried to defend and got sent flying, tried to respond calmly and got sent flying, ran trying to find an opening and got sent flying, stood still and got sent flying, the result of continuously being sent flying. It was all because Sera had blown him away with sword wind.

“Why don’t you give up now?”
“N-Not yet! Not yet!”

‘I don’t understand.’

He hadn’t even learned properly… It was literally just something learned hastily. So of course he would make such sloppy attack attempts with ‘that swordsmanship’.

‘Hero candidate Leo… A name I don’t remember.’

Because the hero candidate plan was so sloppy… Only a few hero candidates properly bloomed their talents and gained fame, and most hero candidates ended up losing miserably. Surely hero candidate Leo was one of them.

‘Originally, he would have been one of the hero candidates who went under a master just at the level of a master, didn’t properly learn anything, was forcibly pushed as a hero candidate, came to the front lines, and died. But because I, who should have served a master at the superhuman level, went under a master at the master level, one person got the chance to serve a master at the superhuman level. In this life, that was hero candidate Leo? The problem is that the superhuman level master he got happened to be Drew Mace.’

Sera couldn’t help but evaluate him as quite an unlucky fellow.

“Uwaaaaah!”

While the person in question was busy charging at Sera in front of him, not even knowing how unlucky he was.

“Haah”

Sera sighed as if annoyed and swung her sword

Whoosh!

Thud thud thud!

Leo, properly hit by the sword wind, rolled on the ground miserably again.

“Why don’t we end this now?”
“Not yet!!”

Leo got up again. Even though Sera was going easy on him, he had already surpassed his limits considering his young body. Despite that, the light in Leo’s eyes didn’t die at all.

“Huff. Huff. Huff!”

At the same time, the aura emanating from Leo also changed.

“Oho.”

Sera looked at Leo with interest.

The reason why Mace swordsmanship was called ‘barrier swordsmanship’ and Drew Mace was called ‘Cliff Sword’ was because Mace swordsmanship itself was a ‘territory’ type swordsmanship that creates one’s own area and cuts down enemies who enter that area.

But that’s why Mace swordsmanship can’t become the strongest. When the strongest spear and the strongest shield clash, the outcome is unknown, but when the strongest offensive swordsmanship and the strongest defensive swordsmanship clash, it was natural for the strongest offensive swordsmanship to win. To begin with, a sword is a means to kill the opponent for certain, and when the strongest swordsmanship is added to that, it boasts tremendous destructive power, but when the strongest defense is added, the story changes. If it’s like that from the start, you might as well carry a shield.

In other words, Mace swordsmanship itself inherently has a contradiction as a swordsmanship. But that doesn’t mean Mace swordsmanship is trash. If it had been trash swordsmanship from the start, it wouldn’t have built up a reputation enough to shake an era.

Mace swordsmanship might not be able to become the strongest swordsmanship, but it could be the best swordsmanship. If there was a master or superhuman who had mastered Mace swordsmanship on the battlefield, that battlefield would literally become a ‘massacre’. A barrier sword that creates one’s own territory and creates an area where everything can be cut, there was no better swordsmanship with such powerful effectiveness on the battlefield.

It wasn’t for nothing that Drew Mace was called ‘Cliff Sword’ and became an object of fear. Although Drew Mace himself became discouraged saying he couldn’t become the strongest.

And at this moment

A fragment of that Cliff Sword

Reached Sera.

Plop!

A few strands of Sera’s hair danced and fell to the ground. To be precise, Sera allowed it. That feeble strength would normally have never reached her, but Sera deliberately made her defense zero to let this happen. What that boy had achieved was great enough to deserve that much of a reward. Because he imitated ‘Sera’s sword wind’ that had tormented him so much to create his own version of Mace swordsmanship quite plausibly.

Of course, Leo, who didn’t even have proper basics, couldn’t have reached the level of sword wind, but he momentarily touched that level for an instant with the principles of Mace swordsmanship and Leo’s pure willpower.

“Excellent, hero candidate Leo.”

It was something that even Sera, who had all sorts of experiences through infinite regression, couldn’t help but admire. That’s why, although she still thought Drew Mace was trash, she decided to acknowledge this boy’s stubbornness.

“Drew Mace did leave something in this world. I retract my statement and apologize.”

It was a roughly combined version of the Mace swordsmanship that Drew Mace taught sloppily and the sword wind Leo experienced while being beaten by Sera (even though it was roughly combined, it was amazing for a boy who didn’t even properly know swordsmanship to achieve it), so it wasn’t Drew Mace’s credit at all, but purely hero candidate Leo’s credit… But knowing that Leo wouldn’t like it if she said that, Sera chose a kind lie.

“Hehehe…”

Thud!

Hero candidate Leo smiled purely for a moment before collapsing.

It was a natural result since he had already surpassed his limits.

“What an amazing boy.”
“The human kid is quite something!”

Great Magician William and Elf Riel, who had been watching secretly, revealed themselves.

“William”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Take care of him.”
“Pardon?”
“He clearly has a talent that’s hard to recognize, so if we leave him to someone else, he’ll probably die without blooming his talent. I have no choice but to look after him.”
“……”

William momentarily wondered if he should say for this boy’s sake, “Um… My lord is busy, so wouldn’t it be better to entrust him to someone else?” That’s how well he knew that it wasn’t good for Sera to oversee the training. But being at the level of a master in social skills, he knew he shouldn’t say such things and could only keep his mouth shut.

“Hey! Are you trying to kill this human boy?!”

Riel, who had lived without any relation to social life or relationships, and who had already seen Sera’s brutally ignorant yet effective but nevertheless scary training methods, could only scream to try to stop it.

The problem was…

“Let’s go.”

Sera wasn’t going to bend her will.

“Hey! Don’t ignore me!”

Riel started complaining while sticking to Sera’s side. Even Riel, who had already protested, seemed to consider Leo’s fate as decided. It was no exaggeration to say it was the moment when the only hope for Leo disappeared. …Anyway, it was impossible for Riel to bend Sera’s will, so William’s impression was that there was no hope there from the start.

“…Hang in there.”

William couldn’t help but mutter that while looking pitifully at the face of the boy who was unconscious and just smiling brightly. Surely this won’t be the first and last time we can see that pure smile? William thought for a moment and then felt a chill down his spine.

“Sigh…”

Even though he’s clearly helping the hero, why does he have to spend days feeling guilty like this… William couldn’t help but feel confused.