Deadmeat Saga

Chapter 22 – Underdeveloped Sword Saint

On the training field.

"Come on! Do more laps!"

"More push-ups!"

"Work those abs!"

"Swing that sword as if your life depends on it!"

The calm and flirtatious Havre switched to a harsh drill instructor. Gerhart found the training initially easy, so Havre added weights to his body. Due to his Pack Mule talent and other similar body-enhancing talents, along with his high level and stats, Gerhart needed over a hundred kilograms to make the training noticeable.

As for why she was making them do this training?

"To sense Aura, you must exert your body to the limit! Train harder!" Havre yelled at them.

"How did such a pretty and flirtatious girl transform into this demon? Even the other villagers are scared of her." Gerhart warily thought, swinging the wooden training sword in his hand at a dummy while taking note of the somewhat fearful expressions of everyone while they looked at her.

After two hours of training, Havre finally stopped them while bringing water skins.

"Alright, enough. Rest for ten minutes." She said, handing the two water skins.

"Thanks." Gerhart gladly took the water skin and drank from it.

"Thank you." Hope nodded and also gulped some water to rehydrate herself.

"By the way, did you start feeling anything?" Havre asked.

"Not yet." Gerhart shook his head.

"I do. I feel a stream flowing in my body. Is that Aura?" Hope surprisingly said.

"Hoh... Did you feel it so soon? The Aura in your body didn't feel too high, so your instincts must be insanely high." Havre commented. "It takes most of the kids here a month to feel it."

"I suppose. Instincts is my strong side." Hope replied.

"Hm... I see." Havre nodded. "Want to spar and see if you can use your Aura?"

"Didn't you say you were one of the weakest?" Hope asked back.

"Physically, yes. Most of the villagers here don't have anything less than a D-rank. Meanwhile, I have F-rank Strength and Endurance and E-rank Vitality and Agility. I lack the necessary strength to fight the monsters in the forest." Havre replied. "However, I can confidently say I am number one in pure skill."

"If master agrees, I agree," Hope said.

"I see no problem. Go ahead." Gerhart replied.

"Then let's have a friendly spar." Havre smiled.

After Hope rested for ten minutes, she picked up a wooden sword and faced Havre, who also held a sword.

"Uwa... That Mousekin is fighting the Havre..." One of the kids said.

"How long will she last?" Another one of the kids asked.

"If she uses overwhelming force or dirty tricks, maybe." A middle-aged man commented.

"What do you mean?" Gerhart, who overheard it, walked over and asked.

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"Ah, you're the new guy, hah?" The middle-aged man looked at Gerhart and nodded. "Yeah, Havre is a weird case in the village. She is physically the weakest, so weak that she can't join our hunts, but nobody of the same strength can beat her."

"Why, though?" Gerhart asked.

"You will see." The middle-aged man motioned with his chin.

"Come at me with everything you have. Don't hold back." Havre said.

"Okay! Here I come!" Hope said and charged at Havre, ready to swing her sword.

But just when she was about to swing it, Hope shuddered, her eyes widening in horror as she forcefully stopped and backed away.

"Good call." The middle-aged man next to Gerhart commented. "If she carelessly attacked like that, she would instantly lose."

"Why?" Gerhart asked, not understanding what was going on.

In his perspective, Hope one-sidedly charged at Havre, who motionlessly stood in place.

"If that Mousekin continued her swing, Havre would have immediately disarmed her, ending the match." The middle-aged man explained.

That was indeed what Hope felt. Hope never had proper sword-fighting training, purely relying on instincts to overcome stronger foes. However, this time, Hope felt like she met an impenetrable wall.

"There are no openings... Her defense is absolute." Hope felt.

Usually, she would use her instincts to find an opponent's weak spot or moment of carelessness. But this time, there was no game of chance, no opening. Her intuition foresaw that any move she made would have the same result.

Defeat.

That was the only result a frontal attack would lead.

"Well? Are you coming at me, or what?" Havre asked. "If you are not coming at me, I will come at you." She said and slowly walked forward.

To Gerhart, it looked like a regular girl carelessly walking forward. But in Hope's eyes, it looked like a moving mountain.

"Weakest, my foot! You monster!" Hope inwardly cursed and kept her distance.

"If you continue backing away, it is my win," Havre said and stopped walking forward. "I am not bored enough to chase you around."

"Hope! Come on! You can do it!" Gerhart cheered.

"Ugh... Now I have to fight this monster..." Hope mentally cried.

Shaking her head, Hope changed her mindset and tried fixing her posture.

"Well? I am waiting." Havre said, keeping a relaxed posture.

"If you don't have an opening, I will make one!" Hope thought.

"Hah!" Hope attacked. But this time, Hope was careful, doing a light, probing strike.

But Havre effortlessly parried her with minimal movement, like swatting a fly, but didn't move.

"Hah! Ya! Hah!" Hope continued swinging her sword at Havre, but Havre continued parrying everything as if it were nothing.

"You won't get an opening from me if you use such clumsy attacks. Put some back into it." Havre said, not moving an inch. 

"Is she a master swordsman?" Gerhart curiously asked.

"We have no clue, either. Havre's talent is an unknown garbled gibberish, but she proves through actions that she is the best swordswoman in the village. Her Aura Manipulation is also the best, and her fingers are inherently powerful and precise. When you put any other weapon in her hand, she isn't that much, and almost everyone can beat her, but she is like a different person with a sword in hand." The middle-aged man said. "Because her body is weak, we don't send her on hunts. Instead, we have her use Aura Massages and sew wounds and clothing."

"That... Somehow rings a bell." Gerhart thought of a discussion his masters once had when he was Deadmeat.

.

.

.

While Deadmeat cooked dinner, he overheard his masters talking.

"I heard @$%*! Empire has a new Sword Saint. I hear she is an orc." His Dragon Man master said.

"Another monster is born." His Mountain King Dwarf master shook his head.

"Do you have to compare them to monsters?" His Transcendent Elf master retorted.

"Unparalleled Swordsmanship, Overwhelmingly Powerful Hands, Perfect Aura Manipulation, Precise Body Control, Swift As Lightning. All Stats are at least B-rank, and Agility, Dexterity, and Aura are all S or above. Those are the characteristics of the weakest of Sword Saints, with some having even more exaggerated powers. Monsters, all of them." His Great Oni master explained with a shudder.

"Okay, they are monsters." His Transcendent Elf master admitted.

.

.

.

When Gerhart thought about that flashback, he couldn't help but think, "Is she an incomplete Sword Saint?"

"Did you ever try and help her awaken her talent?" Gerhart curiously asked.

"Yeah, we tried. We thought Havre was a late bloomer with a slightly awakened talent, but it was quickly apparent that wasn't the case. Instead, her talent is an underdeveloped one, like a stillborn child. It makes sense when I think about her birth circumstances. She had a premature birth as a kid due to a monster attack, born at seven months old. Everyone thought she would die, but she survived and grew splendidly, but her talent suffered the price. It is a lost case." The man shook his head.

"I grow bored of this." Havre declared, having grown tired of Hope's weak, boring attacks.

Havre took a step back and raised her sword upward.

"Ah, Havre decided to end it." The middle-aged man commented.

"What do you mean? All I see is that she is full of openings." Gerhart said.

"Then you are too inexperienced." The middle-aged man replied.

At the same time, Hope looked at Havre in horror. It was like the jaws of a beast wide open, about to snap her in half.

"If I attack, I lose." Hope had this premonition.

Throughout the fight, Hope realized that their strength was about the same. However, Havre's skills were overwhelmingly higher. While Hope was sweating, Havre used the bare minimum of energy to fight her.

"Well? Are you coming at me or not?" Havre asked.

Hope remained silent and glanced at Gerhart, who had expectations written all over his face.

"Okay... Snap out of it, Hope. Use everything you have, and don't disgrace yourself too badly." Hope took a deep breath and opened her eyes, her demeanor changing.

"Hoh... Those are nice eyes. Finally decided to stop acting like a timid mouse?" Havre thought, a light grin on her lips.

"Hah!" Using all the potential in her body, Hope subconsciously tapped into the Aura in her body.

But the result was still the same.

Tah*

With one lightning-fast swing, Havre disarmed Hope before her sword pointed at her throat.

"It... It happened so fast. I couldn't even see it..." Hope's hands stung, covered in cold sweat as she looked Havre in the eyes.

"Hehe... Not bad. You were able to use Aura in the last second." Havre chuckled and remarked, pulling back her training sword. "But too bad it was an instinctive reaction rather than a controlled force, or you might last a few more swings."

"R-Right..." Hope muttered, dazed at the first loss in her life.

"Whoa..." Gerhart widened his mouth in shock. It was the first time he saw Hope lose like that.

"It lasted longer than I expected." The middle-aged man shook his head and said.

"By the way, who are you?" Gerhart asked.

"Who, me? I am Jull, the doctor." Jull smiled. "I usually stay here since most injured are the kids training here or the hunter teams."

"I'm Gerhart, nice to meet you, Jull." Gerhart smiled.

"Master, I lost." Hope walked over and bitterly said.

"Don't worry, Hope. You did well." Gerhart smiled.

"You lasted this long against a Sword Saint. An incomplete one, but still a Sword Saint." Gerhart thought.

"Uuu... You are too kind..." Hope said with slumped shoulders, still taking the loss hard.

"Well, she managed to use Aura on her first day. I think that is an impressive achievement." Havre walked over and said.

"Oh? I couldn't tell." Gerhart said, pleasantly surprised.

"I think I subconsciously used it." Hope scratched the back of her head.

"It is already good you can do that." Havre smiled.

"How long did it take you?" Gerhart curiously asked.

"Who, me? I think I subconsciously did it since I was three years old." Havre said, trying to recall.

"No, Havre, it was when you were two years and two months old." Jull, who stood on the side, corrected.

"Ah, right. I tend to forget that part." Havre smiled without a care.

"You monster!" Both Gerhart and Hope retorted at the same time.

"I think that will be all for today's Aura training. Let's eat some lunch. I feel peckish." Havre said and walked in the direction of her house.

"Yeah, me too. Let's go, Hope." Gerhart said and turned to Jull. "Bye, Jull."

"Bye." Jull smiled back and walked away.

Gerhart and Hope then returned to Asher's house and had a light lunch before they started studying magic.