Episode 90 – Before the Festival (4)

Before the Festival (4)

Thursday at midnight. Under the dazzling sky, fireworks are still popping by the quiet lakeside of the Endex district.

I am waiting for someone.

No, someone was already there.

“What’s up.”

Soliette dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. She was lying on the grass just beneath the stone bench.

“Have you arrived?”

Her smartphone was fixed before her eyes, her fingers busily surfing the community.

“When did you get here?”

“20 minutes ago.”

“…Why did you come early?”

“Because the view is good.”

Bang-! Bang-!

Then the fireworks exploded again. Soliette seemed uninterested. She said she came here because the view was good.

“Aren’t you going to the festival?”

“What is there to do… What did you buy so much for?”

Soliette, who lifted her face, opened her eyes wide.

“I cheated a sucker.”

I bought one of each type of festival food: chicken, hotteok, fish-shaped bread, roasted potatoes, chicken ribs, tanghulu, and so on.

“Do you want to eat some too? You should at least feel the atmosphere.”

“…I’m fine.”

Soliette put down her smartphone. She quickly got up, dusted off the grass on the back of her head, and stretched out. I also put a hotteok in my mouth, put the food together, and placed it down.

“Let’s go right away.”

Today is the day I learn martial arts from her.

“Is it really martial arts?”

“Yes.”

Arkne’s martial arts. In other words, the way she moves her body. I intend to watch and learn.

It’s not that I haven’t seen her using martial arts in the future, but I haven’t seen her using martial arts.

Why?

Because that Soliette just stood still and swung her sword. Yet, no life could withstand more than three chains.

It’s real.

At least not within my memories.

“Can you teach me the basics first? The martial arts that can be the backbone.”

“The basics? What are you talking about after killing a monster with your bare hands.”

“I was in a dispel state then.”

“…Well. Usually, the first is stepping, and the next is Body Flow. Arkne’s martial arts are based on this Body Flow and stepping.”

I’ve heard of it.

I’ve only heard of it.

“Stepping is literally the way to move your feet. The circulation of the lower body’s mana is important.”

“Mana circulation?”

“Yes.”

“…Is it ultimately One Belt, Four Lines?”

I asked doubtfully. Soliette sternly refuted with a stern face.

“Martial arts is what you learn from childhood. At least our Arkne martial arts have nothing to do with One Belt, Four Lines.”

“Is that so?”

Then my academic enthusiasm also surged.

Before regression, Soliette had already severed ties with the family and abandoned everything of Arkne, and I had never considered that.

“Show me.”

“Yes. The basis of stepping is the circulation of the lower body’s mana. Mana should be circulating whether you’re walking, running, sitting, or even sleeping.”

“…Can you show me a little bit of that circulation?”

I prepared the SZX-9500.

Of course, no matter how advanced the SZX-9500 is, it can’t see through the human body. However, it can faintly observe the flow of mana within the body.

“Yes.”

Soliette drew up the mana in her lower body.

“……Hmm.”

Definitely, it’s not One Belt, Four Lines. Without any lines, the magic power is just naturally circulating in the lower body.

It’s similar to the concept of 「Embodiment」, but it’s different because there is a ‘structure’ within that mana. My Mana Heart is just mindlessly pumping out mana.

“I understand. Up to here is circulation. What’s next?”

“Fixation. You hold it in place.”

Soliette put strength into her thighs. The moment she did, the magic power was held in her muscles.

I pressed my eyes into her leg. Observing closely, I nodded my head.

“You’re right. It’s definitely different.”

“If One Belt, Four Lines is added to this, it becomes like this.”

A ‘line’ clearly occurred. The mana particles held in the muscles stuck to the line and shone together like leaves sticking to a tree branch.

“Of course, in the state of Magic Body turned on, this martial art becomes even stronger…… Aren’t you too close?”

“Huh? Ah.”

I quickly stepped back a few steps. I almost smelled her skin.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize.”

“It doesn’t matter. Anyway, once you master stepping like this, your steps will become nimble.”

Suddenly, Soliette took a side step, a shuffle. That one-step-to-the-left-and-right thing.

“Watch.”

Fshhhhhhh——

The shuffle became incredibly fast. Even heat rose from the ground.

“Oh…….”

I admired. Soliette, who stopped her movement, nodded.

“You really haven’t learned this before, have you?”

“Of course. I’ve been…… a beggar until now.”

This kind of explanation should be enough. Because I was actually a beggar.

Whether it’s magic power, martial arts, or academics, I’ve never received systematic education.

“But you have that level of strong body.”

“Ah…… strong body?”

Instead, there’s one thing I’ve learned systematically.

「Embodiment」 taught by my master Theia Esil. She taught me Embodiment and Mana Heart breathing method even while analyzing ancient papers.

“Then. Shall I try it?”

“Yes. Try it. Slowly.”

First, I let the mana flow into my lower body. Up to here, it’s not much different from 「Embodiment」. My Mana Heart pumps mana into my whole body 24/7 like a heart.

Next is ‘anchoring’.

When it seems like the mana is mixing between muscle fibers and circulating, I firmly- anchor it.

In this state, I take a side step like Soliette.

Pa-ba-ba-ba-

At first, it wasn’t particularly fast, and there was reasonable buffering. Still, after stepping a few times, the step became familiar.

But the result.

Pa-ba-ba-ba-ba-bat-!

I managed to roughly follow along. The pavement didn’t burn, but it did char appropriately.

“How was it?”

I turned to look at Soliette.

“……”

Soliette didn’t say anything.

Her eyes, looking at me, were foreign. Her pupils suddenly drained.

Did something go wrong? It’s unnecessarily grim.

Cough. I asked again, clearing my throat.

“What?”

Soliette swallowed.

“I just saw from you……”

Before she could open her mouth, she nodded her head first.

“I saw the genius halo.”

“……What?”

For me, it was an absurd statement.

Last time, she said I seemed talented, but now a genius halo? Did I level up or something?

“……”

Soliette didn’t add anything more. She was also at a loss for words, probably for a different reason than me.

“……The genius is you.”

Regarding talent, Soliette could be rated as the pinnacle in the 300-year history of the Arkne family.

“No. It took me a week to learn this stepping.”

“At what age?”

“Six.”

“Are you kidding?”

I’m just following her, and the limit is clear. Whether it’s martial arts or swordsmanship, the higher the level, the more you need the assistance of ‘Magic Body’, and the capacity of the 「Notepad」 will eventually be filled.

“I’m not kidding. Try it again.”

Soliette opened her eyes wide. A bit too wide to the point of being burdensome. Like a baseball.

“That’s a lot of pressure.”

“If you see a diamond rolling on the street, you would react the same way.”

“It wasn’t rolling on the street.”

“Do it quickly. My eyes hurt.”

Soliette furrowed her brows.

I followed the stepping again.

Pa-ba-ba-ba-bat-!

I succeeded more smoothly than before, and Soliette’s eyes blinked.

“I can see it. That halo is flashing. Do you really not want to learn swordsmanship? Even Arkne would welcome you.”

“You do your best. You’re the greatest talent in Arkne history.”

Before my return, she abandoned Arkne. She completed her Severing Sword as a result, but that shouldn’t have happened.

She should have stayed in Arkne.

“What are you talking about again. Don’t bullshit when you don’t know.”

Soliette scrunched up her face.

“What. You are the greatest talent.”

The one who can complete the origin of Arkne swordsmanship.

A talent that can break through the extreme.

That’s Soliette.

“Did you see my father’s interview? That’s bullshit.”

“Why would I watch your father’s interview……”

……Soliette. You can reach the extreme of Arkne. You can achieve what the ancestors of the family couldn’t.

For a moment, a deep voice echoed in my ears.

Igris, Soliette’s father. The voice of that time when he called Soliette, who had cut off from the family.

Why was this Memory triggered all of a sudden?

“Anyway. Your stepping is already flawless. Next is the Body Flow. If you master these two perfectly, you can acquire ‘Lightness Skill’. Let’s move on to the Body Flow-”

“Let’s stop for today.”

“Excuse me, what did you say?”

Soliette scrunched up her face.

It’s not that I don’t want to, but I already feel a strain on my body. Stepping is indeed a complex and challenging technique, and the process of observing and learning is quite burdensome.

Even the capacity of the 「Notepad」 is consuming as much as 6.

It’s not for nothing that they say Soliette is a genius.

“I need to eat.”

I need to recover.

My recovery is through food.

I tore into a chicken leg. I ate a whole potato. I chewed on tanghulu. I ripped into chicken thigh meat. I ate a fish-shaped bun. I chewed on a hotteok. I tore into chicken breast meat. Soliette glared at me with laser-like eyes.

“……You’re lazy, you.”

“What are you talking about. Did you buy the Latinel textbook?”

For reference, this education is an exchange. I teach Latinel, and Soliette teaches the techniques.

“Yes.”

Soliette took out the textbook from her duffel bag.

“Did you buy it this time?”

“It was in my father’s study.”

“…Really?”

It’s strange. Soliette, who is close to her father, or at least has yet to cut ties, is unfamiliar.

Even now. Of course, they’re not exactly in a father-daughter relationship.

“Let me see.”

I looked at her textbook. There was definitely some wear and tear.

“Then let’s start from the first chapter.”

I said, chewing and swallowing the remaining chicken.

“Yes.”

“Kaedeius Radeoman. It means the emperor’s man.”

…20 minutes later.

“Are you a blockhead?”

Unable to hold back, I blurted out, and Soliette pouted her lips.

“No. It doesn’t make sense. Why is the usage so inefficient?”

Throughout the 20 minutes, Soliette only repeated this.

Isn’t it inefficient? It’s inefficient. It’s inefficient. It’s inefficient-

“Just accept it and memorize it.”

“… That’s why it seems like there’s no progress.”

“What’s the point of developing a dead language? Just memorize it if I tell you to.”

What’s so efficient, and what’s so inefficient.

“Memorize all these words by next week.”

“… You’re lazy, but you’re good at giving homework.”

Mumbling under her breath, Soliette stuffed the Latinel textbook into her duffel bag.

I lay down silently on the grass. I was quite sleepy. It was a side effect of moving my body intensely.

“…Do you check the community?”

Suddenly Soliette asked.

“No.”

“Look at this.”

A smartphone appeared before my eyes.

[Sound of a panda eating bamboo]

Chomp chomp chomp- A panda is eating bamboo.

“… That’s interesting.”

I responded without thinking, but something was strange.

Where did Soliette come from?

I turned to look next to me and was surprised. At a distance where our bodies could almost touch, Soliette was lying down.

“…”

My heart thumped slightly, but I couldn’t be fooled.

Soliette was just indifferent.

I’m not as naive as I used to be. I’m not an immature man who thinks about grandchildren just because our fingertips are touched.

“This too-”

“… I’m going to rest, so don’t show me weird things.”

“…”

She was about to push her smartphone toward me but quietly withdrew it.