A Familiar Weapon

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“Your Grace, sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Mm.”

After tea time was finished, Mr. Ekenhart, Tilura and I went out into the back garden in order to train.
Leo came as well, while Liza and Sherry rode on her back.
Furthermore, there was Ms. Claire, who probably wanted to monitor her father, and Ms. Anne who seemed to be merely interested.
A table was prepared for those who just wanted to watch us.

A few minutes later, Sebastian also arrived with three of the guards, that included Nicholas.
Aside from Nicholas, the others were the guards that had accompanied Mr. Ekenhart when he came to visit.
…They were all wielding weapons that I thought looked familiar, but I was not sure.
Nicholas had two on his belt, and the others had one, which they held with two hands.
Somehow, it seemed like they were holding expensive treasures, as they were very careful.

“Thank you. Now, give one to me, and one to Mr. Takumi.”
“Yes… Here.”
“Thank you. …Mr. Ekenhart, what is this?”

Mr. Ekenhart took one and then instructed them to give one to me.
In this world…I had seen quite a few western-looking swords, but this one was quite different.

Though, it was something I had seen in images and videos plenty of times before coming here.
Because it was a weapon from Japan.
Usually, they were seen as works of art, and even in their sheaths, they were narrower than the sword I normally used.
Its length was…about seventy or eighty centimeters, and the entire thing was about a meter.

So it was overall small and lighter than the short sword I had now.

“You look a little surprised? This is called a katana. Though there are other names depending on the length and shape. Interesting, isn’t it?”
“Ah…yes, it is.”

Mr. Ekenhart thought that I was surprised because I was seeing it for the first time, but it wasn’t the case.
I was surprised because it was familiar to me.
Well, at this point, I was much more familiar with my short sword, but it was still something I knew well.
Everyone in Japan would have seen it once.

“Though, there are not many of these made. But perhaps these would suit you better.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes. While you have not seen you fight much, I have seen you during the mental exercises. When you are attacked by an enemy, you don’t just block it with your sword, but you try to dodge it with your whole body.”
“Uhh…I suppose. I think I hesitate to block it, because I am worried that the sword might break.”

During the mental exercises, when I imagine that an enemy is attacking…especially if it is an orc, then I generally try to dodge it.
The reason was that I knew that orcs were stronger, and I also didn’t want to damage my weapon…
In fact, this had actually happened to me while fighting an orc.
After that experience, I only blocked attacks when I had to, and would otherwise try to dodge it.
And Mr. Ekenhart had noticed this while watching me.

“Well, when swords hit each other, there are always going to be cases when one of them breaks… That’s how swords work. Ideally, you would break your opponent’s sword and deal a lethal blow.”
“As for that…it seems like it would require a lot of strength.”
“Indeed. It is not something that can be solved in a day.”

Breaking an opponent’s sword… Just how much strength would that take? The sword would also have to be heavy and durable.
A few days or even months of training would not be enough to gain that much arm strength.
And that was even when I had herbs.

“The sword that you have been using up until now was made for a brute force style. And so it is very durable and heavy. But this sword…this katana, was made differently. It is very thin, light and sharp. Instead of blocking attacks, you can focus on dodging and cutting the enemy.”

I understood what Mr. Ekenhart was saying.
As swords were supposed to be durable, they used a lot of metal and were quite thick.
That made them heavier and slower to use.
You would still be able to block a little with the katana, but it was more brittle and would break easily. I had seen it happen many times on tv.

Though, it shouldn’t be possible for someone to grab and snap it in their hands.
The difference was that a normal sword would get chipped if you hit a rock, but a katana would shatter.
That being said, it was still metal, so it wouldn’t be too weak.
You just had to be a little more careful, which did match my style.

“That being said, you will not be able to make good use of it immediately either. Aside from dodging, the swinging is also different.”

So saying, Mr. Ekenhart unsheathed the katana that he was holding. I understood why they were seen as works of art. It was definitely a beautiful blade.

Next Chapter

My Beloved Dog is the Strongest in Another World