Chapter 13
Identity. Identity…
“Hmm. Someone who wants to prove herself?”
He did not answer, maybe thinking it was a joke. He just pressed his forehead in silence.
A moment of quiet passed.
Then he muttered softly,
“……You are a strange woman.”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I slowly relaxed my arms.
Then I made a decision.
“Do you want to learn it?”
“What do you mean?”
“The way I run.”
Sometimes I wondered.
Why do strong people in this world gather energy in their hearts?
Is it because it is more efficient than circulating energy through the lower, middle, and upper energy centers?
In the end, what matters is circulating energy through the whole body via the head point. But if it only gathers in the heart, is circulation really complete?
No matter how I thought about it, my answer was “no.”
Then another question came.
If I taught him, how efficient would it be for him?
Sword skills or movement techniques. If I taught him and saw the result, wouldn’t I become more sure of my answer?
In the end, to satisfy my curiosity, I decided to teach the Young Duke a movement technique.
“Is it something secret? Is it really okay to teach it so easily?”
“Hmm?”
“It might be something passed down in your family… something not meant to be shared.”
“Oh. It’s not like that. Just watch carefully.”
I stepped forward.
At the same time, I sent energy through my whole body down to my feet.
When my toes pushed off the ground, my body shot up lightly like the wind.
“…!”
The Young Duke Raiden’s eyes widened.
I landed again, stepping quickly from right foot to left foot across the ground.
From ground to ground.
I moved by bouncing forward.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Fast, but stable. Only footprints remained where I stepped.
After a few jumps, I landed in front of Raiden.
“Can you copy that?”
He said nothing. He just looked at the ground, silently tracing my movements in his mind.
He had talent.
“…P-please teach me a bit more in detail.”
I nodded and stepped forward again.
“The steps I showed you require balance between foot pressure, breathing, and center movement.”
“….”
“You see the footprints, right? Step exactly on them and practice. The important part is putting energy into your feet. Use the same energy you use when forming sword aura.”
“I usually spread energy through my body to strengthen myself in battle… but isn’t it better to put it into the weapon?”
“Just try it first.”
He reluctantly gathered energy into his feet and stepped on my footprints.
Then—he stumbled hard and fell.
“Lord Raiden, was my energy really that much?”
“…It’s not ‘that much’.”
“Focus. If you can’t learn it, I’ll leave you behind.”
That seemed to work. He silently continued practicing.
Even while falling, he stubbornly followed my steps.
The path I created contained the essence of movement technique.
Falling Star Step.
A fast and sharp movement technique like a falling star.
The difference was that he used heart-based energy, not natural energy like me. But it wasn’t a big problem.
Could the aura heart show better energy control?
“Hmm.”
Raiden, who kept moving his feet endlessly, surprisingly started to follow quickly.
Maybe he learns better with his body than his head. Everyone is different.
“Lower your knees more. Use strength in your waist.”
“Like this?”
“Yes. Slowly gather energy. It will be easier to control.”
His surrounding energy started to tremble slightly.
He still lacked movement sense, but it was enough to have potential.
“Good. Next, push off using your toes.”
He followed better than expected. I showed him again how to push off the ground.
Raiden wobbled but did not lose balance and moved half a step forward.
“…This is harder than I thought. We don’t train in running.”
“You don’t train?”
“Running away is dishonorable for a knight. And when swinging a sword, the feet are just support. Not for running.”
This world was really strange.
I was sure that no matter how strong the best person in this world was, they would not survive a week in my world.
To survive, you must also know how to escape. Tsk.
“But now that you’ve started, you must finish. Even basic skill is enough to follow. The energy you gather in your heart?”
“…You mean aura?”
“Yes, that. Use it with minimal distribution and maximum duration…”
“Wait. Do you not know about aura?”
I shrugged.
His eyes widened like a shocked rabbit.
“How can you break an aura blade without knowing aura?”
“Blade what?”
“Sword aura! You broke a viscount’s sword aura, didn’t you?!”
“Oh, that weak thing?”
“…Weak?”
He looked completely lost, like his world view was collapsing.
But I was serious.
“Lord Raiden, think carefully. The viscount did not wrap his sword in energy. He was releasing it. It was forcibly compressed then released.”
“Yes, I saw.”
“There is a higher form called sword force, right?”
“Yes. But what does that have to do with breaking sword aura?”
It had a lot to do with it.
A very big connection.
“If it were sword force, it would not break easily. But sword aura is different. It lacks cohesion. So if you disturb its center, it breaks easily.”
“Breaks…?”
“If you drop a single drop of ink into white paper, it gets stained easily. His sword aura looked like white paper to me. One drop of ink would erase it.”
I explained it as clearly as possible, like teaching a child.
Some people understand instantly. Some never understand.
I wondered which type Raiden was.
“So what you’re saying is…”
“Yes.”
“A knight’s lifelong sword aura can be broken instantly… by contaminating its energy?”
“Contaminating?”
Did he understand it wrong?
I meant it could be broken by striking the unstable center of the energy. I simply pierced that center with my true energy.
Since he didn’t understand aura properly, I couldn’t be sure about his wording.
“Lord Raiden, let me ask you. Is contamination bad?”
“Bad? No. That’s not what I meant.”
“Then…”
“If I broke it, I would either use sword force or something stronger. But you just pierced it directly. I can only describe it as contamination of energy.”
So he just didn’t understand qi.
They cannot read natural energy.
“Do nobles judge strength by sword aura and sword force?”
“Yes. Above sword force, there is a level where one puts will into the sword. Even those at that level still ask to see aura first.”
Will in the sword?
How did they reach that level using aura?
I suddenly wanted to meet them.
At that moment, Raiden drew his sword and released sword force.
Blue energy rose from his heart and merged with the sword.
“Even showing this much is enough to be recognized. Isn’t what matters what can be seen?”
“I see.”
“…And you, Lady. Can you show this ‘contamination’ technique so it can be seen with the eyes?”
