Isekai Rohan

Within the training grounds, Robin was once again bullying Hebi, Istvan Deuce and Ian the templar. And whilst they were practicing their endurance, stamina, speed and stealth in moderation, Prince Victor Del Lagos was practicing a sword style taught and passed down only through male members of the royal family, secretly practicing each and every move with precision and flow. And although such swordsmanship had failed to emerge victorious during his holy dual against Rima Regenon, the queen of the elves, during the human invasion of Via Marea. Victor still payed great homage and respect to its history and cultural significance, as it was the sword style his father, Godfrey Del Lagos and his own father had used to unite the two human kingdoms into one. Thus, ending the internal conflict between humans and shifting the tips of their blades down south, to the elves.

With a large imitation fence separating the training hall into two, and providing the prince with privacy to hone his sword, the grand duke of Trichia had been invited to watch.

 

With permission to freely inspect, observe and perhaps learn from the prince's flow, Asai was completely submerged into tunnel-vision. Every line of thought, focus, priority, and even breath was done so solely to ingrain the style into memory. With his forearms and pectoral muscles occasionally twitching and flexing, as his body instinctively tried to copy the motions without moving an inch in reality.

 

After an hour of repeating every flow, strike, parry and reset, Victor's eyes stung just from the sweat from his brows, evidence of his focus and concentration, ignoring the clothing that clung to him due to sweat, the gaze the duke scrutinized him with, the sweat that irritated both his eyes and tongue.

 

"Incredible... How did such a sword style lose?"

 

Recalling the rumours and reports that were presented to him, open-secrets that appeared the instant one looked into the correct directions, Rime Regenon was regarded as a natural talent, born to wield the sword, whilst also sincerely loving the weapon with both heart and muscle. If such rumours were true, then Victor must've lost to someone who was innately gifted with the correct muscle alignments, limb lengths, height and mass that afforded her maximum optimization and efficiency. Combined with her hard work and unfair longevity, which naturally represented centuries of experience and training. No matter how hard Victor trained, worked, or pushed himself, perhaps he would never be able to defeat such a mighty foe.

Thus, to see the prince capable of picking himself back up, as Asai had naturally heard of his self-imposed confinement after his sword was reportedly shattered, even the duke couldn't help but feel a growing sense of admiration towards the man.

 

A wooden sword crashed into the man's lap, snapping him out of his thoughts as Victor now appeared topless, having used his own tunic as a towel to clear himself of the sweat.

His golden hair slicked back and behind his ears as his equally golden eyes flickered with excitement. His body rarely exposed, now revealed itself to be covered in horrible scars that stretched all across his shoulders and chest, as if he had wrestled with a lycan.

 

Asai rose from his seat, leaving the spectator's section and entered the arena with sword in hand. Meeting the prince's gaze which remained not upon his blade, but upon his eyes, observing and watching for the clues and habits humans would naturally inherit unconsciously from their mentors.

To even out the field, Asai also threw his tunic aside, which was crafted out of high quality hard-leather, a perfect mix between multiple beast hides and fur.

 

Whilst Victor's torso was covered with scars like a battlefield, Asai's appeared pristine, spotless, like a Greek god's statue. Something that naturally occurred to those with higher densities and purer mana hearts, that carried and fed the cells within the human bodies nutrients of corresponding quality. This blessed mana heart provided health benefits similar to glycerine would, resulting in perfectly moisturized and resilient skin, improved hydration and better physical performance.

Such information had already been debunked and realized by Asai, as he had the pleasure of observing the companions he had met grow and change in their mana efficiency. Robin, who originally looked like a scrawny boy with dry skin now appeared flawless, truly like a saintess would be imagined. Chloe and Violet, who were also skinny, malnourished with unkempt hair and skin, were now praised as Trichia's beauties, in correspondence to their levels rising, and their mana flow becoming purer.

 

With all this in mind, Victor Del Lagos being scared so heavily was honestly out of place, as the man naturally must have a highly purified mana heart due to the resources available to him, in addition to the healers and priests who could reduce the scars in due time and repeated healing sessions, for a cost donation.

 

"I see you have questions for me, well. I heard that you're a man of action, so how about we fight first, talk later? Duke."

 

"Sounds good to me, Prince."

 

The two swordsman lunged towards their targets, both striking for the other man's shoulder, only for both swords to clash as their paths met.

"Good strength, power and speed..."

Naturally relying upon the training his muscles had ingrained within them, Asai was quick to revert back like a rogue typically would, creating distance before continuously circling the prince's position. Whilst changing the axis would unnerve and topple the lesser knight, Victor easily kept himself upon his toes as he updated the alignment smoothly.

Within just a dozen exchanges of thrusts, slices, cuts and parries, their individual traits were slowly becoming defined and exposed. Victor's sword was steadfast, unyielding, strong and precise. Whilst Asai's sword was fast, slippery, deadly and sporadically hidden within the spins, twists, vaults and feints, like a baseball pitcher would when tactfully obscuring the ball behind his own body to inflict confusion, or a taekwondo practitioner would, with tornado kicks.

 

Within the flurry of attacks that arrived from multiple directions, as Asai kept circling the prince whilst also dipping in and out, shifting between a rogue's temperament and one expected of a knight's. Finding it quite pleasurable to be pressuring Victor onto his backfoot consistently as the man failed to figure out the everchanging swordsmanship that was riddled with holes and gaps that were instinctively revealed to be feints and traps.

Finally yielding, and creating distance between them, Victor had to inhale a few times to reinvigorate his muscles as he noticed how energetic the duke was, even after exerting himself for such prolonged durations that would leave a typical knight exhausted and gasping for air.

 

 

Seeing as both men had grins upon their faces, both being humans who instinctively found swordsmanship to be exhilarating, like a sport. The two once again attempted to disarm the other, clashing swords as both blades refused to yield.

Either out of respect, or curiosity, Victor was now deliberately interrupting and increasing his flow into a messy style that greatly ruined the tempo, an imitation of Asai's roguish style. Whilst Asai was now standing steadfast, and was endeavouring to imitate the prince's usual precision and decisiveness. For both to be eerily close to successfully adopting the other's style, they both silently agreed to amping up their dual with greater speed as both fighters soon found themselves to be upon the back foot, just barely managing to maintain their styles.

Within the heights of their exchanges, Victor surprised the man by performing a powerful feint that forced the duke into a guard stance, prior to revealing his attempt at a vault, slamming the wooden sword from above with great mass amplified by velocity. Catching Asai off-guard, as he was tricked into blocking such a blow, one usually dodged, Asai's wooden sword broke as the prince's barely maintained its dignity long enough to strike the man across the collarbone. 

Finding himself sent to the ground as the kinetic energy slammed into his chest like a hammer, Asai was sent to the ground. Believing himself to having lost, he ensured his eyes would remain open to learn all that he could from Victor. Only to watch the man fail his landing, crashing face first into the arena as he hadn't calculated the sudden reduction in spin when clashing his sword into Asai's. Thus, both men were down on the ground as both wooden swords were equally broken.

However, it was clear to Asai that he had lost this friendly spar. 

 

 

Victor pushed himself off the ground, as his nostrils were now bleeding, grinning as satisfaction overwhelmed him.

 

"Good fight. Duke."

 

"Good fight, Prince."

 

Clutching the man's hand tightly, both swordsman shook hands whilst grinning. Finding it incredibly hilarious that the other was copying their sword style, which was honestly out of character. To see a royal prince crouch, spin and vault like a rogue. To see the duke known for butchering monsters just for existing, standing and flourishing his sword as if he were performing a highly dignified ritual.

The two couldn't help but chuckle whilst helping each other up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hebi, who was watching the two strangely aggressive towards each other, smile and grin without words, as they exchanged their thoughts and feelings through their swords instead. Was greatly confused, as her eyes kept shifting from the duke, to the prince, to the saintess.

 

"Maybe he swings both ways?" She thought, finding human interactions hard to decipher.