"Very well. We shall begin now, Lord Nero."
"N-Now?" Yui squeaked.
"But it's getting dark, and we just settled in, and the soup—"
"No one will eat the soup. Please cook already, Yui." Haru said flatly.
"... Alright." Yui could only smile wryly.
Meanwhile, the Valkyrie walked to the center of the warehouse, where the space was open.
*Clink… Clink…*
Her armored boots clicked against the concrete.
"Lord Nero, please…"
Nero followed suit.
Heck, he even ignored the way his audience was staring at him, looking like he just volunteered to wrestle a tiger.
"You know…" Haru started with an obvious look on his face.
"... There are easier ways to commit suicide… like drinking Kaito's soup."
"Hey! My soup builds character!" Kaito protested.
"... It builds stomach ulcers, ugh!," Yui corrected with a vomiting expression as she actually tasted the soup… no, goop, if it's just an appearance problem.
The worst decision she greatly regretted.
Nero walked over to where Aurelia stood waiting, trying to exude confidence he didn't feel.
She studied him for a moment.
Her gaze was analytical and professional.
"First, can Lord Nero show me how you would naturally hold a sword?"
She offered him her blade hilt-first.
The moment Nero's fingers wrapped around it.
… He nearly dropped the thing.
'How the fuck is she swinging THIS with a single hand?!'
He wanted to use a single hand but immediately threw that idea out when he felt the weight.
It was heavier than it looked, perfectly balanced but somehow wrong in his grip.
"... Like this?"
Nero held the heavy blade in a way he remembered it from the anime and movies he watched in the past.
Aurelia still had the same expression.
Not even a single twitch of a muscle on her face.
… But Nero was sure she radiated polite disappointment for just a moment.
"Your grip is too tight. Your stance is too wide. Your balance is... concerning."
"Concerning how?"
"In a way that Lord Nero appears to be falling over while standing still."
From their makeshift campfire, Kaito let out a snort of laughter.
"Dude's about to get schooled by a divine being. This is better than cable."
"We don't have cable," Haru pointed out.
"That's why it's better."
Aurelia moved behind Nero.
Her hands hovering near his without quite touching.
"May I adjust your posture, Lord Nero?"
"Uh, sure."
Her hands were surprisingly warm, which surprised Nero a bit.
They're actually soft despite handling such a heavy weapon.
Aurelia's hands guided his grip, repositioning his fingers on the sword's hilt.
"Feel the weight distribution." Her voice suddenly became serious, and somehow, it was both patient and respectful.
"Think of the blade as an extension of your arm, not a separate tool."
She adjusted his stance.
She nudged one of his feet, which changed his posture into a more balanced position.
"... Your center of gravity should be here."
She tapped just below his ribcage.
"Got it," Nero said, trying his best to memorize the feeling.
"Now, attempt a basic forward thrust."
Nero tried to stab forward with the sword.
*Wooop…*
The blade went wide.
His balance shifted.
Then he stumbled two steps to the right.
"...That was so painful to watch," Kaito commented.
"I've seen newborn foals with better coordination," Haru added truthfully.
"G-Guys," Yui said weakly, "maybe we shouldn't—"
"They speak the truth," Aurelia said, completely unbothered by the commentary.
"Your form requires significant improvement, Lord Nero."
… It actually hurts when it comes from such a serious person.
But Nero doesn't have time to cry.
'Instead of whining and becoming a complete clown… Let's actually try to become a respectable protagonist for once, yeah?'
He scolded himself, trying to retain his focus.
Aurelia moved in front of Nero.
She drew a second, shorter blade from somewhere hidden within her armor.
'Where the hell did she hide that?'
Nero was genuinely curious how she could hide a shortsword somewhere inside her armor and still move better than him.
But the question remained a mystery for now as Nero focused once again.
"Watch carefully, Lord Nero. A sword thrust is not about arm strength… It is about the entire body working in harmony."
Nero became laser-focused, waiting for her movements.
She demonstrated the movement with fluid precision.
Her feet shifted decisively.
Her hips rotated precisely.
Her shoulders aligned with a snap.
*Swish!*
And the blade shot forward like a silver lightning bolt before returning to guard position.
It was poetry in motion.
A simple movement, and yet, it was executed with deadly force.
Nero tried to copy the movement.
*Whish…*
It was awkward.
It was more like a drunken interpretive dance.
But it was better than before.
A significant improvement.
'... Must be because of this.'
He subtly glanced at the blue screen,
More specifically, at his passive skill.
---
[Greater Instinct (C), Lv: 1]: By focusing to the maximum, you are able to discern and learn more about the things you want to observe. +10% increased understanding and sensory details.]
---
Nero nodded to himself as he remained focused.
"Better," Aurelia said with a nod,
"Again."
For the next 3 hours, she taught him the basics.
Stance. Grip. Thrust. Parry. Block.
Each movement felt clumsy and unnatural in his hands.
But Aurelia never lost patience.
Instead, she encouraged and nodded approvingly.
She corrected his form.
Treating each mistake as simply another problem to solve and another opportunity to grow.
"Your left foot is drifting," she'd say sometimes.
Or,
"Your trajectory is off."
Or,
"Your wrist is swinging back."
By the end of it, Nero was sweating and exhausted.
Pretty sure he'd somehow gotten worse at sword fighting than when he'd started.
But of course, that was just his feeling.
Because a tiny spark of understanding clicked within his mind.
A moment when the blade had felt less like a foreign object and more like... well, still a foreign object.
But one he might eventually learn to use.
"Splendidly done tonight, Nero," Aurelia said, taking back her sword.
"You have potential."
"Potential… for what? Comedy?"
Nero joked while catching his breath.
"Potential for improvement,"
She replied seriously.
"Warriors were not built in a day, and strong foundations were not forged in an hour."
She paused.
Then added with what might have been the ghost of a smile,
"Though, perhaps tomorrow we should start with wooden practice swords? For everyone's safety."
The others had watched the entire session with a mixture of fascination and secondhand embarrassment.
"Well," Kaito said as they settled back around their fire, "that was thoroughly entertaining."
"I learned a lot," Haru said thoughtfully.
"About swordsmanship?" Yui asked.
"About how not to hold a sword."
Nero collapsed back against his pillar, muscles aching in ways he hadn't experienced since... Well, ever.
Even the fatigue when dealing with monsters was better than this.
His dexterity and vitality stats are not yet enough to keep up with the continuous wide movements performed by the supernatural angel blender in front of him.
'Still… vitality stat sure is helpful, though.'
He muttered.
Feeling his body recover a bit faster than before.
Overall, he felt oddly satisfied.
It was a start.
A completely inadequate, embarrassingly clumsy start.
But a start nonetheless.
"Same time tomorrow?"
He asked Aurelia.
"Yes."
She nodded once, already back in watchful guardian mode.
"We will continue until you are proficient."
"And how long will that take?"
"That depends entirely on your dedication to improvement, Lord Nero."
Nero grinned.
'That's right. Being a protagonist depends on the person.'
Heroes are made, not born.
"Good thing we've got a lot of time."
Outside, something howled in the distance… long, mournful, and decidedly non-human.
"And zombies," Haru added helpfully. "Don't forget the zombies."
"And whatever that thing was," Kaito said, pointing toward the sound.
"... And Kaito's cooking," Yui muttered while stirring the new soup in the pot.
This time, completely edible.
"My cooking is top-notch, y'know?!"
"Yeah, top-notch for trash… Sigh, I should've known a musclebrain like you can't cook."
"..."
As the group settled in for the night, Nero stared up at the warehouse's broken skylights.
Tomorrow, he'll get back to training.
He'll probably embarrass himself with a sword again.
But it's fine.
At least tomorrow, he'd also be one step closer to being able to fight head-on.
And in a world where swords and magic became a reality, that felt like progress.
Now comes the training arc for Nero.
'A dedicated training program from my waifu, of course.'
Nero internally chuckled.
It was a grind to become an OP MC.
***
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