"The shape of a sword? A real sword?"
Hearing Ghislaine's words, Shirou fell silent. He didn't understand what she meant, because to him, a sword was just a sword, nothing else.
But Ghislaine clearly wasn't joking.
She wanted him to understand what she meant before starting real training with the Sword of Light.
However, Shirou had no idea how to approach this problem. He didn't understand it at all, and didn't even know where to start.
Ghislaine obviously didn't want to give him any hints, hoping he could figure it out on his own.
She slowly said, "My master told me when teaching me the Sword God Style that if you can't understand what a real sword is, you'll always just be a third-rate swordsman."
"A third-rate swordsman? What about second-rate and first-rate swordsmen?"
Shirou asked curiously.
Ghislaine quietly said, "A swordsman who understands what a sword is is a second-rate swordsman. And a swordsman who understands what a real sword is, but still doesn't want to give up the sword, is a first-rate swordsman."
"..."
Ghislaine's words were clearly full of mystery.
The idea was a bit like the concept of "seeing a mountain as a mountain, seeing a mountain as not a mountain, and seeing a mountain as a mountain again" proposed by a philosopher from Shirou's past life.
Although it was applied to the field of swordsmanship, it was still full of profound knowledge.
At least Shirou clearly couldn't understand what she meant in the short term.
And Ghislaine made it clear that she didn't want Shirou to understand right away. She openly said, "I spent a long time studying the question of what a sword is. You don't need to rush to get an answer immediately."
"But if I don't get an answer, won't I be unable to learn the Sword of Light from you, Ghislaine?"
Shirou came to the Boreas family to learn the Sword of Light from Ghislaine, so he could reach a higher level of the Sword God Style.
Now that Ghislaine made such a hard-to-understand request, Shirou naturally couldn't easily accept it.
"But this is my requirement."
Ghislaine was unusually firm on this matter. "I believe doing this will be good for you, Shirou, because you clearly don't just want to learn the Sword of Light and become an ordinary Sword Saint, right?"
"This..."
Shirou thought for a moment about Ghislaine's words, and finally agreed.
He really wasn't just aiming to learn the Sword of Light and become a Sword Saint when he started down this path.
For him, only by reaching a level above Sword Saint, or even the highest level, could he overcome the limits of Servant Emiya and achieve his own power!
"I understand. I'll try hard to figure out this problem, Ghislaine."
"Mm."
Because of Ghislaine's request, Shirou couldn't call her "teacher," but he already thought of her as his master.
Shirou then continued to practice swordsmanship in the training ground.
Even though Ghislaine wasn't teaching him swordsmanship, Shirou could still practice swordsmanship on his own. Most importantly, he needed to figure out the answer to the question Ghislaine had given him.
What exactly does "sword" mean?
However, even after practicing swordsmanship in the training ground all morning, Shirou couldn't get a clear answer.
He could only helplessly leave the training ground and head to a Western-style house in the Boreas family estate with his weapon.
"Knock! Knock!"
Shirou knocked on the door, thinking it would take a while to get a response.
But the door quickly opened, and the red-haired girl, Eris, came out with a wooden practice sword, as if she had been ready the whole time.
"Huh?"
"What are you waiting for? Aren't we going to practice swords?"
"..."
Eris was so unusually proactive that Shirou was momentarily taken aback.
He hadn't expected Eris to be so enthusiastic about sword practice, especially so open about it.
It could be said that before yesterday, Eris was still full of hostility towards him, looking at him with disgust.
This sudden change made Shirou even wonder if he was dreaming.
If she wasn't the young lady of the Boreas family, he might have even said, "Can you go back to how you were? I'm still used to your rebellious attitude."
Of course, he definitely wouldn't say something like that out loud. He took Eris to the Boreas family's training ground.
"Okay, let's do a simple warm-up first."
Shirou followed the sword training requirements that Paul had given him, exactly as they were, and used them to train Eris.
He thought she would refuse a little, or at least argue with him, but he didn't expect the red-haired girl to be so obedient, honestly following him in doing the pre-training warm-up.
"Did they switch this young lady out?"
Shirou couldn't help but think this way, and after observing her for a long time, he had to admit that Eris might really have become more obedient than before.
But he couldn't find a reason, at least not an action of his that would have made Eris change her attitude so much.
However, although Shirou didn't know it, Eris's opinion of Shirou was gradually changing. Now, she didn't exactly like him, but she definitely didn't dislike him either.
After all, Shirou had stood up for her when Thomas kidnapped her, not only trading places willingly but also cleanly defeating Thomas with a single sword strike, getting hurt himself in the process.
Later, Shirou's cooking was also very delicious, and it could be said that he had completely won her over, especially since Shirou had kindly shared half of his cooking with Eris.
With so many kind actions, even if Eris had a lot of resentment towards Shirou, it had completely melted away, like an iceberg surrounded by the sun.
Of course, Eris still didn't really like Shirou.
The reason wasn't Shirou's personality, but simply his appearance.
Eris always thought that Shirou looked too plain, and his attitude was always so respectful, without any imposing presence at all, which was annoying to see.
In contrast, Eris really liked the man she met that night when she was kidnapped, named Emiya.
He had a strong body, a sharp aura, and his personality and attitude were like a sharp spear, giving people an indescribable sense of pressure.
As the saying goes, people always have a natural instinct to admire strength. Eris, who had been influenced by her grandfather Sauros since she was a child, had always liked men who were strong and dependable.
Shirou was too plain in comparison.
Not to mention compared to Emiya, even her original master Ghislaine seemed ten thousand times stronger than him.
Of course, Eris now realized that this unremarkable guy Shirou actually had many good qualities, especially being very good at cooking, which was a big plus.
So, even if she had a guy like that as her teacher, Eris didn't have too many complaints in her heart.
Thus, Shirou had an incredibly smooth warm-up.
It wasn't until the next stage of training was about to begin, and Eris was looking at him with fiery eyes, that he came back to his senses and quickly moved on to the next stage of training.
According to Paul's training method, after the warm-up, it was sparring.
A sword is a weapon for killing, so it can only have its use and value in a clash with another person.
Purely swinging in the air will never result in a truly powerful sword.
This was Paul's idea, and also Servant Emiya's idea. Both of them were purely practical and cared more about improving their strength in battle.
Shirou had also agreed with this in the past, but now that Ghislaine had made her request, he instinctively had doubts, wondering if swordsmanship improved in this way was a "real sword."
But he couldn't find an answer, so he could only put it aside for now and say to Eris, "Pick up your weapon. Next, attack me with all your strength."
"Can I really use all my strength? I might accidentally beat you, you know?"
Eris picked up the wooden sword, looking at Shirou rather wantonly.
She was clearly confident in her swordsmanship. Although she had never wanted to study swordsmanship seriously because of her personality, she was quite talented.
As a beginner swordsman, Eris could defeat ordinary intermediate-rank swordsmen even without proper training, just by relying on her fighting instinct.
This was why she was becoming more and more arrogant, to the point where she didn't want to accept formal training at all.
Shirou didn't care about Eris's confidence. He wore a calm smile on his face and slowly said, "If you're confident, you can try."
"..."
Eris immediately pouted at Shirou's attitude.
Although she no longer disliked Shirou in her heart and was even very grateful for his help before, she didn't think Shirou was very strong.
Although she hadn't been able to hit Shirou at all the first time they met, that was only because she had run out of strength at the end.
If she had had a little more strength, Shirou's face would have been marked by her punch!
So, as if to avenge that arrow, Eris became incredibly serious. Her steps almost sunk into the dirt, and she raised the wooden sword in her hand high above her head like a club.
"Ha!!!"
In an instant, the girl was like a red gale, instantly disappearing from where she stood.
Shirou couldn't help but admire that Eris really did have a talent for swordsmanship, and her swordplay, relying purely on instinct, was already comparable to a carefully trained swordsman.
However, Shirou's sword was not just carefully trained, but also an art forged by Servant Emiya in countless bloody battles.
Even if he didn't use Kanshou and Bakuya, he could easily take Eris's attack with his own strength.
"Clang!"
The wooden swords made a crisp sound.
Shirou easily took Eris's attack, but this carefree attitude undoubtedly ignited the girl's competitive spirit completely.
In an instant, she became like a wild beast, launching a fierce attack on Shirou!
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