Sword Whisperer: Chapter 13
Chapter 13. It’s Demeaning to be Even Subjected to a Test (1)
‘Something is still missing.’
Van cringed as he looked on the cross section of the sliced boulder. The boulder was split up in more coarsely than expected. It meant that which he was looking for in his skill wasn’t present.
Even if that was the case, the progress was worthy of close attention. Kintnell indicated that with the exception of the descendants of the great nine families, Van was one of the rare ones who has had mastered internal energy.
“Oh….Have you finally succeeded?”
The voice came from above. When he looked up, there he saw a girl smiling as she sat on one of the thick branches of a tree. Van cringed.
“….Have you come to mock me again?”
“When did I ever mock you?”
Yeoryung jumped down from the tree as she said that. She landed without making any sound, and immediately sliced the same boulder which Van had cut up. When the sword was swung, it was as if water has been sliced, without any resistance, as another cross section of the boulder appeared. Unlike Van’s, its surface was perfectly clean and smooth.
“How can I mock someone who does such a difficult thing like this? Mock Van who is the genius swordsman of the highly regarded Cho Family?”
“Ah, really. If this isn’t mocking, what is it?”
“Really! I’m truly impressed. With the exception of my relatives, I’ve never seen anyone who has learned to slice a boulder like this as you? Perhaps, you may really make it. ‘Become the world’s most powerful one.’”
“….I’m leaving.”
“Hey, wait!”
She was Wooryung’s little sister. She was same age as Van. However, just because they were at the same age, she wasn’t someone who could be informally addressed to. As Wooryung was, she, too, was a child of the head of the family.
Yeoryung stood in front of Van. She looked at Van as she had her sword drawn.
“Let’s spar. Yeah? Just once.”
“Again?”
“Why? Don’t want to?”
“…..It’s not that.”
Van smiled as he drew his sword. Cho Family wasn’t known for having soft ranking system, but it wasn’t important in sparring. When it came to sparring, Cho Family had no regard for the opponent’s social status. It was because irrespective of social status, death came equally to all on the battle field.
“Then I’m going.”
“Good…Ooop!”
In the middle of saying something, he cut himself off, and swung his sword hurriedly. Yeoryung was already right in front of Van, and was swinging her sword.
‘I would have blocked it in ordinary times….’
Rather than blocking with his sword, he opted to go with swinging the sword. Her sword went awry as it was displaced from the intended line of attack, and as she attempted to swing the sword again, it repeatedly went into unintended paths due to the force of Van’s sword.
This was the method which Van created in order to combat against Cho Family’s sword. Directly countering to meet the Cho Family’s sword would only result severing the sword. Rather than that, Van thought that the best way to counter their swords was to ensure that their swords never reached him, in the first place.
‘….Insane.’
Yeoryung appeared to be calm, but she was gritting her teeth, internally. The first time when she paid Van a visit was when she heard that a sword crazed genius had appeared at the training center.
Basically, she could not stand someone else getting more attention that herself, and did not care for anyone with greater talent than her, either. So, she fought and won. She has been with the power of Cho Family ever since she was born. Being a female was not a bit of a deterring factor when it came for her to become a swordswoman.
And since then, Van would come to her, and challenge her. She won again, and again. It was obvious. The children of the nine families would not lose to anyone without the blessing of the family, even if she wanted to lose.
Right. That was appropriate. That was natural.
That was what should’ve happened.
“Ahhh….Will you, stop hitting it away!”
Yeoryung desperately swung her sword. The force of the impact was such that even the steel, let alone boulder, would be ricocheted off like pebbles.
However, instead of what should have happened, what must have happened, Van pushed every bit of it away.
That was like scenery in a painting. A single sword was dispersing the hurricane force which could ultimately uproot and snap trees.
Van did not attack. He did not have any chance to attack. However, that was sufficient. He did not intend to just push away the oncoming attacks. It was like that the first time. Then twice. Three times. And eventually that became several tens, and several hundreds of times.
Ultimately, their sparring came to an end with both of them soaking wet with sweat and breathing coarsely. Yeoryung was not able to deliver a determining blow, and Van wasn’t even able to launch a single attack. It was a sparring where there was no clear winner, or loser.
“….Frustrating.”
Breathing roughly, Yeoryung withdrew her sword. Van spoke shrugging.
“It isn’t as bad as me who just ended up hitting away your sword?”
“You…No way.”
Yeoryung sighed again, stopping short of what she was saying. She murmured in a sad manner.
“Will I be able to do well at the academy, at this rate?”
“Who could, if the Cho Family’s daughter could not.”
“We’re not the only great family? I have to compete with the nine, I mean, the other eight families.”
“You have to try.”
“I am…..In my own ways, I try, too.”
Yeoryung pouted as if to tell Van not to look at her as if she was a fool who has been solely depending on the talent she was born with. It was a pretty scene. Van thought as he watched Yeoryung in that situation.
‘When could I be able to make that cut?”
Just pushing away the oncoming attacks did not fit well with Van’s nature. Of course, he did make a lot of progress compared to the early times when he was being unilaterally get pummeled, but he was not someone who was going to be satisfied with that level of improvement to begin with.
He wanted to defeat Yeoryung. He wanted to defeat Wooryung, too, and someday…That awesome and powerful Cho Mooryung, too.
Of course, everything must be pursued only after he beat Yeoryung, though.
“You’re also going to the academy this time, too?”
“Yes. Provided that I pass the admission test.”
“You think you can make it?”
“What do you think?”
“…Um, you deserve to feel confident. If you are able to match me to certain degree, not many will dare to even challenge you. You have the right to feel confident.”
How childish did she look as she swaggered while saying that.
Even after Yeoryung left, Van immersed in training. Certainly Cho Family’s swordsmanship, Number Five’s piercing maneuver, and Jansen’s down swing included….. He was able to focus his internal energy to all those swordsmen’s characteristics. Despite that, the fact that he still remained at 2 stars was perhaps, due to the short number of years, he thought…..
‘It would be great if I can handle it more naturally.’
He felt hunger. And unable to endure that hunger, Van took off on a journey after four days.
He was on his way to the capitol.
§
“Oh, Van! Look at that! That must be the royal castle! A castle on the cliff. Never fathomed that I’ll ever see it with my own eyes…..!”
“Re, really…..”
The road trip was non-eventful. No matter how dumb the hoard of thieves was, they could not, not recognize the Cho Family’s signature, and dare to attack.
Recognizing the great family’s signature was a necessary skill for the thieves to prolong their lives.
As a result, Van, Yeoryung, and Cho Family’s newest members were able to arrive at the capitol in rather clean attires. Nevertheless, they could not hide their roots of being from boon docks that they had their mouths open wide as they were mesmerized by the scenery of the capitol.
“Elder brother, Van. There, look over there. That’s the artisan Ferguson’s workshop….!”
“Ah, did people say that the sword from that place was incredibly sharp?”
“Not just sharp? Our one year’s worth of meal money won’t be enough to buy one of them?”
“….One year? Worth not eating, then?”
“Please, my elder brother! Take it easy!”
Lee Kyung went berserk as he tried to stop Van from actually doing so. He was one of the few friends that Van made when he joined the Cho Family clan. Looking at the two of them, Yeoryung clicked her tongue.
“You, two.
“……I, I’m sorry…..”
Lee Kyung, soon, lost his enthusiasm. Yeoryung took a quick peek at the warriors who weren’t Cho Family’s bloodline. Unlike them who were admitted to the academy with invitation letters, every one of them had to take admissions test, in person.
“All of you, do, pass the test. If you fail, don’t even think about showing your faces to me. Got it?”
“Yes, understood!”
“OK then. Go apply for your tests. We’ll be waiting for you inside.”
As all the people of the Cho Family’s bloodline took off, the warriors sighed as they looked at each other. Even as a joke, a road trip, accompanied by high statured people, was neither an enjoyable or comfortable experience.
“…..Should we go right away?”
Van asked first. Although he was the newest person to have joined the Cho Family’s clan, he demonstrated fair amount of speaking authority. From the same warrior’s perspective, it wasn’t easy to hate him as he spent about half of each day on training.
The academy was located at the side of the cliff, at the bottom of the royal palace. Not able to even afford the luxury of viewing the famous upside down water fall, they all stood in front of the examiners. Although they did not need to do so, their minds were racing ahead.
“Hmm… Every one of you is from the Cho Family’s clan?”
“Yes. We came to apply for the test.”
“Not just anyone can apply for the test. A separate certification is needed, even if the Cho Family was backing you.”
“By certification…..?”
“Well, it’s not that difficult.”
The examiner smiled as he looked at them. Having found it interesting to see them get quietly nervous, he spoke by intentionally lowering his voice.
“Do you see that wolf, over there?”
“….The ones inside that cage?”
“Surviving for 1 minute against one of those wolves. By doing so…whether it was skill, character, or luck, you could say that you have the right to make a go at the test.”
The examiner smirked. Van looked at the wolf which the examiner had pointed. It boasted a much bigger body size than an ordinary man. The examiner added one more note to his words.
“And you can’t have a real sword with you. Wooden sword. Staff. Those are the only type of things you can use. It will be a shame to have the wolf injured. Well, the testers are a different story. Do you still want to challenge?”
The examiner laughed meaningfully. It was because most of the incapable mass got filtered out at this point. It was because the pressure on the challengers’ minds with respect to fighting bare handed against one of the wolves was very hard, whether he had the necessary skills or not.
However, Van wasn’t one of the masses.
He was a swordsman.
“So, a wooden sword is allowed, right?”
“Of course.”
“Then I’ll take the challenge, first.”
Unlike the examiner’s expectation, there was no anxiety in Van’s voice. The examiner asked him curiously.
“You’ve give a serious thought to this? You need to forget that we’ll come and save you. I can’t even tell you how many corpses we cleaned out just the other day.”
“No need to worry about that. I’m going in.”
“…..Wish you luck.”
Leaving the examiner’s words behind, Van grabbed a wooden sword and bravely entered the fence. And even before he could take an orderly breath, a wolf entered the area.
‘…..Still there is no voice from the wooden sword.’
There was no memory to hear. And as the wolf wasn’t going to swing a sword, he had to give up on reading the attack pattern of the wolf.
However, it didn’t matter.
Van conducted a ceremony in a calm fashion. He could smell the wolf’s breath from this distance. The voice of the swords made him strong. However, the fact that there was no voice from a sword did not mean that it was going to make him weak.
No matter what the method was, all the experiences which he had ascertained up to now were part of him.
‘Save me from the wolf?’
Van’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t like that statement. That was the case because he has not demonstrated anything yet, but it wasn’t that it didn’t bother him.
He had to resort to possibly being a clown that would play with a wolf inside a fenced area like this. It was demeaning.
It was because he was going to be the most powerful swordsman in the world.
The wolf rushed him. The ferocious fangs that could crush the neck of a human being became ostensibly visible. It was a terrible site.
Facing such a wolf, Van twisted the hand that held the wooden sword.
The examiner told him to last for 1 minute. However, he did not have such a thought to begin with. No human being will buy time against an ant.
Piercing.
Just a single piercing move would be sufficient.
Van’s wooden sword pierced like the ray of light.