Chapter 16 The Invader of My Home
Chapter 16 The Invader of My Home
Today I swung the wooden sword in the courtyard. This time, I’m not doing it because I was told to, but on my own volition. Don’t underestimate me.
I think anyone would practice hard after such a one-sided defeat.
I silently swung, using all the muscles of my body.
After about one hundred swings, I got tired. Why don’t I pretend to play kendo to change the mood.
“Jodan1! Kamae2 of Fire!”
Fufufu, with this kamae, only a downward swing is necessary to slash the opponent. For attacking downwards, it’s the fastest out of all the kamae!
I only know the posture though.
“Chudan3! Kamae of Water!”
The sword is pointed towards the opponents eyes. With this kamae, it’s possible to smoothly shift into any posture. Thus, it can adapt to offence, defence, all situations. There aren’t many chinks, so this is the basic kamae of modern kendo.
“Gedan4! Kamae of Earth!”
The sword is levelled slowly lower than parallel from the ground and it is known as a defensive posture, but agile movements are not possible in return for being able to widen the distance. Apparently, there aren’t many people using this kamae recently.
Earth is somewhat plain after all. The chuunibyou won’t flare up. Though I like earth magic because it’s convenient.
“Fuu—”
Doing these reminded me of my high school days. I used to fool around a lot secretly, avoiding the teacher’s gaze.
I wonder why kiai5 is necessary in kendo?
According to my friend, shouting “Men6!” but hitting the waist, or raising the arms is invalid for scoring.7
Since I can’t win against my kendo club friend if I did it fairly, I once hit his head while shouting “Do8!” and got scolded a lot.
But then he’d avoid such a mediocre attack! Because my opponent was experienced.
According to that friend,
Beginner “Me—n”
Intermediate “Meeeeeeeen!”
Advanced “Meniaaaaa!”
Transcendent “Impossible to describe”
Or so. Feels like Po__mon for some reason.
Also, that the old guys fighting are amazing.
I could at least shout for the head. My friend kept lecturing in the classroom too so I ended up memorising it.
“Meeeeen!”
How is it? Just from the voice, I sound like an intermediate practitioner, right?
“That was an interesting posture. Did you think it up on your own?”
“Eh, Ah, Nord-tousan, you were watching?”
“Yes, so?”
Uwaaaaa! ……Embarrassing.
“Try coming at dad with that.”
Uwa! This pattern’s here! Nord-tousan always tells me to go at him. He looks somewhat happy too.
“Okay—! Meniaaaaa! (Advanced)”
I yelled and attacked Nord-tousan. Eat this! My downward swing!
“Waist (Do)!”
“Geblegh!”
……One point……
.
.***
After receiving a clean waist blow from Nord-tousan, I’m resting a while from practicing the sword.
Today is a day for magic. Today, I’m going to make a swing near the dream ‘my home’ I made using earth magic.
The forest behind the mansion. I’m building the place near where I played with Fork Kabuto.
There, I got most furniture, made by Elman-san, in using teleportation. There’s even a bathtub, it’s a great house!
This is my second base.
“Now— then, it’s a swing today~ a swing~”
To get the half-completed wood from my home, I opened the door.
Clatter.
“……Ga—……Go—……Gu—……”
When I looked inside, there was a large man snoring on the floor. Seeing the muscles that are inflating every time he snores, his physique must be as big as Bartholo.
“……Who’s this?”
Just in case, I checked his whole body. It’s a stranger. There’s no way I would forget someone this tough. He had protective gear for easier movement, covering only the bare minimum. The material is unknown. Laid right next to him, the sword shining silver made a sorrowful and dry clang, from being used roughly.
Spiky hair, and thick bushy beards.
Without having noticed me, he kept snoring.
“It’s time for food—!”
“What! Food!?”
Ah, he’s up.
The man looked around in search of food, but after realising that there was nothing he clicked his tongue and glared at me.
“Oi brat. Who’re you?”
“No, that’s my line. This is a house I built!”
“What!? This wasn’t a rest house!?”
“Don’t mock someone’s ‘my home’! Further inside there is a kitchen with tables and chairs as well as a bath!”
Immediately after hearing me, the man stood up and went inside.
“Uoh! It’s true! There’s a room! This really is a house, isn’t it?!”
Did that man only hear half of what I said?
When I headed inside, the man was fooling around in the living room, interestedly observing the wall and the chairs.
“Hoh—, Heh—”
Table and chairs made using earth magic. Table and chairs made by Elman-san. There were both. Of course a shogi set too.
“So who’re you, ojisan? I’m Alfried.”
“Oh? Naming yourself first, aren’t you polite. My name is Rumba!”
“Roomba? Have you been going around places, cleaning?”
“Nn? You know me well? I wonder if I became famous from going around places after I became B rank?”
Heheheh, Rumba scratched his head bashfully.
The conversation got off track somewhat, but no matter. More importantly.
“Rumba, you smell, get in the bath!”
***
Note:
1 lit. Upper-level posture
2 lit. Posture. Terminology is Japanese martial arts.
3 lit. Mid-level posture
4 lit. Low-level posture
5 The shout yelled at attacks or at the start of the match.
6 Head target
7 A bit of personal experience: doesn’t apply too much since getting in a proper shout (even if the pronunciation gets messed up) is more important. The score’s invalid if the attacker deliberately shouted wrong. So, there’s no need to shout the term clearly, but just shout loud and strong. Even a simple “Ya!” is good enough, if there’s plenty of energy.
8 Waist target