Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no 'Kokoro'-

Chapter

1 Part 2

Academic

City Alcazar

The

city where the Solminati Academy was founded and is well known on the

continent as a city of education. The

school is located in the center of the city, and a spiderweb-like road is

built around it. In the northern part of the city, there are

political institutions such as the administrative agency that controls the

politics of the city. Those political institutions are managed by

aristocrats from each country.

The

eastern part is a civic area, where many students’ dormitories and ordinary

citizens live, and the southern part is a commercial area where goods from

various countries are gathered, making it the economic center of this

city. There are also

adventurer guilds where students can get jobs depending on

their rank.

The western

part is a craftsman district where many craftsmen gather, and craftsmen

who utilize each country’s techniques such as blacksmiths, doctors, etc

compete on a daily basis.

The

road stretched north, south, east, and west outside the city, and dense forest

spread out beyond the road, blocking the entry of people. Various monsters appear in

this forest, ranging from monsters that even ordinary people can win to

those that veteran adventurers have trouble with.

However,

powerful monsters live in the depths of the forest and do not appear

around towns and highways.

A hut

was built in such a forest to keep an eye on it. A boy and an

old woman exchanging blows in the yard of the hut. One of them is

Nozomu Bountis, a school dropout. The old woman’s name is Shino. The match

is overwhelmingly won by the old woman. It is not comparable to the

match with Mars at the school. He was

able to outperform Mars’s slash, but the match with the old

woman is even more one-sided, and Nozomu is

like the old woman’s toy.

During

the 3 times the exchange occurred, his posture was lost and he

was hit. The old woman immediately pursued the rolling

Nozomu and swung her katana without hesitation.

Nozomu

focused his attention on his feet and exploded. One of the

Qi techniques, "Instant Move". He accelerates in

an instant, but the old woman immediately used the same

technique to accelerate and deliver a slash. Going

around behind the retreating Nozomu and slashes with a sword technique. He

can’t stop because of the momentum, so he turns his body around with one

leg to counter the slash, but his posture collapses greatly.

The pursuit by the

old woman approached there. Against the old

woman’s Power, Nozomu slanting his katana, deliberately relaxing his

legs, and dropping his body. The old woman’s pursuit does not hit his

body, she slips and turns over with her laid katana. However, at the

same time, the old woman’s kick struck.

Nozomu

judges that it is impossible to avoid it when his body is dropped. He puts

power into his legs, flies back, simultaneously tries to repel it

with katana’s handle, but his body gets blown away. Nozomu, who was

lying on the ground, didn’t have time to regain his posture, and the old

woman chased him and thrust her katana into his neck.

"......I

give up"

"Hmm,

there’s still a long way to go.

The old

woman said so and put down the katana.

This

old woman, Shino, is Nozomu’s swords technique mentor. She met

him when Nozomu was training in the forest. At that time, he

was abandoned by Lisa and desperate for not being able to

fulfill his vows, and he trained hard.

It was

not training but escape. He tried not to think of his

lover by training until his body was ragged. It all started

when the old woman called out because she couldn’t stand the

harshness and meaninglessness.

"It’s about

time for dinner, Nozomu, prepare it."

"Yes,

Shishō"

Nozomu

answered the old woman’s voice. Although his voice seems tired,

he prepares for dinner with a clear expression.

(It’s still

dragging, but he is growing.)

She looked

at him and muttered to herself.

When she

met him, he was practicing in the forest, but he was in a very

bad condition. His

muscles were thin and his cheeks were burning from the repetitive

exercises that didn’t give him time to recover from the accumulated

fatigue. The skin of the hand holding the sword was peeled off, its

joints were inflamed, and his body was in tatters. It was so

terrible that she tried to interfere, but there were no signs of

stopping it. His

face at that time was as lifeless as it looked, and behind his eyes were

negative emotions that were even darker than he

looked. When she saw herself

in his eyes, she was very disgusted and immediately left

the place. She decided

to ignore him at one point, but over time she worried

about him.

Karma

flashed through her head, even if she tried not to think

about it, and when she went to see the situation, he was

attacked by a demon beast.

It was

a Wild Dog that was attacking. It is a demon beast that lives all

over the continent and usually acts in groups. The rank as a demon

beast is low and could be subdued by ordinary adventurers, but it was

a threat equal to a dragon to him who had reached the limit of exhaustion.

Nozomu’s

consciousness was stunned, his body was injured and bleed all over. He had

no one around him to help. An ordinary person would give up in that

desperate situation, but he did not. He fought the stray dog,

even though he lost enough blood that he could have died of blood loss.

"I

don’t want to die"

"Don’t

give up"

Swordsmanship

and tactics were still immature. However, his eyes, which had

dark emotions, glowed with a clear and strong desire to "live" before

he knew it. When She saw

him, she was cutting up the Wild Dog that

was attacking him. A week

later, in front of her hut, she saw a boy holding

a katana, not a sword.

==========================================

Nozomu’s

POV

After

dinner and cleaning up, I sit on the opposite of Shishō who is drinking tea

after meals, and I also drink the tea.

I met

Shishō and studied swordsmanship, and I learned various things until this

day. I felt like I could see the light while struggling in the darkness.

Dumped

by Lisa, I couldn’t fulfill the vow, and no one around me. Escaping by

continue doing absurd training every day, attacked by Wild Dog

until tattered. In the border between life and death, I felt that "I

didn’t want to die" rather than the feeling that "I wanted to

die" anymore. The feeling of "I don’t want to die" became

the feeling of "I want to live", and it became the feeling of

"I will not give up".

I was

saved by Shishō, became her disciple, and continued to practice.

It

hurts to remember Lisa anyway. But now I feel lighter than before.

It may

be because there is Shishō now.

With

that in mind, I see Shishō chewing on confectioneries with a

big smile. I feel like smiling to see the appearance of Shishō who

has demonic power, which is unsuitable for her age.

"Why looking at

people’s face. Are you in love with me now?"

Immediately, I counterattack

the cheerful Shishō.

"Please

think about your age first before speaking. No matter how old I

am, Shishō’s age range is a bit too much!"

A shock

ran down my spine when I said something like

that. Shishō clenched her fist like a punch and fired a

shockwave. What’s more, this is the first time that the

confectionery on the table didn’t even blown away.

"Nozomu, What

did you just say!?"

Shishō

looked at me with an expression of a hidden dragon. I run for

self-protection called apology, reflexively.

"No, It’s

Nothing, I just fascinated by Shishō "

Shishō

unnecessarily shows off advanced techniques even though she is only

Tsukkomi. She retires in a place like this, but her ability is

undoubtedly one of the best on the continent. I

remember when Shishō saying, "Line up with the best

swordsman in school."

By the

way, the best swordfighter in the school is Jihad Roundel. He is an

S-ranked knight and a well-known swordsman on the continent. Such

a person who is the same rank as Shishō. I wonder

what kind of person is he.

While

immersed in such a sea of thoughts, it is time to finish drinking

tea and eventually, return to the dormitory.

"Then,

Shishō. I will return to the dormitory.”

"Um,

see you tomorrow."

"Yes,

good night Shishō"

=============================================

Shino’s

POV

I

looked at Nozomu’s back and returned to the hut.

He

became stronger. He is unaware of it because his physical

abilities were suppressed by his ability suppression, and his

sword skills have not yet reached my level, but he is quite close. Truly,

it seems an unreachable place.

It is

abnormal considering the growth in the past year.

From

the start, he was more suited to using a curved sword than the straight

sword used on this continent.

Rather

than smashing with the power of his arm, he used his entire body to cut.

It was

the efforts that made him stronger than anything else. Even if it comes

from an escape from reality. In the beginning, He only did simple swings

all day long and ran through the forest earnestly.

Naturally,

he was attacked by a demon beast, but he managed to do it on his

own. As expected, I took care of the leftover opponents so that He

would not notice it.

is

mock battle. Naturally,

I devote all my skills on him to the point of not dying. He was knocked down

without any help, and fractures, vomiting, and fainting were

common. Now He can handle it, and it is unlikely

that He will have a serious injury such as a broken bone. He has

endured the training I imposed. An average guy would quit in less than a

week.

With

his current skills and without his ability suppression, there is

no doubt that he will be able to beat me. Even so, the fact that she

couldn’t win mock fights and his grades at school didn’t improve was

largely due to his ability suppression. Limited in strength and energy, almost

no magical power that even beginner magic couldn’t be used. Strengthening with Qi and items

has almost no effect, and enhancement magic was unusable.

In

order to fill these flaws, He refined his skill and Qi control, but the skill

He uses is inevitably one-point concentrated high power, and the killing

ability is extremely high, so He can’t use them in school

simulation battles.

Muscular

strength, which requires instantaneous power, is severely restricted by

ability suppression, but fortunately, the person’s basic abilities such as

motor nerves and endurance do not seem to be suppressed, so He was able to

train.

However,

since the effect of strengthening such as Qi is so low, the effect will

not be visible, and if the opponent strengthens, the opponent will surpass

even his unsuppressed ability.

It

doesn’t work very well.

Another thing

to worry about is that his future goals have not been set.

It is

"for life", might be good, but it may not be like that

in the future.

If you

say "what makes you stronger", you need a "core in your

heart". If you using power without the "core of your

heart", you will eventually be swayed by that power.

His

core has already broken once.

I don’t

know what he will do in the future, but I will teach him everything.

Don’t

let him regret it, like me.