Eris behaved better after her tenth birthday. She took her lessons seriously and tried to hit me less often than before.
More relaxed after being released due to fear of domestic violence, I decided to focus more on my own studies.
I began to get an overview of this world's history with the book I borrowed from the library.
It showed that this world had existed for at least 10,000 years. Its history was truly fantastic and somewhat tragic to a degree, but that was history.
In learning about this world's history, I also found information about the other languages that existed here.
The most commonly used were:
The Human Tongue: used on the Central Continent and much of the Millis Continent
The Beast God Tongue: used in the northern part of the Millis Continent
The Fighting God Tongue: used on the Begaritt Continent
The Sky God Tongue: used on the Divine Continent
The Demon God's Tongue: Used on the Demon Continent.
The Sea God's Tongue: Used on all seas.
To distinguish them, the languages are named after the gods of the different races residing on different continents.
Only the human language didn't use that convention, a decision that could incur the wrath of their god.
The humans who spoke the human language on the Central Continent were divided into three regions: north, west, and south.
Each region's language had minor differences from the others, somewhat like the difference between American and British English.
My native language was the western dialect of the human language.
Apparently, that dialect was mutually intelligible to those in the north, but in other regions, it was best not to use it.
It was believed that the people of the western region were rich, and that wealth only attracted unwanted, sometimes unfortunate, attention.
So I spent my days studying the Beast God's language to kill time.
...
Another six months passed, and I turned nine.
That meant it had been a year since I became Eris's tutor.
I had spent half a year learning the language of the Beast God.
I had Ghislaine's help, but acquiring the language didn't take long.
There weren't many letters to memorize, and as long as you knew their grammatical pattern, it was easy to speak.
In my previous life, I was terrible with foreign languages, but this body seemed to be good at remembering things.
Now, I was going to learn the Demon God's language.
I bought a cheap book about the language.
The bookstore owner told me before the sale, "I have no idea what's written here, just so you know." It was seven gold coins, but I haggled the price down to six.
Unfortunately, I wasn't as lucky with that language, no matter how hard I tried, and so I spent my days until I received a letter... it was from Roxy.
"To Lord Rudeus,
I received your letter.
I'm sure you've grown a lot in this short time.
I was dumbfounded when I read that you became the private tutor of the granddaughter of the feudal lord of Fittoa.
If you must know, I failed the interview for that job. You must have powerful connections to have gotten that.
If I weren't tutoring the king's son, I'd be jealous. Still, you even became acquainted with the Sword King Ghislaine, and on top of that, you became her student.
The Sword King Ghislaine is quite famous.
After all, she's the fourth strongest person in the God Sword Style.
Ahh, where did the five-year-old who shamelessly glared at me that night go? You feel so far away now.
Now, let's get to the point. You said you wanted to learn the Demon God's Tongue, didn't you?
Each subrace possesses unique magic unknown to humans. I doubt there's any literature left, but if If you learned the language, you could visit the settlements of those subraces and have them teach you.
Of course, this is if you first establish a good relationship with them.
This would be impossible for an average mage or swordsman, but perhaps not for you.
It is with these high expectations that I have created this textbook for you. I wrote it myself. It took me a long time, so I hope you will use and treasure it and not sell it or throw it away. If I saw it for sale in a shop, I might cry.
Therefore, I hope you will use and treasure it with all your might."
From Roxy.
"P.S. - You will be recognized among adventurers as a mage if you carry a staff."
"Amazing..."
I didn't know when my letter arrived, but she must have written that book in less than half a year. She worked so hard to write it for me, she was certain it would be instrumental in deciphering the Demon God's language.
" I'll do my best to achieve it."
With that in mind, I sat down and opened the book. It was as if a bar appeared above my head that said, NOW READING.
"Wow, this is amazing."
I couldn't hide my surprise when I looked inside.
It was a textbook, but also a dictionary.
There were translations for every word in the Demon God's language.
Roxy probably took a dictionary from the royal palace and copied every word.
She covered vocabulary, specific turns of phrase, and even described the pronunciation at length.
That was just the first of the surprises.
In the second half of the book, she also wrote down what she knew about the various demon races.
The descriptions of each race were accompanied by her personal commentary.
Don't do this to this race, don't do that to that race.
There were even (poorly drawn) illustrations annotated with the peculiar traits of each of the races.
There was an especially long section, five pages long, in which she wrote about her race, the Migurds, in great detail.
It made me happy to think that she did this because she genuinely wanted me to know more about her and her people.
"People of the Migurd race like sweet things," she wrote. I wondered if it was true. If it was, I wanted to make something sweet for her the next time we met.
As a big smile spread across my face, a woman with cat ears invaded my field of vision.
"Ghislaine...is it time?"
"Yes, bring your sword," she said in her characteristic serious tone. It was time for sword training.
...
"Keep up with the rhythm, Rudeus!"
Dodging Ghislaine's attack, I spun around and extended my sword to counter.
We exchanged a flurry of blows, each clash sending a shock through my arm as I tried to parry her attacks to the side.
Feeling the pace of the exchange slowly shift in Ghislaine's favor as the pressure became too much to handle, I jumped back to restart.
"Did you forget the purpose of the Sword God Style? It's to end the fight with a single move, not an exchange of blows!" she instructed.
Right. A single move…
Duckling down, I brought my sword to my side as I let the touki flow through my body, like a blanket of unbridled power.
I'd been training here for a full year and training with Ghislaine for nine months, so I noticed something about the touki.
Something that was right there in front of me the whole time.
And I couldn't control it.
Or at least I couldn't... not yet.
The mana danced at my will as long as I had enough understanding, concentration, and image... Touki, on the other hand, needed to be guided.
Guided by focus, will, and determination, it truly fits the definition of "Touki."
Gripping the handle tighter, I pressed my feet deeper into the ground, letting fresh air flow into my lungs.
The tension in my body built like a compressed spring, and with the blade angled to better slice through the air... I broke free.
I shot forward and swung my sword with the greatest speed possible to deliver a finishing blow.
Time seemed to slow down, and color warped into a rippling spectrum before my vision... fading away.
But in the next moment, it returned, and I found myself lying on the snowy training ground, my wooden sword reduced to splinters and only the handle in my hand.
"Rudeus, are you okay?" Ghislaine asked from above, crouching over me.
Blinking the stars out of my eyes, I quickly cast some healing magic on my wrist, where there was a stabbing pain, before slowly getting to my feet.
"No, I'm... fine. What happened?" I asked.
Ghislaine smirked. "You didn't use the Longsword of Silence just now."
"Didn't I?"
"Though not fully mastered, that was the Longsword of Light," she continued.
...What?
Longsword of Light, the ultimate technique of the Sword God Style.
It's said that when performed properly, the tip of the sword can reach the speed of light, though I had my reservations about that, as I knew the physics behind such speeds.
If I had to guess, I think the sword reaching the speed of light was reserved for when the first Sword God created the style, if ever.
It was still pretty fast.
But for Ghislaine to say I used that technique instead of the Longsword of Silence…
Does that mean anything?
"Congratulations, Rudeus," she said, placing a hand on my head. "You're now a Sword Saint, and last time I checked, the youngest who ever lived."
"Sword Saint…?" I gasped.
Then I looked at my hand, which had grown much larger since I arrived here.
What used to be the soft, squishy hands of a child were now covered in calluses and scars from healed scrapes and blisters, and as I clenched them into a fist, I watched as my hands revealed the definition of their muscles.
They looked like Paul's.
The hands of a man…or at least someone strong.
I stood up, walked to the side, and took my sword from under my towel before unsheathing it, revealing the silver blade gleaming in the sunlight.
I gripped the handle of my sword. I had started training at three years old, so after six years... in six years, I'd reached a point most can only dream of...
Taking my stance, I unleashed a flurry of blows, letting my feet dance across the ground as my sword sliced through the air.
I stopped my movement and looked back at my sword.
"I'm a Sword Saint, huh?" I said to Ghislaine. "Though I don't feel that different."
She shook her head. "Perhaps it seems that way for now, but the difference between a full Longsword of Light and a Longsword of Silence is vast. With a little more training, you'll quickly understand your new level of strength."
"Well... I still have a long way to go," I said.
I replaced my sword in its sheath and walked toward the barracks to get another practice sword.
"That's it for today," Ghislaine said, grabbing my shoulder. "But Rudeus... what do you think about going to the sacred land of the sword?"
"Sacred land of the sword...?" I asked.
The Sword Shrine, or the Holy Land of Swords, was a city located in the northwest of the Central Continent, and as its name might suggest, it is home to the Sword God Style.
It was a harsh place to live and was said to be covered in snow year-round, a fact Ghislaine vehemently hated about the place.
Although the people there were mostly illiterate, all the inhabitants of the Sword Shrine, even the townspeople, were skilled swordsmen.
There were many dojos in the city, but only those with the rank of Sword Saint and above could enter the main Sword God Style dojo, which was the centerpiece of the grounds. Hence Ghislaine's offer.
"No," I said, shaking my head. "I don't want to go there. At least not yet..."
"Why?" she asked.
Not in an aggressive or demanding tone, but simply out of curiosity.
"Just to get there, right? And that's not even counting the time I'd be training... I don't want to be so far away from my family for so long," I replied. "Besides, I want to make a good impression on my lovely sister."
"I see... Though I'm sure they'd accept you. My master might even take you in personally, considering your potential," she said.
While being trained by a Sword God was surely a tempting offer, I still wasn't keen on accepting it.
"No. Besides, from what you've told me, ranks after Saint don't really matter much. It's more about prestige than strength," I said.
"I agree. But staying at the Sanctuary will allow you to improve your skills," she said.
"Yes, but then, what would Eris do without me? You too, by the way," I joked.
Eris was currently taking her etiquette class with her teacher, Edna, but she'd probably be excited about my new rank.
Or maybe she'd be angry, if that's more likely.
It didn't show with that girl, but at least she'd been acting much better around me since her birthday, so I hoped it was the former.
"Mmm. How cheeky."
Then Ghislaine gently pinched my cheek.
Shit... at least she didn't call me cute.