The time I promised Vigdis was 8 a.m., but I arrived at the communal training ground thirty minutes early.
I planned to warm up my body in advance before the serious training.
Since it was still early morning and today was Sunday, the training ground was very quiet, as if everyone was still asleep.
The number of students using the facility could be counted on one hand.
Among that small number of students was Vigdis.
‘Yesterday, you arrived exactly on time for our appointment. Today, you’re really early!’
Vigdis was already swinging a practice sword as if she had finished her warm-up.
She was so focused that she hadn’t even noticed my arrival.
Instead of approaching and speaking to her, I settled down at a reasonable distance and began stretching.
After all, there were still thirty minutes left until our agreed time.
And because of clause 4 in the Disengagement Contract we made yesterday, I wasn’t allowed to speak to her first.
“Ah…! Kar, when did you get here?”
***
Vigdis finally noticed me about twenty minutes after I arrived and asked that question.
When I told her, she made an embarrassed expression.
“If you got here, you should have called out…”
“We promised I wouldn’t speak to you first.”
“Ah, so you’re actually sticking to that.”
“Of course. Didn’t you threaten me yourself that if I wanted your love, I’d better do so?”
“…Huh?”
Those who read the conversation between Vigdis and me yesterday would know that she never actually made such a threat.
But I lied about it because, although the number of students was small, there were still several ears around us.
“What’s with that reaction? You said you’d meet me once a week if I kept the rule, so don’t tell me you’ve already changed your mind?”
“……”
When I write novels, I often use the expression ‘shooting death glares,’ but today I witnessed it firsthand.
Vigdis didn’t just shoot me such a gaze.
With a face full of dissatisfaction, she took a big step forward to stand close to me and spoke in a low voice as if complaining.
“Weren’t we supposed to avoid strange rumors…? Since we’re meeting regularly for Swordsmanship lessons, people can see that…”
“If I can’t speak to you first without reason, people will think it’s strange. Endure it. This is the best way to keep the story plausible.”
“But I said clause 4 wasn’t necessary.”
“But in the end, you admitted its necessity, didn’t you?”
“……”
I lowered my voice and responded to her words.
Since Vigdis couldn’t argue back, she fell silent, making me the winner of this little argument.
However, there was no time to savor the victory.
Eyes around us had begun to gather.
“How long do you plan to stay so close? Step back a bit.”
“Well… isn’t it rude to glare at me with such an annoyed expression…?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Considering the plausibility you mentioned, you’re supposed to pretend to like me, right? So even if you can’t show a tender gaze, at least you should soften your expression and smile a little…”
Despite risking embarrassment, I had warned her, but the fact that she could say something like this meant Vigdis had forgotten to be wary of me.
Her expression and tone suggested she wasn’t completely relaxed; it seemed more like she felt awkward and uncomfortable dealing with me rather than scared.
“I can’t act.”
That was a lie.
Since I was possessed by this body, I hadn’t had a day without acting.
Unless I was alone or with Yor, I was always playing the character ‘Karvald Austri.’
No one had ever doubted I was Karvald, so I could confidently say I was doing well.
“Then what about what you said earlier? That I threatened you…”
“That wasn’t acting; that was lying. These two are separate.”
However, for me, those two were practically the same, so I could call that a lie as well.
How strange.
I don’t know if I should be happy I discovered my talent for acting or lament that I’ve gotten used to deceiving others.
“Phew… Anyway, have you eaten?”
Vigdis sighed deeply with an expression as if she’d given up something.
She stepped back a little and spoke in her usual volume.
Since we met for Swordsmanship training, she might genuinely be curious whether I had eaten, but it was probably just a common greeting.
Maybe it’s because Nas-e is a Korean web novel after all.
In this world, “Have you eaten?” is used as a basic greeting.
Anyway, I had stopped by the Dining Hall to eat breakfast before coming, so I simply nodded in affirmation.
Though etiquette demands returning the question, the owner of this body wasn’t the type to have that sense, so I asked something else.
“By the way, can we keep talking during the training?”
“Huh…?”
“I’m asking if I can speak immediately whenever I have questions or something I want to say during training.”
“Ah… yes… Please speak up right away.”
Vigdis answered with a reluctant expression.
I was the one restricted from speaking first, but why did she look like she was the one inconvenienced?
“Well then, let’s start training. First, I need to gauge your skill level, so I’ll check your basic moves.”
After Vigdis said that, I drew the practice sword from its sheath and glanced at the clock tower near the training ground.
The minute hand had just passed the ‘12’ and was heading toward ‘1.’
‘Vigdis spoke to me around 7:50 a.m., so we’ve been chatting for nearly ten minutes?’
It seemed Vigdis wasn’t the only one who had let down her guard.
I had to get my mind right.
With that thought, I demonstrated the basic moves I learned in the Swordsmanship Introductory Lecture.
“Uh, so… Kar has only been learning Swordsmanship for three weeks, and not even every day… Hmm… well, this much is fine.”
Vigdis babbled on but her message was very clear.
You’re really bad.
That’s probably what she wanted to say.
I could tell my moves were sloppy, so how terrible did I look in her eyes?
It wasn’t a surprise she awkwardly ended the comment without even trying to be polite.
However…
“Kar, when you do a downward strike, you have to tense the muscles here and there and swing sharply with a snap, not a whoosh.”
No matter how I thought about it, Vigdis’ explanation skills were far worse than my Swordsmanship skills.
It reminded me how geniuses in fiction often lack the talent to teach others.
And strangely, when they teach, they often use bizarre onomatopoeia — just like Vigdis now.
‘She usually talks perfectly fine, so why does her language ability plummet when explaining movements? How does she have the confidence to teach me Swordsmanship like this?’
I truly felt cheated.
If I had known she was this bad at teaching, I wouldn’t have accepted her offer.
Or rather, I wouldn’t have even considered learning Swordsmanship from her.
“And during the diagonal strike, it’s important to ‘pak!’ then ‘papak’ and ‘saaaak-!’”
At this point, I wanted to tell her I was quitting her Swordsmanship lessons.
But I had already announced to everyone that I’d meet Vigdis regularly, so there was no turning back.
‘So I have to be content with just observing her Swordsmanship form and analyzing the moves? I never really planned to seriously learn the sword anyway…’
Still, it was disappointing.
With her terrible explanation skills, even if she noticed flaws during sparring later, she wouldn’t be able to explain them properly.
“What on earth is the problem?”
“So, Kar…”
“No, not me. The problem is you, Vigdis.”
“Huh?”
I pressed the practice sword on the ground like a cane and thought about why Vigdis couldn’t explain Swordsmanship moves properly.
And I found the answer in her background.
“Come to think of it, when you were with your family, you didn’t learn much, right? Aside from embroidery, flower arrangement, and social dancing, you only had basic etiquette lessons.”
Well, more precisely, I ‘read’ that rather than ‘heard’ it.
It was briefly mentioned in the original story and also in the Book of Names.
In short, Vigdis’ terrible explanation skills stemmed from a lack of knowledge.
“W-why are you suddenly bringing that up…?”
“Read books whenever you have time to build your vocabulary. No, first of all, study anatomy books and memorize the names, locations, and uses of muscles. It will greatly help improve your Swordsmanship.”
“Do you think I’m bad at explaining?”
“To ask that, don’t you have any conscience?”
“……”
At least until Vigdis finishes devouring anatomy books, learning Swordsmanship from her seems a distant dream.
But there’s still plenty of morning left.
Today, I’ll focus on carefully observing Vigdis’ basic moves and engraving them into my mind.
Just as I made this plan, “Karvald Austri, hi.”
Someone called from behind me.
The tone was somewhat awkward yet fairly friendly, and although I hadn’t heard it often, the voice already felt very familiar.
I didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was standing behind me.
Since the behind-the-scenes event, I’d briefly crossed paths with Reysir during Friday Martial Arts Class, but he didn’t acknowledge me, so I thought he’d finally lost interest…
I briefly considered pretending not to hear and ignoring him, but I quickly dismissed the thought.
I knew the original protagonist’s persistent nature.
He would definitely keep talking until I responded.
‘Right. I expected to meet Reysir here with a high probability. That’s why I brought the personal training ground key I haven’t returned to its owner yet… though I don’t know if I can give it!’
It was expected.
So I wasn’t unprepared, yet I didn’t know why I was still nervous.
I twisted my face into a weary expression and turned around to reply.
“We’re not exactly the kind of people who ask after each other’s well-being, are we?”