The Sword Demon Tears People Apart

1000 vertical cuts.
While the number was quite high, complaints naturally erupted at this training suitable for beginners who had just picked up a sword for the first time.
Leading the charge was the annoying girl who had been grinning.
Judging by her appearance, she was a noble.
Just the sight of a knight standing behind her, glaring as if to kill, made that clear.
“Lecturer, vertical cuts? Even if basics are important, we’re people who passed the academy’s entrance exam. Of course, we’ve already mastered the basics. Isn’t spending time on vertical cuts a waste of time?”
They say physiognomy is a science.
Indeed, she was as rude as she looked.
The words themselves could be understood, but her tone was expertly irritating.
Compared to this girl, the kid’s rudeness was not just cute, but lovable.
“Let’s see if those basics are really mastered. If you’re confident, go ahead. If your basics are good, we’ll move on to the next thing.”
“Hmm… alright.”
The rude girl grinned annoyingly and lifted a practice sword.
Then followed smooth vertical cuts.
It wasn’t difficult, being a motion of simply cutting from top to bottom.
But…
“See? What basics? I could do better than that with my feet.”
Zeron chuckled as he took a drag of his cigarette.
Phew… beyond the rising smoke, he could see the slightly cracked face of the rude girl.
“…Is that so? My, you’re quite an impressive person.”
“It’s good that you realize it now. I am quite impressive.”
Zeron didn’t just talk.
He drew the sword from his waist and casually tossed it, then caught the handle with both feet and demonstrated a vertical cut.
“See, better than you, right?”
Now the rude girl’s face was completely red, like a tomato.
Zeron chuckled as he got up.
He works as much as he’s paid.
It wasn’t quite a belief… but it was his motto.
“Can you tell what’s different?”
“…No, I can’t tell at all?”
“That’s why your basics aren’t there yet. Hey, mister over there.”
Zeron called out to the knight guarding the rude girl nearby.
He just twisted his face like an evil spirit, without giving any answer.
“Do you think you understand?”
“……”
“My, my. How did you become a knight with those skills?”
Zeron ignored the knight who was emanating killing intent and walked to a nearby straw dummy.
With a slight gesture, the rude girl, despite her angry expression, obediently approached.
“Try it here.”
“…You want me to cut this? With a practice sword without an edge?”
“Sigh… this is why your basics…”
“Eek…!”
The rude girl gritted her teeth and swung the sword.
As the sword falling from above touched the dummy,
Boom-!
With a loud noise, the dummy’s head was grotesquely distorted.
“Oh, this doesn’t break. Did they spend some money on it?”
While calmly appreciating the dummy, the rude girl snapped at him.
“So, what’s different about your sword, lecturer?”
“Ah right, I should show you.”
Zeron suddenly started taking off his shoes.
While everyone was looking at him strangely, he naturally grasped the sword between his big toe and index toe.
“What are you doing now…!”
“I told you. Even with my feet, I’m better than you.”
The sword that rose with a leg split, swoosh- fell smoothly.
Slower than the rude girl’s, and a strike that didn’t seem to have much power.

When bewilderment appeared on the rude girl’s face,
Thud-, the sword touched the ground.

The rude girl’s expression changed to confusion.
“See? This is what basics are.”
You rude girl.
Swallowing the last words, he deliberately raised the corner of his mouth annoyingly, and there was a thud sound.
It was the sound of the dummy falling, cleanly split left and right.
“Why is this…”
The rude girl’s eyes rolled around.
As if trying to find what was different from herself.

Soon, as if reaching a conclusion, the rude girl’s brow furrowed deeply.
“Is it mana? Did you enhance the sword’s sharpness with mana? What does that have to do with basics? That’s a skill you can only do just before becoming an expert.”
“Oh.”
“See? I’m right, aren’t I? Tell me once. What does this have to do with basics?”
The rude girl fired off words as if very heated.
So Zeron opened his mouth with a refreshing laugh.
“Seems like your eyes are knotholes too. Can’t you tell whether I used mana or not?”
Of course, if Zeron decided to, it would be natural for her not to notice.
The difference in level is too great.
“That’s… not but…”
It’s not ‘not but’. He wanted to say that… but this time he really didn’t use mana, so he quietly explained.
“It’s the difference in concentration of force. Even using the same force, there’s a difference between force applied to the whole sword and force applied to the blade.”
“That’s impossible. With just that, it’s impossible to cleanly cut this dummy with the given force. Physically…”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Looking for physics while using mana.
I heard interest in science has increased recently as the possibilities of guns are highlighted, but…
Honestly, I couldn’t understand what kind of nonsense this was.
“Physics, good. Science is good too. I personally dislike it. Anyway. But isn’t it a bit much for someone who claims to use mana to say such things?”
It’s good to use the results of science.
It might even be more efficient.
Of course, there might be geniuses who can maintain both.
It might be difficult to scientifically explain mana, but it’s not impossible to handle both.
But whatever it is, this rude girl isn’t such a genius.
“Mana is the power of will. This much is enough with the mana that naturally imbues when swinging a sword. No, even without any mana at all, at least it wouldn’t completely shatter the head like you did.”
Zeron continued speaking while putting his shoes back on.
“I don’t expect you to do it like I did. But at least the blade should stick into the dummy. Whether you know how to handle mana or not, when you can concentrate force on the blade, mana will naturally imbue.”
Even aside from mana, the sword path itself changes.
A force that falls straight down vertically.
Even considering it physically, which the rude girl likes so much, force applied straight without waste creates greater acceleration, greater acceleration creates greater velocity over the same distance, and greater velocity creates greater momentum.
Moreover, if force is applied completely vertically, the impact area will exactly match the blade, thus forming a narrower impact area.
When that impact and pressure are applied to a relatively narrower area, per unit area…
Fuck, what am I doing?
I only vaguely learned science from Elena in the first place, and even that I’ve forgotten most of it because it’s been so long.
What I just explained might be wrong too.
Anyway, the conclusion is that this much is enough with naturally imbuing mana.
And we don’t call such things using mana.
Suddenly feeling annoyed for some reason, he gave a knock on the rude girl’s small head.
“Eek!?”
“My lady!”
The startled guard knight tried to rush in, but surprisingly, the rude girl raised her hand to stop him.
“…Alright, thinking about it, the lecturer might be right.”
“Oh, really?”
As I was talking, I actually started getting confused myself.
“Yes, well, that’s right. Will, concentration. Whether handling mana or handling a sword, it’s natural. I had forgotten for a moment.”
The rude girl’s expression was still sulky as she said this.
“That doesn’t justify your actions though. A gentleman carelessly touching a lady’s body, acting rudely as if mocking, disrespecting a student, rebuking for not knowing and teaching in an insulting manner. While I might acknowledge your ability to some extent… as a person, you’re disqualified.”
“You were the one who smiled rudely first.”
“What…? What do you mean by that…!”
Eventually, the two started arguing.
Medea looked at them pathetically while silently swinging her sword.
They’re really acting like children.
*
Medea had no complaints from the moment Zeron first ordered vertical cuts.
It was a process she had gone through long ago.
She had said something similar to what that lady had said, and uncle had given a similar explanation, just a bit more gently.
Even so, he never did such an ugly thing.
That was a childish argument fit for a five-year-old.
“You spoke rudely first.”
“You spoke to me dismissively first!?”
“Your smile was annoying.”
“Does that make any sense!? In the first place…”
As she was swinging her sword, ignoring their argument, a large male student who had approached at some point spoke to her.
“We’ll be taking the same class for a semester, why don’t we introduce ourselves?”
“Huh?”
If uncle had heard this, he would have probably said something like, “Your head’s a flower garden,” or “Your mental age is that of a five-year-old kid.”
Of course, in Medea’s view, uncle was more childish.
“I’m… Medea from Class A. I’m aiming to be a gun-sword user.”
“Oh! I’m Defoi! Class B! I’m also aiming to be a gun-sword user, what a coincidence!”
Defoi laughed heartily and then spoke to the male student who was also silently doing vertical cuts.
“What’s your name?”
“…Ed. Class A, aiming to be a swordsman.”
“Oh… surprisingly high ratio of Class A. How about that friend over there?”
The last one he spoke to was the boy who had started swinging his sword when Zeron began explaining something to the lady.
“……”
“Hey? Could you tell me your name?”
“……”
“Hey-!”
“Colwhir…”
“Ah, what about your class and aim?”
“…Class C. …Gun-sword user.”
Medea slightly frowned at this scene.
Whether he was friendly or just meddlesome, it was too much.
That Colwhir boy clearly looked unhappy.
Around that time, as if the argument had ended, the lady came over huffing and suddenly said,
“I’m Jeremiah de Lapien. I’m not in the swordsmanship department but in Class A of the magic department, aiming to be a magic swordsman. I can handle guns a bit too.”
Judging by uncle’s sly smile, did he manage to win the argument against the student?
On the contrary, Lapien, with an expression as if she had bitten something sour, suppressed her anger for a moment and continued.
“Even if it’s just for show… since those are the academy’s rules, feel free to address me casually. I don’t intend to flaunt my noble status.”
Although the self-introduction time started abruptly, Medea thought it was rather fortunate.
She felt she could become quite close with Lapien or Ed, if not the others.
They were the only somewhat normal people there.