If I assumed Zaitenmodi was an S rank, then I had seen an S rank fight.
It was hopelessly one-sided. Actually, saying he'd fought felt wrong.
He'd killed dozens of people with nothing but his will, and presumably some amount of mana. But you know, I doubted it took much mana to kill a person, at least if you were extremely efficient about it.
Though it seemed that low level Skills were extremely inefficient instead...
"Okay. I'm only a D rank."
"Yeah. In here, you're practically Skill-less. Since I know about your Skills, I'll tell you mine. I have Agility, Fortify, Grit, Reaction, Slash, and Swordsmanship."
I tried to guess at what they all did. I had read about a bunch of Skills more than once, but there were so many, and I wasn't very interested in most of them.
"Umm..."
"Agility lets me use my mana to move faster. Grit lets me use my mana to reduce fatigue and pain. Reaction simply boosts my reaction times. Slash is a single mana-powered slash, while Swordsmanship boosts my overall swordsmanship. Reaction and Swordsmanship don't use mana, so they're a lot more minute in effect, but they still add up."
"Oh, I see... though should you have told me all that? If I get jumped again, it's not like I'll know what they can do."
"Huh. True enough, but it's fine. This isn't meant to be training. If you want to practice that situation, we could probably arrange something."
"No, that's okay..."
I didn't want to waste a bunch of high level adventurers' time, considering how valuable it was.
But also, dealing with unexpected situations was pretty much the one constant across all of my lives, so it felt like it'd mostly be a waste of time.
"Anyway, you can refuse if you want to, but if you do, we'll be assigning you a bodyguard whenever you leave this dungeon. Otherwise, we'll be sparring lethally, since this is a beginner dungeon."
I also didn't want a bodyguard every time I went shopping.
It'd make volunteering at the library particularly bad. I hadn't actually started doing it yet, but it seemed like something I could do once Lilac and Savi needed less of my help.
Once they could understand each other, they could start teaching each other.
But I also didn't want to accidentally win, not that I was sure I actually could.
"Oh yeah," Van spoke up. "I do have Prediction, so... don't try to hold back. We can do this a bit away from the portal, if you'd prefer."
"Huh? Don't try to hold back? Wait, if you have a Skill with a name like that, is there even a point to this?"
"Well, yeah. I can only predict things based on what I know. Even I don't know how well you'd do against someone with actual Skills. Well... some of those guys that day had one or two, but..."
"That day?"
"Don't worry too much about it. Just cut loose, alright? Or do you have a reason not to?"
Well... I wasn't sure how to tell him it was because I wanted to avoid unnecessary attention.
It seemed a bit moot at this point, at least around these guys.
Actually, since I was a dungeon boss, wouldn't appearing weak be even worse...?
They were existences compared to monsters and gods, after all.
"Okay, I guess. I'm not very confident though."
"That's fine. This guy might look scary, but he's usually the one who helps our newbies learn how to handle a sword, so it's all just an act. He's actually just a big softie."
Van gave Milio a hard slap on the back.
Even I flinched a little bit in sympathy.
***
Hero194: Woah, the boss's fighting one of the guildies.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
OutsiderFan71: Huh? Nais is?
Hero194: Yup. I'm gonna watch, talk to you later!
OutsiderFan71: Wait, what's going on?
***
"We can start when you're ready," Milio said.
A couple of the dungeon regulars had gathered to watch the scene, keeping a respectable distance.
But the small girl who stood opposite to the swordsman countered his words.
"Huh? But if people attack me, they won't wait until I'm ready..."
"Hah. Alright, then we'll start now!"
He activated Agility, and drew his sword in an instant.
After all, he'd already seen how quickly this girl reacted against people who didn't have Skills. Therefore, there was no reason to fight her without using his.
Powered by his mana, the Skill let him burst toward her so quickly that his surroundings became a blur.
It was a ruthlessly unfair assault against someone who didn't have any Skills.
Like bringing a tank to a fistfight.
Nevertheless, she did manage to draw her sword and position it to... stab right into his arm if he kept up his attack?
'Damn it!'
Fortunately, between Reaction and Swordsmanship, he was able to apply a second burst of Agility to jump back out of her reach, and quickly raise his sword toward her.
It wasn't that she was fast. Compared to him, her movements were sluggish.
But they were scarily perfect.
"Are you sure you don't have Swordsmanship?"
"I don't think I do."
His opening move was a rookie killer.
If he'd used Slash, any beginner would be cut cleanly in half. Of course, he wasn't going to go that far, since it was just a test.
But conversely, he had left himself wide open to perform it.
Of course, even a master would be reluctant to take advantage of that opening while his movements were empowered by Agility, at least if such a master didn't also have a means of keeping up.
"Hah... fighting bosses is always the worst..."
***
So anyway, I lost.
It was a pretty natural outcome, I guess.
His initial assault, he cleared five yards in an instant. There was this chaotic fluttering of wind and everything.
But I only had to draw my sword and move it in his path, so I just barely managed to do that. My body pretty much moved on its own.
Nevertheless, that's when I knew I didn't stand a chance.
If he could move his whole body five yards in the time it takes me to raise my sword... well, the moment he stopped showing off and fought me for real, I'd be done for.
Of course, I'd fought countless people stronger and faster than me, but that was across equally countless lives that I could no longer remember.
And I usually lost.
I managed to parry a couple of his attacks by making the minimum possible movements, and doing my best to force him to make comparatively large attacks...
But it meant I was moving completely defensively.
Worse yet, since he was an adult and I was physically still just a kid, I had to practically use both of my hands to keep him from just overpowering me in a single slash.
Just parrying his attacks hurt my arms. Of course, I didn't try directly blocking one. I think I'd have been knocked to the ground if I had, or something.
Well, even when I managed to throw a pocket knife at him during a brief window he'd so graciously given me, he just parried it with impossible speed, so...
'Yeah, he's going easy on me.'
But at least neither of us had to experience a lethal injury.
After watching us spar for only a couple of minutes or so... though it felt like eons of my life had passed by... Van suddenly interrupted us.
"Alright, alright. We all got the idea. So, kiddo... er, Na?s... I think you see why getting Swordsmanship could be helpful. I think until you've gotten a few Skills, we can't afford letting you go to the city without a bodyguard, though."
"Actually... I doubt Swordsmanship would help her that much," Milio spoke up. "She already fights like she has it. I'd estimate... Swordsmanship IV, maybe even V."
"Huh? No, I get that, but it'd still be a force multiplier for her. Wouldn't it be?"
"Probably not. Her movements are already correct. She's just neither fast nor strong enough to capitalize on that. If she got Agility or something to make her faster, then it'd help her keep up with that speed, but she's already reached her limit in terms of natural skill. Frankly, if she practiced every day, either she should develop a sword Skill or two within a month, or we'll know she'll never get one."
"I see, I see. Well, how about it?" Van turned to me.
"How about what...?"
I thought I followed their conversation along just fine, but I had no idea what input they were expecting from me.
"How about you train with Milio for a month? He can meet you halfway to your home, or something like that. Whatever arrangement you two agree on."
"I can't afford personal coaching..."
Van let out a dramatic sigh. "Listen, we're not gonna charge you. You're one of us. It's a guild service. We're not gonna force you, but if you say yes, all we expect from you is serious effort."
"Aren't you busy though?" I asked Milio.
"Not really. I'm a pure warrior-type adventurer. I'm basically on retainer in case something big and bad shows up, so your training will unfortunately have to be by the portal, and I might have to cancel every now and then, but if you don't mind inconveniences like that, I'm pretty much free."
"I'm already training Lilac though..."
"Yeah?" Milio replied. "Bring her too. We could do some drills or something. I bet you're a great teacher, but a big, scary guy like me is probably a better training dummy anyway."
'Do they really think he's scary looking?'
I didn't really see what was so scary about him.
Then again, I'd seen actually scary things...
But anyway, that's how I got roped into training with the guild.
Though it was mostly just Milio, Lilac, and whatever dungeon regulars that happened to be around.
It was only for a month or so anyway, and the chance to gain a Skill was hard to turn down.
Although... it did delay my bricklaying plans.
I was this close to having a proper brick oven...
While Lilac was happy to help, Savi had lost interest in that particular project.
She still helped out with gardening, took care of Lilac whenever I was busy, did her share of cooking and cleaning, and a bunch of other stuff, so I couldn't complain.
But it meant that it was entirely up to Lilac and I to build it.
***
Popcorn5: They're giving lessons now?
RedOwl: They're giving the girls lessons. Other people are just following along.
Hero194: Hey, don't make it sound so bad.
Hero194: Sometimes, we even get to spar with them!
OutsiderFan71: Wait, you've sparred with them?
Hero194: Yeah! Nais is unbeatable. Seriously.
Hero194: Her little sister's really cute though, a total beginner!
Indigo997: I'm reporting you.
Hero194: For what? I didn't do anything!
Indigo997: I don't know, but I'm still reporting you.
Hero194: Why're you so mean!