Interlude 6
Once again, I messed up.
Orphelia reflects on the recent battle with deep regret.
She got the priorities wrong in the fight.
Clearing out the small fry enemies and acting as a shield to protect the rearguard from attacks – these two roles were the most important tasks entrusted to her.
Yet in her haste, she lost focus.
Normally, she would be more cautious and never neglect to double-check, but this time, as soon as she finished off what she thought was the last of the small fry, she rushed to join the front lines without confirming.
As a result, a monster leapt out from behind cover and charged at the rearguard healers.
Thanks to the leader’s shout of 「Get back here now!」, she managed to recover the situation in the nick of time, but it was a close call – the lives of the two in the rearguard were nearly lost.
Part of the reason was the terrain – a desolate, rocky land with plenty of objects for the enemies to hide behind. The fact that they were up against crafty beast-type foes didn’t help either.
No, those are just excuses, Orphelia chastises herself.
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Orphelia Verite.
Though not the leader due to her age and lack of experience, she is undoubtedly the central figure of her party.
From the start, there was strong opposition to having a swordswoman like her in this role. The reason was the rarity of someone with her specific skills and abilities.
Her role is that of a hyper-offensive shield.
In other words, her main job is to defend her allies, especially the rear guard and those left vulnerable while using skills, by dual-wielding swords to intercept, parry and evade enemy attacks, all without using a shield herself.
It’s also common for her to wipe out swarms of small fry, then join the front line after they’re eliminated to continue tanking while participating in taking down the big targets.
However, swordsmen able to smoothly switch between and handle these various duties have been exceedingly rare until now, so it was difficult for others to understand her role and abilities.
At first, due to her stunning beauty, she was seen through colored lenses as nothing more than a poster girl to attract clients to the guild – in other words, just a pretty ornament to gain popularity.
Moreover, it wasn’t uncommon for her to face hostility from veteran shield-bearer warriors both inside and outside the guild and clans, who believed a woman wasn’t cut out for the role of a shield.
However, as she began to contribute to clearing dungeons one after another with her overwhelming swordsmanship and quickly rose through the adventurer ranks, those biased criticisms tinged with jealousy faded into the background.
It was a struggle, but in terms of the speed of her advancement, her career could be said to be going rather well.
In fact, she climbed to S-rank faster than almost anyone in history.
In the Arcana Kingdom, there’s no one who doesn’t know of her unique role as a 「Sword Dance」.
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But recently, doubt has crept into Orphelia’s mind.
That doubt has dulled her blade and robbed her of her normally keen judgment.
As a result, her performance in the last several expeditions has been poor.
She couldn’t swing her swords the way she wanted to.
A scene was seared into the back of her mind and wouldn’t leave her thoughts.
The Master and the disciple, dueling in an extreme state.
A kind of trance where all senses are honed to their limit and one becomes completely immersed in swordsmanship alone.
A pure act in the name of swordsmanship that draws in the observer…
She looks at her own hands.
The dual swords she holds in each hand feel completely different than before.
She – Orphelia – gazes at her palms as her thoughts drift to the past.
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「See with your heart, etch it in your heart, repeat it in your heart.」
Those were the words spoken to Orphelia when she was a child by the person she arbitrarily deemed her sword master.
Her homeland lies to the south of the country of Lande, which borders the Arcana Kingdom to the southeast.
While Lande is an arid region, it prospered from mining magic stones.
The country’s political situation was peaceful, and its citizens enjoyed ample economic support and benefits. Particular emphasis was placed on education.
As a result, children in Lande were able to receive free education from a young age. Sword training was a part of the country’s educational policy.
Orphelia came from an ordinary family with ordinary parents, but she possessed a talent for the sword.
A talent obvious to anyone who saw her, even at a glance.
In each town in the country of Lande, there were sword dojos of sorts. Naturally, there were three dojos in the area where Orphelia lived.
The instructor at the dojo Orphelia attended gave up teaching her on the second day after she began swinging a sword.
Despite being a mere nine-year-old girl, she immediately mimicked the instructor’s sword movements, instantly grasped how to optimize her swings, and demonstrated it in practice.
The instructor readily admitted it was too much for him to handle and, without any shame or concern for appearances, sent her to another dojo. The previous instructor became a laughingstock among swordsmen, called pathetic and disgraceful, with some saying he would have been better off dead. But it didn’t take long for those around him to stop laughing.
Before long, all the sword instructors and self-proclaimed experts in town unanimously surrendered, saying they lacked the ability to handle her talent.
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