Henry and Milla were arranged by Prince Edward to live temporarily in a second-story courtyard in Wawasika.
The entire city's civilian population is only one-thousandth of the military population in Wawasika, which looks extremely deserted. Both sides of the street are empty houses, many of which are in new styles. They heard about businessmen a few years ago and wanted to come here to make a fortune, but in the end Abandoned businessman's assets. And more of them were left behind by ordinary residents of Avenella who came here and then left again during this long period of time.
There is no other reason than peace.
The stationed army adopts a shift system, and the vast majority of the soldiers are only city defense troops recruited from nearby villages. The simple Avenella farmers can return to their homes in just one or two days. , naturally there is not much demand.
There is no large army stationed, and there are only a few merchants after the pass is opened. There are many mountainous areas nearby that cannot be cultivated, and neither commerce nor agriculture can be maintained. In addition, just a day and a half away are the prosperous Ashenil and Wavasi. It is expected that the card will decline to this point - let's get back to where we started.
Time passed quickly, and one night and half a day had passed since the prince led the army to set off. After taking a good rest on a clean and tidy bed, Henry decided to fulfill the responsibilities of a qualified teacher.
The double-storey courtyard where the two temporarily lived had a small ten-meter-square courtyard. Before it was provided to them, it had been the residence of knights and nobles. Therefore, two or three log pillars were erected on the dirt in the courtyard to serve as knights. A target for sword practice with the sergeants.
The sage rejected the existence of servants, so there were only him and Mira in the huge courtyard.
"Lean the center of gravity forward."
After the fog dissipated, the air looked quite warm, probably because the water vapor had washed away the dust. The entire sky in the afternoon was clear and dazzling.
"Wrong, your whole body is too tight, this won't work." Henry shook his head, and Mira stood in front of the wooden stake with swords in both hands. They had been training like this for a short time, and they were doing it right and wrong. No matter what she did, she couldn't get it right, which made the young Luo Anloli start to look a little impatient.
"Pa-ta-" She dropped the one-handed wooden sword in her hand to the ground, and then squatted down.
"Take a rest." Henry looked at Mira helplessly, then turned around and tinkered in the room for a while, then walked out with two huge wooden cups.
"Here." He squatted down and handed one of them to Mira.
"..." The girl glanced at him, then took it, held the wooden cup and took a big sip of the warm water, then took a long "ah-" breath, and then stared at Henry again. .
"..." The unhappiness on Luo An's face was clearly evident. Henry understood the reason why this little guy was angry, but he didn't say anything.
"If there is a problem, you should raise it. Only by raising it can it be solved." Henry didn't speak slowly until he drank the entire glass of water. Mira is an easy-to-understand child, and coupled with the sage's own wealth of knowledge, it is not difficult to determine the reason for her petty temper.
But he didn't take the initiative to explain. The reason came from the girl herself.
——Mila is a stubborn and independent child.
To a large extent, this makes her act very sensible and mature most of the time. She is not like a child but is better than many adults. At the same time, it also makes her have a bad habit.
That is, when something happens, you always want to deal with it alone and refuse to speak out.
Henry discovered this a few days ago when she stubbornly ran over to look for a dagger by herself. This personality originated from the girl's previous life. She was helpless, and even if she talked about her difficulties and pain, she still couldn't help it in the end. You can only rely on yourself.
These personalities shaped Mira as a person, and Henry didn't want her to lose her true nature. But at the same time, if there is any problem that she just sulks about and wants to deal with silently, that is not what the sage expects.
So he deliberately didn't say anything and waited for the girl to bring it up on her own initiative.
——And just as he wished, this petite white-haired loli stood up from the ground with a "swish" sound, and then stared at the tall sage with her small mouth pursed.
"What I want to learn is how to fight, not how to duel or win a contest!" She said firmly, and Henry's response was to reach out and touch her little head.
"..." Mira looked a little confused, and Henry said in his usual gentle tone: "Look, don't you really have a problem that you want to be solved?"
"If you have any questions, you should raise them. Don't think about getting past someone alone." He deliberately ruffled Mira's long hair with his hands. The girl patted him, then covered her little head and stared with disdain. He, and Henry walked to one side without a care in the world.
There was an iron sword that the two of them bought from Mr. Feixi together in the morning when the fog was still thick. When he was arrested, Henry still had the two gold coins given by Bernie on him. The sage spent one gold coin to buy two ordinary-quality one-handed long swords and two wooden swords.
The material used in this kind of sword can only be considered ordinary, not even steel, but because it was made by an excellent blacksmith, the quality is pretty good.
Standard West Coast style swords have a certain degree of versatility. The main reason why the sage chose the one-handed sword as a teaching weapon is Mira's age - obviously she can only use one-handed swords now that she can wield with both hands. Hand sword.
Henry walked over with his sword. In his other hand, he was carrying a bundle of thigh-thick wheat straw tied tightly with hemp rope. The sage skipped the tallest stake in the middle and walked to the shortest one next to it. The one with a wooden pole, and then tied the wheat straw through the top of the wooden pole.
"Look at me." He turned the one-handed sword in his hand, adjusted his weight, and then swung the sword out.
"Crack - crack."
The beautiful beveled surface, the top end of the wheat straw bundle was cut perfectly by Henry, and the chopped wheat straw fell to the ground, but Mira was not excited about this wonderful blow, she just stared at it with disdain. Looking at the sage, two words "show off" were written clearly in those sparkling blue eyes.
Henry showed a wry smile, then waved, asked her to come over and handed the sword to her.
"Ugh..." Mira was not very accustomed to the slightly different feel from the wooden sword, but she followed Henry's example and awkwardly shook it a few times, moved her arms and got into a posture.
"Then what?" Mira looked at the sage, and he nodded: "Chop the bundle of wheat straw."
He said, and the girl hesitated for a moment, then raised her sword high and slashed at it.
"Pa—!" The scene of cutting off the sword as she expected did not appear. The long sword only cut in a third of the way, and the broken straws were scattered in all directions. The girl was stunned for a moment, and then cut it off before Henry could speak. He drew out his sword, took on a bigger stance, and used all his strength to strike out with the sword again.
"Pa—!" This time she swung the sword with more force, but the increased force still failed to produce the desired effect. She just knocked the entire bundle of wheat straw off the wooden stake.
"Hey!" Mira's surprise was beyond words. She opened her bright blue eyes wide, looked left and right, and finally looked at the sage.
"This is what happens when you swing your sword wrong, Mira." Henry explained to her seriously. He took a few steps back and picked up another one-handed sword, then casually swung it in the air. After waving it a few times, it made an air-breaking sound of "咻-咻."
"If you want to split something with a sword, then what part should you use to do it?" The sage said this. This question requires almost no thought. Mira answered immediately as soon as he finished speaking: "Blade."
"That's right." Henry nodded, then raised the long sword in his hand and gently pressed his fingers on the blade.
"A polished sharp sword blade is an excellent choice for splitting something. Most people also understand this truth. You should use the edged side to attack the enemy." He said this, but the simple and common truth was Mira. Listening carefully, weeks of interaction had allowed her to understand the pattern of Henry's narrative, and she understood that the sage would then explain the real points.
"But ordinary people only pay attention to using the edge to attack the enemy, but they never pay attention to what happens afterward."
"They just focus on 'smashing' the bladed side into the enemy, like you just did, and then feel like they just need to increase the force and split them open like this," Henry said, while Mi La nodded, she did indeed do this and thought so.
"This is wrong." The sage took his finger off the blade and shook it.
"Just using brute force to swing the sword like this, you can't split even just a bundle of wheat straw, no matter how hard you use, it will be the same. On the contrary, you increase the strength of the sword, and the result is just It will be like just now -" Henry pointed to the straw on the ground and said: "The target was blown away instead of cut."
"This is all caused by the incorrect way of swinging the sword." Henry pointed to the blade of the long sword in his hand again and said: "If you want to cause a perfect slash, you must always ensure that the sword in your hand is full of blades. Aimed at the target.”
"Not just the moment of hitting, but in the whole process of 'hit-passing-leaving', you must ensure that the sharp blade is facing the opponent." Henry said, and Mira seemed to have He nodded in understanding.
"In other words, you must ensure that the sword you swing is a smooth straight line, and the middle of the straight line is the sharp blade."
"This line is called the 'blade line' among swordsmen." Henry waved the long sword in his hand and continued: "Whether the blade line is straight or not is important in determining whether you cut the target or get stuck in it. the difference."
"The speed, posture, and force exerted by the sword may all affect your blade line, and once it deviates." Henry walked over and picked up the wheat straw bundle from the ground, then pointed at Mira and chopped it. He said to her with half the mark.
"The result will be like this. The sword you just swung was not straight enough. After it hit the target, it became skewed because of the wrong way you used the force. As a result, you actually used the spine of the sword later. Shoot towards the target.”
"The sharp blade is tilted downward, which is different from the direction in which you exert force. You are actually using the side of the sword to try to cut open the bundle of wheat straw. So how can you succeed?" Henry shrugged, and Mira nodded suddenly.
"The correct blade line should be straight. There shouldn't be any sway when you swing the sword. The place where you cut the target must be an absolute straight line. The center of the straight line should be the sharp blade. Only in this way can it be perfect. Cut open the target." Henry lifted the straw, and Mira looked at the place where he first chopped it. Sure enough, the entire section was flat when the sage's sword cut it.
"A slash must be fast, accurate, and ruthless. Once one of them is missing, the force is not enough, or you are not decisive enough, then the sword will be cut crookedly, and you are not using the blade to exert force to try to slash the opponent. It was a sword strike." He said, and Mira finally nodded in understanding.
"Well, then back to the original question." Henry smiled slightly, and then continued: "The thing you are complaining about is why I don't let you use a real sword, but let you use a wooden sword, right?"
"..." Mira nodded.
"The two questions are actually related, little Mira." Henry put the straw bundle back, then returned to the wooden pile in the middle and picked up the wooden sword that Mira had dropped.
"First of all, what I want to tell you is that there is no such thing as a genius when it comes to learning swordsmanship." He said.
"There may be differences in actual combat effectiveness between swordsmen and swordsmen due to gender, age, height and weight, but when it comes to learning the swordsmanship itself, everyone is equal." Henry held the sword in his hand The steel sword was placed back on the wooden table on the side of the yard, then he took the steel sword from Mira's hand and handed the wooden sword to her.
"Many self-righteous people may think that it looks very easy and simple, and they can easily fight by themselves as long as they pick up the sword, but in fact such fools have no idea what they should do after they actually get the sword. " Henry shrugged, while Mira glared at him because the other person's words seemed to imply that she also belonged to the ranks of fools.
"Think, Mira, think."
“Master each move skillfully, think about how to respond in a specific situation, and then practice, practice, practice again.”
"Practice again and again until your body remembers all these things, and when you encounter the corresponding situation, you don't even need to think about it and your body will be able to react and deal with it correctly."
"That's the right way to do it."
"No one is a genius. In this matter, everyone is the same. Only mastering them through continuous practice is the right path. As for those guys who feel that they don't need any training to just pick up a weapon and be able to fight. , as long as you let them cut a sheaf of wheat straw, they will understand their own powerlessness." He said, and Mira rolled her eyes at him: "You still haven't explained why you use a wooden sword."
"Oh, sorry." The sage shrugged, and then continued: "Wooden swords and other wooden weapons are not just used as props for bloodless battle tests or duel performances. They were originally invented. In order to replace more dangerous and expensive steel weapons for practice."
"Use the wooden sword to master the basic steps and movements. When you can swing the wooden sword to make steady, fast and hard cuts, then switch to the iron sword to practice at the target. This is the plan I have made for you. ." Henry said this, and while he was speaking, Mira held the sword in both hands and walked to the wooden stake painted with bright instructions and began to swing the sword.
Sweat was pouring from her body, and Luo An had a serious expression on her little face. She held the wooden sword in both hands and waved it again and again.
Henry stood nearby and only occasionally made corrections.
The afternoon passed quickly, and after practicing for a period of time under the light of torches in the evening, the two went to rest.
The next day was full of practice and study.
…
…
Postscript: The edge line mentioned in this chapter is called "edge-line" in English. In the domestic circle of medieval fighting enthusiasts, the Japanese kendo method is generally called "tosuji", but this word is too gentle. It's a little inconsistent with the style of Western fantasy, so I paraphrased it like this.
In addition, this chapter is relatively technical and involves the basic points of real swordsmanship and fighting. I tried to write it as plainly and understandably as possible, because Mira in the story is also an ordinary person with no foundation.
But will it still be too difficult to understand for most Qidian readers...
After all, you are all used to the fighting method of watching the dragon-slaying sword send out a sword with a full-level induction of murderous aura when you click on it, and slap a head that is a hundred times harder than steel and explode in mid-air...
