He had never heard of that name.
Climb looked up to the heroes and had a hobby of collecting stories of their feats. He ignored their races and even collected stories of famous adventurers from the nearby countries. But even so, the name Gazef spoke just now was unfamiliar to him.
Of course, there was a possibility that it was an alias.
“Th-then— *cough!”
Climb held back the desire to question him further.
Trying to ask him about an incident that cost him his soldiers… even rudeness has its limits.
“I will engrave his name in my heart. …But, is it really fine for us to spar?”
“Not a spar, simply crossing swords. What you get out of it solely depends on you. … You yourself are a first rate soldier amongst the country’s troops. It should benefit me as well.”
Although it was a high praise, to Climb, they were merely empty words.
It wasn’t that Climb was particularly strong, only that the standard was low. The skills of a soldier of the Kingdom were only slightly better than that of its ordinary citizens. Even compared to the ‘Knights’, the Empire’s enlisted soldiers, they were weak. There was also no one in the nearby countries with military distinction. Gazef’s troops were indeed strong, but even so, compared to Climb they fell slightly short. If Climb were to evaluate himself according to the ranks of adventurers, with copper, iron, silver, gold, platinum, mithril, orichalcum, and adamantium, he would be gold. Not weak, but there were many above him.
Could someone like that be considered worthwhile to a man like Gazef? A man, who would, without a doubt, be placed in adamantium class?
Climb shook off such weak thoughts.
The strongest man in the Kingdom was offering to train him. This kind of experience would not come often. Even if the end result is that he disappoints Gazef, there would be no regrets.
“Then I ask for your guidance.”
Gazef grinned and eagerly nodded his head.
The two approached the weapon rack and each picked a sword that fit their size. Gazef chose a bastard sword, Climb a small shield and broadsword.
Climb then took out the metal chunks from his pockets. Facing someone stronger than himself with them was a discourtesy. Not only that, he would have to fight with everything he had for the training to benefit his growth. His opponent was the strongest warrior in the Kingdom. A tall, thick wall must be felt with one’s full strength.
Now that Climb was finished with his preparations, Gazef asked.
“How are your arms? Are they still sore?”
“Yes, I am fine now. They are slightly worn but will not be a problem for my grip.”
Climb flexed both his hands. Seeing that he was telling the truth, Gazef once again nodded.
“I see. … That is a shame in its own way. One will rarely be in perfect condition on the battlefield. If your grip suffers then you must fight in a way to compensate it. Have you ever trained with those conditions?”
“Hm, No. I have not. Then I will resume my swings and…”
“Ah, no. No need to go that far. But since you are responsible for the safety of the princess, you would do well to learn how to fight in situations where carrying a sword is forbidden. Perhaps also verse yourself in handling various weapons as well.”
“Yes!”
“… Sword, shield, spear, axe, dagger, gauntlets, bow, cudgel, and thrown weapons. It’s training for the nine types of weapons that serve as the foundation for armed combat, however… If you stretch yourself too thin then everything will suffer. It would better for you to narrow it down to two or three weapons and learn from there. Hmm. It seems I’ve said something unnecessary.”
“Not at all, Stronoff — sama. Thank you very much!”
Gazef wore a bitter smile and answered with a wave of his hand.
“If you are ready then let us begin. First, try attacking me in that stance. Soon… yes, I will not be able to spar with you but I can teach you some tactics using the nine weapons.”
“Yes! Then I will be in your care.”
“Come, but I have no intention of treating this as training. Consider this to be the real thing and attack.”
Climb slowly lowered his sword and turned the left side of his body, covered by the shield, towards Gazef’s direction. His gaze was sharp and his senses already knew that this was not training. Likewise, Gazef exuded a presence that alerted him that this was a real fight.
The two glared at one another, but Climb could not make the first move.
Even if removing the metal chunks made it easier for him to move, Climb did not think he could beat Gazef. In both strength and experience, Gazef was overwhelmingly above him.
Simply closing the distance would be immediately met with a counterattack. His opponent was a master who was leagues above him so it could not be helped. But if this were a real fight, could he simply roll over and die because of something like that?
Then what could he do?
He had to fight him with a factor that Gazef did not possess.
Body, experience, and mind, Climb lost in everything that was necessary for a warrior. The difference was in their equipment.
Gazef wielded a bastard sword. On the other hand, Climb had a broadsword and small shield. If they were magic weapons then it would be different, but these were used for training, there was no disparity in the weapons.
Gazef only had one weapon while Climb possessed two, since a shield could be used as a weapon as well. This also meant that he had more ways to attack at the cost of dividing his strength.
Block the first attack with the shield and slash with the sword. Parry with the sword and strike with the shield.
Having decided on a counter as his strategy, Climb focused on observing Gazef’s movements.
After several seconds had passed, Gazef showed a smile.
“Are you not coming? Then I will attack right— now.”
His calm demeanor absolute, Gazef readied his stance. Hips slightly lowered, strength began to mount in his body like a spring. Climb as well; he gathered strength in his body so that he could block the blade, no matter when it came.
Gazef closed in and swung down his sword while aiming for the shield.
— Fast!
Climb gave up the notion of moving his shield to deflect the blow. He focused his entire mind and body on defending, just blocking the attack.
The next moment — his shield was seized by an enormous impact.
The level of force was enough to make him think that the shield had shattered. It was an attack powerful enough to paralyze the hand that held the shield. Withstanding such an impact would require the strength of one’s entire body.
Deflect it?! How do you match the timing for something like this?! Just the shock is enough to…
Climb’s naïve thoughts left him vulnerable; he felt another impact on his abdomen.
“Gah!”
His body flew backwards, his back colliding with the hard stone floor and expelling the air from his lungs. A glance at Gazef made it plain to see what had happened.
Just now, he was lowering his leg that delivered a powerful kick to Climb.
“… Even if it’s the only weapon in my hand, it is dangerous to focus solely on the sword. Like now, you could be hit with a kick. I aimed for your stomach just now but normally, it would be where the armor is lighter. I may break your knees… even if you were wearing a pad over your crotch, if you’re unlucky, armored boots will crush them. Observe your opponent’s whole body and watch every movement.”
“…Yes.”
Climb endured the dull pain from his abdomen and slowly stood.
The Kingdom’s strongest Gazef Stronoff’s physical strength was truly formidable. If he had kicked seriously, then it would not have been a problem to break his ribs through the chain shirt and render him unable to fight. The reason that was not the case here was because Gazef held back and merely touched Climb’s stomach with his foot and pushed him with the intent to knock him back.