24 Hearts

18====================

To live in this world.

Living together with Gentia did not mean anything special, just that I had someone to take care of. Certainly, I would take care of her in a good way, and she would appreciate it. But in fact, it proved to be an additional annoyance.

I woke up in the morning, washed my face, and prepared breakfast. Instead of serving a single serving, as usual, it has become two. I became more bogged down by labors of nutrition. When the meal was ready, I went to wake Gentia. She was sleeping in a position that looked very comfortable, and she reached out her hand as she awoke with a dreamy face. She clearly wanted me to lead her, so I grabbed her hand and led her to the kitchen.

Once there, she fell asleep, her head resting on the table. It took her exactly five minutes to wake again.

When we finished eating breakfast, she awoke fully, and we headed to Kaseun’s mansion. She used his training ground to confirm what skills I possessed.

It seemed that she wanted to confirm what I could do and how far she could push me before we started training in earnest.

Her level of 49 was overwhelming for me to face in training. She easily staved off my attacks one by one, whether by dodging or easily swatting them aside. Kaseun was observing it all and told me that it was okay to show her my dual-swordsmanship.

To use it meant I had to activate my Shadow Swordsmanship. That meant that I would wield a one-handed sword, such as a bastardsword, as my main right-handed weapon, and a dagger in my left hand.

When I displayed my Shadow Swordsmanship, Gentia was greatly impressed. She could not understand why I chose to use normal techniques in my swordplay when I could be using it instead. She had studied my skills during our light sparring session, and she was clearly fascinated by the prospect of training me.

That was how our bout ended.

After our training on the grounds, she wanted to head out, having some things to do in town. When Kaseun grabbed her to have lunch, though, she pretended that she could not resist his offer. So- we had a nice conversation while eating a delicious and pretty high-end meal. After this, Gentia and I finally headed to the central square of Serenia.

The great fountain was located on this plaza, and the plaza itself was surrounded by and led off

Gentia already had a sense of the city’s layout, so she easily guided me there. She led me onto the eastern boulevard.

We came to a general store and weapon dealer adventurers. Alongside side it stood a tower, I think it was called Langritsa. She led me into the weapon shop first. While it did not sell legendary armaments, they were still of above-average quality.

She bought four daggers, a belt to sheath them in, and two longswords. She had not haggled over the price one bit, so I guessed that Kaseun must have funded the items. She handed the weapons to me, saying that they were her gift to me, and then stated she had to go somewhere. She disappeared into the throngs of Serenia’s citizenry.

So I returned home alone and went to sit on a living-room chair. I gently held the longsword and gave it a swing.

Unlike a wooden sword, its sound split the air.

‘It’s heavier than I thought.’

I had swung it with just one hand. However, it could be wielded with both my hands. The weight of it would lessen. After a few years, I would be taller and possess higher stats, so such a one-handed swing would not burden me this much.

With my current body, daggers interested me more than longswords.

Surely Gentia would teach me many left-handed dagger techniques as used by mercenaries. She returned late in the evening, her entire body covered in dirt.

‘Ah, that was hard. Did you wait for me long?’

‘No, I haven’t waited. Where have you been, your body-‘

‘I’ve been to the East Forest. I am supposed to teach you how to hunt, so I’ve been looking around, seeing what’s there. I’m looking forward to taking you there tomorrow, so we can start your lessons.’

What? How did she get covered by dirt, then? Somehow, she had made me worry. Gentia entered the bathroom, shouting over her shoulder that she had to wash her muddy body first. After she had bathed for a long time, she came out, having put simple clothes over her slender figure. I decided then that we had wasted the day, not doing much.

Gentia was thoughtful, though, and figured that she could teach me something during the night. She asked me to bring the daggers that she had gifted me. I did so, and she fetched a thick wooden board that she had used as a mercenary, as well as a throwing-dagger manual, written for mercs by mercs. The board looked like a dartboard, and the wood was pliable enough that daggers could be pulled out even if dug in deep.

There were many places in my house that I could hang it. When I had mounted it, she told me to throw the dagger with my left hand.

She then laughed at my sloppy posture.

Gentia shoved the textbook into my hands, told me to read, and then said no more. As soon as I received the book, I noticed a status message popping up before my eyes.

[—] Gentia wishes to teach you -Mercenary Left-Handed Dagger-Rank: C-[—]

[—]Do you accept? Y/N[—]

Without a thought, I accepted. If I got something better later, I could change it out. The only things in my skill column right now are Shadow Swordsmanship and Shadow Justice, so I had a few empty slots that could be filled.

[—]You have learned -Mercenary Left-Handed Dagger-Rank: C-[—]

[—]Workmanship of -Mercenary Left-Handed Dagger-Rank: C- is increased from 1 to 3[—]

[—]-Mercenary Left-Handed Dagger-Rank: C/Workmanship: 3/10-

I knew that only skilled mercenaries learned how to wield daggers in their off-hands.

Each time that the skill’s workmanship is raised, the accuracy of the thrown dagger is increased, and the damage slightly increases. If the skill exceeds 5, the speed of drawing a dagger increases, and I would get a slight boost in agility after my throw.

The nature of the skill was quite monotonous, and it can be learned without any special conditions. It was all about accuracy adjustment and an increase in damage output. However, this was not the main aspect of learning a skill.

The real magic happened in the manner in which you learned it, and the data flowed into my head: Detailed information on how to hold daggers, how to balance their weight and how to snap your wrist on the throw.

Although that sounded a bit simple, it was really as easy as that.

Still, knowing how to do something is not the same as being experienced in doing it. This counted for my Shadow Swordsmanship and Shadow Justice as well. Still, I looked through the book as Gentia had instructed, and then made my throw, imitating everything she had taught me.

After an hour or so, Gentia stood in awe.

There was a high risk of injury for beginners who held the blade, and she had just wanted me to get a feel for what it was like to throw a dagger. She wanted to teach me that once I trained a bit, it would not be as hard as it initially was.

Yet, from her eyes, my posture and grip completely matched the mercenary technique, after only reading the textbook once.

My technique was almost exactly the same as the textbook’s. It was natural for someone to be inept on their first time, but so perfect was my posture that Gentia asked that I make a few more throws if I wanted to. The first few times, the dagger hit the board handle-first and bounced off. My hand became more stable after a number of repetitions, and then- the tip of the blade accurately embedded itself into the board.

It’s an amazing talent to have. Gentia tried to point out errors, pretending to be embarrassed by my display and telling me to keep throwing. Yet, she was already telling me of advanced tips and tricks, without her even knowing it. I woke up from a daze, and it seemed that an hour had already passed. During that time, I had become quite skilled.

My rate of learning was swift. Of course, I had not achieved a perfect hit ratio yet, but I guessed that I could perfect the techniques in a month at most or three weeks at least.

‘This kid … Are you for real, genius?’

It was beyond fast, the way in which I had learned this.

Gentia told me of when she had first learned how to throw daggers. She had awkwardly grabbed the dagger in her right hand, imitating what Kaseun showed her. Starting with the right hand was the basic technique when training someone in the use of daggers. However, even throwing daggers with her trained right hand, it had still taken her two days to get used to the correct weight distribution, posture, and applied power.

Hers had also been a swift grasping of the core principles. Many mercenaries had encouraged and praised her, saying that a talented genius of a girl was among them. Of course, there were many of them more highly skilled than she in the mercenary company, so she had figured that they were teasing her.

As she got used to the feel of basic daggers, she started training left-handed. It was hard to use her unfamiliar left hand, so it had taken her up to four days longer than with the right hand. And in all that time, she had thrown daggers without eating and barely sleeping.

And now, a little boy named Judah had reached a level of proficiency in only an hour. Gentia clearly suspected that I had been learning left-handed dagger techniques with Kaseun, and had only pretended to be unskilled.

Still, I could see that she recalled my sloppy posture on my first try, so she must have decided that that wasn’t it.

It was purely my talent, Gentia seemed to figure. She hadn’t even shown signs of envy or jealousy – she had just watched me throw dagger after dagger in amazement.

I noticed that my left hand was shaking, the dagger still clutched in it.

‘Stop.’

I took a deep breath as I ceased all movement.

‘Let’s end it here. From tomorrow, you’ll have to run through the forest. So you need your rest.’

‘ … Yeah,’ I replied in a voice filled with regret. Throwing daggers was such fun! When I couldn’t do it, I had become annoyed, but the more I threw, the more I got used to it.

‘Come here with those.’

I went to Gentia with the four daggers. She was holding a rectangular whetstone and was seated on the sofa. She patted the cushions next to her as if asking me to sit beside her. I took a single dagger, sat down next to Gentia, and placed the dagger on the table before her.

‘Unless the weapon is forged from really good materials, using a weapon like this for a while quickly dulls its blade.’

She lifted the dagger and showed me the edges of its blade. As she had said, after throwing it for an hour, its tip had become dulled, and its point blunted.

‘If your weapon is not so good, all you can do is to consistently maintain it. For that purpose, a whetstone is an essential item to possess. So now, I’ll teach you how to use one. You know the basics?’

I nodded.

‘But you don’t know how to angle it, do you?’

‘No.’

‘It’s not that difficult, just a little annoying. Now watch carefully.’

As she went to work, I heard the sharp sound of metal on rock. In almost no time, Gentia had sharpened the dagger’s blade. I did, in fact, know how to use a whetstone, having sharpened my kitchen knives with them.

Yet, I have never seen a blade sharpened with such ease.

Gentia asked for the remaining three daggers, and I handed one to her. As she started to sharpen the second blade, a system message popped up in front of me.

[—]Because you have learned the correct method to sharpen a blade using a whetstone, you have acquired the talent -Raise Me-[—]

[—]Talents are developed by repeating certain actions or meeting special conditions[—]

[—]Talents only give a bonus to your actions. You do not gain a bonus to stats like your skills or characteristics[—]

I already knew all that, so I turned it off and looked up. Anyway, talent was naturally acquired by repeating actions. Like skills and traits, there was no limit to the number of talents one could acquire. Even so, they were not abilities that you could hold great expectations of. Still, having some talents were better than having none. When I sharpened the last dagger myself, Gentia stroked my hair and said that I did well.

Her touch felt good.

‘Now then, shall we visit the forest tomorrow? Since I’ve been sweating, I’ll wash myself again and then head off to sleep,’ she said as she stretched and stood up. Gentia said good night and waved at me as she left the room.

I was also drowsy, so I placed the dagger on the table, washed my body, and went to bed.

Whether it was because of the fact that I was not alone in my home, or because Gentia had stroked my hair, I could not sleep comfortably that night.