After a long time, Ryu and his brothers decided to practice sword training together.
Sima joined them there.
Leanne decided to watch.
Leanne’s specialty was a rapier specialized in thrusting, a mace with a bow, and martial arts, so regular swords were out of her area of expertise.
Big brother Tauro had grown taller and more muscular.
And because there were rivals of the same age, he had become much stronger than before through competition and effort.
Sima was the same; he had shown considerable growth both mentally and physically during the year he had been attending school.
However, everyone was surprised by Ryu’s growth.
Unlike Tauro and the others, Jiro had been together with Ryu until a few months ago, so he wasn’t very surprised, but he still noticed that Ryu had grown considerably compared to six months ago.
“Ryu, did you start something special?”
Jiro was curious about what Ryu had been doing for the past few months.
“Hmm… I went to train with Leanne and Grandpa, and I went with them to the forest to exterminate monsters.”
Yes, Ryu had been experiencing real battles with Grandpa Kamiza alongside Leanne for the past few months.
By accumulating real battle experience, he had honed his ability to eliminate monsters efficiently by shaving off unnecessary actions.
Through experience, he had gained a steel-like spirit that didn’t hesitate in split-second decisions and didn’t falter in most situations.
Of course, Ryu also had the ability of the “Gokudo” skill <Increased Experience>, so that also played a significant role, but the experience of real battles was considerable.
“I might catch up soon.”
Tauro laughed happily at his younger brother’s growth.
“As expected from Ryu-chan, you’re amazing as always, I can’t even keep up!”
Sima also praised Ryu.
“Oh, it’s nothing much. Leanne’s archery skills are amazing too, you know? Combining martial arts with archery for close combat is dazzling.”
Ryu boasted about his servant, Leanne.
“Close combat with archery?”
They had never heard of close combat with archery, so they couldn’t imagine it.
“When an enemy gets close, I use martial arts to handle them while shooting arrows at their vital points from point-blank range. All monsters die instantly. I think you’d be amazed at how spectacular it is.”
They wanted to see it, but they decided to let Ryu shoot the targets since they’d die instantly if they were the targets.
Ryu set up some odd targets: a regular target, one obscured by a tree, and one placed on the other side of a wall facing upwards.
Leanne said, “This isn’t acrobatics.”, as she aimed her bow and pierced the center of the regular target, then immediately shot upwards in an arc to hit the target behind the wall.
She then bent the arrow slightly and shot, curving like a sharp baseball slider, to pierce the target obscured by the tree.
Finally, she aimed at the regular target again, hitting it right in the middle with the tail of the first arrow, splitting it in half, and then piercing the center again.
Tauro and the others were amazed by these skills and applauded.
“Leanne, you’re amazing! They say your elvish archery skills are unrivaled, and it’s true!”
They praised her.
“Well, I’m Ryu’s servant, so it’s natural!”
Leanne seemed quite pleased and proud.
“As a servant, I can’t lose either!”
Sima started swinging his sword with determination.
“Since Sima is working hard too, it’ll be fine.”
Tauro reassured him, and Jiro nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, during summer vacation, we should accompany Ryu’s special training and go exterminate monsters.”
When Tauro proposed this, Jiro and Sima strongly agreed.
“Then let’s ask Grandpa. Shall we go right away? He should be in the forest at this time, right?”
Ryu became eager to guide them.
“If we go now, it might be quite difficult just to find Grandpa, though. Are you sure?”
Jiro expressed his honest concern.
“In that case, Leanne has the skill ‘Tracker,’ so she’ll find him soon. There’s no need to worry about getting lost.”
Ryu showcased Leanne’s competence.
“As expected from the people of the forest.”
Tauro mentioned the other name for elves.
“The forest is my garden.”
Leanne seemed to take pride in that other name as well.
