Chapter 001: Prologue

――The black army approached with footsteps that sounded like the rumbling of the earth.

They were approaching us with hostility and murderous intent, as if they couldn’t even be bothered to count.

In contrast, there are two of us. To be precise, if you go back to the capital in the rear, you will find many allies…… but I didn’t intend to wait for a long time in such a place.

「Father, you’re being reckless! You should stay back――」

「What a stupid thing to say. It’s not every day you get an opportunity like this」

I carried the sword I had pulled out on my shoulder and replied to the voice of my companion who was trying to get me to step back.

God――I never thought I’d get this opportunity.

I never thought I would be able to experience the atmosphere of a battle in this modern world.

A battlefield where one’s life and the flesh and blood of the enemy mingle, not unlike the fires of guerrilla warfare.

――It’s what I’ve been looking for all my life.

「Damn, I have to thank that stupid student. I didn’t expect her to provide me with such a fun fight」

I thought of my only direct student, who was not here at the moment, and I laughed again.

It’s really quite hilarious. I’ll have to thank her properly next time.

I was so delighted with the situation that I was willing to do a few crazy things.

「Let’s get started. Take a good look at my sword, and you will see what Kuon Jinzu Style is all about.」

「…… tsu」

I can hear him gasp behind me in uncontrollable wariness.

But I didn’t take my eyes off the army and held my sword up with a smile.

It all started a few weeks ago with a suggestion from my student.

――I thought back to that moment, suppressing my excitement to the point where I almost started laughing.

The sound of wind slashing and the flashing of black wooden swords were exchanged, leaving me breathless.

The only two people in the midst of the thunderous clashing of wooden swords were me and the man in front of me.

In the midst of a sword fight like a blender that crushes everything that comes near it, the old man and I were striking each other with murderous intent in our swords.

「Go fuck yourself, you old bastard!」

「You’re gonna die, you stupid grandson!」

Despite his words, the expression on the face of this old man’s face, his grandfather Kuon Genjuro, is a smile of delight.

It was as if this exchange was telling me that this fight was going to be fun.

To me, that’s a joke.

Even though the weapons they use are wooden swords, the sword fights they engage in are all serious.

The blow, carrying an unmistakable murderous intent, could easily take a life if it hit the wrong spot.

With that understanding――me and the old man were crossing swords with all our might.

「Huh, you’ve slowed down, haven’t you, head honcho?」

「Are you making progress, you little shit? I can’t give you the position of the head of the family like that!」

「I don’t need one of those, old man! I am――」

I use my own wooden sword to block the downward swing of the wooden sword.

But the old man’s wooden sword was clinging to my wooden sword as if it was stuck to it.

Then, I was shifting the position of my power and stepping against the old man.

A body blow from the right shoulder while forcing the sword to flow.

It would be a blessing if he could break his stance with this, but he is not that kind of a naive opponent.

「――I just want to beat you up, that’s all!」

「You bark a lot! But that ain’t gonna work!」

Sure enough, the old man was taking my body blow with his chest and not moving an inch.

I didn’t endure it. I let all the shock escape to my feet.

At this close range, the old man is looking down at me with a smile on his face.

In a close stance, it is impossible to make an effective strike. We’ll have to start all over again――that’s when the old man intends to make his move.

I’ve been in that situation several times before, and I’m sure the old man knows what he’s doing.

Therefore――

「――Rah!」

「Nu-u!」

――I wouldn’t have thought twice about going for a decision from here!

This is an unstoppable power release from close contact. I hid my legs from the old man’s eyes so that he couldn’t see them.

That’s why the old man didn’t realize that I could go on the offensive from here.

The impact of the close contact from the legs, hips, and back was transmitted to my wooden sword without any residual impact, making the old man’s body flip over and rise up.

Now, my sword is loaded. The rest――

「Shaaaaah!」

As if reversing my earlier momentum, I swung my wooden sword down.

A flash from the upper levels, the strongest rigid sword I have.

The flash of lightning struck the old man’s wooden sword, which was raised in defense――

「No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!?」

――He snapped the wooden sword filled with core steel and blew the old man backwards.

An unmistakable heartbeat. But the feeling now was strangely light.

Perhaps the old man was flying backwards himself to kill the impact.

Before I could even intuitively comprehend it, I had swung my sword away, and my body leaned forward so that I fell forward, and then jumped straight toward the old man.

The old man hadn’t landed yet, and in that inescapable opening, I thrust my wooden sword at his neck.

「…… I won」

「tsu…… ku, hmm, hahahahahaha!」

The old man laughs with amusement as he looks at the tip of the blade that would pierce his neck if it were thrust out.

However, the will to fight was already gone in the sound of his voice.

It wasn’t the euphoria of the battle――the old man was laughing with real amusement.

The look on his face made me raise an eyebrow and question him.

「Hey, old man, what are you laughing at?」

「Kukku…… how can you not laugh at this? At long last, at long last, there’s a swordsman who can beat me――hey, you saw that, didn’t you, boys?」

At these words, I widened my eyes and turned my gaze to my surroundings.

That means the whole family knows now that I’ve defeated the old man――

「With this, Soichi―Soichi became the strongest swordsman in Kuon! Therefore, from this moment on, Soichi shall be the head of the Kuon family!」

「Na…… Hey, old man, what are you talking about all of a sudden!」

「Oh? I’ve always told you that the head of the Kuon family is supposed to be the strongest man in the family. Since you defeated me, it’s only natural that you become the head of the family, right?」

「No, but…… I’m only 24, you know? I don’t know anything about running a household」

「I don’t even know how to do that myself. Leave that to the management team. All you have to do is train your teachers and direct students and beat up the occasional challenger that comes along. That’s why I’m retiring. Good luck with the rest」

The old man said only that, and turned on his heels quickly.

Yeah, what he said is right on the money. That’s the way it’s supposed to be, and it’s certainly going to be that way now that I’ve won.

But――

「You set me up, you fucking old mannnnnnnn!」

――How else can the whole family gather here in this secluded corner of the house where we chose to duel!

My inarticulate cries were drowned out by the sound of applause around me.

「Dah, shit, it’s boring……」

「Hey, sensei, can you stop saying things like that next to people training?」

It’s been a few days since I was half forced to assume the position of head of the family.

I, Soichi Kuon, have lost sight of my goal in life.

As I lay on the porch, the only person wielding a sword in my line of vision was my only direct student, Honjou Asuka.

Asuka’s black hair swayed around her shoulder blades as she glared at me with half-lidded eyes.

It’s unpleasant to be interrupted in the middle of serious training, and I understand the feeling.

But――

「You see, I had made it my goal in life to beat that old man」

「What a gray youth it was.」

「It was more like red, though. Blood and all. Well, anyway, I guess it’s called…… burnout. No matter what I do, nothing seems to be interesting.」

Ever since the first time I lost to that old man, my goal has been to surpass him.

The other day, after less than twenty years of devoting myself to my sword and training and training, I finally surpassed the old man.

As a result, I was suddenly made the head of the family, but I’ve already given up on that.

Or rather, as the old man said, I’ve actually done almost nothing.

At the most, I’ve only been able to train Asuka and the teachers.

Asuka took a break from her training, sighed, and asked a question as she caught her breath.

「Is that why you’re getting so old? Have you been training with the sword or something?」

「I am. I’ve been fighting with the teachers every day, and even while I’m training you like this, I’ve beaten you a hundred times in visual training」

「You’re not going to stop me, are you!?」

Well, I’m kidding about the latter.

What I can say for now, though――

「I’m bored because there’s no one to challenge. I don’t know why the teachers don’t want to challenge me」

「That’s because it’s 1 against 5 every day, and if you’re being repeatedly beaten up one way or the other, you’re not going to want to take on the challenge……」

「Well, that’s boring」

「That’s how you got away with it…… Well, in short, do you want to struggle? I don’t know what it is……. Why don’t you fight with the previous head of the family?」

「The old man ran away as soon as I became the head of the family…… He’s probably on a spa trip right now, damn it.」

The head of the Kuon family doesn’t have much work to do, but as head of the family, he is bound to this house.

I didn’t know that until I became the head of the family. …… In other words, the old man was just trying to stir up the fire in me so that I would be ready to become the head of the family.

I’m not a person who skips out on battles, and it’s impossible for me to have lost on purpose…… The only thing I know for sure is that he was determined to make me the head of the family..

「I wonder if there’s anyone strong enough to do it」

「…… If that’s the case, then what? Sensei…… Would you be willing to try a game?」

「Ah? A game?」

Asuka’s unexpected words caused me to sit up, my eyes widening.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ve never played a game in my life.

Since I lost to the old man when I was five years old, I’ve been devoted to the way of the sword.

That’s why I had no idea why the topic had been connected to games

Asuka’s unexpected words caused me to sit up, my eyes widening.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ve never played a game in my life.

Since I lost to the old man when I was five years old, I’ve been devoted to the way of the sword.

That’s why I had no idea why the topic had been connected to games――

「This is it, this!」

「Why do you have video games in your bag? Let’s see…… 『Magica Technica』?」

「MT for short! It’s the hottest VRMMORPG!」

「Oh…… Well, I saw the commercial on TV.」

VR games have been talked about for quite some time.

At first, they were just visual effects. Gradually, they began to appeal to the other five senses, and finally it became possible to play games in an immersive way――i.e. to be completely inside the game world.

This game, MT, was released with the claim that it was the first of its kind.

「…… You’ve got training to do, and you’re playing around with this stuff?」

「Ugh, no, it’s true that I was playing it…… But you know what, I can use this for training!」

「The game? To train?」

「That’s right! If you’re just training like this, you’ll only be fine-tuning the kata, and you’ll rarely have a chance to wield it! But in a game, you can swing your sword without hesitation and slay the person you need to slay! Plus, there are strong enemies, too」

「…… Ho」

That’s certainly an interesting topic.

At the moment, the only people I can fight are the teachers and Asuka here.

But while they are certainly strong, they are still not enough for me.

I would like to fight a wider variety of opponents. Hopefully against someone stronger than me.

In that sense, fighting in a game is certainly not a bad idea.

「But can you wield a sword in a game as you do in real life? How can you wield a sword in a game if you can’t feel it?」

「Just get a good machine built and you’ll be fine. I don’t feel any discomfort at all. More importantly, this game has put a lot of effort into its physics engine! It almost feels the same as in real life!」

「Well, that certainly sounds interesting…… You seem strangely desperate, huh?」

「N-no, that’s not true, okay?」

Asuka responds to my half-lidded stare as she averts her gaze.

She’s obviously up to something――well, if what she’s saying is true, I’m certainly interested.

It would be a shame to have all this time to waste. It would be a good idea to give it a try.

Deciding that, I nodded to Asuka’s words.

「…… All right, let’s give it a shot」

「Is that true!?」

「Yeah. In exchange, I’ll let you do the explaining. I don’t know anything about this stuff」

「Of course!」

I had a bad feeling about Asuka’s newfound liveliness, but I couldn’t contain my slight anticipation, so I twisted my mouth into a smile.