Part 1: Newbie Adventurer Training

During a break, a group of girls sitting next to Ryuujin approached him.

"Hey, you, are you acquainted with the Guild Master?"

"Well, recently, yes. What about you?"

"I'm Sari, a swordsman."

Sari, the girl who introduced herself, showed off the sword leaning against her desk.

"I'm Meg, and that's Naomi over there!"

"Nice to meet you."

"I'm Ryuujin. Are you guys a party?"

Meg: "We are, but we just formed, and haven't been on a quest yet. What about you?"

Ryuujin: "I'm... a solo adventurer."

Sari: "You haven't joined a party?"

Ryuujin: "I did for a while, but I got fired."

Meg: "Huh? Fired? What do you mean? Did you get fired for being incompetent?"

Naomi: "Meg!"

Ryuujin: "Well, that's pretty much it."

Sari: "So you're taking this training to learn again."

Naomi: "But you're going to be the instructor, right? You must have a lot of experience."

Ryuujin: "I've been gathering herbs for three years. I was too low-level to do anything else."

"Oh, I see..."

"Why, you're just a trash adventurer who can only gather herbs after three years! Why are you acting so smug just because you know the Guild Master?"

"!?"

A man suddenly called out from behind.

Man: "Don't act so high and mighty, you talentless trash!"

Sari: "Who are you anyway?!"

Man: "I'm Gavin, a warrior. Nice to meet you!"

Ryuujin was called away by Catherine, so he got up and left. Gavin took his seat and started chatting up the girls.

Gavin was smiling at Sari and the others, clearly trying to impress them. He was obviously hitting on them.

Ryuujin was told to teach the next class. He was asked to simply explain what he knew about herbs.

Ryuujin still retained his memories from his previous life - his life on Earth, in Japan. He had some experience in leadership roles at work, so he wasn't nervous about speaking in front of people. He thought he could just wing it.

The Herb Gathering lecture was given by Ryuujin.

While the lecture was informative for complete beginners, those who had already done some quests found it quite boring. Therefore, Ryuujin announced that those who already had experience could sleep through it.

Ryuujin started by showing them actual herbs and explaining them. He had some leftover herbs in his subspace storage that he'd completely forgotten about.

He explained the types of herbs, where they grew, how to distinguish them from poisonous plants that looked similar, and even the types of beasts and monsters that might appear near them. He had quite a bit to talk about.

After explaining everything, he laid out the herbs on the table and let everyone look at them. He then excused himself for a moment.

He used teleportation to go into a forest and collect some poisonous plants that looked like herbs. He knew exactly where to find them. He hadn't been gathering herbs lately, but they were still growing in the same place.

When Ryuujin returned, he collected all the herbs from the table and mixed them with the poisonous plants he had collected, then scattered them on the table again.

He then gave the participants a practice session to separate the herbs by type, saying that the lecture would be over once they passed.

Sari, Meg, and Naomi were working on the sorting when Gavin jumped in and pointed out a mistake in their sorting. He was confident, and Sari and the others corrected their answer, but it was still wrong in the end, causing Gavin to become unpopular with them.

Gavin: "Herb gathering is a peasant's job anyway. Real adventurers don't need to do it!"

He tried to make excuses, but the participants gave him the side-eye.

Incidentally, Sari's initial sorting was correct. Gavin had been sleeping during the lecture, but Sari and the others had been paying close attention to Ryuujin's lesson.

Gavin glared at Ryuujin, for some reason, for pointing out his mistake, but Ryuujin was simply dumbfounded. It was simply outrageous.

The next lesson was swordsmanship practice.

Swordsmanship couldn't be learned in a few days, so they were told that anyone interested could continue training, and they could practice freely when the training ground was available.

There was now a permanent instructor at the guild, so they could ask for help when the instructor was free. This was a new system that hadn't existed at the Mimul Adventurers' Guild before.

The instructor was an elderly man with a cane. He seemed to have a prosthetic leg. He was holding a sword in one hand and propping himself up with the cane in the other. It was a practical lesson, but he was going to demonstrate swordsmanship himself. Even though he couldn't move around much, he was probably fine with one hand against beginners.

The man introduced himself as Reynard. He was a master swordsman in his younger days, radiating a strong aura of swordsmanship.

Ryuujin overheard a hushed conversation among the participants.

"It's Sword Saint Reynard!"

"He's alive...!"

Oh, he's a famous person, Ryuujin thought.

Ryuujin didn't know, but Reynard was once known as a Sword Saint, a master swordsman. He had retired after losing a leg in battle.

Reynard was actually an acquaintance of Catherine, and he had agreed to be an instructor at her request.

Reynard: "First, we'll check if you have at least the basic skills to be an adventurer. Everyone, take a wooden sword and have a go at me."

Some of the participants didn't use swords. Some used martial arts with fists and kicks, and some, like mages, didn't use swords at all.

But anything could happen in a dungeon. Even mages could be forced to fight with swords or knives. Reynard's policy was that everyone should have at least basic swordsmanship skills.

Reynard had the participants attack him one by one, blocking their strikes or parrying them with his wooden sword. No matter how sharp their attack, Reynard remained unmoved and effortlessly deflected them.

But there were some rowdy participants. Some tried to attack with feints and unexpected moves. Still, Reynard was unfazed and easily deflected them all. He even retaliated with a counterattack, giving those rowdy ones a taste of their own medicine.

Gavin was one of those rowdy participants.

He probably wanted to show off his skills in front of the girls.

While everyone else was swinging their swords normally, Gavin suddenly lunged at Reynard with a thrust. There were no instructions on how to attack, so he was trying to use that as an excuse.

But Reynard simply touched the sword slightly, deflecting the thrust and countering with a thrust of his own towards Gavin's chest.

It looked like Reynard barely moved, but Gavin's thrust missed, and Reynard's thrust hit as a counterattack.

Gavin fell backwards, clutching his chest in pain. He was wearing a metal chest plate, but the spot where he was hit with the wooden sword was dented. It looked painful.

"Gavin was being a fool, and he got G-avin'd."

Ryuujin, a middle-aged man in his past life, occasionally blurted out silly jokes. Usually, they went ignored.

But this time, Naomi, who happened to be nearby, was tickled by the joke. She was trying hard to hold back her laughter as she sat down.

Ryuujin had actually been planning on skipping swordsmanship practice, but Naomi was attracting attention, and Reynard noticed her.

Reynard: "You're Ryuujin, aren't you? I hear you're quite strong. Catherine told me. I'd like to see what you can do. Have a go at me."

Reynard beckoned him over.

Ryuujin reluctantly stood in front of Reynard and raised his wooden sword.

To be continued

Next Episode

Ryuujin wants to see the Sword Saint's complete technique, so he heals Reynard's leg! Ryuujin challenges a fully healed Reynard!

Don't miss it!