(Belius Perspective)
Three years passed in the blink of an eye, and I've lost count of how many times I've visited the Anglus Family family mansion; the servants there mostly recognize me now.
Robert's strength has long since become incomparable to what it was three years ago, a rapid improvement. In our sparring sessions, I now need the strength of a Second Order Martial Artist to suppress him.
His progress is simply Monstrous. Now his strength, stamina, speed, technique, and reactions have all seen a qualitative improvement. Even in terms of Magic, he wasn't left behind. More importantly, he is only 12 and accomplished this feat as a First Order Martial Artist.
You have to know that he isn't a member of a family with special bloodline nor did he learn Swordsmanship from a young age. But in just 3 years, he has surpassed most of his peers in the Empire. Now only the Sword Princess from that family and a few others can rival him.
And that's only talking about his Swordsmanship. His physical body is also a Monster. I even had to wonder whether the Anglus family possessed the bloodline of Beastmen or Giants.
If he continues to train, he will undoubtedly become a Monster at the top of the Empire just like those few.
Several images flashed into my mind and a sense of awe and respect rose up towards those legendary figures.
To be honest, it's quite unexpected. I didn't initially think that a Noble's child could come so far and even fight me across ranks. In a year, I only had about fifteen days a year to teach him, yet his progress has been astonishing.
As expected, one mustn't look at others with tinted glasses.
"I give up. As expected of Master Belius."
"No, you've done very well. You weren't on passive defense the entire time, you seized several opportunities to counterattack. This time I used the strength of Second Rank Knight and you lasted longer than before. Very few people across the Empire can do that."
"Thank you for the compliment, Master."
He's very calm, not getting carried away even when I praise him. Robert once said the fundamental reason he practiced swordsmanship was to temper his inner self. In my opinion, he has already achieved that goal. Will he continue to practice after this?
"What do you plan to do next? I think you're strong enough now, and you'll definitely become even stronger as you get older."
"Compared to Master, my level is just barely at the introductory stage."
"One could say that. The entry into swordsmanship is relatively easy; the difficult part is the next stage. I can't teach you anything more. From now on, it's all up to your own comprehension."
"Unlike before, you might train hard for one or two years and not see any obvious progress. A slight neglect of training for a period can make the previous feeling vanish in an instant. It's arguably the longest stage where it's easiest to stagnate and difficult to break through. Only by breaking through this stage can one become a top swordsman."
"I don't intend to become a top swordsman; I won't strive for that. However, as long as I have free time, I won't give up practicing swordsmanship. It will be the same as it has been."
He'll use the free time to practice swordsmanship? That's very much Robert answer. There's no passion for swordsmanship, nor any pressure or anxiety about it. He speaks as if he's simply passing the time.
Could it be that this relaxed mindset alone allowed him to progress so far?
"For reference, I'd like to ask, how exactly did you train these past three years?"
"As expected, Master Belius is curious about that."
"If you achieved such progress training alone, I would indeed consider it somewhat unusual. Did Lord Bahod hire another swordsmanship instructor to teach you?"
"No, Father didn't do that. If I had to say why, Master guessed half right. I do have other training partners. Although we don't train together every day, having a sparring partner is indeed twice as effective as training by myself."
"Who is that partner?"
"Huh? Master, have you forgotten? That day, because of what you said, my sister Lia kept nagging me to teach her swordsmanship. Later, my Sister Aisha also became curious. I couldn't refuse them, so I started training with them. I initially thought they'd get bored after a few days."
Coincidentally, that's exactly what I thought about Robert at first.
"So they have been training with you ever since?"
"Lia trains about two or three times a week while Sister Aisha trains every day. Relatively speaking, before Sister Aisha went to Royal School, her level was below mine by one level. Lia however is the opposite and her training time is even shorter than us by her Swordsmanship is stronger. She is currently the most promising person in this household; she has many things to learn."
"It's already difficult for her to find time to accompany me. To prevent her from getting hurt, I've never attacked first; and i always let her attack while I defend. This has continued intermittently for three years. Her stamina has also improved a lot over these three years."
"In terms of results, having them learn swordsmanship can be considered a good thing."
"I see, but can that alone explain your rapid progress? With all due respect, Lia as a training partner would only have a negligible effect."
"As expected, even Master Belius wouldn't think of it."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Lia, she's probably the type of swordsmanship genius Master has been looking for."
Robert's tone, which sounded like he was showing off his sister, made me feel like he wasn't lying.
I narrowed my eyes slightly. These words instantly piqued my interest. But I didn't fully believe it; it could also be Jeno's unilateral opinion.