Chapter 259: Stella Wants to Become Stronger!
Just as said before, Luke didn't have much interest in the matter of the Ayatsuji Itto-ryu dojo being taken away.
Perhaps in the eyes of many, the honor of a swordsmanship style is extremely important.
Many swordsmen even view the dojo used to pass down their swordsmanship style as more important than swordsmanship, strength, and life itself.
But Luke didn't think so.
It shouldn't be the swordsmanship style and dojo bringing glory to the swordsman, but rather a powerful swordsman bringing glory to their swordsmanship style and dojo.
The causal relationship here absolutely must not be reversed.
The style of swordsmanship and martial arts eliminated by the long river of history are virtually countless, among which there is no lack of ultimately powerful styles.
But no matter how strong they were, they eventually perished.
Ayatsuji Itto-ryu was the same.
Because of old age, because of a heart condition, because he wasn't a Blazer, no matter the reason, the founder of Ayatsuji Itto-ryu, the master swordsman Ayatsuji Kaito, lost.
And as his successor, Ayatsuji Ayase was still too far away from being able to prop up a style and dojo.
No matter how strong a sword technique is, if no one can use it, it will ultimately just be a part of history.
What is strong is never the so-called swordsmanship style, but the person who makes the style strong.
The resolution of this matter in the original work was already considered perfect, so Luke didn't plan to interfere too much; leaving it to Ikki was enough.
However, sometimes, things aren't unrelated to you just because you say you won't interfere.
...
Ever since Ayase was caught tailing Ikki last time, she had joined their training.
More accurately, it should be that she began receiving Ikki's guidance.
During this time, everyone's training had gradually become different from before.
Shizuku followed the newly joined Ayase in receiving Ikki's guidance.
Ikki, aside from guiding them, combined Luke's training methods to continue perfecting his own training regimen; at the same time, he needed more time to convert the sword skills he learned from Luke into his own.
Luke, on the other hand, still followed Nene for gravity training, but the content of the training was different from before.
Nene, who now felt unwell just seeing the boy, could be said to be racking her brains during training to get her revenge.
Luke naturally wouldn't let her succeed, so the training between the two had slowly developed into a battle of wits and deception.
Arisuin rarely trained together with them, and his training didn't need anyone else to worry about it anyway.
The only one who was relatively distressed was Stella.
Originally having Ikki as a competitor to progress together with and Luke as a goal as difficult to cross as a sheer cliff, Stella's strength could be said to be growing steadily.
Whether it was physical stamina, swordsmanship, or combat techniques, Stella had seen very significant improvement during the process of training with Luke and Ikki.
But now Ikki had to perfect and organize his own swordsmanship, and needed the rest of his time to guide Shizuku, Ayase, and the other classmates.
Luke was even doing what could be called terrifying training alone with Nene.
Without the help of Luke and Ikki, Stella suddenly reverted to the state she was in before coming to Hagun Academy.
No matter how she practiced, no matter how hard she worked, her growth was negligible.
This sense of confusion from falling into a bottleneck and being unable to find a direction for progress made the girl feel very uncomfortable.
Especially when she was stagnating, Luke, Ikki, and even Shizuku were advancing by leaps and bounds in their own respective ways.
This made Stella gradually begin to grow anxious.
Stella wouldn't improperly belittle herself; she knew she was strong, especially after training with Luke and Ikki.
To put it bluntly, someone like Shizuku would have a hard time catching up even if she stopped getting stronger.
But just this alone could not satisfy the girl.
Luke's existence made her profoundly realize the gap between herself and the world's strongest.
Therefore, unwilling to stagnate, Stella eventually sought out the boy.
"The direction for the next stage, huh..."
"Don't give me any nonsense like 'accumulating over time' or 'persevering unremittingly'."
Stella said to Luke while biting the straw of her drink.
"Of course I know that strength requires accumulation... b-but if that's the case, I'll quickly be left behind by you and Ikki, won't I?"
"I know... even though I don't want to admit it, I'm still clear on it; the current me is completely no match for you two..."
"If we really fought, let alone you, even Ikki could defeat me in a short amount of time."
Stella's tone revealed a strong sense of unwillingness.
Originally, there wasn't such a large gap between her and Ikki, but ever since everyone started training together, Ikki had been constantly getting stronger at a speed that made her tremble with fear.
As for Luke... Stella wasn't even sure if the distance between them had shortened at all.
The situation where Ikki and Stella competed with each other to chase after Luke had now gradually begun to change.
The reason was exactly her: Stella Vermillion was somewhat unable to keep up with the growth speed of the other two.
"Hmm... I can actually understand your thoughts."
Luke put down the menu in his hand, placed a third order for more food under the terrified gaze of the waiter, and then asked the red-haired princess with some curiosity:
"By the way, why me?"
"I thought you wouldn't have any troubles in this regard."
"Whether it's the director or Nene-sensei, at this stage they are both stronger than me. Moreover, aren't you a princess? With your status, it shouldn't be difficult to find some seniors qualified to teach you, right?"
"Of course I went to the director and Nene-sensei first, but they both refused."
Speaking of this, Stella's expression appeared somewhat indignant.
"The director used a whole bunch of excuses to brush me off, such as 'busy with work', 'taking care of children', 'no time', 'you don't need my guidance at all', and 'been retired for so long, I don't plan to take disciples'."
"And as for Nene-sensei..."
The moment she mentioned Nene, Stella paused for a moment and then gave Luke a somewhat strange look.
"'Right now, I'm only thinking about how to vent the anger in my heart, so don't bother me!'... Those were her exact words when I went to find her."
"...She was definitely talking about you, right? Just how did you provoke Nene-sensei so much?"
"It was the same when I watched your training last time; that couldn't even be considered training anymore... No matter how one looked at it, Nene-sensei looked like she wanted to eat you alive."
"Did something happen between you two?"
"Uh... about that..."
Hearing Stella's question, Luke smiled somewhat awkwardly.
"T-The reasons behind this are a bit complicated... What about the others? Have you not consulted anyone else about getting stronger?"
Although she could tell he was trying to change the subject, Stella didn't plan to pry into their private matters.
She was indeed a bit curious, but this time she had serious matters to discuss with the boy after all. She would keep the gossip in mind for now; there would be plenty of time to ask about it later.
"The other people I consulted didn't work out either."
"Whether it's those professional Mage-Knights or martial arts masters, they just know how to spout nonsense like 'accumulating over time' or 'persevering unremittingly'."
"I don't need them to tell me these things. Even without them saying it, I would do it anyway."
(PS: Vote for more chapters this week. If this fanfic reaches 100 powerstones, I will upload 5 more chapters next. So, hurry up!)
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