"No, I'm not their teacher."
Ghislaine answered the Sword God right away, explaining, "I only taught Shirou the Longsword of Light skill. I wouldn't dare call myself his teacher. As for Eris, she's basically Shirou's student. I hardly taught her any sword skills."
Ghislaine always treated Shirou as an equal, not as his teacher.
Eris had always learned sword skills from Shirou, so she couldn't be considered Ghislaine's student.
After she said what she thought, Shirou and Eris felt complicated. They both knew how much Ghislaine had done for them and that she was definitely a good teacher.
So Shirou spoke up right away, "Ghislaine is my sword skills instructor. She taught me a lot. She's definitely my teacher."
"Me too!"
Eris nodded along.
"Shirou, Eris..."
Ghislaine was very touched by what they said.
She wanted to say something else, but she saw the Sword God, Gal Farion, stand up from his seat and walk over step by step with a cold look.
Ghislaine, Shirou, and Eris were all surprised by the Sword God's actions.
Especially Shirou. He could clearly feel a sharp pressure coming from the Sword God, making him feel scared and want to back down.
But Shirou didn't step back. He wouldn't be intimidated by a simple display of power.
Power like that doesn't really hurt people. It just makes them feel scared. Shirou had faced someone as terrifying as the Dragon God. He wasn't going to be afraid of the Sword God's power now.
"..."
The Sword God walked up to Shirou and Eris.
Ghislaine stepped in front of them and said to the Sword God, "Master, what are you doing? They're just kids..."
"Swordsmen don't have kid or adult categories."
Gal Farion shook his head. "If they want to learn the sword at the Holy Land of Swords, they have to take some tests."
"This..."
Ghislaine couldn't argue with the Sword God's overly serious words. She just watched in silence.
At the same time, the Sword God looked at Shirou and Eris, then turned to Eris and said, "Draw your sword and try your best to kill me."
"Kill, kill you?"
Eris hesitated. She didn't expect the Sword God to ask that.
She looked at Shirou beside her and Ghislaine not far away. When she saw that neither of them was wavering, she hesitantly drew her sword.
Eris's sword was just a normal iron sword that she bought from the dwarfs in the Holy Kingdom of Milis.
Even though it was just a normal sword, she had it for a long time. It didn't even break during the time they met the Dragon God.
Shirou's magic sword, Muramasa, was broken by the Dragon God. Now he didn't even have a good sword to use.
"Clang!"
Eris drew her sword and got into position, quickly looking at the Sword God.
Most people wouldn't even be able to look the Sword God in the eye, let alone swing a sword at him. They would be swallowed by fear.
But Eris wasn't like most people. She had lived a hard life in the Demon Continent, learned many skills from Ruijerd, and even fought the Dragon God for a short time. Even though she lost badly, her will was greatly improved in that fight.
So, even though she was facing the strongest swordsman in the world, the Sword God Gal Farion, she didn't hesitate. She wasn't too scared to swing her sword. She held her sword steadily and carefully looked for an opening in the Sword God's defense.
But Eris was surprised by what she saw.
She thought that the strongest swordsman in the world wouldn't have any openings, or at least wouldn't show any that she could take advantage of.
But when she really looked at the Sword God, she saw that he was full of openings. It was like he wasn't even trying to defend himself, completely exposing the areas he should be protecting.
"Are you holding back?"
Eris frowned and asked.
"Heh, interesting, very interesting."
The Sword God found Eris's reaction amusing. "I'm the Sword God, and you're just an advanced Sword God Style user. What's wrong with me holding back?"
"It makes me mad!"
Eris answered coldly.
Ghislaine and Shirou wiped their foreheads at her direct attitude.
But the Sword God was even more interested in her. He smiled and said, "Not bad, not bad at all. You remind me of Ghislaine when she was younger. Before her claws were dulled, she didn't know the meaning of 'knowing your place' either."
"This... Master, you..."
Ghislaine didn't expect her past to be brought up like that. She looked embarrassed.
After seeing Eris's personality, the Sword God smiled and said, "Alright, you're good. You pass. Tell me, girl, what's your reason for swinging a sword? What do you want to achieve?"
"Pass? But I haven't killed you."
"You can't kill me. But if you show the will to kill me, that's enough to pass."
The Sword God explained plainly, "For swordsmen, whether you can do something isn't always the most important thing. The most important thing is whether you believe you can do it. If you have the belief, the sword can cut through anything, even opponents you think you can't cut down."
"This... so that means you can even kill the Dragon God?"
"The Dragon God? You mean Orsted?"
"Yes!"
Eris answered firmly.
When the Sword God heard that, his eyes lit up and he started slapping his knee, laughing loudly.
"Hahaha! I see, so your goal is Orsted! Not bad, not bad at all. In that case, you'll have to kill me first! So that's how it is, you want to cut that guy down! Besides me, there's someone else who wants to cut that guy down! This is good news, after a long time. Yeah, it's good news!"
The Sword God's words confused everyone.
Especially Ghislaine. When she saw the Sword God's expression, she felt like she was seeing something scary. Her hair stood on end.
She rarely saw the Sword God in such a good mood. And when he was in a good mood, it usually meant something terrible was about to happen.
In fact, the Sword God's expression quickly turned from laughter to coldness. He even gave off a chill that was more terrifying than any killing intent.
"But... it's easy to talk the talk. To do anything, you have to pay a price. Do you think you can do it?"
"I can!"
Eris answered without hesitation. She wasn't showing off or hesitating. Her eyes showed no confusion.
She still remembered the scene of Shirou almost dying at the hands of the Dragon God to save her.
If he hadn't used that strange power, death would have caught up to him.
If that had happened, Eris couldn't imagine how much she would have regretted it.
So, to keep the fear in her heart from swallowing her again, and to be able to step forward and save the people she cared about, like Shirou, Eris decided that she had to have the power to beat the Dragon God, no matter the cost.
"Good. Then take this."
The Sword God was happy with Eris's attitude, so he gave her a strike.
"Boom!"
When the Sword God swung his sword, Eris was blown away on the spot. She crashed through the door of the room and landed in the snow outside.
The Sword God's actions were too fast. Shirou and Ghislaine didn't even see the sword. They just saw the result.
"Eris!"
Shirou and Ghislaine hurried to her side and saw her struggling to get up in the snow.
The Sword God's strike was very strong, but it didn't have any killing intent. He didn't really want to hurt Eris.
So Eris just groaned for a while and then got up.
"Ghislaine, take her to get healed and then change her clothes."
The Sword God seemed to have approved of Eris. He said calmly, "From today on, she'll stay at the Holy Land of Swords to train her sword skills. And like the other talented students here, I'll personally teach her how to use the sword."
"This... thank you, Master!"
Ghislaine nodded gratefully. She knew how much it meant for the Sword God to personally teach someone. Only a few disciples were given that honor.
It meant that Eris had become the Sword God's personal student.
But Ghislaine didn't follow the Sword God's words right away because she hadn't forgotten about Shirou. She had high hopes for Shirou too.
"Um, now that Eris's test is over, what about Shirou's test..."
"Shirou? You mean this kid?"
The Sword God glanced at Shirou when Ghislaine said that.
After looking at him for a moment, he showed a look of disinterest and said coldly, "This guy is hopeless. Ghislaine, take him back. He can't train his sword skills at the Holy Land of Swords. He's completely hopeless."
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