137 - The Reluctant Genius

Jino Britz was born in the Holy Land of Swords. His father was a Sword Emperor and his mother was the younger sister of the Sword God. He was three years old when he became self-aware.

Jino had been wielding his sword for as long as he could remember.

He picked up a wooden sword for children and learned to handle it with his father. Just like that memory, Jino's childhood days were full of swordsmen.

Waking up early, running and practicing swordsmanship, training after breakfast, training after lunch, taking a small break after dusk and dinner, practicing swordsmanship and then going to sleep.

That was the kind of life it was.

That said, Jino did not particularly like swordsmanship. He trained as if it were natural, but he only did it because his parents made him. He never did it on his own.

But when he was young, that was okay.

There were only those who were practicing swordsmanship near Jino.

Other children also acted as if it were natural and his father, the Sword Emperor, Timothy Britz, as well as his mother, who was the younger sister of the Sword God, praised Jino for learning new techniques.

Even an old retiree complimented Jino for being an admirable child when he ran around with a wooden sword.

There was no room for doubt. Swordsmanship was common sense to Jino.

However, as Jino climbed in rank, his surroundings changed.

His father, who was satisfied with the mere fact that he could hold a sword, became more strict as he rose in position.

"Balance your sword to master your opponent."

"You are still weak, do not get so confident just because you are overflowing with talent."

In this way, he taught Jino and repeated severe training like never before.

Even the adults at the dojo, who at first used to watch Jino with sympathy, began to turn to him with rude looks as he passed through the Intermediate and Advanced ranks and beat them in matches.

At that moment, swordsmanship for Jino changed into something he was not interested in.

Even so, it was not as if he wanted to do something else. If he were a child from another country, he might have said something like wanting to become an adventurer.

However, for Jino, the idea of leaving home never occurred. For some reason, not even his parents taught him something like that. Because it was unnecessary.

Jino never knew that there was an ever-expanding world outside the Holy Land of Swords. For Jino, the Holy Land of Swords was the entire world.

Swordsmanship was the same as breathing air and eating food. That is why he continues to practice it.

For someone like him, his childhood friend Nina was also his only friend.

Nina was the daughter of the Sword God. In the Holy Land of Swords, anyone below the level of the Sword Saint was not authorized to enter the main dojo.

Anyone with a level not higher than Advanced, including children, was thrown into dojos near their homes.

Nina was the daughter of the Sword God, but she was no exception.

Nina was not the only child of her generation, but she was the only one at the same swordsman level as Jino.

He got along well with her.

In the Holy Land of Swords, the popular topic was always about swordsmanship.

However, despite the fact that Jino did not like swordsmanship very much, he was a unique genius and his talent in swordsmanship was extraordinary.

The only person of the same generation who was better in that regard was Nina.

Nina was a leader. She gathered children of the same generation and reached the top of that peak.

Not only was she at the top among the children of the same dojo, but also among all the dojos in the Holy Land of Swords.

Although there was the fact that she was the daughter of the Sword God, Nina was definitely talented. Among the children, her swordsmanship was the strongest.

Among the children of the Holy Land of Swords, swordsmanship was the foundation of everything.

During their break in sword practice, Nina gathered the children and created a secret organization. It was an organization only for children.

Jino took on the role of second in command within the organization. Although he was the second strongest, the fact that he got along well with her also played a role.

Nina and Jino.

It was more likely that these two saw something different in swordsmanship.

As evidence, of all the children in Nina's group, most never surpassed the Sword Saint level.

The organization lasted 3 years, everything was normal until then, until he appeared.

Rygar Adoldia.

When he arrived at the Sword Sanctuary, everything changed.

At first, he did not interact much with Jino and Nina, but a girl who followed him did.

As soon as she arrived at the Sword Sanctuary, she was assigned to the dojo where Nina and Jino were: Eris Greyrat.

At the moment Eris arrived, she made an impressive debut.

Defeating Jino and Nina in an instant, defeating everyone else in the dojo and proving her unparalleled ferocity, she left a strong impression.

Moreover, unlike the dojo practitioners, she knew how to read, knew math, and even knew how to do magic! A complete defeat.

But even that was not a huge change for Jino.

For Jino, something like losing was an everyday occurrence. Although he was praised as a genius among his generation, he always lost to Nina.

So, it was the same as before.

Nina was the one who changed the most.

Nina was different from Jino. She had never lost to anyone in her generation, she was the one who defeated adults and older ones, not the other way around.

For a few days, Nina did not train, she just watched Eris, who trained intensely every day.

Jino spoke with her and she no longer seemed the same, as if she had lost her will.

She spoke with her father, and at that point she also met Rygar Adoldia. She then began to observe the training of this new swordsman who had arrived at the Sword Sanctuary.

It was after a few days that Nina resumed training.

Jino still talked with her normally during his training, but Nina dismissed the 'group' she had created among the children of the dojo, she stopped all her activities that were not training.

From that day, Nina changed.

She began to train many times with Eris, aiming to defeat her. She dedicated herself intensely to surpassing Eris, and thanks to that, the two became like rivals.

At some point, Eris became a Sword Saint and went to train at the inner dojo. Nina doubled her efforts to reach her.

Achieving the Sword Saint rank became her main goal.

Observing Eris train, she became more serious and sincere regarding the art of the sword. She rarely associated with other swordswomen and her arrogant nature also disappeared.

She spent most of her breaks in special training.

Although this special training was nothing more than exchanging blows with Jino in sparring sessions.

Following her like a lackey, he exchanged blows with her countless times. Exchanging blows silently. Those days passed.

One day, while Nina and Jino were training, he appeared.

A member of the beast-man race, his name was Rygar.

Bearing a talent that soared through the skies like the midday sun, he was not only a Sword King, but he was proficient in other styles and even was an excellent mage.

From that day on, Rygar began to appear from time to time and give some tips to Jino and Nina.

At first, Jino did not have anything particularly against or in favor of him, he just found him impressive, a truly talented person.

But, Nina seemed to like him a lot, even to admire him. Whenever he came, she enthusiastically learned from him.

For some reason, that made Jino feel uneasy.

It was then, after months and years, that Jino began to realize that he was in love with Nina.

Meanwhile, many things happened at the Sword Sanctuary. The North Emperor Auber and the Water Goddess Reida came to pay a visit.

For Jino, none of these events interested him, but the same could not be said for Nina.

With the aim of surpassing Eris, Nina grew stronger and stronger as she fought to become a Sword Saint.

Even Jino, who had special training with her, also became stronger.

But gradually it became impossible to beat Nina. Although he rarely beat her before, his win rate against her constantly plummeted.

In the blink of an eye, a gap emerged between Nina and Jino.

Jino did not think much about this matter. Losing to Nina was just the same as before.

Going from winning only once out of every five times to winning once out of every ten times is not such a big change.

But why does this happen? Somehow, he felt that he was being left behind.

It was an apparently ordinary day of training, during which Rygar had guided them in their training. Seeing Nina and Rygar interact so friendly was uncomfortable.

After training, Nina went home, but Rygar stayed and called Jino.

He seemed to train a lot with his father, the Sword Emperor Timothy Britz, and must have noticed that Jino and Nina trained together a lot, so he must have spoken out of consideration.

His words were casual: "It's better to work harder on your training, otherwise, Nina will become a Sword Saint and you will be left behind."

And then he left.

Jino was in shock. That's it. If Nina became a Sword Saint, she would start training at the inner dojos.

At that moment, he thought that was bad. Nina was his only real friend. He liked her. He did not want her to leave.

From that day, he began to train with more enthusiasm. He wanted to become a Sword Saint.

If he did that, no matter how far she advanced, they would be training together in the inner dojos.

He already knew the theory to become a Sword Saint: balance between body strength, a quick and straight, lethal and powerful strike.

Performing the Longsword of Light was simply refining the Longsword of Silence to its peak.

And then he trained. This time, motivated to improve, and quickly, he advanced. More or less at the same time as Nina, he became a Sword Saint.

As time went by, Rygar gave more and more attention to Nina and Jino.

Even when Rygar was not there, he was frequently a topic when they were training.

For some reason, Jino did not like that very much, but he also did not mind Rygar much.

He was helping him get stronger, he seemed to understand what motivated Jino, and he helped him achieve what he wanted, he helped him reach Nina — and he was really amazing.

They had always called him and Nina talented, but Rygar was on another level. After all, the Water God, the Sword God and even a North Emperor came to train him because of his talent.

He also had a disciple who was already a Saint-ranked mage who was 5 years old!

He even tamed a giant red dragon!

He was confused. He did not know why he felt uneasy the more Nina talked about Rygar. Rygar also spoke with him many times.

He repeatedly said how talented Jino was, but that he lacked motivation — it was the same as his father said.

But Rygar was different... he gave him concrete reasons for it. "If you're not stronger, you will be left behind. If you don't make an effort, Nina will slip out of your reach."

Even he did not know why, but he was convinced of it... he did not want that to happen.

Lately, Nina seemed to be talking about going on an expedition with Rygar and Eris.

It seemed pre-established that he would go along.

He did not care much about the outside world — he had never left the Sword Sanctuary — but everyone seemed to agree that he would.

Nina wanted him to go. Rygar, her father and the Sword God thought it necessary for him to go.

He was a little apprehensive, but decided to go.

The outside world was… different. Nina, Eris, and Aisha, Rygar's disciple, all seemed excited and enthusiastic.

Under the leadership of Eris and Rygar, they went to an Adventurer's Guild and took on several new quests.

Even Rygar's dragon, whose name was Ezkalor, followed them from afar.

Everything around was new. Nina seemed excited and shared that excitement with Jino.

He did not mind too much... but somehow, accompanying this group out there... he found it pleasant. In a different way.

The food was different, the people were different. There were monsters. He was hesitant at first, but discovered that the world outside the Sanctuary was truly vast and... it seemed fun.

No, the world itself wasn't that fun, but exploring it with Nina, Rygar and Eris... was cool.

He liked it. He had heard many times at the Sword Sanctuary about how people used to become adventurers.

He never understood why... but now he understood a little. Sure, maybe that was because he didn't have to do much. He was just enjoying and fighting.

On the way to the Dragon's Ridge, Rygar just watched them fight, and Jino happily discovered that they were very strong.

The strongest was Eris. It didn't matter what monster, it didn't matter what kind of opponents, bandits or other adventurers caused trouble — she could always beat them with ease.

And the smartest, as incredible as it may seem, was Aisha, the youngest among them.

Aisha knew even more than Eris and Isolte.

With her magic, she also dealt with monsters easily and usually coordinated our party in combat. She and Isolte seemed to get along quite well.

But Jino, Nina and Isolte were also doing very well. After all, few could surpass the Longsword of Light and Isolte was a Water Saint.

And when Jino defeated an opponent, he was happy.

Everyone around him seemed happy and impressed, even strangers.

It was different from the Sword Sanctuary, where the atmosphere was strict. The more he demonstrated his talent there, the more they expected him to improve and the more strict and hostile they became.

But when he demonstrated it here... there was none of that.

It was pleasant.

Anyway, both Jino and Nina discovered that, in the outside world, they were strong.

That remained a fact, until they arrived. Until they reached the Upper Jaw of the Red Dragon.

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