At the sight of this, the entire crowd fell into silence.
They stared at Luke in the middle of the field, and for a moment, none of them quite processed what had happened.
It was as if they hadn't expected Luke to complete the challenge in such a short time.
The longsword hadn't fully come down, but it had undeniably forced Tianna to raise a hand to defend. With the rule of "I won't make a move" set from the start, it was obvious who won this one-sided exchange—Luke.
And from the beginning of the fight until now, it had only been about a minute.
In a single minute, he had made one of the strongest people in the kingdom break her own restraint.
Countless astonished gazes landed on Luke.
Today, everyone gained an entirely new understanding of the kingdom's second prince.
Tianna's own heart stirred with surprise as well. She looked at the blade pinched between two fingers. "I lost."
Luke withdrew his sword. Hearing that, he flashed a bright, satisfied grin. "High Marshal, you'll keep your word, right?"
"Of course."
Tianna didn't make a big deal out of winning or losing just now. She smiled and lowered her hand. "Relax. I didn't have the time to watch you every day in the first place. That sword style isn't bad—keep at it."
As for how Luke had learned this set of sword techniques, Tianna didn't press him for answers.
At this moment, she was only more certain of the hunch she'd had before.
This kingdom's second prince was no ordinary nobody.
"Since that's settled, I won't stay here any longer."
Tianna was already preparing to leave.
Her workload was overwhelming to begin with. If those two troublemakers hadn't been causing issues every day, she wouldn't have put so much on hold two days in a row just to keep an eye on them.
Thinking of that, Tianna glanced at Luke in front of her and reached out with an utterly merciless iron hand to ruffle his hair. Then she swept her gaze over Lux. "You two had better not let me hear any more ugly rumors. Otherwise, the next person who comes… might not be me."
Lady Augatha's face flashed through Luke's mind again.
He instantly got goosebumps all over.
Now he understood what kind of household House Crownguard really was. The one who truly called the shots was probably that Lady Crownguard.
Tianna had shown up for two days, but at most she'd only been here to scare the two of them.
But if it were Lady Augatha… she would actually follow through.
Luke didn't know why he'd gotten dragged into this mess in the first place, but he still nodded over and over, promising he wouldn't make the same mistake a second time.
"Get back to class. And… you're from House Lambert, right? Also, that kid from House Luke—your sword work is pretty good. Keep training." (TN: I'm also confused about this part...)
Before leaving, Tianna pointed out a few students among the onlookers and offered them a couple of smiling compliments.
The ones she'd singled out were all stunned—and then immediately flooded with pride.
They'd known why the High Marshal had come, but she hadn't been watching only the prince and Miss Crownguard!
She'd even noticed their performance, too.
After saying all that, Tianna truly left.
Walking down the road, her mind couldn't help replaying the sparring match she'd just had with Luke.
Some of those noble brats had trained decent swordsmanship, but in that regard, Luke was already far ahead of them.
This novel style of swordplay—she had no idea where it came from.
Yet it resembled a certain sword art she'd known from old stories.
"Wind Command… interesting."
Tianna smiled. In the past she'd only heard the name Wind Command, but she'd never seen the blade of Wind Command.
She hadn't expected to get a taste of it today, from a green kid who'd barely just stepped onto the path.
It really was as extraordinary as the rumors said. Tianna found herself looking forward to it—if that kid were given a bit more time, if he brought this sword to full mastery… what kind of sight would it be?
Luke watched Tianna go, only letting out a breath once her figure disappeared from view.
That awful woman finally left!
Just then Lux jogged over, her big eyes blinking as she stared at Luke. "How did you do that?"
Tianna was her aunt by blood. Lux knew better than anyone how terrifying her aunt really was.
And yet she'd taken a loss in front of Luke!
"Hmph."
Luke snorted, lifted his chin at a forty-five-degree angle, clasped his hands behind his back, and said without a shred of modesty, "Small stuff. I only put in a tiny bit of effort."
Seeing how smug he looked—like he was practically floating up into the sky—Lux couldn't help rolling her eyes.
Still, she had to admit it. "That swordplay just now was so cool."
Lux was from House Crownguard, a family with no small amount of martial tradition. Of course she understood some swordsmanship, even if she didn't train day and night the way her brother did.
She practiced now and then at least—enough to have the most basic self-defense.
But after seeing Luke's sword forms, she suddenly felt like her family's stuff… didn't quite measure up.
More importantly, when that last strike came down, a gust of wind had rushed at her.
As if the wind had appeared because of that sword.
The scene left a deep impression in Lux's heart.
"Want to learn it?" Luke asked.
"I do, I do!" Lux nodded so fast it was like she was pounding garlic, her eyes bright with anticipation as she looked at him.
"All right, then. I'll reluctantly teach you a couple of moves." Luke kept his hands behind his back, putting on the airs of a master.
His Wind-Command swordsmanship still wasn't at the level where he could truly claim graduation, but with Lv.5 proficiency, teaching Lux a few moves would be effortless.
"Then when do we start?" Lux asked, even more eager now that he'd agreed.
"Right now."
Luke squinted up at the sun. It was radiating heat, making the weather stifling.
So he took a few steps and said as he walked, "Next, the sword art I'm going to pass on to you is called the Sword of Wind Command."
Lux followed, repeating it under her breath. "Sword of Wind Command?"
It sounded incredibly cool.
"That's right."
"Then that wind just now really was because of you?"
"So you noticed," Luke said.
"Because it's called Wind Command."
"Yes. Wind Command, Wind Command. If you want to learn this sword art, the first thing you need to do is learn how to command the wind."
Luke spoke slowly, in an unhurried tone.
Lux froze. "How do I learn that?"
"Take this."
Luke wandered around for a while before finally finding an oval-shaped wooden board, which he handed to Lux.
"And then?" Lux took it.
Luke said, "Fan it."
Lux raised the board and swung it hard. A gust of wind immediately blew across Luke's face.
It was wonderfully cool.
"See?" Luke sat down on a nearby chair and said with complete seriousness. "Right now, wind is blowing toward me. That's the first step of Wind Command. First you learn to make wind, to find the feeling of commanding it. Then you learn to sense the wind, and after that, to understand the wind. And finally—at the very, very end—you master the wind. Come on. Start with step one."
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