# 7
Helmut
Episode 7
“Wake up!”
Even before the sun rose, Helmut suddenly opened his eyes at the sound of a thunderbolt. Helmut got out of bed without even having time to rub his eyes and a bucket of water was placed in front of him.
“Refill the water every morning and evening. “It’s your job every day.”
The tone was like an order. ‘Does this human not even sleep?’ After thinking about it, Helmut picked up a water bucket.
A shout came to the back of Helmut’s head as he was half asleep and was leaving the house at a slow pace.
“If you don’t come back quickly, there will be no meal!”
Helmut went all the way down to the water’s edge, filled the water bucket to avoid the man-eating fish, and was about to turn back when he stopped dead in his tracks.
When I woke up, I was angry. I couldn’t sleep properly and came out in the morning as if I was kicked out. What is this? Helmut stopped in his tracks and kicked the floor with a dissatisfied look on his face.
‘Why should I do this?’
Elaga didn’t raise him with care, but she didn’t force him like this. Compared to Darian, I took good care of him.
In order to train people, they set a routine in the morning and send people out to avoid torturing them all day long.
For the first time in his life, Helmut felt the injustice of a situation.
“I have to tell you.”
Helmut made a firm decision and walked up to the hut carrying a fully filled water jar.
It didn’t take long, but steam was rising from the cabin.
‘Is there a fire?’ When Helmut, who tilted his head, reached the cabin, Darian motioned to him.
“If you’re here, please sit down.”
A crude iron pot was placed over a burning fire in the yard. A thick liquid was bubbling inside.
The moment I smelled that scent, my stomach growled. It was a mouth-watering smell that surprisingly stimulated hunger. Both cheeks tingled.
Helmut felt saliva gathering in his mouth and moistened his lips with his tongue. Have you ever felt this crazy hunger?
“Eat.”
It’s impossible to find proper dishes here in Pahe’s Forest. Darian poured the contents into a bowl made from hard fruit peel. He called the brownish, thick liquid ‘soup.’
I quickly brought it to my mouth and burned my tongue. Darian handed a spoon carved out of wood to Helmut, who was frowning and cooling his tongue.
“That’s what you eat. “You foolish bastard.”
Helmut glanced at Darian eating meat soup and followed suit. Take a handful with a spoon, blow on it, let it cool, and then put it in your mouth. The soup, which was a mixture of lean meat and fat, felt moist in my mouth.
‘delicious?’
Helmut blinked. A shiver ran through me. It felt like my first time eating something this delicious. Is human food really like this?
“How did you make it… yo?”
“It’s cooked well with mashed meat and the roots from yesterday. If you camp often, you get used to cooking. Even mediocre ingredients can become quite edible if you cook them well. “I will teach you little by little.”
Helmut, intrigued by those words, looked at Darian. Darian, who raised his eyebrows, told me to eat quickly and continued eating.
Helmut was blowing on his spoon because it was so hot, but he was also irritated that he could not eat quickly and was also irritated by the amount of food that was decreasing.
The meal prepared by Darian was quite large, so I was able to eat until I was full.
“Why is that so delicious?”
Darian clicked his tongue. He looked pitifully at Helmut, who was eating like a glutton despite his words.
He is a boy who grew up alone in the forest like an orphan. There’s no way I’ve ever eaten human food.
Darian’s iron-like heart also gave way.
As soon as he was given a carrot after swinging the whip to his heart’s content, Helmut simply forgot his complaints.
It was the first time in my life that I had tried cooking, let alone home cooking. That little meat soup even gave Helmut a sense of happiness. That feeling changed Helmut’s thinking.
If I could eat something like this and make something like this, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to do as Darian told me.
‘If I go out into the human world, I’ll be able to eat food more delicious than this, right?’
I definitely have to go out to the Forest of Pahe. There was a solemn determination in his pitch-black eyes.
Helmut nodded and set his sights on his goal. As if chopping it with a shovel.
Of course, it is natural that another arduous training followed.
*
“Concentrate properly!”
Perfect! When Darian hit him on the head with his fist, Helmut’s eyes changed. This very divided protest came out.
“My posture is correct!”
Now, a few days later, he started to complain. That too was a change.
“What’s the problem?”
Although I was thinking about something else, I was moving exactly as I was told. Helmut showed a rebellious look in his eyes.
His complaints were valid. It was possible to swing a wooden sword repeatedly with the same movement without breaking one’s posture and without any deviation in just three days.
It is difficult to expect faster achievement from a ten-year-old boy. If anyone had seen it, they would have been amazed that he was a genius.
Of course, Helmut didn’t know that, but Darian did. Even though he knew, his attitude did not soften.
Since ancient times, when a sword is hot, you have to beat it without stopping to become hard.
“You idiot, just having the right posture doesn’t mean everything will work out.”
“then?”
“Do I have to tell you everything?”
“yes.”
Darian was amazed at the sharp answer and stroked his chin.
The more you look at him, the more eccentric he becomes. The germ of darkness makes humanity cruel and vicious. Moreover, a boy who grew up in the wild. If you have a good personality, it will be even more amazing.
In Darian’s opinion, Helmut was a patient, satisfied with even the smallest things, and a somewhat mature boy. Even when I look back and think about children of that age, it was the same.
If you admire that for being so mature, you can easily climb in places like this. I don’t have a docile personality. He is stubborn and has character. If you are not convinced, do not back down.
“Then I’ll let you know.”
What is certain is that you should not let your teacher creep on you.
Perfect!
“ah!”
Helmut shouted. The number of harsh actions also increased. Darian struck Helmut once more with the wooden sword he had taken. Then he crossed his arms and asked.
“Do you see the difference?”
“What difference?”
Darian looked at Helmut intently and raised his wooden sword again. Helmut raised his arms and quickly covered his head.
Perfect! The wooden sword lightly struck Helmut’s wrist, which was covering his head.
“Three times. Do you know the difference between these three times?”
“I don’t know.”
As soon as I blurted it out, my stomach felt stabbed.
“If you don’t want to skip dinner, think politely before you answer!”
After the shouting, Helmut’s spirit died a bit. Threatening him with meals worked quite well for Helmut.
Thanks to Helmut, who devours whatever he cooks for every meal, Darian always thought that he had discovered that he had a talent for cooking.
On the contrary, no matter what Helmut made, he made something that humans could not eat.
“…The intensity is different, but the speed and location of the hit are also different.”
That was Helmut’s sullen answer.
As he spoke, Helmut suddenly realized something. Darian’s movements were very consistent. It’s so smooth and uncluttered that it almost seems like human movement.
However, the power and speed contained therein were different. It started as slow as a slug crawling, but then sped up like a lightning strike. One flow that runs through all the movements.
After several days of training, Helmut’s movements became similar to Darian’s. But can Helmut do the same? The answer came quickly. ‘no.’
“Do you understand now?”
“…Yes, but how.”
“understanding.”
It was a firm word.
“It’s no use just imitating. understanding of the body. Furthermore, understanding of the mind. In other words, understanding of the sword. Let your sword go beyond your body and into your spirit. When swinging a sword, even the smallest details, like your fingertips and muscles, must be completely yours. “You must penetrate and understand all the flows.”
Darian’s words continued without interruption. The energetic voice seemed to penetrate deep into my brain beyond my eardrums.
“You can say you have mastered it only when you feel that you can control your sword as if you were controlling your body. Whether fast or slow, strong or weak, you must follow the same flow without disruption and know what that sameness is. In order to do that, you have to put a lot of effort into performing that single movement.”
Helmut pondered Darian’s words. I was lost in thought with my eyes directed to the floor. Darian poured out admonitions as if he had been waiting.
“But look at what you’re doing. Aren’t you just swinging your sword as if you were cutting an ax without thinking? Imitating is not algebra. If you do not constantly look at and learn the flow of your movements, you will not be a swordsman but just a woodcutter chopping an axe. “What’s the point if you repeat the same movement a hundred or thousand times without thinking?”
“….”
“Those who swing their swords without thinking ultimately only rely on their trained bodies. Those guys can’t escape their limits. “You can be top-notch, but you can’t be any better than that.”
Darian’s first-class standard itself was extremely high, but Darian was a swordsman who surpassed that first-class sword.
Helmut is being taught by a swordsman that every young boy learning the sword would want to be taught. Darian’s standards are bound to be extremely high.
Darian accepted Helmut not out of boredom or sympathy.
There is no need for generosity in teaching swordsmanship. People only become useful when they are pushed and pushed hard.
Moreover, in order to receive the sword from the Sword Saint, one had to endure such hardships.
