Chapter 80: Rolo-san is way too fast! I can barely even see it!

On the north side of the Guild hall in Aquila’s central district stood a relatively large brick building.

In Japanese terms, it was about the size of a gymnasium.

Above the entrance and elsewhere hung signs with a crest of a palm and fist combined, the symbol of unarmed combat.

As the signs showed, it was a building related to unarmed combat... an unarmed combat gym.

Martial artists were a relatively small minority among adventurers.

But the reason the Guild prepared such a large gym was that quite a few adventurers wanted to learn unarmed combat.

It was not only martial artists who trained in unarmed combat.

In fact, many magic-class adventurers wanted to learn it as well.

Even a magic-class adventurer would be finished the moment an enemy was allowed to close in if they did not have at least minimal close-combat ability.

To avoid that, many magic-class adventurers wanted to learn at least the basics of martial arts.

And unarmed combat, which let them fight without carrying a weapon, was actually popular as the martial art for magic-classes to learn.

Most magic-class adventurers did not have the leeway to carry weapons on top of their magic equipment.

On the afternoon of the day the Black Maiden departed, dozens of adventurers were training hard at the unarmed combat gym.

For that reason, more than half of them were actually adventurers of classes other than martial artist.

The gym was divided into several rooms according to the type of training.

The rooms used for unarmed combat training were called "dojos."

Not only unarmed combat. Many of the martial arts used by adventurers mixed in arts from other regions, but their origin was on this world’s Eastern Continent.

Facilities for training in Eastern Continent martial arts had been called "dojos," and the name had been adopted as is.

Even so, the second dojo looked more like a small gymnasium.

The second dojo was where adventurers received training in techniques, body arts, and skills from instructors who were Guild staff with advanced unarmed combat ability.

Adventurers learned techniques through form practice, copying the techniques the instructor showed and memorizing the movements, and through sparring, exchanging techniques with the instructor.

Words like form practice and sparring were also taken straight from Eastern Continent martial arts.

After seeing off the Black Maiden, chatting with Lumia, and eating breakfast at home, Kazui visited the unarmed combat gym.

The first place he went was the fourth dojo.

The fourth dojo was a room like a machine gym in Japan, with training machines for building muscle and the like.

After training his muscles on the machines, Kazui headed for the third dojo.

The third dojo was mainly for training to obtain skills, and Kazui trained Aura Speeder there.

Perhaps because his level had gone up, it went a little better than before, but not enough to obtain it.

After that he had lunch in the cafeteria inside the unarmed combat gym, rested a little, and resumed afternoon training.

He visited the second dojo, first did form practice, and was now in the middle of sparring.

His sparring partner was a white-haired man of an age that could be called elderly, wearing a subdued charcoal martial arts uniform.

His hair was short, his gaze sharp, and he was small for a man of this world, only a little taller than Kazui.

The instructor’s slim, tightly built body moved sharply as he launched kick after kick at Kazui.

A flowing stream of varied kicks came at him.

Just when it seemed an upper roundhouse kick was a feint, he aimed a low kick at Kazui’s feet.

When Kazui jumped to avoid the low kick, the instructor rose into the air as if he had been waiting for it and launched a whirlwind kick.

Kazui managed to dodge most of the kicks, parry them, or defend with his arms and legs, but the whirlwind kick was different.

He did block it with his left arm, but the force of the fierce whirlwind kick broke his guard and sent him flying.

(That hurts!)

Sent flying, Kazui groaned at the intense pain as he fell to the dojo floor.

He somehow took the fall and immediately recovered his stance.

Because he was defending with Aura Mail, he took no damage.

But even damage he could fully defend against could not have its pain completely erased by Aura Mail, so he was wracked with intense pain.

"Don’t jump so easily! If someone without a flight skill leaves the ground, it’s hard to change movement, and that’s what gets targeted!"

The instructor snapped guidance at Kazui in a sharp voice.

"Humans, and of course high-level humanoid monsters, finish people off this way! Remember that!"

"Yes!"

"If you feint and then aim at the feet, people and monsters alike tend to jump to escape! Keep that in mind too! You can use this when attacking!"

"Understood!"

While answering and taking his stance, Kazui was attacked by the instructor again.

This time straight punches, hook-like punches, and palm strikes were woven in between the kicks.

(Rolo-san is way too fast! I can barely even see it!)

While complaining in his heart, Kazui somehow read the strikes of the instructor, Rolo Shikishima, at the last moment, dodged, parried, and kept defending.

Then he parried Rolo’s somewhat large right roundhouse kick.

Right after that, the small Rolo’s body looked to Kazui as if his stance had broken just a little.

(Now! No, is it a lure?)

Faced with an opening unlike Rolo, Kazui considered the possibility it was a lure.

But by the time he thought of that possibility, his body had already reacted and started moving, so he launched an attack as is.