That evening, Leo, who'd been busy the whole day, came straight to Finn's office after finishing his meal to formally ask him for instruction.
"Teach you close-combat technique and skill?"
Finn, in the middle of dealing with a document, was a bit surprised to hear what Leo had come for.
Off to the side, Riveria, holding a stack of parchments, and Gareth, seated in a chair checking over something, both turned their heads to look at Leo.
"That's a pretty sudden request." Gareth seemed to take no small interest in it, and said, "What's got you suddenly wanting Finn to teach you close combat?"
"It is rather sudden." Riveria nodded in firm agreement, and added, "You're still learning how to use magic, and now you want to split your focus and learn close combat. That's not a good idea."
In Riveria's view, Leo's ability in magic was beyond question, but because he'd only been in contact with magical knowledge for a short time, there was still a great deal he needed to learn in that area.
Given that, the proper path was for Leo to keep applying himself to learning magical knowledge and steadily uncovering his own strengths.
Instead, he now wanted to split his focus and learn close combat, which was rather putting the cart before the horse, and greedy besides.
"Of course I'll keep studying magical technique, but I don't want to fall behind on close-combat ability either." Leo knew what Riveria was worried about, so he spoke plainly. "I am a Magic Swordsman, after all. Magic or swordsmanship, having both advance together is the ideal state.
"If I only studied magic and didn't study close combat, then I might as well just honestly go be a rearguard Mage. What would be the point of being a Magic Swordsman at all?
"And technique and knowledge aside, the magic side of my Status is already very strong now, so it's about time I applied myself to studying close combat too, so that my close-combat ability can bear fruit as well."
At this, the three Familia leaders looked at one another, and in the end all nodded thoughtfully.
"What you're saying isn't wrong, kid." Gareth stroked his beard and spoke. "Your ability in magic may be strong, but your ability in close combat is no weaker.
"According to what Loki said, at every Level before Lv.4 you raised your close-combat-related basic abilities to SS, didn't you?
"Since you can raise all your close-combat-related abilities far enough to break their limits, laying a powerful foundation at every Level, then not cashing in and uncovering that potential would be the real waste."
Since Leo's four basic abilities, Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, and Agility, could be trained to SS at every Level, then not developing his close-combat ability would simply be squandering such a powerful foundation.
So after thinking it over a little, Gareth came around to approving of Leo's approach.
"But his ability in magic is even more outstanding, and right now he's just at the stage of getting to useful magical knowledge, so continuing to reinforce his strengths isn't necessarily a bad choice either."
Though Riveria also felt Gareth wasn't wrong, she had a different opinion.
"There's no rush anyway, so wouldn't it be fine to come back and learn fighting after he's thoroughly finished studying magical knowledge?"
At the very least, if it were Riveria, she would definitely do it that way.
Making an already strong area stronger, and only studying something else once no more effective improvement could be wrung from that area, was the wisest approach.
So Riveria wasn't really in favor of Leo beginning to study close combat now; continuing to study magic was what he most ought to be doing at his current stage.
In a certain sense, Riveria's thinking was correct too.
It was just that Leo still wanted to begin developing his close combat now.
"Whether it was against Goliath or during this expedition, I could only use magic to stand against enemies whose Levels were far higher than mine. For that, I could only do everything in my power to open up distance from my opponent, keep their attacks from landing on me, dart up and down, run back and forth. But as it turned out, opened distance gets closed again too, and an enemy's attacks won't always fail to land. There's always a moment when they can hit me.
"And when that happens, with no way to use magic, how am I supposed to deal with them?
"Overusing magic also puts a very heavy strain and dependency on my Mind. Lately I've practically been drinking Magic Potions like water, but Magic Potions always run out eventually, and at that point, unable to use magic, am I just supposed to wait to die?"
Leo recalled the time he fought Goliath, and recalled too the situation dealing with the female-form monster.
"I don't want to run into that kind of situation again, where everything but magic leaves me helpless. So please, teach me how to fight up close."
With that, Leo bent at the waist and bowed deeply to Finn.
"This..."
Riveria's brows knit at once.
It wasn't that she couldn't understand Leo's thinking.
She was a Mage, after all, and needed someone to protect her so she could chant magic in peace. Without anyone protecting her, she'd have to do everything in her power to maneuver around the enemy, searching hard for an opening to use magic in the gaps between their attacks, struggling for her life.
You could say her magic was the very condition for taking victory: get it off and there was a chance to win; fail to get it off and all she could do was wait to die.
But it was precisely because of this that a Mage needed to learn Concurrent Chanting, needed to learn how to use magic, wasn't it?
Master those abilities, and why fear being unable to get magic off in battle against an enemy, settling the outcome in one strike?
Leo could absolutely work to develop in that direction. Why split his focus to study a separate ability?
It was no wonder Riveria thought this way. Her own self-positioning was as a rearguard Mage, and her way of fighting was to use magic with everything she had, with no other thought beyond that.
In her view, Leo's talent in magic was even more outstanding than Lefiya's or her own. Apart from the number of his spells being on the low side, he wasn't inferior to her in any other respect.
And Leo's Magic parameter could be trained to SSS at every Level, proof that his best ability was still magic. On top of that, several Development Abilities were reinforcing his magic ability, and even his Skill served to boost his magic. With conditions this good, not studying magic properly would be a reckless waste of a gift.
Just as Riveria was about to say this, Finn raised a hand and stopped her.
The Pallum captain gazed into Leo's eyes and clearly saw the persistence and urgency within them.
Seeing that look, Finn knew that Leo had in fact already made up his mind to learn fighting.
In that case...
"I'm not free at just any time. You could even say I'm extremely busy." Finn said. "The expedition just ended, there's still a lot of cleanup work that needs doing, and after the cleanup I have to prepare for the next expedition, or if we run into those new species of monster again, we'll just have to turn back home once more.
"I'm personally very concerned about those new species of monster appearing, too. Once the expedition cleanup is done, I plan to study and investigate it properly, to see how we should act.
"Given that, the time I can squeeze out each day is only so little. Are you all right with that?"
Leo readily grasped what Finn meant.
"Yes, that's fine." Leo's eyes lit up, and he said at once, "As long as you give me some guidance when you've got the time, captain, that's enough. I need time of my own too, to review, to study, to do other things."
Having Finn teach him all day really wouldn't be realistic.
But as long as he could learn something from this master of technique, it could never count as a loss.
At worst, when Finn wasn't free, he could go ask others for instruction.
He didn't think anyone else could teach better than Finn, but it would still beat fumbling around blindly on his own.
"Is this really all right?"
Seeing that Finn had effectively agreed to the matter of teaching, Riveria still couldn't help saying this.
"There's nothing wrong with it, is there?" Finn smiled. "Focusing on reinforcing your strengths is certainly a good choice, but applying yourself to making up for your weaknesses isn't a bad thing either, is it?
"Besides, just as Gareth said, Leo's laid such a good foundation in his close-combat Status. Wouldn't it be a shame not to develop it properly?
"His rate of growth is already very fast anyway, so there's no need to keep sprinting down a single road. Developing on multiple fronts isn't a bad thing.
"Maybe, at his rate of growth, he won't fall behind in either close combat or magic?"
The truth was, Finn wanted to teach Leo a few things too.
There was no helping it. Leo grew far too fast, which meant that while he was rapidly getting stronger, he inevitably also missed out on much valuable, hard-to-come-by experience and scenery along the way.
By now, Loki and Finn both had already come to regard Leo as the Familia's greatest promising prospect and trump card, their biggest ace.
Since Leo had the inclination to come to him for instruction, he had no reason to refuse.
"Fine."
Riveria was won over in the end, but she had one condition.
"I won't stop you from learning close combat, but from time to time I'll still spot-check your progress in magic. So while you're learning fighting, you can't fall behind on the homework I set you, understand?"
Like Finn, Riveria wanted to teach Leo as much as she could.
It was simply that Leo's talent in magic was remarkable, and she couldn't bear to see that talent go to waste.
Lately, Riveria had also been turning over the idea of preparing a special gift for Leo, planning to help make up for his disadvantage of having too few spells.
Once this busy stretch was over, that item should be ready, and she'd be able to give it to him then.
"All right, I won't fall behind on studying magic."
Not knowing Riveria's plan, Leo nodded and readily accepted the arrangement.
It was the same as ever: he was a Magic Swordsman.
Close combat he would develop, and magic he would develop too.
Of the two, he didn't intend to set either one down.
The time came to the next day.
Today, Loki Familia's members went out early just like the day before, off to handle the various bits of expedition cleanup.
So the home base, Twilight Manor, grew somewhat deserted, with only a small portion of rank-and-file members staying home to stand guard and patrol and the like, while the rest had basically all gone out.
Leo didn't head out so early today. The work he'd been assigned wasn't all that much; he could go deal with it three or four hours later and still be fine.
Clearly this was the result of the Familia leaders' deliberate consideration, a small privilege granted to Leo of sorts.
After all, not even Ais and the other Familia executives had been given such a privilege; they'd all been chased out to work first thing in the morning, while Leo, a newly minted Lv.4, instead got this privilege, which showed just how much Finn and the others valued him.
For the sake of his growth, his training, Finn and the others weren't all that willing to waste his time on the Familia's odd jobs. If they hadn't feared Leo being too eager for quick success and not knowing how to balance work and rest, they might even have excused him from the expedition cleanup work entirely.
So early in the morning, Leo took the Dragon Fang Sword to the courtyard, and there did some sword-swinging practice first, warming up at the same time.
Half an hour later, Finn's figure appeared in the courtyard too.
"Time's limited, so let's get straight to the main subject."
Finn held a wooden sword in his hand, and said this right off the bat.
Leo naturally had no objection, his expression turning serious in an instant.
But just as he raised his sword, ready to meet Finn's sparring, Finn spoke up.
"That said, I'm actually not going to teach you swordsmanship or spearmanship or anything like that. For you as you are now, those probably wouldn't mean much." Finn looked at Leo's somewhat familiar sword-holding stance and smiled faintly. "You've already studied swordsmanship under Ais for a year. For technique, that's enough; you don't need to learn anything new at all.
"Ais's swordsmanship comes from a very great figure, and after years of her own honing, it's now a very mature and powerful art. Since you've already learned this swordsmanship, just keep using it.
"What I'm going to teach you isn't a new art, but how to use it to fight, the methods for creating as many favorable conditions and advantages for yourself as possible."
With that, Finn raised the wooden sword in his hand.
"Watch closely."
The words had barely left him when Finn's hand flickered and the wooden sword in it suddenly thrust at Leo.
A sharp wind sounded as the wooden sword turned into an afterimage and stabbed straight for Leo's throat, making his pupils shrink as he instinctively raised his sword to block.
But Leo's sword had only just come up when Finn's wooden sword had already reached the front of his throat, its tip pressed against it.
Leo froze there, not moving in the slightest.
"That thrust, was it fast?"
Finn withdrew the sword and asked the question with a smile.
"Fast."
Leo answered without a second thought.
But Finn then said something that left Leo astonished.
"Actually, it wasn't fast." Finn said calmly. "The speed of that thrust just now was probably about equal to a full-speed strike from a Lv.3 with Agility at D.
"Forget you as you are now, already Lv.4. Even you before you leveled up, swinging a sword offhand, was probably faster than that thrust."
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