The Demon King's Paladin

Chapter 52. Advice and Farewells

We made our way to Crest's class with Sarah holding my hand, for some reason Asha seemed to deem this as acceptable for some reason. We arrived at the field to find Crest warming up with his sword and Sharon doing the same. Paul had to go back to his family home 2 weeks ago, so it's just been us since. We greeted everyone and proceeded to warm up as well. As we were finishing warming up, Crest began to speak to us all.

" Ok! today will be my last day as a teacher! I have to head back and prepare strategies for when the Hero Party attempts to invade us! Having said all of that, I'd like to give some last-minute pointers to everyone."

Having finished his thoughts, Crest began to take each person aside one by one and give them advice. I waited for my turn patiently. Crest had spoken to Sharon first. When he finished speaking with Sharon, he approached Asha. While I waited for my turn, Sharon had come to speak to me. She seemed quite happy with what Crest had said. From the look on her face what I could tell what she will ask me.

" Hey John! Do you want to spar with me after Crest gives his advice to you?"

Since Anna, Sharon, Asha and Cynthia have joined our training, a few things have become the norm. one of these things is Sharon's daily sparring with me. To the point where most days she's my most frequent sparring partner, at this point I think she is the person I've sparred the most. I felt bad when Paul would stare at me as I agreed to spar her every day. At first, I thought it was because Paul had a crush on Sharon, but it turns out he really missed just sparring me. It seems that Sarah, Anna, Cynthia and Sharon are too strong, and Asha is too weak for now. I'm the only one he could have a close spar with. I reminded him that the way to get better was to fight as best as you can and practice what you know. Having said all of that, it's not like I do much better in terms of sparring. Since I can only rely on my swordsmanship, I continue to lose to everyone except Asha.

With this all in the back of my head, I agreed to spar Sharon after Crest talks to me. Sharon and I started to have a conversation as we waited. One thing I appreciated about Sharon was how I could relax and talk to her like I would a friend. Considering things are a bit awkward with Asha and Cynthia occasionally, and Sarah and Anna have a romantic relationship with me. Sharon and I just talked like students in the same dojo. However, every now and again she blushes when I mention something or another. For instance, the other day, she had her hair in a ponytail since her hair has gotten long after a month of training and I mentioned how it suited her. For the rest of the day, she could barely speak to me. When we sparred, I got close to beating her, but she would counter me in the last moments.

Once Crest had finished with everyone else, he called for me. I walked over to him in no real rush. I started to speak to him after I arrived in front of him.

" Crest, you know, I'm really going to miss our classes."

" Believe it or not I will to. This has been a fun 3 months! From teaching you how to hold a sword to all of the basics, you have been a great student, John. I know you may feel some disappointment in not being able to land a strike on me. But allow me to tell you this. You are far from the guy you were when the first class started. Heck at least now you can actually move without looking like you had weights strapped to your body!"

" Yeah, that advice of needing about 3 weeks to properly adjust was frighteningly accurate."

" Well, this will actually lead into my advice for you John. You see, there is no quick way to get better at a martial art. Doesn't matter if it's pugilism or swordsmanship! I've pounded the basics into you over the past 3 months! Because of that, you have the tools to develop your own style now. My advice to you is simple John! Continue to do the sets of exercises that you have been doing over the past 3 months and add to it as you see fit. Spar with people when you can! And as one last thing, I think it would be a good idea to try attacking more often instead of only fishing for a counter strike."