I Will Be Unrivaled With The Skill [Sewing]! They Said It Was A Bad Skill, But With Effort, I will Make It A Hit~ - Chapter 48

Episode 48: “Dwelling”

Attalos thought to himself, “It’s been a while since I’ve had a real fight.”

Lately, he had only been facing students, but none of them had ever come at him with the intent to truly defeat him.

There was always a sense of restraint, a hidden hesitation.

But Seneca was different. Her fighting spirit was raw, unfiltered, and she was throwing herself at Attalos with everything she had.

There were still many flaws.

Her planning was lacking. Her stance was unsteady. Her mana control was imprecise.

However, she had something that surpassed all of that—her sheer strength and rapid growth.

How long had it been since Attalos first met Seneca?

Her progress was astonishing.

“Well thought out.”

It was honest praise.

At Attalos’ age, he had never encountered an adventurer as strong as Seneca. That’s how exceptional he had become.

Seneca’s attacks came relentlessly, and Attalos deflected them time and time again.

He dodged and slashed. Parried and countered. Occasionally, he mixed in magic to break Seneca’s stance and used martial techniques to knock her off balance.

After a continuous barrage of sharp attacks, Seneca suddenly launched a rougher strike—something uncharacteristically careless.

It was an attack aiming a needle at Attalos’ feet.

Attalos sensed the end of the sparring match approaching and decided to dodge the needle and finish things off.

—Thunk!

However, his foot wouldn’t move as expected.

Looking at the needle, he noticed it was radiating an abnormal amount of mana while embedded in the ground.

“Shadow Stitch.”

He heard Seneca’s murmur.

It was then that Attalos realized—his shadow had been bound in place.

As he channeled mana into his legs, attempting to break free by force, he felt an overwhelming surge of magic coming from Seneca.

For a moment, Attalos lost track of Seneca’s presence.

He couldn’t comprehend what was happening, confusion creeping in.

But this—this phenomenon—he had seen it before.

Attalos instantly shut down his thoughts and let his instincts take over.

—Boom!

Before he knew it, he had kicked Seneca away from behind.

He hadn’t even noticed when Seneca had circled around him.

But because he had experienced this phenomenon before, he had been able to react in time.

As Seneca lay stunned on the ground, Attalos kept his voice steady, hiding any tremors.

“That’s enough for today.”

He then approached Seneca, confirming that her injuries were not severe before speaking in a hushed voice so that no one else could hear.

“Come to my office alone after the lecture. You may tell Maior that I summoned you, but keep it from everyone else.”

Seneca silently mouthed, “Understood.”

After the sparring match with Attalos, Seneca was showered with praise.

She was glad that everyone had a high opinion of her performance, but she couldn’t fully enjoy it—her  mind was preoccupied with Attalos summoning her with an expression she had never seen before.

She had secretly told Maior about it, but even Maior had no idea why Attalos had called for her. This only made Seneca more anxious.

After the day’s classes ended, Seneca made her way toward Attalos’ office at a slow, deliberate pace.

She knocked on the door, and upon hearing a response, she stepped inside.

There, she found Attalos looking pale and stiff, his entire demeanor tense.

“Seneca, sorry for calling you here like this. There’s something I need to ask you, and I wanted to take my time discussing it. Don’t be so tense—have a seat on the couch.”

Yet, Attalos himself was the one who seemed stiff and awkward.

Seneca nodded firmly and took a seat.

“About that last skill in our spar today—what exactly did you do?”

“After the Shadow Stitch?”

“Yes. Ah—no, actually, I’m also curious about that ‘Shadow Stitch’ attack, but… we can discuss that another time.”

“Understood.”

With that, Seneca began to explain.

“I thought that if I stitched the shadow in place and stopped the body’s movement, even Attalos-san would have an opening. So, I attacked as if I were ‘weaving’ through the gaps in your awareness.”

“…So, you’ve gained that kind of skill. When you say ‘weaving through the gaps in awareness,’ can you explain the process in more detail?”

“I don’t fully understand it myself since it’s a skill, but I think awareness might seem continuous when in reality, it has small breaks. When someone is shaken, the boundary between their conscious and unconscious mind becomes blurred, and I think I’m exploiting that.”

Attalos furrowed his brow, listening intently.

“Ah… That makes sense. I think so too.”

Then, as if bracing himself, Attalos asked Seneca,

“I keep asking questions, but I need you to tell me—what are your parents’ names?”

Seneca found the question unexpected but answered honestly.

“My father’s name is Eus, and my mother’s name is Anna.”

The moment he said it, Attalos froze, as if time had stopped.

“I knew it… Now that I really look at you, your face is just like Anna’s, and your stubbornness is exactly like Eus’.”

Attalos muttered as if speaking to himself. Seneca heard the words, but her mind refused to process them. However, the ripples spreading through her heart would not stop.

“What… do you mean…?”

Hearing Seneca’s voice, Attalos reached into his collar and pulled out a pendant he had kept against his chest.

It was a piece of metal, shaped like a branch, shining golden.

“Do you know what this is?”

Seneca shook her head.

“This is modeled after a branch of the mistletoe. It’s the symbol of the party ‘Golden Bark,’ which was founded by Eus, Anna, Nemi, Renturus, and me.”

“…What?”

“Seneca, your parents and I were in the same party.”

“That’s… not possible…”

Seneca trailed off, falling silent.

A heavy silence filled the room. Then, Attalos fixed his gaze on Seneca and spoke.

“Seneca, I heard you were an orphan. Does that mean Eus and Anna are no longer in this world?”

The usual brightness was gone from Attalos’ voice—he looked exhausted.

Seneca, looking just as drained, slowly nodded.

At that moment, shimmering tears spilled from Attalos’ eyes.

Seneca told Attalos about the tragedy that had occurred in Cordoba Village.

Attalos responded with nods, but to Seneca, his reactions felt strangely distant.

His mind must not be fully here.

After the story had settled, Seneca finally asked,

“Attalos-san… why did you think I might be my father’s daughter?”

“Hm? Don’t tell me—you don’t know about Eus’ skill?”

Seneca, her expression pained, shook her head.

“I see… You were only seven. It’s not surprising if Eus never told you. Then, do you even know what kind of adventurers they were?”

Seneca shook her head again.

“Seneca, Eus’ skill was 【Gaps Strike】. He was a rare greatsword master—one that even I, Attalos Pergamon, could never surpass in my lifetime.

When you attacked me today, weaving through the gaps in my awareness, it brought back the memories of being struck by Eus.

The sensation of being caught in his attacks is something I could never forget—I even see it in my dreams from time to time.

I’ve had this strange feeling, like I’d met you somewhere before… but today, I was certain.

There’s no doubt about it. Seneca, you are Eus’ daughter. No one else could pull off that kind of attack except his child.

That’s why I asked you.”

Tears streamed down Seneca’s face as she looked at Attalos with an expression that pleaded for something—something she wasn’t even sure of herself.

“Am I fighting like my father?”

“Ah, you’re just like him. Not just in swordsmanship—your drive to become stronger is exactly the same. Normally, people admire combat skills like 【Swordsmanship】 or 【Light Magic】, right?”

Seneca nodded, as she had thought the same.

“My 【Demonic Swordsmanship】 is often envied, too. Because everyone assumes those kinds of skills are the true path to strength. Compared to them, a skill like 【Gaps Strike】 would be considered an unconventional power.

Eus’ swordsmanship was always unorthodox. People mocked him for it.

But even so, I could never surpass him.”

Attalos looked away, his reddened eyes gazing into the distance.

“I realized it clearly when Eus reached Level 3.

Eus wasn’t a man who could be measured by someone else’s definition of strength.

Because Eus was one of those who created new definitions of strength.

And you, Seneca—you’re doing the same thing now, aren’t you?

【Sewing】 isn’t what people would call a strong skill. That’s why you have to carve out your own strength.

The way you keep moving forward, even when the world pushes back against you—that’s just like Eus.

Seneca, be proud.

You are, without a doubt, the daughter of the greatest swordsman.”

Seneca didn’t remember much after that.

After exchanging words with Attalos and somehow holding back her tears, she left the room.

Suppressing the storm of emotions in her chest, she returned to the dormitory.

She later heard that she had spoken with Pulcher and Stolo on the way back, but she had no memory of it.

The moment she saw Maior’s face in the room next door, the last thread of her composure snapped.

She clung to Maior and cried uncontrollably.

After that, Seneca barely left her bed.

She either slept, stared blankly, or silently shed tears.

Maior temporarily switched rooms with Gaia and stayed with Seneca—not to do anything in particular, but simply to watch over her.

Despite struggling to find the right words, Seneca told Maior about her conversation with Attalos.

Maior, realizing the situation was beyond what she could handle, went to the magic academy while Seneca was asleep.

She somehow found Kito and brought her to check on Seneca at the adventurers’ dormitory.

The moment Seneca saw Kito’s face, she clung to her just as she had with Maior, and cried again.

Neither Kito nor Maior fully understood what was happening, but they decided to stay by her side.

Kito came to see her every day after school and held her tightly.

Seneca missed her first-ever class.

Days passed like that, and when the weekend arrived, Kito announced she would stay in Seneca’s room for the night.

Surrounded by Kito and Maior, Seneca smiled for the first time in days.

After about a week, Seneca’s emotions finally settled.

Looking back now, she realized her mind had simply been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of new information.

Now that she had sorted through her thoughts, she felt more grounded than ever before.

Because Attalos had said it—

“You are just like Eus.”

There were still many things she wanted to ask him.

But she didn’t have to rush.

There was plenty of time.

Attalos was probably shaken too. After all, he had just learned of an old comrade’s passing.

Seneca still didn’t understand what Attalos meant by “creating new strength.”

But she felt that would become an important guiding principle for her moving forward.

“This is fine.”

Muttering those words to herself, Seneca made up her mind to apologize to everyone she had troubled and let them know she had returned.