Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

"Hmm? Well we have several kinds of machetes and axes at home that the rest use if you're talking about bladed weapons. We have an abundance of them here if that's what you're asking. Or... are you talking about martial weapons and the like?" I asked back.

"Yeah, you have several types of guns at home and I didn't realize till now for why you don't have a sword collection! Aren't you the greatest hoarder alive?" she said, smiling.

"Well... to tell you the real story, the three I have home is enough for me. Weird, huh? My standards for bladed weapons are really high and I compare everything I see with old man Kaiseki's standards. Also, I'd be broke if I buy everyone high quality swords for their use. It would be a million times better to invest on guns since the force multiplier with guns is much greater than swords." I replied.

"Wait, then what about the Guandao? Also, why don't you ask your old man Kaiseki to make you more? Isn't he a nice old dude?" Kaley asked.

"Well that's just an extra thing to have for getting my cousins back and the craftsmanship of that thing is really great. On getting old man Kaiseki to make me more is nothing short of a pipe dream. He'd only make you a single type of each weapon he thinks you could wield and that's it. He'd never make pairs since he always say that, 'No two weapons are the same child.' but I kept on nagging him before to either make me two katanas or two wakizashis. As long as they look the same and weigh the same I'd be happy. Whatever method I employ he wouldn't agree so I just let it go for now. He's really stubborn in that way too, I guess." I said.

We finally made our way to the house Tatiana pointed us to and she's the only one left there since the others have started to check on the other houses. She's on the living room of the place and we both saw several swords on the coffee table which she already removed from the walls. There're two arming swords, two bastard swords, a rapier, and a longsword. All of which are two-edged swords vastly different from the single-edged blade in my possession.

"Are these swords real?" Tatiana asked.

"Let me see first." I replied and I picked up an arming sword first from the pile.

I drew each one from the scabbard checking each part carefully and slowly dividing them to which are usable or not. Unfortunately, only one bastard sword and the single longsword are real and in good condition. The rest of the swords are merely for display purposes and not for actual fighting. I sighed ruefully when I picked up the two swords that would have use for my group.

"Wait, aren't the others still good for something?" Kaley asked.

"For a wall display, yes, for actually fighting, no. It's actually scrap metal now or we could trade it for something if the person we're trading with has no idea. It could kill a few times but I'm afraid it would still snap or bend in a random slash. Check this rapier here..." I replied then I struck it down the gaps of the wooden flooring.

I started to slowly tilt it while holding the handle sideways and I did the same thing for the other direction. When I pulled it up, the rapier didn't retain its strength and flexibility and the blade has already warped sideways without going back to its original position. On the other bastard sword, it is not tightly fitted and when I started to pull the handle on it, we found out that the tang didn't even reach the halfway point of the handle and is super thin.

The thing I've discovered on the arming swords are bad too, I started to scrape the blade with a hard metal and I started to listen to it. Basing its condition on the sound it made, I discovered that there's very tiny cracks inside of the blade due to it being quenched in water and not in oil. This could result in it breaking off accidentally when dealt with a hard blow against a much stronger metal. Aside from that, you could see hairline cracks on one side of the blade and a few chips here and there.

"So, the only ones we could use are those two, correct?" Tatiana asked.

"Yeah, want to have one? I'd suggest the bastard sword since it's a hand and a half sword." I replied.

"Hmm? Bastard sword? Aren't they all the same, just different sizes, correct?" Tatiana asked.

"What's a hand and a half what?" Kaley asked as well.

I gave a devilish smile and then I immediately pulled out chairs and I let them sit down.

"Time for a lecture~" I said.

"Oh no." Kaley said.

"Oh no." Tatiana said.

"Actually..." I started to explain the proper terms for each and I explained that the terms used are actually different from each time period. The 'longsword' is such an umbrella term for each time period that even the arming sword and the bastard sword we have here are also called a 'longsword' before it was called its current name now. Even the 'rapier' we have now was called a 'longsword' before and the 'rapier' they refer to was actually a side sword. The term 'bastard' in bastard sword was simply used because before, they don't know where the sword originated so it stuck.

It's a tad confusing whereas the katana I have was just called a 'katana' since time immemorial same with the wakizashi, tachi, tanto, and the other ones.

"About the hand and a half sword term..." I then also explained that what it meant was that it can easily be wielded by one hand just as easily as two hands. You could still wield a longsword with a single hand but using a bastard sword or an arming sword would be much easier.

After mansplaining for a few minutes, Kaley made a mistake of asking another question.

"So, I remember hearing that the rapier is the fastest between all of these here since it's the lightest, right?" Kaley slipped.

I then formed another devilish smile and I gestured for them to sit back down again.

"Kaley! Why would you do that?!" Tatiana nudged her.

"I know! I'm sorry~!" Kaley replied.

"Actually, the rapier is just about the same weight as the longsword. It would be faster than the longsword for thrust attacks since most of the weight is in the handle but since you're only holding it with one hand while the longsword with two hands, the weight distribution would actually make the longsword feel much lighter between the two. Also..." I added a few more points before I stopped the lecture.

Tatiana decided to follow my suggestion to use the bastard sword instead of the longsword she found.

"That reminds me, Kaley, does your dad practice HEMA?" I looked at Kaley but she shook her head.

"He's a gun nut. Don't have any interest in swords at all." Kaley replied.

"Have a Guandao and a Longsword. Hope I could find people who knows how to use a Chinese Polearm and someone who practices HEMA. I'd rather give those things who knows how to actually use them to maximize those tool's potential. I'd also like to have a spar with those practitioners too since it's been a while. I'm just wondering now if Tatiana knows how to use that despite her lack of knowledge on the correct terms." I thought to myself.

We finally reached the far end of this gated community and we took care of all the roaming zombies and we also made sure that there were no other cult members hiding in one of the houses.

However, on the far-right side of this place, we've discovered that some have actually escaped with their lives. A few handprints of blood or dirt was smeared across the walls on this side where Lois and Johnny wouldn't be able to keep watch on since it is on the other side. They made use of the dumpsters on that side of the wall to vault over easily and we're not sure how many were they.

"The only problem with this place is that it's too big for a small number of people. We'd need to make sure that the security of this place is high to actually own it. Good thing we've made the camp here cooperate with us. Our numbers got suddenly big though and I need to make sure everyone stays in line. I'd need to make a set of rules that we all need to follow at this place to make it work." I thought to myself.

"Do we need to chase after them?" Marvin asked.

"Not for now. We'll just post more guards here and we'd turn on the CCTVs of this place to be extra careful. We'll place a few more safety precautions though I doubt they'll come back to this place that soon. Besides, judging from the trail they've left, they should be no more than a dozen. If they come back, we'd be prepared as always." I replied.

The bodies found were burned along with the pile at the front of the huge gate and I called over the trucks to haul the items we got here first. I started to clear a few zombies outside with everyone while we wait for them to reach here. That explosion attracted a lot of them towards this location and it would be a while for it to die down.

"Well, we'd kill a lot of them and Tatiana could practice with the bastard sword, if she's really not familiar with them." I thought to myself.