[Dan listens attentively. He wouldn't have thought of it, but Guts is correct about the sword being a more multifaceted tool than it looks at the surface. Dan's found, over the years, just about every way to use a baseball bat in a fight, not just as a cudgel but as a defensive weapon, as a lever, as a way to close off an exit, and yet in his mind a sword does nothing but break skin.

Saturday, too, is absolutely correct, against Dan's initial impulse, which would have been to ask about something that would give him more reach.]

This is why I need teachers.

I don't expect it'll ever be my preferred instrument, on account of the bloodshed. It's an unpopular sentiment, it seems, but I try to avoid it where possible.

[Dan doesn't sound bitter about that; he's used to it being an unpopular sentiment, particularly among hunters. And for all that his restraint and patience has resolved violent situations without casualties, he's also failed to protect people along the way by hesitating to take lethal action. He'll own that.]

But in this place I expect I'll need both to know it and to have the guidance to get there.