I don't understand this "no talent for swordsmanship" thing Akira keeps repeating, as a protest against learning the basics of swordfighting. Anyone who has got a working body can learn it, to some degree. Some have better prospects for it, some worse. Someone with a strong body and average skills might beat someone who's really weak but with a lot of talent, because it's extremely physical kind of activity. If he used some other excuse, I wouldn't mind, but this one just looks stupid and nothing else, coming from someone who was already 30 in his previous life. Having some close combat skills in a fantasy world might very well save his life, or his loved one's life, in the future.