and he actually like, cares about her opinion? Probably more than he'd EVER let on cause he's gotta act kind of standoffish to her because that's his instinctual reaction to huffy girls his age
meanwhile knight's answer for 'why not use a giant fuckoff sword' is essentially that he likes being able to better direct the edge and the shape of an axe makes that easier to do vs a greatsword
a) has enough mass and a sharp enough edge (and is hard enough to hold said edge) with the ultimate purpose of being able to cut through basilisk scales easily
2) it's wide enough that it can be used as a shield in its own right- it's basically a 12-year-old's imagining of what a strong knight's weapon would be, and knights are for defending people
So he basically started getting the hang of this stuff when he was like as young as 10, he just wouldn't have been able to actually explain it back then.
even if he'll argue a lotmeanwhile knight's answer for 'why not use a giant fuckoff sword' is essentially that he likes being able to better direct the edge and the shape of an axe makes that easier to do vs a greatsword