Looking for a very specific anime short
 

I know not the name of the title or when it was made, but I remember that it was a part of a collection of short stories(probably from different artists). The story I somewhat remember. It was about a merc-for-hire who loved really good stories, and he would fight if the book you gave him was good. So some little girl traveled to the merc's place and gave him a book. I don't remember whether he read the book first or not, but in exchange, he left and went to save the town from whoever or whatever was plaguing it. His sword skills were amazing, and I recall that the animation was very smooth. The short couldn't have been no longer than about 5 - 8 mins long.

Ah you are talking about Studio 4C's "Comedy" from the "Sweat Punch" shorts collection. This is actually my favorite short from the collection.

Ah YES! THAT'S THE ONE! Such beautiful story, music, and animation =03. It even had cute moments with the little girl watching him read XD.Too bad it couldn't have been made into an anime, it would have been interesting. I don't remember the other stories though, so I guess I'll look at those next. I actually skipped over Comedy while searching several times, I'd have never looked under "Comedy" for it =0\. Thanks a lot \(^,^)!