From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone - Volume 6 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: An Old Country Bumpkin Goes on an Expedition

“Ready!”

“All right, come at me.”

A young man charged at me with a spirited battle cry, a wooden sword in his hands. That said, it wasn’t the same length as what I or the knights usually used, it was just a little shorter. One day, he would use the real thing, but a wooden sword was actually pretty heavy for those who weren’t accustomed to the weight. Despite its long and slender appearance, it was still a solid lump of shaved wood. You needed a certain level of expertise to be able to properly wield something of that size.

“Hah!”

“Mm, much sharper than before.”

The young man—Lumite Bafang—let loose a diagonal slash. I used my own wooden sword to alter his blade’s trajectory. He’d studied swordsmanship before this, so was just a little ahead of the others, and he’d also kept up with Ficelle’s harsh training, which was coming along pretty nicely.

“Why, you...!”

“Hup.”

Lumite kept his grip on his sword, stepped in closer, and attacked with an upward slash. I kept my eye on his rising wooden sword as I lowered my own to meet it. The sound of wood scraping violently against wood resounded around us.

In a direct clash, there was no way for him to win against my muscle mass, so I shifted my weight to ward off the blow without bringing it to a stop. It felt better to be able to swing all the way through, after all.

Just as I mentioned earlier, Lumite’s swordsmanship was looking pretty good. However, that was only in relation to the other students of the sword magic course. As someone who regularly trained with the knights of the Liberion Order, there was no way I would get hit by his sword. It could be a different story in several years, though.

“Hggh!”

“Hm?”

With his training sword held overhead and his torso extended, Lumite forced his body to twist to bring his blade downward. I wondered why he chose to do that. Even if he was scared of a counterattack, he could’ve used his momentum to simply jump backward. And if he’d wanted to stay on the offense, there was no need to twist his body just to pull it off. Unable to read his next move, I went through my options in a fraction of a second. It was dangerous to sink into my own thoughts at this range, so I decided to take a step back. I could take action after seeing what he was actually up to.

“Hyah!”

“Oh?”

And even before I could finish processing that thought, Lumite struck. His sword was clearly out of range. It would have been one thing if I were standing just on the border of his reach, but anyone could tell he was never going to hit me. Regardless, he chose to swing his sword. A wooden sword slicing through empty air always creates a small puff of wind, but what came at me was more than a gust—it was a genuine wave of power.

“Ooh, impressive.”

In other words, Lumite had used sword magic. Its power and speed weren’t even worth comparing to the stuff Ficelle used. Anyone with a certain level of combat experience would be able to react and easily dodge it. I had done exactly that by swaying my upper body to the side.

Still, being able to manifest magic with a proper blade—in an entirely different way from a clashing of wooden swords—was a wonderful thing. It was enough for me to be moved by how quickly his talent was beginning to shine with proper guidance.

“But the fight’s not over just ’cause you managed one shot.”

“Ow.”

His growth was an entirely separate matter, though. Lumite had left himself completely open by using sword magic, so I stepped in and bonked him on the head with my wooden sword. He kept his voice down like the graceful young man he was, but he still yelped.

Had Lumite’s attack been blindingly fast, impossible to dodge, and a surefire way of bringing down his opponent, then an opening in his guard wouldn’t have been a problem. Perhaps one day it would be all those things, but at present, it wasn’t. He’d left himself exposed after being satisfied with his accomplishment, so it’d been his inescapable fate to be hit with a wooden sword.

“Th-Thank you for the match,” Lumite said, bowing as he rubbed his head.

“Likewise,” I said, returning the bow. “Anyway, it’s pretty amazing that you can already use sword magic.”

I knew nothing about magic, but I didn’t believe it was in any way easy to master. So, manifesting sword magic so clearly—albeit in a very rudimentary form—meant he’d grown at a terrifying rate.

“I practiced over the break,” Lumite said. “But I definitely find it hard to weave my mana while moving.”

“I see.”

The magic institute had been on break during the summer, but that didn’t mean every student had halted their progress. The serious ones like Lumite had diligently continued their studies independent of any lessons held at the institute.

I did value taking a breather when it was time to rest, though. It was pretty hard for me to continuously exhaust my stamina and strength at this age, so I rested when I could. Still, back in my youth, I’d swung my sword pretty recklessly. I didn’t want to force this generation’s youngsters to do the same, but it was admirable when they did so.

“Aww yeah! I win!”

“Ugh! That’s unfair! You have way more muscle!”

“I mean, not much I can do about that...”

As such thoughts went through my mind, another match seemed to have come to an end not too far away from where Lumite and I were standing. It was Nesia and Fredra. They, too, had continued their personal training at their own respective paces without taking a break.

It looked like Nesia had come out on top. Fredra was complaining, but there really wasn’t much that could be done about the difference in muscle mass between boys and girls—not to mention the fact that Nesia was blessed with a powerful physique.

“Now, now, sword magic exists to overcome that advantage, remember?” I told Fredra. “You’re just getting started.”

“Mrgh... If you say so, Mr. Beryl...”

In an artless confrontation, the one with more muscle generally won. Technique existed to make up for that handicap. From that perspective, sword magic was amazing—if you mastered it to a certain degree, of course. Still, it had the potential to easily overcome such disadvantages. Allucia and Surena made up for such a difference without relying on any sort of projectiles, though. Man, Henblitz would totally win against either of them in arm wrestling, and yet... Technique truly was deep and mysterious.

“Hiyaaaah!”

“Gh!”

There was one more pair having a match—Mewi and Cindy. Cindy was making full use of her excess energy to remain on the offensive. Her swordsmanship was still a little unreliable to count on in actual combat, but handling a nonstop barrage of attacks from someone who never got tired was still tough work.

Mewi was fending her off well. She’d always been the agile type, so dodging all of Cindy’s attacks must’ve been relatively simple for her. However, she was still too inexperienced to link her evasive maneuvers to counterattacks. That was a simple deficiency in technique and knowledge—she just didn’t know what to do.

“Hmph!”

“Bwah?!”

“Oooh.”

And just as I figured Cindy would win by draining Mewi’s stamina, Mewi drove her wooden sword into Cindy’s ribs with a sharp thrust. She’d splendidly spotted a gap where she could attack. Damn, that looks like it hurt.

“You okay, Cindy?” I asked, running over to her.

“G-Gah...! I-I’m totally fine!” she sputtered.

She didn’t look fine at all. Mewi didn’t have much muscle, so I doubted any bones were broken, but a thrust to the ribs with a wooden sword would definitely hurt, especially if one hadn’t built up a resistance to blows. Having stamina and being tough were two different things. Frankly, it would be weirder to be okay after taking a hit from a wooden sword. All of the knights of the Liberion Order are weird, huh? Well, maybe that tenet is only correct for those who live by the sword.

“Mewi, I’m impressed you saw an opening and got in a hit like that,” I said.

“Hmph...”

I received the same reaction as ever. She was like this at home too, but it was especially prominent during sword magic classes. I was used to it though—I didn’t pay it any mind. This was just who she was. If her attitude was bound to put her in a bad situation, I was ready to say something about it, but so far, that didn’t seem likely.

“Now then, how are they doing over there?” I asked, turning to look at the dozens of students doing practice swings with Ficelle.

Due to the incident with Vice Principal Brown before summer, the number of students attending the sword magic class had risen significantly. Even with the passing of summer and the beginning of fall, the number hadn’t changed much, and there didn’t appear to be many dropouts. There’d been a couple, but there wasn’t much that could be done about that.

As for me, I didn’t say much about how Ficelle conducted her class, nor did I come to the institute often. Summer break had, of course, paused my visits, so it really had been a while since I’d been here.

“Master, I’d like you to supervise these kids. I’ll go over the basics with the others.”

Those had been Ficelle’s first words to me today. Naturally, the five students who’d attended her lessons from the very beginning were noticeably ahead of the dozens who’d joined later. To add to that, those five were the elite who’d endured Ficelle’s unreasonable practice-swing hell. So, she had come up with a plan to do something about that gap. In short, the one guiding the students would change based on their progression.

That was only possible with both me and Ficelle here, but it was efficient. We couldn’t toss those who couldn’t even properly do practice swings into training bouts. Likewise, we couldn’t keep those who’d finished learning the fundamentals in an eternal loop of doing nothing but the basics.

Even the novices Ficelle was teaching now would be able to participate in training bouts eventually. When that happened, I would no longer be needed here, and I’d only be able to contribute my skills as a sparring partner like I was doing with Lumite now. That, or I could come in to mix things up. I was capable of teaching swordsmanship, but nothing about magic.

That said, I had no intention of ever losing in these bouts at the magic institute—I would continue to win right up until their graduation. Even if they used sword magic like Lumite had, I refused to accept a loss. I would hold back appropriately but never let my guard down.

Of course, I’d never once taken part in a mock battle with the intention of losing, but my feelings on the matter had been amplified ever since I’d won against my dad. The reality of that fact had come to me very slowly. I’d beaten my father and was now aware of my own strength. It wasn’t until the carriage ride back to Baltrain that I’d come to the realization: I want to live with my head held high. But to counter that, I’d also developed a desire to refrain from becoming arrogant or haughty.

I had to change my perception of myself from “not weak” to “strong.” Naturally, I wasn’t going to claim to have reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, and I planned to continue to devote myself to my art. I didn’t want to be conceited—it was beyond pathetic to sit back and bask in my own strength. I hadn’t dedicated my life to swordsmanship just to brag about it.

So, I planned to remain modest without being self-abasing. That was easier said than done, though. Even after I’d defeated the man I’d seen as the ultimate swordsman, the scenery around me hadn’t changed drastically. In other words, my outlook on life couldn’t be so quickly altered. Was this something I had to consciously focus on?

I pondered all manner of things as the five students I was supervising took a break, but as a temporary lecturer here, I couldn’t stand around endlessly worrying about my own problems. I continued watching Ficelle shouting directions to her students as she swung her wooden sword.

Suddenly, something came to mind.

“Oh yeah, are you the only one who can use a little sword magic now?” I asked Lumite.

“No,” Lumite said. “All the others can get it to manifest too.”

“Is that so? Pretty impressive.”

It seemed he wasn’t the only one. Well, this was the magic institute—and the sword magic class at that—so getting it to manifest meant they were at the starting line. However, I hadn’t seen any signs of sword magic in the other kids’ bouts. Maybe it was just hard to weave mana while on the move, much like Lumite had mentioned.

“Hm? Does that mean you can do it too?” I asked Mewi.

“Well...technically...”

Lumite had said “All the others.” That had to include her too.

Mewi using sword magic... Oh man, I kind of...really want to see that. She would probably refuse if I asked her to show me at home, so I couldn’t let this chance pass me by.

“I see. I’d like to check what all of your sword magic looks like so far.”

If I’d said I only wanted to see Mewi’s sword magic, I would’ve been showing my partiality. That would be a poor move as an instructor. It was better to demonstrate an interest in everyone’s sword magic. I wasn’t lying either. The growth of the next generation was always worth celebrating—I was just borrowing Henblitz’s words, but he was exactly right.

I was going to have them show me the proof of their growth right here and now.

“Not that I really mind,” Nesia said, “but it ain’t all that impressive.”

“That’s always how it is at first,” I told him. “But that doesn’t mean you should postpone showing it to others until you’re completely satisfied with how it looks, right?”

“Well...you got a point there,” he conceded.

He seemed somewhat reluctant to show off his amateur sword magic. I understood this feeling well, but he couldn’t refuse to do so forever. It was embarrassing to show off an underdeveloped technique—I felt the same way. However, worrying about that too much would hamper your ability to improve. In my opinion, so long as there wasn’t a reason to intentionally conceal a technique, showing it to others was a perfectly viable means of polishing it to a shine.

“Looks like they’re going to need a bit more time anyway,” I said, glancing at Ficelle’s students. “Okay, how about you all line up side by side and shoot one spell each?”

I had them all face an empty space on these ridiculously vast campus grounds. A part of me wanted to face their magic head-on, but it probably wasn’t ready for practical use. I was confident I could dodge their attacks, but it would be unwise to do so and put a damper on everyone’s mood. Though, it would be somewhat problematic if the five of them surrounded me and fired at once. I wasn’t confident I could dodge at all in that case. Unleashing their magic toward empty space would be best for everyone.

“I’m pretty sure you’d be able to dodge even if we all attacked you at once,” Lumite said jokingly.

“I might be strong compared to you kids, but I’m not superhuman...”

No matter how strong I’d become, some things were physically impossible. I wouldn’t be able to do anything against a hail of projectiles being launched from five people surrounding me. Maybe if I tried really, really hard, I could weather the storm. But such a feat wasn’t worth trying in the middle of a lecture at the magic institute. That was basically a dance with death.

“Hgggh... Okay! I’m good enough to mo— OW!”

“Cindy, don’t push yourself...” I said.

Cindy tried to force her body to move, but a thrust to the ribs wasn’t something she could just walk off and ignore. If these kids were planning to join the battlefield in the future, they would have to get used to pain to a certain degree. Still, very few people would be able to move around freely after that. I decided to teach her how to chill the wound afterward. It would be difficult to get some ice, but a towel drenched in cold water would do the trick.

“Okay, let’s have a look.”

Cindy was going to need time to recover, so I got the other four to ready their wooden swords. It was weird for a man who knew nothing about magic to observe their sword magic. Maybe Ficelle would get angry about this later. But it was just one time, so hopefully she would forgive me.

“Hmm!”

After I gave them the signal, they each began weaving their mana at their own pace. As was to be expected, they were extremely sluggish compared to Ficelle. A vague hint of power I could somehow or other see was gathering around their blades.

Yup, this definitely isn’t practical in an actual fight. They were sure to be attacked while gathering their power. And even if they were spared, their target could run away with ease. In all likelihood, it was a little faster to simply gather mana and fire it without the sword. They looked to be having a hard time due to the extra process of gathering their mana around a blade. Ficelle had once described the act of shooting magic as easy, but expanding its effect and maintaining it was very hard.

“Hah!”

The first to finish was Lumite. He’d used it in his bout against me, even though it’d left him completely open. He was probably the best at it among this group. The wave from Lumite’s sword traveled for about five meters before vanishing. It must’ve been too difficult to maintain beyond that point.

“Raaaah!”

“Hyah!”

Next were Nesia and Fredra. Nesia’s sword magic looked stronger than Lumite’s, but it only flew for about two or three meters. His strike seemed to have more destructive force, while Lumite’s had range. Fredra’s, on the other hand, was a long and thin wave that flew even farther than Lumite’s. This one didn’t appear to have much force behind it, but it had plenty of range. Each student was basically using the same type of sword magic, but it was amusing how they all had their own quirks.

“Hmph!”

Last was Mewi. She was technically capable of using sword magic, but she was likely the least skilled of the bunch. She seemed to have had a hard time gathering her mana around her blade.

“Ooh?”

Also, her sword magic was somewhat different from the others. Their magic had been somewhat yellow and nearly colorless—very similar to what Ficelle had used against Lono Ambrosia, but on a far smaller scale. Mewi’s was clearly red.

Hang on, is that actual fire? Not only was the color clearly different, but I could sense a faint heat emanating from it.

“Oh man, you’re all amazing,” I told the group. “This’ll definitely be an asset once you can use it in an actual fight.”

Well, setting my interest in Mewi’s magic aside for now, I had to praise all of the students. Focusing entirely on her would show my partiality, so I needed to withstand the urge. At any rate, I thought I’d already had a good idea about a wizard’s strengths, but seeing it again now was still very impressive. It also reinforced how much Lucy and Ficelle towered above others by being able to perform such feats with casual ease. It didn’t change the fact that the students training here were all very talented, but it really highlighted how much of a genius Ficelle was.

“I mean, I get it being strong and all, but I don’t feel like I’m ever gonna be able to use it on the move...” Nesia grumbled.

“Ha ha ha. I suppose you just have to keep practicing,” I told him.

“Tch. It’s gonna be a damn long road...”

So he said, but I doubted he’d ever been under the impression that sword magic would be easy to master. He spoke with a sharp tongue, but his expression didn’t show the slightest hint of desperation. I’d also spent years cultivating the techniques I now used. Life wouldn’t be so hard if techniques were that easy to master. That was sure to apply to both swordsmanship and magic.

“I can teach you the movements that your swordplay is based on, but you’ll have to listen carefully to Ms. Ficelle and your other teachers when it comes to mana and magic.”

Put another way, there was nothing I could teach them regarding anything related to magic. This was one fact that couldn’t be overturned by any amount of effort. I really looked up to the capabilities of wizards and would’ve loved to know more, but I’d long given up on that.

“If anything, I kinda wanna get just one hit in against you using only my sword,” Nesia remarked.

“Ha ha ha. If you want to do that, you’ve got a ton of catching up to do,” I said.

“Haaah... This road seems even longer...”

It really was like Nesia to want to get one up on me without relying on wizardry. Sticking to the initial impression I’d always had of him, he seemed more like a swordsman than a wizard by nature. If his talent for magic had never manifested, perhaps he would’ve ended up aiming to be an adventurer or knight. He simply had that much martial spirit in him.

At any rate, even though I found his aspirations admirable, I had no intention of losing—I couldn’t lose for, at minimum, the next fifteen years. I’d be sixty at that point, and this seemed like a good enough goal. My dad had set aside his sword before turning sixty, but a part of me thought it’d be nice to surpass him. And he was still plenty strong, even after retiring.

“Master, we’re at a good stopping point too. It’s about time for the end of class.”

“Oops, it’s already that late?”

That was when Ficelle came over to us. It seemed it was about time to wrap things up. Time spent chatting and crossing blades was so fulfilling that it made the minutes fly by. The students who’d had the fundamentals driven into them via practice swings looked totally exhausted. They all had a proper talent for magic—as was true of all students in the institute—so it was rather rare for them to possess any knowledge of swordsmanship...or rather, any combat technique that involved moving the body. If anything, Lumite and Nesia were clear exceptions.

Even though they were doing no more than practice swings, constantly raising and bringing down a heavy wooden sword was pretty rough at first. That said, those who were incapable of that wouldn’t even be able to get started with sword magic, so I hoped they’d stick it out and try their best.

“I only caught a glimpse, but you’ve all got a ways to go,” Ficelle said to the students. “You need more training.”

“N-Now, now...” I said.

I was wondering if she could be a little gentler about it. They’d studied for far less time than Ficelle and I had. If they’d had enough skill to be able to shock us in such a short time, they would be surpassing genius level and shooting right into the realm of the superhuman.

“Also, you’re as bad at converting your mana as ever, Mewi,” Ficelle added sharply, having properly seen that last display of sword magic.

“Erk...”

“I noticed the color was different,” I said. “Does that make it shoddy?”

“Mm-hmm. Very shoddy,” Ficelle confirmed, pouring salt on the wound.

Maybe it’s my fault for asking. Sorry, Mewi. It’s too much to ask for Ficelle to carefully consider her words.

Mewi fell silent. She wasn’t crying or wailing about it, so maybe she could tell that Ficelle had no ill intent.

“Well, it’s not exactly bad, per se.” Ficelle had corrected herself, likely sensing the awkward mood. “But she can’t convert her mana into anything but fire. It’s really clumsy.”

Thinking back on it, Lucy had manipulated an enormous variety of magic—fire, lightning, water, ice, and even other magics I couldn’t comprehend, like the one that had taken out Twilight in an instant.

Even if it wasn’t fair to compare Mewi to Lucy, being incapable of using magic for anything but fire did seem like a bit of a waste. I wondered whether this was something that could be changed with training or if it was decided at birth.

“But it’s really high output magic,” Ficelle added. “That part’s amazing. Still clumsy, though.”

“Hmph...” Mewi huffed.

By high output, she likely meant the amount of mana involved or how much could be converted into fire at once or something. I really didn’t have a clue, so I could only let my imagination run wild in that regard. If I could sense mana, maybe I could’ve provided some advice, but there was nothing I could do about that. It didn’t seem like a sense you could acquire through training.

“So...she’s really gifted but unpolished,” I said.

“You could say that,” Ficelle agreed noncommittally.

Having the talent for something and being able to skillfully demonstrate it seemed similar but were very different matters. To use an example that made more sense to me, even with a talent for swordsmanship, there were those who were completely devoted to offense. There was a clear difference between talent and skill—skill was something to acquire over time. In that sense, Mewi definitely had talent dormant within her, but she had yet to awaken it.

It was up to her instructor’s preference whether to force that talent out or to develop it slowly. Failing to awaken it at all meant the instructor was inadequate. Seeing that she was actually capable of creating fire from mana, Mewi definitely had a talent for it, but it was up to Ficelle and the other teachers of the institute to do something about that, not me. To repeat myself over and over, I knew absolutely nothing about magic, so there was very little I could do.

“Ah.”

And as I pondered over such things, a familiar dong, dong resounded in the air. It was the bell signifying the end of class. As always, I had no idea how this sound was being produced or where it was coming from. It was probably some type of magic. The world of magic’s awfully deep. I can understand why Lucy and other wizards are so eager to research it.

“That’s it for today,” Ficelle said, addressing the students. “Good work, everyone.”

“Thank you for the lesson!”

And with that, today’s class was over.

Since I’d taken a break for all of summer vacation, it really had been a while since I’d been at the magic institute. I was glad to see that everyone had grown in their own ways. I was especially delighted that Mewi was steadily mastering the fundamentals of sword magic. As an instructor, I couldn’t have favorites, but even so, it was probably fine to be secretly delighted.

Her swordsmanship was still immature but steadily improving. Partially due to the environment she’d grown up in, she had no restraint. This was a good thing—she never avoided hitting her opponent with a wooden sword. Honestly, that was pretty important for learning any martial art. It was good to be considerate, but that could sometimes be a flaw. Well, in Mewi’s case, she was also lacking in terms of manners and decorum. We just had to make adjustments to that little by little.

“Oh man, I’m really looking forward to it,” I muttered.

“Hm? To what?” Ficelle asked.

“Seeing the next generation’s growth.”

The students of the sword magic course weren’t really my pupils. If anything, they were Ficelle’s. Still, they were the next generation, and I was helping them grow. Walking my own path of swordsmanship was fun, but it was even better to be able to oversee their progress. This was definitely what made being in a position to guide and teach others worthwhile.

◇

“Morning, everyone.”

“Good morning!”

Yesterday, I had gone to the magic institute for the first time in a while, and today, I was back at my main job as a special instructor at the order’s training hall. I basically split my time up—eighty percent here and twenty percent as a temporary lecturer at the institute. This meant I was very busy; however, the sword magic class was only an hour long, and I wasn’t in the order’s training hall all the time. I was only on the clock for four hours or so. This was a little harsh on my stamina, but my working hours were on the short side compared to a normal job. Combined with my above-average pay, this life was unimaginable compared to my days in the countryside teaching swordsmanship and doing some farming on the side. It was, of course, nice to have money to spare, but that didn’t mean I wanted to work every day from morning to evening.

In hindsight, I found myself in a blessed environment, and I had Allucia to thank for that. She was far busier than I was, though. I wanted to do anything I could to reduce the burden on her.

“Now then, time to give it my all for another day.”

I wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular. These words were for myself. Unfortunately, I was incapable of thinking, Well, I beat my dad, so I’m already the best. There’s no need to try anymore. It was difficult to claim that I’d reached the summit of swordsmanship simply by narrowly defeating my aging father. There were surely plenty of strong people out there who I knew nothing about. I wasn’t conceited enough to claim I could win against all of them.

However, the problem now was what to aim for. I couldn’t think of anything at the moment. I’d spent many long years thinking my dad was the ultimate swordsman. Even now, that was still true. But I’d beaten him. I wasn’t sure whether this gave me confidence yet, but a win was a win. As a model for manhood, my dad was still my goal, but I had no idea who I could set my sights on as an even higher peak for swordsmanship.

I didn’t believe my dad was the best in the world, but I didn’t know any swordsman who was clearly stronger than him. You might ask, “Well, doesn’t that make you the best?” but I didn’t feel like that was quite right either.

To bring up a recent example, I didn’t believe I could win against Lucy. Maybe I could beat her by catching her by surprise at close range, but that applied to basically any opponent. Surprise attacks were the ultimate battle tactic.

Getting back on topic, I hadn’t given up on aiming for the summit of swordsmanship, but I’d suddenly lost my guidepost to accomplishing that. Incidentally, mastering swordplay to the extreme didn’t necessarily mean becoming the ultimate swordsman. It was pretty hard to explain. Lucy was probably in the same boat. She was studying to push the limits of magic, but she didn’t seem to have any fixation on being the ultimate wizard.

That was the same way I wanted to reach the summit—I had no desire to become the strongest swordsman in the world. I mean, it sounded kind of neat, but it was more of a curiosity than a goal.

However, the troublesome part was that perfecting swordsmanship inevitably came with strength. If only it were a scholarly pursuit. The accumulation of technique and knowledge in that case would have nothing to do with physical strength.

“Hmmm...”

I sank deeper into thought as I watched the knights before me engage in intense mock battles.

Man, where exactly is the summit? What’s the view like up there? In all likelihood, nobody knew. None had ever reached the peak. My dad was supposed to be ahead of me on that path, but I’d overtaken him before I’d realized it. Now I either had to figure out a new goalpost or find my way based purely on my own efforts.

It was an extremely perilous path. I’d already passed the peak of my life, and walking down this road alone as an aging older man was harsh and disheartening. Maybe things would be different if I had a partner to walk with me, but that was impractical at this point, so I set the thought aside for now.

Still, I didn’t have any desire to stop walking this path or turn around and go back. I’d come so far already, so I wanted to go as far as I could. And though I wasn’t at the summit, I was clearly on the upper slopes. Before now, I’d been cognizant of the fact that I wasn’t at the base of the climb, but now, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that I was pretty high up there.

“Well isn’t this an awfully luxurious thing to worry about...”

My quiet muttering vanished among the tumult of the training hall. In a corner of my mind, I understood things, even if belatedly—I’d continued polishing my skills, had gone from the sticks in Beaden to becoming a special instructor for the Liberion Order, and had then defeated the man I’d set as my lifelong goal.

It’d all been rather unexpected, and I couldn’t ask for more. If I tried to pursue more, I would be stuck going on a tour of the world to find strong warriors I’d yet to meet. Even if I disregarded that option as unrealistic, I wanted some kind of achievement...or anything to make me believe I’d reached the summit.

Seriously, the more I thought about it, the more luxurious my problem seemed. I could honestly end things by just declaring, “I’ve reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship.” Still, before this, I hadn’t thought of myself all that highly, so I found it hard to come to terms with the matter.

“Ah, there he is. Mr. Beryl!”

“Hm?”

After a while of immersing myself in my thoughts, I heard a voice call out to me from behind.

Oops, that’s no good. I can’t go drifting away in my thoughts while watching the knights spar. I shook my head slightly and turned to find Evans standing in front of me.

“Evans, something happen?” I asked.

“Umm, Commander Allucia is calling for you. She wants you to drop by her office.”

“Hmm. Got it.”

He didn’t seem particularly rushed. This looked like less of an emergency and more like something she didn’t want others to know about. My only choice was to make my way to the knight commander.

It was rare for Allucia to call for me. Perhaps out of consideration, she usually came to me when she needed something. She was head of this organization, so she could summon me without any reservation, but her nature meant that she usually didn’t.

“Hm? Not the reception room? Her office?” I asked, coming to a sudden realization.

“Yes, that is what she said.”

“I see... Thanks.”

My destination wasn’t the usual reception room, but the knight commander’s office. More and more, this seemed like an important matter she couldn’t let others find out about—such matters tended to be rather troublesome. Also, she hadn’t called for the lieutenant commander or any veteran knights, but for me. I was starting to get tense.

At least I knew where Allucia’s office was. She’d taught me the rough layout of the building and where certain rooms were when she’d given me the tour during my first visit. Still, I hadn’t once entered her office before this. I’d never had any business there, after all.

“Okay then...”

After thanking Evans, I left the training hall. Much like all the previous incidents, I wasn’t going to figure things out on my own. I’d made many connections since coming to Baltrain from Beaden. Putting it this way might sound strange, but those connections had constantly dragged me into situations I’d known nothing about beforehand.

There wasn’t much that could be done about that, and nothing of the like had happened during my days holed up in the sticks. I just couldn’t get used to it. To add to that, the situations had all been pretty pretty serious. How could I not be on my guard? Well, guess it’s pretty meaningless to be wary about what’s coming next when things keep popping up out of the blue.

“Oh, I think this is it.”

After walking through the uniformly white corridors, I found myself in front of the office where Allucia usually did her work. She was supposed to be waiting for me inside, but the solemn door gave off a particularly daunting impression, even compared to how indomitable the order seemed as a whole. I was getting pretty tense.

“Okay...”

I didn’t exactly have a collar worth adjusting, but I straightened myself up, steeled my nerves, and knocked, sending a quiet and firm echo down the hallway.

“Come in.”

A calm, dignified voice answered from within. It was definitely Allucia. I’d heard her voice pretty much every day since coming to Baltrain. It was as fine as it had been back in her days at the dojo. Not that anyone would enjoy receiving praise about that from an old man.

“Excuse me.”

I wondered what Allucia’s business was. Why had she gone as far as summoning me? I was curious, but I had a bad feeling. I wished this instinct of mine would be wrong every now and then.

I opened the door to be greeted by pretty much what I’d expected. Her office was large enough to not be cramped, and the walls were a calm white, much like the hallway and the reception room. Unlike the reception room, there were several luxurious decorations and a large bookshelf next to the desk where Allucia was sitting.

The Liberion Order had a long history. Even just their activity records had to take up significant shelf space, and there were likely other books here as well. Allucia also happened to have a voracious hunger for knowledge.

Seated at the desk by the window, there was a certain holiness to Allucia’s dignified bearing as her pen ran across a piece of paper. I’d never seen her doing work at a desk before, but it really suited her.

“Master, forgive me for calling you here,” she said, rising from her seat.

“It’s fine—don’t worry about it.”

She was the knight commander while I was a special instructor. I wasn’t going to nitpick about her being way higher up the social ladder compared to me, but I figured she could be a little more frank with me. I did, of course, understand that she felt somewhat sorry for forcefully dragging this old man out of his hole in the countryside. She’d even prepared the royal seal for that purpose. I was constantly reminded of her tremendously strong will.

However, even if I’d come here with a royal appointment, I’d ultimately been the one to accept. That was what had led us to our current relationship. It’d been rather sudden, but I was still grateful for it to this day. Had I stayed in Beaden, things would never have developed the way they had. This was all just hindsight, though.

“Please take a seat,” Allucia offered, directing me to what looked like a guest meeting area along the wall.

“Oh, sure.”

This was her private office, but she still took guests here. After all, there had to be discussions she couldn’t have in the reception room. I never thought I’d be taking part in one such conversation.

“I must say, it’s refreshing to see you at a desk,” I told her. “It suits you.”

“Thank you, but I still have a long way to go,” Allucia said, apparently taking my words as empty flattery.

“Ha ha, you’re as hard a worker as ever.”

Man, I was dead serious. Allucia made quite the picture, whether she was swinging a sword or wielding a pen at her desk. I knew nothing about how effective she actually was at her office work, but I doubted she was poor at it. If so, this office wouldn’t belong to her.

“So...what’s going on?” I asked.

“Allow me to get right to the point.”

I’d had surprisingly few opportunities to sit down and have a nice relaxing chat with Allucia after moving to Baltrain. I spent most of my time here in the training hall, and she focused all her attention on running the order. We had spent time training together, but we’d spoken alone very little. Even now, we’d both had to interrupt our work for this meeting. I couldn’t waste her time with idle chatter, so we got right to the matter at hand.

“This was delivered to the order the other day,” she said, placing a letter on the table.

“Hmmm...”

I was guessing it was some kind of decree. I didn’t recognize the opened seal on it—the letter wasn’t from the royal family.

“It’s an invitation from Margrave Flumvelk,” Allucia explained. “It details a typical party hosted by nobles.”

“Hmmm...?”

Who the heck is Margrave Flumvelk? By margrave, I could assume it was a noble with territory on the border...with either Sphenedyardvania or Salura Zaruk. That said, I had no idea who the margrave could be. Even if an invitation addressed to the order was perfectly normal, I had no clue why this had anything to do with me.

“Ummm... So the Liberion Order was invited to the margrave’s party?” I asked.

“That’s the gist of it.”

It seemed I wasn’t misinterpreting the situation. I’d never been involved with such festivities, but a person of Allucia’s standing was sure to receive invitations to these kinds of events. Now that I thought of it, the letters she’d written to me had mentioned an increase in that kind of social activity.

But I still didn’t know why she was informing me about it. Was she entrusting me with the knights’ training while she was away in Flumvelk’s territory? In that case, there was no need to go out of her way to summon me. She had her lieutenant too, so I didn’t feel like that was quite right.

After thinking it through, I couldn’t come up with an answer. So, I decided to ask her directly. She’d called me here to tell me about it, after all.

“I understand the situation, but...why did you want to discuss this?” I asked.

“I would like you to attend this party too, Master.”

“Why?” I blurted out reflexively.

Seriously, why?

Allucia smiled gently.

No, seriously, why?

“This was delivered to the Liberion Order, but it is addressed to me...and you,” Allucia explained.

“Why?”

I tried digesting her words once more, but the same word came to mind. I understood Allucia being invited. She was the knight commander who sat at the top of the country’s most powerful military organization—I could imagine how imperative it was for her to have connections with important figures, not only in Baltrain, but the entirety of Liberis.

However, I wasn’t quite sure how to react to being invited alongside her. Some time had passed since I’d obtained my title of special instructor, so I could somewhat understand my fame spreading within Baltrain. There’d been that royal assassination attempt not too long ago too, so that probably meant I was known outside the order. It technically made sense that some nobles might want to see me. However, the person inviting me was a margrave. I’d never been to such a remote territory, nor did I even know where it was. I couldn’t see the reason for calling me there when I wasn’t even a knight.

“There are several reasons...” Allucia began. “Master, you’re familiar with Flumvelk, yes?”

“Not at all.”

“Is...that so?”

Hm? Allucia’s reaction seems a bit...weird? Did she figure I already knew about Flumvelk and its lord? Well, that explains why we seem to be talking in parallel. Still, Allucia was supposed to be well aware of my normal daily life. It didn’t make sense for her to think I was acquainted with a margrave. In an entirely rude possibility, I might’ve come to know this Margrave Flumvelk at some point in the past, but I’d ended up completely forgetting who that was.

I wanted to believe I hadn’t forgotten some noble. As far as I knew, no noble had ever visited Beaden—I was pretty confident I would have remembered such an event. I wouldn’t know if one had visited incognito, but there was no reason for a noble to go that far into the sticks, and even less reason to do so in disguise.

“Then let’s start with the other reasons,” Allucia said.

“Sure.”

I was sorry to ruin her base assumption, but I really had no idea what was going on. The one other possibility I could think of was that this was somehow connected to my dad. He’d gone all over doing ridiculous things before coming to Beaden with my mother and having me. Also, considering my dad’s personality, even if he did know some big-shot nobles and they visited, he wouldn’t have introduced them as such. Regardless, even if he did have such acquaintances, I highly doubted that they would’ve gone all the way out there to visit him.

“Flumvelk is located along the border with Sphenedyardvania,” Allucia started.

“Hmm...”

I couldn’t find the link between myself and the margrave, so we moved on. I didn’t like that it bordered Sphenedyardvania rather than the empire. Not that I’d been to either nation, but I was familiar with some of Sphenedyardvania’s circumstances, and I didn’t have a great impression of that nation. It carried a certain reek, so to speak.

That being the case, I kind of understood why she’d called for me rather than Henblitz. After the assassination attempt, Allucia and I had been the ones invited to dine with the royal family.

“Does this have something to do with the assassination attempts a while back?” I asked.

Now that it was on my mind, I couldn’t help but think about it. Fortunately, Allucia was the only one here. Nobody outside the room would hear us unless we shouted for some reason.

“It does,” she confirmed. “And just for safety, I’d like you to keep what you hear next to yourself.”

“Of course,” I agreed immediately.

“Thank you.”

This definitely had something to do with the royal family, and that explained why she’d gone out of her way to talk to me about this. I would rather die than spread a bombshell like that around. My heart wouldn’t be able to handle it.

“Princess Salacia’s marriage is moving forward in earnest,” Allucia said.

“Hmm.”

Meaning her wedding to Prince Glenn has been decided. If Allucia had been informed of this, then things between Liberis and Sphenedyardvania had largely been settled. About all that was likely left was to decide on a date.

“Thus, we have the true purpose of this gathering: confirming the transit route before the wedding and convening the lords whose territories are on that path,” Allucia explained.

“I see...”

This was a matter of significant weight. I could see why the order was being mobilized and why Allucia had to attend personally.

It wasn’t really my place to question it, but was this really all right? I only knew a bit about Sphenedyardvania’s current situation, but it hadn’t been that long since the incident with Rose. It was hard to believe they’d resolved all of their internal strife so quickly.

“So it’s not like we’ll be the only two going, right?” I asked.

“Indeed. At present, we’re planning to bring a few knights and a platoon of the royal garrison as escorts.”

“That’s a lot...”

It was a huge gathering. I understood taking the knights along, but a full platoon of the royal garrison increased the scale significantly. Well, thinking about it rationally, taking dozens of knights to a noble’s party was pretty weird too.

The reason the garrison was coming along too was likely because they’d be participating in escort duty for the princess’s marriage. In other words, this was like a rehearsal. If I had to guess, the participating members would be the royal guard King Gladio had mentioned before. A lot of things now made sense.

Also, to state the obvious, having the Liberion Order and royal garrison loitering around the border would cause unnecessary tension with our neighbor. Especially when it came to the papists, it was in Liberis’s best interest to avoid provoking anyone.

“And that’s where the written invitation comes in,” I concluded.

“Exactly. On paper, it is to express thanks and recognize the service of the Liberion Order for preventing a crisis with Sphenedyardvania.”

“On paper, huh...”

That solidified my belief that this was no mere invitation. The slightest—really just the slightest—part of me had been looking forward to a nice vacation. But this was the real world. This situation had ended up being some huge pain, just as expected. Goddammit.

“Just to be sure, Henblitz can’t go instead?” I asked.

“He can’t,” Allucia confirmed. “A force must remain behind in Baltrain, including a leader.”

“You’re quite right.”

They had to account for Sphenedyardvania using this opportunity to start something. Even without taking that into consideration, it would be an extremely poor decision to leave the city that housed the royal family vacant of knights or leadership. It would be dandy if nothing happened, but if something did, it would be ridiculous to be incapable of doing anything about it. So, Allucia and Henblitz couldn’t both leave at once—one of the leading figures had to stay behind just in case.

“Anyway...I get why you’re going, but how is my participation necessary?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t say it’s necessary... I believe you’ll understand once we get there. The same goes for the initial reason I mentioned.”

“Hmmm...”

By that, she was referring to knowing Flumvelk. Did that mean I would remember when I got there? I really didn’t remember anything about it, and I would be seriously sorry if I’d simply forgotten. Allucia could just tell me now, but my lapse in memory could be entirely my fault too, so I couldn’t press the issue.

“Also, it is my personal wish that you come,” Allucia added.

“I-I see...”

This girl never loses her stride when she says stuff like that out of the blue. Is that her wish as the knight commander?

“At any rate, your name is clearly written on the invitation,” she continued. “It appears that Princess Salacia recommended you as well.”

“Personally nominated, huh...”

I couldn’t help but look up at the ceiling. It was the same as usual—the ladders were already at the walls before things ever got brought up to me. It sounded like I was being consulted, but my attendance was practically an order. Hasn’t this happened a lot since coming to Baltrain? I’m not imagining things, right?

What was more, Princess Salacia had requested me by name. I had no right to refuse. Even if this wasn’t a royal decree like when I’d been appointed as a special instructor by the king, it was impossible for me to refuse a nomination by the royal family.

I’d half given up when a certain question came to mind.

“Hm? Hang on a sec,” I said.

“Yes? What is it?”

“You said Princess Salacia recommended me as well... Does that mean Margrave Flumvelk knows me?”

“Of course.”

Seriously? Apparently, I completely forgot who this margrave is. Sorry. Please forgive me.

“So when will we be going, and for how long?” I asked.

I was extremely curious about who Margrave Flumvelk was, but if I’d forgotten, there was no remembering it now. Allucia probably wasn’t going to pry too deeply about it either. This was, at most, a rehearsal for the princess’s actual wedding. My acquaintance with the margrave was a trivial matter when looking at the big picture.

For now, I decided to set aside what I didn’t know and just ask about the details. It was a bad habit of mine to get way too lost in thought, and it was pretty rare for all my thinking to uncover new aspects of things or change them for the better.

“It’s next month,” Allucia said. “The journey will take about ten days each way, so including our stay, I believe it’ll take about a month total.”

“A whole month...”

Honestly, that sounded a little long. We were going all the way to the border, so it couldn’t be close to Baltrain. It wasn’t like Beaden either, which was a complete backwater due to several overlapping circumstances. This was the genuine border. I didn’t have much experience with traveling so far away, so I was a little anxious.

“I’m pretty sure I can’t refuse,” I said, “but I’m reluctant to agree on an emotional level... I have to think about Mewi too.”

My biggest concern wasn’t my lack of experience, but Mewi. One month was about the same span of time as my return to Beaden during the summer. However, this time, bringing Mewi along was out of the question. Even if she was my family on paper, she was a complete outsider to the order and the margrave.

To add to that, this was a command from royalty. That precluded the choice of bringing her. What would she do while I was gone? Well, she wasn’t an infant or anything, so she could technically manage without me. The institute was open too, and she had enough money to feed herself.

“Not to sound harsh...but judging by her age, I don’t believe there should be a problem,” Allucia said, stating something perfectly reasonable.

“Well, you know...I guess you have a point, but still...”

I was probably being overprotective. There were plenty of kids Mewi’s age who were completely independent. Above all else, she’d practically been living on her own until meeting me and Lucy. As long as she had money, she wasn’t going to go back to pickpocketing, so there was no need to worry about that.

“At least let me talk to her about it first,” I said. “It won’t take long.”

“Understood. But please hurry if you can. It’ll help.”

In the end, I couldn’t make my decision on the spot. I would’ve needed to under normal circumstances. To repeat myself, I had no right to refuse. However, a stubborn part of me wanted to delay the decision. It was less about logic and more about sentiment. Just as I’d told Allucia, I didn’t intend to take long. Mewi would be there once I got home, so I could talk to her about it today.

There were two major outcomes to this. On the assumption I was going to Flumvelk no matter what, I was either leaving Mewi on her own or asking someone to watch her. She wouldn’t refuse to let me go. And even on the off chance that she did throw a tantrum, it wouldn’t be a reason for me to turn down the invitation. I kind of want to see her do that, though.

In short, my only choice was to go. The question was how much I could convince Mewi of this before leaving. Even though I wanted to move things forward by accepting the invitation, I couldn’t help but worry about Mewi. She was surely capable of managing on her own for a month, but I was reluctant to leave her without any preparation. After all, I couldn’t bring her with me this time.

Oh well. Guess I’ll resort to my ultimate card—Lucy Diamond. I’d also considered relying on Lucy had Mewi refused to go to Beaden. Mewi had ended up agreeing, so I hadn’t needed to draw from that well, but it seemed to be my only choice now.

I wasn’t sure whether Mewi could stay at Lucy’s place and depend on her completely, but there was nothing to lose by asking. If Lucy was watching her, I could leave for Flumvelk without any concerns.

The biggest problem was whether Lucy would take her in. Still, I’d been on the butt end of Lucy’s reckless behavior plenty of times before this, so I was planning to force the issue. She couldn’t just push all the troublesome stuff on me without expecting me to push back. That didn’t fly in my book. Lucy was a tremendous oddball, but she didn’t lack common sense, so I was expecting her to accept.

“Anyway, it’s a little unexpected,” Allucia said.

“Hm? What is?”

“I was under the impression you’d refuse and say you’re not suitable for the task.”

“Aah... Well, yeah. It does sound like a heavy burden. I’m a commoner, after all.”

“So am I, remember?”

“Ha ha ha, that’s true.”

My current image of her was so strong that I’d nearly forgotten—Allucia was a merchant’s daughter. She’d ascended to the rank of knight commander without any political backing whatsoever. It’d been an unbelievable climb. Her parents must be so proud.

“But...I suppose even if I did have a right to refuse, I would still go,” I said. “Princess Salacia isn’t a complete stranger to me, after all.”

“That’s...certainly true.”

This did feel like a lot of responsibility. Honestly speaking, I didn’t want to get dragged into international problems. But I’d decided to stop feeling like things were beyond my station. If my strength was required, I wanted to meet those expectations. Modestly claiming I was inadequate would be equivalent to denying my dad’s strength, and no matter how things actually stood, it was wrong for me to think that way. Maybe my view of the world had changed a little after all.

“Oh yeah, how are your parents doing?” I asked.

“G-Good. They’re still traveling all over the place.”

“Glad to hear it.”

The topic of origins had come up, so I’d brought up her parents for some idle chatter. It seemed they were as healthy as ever. Merchants generally didn’t stay in one place for too long. They did, of course, have a base of operations, but they naturally drifted from location to location in the hunt for cheap goods to buy and resell somewhere else for a profit.

That process had coincidentally brought them to Beaden with their young daughter Allucia. Thinking back on it, my initial connection with her had been rather strange. Seeing how it’d bounced back to the present situation, it was an outrageous connection to have.

At any rate, there was no telling what dormant potential someone had. Only when you tried to polish that potential could you faintly begin to see the glimmer beneath the surface. If talent was decided at birth, Allucia, Surena, and Ficelle wouldn’t be where they were today. I might’ve still succeeded after my dad and mom, though.

“Master...you’ve changed a little.”

“Really? Well...I guess I have.”

I thought I was acting the same as always, but lately, people often pointed this out to me. I felt like Henblitz had said the same thing. I would be lying if I said nothing was different after winning against my dad. However, that didn’t mean my personality had suddenly changed, nor were my sensibilities very different from before. I was making an effort to change my frame of mind, though.

Regardless, those around me seemed to notice the shift. Was it something only visible from the outside? I had a hard time confirming it since I couldn’t see it myself.

“Hee hee, it’s a splendid change,” Allucia said, smiling gently.

“Here’s hoping.”

I wanted to believe it was a change for the better. At the very least, I was less pessimistic than before.

“Oh right, mind if I get going?” I asked. “I need to get back to the training hall.”

“Yes, go ahead. We’ve discussed everything I had for you.”

Having a friendly chat with Allucia truly was pleasant, and time had flown by without me realizing it. However, I couldn’t slack off in front of the knight commander—it was time to get back to work.

“I’ll probably have an answer for you in a day or two,” I added before leaving.

“Right. I’ll be waiting.”

I was hoping to finish talking with both Mewi and Lucy within the day if possible. Lucy wasn’t a morning person, so I was probably fine dropping by once I was done with my job here. Waking up early and going to sleep early was probably better for getting immersed in research, but I wasn’t going to bring it up with her. She’d simply mentioned that her preferred schedule started later in the day.

If I was going to Flumvelk, I wouldn’t be able to train the knights in the meantime. I decided to give my best for the rest of the day so that I wouldn’t feel bad about it.

◇

“And there we go.”

A little while after talking with Allucia, I finished my day’s training at the order successfully, then headed home from the office. Potatoes were nice and cheap in the marketplace, so I’d picked up some and was now cooking them for dinner.

Potatoes were great. They were tasty, cheap, and filling. The more they were boiled, the softer they got, and flavor seeped into them well. If I’d been living on my own, I could cut back on the cooking and go out to a tavern, but I wasn’t alone anymore—I had to lead by example. Not that I ever saw my dad cook anything...

“There, that should make you tasty.”

I added the potato and some leftover meat into the stew I was making. All that was left was to watch over it and remove the scum. Lately, I’d found myself mumbling to nobody in particular when I completed tasks—I talked to myself a lot more than I used to. I was capable of swinging my sword in silence, so what was the difference when doing other stuff? It was a little mysterious.

In the past, I’d never proactively cooked, but when I thought about Mewi coming back home hungry, I was so motivated. I wondered if my mom felt like this when she cooked. Ever since the magic institute’s vacation had ended, my schedule had meant that I generally got home ahead of Mewi, just as long as I didn’t have any other business to take care of. I finished training at the order in the morning, whereas the institute’s classes ran into the afternoon.

As such, I often prepared our meals on the weekdays. The institute was on a break over the weekends, so Mewi often used that time to do a lot of the housework. Other than our meals, we didn’t really have a fixed assignment of tasks. Be it cleaning or laundry, we each did our chores whenever we felt like it.

On the topic of cleaning, Mewi was unexpectedly fastidious, but in a weird way. It wasn’t that she particularly liked to keep things nice and tidy—cleaning simply didn’t bother her. That was why she didn’t care about leaving her uniform in a crumpled mess on the ground, but she got to cleaning whenever there was trash or dust in her room.

I would’ve preferred that she treat her uniform better while she was at it, but that was apparently a separate matter. Mewi wasn’t materialistic, and she didn’t own any luxury goods. She had very few possessions at all. That was why she took care of trash and dust but didn’t tidy up her things. It was awfully hard to scold her for that.

“I’m back...”

“Welcome home.”

And as I continued stirring the pot with such thoughts in mind, the princess returned. I was glad she’d completely lost her reluctance to announce when she entered the house.

Things seemed the same as usual at first, but soon, I could tell that something was a little off.

“Hm? Did you get hurt?” I asked.

Her limbs looked fine, but she was carrying herself oddly. She wasn’t favoring a leg, so it didn’t seem like anything from the waist down. She was also standing straight, so her stomach was probably fine. She was walking okay, but due to the pain, she didn’t seem to have a full range of movement. In that case, it has to be some damage to her back or shoulders.

“You can tell?” Mewi asked, clearly surprised.

“I can.”

Someone who’d only just met her probably wouldn’t notice it, but I’d been living with her, albeit for only a short time. I spotted the abnormality immediately.

“It’s nothing serious,” Mewi said, pulling open her collar. “I just got hit in a match with Cindy.”

Ooh, that’s quite a flashy bruise on her collarbone. The bone didn’t look broken, but that had to have hurt quite a bit. It seemed she’d gotten it during sword magic class. Mewi was nimble, so an amateur would have a hard time hitting her with a wooden sword. It was good to see that Cindy’s technique was steadily improving. I hoped the two would continue pushing each other to greater heights.

“I see... Want a potion?” I asked.

Mewi paused for a bit, then nodded. “Yeah.”

“Got it.”

I wasn’t going to be shocked by a small injury. It could be handled with simple treatment, after all. I took a potion bottle from the cabinet and handed it to Mewi, and that was the end of that. I only had the cheapest stuff on hand, which was made from herbs. Still, it made a significant difference when applied to the skin. I was greatly indebted to the stuff.

Studying the sword came with inevitable injuries. It was absolutely impossible for a swordsman to go their whole life untouched. Wounds, scrapes, and cuts had been an everyday occurrence for me. Broken bones had been pretty common too.

Naturally, it was up to an instructor to properly gauge the scale of an injury. A small wound wasn’t worth excessive concern. Seeing how Ficelle had let Mewi go home like this, she’d concluded that the bruise was nothing serious. I made the same diagnosis.

Mewi also didn’t like being a bother to others. If it was enough to break her heart or make her cry, I was sure she would depend on me, but when it wasn’t, it was best to just leave her as she was. Normally, I’d be pretty worried, so why was it that I was suddenly unconcerned when it came to swordsmanship? Was it because of my dad’s blood and education?

“Gh... Ow...” Mewi groaned as she rubbed a handful of the potion’s liquid crudely against her bruise.

“You okay? How about a nap until dinner?”

“No... I’m fine.”

Well, feeling pain was a sign that she was properly conscious. Maybe it would be difficult for her to sleep while the pain lingered. This kinda thing really was a matter of familiarity. Getting too used to pain could lead to serious injuries, but being unable to move because of a minor wound was also bad.

“Drink the rest,” I told her. “It heals different parts.”

“Fine... Erk...” Mewi drank what remained of the potion and scrunched up her face.

I get you. That stuff is bitter. Potions extracted from medicinal herbs tasted like grass. Not great... I wondered if the potions made with magic had better flavor.

“Oh, right. I have something I need to report to you,” I said.

“What?”

Mewi wasn’t going to be able to relax until the potion kicked in and the pain went away, so I figured I would bring this up now. This kind of thing tended to get put off for later if I spent too long waiting for the right opportunity. But I couldn’t delay this—so I had to tell her right away.

“It seems I’ll be going with the order on an expedition,” I explained. “I think I’ll be away for a month, starting next month.”

“I see.”

I kept the fact that royalty was involved and the stuff about foreign affairs to myself. Mewi had no need to know, and the knowledge could potentially put her in danger. So, I stuck only to the main gist of it. I wasn’t lying or anything, so it was fine.

“There’s no way I can bring you along,” I continued. “While I’m gone, I’m thinking of getting Lucy to look after you.”

“Mm. Sure.”

Mewi nodded along surprisingly quickly. She was a lot more honest than when I’d first met her. She was still thornier than other kids her age, but this was a huge difference compared to the days she’d spent shouting at everyone. At first, she’d been extremely grouchy, but now she was just kind of curt. I didn’t think I’d done a great job or anything, but it at least seemed like her home education wasn’t failing. Her enrollment at the magic institute had also had a positive effect. I could only pray she continued to grow in both body and mind.

“I can manage on my own, though,” she added.

“Just in case,” I told her.

“Hmph.”

I’d completely expected that comment, but I didn’t want to leave her on her own with nobody to rely on for such a long time. Still, from the look of it, she really would be fine on her own, so Lucy was seriously just insurance.

◇

The next day, after finishing my habitual training with the knights, I got a light lunch in the central district before dropping by Lucy’s place in the afternoon. As usual, Haley greeted me at the door before guiding me to the guest room, where I was treated to some delicious tea.

“Is that really necessary?” Lucy asked.

I nodded. “I’m telling you, it’s just in case...”

“Beryl, aren’t you being a bit too overprotective?”

“I’m aware of that, but that doesn’t mean I can just leave her alone.”

Lucy let out a tremendous sigh. I knew I was being overprotective. At the very least, I was fussing over Mewi more than my parents ever had over me when I’d been her age. Well, by the time I was that old, becoming a swordsman had already been the only thing on my mind, so my environment and circumstances had been somewhat different.

Still, even if it was okay to disparage my overprotectiveness, Lucy’s indifference was a bit unexpected. I’d figured she would just say, “Yeah, I don’t mind.” It looked like I needed to change my approach.

To put it bluntly, my plan had been to get her to acknowledge the circumstances, then work out the details so that she couldn’t really say no. That assumption had broken down right from the get-go, so I decided to plead using logic rather than emotion.

“I’m not asking to let her stay here or anything,” I said. “It’ll be easier on Mewi if she knows who to rely on if something happens, right?”

“I get what you’re trying to say, but still... If you’re that worried, you can just toss her into the dorms.”

“Mewi said she’d rather stay at home than live in the dorms...”

Lucy was exactly right. I’d intended to get Mewi into the magic institute’s dorms when she’d enrolled. That way, I wouldn’t have needed to fret over anything. But that hadn’t worked out, so now I was trying to find another solution. Still, I was glad Mewi had chosen to live with me rather than in the dorms, so I wasn’t going to say anything about it now.

“Hm? No, I mean temporarily,” Lucy corrected.

“Huh? That’s possible?”

And just as I was wondering what to do now, Lucy gave me some new information. It was possible to stay in the dorms temporarily. That was the first I’d heard of it.

“You need to submit an application,” she explained. “Parents being absent for work isn’t all that rare.”

“That’s true...”

She did have a point. It was perfectly common to have to leave the house for work or other circumstances while having a child who attended the magic institute. It made sense for the institute to have a means of supporting that. This might not have been the case for normal schools, but the institute was sponsored by the kingdom to raise wizards. It wasn’t strange for them to be accommodating.

The temporary use of the dorms would resolve our current problem perfectly. Mewi would have to get used to something new, regardless of whether she was staying at someone else’s place or the dorm. So, going to the dorm at the institute might serve to lower her stress. She didn’t have many personal belongings to begin with, and she kept her own room clean, so moving back from the dorms would also be simple.

“Oh, there is a fee, of course,” Lucy added.

“Yeah, I figured.”

I could make a guess at the cost too. The enrollment fee wasn’t that high, so it wouldn’t make sense for the dorm to be stupidly expensive. I was really glad I had money to spare. I was endlessly thankful for my current environment.

“Okay, I guess we’ll go with that,” I said.

“Very well. I doubt she’ll give you a hard time about it.”

In that case, I had to make my way back to the institute. If I hadn’t been in a rush, I could’ve done this errand on the side when I was there for a sword magic class, but I had to get this settled quickly. In the worst case, the dorms would already be full and unable to accept her. If so, I could ask Lucy again. She’d been the one to recommend a temporary stay, so if that didn’t work out, she could take responsibility.

“Anyway, Flumvelk, was it?” Lucy asked, naturally shifting the topic to the upcoming expedition. “I haven’t been there much.”

“Is that so? Because it’s on the border?”

I hadn’t informed her of anything more than the public reason for the expedition. She might be aware of all the stuff involving royalty, but she was, at least, playing along. Still, I was against disclosing confidential information on my own.

“There’s that too, but I simply don’t have any business with Sphenedyardvania,” she explained, elegantly taking a sip of tea. “Things may change if this goes well, though.”

If things go well, huh? I guess she really does know what’s going on behind the scenes. She probably meant the marriage between the Liberis and Sphenedyardvania royals. It was a political marriage, but Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia didn’t seem to have a poor opinion of each other, so I was hoping they could build a happy family.

“Well, with you and Allucia there, I doubt it could go that wrong,” Lucy added.

“I’m glad to have your confidence, but still...”

It was nice to have my skills appraised so highly, but any trouble would still be my problem. I definitely wasn’t acting like this was a holiday, but the way she put it implied that something was likely to go wrong.

“Relax,” Lucy said. “So far, Sphenedyardvania’s royalty, the Pope, and the Holy Order have made no conspicuous movements.”

“Why do you know that?”

“Because I’m me.”

“Right...”

I didn’t know anyone but Lucy who would give an answer like that. The amazing part was that this was enough to convince me. Lucy Diamond was a woman full of mysteries.

From my perspective, I was both indebted to and constantly troubled by her. I bounced back and forth between seeing her as a good friend and a bad one. Frankly, I found it hard to want to get more involved with this woman than I already was. I did owe her a lot, but a part of me also cursed at her.

At the very least, things weren’t a problem as long as she wasn’t an enemy. If that ever happened, it would be far worse than anything going on now. I didn’t have the slightest intention of picking a fight with her. Even after beating my dad, I doubted I could win. This went beyond just a problem of swordsmanship versus wizardry—she was human, but...not.

Anyway, Lucy was openly blabbing about things Allucia had told me to keep quiet about, so I’d nearly gotten carried away by the flow of the conversation. I didn’t want to let anything slip, so I started thinking of another topic we could talk about.

“Oh, right.”

“Hm? Do you need something else?”

The thought of wizardry brought back a question I’d nearly forgotten about. This involved Mewi too, so it was a natural change of topic. I was also genuinely curious, so it wasn’t a bad time to ask.

“I went to the sword magic class the other day,” I said. “And I had the students show me what they can do.”

“Hmm.” Lucy’s brow jumped up in interest. She really loved talking about wizardry.

“Mewi’s was red... Kinda like fire. Ficelle called it clumsy.”

“I see.” Lucy nodded in understanding. “To be exact, that’s not quite clumsy.”

“How so?”

My curiosity had been centered around Mewi’s sword magic being different from the others and Ficelle calling it clumsy. In other words, I wanted to know how well her studies were going or how she was fitting in at the institute.

The degree of talent determined a lot when it came to magic, but did that mean the skill with which you manipulated magic was defined by the same talent? The instructor in me wanted to know. Well, to be perfectly honest, I wanted to know whether Mewi couldn’t keep up or if she possessed a unique kind of talent. I wasn’t going to do anything about it either way, but as a parent, I wanted to know how she was doing at school.

“It is believed that pure talent defines the possession of mana,” Lucy started.

“Yeah.”

“But in truth, the wizardry we specialize in—we call it familiarity—is largely influenced by disposition and the environment we grow up in.”

“Hmm.”

“For example, Fice has a high aptitude for sword magic. This is largely because she learned swordsmanship beforehand.”

“I see.”

It seemed there was a certain “personality” to magic, for lack of a better term. When she put it like that, swordsmanship was the same. Techniques differed a lot based on a person’s temperament and their compatibility with the style. This even applied to pupils taught by the same instructor.

Even setting aside Mewi’s original personality, the environment she’d grown up in had been extremely harsh. I could understand her blunt temperament being fostered there, as well as an aptitude for offensive magic, or more specifically, fire magic.

By that logic, maybe Kinera’s specialization in magic was also due to her personality. She was magnanimous and kind to anyone. It perfectly matched the purpose of defensive magic.

“Naturally, wizards can be better or worse at certain magics too,” Lucy continued. “In that sense, Mewi doesn’t have a particularly high aptitude for sword magic at her current level.”

“I have mixed feelings about that as her mentor... May I ask why?”

I couldn’t ignore this when Mewi was going out of her way to learn sword magic. I didn’t want her to have to quit because she didn’t have the aptitude for it. I was aware this was just me being selfish rather than logical, though.

“The characteristic feature of sword magic is giving mana a sharp edge,” Lucy explained. “It’s easiest to bestow mana a property when it is as white as possible. A flame with a sharp edge makes no sense, right?”

“Aah... I kinda get it.”

I couldn’t put Lucy’s words into practice, but I kind of understood what she meant. Endowing the white energy known as mana with flames or an edge were likely different processes. Doing both at once was probably pretty hard, much like it was difficult to imagine burning water or cold flames.

“But there’s no telling what the future holds,” Lucy added. “Just maybe, she’ll create a cutting flame.”

“Ha ha, sounds amazing.”

I didn’t even want to think about a fire flying at me from a distance with the ability to cut. Such a technique would definitely be extremely powerful. It was entirely up to Mewi whether such a thing would be actualized, though.

“On that note, can you do it?” I asked. “Making a fire that can cut, I mean.”

“It’s not impossible, but even for me, it fits into a rather troublesome category of magic. In our terms, I’m unfamiliar with it.”

“So you have magic you’re good and bad at too, huh?”

“Of course. Being capable of something and being good at it are different things. The same goes for you, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

I understood what she was trying to say very well. I was perfectly capable of going on a nonstop offensive if I wanted to, but I wasn’t particularly good at it. Parrying blows and retaliating suited me much better.

“At the very least, Mewi is very likely better at converting mana into fire than the others,” Lucy said. “That is a splendid advantage and talent.”

“I see. Thanks.”

And with that pinpoint guess at what I was worried about, that conversation came to an end. I hadn’t told her the intention behind my question, so why was she able to see through me so easily? Her eyes were so keen—I couldn’t help but wonder if she was using magic to read my mind. Or did her instinct simply come from experience? I doubted I could do the same.

“Is that all?” Lucy asked. “The institute is still open, so if you’re in a hurry, you better go now.”

“Ah, right. I’ll do just that.”

It was best to get this stuff done early. The sun was still in the sky, and classes were just about to come to an end, so this was the most convenient time for both sides. I decided to make my way there immediately.

◇

“Okay, off I go.”

A while after I’d heard about the expedition from Allucia and discussed it with Mewi and Lucy, it was now the day of my departure. Unlike normal, my voice didn’t reach anyone from the entrance of my home—it simply vanished into the house.

Mewi had moved to the institute’s dorms a few days ago. The application for temporary use had gone through faster than expected, so that was now the center of Mewi’s daily life. I was grateful there’d just happened to be an open room, but I wasn’t sure whether that had been a lucky coincidence or if the headmistress had pulled some strings. It was uncouth to ask.

After my talk with Lucy, my days had been rather hectic. I’d dropped by the magic institute multiple times to handle the documents and had met with Allucia several times to go through the detailed schedule and travel plans. Well, the latter mostly involved me listening and nodding along, so in that sense, they weren’t really meetings.

I was glad Mewi hadn’t resisted the idea of temporarily moving into the dorms. There wasn’t any benefit to commuting from an empty home anyway. All her daily needs were guaranteed in the dorms, and thanks to Ibroy’s gift some time back, she had plenty of clothes.

Both Mewi and I had been required to sign the necessary documents. It’d been really touching to see her write her name a lot more smoothly than when we’d first met. I kept that to myself, though. If anything, I was a little worried Mewi would take a shine to dorm life by the time I got back from Flumvelk. If she did, I would feel a little lonely, but I wouldn’t object. I hadn’t been a father long enough to call this becoming independent from her parents, but I knew she would one day set out on her own. It was generally a good thing for this to happen sooner than later. Though this argument didn’t sound persuasive coming from a man who’d taken forty-five years to leave the nest.

“It’s cooled down a lot.”

Just as always, I was outside right as the sun was rising, but we’d entered early fall now, so it was pretty chilly early in the morning and late at night. When the sun was high up in the sky, it was still nice and strong, so this time of day was the real indicator of the changing seasons.

These in-between temperatures would continue for a while before we would dive into the far less pleasant winter. I didn’t like being cold, of course, but snow piling up was even more of an inconvenience. It basically closed all the roads, so it was a big pain for a village out in the countryside like Beaden.

This would be my first time spending the winter in Baltrain, but the climate wasn’t likely to be very different. Still, things could get pretty bad if firewood couldn’t be delivered when the time came, so maybe it would be best to stock up before it got genuinely cold. I could take it, but I didn’t want Mewi to be freezing at home. This would be moot if she chose to stay in the dorms, though.

Nothing was going to change just because I was pondering over Mewi right now, so I shifted my thoughts to Flumvelk and the secret orders behind the scenes. I still had no idea who Margrave Flumvelk was. Considering Allucia’s personality, she would normally tell me, but unexpectedly, she hadn’t given me any more information on that front.

A part of me thought she was being a little mischievous, but she wasn’t the type to prioritize such playfulness if it was important to the mission. This meant that keeping the margrave’s identity to herself wasn’t going to impede the mission in any way. In other words, my potentially being a personal acquaintance of the margrave wouldn’t have any effect on this expedition. And if I was, in fact, a total stranger, I could just go from there. If I had forgotten who the margrave was, I could just apologize.

“I wonder who it is...”

I really didn’t have a clue. Our dojo naturally had pupils from outside Beaden, but it wasn’t exactly a regular occurrence. There were those who’d come from Baltrain, and some others had come from the neighboring villages. Still, I would’ve known if one of them had been a noble. Their clothes or attendants would’ve given them away. Even without any of that, nobles were clearly different from commoners like me.

You’d think that would mean the margrave had nothing to do with the dojo, but that was unlikely. I’d never really left the village before coming to Baltrain, so I didn’t have any connections to the outside beyond the dojo. Not that this was something to be proud of.

That would make the margrave one of my former pupils or one of my dad’s acquaintances. But I had surprisingly few acquaintances in common with my dad, so the former was far more likely.

“Well, I guess I’ll find out when I get there.”

I’d given thought to this ever since Allucia had brought it up, but I still knew nothing. Maybe I could get an answer from my dad, but it wasn’t worth traveling all the way to Beaden just to ask. If the margrave was one of my former pupils, I could just apologize for forgetting. It wasn’t like I remembered all of them perfectly.

“Oh, there sure are a lot of people here.”

After a while of walking with such thoughts in mind, I reached the order’s office to find a lot more guards loitering around outside than usual. The equipment they wore could be split into two categories—a few wore silver plate armor, while the vast majority wore leather armor and coats. The former had to be knights, while the latter were soldiers of the royal garrison. Next to the crowd were several carriages. One was fancy like the carriage I’d taken to Beaden, while the rest looked a bit shabbier but very sturdy.

“Good morning, Master,” the knight commander said as I got closer.

“Morning. Did I keep you waiting?” I asked.

“Not at all.”

I was pretty sure I’d left the house with more than enough time to get here before the appointed hour, but with so many people already here, it felt like I was late.

Despite being a gathering of warriors, the atmosphere in the air wasn’t bad. We weren’t headed to war or anything, so there was no point in staying on edge when we hadn’t even gotten going yet. Everyone seemed to be aware of this. Many were engaging in idle conversation or examining their equipment.

“Hi there. Would you be Beryl?” a man said, walking up to us.

He was wearing the standard equipment of the royal garrison: leather armor, a coat, and a longsword at his waist. His physique was similar to mine, and he looked around the same age too. The coat made it hard to tell, but at the very least, he didn’t have a belly or carry any excess weight. He had short black hair, giving him a clean look, and he carried himself with a gentle expression.

“Yes. I’m the special instructor for the Liberion Order, Beryl Gardenant.”

I still wasn’t used to introducing myself this way. It was pretty embarrassing. Whatever. There’s no point in grumbling about that.

“A pleasure,” the man said. “I’m Zed Hanbeck, a platoon commander in the royal garrison. You can just think of me as the one managing this lot.”

“I see. We’ll be in your care on the road,” I said, shaking Zed’s hand as I took a look around at the soldiers.

His hand was firm—the hand of a man who handled a weapon on a daily basis. All those who practiced any form of martial art showed signs of it in the way they carried themselves or with their physique. It was the kind of thing you could see if you were in the know. I wasn’t going to point it out or anything, but I was glad to be able to see it. In that sense, Zed was a proper practitioner who could be relied on.

“Hanbeck, is everyone ready?” Allucia asked.

“Yes, we’re all here. We can leave at any time.”

They were both very calm. Was this why they were commanders? The Liberion Order and royal garrison were separate organizations, so they naturally had different chains of command. The public likely saw the order as higher up the pecking order, but the garrison had many retired knights among their ranks. I felt like you couldn’t outright call them inferior. It was perfectly reasonable for a former senior officer to be in the royal garrison. Maybe I can ask about this stuff on the road.

“Then Master, this way.”

“Hm...?”

It seemed we were about to depart. Allucia directed me toward the luxurious carriage.

“I’m riding in this one?” I asked.

“Of course,” she confirmed. “You and I are the guests of honor.”

“I-I see...”

I still wasn’t used to the way she acted like all of this was perfectly natural. I knew I had to, but still...

“We’re setting off! To your posts!”

Right as we boarded, Zed’s calm voice suddenly turned sharp as he bellowed an order. I could hear the soldiers outside going about their business as our carriage started moving.

I listened to the clunking of the carriage’s wheels spinning over the stone pavement. The roads in Baltrain and its immediate surroundings were relatively well maintained and usually made of stone. Overall, the nation’s roads weren’t quite as nice. Beaden only had dirt roads, for example, and there were surely plenty of other towns and villages like that too. I had no idea how prosperous Flumvelk was, but I was pretty sure there hadn’t been any major wars on the border for a long while, so I was hoping it was a major city.

I could hear the tumult of Baltrain faintly from within the carriage. It really was quiet in here. The luxurious ride was carrying four people, including me—there were two other knights aside from Allucia and myself. It was relaxing for me that they were familiar faces. Staying in an enclosed space for a prolonged period with total strangers would’ve been mentally exhausting. The same comforting silence could instead feel very awkward.

Unlike a normal journey, the drivers were also soldiers. It seemed they’d only rented the carriages while all the manpower was being handled in-house. Considering the nature of the mission, this was inevitable, but it really made security seem far stricter.

“Guess we’ll be riding by carriage for a while,” I muttered.

“Yes. Please be patient,” Allucia said.

“Aah, no, I’m not complaining or anything. It’s a fresh experience for me.”

As I said, I wasn’t dissatisfied or anything. A part of me didn’t like being personally named for this mission, but I didn’t object. I simply hadn’t ever gone on much more than a normal round trip between Beaden and Baltrain, so a longer journey was new to me.

Our meals and the entire travel plan had been fully worked out by the order, so all I had to do was organize and check my own luggage. It seemed like I was the only one who could just sit back and enjoy the ride. All I had to bring was some traveling expenses, spare clothes, and my sword. This wasn’t some whimsical lone journey, so that was technically more luggage than usual.

“But I guess I’m the only one who’s not used to this stuff,” I said.

“Please try to get accustomed to it,” Allucia said. “You were personally invited, after all.”

“I know that, but still...”

My smile was strained. The only ones able to take a seat were myself, the knights in here, and the people who were taking turns driving the carriage. Everyone else was walking. From a security perspective, we obviously couldn’t have everyone inside the carriages. I understood this, but I felt more at ease being the one protecting others rather than relying on protection. Well, there was an entirely different kind of tension from having someone to protect, but still.

This time around, the carriages were packed with food for the journey and the necessary equipment to camp outside if necessary. As such, there was nearly no space for people. Though, they would probably make space in an emergency like someone getting hurt.

“Master, if you need anything, please let these two know,” Allucia said, turning her eyes to the other two knights.

“Oh, no, I can’t do that.”

One was a man and the other a woman. They weren’t young enough to be newbies but not old enough to be veterans. They looked around the same age as Allucia, if not a little younger. The man was Vesper, while the woman was...Frau, if I remembered right. A fair amount of time had passed since becoming a special instructor, so I remembered most of the knights. It was still hard to put a name to every face, though.

I often saw these two in the training hall, so as far as I could tell, they were very devoted to their art. You could say that was why I remembered their names. I wasn’t confident I could do the same for knights who didn’t show up in the training hall much.

“I’m sure you know by now, but this is just how he is,” Allucia said, addressing the knights. “He won’t ask for assistance, so if you notice anything, take the initiative.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they replied in unison.

“I-I’m really okay...” I protested.

Making use of knights any time something happened was fussing over me way too much...yet Allucia made sure to reinforce the point, making me feel even more ashamed. They didn’t need to reply so enthusiastically either. But at times like these, if I acted with restraint, it would actually make them dejected.

I somewhat understood how painful it was to be unable to fulfill their commander’s order. In that case, it was only natural for a situation to come up where I had to use them. I didn’t think this would be a relaxing journey, but the prospect of that made me feel unnecessarily stressed out.

“By the way...may I ask how you selected the personnel for this?” I inquired.

The atmosphere in the carriage wasn’t great—for me—but it didn’t feel right to start some idle chatter. So, I brought up a topic related to the expedition to try and break the ice.

“They’re relatively young, are strong of mind and body, have tight lips, and are somewhat acquainted with you already,” Allucia explained. “I made my decision after an interview with all potential candidates.”

“I see...”

I was curious as to why familiarity with me was part of the criteria, but there was probably no point in asking. Having people I knew from the training hall was definitely helpful. Requiring strong knights was an obvious requirement, whereas having tight lips implied Vesper and Frau knew the true purpose of this mission.

Even without the secrecy, being tight-lipped was important for a noble’s party. It was good to have people you could trust not to say too much and leak unnecessary information to the outside.

It looked like I could assume that the knights accompanying us were aware of the secret orders from the royal family. I didn’t know if that applied to the members of the garrison, but there was no need to go out of my way to find out.

“Is there a reason you limited it to young candidates?” I asked.

This part was a curiosity to me. Due to the nature of a knight’s job, there weren’t many beyond a certain age. But that didn’t mean there were none. Some knights in the order were older than their commander. Being young did come with great advantages, but the world of fighting wasn’t so simple that stamina and muscle could determine everything. My dad and I were proof of that.

“It’ll be a long journey, so stamina was taken into consideration,” Allucia answered. “There are several other reasons for it too, though.”

“I see... Thanks.”

She was somewhat evasive about these other reasons. And, after giving it some thought, I could see why. It wasn’t really something to discuss right in front of Vesper and Frau. My choice of question was somewhat impolite.

Still, even without saying anything, I could see several reasons that we couldn’t speak of here. Everyone in the Liberion Order was talented. Only those who’d passed the extremely strict entrance exam could become knights of the order, so it was safe to assume they were all capable in battle.

However, in a gathering of talented people, there had to be those who were even more talented than the others. This applied to any group. It was impossible for humans to all be at exactly the same level, especially a high one. From that perspective, you might assume Vesper and Frau were among the best knights, but I wouldn’t. That was just my personal opinion of them, though.

The two weren’t weak, of course. There were simply many knights who were stronger than them. Considering the importance of this mission, you would normally select elites who were among the best. Even setting aside Henblitz, who couldn’t come, the strongest right after him would’ve usually been chosen. But the ones who’d actually been chosen were the young Vesper and Frau, despite there being plenty of knights who were stronger than them.

“Is something the matter?” Vesper asked as I looked at him, maybe wondering if I had an order to give him.

“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”

Sorry, I don’t really need anything.

Vesper had a very handsome face. Frau was also beautiful. They made quite the pair. Was attractiveness also part of the selection process? I could understand the reason for that. Allucia hadn’t been lying about needing stamina for the long journey, and she was properly maintaining that stance.

Publicly, this invitation was to thank us for averting a crisis on the border. Allucia and I were the guests of honor. If we were to bring attendants, then looks could go a long way. There was also a demand for etiquette. With that in mind, I felt like these two would make a great showing. The Liberion Order prioritized ability above all else, so there were many commoners, but there were also more than a few nobles. That meant I probably knew the least etiquette here. I couldn’t help but feel anxious now.

“I feel like my presence is fading when surrounded by young knights like this. Ha ha ha...”

I was trying to lighten the mood, but I wanted to die from embarrassment. The young and beautiful commander was accompanied by two attractive knights. Add an old man to the mix—I felt totally out of place. It was depressing enough of a thought for me to wonder if someone could substitute for me.

“Perish the thought,” Allucia admonished me with a splendid smile. “Master, you possess a calm demeanor and the presence of a veteran. By simply standing there, you are the very symbol of a master swordsman.”

“I-I do...?”

If she’d told me this when we were alone, I would’ve unwillingly accepted it while being extremely embarrassed. Saying it to me in front of Vesper and Frau was basically torture. Please give me a break.

“Don’t you two think so as well?” Allucia asked. She turned to the knights with her usual tone and expression, but there was an unusually sharp glint in her eyes.

“Yes, ma’am! It’s just as you say.”

“I agree with Vesper. He is a wonderful swordsman.”

“Th-Thanks...”

Cut it out. Please cut it out. Is this a new form of bullying? Is this going to continue until we reach Flumvelk? Seriously, cut me some slack.