Chapter 31
As swordsmanship training continued, Lionel noticeably improved in skill.
“It’s strange. Clearly, I’m the one teaching the young lady, so why does it feel like my skills are improving?”
“Indeed. It’s quite a mysterious thing.”
But I knew the reason. It was all thanks to having the ultimate, supremely effective tutor, the Holy Sword Yupiter. The problem was that while Lionel’s skills were skyrocketing vertically, mine showed absolutely no progress.
‘Why on earth?’
Lionel had been undergoing knight training for several years, even if he was clumsy. I never expected to achieve the same results as him from the start. I only hoped for a little improvement, that’s all.
‘Why is there no difference from when I started learning swordsmanship?’
If I had trained steadily for a fortnight, shouldn’t there be at least some improvement? I was definitely performing the movements the same way as Lionel. Yupiter, with his keen eye, had even praised me for quickly copying the movements.
But that was all. Ebrea’s body was truly beyond redemption. No matter how much I exercised, I didn’t gain any muscle. Without gaining muscle, there was no way to develop strength, and without strength, my arms trembled after just ten swings of the sword. If I performed the movements with full power, as if in a real fight? I’d be completely exhausted after just one.
[You have a constitution that inherently doesn’t build muscle well. You have no talent as a swordsman. Most people born with magical power are like that.]
[Mages don’t develop physical strength well?]
[Yes. Perhaps the magical power interferes with muscle generation?]
Come to think of it, there was no concept of a ‘magic swordsman’ in this world. Those who used magic only used magic, and those who wielded swords devoted themselves solely to the sword.
[It seems you are one such case, Master, so you need not be too disheartened.]
Seeing me frustrated, Yupiter offered what sounded like consolation but wasn’t. It seemed he meant that while I had no talent as a swordsman, I was born with magical power, so I should be satisfied with that.
[But I’m a zero point five.]
[A zero point five?]
[Yes. Zero point five. My magical power is 0.5. You’re telling me that because of this tiny speck of magical power, I can’t build muscle properly and therefore can’t even learn swordsmanship properly? I’d have been better off without this useless magical power.]
[Well…]
Even Yupiter, who had been calmly consoling me, was left speechless. To have physical abilities worse than an average person because of a negligible 0.5 magical power…
‘It’s so annoying…’
Seeing Lionel flourishing beside me made it even more irritating. Yupiter said Lionel had an excellent physical condition where if he properly learned 1, he could achieve a result of 100. He probably hadn’t been able to bloom his talent until now because he never received proper training.
In contrast, I had the worst physical condition, where even if I properly learned 100, I’d be lucky to achieve a result of 1.
At this point, a big question arose for me regarding Yupiter.
[Why on earth did you choose me?]
Countless people had challenged themselves over the years to pull Yupiter. Although it had faded recently because no one had pulled the sword for hundreds of years, countless skilled swordsmen must have undergone Yupiter’s test.
Why would Yupiter reject all those swordsmen with such great talent and choose me? The legendary swordsmen who challenged to pull him would feel quite wronged if they saw that someone like me was the Holy Sword’s master.
[That is because I thought you would need me, Master.]
Yupiter spoke as calmly and plainly as usual.
[There were many people with great talent. But they had already reached the pinnacle of the sword even without me. So I decided to serve someone who I felt would truly need me as my master.]
It sounded nice. But with a little interpretation, it was easy to see the hidden meaning.
[So that means, among all the people who tried to pull Yupiter, I have the most hopeless physical abilities, right? You thought, “How will this human survive without me?” and that’s why you let me pull you, right?]
[…]
Yupiter answered with silence.
‘A cursed body that appears once in centuries… A trash body recognized by the Holy Sword…’
That would be me, everyone.
‘If this is the case, there’s no point in swordsmanship training.’
I let out a sigh as I looked down at the heavy wooden sword. Glancing sideways, I saw Lionel freely handling a real sword, much heavier than the wooden one, as if swinging a stick. The posture that had been clumsy just a fortnight ago had now become straight and proper, showing the bearing of a knight. Now, it was hard for anyone to deny that he was a proper knight.
‘To be outdone by a clumsy extra. There’s no hope, Ebrea Oberon.’
As I was staring at the wooden sword in frustration, a shadow fell over my head.
‘A shadow in a training ground with no trees?’
Puzzled, I looked up and saw the three knights who had tried to save me from the wyvern in the black forest standing there. They seemed to have something to say, as they kept poking each other’s sides and pushing one another.
Hey, you do it. No, you do it!
Their glances were easy to read. If I left them alone, they’d probably stay like that until sunset. In the end, I had to step forward first.
“Is something the matter?”
At my question, the knight who was pushed forward by the two on either side scratched his head awkwardly and laughed.
“Greetings, young lady. I am Benjamin of the 5th Frost Knight Order.”
As one greeted, the two standing on either side quickly added their names.
“I’m Dane.”
“And I’m Lizetto.”
Their faces were familiar, but this was the first time I heard their names. I nodded as a sign of greeting, and the tense expressions of the three relaxed a little.
“It’s just that, we wondered if we could train with you starting today.”
“Train with me? Why?”
‘I thought they wouldn’t want their training time taken up helping the young lady with her hobby.’
There was no reason for the knights to suddenly change their minds and offer to join the training.
“Well, it’s Lionel.”
Benjamin glanced at Lionel beside me.
“His skills improved so suddenly recently, so we were surprised and asked for his secret. He said he just did everything as you instructed him, young lady. So we wanted to hear your esteemed opinion…”
“So, you don’t want to help me, but rather get help from me?”
“Lionel said you are someone who doesn’t need help from anyone. That you have already mastered the sword.”
“……What? Me?”
“Yes. Lionel definitely said that.”
Under everyone’s gaze, Lionel puffed out his chest proudly, his eyes shining.
“Just from seeing the posture with which you swing the sword, one can tell you have mastered it, young lady!”
‘Well. The posture is good, the posture is. The problem is I can’t even do it ten times.’
“Moreover, if you hadn’t mastered the sword, how could you have given me such accurate advice?”
‘No. That wasn’t my advice, it was the Holy Sword’s. It’s the Holy Sword, so of course it’s mastered the sword.’
“And you said you’d participate in the training… was it actually to help us?”
‘No. I really did it to try and learn the sword. I didn’t know my body was this trashy.’
Unable to hear my internal rebuttals, the knights looked at me, seemingly moved by Lionel’s words.
“Did you come here intending to help us?”
“We didn’t realize and only thought you were a bother… Forgive us!”
“We’ll work hard starting today, young lady! Please guide us well!”
As their spirited shouts echoed through the training ground, I became quite uneasy.
‘This feels familiar.’
This misunderstanding. This flow.
‘This ominous feeling that by tomorrow, I’ll be the teacher for all the knights here.’
Ominous feelings are never wrong.
* * *
I crouched in the shade of the training ground, watching the knights train.
‘Where am I? Who am I?’
Sitting here blankly like this, a knight who encountered a difficult part would come to ask a question, and I would convey Yupiter’s advice through my mouth. The knight would then try moving according to my advice—actually Yupiter’s advice—and shout “Thank you, young lady!” with eyes full of immense gratitude.
‘While I, the actual one, can’t do anything.’
I obtained the Holy Sword, so why are these knights reaping the benefits? Sinking into a sense of futility, I let out a sigh. Harry, who had been sitting by my side guarding me for the first time in a while, let out a long yawn and spoke.
[That’s why I told you you don’t need the Holy Sword. Sell it right away.]
[Did you know I had no talent for swordsmanship?]
[You can tell just by looking. Look at your wrist. Is that a wrist meant to hold a sword?]
I raised my arm and looked at my wrist. A white, slender, weak-looking wrist. It certainly didn’t seem suited for holding a sword.
‘But in movies, seemingly delicate ladies swing swords, shoot guns, throw punches, and do it all well.’
[Besides, just watching what you usually do, it’s obvious. You have no talent for physical things.]
[If you knew so well, why didn’t you stop me when I said I wanted to learn swordsmanship?]
[If I tried to stop you, would you have listened?]
[……Probably not.]
[See? People who listen to the devil’s advice are all shady characters. But you’re not.]
As Harry laughed, saying he knew it, the training ground entrance became noisy.
‘What’s going on?’
I stood up to see the cause of the commotion, but my view was blocked by the large knights, and I couldn’t see the entrance well. The knights were standing at formal attention, tense in a way incomparable to when I first appeared at the training ground. Watching them quietly, I suddenly realized.
‘Huh? The only person these knights would greet like that is…’
Only Duke Oberon.
Just as I reached that conclusion, Duke Oberon broke through the knights and appeared. The Duke, who had been scanning the surroundings, turned his gaze precisely toward where I was after a knight whispered something next to him.
A cold and sharp impression. His appearance greatly resembled Ebrea’s. The pale skin, as if it never saw the light, the deep reddish-brown hair, the green eyes—all were similar.
‘Anyone can see they’re father and daughter.’
If the young lord Archibald took after the deceased Duchess, then Ebrea was the spitting image of the Duke. When the eyes that resembled Ebrea’s turned directly toward me, I felt strange. Looking at the Duke’s face, which mirrored my current self in the mirror, made the fact that I had become Ebrea feel newly real. It was the first time in a while I’d felt that way, as it had been months since our last meeting in the royal capital.
Our eyes met in the air, and the Duke began walking straight toward me. Knights hurried to follow him, but the Duke raised a hand to stop them. He walked over proudly alone and stood before me.
Seeing him staring intently at me without a word, Harry asked.
[Is that your father? He looks like it.]
[Yes.]
[But the atmosphere is really weird? A cold wind is blowing hard?]
Yupiter agreed with Harry’s words.
[I think so too, Master. These are eyes looking at an enemy, if I may say.]
I knew it even without their confirmation. In the original story, Ebrea and Duke Oberon didn’t have an amicable relationship either.
‘Considering all the trouble Ebrea caused, it would be more strange if their father-daughter relationship was amicable.’
I bowed my head in greeting to the Duke and looked at him again.
“You are here…”
“I sent a letter…”
Just as I was about to ask why he was here, his firmly closed lips also opened. At the overlapping voices, both the Duke and I tightly closed our mouths.
“Please, you speak first.”
As I yielded first, the Duke didn’t refuse and began speaking again.
“I sent a letter.”
“Yes. I see you received it safely. Since you came all the way here.”
The Duke leaving the royal capital was not a common occurrence. When a person of high status moves somewhere, everyone’s attention focuses on them, so long-distance travel was usually avoided.
‘No need to invite misunderstanding from the royal family with unnecessary movement.’
But the Sky Blue Stone was a matter worth the Duke moving personally. The Duke visiting Erel was an event that did not occur in the original story. Because of this, the real Ebrea, after being sent to Erel, never saw her family again and ended her life by suicide.
‘Did the original story go off track starting from the discovery of the Sky Blue Stone?’
I discovered the Sky Blue Stone because I brought the dwarves, I brought the dwarves because I tamed the wyvern, I tamed the wyvern because…
If I kept tracing back like this, it was hard to find the starting point where the original story diverged. In fact, finding that starting point wasn’t all that important.
‘Anyway, it should be a world where the main characters are happy, so, whatever. I need to focus on my own livelihood.’
I smiled brightly and looked at the Duke, whose face was cool.
‘Since I sent the letter about a fortnight ago, judging by the dates, he must have departed right after receiving it.’
“The one who discovered that Ebony Ironwood becomes Sky Blue Stone is a dwarf named Lapashi. You can meet him right away if you go to the workshop.”
‘So please go there, Duke. You find it frustrating to see my face anyway.’
I spoke with the most amiable smile I could muster. While I didn’t need to care about anyone’s opinion in this world, the Duke was different.
‘He’s my sole source of funds. I must never displease him.’
But the Duke’s expression twisted strangely upon seeing my smile.
‘…Did I make a villainous smile again? I shouldn’t have smiled.’
While I was regretting it, the Duke spoke to me, his face still contorted.
“Aren’t you going to guide me to that workshop?”
It sounded like a question, but it absolutely was not.
‘He’s telling me to guide him.’
What can I do? I’m the subordinate; when told to jump, I ask how high.
“No, I’ll guide you. Lapashi’s workshop is outside the mansion, is that alright? Or should I call Lapashi to the mansion?”
“We’ll go directly.”
“It’s not that far. But if we take a horse or carriage, we can get there quickly…”
“No. We’ll walk.”
There was a comfortable way to go, but he insisted on walking, the uncomfortable way.
‘Is he the type who likes walking?’
There are people like that. People who choose to walk for a distance of just a couple of bus stops.
‘I would always take the bus, though.’
It’s a personal preference, so it’s not something anyone can criticize.
“Then, it’s this way.”
