Master and Disciple
Master and Disciple
"Gonna say this upfront, I only found out I'd be going to the academy two days ago. Stop sulking!"
The moment I got home, I didn't even check if Sheryl was there before I shouted, and thankfully, my words didn't end up as empty nonsense thrown into the void.
I stroked Laika, who had been in Sheryl's arms and came running over to me, and when I raised my head, Sheryl, still frozen in the same posture she'd been in while sitting and talking with Asilie, asked me with a dumbfounded look.
"How?"
"I got a feeling the moment I heard it from my teacher. You think I was your personal butler just for show?"
If I'd worked as her personal butler for nearly two years and still didn't know her personality well enough to flounder around, well, that'd be a talent in its own right. A talent for incompetence. A talent far removed from this body of mine, which had forced zippers onto the mouths of certain servants who'd initially treated me like a parachute hire.
"I was actually planning on inviting you over later anyway, but thanks to your temper, you saved me the trouble. So, how is it? Nice house, right?"
"...Are you serious?"
"Tut-tut. You've gotta look at it with an adventurer's sensibilities, not a noble's."
"You know that's not what I meant."
"Huh?"
I'd been speaking confidently while looking around the house, but at that unexpected reply, I looked down at Sheryl and saw her staring at me with eyes I hadn't anticipated at all. What's this? Why was she reacting as if I should obviously know something I didn't?
"The things you... did, no matter how much they were for your sake, weren't the kind of things that should've ended with just this sort of compensation."
"...Ah."
Right. She doesn't know about the secret backroom friendship between the Noble Council and the royal family.
Only then did I understand the true nature of the resentment and indignation brimming in Sheryl's eyes. Still, despite myself, a laugh slipped out seeing her get more worked up on my behalf than I was—we'd lived together for two years, and that counted for something after all.
"Oh, how admirable. So, what, you were about to cry because you felt so wronged for me?"
"No, I wasn't."
When I cackled and demonstrated the Longcat Sheryl for the first time in a while, she immediately put on a stern face, but the real charm was that she didn't flail around trying to reject my touch. It felt exactly like watching a fantasy little sister who grumbled about everything but still listened perfectly. While we were like that, Asilie, who had come closer, joined the conversation with a smile.
"When she first got here, her face looked like the world was ending. I was really startled, I tell you."
"Th-That never happened."
"You really can't lie for shit. Look at you stumbling over your words. Since you're here, you might as well eat before you go."
"She's right. You did say you had no classes today, so you're free, right?"
I remembered her being a bit more distant when she used to stay at the mansion, but Asilie extended the invitation quite naturally—maybe because they'd chatted a bit while I was away. Seeing Sheryl awkwardly nod and accept the offer, it didn't seem one-sided either. But she wasn't a simple enough kid for lingering frustrations to just vanish over something like that. Even after I put her back down and thoroughly ruffled her hair, Sheryl was still just staring at me with an expression that said she had plenty left to say.
"What now."
"...You could've become a noble."
"Oh, for fuck's sake."
It was funny that what finally came out after all that hemming and hawing was the same story again, so I took off my coat and reminded her of a fact she'd forgotten.
"If I cared about shit like that, I'd already be an imperial noble, wouldn't I?"
"...Mmmnnn."
The mood was like she half-accepted it but really didn't want to accept it. Though it wasn't like she, of all people, should've wanted to believe I was staying in this country out of patriotism like that princess did.
"And it's not just a house that I got. They put a tidy sum into a Remielska Bank account guaranteed by the royal family too, and the Noble Council helped me out nicely with that incident a few days ago, so I wrapped things up way faster than expected. Got a worthless medal I'll never use as a bonus too, so from my perspective, I'm actually pretty satisfied."
After I finished talking while picking up Laika, who was bouncing up and down making a huge fuss about being held, I looked back, and Sheryl still seemed somewhat regretful, but she also looked like she'd understood to some degree. Of course, from her current standpoint, what she was unhappy about was glaringly obvious.
"Does it really bother you that much that my achievements got downplayed in the nobles' profit fight?"
"Of course... it does."
If she were a different noble, it might've been a situation where she could rightfully be pissed thinking about her own prestige. Since it's a world where a subordinate knight's loyalty and fame elevate the noble's honor. But this audacious genius young lady operated on the mindset that her prestige was her own to manage, so the reason she was acting like this was purely because of me.
"Think about it simply. I'm Eldmia Ega. If a crazy bastard who goes for his sword first when someone plays tricks is staying still, there's gotta be a reason, right?"
Seeing her like that, I felt bad unconditionally hiding the truth and keeping her worrying, so I threw her a hint. Sheryl, who'd been spacing out for a second, put on her strict face again before launching a fist into my forearm.
"No— if you'd just told me that beforehand, it would've been fine."
"Ack! You needed me to spell it out for you? Your fault for spacing out and missing the real issue, right?"
Insolent brat. Times like this, it would've been better if she were dumber or didn't know me well. But it was already water under the bridge, so even as I moved to help Asilie prepare the meal, I had to endure getting thumped on the back relentlessly.
Sheryl's not-quite-violence finally stopped only after I foisted Laika into her arms, rolled up my sleeves, and started cooking. Since she was the first guest in the new house, I went down to the basement storage and brought up a whole dressed chicken in the spirit of a housewarming. She must've been pretty hungry, because she couldn't take her eyes off it. One chicken normally wouldn't go far among three warriors, but maybe chickens here had become some kind of monster too, because this one was nearly the size of a turkey and worked perfectly as the main dish. The cooking time that would normally have been a problem was also cut in half when Asilie used a little spirit art, so there was nothing lacking.
It was a spread that looked to be nearly six servings, but not a single one of us hesitated because it was too much—truly a warrior's dinner table. Without even a moment to admire the food that'd been prepared in just thirty minutes, we immediately started eating.
"Come to think of it, I heard I start work as a teaching assistant tomorrow."
"A magic teaching assistant who can't use magic—isn't that a bit laughable?"
"Tut-tut, can't use magic, she says. I can at least spark a flame."
"That's just a little better than a match flame."
"Tch. It's a lot better than a match flame, what are you talking about."
Before I'd even noticed, there was no risk of it going out, so I didn't have to rush worrying I'd burn it all up. No matter how you looked at it, it was a perfect direct upgrade, and the evaluation was way too harsh.
Still, just as Sheryl said, being a teaching assistant to a professor of magic studies when I couldn't use proper magic was a little underwhelming. I tore off the two chicken legs, gave one to Asilie and one to Sheryl, and added an explanation.
"According to my teacher, there probably won't be much for me to do specifically. For a while, I'll likely be helping with odd jobs rather than actual work."
"...Now that you mention it, I do have a question."
"What?"
"Why on earth did former Court Mage Regneva try to take you as his disciple?"
Maybe because she wasn't being "Noble Sheryl," or maybe it was just more comfortable for her, but Sheryl, who'd been tearing into a chicken leg barehanded, tossed out a question that made me stop my hands for a moment. Come to think of it, I never did explain this to her.
"Weeeeellll... explaining that is a biiiit..."
"Does it have something to do with you using Magic Power?"
No—how in the hell did you figure that out?
For an instant, I flicked my gaze quickly over to Asilie, but even Asilie, who'd been tearing into a chicken leg with a blissful look, just flinched at my gaze and shook her head. Asilie didn't tell her? I don't remember telling her either?
"What are you looking around like that for? Your aura's hard to sense, your magic is half-baked, and it's not like you specialize in spirit arts either. But you beat a Hero, beat Demonfolk, and cut down Envelde and his knights—wouldn't it make more sense that, aside from not being one of them, you use Magic Power the way Demonfolk do?"
"...Isn't the possibility that I'm not human higher?"
"If you were a total stranger, that possibility might be higher, but we're not strangers, are we?"
Right. We'd spent too much time together for that. I guess I'd overlooked the fact that she understood me just as much as I understood her.
But still, did people normally think that far? By modern standards, it was a leap on par with figuring out one magician among the group was a real wizard. This time I was the one who couldn't easily accept it and still couldn't move my hands, so Sheryl opened her eyes into axe-sharp slits and continued.
"How long do you think I've watched your sword and your movements? I am Sheryl Tusin Ogatorf. Even if I couldn't beat you, I am a genius."
To say something like that with a perfectly calm attitude, as if just stating a fact without a hint of embarrassment—now that was some truly fucking insane confidence. While I was dumbstruck by the confidence I hadn't faced in a while, Asilie, who'd been rolling her eyes, cut in and changed the subject.
"You've never once beaten Eldi? It's a bit odd for me to say this, but the elf swordsmanship taught to Eldi was really nothing special, just absolute basics among basics?"
It was a statement that could've been taken as a provocation, depending on the viewpoint, but Sheryl just nodded casually while tearing into the chicken leg.
"The swordsmanship was like that. But Eldmia poured an insane amount of blood, sweat, and tears into the act of swinging a sword itself rather than the techniques. I don't know what kind of mental state he was in to do that, but even that bear bastard at the academy who swings his sword the most right now probably swung it less than Eldmia."
"You can tell that?"
"It's so blatant you can't not know. If I train for another two years or so, there might be some room to pull a win through technique, but even that only applies to the current Eldmia. If he keeps training, beating him with swordsmanship alone will take four years at the earliest."
"That... you can estimate that?"
All I'd ever done was think genius this, genius that, but this was the first time I'd actually heard it put so directly, so it was incredibly strange. Before I knew it, I was looking at her with skeptical eyes, and Sheryl sneered with a faint smile as she spoke.
"That's why you're ordinary and I'm a genius. The weird thing is you overwhelming that gap with sheer training volume. Thanks to that weirdness, I realized my own laziness and shortcomings, so I'm glad, at least."
I did... swing it like a madman, yeah. I'd ceaselessly practiced swinging a sword perfectly in every possible direction.
Back then, I agonized a lot over whether this was actually meaningful or not, but hearing her acknowledge it like this, it felt good.