Preparing for Admission The next day.
The next day.
Just as Derick had told me, I made my way to the training yard.
“So you didn’t run away.”
“Where exactly was I supposed to run?”
Derick’s training was tough, sure, but not enough to make me bolt.
More than anything, he was teaching me swordsmanship for free. What reason did I have to refuse that?
I’d just take what was being handed to me and swallow it down.
“Take the horse stance.”
“Yes, sir.”
Today’s training, just like yesterday’s, began with the horse stance.
Just as before, my arms grew numb and my legs started to shake.
After enduring that for an hour, I collapsed onto the ground with a thud.
“Huh.”
Derick looked genuinely startled to see me hold out longer than I had the day before.
“It’s only been one day, and you’ve managed to last an hour. That’s impressive.”
“Hah, hah... I’m just built different.”
“That kind of growth can’t be explained by a line like that. Is it talent...?”
Talent, huh.
He might not be wrong.
[Your proficiency in Basic Swordsmanship has increased.]
[Basic Swordsmanship (E) → Basic Swordsmanship (D)]
Thanks to Infinite Growth, I could pick up anything at a ridiculous pace whenever I couldn’t see.
If that counted as talent, then I supposed it was talent.
“At this rate, you can move on to the next step.”
“So I’m finally learning actual swordsmanship?”
“No. More like the movements that form the foundation of swordsmanship.”
Derick stood and picked up a wooden sword.
He raised it as if he were about to demonstrate, then stopped.
“Hmm...”
“What’s wrong?”
“This is the problem. I want to demonstrate it, but since you can’t see, I’m not sure how to teach you.”
“...”
Even with my sight sealed, Absolute Perception let me see as clearly as if my eyes were open.
So no matter how Derick demonstrated it, I could follow everything perfectly—but of course, he had no way of knowing that.
“Just show me. I’ll try to copy it somehow.”
“Hmm... Fair enough. We don’t have another option.”
Derick swung the wooden sword.
Once vertically.
Once horizontally.
And then he thrust forward once.
“What I’ve just shown you are the three basic movements of swordsmanship: the vertical slash, the horizontal slash, and the thrust.”
Derick lowered the wooden sword and continued.
“Every sword art begins with these three movements. If you can’t master them, you can’t learn swordsmanship at all. If you understand, then show me.”
“Understood.”
I set my stance and imitated the motions he’d shown me.
Slash vertically.
Slash horizontally.
Thrust.
I thought I’d done them pretty well.
But Derick clearly wasn’t satisfied, because he kept telling me to do them again.
“No. You’re putting too much tension in your shoulders. Again.”
This time, I focused harder and swung the wooden sword again.
“Again.”
I kept swinging.
“Again.”
How many times had I done it now?
I have no idea what the problem is.
No matter how many times I repeated the motions, I couldn’t satisfy Derick.
I was sure I was doing it right, but to a knight like him, my form apparently still looked wrong.
“You’re thinking too much while you swing the sword. Imagine there’s an enemy in front of you and strike. A sword with no target and no purpose will only end up cutting empty air.”
“...An enemy.”
An enemy.
The moment I repeated the word in my head, the face of that circus bastard who had spent a year hurling daggers at me flashed before my eyes.
It was so vivid it felt like he was standing right in front of me.
And maybe that was why.
The instant I saw his face, anger surged up inside me.
“You son of a bitch...”
Back when I was in the circus, I hadn’t been able to do anything because I was a slave.
But what stood in front of me now was nothing more than an illusion.
There was no problem with taking my anger out on that.
“Die!”
I brought the wooden sword down toward his throat.
Whoosh!
The arc was sharper than anything I’d managed before.
“Oh?”
For the first time, the corner of Derick’s mouth lifted slightly.
“Yes. That’s it.”
After that, I kept swinging the wooden sword without pause.
If Derick hadn’t told me to stop, I would have kept going until I collapsed.
“You definitely have talent. In just one day, you’ve brought the basic movements up to the level of someone who’s trained for a year.”
“How good is that, exactly?”
“Let’s see. Purely in terms of talent, you might even be comparable to the Three Swords who protect the Empire.”
“Is that a big deal?”
“Of course it is. Those three are the idols of every knight in the Empire. If you weren’t blind, I’d be afraid to imagine how far you might have grown.”
At Derick’s praise, I couldn’t help straightening a little.
Talent comparable to the Three Swords who protected the Empire.
Once again, I was reminded just how broken Infinite Growth really was.
[Your proficiency in Basic Swordsmanship has increased.]
[Basic Swordsmanship (D) → Basic Swordsmanship (C)]
My skill proficiency had gone up again.
At this rate, maybe I really would be able to shed the “basic” label before entering the academy.
Just then, I sensed someone approaching from afar.
This presence is...
Bella.
She was hurrying toward the training yard.
“There you are.”
“Bella? What brings you here?”
“The young lady is looking for you. Please come with me.”
“Uh, I’m sweating pretty badly right now. If I go straight over, I’ll probably stink.”
“...”
Bella frowned.
“Let’s get you washed first.”
***
“Ah, that feels good.”
After washing up in the bath, it felt like all the fatigue had been rinsed clean away.
My body felt so refreshed that I wanted nothing more than a chilled glass of milk, but I didn’t have the luxury of lingering around.
“The young lady is waiting. Hurry.”
“I’m hurrying, aren’t I? I’m literally changing as fast as I can. Why is the young lady looking for me, anyway?”
Medeia knew I was training under Derick.
So I’d assumed she wouldn’t call for me during that time, but apparently I was wrong.
Was something urgent going on?
“It’s one week until you enter the academy, isn’t it? Surely you weren’t planning to enroll wearing butler’s clothes?”
“Uh... would that have been a problem?”
“Haa...”
Bella let out a rare sigh.
“Kael. It’s true that you’re entering the academy to serve the young lady, but you’re still going in as a student. That means you need a proper uniform.”
“So you mean...”
“Yes. From now on, you’ll be going out with the young lady to get your uniforms fitted.”
That caught me off guard.
“Is it really okay for her to go out?”
I worried about whether it was safe for Medeia to leave the villa.
What if something went wrong because of her curse?
“You don’t need to worry about that. We’ll be traveling by carriage. At the shop, she’ll keep her face covered while we get the fitting done, then come straight back. There won’t be any issue.”
Sure enough, if they did it that way, they could avoid the curse’s effects.
Still, something about it felt unsettling.
Well, nothing would happen, right?
I hoped so.
I followed Bella to the carriage where Medeia was waiting.
“Late.”
In front of the carriage stood Medeia, her face hidden behind a veil.
When Bella confirmed her presence, she naturally turned her head away and avoided Medeia’s gaze.
That, plus the way she kept her distance, made it painfully clear how severe Medeia’s curse really was.
“...What are you waiting for? Get in already.”
“I’m getting in. I’m getting in.”
Medeia didn’t bother pressing Bella about it.
She was used to this by now.
Instead, she spoke only to me.
“You know where we’re going today?”
“I heard we’re getting the uniforms the young lady and I will wear at the academy fitted.”
“That’s right.”
“But weren’t you already attending the academy? I heard you were returning after a leave of absence, so why do you need a new uniform?”
Instead of answering, Medeia jerked her head aside.
“...It’s just because they’re old.”
“Old?”
“Yes. It’s not as if I’d wear something old again.”
As she said that, Medeia’s hand drifted toward her waist.
She pinched at her side with her fingers, and the soft flesh beneath her clothes gave under her touch.
“And because I was still growing.”
“Growing?”
“What. You’ve got a problem with that?”
I didn’t.
Still, at the word “growing,” my eyes naturally drifted toward Medeia’s stomach.
Was it really because she’d been growing?
Maybe she noticed where I was looking, because Medeia reflexively pulled her cloak tighter around herself.
“What are you staring at?”
“I’m not staring at anything.”
“You were.”
“I can’t even see, remember?”
“...”
Left with no comeback against that fact, Medeia cleared her throat and looked out the window.
“We’ve arrived.”
Before long, the carriage reached the clothing shop.
After getting out and stepping inside, I was greeted by all kinds of clothes.
Every last one of them was made from the finest fabric and carried a price to match.
They were things I’d normally never even glance at, but that wasn’t why we’d come here today.
We were here to have our academy uniforms fitted.
“Excuse me.”
An employee approached and began taking measurements for Medeia and me.
Medeia moved as carefully as she could so the veil wouldn’t slip, all while the measurements were taken.
“We’re done here. Once the clothes are ready, we’ll send them to the villa. Thank you.”
The fitting ended quickly.
At this point, all that was left was to head back to the villa...
“Huh? Medeia? What are you doing here? I thought you’d dropped out.”
Right?