Chapter 310
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Ten Years Later (11)
The Royal Academy was located very close to the palace.
As such, numerous royal children were enrolled there, including Beck.
―――――.
It happened to be physical training time, and the grounds in front of the academy were packed with students.
However, I couldn't spot my son anywhere among them.
“That's strange. I thought he was supposed to be in physical training...?”
I tilted my head and watched the students from a distance near the main gate.
Then, I finally noticed my son sitting on a bench, reading a book.
While everyone else was running around energetically, there he was, absorbed in his book all alone.
His face was as pale as Christina's, likely from not getting much sunlight.
「Group training begins now. Assemble on the field!!」
The royal physical education instructor bellowed in a booming voice.
At that, the students began forming up into two neat lines.
“Haa....”
Beck let out a deep sigh, as if the instructor's shout were a death sentence.
He dragged himself to his feet and trudged down to the field with no other choice.
「We're starting with five laps of jogging. Strong physiques build strong national power—got it!!」
“Yes!!”
The students, all just ten years old, shouted in unison.
Perhaps because we hailed from the warlike nation of Bakal, they always took these physical drills seriously.
Of course, I understood.
I'd endured grueling training myself ever since entering knight cadet training at age ten.
But for Beck, who had little interest in exercise, it must have been even tougher.
Seeing him now reminded me of Cain, who had been frail back then, filling me with even greater unease.
「One, two...!! One, two...!! Maintain formation!!」
“Haa.... Haa....”
Sure enough, Beck began lagging behind the pack.
He had my black hair, but he'd inherited Tina's blue eyes.
He was a strikingly handsome boy, a proper little pretty face.
Yet in Bakal, physical strength and power trumped looks.
Because of that, the other royal children ignored Beck, whose father visited only twice a year.
“Hey, you'll be running till dawn like that—?”
Some burly boys shoved the young boy's shoulder roughly as they pushed ahead.
Tina's nephew, the son of Crown Prince Uros, was especially aggressive.
“Those little....”
I fixed them with a lifeless glare from my dark eyes.
But then I held back when I saw the academy instructor striding toward Beck, who had stopped from exhaustion.
I'd assumed he'd at least offer my son some encouragement.
But.
That was my mistake.
“Beck Mikhail Bakal. You're dead last again!!”
Even the instructor didn't encourage him—instead, he snapped at the boy harshly.
“If you expect special treatment just because you're Princess Tina's son, dream on. In Bakal, we don't count the weak as one of us!!”
“I'm sorry....”
The instructor barked his words roughly, then strode away from Beck without a backward glance.
Left alone like that, my son looked all the more pathetic.
“...”
Beck somehow managed to lift his trembling legs.
He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and took another slow step forward.
But no miracle occurred.
Inherently lacking in stamina, he couldn't even run for a few seconds before dropping his head again.
“Haaa....”
Transparent sweat dripped from his chin.
Beck stared blankly at the pitiful wet spot it left on the dirt ground.
Then, the moment a military boot appeared right in front of him.
“...”
He snapped his head up.
And met my eyes, shadowed by the backlight of my face.
“Father...?”
The ten-year-old boy gazed up at my stoic face in a daze.
In Bakal, I visited twice a year.
Once when I came down to the palace with Tina and the empire.
We only spent four months together each year.
Perhaps because of that, our meetings felt awkward to him, and he bowed his head again.
“I'm sorry.... For showing you something like this....”
He must have felt sorry for not fitting in at school, murmuring in a small voice.
As if he expected me to scold him, just like the academy instructor.
But.
I offered no blame.
Instead....
“It's okay, Beck.”
I simply took my precious son's hand in a firm grip.
“Can you stand again?”
I bent my knees to meet his eye level.
And gently brushed aside his sweat-dampened bangs.
“Yes, I can stand.”
Even so, he brushed the dirt from his knees with pluck.
I watched him fondly and asked in a gentle tone.
“Do you think you're falling behind in the run because you're weak?”
“Yes.... Father, you're a Grand Master. So of course I should be able to run well too, but it feels like I haven't put in the effort.”
I shook my head firmly at Beck's words.
“No, it's not that you haven't tried or can't run well.”
I placed a light hand on his waist.
And offered advice with the serious gaze I'd had as a knight.
“You just don't have the technique yet. Once you learn it, you can get as strong as you want.”
To teach him how to run properly, I pointed to my lips first.
“When you run, don't open your mouth and pant. It messes up your breathing and tires you out faster.”
At my earnest advice, the dull light returned to Beck's blue eyes bit by bit.
But that wouldn't calm his ragged breaths right away.
“Now focus only on your legs. Then you can finish as much as you want.”
Beck swallowed hard and stared ahead.
At the backs of his classmates, growing ever more distant.
He felt like he'd never catch up to that formation again.
“I'm already too far behind. And I've never even finished the field once....”
I gazed silently down at the black-haired boy.
In the meantime, his classmates' formation had pulled even farther away.
“Anyway, I don't have the talent compared to the other kids.”
Beck, who met his other siblings every time we visited Tina and Leon.
In truth, he'd envied Ian and Liri's athleticism, and Helena's maturity.
“I'm not fast like Ian, and I can't study like Helena. Maybe I don't take after you at all, Father....”
I gently gripped the shoulders of Beck, who was starting to exude a gloomy aura.
And, meeting his eyes, I said.
“Beck, listen well.”
As I drew his focus, his fox-pup-like pretty eyes blinked.
Whoever he took after, he had a remarkably handsome face.
“You know Little Mother Mago, right?”
“Yeah, the witch with the twin tails.”
Beck nodded, clearly remembering her well.
“Your dad was weak back then—just your age—getting left in the dust by Mago at the orphanage.”
“What...? You, Dad?!”
Mago was the second-shortest among my wives, after Lydia.
And she had a slender build to boot.
To think Dad had lost to her in his memories.
Beck's mouth fell open in disbelief.
“Yeah, back in my childhood, Mago was the one dragging me on adventures everywhere. I was so timid, I had to rely on a girl my age.”
“...”
I softly pinched my speechless son's cheek.
I shook the cheese-like stretchy skin lightly and grinned.
“Ian, Liri, Helena. And even Mari and Mika. Honestly, they all take after their mothers more than me, so they're all precocious in their ways.”
As I admitted it readily, Beck gave me that 'just as I thought' look, his face gloomy.
But the moment he heard my next words.
He stared at me with wide, wavering eyes.
“But the one who takes after me most is you.”
I—the empire's Grand Master and the kingdom's son-in-law—had officially named him the child I resembled most.
“So, you can do it. Even if you're behind now, keep at it to the end, and you'll become the kingdom's greatest sword.”
Uros's son too.
All the other royal cousins too.
“You can surpass them all, Beck.”
A brilliant white aura flickered in my eyes.
The boy stared at the mesmerizing sight and unconsciously swallowed hard.
“So, move forward.”
I could feel strong life force in his gripped hand.
It was dormant now, but I saw boundless potential in him.
All I needed to do was instill confidence in Beck.
So he could awaken and unleash that potential himself.
“Got it.”
My perceptive son understood my sincerity.
He pulled himself up and took a deep breath.
The first truly serious breath he'd ever taken.
Perhaps because of it, his once-cloudy mind cleared, and his eyes sparkled with focus.
Then, the moment he sealed his lips and concentrated fully on his legs, as I'd said.
――――――!!
He burst into a sprint with energy that belied his exhaustion just moments ago.
His eyes sharp and fixed ahead.
Breathing steadily, all his attention on his legs, he pressed on diligently.
“As expected of my son—picks it up fast.”
Even now as a Grand Master, back in my knight cadet days, I'd been more ordinary than anyone.
I'd relearned even how to stand properly from scratch, building my skills step by step.
That's when I'd qualified as a Swordmaster—and surpassed it to become who I am now.
Beck would be the same.
He was starting with just breathing techniques now, but....
Someday, he might become a Swordmaster before anyone else.
“What the...? That kid's catching up?”
The other royal cousins glanced back at Beck.
At that, Yukal—Uros's son—scowled coldly.
“Should I trip him?”
“...”
Yukal whipped his head forward again.
And kept jogging rigidly ahead.
“Let him be. Who knows, maybe he's finally wised up.”
Beck was over two laps behind.
Uros and his group were already on their final lap.
Naturally, Beck couldn't catch them.
But.
Succeeding at a finish he'd never managed before would still mean something.
Thinking that, I clasped my hands behind my back and watched the field.
Then, the academy instructor, who had retreated to a distance, approached.
The middle-aged man had the imposing air of a palace warrior.
He reminded me of Batsu, in a way.
“Lord Veil, I presume.”
“Yes, that's me.”
He recognized me immediately and stood beside me.
Thinking I'd grill him for his actions, he spoke up gravely.
“You saw me berating Prince Beck, didn't you.”
“Yes, but I don't hold it against you. I hear Bakal is a harsh kingdom.”
I watched Beck entering his fourth lap with the serious gaze from my knight days.
“Indeed. That's why I had no choice but to discipline your son harshly.”
“It's fine. I took beatings myself as a cadet.”
I waved it off.
The Bakalian warrior, who respected strength, gave a light bow.
“But I can't tolerate my son being bullied by the other royals.”
“I understand. But the law of the jungle has taken deep root in the academy....”
The instructor looked troubled, clearly not believing this would positively impact education.
“Changing Prince Beck's image won't be easy.”
A bookworm who couldn't even study.
He needed to shake that reputation.
“Is there separate 'sparring' at the academy?”
“There is. Tomorrow's the monthly evaluation.”
I folded my arms at his words.
My dark eyes flashed as I spoke.
“If our Beck wins there, the pecking order flips.”
The middle-aged instructor looked stunned at my words.
“Th-that's true, but.... Do you think it's possible...?”
“What's not possible? He's my son.”
The instructor, once among Bakal's top warriors, looked flustered.
“Prince Beck is currently at the bottom of his class in sparring scores....”
“No worries.”
My son had entered his fifth lap.
The child who'd always failed to finish was now on the verge of success after learning the trick.
“I was dead last in my first cadet evaluation too.”
――――――.
“Haaa....... Haa......”
Beck finally entered his last lap.
His heart felt like it might burst, his ankles throbbed, but he endured the pain to the end.
And, tearing into his dormant muscles freely, he reached the finish line.
“I did it......!”
I watched my son clutch his heaving chest and spoke.
Gazing at him—the first thing he'd ever claimed for himself—with serious eyes.
「And for the second evaluation, I took first place.」
I pulled a newly developed portable crystal orb from my back pocket.
Glancing at the instructor, I said.
「How prestigious is the Royal Academy's sparring event?」
“W-well, even Prince Uros comes to watch in person, so it's quite the affair.”
「If the prince attends personally, the crowd must be lopsided in cheers.」
The middle-aged man had no response to that.
So, I brought the orb to my lips and spoke instead.
「But this time will be different.」
I ordered the orb to connect to the Leon Empire.
「Tomorrow, Beck will claim his first victory amid everyone's blessings.」