The Forest Villa and the Sword Prodigy
A while after our unexpected life together began, we moved to a new home.
“All right, this is where we’ll be living from today onward.”
I pointed ahead as I spoke. A single building stood there. For a simple residence, it was quite large. It felt somewhat awkward to call it a mansion, yet it was noticeably bigger than an ordinary house. Its exterior looked suitably refined for its scale. This building would be our new nest starting today.
I had known from the beginning that I couldn’t keep the children in that villa forever. The fact that it was too cramped for the four of us was one reason, but a more fundamental issue existed. We needed to evade the Dark Cult’s pursuit.
The day after meeting the children, I returned to the spot where the carriage had been and erased every trace. Thanks to the torrential rain, I cleaned the scene so thoroughly that even a professional tracker would struggle to find any clues.
Even so, staying near Elton with any sense of security would have been utterly foolish. The Cult was relentless, and their power was terrifying. Sooner or later, they would catch the scent and locate the site. It was obvious they would begin by scouring the surrounding area. On top of that, I was fairly well-known in Elton. Both after my possession and even before it, Gunter had operated out of Elton as his base. Among the mercenaries there, my name likely ranked among the most recognizable.
If someone like me suddenly began raising three young girls? There was no chance it wouldn’t draw attention. Rumors about me would probably spread through Elton within days of being spotted, and many people would grow curious about the children. That would be the end. Before long, the information would reach the Cult’s ears.
Knowing this, I boldly chose to relocate far from Elton. I took every precaution to leave no traces during the move and even altered my appearance and identity. The process demanded considerable money and effort, but there was no other choice. Cutting corners out of annoyance or reluctance would only hand them a rope to hang me with.
After all that preparation, this house became our new sanctuary. It lay near Braham, a city some distance from Elton, tucked inside a sparsely traveled forest where people rarely ventured. I had heard it was originally a noble’s villa. Due to various circumstances, the noble had sold it, yet it apparently remained unsold for a long time.
Well, given the location.
Villas were usually built in places with clean water and fresh air. This spot was somewhat ambiguous in that regard. While nature grew thick here, it offered no particularly stunning scenery or notable attractions. The building itself was excellent, but that very quality had driven the price so high that only those with substantial wealth could consider it. In the end, it sold at a surprisingly low price. Even then, its poor location and site caused the ownership to change hands several times. It had only recently returned to the market, and I had snapped it up.
Though the price had dropped for multiple reasons, a noble-built villa was still a noble-built villa. I ended up spending a significant portion of my saved funds to purchase it. Still, I felt deeply satisfied. For its original purpose it might have been a white elephant, but for me it was the perfect property. Adequate size, a location so remote that human footsteps scarcely reached it—everything aligned perfectly.
“What do you think?”
I turned as I asked. Before me stood three children of uncommon appearance: Alice, Lana, and Julia.
“Wow…!” Lana stared at the villa with her gentle eyes wide open.
“…….” Julia gazed at it blankly, her expression unreadable.
“…Hmph.” Alice pretended to have little interest, yet kept stealing glances at the villa.
The sight brought a smile to my lips. Some time had passed since we met, and their wariness toward me had eased somewhat. Of course, it had only lessened; it still remained. For some reason Julia followed my instructions obediently from the start, but Lana still watched me with faint fear, and Alice continued to bristle.
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t disappointed, yet I understood it couldn’t be helped. The lives they had endured were hardly gentle enough for them to lower their guards after merely spending a short time together.
No need to rush.
There was no reason to hurry. Rushing wouldn’t change anything. As the days we spent together accumulated, the time would come when these children fully lowered their defenses and learned to trust me.
With that thought, I looked at the villa once more, quietly anticipating the new life that would begin here.
When our new life had begun and the children had grown somewhat accustomed to their new home, I gathered them and spoke.
“Starting today, we’ll be holding separate training sessions.”
“……?”
Questions flickered in the children’s eyes. I met their gazes directly and continued.
“As I told you before, a dangerous group is targeting you. That’s why you need to gain the strength to protect yourselves.”
So.
“From today, I’ll teach you that.”
I couldn’t protect these children forever. I couldn’t hide them from the world’s eyes for the rest of their lives, nor could I guarantee the Cult would never find them. Therefore, I had to ensure they could defend themselves.
They had needed time to adjust, and relocating had taken priority, so I had put it off. Now, however, I intended to begin. It would have been ideal to have professional instructors, but that was naturally impossible. Setting aside the cost, no one else could know about them—at least not until they were safe.
Thus, I naturally took on the role of their teacher.
The first student was Julia. I called her to the clearing beside the villa. When I told her to follow, she came without the slightest hesitation. For some reason, Julia had followed my words relatively well from the beginning. It almost seemed as if she didn’t view me with much wariness. That was one of the reasons I had chosen her as the first to train.
Today, too, she stood with her usual expressionless face, looking up at me. I handed her an object. It was a wooden sword, sized for a child’s build—somewhat smaller than standard.
“……?”
Julia accepted the wooden sword almost reflexively and looked at me with faintly puzzled eyes.
“I’m going to teach you swordsmanship, Julia.”
I smiled at the rare glimpse of emotion in her gaze and spoke.
I knew the villainesses from the game well—what atrocities they had committed and what power they had wielded.
Julia. In the game, she had been a swordswoman. A martial artist who could split heaven and earth with a swing of her blade without exaggeration. A monster who treated even superhumans who had transcended human limits like children, a being who reached toward the realm beyond transcendence. The strongest combatant in the story—that was the Julia Librel I remembered.
In truth, the biggest reason I had chosen to teach her first was this: swordsmanship was what I was most confident in.
Whoosh!
I swung the wooden sword lightly. A vertical cut from above to below, gripped with both hands. It was the most basic motion in swordsmanship.
When I glanced at Julia afterward, her eyes remained fixed on me.
“Want to give it a try?”
I asked, meeting her characteristic gaze. Julia stared at me blankly for a moment, then turned her head forward and gripped the wooden sword’s hilt with both hands.
And then—
Swish!
She swung it from top to bottom.
After her first sword swing, Julia tilted her head slightly.
“……?”
I swallowed a chuckle. I could guess why she reacted that way. She must have found it strange. The slash I had demonstrated and the one Julia performed were qualitatively different.
One might wonder what difference there could be in simply swinging a sword downward, but the gap was larger than expected. Setting aside our difference in physical strength, the level of completion itself was entirely unlike.
The original owner of this body—Gunter—possessed genuine skill. To have reached this level of prowess at his age meant his talent had been considerable. And I was confident I could replicate Gunter’s ability almost perfectly.
I had only spent about three months in Gunter’s body, yet I had already caught up to a significant portion of his achievements. In my previous world I had never properly held a sword, so I sometimes wondered how it was possible. Perhaps some unknown power was at work, or maybe my own talent exceeded what I had assumed.
At any rate, that wasn’t important right now. Returning to the main point: no matter how unparalleled a genius Julia might be, and no matter how much I had held back my strength and swung moderately, a clear gap existed between my sword and that of Julia, who was swinging a blade for the first time today. That was inevitable.
Rather, this was something to marvel at. The very fact that she showed such a reaction meant she had instantly recognized the difference.
As expected.
Confirming once again that her talent was extraordinary, I tried to reassure her.
“There’s no need to think too strangely about it. It’s your first time swinging a sword, so it’s only natu—”
But I couldn’t finish the sentence.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
As Julia continued swinging while tilting her head, her posture stabilized at an absurd speed with each repetition.
Swoosh!
After only a few swings, even the sound of the wooden sword slicing through the air had changed. Her form had become so clean that no one could call it the posture of a beginner.
“…Uh, um.”
I swallowed my words.
As expected, it was an absurd talent.