2. Winter Expedition - 03
2. Winter Expedition - 03
Beyond that, the sheer number of sweet memories I've built with Bianca over the course of a year is so countless I couldn't begin to tally them all, so I'll leave it at that.
Now let me speak of the woman named Iris El Debhart, who serves as a knight on this Winter Expedition.
A warrior counted among the ten strongest in the empire, she has reached the Master Realm—a level most swordsmen cannot attain in a lifetime. She also serves as head of the Imperial Knights and holds the status of Imperial Princess.
Imperial Princess. A phrase that means, literally, the daughter of the Emperor. Indeed, this woman named Iris occupied a position so exalted that, by status alone, a stripped-of-his-dukedom wretch like me would not dare even meet her eyes.
So why in the world would someone as lofty as the Imperial Princess personally take part in an expedition like this?
I once posed that question to her.
No matter how much skill backed her up, why go out of her way to throw herself into such grim work?
At those words, she fixed me with a stern gaze and answered.
"Are you not a noble yourself? What do you think is the duty of a noble?"
"...Duty, you ask? Well, to govern the people rightly..."
"Wrong."
She shook her head at my answer.
"The duty of nobles is not to rule the people—it is to lead them from the very front. Everything we enjoy comes from the people of the empire. The more noble the blood, the less one may fear shedding it for the people. One must not shrink from being the first to face death. That principle applies above all to me, who carries the blood of the Imperial Household."
"....."
"That is why I am so proud to stand here at this very moment. Proud that I can, in this small way, return what I have received from the empire's people."
A severe dignity graced the Imperial Princess's profile as she spoke as if admonishing herself, and it made her look impossibly noble.
So much so that, before I knew it, I found her unbearably beautiful.
"...Hm? What is that look? Could it be you've fallen for me?"
So saying, the Imperial Princess gave a soft smile.
"Apologies, but my taste runs to strong men. You are far too feeble to catch my eye."
"....."
Did I say anything? I'm not fool enough to get ideas above my station and chase after the Imperial Princess.
"Hmm. Now that I look, you don't seem to have trained properly at all. Your lower body is unsteady, and your arms look to have nothing but skin, never mind muscle. Was House Estel not a line that produced fine warriors generation after generation?"
"Martial pursuits never held much interest for me."
"That may have been so until now, but I doubt it can stay that way. No one knows how long this expedition will last. Should you not have at least enough skill to defend yourself?"
It was such a sensible point that I found myself nodding. True enough—this was a dangerous journey where magical beasts could spring out at any time. I could hardly afford to sit around trusting only in others.
Especially when imagining a life-or-death moment where I get saved by someone like Bianca and barely survive, my stomach turns. To avoid a sight like that, I figured I'd better start working at swordsmanship come tomorrow morning.
That was when it happened. The Imperial Princess's eyes flashed as she looked at me.
"Sir Kain. Would you consider learning the sword from me?"
"...Pardon?"
"Come now, no need to decline. We are hardly strangers, and are you not a critical person serving as this expedition's guide? The stronger you become, the stronger the expedition's combat strength. I see no loss in it for me."
That, too, was sound reasoning. Honestly, when would I ever get another chance to receive instruction from a powerhouse of this caliber? Teaching from someone who had reached the Master Realm was a chance others couldn't obtain even by piling up gold and begging on their knees.
"I'll do it. I'm truly grateful that you'd teach me."
"Fufu, think nothing of it. Are we not expedition members and comrades? It's no great matter."
And so, before I knew it, I had opened a second gate to hell.
****
"...Sir. Sir. Wake up."
"...Ugh, urgh..."
The sound of someone rousing me dragged me from sleep.
I cracked my eyes open to check outside the tent, and the world was still wrapped in deep darkness.
Just who was forcing me awake at the crack of dawn?
Even that ill-mannered Bianca didn't lay a finger on me while I was sleeping.
"Sir Kain!"
A voice like thunder burst in my ears, making my eyes fly open before I could think.
The sight of the Imperial Princess, fully armed and standing with her arms folded right in front of my nose, filled my vision.
"...Im-Imperial Princess...?"
"Hmm. You seem to be awake at last. Did you sleep well?"
"...Why have you woken me at such an early hour? Has there been an ambush by magical beasts...?"
"What are you talking about? Did we not agree that you would begin training under me today?"
"...What?"
My face twisted slightly at that. I'm already half-dead with exhaustion—what's this about training at dawn?
"My apologies, but we are not so idle that we can carve out separate training hours. We are on an expedition, not a holiday. I thought it best to shave time off sleep for training so as not to inconvenience the others."
"...Well, that's true."
The Imperial Princess's argument was correctness itself. I had no grounds to dispute it.
Having personally told her I'd accept her training, I could hardly say one thing and do another now.
With a sigh, I armed myself as best I could and stepped outside the tent. The night sky still glittered with stars; I couldn't even guess what hour it was. Frankly, training or no training, all I wanted was to crawl back into my tent and sleep.
Standing before the Imperial Princess with those still-sleepy, vacant eyes, she clicked her tongue at me.
"Tsk, you really are a weak man, Sir Kain. Your eyes are hazy just from missing a few hours of sleep. If you were in the Imperial Knights, I'd have started you with mental conditioning first."
"....."
"Well, it can't be helped. This isn't the Imperial Capital. Now then, let us begin training. Shall we start with a simple assessment of your ability?"
So saying, the Imperial Princess tapped the sword at her waist.
"Draw your sword and come at me. I need to test the measure of your skill. For reference, I will face you bare-handed."
"...Are you sure? This is a live blade..."
I meant it out of some concern, but at that, the Imperial Princess burst out laughing.
"You worry for nothing. Did you think, with your skill, you could so much as touch a hair on my head?"
Her words, which sounded as though she was utterly dismissing me, sparked some obstinance before I knew it.
She was looking down on me because I looked this pathetic, but for all my sorry state, I am the heir of House Estel—a martial house whose name rings across the continent.
True, it had been a long time since I last held a sword, but as a child I'd undergone solid swordsmanship training as part of my education.
"I won't go easy on you just because you're the Imperial Princess. My sword has no eyes."
"Oh-ho, now that's a look worth seeing. Good. Come at me with everything you have."
The moment the Imperial Princess's words ended, I yanked my sword from my waist. Today, I would burn it into the Imperial Princess—who knows nothing of the world—just how terrifying an existence a man can be—
"Hyaaaaaaap!"
...Exactly one minute later, I was rolling pathetically across the grass.
"Keheup! Kehek! Haagh..."
I lay there gasping, unable to breathe properly after taking a clean hit to the gut from the Imperial Princess. She looked down at me with a truly pitying gaze.
"...Hmm. Far weaker than I'd thought. You're well below even the newest raw recruit in the knight order. I considered the possibility, but I never imagined you'd be at this level."
"....."
Damn it, wasn't that obvious? Even prodigies who'd trained with the sword since childhood found it no easy feat to join the Imperial Knights. Comparing me—who'd done nothing but roll a pen around an office before being dragged out here—to those human weapons was a bit much, wasn't it?
"I will have to revise the plan. Originally I intended to focus training on swordsmanship, but at this rate even ten years won't make you a combat asset. I believe somewhat rougher methods are called for."
"...Rougher methods?"
Why did the ring of those words sound so ominous to me?
"What are they?"
At my question, the Imperial Princess pondered briefly how to explain, then she opened her mouth to answer.
"Live combat."
****
Two days later, the expedition pushing northward halted as night fell once more and began making camp.
The camp preparations were, of course, entirely my job.
All four members of the expedition were far too exalted to set up camp—hands that had never touched a drop of water, any of them. If I didn't take care of these tedious tasks, who on earth would?
I'd done these same camp preparations countless times throughout the expedition, but today my hands were moving slowly of their own accord, probably because my body was so utterly spent.
"...I'm so tired I could go mad."
Starting two days ago, a schedule had been added: rising at dawn to receive basic physical conditioning and swordsmanship instruction from the Imperial Princess. During the day I was already half-dead trudging along as a pack mule for those four, and now I couldn't even sleep properly at night. I was alive, but this wasn't living.
I was half out of my mind, lighting the campfire and pitching the tents, when it happened.
"Ngh, this is rather heavy."
Thud!
No sooner had we said we were preparing camp than the Imperial Princess, who had vanished somewhere, suddenly returned and dropped something in front of me.
"Kraaaaah! To make me like this! I will never forgive you, human!"
Looking closely, it was an orc. Not just any orc—one with two scars crossing its eyes, and it looked tough as nails.
Curious why it only blustered about never forgiving us but didn't resist, I examined the creature. Both its legs and its right arm were grotesquely broken.
Well, no wonder it couldn't resist even if it wanted to.
Feeling a smidgen of pity for the orc, I posed a question to the Imperial Princess.
"Why drag this one all the way here instead of just killing it on the spot?"
"Hmm. Because it is necessary, of course. I expended some effort entirely for your sake."
"...For my sake?"
What nonsense was this? She captured that orc for my sake? Don't tell me that, like a fairy out of a fairy tale, this was one of those kind-hearted orcs that helps set up camp or cooks meals for you?
"Kraaaaah! I'll kill you. I'll tear your body apart while you still live and wet my throat with your fresh blood! And you, wench, who humiliated me so—I'll rip you to shreds especially!"
"....."
Listening to the things it was saying, it was hard to believe this was the speech of a kindly orc that would do the cleaning and cooking.
When I shot the Imperial Princess a look urging an explanation, she merely shrugged her shoulders lightly.
"Did I not tell you? What you need, it seems, is live combat."
"...What?"
In that instant, the blood drained from my face. Because I understood exactly what the Imperial Princess meant.
Before I knew it, I was sizing up the orc's body from top to bottom.
Its face was sickeningly ugly, but its physique alone was so well-developed you could call it first-rate. The abdominal muscles flaunting their presence on its lower belly weren't even worth mentioning, and its biceps boasted a size that looked more than twice the thickness of my thighs.
...No way. This can't be. A joke, right? I want to believe this is a joke. No way. If the Imperial Princess was in her right mind, she'd never order me to do something like—
"...This is a joke, right?"
"A joke? You wound me. This is the finest training method I have devised."
So saying, the Imperial Princess unfastened the sword at her hip and handed it to me.
"I command you as your teacher. Go on, fight that orc and win by your own skill."