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Chapter 2: Swordsmanship instructor (2)
The crowd fell silent.
Glancing to the side, the guard knights stood with their mouths hanging open in shock.
And beside them, Harsen had his eyes wide as saucers.
"H-how did you..."
"I told you. How impressive can a twelve-year-old brat be."
To be fair, impressive was the right word.
Because his current level was not all that different from before his Regression.
One might ask how that was possible—but it turned out his body was rather exceptional.
Before the Regression, he had been drinking himself into the ground and living like a wreck, so he hadn't known.
'So of course I'd wipe the floor with a Sword Saint who's ten years younger.'
Continuing that thought, he met Siellin's eyes.
"It'll take ten years to make a proper person out of you."
Siellin was grinding her teeth, glaring up at him.
Her expression screamed that she was furious enough to die.
She reminded him of himself, back in the day.
"I asked you how you did it...!"
"Call me Master."
"...No."
"Fine, figure it out on your own then."
He hadn't expected much anyway.
He himself had never called the Sword Saint Master either.
"J-just what in the world did you do...?"
Harsen stammered as he asked.
'Is this what they call like father, like daughter?'
They were asking the exact same question.
"Did I not say so? That I was confident."
"Even so. How did you manage against that monster..."
"She's not a monster, which is why I won."
He said it with a touch of irritation.
Calling his own daughter a monster and all that was already unpleasant enough.
Was it really appropriate to say that in front of the child?
"Oh."
Siellin let out a single sound.
Glancing over, she was staring blankly with her mouth slightly open.
So it had bothered her after all.
"In any case, I will be the one to instruct the Young Lady. I believe my ability has been demonstrated well enough."
"A-alright. The contract..."
Harsen moved about in a fluster.
His movements carried a restless anxiety.
Perhaps he now saw him as a monster too.
A greater monster who had defeated the monster that was Siellin.
Something along those lines.
'All the better for me.'
He wouldn't make any unnecessary interference.
And he was perfectly suited as a teaching aid for instructing Siellin.
"Let's go."
He followed behind Harsen.
***
In the place left behind by everyone.
Siellin sat in the Training Grounds in a daze.
'How? How?'
She kept replaying the fight from moments ago.
She had raised her sword.
The instant she stepped forward, aiming for an opening—
As if everything had been read, Adrian's sword drove in.
Adrian's strike carried not a trace of killing intent, and yet—
She had fallen before she even knew what was happening.
'How did he do it...?'
She didn't know.
No matter whose swordsmanship she observed, Siellin could always grasp the principle behind it in an instant.
But that attack earlier—she couldn't even begin to estimate it.
'Annoying.'
She scowled and dug her hand into the Training Grounds floor.
Crack!
The floor crumbled and chunks of stone came away in her grip.
Where she had grabbed, the imprint of her hand was left carved into the ground.
"Hii, hiik!?"
"Heukeuk!"
The two maids, who had only just come back to their senses, recoiled in fright.
They watched Siellin cautiously before shrinking back.
"...Get lost."
"Y-yes, my Lady!"
The startled maid gave a stiff bow.
The other maid did the same.
"I-i-is there anything you n-need..."
"Nothing."
"Understood..."
The two maids fled in a hurry.
Watching their retreating figures—
"Tch."
She clicked her tongue.
It was the same reaction she always saw, yet the irritation still welled up all the same.
Tap- tap-
She brushed the stone dust off her hand in passing.
Then picked up the sword she had dropped.
"Call you Master, he says?"
How dare you?
To me?
She gripped the sword tight.
"You'll make me function like a proper person, you say?"
Who do you think you are?
That thought consumed her mind.
Being somewhat skilled with a sword didn't give one the right to act that way.
That unpleasant Young Lord was nothing more than that—someone who had simply started earlier and reached his level ahead of her because he was older.
Given time, she would eventually surpass him.
So he had no right to lecture her.
"Someone like you... someone like you..."
"She's not a monster, which is why I won."
All at once, the words Adrian had spoken came back to her.
A throwaway line.
Not a monster.
But they were words she had never heard before.
From the day she was born, she had never once been told she wasn't a monster.
Even Siellin herself had never denied being one.
Because she was a monster.
Yet Adrian said it so casually, as if it were nothing.
"...Annoying."
Siellin grumbled and kicked at the ground.
Her footwork was oddly lively.
***
'Not bad.'
The terms of the contract were very much to his liking.
Food, clothing, and shelter were guaranteed as a matter of course.
Full authority over Siellin's education was delegated to him.
Complete support for lessons.
And several other assurances on top of that.
Moreover, the condition required to secure all of this was not burdensome at all.
Harsen, as Household Head, could make requests of him.
Not orders.
He would comply within reason, but retained the right of refusal.
'I can't think of anything more important than leverage.'
Not only his own strength.
Though both were ducal houses, his own family held a broader political standing.
That fact had likely played a role in the smooth conclusion of the contract as well.
'Well then, now that the contract is settled.'
Shall he go pay Siellin a visit.
With a lighter step than before, he headed back toward the Training Grounds.
'Hm?'
Upon arriving, a question mark floated into his head.
Hadn't something changed?
He didn't think there had been a hole like that in the Training Grounds floor before.
"Haa."
At the same moment, Siellin, sensing his presence, let out a deep sigh.
"Why are you back again...!"
"Because starting today, I'm your Swordsmanship Instructor."
"I never agreed to that, so get lost!"
"Aren't you curious how I beat you?"
He said it with a grin, and Siellin's ears perked up.
"...You said you wouldn't tell me."
"Correct yourself. I said I'd tell you if you called me Master."
"No. You have no right to call yourself my Master."
Siellin growled.
In her own way trying to be threatening, she fixed him with a fearsome glare—
To him, who had seen far worse looks than that, it was nothing but amusing.
'Still, it's something that needs to be corrected.'
His goal was simple.
To turn Siellin from a monster into someone worthy of reverence.
Getting everyone to love her without reservation was out of the question.
Siellin wouldn't want that either.
So he would help her reach a point where people might feel fear, and yet still show respect toward Siellin's path.
Earning genuine respect right away would be difficult, but if he made use of the events that would unfold going forward, it was entirely possible.
And if, through this process, he could arrange for her to form even one precious bond—that would be perfect.
"Come at me again. I won't accept winning by luck."
...Before any of that, he'd have to do something about that temper first.
"Fine. Come at me."
"Hmph."
Siellin this time was cautious as she studied him.
She was scanning every inch of him, carefully probing—
Clang!
"...Oh."
No opponent in the world would let you stare at them to your heart's content.
He knocked Siellin down with a single strike, just as before.
Perhaps thanks to having adjusted to his body after the Regression, the victory came even more easily.
"A-again..."
"I've humored your stubbornness enough."
He'd win all hundred times if they fought a hundred times, so what was the point of continuing.
There was nothing more pathetic than wasting time on something meaningless.
"Go ahead and admit it. Your defeat."
"..."
Siellin pressed her lips tightly shut, her face flushed red.
Looking at those trembling lips and quivering eyes—
It was easy enough to guess that she was holding back tears.
'A kid's a kid after all.'
He smiled warmly and extended his hand.
Siellin stared at his hand for a moment, then narrowed her eyes.
She must not have understood what he meant.
"It means take it and get up."
"I can get up on my own just fine!?"
Siellin snapped her head to the side and grabbed his hand.
"...Just this once."
"Cute to see you acting your age."
Calling this kid a monster.
"And you don't have to call me Master."
It was something he had just said on a whim anyway.
And forcing it on someone who reacted with such obvious resistance felt wrong.
"But we do need to settle on a form of address..."
"Mister."
Siellin said flatly.
"Fair enough."
Mister was accurate, come to think of it.
Counting from before the Regression, there was a twenty-year age gap between him and Siellin.
"Mister, hurry up and tell me."
"There's a saying about the beauty of patience. It's the most important thing for you right now."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Maybe it was because she was young.
The twelve-year-old Siellin had absolutely no patience.
"If you want to wield a sword, you have to learn to wait."
By nature, swordsmanship demanded distance from showiness and impatience.
To hold patience, and swing the sword in quiet steadiness.
That was the true essence of the sword.
He himself had only come to realize this long after first picking one up.
"So let's start with a meal. There's also a need for us to get to know each other."
"How do you get to know someone over a meal?"
"Getting to know each other usually starts with simple conversation."
"That's not what I mean—why talk during a meal?"
Siellin tilted her head, looking genuinely confused.
'This is serious.'
Perhaps it was from being treated as a monster for twelve years.
She was ignorant of things that should have been common sense.
"Conversation is basically exchanged at mealtimes... wait."
A sudden unease crept up on him.
Was Siellin even eating properly?
Her frame was so slight—she didn't look like a child who had grown up well-fed.
He asked about it directly.
"They just leave it over there."
Siellin pointed a finger at a bare wooden table sitting all alone.
'Over there...?'
The very fact that there was a table like that in the Training Grounds, where dirt and dust kicked up, made no sense.
Even the knights had a dedicated dining hall.
And yet the Young Lady ate in a place like that?
"Did someone tell you to eat there?"
"I made that rule myself. I don't want to see people."
"Tell me what you usually eat."
"Bread the maids bring, or..."
He didn't wait to hear the rest.
'She needs to eat well and grow at this age.'
On top of that, Siellin was a Young Lady.
It was only right that all manner of fine foods be stuffed into her stomach.
'I'll have to set an example myself.'
He would need to teach her how to deal with those beneath her.
Her overall bearing would need to be corrected as well.
"First, know this. As a Young Lady, you are entitled to send everyone away and enjoy a feast entirely on your own."
She didn't want to see people?
At the standing of a Young Lady, one could drive the servants not just out of the household but to the far reaches beyond the empire, and no one would say a word.
"And one more thing I want to ask. How do you treat the maids?"
"Why do you keep asking things? You said we'd have a meal."
"Because it matters."
He met Siellin's eyes.
"I just leave them to do whatever. It's not like it matters anyway, since they all think I'm a monster."
"No. That won't do."
Servants—and by extension, those of lower station—
Had to be kept in line through clear and firm commands.
Approaching them with a soft, easy smile only made them more frightened.
Because they couldn't read the intentions of someone above them.
On the other hand, the kind of attitude Siellin had—just leave them to it—was equally dangerous.
Because there was no telling what they might do if left entirely to their own devices.
So servants had to be handled with clear-cut orders.
That was better for the servants too.
"Every reputation can be changed. Follow me."
The unknown, it was said, was the most terrifying thing of all.
At present, Siellin was that very unknown fear made flesh, as far as the household's people were concerned.
A monster no one knew how to predict.
That unknown had to be transformed into something known.
'A somewhat strict superior should do nicely.'
If she achieved something remarkable a few times in that state—
Her reputation would shift to that of a strict, but admirable, Young Lady.
He walked at a brisk pace back to the main house of the Rekanof Household.
"Young Lord Adrian?"
"Bring me the two maids who attend the Young Lady."
"Yes."
The retainer gave a bow and hurried off somewhere.
"What are you doing! Why make things so complicated..."
"Watch closely."
While he and Siellin were bickering—
The retainer returned with the two maids in tow.
"Hik!?"
"Heukeuk..."
The two maids who had been awkwardly shuffling toward him let out startled sounds the moment they spotted Siellin.
"A-Adrian Young Lord. What is it you need...?"
Perhaps because, unlike the guard knights or the Household Head, they hadn't seen his swordsmanship firsthand.
The maids did not react to him the way they reacted to Siellin.
"I am the Young Lady's Swordsmanship Instructor. I have also been granted full authority over the Young Lady's education by the Household Head."
He alternated a cold gaze between the two maids.
"Which means that while you are maids who attend the Young Lady, you are also to attend to me alongside that duty."
This was something he just said for effect.
Attending to him was already the role of other retainers.
But what did that matter?
"So then... why have you not guided her to the dining room even though mealtime has passed?"
"S-s-s-sorry..."
The color drained from the maid's face.
Her now thoroughly pale face trembled as she shook all over.
What unlucky maids.
"Are you perhaps disrespecting me right now?"
I used to be quite the troublemaker myself, after all.