Summoning (2)
Summoning (2)
<The crisis has ended. A new 'Save Point' has been set.>
Seeing the message window appear, I felt that the time I'd spent holding the sword in my previous life had passed.
I slid the dagger back into its sheath at my waist and dismissed all the windows floating before my eyes.
Deliberately ignoring the sword wrapped in chains, I walked over to the Princess and the warehouse keeper.
"This breastplate can absorb its wearer's mana and disperse external impacts."
"You recognized it immediately. Even the Kingdom's appraisers wouldn't be able to identify an artifact of this level so quickly... You truly are amazing."
The Grand Archduchess shook her head at the warehouse keeper's admiration.
"Even if I can identify them quickly, it doesn't help much."
The artifacts weren't piled up like a mountain, so identifying them accurately was all that mattered.
Since the Princess wasn't wrong, the warehouse keeper merely cleared his throat.
'Is he younger than I expected?'
It was difficult to tell his age because he was deliberately disguising his voice, but the way he treated the Grand Archduchess made him seem like a shy young man.
At any rate, thanks to the warehouse keeper's unexpected kindness, the Grand Archduchess's visit to the Carlos Royal Warehouse ended on a pleasant note.
It wasn't until we boarded the carriage back that the Grand Archduchess showed any signs of exhaustion.
"You worked hard. It seemed like you examined far more artifacts than I expected."
"Sigh, the warehouse keeper was so kind that I was able to see a lot."
"I think you were the one who made him so kind, Your Grace."
When I said that, the Grand Archduchess narrowed her eyes.
"Hmm... That may be true, but you shouldn't say it like that. Especially if you speak to noble young ladies that way at a ball, you won't get to dance even once."
The Grand Archduchess warned me with a serious expression.
I had certainly spoken rudely. Had I gotten too familiar just because we'd grown a little closer?
I had only learned etiquette from books and had never been properly taught, so my true nature showed whenever I let my guard down.
Etiquette should become a habit, to the point where it comes out reflexively, just as it does when learning swordsmanship.
I didn't have such a habit, though.
I couldn't stay tense all the time, so mistakes were bound to happen in daily life.
In any case, my position didn't even allow me to make a formal debut in high society, so I hadn't even thought about learning etiquette properly.
When I apologized, the Grand Archduchess shook her head.
"It's not something you need to apologize to me for. I didn't say it to get an apology, either."
She fell deep into thought.
"Come to think of it, there's nothing to criticize about you as a knight or an escort, yet when you deal with noblewomen at the Academy, you sometimes act against etiquette."
I had no connection to them, so there was no reason to be so guarded around them.
Still, I had treated them normally, just like the other students of the Knight Faculty...
"The Princess and Balea must have known, too, so why didn't they tell you?"
If it were Balea, she probably hadn't told me because she thought it would be amusing. The Princess likely didn't care because she wasn't particularly strict about etiquette herself.
"Your status is a drawback, but you're handsome and highly skilled, so I wondered why so many of your female classmates disliked you. Now I think I understand."
Come to think of it, none of the female students I was close to were ordinary noblewomen: the Princess, Balea, and even Bria.
Two of them were students in the Knight Faculty, and as for Balea...
Just thinking of Balea made a sigh escape my lips.
Even if I added Katrin to the list, nothing would change.
No, could that female student who deliberately called me out and destroyed the garden have been angry because I'd acted rudely?
If so, that was a bit of a problem.
I could only hope that wasn't the reason.
"It's such a waste, after all."
What was a waste? I'd lived without any major problems so far.
"All right. Let's do this."
The Grand Archduchess, who had been resting with her back against the seat, leaned forward.
With her eyes exceptionally bright, she looked as if she'd found something fun to do.
No, women who gave me that look were a bit scary...
"Just as the Second Prince said, I'll have many occasions to attend balls and various gatherings in the future."
That was only natural. The Grand Archduchess of the Duchy was visiting the Kingdom for the first time, so there was no way there wouldn't be plenty of events like balls.
"I'll call on you as my escort, Young Lord Alex. You'll learn social etiquette while accompanying me."
"Pardon?"
No, why was she suddenly so motivated?
In any case, I was an illegitimate son, so I couldn't even make a debut in high society.
There was no way I would inherit the dukedom, nor was there any chance I'd court a proper noble young lady at a ball.
So what use was social etiquette to me?
"If you wish to continue escorting me and the Princess, you must learn. Even if it's not for your own sake, you need to know the etiquette of the men who approach the Princess."
No, I already knew those things from books, though.
After saying that, she muttered something softly under her breath. I wouldn't have heard her if it weren't for my keen senses.
"I can't let such talent go to waste. I'll turn you into a splendid man."
That murmur revealed her true intention.
The Grand Archduchess's eyes sparkled wildly as she muttered.
Don't tell me she wants to play Princess Maker with me.
Having finally recovered from her illness, the Grand Archduchess was now venting her desires in a strange direction.
"They say there's no right to refuse support from the Inherited Ability Faculty, right? Since a Grand Archduchess has claimed you first, surely no student would want to interfere and make things awkward with me."
The Grand Archduchess drove home her point.
Certainly, no one would cross the Grand Archduchess over a mere escort duty.
If things continued like this, I might have to spend the entire second semester running around as the Grand Archduchess's escort.
After escorting the Grand Archduchess to her residence, I finally returned to the Academy Dormitory, exhausted.
It wasn't my body that was tired; I was mentally drained.
From what had happened inside the Carlos Royal Warehouse to the things the Grand Archduchess had brought up on the way back, headache-inducing events had kept happening one after another.
But it wasn't time to rest yet. There was something I had to check.
I checked the information window once more.
Among the information there was something that had appeared for the first time today.
'Equipment Summoning: Level 1'
The other abilities seemed like a knight's skills for utilizing mana, so I'd roughly understood them and glossed over them.
But the ability that had appeared this time was on a completely different level from those skills.
"This is exactly the kind of ability the students of the Inherited Ability Faculty have."
Not the abilities of students who went to that faculty simply because of their high status, but those of students who enrolled because they possessed genuine, special powers.
Marvelous abilities like creating a domain around oneself to move objects at will, shooting lightning, conjuring fire, and teleporting through space.
"It also seems somewhat similar to a spatial ability user's power."
In terms of transporting multiple people, that ability was far more incredible.
But from a knight's perspective, the ability I'd acquired seemed more useful.
'Summon.'
Recalling the ability, I checked the dagger that had appeared in my hand.
[Weapon summoning? Don't tell me you possess all of Knight Carlos's abilities? But why are the abilities of the Hero Rattenhamar only at that level? It would have been better to give me to Katrin instead...]
As I held the dagger, the Ego Dagger's chatter echoed in my mind.
"Be quiet if you don't want to go into the pocket."
I quickly silenced the dagger.
Then, I lightly threw it toward the wall.
Thump.
The dagger embedded itself in the wall, and—
'Summon.'
As I recalled the ability again, the dagger appeared in my hand.
"This is definitely more useful."
The mana consumption wasn't high, and the cooldown wasn't long, either.
While a spatial ability user would collapse for several days after a single teleportation, this ability could be used even in combat.
"Still, it's an ability that's perfectly suited to a knight... Just like that sealed black sword, could it be that someone created the Hero—and even the Hero's abilities?"
I chuckled even as I said it.
Anyone who could bestow such abilities was already far from human.
If a god had bestowed them, then it was ultimately just a story like the legend of the Hero.
"It's just because I can see this useless information window."
Perhaps it was also because I'd read novels featuring similar information windows in my past life...
Thanks to the information window, the Hero, the inherited abilities, and even the gods who should have felt sacred seemed to have been dragged down to reality.
"Now, only one verification remains."
I had to check whether I could summon that black sword.
But I couldn't do it today.
I couldn't cause an incident on the very day I'd visited the Carlos Royal Warehouse.
Besides, the fact that it would appear in my hand upon summoning was also a problem.
If I summoned it only to die and regress to the past, it would turn into nothing but an absurd comedy.
Wearing gloves would be meaningless, since the ability seemed to activate through the very act of touching or grasping it.
After some deliberation, I decided to bide my time.
A month passed quickly.
During that time, I was able to register another artifact besides the Ego Dagger.
It was the exceptionally sturdy greatsword left behind by Martin, the illegitimate son of the Marquisate.
I had thought it might be an artifact because it had remained perfectly intact despite being handled so roughly, but I hadn't expected it to be registered like this.
Once the greatsword was registered, too, I discovered various ways to use my new ability.
First of all, I didn't need to worry about dropping or throwing my sword.
I could distract my opponent, and a weapon could suddenly appear in my other hand. The more I thought about it and practiced, the more applications I discovered.
In the midst of all this, I also ended up attending a ball with the Grand Archduchess.
Although I'd clearly gone to the ball as the Grand Archduchess's escort, she left me to chatter with the young ladies while I occasionally dealt with other people and completed the homework she'd assigned me.
"You are indeed doing well without making any mistakes."
After the ball, the Grand Archduchess was satisfied with my conduct, too. As long as I stayed tense, my etiquette was flawless.
"In the end, I was right that you needed to build a habit. Now, let's keep up the good work in the future."
But that alone wasn't enough to satisfy the Grand Archduchess.
Ultimately, it seemed I'd have to escort the Grand Archduchess for the entire second semester.
And then, one weekend afternoon a month after obtaining the sword, I finally finished preparing to summon the sword in the Carlos Royal Warehouse.
I confirmed that Piar wasn't in the next room of the dormitory, and I also checked with the Auction House Owner that nothing unusual had happened in the capital during that time.
I had also solved the problem of grasping it in my hand upon summoning.
Thinking about it, it wasn't even difficult.
I stretched out my hand and turned it so the back of my hand faced up.
Since the problem was that it appeared on my palm—a position that was easy to grasp—all I had to do was summon it with my palm facing downward, like this.
I pictured the black sword in my mind and activated the ability.
'Summon'
Perhaps because I was summoning it from afar, my mana drained rapidly.
Flash!
The sword appeared beneath my hand. I quickly pulled my hand away.
A pitch-black sword.
It was the very sword that had been wrapped in chains.
Clang.
The sword that appeared in midair fell straight to the floor.
To be honest, treating the sword used by the first king that way felt a bit harsh, but there was no helping it if I wanted to stay alive.
"But what do I do now?"
Summoning it had succeeded, but what came next was the problem.
Since the sword had vanished, the Carlos Royal Warehouse would be in utter chaos, and a commotion would surely break out within the royal family as well.
I apologized to the warehouse keeper in my heart.
Then I stared at the sword.
"I think I could test my skills once..."
Since I'd acquired a new ability, I felt like I could put up a decent fight even against the fifteen-year-old Hero.
Anywhere else, I couldn't spar while unleashing my full capabilities.
The other abilities were one thing, but the ability I'd obtained this time couldn't be shown to anyone.
"If it's in the Mental World, I can fight to my heart's content."
Although I knew the sword was tempting me, I couldn't help feeling my heart naturally drawn to it.
Staring at the sword lying on the floor, I deliberated for a long time before finally making a decision.
I would grasp it just once. In any case, all I had to do was repeat it for a month.
It would hurt enough to kill me, but since the timeframe was long, I felt like I might be able to endure it.
I had to grasp it to verify it anyway. That was the very reason I'd summoned the sword to this room.
"And to put it in my pocket and take it back out, I have to hold it."
Ultimately, having found the perfect excuse, I placed my hand on the sword.
But this time, I didn't die.
I didn't go straight to the Mental World, either. Instead, a new message appeared before my eyes.
[You are currently registered as a temporary user. Would you like to adjust the sword's settings?]