Homecoming (2)
Homecoming (2)
Because the training ground was in the middle of the forest, the sun was nowhere to be seen.
It wouldn't have mattered much even if it had been dark, but fortunately, it wasn't. Looking over the shaded training ground, I was swept by a strange sense of nostalgia.
I had honed my skills here since I was a child.
It felt like a privilege, if it could be called one, but even the Duchess had allowed it.
No, rather than a privilege, it was more likely that she simply didn't want to show her illegitimate son to others.
Many things had happened in this training ground that no one else knew about.
Flora had died here, and I, too, had been killed by an assassin.
Those events had all been undone, of course, but I still remembered them.
And now, a man was standing in that very training ground.
The master of this mansion, the lord of this territory, and my father, whom I was seeing for the first time in a year.
Duke Andres de Gracia. He stood in the center of the training ground.
To be honest, even a year ago, I hadn't seen him very often.
Ever since I was born, I'd only seen him occasionally at official events. Even to his family, he felt more like the patriarch of a clan than a father.
To me, an illegitimate son, he often felt like less than a stranger.
Still, the only reason I'd been able to attend the Royal Academy and rub shoulders with high-ranking figures was that my father was the Duke.
I couldn't say his help had played no part in how I grew up, so regardless of my true feelings, I offered him a polite greeting today as well.
"I have come at your summons."
The Duke had shed his usual formal uniform and was wearing training clothes.
I had only ever seen him in the crisp, perfectly ironed uniforms the maids prepared for him every morning. Seeing him in training clothes made him look like a completely different person.
"When you went to the capital at the Queen's invitation, I figured you'd end up acting as the Princess's escort or companion. Given the complicated situation there, I also suspected the Princess might take refuge at the Academy."
I'd been shocked when I first heard it from the Queen, but it seemed the Duke had anticipated it from the very beginning.
The Duke's information network was more formidable than I'd thought. Even from this distant territory, he knew what was happening in the capital with remarkable precision.
"When the Princess went to the Academy as expected and you stayed by her side as a sort of escort, I thought you were at least finding your own path. But the stories that kept reaching my ears after that went far beyond that."
I suppose keeping it a secret from the Duke had been impossible.
Thinking back on everything I'd done, there had certainly been quite a few incidents that would have been hard to overlook.
"Your skills proved greater than I expected, and showing them off in class was something I could simply praise."
He was probably talking about the field trip and the practical combat classes...
Since the entire Academy knew about it, there was no way the Duke didn't.
"Since you've been called a genius since childhood, it was only natural for your grades to be excellent."
To be honest, without the prejudice against me, I would have ranked much higher.
But the Duke was speaking for an unusually long time. It felt like he hadn't even gotten to the main point yet.
And there was something strange about the nuance of his words.
Could this... actually be a compliment?
"But what you did in the Duchy was beyond my expectations. An Academy student defeating imperial knights as they scaled the walls, then defeating the knights who ambushed you on your way back—that is no ordinary feat."
It seemed what I'd done in the Duchy was the issue.
Although my regression had undone many events, the fact remained that I had killed those imperial knights.
It seemed the knights who had been with me hadn't kept it a secret from the Duke, either.
Then again, there was no reason for them to hide from the Duke that his son had defeated imperial knights.
"It seems your connections have expanded to include not just the Princess but also the Grand Archduchess. But since that is your own business, I didn't pay much attention to it."
An ordinary noble would have been much more curious about those connections. Was this the sheer confidence of the Gracia ducal family?
"What I was curious about was your skill. That is why I went out to greet you when you arrived."
Indeed, the Duke had gone out to greet me just to see me. He must have recognized my strength right then and there, enough to summon me here.
"To think your strength is to the point where it cannot be gauged by sight alone... At this level, even the Knight Commander would find it difficult to properly assess you."
Honestly, if the other knights asked for a duel, I'd planned to play along half-heartedly and hide my true strength.
Dealing with pointless jealousy would be annoying, and causing friction would only make things difficult. Besides, my mother, who would remain in the mansion, would have a hard time in all sorts of ways.
Besides, I was too busy raising my own strength right now. Having defeated the fifteen-year-old Hero, it was now time to defeat the Twenty-Year-Old Hero. This was no time to engage in safe, friendly spars with knights.
But it seemed that plan had been ruined from the very start.
"To decide how to treat you—or rather, what to do with you—I intend to properly test your skills right now."
However I looked at him, the Duke stood there with his sword drawn. He wasn't someone I could hold back against while hiding my strength.
I had caught a brief glimpse of his skill when he dealt with an assassin during my childhood.
He had forced an assassin—who had killed the knight Miguel with a single blow—to flee, then pursued and ultimately killed him.
Since he was still in his prime, his skills would only have improved, not deteriorated.
Since refusing the Duke's challenge was impossible, and hiding my strength would be just as difficult, I had no choice but to fight him seriously.
But I planned to seal away a few techniques that I absolutely couldn't afford to show.
Surely he wouldn't notice that much.
I picked up a worn iron sword.
It was an iron sword I'd spent a long time training with.
Though I hadn't held it for a year, picking it up again after all that time made it feel incredibly light.
The sensation was different from using a greatsword or a dagger, but this ordinary longsword might actually be better suited to proper swordsmanship.
It would also be easier to seal away any abilities that might slip out unintentionally.
"I heard you have other swords... Well, it doesn't matter. The purpose is only to test your strength."
Surely he wasn't talking about the dagger?
He couldn't be referring to the black sword, either. He must mean the greatsword.
With that in mind, I took my stance.
"Indeed, it is strangely modified. Yet it is not a messy, crude mixture."
Could he really tell just by looking at my stance?
"Then, shall we test the rest?"
The Duke began to release his mana.
The surrounding area began to fill with the Duke's mana.
Dammit, you said this was a spar!
If he used his mana to dominate the surroundings like that, moving would inevitably become difficult.
He would immediately sense how I intended to move, and if my skills were lacking, I wouldn't even be able to budge.
Even without releasing my own mana, I could feel it clearly thanks to my 'Mana Resonance', but to block the Duke's mana, I had no choice but to do the same.
I drew up my mana and began to seize control of the surroundings.
Crackle!
Sparks crackled in the empty air.
At that exact moment, the Duke vanished from before my eyes.
Whoosh!
He moved faster than my dynamic visual acuity could keep up with.
Going all out right from the start! I'm your young son, for goodness' sake! You could at least go a little easy on me!
Clang!
Even if I couldn't see him, I could feel him through my senses. And since I'd spread my mana, there was no way I wouldn't notice him.
As I blocked the Duke's sword, the corners of his mouth curled upward.
"Interesting. You blocked this strike instead of dodging it?"
Wait, was I supposed to dodge it?
Whoosh.
I felt mana surge from the Duke's body once more.
Clunk.
It felt as though a gear had shifted up a level.
Dammit, it seemed even this wasn't his full power.
The Duke's sword began to move.
He was clearly using the same swordsmanship that the knights of the Gracia household learned.
The sword's path was the same, and so was the sequence. And yet, it was hard to see it as the same swordsmanship.
I had once looked down on it, thinking it was nothing more than a fraction of Knight Carlos's Mana Cultivation Technique and swordsmanship, but the Duke shattered that notion with a single blow.
The Duke was, of course, on an entirely different level from unawakened knights.
The mastery of his awakened Mana Cultivation Technique and his noble physique were on a different plane. Yet the Duke's sword could not be explained by those alone.
Though I had thought it was a swordsmanship that didn't align with the Mana Cultivation Technique, once its speed and power were doubled and a master wielded it with such fluidity and freedom, it became an entirely different martial art.
The weaknesses that seemed to clash with the Mana Cultivation Technique appeared to vanish through sheer speed, while any awkward transitions were concealed by his seamless, free-flowing variations.
Looking at the swordsmanship the Duke displayed, it no longer seemed like a mere fragment of Knight Carlos's swordsmanship, but a single, fully realized art.
Once I began to face the Duke's sword, all the stray thoughts cluttering my mind vanished completely.
This was not a blade I could face while distracted. He was not an opponent I could fight while carefully sorting out which abilities I could use and which I couldn't.
Clang! Clang!
I could barely hold my ground, blocking the strikes I could block, dodging the ones I could dodge at all costs, and desperately thrusting forward whenever a gap appeared.
The confidence that had filled me to the brim after defeating the fifteen-year-old Hero deflated like a popped balloon.
Without a doubt, the Duke, even while sparring with me, was more than capable of defeating the fifteen-year-old Hero.
And of course, he could defeat me as well.
As that realization struck, my mind snapped into sharp focus.
This was a test of skill.
He was not an opponent I had to fight and defeat.
I barely managed to suppress the urge to conjure a haze at the tip of my sword.
Next, I also held back from modifying my mana to push his sword away.
With that, the battle immediately tilted.
Clang!
My sword was knocked from my hand, and the Duke's blade was leveled at my throat.
I raised both hands.
"I surrender."
With his sword still pointed at my throat, the Duke glared down at me.
Could he... be angry?
I had never seen the Duke make such an expression. He had always been a man of no expression.
After a moment, the Duke concealed his expression and sheathed his sword.
"Why did you not show your full strength?"
"Because it was a spar. It wasn't a fight to the death."
"Did you think I would be in danger if you showed your full strength?"
"Rather, I thought I would be the one in danger."
At my words, the Duke furrowed his brow.
But my words weren't wrong, either.
If we had fought any more fiercely, it would have been impossible for the Duke to hold back and spare me.
Even just now had been quite dangerous.
Looking at the shredded hems of my clothes, the Duke spoke.
"Indeed, I cannot deny that such a danger existed. You are correct."
Seeing him concede like this, the Duke didn't seem like a bad person. So why had he treated my mother and me that way?
Or was it simply that the laws and customs passed down in this world, in this kingdom, were like that?
"Even with this, I have a sufficient grasp of your skill. At least within this territory, it seems there is no knight stronger than you, save for myself and the Knight Commander."
It meant that if I fought with my other abilities sealed, I would lose to the Knight Commander. If I unleashed everything, would I be able to win?
Even so, it seemed unlikely I could defeat the Duke. Even if I used all my artifacts, it wouldn't be easy.
"Now that I have verified your strength, I shall ask."
It felt like the main point had finally arrived. Through this question, I would find out exactly why he had wanted to fight me that evening.
The Duke opened his mouth.
"Alex, do you intend to contend for the position of the next Duke?"
The Duke's eyes, reflecting the setting sun, seemed to burn as he looked at me.