Bound for the Capital
Bound for the Capital
"I don't like it, but after our duel, I've learned that you have enough skill that I can't dismiss you as a child."
She didn't even touch the freshly poured tea. She just glared at me.
"Under normal circumstances, I would have sent you away immediately to serve as a knight in some remote mountain village, but..."
No, stop. Did I just hear something that actually sounded pretty good in that icy voice?
"But since you received an invitation from Her Highness and will be heading to the capital with my son, I can no longer send you away like that."
I smiled bitterly to myself. If this had happened when I first gained my abilities, I might have interrupted her and begged her to send me to that mountain village.
But now, too much had happened for me to leave like that.
What she said next was completely contrary to my expectations.
"While you're in the capital, I don't care whether you build connections, hone your skills, or make a name for yourself."
I expected her to tell me to live as quietly as a dead mouse, but instead, she was saying I could do whatever I wanted. What was she thinking?
Yet from her expression, she didn't seem to expect anything from me at all. It didn't look as though she was looking down on my skills... Was it because of the environment in the capital, after all?
In any case, her saying such things meant she had some sort of demand.
"No matter what you do, I want you to help Manuel return home safely."
Ha. She'd dressed it up in fancy words, but in the end, she was just asking me to protect her child.
"If you protect Manuel well and keep him out of trouble, I'll treat your mother, Amanda, much better than I do now."
And on top of that, it was an implicit threat—and a highly effective one, too.
It was no different from saying she wouldn't leave my mother alone if I failed to protect Manuel properly.
Well, given the Duchess's personality, she probably wouldn't kill my mother even if something went wrong, but the harassment traditional nobles inflicted, as I'd read about in books, was by no means mild.
Ostracizing someone through all the servants, driving wedges between people, and so on. It wasn't very difficult to ruin a person's life.
"You can do it, right?"
Honestly, this was something brothers could easily do for each other, and after our duel, I didn't have any hard feelings toward Manuel, so I intended to help him if I could.
Still, hearing her put it that way left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.
I bowed my head again and asked her.
"So I just need to make sure Brother Manuel returns to the territory s.a.f.e.l.y.?"
She seemed slightly displeased that I'd called him Brother, but she nodded.
"That is all."
"Understood."
As long as he returned to the estate in one piece, it should be fine, right?
I should stock up on plenty of potions and look into finding a healer.
Can severed limbs be reattached? I wonder if there are any resurrectionists or necromancers around.
With those thoughts in mind, I left the Duchess's drawing room that day.
Ah, I shouldn't have thought of that just now. After our eyes met, the Duchess's gaze sharpened a little. Careful, careful.
Afterward, I said goodbye to my sad-eyed mother and received tearful farewells from the maids. Then Manuel and I boarded the carriage and left the estate.
My second journey beyond the territory.
And it was the first step toward standing on my own two feet.
Unlike the trip to the Marquis's estate, the road from the Duke's territory to the capital passed through one low hill after another and vast plains.
The horizon stretched away with not a mountain in sight, while endless fields that looked fertile but lay abandoned rolled on around us.
Perhaps because of that, the journey toward the capital, the heart of the Kingdom, was incredibly peaceful.
A wide, well-paved road stretched endlessly ahead, and we frequently saw people passing by the carriage.
Whenever people saw the knights, soldiers, and luxurious carriage, they quickly cleared the way, but there was no extreme fear in their eyes.
From the time we left the Duke's territory to our passage through other estates, we saw no monsters or bandits on the road.
As the leisurely journey wore on, the soldiers, the servants, and even Sir Angel, the knight leading the party, relaxed and began to enjoy the trip.
Unlike the other knights, Sir Angel and I weren't very close. Although I'd gotten to know quite a few knights by then, the Duchess must have chosen carefully, because I barely knew him.
I didn't know every knight in the territory, but it felt as though Sir Angel had deliberately avoided me all this time.
In any case, as this leisurely stretch dragged on, Manuel, who had been ignoring me in the carriage out of boredom, finally spoke up.
"Just who on earth is the patron who summoned you? Inviting a bastard to the capital to receive an education... No matter how much I think about it, I can't understand why Father allowed it..."
The Duke and the Duchess knew who my patron was, but they hadn't told anyone else.
On top of that, the Duke had warned me to keep rumors from spreading as much as possible.
It was a typically Duke-like reason—to keep the Duke's family from getting dragged into pointless political strife—and I intended to keep as quiet as possible to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Well, if Simon or Manuel had received the Queen's patronage, they might not have kept it a secret, but since there was no way that would happen, I planned to keep my mouth shut as much as possible.
"You must know. Even when I asked Mother, she only told me I didn't need to know..."
No, you got a perfectly clear answer, so why are you asking me? If you were told you didn't need to know, you should just keep your mouth shut.
"I don't know the details either. Besides, the Duke told me not to speak of it to anyone..."
"Ah..."
As expected, Manuel also seemed to fear the Duke. At the mere mention of the Duke, Manuel immediately stopped questioning me.
"No, I didn't ask for any other reason. I don't know who the patron is, but surely they aren't covering all your living expenses. You can stay at our townhouse in the capital or in the dormitory, but what about your other expenses? Did Father provide you with any separate support?"
But my brother didn't stop at dropping the subject; he had to tack on a pointless excuse, too.
"No. I have some money I've saved up, and a little money my mother gave me. If I run short, I'll have to find a job while attending the academy."
In truth, my mother had offered me some money before we departed, but I couldn't bring myself to accept it. It was obvious that it was her entire emergency fund, and I couldn't just snatch it from her the way I had in my past life.
Besides, I'd saved up quite a lot over time.
In particular, the gold coins and gems I'd pocketed during the tomb exploration hadn't been exchanged yet, but they were bound to fetch a handsome sum.
I could live perfectly well in the capital using only my own funds.
Ah, right. Before we left, the Duke had sent me some money through the chief butler under the guise of a "discretionary allowance."
It wasn't much, and he hadn't even handed it to me in person, but I pocketed it with a grateful expression.
It was free money, so there was no reason to refuse.
That money was safely hidden inside my coat and deep within my luggage.
After several days of camping outdoors or renting vacant houses in villages for food and shelter, we passed through a small territory and spent a day at the estate of the Baron who ruled it.
The lord of this territory happened to be a distant relative of the Duchess, and the Baron's children were also heading to the capital at the same time.
"Welcome. It's been a very long time since I last saw you, back when you were children."
A middle-aged man dressed in lavish attire welcomed us in the lobby on the first floor.
Since he was related to the Duchess, I expected to be ignored completely, but, surprisingly, he treated me kindly as well.
After exchanging greetings with Manuel, he approached me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"I heard you're an outstanding swordsman. Simon, Manuel, and now you. It seems blessings have rained down upon the Duke's family."
He seemed to know quite a bit about me.
Which only made it harder to understand.
There were also two women in the lobby who seemed to have completely opposite personalities. They were probably his wives.
A boy and a girl who looked to be in their early to mid-teens stood there as well.
They seemed to be the Baron's children, and they would be traveling to the capital with us.
As I looked around and met their eyes, the boy and girl reacted in completely different ways.
The girl winked at me the moment our eyes met, while the boy glared at me with a stiff expression.
'Whoa, they really do say girls mature much faster.'
But perhaps because she was still so young, her attempt to act like a sly fox came off as entirely awkward.
Then again, if I were just an ordinary kid, would I have fallen for it? She was pretty enough, so it might have worked.
But since I was nothing like a typical child, watching her behavior just made me feel sorry for her.
On the other hand, the boy's reaction was incredibly cute.
'Yeah, that's exactly how a boy his age should act.'
The Baron's kindness had made me uncomfortable, but one look at the boy's expression told me it was nothing but a facade.
While the Baron, his wives, and even his daughter could mask their expressions and put on an act, his son seemed to find it too difficult.
'I don't know why they're putting on this show, but I need to keep my wits about me.'
It didn't seem like something the Duchess, who prioritized proper aristocratic behavior above all else, would have ordered, but regardless, I needed to steel myself and shake off my relaxed state of mind.
Once again, I steeled myself and flashed the boy, who was glaring at me, a smile of genuine gratitude.
Twitch!
The boy flinched at my smile. His face turned bright red, and he looked completely flustered.
'Oh! Kids really should be like this. So innocent and refreshing.'
After seeing nothing but the girl acting like a fox, the prematurely old Simon, and the childish noble Manuel, seeing a boy actually acting his age brought a warm, fatherly smile to my face.
Thanks to the flustered boy, the tedious greetings were over in a flash.
Once the greetings were finished, the Baron led my brother and me to the dining hall.
While some nobles invited visiting knights to the dining hall as well, the Baron didn't seem to be one of them.
Although we were quite tired from the journey, perhaps because it was a noble household, the meal dragged on for a long time.
Empty chatter from the Baron and his wives, the son's grumbling, and the daughter's strange, clingy behavior.
"As you know, our children will be heading to the capital with you, so I ask that you look after them."
"You needn't worry. I'll do my absolute best."
Manuel replied to the Baron's words, thumping his chest.
Were factions already forming before we even arrived? Well, even if he wasn't the heir, spending time with the Duke's son wouldn't be a bad thing for them. Manuel had probably heard plenty from Simon, so he wouldn't do anything too reckless.
But would he really not? Hmm, that was a bit concerning.
"I heard you're a truly amazing swordsman. Is it true that you can even duel adult knights? How can you do that? It's simply incredible."
Even the Baron and his wives, who were trying quite hard to be friendly, seemed to find it difficult to converse with me, and the Baron's son even more so. His daughter, however, was entirely different.
She carried on with words and gestures that made her seem like a fully grown woman trying to seduce a man.