Starting Today, I'm a Knight Faculty Student (1)
Starting Today, I'm a Knight Faculty Student (1)
Before the tea party ended, the Queen surprised me once again.
"Starting tomorrow, the Princess will be attending the Knight Faculty."
"Pardon?"
Taken aback by the out-of-the-blue remark, I blurted out a question, but the Queen didn't take offense. Instead, she kindly explained her reasoning.
"Now that she has acquired the abilities of her maternal family, she needs Katrin to train her."
That was true enough.
"On top of that, she has another ability, so she needs someone by her side to spar with her and help her hone her skills."
Is she talking about me?
"Now that it's known she failed to obtain the royal family's ability, public attention on her will lessen compared to before. Still, even though she's stepped down from the line of succession, there will still be those who attack her recklessly."
The Queen was right. I had experienced that sort of thing multiple times myself.
"There will also be practical field trips, so I want you by her side to protect her. I leave her in your care."
Goodness, as expected, she hadn't written that recommendation letter out of the goodness of her heart.
It seemed my duties as a bodyguard were officially starting now.
Having suffered multiple shocks in quick succession, I left the royal palace in a daze.
Only after riding in the carriage with Katrin and leaving the outer castle did I finally regain my senses. I turned to her and asked:
"Is Her Highness's safety in such danger that she needs someone like me?"
"Yeah. Even when His Majesty was healthy, she suffered multiple attacks. Since they happened inside the royal palace, they were able to repel them without too much difficulty, though."
As expected, the inside of the royal palace was a terrifying place.
"If it was like that even when His Majesty was healthy, then if he collapses completely or passes away, it'll be hard for her to stay alive even inside the palace."
"That's why, while His Majesty can still get around, he sent the Princess to the academy to keep her as far as possible from her siblings' watchful eyes."
The King looked like he might collapse as early as tomorrow, and now that the Princess had awakened her abilities, even I could see that she desperately needed protection.
"We have to protect the Princess."
Mhm, it seemed I was now completely included in that "we."
Not long after we left the outer castle, the carriage came to a stop.
We had arrived at the Rattenhamar Count Estate—Katrin's home and the Queen's maternal family home.
The mansion was exceedingly beautiful.
Although smaller than the Duke's estate back in our domain, it was much larger than the Duke's "villa" in the capital.
Unlike Duke Gracia, Count Rattenhamar was a central noble based in the capital. The sheer size of his mansion, right in the heart of the capital, was enough to convey his family's immense influence.
Guided by the butler, we headed to the Count's office.
"Pleasure to meet you. I am Count Rattenhamar."
An elderly man who still seemed quite healthy and vigorous sat on a sofa, sizing me up as I entered.
Sparse hair, sharp eyes, and a solid build to match.
At a glance, he was a high noble through and through.
I returned his greeting.
"I am Alex."
Calling him a proper noble meant, in another sense, that he practiced class discrimination to the fullest.
There was no need to make him frown by giving him my full name.
After looking me over, he immediately turned to Katrin and asked:
"Did the Awakening Ceremony go well?"
"Yes. Everything went according to plan."
Katrin replied in a rigid tone.
"According to plan... Good."
Their exchange felt less like a conversation between father and daughter and more like one between a superior and a subordinate at work.
It was a common sight among proper nobles, so it didn't seem particularly unusual.
After hearing her response, the Count turned his gaze back to me.
Instead of offering me a seat, he brought up a different subject.
"I heard from Katrin that you provided great assistance in obtaining the ancestor's relic."
"I merely acted according to our contract. I, too, received sufficient compensation."
"Compensation, is it? I assume the ancestor's dagger was included in that?"
The dagger? Bringing up compensation while talking about the dagger...
So the old man wasn't just a noble, but a greedy one as well.
When he said that, I stole a glance at Katrin.
Her face stiffened, but when I subtly met her eyes, she twitched her fingers slightly.
It was a mercenary signal telling me to answer yes.
Though the dagger was more a gift from her to me than anything else, it seemed she'd presented it to him as part of my compensation.
"Due to our contract, it's difficult for me to speak about that matter. But the dagger is currently my property."
There was no need to lie. Using the contract as an excuse to let him misunderstand was enough.
"...So it was compensation."
As expected, he misunderstood immediately.
"I see. Continue to assist Katrin and Princess Aisha well in the future."
"I will keep that in mind."
I immediately responded to his unmistakable dismissal.
"Katrin, stay behind for a moment."
I was ushered out of the room alone, and a waiting maid guided me.
"Where are we going?"
"Katrin instructed me to guide our guest to the training ground."
Goodness, after straining my brain, was it time to strain my body too?
I followed the maid toward the training ground.
Unusually, the training ground was in the building's basement.
Then again, no matter how large the mansion was, building an outdoor training ground in the congested capital was likely difficult.
The training ground was enclosed by solid stone walls.
Even the stone was far from ordinary.
"It feels like they just plastered money all over it."
On top of that, a sofa and table had been set up to one side, allowing me to sit on the sofa and sip tea brewed by the maid.
Drinking tea in a sweat-scented training ground—this was my first culture shock since arriving in the capital.
Various thoughts rushed through my mind.
The royals I'd seen at today's Awakening Ceremony, and the Count I'd met just moments ago.
They were all people I was in no position to challenge.
Although I was a son of Duke Gracia and had even awakened, I was still only a half-blooded illegitimate son.
Back in the domain, I'd thought I'd overcome that to some extent, but coming to the capital made me realize that wasn't true at all.
An illegitimate son held a position far more despised than I'd expected, and the ladder between classes wasn't merely broken—it didn't exist at all.
The Queen and the Princess were likely keeping me close because I was an illegitimate son.
My status was low enough that the two princes could disregard me completely.
Objectively speaking, the situation was utterly daunting, yet right now I felt strangely composed.
I wasn't afraid of the greedy Count eyeing my dagger, nor did I fear the two princes or even the King.
Partly, my experiences returning from death had dulled my fear, but I was also confident in my ability to overcome death.
While I was lost in thought, Katrin walked into the underground training ground.
She strode over in long steps and apologized to me.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know the Count had summoned you because of the dagger. I'm sorry on his behalf. No, it was my mistake to bring you to this house in the first place."
It was an apology characteristic of her.
"Until yesterday, he hadn't even mentioned the dagger. I thought he just wanted to call you because he was curious about you, Alex."
Yesterday, the dagger's effects hadn't been proven yet, so he wouldn't have brought it up.
Or perhaps it was because of his daughter's personality—she stubbornly clung to doing what was right.
"It's fine. In any case, this dagger is in my hands right now. Just help me if any trouble arises down the line."
"Yeah. I will definitely help you."
I thought she'd softened up a bit since coming to the capital, but her core personality hadn't changed.
When I first met her, she seemed quite frustrating, but seeing her now, she didn't seem so bad. Was it because I felt she was on my side?
"He probably acts like that because he considers it a family relic. I understand."
At my words, Katrin let out a quiet sigh.
"He wasn't originally like that, but ever since His Majesty's health began to deteriorate, he seems to have grown impatient."
When choosing the wrong side could mean the destruction of the entire family line, it was impossible not to grow impatient.
"Does the Count know everything regarding the Princess?"
At my question, Katrin bit her lip.
"...No. I didn't tell him that she obtained two abilities. I don't intend to tell him for some time, either."
Huh? She told me, but not her own father?
With a gloomy expression, she continued:
"I promised the Queen. If she obtained the royal family's ability as well, we agreed to keep it a secret from anyone who might grow greedy for it."
Yikes, so because he coveted the dagger, his daughters had put up a wall between themselves and him.
"The Princess is still young. She needs time."
Indeed, she seemed to need time to stand up to her older brothers.
If the King died before then and a civil war broke out, it would be meaningless anyway.
From the Princess and the Queen's perspective, this might be their best option.
"Then who else knows everything?"
There were more people who knew than I'd expected. Then again, since even I had been told, it was only natural that others knew too.
"My father only knows about the dagger's awakening ability. The ones who know everything are the Queen, the Princess, me... and you. That's all."
"What? Why me? What makes you think I'm trustworthy enough to..."
The fact that I could clean up mistakes was something only I knew about.
It was hard to understand how she could distrust her own father and yet trust me.
She answered me.
"You made a contract with me. And I've been vetting you all along."
Ah, the contract. We did make a contract to keep secrets.
But after experiencing countless contracts in my past lives, I knew that particular contract had plenty of loopholes.
"We investigated many things before deciding. The Queen and I were convinced that Alex was someone we could trust."
Katrin said, staring straight at me.
Her eyes sparkled. Was that what it meant to look at someone with complete trust?
I felt a subtle pang in my chest.
Well, it wasn't as if I had any intention of betraying them right now, anyway.
I subtly averted my eyes.
"Understood. More importantly, weren't we planning to have a proper sparring match?"
"Ah, right. You'll spar with me, won't you?"
"Yes. I need to check something for myself as well."
I drew my dagger.
I intended to find out for certain whether the Queen, the Princess, and Katrin were the sort of people who would just use me and throw me away.
As long as I didn't die, I had plenty of time to find out.
Ultimately, I planned to go along with things as they were for now.
Katrin raised her sword and shield.
A shimmering haze rose from her sword and shield, while red energy—visible only to my eyes—flared from my blade as well.
"Let's begin."
"Right!"
Even though both she and I were wearing formal suits...
Whatever. Things like this happen.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The two of us swung our shimmering blades toward each other.
The sparring match was enjoyable.
If there was one thing I regretted, it was that my formal suit—one of the few I owned—had been slashed to shreds.
Her ability when using her shield was truly formidable.
Thanks to her ability, it felt as though she could make her shield expand and contract at will.
If she continued to grow like this, she would be capable of protecting not just herself, but multiple people at once.
The energy surging from her sword seemed even stronger, too.
If she'd stayed at the level of skill she'd had in the dungeon, I would have subdued her in no time.
Still, this sparring match could be considered a draw.
Using abilities might not be the same as real combat, but given how things had gone, I felt I could have plenty of confidence in my skills.
"Still, I need to work even harder."
Since I had a knack for getting dragged into useless troubles, I couldn't afford to spend my time idly.
After the spar ended, she remained at the mansion, while I headed toward the academy.