The Return of the Hard-Headed Young Master
When the carriage bound for home finally rolled into the station platform, Sera, who had been pouting with her lips poked out, grabbed her luggage and hopped onto another carriage headed for her next opportunity. She didn’t seem the type to hold a grudge for long. Watching her disappear without a backward glance, I asked the coachman to turn our carriage around as well.
The road to Meyer territory stretched out before us. I spent the journey gazing at the passing scenery, idly wondering if the Meyer lands had always been this remote. Time slipped by in a quiet haze.
“—Sir, we’ve arrived.”
How much time had passed? When we finally reached Meyer territory, I stepped down from the carriage with my bags in hand. The coachman gave a polite bow, then drove off and vanished into the distance. I turned my back on the departing carriage and let out a low sigh as I surveyed the city.
Man, it really is run-down.
Compared to the capital, it felt overwhelmingly provincial. Then again, Meyer territory wasn’t some magical research hub or anything special. Most of the city existed to feed, house, and train knights. Expecting it to match the capital’s level of development would be ridiculous.
Still, it had everything it needed. Blacksmiths, inns, restaurants, taverns—every kind of entertainment facility was present. I walked past them all without stopping and headed straight for the lord’s castle.
The path to the castle was wide, and since the territory was quite large, outsiders coming and going was nothing unusual. The residents merely glanced at me before returning to their own business. When I finally reached the main gate, the soldiers standing guard immediately leveled their spears at me.
“Halt! Identify yourse—”
“You idiots. You’re not supposed to forget this face.”
“……Young Master Kyle?”
“Yeah. It’s been a while.”
“Y-Young Master has returned—!”
The one with the quickest wits immediately started making a fuss to avoid getting chewed out and ran inside. While I waited for him to return, I began scolding the soldier who had started trembling at attention.
Was it acceptable for a soldier of the Meyer family to fail to recognize the face of his own family’s heir? If things continued like this, wouldn’t they eventually forget the lord’s face too? In the event of war, would they fail to recognize allies and let enemies waltz right in?
I watched the soldier’s face turn deathly pale as my scolding continued, until the guard who had run inside returned with several knights in tow. Only then did I stop.
“Young Master Kyle!”
“Sir Leon.”
The still-handsome Sir Leon grinned brightly and thrust his fist toward me. Realizing what the gesture meant, I smirked and bumped my own fist against his.
The brief clash. The movement of Aura contained within it. The moment he felt it, Sir Leon’s eyes widened in disbelief. He carefully closed his mouth.
“……So the rumors were true.”
“Huh? What rumors?”
“The rumor that you have become a Master, Young Master.”
“That kind of rumor spread?”
“Yes, well… It was possible to guess to some extent.”
Sir Leon told me to head inside and took the luggage from my hands. After handing it over, I asked how exactly people had guessed something like that about me.
Walking ahead, Sir Leon began explaining why the rumor that I had become a Master had spread.
“After you ran away from home, we heard you got involved in a conflict in another territory.”
“It was more of a subjugation than a conflict…”
“Anyway. Normally, barging into another territory without notice and throwing your weight around is an incredibly rude act. Even if it’s the family of your betrothed.”
He said that when an Expert-rank knight capable of assassinating a lord single-handedly entered another territory without permission and wielded force, it could be interpreted as intent to overthrow that land.
Even taking into account that the place I had secretly run off to was the Grace family—home of my fiancée—and that the head of the Grace family was a Master-level mage, making it impossible for me to kill him, it was still something that should have earned me several years of house arrest at minimum.
Yet the punishment the Count had given me wasn’t house arrest. It was enrollment. And not just anywhere—the most prestigious institution in the empire, Dairos Academy.
“It was completely nonsensical. And then, at just the right time, another rumor reached us.”
“What rumor?”
“The rumor that the great warrior of the barbarian tribe that had been tormenting the North’s absolute defense line had died. At that point, most people with half a brain would have figured it out. That you had become a Master, Young Master.”
Sir Leon gave a bitter laugh as he spoke.
“But I never imagined it was actually true, Young Master.”
“Why? Weren’t you the one who said most people would have noticed?”
“They probably thought that for about ten seconds before shaking their heads and deciding their own reasoning was wrong. It’s far more realistic to believe their deduction was mistaken than to accept that a boy in his mid-teens had become a Master.”
He said the rumor that I had reached Master was so unbelievable that even he couldn’t accept it until he saw it with his own eyes. I nodded at Sir Leon’s words. It made sense.
If I compared it to Earth, it would be like a middle schooler winning an Olympic gold medal or claiming the UFC championship. That was how absurd it was.
That was what a Master represented. The realm reached only by those who stood at the pinnacle of a field. A height everyone dreamed of, yet most considered nothing more than a dream. If I heard that a ten-year-old child who had just learned to speak had become a Master, I would probably feel the same shock others felt when looking at me.
“Well, that’s how it turned out.”
“It’s not a bad thing at all. Quite the opposite—it’s something to celebrate. If the news spreads that a new Master has been born after the founding patriarch, and that he achieved it in his teens, people from all across the country will flock to Meyer territory.”
“You think so?”
“Yes, they definitely will. Every knight will throw away their pride and come begging for enlightenment. Even if not, the chance to receive instruction from a Master is extremely rare, so some knights will surely pledge themselves to our territory.”
“……Sir Leon, I didn’t notice before I left, but you talk a lot more than I expected.”
The serious and heavy Sir Leon I remembered from childhood was gone. In his place stood a man who rattled on like a machine gun. Seeing him like this, I could indirectly tell how excited he was. Still, watching the image of the knight I had once looked up to crumble even a little was a bigger shock than I’d expected.
“Kyle.”
“Ah, Father.”
At that moment, the Count appeared. It was the perfect excuse for me to escape Sir Leon, who had been looking for a chance to slip away politely out of respect for the father-son reunion. I let out a sigh as I watched him disappear into the distance.
The Count saw me sighing and asked in a worried voice if something was wrong.
“What’s the matter? Did Sir Leon make some mistake?”
“……No, it’s just… He seems different from how he looked when I was younger.”
“When I first became an Expert, I thought the same thing. The world looked different. Perhaps that’s why you feel that way now.”
That’s not really it, though…
I quietly nodded at the Count’s words. Seeing this, he cleared his throat a few times and slowly opened his arms.
“My son. Let’s have a hug.”
“……Come on, do we have to?”
“Now, now. Can’t even do that for your father?”
“……I’m back, Father.”
Right after our father-son embrace, the Count whispered carefully into my ear.
“So… you didn’t cause any trouble at the academy, right?”
“Of course not……”
I paused for a moment, lost in thought.
Did I cause any trouble at the academy? There was a terrorist attack, but I didn’t cause it—I stopped it. So that’s a pass. Aria did cause an incident by brainwashing the distinguished guests, but that wasn’t my doing either. Pass. Before coming here, I accidentally awakened a colossal evil spirit that nearly turned the empire into a wasteland, but… that didn’t happen inside the academy. Pass.
“What do you take me for? I’m not a child. There’s no way I’d cause trouble.”
“That’s right. I believed in you, Kyle.”
Fifteen years without a single incident. I had never once driven a nail into my parents’ hearts. The Count smiled with relief and led me inside.
In the dining hall, a feast had been prepared in my honor. It had been a long time since I last tore into meat and enjoyed alcohol. I began regaling the Count with tales of my exploits at the academy. He simply chuckled warmly the entire time.
* * *
The next day, while I was sprawled out enjoying a rare moment of rest, the Count entered the room with a grave expression.
“—K-Kyle! Didn’t you say you didn’t cause any trouble!?”
“Huh? What are you suddenly……”
“Just what did you do!?”
[Notice of Annulment]
The letter was sent by Duke Grace.