4. Eliarnes Eustetia
4. Eliarnes Eustetia
On the way to the training hall.
"Hello, Lady Eli!"
"Oh, it's Eurasia?"
A female knight came running from afar, her lush blonde hair streaming behind her.
Dripping with sweat, Eurasia greeted me.
Eurasia is the person in the knight order I'm closest to.
She's also the youngest in the knight order.
And I'd heard she has the most talent, too.
From what I can see, she's a little lacking, though.
She's seventeen.
Every time I tease her, her sharp little reactions are incredibly cute.
Anyway, I don't know where she spotted me from, but this works out perfectly.
I'll get her to carry half of this.
"Hah, hah. Phew... What brings you here, my lady—?"
"Here."
"Ngyeng?"
What kind of sound is "ngyeng"?
"Carry half of this."
"Uh, uhh... Yes. No, just give it all to me. I'll carry it."
"Forget it. I brought these to use myself, so why would you carry all of it? It's fine, just take half."
"Huh? Oh, you brought them for yourself to use—no, I mean... Yes. I'll carry them!"
Wooden swords, axes, spears, hammers, and so on.
I handed over half of the assorted weapons and studied Eurasia's face.
Seeing how soaked she was in sweat, she must have been training. Surely she hadn't finished already?
"Were you in the middle of training?"
"O-oh, no?"
She wasn't?
"What, so you're done?"
"Oh... no?"
"Then why are you sweating so much?"
"Th-that, uh, no, it's... it's hot!"
"Hot?"
"Yes!"
"You didn't train, but it's hot in the middle of winter?"
I narrowed my brow and glared at Eurasia.
At that, she flinched, trembling, and turned her head away.
"Actually... I was training."
"Then why lie?"
"Th-that's, uh..."
The way she was floundering under my barrage of questions didn't seem like she'd chosen to lie on her own.
It looked like someone above her had ordered it.
Why would they send such a dim-witted girl to lie?
That, well, doesn't even need thinking about.
They sent Eurasia because she's closest to me.
The reason for hiding it.
Did they want to hide the rough training from the only daughter of House Eustetia?
Still, if they'd seen and heard how I've trained for the past five years, they wouldn't have needed to go that far.
...There's something going on here.
If I kept pressing, it seems like I could drag an answer out of her.
What should I do?
If Eurasia, who isn't a commander but still holds a position of her own, can't answer, then was the order to hide it from a commander-level person?
Or from Father?
"Forget it. Don't answer."
I could get it out of Eurasia easily enough, but I can get it out of the knight commander too.
And if she answered, Eurasia might end up getting chewed out for nothing.
I don't want to make things hard for Eurasia over something like this.
"Let's go."
I'll go, get a feel for the atmosphere, and think about it.
Just as I started walking.
"Y-yes?! Th-that, ah... my lady!"
Eurasia dashed over and blocked my path.
I immediately shifted my stride just enough to slip past her body.
"Ngyeh?"
"What's with 'ngyeh'? If you keep this up, I'll ask you every single thing I'm curious about right now. You wouldn't lie to me, would you? Not between us."
"Th-that's... that's..."
"Then just follow me. You can even guide me slowly."
You can even guide me slowly.
Eurasia relaxed and smiled awkwardly at my words, apparently relieved that I understood her situation and was being considerate.
"Ahaha... Yes, then I'll lead the way."
Immediately after, Eurasia's steps as she walked ahead of me looked incredibly heavy.
*****
After roughly ten minutes of stalling, Eurasia and I arrived at the training hall.
A training hall so spotless you could believe they really hadn't trained.
But.
"It's too spotless."
For a training hall, there was none of the equipment you'd expect—no armor, no oil or cloth for maintaining gear, not even a common whetstone.
Now it was certain.
They'd heard I was coming and cleared everything away.
In a huge hurry.
This stings a little.
It's like they're shutting me out.
I'd like to mix in with the knight order and train with them on all sorts of things too.
No, even if that's impossible, they could at least show me, couldn't they?
It's not like there's some secret manual hidden away.
Right?
Even if there were, it'd be mine anyway.
If they took my fame and built a house on my name, then of course they'd have spread my techniques.
Well... there wasn't much you could call technique in my fighting.
Still, there were, you know, some pretty decent... things.
Now that I think about it again, it's ridiculous.
Ha, seriously.
"Haha! Yes! We're just really diligent about cleaning!"
Meanwhile, Eurasia, who hadn't grasped the hidden meaning in my words, scratched her head beside me.
"I see."
Leaving Eurasia behind, I headed toward the center of the training hall.
Then I dumped out the wooden equipment I'd brought in my arms and picked up the most familiar wooden sword.
Swish— swish— Too light a weight for training.
Not satisfying, but what can I do?
The moment I ask for a real sword, Father starts gnashing his teeth.
After swinging it a few more times to loosen up.
"What are you doing?"
I looked at Eurasia.
"Huh?"
Swish-swish— Eurasia's blue eyes swept the surroundings.
She was looking at the knights hiding here and there, suppressing their presence.
"Come here."
"...Why?"
"People say you're good with a sword, Eurasia."
"...They do? But... why do you ask...?"
"Show me once. Let me watch."
I need to confirm whose swordsmanship Eustetia's swordsmanship is.
Who knows? It might be my swordsmanship.
If so, then I, the original, the progenitor of that swordsmanship—I could fix any weird or lacking parts!
"Uh, um..."
Again, swish-swish— Eurasia's eyes swept every direction before turning to me.
"...I may have misunderstood, but are you saying, right now, that you want to spar... with me...?"
"Yeah."
Eurasia's face went pale.
*****
Tap— tap-tap— tap—
After thirty minutes of persuasion (threats), Eurasia and I ended up sparring.
But.
Tap— tap—
I expected it, but.
This is too much.
I said let's spar, so why are we playing house?
And on top of that, she won't even attack—she just keeps blocking my wooden sword all day long.
At this rate, there's nothing to see, swordsmanship or otherwise.
Ha, this is why people softened by peace are useless.
Back in my day, when it came to sparring, we beat the hell out of each other without mercy, noble or not.
In the end, I clicked my tongue and stopped in place.
"Oh, my lady? Is it over now?"
Eurasia asked, her face brightening considerably.
Yeah. I know.
If she swings a wooden sword at me here, she'll definitely end up in trouble.
She probably wants to get out of this spot as fast as possible.
Of course—I'm the young lady of House Eustetia.
So what should I do here?
What choice is there?
I'll bring someone else.
Someone who'll be in less trouble for swinging a sword at me.
Thud— thud—
When I rolled up my shirt and pants, Eurasia's mouth dropped open in shock.
Ignoring her, I undid all the sandbags strapped to my arms and legs.
Thud.
"Whoa! What is all this, my lady?!"
"Sandbags."
Thud— thud—
After stripping off even the sandbags around my stomach and back, I let out a breath and stepped forward, soft—
"Uh, uhh?"
Eurasia was still in a state of confusion.
Even so, she gripped her sword firmly and held a flawless stance.
Originally, I'd planned to go easy and let the knight order save some face.
But if it keeps going like this, I won't hold back either.
Soft— soft—
At last, I stepped up in front of Eurasia.
I swung a wooden sword with its edge honed by Mana.
Then, crack—
The wooden swords in Eurasia's hands and mine shattered to pieces.
Normally only hers should have broken, but ever since I came back to life, mine breaks too.
I don't like it.
"J-just now. What on earth just, ngeng...?"
Beyond shock, now wearing a bewildered expression, Eurasia stared down at the remains of the wooden sword she'd been holding moments ago.
Her mouth opened and closed.
Her hands clenched and unclenched.
"My lady, just now... how on earth did that happen?"
I smirked at her, then spoke toward the knights hiding all over the place.
"If you don't come out right now, I'm going to live here."
A shrill voice echoed through the training hall.
It sounded like a brat throwing a tantrum, but as I am now, I had no choice.
Because if I didn't do at least this, they really wouldn't come out.
And right now, I'm fifteen.
Isn't it okay to throw a little tantrum?
"If you don't believe me, check tonight. I'll bring a blanket and lie down somewhere with a nice view."
Leaving the bewildered Eurasia behind, I turned back around.
"Three."
I picked up the next wooden sword from the ground.
"Two."
With my body much lighter now, I bounced in place—boing-boing—
"One."
"First Knight Commander of the Eustetia Knight Order, Karon Kamelos! On behalf of the First Knight Order, I shall heed Lady Eliarnes Eustetia's command!"
"Second Knight Commander of the Eustetia Knight Order, Galak Gomeros! On behalf of the Second Knight Order, I shall heed Lady Eliarnes Eustetia's command!"
"Third Knight Commander of the Eustetia Knight Order, Olak Einstal! On behalf of the Third Knight Order, I shall heed Lady Eliarnes Eustetia's command!"
"Eustetia Knight Order, First—"
Rumble—
Led by a massive middle-aged man with graying hair slicked back, countless knights burst out from all over.
See? Wouldn't it be nice if they came out when I asked nicely?
Not that I ever asked nicely.
With a lighter heart than before, I looked up at Karon, standing at the very front and easily over two meters tall, and extended my hand.
"It's been a while, Sir Karon."
"Yes. It has been a while, Lady Eli."
With a crisp reply, Karon accepted the handshake.
He's a knight commander, all right—the calluses on his hand are incredible.
And his hand is enormous.
With my hand, I doubt I could even wrap two fingers around it.
Hmm, anyway.
Now, how should I phrase this?
Being direct would make things awkward, so I should talk around it a bit, right?
Ahem. I cleared my throat and spoke.
"I never see you whenever I come by. As the First Knight Commander, you must be busy. You must be tired."
Where were you hiding every time I came by asking to learn something?
"Ahaha! I had heard you were coming, my lady, but at my age, even handling training has become a struggle."
I knew you were coming, so I made myself scarce.
"Oh, come now. Sir Karon, the commander of the First Knight Order, struggling because of age? You joke too much."
Cut the crap.
"Haha! Of course, I won't lose to anyone out there, but I'm only human—I can't fool age!"
At my age, I don't want to get fired.
"I'd been thinking I'd like to see Sir Karon's sword sometime, but it's a shame. Still, may I trust that you'll show me someday?"
Right. So you won't spar with me today, is that it?
"Yes. I will show you someday. However, with the Demon World expedition right around the corner, it will be difficult in the near future. This old man needs to conserve his stamina. Heh heh."
Yes. Please let me off. Preferably for life.
"Understood."
I nodded readily and looked around.
Focusing mainly on the knights wearing the flashiest armor.
They look strong at a glance.
Good, good.
Grinning, I spoke to the commanders of each knight order.
"In that case, may I assume that those younger than Sir Karon will be fine?"
No answer came back.
I took that as a yes.
Of course, they probably didn't mean it as a yes.
But so what?
If they don't like it, they can say so.
Not that I'd go easy on them even if they did.
Beaming— I deliberately put on an even brighter smile and delivered my final words.
"Today, I intend to 'use' all of these wooden sticks. So, I'll be counting on you?"
I'm not leaving today until everything I brought is broken, so figure it out.
*****
Meanwhile.
Eurasia, mixed in among the knights, watched Eli with a gaze quite different from theirs.
The wooden sword that had looked like it was being swung lightly.
The weight really had been light.
But Eli had been wearing countless sandbags on that small body.
Wearing all that, without even using Mana.
Moving that lightly with physical ability alone?
That would be difficult even for her current self.
No, it would be impossible unless you were a commander-level knight here.
Because that's the same kind of madness as controlling every single muscle in your body.
And then. That final strike.
She recalled that strike, which had looked like a child throwing a tantrum.
Even if she chalked up the break earlier to carelessness, if it came rushing at her again, could she block it?
If she blocked it, how could she block it?
No, that isn't an attack you can block just by blocking.
Because that technique exists solely to break weapons.
The path of the sword's advance, the weight behind it, the force.
A technique that concentrates everything into a single point and swings.
A technique not for striking the opponent, but solely for breaking the opponent's weapon.
It looked exactly like a perfect reproduction of the technique said to have been personally passed down by Arisa Eustetia, who was called the Weapon Master.
Coincidence?
No. Absolutely not a coincidence.
When Lady Eli used that technique, her eyes had held the certainty of someone who knew it would happen.
Had someone in the knight order passed the technique down to Lady Eli?
Or had Lady Eli, sneaking in while deceiving even the knight commanders' Energy Sense, stolen a glimpse of the technique?
Even if that were the case, both were impossible.
Because that is not a technique you can use after briefly learning it or stealing a glimpse.
Which meant Lady Eli had figured those things out on her own.
Her thoughts reaching that point, Eurasia swallowed dryly and clenched her red, swollen hand.
And, watching Eli pick her sparring partner with interested eyes, she thought.
Lady Eli is.
A genius who inherited all the talent of the Weapon Master, Arisa Eustetia—or else.
Perhaps the Reincarnation of that person.