Secret (4)
Secret (4)
"Come to the imperial capital."
I said it with a thoroughly tense expression.
"There, you can be with all your disciples."
"Hm."
Hearing my persuasion, the Sword Saint seemed lost in thought for a moment, and the strength in his hand that gripped the sword loosened.
Seeing that, I momentarily relaxed too—
Thwack!
"Eek!?"
The Sword Saint's sword struck the crown of my head again.
Without thinking, I clutched my head with both hands and looked at the Sword Saint.
The Sword Saint was looking at me with a dumbfounded expression.
"Did you not hear what I just said? I came here because I loathe the secular world. Are you telling me, then, to go and live amid the most bustling place on this very the imperial capital, subjected to all manner of human masses?"
The Sword Saint snorted.
"And as bait for you? I am not so soft as to fall for such a meager trick."
Well, of course.
I inwardly agreed with the Sword Saint's words.
If a man who had lived in the mountains for decades could be persuaded to descend by a single word from a stranger, I would have tried it long ago.
"In that case, I will remain here."
"Hm?"
"I shall stay here until I persuade you, Sword Saint."
But I had not come here without any mental preparation of my own.
Though only about two weeks remained of the vacation, I had planned to spend those two weeks trying earnestly to persuade him, then sort out only the most promising arguments from what had been said, and then turn back time—
Thwack!
"Eek!?"
"Do you have that onomatopoeia recorded inside you or something?"
Striking someone's head without warning and then saying such a thing is incredibly irritating.
Though, of course, I did not think I had the skill to truly best this man.
"A grown woman, even if I am old, comes to a man's house and says she will stay the night? Your honor could be stained, you know? No, more importantly, the very fact that you can brazenly suggest staying at a man's house in such a manner is the problem. Especially for someone who is an imperial princess."
"......."
Yet when I came with Jennifer, he said nothing despite our staying the whole night.
Besides, Alice had already stayed the night that way and left. Claire had done so too.
Of course, Jennifer had been beside them then as well, but in the original story, the Sword Saint was a character who did not care about such things in the first place. He was probably just saying that as an excuse to send me back.
Whether I glared at him or not, the Sword Saint ignored me sitting before him and turned his gaze aside.
"And you, why are you frozen stiff like that?"
"Ah, that is......"
Leo's forehead was already soaked with sweat. It was not a figure of speech; a few strands of his bangs were actually plastered to his forehead.
"What, do you dislike seeing me strike 'Her Imperial Highness' on the head with a weapon?"
"......."
"I already met a different imperial princess the other day. And if I were someone who cared about status to begin with, I would not have considered taking Jennifer as my disciple."
"W-well, that is true, but......"
"Ah, now that you mention it, I see."
The Sword Saint looked at me again.
"Is Alice your older sister, or your younger sister?"
"She is my older—"
Leo, beside me, began to answer, but caught my gaze and quickly shut his mouth.
"...... We are 'sisters.'"
"Ho-oh."
At my words, the Sword Saint twisted his lips into a smirk.
"I see. That's how it is......"
And folding his arms, he sank into thought for a moment.
"Well, fine. It is already late at night. Sending you down at this hour cannot be considered the proper way for a man to treat a woman."
So saying, the Sword Saint rose from his seat.
"I will permit you to stay for just today. But leave tomorrow. I am not idle enough to dance to your tune."
No, you are idle.
Though that did not mean he had an obligation to dance to my tune unconditionally.
Still, having obtained permission to stay at least a day, I set aside one of my worries.
Because it meant an opportunity had been created.
*
"Did you learn this from Alice?"
The following dawn, having woken around the same time as Leo, I sat in the lotus position and meditated, and seeing this, the Sword Saint asked me that.
It was the first thing he had said to me since that conversation yesterday. Afterward, the Sword Saint had completely ignored my presence there. In hindsight, I had said things that would warrant being ignored. Arrogantly, I had spoken in a manner that was almost an order.
But, if he would not speak to me, then I would persuade him through actions.
He had declared last evening that I 'lacked talent,' so all I had to do was show him the side of me that 'had talent.' Waking at the same time as Leo, too.
Cracking one eye open very slightly, I saw that Leo was watching me with a slightly surprised look as well.
Yet Leo's face showed more of 'deep thought' than surprise. Though I had not explained it openly, Leo had also been present when we fought the Black Robe at the ruins of the Northwood estate.
Perhaps he was thinking that I might have been here before already.
"......."
It was true that I had absolutely no talent in this area, and having never learned it before, it had taken me a full 300 days to learn the most basic meditation from this man called the Sword Saint. Learning other movements would probably take far longer than that.
But, at least for now, I had to pretend that this ability was my 'talent.' Only then would the Sword Saint come to trust me, even a little.
I heard the Sword Saint's footsteps. I shut the eye I had opened a crack and sincerely entered meditation again.
As if to examine my posture carefully, I heard the sound of the Sword Saint coming around to stand before me—
And before the Sword Saint could even say anything to me—
Bam!
The door burst open with that sound.
"...... Alice. If you open a cabin door that way, it might just break."
As if he had known Alice would come like that, the Sword Saint spoke languidly. It was a completely different attitude from when he had greeted me.
"If it breaks, I shall procure and install the finest door I can buy for you."
Alice's voice as she said that was so composed that, conversely, she sounded immensely furious.
"Even if you bought and installed such a door, I doubt it would suit this place in the slightest."
The Sword Saint answered in a voice that sounded utterly bewildered.
But Alice did not seem to hear him.
Honestly, their conversation was quite interesting.
Because I had met the Sword Saint, and I had seen what kind of character he was in the game, but this was the first time I properly witnessed the Sword Saint and Alice conversing directly like this.
In the game, aside from the main story dialogue, it was common for party members other than Leo to become invisible during sub-quests. Though they said they put effort into it, the volume of text in the main story was considerable regardless, so it was difficult to pay meticulous attention to every sub-quest.
Further along, the characters you could set as your party increased, their personalities all different, so dialogue had to be created for each party member to match the situation. To cut production costs, it was easier to simply make them all say nothing at all in bulk.
But reality was not a game.
You could not just gloss it over with a single stage direction reading, 'they all exchanged opinions together,' or 'they trained together.'
"What brings you here? It does not seem to be for training like Leo."
"......I came to retrieve my 'younger sister.'"
I could not read other people's ki, but at the very least, I could tell that the Sword Saint was now quietly turning to look toward me.
"Is something the matter with the Imperial Family?"
With my eyes firmly shut, I tried hard to appear as though I was absorbed in meditation. As if I were someone who had not noticed at all that Alice had arrived before me.
Of course, that was not exactly...... successful, it seemed.
Well, doing that does not make me an invisible person.
"Please wait. I wish to speak with Sylvia."
Following Alice's words, I heard the rustle of clothing. It seemed the Sword Saint had gestured toward the table.
"Use that table as you please, if you wish. There is no separate room, so you cannot share secrets, however."
"That is fine."
There was a hint of laughter in Alice's voice as she replied.
It did not seem like a particularly warm laugh.
*
"I heard the story."
"...... Which story do you mean?"
The two of us sat facing each other across the old, worn-out table, and about three steps away, Leo and the Sword Saint stood. Both wore expressions curious about what we would discuss.
I thought about it seriously. Could it be something about Lucas? Surely, Alice hadn't heard the fact that she might be my biological sister—
"I heard you called Jaden 'Elder Brother.'"
—She had not heard that, it seemed.
Separate from that, however, I understood that what Alice was saying right now was enormously important.
I turned my gaze toward Leo.
Leo was staring at me, his mouth hanging open blankly.
As if he had never imagined such a word could come from my mouth.
Very regrettably, I did not know how to control the heart pounding fiercely from embarrassment.
...... Let us make sure to learn at least that one thing for certain during the two weeks to spend here.
And I was definitely going to kill Jaden for failing to hide the fact that I had called him brother.
It had been my own fault for forgetting to tell him to keep it a secret, but anyway.