Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Battle for the Porter - Ducal Domain (7)

"I heard something from Father at dinner."

We were still in the basement. For six days, she'd been eating meals in her male disguise, canceling her routine walks entirely, and devoting herself to training with me.

"What was it?"

"He says you're trying to change me? Is this training part of that?"

Hmm, I had said something like that. But I hadn't meant much by it.

"No."

"How do I trust that?"

"Good question."

I scratched my head. Honestly, I had nothing to say. Oh, right. Today was day six. The day before the last. Time to start the buildup. From what I could tell, it was basically over anyway. Ha ha.

"How about a walk?"

"A walk?"

I made my move. Ephrin scrunched her face as if to ask what I was on about.

"Didn't you say training time was short?"

"It is short. But training depends on trust between teacher and student. If you don't trust me, further training would be pointless."

Look at me go with the smooth talk. With skills like these, how had I been single all my life? See, I could do it when I wanted to.

Ephrin reluctantly nodded at my silver tongue.

"Then are we going to Lady's Lake?"

"No."

"Where, then?"

"We're leaving the estate."

"...What?"

Ephrin's baffled voice echoed through the underground passage.

***

During my week here, I'd already mapped out the general security layout. Tight as one would expect from a ducal household, but not impenetrable if push came to shove.

Still, I went to Butler Laim and got two exit passes. When he asked why two, I told him it was none of his concern. By now I had Butler Laim completely wrapped around my finger, so this was possible.

"You actually got them. Butler Laim almost never issues exit passes."

"I receive a bit of special treatment here."

Ephrin loosened her hair slightly and strode confidently through the front gate. Her face was partially concealed, and she wore a maidservant's clothes. She gently clutched my sleeve. Walking out this openly must have been nerve-wracking.

In truth, I'd deliberately chosen this route. The suspension bridge effect. I was well-versed in the theory, at least.

The gate guards were Airi's bodyguards. Naturally, they blocked our path.

"Hold on — where are you going?"

"Running an errand for the young lord."

"The young lord's errand?"

When they questioned us suspiciously, I showed them Butler Laim's two exit passes. If you wanted to sneak out, the best way was to walk out the front door. Getting caught sneaking around the back was just a hassle. As the saying goes, a noble man walks the main road. Not that this was exactly what the saying was meant for.

"Who's the maid behind you?"

"The young lord's maidservant. I don't know my way around, so I brought her along."

"...Really? Why is her face covered?"

"Bit suspicious, but they've got exit passes, so......"

In the end, they had no choice but to let us through. Looking at it again, Butler Laim held more sway here than I'd realized. Apart from Ephrin's hopelessly lax guards, everyone treated him with deference.

The air outside the estate was refreshing. Something about the estate had always felt stifling. If even I felt this way after just a week, Ephrin — caged for sixteen years — must have craved the outside world that much more. She gazed around in wonder.

"We're out."

"Easier than I thought."

"You could leave right now, if you wanted."

"What?"

Ephrin startled at my words. Then she chuckled softly.

"So that's how you prove it. I like that approach."

But she didn't move her feet.

"Still, the Ducal House has given me enough that I should settle my debts before I go."

Once we were out of the guards' sight, Ephrin let her hair down. The wind tossed it wildly in every direction. The sight was funny enough that I cracked a smile and reached out to tidy it for her.

Well, I tried to, but Ephrin swatted my hand away.

"I'll fix my own hair."

"Suit yourself."

Now she was pouting. Why ruin my mood like that? She'd followed my instructions just fine during training. Or was this what they called push-and-pull?

"This is my first time outside the estate."

"Is that so?"

I said with as much exaggerated surprise as I could muster. Though it was obvious enough. She scrunched her face.

"Feigning surprise when you already know is really fake."

Shouldn't have bothered.

After that, Ephrin went quiet. The world beyond the estate was nothing but common mountains and dusty roads. Honestly, I'd half expected bandits to show up, but no one had the guts to rob people this close to the Ducal House.

She simply looked at the trees and grass. Sometimes she stopped. Even I thought this place was far nicer than Lady's Lake.

Birdsong and the buzz of insects. The vitality surging from the greenery. The distant blinking of a nameless city on the horizon. Trash left by some rude hiker. Hoofprints and wheel tracks in the dirt. An ant poking its head out from freshly turned soil, then ducking back in. Moss on a boulder.

She gazed at all of it with wistful eyes. She didn't say a single word to me. There was naturally no evening training.

And just like that, the next morning dawned.

***

I woke up early as usual and was tidying my bedding. The guards' room was still a pigsty. It had to be about 7 AM — shouldn't at least someone be up by now?

"Hey, kid. Keep it down. Get up quietly."

Someone even had the nerve to complain about me waking up early. Good grief.

The door swung open without so much as a knock.

"Who the hell is that?"

"Me."

At that single quiet word, every man in the room shot awake. The person who'd entered was Ephrin, dressed in the usual going-out outfit — a small suit with a bow tie.

"Y-young lord, what brings you here so early in the morning?"

"Why? Am I not allowed to wake up early?"

Ephrin spoke in a noticeably clipped tone. Everyone seemed to sense the change in temperature and scrambled to tidy their bedding.

Mine was already done, so I simply sat on my bed and watched Ephrin. Our eyes met.

The look in those eyes had changed.

She wasn't acting right now. Those were the same eyes from when we trained together in the basement. She was showing the guards her true nature.

"Everyone, out to the training grounds."

She said only that, then closed the door and left. The room immediately erupted into murmurs.

"What the — what's going on?"

"Why's the young lord suddenly like this?"

"Man, today's supposed to be my day off."

They still didn't grasp the gravity of the situation. Anyone who didn't know Ephrin's true nature wouldn't. How had Ephrin concealed that disposition for sixteen years?

We quickly changed into our guard uniforms and headed out. The training grounds were deserted. Early morning, so naturally it would be.

"Appari, step forward."

She singled me out. Why the sudden pick? I had no idea what Ephrin was thinking.

I stepped out and stood beside Ephrin. She gripped both my shoulders.

"From this point, Appari will select one person to spar with. Everyone ranked above the loser will be dismissed."

I finally understood Ephrin's intent. She was going to clean up the mess she'd sown. But why hand the role to me, specifically?

Regardless, it didn't matter. There was one person who'd been getting on my nerves, and all I had to do was put him in his place. Might as well play along.

"I'll spar with Guardsman Sijipo."

"Very well."

The Sijipo I'd named was the long-haired man who'd been picking fights with me at every turn. He was sixth year here, about mid-seniority.

Perfect cutoff point. Everyone above him was genuinely worthless.

"Young lord, what is the meaning of this?"

"This is unjust!"

"This violates Imperial labor law, young lord."

After soaking up every benefit for years, now they were invoking the law. In a democracy, that whining might've held water. But this was a class society. The Middle Ages.

"Then go to the Imperial Capital, bring back a magistrate, and face me in a hearing. I'm confident I can convince him."

Ephrin said coldly.

"Do you think I don't know about your indolence? It's not just me — everyone in the Ducal Estate knows, and they're all laughing at you. You deserve flogging and expulsion, yet when given a fair chance, you have the nerve to object?"

Everyone fell silent. It was a known fact. This was a cushy post. So cushy that even they couldn't deny their own sloth. There was no rebutting Ephrin.

"Anyway — all I have to do is win, right?"

Sijipo said with a swagger. Being directly singled out seemed to have put him in a foul mood. Taking it out on the Duke's child, though — that confirmed just how rotten the discipline was.

Before Ephrin could speak, I struck first.

"Fix your posture. You're standing before the young lord."

"What?"

Sijipo gaped in disbelief.

"I don't know what special favor you've gotten from the young lord, but you sure are full of yourself."

"Watch your language too, if you would."

"No — he's free to speak as he pleases. Trash talk is common in a fight. Some fight by killing their emotions; others fight by stoking them."

Ephrin gave a reasonably fair ruling. Even so — openly inviting profanity? Fine by me. I was leaving today anyway.

"Bring it, you bastard."

Sijipo's eyes went wide and his face turned red at my unvarnished vulgarity.

"You think knowing your way around a blade gives you the right to be this arrogant? I'm not that easy."

"Even the finest sword turns ordinary if it isn't sharpened. An ordinary sword that isn't even honed is no different from a club."

"You little......"

Ephrin let out a quiet snort that only I could hear. That one really landed. Good enough for a standing ovation on a hip-hop audition show, I'd say.

No need for further words. Sijipo and I faced off in the training grounds. He glared at me, grinding his teeth.

"I don't know how you sweet-talked the young lord, but your cooking skills are impressive."

"Cut the shit."

I said. His face flushed with humiliation. He apparently hadn't expected me to curse back.

"People like you make me sick."

"What?"

"Earning a paycheck without lifting a finger. Someone else risks their life for the same salary you get, while you sit here getting lucky, not training a single day, and collecting your pay. I'm not saying people like that should never exist. The world has its own sense of balance."

As I kept talking, he couldn't take it anymore and charged. Slow. I had no idea what level of fighter he'd been a few years ago, but right now he was pathetic.

I watched him for a very long time. How in the world did a warrior end up with sagging arm and thigh muscles? I simply took one step back. He grandly sliced through empty air.

"You dodged that?"

He said it as though that was supposed to be his hidden trump card. I could hear Ephrin sighing from all the way over here. She must not have realized things had gotten this bad.

"Was I supposed to just stand there and take it?"

"I'll have to go all out. I was giving the rookie a handicap."

There was something I'd been dying to say since the dungeon, and I was going to say it now. Holding it in would've been unbearable.

"Quit being so pathetic. Seriously."

"What?"

He gathered mana into his sword while still losing his temper. He should have been focusing to collect it quickly, yet here he was answering every taunt. Physical ability, mental fortitude — he was a failure on all fronts. His mana-gathering speed was atrociously slow too. What was this, a '90s magical girl transformation?

I mercifully waited for him to finish gathering all his mana.

"Here... I... COME!"

"Oh, come on."

He rushed at me. A mana-infused sword swung down from overhead. I took one step forward.

Using that as my planted foot, I kicked his sword as if pushing it with my sole. The sword shattered on contact, and my foot covered his face completely and ground down.

He toppled in an undignified sprawl, the muddy imprint of my boot sole stamped across his face like a tattoo.

"Good lord. And you call yourself a warrior."

I sighed. Everyone else was the same. The veterans all hung their heads. They must not have had the confidence to fight any better than him.

***

It seemed yesterday's mountain scenery had left a deep impression on Ephrin. That morning, before coming to the guards' room, she'd reportedly entered the Duke's study and signaled her willingness to change.

It was a lie, of course. Her head was still full of escape plans. The guard purge was showmanship to facilitate that.

If Ephrin simply ran away as things stood, the guards would just rot in their complacency, still attached to the Ducal House.

After my anticlimactic victory over Sijipo, there was naturally some backlash, but Ephrin quashed it with a simple invocation of "noble insult laws."

"You're leaving."

Ephrin said. I nodded. We were in Ephrin's parlor. Dusty beyond belief.

Noble children's quarters came with a parlor, but Ephrin had never had reason to use hers.

"When will you come out?"

"Who knows."

Ephrin smiled. Right — I'd taught her a bit, so the trial and error should be lighter. Just grow up well and come into my arms. I decided to be content with this for now. Ephrin had a long road ahead.

"I look forward to the day we meet outside."

"Yeah. Thank you, Appari."

"Oh, and."

This was a personal preference of mine. Ephrin kept her hair short when disguised as a man outside. But I preferred long straight hair.

"You look prettier with long hair, my lady."

"...What?"

Leaving the flustered Ephrin behind, I rose and gave a final salute. She saw me off in a daze.

***

"You really did change Ephrin."

"I honestly didn't do much."

"In commissions, results are what matter — the process doesn't count for anything."

That was peak corporate chairman mentality. Well, a nation's Duke was about chairman-level, so it fit. He handed me an expensive-looking leather pouch.

"Complete the task, earn the reward."

Lapitess said. Something about his expression was supremely confident.

It was hefty, sure, but I'd need to verify that. Sometimes corporate chairmen slipped in nonsense like dining vouchers for their own restaurants. Those people had a death wish.

Even during my S-rank Hunter days, I always checked the commission fee in front of the client.

"May I verify the contents?"

"I like the boldness. Go ahead."

Bold, he said — it was just bad manners. The Duke must have really taken a liking to me to brush off something like this. If Sijipo had opened a pouch in front of the Duke, he'd have been slapped on the spot.

I opened the leather pouch, and found a peculiar trick inside. Gold coins were packed thick at the bottom, and on top sat a single unfamiliar coin.

"Platinum."

"I'm not well versed in the value of Trafviche currency."

"It's worth roughly ten thousand gold."

Well now. That meant about a billion won. He'd already appraised me that highly? Honestly, compared to my real-world value it was still cheap, but relative to what I'd actually shown them, it felt excessive.

"The gold coins at the bottom are just there to make it feel good. A pouch or an envelope always feels better when it's heavy, doesn't it?"

This man understood commission work. Made sense — the satisfaction of carrying something came from actual weight. Generosity in both substance and spirit.

"I see."

"I'll say nothing more. Make the right choice. If you come to us, I intend to put you to great use."

"I'll consider it."

I knelt and kissed the back of the hand Lapitess extended. Testing my etiquette right to the end. I turned and looked back at the Ducal Estate from the gate.

Gazing from a distance, someone was visible through the windows. Like frames in a film camera — the right window on the second floor, then the center window on the second floor, then the mid-landing window, then the first-floor left window, then peering through the front door's glass. That someone was Airi.

"Why are you out here again?"

"I'm a member of this house too."

Airi said primly. Then she thrust a small bag at me.

"Open it."

I was going to anyway. Inside the bag were small books with wooden covers.

What were these? When I looked at Airi with that expression, she got defensive instead.

"I used those to study when I was little. You're illiterate, remember? Study with those."

"Ah, thank you. May I take a look?"

"Go ahead."

I opened a wooden cover in front of Airi. The inside was empty. What — was this another villainess prank? Or was it like the empty food box Cao Cao sent to Xun Yu? When I looked back at Airi, she got angry again.

"You don't know how to use a Skill Book?"

"No."

"Honestly."

Airi took one book out and channeled mana into it. Soon the wooden cover emitted a pale blue-green glow and dissolved into Airi's body.

"That's how you use it. Pour in your mana."

"Ah, I see."

When I channeled mana, a glow of the same color floated in the air before sinking into me. I checked my Skill Window Bookshelf.

At the very top was a book titled 「Solid Foundations: Trafviche Language Study 1」. Flipping through it, the alphabet, basic vocabulary, and particles were all meticulously organized. If the Ducal House used this for education, it had to be the top textbook in its category.

"I finished that when I was three. You look at least fifteen, so you're way behind me."

"That's impressive."

"Yes, I am."

"Is there a reason you're suddenly giving me these?"

Airi hesitated at my words. This wasn't the Airi I knew. You were supposed to be the one who splashed water on me and told me to get lost.

"I was just grateful that you, as a member of the Ducal House's people, got rid of those eyesores. I hate weak people. Those guys have been an eyesore for ages. They were Ephrin's, so I didn't touch them."

"I see."

"But you're still annoying. I haven't forgotten that you used casual speech with me, you know."

That was the most clumsy display of gratitude I'd ever received. Airi's face turned red and she fled toward the front entrance.

Duke Lapitess watched his daughter dash inside, chuckled, and then saw me off.

Right on cue, a lavishly decorated carriage came rumbling down from a distant hilltop, kicking up dust.

"The Second Prince's carriage."

Duke Lapitess remarked. I gave the Duke one final formal salute. Now it was time to head for the Imperial Capital.