Chapter 16

Chapter 16. My Elder Brother's Fiancée Has Arrived (2)

"See? We met again already, didn’t we?"

At the sight of the girl standing in the middle of the guest drawing room with a bright smile on her face, I let out a sigh.

I had thought I might be able to avoid seeing her, but I ended up meeting her again after only a day. Worse, I had to stay with her all day.

"I am Alex."

"Mm. Please take good care of me from today on, my guide and bodyguard?"

"No one told me anything about serving as a guide."

Bodyguard duty, perhaps, but a guide? I had done nothing but go in circles between the library, my room, and the training ground. Asking me to guide someone anywhere was unreasonable.

"I will help with the guiding."

Flora, who knew the situation, chimed in from the side, but it did not comfort me in the slightest.

We had not even known each other for a full minute, and I was already getting tired. And now it was going to last the entire day.

Just how long am I supposed to stay with her?

"What is the schedule for your visit?"

"The schedule for my visit?"

Simon’s fiancée tilted her head. It was admittedly a pleasant sight, but in my current irritation, it did not register at all.

"I am asking when you plan to return home."

At my words, the girl narrowed her eyes.

"Surely... you are not saying you dislike being with me?"

'Hmm. She is surprisingly perceptive.'

"Yes."

At my answer, the girl’s eyes widened. She stared at me for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! You really are interesting. I have never met a child like you before."

Tch, I had only said it out of irritation, thinking whatever happened, happened, but it seemed I had only piqued her interest instead.

"Mm, that is good. Unlike Simon, it looks like being with you will actually be fun."

Wearing a genuinely delighted expression, the girl answered my question.

"I do not really know either. Father said he would send for me once he finished his business, but I do not know what that business is, so I cannot tell when it will end."

Ugh, that answer was useless too.

Still, he would send for her once his business was done... Did that mean there was a reason she had to remain at the ducal house for now? Or had something happened that made her unable to stay at the marquess’s house?

'Wait a minute.'

An unpleasant instinct began to prickle at me.

But I did not have enough information yet.

No, even if I did realize something, it would not change anything.

'Enough pointless thoughts. I should just do my job.'

"Then where are you planning to go today?"

It would be nice if she simply stayed in her room and read a book. A tea gathering in the drawing room would have been fine too.

"Then let us go at once!"

Contrary to my hopes, she strode energetically toward the drawing room door.

Huh? Come to think of it, she was not wearing a dress.

Her outfit was so flashy that I had not noticed at first, but what she wore was not a dress at all. It was a formal knight’s uniform, the sort worn by female knights.

"Take me to the training ground first! Let us have the duel we could not yesterday-no, the spar!"

A duel...? Her inner thoughts had slipped right out of her mouth. No matter how I looked at it, she had clearly entered a storm-and-stress phase.

This was unmistakably eighth-grader syndrome.

"Come on, hurry up. And Alex! Call me Adria!"

With that, she stepped out into the corridor ahead of us, and I followed after her with a sigh.

When we arrived at the training ground, the knights and squires who had been engaged in private practice all turned to look at us.

"Wow, so this is the training ground of the ducal house of Gresia. Then is this where you train too?"

Of course, this was not the place where I usually trained, but I could not bring Adria into the training ground used by the ducal family without permission from our superiors.

Adria looked around the training ground.

Several knights frowned when they saw her and me arrive.

No, to be precise, they were most likely frowning because of me.

Fortunately, no one said anything. A few of the knights had recognized her.

They signaled to the others, and before long, all the knights began quietly slipping away from the training ground.

"Oh? Did I interrupt their practice?"

Seeing them leave, Adria looked apologetic.

"Then let us head back."

I spoke up at once, but unfortunately, she shook her head.

"Since it has already come to this, let us spar quickly! You would rather do it without an audience too, would you not?"

It seemed she really did know the rumor that I was the ducal house’s hidden blade.

No, if that rumor were actually true, there would be no reason for me to spar with her.

At this point, it was hard to tell whether she was merely troublesome or simply naïve.

Now that everyone had left, it became harder to avoid the matter.

I had already tried one excuse after another on the way here, but she had declared that if I refused to show her my skill, she would not accept my protection either.

That left me with very little room for further excuses.

To be honest, I was curious too. Up until now, my only sparring partner had been Sir Miguel. Since I had never managed to beat him even once, it had been difficult to judge my own skill objectively.

I handed the live blade I had brought for guard duty to Flora and picked up one of the wooden swords set out nearby.

Adria had already taken up a sword and settled into position.

"What format shall we use for the spar?"

"The one where whoever dies loses!"

I stared at her in silence.

No, was she trying to kill me? A fight to the death with wooden swords? Just how many times would one have to beat a person with a wooden sword before they actually died?

"...Let us just keep it to a normal spar."

"That is no fun."

No, the strange one here was the person who found killing people entertaining.

I turned my head and looked at the maid standing beside Flora.

She was the maid who had accompanied Adria in silence ever since I first met her.

"I am sure I need not say it, but please protect her during the spar."

At my words, the maid looked startled.

"Huh? What are you talking about? Protect me?"

And Adria looked back and forth between the maid and me with a puzzled expression.

Did she not know? Did she not know how skilled that maid was?

It had been hard even for me to notice, so perhaps Adria simply had not realized it.

Still, a maid who concealed her skill from her employers? That was something worth examining more closely.

"It seems I was mistaken."

I waved it off as though it were nothing.

"Hmph, that was ridiculous."

Adria jutted out her lips, and I raised my sword.

Good. Since it had come to this, I would give her a proper spar. She was the one who had asked for it, so even if she cried and complained afterward, it would not be my responsibility.

I settled into position and looked at Adria.

Her composed stance, controlled breathing, and the faint aura emanating from her all caught my eye at once.

'So she is not just suffering from eighth-grader syndrome. That is genuine swordsmanship, properly taught.'

Then again, she was not the daughter of an ordinary noble house. No marquess would raise his eldest daughter as some reckless brat who ran around swinging a sword without thought.

If he had taught proper swordsmanship to a young lady of a noble house, then—

'Ah! Then could it be an inherited ability?'

What was the inherited ability of House of Hierro again?

...I searched my memory, but nothing came to mind.

With only the books in the library and the information I had heard from the scribes, it had been impossible to learn every inherited ability possessed by the kingdom’s noble houses.

'To be honest, I simply never cared enough to look into it.'

I had only paid attention to the ducal house and the neighboring nobles.

Clicking my tongue at my own lack of preparation, I refocused on Adria.

'Perhaps about the level of an exceptionally talented squire.'

Even compared to the squires of the same age who attended the knights, she looked skilled.

Still, the fact that I could gauge her at a glance meant there was a significant gap between us.

Even so, I did not let my guard down.

She possessed an inherited ability. It was the sort of ability important enough for a marquess to place a sword in the hands of his eldest daughter.

I did not know what kind of ability it was, so I could not afford to charge in first.

I decided to yield the initiative.

"Please, make your move."

A smile rose to the girl’s face at those words from a ten-year-old child.

"Then here I come! Be careful!"

She shouted loudly, and I fixed my eyes on her.

In a flash.

Her figure suddenly vanished. No, I had simply lost sight of it.

'Tch!'

The instant I lost track of her, I swung my sword into empty space.

Clang!

"Uwah! You blocked it?"

There she was, Adria, appearing right where I had swung, using her wooden sword to stop mine.

"An acceleration-type ability?"

"Wow, you knew?"

"I did not until just now."

"But you still blocked it? Could you see me? Is your inherited ability the kind that makes your eyes especially sharp?"

So there were abilities like that too?

"I did not see you clearly."

I had merely sensed the movement of mana and, feeling her presence closing in, moved my sword there on instinct.

"Ugh, if you actually block it, it really hurts."

She sprang backward and shook the hand holding her sword.

Even I, with a body on the level of a knight, had felt the shock. Since she was physically weaker than I was, she had surely felt considerable pain.

"It is not over yet."

Clenching her sword, Adria charged again.

She was faster than most people, but this time, not so fast that I could not see her.

Clang! Clang!

I blocked each of her strikes one by one.

As long as I could follow them with my eyes, I could easily defend against a sword like hers.

"Kuh! Then try blocking this too!"

Unexpectedly, sparring with her was rather enjoyable.

I had always been the weaker one, desperately throwing myself at my opponent. Standing on the opposite side for the first time, I felt a strange sense of relief.

Was this what Miguel had been feeling all along?

The gratitude I had felt toward Miguel seemed to melt away.

After crossing swords with her several times, I felt I understood her inherited ability.

It was not physical enhancement like mine, but a bodily acceleration ability that used mana.

Her ability was still incomplete, so her control over acceleration and deceleration was unstable, and unless she prepared herself first, she did not seem able to reach her top speed.

But if she continued to grow properly, she would become a truly formidable swordswoman.

'With an ability like this, no wonder they betrothed her to Brother Simon.'

Brother Simon, who possessed the finest mana circulation art, and Adria, who possessed a remarkable acceleration ability.

Their engagement surely served to strengthen the bond between the two houses, but it must also have been filled with expectations for the children they would one day have.

Then why had she arrived so quietly? The question surged up again.

"You are doing it on purpose, aren’t you? You are only blocking! Stop blocking and attack!"

Since I kept doing nothing but defend, Adria suddenly shouted at me.

"Your attacks are so fast that merely blocking them is all I can manage."

"Do not lie! You are answering me calmly even now!"

'Ah, she noticed.'

I had wanted to keep the spar going a little longer, but since she had seen through me, I would have to end it now.

After calmly parrying her sword, I used the gap between her attacks and thrust out my wooden sword.

Thud!

My sword struck her body.

"Aaah!"

With a scream, Adria went flying backward.

The way she flew through the air looked remarkably similar to the way I myself always went flying during sparring.

Now that I was the one watching, I realized just how pitiful I must have looked all this time.

Adria ended up sprawled flat on the ground, and before I knew it, Adria’s maid was already at her side.

"Huh? When did you get over there?"

Flora stared in surprise at the empty space beside her.

'Did she just reveal a little of her skill?'

Since she had taken the bait I had casually thrown out almost immediately, it did not seem that the maid intended to keep hiding her abilities.

She hurriedly checked Adria’s body over.

Then she let out a sigh of relief.

Adria had fainted the instant the sword struck her, but unlike how it had looked from afar, there was hardly any injury at all.

Of course there was not.

I had struck harder than necessary for my own reasons, but she was still a guest of the ducal house. I could not actually injure Brother Simon’s fiancée.

"That was too much!"

"I am sorry. I was never taught how to attack gently while holding back..."

In truth, since I had always been the one struggling desperately in sparring matches, it was not a terrible excuse.

Good. Everything had gone according to plan.

Now that she had fainted like that, she would surely stay in her room and rest for at least a few days.

Better still if she got upset and asked for a different guard.

The more I saw of this situation, the clearer it became that this was not simple bodyguard duty. Something this dangerous was best kept at a distance.

And if I could not keep my distance, then I needed to buy time.

At the very least, I needed time to learn what was really going on.

The maid carried Adria on her back and headed toward the mansion, while Flora, and then Mother, scolded me for a long while.

The next day, after spending the night in high spirits,

I could only despair.

Brother Simon’s fiancée was standing before me in perfectly fine condition.

Adria was far sturdier than I had expected.

'Damn it. I should have beaten her harder.'

While I grumbled inwardly, she spoke with an excited expression.

"Yesterday was truly the best! Honestly, you were even better than the rumor said. And today, we are going on an outing around the territory!"

An outing around the territory? That meant leaving the mansion grounds. What was she talking about? Had she not come here in secret?

The absurdity of it made the words slip out of my mouth.

"I know almost nothing about the land outside the mansion. I cannot serve as a guide."

Even though I had turned ten, I had never once gone beyond the mansion grounds. Adria might well have known more about the ducal territory than I did.

"I will do the guiding. You just follow from a distance."

An even more absurd voice spoke up from beside her.

Simon de Gresia. The duke’s eldest son was standing next to his fiancée, putting on an air of dignity while saying he intended to take her out.

The bright-faced boy and girl standing side by side made for a beautiful picture, but I could not understand why I had to be dragged into it.

'This is not even like being the friend stuck between a young couple on a trip. It is like being the younger brother-in-law tagging along on their honeymoon!'

"His Grace has granted permission, so prepare yourself at once and come down."

After leaving behind those final words that nailed the matter shut, the two of them headed toward the front entrance.

I turned my head and looked in the direction of the study.

I could not understand what the duke was thinking, allowing an outing at a time like this.