Chapter 8

Chapter 8. I Received Training, But... (2)

"I have only ever seen the training of ordinary squires, but judging by your rate of growth, comparison is impossible in the first place. I do not know where your growth will stop, but if you continue growing like this, you will become an excellent knight..."

By the time he finished speaking, Miguel’s expression had become rather ambiguous.

Compared to commoners, it was an outstanding ability, more than enough to make me into a powerful knight, but for a noble who possessed an ability, being a knight was not such a valuable station.

Of course, that was not bad news for me.

'Hm, should I become a territorial knight or something?'

The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but when I considered that it would mean remaining tied to the ducal house of Gresia, it did not seem like such a good idea after all.

Well, it was not as though a six-year-old needed to be worrying about that already.

More importantly, I needed to find out quickly why the Duke had begun taking notice of me.

And to do that, this was the time to raise my rapidly growing skill as much as possible.

After training for quite a while, it was finally time to rest.

At that very moment, a servant came from the mansion to summon Miguel.

"The Commander is calling for me?"

"Yes."

"I understand. I will be back in a moment. Please rest in the meantime."

As expected of a by-the-book drill instructor. There was no way he was simply going to let things end there.

Watching him walk back toward the mansion, I sat beneath the shade of a tree with Flora.

Flora took out tea and some light refreshments.

"This is nice."

As the warm drink seeped into me, my muscles slackened pleasantly.

'The rich really are the best. Nobles are the best.'

It was a shame. Once I grew older and eventually had to leave the mansion, I would no longer be able to enjoy this sort of service.

I turned to Flora, who was sitting beside me, and asked,

"Are you not bored?"

"No. Not bored at all. Not even a little."

Flora shook her head vigorously. There was a fierce determination in her, as though she meant never to let anyone take this position away from her.

To be fair, even from my perspective, it was such a cushy assignment that anyone might envy it.

"It may look easy, but there are still quite a few things I have to keep track of. I have to prepare food to suit your tastes, Young Master, and have damp towels ready in case you need to rest when you are tired..."

Flora diligently explained why she was necessary.

I only half listened to her voice as I focused instead on the sounds coming from the forest.

The sound of the wind brushing past the branches.

The sound of the grasses rubbing against one another.

The chirping of insects and birds...

Huh?

I could not hear them at all.

Neither birds nor insects.

That could not be right. I had heard them even while moving vigorously around the training ground...

A chill ran down my whole body. My expression turned cold, and the laxness drained from me as my body went stiff.

"A-ah, I did not mean that it was hard or anything!"

Perhaps because my expression had changed, Flora hurriedly corrected herself.

But this was not the time to be listening to her.

Since when had the sounds disappeared?

Just now?

Or had they been gone for quite some time already?

Damn it, I had relaxed far too much.

I reached out and gripped the wooden sword lying beside me. Honestly, it was not much of a reassuring weapon, but even so, holding a sword made me feel a little steadier.

Huu.

I drew in a breath as quietly as I could, then spoke in an ordinary tone.

"Shall we start training again soon?"

"What? The knight has not come back yet. Rest a little longer."

Flora stared at me in confusion, but then,

"Then, Flora, will you go and fetch the knight for me?"

At my next words, Flora rose to her feet. It was the order of a little child, but perhaps because of the image I had built up until now, she obeyed at once.

"Then please keep resting. I will bring him back right away."

She crossed the training ground immediately, and I quietly rose as I watched her.

Flora hurried across the training ground and onto the path leading back toward the mansion.

The very moment she was about to pass out of sight,

someone stepped in front of her.

"Who—?"

She looked up at the person blocking her path.

The figure was dressed entirely in black. His clothes were black, and even the cloth covering his face was black.

"Flora, get away!"

Damn it. I shouted, and just as she parted her lips in shock—

Thrust.

A blackened blade suddenly burst out through her back.

And blood splattered across the ground.

"Ah..."

That faint sound, no more than a leaking breath, was all she left behind before her body crumpled.

The blade slid back out, and blood pooled in the dirt where she lay.

As I watched Flora collapse, I bit my lip.

From the instant that black-clad masked man appeared to the instant Flora was stabbed, I had not moved a single step.

I had not even noticed the moment he appeared, nor had I truly seen the moment Flora was stabbed, but even after that, I still could not move.

So much for growing stronger through training. What exactly was supposed to change in a six-year-old after only a month of training?

At the sight of my first murder, all I could do was freeze.

And on top of that, I had been far too complacent.

I had taken things too lightly just because I had awakened an ability that did not seem particularly impressive.

A dedicated knight had been assigned to me, and I had even been allowed to train alone in the family’s private training ground.

The Duke himself had even appeared.

That was more than enough to make the person who had once tried to kill me suspicious.

That a worthless illegitimate son was receiving the Duke’s full attention.

'Is it really expectation? Or is he merely checking whether I can be made into a useful tool?'

I recalled the Duke’s expression from the day of the Awakening Ceremony.

Those chilling eyes, like a predator eyeing its prey.

They had not been the eyes of a father looking at a son with hope.

Step. Step.

Damn it, this was no time to be thinking about that.

The man dressed in black was slowly approaching me.

Stepping over Flora’s corpse, he was now crossing the training ground.

He was slender of build, and though his face was covered, he walked toward me with light, casual steps, almost as if he were taking a stroll.

Damn it, I was so terrified that I could not even move.

But what use was it to churn through countless thoughts in my head?

Wait. If I was frozen with fear, could I really continue observing my enemy and thinking this clearly?

No matter how hard I tried, I could not move my arms or legs.

But my thoughts were still moving as I willed them to, and so were my eyes.

Then—

No way.

I had not been unable to move because of fear?

I bit down on my lip as hard as I could.

Crunch.

Fortunately, my jaw still moved.

My lip split, and blood ran down my throat.

"Ah... ah."

Now my tongue started moving as well.

"This is the training ground of the ducal house of Gresia. You commit murder here without even thinking about what comes afterward?"

At my words, the man, who had been approaching slowly, stopped where he was and tilted his head.

I had made him stop, but he did not answer me.

Gripping my trembling sword, I spoke again.

"I do not know who hired you or what group you belong to, but if you kill me, the Duke’s son, then you, your family, and the one who hired you will all have to be prepared to die!"

Even after my shout, he did not respond.

He merely stared at me through the eyes visible above his black mask. They were the eyes of a man examining something curious.

As expected, my bluff and probing questions had failed.

Black leather clothing, a mask covering half his face, a sword painted black.

He had killed Flora first, but at a glance it was obvious that he had come here to kill me.

'Damn it. I am sorry, Flora. If there is a next time, I will treat you better.'

Looking at Flora’s corpse beyond the masked man, I apologized inwardly.

The masked man moved again.

His whole presence was dull and oppressive, and he seemed frighteningly capable. No matter how I looked at him, he seemed either an assassin or a hired killer.

But from the look in his eyes just a moment ago, I could tell that he had not come here knowing I was clever.

An assassin who did not properly know his target?

'Does he lack information? Or is he just that confident in his own skill?'

Even without getting an answer, small scraps of information bled from his advancing body.

A solid body trained hard.

Right-handed.

A confidence that seeped out of him almost unconsciously.

Swordsmanship too quick for my eyes to properly follow.

And yet, an assassin who did not know his target properly, but did know where I would be.

And an assassin who even knew when he would not be interrupted.

Huh? How had he known that? How had he known Miguel would be absent from his post?

Was his concealment so exceptional that Miguel had not noticed him? Or had he been able to lure Miguel away at the right time?

And if he had lured him away, then had he bribed the servant who came to call Miguel?

The more information I gathered, the more questions arose, but unfortunately, this was no time to solve them.

The masked man kept drawing nearer.

The closer he came, the more violently my body trembled.

Why was I shaking?

Was fear swallowing me after all?

But my mind was still perfectly clear.

Shake. Shake. Shake.

As my body trembled, the sword in my hand shook wildly as well.

Maybe because of that, my body, which had refused to move at all, began to move a little.

'Please, just stop!'

Forcing my other hand to move, I grabbed the wildly shaking sword with both hands.

Damn it, my heart had not broken, and I was not simply frozen with fear. And yet my body still would not obey me, and now I was standing here trembling by myself.

Why would it not move?

This was not psychological.

Then what was it? If it was not psychological, was he scattering killing intent like something out of a martial arts novel?

...Wait.

This world was different from my previous life.

It was a world where there were priests who could heal bodies, where there were true alchemists.

And on top of that, I had a childish second older brother who could make sparks jump from his fingertips.

Then there really could be some kind of force I did not know about, one that was preventing my body from moving.

'Huh? A force? Bound by a force?'

In that instant, something flashed through my mind. It felt as though a switch had been thrown somewhere inside my head.

And then I felt something around my body.

An energy I had not been able to sense until that very moment.

That energy was wrapping itself around my body, pressing inward, making me tremble.

And that energy was flowing from the masked man who was now standing right before me.

The energy spilling from the masked man existed inside me as well, and flowed through the grass, the trees, and the air itself.

'What is this?'

For an instant, I was swept up by that unfamiliar sensation.

Step.

The masked man’s footsteps stopped.

He was standing directly in front of me now.

"You were entertaining for someone your age, so why can you not say anything now? Go on. Say something."

A low voice drifted out from behind the mask. His eyes were smiling as he looked at the sword trembling violently in my hands.

So it really had been the masked man before me who had locked my body in place and was now making me tremble again.

"You are quite skilled, and yet you go around killing people for money. Does your family know that?"

At my words, the masked man’s brow furrowed.

"I do not know whether you are married, but what would your son or daughter think of their father? And what would your dead mother think, looking at a son like this from the other world...?"

"You little bastard, my mother is alive and well—!"

As expected, insulting a man’s family was the most effective thing of all. The cold, composed masked man lost his temper at once.

At the same time, he raised the black blade still wet with blood.

It was no longer a calm strike.

Just as I had expected, the energy wrapped around my body had wavered, if only slightly.

'Please! Please! Move!'

I forced the energy inside me into the gaps that had opened in the wavering force.

I did not know how I had managed to do it. The instant I felt that energy, I had simply known that it was possible.

And the moment the blade came down again—

Crack.

I tore through the energy binding my body and hurled myself sideways.

Slash.

The instant I threw myself away, blood burst before my eyes.

Damn it, as expected, a six-year-old body with only a month of training could not evade it properly.

Thud.

I flew about two meters to the side and rolled across the ground.

Blood was gushing from my chest.

Fortunately, it did not seem that my heart or any major vessel had been cut.

'But I am losing far too much blood!'

If I did not receive proper treatment immediately, this was exactly the sort of wound one died from.

And on top of that, the pain was beginning to hit me in earnest.

The masked man who had swung his sword was staring at me in shock.

It seemed he had never expected me to dodge.

The sight of his widened eyes was satisfying, but that feeling was quickly smothered beneath pain.

"Aaaagh!"

Listening to my scream, the masked man muttered,

"You dodged my sword. And what you said a moment ago—was that to shake me? You seem rather good at enduring pain too. Hm. It seems a bit wasteful to kill you like this. You look perfect for use in the organization..."

He looked at me with regret in his eyes.

But he raised his sword once again. It seemed those words of regret had been empty after all. Or perhaps he was simply a professional who always kept his contracts.

'So I am going to die in the end?'

I clicked my tongue as I looked at the raised blade.

And that was when it happened.

A shout rang out from far away.

"Young Master!"

It was Knight Miguel’s voice. All that shouting I had done earlier had been worth it.

Miguel was running toward me.