Ch.297Interrogation Preparations

A room. A private bedroom is as intimate a space as a bathroom.

While it might be the perfect place for secret conversations… that’s precisely why it was a place I wanted to avoid.

So where should we go?

Given the subject matter, crowded places wouldn’t work.

It’s difficult for anyone to open up when there are too many ears listening.

Somewhere not crowded, yet wouldn’t invite unpleasant misunderstandings… Right. That’s the only place.

After deciding on the destination, I approached Demian’s door and flung it open forcefully.

“Demian! You should be properly recovered by now? Time to train again!”

I shouted with a confident voice to prevent anyone from making unnecessary assumptions.

“Huh? What? Haschal…?”

Sitting on his bed, shirtless and unwrapping his bandages, Demian looked at me with wide eyes.

Let’s see. No splints, so the bones must have healed properly.

Worth the effort I put into breaking them carefully.

“What do you mean ‘huh’? With your skills, you think you can afford to rest? Given the situation we’re in? Shut your mouth and follow me. This is special training.”

“After making me pass out, you want to do it again…?”

Seriously, should I just make this guy mute? How does he always manage to say the worst possible things?

Don’t say it like that, just call it sparring properly…!

“We won’t fight as intensely as before, so just follow me!”

After barking at him, I leaned against the corridor wall and waited for Demian to come out.

It didn’t take long for him to get dressed and rush out.

Deliberately ignoring the stares directed at us, I headed toward the training ground where I’d just been.

Come to think of it, that place was perfect for a private conversation.

After our earlier sparring session damaged various parts of the facility, there wouldn’t be any knights training there now.

Plus, under the pretext of training, I could give Demian a proper beating without inviting misunderstandings about a secret rendezvous.

That’s why I’d opened Demian’s door so loudly for everyone to hear.

Though Frider had tried to silence the rumors, gossip that’s already spread doesn’t easily die down. So I planned to cover it with new rumors.

Not as lovers—which makes my skin crawl just thinking about it—but as a master harshly training a talented youth.

If I beat Demian thoroughly every day, everyone would soon realize there were no “such feelings” between us.

‘How about that? Perfect, right?’

[ …. ]

Even Hersella seemed to agree, offering no objection.

Good. Let’s stick with this plan.

—-

As expected, only a few servants were in the training ground.

They were busy cleaning up the scattered debris and fixing the latch of the door that Millia had broken.

When I asked them to leave so we could spar again, they looked at me with eyes full of emotion, but no one expressed any complaints.

The vast difference in our social status prevented that.

In the end, the servants had no choice but to bow politely and leave the training ground.

I felt a bit sorry for interrupting their cleaning… but what could I do? This was the only suitable place. I’d try not to make too much of a mess.

Soon, all traces of the servants disappeared.

Now only Demian and I remained in the vicinity.

The empty training ground welcomed us silently, wrapped in peaceful quiet.

“Well? Does our earlier sparring session come to mind?”

Twirling a practice longsword, I tossed a greatsword to Demian.

Catching it, he sighed with a gloomy expression. Why such a long face? We haven’t even started yet.

“Sigh… you’re still angry, aren’t you… How should I apologize…”

What is this guy trying to say again…!

“Enough of that. That’s not why we’re here. No need to apologize anymore, just. Don’t. Mention. It. Understood?”

Feeling the killing intent I packed into each syllable, Demian nodded while breaking into a cold sweat.

Good. Keep it that way. Every time you talk nonsense, I can barely contain my rage.

“Alright. Shall we begin? I don’t plan to end this one-sidedly like before, so come at me with everything you’ve got.”

“…I don’t understand the reason. If it’s not because you’re angry, is there really a need to spar right now? I haven’t fully recovered yet, so it’s inefficient.”

Though firmly gripping the greatsword, Demian looked at me with confusion instead of charging forward.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of getting beaten up.

He’d never complained even when suffering injuries far worse than this. That was genuinely a face of someone who didn’t understand the reason…

Indeed, it was a somewhat unusual reaction.

Forcibly bringing an injured person to spar.

In such a situation, a normal person would think, ‘What do you mean it’s not because of that? You say that, but you’re clearly still angry.’

…Honestly, I was still angry. Would I ever not be?

After that, depending on their personality, they would either apologize repeatedly until the anger subsided or silently endure it.

If they were normal people.

But Demian was a bit different.

After hearing it wasn’t because I was angry, he seemed unable to even consider that as a possible reason.

Anyone would know that shame and anger don’t disappear so easily.

Something was definitely strange.

It went beyond mere lack of awareness. It was as if… his train of thought just broke off midway?

…I had a suspicion.

No, surely not… even for him…

…

I’d have to confirm it.

I pointed my longsword at Demian.

“Right. I feel like we need to do this now. There’s something I want to ask you… but I don’t think I’ll get an answer if I just ask directly.”

This is my principle: to get an honest answer, you need to put someone in a state where they respond before they can think.

Especially when asking about something they might not want to reveal.

A club always knows the answer.

Fire or water would be more accurate, but those aren’t methods to use on someone you’re close to, so this will have to do.

“Answer…? No, if you have something to ask, you don’t need to do all this?”

“Well. That remains to be seen.”

I cut off Demian’s logical argument with a single sentence.

How can I be sure you won’t lie? So—

“…Enough idle talk. If you won’t come at me, I’ll come to you!”

Before the boy could respond, my longsword flew toward him with fierce momentum.

—-

A thunderous sound erupted.

The impact of heavy black iron colliding made the startled walls tremble and spit out stone dust.

Perhaps because I was holding back compared to earlier, Demian was managing to withstand my attacks despite his unhealed condition.

Though he winced each time, suggesting his limbs were aching when he blocked.

“You’ve definitely improved since before.”

“After all that suffering…!”

Demian muttered with difficulty as he blocked my axe-like downward strike by laying his greatsword flat.

So he can withstand this much. Then—

My left hand thrust sharply toward the boy’s head.

Even without Frosting, it had enough power to pierce a human skull.

“I can handle this much!”

It was blocked.

Tilting his greatsword to deflect my longsword, he used the hilt to shield his face.

I withdrew my arm before my fingertips touched the hilt.

Since I was bare-handed, striking the black iron handle would only hurt my hand.

Though a simple method, blocking my hand strike this way would be impossible for an ordinary knight.

With this level of reaction speed, he could be considered a master.

“Not bad?”

“Haaaaaah!”

As if ignoring my praise, Demian let out a fierce battle cry. How disappointing, I even smiled for him.

– Claaang!

I raised my longsword to block his violently swung greatsword.

Since I didn’t put much strength into the block, the impact pushed me back, sliding across the floor.

“Your strength has improved considerably.”

Except for his inability to use Karma, his physical abilities were already at a master’s level.

I could now confirm what I had half-suspected.

Then indeed, his failure to reach master level must be due to mental factors.

“Now, I should start asking some questions. Can I expect honest answers?”

The confirmation was done; time to begin the interrogation.

Taking a deep breath, I infused strength into every muscle in my body.

The air in the training ground grew heavier. Demian’s expression hardened with tension.

Having been thoroughly beaten earlier, he must know well.

That my body had already begun to surpass the strength of a master who uses Karma, through sheer muscle power alone.

“…Can’t we just talk?”

“Well. That depends on you!”

With a power completely different from before, the black iron longsword was swung with ferocious intensity.