episode_0007

‘Here it comes.’

When Jeanne dragged me out into the moonlit garden of the Orleans Grand Mansion,

I was honestly quite bewildered.

But the moment I saw her draw her sword and point it at me,

my expression became rather nonchalant.

Jeanne’s exclamation that she would check my abilities,

the situation that would happen someday came sooner than expected,

but it was nonchalance created because it was a scene I had been preparing for anyway.

“Did you hear? Our eldest young lady is going to be an Awakened one with the potential to become a saint!”

About a year after I came to the Orleans family,

a happy event occurred in the Orleans family.

It was because the result of Charlotte’s mana awakening search when she turned 13

showed that her mana awakening was a foregone conclusion, and the limit breakthrough point was the saint level, the highest point of a priest.

So even Antoine, the Grand Duke, who usually showed a knife-like appearance in ability evaluation,

couldn’t hide his joy.

So the servant uncles and the maid aunts were also happy as if it were their own business, repeating it every day.

“I heard it too, Himena. Charlotte Young Lady has certainly been different since she was young. Even wild animals become docile when they are near Charlotte Young Lady. Even crying babies smile brightly when Charlotte Young Lady is with them. As far as I know, those are all premonitory symptoms of people who are friendly to divine power.”

“That’s right! I remember too. And is that all? Charlotte Young Lady’s character was truly incomparable from the start. Looking at the young lady’s smile felt like receiving a blessing.”

For a while, Charlotte’s past actions were mentioned one by one,

and the praise continued to the level of writing a great person’s biography.

In my case, before coming to the Orleans family,

I just thought of Charlotte as a very pretty noble young lady.

However, after experiencing her directly for a year,

I understood enough of what the maid aunts chattering under my 3rd floor room window were saying.

Crazy bitch noble young ladies are truly abundant on the Pedon continent.

Even though it was annoying, so to speak, that was ultimately considered the virtue of a noble young lady.

But Charlotte, the genius archduke’s young lady with an angelic character completely opposite to that,

It would be no surprise that they are so proud while serving such a young lady.

However, I am watching this household event, which is not only so meaningful but also looks good,

while appropriately managing my expression.

“……”

It is because Jeanne’s expression, who is listening to the conversation of the maid aunts under the window with me, has become quite discouraged.

Jeanne, who outwardly appears active and without worries,

had a considerable sense of inferiority inside her for a long time.

It was because her character was unique, but not in terms of ability.

Of course, based on the standards of ordinary people, Joan of Arc D’essel Orleans, the second daughter of the Orleans Grand Duke, is very extraordinary.

Becoming an Awakened one was a foregone conclusion, after all.

However, this is only the case when ordinary people are put on the comparison line,

Among the nobles, her talent was only slightly higher than ordinary people, only at the mid-upper level.

“Oh my, Elizabeth, can you even read this ancient document?”

“Was it easy?”

Jeanne’s tendency that I have experienced and grasped

is honestly not the type with an ego strong enough to be jealous of someone.

However, if the light is too strong, shadows will inevitably fall,

the other two young ladies in her family were too genius.

As mentioned earlier, Charlotte was a genius in terms of the talent of a priest,

enough to put historical figures on the comparison line,

and in the case of the youngest Elizabeth,

already at the age of three, she read and wrote the books in the house without anyone teaching her.

“Grand Duke, Elizabeth may be too young, but I think we should hire a private tutor. The depth of her intellectual inquiry is beyond imagination. She is always immersed in books like that. I think she needs to learn how to communicate and explore through a teacher.”

“I thought so too. But there is still a time for her to experience many changes, so I think it’s better to watch her a little more.”

Because two such daughters were born,

even if they tried to pay the same attention, they inevitably had to spend more time with Charlotte and Elizabeth.

If Jeanne were the youngest, she would have received the youngest buff,

but since she was the second daughter and stuck in the middle,

Jeanne’s sense of alienation grew stronger and stronger, unlike the Grand Duchess and Grand Duke’s intentions.

“I… I also like Mom, I like Dad, I like my younger sibling, and I like my older sister… I feel bad for feeling jealous and resentful for no reason…”

Jeanne, who had been listening to the maid aunts’ chatter,

pouted with slightly reddened eyes.

Love for family,

However, realistically, the sense of inferiority engraved in her heart,

Jeanne struggled in various ways to shake off that contradiction.

“I may only be one year younger, but I am clearly your older sister. So as long as you are in our house, I will take care of you.”

Jeanne, who had been experiencing such a childhood, and

I suddenly came into contact with each other.

I still remember.

After the formal family introduction was over,

Jeanne, who came to my room separately in the evening and acted like an older sister with a proud look,

At that time, I honestly thought, what is this kid?

But now that I know the inside story to a considerable extent, I even feel a heartfelt thought.

“Ha! Fool, can’t you even do this alone? What are you going to do without me? Like this, like this. How is it? Aren’t you grateful? Aren’t you reassured because you have an older sister?”

“Hmm… I didn’t ask for help…”

“Sh, shut up!”

Regardless of my dubious position as a child,

I inadvertently filled Jeanne’s space of inferiority complex wonderfully.

To put it bluntly, in Jeanne’s eyes, I was a lacking guy,

an inferior guy to herself.

Although we were only one year apart, even though I was a boy, my height was definitely shorter than Jeanne’s, and I was not only petite but also looked too delicate.

And that’s not all,

The degree of weakness was so extreme that I lived with illnesses every time the season changed.

Therefore, when she was in front of me, Jeanne

always felt her specialness and excellence

She erased her childhood wounds by expressing that sense of superiority in a position of an older sister who educates me in her own way.

In the midst of that, a situation was created that marked the climax of that relationship,

“Just because a noble can’t awaken doesn’t mean the world is ending. You have Joan of Arc D’essel Orleans, the second daughter of the Orleans Grand Duke, the number one noble in the empire.”

The reality was that the result was that my awakening potential was only 0.1 percent.

After that, Jeanne showed a tendency to talk more about the future, going beyond what she was doing right now.

She probably thought so.

Charlotte and Elizabeth will eventually go their own way independently because they are super-human talents who will lead the empire,

Antoine, the Grand Duke, and Marianne, the Grand Duchess, are already highly capable Awakened ones, so

they don’t need someone to take care of them even in their old age.

However, in the case of Eugene Schneider, who is a noble but cannot awaken,

and is not even a biological child but an adopted son, is different.

If there is no one to pull him like a sunflower,

Even if she doesn’t know, it will be difficult for him to function as a human being.

In other words, Jeanne wanted to become my sunflower herself

and keep me by her side for the rest of her life, caring for me like an inseparable being.

But that guy who seemed like he couldn’t do anything

‘I ended up awakening…’

had awakened.

‘Jeanne would have been immersed in all sorts of happiness while living as a mercenary with me for two years, creating and growing a mercenary group, and she would have wanted to proudly show off the results to her older sister with a proud look, just like the first night when I came to the Orleans main house as a child. So she kept it a secret from Uncle Hans and Charlotte, and that’s why she was so uncontrollably excited and threw open my shower door this afternoon.’

I remember Jeanne’s expressionless face when we had lunch together,

only staring at the steak.

The feeling that two years of hard work had gone to waste was basic,

and the roadmap she had created with the statute of limitations of a lifetime had disappeared like bubbles.

As a result, it must have been Jeanne’s appearance of forcibly suppressing her mentality, which could not be recovered.

‘But just because I awakened doesn’t mean that the possibility of Jeanne’s dream coming true is completely closed.’

After much deliberation, Jeanne

seems to have suddenly remembered the path I had foreseen and prepared for after spacing out after dinner.

And it seems like she intends to make that clear now.

‘If my awakening ability is rubbish, then I’ll have no choice but to act with Jeanne, who is the only one of the young ladies walking the path of the sword.’

Not all awakening abilities are the same.

Some stay at a very basic level of awakening ability for the rest of their lives, and

some reach the end of that field.

Of course, if you awaken, you can at least

work as a decent administrative civil servant in various high-ranking organizations in the empire.

However, I have already declared to Charlotte that I will take the path of the sword,

If you don’t have talent on that path, you have to rely on power and connections.

Jeanne wants to check directly through her sword whether I am an Awakened one who does not need her as a force and connection,

or a human being who needs a support to lead him.

“Is the sword too heavy for you to even have the ability to point it at me? You were so boastful to me with your barbarian-like grown-up body. You were just full of bluff, holding a greatsword.”

Jeanne was revealing her true colors as expected.

The fact that she has maintained a nonchalant expression so far is something to be commended.

Jeanne is by no means the type to hide her inner self well.

You can think of her personality as being revealed as it is when something is drawn on a blank white canvas.

In other words, what she is saying now is not a psychological provocation before sparring.

She was really upset because she felt that way during the day.

Although it was only the back view, Jeanne was overwhelmed by my muscular nude backside, which had become huge,

and her appearance of being overwhelmed was, to put it bluntly, miserable.

Jeanne’s heart at the time must have been filled with the sense of inferiority that she had experienced among her childhood peers and genius sisters, which she thought had filled the space to some extent.

‘Cowardly bastard.’

Tough on the outside, gentle on the inside,

Joan of Arc D’essel Orleans is outwardly fearless.

Since she was young, she had no hesitation in catching lizards and bugs with her bare hands.

She also bravely confronted injustice.

But she is always like that when it comes to revealing her inner thoughts as they are.

She should just tell it honestly and openly, but

She is afraid of being caught in her heart, so she struggles to create an image of the other person relying on her for sure, without having to tell her true feelings openly.

“I don’t know anything about the Orleans family’s secrets except for the Mana Mind Method. But I’ve been working hard on strength training since my body started to change.”

Thud…!

I readjusted the hilt of the greatsword with my right hand.

If it were the old me, I might have said that there was no need to try and that I was going to get help anyway.

But I am different after remembering my past life,

awakening,

and being inspired by the holy land of the Dragon Slayer Demon Swordsman.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that I can swing the greatsword enough. Like this.”

Cheoeoeoeoeok…!!

I want to swing the sword.

And it would be quite meaningful and nice if the first opponent was Jeanne.

I was beaten a lot by Jeanne while practicing with wooden swords as a child.

In that way, I, the great swordsman Eugene Schneider,

pointed the heavy blade of my greatsword at the swordswoman and leader of the new mercenary group, Joan of Arc D’essel Orleans.

“Your posture is good. You’ve never been the type to do things half-assed, even if you’re not good at anything since you were young.”

Smirk…!

Seeing my posture, which was stable to some extent, and realizing that I was quite good as someone who wields a sword,

Jeanne raised the corners of her mouth with a subtle feeling.

Then

“I’ll educate you. Take this older sister’s sword, you younger brother who has only grown in size.”

ㅡPaaaaaaa!!!

She started a explosive dash with the sword slightly lowered.