Intense Motivation (1)

Although I had to make Ethan win in the swordsmanship spar against Harold, there was almost nothing I could actually do for him from my position.

After all, it was Ethan, not me, who crossed swords with Harold, and since it was a pure spar without any support magic, there was absolutely no way for me to intervene in their duel.

The most I could do was suggest to Ethan, “How about sparring with the Young Master during your stay at the mansion?” But in the end, even that became unnecessary.

Because the overly diligent Ethan had already started enthusiastically sparring with Harold from the very first day he returned to the mansion, without me even needing to prompt him.

-Clang! Clang! Clang!

“Haa! Ha! Haaa!!”

It was a clash between Ethan and Harold that I had seen countless times, both at the Blackwood Mansion and at the academy.

Even to my untrained eyes, it was an incredibly fast exchange of sword strikes.

One was a Sword Expert who had fully bloomed just a month ago, while the other had long been a Sword Master-so it was only natural.

‘No matter how many times I see it, their speed is just unreal.’

Ethan’s dual swords were impressive, but what was even more unbelievable was the speed at which Harold swung his sword. The way he effortlessly parried both of Ethan’s blades with a single sword made it seem like he was cheating.

Of course, wielding two swords didn’t mean Ethan could swing them twice as fast. But even considering that, there was no denying that Ethan’s swords were incredibly quick.

Meanwhile, Harold, who deflected both blades without even changing his expression, was just insane. I couldn’t understand how such a monstrous character was only a “Part 2” boss.

‘I thought I might spot a weakness to point out, but this is hopeless.’

There were no openings at a level I could detect. Even if there were, they’d be split-second gaps that would require slicing a second into twenty trillion pieces to notice. Besides, if I could spot them, Ethan, who was right in the thick of the fight, would have already noticed them too.

And once someone reached the level of a Sword Master, they would naturally grow stronger even mid-spar, so giving a few hints beforehand wouldn’t make the slightest difference.

Harold had crossed swords with Ethan just as many times as Ethan had with him. Like it or not, as father and son, they knew each other’s fighting styles better than anyone else.

In the end, all I could do was hope Ethan would give it his all in the spar. After all, this was the most plausible excuse I had right now to get physically closer to him.

‘Making Harold weaker seems impossible… So the only viable option is to stoke Ethan’s motivation, huh?’

…It might sound a bit strange coming from me, but there’s always the classic “awakening through the power of love” trope.

In the original 『Luminor Academy』 game, it was a common theme. But then again, the original was a harem academy eroge, so that was to be expected.

And I had seen something similar before-when he rescued me from Machart and during the Abyssal Kraken battle. So, it wasn’t impossible to awaken through love, even if you weren’t the protagonist.

Since Ethan’s love for me was already confirmed, just stoking his motivation a little might be enough to produce results.

‘Besides, Harold does have a slight soft spot for Ethan.’

Honestly, the fact that an Expert and a Master could spar for this long was already a plot hole. It just meant Harold was deliberately holding back to a razor-thin margin to help Ethan grow.

If Ethan could close that tiny gap even for a moment, he could win against Harold. After all, a win was still a win, no matter how it happened.

As I was lost in thought, one of Ethan’s swords was knocked away by Harold’s blade, marking yet another flawless victory for Harold.

-Claaang!

“Haaah, haa, haaa…”

“Let’s stop here for today. Good work, Ethan.”

“…You worked hard too, Father.”

Unlike Harold, who barely broke a sweat, Ethan dropped to his knees, completely exhausted.

“Your stamina has improved a lot. Judging by the heavier force behind your strikes, it seems you weren’t just fooling around with your lover all break.”

“…That would never happen.”

“Still, your edge feels slightly duller than before. Today, go through all four stages of the Blackwood basic swordsmanship forms once before ending your training.”

“…Understood, Father.”

As he answered, Ethan brushed off his knees and stood up. He was the epitome of diligence-second to none.

‘At this rate, he’ll spend the next three days just trying to get a feel for dueling again, and summer break will be over before we know it.’

Well, to be honest, it wasn’t like we absolutely had to do it during summer break.

Once we returned to the academy, we’d inevitably continue living together, and there would be plenty of natural opportunities-probably even more than at the Blackwood Mansion.

In fact, given how often we ended up in compromising situations just from sleeping together every night, Ethan and I had already done plenty of lewd things without needing the excuse of a victory over Harold.

‘…Still, since it’s the first time…’

Kissing, groping, fellatio-those were things I could give him as “rewards” even without justification.

But sex… Since this would be my first experience in this female body, I wanted Ethan to properly “win” me through a legitimate process.

Just giving in to lust and letting him take me felt… lacking. Not that I’d resist if he did-after all, I needed to lose my virginity as soon as possible.

But still, isn’t it every girl’s wish for her first time to be special?

…Not that I particularly care about that as a woman. I just don’t want any regrets.

It would be good for Ethan too. Defeating his father at full strength for the first time and claiming me as his rightful prize-that would be satisfying for a swordsman.

If Gyeotmwa Josyegigot heard my thoughts, he’d probably mock me with something like, “What kind of high-maintenance woman is this?” But this was my last shred of pride.

‘Looks like the only way is to stimulate Ethan.’

When it came to igniting the desire to achieve something, nothing was more effective than stirring up lust.

In fact, it was the method I had used most often in raising Ethan so far.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

5 PM. The large bath of the Blackwood Mansion.

-Splash.

“Huuuuu…”

A young man sank his exhausted body into the bathtub, large enough to comfortably fit ten people.

Ethan Richard Blackwood. The only son of the Blackwood Ducal Family.

The boy, who had fully bloomed as a Sword Expert just a month ago, leaned back in the tub filled with hot water and quietly lost himself in thought.

‘I’m still far from defeating Father, huh.’

Despite having fully awakened as a Sword Expert, his father’s swordsmanship still felt like an insurmountable wall.

In fact, the gap seemed even wider now, to the point where the sheer weight behind his father’s blade was enough to shake his resolve.

Even though he could feel his own growth, his opponent remained utterly out of reach.

‘I thought if I went all out, I could at least take one round.’

Of course, he had won rounds in their spars before-many times, in fact.

There were even days when he had taken two or three rounds in a single session, and occasionally even achieved a flawless victory.

But every time he had won, his father had imposed some kind of handicap-using only basic forms, not using sword aura, or refraining from magic.

Without those restrictions, facing his father at full strength was impossible. No matter how fiercely he swung his swords, he couldn’t breach the defenses of Harold Blackwood, the Sword Master.

‘I couldn’t find any openings. If anything, I was the one being led into creating them.’

Harold Richard Blackwood was, after all, a hero of the Empire’s wars. He had faced countless swordsmen-some at Ethan’s level, many stronger-and cut them all down.

And the fact that he had survived those battles proved just how strong he was-something Ethan was painfully aware of.

‘He once said that at my age, he cut through the magically reinforced walls of the Imperial Capital.’

With every clash, Ethan realized how outmatched he was in skill, strength, and even talent. Just when he thought he was catching up, the gap only seemed to widen.

Ethan needed something more-a primal motivation to push him to defeat his father.