Skolhart (15)

1.

When does an adult truly become an adult?

It’s when they realize they are still young.

From that moment on, they begin to climb the stairs of adulthood to shed the skin of a child.

“Hah!”

Beriel woke up with a start, as if a light had been turned on.

She jumped up and frantically looked around.

She didn’t know where or how the Saintess might rush in and throw a punch.

“Hu… Hu… Uh…?”

She took a tense breath.

Cold sweat trickled down her forehead.

It wasn’t outside.

She was sure she had been in the backyard just a moment ago?

It felt like she had only closed her eyes for a moment, but morning sunlight was streaming in through the window. She had been unconscious for quite some time.

“Wh-Where am I…?”

It was a cabin where the air was heated to the point of being hot.

“You’re awake.”

Beriel was startled by the low, heavy voice and turned around.

“G-Grandfather…?”

Lyka van Skolhart, Beriel’s Grandfather, was watching the fire in front of the fireplace.

“W-Why am I here…?”

She couldn’t quite grasp the situation.

She vividly remembered being beaten by the Saintess.

The fear of being thrown high into the air without any resistance, the pain of her bones breaking as easily as twigs, and the emotionless, blood-red eyes that did it were still clearly etched in her mind.

No matter how hard she tried to recall the process of getting to her Grandfather’s cabin from her last memory, she couldn’t figure it out.

“Go back to the mansion and take a bath.”

Lyka didn’t say much.

He had heard the whole story from the Saintess last night.

She had kindly given his fearless granddaughter some etiquette lessons. From now on, she shouldn’t act recklessly and should be mindful of her opponents.

It was originally the duty of parents or grandparents to bring their granddaughter to her senses, but the Skolhart Family believed that personality didn’t matter as long as you had the skills, so they had left their granddaughter alone no matter how ignorantly she acted.

Considering this, he felt both displeased and grateful that a member of the family had been attacked.

Beriel decided to return to the mansion for now.

She had a lot of questions to ask, but she couldn’t stand the awkward atmosphere because she wasn’t close to her Grandfather.

“Excuse me…!”

She bowed deeply and left the cabin as if running away.

“Ugh…?!”

As soon as she came outside, she saw the Saintess coming up to where the cabin was.

“You’re up early?”

The Saintess greeted her with a kind smile.

She knew that was a mask.

A terrifying and indiscriminate being was hiding behind the mask.

“How’s your body? I finished treating you before you went back?”

Except for a few bruises that ached every time she moved, she was perfectly fine. All the broken and fractured bones had been healed.

“……”

Beriel just glared at the Saintess with her mouth tightly shut.

Her dissatisfaction with the Saintess was boiling over, but she couldn’t act out as usual.

The memory of the pain left in her muscles was preventing Beriel from acting rashly.

You could call it instinct.

It was the defensive instinct of the weak to cower before the strong.

It was humiliating.

Beriel decided to ignore her and go to the mansion.

It was when she was about to pass by the Saintess.

“Was the teaching insufficient?”

Beriel flinched and stopped.

“I don’t expect an apology, but shouldn’t you at least say hello?”

It sounded like a threat that if she didn’t say hello, she would be re-educated.

Not wanting to be beaten like a training doll again, Beriel turned around and stiffly lowered her head.

“……Goo’ mornin’.”

She greeted her with her teeth clenched.

Seeing that, Elia nodded with a satisfied smile.

She knew that a person couldn’t change overnight, even if they had been disciplined.

She thought that just saying hello like this was a great improvement.

Beriel trembled as she went down to the mansion.

“Take a bath when you get back.”

She said to Beriel as she went down.

Bath! Bath! Bath!

Why was everyone telling her to take a bath, including her Grandfather?

The moment she thought that, a faint smell of urine wafted up from her body and tickled her nose.

The moment she recognized the smell, she felt uncomfortable down below.

It had dried while she was sleeping, but there was still some moisture in her panties.

“You fainted yesterday and even peed your pants!”

The Saintess told her that what she thought wasn’t possible was actually true.

Beriel’s lips twitched.

It was humiliating enough to be defeated without being able to resist, but the fact that she had peed her pants at this age was even more humiliating. Her face turned red.

-Creak

Beriel stomped down to the mansion, and at that moment, the door to the cabin opened.

“How can she be so much like you?”

Elia poked Lyka in the side with her elbow.

“Not at all.”

“I’m not talking about her face, but her personality. She’s as stubborn as you are.”

2.

Yuriel was training early in the morning again today.

She was swinging her sword more passionately than usual.

This was partly because the Blood Offering Ceremony was just around the corner, but also because she wanted to live up to the Saintess’s expectations, who believed that she would become a great swordswoman.

“Puhah…!”

She exhaled all the air in her lungs at once.

Her head spun for a moment and she felt dizzy.

Mana Breathing required considerable stamina.

How could she use it like the Saintess, as if she were breathing?

She was trying again and again to find a way.

She thought it was a great improvement that she was able to use Mana Breathing for longer and longer.

But it wasn’t enough.

If she used it in a real battle, it would only be once.

“Hoo…”

She took a long breath and calmed her breathing.

Keep practicing.

Practice is the shortcut to growth.

It was the moment she raised her sword that her Hyung came to find her.

“Are you training?”

“O-Oh, Hyung…?”

Yuriel gripped the sword in her hand and became wary.

Her older Hyung didn’t hit or harass her like her Unni did when she was bored, but his blunt words and cold eyes made Yuriel nervous.

He always emphasized the family motto and pressured her to become a person who lived up to it.

“Your Magical power is fluctuating.”

“I-I’m practicing Mana Breathing…”

If she were a normal swordsman, he would have scolded her for practicing something that Wizards needed, but Eric knew how much Mana Breathing could help a swordsman.

“I don’t think it’s time for you to learn that with your skills yet.”

“Ugh…!”

It wasn’t that Yuriel lacked the basics, but Eric thought she was still far from good enough.

“It’s good to want to get stronger, but it’s not good to try to get stronger easily.”

Mana Breathing was not an easy technique for a swordsman with relatively poor Magical power adaptation to learn.

But once you mastered it, you would become so strong that you could skip several stages at once. Because you could always surround your sword with Sword Aura.

So, from some point of view, you could think of it as a shortcut to getting stronger.

“Don’t try to cheat and hone your swordsmanship first.”

Yuriel clenched her fist.

“I-I’m constantly training in swordsmanship…!”

It was the first time in her life that she had talked back to her older Hyung.

She thought she had been patient so far.

She had been dissatisfied with her older Hyung for a long time, who told her what to do without knowing anything about her.

“It’s not important how much you train. What’s important is how you train.”

Eric drew the sword he was wearing on his waist.

“I’ll show you how lacking you are.”

Of course, she couldn’t beat him.

She knew very well how strong Eric was because she had been watching him since she was a child.

But.

Yuriel raised her sword.

“Hup!”

She rushed in immediately.

She aimed for Eric’s side with her sharply edged sword.

-Clang!!

Eric’s sword, raised vertically, blocked Yuriel’s sword far too easily.

He let Yuriel’s sword slide off as it was.

Her body leaned forward and her posture collapsed.

Eric stretched his foot forward to knock Yuriel over.

Before Yuriel could get caught on Eric’s foot, she kicked off the ground and twisted her body to the side to get out of the attack range.

“Your sword is light.”

Eric clicked his tongue.

“What are you hesitating about? Attack with the determination to kill.”

He flicked his Sword Dance as if telling her to come in again.

Yuriel caught her breath.

It was foolish to rush in emotionally and directly.

Calm down.

She recalled the Saintess’s teachings.

A duel was a battle of wits, and they fought by predicting each other’s actions. If you could make a dent in that prediction, you could land a blow.

I want to land a blow no matter what!

But could she do it?

Eric could think of what Yuriel was thinking.

Even if she made an unexpected move, it would be more fatal if Eric blocked it with his reflexes. So she had to be careful.

In some ways, it could be called a gamble.

If it worked, it would be a jackpot.

If it was blocked, it would be a bust.

If it was going to be blocked no matter what, it was right to take a gamble.

…Let’s do it!

Yuriel bit her lower lip and rushed in again.

“Again from the front… Haa…”

He shook his head, sighing at the obvious move.

And at that moment.

Magical power began to fluctuate.

She stretched her arm far back.

Unstable Magical power was absorbed into the sword.

“That’s…”

Dragon Severing Sword.

It was clumsy, but it was clear.

Before reaching Eric, Yuriel swung her arm as if throwing her sword.

The Sword Aura, thrown like a ball, tore through space.

But.

“It’s shallow.”

He swung the sword covered in Sword Aura horizontally to cut off the power that tore through space and make it disappear.

“Ah…”

“Are you planning to disgrace the family?”

An incomplete swordsmanship was worse than not using it.

If she had used something like that in front of others, she would have been laughed at.

“It’s a shame to be a member of the Skolhart Family.”

Yuriel was overwhelmed.

“D-Do you ever… Do you ever think of me as a member?!”

She raised her voice in anger.

If he had ever thought of her as family, she wouldn’t have been angry.

But he never had, not even once.

She had always been alienated.

She no longer thought of them as family, but she became emotional when she heard such shameless words.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Eric shook his head as if he couldn’t sympathize with Yuriel’s passionate emotions.

“I’ve told you many times, haven’t I? Try to get recognized.”

Yuriel’s cheeks trembled.

Effort?

She had never stopped trying.

Since she was born into the Skolhart Family, she had been constantly, constantly, constantly trying.

But she had never received any reward for it.

Was there even a reward?

Would she be recognized?

Even with those questions, she didn’t give up.

“The attempt was good. But it was a disappointing attempt.”

Eric raised his sword.

“That technique is too early for you to use.”

Magical power fluctuated and concentrated on Eric’s sword.

Eric swung his sword in the air.

Two Sword Dance marks remained in the air, sharply cutting through space.

The trees in the backyard were neatly cut down.

Eric was also training in this swordsmanship. He still couldn’t make three like his father, but it was amazing that he could make two at this age by learning on his own.

“It’s too early for me too…”

Eric put his sword away.

“Add depth.”

With those words, Eric returned to the mansion.