episode_0016

“Now that the asylum issue has been settled, let’s start talking about admission in earnest.”

Marquis Ludwig sighed leisurely.

Thick smoke filled the office.

There isn’t a day when magic candles fall out of my mouth every time I see it. Isn’t that a serious addiction to magic candles?

…If you think about it, it’s not really what I want to say.

I felt embarrassed and looked down at the magic candle I was holding.

Before I knew it, the half-burned magic candle was sending a subtle heat to my fingertips.

It was so magical that the unfamiliar pronunciation rolled off the tip of my tongue again.

I thought about this every time I saw it, but my English skills aren’t that good.

To begin with, it’s not a plant that really has magical powers or anything like that.

It is said that magicians used it simply because of its effect on clearing the mind, so at some point it came to be called magic herb.

Then let’s just call it a cigarette.

Because that is a much more familiar word to me.

“So, how much do you know about the academy and special admission?”

“I don’t know the details. All I know is what I said back then.”

I know something about it thanks to the game, but I’m not sure if it’s accurate information.

Because the settings I know are quite fragmentary and biased.

Well, because it wasn’t a very friendly game in terms of setting or worldview to begin with.

How would I have known that even monsters would have had such a backstory?

“…Then the explanation will take some time.”

“Are you okay? Shouldn’t we get ready to go soon? Honestly, I don’t know what to prepare.”

“I think so, so I’ve already told the attendants to prepare the necessary items. There will still be some time until they finish preparing, so I’ll explain in the meantime.”

The service is solid.

After all, meeting Marquis Ludwig may have been the greatest luck since I was possessed.

The biggest gamble in my plan was not knowing what kind of person the Margrave of Landenburg, custodian of the Berengerian Wall, would be.

If Ka’har was a violent bastard who would kill anyone on sight, he would have had no choice but to give up and escape somehow.

In that sense, Marquis Ludwig literally hit the jackpot when he gambled his entire fortune.

…I still don’t know why he’s so kind to me.

While maintaining a distanced tone of speech as if emphasizing a public relationship, don’t you subtly scold them or make light jokes as if they were teasing you?

It may seem like he is coolly measuring my usefulness, as if to show my usefulness, but he secretly takes responsibility for various things and takes care of me as a supporter.

Words that warn you to behave well are actually closer to advice rather than warnings.

Anyone who sees you will think you are a daughter.

In fact, it was said that all of the Marquis’ children were killed by Ka’har, so that may not be true.

Marquis Ludwig put down the magic candle and began to explain.

I put my doubts to one side and listened to the Marquis’ story.

—-

“Then we will depart, Mr. Hashal.”

Nigel, sitting in the coachman’s seat, slammed down the reins.

The two horses were startled and began to slowly pull the carriage.

Nigel’s horse was prepared by the Marquis, so he’s probably familiar with carriages, but the horse I brought was probably his first time pulling a carriage.

Nevertheless, as if to show the pride of the eastern horses, they were moving obediently and proudly, without heeding the weight of the heavy carriage.

The hard, metal wheels of the carriage rattled and rocked the carriage up and down.

A traveling carriage with the Landenburg family emblem engraved on it slowly increased its speed as it crossed the wide road.

—-

The inside of the gorgeous carriage was quiet and unshakable.

There were soft cushions, but they probably wouldn’t have this good of a cushioning effect.

Since it is a carriage belonging to a family like the Marquis, perhaps it has been treated with some kind of magical treatment that I am unaware of.

I enjoyed the leisurely tranquility, surrendering myself to the comforts of civilization.

After all, magic is good. The Ka’har live on horses and will never know such comfort.

I heard it would take a little over 10 days to reach the island. So I guess I could at least study the imperial language in the meantime.

I took out the book Nigel had given me as a gift and read it.

It would be difficult to overcome illiteracy at least before arrival.

“Remnant Academy……Years ago, the first emperor, Carolus the Great,…a military institution…nurturing talented people…assigned to the imperial army…”

It was a book called 『History and Traditions of the Academy』, but the content was extremely boring.

Moreover, most of it was something I knew as a setting or was told by the Marquis.

Since I knew the general content, it was a perfect book to practice imperial language by interpreting words.

I resisted drowsiness and turned the pages, muttering the contents of the book.

—-

“It seems like your body is slowly recovering now.”

Five days later, Nigel, who checked the condition of my injury every morning, declared me fully recovered.

My body was definitely full of vitality since last night, giving me the feeling that my body was slowly returning to the same state it was in before sparring.

“Then, is it okay to start learning imperial swordsmanship now?”

It was still a little sore.

Since I couldn’t show my face to people, I had to spend four days and nights locked in a carriage without moving.

If we had to go outside, the limit was to stop the carriage in a deserted place and get some fresh air while Nigel watched the surroundings.

Fortunately, there were very few travelers passing by at night, so I was able to stay out a little longer.

Fearing that problems might arise, they did not even visit small towns or cities, but instead stayed in the open, and even had to settle for lodging and food within the carriage.

Since it was originally a travel wagon used for that purpose, it is fortunate that it is much more comfortable than the Ka`har days when we had to set up a tent and sleep out in the open.

Thanks to this, unlike when Nigel and I started off with clean looks, things ended up looking quite messy.

Occasionally, whenever I came across a forest with few people, I would go into it and wash myself in the stream during the night.

But usually all I did was wipe my body with a towel.

I couldn’t even think of washing my clothes.

…I guess I lost any connection with the word hygiene after being possessed.

Nigel thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Yes. I think it will be okay soon. However, it is difficult to sweat excessively, so it is better to lightly practice only the theory and basic postures of swordsmanship during the night.”

“Hmm. Yeah, that’s good. Let’s do that. Because I don’t know anything about swordsmanship. It would actually be helpful to learn from the basics.”

It seems like there will probably be some swordsmanship classes at the academy, but there’s a world of difference between going there knowing the basics and going there without knowing anything at all.

“Did you say you don’t know swordsmanship? Then what about that fight…?”

Nigel seemed a little surprised and blurted out his words.

Well, if you think about what I showed back then, you wouldn’t have guessed that those were the movements of someone who knew nothing about swordsmanship.

But that’s not really swordsmanship.

It’s a fighting method that relies on your instinctive reaction speed to avoid anything, attack when you see an opening, and push fiercely with power and speed.

Not swordsmanship, but fighting methods. To put it a little more formally, it was a concept close to martial arts.

Since what he was holding in his hand at that time was a sword, it only appeared to be swordsmanship, and even if he had been holding a different weapon, it would have made no difference.

If there were no weapons, it would have looked like fighting skills.

“It was just a fight based on instinct and physical ability. I don’t even know how to hold the sword properly. Because there was no one to teach me.”

“…Is that so? Then, I think we can start by learning how to hold a sword properly in the evening.”

“Yes. Please take care of me.”

After sending Nigel back to the coach seat, I took out the book and read it again.

“After the special admission system was established, discussions continued as to whether the relativity of these cultures should be respected… After careful consideration, the Empire decided to accept some of their demands… Therefore, special admission students are recognized as such even within the academy. Maintaining the attire unique to the race…”

Maybe it was because I had endured the headaches and continued to use the necklace with the interpretation spell, but I had already become accustomed to the imperial language.

Did you say that the words injected into your mind as a result of the interpretation magic remain as remnants even after the magic is lifted, increasing learning efficiency?

A learning method that turns illiterate into a native speaker in just 15 days.

It was literally impossible without magic.

—-

After that, I learned swordsmanship from Nigel every night.

As Nigel said, it would be difficult to sweat a lot, so I only learned the theory part and posture correction, and the practice was postponed until later.

“Yes. Basically, you can hold it like that. If you want to accurately stab the enemy’s armor, hold the blade with one hand…”

There were more ways to hold a sword than you might think.

Nigel explained in detail the situations in which each gripping method would be used, saying that it is necessary to change the grip method depending on the situation.

“The sword is not something to be wielded like that! If you swing it like that, it won’t take long for it to break!”

I learned the basic postures for swinging and stabbing a sword.

It is said that the path of the sword and the inclination of the blade must match exactly, like drawing a clean line without twisting.

In my case, I only believed in my strength and swung the sword blindly, so the path of the sword was misaligned, so excessive force was applied to the body of the sword and it broke easily.

“The essence of imperial swordsmanship is to utilize the crossguard, that is, the bottom of the blade, to the fullest extent possible. As I showed you last time…”

I learned about the basic principles of imperial swordsmanship.

It is said to be the principle of leverage, or when defending, receive the tip of the opponent’s sword toward the bottom of the blade, which is closer to the hilt.

It is said that the blade and hilt can also be a great weapon.

…He was actually aiming at my left arm or head with the tip of the sword hilt.

“In addition to swordsmanship, martial arts using arms and legs is also important. It seems like he uses his left arm for defense and striking, so it would be useful to have a weapon to use as a secondary weapon. For example, a dagger…”

I learned the basics of martial arts, attacking with arms and legs instead of a sword at close range.

Since frostbite is an item that seems difficult to use carelessly, it would certainly be convenient to have a dagger.

“Imperial swordsmanship is basically an interpersonal swordsmanship. If you want to deal with a non-human enemy…in that case, just fight the way you normally would.”

I was advised not to use it on non-human enemies.

Even if you try to attack, there is a limit because the difference in power is so large.

—-

Six days later, the sight of a huge city finally began to come into view over the horizon.

The three-layer wall surrounding the city showed off its majestic appearance, shining red-gold in the evening sunset.

It was Aix-la-Chapelle, the capital of Carl Roth’s empire.