episode_0049

The meeting with Friede ended with very mediocre results.

In the end, most ordinary people came to the conclusion that they couldn’t rely on it, and the only thing that could be used as a weakness was the silver plating…

Friede won’t move until he gets solid evidence.

Moreover, without evidence, it will be difficult to convince others to prepare.

Even if we push ahead and prepare, the problem arises after that.

After the attack, there will definitely be questions about how I found out about the attack plan, but I have no answer.

It would be worst if there was even a suspicion that you were involved with them.

Such doubts are bound to be endlessly expanded and reproduced as their size increases.

No matter how good I am at blocking the beastmen.

Once you start to suspect, even he will endlessly inflate your suspicions, claiming that he might actually have an ulterior motive.

Because that’s what confirmation bias is.

There are limits to such a flimsy excuse of smelling an animal.

Even Friede seemed skeptical, but it would be difficult to convince those who doubt me with words like that.

At least once the attack is revealed to be true, Friede will be on my side.

In the eyes of northerners, whoever kills a beast is always on the same side.

maybe.

In the end, I have to naturally prepare the students while hiding the fact that I know about the beastmen’s attack…

It’s not easy from the first step. really.

My position is still unstable, and many people view me with suspicion.

As long as the shackles of being Ka’har’s evil woman remain, what I do is like swimming in a river with my hands and feet tied.

If this case is resolved without suspicion… things will get better from then on.

I bit my lip.

First of all, what can be done now is to raise the skills of those who have the ability to fight against beastmen.

Even if you improve your skills, at most it will only help you gain experience through repeated sparring.

Because the curriculum is so tightly structured, regular students have no free time other than sparring during lectures.

The people who can help in the battle against the beastmen are Damian, Ophelia, Edgar, and…Milia.

In reality, the only ones I can train are Damian and Millia.

Lana and Hans would probably listen to me, but Lana’s sparring would be meaningless, and Hans… I don’t know anything else, but he would probably absolutely reject sparring.

…But I was glad that I no longer had to hide my skills when sparring.

I still can’t show you running wild with all your might.

—-

I returned to the room thinking about it.

Nigel was sitting in a chair, putting a piece of paper on the table and writing something I didn’t know.

“Ah, have you been there? Was your conversation with Prince Friede helpful?”

“It was ambiguous. It’s not that it wasn’t helpful at all, but… By the way, what are you using? Letter?”

Nigel put down his pen and picked up the paper.

“This is an activity report to give to the Marquis. Would you like to read it?”

“Report? okay. Give it a moment.”

I guess he was reporting my whereabouts to the Marquis.

It was something I expected, so I didn’t feel particularly betrayed or regretful.

Nigel is a faithful helper to me, but he is essentially a knight of the Marquis Ludwig.

As a sponsor, Marquis Ludwig also received reports on the movements of the people he supported.

In the end, when Nigel is by your side, you shouldn’t do anything that might make the Marquis suspicious.

What was fortunate was that he didn’t try to hide the fact that he was writing a report.

If it was something that would be detrimental to me, I wouldn’t show it so openly.

I took the letter Nigel handed me and read it.

It was a report written in a fairly stiff tone, perhaps to write down only the main points on a single piece of paper.

—-

Good relationship with specially admitted students.

Excellent understanding and learning speed of imperial swordsmanship.

The ups and downs of his skills are unstable, but he is growing at a fast pace.

Currently, the academy’s internal reputation is not good.

In general, prejudice regarding origin, past history, and inclinations.

*This is believed to be a problem that can be overcome in the future. High willingness to improve.

A Dane crusader infiltrates. A man named Knut. Handled by secret attack.

It is assumed that there are no elements that will cause problems in the future.

P.s.

My expenses are exceeding my expectations. Can I request a relaxation of the activity fee restrictions?

The Marquis’ recommendation of magic herb turned out to be a bigger problem than I thought.

—-

It was definitely a report without any problems.

Except for the P.S. part that seems to be sneakily criticizing the two magic candle addicts.

“Well, that’s okay. Are you going to send it to Marquis Ludwig like this?”

“That’s right. It would be nice if the Marquis would loosen the restrictions on activity expenses, but… you should not expect too much from that.”

Nigel shook his head. He had the look of someone who habitually buys lottery tickets every weekend.

I don’t really expect it, but it’s a complex and subtle expression that clearly shows that I would be happy if I won.

…It would definitely be helpful to have more extra money.

You can go to the Adventurer’s Guild and receive a subjugation request, but that also takes quite a bit of time.

If it’s a monster, fighting trolls or ogres won’t be much help in improving your skills anymore.

I returned the letter and got ready for bed.

I settled down on the soft bed and closed my eyes, thinking about what to do next.

First, go to the Dalian lecture and raise Damian and Milia…

I’m thinking of an excuse to ask Asha for silver to plate…

I’ll have to visit the underground waterway again later, so I’ll have to think of a good reason.

There was so much to do.

—-

Attended an anti-personnel combat lecture.

Today’s lecture was again an outdoor sparring session.

In the morning, we had to spar with an opponent designated by Professor Kaline, and free sparring was scheduled in the afternoon.

As usual, I approached Damian and Milia.

The two people greeted me warmly.

“Ah, Hashal.”

“Nice to meet you. You come to lectures often these days?”

“It just so happened that it happened like that.”

The three of us chatted about various things and watched the students sparring.

It was trivial stories like someone getting bitten by a horse in the last horseback riding class, Damien setting a freshman record in physical training class, and things like that.

Damian smiled sheepishly, saying it wasn’t something to brag about.

I looked at my arm secretly.

No, it’s something to brag about if you’re ranked #1 as a human freshman.

My body is a human-level body, so let’s make an exception.

In the morning sparring, everyone fought evenly, perhaps because they placed an appropriate opponent according to each person’s skill level.

Before we knew it, everyone was in high spirits and swinging their weapons at each other was quite fierce.

Millia’s opponent was Edgar…surprisingly, Millia won.

Edgar pushed on, recovering from all minor penetrating wounds, but eventually admitted defeat when Millia’s strike, aimed at his guard, hit the nape of his neck.

If it had been a real fight, he would have been pierced in the neck and died.

Even if there is a blessing of healing, it is meaningless if you die instantly.

Millia smiled brightly and waved her rapier at us.

Then, after hearing something from Professor Kaline, I came back.

Damian’s opponent was Ophelia.

If they fought properly, it would be a really worthwhile sparring, but that’s not possible.

Ophelia was just burning a long magic candle in the corner, and when it was her turn, she walked out and just abstained.

The professor’s face was distorted, but Ophelia leisurely returned to her seat, exhaling smoke.

Damian let his greatsword hang down as if in despair.

In the end, Professor Kaline assigned another student to be Damian’s opponent.

He was a young man from the Department of Magic who was originally scheduled to be my opponent.

Did you say that you ranked first in the entrance exam to the Faculty of Magic?

It was just funny to see a young man whose face was blue at the fact that he had to fight me, but when the opponent turned into Damian, he turned red and walked out.

It was a sparring worth watching.

Damian’s swordsmanship, which centered on leaps, lunges, and turns, was still exciting, and the young man he was dealing with also used flashy magic.

Along with the continuous heavy drinking, the parade ground was dug up here and there, scattering debris.

While Damian was sparring, I decided to talk to Millia.

I saw earlier that my swordsmanship has improved somewhat, but I still think I’d recommend the bow.

“Milia. There’s something I’d like to ask. Are you okay?”

“Huh? Do you have any questions? You can ask.”

Millia turned to me and nodded.

“Why did you decide to become a knight?”

You already know the answer.

The setting was that it was because I admired Damien.

Still, it was just the right question to perk up before getting into the main topic.

Millia tilted her head and thought for a moment before smiling softly.

“Okay, it’s a bit of a long story.”

Millia turned her head towards Damian again and continued speaking.

“Damian and I have lived in the same village since a long time ago. Damien…his parents died when he was ten, so he lived with us.”

The eyes seemed to be looking at something far away, as if reminiscing about the past.

“I was a little reluctant at first. He didn’t say anything or smile, so I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. But at some point, I started laughing more and more easily. I started helping with various household chores.”

It seems like in the past, I was a more gloomy child than I thought.

It’s hard to imagine looking at its refreshing appearance now.

Was it because of the shock of my parents’ death?

“Then, when I was twelve, a bad person came to my house. He was a thief who was running away from the knights who came to attack him. He came all the way to my house looking for a place to hide. Because our house was far away on the outskirts of town. At that time, it was just me and Damien left at home.”

Millia trembled slightly.

“I was scared. He tried to do very bad things to me. I just cried and screamed for help.”

Her complexion seemed a little clouded, perhaps because she was remembering the fear she felt back then.

“At that time, Damian saved me. I grabbed the farm equipment I had at home and fought the man. Until then, I had never had a fight before. Without even shaking. You protected me.”

Millia’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Damian.

The image of a boy holding a large sword, dodging, blocking, and blocking magic, and pushing his opponent.

“In the end, Damian defeated that man. Damian was also seriously injured. If the knight who was tracking the thief hadn’t helped me, I might have died.”

Damian approached the magic student and raised his great sword.

“I just cried when I saw Damian covered in blood. Damian laughed. He asked me if I was okay. He said he was glad he wasn’t hurt.”

Millia muttered softly, as if in a whisper.

Damian’s great sword broke the magic barrier.

“It was from then. I started to think that I wanted to be someone like Damian… No, I’m not. I don’t want to be like Damien. I thought I wanted to stay by Damian’s side forever. I wanted to walk together.”

“So, you followed me here?”

The magic student fell to his knees helplessly.

Damian put away his great sword and straightened up.

The sun rose high in the sky, shining brightly on the boy who would one day become a warrior.

“Yes. Because Damian was my hero.”

So I decided to become a knight.

Millia smiled warmly.

…I felt a little embarrassed.