Chapter 18 - A Scoundrel Just Acted Like a Scoundrel (2)

『Adelia Bayern has sensed mana.』

『You have successfully engraved mana into Adelia Bayern.』

『Mana has successfully settled in Adelia Bayern's body.』

『A Mana Heart has formed inside Adelia Bayern's body.』

From the first engraving to the creation of a Mana Heart, I handled it all in one swift stroke.

"Ah..."

Adelia stared blankly down at her own chest, then raised her hand, placed it over her heart, and stayed still for a long while.

It seemed she found it fascinating.

The mana that had settled inside her body.

I was watching her with satisfaction when, all of a sudden, dizziness hit me.

Mmm...

There was no strength anywhere in my body.

I had scraped together every last bit of mana I had and poured it into her, leaving my own Mana Heart completely empty.

It was mana that would fill back up with time, but for now, I could not avoid a state of mana exhaustion.

My head hurt too.

Since this was the first time I had attempted it as a human rather than a sword, it had consumed far too much mental strength.

The world spun from the dizziness.

"Your Highness?"

I heard Adelia's voice.

I lifted my head.

I saw her face looking at me, pale as a sheet.

"Your Highness! Are you all right!"

"I'm fine. I'm just a little tired."

I forced myself to answer calmly to her fussing voice.

I still had my pride.

Showing weakness just because I had made one measly Mana Heart wounded that pride.

But it seemed my body had no intention whatsoever of protecting my petty pride.

I staggered.

My legs gave out, and I sank down.

At least there was a chair right behind me.

If there hadn't been, I might have made an ugly disgrace of myself by falling flat on my ass.

"Hmm. I suppose I should rest for a bit."

I acted as if I had meant to sit in the chair from the beginning.

"Your Highness. How could you go so far for someone as lowly as me..."

Adelia looked at me with a complicated expression.

Her face looked moved, and also burdened.

I looked at her while seated in the chair.

There were eyes as gentle as a deer's.

Within them flickered a small heat that had not been visible before.

It was proof that the seed I had planted in her heart had successfully taken root.

I let out a sigh of relief and told her what she needed to do from now on.

"What you just did was the refinement method for the Mana Heart. From now on, do it whenever you have time, even if you're alone."

She answered that she understood.

Now it was Adelia's share of the work to make the seed sprout.

I would only watch with anticipation.

"Go. That's enough for today."

At my words, Adelia hesitated.

She looked as if she had something to say.

"What?"

"I-I will serve you with loyalty for the rest of my life."

That was one grand way to say thank you.

I chuckled and answered.

"Just don't forget that I'm your master."

Because I'm afraid you might forget.

Truly.

* * *

Three days had already passed since I had made Adelia a Mana Heart.

As if proving her A-rank talent, she quickly adapted to refining mana, and now she had reached the point where she could circulate mana on her own without my help.

In the meantime, I asked around about Bernard Eli, who never came no matter how long I waited.

"It is said that he has not failed to come, but rather that he cannot come."

Karl Ulrich explained the circumstances.

I had wondered if he had slipped off somewhere else, but apparently Bernard Eli was under the protection of the palace guard as a witness to the recent disturbance.

In truth, it was detention.

"They say His Majesty gave strict orders that he is not to meet with anyone until the day the trial is held."

It was only natural that he could not come.

"Then do I have to attend the trial too?"

Since it was something I had caused, I asked in case I might have to attend the trial as well, but Karl Ulrich shook his head.

"There are no cases where a member of the royal family stands before the court. His Majesty will probably select a suitable representative to take Your Highness's place. I do not think Your Highness needs to concern yourself with it."

"Oh! That's great. I thought it would be a total pain."

Karl Ulrich stared at me.

"Still, a trial, huh. This turned into quite a big mess."

He seemed dumbfounded.

It must have seemed absurd that the very person who caused the mess was talking as if it were someone else's business.

"What? What."

"It is nothing."

At my shameless attitude, Karl Ulrich shook his head.

"Go."

After sending Karl Ulrich out, I called Adelia.

"Starting today, you're training with me too."

At my words, she lowered her head with a look that said the thing she had expected had finally come.

She seemed rather burdened by the thought of using her body.

"Go change your clothes and come back."

I ordered Adelia to change into clothes comfortable for training, then headed to the training ground first.

My uncle was at the training ground.

"Hmph."

My uncle did not even acknowledge me.

It seemed that the fact I had been shut up in my room to stabilize Adelia's Mana Heart had caused him some strange misunderstanding.

In truth, it was not an incomprehensible reaction.

If a scoundrel known as a womanizer took a pretty maid and shut himself in a room without coming out, I would have thought the same.

"Your Highness."

As I stood in the middle of the training ground warming up, Adelia appeared.

She was wearing loose pants and a shirt.

Seeing her twist this way and that as if her outfit felt awkward, I tossed out a word.

"What are you doing? If you're here, you should run. Just do ten laps."

At my words, Adelia hesitated, then began running around the training ground.

"What do you think you're doing right now?"

As my eyes followed her back, my uncle asked in a sharp voice.

"Can't you tell by looking? I'm warming up."

I answered indifferently and picked up a Training Sword.

"I mean that child."

My uncle asked again.

His gaze remained fixed on Adelia.

"I told you before. I'm going to make her a knight."

When I snapped at him for making me repeat the same thing several times, my uncle's expression instantly turned cold.

"Do knights look so insignificant in your eyes?"

My uncle's long lecture poured out.

Had I ever thought about the countless people who strove day and night to become knights?

Did I know how my actions would appear to them?

What sort of times did I think these were, to act so rashly?

"Ugh! You weren't like this before, so why have you become so meddlesome!"

Completely fed up with the endless scolding, I shouted.

"If you hate it that much, why are you even here? If you don't come, you won't have to see any of this crap."

"Do you think I come because I want to? I come because of your mother."

My uncle snapped at me, so I snapped right back.

"Your Highness, please compose yourself."

"His Excellency the Count. Please lower your voice and calm yourself."

The Royal Knights, unable to keep watching, came over and separated me from my uncle.

"Ahem."

My uncle cleared his throat with an embarrassed look.

It seemed he was embarrassed about bickering with his young nephew.

In contrast, I was completely unaffected.

Because I was a scoundrel to begin with.

No matter what I did, a scoundrel was merely being a scoundrel, so there was nothing particularly new about it.

In fact, the way the Royal Knights looked at me was the same as usual.

This part is nice.

It was the first moment I was glad of my reputation as a scoundrel.

"Hah, hah. Your Highness—hah."

While I was arguing with my uncle, Adelia finished running around the training ground and approached.

First, I ordered her to calm her breathing, since she was panting in such a strange way.

"Tsk."

My uncle clicked his tongue and turned away.

He stepped back a distance and crossed his arms, watching us as if to say he would see just what we were up to.

"Your Highness. I am sorry. Because of me..."

"Why are you apologizing?"

I answered bluntly and handed her a wooden sword.

"Today, let's just learn the stances lightly."

I taught her how to grip a sword and a few stances.

I intended to end it after doing just that much today.

But I could not.

She absorbed my teaching like a ball of cotton soaking up water.

After only a few demonstrations, she understood how to hold the sword properly, and in the same manner, she learned the basic stances.

"What comes next, Your Highness?"

Watching Adelia ask timidly, as if she was unsure whether she was doing it properly, naturally brought her ancestor to mind.

Right.

Agnes was this kind of monster too.

When she first met me, she was only a girl of fifteen.

That delicate girl, who knew nothing at all, crippled three men with the first sword she had ever held in her life.

Adelia had inherited the exact same talent as her.

It seemed fine to push the progress a little further.

I taught her several movements.

They were basic movements that took her current physical condition fully into account.

Cut, thrust, pull.

In just three tries, she copied the movements I had shown her exactly.

"Your Highness?"

Adelia's eyes were asking what came next.

Since I had already come this far, I taught her several more movements.

They were also basic movements, but they were a little difficult for a beginner.

As if to show me, she imitated my sword exactly.

Her eyes turned to me again.

Meeting that gaze, I frowned.

I had overlooked it because I had always taught someone as a sword.

At the time, I was a sword, not a human, and I possessed mighty authority.

But the current me was a human equal to the one I was teaching.

That meant it was natural for there to be superiority and inferiority between two people, and perhaps I could be the one placed below.

No way.

Even so, I have all the years I spent living as a sword behind me.

That complacent thought vanished the moment I saw her connect the movements I had taught her as smoothly as flowing water.

My mind snapped awake.

This was certain.

If I sat around dazed, she would definitely overtake me.

This was no time to be doing this.

I had to become stronger as well, more than she grew.

The trait [Slave Mentality] was submission to the strong, not respect for those weaker than oneself.

"Ahem."

As I was lost in thought, I heard someone clear his throat.

Before I knew it, my uncle had come close.

"What now?"

Thinking he might have come to nag me again, I asked bluntly.

But there was something strange about my uncle's attitude.

Why is this man acting like a dog that needs to take a shit?

I frowned and glared at him, then suddenly realized my uncle's gaze was fixed somewhere else.

My uncle was looking at Adelia.

His eyes held a light he had never shown before.

Surprise, or greed.

Or both.

My uncle's gaze was blazing.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Before Adelia could open her mouth, I stepped in front of her.

My uncle's expression stiffened.

He had disliked me until now, but he had never looked at me with eyes this sharp.

Ha, this man's eyes have completely turned.

If I had the authority to recognize an opponent's talent, my uncle had experience.

It was not strange for him to have noticed the genius Adelia possessed.

"Do not covet her."

Of course, I had no intention whatsoever of letting my uncle take the talent I had set my eyes on.

"She is mine."

At my words, my uncle frowned.

"What can you do for her?"

A novice who had only held a sword for a few months.

His eyes and expression said as much.

"You cannot handle her."

My uncle questioned my qualifications.

I laughed.

Because I had always been the one to ask about qualifications, never the one being questioned.

"If I cannot handle her, no one can."

"How arrogant."

My uncle drew up his presence.

It was subtle enough that the Royal Knights would not notice, yet powerful enough to openly break the will of someone like me.

If it had been that scoundrel bastard, he would have trembled and quickly backed away.

But I was no scoundrel.

I was the Demonic sword 「Gruhorn」, drenched in the blood of the Giant King, mad dragons, and countless other beings.

"She is mine."

A part of my soul overlaid itself upon my frail flesh.