Chapter 31 - When My Thinking Changed, What I Saw Changed Too (1)

The soldiers moved busily, and in no time at all, preparations for camp were complete.

Karl said he was going to look around the area and disappeared somewhere, while Arwen fidgeted before settling down some distance away.

I watched her for a moment, then went into the carriage.

"Your Highness."

Adelia, who was inside the carriage, saw me and lowered her head.

Behind her, I could see sheets spread taut without a single wrinkle and pillows arranged neatly.

I had wondered what she was doing in there without even coming out, and it seemed this was it.

What I had taken in was a genius of the sword with S-rank aptitude, yet the work she actually did was odd jobs fit for a maid.

Somehow, it felt like using a legendary treasured sword to slice meat, to the point that I almost felt guilty.

"Ha."

"Y-Your Highness, is there perhaps something not to your liking?"

When I sighed, Adelia's face became restless.

She looked terrified that she might have made some mistake.

Over that face of hers, I saw the image of her glaring at the Iron Lions with ghostly fire burning in her eyes.

Seriously, what a combination...

I recalled Adelia's bizarre traits, timid and dependent while mad for blood and war, and sighed once more.

I'll have to work her properly.

Through harsh training, I intended to work her hard so she could become more knightly, and so that, in the end, she could become someone with a soul worthy of her terrifying traits and talent.

"S-Should I prepare it again?"

Seeing my gaze, Adelia shrank even further, not knowing what to do.

"It's fine."

After saying that, I flopped down.

Then I closed my eyes.

My head was complicated.

Mana Chain, Mana Heart.

After crossing swords with Double Chain knights, I had a lot on my mind.

When I first awoke, every day had been one disappointment after another.

Whenever I saw those who had kicked away infinite possibility and chosen complacency acting as though they looked down on the world, it needlessly made my stomach churn.

Arrogant and stupid.

That was what I had thought.

But after meeting the Iron Lion Knights myself, my thinking changed.

During my stay at Iron Lion Castle, I used the power of [Judgment] countless times.

Through that power, I checked all of the knights' qualities.

Most of them had C-rank talent, with the occasional B-rank talent mixed in.

They were people who, even if they trained and polished themselves their entire lives, would never reach the threshold of Sword Master.

If they accumulated astonishing deeds, they might transcend even that, but deeds of such caliber were not easily achieved.

Had they been born in the past, they would have become mid-level Sword Experts at best after a lifetime of harsh training, only to fade away in vain while attempting Transcendence.

And yet those knights had reached the realm of Double Chain, equal to Sword Expert, at the young age of merely their twenties or thirties.

After seeing that, I could no longer deny the flow of the age that had accepted Mana Chain.

The skill possessed by superhumans could not compare to the past.

But the skill possessed by ordinary men had instead risen by leaps and bounds.

A few superhumans, and many ordinary men.

Over four hundred years, humans had grown weaker.

And humans had grown stronger.

"Even so, for someone like my maternal uncle to..."

My ability had not yet reached the point where I could check my maternal uncle's talent, but considering that he was one of only five Quad Chain knights in the kingdom, I could guess at that talent without looking.

In the past, he would have been someone who could have aimed for Transcendence.

The fact that even someone like that had given up his possibility and woven circuits was deeply displeasing.

But that, too, was the flow of the age.

In this age, there were no longer any opportunities left to accumulate deeds beyond Extraordinary Grade.

I resolved myself.

I would leave the past as the past.

I would watch this new age with clear eyes.

And only after that would I judge everything.

How this world had changed.

"From the beginning again."

Just as when I was born as a sword and encountered the world for the first time.

"That is a good mindset."

As I was lost in thought, I heard a familiar voice.

When I turned my head slightly, I saw my maternal uncle's face peeking through the carriage window.

"It is not too late even now."

Did he even know what I was thinking when he said that?

My maternal uncle continued.

"If you make an effort from now on, you will be able to put everything back the way it was."

No, what the hell?

"Besides, have you not already won the hearts of the Iron Lions?"

My maternal uncle's words were truly abrupt and had no context whatsoever.

"Unlike the First Order, the Second Order is made up of those of humble origins."

"They are also terribly lacking in the refinements of nobles, so I have heard they are quietly looked down on even within the same knighthood."

I had not known.

Since they were called Iron Lions, I had thought they were all the same knights.

I had been completely unaware that there were two orders within the Iron Lion Knights.

To begin with, the Iron Lions had only given their names and had never said anything else.

There was no way I, who had merely exchanged swords with them, would know the details.

I merely recalled the faces of the Iron Lions, whose behavior as supposed knights was no different from a band of mercenaries, and unconsciously accepted it.

"Because they were such men, there was room for you to force your way into their hearts, however rough your method."

What was he talking about now?

I had simply moved in order to raise the grade of my Poem of Martial Deeds.

And yet my maternal uncle seemed to have attached some great meaning to that simple action.

"But that alone is not enough to gain the complete support of the Iron Lions."

Only after hearing what followed did I understand what meaning my maternal uncle had given to my actions.

"Count Walloden is an outstanding knight, but he is also a seasoned politician."

"If opinions within the knighthood become divided, he is highly likely to side with the First Order."

My maternal uncle thought I had sparred in order to make the Iron Lions my people.

I had not.

Absolutely not.

I had merely needed victories to include in my Poem of Martial Deeds.

To begin with, winning the favor of the Iron Lions or receiving their support was all outside my interests.

My only interest was recovering the power of the past.

"If it had been the other princes, they would not have been able to mingle with the Iron Lions so unpretentiously."

My expression twisted on its own.

Considering the way my maternal uncle usually treated me, it was obvious that he was being sarcastic, saying I had scuffled with Regular knights without even knowing the dignity of a prince.

But for that to be true, my maternal uncle's expression was far too strange.

A mushy, almost ticklish sort of face.

It was almost as though he found me admirable.

No way.

That could not be.

There was no way that stiff old man would feel that way toward his scoundrel nephew.

That was what I thought.

"It was a very wise judgment."

But it was not so.

My maternal uncle was truly praising me.

I was bewildered.

My maternal uncle, who had treated me like trash every day, suddenly started praising me, and it was so uncomfortable that it gave me goosebumps.

"Have you lost your mind?"

Because I was so dumbfounded, I ended up blurting out what I was thinking.

My maternal uncle, who normally would have flown into a rage at my insolence, did not get angry this time either.

"It seems you do not remember the terms of our wager."

"If you mean the wager, it was defeating the Third Prince..."

Before I could finish speaking, my maternal uncle shook his head.

"Double Chain."

"The wager between you and me was that you would defeat a Double Chain knight."

"Ah..."

He was right.

The wager had been to win against a Double Chain knight; who the opponent was had not mattered.

I had already defeated Double Chain knights.

And more than that, I had won several times against knights of the Iron Lion Knights, who were rumored to be elite even within the kingdom.

In effect, the wager was over.

And a wager was something where the winner received the stake.

Wait, but what was it again?

I had concentrated all my attention on defeating a Double Chain knight, so I could not remember what the stake had actually been.

"As promised, I will stand behind you."

Only after hearing my maternal uncle's words was I able to remember what he had wagered.

A patron.

What my maternal uncle had put on the line was his full support.

"Once we return, I will officially state my position."

My maternal uncle's eyes shone fiercely.

It was a look full of drive that he had never once shown before.

"Half the Iron Lions, and the Commander of the 3rd Legion."

His voice was even solemn, like that of a general before a great battle.

"That should be enough for you to begin again."

After talking by himself, reaching a conclusion by himself, and steeling his resolve by himself, my maternal uncle vanished.

"No, Uncle!"

I stuck my head out the window and called my maternal uncle.

My maternal uncle, who had looked back, sent me a look.

Trust only me.

I will take care of everything.

It was a gaze that seemed to say that.

When I, the person concerned, had no thoughts about it whatsoever.

* * *

"Your Majesty."

Before the King, I gave a brief report on our return.

As always, the King waved his hand halfheartedly and was about to dismiss me, when my maternal uncle suddenly stepped forward.

"I wish to do now what I had put off."

Perhaps sensing something unusual in my maternal uncle's attitude, the King, who had been half-reclining against the throne, straightened himself.

"Speak."

"I intend to properly fulfill my role as his maternal uncle, even if only from now on."

I, who had been thinking only of turning around and escaping this tiresome audience hall, froze on the spot.

The King seated there on the throne had frozen in much the same way as I had.

"Are you saying that merely as that child's maternal uncle, or as the head of House Ballorhard?"

His tone was as stiff as his frozen face, but my maternal uncle did not care in the slightest about the King's reaction.

"Both."

The previous day at the campsite, my maternal uncle had certainly said something similar.

I had indeed heard him say that he would officially state his position as soon as we returned.

"As the head of House Ballorhard, the Commander of the 3rd Legion, the captain of the Black Spear Cavalry, and a knight who has woven four circuits."

"I speak as Vale Ballorhard, with all of those names."

But I had never imagined he would do it so suddenly, so decisively, as if declaring war before the King.

My maternal uncle's attitude looked as though he were boasting of his power before the King.

And in fact, the King took it that way as well.

"You mean for me to know that House Ballorhard stands behind him."

The King's gaze, which had been directed at my maternal uncle, turned back to me.

A sharper gaze than ever before.

It was clearly different from the contempt the King had shown until now.

A small amount of admiration, and far greater wariness.

His gaze was chillingly cold, as though he were looking at a political enemy.

"Very well."

"I shall keep that in mind."

And his voice was as edged as his gaze.

* * *

"We should have done this from the beginning, but we have come too far around."

No sooner had we left the audience hall than my maternal uncle spoke with a refreshed face.

"Now His Majesty will have no choice but to consider the honor of House Ballorhard when dealing with you."

After saying that, he disappeared abruptly, saying that he would be busy from now on and that there was much to do.

Without listening to a word I had to say.

"Your Highness! Congratulations!"

"Your Highness, I sincerely congratulate you."

The Royal Knights offered me congratulations.

"Many things will change from now on."

"Please keep your heart firm."

At Karl's words, I looked around.

I saw people glancing at me while pretending not to.

The passing manservants and maids had their ears pricked, and the gazes of the knights guarding the front of the audience hall were fixed on me.

Seeing those gazes and expressions, each with different thoughts and emotions, I realized.

The world around me had changed.