Chapter 8 - A Famous Hot Spot (2)

Contrary to what people thought, a lady-in-waiting was by no means a lowly occupation.

It was a specialized profession clearly distinct from a maid, who handled chores and household work in general, and their role was closer to that of a personal aide who assisted their master and, depending on the situation, offered advice.

Most of them were not commoners, but women from noble families, so there was nothing strange about them taking pride in their work.

Among them, the pride held by the ladies-in-waiting of the royal palace was immense.

In truth, their position, assisting the monarch and his family from close at hand, was worthy of such pride.

But not every lady-in-waiting in the royal palace had that pride.

The ladies-in-waiting of the 1st Prince's Palace were exactly that sort.

For ladies-in-waiting, whose master's ability was their pride and whose master's influence was their influence, the First Prince was, in every sense, the worst possible master.

「The shame of the royal family」, 「an unspeakable degenerate」, 「an incorrigible scoundrel」.

The words people used for the one they served were vulgar, insulting, and bitter.

And in truth, none of those words were entirely false.

First Prince Adrian Leonberk was a violent scoundrel.

He was also so dim-witted that he could not even tell the difference between a lady-in-waiting and a maid.

Insulting harassment was common, and at times, he would even heap verbal abuse on them.

Every now and then, if something displeased him, he would throw things, to the point that among the ladies-in-waiting of the 1st Prince's Palace, there was not a single one whose fair skin bore no scars.

With things as they were, not a single lady-in-waiting in the 1st Prince's Palace liked the Scoundrel Prince.

No, all of them loathed this violent master.

Then one day, that violent master changed overnight.

His undignified speech and behavior remained the same, but in almost every other respect, the First Prince became a completely different person.

He did not drink, nor did he summon his low-quality gang and hold vulgar entertainments.

He did not harass the ladies-in-waiting with insulting remarks.

He did not throw things and run wild.

He merely stayed at the training ground all day, spending his time swinging a wooden sword or running.

Regarding that sudden change, one lady-in-waiting said he had lost his nerve because of the shameful accident, while another said he was keeping himself in check after experiencing His Majesty the King's wrath.

Yet another lady-in-waiting said it was because Count Vale Ballorhard was training him so harshly that he did not even have the energy left to act viciously.

No one in the 1st Prince's Palace thought the Prince had completely reformed.

The ladies-in-waiting's distrust of the Scoundrel Prince was as deep as the scars carved into their bodies.

The ladies-in-waiting regarded the Prince's change as nothing more than a temporary whim.

They believed that once he grew tired of it, he would soon return to his old life.

But when a month passed, and then another month passed, the Scoundrel Prince still kept to himself and devoted himself only to training.

It was extremely strange.

Considering the Scoundrel Prince's nature, growing tired of everything quickly, it was impossible.

Then one night, when a terrible downpour was falling, the First Prince was practically dragged back by the Royal Knights.

"See? I knew it. If he held that temper in for two whole months, he lasted long enough."

"The good days are over now."

The ladies-in-waiting thought the scoundrel had finally shown his true colors, caused trouble, and been dragged back by the Royal Knights.

But that was not it.

Astonishingly, the reason the Prince had been dragged back was because he had been far too absorbed in training.

The ladies-in-waiting were confused.

The First Prince they knew was by no means the kind of person who would devote himself to training until his own body was harmed.

Perhaps it was around then.

"Perhaps the rumors about His Highness the First Prince were maliciously fabricated."

"There is no way someone who works that hard was born with an indolent and lazy disposition."

"His words and actions may be rough, but compared to what we heard in the rumors..."

That was when the Royal Knights began saying such things about the First Prince.

Of course, the ladies-in-waiting could not agree with those words at all.

They wanted to correct the hasty judgment of the Royal Knights, who had only entered the palace a few months ago, but they held themselves back.

As time passed that way, another change occurred in the 1st Prince's Palace.

After His Majesty the King, enraged, sentenced him to confinement, there had been no visitors to the 1st Prince's Palace, but now people began coming and going constantly.

"Please help me. See to it that my son can step forward as His Highness's opponent."

"Please place this letter at the very top."

Nobles, or people they had sent, came with letters in hand.

It was because of the wager between the Prince and Count Ballorhard.

Every last one of them wanted to be chosen as his opponent, and they were prepared to show their sincerity in order to achieve that goal.

"Are they trying to bribe us?"

The ladies-in-waiting, holding the modest gifts the nobles had sent, looked at one another in bewilderment.

They knew that ladies-in-waiting who served influential masters sometimes experienced such things, but they had never imagined they would experience it themselves.

A situation the ladies-in-waiting of other palaces had perhaps experienced many times was only unfamiliar to them.

"The opponent has been decided anyway, so this is over too."

After they learned that their master had decided to face the Third Prince, they thought this request that was not quite a request would soon come to an end.

In truth, the nobles' visits did stop for a while.

Until the rumor spread that their master, whose opponent had already been decided, was looking for sparring partners.

* * *

"Has it already been three months?"

Vale Ballorhard frowned.

It had already been three months since he had entered The Capital at his sister's request.

It was taking longer than he had expected.

He had thought the boy would quit right away.

He had expected that if he pushed his scoundrel nephew harshly under the pretext of making him lose weight, he would soon be unable to endure and give up.

The boy had made a ridiculous wager, but Vale had not taken it seriously.

After all, he would collapse on his own.

But that had not been the case.

On the day when the downpour fell and thunder and lightning crashed down, Vale had seen his nephew swinging a wooden sword like a madman right beside the place where lightning had struck.

He had seen him so absorbed in training that he did not even know someone had come near, until his hands were torn open.

That was when he knew.

He would be staying in The Capital longer than he had thought.

And...

His nephew might not be as hopeless as he had believed.

The delay in his schedule was certainly not welcome, but when he thought of his sister, it was not something he could not endure.

After all, while his scoundrel nephew was throwing himself into training, his sister would at least be able to sleep with her legs stretched out in comfort.

But though he could endure everything else, it was difficult to bear the way the attention of the kingdom's nobles kept gathering on them.

"She's making an uncharacteristic move."

It was probably his sister's doing.

She must have spread the rumors, hoping that her son, who had fallen out of His Majesty's favor and was all but confined to his quarters, would come up in the nobles' conversations even in this way.

So that while the other princes were busy gathering supporters, her son would not be completely forgotten in the nobles' minds.

By now, the nobles were probably talking about his scoundrel nephew all through the night.

Whether in a good sense or a bad one.

And each time, Vale Ballorhard's name would naturally come up along with his.

"I don't care about complicated politics."

Vale shook off his idle thoughts.

And he decided to focus on the task facing him.

"So you say you want to spar with a Single Chain knight?"

"As you heard. Do not make me repeat myself."

Looking at his nephew, who talked back without knowing how frightening his maternal uncle was, Vale's gaze naturally sharpened.

But his nephew did not so much as flinch.

"Truly absurd."

His nephew, who had only begun training three months ago, said he would spar with a knight.

The boy had not even shed all the excess flesh clinging to his body, and yet he spoke so presumptuously.

"If you are asking me to seek out Single Chain knights for you, I refuse. I said we would make a wager. I never said I would look after you."

"I am not hoping for that."

At Vale's words, his nephew replied indifferently.

"I already made a list of Single Chain knights who will come running the moment I call them."

"Then why are you telling me instead of doing just that?"

"The thing is."

His nephew grinned.

"They are itching to eat me alive."

So please sit in and observe from nearby.

If the Commander of the Third Corps and a Quad Chain knight was in front of them, they would not dare try anything foolish.

His nephew shamelessly blathered on.

* * *

Not all of the nobles who had sent letters asking to be made my opponent were Double Chain knights.

Among them were quite a few Single Chain knights as well.

They had been sent by those who thought that with just one ring, they could easily make mincemeat of one fool who had refined a Mana Heart.

I sorted out those people and handed the list to Karl Ulrich.

"Write them down in order, starting from the weakest."

Karl organized the list according to my command without complaint.

"As I am making this based on rumors, I cannot guarantee its reliability."

"Well, I will have to accept that much."

After giving him a rough word of thanks, I sent Karl out.

Then I called a lady-in-waiting.

"Send replies to everyone written on this list."

"What shall I write?"

"Tell them I will give them a chance, so come at once."

At the lady-in-waiting's words, I answered in a tone that suggested there was nothing to think about.

"The order will be as written there, and you can handle the arrival dates well on your own."

"It will be troublesome if too many come at once."

The lady-in-waiting hurriedly wrote down my instructions.

"Right. One person every three days would be good."

* * *

I spurred on my training.

During the day, I swung my sword, and at night, I gathered mana without even sleeping.

Before the first sparring opponent arrived, I had to somehow take one more step forward.

Of course, it was not as if that would be as easy as it sounded.

Still, I had not done this thoughtlessly either.

"This is definitely 「that」."

Recently, there had been a ticklish sensation around my chest.

Several times a day, my Mana Heart throbbed.

This was a typical sign.

I reduced my morning and afternoon training time and used all the remaining time to gather mana.

"It feels like it will happen, but it still does not."

My chest was still ticklish.

But what I had been expecting did not happen right away.

Even so, I continued to gather mana.

Ten days passed after the signs first appeared, and then a change occurred in my body.

『Through steady effort, you have succeeded in gathering mana to a certain level.』

『Your Mana Heart has expanded.』

『Due to the expanded Mana Heart, your body's constitution has changed slightly.』

『Your body can now withstand slightly more mana.』

"It worked!"

My eyes flew open, and I cheered.

『You have reached the realm of Sword Learner.』

The realm called 「Sword Learner」, or 「one who trains in the sword」.

『You can now use the most basic level of aura.』

I could finally infuse mana into my sword.

It happened three days before the first sparring opponent arrived at the royal castle.