CH 7

Christoph was ecstatic. At first, even he thought he was wasting his time teaching magic to a spoiled three-year-old aristocratic girl. But pull off the lid and peer inside? Far from teaching a child, Flora was like a collaborator and experimental subject for Christoph.

The magical studies given to the children of the world are done in the form of fairy tales, such as praying to the gods or offering magic power to the spirits to borrow their power. It is supposed that magic is activated by chanting and mana dedicated to that god or spirit.

However, chanting can be omitted if you become an expert. What started as long-winded chants have gradually been simplified, and in the end, there are even some who can use magic with just a handful of words.

According to the world’s explanations, it’s because they’ve exchanged words with gods and spirits many times, and they’ve become familiar, devout, and friendly to them. But is it really? Christoph never believed in gods. For him, a researcher at heart, the theory is that the gods are above everything else. Yet, Christoph can use spells with fewer keywords than anyone else despite not believing in them.

In the end, the fact that Christoph, who has not a shred of faith, excels in freely using magic more than anyone else provides clear evidence that disproves that theory of loyalty to the divine.

That’s why he decided not to tell Flora anything like that. Just teach her magic theory, practice magic manipulation, and use spells. If she prays to gods or borrows the power of spirits as is commonly believed, then Flora shouldn’t be able to use magic.

Despite that, Flora is so skilled at magic, that she can use spells at or even surpass the level of Christoph’s skill. She doesn’t even chant, and she uses magic freely, and her magical power, which was supposed to be static, is clearly improving. He didn’t know for sure because he’d had never had a young child use magic before, but it was clear that Flora had only little total magical power when she was three years old.

He doesn’t know how that compares to the world’s average. There is no other example, so there is no basis for comparison. However, what he does know is that when he was three years old, he was on the verge of running out of magical power after using a small number of spells a few times, but in just two years, Flora has acquired enough magical power to overwhelmingly surpass Christoph, said to be the best in the kingdom.

Christoph no longer knows how much magical power Flora has. What he does know, is that there is an incarnation of a devil, no, the Demon King herself, with an enormous amount of magical power that has never been seen nor heard of before.

And Flora’s peculiar points are not just her amounts of magical power. Even before she learned from Christoph, she was a genius with knowledge and calculation ability that surpassed that of the royal court magicians, those who’d only reached such impossible levels after studying and learning magical theory from Christoph himself.

Flora conducts her private research and puts into practice magical theories that even Christoph can’t understand anymore. Christoph thinks that it is no exaggeration to say that Flora’s theories, power, and precision have completely overturned the paradigms of magic and could be said to be the work of a god. To begin with, discarding all chants and casting spells without speaking was thought an impossibility. Christoph obediently praises Flora’s growth, reaching milestones so easily.

Christoph was not jealous of this rare alien that far surpassed even himself, but had a feeling close to awe and worship of the divine.

Sigmund and Leon, meanwhile, were drinking tea at the mansion of Margrave Carruthers, where they had been living for many years. By personal order of Margrave Albert, they were given rooms in the mansion, because it would be convenient for them to tutor Flora then.

Originally, they were brief acquaintances since Sigmund was a bureaucrat and Leon was a strategist. They weren’t even close friends, it was just a relationship in that they knew each other’s existences. However, since the two of them became tutors of the House Carruthers, they have become like friends with a generation difference.

“Even now, Lady Flora always surprises me,” Sigmund said.

“Is that so…?” Leon asked.

Sigmund took a sip of his tea and continued, “It would be impossible for a senior academy graduate or an elite bureaucrat to absorb all the knowledge we’ve taught her in just two years.”

Sigmund said it so earnestly and Leon agreed. When they were first asked to become a tutor for a three-year-old child, they thought it was just a cover for the public. They assumed it was a way to invite the retired Sigmund to be a policy adviser or to shelter Leon, who was crushed in a political dispute and was chased from the capital.

And yet, peel back the curtain, and they really were asked to be tutors for a three-year-old child, and that three-year-old child had absorbed all of Sigmund’s and Leon’s knowledge in just two years.

Now, both Sigmund and Leon are only giving Flora the ability to respond and deal with crises by giving her practical tasks based on their experiences, and there is no more academic knowledge that they can teach her.

Of course, these training sessions are different from just cramming in knowledge, and for those who actually put them into practice, they are irreplaceable wisdom, techniques, and experiences of their predecessors, but the two of them who can only teach such things are so small in comparison, it left them feeling frustrated.

How hard were the roads they traveled to get the knowledge and experience they have now? Even though they were hailed as geniuses and savants by those around them, they accumulated those qualities through unwavering efforts.

And yet, it seems inevitable that this three-year-old child came to their level in just two years, and even surpasses them in others.

However, the two of them were not just frustrated, but they also couldn’t help but look forward to where Flora was going. They wanted to watch just how much farther beyond them their student would reach.

Even if they only had classes two days a week, there was nothing more to teach. It was two days later that Margrave Albert rearranged Flora’s tutoring schedule, in response to his offer to train her in swordsmanship.

For the last two years, Olivia had never been in a better mood. Moreover, her good mood never ends. No matter how clever a royal child she was tutoring, her heart had never soared as high.

Flora Charlotte von Carruthers, the student she was tutoring. This girl is beautiful in her appearance and demeanor, and there were no flaws in her behavior.

Since Olivia first came here as a tutor, Flora didn’t have many glaring holes in her behavior, but her knowledge of manners was simply nonexistent. If she teaches her, Flora absorbs and remembers as soon as it is taught. It was fun and exciting, so Olivia passed to Flora all that she knew.

She calmly follows classes and assignments that normal children protest at. Once she debuts in the world, she’d be called a “genius” and no one would challenge it.

But Olivia knows. This little lady is not something that can be simply dismissed as a mere genius. She repeats, over and over again, retreading over all Olivia has told her. Not everything is from her natural talent.

Normally, her students would sulk, give up, or complain, but instead, Flora just retries over and over again without a word of protest. It’s not limited to manners, but also martial arts, military strategy, and anything she does, the results are the same. Repeat tens of thousands of times, hundreds of thousands of times until the body instinctively remembers. Only in this way will what she learn become realized.

This girl knows it. That’s why, no matter how strict Olivia instructs her, she silently does as she’s told. She wonders if there has ever been such talent before. No matter how well educated the royal family was, or the children of other high-ranking aristocrats, there had never been such a person in Olivia’s experience.

So Olivia is happy and taught Flora one thing after another. Normally, a child of this age would have to compromise perfection, but Flora does it with none. Olivia can’t help but enjoy raising Flora who obediently follows her instructions and absorbs everything.

Though she had decided to retire, thinking that she would never be a tutor again, Olivia never imagined that she would be teaching others with such excitement again.

Olivia’s only goal in life is to make Flora a splendid queen. She raised Flora to be a fine lady, attract the attention of a crown prince, and get him to marry her. She imagined that Flora, her student, would become a splendid monarch as a result of these teachings, so Olivia gives her guidance today once more.

Erich Steiner was perplexed. He was asked to be a swordsmanship instructor for the Margrave Carruthers, and he thought he was going to instruct one or both of his sons, rumored to already have great skills.

He had heard that both sons of Margrave Currethers were intelligent and talented with blades and could even use magic. In the future, if he became the teacher for the one who would inherit the title of House Carruthers, Erich might be able to instruct his future lord’s army and open a combat school in the territory. If that happens, Erich’s future will be secured and he’ll be able to obtain the highest degree of success as a master swordsman.

That’s what he thought, but who he found waiting for him at the training grounds was what looked like a little girl.

She was dressed like a boy for the moment. Since she was still a young child, the possibility that she was a boy with girlish features cannot be dismissed. At this age, it is possible that men and women cannot be distinguished from each other.

But she’s just too small. He couldn’t believe his ears when he heard that this girl who was too young to teach swordsmanship, Flora Charlotte von Carruthers, was to be his student. When he tried to question his employer, Albert, he was stopped and left even more confused.

Apparently, it was neither Erich nor his employer’s mistake. Erich was both disappointed and angry, with his hopes of a connection to the Margrave’s sons and a possible leadership position in the army as a general.

Erich has the pride of being a master swordsman who has defeated the masters of many schools in the royal capital, and whose name is well-known in the Kingdom of Ploiss. What is so pitiable about him, to have to deal with a little girl who is about five years old?

It would be understandable if he were to supervise the swordsmanship of one or both of Albert’s sons, who will become lords in the future. It makes sense to recruit Erich now, hire him, and keep him on the path to interacting with Albert’s children.

However, what would happen to his future if he taught a young girl who had never held a sword before, and there would be no successors to ingratiate himself with? In this case, far from having a secure future and reputation, he could be called a weakling who was paid to teach a little girl how to use the sword.

He had thought so, but he couldn’t believe the scene in front of me. Albert, a grown man, was trying to beat a 5-year-old-girl, Flora, to death. Under normal circumstances, it might have been a situation where Erich would be compelled to intervene but he couldn’t move.

Albert was certainly abnormal for trying to hit a little girl. But, even more than that, Erich couldn’t move in the face of Flora’s terrifying spirit.

A normal child would have cried and fled long ago, but Flora silently glared at Albert and picked her sword back up without a single whine. No matter how many times she is blown away, no matter how many times she is beaten, she never cries or gives up.

You can tell at a glance that her swordplay is an amateur’s. To begin with, Flora’s physique is too light for the heavy sword she’s holding right now, and hence, it would be difficult to hold it properly

Still, Flora raised her sword and confronted Albert. Can a normal person who was suddenly forced to wield a sword today, be able to stand up against such overwhelming violence and difference in power with such confidence and strength?

Erich saw potential in Flora. He wondered if he could have acted with such clear intentions when he was five years old himself. Would he have been so devoted to the sword?

He should be able to teach you about sword skills and such from now on. The key is that grit. Erich knew that the way of the sword needed more than anything else a strong heart and an unyielding will, no matter how hopeless the difference in ability was.

Albert must have hit Flora so often to make her realize that. At this revelation, Erich felt ashamed of his immaturity. Above all, Flora has more talent with the sword than anyone else. She has the most important talent of never giving up and persevering…

“Let’s call it a day,” Albert said. “Flora, get a good rest.”

“… O… kay. Thank… you… very… much.”

Even though her consciousness was hazy, she still held her blade up to the end and did not forget her politeness. Erich shuddered at the thought that this was the child of Margrave Albert, the Hero of the Frontier, Defender of the Northwestern Border.

“Erich, it’s just as just as you’ve seen,” Albert said. “Don’t be shy with Flora. Never factor in her being a woman or a young child. I want you to use every possible method to teach Flora swordsmanship.”

“Ye… yes sir!” Erich cried.

From Erich’s point of view, he had to say that both Albert and Flora are abnormal. However, if both parties were satisfied with this, not as a normal parent and daughter, but as a lord and his successor, Erich would not intervene in the educational policy.

Above all, when I thought that I would be able to raise this noble little knight cadet with his hands, he couldn’t help but shudder at the weight of that responsibility and Flora’s future growth.