CH 17

“But… you got hurt, though?” Yuta asked as if he couldn’t understand.

I smiled because I was grateful to him for seriously worrying about my injury. When Yuta saw me smiling, he became even more puzzled.

“It hurts when you get hurt.” He said. “I hate that Isabella gets hurt.”

If I said only one word that I didn’t like training, he’d immediately run to Kellerhan and make him stop training.

I was quite in trouble as I held Yuta’s hand.

I didn’t want to quit training, but I didn’t want to do it roughly.

How should I describe this feeling?

After thinking for a long time, I opened my mouth.

“Young Lord, there is something more important to me than being hurt.”

“…What is that?”

“I don’t want to disappoint those who work hard for me.”

Kellerhan and Yuta took their time and participated in a training that would have been pretty trivial at their level solely for me.

It’s because they really care about my safety.

So I wanted to work harder. Even if I was hurt or sick, I wanted to achieve as much as Kellerhan and Yuta put in their efforts.

Although my skills are terrible right now, if I work hard, the day will come when I will be able to plausibly wield a sword.

Yuta didn’t seem to fully understand what I was saying.

However, he didn’t talk about quitting training anymore.

After he got to my room, Yuta spent a few more minutes examining my injury before leaving my room only after hearing that my pain had become better.

I waited by myself for a while, and then Magda came in to heat the bath water and bring my dinner.

Kellerhan was busy with the knights, and Yuta had to attend classes delayed by attending my training, so I ate dinner alone.

After dinner, I read some books, lay in bed to fall asleep, and various thoughts came to my mind.

Of course, the most intense image that dominated my head was Kellerhan, who told me he was sorry.

He even said he wouldn’t scold me. Because I’m not his subordinate.

So, what kind of existence does Kellerhan accept me as?

He knows that Lodgemund is after me, so he might be seeing me as something to be protected. Or maybe I’m being seen as something to be accepted and protected as a member of Barmuth.

Either way, it felt good.

The fact that I, too, have a guardian, and the fact that that guardian is doing their best for me, excites my heart.

And Yuta…

I put my thoughts on Kellerhan aside for a moment and remembered Yuta holding my wrist and crying.

To be so sorry for my pain, Yuta must have thought of me as a good friend.

Well, I’m nominally his fiancee, but Yuta is still young, so he doesn’t really know what engagement and marriage are.

I closed my eyes and dug into the blanket.

Inside the blanket was a soft stuffed animal that Magda put in today.

It looked like a puppy. It was black.

I checked the shape of the doll in the light of a magic lamp dimly illuminating the room and hugged it.

That night, I slept soundly without even dreaming.

***

After debating all night, Kellerhan came to a compromise by making a wooden sword that I could easily wield.

After breakfast, I went to the vacant lot with Yuta, and I saw Kellerhan holding a short, slender wooden sword specially made for me.

When I took the wooden sword he held out, it was clear that it was easy to handle.

There was only one thing I was worried about.

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be difficult because of the difference in weight when swinging a real sword later?”

“It’s okay. We also can customize the real sword.”

Kellerhan answered my question casually.

“Finally, starting today, you will be able to properly train.”

He brought a target that looked exactly like the one he stabbed yesterday and placed it in front of Yuta and me.

As a test, I lifted the wooden sword above my head.

It was a little difficult, but not impossible.

So, are we going to learn how to hit the ball on a regular basis today?

“Today, stab again.” Kellerhan said as if he was reading my thoughts.

“The sword must have some weight to have the power to strike down. If you hit that sword with all your might, it won’t have any effect.”

Kellerhan finished his explanation and gestured to Yuta to come out.

“Show us a demonstration one more time.”

Yuta showed off a flawless, perfect stab just like yesterday.

Just like yesterday, I was staring blankly at it, not knowing at all what principle stabbing was established.

“Next, Isabella.”

I took a deep breath and stepped forward.

As I tried to hold the sword, my whole body stiffened with tension.

Can I do it well?

No, let’s be confident. Now I can easily lift a sword (?).

I calmed my breathing, and, as Yuta had done, with one foot forward, I swung my sword at her target.

And the result is…

“…It’s weird, though?” Kellerhan said full of doubts. “Isabella, have you seen Yuta’s demonstration properly?”

“That… Actually, it was so fast I couldn’t see it very well.”

“As expected. I thought so. Yuta, demonstration once again. Slowly this time.”

At his orders, Yuta slowly demonstrated.

This time, it was slow enough that I could follow it with my own eyes.

“Now, it’s Isabella’s turn. You can do it slowly.”

I waved my sword, remembering every move Yuta had made.

And silence fell in the vacant lot.

The tip of my sword reached the target.

However, even an outsider could see that it was a poor trajectory that could be affirmed, ‘this is not a stabbing’.

“Isabella, again.” Kellerhan ordered, tilting his head.

Up until this point, he believed in me.

“Again.”

Once.

“Again.”

Twice.

“…Again.”

And many times.

Slowly, Kellerhan began to notice something.

The fact that I have no hope.

“Why isn’t it working?”

Kellerhan muttered as if he really couldn’t understand.

“If someone taught you how to stab, shouldn’t you be able to stab?”

He asked me.

I was offended, but it’s true, so I couldn’t respond.

Yuta didn’t make a face that he didn’t understand me openly like Kellerhan, but he was bewildered enough.

“Isabella… You can’t stab well?”

In response to Yuta’s question, I nodded my head as I took a deep breath with a series of stabs.

“…Why?”

“I don’t know either.” I answered Yuta’s question. At my answer, Kellerhan and Yuta’s expressions grew more serious.

“Isabella, take a look. Holding the sword like this, moving the arm like this, stabbing like this.”

This time, the impatient Kellerhan gave the demonstration.

I stared blankly at the captain of the Gottfried Knights, which boasts of the Empire’s most powerful force, and the reaper of criminals, who was demonstrating a stabbing demonstration for his nine-year-old daughter-in-law.

“How about now, do you understand?”

Kellerhan asked with a proud expression as if he was satisfied with his demonstration.

I apologize I still don’t know.

“Come on, try again.”

I really did my best.

I aimed my sword so hard that I wondered if I had ever shown such concentration before.

But the result is…

“…What will be good for you?”

Kellerhan rubbed his forehead.

***

Kellerhan never gave up on me.

He even taught me by delaying some of the knights’ work. His goal was to somehow complete the stabbing before the engagement ceremony.

“Even if it’s not perfect, just imitate it.”

Yeah, I’ll make it to the extent of imitating it rather than making it perfect. 

However, as the days went by, Kellerhan’s despair only deepened.

Three days before my engagement, he eventually called Gilbert to see my condition.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Young Madam.”

Gilbert was a cheerful young man with brown hair and bright green eyes. He watched me over and over again with his overwhelmingly shining yes.

“The rumors about the Young Madam among the knights are very widespread.”

Among the knights? Rumors about me?

“Be moderate and introduce yourself.”

Kellerhan was somewhat displeased and rebuked Gilbert. He said, “Oh my,” and introduced himself to me.

“My name is Gilbert Wool. I’m Gottfried’s surgeon.”

It means he’s a doctor.

Gottfried is made up of combat personnel who can subdue criminals, so Gilbert must be both a doctor and a swordsman at the same time.

That’s why he was able to check my condition and make a training schedule.

“My name is Isabella Schwires.”

“I guess this is enough.”

As Gilbert and I finished our greetings, Kellerhan intervened.

“Gilbert, I called because I wanted to ask you something.”

He made me stab one more time.

“Why the hell is it not working?” Then he turned to Gilbert and asked eagerly, as if he had been confronted with an unsolvable mystery.

Gilbert looked into Kellerhan’s eyes with a very cautious expression.

“I… ”

He ran out of luck.

“With all due respect, the Young Madam doesn’t seem to have a knack for swords.”

“Even if she doesn’t have a knack for swords, does it make sense for her to not be able to stab for four days?”

Kellerhan asked, full of questions.

Excuse me, Father, I’m right next to you. I can hear it all.

But whether I was listening or not, the conversation between the two men continued.

“It may be difficult for the Captain to understand, but there are people like that.”

“Then what should I do? She is the daughter-in-law of the Barmuth family, but she can’t be left defenseless like this.”

Gilbert thought for a moment.

“We have no choice but to have a teacher to continue to guide her. Or how about changing weapons? What she’s holding right now…”

He struggled for a long time to figure out the identity of my wooden sword.

It must be hard. All the basic form that a sword should have had been destroyed in order for me to be able to wield it.

“Short… rapier…? It’s good, but I think it would be okay to change it to a dagger.”

“I must make a dagger.”

Without delay, Kellehan drew up the next plan.

Gilbert, looking at the scene, smiled curiously.

“Hoho, if this fact is known outside, there will be uproar. There are a bunch of knights who are eager to be taught by the Captain, even for a moment.”

“If anyone says anything about me teaching my daughter-in-law, I have to twist their snout.”

“Didn’t you decline the invitation from the Imperial Knights to become a swordsman instructor last time?”

“Where do I have time to look at the attitudes of the Imperial Knights?”

“You have time to look after Young Madam’s stabs…”

Gilbert mumbled in a low voice that Kellerhan couldn’t hear.

While Kellerhan was making a practice dagger for me, the training stopped for a while.

It was only dagger crafting, but it was because the engagement ceremony was really approaching.