Chapter 14

༺ The First Letter (14) ༻

It has been a few days since I started practicing with Seria.

Of course, it hasn’t been very successful so far. After all, Seria was still a swordsman with superior skills than me, so, in a way, as a result of that I was the one who improved while watching Seria.

Training with her also changed my daily schedule a lot.

First, the amount of training time increased significantly. I used to always invest more than three hours a day in self-training, but it was nothing compared to Seria’s amount of training.

I swung my sword with her every dawn. I swung it even during breaks, and I swung my sword even at sunset.

I couldn’t be with her throughout the whole day of training, but since I told her that I would help, I had the obligation to do my best.

A noble must always keep his words. The words of a commoner and the words of an aristocrat differed in their weight. That is why we enjoyed wealth and glory at the expenses of the lower class.

Of course, as the second son of a countryside Viscountcy, it was rather funny for me out of everyone to talk about the duties of an aristocrat.

However, after spending a few days together, it was not like there were no results. First of all, I could understand Seria better than before.

The new things I learned about Seria were the following:

First, Seria lacked any common sense regarding human relationships. This had so far remained only in the realm of conjectures, but day by day I gained more and more confidence in my hypothesis.

For example, her reaction to my last attempt at flirting.

Come to think of it, I wasn’t even sure that Seria was ‘Sepia’, so I thought it might be weird of me to suddenly praise her appearance. So the next day, I offered her a sincere apology.

However, Seria only tilted her head as if she had not even taken any of my words to heart.

“......? No, it’s fine. It’s true after all.”

“it’s true?”

I inadvertently asked that question in response to a reaction beyond my imagination. Then Seria replied as if she was saying something natural.

“Yes, it’s something I have heard a lot since I was a child. So, objectively speaking, I thought I’m pretty.....I’m right, aren’t I?”

At the last minute, she glanced into my eyes, seemingly having lost confidence. I knew she didn’t have any ill will.

In other words, it meant that she truly considered herself as ‘beautiful’ as an objective fact. She wasn’t being sarcastic.

But words always have complex subtext and intentions hidden behind them. Usually, when you compliment someone’s appearance, there is also the underlying intention of making the other person feel better.

Seria didn’t even know the basics of conversation. It was only then that I realized why she was able to get her other nickname, ‘Yurdina’s Loner.’

It wasn’t that she was aloof; she was just slow witted. As a result, her relationship must have always been a series of failures, and from some point onward, she inevitably started building a wall against others.

Just as I was about to talk about that point, I then heaved a deep sigh, as if I had given up.

It wasn’t a habit that could be fixed in a day or two anyway. So, I just responded in the way she hoped.

“Yes, you are pretty. Anyone who sees you would say that you are beautiful.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

It’s good, Seria added, sighing in relief.

Rather than being afraid of the possibility that she might not be pretty, she seemed relieved having ascertained the truthfulness of the information she already knew.

It seemed impossible to conquer Seria’s heart using only the basics Leto gave me. Anyway, I wasn’t even sure that she was ‘Sepia,’ so I didn’t even need to get any closer to her than necessary.

And second, Seria lacked the concept of ‘rest’.

The first day I started training with her, I had to follow her all day trying to keep up with her training. I then reached a conclusion.

Seria devotes most of her time to training, except for the time she eats or when she listens to lectures. She embodies the ideal model of a ‘hard-working genius’, but improving one’s skills wasn’t something that could be obtained by simply investing time in it.

Even during the harshest training of childhood, which could be said to be the most difficult period of my life, I was given adequate rest and nutritional supplementation. Otherwise, my muscles might have been damaged.

There was no way that a woman from the Yurdina family, one of the most revered noble families of the Empire, did not know this. Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked her.

“Seria?”

“Yes, senior Ian.”

Seria, who was rehydrating herself by drinking water out of the bottle, responded so and then looked at me.

Her gray hair was drenched with sweat. The sound of her stable breathing, even though she swung the sword so much, combined with her alluring sapphire eyes, exuded an otherworldly aura from her.

The woodland at dawn was submerged in silence, and the sun was shining down on Seria as if it was gently revealing one of the jewels the world had hidden.

She truly was beautiful. Just as I once again harbored such sentiments, I asked Seria.

“You’ve only been swinging my sword all day since yesterday. Where do you find the time to rest? In this way, the muscles won’t have enough time to regenerate and their effectiveness will diminish.”

Then Seria’s head tilted once more. It was a gesture that I had seen many times since I started spending time with her; it was the expression she made when she couldn’t understand the meaning of my question.

No matter how much healing potion one uses, intense training would result in a higher risk of injury. It’s only natural that Seria would sprain her ankle one day.

“Oh, Heup!”

I, who was wielding a sword alongside Seria, immediately turned my head upon hearing her soft cry.

Seria sat there, clutching her ankles. It didn’t take me long to figure out the situation.

Because there was no swordsman who wasn’t used to injuries. I rushed to her.

“You all right?”

“Yes, my ankles just... Ah.......”

It looked like it was sprained badly. Seria’s ankle seemed to be burning with a heated sensation. It hadn’t swelled yet, but it was sure that it would swell soon.

As It was a sprain, I took the first aid kit out of my bag.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. If you eat a healing potion, it will heal... Kya?!”

There was no need to listen to her any more. When the ointment was applied to her ankle, Seria let out a cute scream at the cold touch.

Hearing such a squeal from her mouth, who always maintained a cold visage, a strange pleasure welled up inside of me. I deliberately rubbed her ankles as if I was massaging the area.

“Ugh, uh... Sen-i-or.......”

In the midst of cries of pain and pleasure blended together, I finally let Seria go. Tears welled up in her eyes.

No matter how used to injuries you are once you get hurt, tears are bound to well up in the corners of your eyes. I rubbed the injured area by pressing it all the while being careful so it wouldn’t hurt.

Seria’s eyes harbored a slight resentment. But in the end, I still was her senior.

I then said to her with a subtle smile.

“Nonsense, what did you say about drinking healing potion? No matter how effective a healing potion is, it is not almighty.”

At my words, a slightly sullen expression appeared on Seria’s face, but she couldn’t respond since what I said was absolutely right.

My voice, which initially had a gentle tone, gradually turned cold.

“You are well aware that no matter how much healing potion you take, it cannot relieve the fatigue accumulated in your joints. That’s why you have to adjust the intensity of your training. Why are you in such a hurry?”

Then I took out the clean cotton cloth I had carried in my arms. I carry it with me every time I train just in case, so that it could be helpful in cases like this.

I picked up a twig that was lying on the ground and used it as a splint. At that, Seria, who had only moaned a few times, quickly avoided my gaze.

“...... I have an opponent I want to win against.”

“Is she in fourth grade?”

Hunting Festival of the Year, Last Chance.

They were small clues, but they still could help me infer something. At my straightforward question, Seria silently nodded her head.

A sigh escaped my mouth. It looked like a troublesome matter.

“Seria, your whole life isn’t about the academy. There is a world outside the academy. Even after graduating, there will be plenty of opportunities to compete, so why are you in such a rush now?”

“She will go further away.”

Now it was my turn to be silent. I, who was holding the splint on her ankle tightly, turned my gaze to her.

Seria was looking down at the floor obliquely, without making eye contact with me. But in her eyes there dwelled a deep sense of despair.

She was biting her lips. with strong conviction.

“As time goes on, the person will go further. You can’t even compare her to me.”

“...... How are you so sure?”

“Because she will soon be Yurdina.”

I chose to remain silent again. Seria’s expression looked complicated. Looking at that despondent, grim face.

It must have been a face that no one had seen. Everyone has at least one such face. So I bowed my head again and put a bandage around her ankle.

Although she could feel the bitter pain, Seria didn’t shed a single moan. However, I could feel that her head was hanging low.

“The academy is the only place where I can be evaluated without discrimination. Senior Ian.”

The world outside the academy.

I pondered over the words I had unintentionally spoken to Seria.

And the bandages were tied tighter. Because that was all I could do now.

To Seria, the world was such a cruel place