CH 178

“……”

“……”

In the tense air, I held my iron sword with the blade crushed and gradually closed the gap. I know him well, I’ve crossed swords with him many times, I know his timing. 

…… I’m sure this will be the final blow, I exhale and put my hand on the sword and try to close the gap in one fell swoop. 

“With this ……!”

“……!”

I swing my sword at my opponent two or three times in a row, but of course, he’s not going to take it quietly, and I can hear the sound of his blows and the sound of the wind whistling as he evades me. 

And to make sure I defeat him, I unleash a technique that I’ve sublimated into my own specialty!

“Dragon …… Fang!”

“Kuh!?”

The Dragon Fang, a technique that uses left and right feints and high speed swings to attack from both sides as if bitten, causes the opponent’s sword to fly through the air, fall to the ground, and drop to one knee. 

“…… Fuh, I’ve lost. You’ve gotten stronger, Lars.”

The other person in front of me …… Tigre-sensei, smiles as he holds his numb hands and tells me so. As I wipe the sweat off my face, I lend a hand to teacher and say replied while standing up.

“It’s all thanks to you, Sensei. Thank you for taking time out of your day off to practice with me today.”

“Don’t worry about it. Since I started teaching, I haven’t had the chance to fight as much, so it’s good for me.”

As he picked up the sword and slung it over my shoulder, a small figure stepped in between me and Tigre-sensei.

“Lars-kun, you can’t hurt my dad!”

It was Tilia-chan, the daughter of Tigre-sensei and Verna-sensei. She will be five years old this year, and it’s time for her to get some skill, but lately, she seems to be moving around a lot more and showing more emotion.

Even now, she was holding out her hands in front of Tigre-sensei, intimidating me.

“Ahaha, I’m sorry, Tilia-chan. Your papa is the strongest, so papa is the best for my training.”

“Papa is strong?”

“Yes.”

When I smiled at her, she smiled and hugged Tigre-sensei’s leg.

“Papa, you’re so cool.”

“Haha, you’re so cute.”

“Nn!”

Tigre-sensei carried Tilia-chan on his shoulders and laughed. Then Verna-sensei, who was watching Tilia-chan and our practice nearby, approached.

“Good work. Lars-kun, you’ve gotten stronger, huh.”

“Thank you, Verna-sensei. But I’ve only won three or four times in ten tries, so I still need to work hard.”

“…… You, don’t say that in front of Ryuuze, okay?”

“He’ll understand.”

I have a good number of wins, because Ryuuze is at the level where he can win once or twice.

–I’ve been training with Tigre-sensei like this since I graduated. It’s been almost a year since I graduated, but I’m still in the town of Gust.

“…… You’re going, right?”

“Yes. I’m going to Royal Capital.”

Of course, there are reasons why I’ve stayed in this town for almost a year.

One reason is to attend the wedding of my brother and Nora. They had decided to get married this year, when Nora would be celebrating her sixteenth birthday, so I was waiting for it. The preparations are already in place and all I need to do is decide on the date and they’re good to go.

The other thing I’ve been doing is training and practicing to improve my strength.

I had already decided with Makina that I would go to the capital, but I didn’t know what I would be doing there, so for now I was concentrating on improving my abilities.

Of course, I did magic with Verna-sensei, and I helped my dad and brother who were already working in the office with the internal affairs, and learned a lot of things.

This is what I call territory management, and I feel like I can make use of this somewhere else. I’ve never been to a village before, but I’ve learned how to expand it, and how to survey the population.

There’s a lot more to it than that, but that’s about it for now.

“Lars-kun, Tilia will play with you!”

“Hmm, I’d like to, but I have to go.”

“What! I want to play with you.”

“I’ll bring Aina next time, so I’ll see you later.”

“…… Really? Then I’ll be patient ……”

I stroked the head of Tilia, who looked like she was about to cry, and greeted the teachers.

“Then, next is Brother’s wedding.”

“Yeah, you can count on me to pay you back for that!”

“Before you go over there, let’s train some more magic. I can’t wait to see what kind of skills Tilia will get. Maybe something like Lars-kun’s Jack-of-all-Trades might be good?”

“Haha, it’s an unrefined skill, so I wouldn’t recommend it to the lovely Tilia-chan, though.”

“Mama, I’m cute, he said!”

“Yes, yes, Lars-kun love you, too, right. See you later.”

I raised one hand and walked down the mountain. I could fly, but I’d have to be careful not to take it too easy so as to put as much stress on my body as possible.

“Well, I’ve been going this way since I was a kid, so it’s a little late for that.”

As I walked lightly down the path, I could see the old house I had lived in as a child. In the garden, there was still the field that my father had grown, and when we moved, he had moved the seedlings but planted new vegetables.

I saw a family I knew tinkering in the field, so I called out to them.

“Hello, is Hauzen-san off today?”

“Oh, it’s Lars! Have you been to Tigre-sensei’s?”

“Yes, I went to get some training as usual.”

Then the boy who was hiding behind Hauzen-san recognized me and came running up to me with a smile.

“Hello, Lars-oniichan! Look, a big potato! I dug them myself!”

This proud little boy is Trim-kun, the son of Hauzen-san and Nina. He is now three years old, one year younger than Tilia-chan and two years younger than Aina.

He’s been playing with Aina and Tilia-chan since he was a baby, so I can say they are childhood friends. However, if they knew each other as we did, they would greet each other cheerfully like we do now, but when it comes to new people, they are very shy.

He would quickly hide behind Nina and Hauzen-san.

“He likes Lars-sama, who can play with boys, because there are only girls around. It’s almost time for Dedite-sama’s wedding, but will you be leaving after it’s over ……?”

“Yes. I have money, but I have a goal to let people know that my Jack-of-all-Trades skill is not a failure. In Royal Capital, there will be jobs where you can get results and there are many people. That’s why it’s perfect.”

Hauzen-san made a complicated face at my words, but affirmed them.

“Nina, Lars is strong in sword and magic. And he can also use ancient magic, so he’s not the type to fit in this town. I’ve known him since he was a child, so I’ll miss him. But It’s not a bad idea to get to know the outside world while you’re young.”

“I understand that, but …… I’ll still feel lonely.”

When I noticed Nina’s expression clouded over, Trim-kun tugged on my sleeve and said.

“Lars-niichan, are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah, a little far away.”

“Oh, …… I’m going to run out of people to play with ……”

“Why don’t you play with Aina and Tilia-chan?”

“They’re the ones who always run and leaving me behind, you know.”

His cheeks swell and raise his voice in protest. While smiling at Trim-kun, I stroke his head again and start walking.

“Well, I’ll tell Aina! See you later.”

“Yeah! Byebye!”

“You should eat at my place before you go, okay.”

“Say hello to Madam for me.”

Nina and her family saw me off, and I started down the hill. I smiled, wondering what I should say to Aina as I headed home.

Now it’s time to start the story towards the Great Sage!

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“He’s got money, after all”

He’s got roughly 2 million beryls.

“Seriously!? I want him to marry me too!?”

Even you ……