Chapter 13
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‘Why was Cedric swaying like that?’Cedric appeared to have no control over his body at all.
Though the window wasn’t particularly high, it was outside, and I could even see Cedric’s appearance.
It was clear he was struggling.
[Hey there, that prince… He’s not in an advantageous position where he could hold the weapon properly, in my opinion?]Cedric’s state was odd, as Caliberne also noted.
With a student in that condition, normal people wouldn’t continue training.
However, Brian appeared to carry on with his lesson without seeming to mind that Cedric was having difficulties.
He demonstrated while wielding the gigantic sword he was carrying.
‘What the hell’s this?’Furthermore, Cedric, a smaller and younger boy than Brian, was clutching a great sword in both hands.
A great sword was so enormous and so heavy that even the average person would have trouble lifting it.
‘…that’s what it was.’Now I understand what’s going on. Due to his mana’s delayed release, Cedric began his swordsmanship later than one would expect from an imperial lineage.
When I arrived at the Imperial Palace, it had only been roughly a month since he picked up the sword.
The great sword he gave Cedric was heavy, so it was only logical that the prince would have trouble wielding it.
‘There’s no way he could practice with a sword like that, he’s a beginner, and he’s still a child.’
Hardly exhaling, Cedric raised the weapon to keep it from dropping to the ground. He then squinted his gaze in response to Brian’s
“What?”scream.
“Ha! I can’t do this anymore.”
As expected, I couldn’t just stay still and watch.
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After waiting for Tekarke’s class to end, I went up to Cedric and Tekarke as they were wrapping up their training and throwing their swords away.
“Huh, Ciel?”
As soon as Tekarke’s class ended, Cedric noticed me approaching them, and his cheeks started to flush.
And unlike the distressed look on his face, while he was clutching the great sword, Cedric was grinning like a young child.
“What are you doing here? Was the class a little early? Should I leave right away?”
Tekarke appeared to be in immense agony as he stared down at Cedric, who was babbling away.
It wouldn’t have been weird if he had openly cursed at me if it weren’t for Cedric.
“Your Majesty, it’s not like that, I’m here to talk to the swordsman teacher for a moment,” said Ciel.
“Oh, with Brian?”
With a look of disbelief on his face, Cedric turned to confront Tekarke.
Tekarke raised an eyebrow without masking his irritation as he said in an eerie voice.
“I’ve never made such a promise. Do you think visiting in this way was called a promise?”
I chuckled while pretending I hadn’t heard his provocative statements until I saw Tekarke responding sharply.
“We’re going to have classes together and talk a lot in the future, so isn’t it fine?” said Ciel.
Tekarke made an attempt to refute it, but Cedric spoke first.
“You’re right, Brian. You can communicate with the same teachers as swordsmanship.”
Tekarke remained silent in response to Cedric’s words, who had defended me.
“It’s better to say everything you want to say at that time, without having to make an appointment.”
“…that’s right, Majesty.”
I immediately reacted when I noticed Tekarke lowering his tail in response to Cedric’s words.
‘I was not supposed to do that, though.’
“Your Grace, I think Brian and I need to talk about this, so you’d better go up first. I’ll pick you up when it’s class time.”
“Yes, I see, Ciel.”
Cedric left first after that, which left Tekarke and me alone.
I explained to Tekarke that using a great sword as a beginner like Cedric would be excessive and inappropriate.
In a very polite, courteous, gentle voice.
But Tekarke’s sarcastic laughter was what resurfaced.
“So, don’t use a great sword? Who wants to?”
As I listened to his snarky voice, I had another idea.
‘He doesn’t vary from what I predicted, after all.’
I’m not sure if Brian was trying to sneer or if he was just in a foul mood, but he contorted and distorted every feature of his face in mock sarcasm.
“Don’t get me wrong.”
He spoke with a full nuance of nonsense in his voice.
“I think you’re mistaken for something, but no.”
To claim that a job with a salary of 200 million Kerta a year was worthless seems a bit harsh.
“No matter what anyone says, I’m in charge of the Crown Prince’s swordsmanship class, not you. So, I have the authority over what I want to teach him in class.”
“That’s why I’m offering you this suggestion, I won’t be able to change it anyway,” said Ciel.
“What? Suggestion?”, Brian snorted back.
“How dare you? Someone who rolled from the streets suggests to me?”
Gradually, my patience came to a limit. I tried to be polite, but if it sounded like this, it was hard for me to be silent.
“Well, if you’re Tekarke, wasn’t it a piece of cake to accept this suggestion? Since you’re better at handling swords than me, who rolled from the street, it would be easy to change the great sword to another one.”
“You—”
“It was said that a great swordsman doesn’t choose weapons, so what about Tekarke?”, I said with the corners of my mouth rising to form a smile.
“Or was it possible that the great Tekarke could only handle the Great Sword?”
Brian’s expression instantly turned colder.
When I looked into his eyes, I wondered if he wasn’t screaming inside.
[Hey, you’re also really grumpy. That’s right, you ought to treat him that way!!]I chuckled inside when I heard Caliberne’s reply.
I instantly felt a voice muttering over my head.
“…without parents.”
When I heard those words, which rang clearly in my ears, I tilted my head forward.
“W— what?”
My head went blank for a moment due to Brian’s tremendous toughness, which almost dug deep into my heart.
“Don’t mess with me. What does a commoner, not a knight, know about swords?”
Then Brian turned quietly, “What a waste of time.”
“Wait a moment—”
“If you thought I’d change the sword just because of a commoner’s words, you’re mistaken.”
He had a haughty look in his eyes as he turned to look at me and continued,
“Please know that it would never happen. Don’t be stupid and hope for anything else.”His emphasis on the term
‘stupid’
would not have been a mistake.
The talk came to an abrupt end as Brian walked away from the training area.
[Oh no, there was another personality problem. Pelene Volcano’s eruption would still be preferable to this beast.]“…”
[You think so too? Right?] [Ciel?]I didn’t answer the call of Caliberne that followed.
[Ciel? Excuse me?]“That son of a b–”
It was the first swear word I used after I took control of this body.
⚔️
I gave Tekarke a chance.
An opportunity to handle things quietly without commotion, so I could avert appealing to a higher authority.
Brian Tekarke threw that opportunity like trash, he couldn’t tell if it was poop or paste, so he simply tossed it away.
[N: like diamond (paste/soybean paste) and stone (poop), Brian didn’t realize the chance he threw away.]
The price to be paid was going to be high.
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes, what’s going on?”
Ciel politely greeted the Emperor and said with a smile.
A smile that makes a good impression, but gives a trustworthy expression.
That was important.
“I have come to tell you something urgently about the Crown Prince’s class, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor quickly clapped his hands together and turned to face me.
It was proof that he understood what I was saying.
Then he opened his mouth in a worried voice, “Yes, tell me.”
“I have one suggestion, for your Majesty.”
Today, I was going to teach Brian Tekarke.
‘Life in reality.’The lesson was that he was a fool to not understand the obvious fact that, if I was unable to resolve a situation as a commoner, I could rely on the Emperor’s authority.
In other words, today represents the day I got the better of that fool.