Chapter 97: But I’m Not Joking?
Ernest also decided to go to Leila’s house. He was someone who connected everything back to exploration, so he was very excited about the ‘Duchy Exploration’.
“Oh my God, the Thermion Duchy! I’m so nervous!” Ernest exclaimed.
“If you go and touch anything, you’ll be in big trouble. Got it?”
“Alright! I’ll just look!”
Still, I was relieved that he wasn’t the type who’d do a real exploration at someone else’s house.
“It would have been nice if Priscilla had come, too.”
“It can’t be helped. She said she needed to go to the main temple right away.”
“I wonder why. I’ll have to ask when she gets back.”
Unfortunately, Priscilla couldn’t come with us due to a sudden summons from the Grand Temple. It was some urgent matter, so I suppose elites really were different.
Anyway, we proudly got our leave from the dormitory.
Fortunately, this time, I didn’t need the professor’s permission. After the midterms, all students were given a free pass to go out without needing separate permission.
“Is this for two days?”
“Yeah. One night and two days. We’ll stay overnight and come back in the afternoon. Ernest, is that acceptable?”
“Of course!”
“Good. Let’s go then.”
Leila looked quite excited. Could it be because she was going home for the first time since entering school?
When I heard that she was going home, I thought about going back, too, but my father’s birthday was right around the time final exams ended, so I thought it would be better to go then.
Above all, it was a distance that couldn’t be covered in one day. There was the Teleport Gate, but it took Arabella several days to prepare it before use. I didn’t want to go that far.
It would be better to go during the vacation.
Or…
Grow strong enough to operate the Teleport Gate myself.
“Ha, finally outside!”
“Yahoo! Exams are over!”
In the midst of all this, the other two were so excited that they didn’t know what to do with themselves as we left through the main gate of the academy.
“How long will it take to get there, Leila?” Ernest asked.
“About thirty minutes? It’s not that far,” Leila stated.
“That’s really close. My home is almost at the end of the West, so it takes a whole month to get there by horse…” Ernest muttered as if he were jealous.
“If I get a chance later, I’ll visit your family, too.”
“Alright! It’ll take a month, but I think it’ll be fun if we go together!”
“What is famous in the West?”
Ernest smiled brightly at my question and answered, “There are so many unexplored places! It’s a bit dangerous, but it’s still fun to explore! My father is there now. I haven’t heard from him in five months, but I think he’ll be back soon.”
“F-five months?” Leila asked.
Ernest nodded as if it was only natural. “Originally, an expedition to an unexplored area could take as long as a year.”
Now I understood why Baron Dylan’s estate was so small. They were all addicted to exploring, so the size of their estate didn’t really matter.
By the way, looking at Ernest’s muscles these days, it looked like he’d be able to start weapon training soon. Exploration was exploration, but he also needed to train enough to be able to win against Bronn’s gang.
“Oh, that’s right. I want to visit your family, too.”
“That’s good. Let’s go together when we have time.”
“But wouldn’t it take quite a while to go to the South?”
I remembered the day when I came from our Count’s Castle to the Academy in just one day and said, “If we go with Arabella, it’ll only take a day. She’s already set up a Teleport Gate.”
“Wow! A Teleport Gate!” Ernest’s eyes sparkled.
Leila looked interested, saying, “You came from the South in one day?”
“Yeah. Oh, didn’t I tell you?” I asked.
“…Well, you’re you, but your older sisters are also amazing,” Leila said as if she were jealous. “I wonder where my brothers are and what they are doing.”
Her eldest brother was currently deployed to the Eastern territory where a local war was taking place. Her second brother was said to have left home a long time ago, and he couldn’t be contacted.
It wasn’t always the case, but Leila would often make an envious expression whenever I talked about my sisters.
“What kind of people are your brothers?”
“Well, my eldest brother, Owen, is very kind. He always played with me before he left for the East. My second brother… likes to surprise me and plays a lot of pranks. Sometimes he makes me mad, though.”
Leila’s older brothers… I thought it would be nice to meet them.
“Where is your second brother?”
“He’s very free-spirited. He left home, and I don’t know where he is now. He said he was practicing… In my opinion, that doesn’t seem right.”
Was there something there?
“You don’t know where he is?”
“Yeah. Since he was appointed as a knight, he’s been wandering around outside.”
Ah, he was a free knight.
“Your brothers are amazing.”
“I don’t know about my eldest brother, but my second brother definitely is.”
Now that I thought about it, it seemed my family was unusually harmonious. In a ruthless aristocratic society, it wasn’t that uncommon for brothers to shed blood.
“By the way, the Thermion Forge. Does that place really make anything?” Ernest suddenly changed the subject.
“Yes. Anything the person with the sign wants. It’s a place that all the heroes in history books have visited at least once.”
“That’s really amazing!”
As we were slowly getting closer to the Thermion Duchy…
“Sir Asmar!” Leila exclaimed happily.
Following Leila’s gaze, I saw a group of knights approaching from not far away.
Sir Lewik Asmar. He was the knight who came out to pick me up when I arrived in the capital and stayed at Leila’s.
“Miss, how have you been?” Sir Asmar finally arrived before Leila and paid her the due respect of a knight.
Then the rest of the knights behind him followed suit and saluted. It was quite the sight. This was when I realized again that Leila, who used to roll around in the club room with us, was the young lady of a duchy.
“Sir Asmar, have you been well?” Leila asked.
“Of course. Thanks for your concern. Oh, I think you’ve grown taller.”
“Really?”
“Yes. My eyes have always been very accurate. Haha.”
Leila, who had been speaking to him affectionately, introduced Ernest and me, “This is Dane. You’ve met before, right? This is Ernest Dylan, the eldest son of the Dylan Barony. He’s a new friend I made at the Academy.”
“Oh, hello! I am Ernest Dylan, the eldest son of Baron Dylan! The Dylan Barony is…”
“It’s famous for exploration, right? I know it well.”
Ernest clasped his hands together as if he was momentarily moved, saying, “Our family is more well-known than I thought…”
“We purchased some relics unearthed by the Dylan Barony. For your information, one of them is a statue displayed in the family’s garden.”
Ernest nodded with an expression that said it was a good thing he came.
I smiled at that sight and greeted Sir Asmar, “Sir Asmar, how have you been?”
“Hello, Master Dane. How is your life at the Academy?”
“It’s very fun.”
“That’s good. Oh, I heard that you passed the special summoner exam. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
As expected, rumors traveled fast. Well, it had been a few weeks since the event, so it’d be weirder if there were people who didn’t know about it, right?
“Well, shall we go then? I will escort you, young lady. Come this way.”
There was a carriage where Sir Asmar had pointed, but Leila shook her head.
“No. It’s right in front of us. Why bother with a carriage? I’ll just walk,” she stated.
“Oh…” Sir Asmar looked slightly shocked, but only for a moment. “Alright, then I will escort you on foot.”
* * *
The rest of the knights quickly moved and formed a line to escort us on both sides. The carriage soon returned the way it came.
Sir Asmar’s expression looked strangely pleased.
“The street is really pretty, isn’t it?” Meanwhile, Leila was talking to me as if nothing happened. “I should see such a pretty street more often. It’s stuffy to be in a carriage, isn’t it?”
This girl… Well, actually, if you thought about it, the main reason for taking a carriage was for the convenience of an escort. Leila seemed to want to turn down being treated like a noble young lady to be pampered.
I guess I’d just have to accept it as growth, right?
“Wow!”
After a while, we finally arrived in front of the duke’s mansion. Ernest, who had never been there before, was amazed with his mouth open, and Sir Asmar explained as if he had been waiting.
“It’s a mansion with a long history, built before the founding of the empire. You’ll be even more surprised when you see the interior.”
“We will assign a ‘guide’ to you as you enter.”
A guide. Well, it seemed a guide was needed to show guests around this expansive ducal mansion.
“It’s the pride of our family. ‘The Duke’s Mansion Tour.’”
Leila happened to be bragging, so I chuckled and asked, “Tour the mansion?”
“Yes. Without a guide, you’ll definitely get lost.”
Our county’s castle was just as large, but we didn’t need a guide since it was built with an intuitive structure.
We entered through the main gate of the duke’s mansion and passed through the long garden, and Leila’s expression was quite a sight.
“…Was it this long?”
If we had come by carriage, it would have been more comfortable for everyone. Leila, however, endured the long and tedious walk, perhaps because she had something to prove.
Ernest, of course, was very excited. He was the kind of person who ended up exploring, researching, and investigating anything new.
As for me, I wasn’t bored because I was walking and talking to Sir Asmar.
“This is your second visit, Master Dane,” the knight said.
“Oh, yes. That’s true. The midterms are over, and I thought it was a good idea to tag along. I’m not sure if that will cause a problem,” I mused.
“No, sir. I am rather happy. The Duke was also very happy to hear the news. This is the first time that Lady Leila has brought a friend to the mansion, and that it is Master Dane just makes it greater news.”
Leila was pretty sociable, but perhaps it was because she was more mature than others our age.
“Of course I am very happy. I was worried that Lady Leila would go to the academy and devote herself to swordsmanship all day long, but I think I can put those worries aside now.”
Seeing his big smile and genuine joy, I could tell he really cared for Leila. I quickly understood why.
“Oh, that’s right. Sir Asmar is my swordsmanship teacher. He taught me the basics of swordsmanship,” Leila said.
“I am ashamed. I am far behind Duke Thermion, so I am not sure if I can say that I taught Lady Leila.”
Leila crossed her arms with an embarrassed expression on her face. “You’re acting so humble, but I’ve never won before.”
He laughed.
I heard he was probably a Hexa-class powerhouse.
Hexa-class.
I was a quad-class with four cores in my previous life, so he might be stronger than the version of me from my previous life. The reason for the uncertainty was that I had been through a lot on the battlefield, so I was stronger than the average quad-class knight.
I hoped we would have a chance to spar sometime. Since I was a guest, today would probably be tough.
“But when I was about Lady Leila’s age, I didn’t have the skills and potential to do what you can. Lady Leila will surpass me in no time,” Sir Asmar stated.
“Huh. That’s good… What about Dane?” Leila suddenly glanced at me and spoke as if addressing Sir Asmar. “He’s really annoying.”
“Wh-what?” Sir Asmar was taken aback, and I chuckled at Leila’s antics.
“He’s good at spearmanship, summoning, and magic. Honestly, doesn’t that seem a bit ridiculous?”
Sir Asmar seemed to break out into a cold sweat.
“Ha… haha… What a great talent.”
“He’s even good at swordsmanship. Did you know that?”
“S-swordsmanship, too?”
Leila shook her head at me as if she didn’t like it.
“I really mean it, it doesn’t make sense,” she grouched.
Well, once the rumors spread, everyone would know.
“To be honest, at first I wondered how this could make sense, and I was jealous… But now it just makes me want to prove myself?” she stated.
“That’s good, Miss. As always, having someone to stimulate you helps you grow.”
“Well, sometimes it goes beyond stimulation and makes you give up.”
I shrugged my shoulders and explained, “Actually, I’m not that great.”
“It’s not easy to learn both spearmanship and swordsmanship at the same time… You really have an incredible talent, Master Dane.” Sir Asmar’s eyes sparkled as he said that. “Did you learn swordsmanship from the count?”
“I didn’t learn it from my father. I learned it by doing various things.”
“Then it would be even more amazing…”
“I am currently learning from Professor Kelthas.”
“Ah! Senior Kelthas! He was there!”
Seeing him nod as if he understood, I thought that I should use Professor Kelthas as an excuse more often.
“He is truly an amazing person. Although we did not have a close relationship, I had the opportunity to visit the imperial palace and observe his swordsmanship. I witnessed the true essence of heavy swordsmanship. I still cannot forget how I felt at that time.”
Heavy Swordsmanship.
He was said to use heavy swordsmanship, but I didn’t really feel that way when we sparred. Was he not using it anymore?
“If I get the chance later, I would like to have a duel with you sometime.”
I smiled at those words. That was what I had hoped for.
Since my family and House Thermion weren’t distant enough to consider political factors, I didn’t think it would be a problem.
“While we’re on the subject, a spar during this visit sounds nice. Even if it’s not necessarily with you, Sir Asmar, I’d like to see the skills of the Thermion knights,” I said.
“That sounds good. I’ll try to get the duke to agree as soon as we get back. What do you think, Lady Leila?”
Leila shrugged at Sir Asmar’s question and said, “Don’t hold back like you do with me.”
“Haha, of course. But since it’s a sparring match, if we push too hard…”
“I’m not joking.”
“What?”
Leila looked at me and continued speaking. “Really. If you hold back, your pride’s going to get hurt.”
I was so dumbfounded that I snickered. Why was she suddenly acting like this all of a sudden?
By the way, this was a duel with Thermion knights. I didn’t know how Sir Asmar would act…
But I should be able to give my all, right?
