“That completes the roster. Senior Knight Hugo will be in overall charge. We leave tomorrow, so make sure you’re all prepared.”

“Yes, sir!” the knights answered the knight commander with vigor. Once he left, the assembled knights began to disperse.

“I didn’t expect you to be going, Senior Hugo,” Miguel said as he walked alongside him.

“Well, I’m sure the commander has his reasons.” Hugo looked puzzled himself. Guard duty? He could do it, but it wasn’t his specialty.

“You haven’t heard anything? If they’re sending you, I doubt it’s ordinary guard duty...”

Hugo shook his head. If there were a reason he needed to know, the commander would have told him. For now, all he had to do was carry out his assignment.

“More importantly, Miguel, are you all right? The other knights seem to be keeping their distance from you...”

“Well, it can’t be helped. If they want to advance, they have to think about who their future lord will be. At least some seniors still treat me the same as ever. You do, for one.”

“... You’ve been at it a long time. Perhaps it’s time someone replaced you. I could bring it up.”

“If I stop, they might give the job to you.”

“If I’m ordered to do it, I’ll do it.”

Miguel looked embarrassed. “Ha ha. No, I shouldn’t have brought it up. Truth be told, it’s getting hard enough that I probably do need a replacement, but my student won’t let me go.”

“He’s an illegitimate son, isn’t he? Does he refuse to listen because he’s a noble?”

“Oh, no, it’s not that he won’t listen.” Miguel glanced around. There was no one near them.

“He’s hard to teach because he’s so good. Without mana, he can fight me on even terms.”

“What are you saying...? He’s only nine.”

“Yes. Only nine.”

“Could his ability enhance his growth?”

“Yes. It strengthens his body. Otherwise, there’s no way a nine-year-old could be that strong.”

“Even so, that’s almost too strong to believe...” Miguel ranked among the best of the young knights. For a child to be his equal...

“We can put his physical development down to his inherited ability, but I can’t explain his swordsmanship. He understands it remarkably well, and his technique looks as though he spends every hour of the day practicing...”

“I heard he was a genius from an early age. Is he a genius with the sword, too?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because he’s a noble, or maybe he’s such a genius that an ordinary man like me can’t understand him...”

Hugo shook his head. “I’d heard he was doing well, but I had no idea he was that good. Why haven’t I heard any of this before?”

“You’re not the only one. I kept quiet, and so did everyone else.”

“Why?”

“Because we didn’t want to stir up trouble for no reason.” Someone else answered Hugo’s question.

“Ah!” Miguel snapped to attention with a guilty look, while Hugo looked uncomfortable. The speaker was the knight commander, who had approached without either of them noticing.

“Was that something I shouldn’t have asked?”

“Senior Hugo didn’t ask. I told him.”

The knight commander sighed at the two of them. “Your personalities couldn’t be more different, yet you end up doing much the same thing.”

They were kind and loyal, both of them good knights. But thinking of what lay ahead, he wished they had a little more worldly sense.

“Well, Hugo won’t cause any trouble. It’s hardly a great secret. Just don’t go out of your way to spread it.”

“Understood.”

An illegitimate son who was too talented was bound to cause turmoil within a family. Something similar had happened at the marquis’s house they were about to visit. Then again, with the duke at the head of House Gresia, perhaps there was no need to worry...

“No, it’s better that you know, Hugo. You’re joining the party on Alex’s... recommendation.”

“What? Young Master Alex’s?” Miguel exclaimed in surprise, but Hugo merely looked perplexed.

“I wouldn’t have thought he knew me. I’ve seen him in passing a few times, but we’ve never spoken.”

Hugo looked at Miguel. “I haven’t told him about you specifically. Oh, he was curious about the knights once, so I did explain a few things.”

At that, the knight commander looked at Miguel too. “No, I didn’t single you out for praise then, either. I only listed the names.”

“Well, we can ask him why later.”

“The reason I came to find you both is that youngest... son of the duke.” The knight commander addressed Miguel first.

“He’s joining the party going to the marquis’s estate, so return to your original unit until he comes back.”

“Ah, yes, sir!”

Then he turned to Hugo. “Remember that Alex will be secretly guarding Young Master Simon. Simon mustn’t know.”

Young Master Simon was hardly likely to welcome the news that his younger brother—an illegitimate son, at that—was protecting him. It was the duke’s order, but both the knight commander and Hugo understood it perfectly well.

The knight commander glanced at Miguel. “Lastly, I trust I don’t need to explain Young Master Alex’s abilities separately.”

“No, sir!”

After sending them off, the knight commander looked toward the mansion. He had served the ducal house for half his life.

“The kingdom’s unsettled enough as it is. I hope this trip passes quietly, at least...”

Alex had joined them on the pretext of providing secret protection, but it would be better if he never had to show what he could do. If an exceptionally talented illegitimate son emerged, Simon’s pride would be the least of their worries. The ducal house might grow as turbulent as the kingdom.

* * *

Persuading Mother was incredibly difficult. The adolescent excuse I’d given the duke had no effect on her at all. I hadn’t realized how much she feared for my safety.

The poisoning and assassination attempts when I was little had lodged deep in her heart and left her traumatized. As it turned out, she had only accepted my training with a knight because it would help keep me safe.

She kept objecting, but I had to stand my ground. After a long argument, I even brought Miguel in to help demonstrate my skills. Only then did she reluctantly give me permission.

“If anything happens, leave everything behind and run.”

Even so, Mother pressed money and a note bearing the address of my maternal relatives in the merchant trade into my hand and made me promise once more. “I will.”

In my last life, I would have obeyed without question. No, I probably wouldn’t have left home in the first place. Unfortunately, it looked as though I’d have a hard time following Mother’s advice in this life.

‘Wait. Nothing happened when Simon went to the marquis’s estate in my last life, did it?’

As long as I didn’t stir anything up, we were sure to make the trip safely and without incident. But stirring something up was exactly why I was going. I could only hope it wouldn’t cause too much commotion.

This journey was on an entirely different scale from our outing to the fortress. There were more than two carriages, and several times as many armed escorts: the knight commander, Hugo, ten other knights, and dozens of soldiers.

There was a hired driver for each carriage, along with maids and other servants to handle meals and odd jobs.

Apparently, someone had suggested that the Duchess should come too, but as in my last life, Simon had objected and she wasn’t joining us. We had an adolescent boy’s insistence on getting away from his mother to thank for that.

The head butler was going instead. He was an old man whom neither the duke nor the Duchess could treat lightly. I’d heard he was a noble from a branch of the ducal family, though no one seemed to know the details for certain. In any case, he was apparently qualified to stand in for the Duchess.

The party’s departure was quite a spectacle. Knights in gleaming armor led the way on horseback, followed by soldiers carrying their spears upright. The carriages came next, with the remaining soldiers and servants bringing up the rear.

Almost everyone in the mansion came out to see us off. The duke, the Duchess, and Mother too.

Even after we left the mansion, the people of the domain kept coming out to greet us until we were clear of Metena. The sight of people lining both sides of the road and bowing their heads was impressive, but perhaps because I still retained the sensibilities of my previous life, it made me a little uncomfortable.

Was it because they were bowing to the ducal house and the duke, rather than to me? Maybe I’d have felt differently if their greetings had been meant for me.

Simon, seated across from me, was putting on an impressive display. He sat perfectly upright, gazing out the window without losing his composure and occasionally raising a hand to wave. He looked every inch a noble. It would have been even better if his expression hadn’t twitched now and then, but for someone so young, he deserved plenty of credit.

After a somewhat tedious stretch, we left the city. Once we passed through the outer gate, Simon sighed and leaned back in his seat.

“Well done.” The head butler, seated beside me, offered Simon a glass of ice water.

I had no idea where he’d produced it from or how he’d kept it cold. The head butler really was a mystery.

Simon gulped down the water, and the head butler spoke to me. “You seem much more at ease than I expected, Young Master Alex. Isn’t this your first carriage journey? You look as though you’ve made several.”

I had ridden in one before... Oh, right. That trip had been undone. Still, I’d done it once, so there was nothing new about it. As for the grand procession, I’d seen enough of those in my previous life to be sick of them, and far grander ones at that.

“I’m actually very surprised on the inside. I’m just trying not to show how nervous I am.”

To everyone else, I was merely a thoughtless little boy tagging along with his older brother, whom kindhearted Simon had allowed to come. I had to speak and act the part.

“I don’t know why Father allowed this, but if you behave carelessly, you’ll answer to me. Be as careful as you can.”

“Yes. I understand.” Simon looked at me as if he’d seen something unpleasant. His words hadn’t exactly been pleasant to hear either, so we were even.

“But do I really have to get engaged to someone from House Hierro?” Simon didn’t seem happy about this trip. “I know nobles have to choose partners for the sake of their families, but...”

Huh? The Simon I’d seen in my last life hadn’t been like this.

“The rumors about Lady Adria don’t sound very good...”

Ah, he hadn’t met Adria yet. Were there rumors about her besides the ones about her beauty?

“You mean the rumors that she’s learning swordsmanship?” the head butler asked. “I doubt the duke will force the matter if you object, Young Master Simon. You needn’t worry too much.”

“You think Father would listen to me and call it off? Not a chance.”

So our dear duke wasn’t like that only with me. I couldn’t help admiring his consistency.

Still, Simon, you don’t need to worry this time. There’s no way you’ll object once you meet her.

I let Simon’s grumbling wash over me and looked out the window. The abandoned fortress had just come into view on its hill.

Had it already been three years? No, was there still a year to go? Either way, it looked much the same as when I’d last seen it.

I leaned my head out the window and looked ahead. Hugo, riding at the front, was gazing at the fortress.

‘I’m glad my recommendation worked. Once we’ve gotten to know each other a little, I’ll ask him about the fortress.’

The journey to the marquis’s domain would take at least half a month. Including the return trip, I’d have plenty of time. In my previous life, I could have covered the distance in half a day, but in this world, it was anything but a short trip.

They had a network of magical communication that was almost instantaneous, yet travel was like this. It was all because of the monsters scattered across the world after the Great War.

Before we had even left our domain, I saw a monster for the first time.