"I don't like it, but our sparring match showed me that you're skilled enough to be taken seriously. You're not a child I can simply dismiss." She glared at me without touching the fresh cup of tea. "At any other time, I would have sent you straight to some remote mountain village as a knight, but..."

Wait, stop. Had I just heard something promising in that icy voice? "But now that you've received Her Highness's invitation and are going to the capital with my son, I can no longer send you away like that."

I smiled bitterly to myself. When I'd first gained my ability, I might have interrupted her and asked her to send me to that mountain village as a knight. But too much had happened since then for me to leave that way. What she said next was nothing like what I'd expected.

"While you're in the capital, I won't interfere, whether you build connections, improve your skills, or make a name for yourself." I'd expected her to tell me to keep my head down, not that I could do as I pleased. What was she thinking? Judging by her expression, though, she didn't expect much of me. She didn't seem to be underestimating my skills... Was it the capital itself? In any case, if she was saying all this, she wanted something.

"I don't care what you do, but I'd like you to help Manuel return home safely." Hah. She'd dressed it up, but in the end she wanted me to protect her son. "If you keep Manuel safe and bring him home without incident, I'll see that your mother, Amanda, is treated far better than she is now." And there was a veiled threat, too. An effective one. It was no different from saying she'd make Mother suffer if I failed to protect him.

Given the Duchess's character, I doubted she'd kill Mother if something went wrong, but the kind of harassment nobles inflicted in the books I'd read was hardly mild. Having every servant shun her and turn against her... It wasn't hard to wear a person down. "Can you do that?"

Honestly, it was something brothers ought to be able to do for each other. After our sparring match, I no longer felt badly toward Manuel and had intended to help him if I could. But hearing it put this way left a bitter taste in my mouth. I bowed my head again and asked, "All I need to do is bring my elder brother Manuel back to the estate safe and sound?" She seemed slightly displeased at my calling him my elder brother, but nodded. "That's all." "Understood."

As long as he came back to the mansion in one piece, that would count, right? I'd better stock up on potions and find a healer. Could severed limbs be reattached? Were there resurrectionists or necromancers around? Those thoughts occupied me as I left the Duchess's drawing room that day.

Oops. I shouldn't have thought back to that. When our eyes met, the Duchess's gaze sharpened a little. Careful, careful. After saying goodbye to Mother, whose eyes were full of sadness, Manuel and I boarded the carriage and left the mansion while the maids saw us off in tears. It was my second journey beyond the domain, and my first step toward standing on my own.

* * *

Unlike the road to the marquis's estate, the route from the Duke's domain to the capital ran through low hills and vast plains. The horizon stretched on without a mountain in sight, and seemingly fertile but untended fields extended as far as the eye could see. Perhaps that was why the journey to the capital, the heart of the kingdom, was so peaceful. The broad, well-packed road went on endlessly, and people often passed our carriage. Of course, they quickly stepped aside at the sight of the knights, soldiers, and fine carriage, but I saw no deep fear in their eyes.

There were no monsters or bandits on the road before we left the Duke's domain, or as we passed through other domains. As the leisurely journey continued, the soldiers and servants relaxed and began to enjoy it, as did Angel, the knight leading our party. Unlike the other knights, Angel and I weren't close. I'd gotten to know quite a few knights over the years, but perhaps the Duchess had chosen carefully, because I barely knew this one. Of course, I didn't know every knight in the domain, but I'd had the impression that Angel deliberately avoided me.

At any rate, after so much idle time, Manuel, who had been ignoring me, apparently grew bored in the carriage and spoke up. "Who on earth is this patron who invited you? Taking an illegitimate son all the way to the capital to pay for his education... No matter how I think about it, I can't understand why Father allowed it." Both the Duke and Duchess knew who my patron was, but they hadn't told anyone else. The Duke had warned me to keep word from spreading as much as possible, too. In typical fashion, he wanted to keep the ducal house out of needless political strife. I intended to stay as quiet as I could myself, to avoid getting dragged into needless trouble. If Simon or Manuel had been sponsored by the Queen, they might not have kept it secret. But that was never going to happen, so I planned to keep my mouth shut.

"You must know. When I asked Mother, she just said I didn't need to know..." She'd given him a perfectly clear answer, so why was he asking me? If she'd said he didn't need to know, he ought to keep quiet. "I don't know exactly who it is, either. Besides, His Grace told me not to tell anyone..." "Oh..." So Manuel was afraid of the Duke as well. The mere mention of him stopped the questions.

"No, I wasn't asking for any particular reason. I don't know who your patron is, but surely they aren't covering all your living expenses too. You could stay at our house in the capital or in a dormitory, but what will you do about everything else? Don't tell me Father gave you money separately." My dear elder brother couldn't leave it at dropping the question; he had to tack on a pointless excuse. "No. I have some money I've saved, and Mother has given me a little. If I really run short, I'll look for work while I'm at the academy."

Mother had offered me money before I left, but I couldn't accept it. One glance told me it was every bit of emergency money she'd saved. I couldn't blithely take it like I had in my previous life. Besides, I'd saved quite a lot myself. The gold coins and jewels I'd gathered during the tomb exploration hadn't been exchanged yet, but they were sure to be worth a fair amount. I could live comfortably in the capital on my own money.

Oh, right. Before we left, the Duke had sent me some money through the head butler, calling it an allowance to maintain appearances. It wasn't much, and he hadn't given it to me himself, but I'd accepted it with a grateful expression. It was free money; why turn it down? I had hidden the money deep in my clothes and luggage.

For several days, we camped or rented empty houses in villages for food and lodging. Then we passed through a small domain and stayed for a day at its lord's mansion. The baron who ruled it was a distant relative of the Duchess, and his children were heading to the capital at the same time. "Welcome. It's been a long time since I saw you as a little boy." A richly dressed middle-aged man greeted us in the ground-floor lobby. Since he was related to the Duchess through her family, I'd expected him to look down on me. To my surprise, he was kind even to me. After greeting Manuel, he came over and put a hand on my shoulder. "I hear you're an excellent swordsman. Simon, Manuel, and now you as well. The ducal house has truly been blessed." He seemed to know exactly who I was, which made his behavior all the harder to understand.

There were two women in the lobby as well, seemingly opposite in temperament. I assumed they were his wives. A boy and a girl who looked to be in their early to mid-teens stood there, too. They appeared to be the baron's children who would travel to the capital with us. As I looked around and our eyes met, the boy and girl reacted differently. The girl winked at me; the boy, his expression stiff, glared.

'Wow. They say girls grow up faster than boys, and they weren't kidding.' Perhaps because of her age, though, her attempt at acting coy looked painfully awkward. Then again, if I'd been an ordinary child, would I have fallen for it? She was quite pretty, so perhaps I would have. But I was anything but an ordinary child, and I could only feel sorry for her. The boy's reaction, on the other hand, was adorable. 'Now that's a boy acting his age.'

The baron's friendliness had made me uneasy, and the boy's expression confirmed it was nothing but an act. The baron, his wives, and his daughter could hide their feelings, but apparently his son couldn't. 'I don't know why they're putting on this act, but I'd better stay sharp.' It didn't seem like something the Duchess, who put such importance on proper noble conduct, would have ordered. Either way, I needed to shake off the complacency I'd fallen into.

Having resolved that, I smiled at the boy glaring at me, putting all my gratitude into it. He flinched. My smile startled him so badly that his face turned bright red and he didn't know what to do. 'Oh! This is how children should be. It's nice to see someone so innocent.' Between the girl acting coy beside him, Simon the old man in a young man's body, and Manuel the spoiled young noble, it was heartwarming to see a boy act his age. Thanks to his flustered reaction, the tedious introductions passed quickly.

Once the introductions were over, the baron led us brothers to the dining room. Some nobles would have invited the knight traveling with their guests to dine as well, but the baron didn't seem to be one of them. We were quite tired from the journey, but perhaps because this was a noble household, the meal went on and on. The baron and his wives made empty conversation, while his son grumbled and his daughter flirted with me in a peculiar way.

"As you know, my children will be going to the capital with you. I'm counting on you to look after them." "You needn't worry. I'll do my best," Manuel replied, thumping his chest. Were factions forming before we'd even arrived? Well, he wasn't the heir, but being seen with a duke's son couldn't hurt. Simon would have told Manuel plenty about the capital, too, so he probably wouldn't do anything reckless. Would he really not? Hmm. That worried me a little.

"I hear you're an amazing swordsman. They say you can even spar with grown knights. How do you do it? It's incredible." The baron's son plainly had trouble speaking to me, and even the baron and his wives seemed to struggle despite their efforts to be friendly. His daughter was entirely different. She carried on speaking and acting as though she were a grown woman trying to seduce a man.