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chapter 26
“This is no time for this. I need to hurry up and become the best swordsman ever!”
Completely beyond his tutor’s control, Damian Valente finally attempted to escape the classroom.
The door burst open.
“What the—who are you?”
Standing on a chair in the hallway, peeking through the window, I ended up making direct eye contact with him.
People said he resembled the Duke, and indeed—he really looked like a shrunken version of his father.
Black hair, golden-tinged eyes.
How old was the little lord of House Valente again?
I dug through my regressed memories.
He was three years older than me, so…
He was eight now.
An eight-year-old little lord was glaring at me with a suspicious scowl.
“Ah, I’m—”
“An assassin?”
└ Like father, like son
└ What is WRONG with this family lol
└ FL might actually be a stealth master??
Well, if you’re gathering gossip at social gatherings, you learn to hide your presence a little… but a master? No.
Besides—what kind of assassin stands on a chair and brazenly peeks through a window?
“I’m not an assassin…”
“Then who are you? State your affiliation!”
“My… affiliation? Uh, Zelton Orphanage—”
“Suspicious. You were watching secretly.”
Then why did you ask?
“I just came because I heard a loud noise. I’ve been staying here since yesterday.”
“Hm.”
Damian must not have felt the need to stay too wary of a girl smaller than him, because he dropped the assassin accusation.
Instead, he circled around me twice—like checking for hidden weapons—before asking:
“What’s your name?”
“Rose.”
“Rose? Sounds like a girl’s name.”
“I am a girl…”
“That’s not important!”
Not… important?
Damian kept pushing forward with whatever he wanted to say.
“You! You came here because you want to become a knight, right?”
“Huh?”
“Everyone here either is a knight, or wants to become one.”
First I was a fallen knight’s daughter, then a knight apprentice.
So in a knightly household, if someone unfamiliar shows up, it’s either “assassin” or “future knight.”
Well—since I’m not an assassin…
If I want to stay here long, maybe it’s best to just say I’m aspiring to be a knight?
I wasn’t sure if they took five-year-old recruits, but if the young master believed so—
I nodded.
Damian’s eyes sparkled.
“Underling Number 1!”
└ His WHAT?
└ Someone revoke this kid’s privileges lmao
└ He sounds like a hot-blooded older brother type
└ Definitely not main male lead material 😂
“Then it’s time to duel!”
“…What?”
“To see if you’re skilled enough to join my knight order!”
Damian grabbed my hand and dragged me away.
“Lord Damian—! Please, your lessons…!”
└ Oh right the tutor existed
The tutor, who had been forgotten by literally everyone and left alone in the annex, called out pitifully behind us…
✦ ✦ ✦
That evening.
When Nella returned to our room after finishing her duties, she was shocked to see me collapsed face-down on the bed.
“You fell? I knew I should’ve gone with you…”
She’d already been worried about letting a child wander alone, but I insisted on managing myself.
She looked at the dirt stains all over my pants and checked if I was hurt.
“I didn’t fall. And I’m not hurt.”
“Then why are you covered in dirt?”
“Well, that’s…”
I recalled what happened earlier.
Damian had dragged me to a private training ground next to the knights’ drill yard.
For an eight-year-old’s practice field, it was way too big—probably the duke’s personal training yard.
—“Here. Take this.”
—“…This is?”
—“A wooden sword!”
What he handed me looked more like a wooden toy.
—“Take your stance. I’ll decide whether to accept you or not after seeing your skills!”
—“W-wait! I’m five!”
—“Age doesn’t matter. Skill is what counts on the battlefield!”
Was it because he grew up watching his father become the Imperial Knight Commander at a young age?
Damian swung the toy sword wildly as he said so.
└ Still, an 8-year-old vs a 5-year-old tho…
He held back his strength—I wasn’t getting hurt.
But being pummeled one-sidedly still felt unfair!
—“Ow! I surrender! I surrender!”
—“Hmph. You lack skill, but I’ll overlook it. Come for the next training!”
And so ended my first encounter with Damian Valente…
When I finished explaining, Nella’s worried expression shifted into a smile.
“There’s only one child in this whole mansion, after all. He must be happy to finally have a friend.”
“…The young master doesn’t have friends?”
“Ahem. Well, he’ll get some once he enters the Academy.”
└ Oof he’s an asocial kid fr
└ Rose, please play with him 😭
No wonder he called me Underling Number 1.
If he had friends, I’d probably be Underling 23 or something.
But if we “played,” it would just be sword practice again.
Maybe I shouldn’t have said I was a knight apprentice…
Being the eight-year-old heir’s sparring partner wasn’t my path.
Though, since I had zero sword experience, he’d get bored quickly anyway.
Time to find another path.
I needed a reason to stay here, so best to cut off the low-probability routes quickly.
“Can I go around with you tomorrow?”
“That’s fine, but… aren’t you meeting the young master again tomorrow?”
“I don’t think I can handle that position…”
“Well, if you say so. But following me won’t be very fun.”
“No! I’m curious what you and the other maids do!”
I already knew—from living as a noble lady before.
Honestly, becoming a maid was the easiest identity for a girl child here.
The only problem was that adults didn’t want to give work to kids.
I’ll follow her and see if there’s anything even a child could help with.
So the next day, I trailed behind Nella as she cleaned the garden—
“Roooooose! Where are youuu—!”
“Eek.”
└ Ah yes, the little gremlin has arrived
Whenever Damian showed up in the story, the comment section went feral.
└ Not “ahssa~!” but “ah, asocial boy~!” lol
└ Ahssa brother supremacy!!
└ Being asocial is fun, that’s why I’m one
└ It’ll be okay… probably
“He must really want to play with you,” Nella said, trying to send me off.
Right. This is the duke’s mansion. The young master’s wishes come first…
I trudged reluctantly toward the voice.
Damian spotted me and ran over.
“You! Why didn’t you come to morning training?”
“Isn’t morning your lesson time?”
“That’s not important!”
└ Tutor: (sobs)
└ Honestly, skipping class is living the dream
└ He’s getting fired for sure…
Hearing the comment fairies declare the tutor’s impending death sentence made me feel oddly guilty.
“Shouldn’t you attend your lessons? I actually don’t know swordsmanship at all…”
“With that weak attitude, you’ll never enter my knight order!”
“Then I won’t enter…”
“H-huh?”
His voice trembled. His eyes shook.
He clearly hadn’t imagined I’d refuse his knight order.
“…I’ll forgive you just this once.”
└ Wait he’s kinda cute?
└ Without Underling #1 he has nobody lol
└ Just play with the little asocial gremlin
Let’s get this over with quickly.
Once again, he grabbed my hand and dragged me to the training yard.
“Take your sword!”
“Yes…”
“Begin!”
He swung the toy sword wildly again.
“Ow—okay, okay! I surrender!”
“You didn’t even attack once! Stand up and take your stance again!”
He’d seen right through my attempt to slack off.
With no choice, I straightened up and grabbed the toy sword properly.
“Hyaaaap!”
“Ow ow…”
Honestly—it was unreasonable.
Who could swing a sword at the heir of a ducal house?
Back in Tortoga, when Gerold bullied me, the best thing to do was curl up and react big until he got bored.
When will he tire out…
Just like back then, I shrank away and pretended to be hurt while watching him out of the corner of my eye.
But then—I noticed something.
Damian swung only with his upper body.
His lower body was completely unguarded.
His knee was right there.
So I lightly tapped it with the toy sword.
“Huh?”
Thump.
“……”
Silence filled the training yard.
Damian froze in place, hands on the ground where he’d fallen.
…I won?
└ Eh?
└ ???
└ Is FL secretly a sword genius?
└ Plot twist: he was just a noob lol
