TCL 27

chapter 27

I’m the one who’s more shocked here.

That wasn’t even swordsmanship—he literally just pushed me!

But I didn’t expect him to collapse so helplessly…

└ [Knew Rose had talent since the moment she showed physical strength]
└ [Assassin-class reflexes]

The comment fairies seemed to hope I had some hidden talent, but no matter how I saw it, the problem clearly wasn’t me… it was the other side.

Damian, who had frozen stiff, suddenly jumped up after a moment and brushed the dirt off his pants.

“I-It was just my foot slipping! I won yesterday, so I’ll give you a fair one-on-one. You got lucky!”

Then he tightly gripped his toy sword again.

“This time, I’m doing it properly…!”

We’d only known each other two days, but he was very consistent. Definitely not the type to give up easily.

I had no choice but to take a stance again for Round 2.

Plop.

“……”

And just like that, Damian collapsed in exactly the same way.

…Is he really a young master from a knight family?

He said he took swordsmanship lessons but he didn’t look trained at all.

Even I—who knows nothing—could see how clumsy he was.

What do you mean see? I beat him twice.

“I-I-I-I…”

Damian looked just as—no, even more—confused than I was.

“Hngh!”

He threw his toy sword aside and ran off somewhere.

└ [Lmao he RUNNING]
└ [Did you make him cryㅠ]
└ [Poor Damian, someone go comfort him plz]
└ [If she chases after him now, that’s just bullying lol]

…I expected him to lose interest after seeing my level—but I didn’t expect to actually hurt his pride…

Worried he might come back, I picked up his discarded toy sword, cleaned it, and waited.

But Damian didn’t return—not even after morning training ended…

“Why is Young Master Damian like that?”

“No idea.”

The knights of the ducal house whispered while watching Damian sit gloomily on the stairs.

Not even the duke’s personal training grounds—the regular knights’ training grounds.

His black hair, so similar to the duke’s, sat right where everyone could see him, practically begging for attention. They couldn’t ignore him even if they wanted to.

“Someone go cheer him up!”

“B-But how?!”

These men had spent years on raging battlefields—what would they know about handling children?

The only children they’d met in the past few years were frightened ones… or enemy children…

But Damian was the son of the knight commander they respected and had fought alongside.

Even if clumsy at it, the knights sincerely cared for him.

“Do a sparring match with him like usual!”

“Yes, sir!”

Today again, they planned to comfort him with their own method—communication through fists (or rather, swords).

The youngest knight, Glen, approached Damian and handed him a small wooden sword, inviting him to spar.

Yes. Just like always.

“Whoops. As expected, I can never win against you, Young Master Damian. Your skills have improved again!”

He held back his strength, pretended to get hit by Damian’s sword, and collapsed at the right timing.

But Damian, who normally would brag about accepting Glen into his knight order, did not look happy today.

“…Glen. Our knights aren’t weak, right? Because they’re Father’s knights.”

“Of course! The greatest knights of the nation are gathered here.”

During the war, they all belonged to the Imperial Knights.

When the Imperial Knights were reorganized, Duke Valente stepped down as commander, and his direct subordinates became the duke’s private knights—but this wasn’t a demotion.

The duke was the emperor’s right hand. It was the emperor’s plan to keep both the Imperial Knights and the Valente Knights under his control.

“We all once protected His Majesty and this empire. Who could question our strength?”

Some nobles complained that the Imperial Family was expanding its military power after the war… but that wasn’t the point.

Anyway, the knights under Duke Valente held great pride—they were the strongest knight order in the nation.

Damian knew this well. So the knights didn’t understand why he suddenly asked this.

“If someone stronger appears… does that mean we have to give up the knight order?”

“…What?”

That made no sense.

When Damian inherited the title someday, the knights might naturally change with generations, but—

The position of knight commander wouldn’t go to anyone outside the ducal family.

“When you grow up and eventually pass it on to your successor, sure… but giving it to someone else? That won’t happen.”

“But the knights here follow my father because he’s strong.”

“…Well, that’s… not wrong.”

“If I’m not as strong as him?”

“Young Master Damian, you’re already plenty strong! You just defeated me a moment ago! My arm still feels numb—”

Glen meant to encourage him, but Damian’s face only crumpled further.

If he, the strongest among the knights’ children, was defeated by Rose…

“Someone who surpassed our entire knight order has appeared!”

The knights whipped their heads toward him.

“What?! W-Who? Where?!”

“In Father’s training hall earlier—someone beat me with a sword!”

Twice, even!
…but Damian swallowed that part to protect his pride.

“Oh, thank goodness it’s not stronger than the whole knight order—no wait, who dared hurt Young Master?!”

Who made our precious boy cry?!

The large knights in the training grounds swarmed around Damian.

“Who was it?!”

“Who attacked Young Master Damian?!”

“Which knight order are they from?!”

“T-That…”

It was someone smaller than him.

Round, small hands. Affiliation: something like Gelato Ice Cream…?

But if he said that directly, they might think he wasn’t fit to be their future commander.

Suddenly worried, Damian clamped up.

“…I don’t know!”

Throwing that verbal bomb, he ran away again, leaving the knights to puzzle over his words.

Someone unknown had infiltrated the duke’s private training hall—where no one but direct family could enter—and struck down the young heir?

“…Must be an assassin.”

A knight grows stronger when they have something to protect.

Preparing as if for war, the knights grabbed their swords and began searching the ducal estate for the “intruder.”

└ [ASSASSIN ARC LET’S GO LMAO]
└ [It’s war now]

…Huh? The maids never called me an assassin though.

Since Damian had run off again, I had nothing to do, so I returned to the maid dormitory.

I sat among the maids, who were resting after lunch, gathering information about the ducal estate.

“What’s going on out there?”

“They keep walking around with swords—it’s terrifying!”

The maids whispered as they saw the knights roaming outside.

I peeked out the window.
Every knight passing by had a grim, battlefield-ready expression.

“D-Do the knights usually look that scary…?”

“Well… maybe that’s just their normal face…?”

According to the maids, the living spaces for knights and maids were almost completely separate.

Even if the maids washed their clothes, another servant would take them to the knights’ quarters.
They rarely saw each other, so strange rumors had spread among the maids.

“I heard they recruit mercenaries and brawlers too, as long as they’re strong.”

“That only works on the battlefield though. This is the duke’s house…”

“The brewer said they once caused a big commotion at a tavern—”

Hmm. The reputation wasn’t great overall.

…This really matches the rumors about House Valente in my previous life.

Back then, whenever an injury occurred in an aristocratic faction’s household, rumors immediately spread that Duke Valente’s knights had done it.

I thought the nobles were just slandering them, but seeing this… some of it might have been true.

“Be careful, kid. You’re tiny. If you run around and bump into a knight, they might step on you.”

A maid named Sage warned me in a blunt tone.

Come on. There’s no way they wouldn’t notice me standing right in front of them, right?

Knights have excellent vision!

└ [Yes, that excellent vision will help them find Rose instantly]
└ [Maybe it’d be safer if they didn’t see her]
└ [Help us, Where’s Waldo]

…Why would the knights be looking for me?

└ [Because you beat up the young masterㅠ]

WHEN did I ever beat him up?!