🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 29
└ [Mom..?]
└ [After physical damage, now psychological damage]
└ [Is the author attacking the readers too?]
└ [Sweetie~ you’re not skipping studying to read novels on your phone again, right?^^]
└ [Nooo I was studying until a moment ago, I swear~~]
“Studying.”
A word that instantly summons negative emotions.
Even the fairies—who seemed to live surprisingly normal, almost human-like lives—showed how deeply they hated the idea of studying by immediately projecting themselves into my situation.
And Damian was no different.
His reaction started with pure rebellion.
“W–what does studying have to do with this?”
“Everything.”
I didn’t bring up studying on a whim.
I’d already prepared exactly what to say, expecting this reaction.
“You didn’t even try to read your opponent’s movements earlier, Damian. You need to think first. Swinging a sword comes after.”
“Think before swinging…? How do you do that in real combat…?”
“Of course you don’t get time to think every moment in a real fight. That’s why you train your mind ahead of time. If you build enough experience, your body remembers and reacts on its own!”
Which is why Damian—who currently has zero experience—needs to train his mind first.
“Then… Rose, did you study a lot, and that’s why you beat me?”
“Of course.”
I studied a lot.
If I didn’t, I’d have gotten kicked out of Count Tortho’s estate.
Though… I didn’t beat him because of studying, exactly.
Damian still looked confused, probably unable to digest everything I said.
But it didn’t matter if he understood the details.
What mattered was that he was listening.
To help him grasp the core point, I repeated it clearly:
“So in the end… it’s because you don’t study.”
* * *
Since Damian came to find me early in the morning, even after our important duel, there was still time left before class.
“D–Damian! What brings you he—no, wait, are you here for your lessons…?”
“Starting today, Damian will be attending all his classes properly.”
“Oh heavens! Thank you!”
The tutor—who had been sitting alone in the annex again today—looked so moved that his eyes filled with tears when he saw his missing student finally return.
He had even packed his belongings already.
If he left the duke’s household without results, he’d have a hard time getting hired anywhere else…
As soon as he heard Damian was attending class, the tutor immediately crumpled up the piece of paper in front of him and threw it into the trash.
Was that… a résumé?
Convincing Damian to come to class first had definitely been the right choice.
Of course, just because he came of his own will didn’t mean he suddenly became a model student.
“…Why do we have to learn history?”
He asked that the moment he opened the textbook.
I get it. I really do.
I expected him to complain just like this.
“To understand this country’s swordsmanship, you need to know the history behind it. And history books also include many wars and knights.”
“That is correct! In the Develoa Empire, we have founding heroes too—the very first knight of the empire—”
The tutor, having grasped the situation instantly, began pulling out every bit of knight-related historical trivia he could think of.
Desperation brings out the best in people…
He’s an exceptional teacher.
Looks like I won’t have to worry about this side anymore.
└ [I was waiting for the child-rearing arc, but it’s Rose raising the young master…]
└ [Damian parenting arc LMAOO]
└ [So it IS a childcare story after all?]
This is the childcare they were expecting?
Well… thinking about it, helping him grow properly is a kind of childcare.
└ [Ughhhh the “childcare” keyword was a scam]
For some reason the fairies accused me of being a scammer, but the childcare route wasn’t over yet.
“Class ends here for today. Thank you for listening so well, Damian. Tomorrow we’ll—”
“Damian. You’ll study again tomorrow, right?”
“…Yeah!”
└ [Wow he listens so well]
└ [They say the weak don’t listen, so I guess Rose is strong enough that he listens LOL]
└ [A man of his word indeed]
└ [He may be dumb but at least he’s honest]
After finishing class safely, I led Damian out to the garden.
“Grandpa Benjamin—!”
“Ah, Grandmaster…!”
Because he was the duke’s teacher, everyone called him the Grandmaster.
Benjamin, who had been giving me lessons for the past few days, turned and greeted me with a smile.
He seemed curious why I’d brought Damian this time.
So I stated my reason clearly:
“Could you teach swordsmanship to Damian instead of me now?”
No matter how you looked at it, the young master’s sword level wasn’t normal.
Since I’d learned from him directly, I knew the grandpa could teach even a small child extremely well.
That’s why I came to ask.
But before Benjamin could answer, Damian spoke first.
“But Grandmaster doesn’t teach swordsmanship.”
“…Huh?”
But he agreed to teach me so easily?
└ [He saw talent in the heroine]
└ [He’s preventing her from becoming an assassin]
Ignoring the fairies who keep assigning me nonexistent talent…
Was it only because my lesson was temporary that he accepted so casually?
Damian knows Benjamin far better than I do—maybe there’s a rule I didn’t know about.
Wondering if I had made a rude request when he doesn’t teach anymore, I looked to Benjamin…
…but he looked just as confused as I was.
“Hm… my master doesn’t teach swordsmanship?”
“Right! Because Grandmaster is incomparably strong!”
According to Damian, he had asked to be taught before too.
“But he sent me away, saying it wasn’t time yet. Father also didn’t properly hold a sword until he was nine, after all.”
A one-year difference is that big?
Well, Benjamin might have his own criteria.
But… Benjamin’s face didn’t match Damian’s story at all.
“…Um, Damian. Did Grandmaster say that specifically?”
“Of course he didn’t say it in words. But swordsmen communicate with swords!”
└ [I don’t think that communication happened]
Totally agree.
Benjamin, trying to recreate the scene, grabbed the branch he used to teach me and handed another to Damian.
“You must be testing my skill again…”
With a serious face, Damian accepted the branch.
A moment later—
└ [Thud]
Not surprising.
At least he didn’t look as devastated as when he lost to me.
“To show such an incredible difference in skill… I understand. I’ll return after more training!”
“W–wait! Damian?!”
And he ran off again…
So basically…
he misunderstood, thinking the Grandmaster showed overwhelming difference to “send him away.”
└ [The consequences of lacking a translator]
└ [How did Grandpa Benjamin survive this communication gapㅠㅠ]
└ [And I bet Damian’s running straight to those knights again LOL]
└ [Understanding why he grows up so weak]
Benjamin met my eyes and shrugged helplessly.
He wanted to teach but couldn’t—because of a communication error.
“…I think Damian should work on his wea—no, his weaknesses first.”
└ [Smooth insult LOL]
Benjamin nodded in agreement.
I think he started nodding from the “weak—” part, but… well.
* * *
The Grandmaster’s sword lesson was technically scheduled,
but since the intended student immediately ran away, he never heard about it.
As expected, when we looked for him…
“Damian? He’s at the knights’ training field, as always.”
Heading to the place the servant pointed out, we found Damian talking with the knights.
└ [PLEASE don’t learn swordsmanship from them]
Well… from Damian’s perspective, this was the only place he could turn to.
He probably came hoping to learn something—anything.
Understanding his situation, I approached to share the good news.
But instead, Damian was asking:
“Did all of you study a lot as kids to get into the Imperial Knight Order?”
“…Uh? Study…?”
The knights who heard that question had faces that were obviously very far removed from anything study-related.
No!
I worked so hard to push him toward studying—don’t ruin it!
“What studying? In the place I grew up, we didn’t even have schools—barely anyone could read—”
“Ah, hello!”
