Chapter 12: Path forward

「s.h.i.+…!」

Shun—The sound of a blade slicing through the air rang pa.s.sed my ear and stopped stopped just short of my neck. The cold blade pressed against my skin. Th-That was scary! Just a tiny bit more and it would have cut me for real!

Mistrea-san drew back her sword to sheath it and turned to look at me. Wh-What is it?

「Mi-Mistrea-san?」

I-It's embarra.s.sing when you stare at me that intently. However, it felt like I would lose if I looked away, so I stared right back at her.

「……Well, I guess I'll give you a pa.s.sing grade」

「……Eh? You mean……」

「This is the end of your temporary training. From now on, I'll train Redius as an official pupil of mine. Helen, give Redius his sword」

「Yes, obaba-sama. Here, Redius.」

「Th-Thank you…… Wait, huh?」

How should I put this? Today's only the fifth day of the temporary training course, and it seemed like I was able to spread the Magic Armor evenly across my body without much difficulty, but, isn't this a bit too easy?

「Come on, what are you s.p.a.cing out for? Quickly draw your sword. You don't have the time to just stand there, right?」

Right. I'm racing against time. Also, I still remember the conversation with Mistrea-san and Helen-san from yesterday.

「Being an adventurer is… "Tough," you say?」

We were having dinner together after training, when Mistrea-san said this, the context was: What should I do to not be hated even though I have black hair.

I'd always thought of myself as being weak and incompetent compared to other people, because of this hair color. I believed that's how it was in reality as well. As expected, things were completely different when I couldn't use any sort of magic.

I could charge at my enemy to hit them, but it would be over the instance they retaliated with magic.

For that reason, my current goal was training under Mistrea-san to become stronger and then coming back to become an adventurer. I thought that I'd be accepted if I could raise my rank. However……

「About that… Wouldn't the adventurers be the only people to acknowledge you then? Do you not care if the other commoners and n.o.bles won't acknowledge you?」

……so I was told. That gave me the determination to be accepted. Furthermore……

「Besides, even if you became a successful adventurer, the n.o.bles wouldn't acknowledge you. I would say that those who would accept you do exist, but the same goes for those who think of adventurers as ruffians as well. Some of them would say, "That black hair is getting full of himself," and obstruct you, right?」

「Then what should I……」

When I mumbled that, Mistrea-san smiled; her expression was scary, I wonder what she's thinking?

「You just need reach a position where those n.o.bles aren't even able to complain.」

A position where the n.o.bles can't complain? I was wondering if such a person existed, when Helen-san beside me made a surprised face while looking at Mistrea-san.

「Obaba-sama! Even just saying that can get you charged with treason!」

「Don't worry, if they wanted to question me for my crime, they'd have to bring the army along. Beside, I want to do something about this system myself as well. Deciding everything based on one's hair color is foolish. In reality, there are purple-haired idiots who committed crimes, and there are excellent people with black hair, like Redius」

It was the first time someone called me excellent. I'm embarra.s.sed.

「Magic isn't necessarily everything, don't you agree? There's also martial arts and knowledge. That's why I think of this system where hair color determines everything is foolish. Well, it's unconvincing coming from a purple-hair like me, though」

Mistrea-san laughed as she said this. I'd pretty much understood what Mistrea-san was trying to say. I wasn't so stupid that it wouldn't sink in even after she'd said this much.

However, it was a pretty steep slope to climb. It might just exhaust me halfway through. But every man holds his dreams dearly!

「……Mistrea-san, you're telling me to become a king, right?」

When I asked her this, Mistrea-san shook her head.

「I didn't say that. You, yourself, were the one who came to that conclusion. That road is harsh. You're also a black-hair. It's impossible for you to get through with some half-hearted resolution. But even so, if that's what you aim for, then I'll lend you a helping hand」

「Wait a minute, Obaba-sama! Redius, you too, you can't just decide so easily! It's easier said than done, you know!?」

Helen-san opposed the idea with a frantic look on her face. Why is she like this all of a sudden? She's never said anything like this before…

「Musha musha musha」 (chomping sound, it's probably the rabbit)

……Not minding the current atmosphere, Ropo sat on my lap, mutely eating some vegetables. What a carefree guy. But, it helped me calm down. I look towards Helen-san.

「I understand, Helen-san. I know that I can't half-a.s.s something like this, but this is something I myself want to do. Regardless of whether you're a black haired or a purple haired, I want to prove that anyone has the potential to become strong.」

「Redius…… Fine, I understand. I won't say anymore.」

Then she sat there quietly after saying that. I guess she was just worried about me.

「Well, either way, the first goal is to train and get stronger. Then, it's to partic.i.p.ate in the war that will occur within the next year between the『Albast Kingdom』 and the 『Britaris Kingdom』.

「Is that war definitely going to take place?」

It's a story I heard a bit about in the adventurer's guild before I got betrayed. That the war could occur at any time. I think they said that they were recruiting reinforcements for their military too.

「Mmm, It will definitely occur. Prince William who was off studying at school will have graduated by then. It's meant to be Prince Williams first campaign, so they'll probably put quite a bit of force behind it.」

…..I wonder why she knows this kind of info… Now that I think about it, she said she had an acquaintance who was a n.o.ble right? If I remember correctly, she was on her way back when she rescued me.

Either way, school huh. I wonder if elder sister is doing well…..Thinking about this now is pointless… I was already disinherited from that household after all.

Several years should pa.s.s by the time I go back to the Albast Kingdom. I'm sure elder sister will have married by then. I doubt we'll ever meet again.

At any rate, War huh. Just last January, I didn't think I'd ever be involved in anything like it. To think I'd end up partic.i.p.ating in one myself.

「Well, that all depends on how the training goes anyways. Like I said before, If I think you're just going to get yourself killed, there's no way I'd send you off. If I'm unsure whether you'll be able to survive the war, your dream will have ended before it even began.」

「Yes, I understand. Please look after me, Mistrea-san」

I deeply lower my head in a bow. I'll ignore the whole war thing for now. Right now, I just want to be taught by this person. That's how appealing cloaking is. On top of that, the way Mistrea-san wielded her sword which seemed like a dance was cool.

「Ah, to reach that goal, train well in magic armor.」

「Yes!」

「Excuse me. I'll prepare immediately.」

That's right. I don't have the time to day dream. But, I can't wait to see what else I'll be taught.