TYND 120
by Cherry“Hoo-oo-oong. How can he be so kind and gentle….”
“Rothy is a fairy. I won’t take any objections.”
“I endured that harsh training in my childhood to hear this comfort today….”
This place is currently the training grounds of the Black Lion Knights.
Not only Jay and Theon, who were nearby, but even the Black Lions watching from afar were moved. Deputy Commander Berry Ribler put his arm around a recently promoted knight.
“Rookie, congratulations on receiving your first Roth’s grace. Write it in your diary.”
“Yes…. It’s truly heartwarming….”
Although not as much as Theon, Northerners are basically cold and aloof. In the North, where only cold-blooded people gather, Rothy’s sudden acts of kindness and gentleness felt as warm and benevolent as the spring sunshine after enduring the harsh winter.
This phenomenon of melting away due to Rothy’s words and actions was called ‘Rothy’s grace,’ shortened to ‘Roth’s grace.’
Roth’s grace received: To be healed by receiving Rothy’s grace in an unexpected situation.
It was a newly coined word created directly by the Palsen estate’s attendants and the Black Lion Knights. Not only Theon, but also the Diam Emperor in the distant capital, and even Ken Bane, who was exiled to the harshest island in the Western Continent, knew this neologism, but only Rothy didn’t know.
Rothy, who bestowed Roth’s grace equally to everyone with the purest of hearts, raised his head with a determined expression.
“I’ve decided. I’m going to practice swordsmanship even harder from now on. So that someday I can wield a real sword with everyone.”
“There’s no need to go that far.”
“I am the Seara of the Northern Archduke. The North has accepted my magic, so now I will accept the North’s sword.”
Theon was worried and anxious about Rothy handling a real sword, but Rothy’s will was strong, and he thought that learning swordsmanship would be useful in unexpected situations where he couldn’t use magic (although he couldn’t think of any, he would probably experience it at least once in his long life), so he nodded.
Rothy continued to work hard on his physical training.
Sweating and exercising was more rewarding than he thought.
After exercising without thinking, he felt proud that he had taken another step towards his goal today.
A month passed since he started physical training, and the hunting competition was a week away.
“I’ve discovered a big problem.”
Rothy said, getting up from the fluffy sofa dedicated to Rothy after taking a lap around the training ground. Theon, the keen Aura master who was always with Rothy when he trained, anticipated what problem the Aura Controller would mention.
That he wasn’t gaining muscle.
But Theon pretended not to know and handed Rothy a water bottle, asking.
“What is it?”
“Even if I build muscle like this, I’m all covered up when I go out in public, so people can’t see my muscular body.”
“…….”
“Just by looking at my appearance, I’m the same as before I started exercising. I’ll still look soft and cute. I need to show some skin to look mature and grown-up.”
Crack.
The water bottle shattered in Theon’s hand.
Jay and Seara slowly moved away, then came back, grabbed the arm of the bodyguard Aura master who was standing with his eyes wide open, and moved further away.
Squeak.
Chi-chi, who was being petted in Rothy’s arms, was also startled and stood up.
Theon calmly shook off the shards of the water bottle.
“Exposure, you say.”
“Theon, calm down. I’m not saying I’m going to expose myself.”
Rothy quickly grabbed Theon’s large hand and used magic to create a wind to blow away even the smallest fragments.
“After all, I’m the Archduchess, so I can’t just take off my top without any decorum.”
It was a relief that he was thinking rationally, but Theon’s brow furrowed halfway, wondering why ‘after all’ was included.
“So I thought of another plan.”
“…….”
Why is he using honorifics here?
Theon’s brow furrow went up to level 3.
“I was thinking of having a one-on-one sparring match with a trainee knight at this hunting competition.”
“No.”
The refusal came out without going through his brain.
A sparring match is, in a word, a choreographed duel.
It is a duel in which two people pre-arrange their moves and then perform them in front of an audience, similar to a martial arts demonstration or a swordsmanship demonstration.
It might sound safe up to this point, but there is one difference in a sparring match.
Sparring matches are conducted with real swords.
If even one person makes a mistake, a terrible accident with bloodshed can occur immediately.
Even skilled Aura Controller-level knights sometimes make mistakes in sparring matches.
Not to mention….
“A sparring match with a trainee knight who is still clumsy with swordsmanship? That’s ridiculous. Rothy, I can never allow it.”
“I knew you’d say that. I wouldn’t allow it either if you said you were going to have a magic sparring match with a level 1 Aura master.”
Rothy nodded and brought out the plan he had been thinking about.
“Then, instead of a trainee who is still clumsy with swordsmanship, what if I matched up with a skilled Aura master who handles a sword like it’s part of their own body?”
He was talking about Theon.
“No.”
“Theon won’t make mistakes, and he can fix it right away even if I make a mistake.”
“Impossible.”
Rothy got up, dusting himself off. He handed Chi-chi to Jay and tied up his long hair. Then he reached out to Theon.
“Get up, Theon. Let’s spar.”
Rothy had asked Theon for a sparring match….
The eyes of the training ground were focused on the scary yet exciting spectacle. The onlookers swallowed hard. Even the attendants who were about to leave work because it was time to go home stopped in their tracks.
Theon had no intention of sparring with Rothy at all. He just sat there with a solemn and stern expression, so Rothy calmly persuaded him.
“We can try it once. If it seems too difficult after trying it, we can give up then.”
“…….”
“If you don’t even let me try, I’ll remember this as something I regretted and was disappointed about for a long time….”
There was nothing to say when Rothy persuaded him with the right words.
Theon sighed softly.
“No real swords.”
“Of course not. With wooden swords. Get up quickly.”
Theon grabbed Rothy’s hand. Of course, Rothy couldn’t lift Theon’s heavy body, so Theon got up on his own.
And so, the Northern Archduke and the Aura master stood facing each other with wooden swords.
Whoosh… a cold autumn wind blew through the training ground.
“I will start when I raise the flag.”
“Okay.”
“One, two… start!”
Jay raised the flag and the sparring match began.
Rothy ran over, holding the light wooden sword made exclusively for Rothy with both hands. Jay covered his mouth.
“I just heard a tottering sound. Right? Right?”
Seara Heart answered seriously.
“No. It was a peep-peep-peep.”
The ferret standing tall on Seara’s head agreed.
Squeak. Squeak.
Rothy swung the wooden sword with all his might in front of Theon. A gentle breeze brushed past Theon’s cheek.
Theon quickly hugged the staggering Rothy.
“Rothy… you mustn’t close your eyes tightly when you swing the sword.”
“But I’m worried that Theon will get hit by my sword.”
“The chances of me… getting hit by your sword are zero, even if the world ends.”
“The world ending is too scary of a metaphor….”
The two distanced themselves again. This time, Rothy charged first. He didn’t stagger this time. However, when Theon laid the wooden sword horizontally and lightly deflected it, Rothy’s small body floated up and flew away due to the recoil. Of course, Theon caught him before his body hit the ground.
“Rothy. Are you alright?”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
“I put too much strength into it.”
“No. I didn’t put enough strength into it.”
When Theon let go, Rothy fluttered away and grabbed the wooden sword again. Thanks to his training, his posture was still decent.
“Eeyah!”
Rothy attempted a third attack. Jay covered his mouth.
“He said eeyah. I’m going crazy.”
“I’m going crazy.”
Squeak.
This time, Theon didn’t deflect the wooden sword, but simply laid it diagonally to receive it. Then Rothy slipped. Theon hugged Rothy as if he had been waiting for it.
There were several ‘wooden sword swings’ like that, but there was never any exchange of blows.
Every time Rothy swung, shouting eeyah, eeyah, Theon was busy dodging, and he was worried that Rothy would fall.
The two were like a giant Black Lion and a tiny long-tailed tit. The long-tailed tit was too brave, but it was so fragile that it seemed like it would roll away with just a puff of the Black Lion’s breath.
The onlookers’ eyes became sad as they watched the Black Lion struggling without being able to touch a single feather.
“I’ve never seen our lord look so pitiful….”
“That terrifying demon of Seara….”
“This is the most heartbreaking sparring match I’ve ever seen….”
Eventually, when Rothy swung the wooden sword, shouting eugh-yah!, Theon dropped the wooden sword himself. When the force of receiving it disappeared, Rothy staggered. Before Rothy’s small head hit the ground, Theon hugged him in his arms faster than the wind.
“Thank you, Theon…. Let’s do it one more time.”
“No. That’s enough.”
Theon whispered while holding Rothy.
“No real sword sparring, no wooden sword sparring. It’s too dangerous for you.”
“Theon, I’m an adult male. This much is.”
“You look like a child holding a bomb when you’re holding a wooden sword.”
“…A child.”
“Even if you don’t like it, that’s how I see you. I don’t want to put you in a dangerous environment even a little bit. So please, I beg you. Please stop trying?”
In the end, the Black Lion raised the white flag.
While holding the small body in his arms, he confessed that he just wanted to protect him.
So Theon was thinking of me as a child after all.
He only saw me as a cute child who needed to be protected.
Even if Rothy was disappointed by that thought, Theon had to make Rothy give up his dangerous attempts.
A twenty-three-year-old adult male can get hurt during a sparring match, and can get injured.
Isn’t he an adult? He grows up making scars. He can definitely do that.
But Rothy can’t.
Even now at twenty-three, even at thirty-three, even later when he’s two hundred and thirty years old or three hundred years old.
Rothy can’t.
Even if Rothy is disappointed and dissatisfied with this, it can’t be helped.
What can’t be done can’t be done.