—Did he use a type of fencing that was familiar to him? Or was his technique unknown even to you, who has dealt with quite a few swordsmen?
Usually, Jean would obey the sword master's demands and orders without hesitation. However, today, Jean looked at him a little differently. This was because Viscount Weatherwoods' request came to mind.
Miss Jean, I have a request for you, not a condition. I only want you, Miss Jean, to know how I move in a fight.
Did he foresee this moment? The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Jean bowed her head to the Duke.
—Excellency, I will admit my defeat in the duel. Therefore, I request to renounce my right to succeed the Berkley Grattens. Thank you for teaching me, your incompetent disciple, so many things…
—Jean.
It was a call to attention. Jean could not lift her head after reading the latent coldness in it. —I am the one who decides that. I will decide whether to throw you out or not after hearing your answer to my question.
—The opponent didn't even draw his sword against me. There was no way to know what kind of sword skill he used.
—Are you saying you don't know what kind of fencing style he uses just because he didn't pull out his sword? Seriously?
Jean closed her mouth.
A slight sneer formed on the Duke's face upon seeing Jean like this. Sword handling did not simply mean the methodology of handling a sword. In strict terms, it included whether the swordsman was accustomed to a light or heavy sword and, in general terms, which artisan had made the sword. But you've come up with a stupid answer like "I don't know."
Jean was not the type to shy away from answering a question. She was the most obedient of all his successors. Furthermore, she was not interested in anything other than swords, so it was beneficial to name her as owner on the paper of the "Clone" guild that had been operating since the end of the war. She was the second most useful disciple after Gavroche for the Duke, who could not hold a private office under his command due to a treaty with the imperial family.
Therefore, if possible, the Duke wanted to keep Jean even after handing over the duchy to Gavroche. The reason why Jean avoided his question was clear. The Viscount must have forced her to accept some condition during the duel. In other words, Viscount Weatherwoods had something to hide. Perhaps he should check the sword the Viscount held.
The sword master grabbed his sword. —Be obedient. He could hear a familiar resonance.
A swordsman's grip on a sword left a mark. Even if the person holding it was not the owner of the sword, traces remained, and by looking at them, one could discover a bit about the person's interior. Therefore, after the sword master began to hear the resonance of a sword, he did not lend his sword to anyone. No matter how quickly it disappeared, he did not want the internal feelings of others to remain in his sword. The reason why he gave his sword to Viscount Weatherwoods was exactly to see that, because he was a bit curious. However, there was no trace of Viscount Weatherwoods in his sword. It was natural, as Jean said he didn't even draw the sword.
—Be obedient.
Viscount Weatherwoods was a new powerhouse that had never appeared before. Perhaps he should change his methods a bit. Isn't it the Weatherwoods mansion, but Viscount Weatherwoods himself, that I should investigate? He had been watching the Weatherwoods family for the last two years. There was only one reason for it. It was rumored that among the personal properties of the former Viscountess Weatherwoods were the relics of Dian Cecht. He did everything possible to check the credibility of the rumors. He hired countless assassins to see if the mansion and the family were under some kind of great spell, but they never got the information about Dian Cecht's relics that he wanted.
But at some point, the assassins he sent to the Weatherwoods began not to return. Feeling that something was happening, he decided to annihilate the Weatherwoods family without delay. If Viscount Weatherwood had not declared that he would attend the noble council this year, it would have been so. Then the sword master thought about killing the Viscount on the Black Ragel and making it look like an accident. In those times, drunk passengers often fell from aircrafts.
But in the end he couldn't do it. —Weatherwoods. Why was it? For some reason, the sword master felt an unknown familiarity with him. An unknown familiarity. It was extremely paradoxical, but he couldn't think of any other expression besides those words. It wasn't familiar, but it was. In particular, the familiarity he felt in him produced a kind of tight chest and made him want to look deeper.
That's why he accepted Jean's request to "have a duel with Viscount Weatherwoods." As Jean claimed, he would probably get a clue if Viscount Weatherwoods were a swordsman hiding his skill. In the end, the sword master didn't end up getting the result he wanted, but something was now clear. There is something in that man that I have not managed to decipher. Four years had passed since he began his search all over the continent to find Dian Cecht's relics. He had no intention of wasting more time there. Dian Cecht's relics, hidden by the Weatherwoods family, had to be his.
—Jean. —…Yes. —I will not stop you if you really wish to leave the Berkley Gratten family.
Jean lifted her head with surprised eyes. The Duke was not so foolish as to not be able to read what was going through his innocent disciple's mind. A young swordsman who had joined him only to learn to use the sword. That a sword demon like him would show so much interest in a man he had never seen before. It's obvious that Gavroche will succeed me, so she intends to leave the family and go to Weatherwoods. This presented an opportunity to the sword master.
—I know you also have your own reasons for it. —I regret it. —But there are conditions.
Jean's expression hardened subtly. The sword master cast a glance out the cabin window before moving his lips to expose his conditions. The Iregiel Villa, visible in the moonlight. Below, he could see dozens of heads lined up and walking to the rhythm of the music. The sword master leaned back in his chair and let out a slow sigh. It was going to be a long night.
The white moon hid behind the clouds. As soon as I entered my new dormitory, I headed to fall onto the huge bed that occupied one side of the wall. —Ah, here it is. This is the bed. The cabin bed was fine, but it couldn't compare to a bed in a villa for nobles.
Here, in the east of lake Iregiel, was the Iregiel villa, built 100 years ago solely for aristocrats. Maybe it was because it was for aristocrats, who had a mania for showing off, the mansion, which was not for residential use, was very colorful and large. I couldn't buy a room here even if I saved my maid salary for the rest of my life.
That's how it ended. Leaving aside the search for the assassins, we arrived and settled in the Iregiel villa. In fact, there were no other options. —Are we really going to the villa? —Then, should I hand her over to the stewardess?
Rue, who had returned to the form of Morian, pointed to the fallen assassin with her chin. I couldn't answer him clearly. No, I never asked him to do that. Handing this assassin over to the aristocracy would only complicate things. Only the worst results could be derived in all aspects, such as how the assassin was found, how we had received a confession from her, where Rue appeared from and the use of taboo magic.
—Answer me. How will the attack or terrorism be carried out? —Agh…uf… I asked the assassin more, but it seemed she didn't know exactly how the other assassins hidden in Iregiel were going to carry out their plan.
Tired of seeing this, Rue poured a bottle of alcohol into the assassin's mouth and threw her roughly into the hallway in front of our room. It seemed he intended to cover up what happened as a drunken attack. He grabbed my arm and naturally led me toward the villa.
—Why are you so worried, dear? The aristocracy includes the Duke. He will take care of the trash in the villa. Anyway, that's what a sword master is for.
—But what's the point if they've already placed bombs or something in advance?
—This place won't blow up with bombs. It's a villa for noble aristocrats. There's no way the aristocracy has not prepared for an attack. That's why they needed more than a dozen people. That was true.
—Who would do this? Who was the man planning something so grand against none other than the aristocracy? Were they also imperialists? Or international terrorists? I had no idea. I couldn't even make a guess because I didn't know how imperial politics worked.
After remaining lying on the bed for a long time, I jumped up from my position. In any case, it was uncomfortable to pretend to know nothing about an imminent terrorist attack. —Then I'll take a look at that villa. Rue's voice caught my ankle as I headed to the door. —Rest a moment. It was a firm order that left no room for objection.