Chapter 8 - Exclusive Knight (2)
In the carriage, an unintentional squabble between Ron and Adelia continued.
It was a misunderstanding caused by a lack of smooth communication, even though they were right next to each other.
You should always listen to what people have to say until the end.
It seems that while her drive, insight, and creativity were outstanding, her patience was not very deep.
"You should have said so from the beginning!"
"I am not the one who misunderstood. In the first place, having such impure thoughts is rude."
"I'm not small either."
"People live in self-satisfaction. It's the same principle as the face you see in the mirror looking different to others."
Ron explained simply in a very objective manner.
The face reflected in the mirror after a shower may look like it could beat up an idol, but to others, it's just not the same.
And yet, for her to deny that she's small, is Adelia's mirror a concave mirror?
"I'm not small!"
"...Yes, my lady."
It doesn't seem like gathering them will do much.
Thinking about it, another idea comes to mind.
A bra with a wire that gathers small breasts.
And even padding, an essential item for timid women.
And among them.
A bra for elves.
Adelia was better at providing inspiration than she looked.
That small chest of hers held many things.
"And this kind of remark is not good for you either, Sir Ron. For your information, if you go around spreading false facts, I will not leave you alone."
"Of course. I am not loose-lipped."
Adelia's smooth, fine brow furrowed deeply.
Interpreted differently, it sounded like he was only speaking carelessly to her.
She told him to be comfortable, and now he was trying to play on top of her head.
"I see you're very comfortable with me."
"I shall get out of the carriage."
If she wanted an uncomfortable relationship.
Ron did not miss the opportunity to cut ties.
The relationship between a superior and a subordinate is better the more distant it is.
That way, you don't get ordered around for anything other than work.
Ron had the resolve to jump out of the moving carriage right now.
At Ron's relief, which held not even a hint of lingering attachment, Adelia frowned and then sighed.
"You can be comfortable in front of me."
"There should be no secrets between business partners."
Adelia, too, was slowly starting to get angry.
She wasn't one to get angry easily, but Sir Ron seemed to have a knack for annoying people.
As if to prove this, Adelia's tone became harsh.
"Enough, what's the plan?"
"If you wish to know, I'll have to touch your body first. I need to check its condition to make a judgment, don't you think?"
"Fine... What?"
"I said I'm going to touch your body."
After all that talk about it being a misunderstanding, he was now saying he'd do it openly instead.
"You wretch!"
It was a chaste body that had never been permitted to a man.
Adelia, her face flushed red with shame, flailed her hands. It seemed a slap to the face was needed to vent her anger.
Hwik hwik!
Her hands didn't reach Ron.
Right in front of her, he just tilted his head, and she couldn't hit him. As he taunted her to hit him as much as she wanted, Adelia's anger flared.
"It's a misunderstanding."
"How can you say that after saying such a thing!"
"I need to touch your body to check your condition."
"Why on earth?"
Right, she should have asked for the purpose first.
To try and slap him right away, it was unbecoming of a noble lady of a count's family.
She should refrain from a slap-first, purpose-later approach.
"The young lady must learn the sword from now on."
"...Learn what?"
"You will learn the sword."
Adelia wondered for a moment if she had misheard.
The sword?
She had never even held a hilt before.
Moreover, no one in her family had ever recommended that she train with a sword.
She had only learned the etiquette and culture required of a noble lady.
In the meantime, she had devoured various books to find a way to raise her declining family and strived to acquire a cool-headed and rational intellect.
But now, to suddenly learn the sword.
Adelia couldn't understand Ron's assertion.
Even if she had the ability, she was 17 years old.
It couldn't be called old, but compared to the knights who started learning the sword around the age of 10, there was a gap of years that was difficult to overcome.
It was clear she wouldn't be able to catch up if she started learning the sword now.
"Does that even make sense?"
"Otherwise, how do you plan to persuade the head of the house? Will the various knowledge and creative ideas the young lady has learned and acquired be of immediate help to the family? All of that is only useful when you receive his Excellency's permission. Until then, no matter how much you talk, it's like reciting the Bible to a cow's ear."
...Eek!
She wanted to rebut, but Adelia couldn't deny Ron's words.
If persuasion had worked in the first place, she wouldn't have stayed quiet until now.
'It would have been even more so if not for the attack.'
With the attack aimed at her, Adelia had sensed the family's crisis.
Even if she found a good marriage partner and had a political marriage as her father and mother wished, if the family collapsed, would she even be treated well?
It wasn't beneficial for her either.
She had to find a way to revive the family somehow.
Adelia, drained of energy, calmly asked Ron.
"Is it enough just to learn the sword?"
"Of course not, you must at least be able to defeat the second young master."
The opponent she had to defeat, at a minimum, was her second older brother, who, despite being the epitome of simple-mindedness, was called a sword genius within the count's family.
"Make some sense!"
"You must give him that much of a shock to receive permission. Did you really think his Excellency would say 'Oh, right!' just because you know how to swing a sword?"
"Are there any other ways?"
"Although the count's family has lost its former glory, its pride in the sword alone surpasses that of its golden age."
It was the chronic problem of the count's family.
Their skills had fallen compared to their fame.
Ron openly mocked the family's empty fame.
On top of that, the future was also uncertain.
The heir of the family, the eldest young master, was frail; the second young master was talented with the sword but lacked intelligence; and the third young master was an idiot with no empathy.
If the second young master's talent was so overwhelming that it reached an unprecedented level, his lack of intelligence could be offset, but if that was the case, then the world would be full of geniuses.
Nowadays, news of people reaching the expert level in their teens were not uncommon.
Due to the overall improvement in standards, the second young master's position had become rather mediocre.
And yet, he was the type to be drunk on his talent and live for his own greatness.
Entrusting the family's future to such a person was no different from throwing away the family's future yourself.
That was why the eldest young master was not being replaced.
If he had been born in a peaceful time, he would have lived an unremarkable life as the head of the house, but the current atmosphere did not seem to allow even that.
And Ron pointed out one more thing.
It might be the biggest challenge for Adelia.
"The fact that the atmosphere of the count's family is 'family-like'—in the worst sense of the word—must be a painful situation for the young lady."
What parents want from their children is harmony.
Would it be any different for nobles?
But the moment Adelia starts to make a move in earnest, that harmony will scatter like mist.
It was uncertain whether the Count would tolerate the collapse of his family.
Haah.
A sigh escaped Adelia's lips.
She thought it was a crappy opinion not even worth hearing, but every single word was right.
"Do you really need to touch my body to know?"
"To grasp a body without touching it, one must reach the master level. Moreover, it's not a problem that can be solved by simply touching. It requires specialized knowledge to understand the human body down to the cellular level."
Still not gonna do it for free.
A noble lady of a count's family would have had her body thoroughly checked at birth, but for the most part, they only check for diseases and constitution.
There is a high probability that they didn't care about talent in Aura.
If it had been a family of mages, they would have looked for a blessing of mana, but the Count had no intention of teaching his daughter the sword or magic.
If he had that intention, he wouldn't have left Adelia to be neglected in the house's flower garden.
"I understand. Here, go ahead and touch."
"Will it be alright?"
Ron refused once to be able to deny responsibility later.
It was to create a structure where he could say, "I definitely refused, but I had no choice because you wanted it."
Adelia, seeing through his scheme, snorted.
"You've been saying you'd touch me all this time, are you getting scared now?"
"I will do my best."
"Before that, let me make it clear, I'm definitely bigger than I look."
"...I will keep that in mind."
She's surprisingly obsessed.
It's just a matter of taste.
Cuteness can never beat maturity.
The diagnosis was complete.
As expected, it was ambiguous.
Adelia did not have overwhelming physical abilities or sturdy blood vessels and meridians.
But there was no need to be discouraged.
Her body was similar to that of an average man.
By a woman's standard, it could be considered outstanding.
"How is it?"
"As expected, very sm—... outstanding."
Despite the compliment, Adelia snorted.
Anyone could see she was disappointed.
Did she hope for a once-in-a-generation genius or a wondrous body that appears once in a thousand years?
She was too greedy.
Although it was the realm of talent, not being born with a disability was also a blessing.
In any case, perhaps because she had hoped for a prodigy, Adelia grumbled.
At times like this, she did look like a 17-year-old girl.
"That's why I said it was an unnecessary thing to do."
"Then would you like to take a look at this?"
The greater the disappointment, the more thrilling the reversal.
Ron formed a sword seal with his fingers and cut, split, and stabbed the air.
It looked like a simple movement, but it was quite fast.
"Where did I cut first?"
"Left shoulder."
"And next?"
"It went from the knee to the right side of the heart, and then you stabbed the neck."
Ron said with a smug smile.
"Still disappointed?"
"It's not that fast, doesn't everyone see this much?"
"If you had learned the sword and Aura, you would have seen it."
It was an insight that surpassed the ordinary.
Her vision was open, and she was excellent at reading the path of the sword.
Adelia's body was on the average side, but her aptitude and insight were extraordinary.
It would be the icing on the cake if her body were also outstanding, but whether it's the sword or magic, when you enter a certain state, you need to be supported by aptitude.
The saying that if your head is bad, your body suffers didn't come from nowhere.
Unless you were going to train only in external arts for your entire life, it was an important quality to have.
Hoo.
At the unexpected talent, Adelia also sighed in relief.
"So I do have talent."
"But you are very late."
"Are you going to keep lifting me up and putting me down!"
"That's why I asked if you could risk your life. If you don't train with the resolve to die from now on, you won't be able to surpass the second young master."
This time too, Ron pushed her to make the decision herself.
That way, he could shift all the responsibility to Adelia.
'If you don't have the resolve, it's better not to start.'
Even if her mind had changed due to the attack, she couldn't change the count's family with a half-hearted resolve.
In that case, it would be better for it to slowly decline and disappear.
A half-assed attempt is worse than not trying at all.
It could even destroy the current system and accelerate the decline.
Ron did not take responsibility.
It wasn't his family, and as long as the old man was safe, he could endure it.
"Alright. In return, please become my exclusive knight."
"Is this a water ghost tactic?"
To say it was a relief that it wasn't a guardian knight, an exclusive knight also has great responsibility.
If the master is about to die, the exclusive knight must be prepared to be a body shield.
In reality, it's rare for a knight to die after their master.
"If you don't become my exclusive knight, I'll tell my father you fondled my body!"
This young lady is saying something that could get someone in big trouble!
Whose marriage prospect... keuheum.
Is she doing this because she wants to see me lose my job?
Although he didn't have much attachment to the position of a knight, people don't want to leave their original place.
'The stratagem of killing with a borrowed knife.'
If he gets caught like this, he might unknowingly have cut off the count's head.
The excuse that the knife slipped probably wouldn't work.
He postponed such a worst-case scenario for later.
He would cut him down if the misunderstanding piled up and became irreversible.
"I had no ulterior motives."
"... Is this a world where that kind of excuse works?"
This young lady knows how to make a deal.
Ron had no intention of refusing in the first place.
To teach Adelia, being an exclusive knight was better than being a trainee knight of the Dawn Knight Order.
It was the difference between a school teacher and private tutoring.
As long as she paid well, he could prove it with results.
-Progress: -75%
-Reward: 1 Coin
The progress rate reacted to Adelia's resolve, and it even gave a reward.
On the one hand, it felt unfair.
He was the one being forced to become an exclusive knight, but the progress rate was favoring Adelia.
'I need to check the meaning of 1 Coin.'
He still hadn't opened the shop.
He decided to check it in his cozy home where no one was around.
The quick-witted young lady might notice.
'Is it an item or a stat?'
It didn't particularly wet his appetite.
He had no problem living without such things.
Hooray for naturalness.
Hooray for fantasy.
Go for Self-sufficiency?