Interlude 8
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「I don’t have a teacher suitable for me.」
Since their reunion, Simmons has been visiting Orphelia frequently.
「That’s a common problem for those with talent.」
Simmons remarks as he sits down at the base of a tree in the courtyard.
「But those with talent overcome it and become stronger.」
「How?」 Orphelia inquires.
Instead of providing a method, Simmons turns the question back to Orphelia.
「Are you doing what you’re capable of?」
She can’t immediately say that she is.
「Have you mastered the forms your teacher taught you?」
「…I don’t need to.」
Simmons takes a deep breath to calm himself.
「Hey, you know about Eris Gladius?」
「No.」
「You don’t know?」
「Yeah.」
「No way. It’s not that you don’t know, you’re just not interested. You’re not interested in other people.」
「Because they’re all weak.」
「Is everything about strength, huh? Are your parents strong?」
「They’re not strong.」
「Then you should understand, a person’s worth isn’t just determined by strength, you idiot.」
Simmons coughs and gets back on track. 「Well, that doesn’t matter.」
「That Eris Gladius is a monster the same age as you.」
「A mon-ster?」
Orphelia repeats, as if chewing on the word.
「The Knight Commander’s secret weapon. A once-in-a-generation genius. Living a second life. There are endless words to describe her. Despite being a genius, she doesn’t slack off at all. At just ten years old, she’s a monster at basic training.」
「Is she that strong?」
「Strong. After all, I lost to her.」
Orphelia is speechless.
A girl her age has defeated the only swordsman who has ever bested her.
She can’t quite process that fact.
「You just said you don’t need basics or forms, right?」
For some reason, Orphelia suddenly feels embarrassed about herself. She’s been made painfully aware that she may have been arrogant.
「It’s not up to you to decide if they’re necessary or not. The results decide that.」
Simmons sternly tells her that’s what the story is about.
Thinking he may have been too harsh on the ten-year-old girl, Simmons is reflecting in his head when Orphelia declares,
「I got it! Then if I master the forms and complete your challenges, let me skip grades!」
She’s completely undamaged.
In fact, she’s even proposing conditions.
Momentarily stunned by Orphelia’s proposal, Simmons retorts,
「Alright! Got it! Do it, absolutely! Just like I told you! Then I’ll consider the skipping grades thing.」
It was because of this exchange that Orphelia was able to graduate at the top of her class at the tender age of twelve, before the typical knight school graduation age of seventeen.
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After graduation, she receives an invitation from the kingdom to become a royal guard knight.
She declines without a second thought, stating that she intends to become an adventurer.
Surprisingly, given her skills, they don’t persistently try to dissuade her, thinking she’d be more beneficial to the nation and world as an adventurer rather than a knight.
In fact, the muscular and imposing King Lande, known for his one-man rule, takes a liking to her.
He summons her to the palace for a graduation celebration and bestows upon her one of the treasures the royal family has managed for generations.
The weapon she receives then is the twin swords – which will become synonymous with her unique dual-wielding adventurer class.
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Immediately after graduating at age twelve, she visits a famous clan and becomes a member.
Her subsequent achievements are a meteoric rise.
A few years later.
She is called for a monster culling job.
Since it’s a horde of mid-level monsters, the clan’s ace candidate Orphelia is summoned. However, the hunt is a joint effort with another clan, and for the first time, she ends up working together with the girl who defeated Simmons at the tender age of ten – Eris Gladius.
After finishing the extermination job, Orphelia reflects on Eris’s movements.
To be honest, Orphelia doesn’t feel a great sense of threat from Eris’s strength.
There was hesitation in her movements.
Hesitation clouds everything.
Her technique may indeed be above Orphelia’s.
But technique and strength don’t perfectly correlate.
Things like tenacity, ruthlessness, battlefield experience – the kind of things that humans exhibit when truly pushed to their limits. Eris’s version of that seems beautifully captivating, but fragile and delicate.
Orphelia is convinced that in terms of overall strength, pure strength, she won’t lose to Eris at this point.
And the next time she lays eyes on Eris is at a certain guild’s training ground.
On that day, Orphelia’s conviction crumbles.
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