Chapter 116
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This must be the punishment imposed on me.
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It’s a story from the past.
In reality, there were quite a few people who possessed abilities surpassing Eris. However, it wasn’t true that anyone with sufficient skill could have saved her.
As far as Eris knew, apart from her Master, there was only one person who could have saved her.
That person was her father, the Knight Commander of the Royal Knight Order.
Now she understands, but even though her father was praised as Ragna Gladius of the Royal Knight Order, the weight of his responsibilities must have been heavy. He likely didn’t have as much leeway as others thought.
As a result, he didn’t often actively involve himself in her affairs or pay much attention to her, despite her being his own daughter.
This could be viewed positively as an education that allowed for independence, but negatively as neglectful parenting resulting from putting work first and neglecting family life.
Even so, Eris purely respected her father as the Knight Commander of the Royal Knight Order, a man of loyalty and integrity. However, in the face of a reality where no one would lend her a hand, the sediment of loneliness continued to accumulate within her without her realizing it.
She had lived with a sword in her hand around the clock.
This girl was seriously considering giving up the sword.
Her sword, which was more than just a part of her – it could even be called her soul. The person who saved her when she was agonizing over whether to discard it or not was her Master.
It wasn’t just about swordsmanship. The time she spent with him was what healed her loneliness.
She doesn’t realize it (and even if she did, she would undoubtedly deny it), but he was not only her Master but also her brother and father figure.
Cooking together, barging into the Master’s bath time, engaging in uncompromising, life-or-death training sessions – the time they spent together was her most irreplaceable treasure.
Her Master probably doesn’t understand.
How much she adores and respects him.
As she spent time with her Master, she became aware of a torrent of emotions she had never felt before.
It transformed her previously mundane world into something she had never seen before – something sparkling and brilliant. This isn’t the kind of feeling that lasts forever. The world isn’t that kind. Even as she told herself this, even after recognizing it, she still yearned for her Master to the point where she would have been willing to devote her entire self to him.
In their conversations, the topic of 「having enough children to form a knight order」 came up several times. At first, it was just a natural comment, but after that, it was intentional.
He didn’t notice, but Eris herself was so embarrassed that her face felt like it was on fire. Those words were her true feelings wrapped in jest.
In her mind, she had already resolved to spend her life with him, to be with him until the end.
Even if he said he didn’t want to, even if he went to a far-off land, she had an unwavering will, as strong as diamond, to never, ever, ever leave him.
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It was sometime then.
Something changed.
It wasn’t until much later that she was able to recognize that something had changed.
She traces her memories, one by one.
It was around the time when the Hero’s party had conquered the Blade Dungeon, and they were taking an extended rest period for recovery after the fierce battles.
It was also when Hero Ryūgūin had no need to think about the next dungeon, basking in the full glory of being a hero, and enjoying the springtime of life with great fanfare.
At the same time, it was the period when the Hero completely stopped engaging in his daily routines of sword training and magic practice, which he had never failed to do before.
「Wielding a sword or using magic is what barbarians do. When violence is necessary, you should let someone who’s good at it handle it. That’s how those in charge should do things,」 was the Hero’s statement at the time.
Instead, what the Hero started was something he called 「creative」 or 「business.」
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It was after that.
Not only did the Hero, Eris’s guide, stop his own training, but he also never once extended a helping hand to her.
This cast a large shadow over her sword skills.
Her strength as a sword saint was acquired through extreme training and surviving the life-and-death situations in the Blade Dungeon.
And at that stage, the strongest title she had won was only temporary.
In any field – be it academics, sports, or martial arts – just because you’ve achieved a difficult technique once doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do it consistently in the future. To be able to perform at your best at any time, it’s crucial to repeat the success over and over while the feeling of success is still fresh in your mind.
And Eris Gladius’s growth had just reached that stage.
Since exploring the Blade Dungeon, Eris had been training diligently on her own, always chasing after something – if only she could grasp that feeling from back then.
Even though her Master refused, no matter how much she threw herself into training alone, she quickly understood what state she was in. And she realized that she couldn’t reach the pinnacle on her own, that only her Master could guide her.
She begged him many times to cross swords with her, just like before. It was also her way of seeking affection, including the physical closeness they once shared.
Her Master was supposed to sigh as usual and say, 「Can’t be helped! Let’s have a go!」
That’s how it was supposed to be.
Whenever Eris called out to him, her Master always brushed her off with excuses like 「I’m busy,」 「I’ll play with you some other time,」 or 「Don’t bother me.」 In the end, he changed his attitude towards her as she kept following him around calling 「Master! Master!」
「You know, you haven’t grown much, and well… you’re just a pretty face.
I know, I know, you’re going to say you excel in swordsmanship, right?
Let me tell you something since we’re at it. People in this world might be stupid enough to value such things, but for me, violence is nothing but a negative trait. No matter how good you are at violence, at best it’s just a spectacle.
In other words, from my perspective, you’re just a barbarian who’s good at violence with a pretty face and poor development.
You get it, right? What I’m saying. If you understand, just be quiet and serve as my trophy.」
Until now, only her Master had guided her.
That’s how it was supposed to be.
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