Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“You have options.”

Climbing the circular stairs again and going down, not even a few floors, came out to the corridor.

And stood in front of David’s cleanly managed nameplate.

It didn’t seem like the skill of that loose person, probably the servants inside are managing it.

“This was originally my room.”

He moved his steps again, and stopped in front of the door with an empty nameplate.

“So if giving to you, around here will be good. Take a look once.”

He opened the door.

Overall a spacious and empty interior was visible.

“This is the living room, and the left door here is the training room. There are two doors on the right, right? That way there is a big room, a small room.”

Bright light poured into the living room through the large window.

He opened the inner doors with big strides and showed them.

“Eh, not good. What, there’s not even one bedding, it’ll take long to prepare everything.”

It seemed I could fill it with my taste without hassle.

David walked toward the window of the inner big room.

Below the window, the flower field beyond the castle wall and the low hills beyond it were looking down.

Indeed, I understand the reason for liking high places.

“Uselessly high. If I want to take a walk, I have to go down for a long time, right?”

With this level of scenery, some inconvenience is understandable.

David came out to the living room and opened the door.

“Look at this, the door is heavy and doesn’t open well, inconvenient.”

Certainly, it was a particularly thick and heavy door.

A spacious training room was visible.

On the wall, hooks suitable for mounting various weapons were embedded at certain distances, and the floor looked very sturdy as if padded with something.

“The ceiling is completely blocked, if training in a place like this, I’ll die from suffocation.”

The ceiling was also quite high, so it seemed I could jump around as much as I want and train.

“Doesn’t it feel stuffy somehow?”

I quietly knocked on the wall.

It was a room treated very thickly and solidly.

Whether doing metal work or hitting a scarecrow, if closing that thick door, no sound would enter the bedroom.

In short, it was a training room with good soundproofing.

“Overall, doesn’t it seem not good?”

“...”

Quietly looking at the senior brother, he grinned and said.

“Now let’s go see the next option.”

Ah, I just like it here.

I don’t know what kind of place it is there, but I like it here.

However, I also have sense.

How can I pass over without even seeing the next option when he’s expecting like that.

“Let’s go, senior brother.”

“Haha, follow me.”

Coming out of the main castle, I walked slowly.

And began to walk endlessly toward the southeast of the castle.

Passing the well-managed dormitory buildings of the magic practitioners, some cafes or restaurants prepared for nearby magic practitioners, even the banks of external merchant groups.

Then a grassy field without bricks laid came out, and a high castle wall blocking the view over there was visible.

Essentially heading toward the undeveloped outermost of the castle.

At that time, David stopped his steps.

“Here, stand here.”

David smiled and pointed at the ground.

“From here, strangely there’s no foundation, right?”

“Yes. It’s dirt ground.”

“Then, want to look closely at that wall over there?”

I checked. No particularly special point...

“The color is a bit different. Did they repair the middle wall?”

David nodded excitedly.

“Completely newly built. I heard that a very long time ago, one ancestor with a refreshing personality did sword work here.”

David took a posture as if gripping a sword with empty hands, then slashed the castle wall in half with a swish.

Even in this situation, a plausible posture comes out, so a master is a master.

“From here, the foundation flew away in a fan shape, and that high castle wall just collapsed.”

But listening to the talking, he also seems exactly like a boy.

“Isn’t it cool?”

Since the appearance just past twenty, it didn’t look that awkward.

“An interesting anecdote. Why did he break it?”

“The details aren’t important.”

It means he doesn’t know.

“Well, he must have tried to go out. Just that alone I like it a lot.”

It was a story that would be fun to look up once later.

But there was a not fun fact.

In the direction David slashed with the non-existent sword, something like a house was built.

“Weren’t you showing a place to stay?”

“You saw it too? Follow me.”

David moved his steps again.

Soon, flowers increased sparsely.

One flower, two flowers... Gradually increasing the number, the closer to the castle wall the number increased, and finally it became a flower field.

On the hill inside the castle where the flower field outside the castle has come over, a two-story house built adjacent to the castle wall.

“A mysterious and wondrous building.”

“Right? Cool, right?”

“Did permission come out?”

“What permission? I just gave money to an architect within the family and asked to build it?”

First, possibility of no permit.

“This entire open place here is my training ground. The gloomy buildings are almost not visible hidden by the forest, and there are many trees and flowers, and birds too.”

There must be many that like birds, and many that like flowers. For example—

“Bugs...”

“Yes?”

I didn’t finish the words.

“The day is already tilting.”

“Yes, today stay here for now. I prepared so you can sleep on the 2nd floor over there too.”

“Is there a guest?”

“No? I intend to sleep where I feel like. Lying there feels like lying in the middle of the forest, so it’s okay. The red moon is also well visible.”

It wasn’t for nothing that after going outside the sword family, he lived making a name like a fish that met water.

A person who likes nature very much.

Unfortunately, a bit different taste from me who is a typical city person, but even if I don’t love nature, I like people who love nature, so I’ll be able to get along well.

The inside was messier than expected, and even so it wasn’t dirty.

Just a personality that doesn’t organize neatly, but seems to organize freely nonetheless.

The 2nd floor guided by him was certainly cozy and okay.

The house was also solid, and the internal beddings were also of good quality as things brought in by the direct line of Equira.

The fact that the red moon would fully enter through the round window, and also that structurally it seemed I could secretly go outside the castle as is through this house, I liked.

David’s room and basement on the side adjacent to the castle wall are suspicious, but will he tell me if we get a bit closer.

However, efficiently speaking, the upper floor of the main castle where the training ground and lodging are together, and the master resides nearby, I liked more.

So during meal time, while eating the home-style meal that David’s nanny came all the way here and prepared herself, I opened my mouth.

“Senior brother, the place you’re staying now is recorded as the main castle, right? Hmm, this is delicious.”

“Right? Our nanny is good at cooking.”

“If I report that I entered here, it seems gazes will be drawn saying why is there a place like this.”

When David seemed to be contemplating, before giving an answer I quickly said.

“First, I’ll also unpack in the main castle like senior brother and put my registration, then go back and forth here while staying, that will be good.”

“Yes, that’ll do.”

That day, I looked at the greatly risen red moon on the 2nd floor there and fell asleep.

And the next day, with David’s help, I finished a few administrative processes of having settled in that room of the main castle.

I decorated the lodging, and brought items into the training ground and bedroom.

And every other day, I diligently showed my face to senior brother while also eating the nanny’s cooking.

I asked about the etiquette or culture as a direct disciple, things to be careful about, but whether it wasn’t an interest, the answers were not good at all, and I was curious about anecdotes about the Equira family, but I absolutely didn’t ask before he brought it up first.

So naturally the topic flowed to the sword, and with just that, I could spend time building familiarity without much effort.

As time passed like that, one day, identification and clothing came to my lodging.

“The elder sent it. I’ll guide you about the attire.”

“The elder?”

“Yes, items sent by Elder Herdrode Equira.”

Letting her in, she first showed the purple tassel.

“Attach this purple tassel to the sword. It proves being a magic practitioner, and is a mark that informs the realm. Outside you can freely untie it, but within the sword family you must attach it.”

Bringing the longsword I moderately brought from the Count’s territory and attaching the tassel, the woman quietly said.

“It would be better to prepare a new sword. The quality is low to the point of being discourteous.”

A sword so bad that it looks discourteous.

Is it because it’s a sword family, no mercy in evaluating swords.

“Here, if the knot of the tassel comes undone, come to the costume room on the 1st floor of the main castle and request a new one. If you present the sword family’s identification, they’ll make it.”

“What does the knot mean?”

It looks concise, so good.

I wonder if it means a novice, but the magic practitioners he saw while passing didn’t have such knots or were a bit more complex.

“It’s the generation of the direct disciple. Sir David and Sir Ronan are the highest generation among the direct disciples on the front line. Therefore, I gave a 1-knot knot.”

...The highest generation?

“Aren’t there elders with high generation in the family? Don’t magic practitioners have long lifespans?”

“Elders of the family with higher generation than the family head withdraw from the front line and become elders, and attach a butterfly knot shaped like a butterfly. It’s elegant so you’ll recognize it at a glance.”

Come to think of it, one thing comes to mind.

It was said the elder sent this clothing and tassel, and when I asked back, it was Herdrode.

“Then does Sir Herdrode have higher generation than the family head?”

“Yes? Elder Herdrode is a disciple obtained by the family head two generations ago in his later years, so one generation higher than the family head. He became an elder at such a young age.”

There are those who even if staying within the family after aging, in young age perform the family’s work outside the sword family and make a name.

Why a skilled one like Herdrode wasn’t even known by face, if he withdrew his hand from the family’s work early, it was understood.

Like an elder, he withdrew from the front line, and had been training alone with one disciple.

“I understand.”

I never imagined I would be the same generation as the family head.

But since not of Equira bloodline and the realm is weak, I won’t substantially receive treatment as a high-generation elder.

Just knowing that the number of those who can look down on me according to the family’s etiquette is countable on one hand will be enough.

“For a while, until the personnel within the family get to know the face, be sure to wear this clothing and go around.”

Next, the woman unfolded the ink-colored clothing and showed it.

The Equira family’s emblem was engraved with gold thread on the collar.

“Understood.”

Wearing the ink-colored clothing and wearing the sword with the purple tassel attached, I certainly felt like I had become a magic practitioner.

The mood was quite new, but to senior brother it seemed that looked embarrassing.

“...Why did you dress up so much?”

“They said to wear it like this for a while.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

David who came out in comfortable clothing as usual grinned and moved his steps.

“Then, shall we go? To train.”

Finally, the day of entry into the path of magic has come.

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