“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lord Sacher. I go by Lady Mary.” Given my current appearance, I bowed my head gently as I introduced myself with the most friendly smile I could manage.
“H-Hmm...” He looked away from me, his cheeks a bit flushed.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was heartwarming to see a young boy act embarrassed but stubborn. But as I was watching over him, a chop descended on the crown of his head with the might of steel.
Whoa, that was a pretty heavy thud... That must have been a serious hit, what with that gauntleted hand and all. Yikes...
“What’re you acting all bashful and fidgety for, you little brat?!” the count bellowed. “Lady Mary, don’t bother calling him ‘Lord,’ just call him by his name, you hear?!”
Sacher crouched where he stood, cradling his head painfully.
That looks like it hurt...
“Hmm, Count Elexiel, I was told you would be teaching me martial arts? So why is, uh, Sir Sacher here too?” I ended up calling the boy “sir” since I felt too uncomfortable to just call him by his name.
“Just call me Klaus,” the knight said. “Being called ‘Count’ makes my skin crawl.”
“H-Hmm...” I nodded uncomfortably.
“Anyway, I brought him over to serve as your training partner today. Figured having someone the same stature as you might be for the best.”
“Wha— Father!” Sacher got to his feet and protested. “You’re telling me to train against a frail girl like this?!”
Whoa. He finally speaks up, and the first thing he does is call me “frail.” This kid has some nerve.
Sacher’s complaints were silenced with another heavy chop to the cranium.
“Don’t get the wrong idea, Sacher! She’s not your training partner, you’re her training dummy. Your role here is to act as Lady Mary’s sandbag, understood?”
“What?!” Sacher called out in disbelief.
“You’ve gotten a bit too overconfident in your powers,” Lord Klaus chided him. “This should be a good chance to teach you what pain is like.”
Ah, hold up, Lord Klaus. Leave me out of your son’s education, please.
Lord Klaus went on to explain that Sacher had incredible martial talents and strength for a boy his age. He was too skilled for other children his age to handle, as well as some of the older ones. He was effectively unmatched, as they say.
His father’s demands felt very unreasonable, but Sacher had to bitterly play along with his father. Looking at another family conduct itself really drove it home how pampered and sheltered I was by my own family.
Mother, father, I’m grateful for how you dote on me! I should tell father I love him for no reason the next time I see him.
“You’re a quick learner, Lady Mary! It took Sacher three days to learn this.”
“Wow, really?”
“Y-Yeah, when I was five years old! I could learn that in like, three minutes now!” Perhaps displeased with seeing Lord Klaus praise me, Sacher interjected, burning with competitive spirit. When all was said and done, Sacher deeply respected his father and craved his approval.
Still, learning martial arts by beating someone up at the age of five... Talk about combat nuts, just like father. I’d bet they at least didn’t lift boulders like he did, though...
“Let’s practice some paired exercises, then. Sacher, pair up with her.”
“Yes, father...” Sacher said obediently, like he’d resigned himself to whatever was going to happen, and then stood in front of me.
On closer inspection, however, it turned out he wasn’t all that obedient. His eyes were glinting with a fighting spirit that made a shiver run through me.
Um, Sir Sacher? Could you please not glare at me like that? I’m scared...
Lord Klaus didn’t seem to mind the one-sided glaring contest between us and started instructing us on the exercise.
“If the enemy grabs you, first you need to tilt your body sideways and grab them by the arm.”
I followed Lord Klaus’s motions like a marionette.
“Then, while you pull them in, you stoop down and sweep their feet, starting from the left to the right.”
As I traced his movements, my foot hit Sacher’s defenseless legs, but he seemed intent to stay on his feet and didn’t budge. Still, I was moving slow and my movements were light, so I probably shouldn’t have expected him to trip.
“Good. Keep practicing these motions.”
“Yes!” I said.
I began mumbling the movements under my breath, silently repeating the exercise. Sacher seemed intent on not letting me trip him up, though.
After twenty or so minutes of repeating the same exercise, my movements sped up and became smoother. Doing it became kind of fun. Come to think of it, this might have been my first time exercising freely like this, and I was enjoying myself.
“Good, good, you’re on the right track, Lady Mary. You’ve got talent for this,” Lord Klaus complimented me, which excited me.
Seemingly displeased with this, Sacher’s attempts to grab me seemed to gradually pick up in speed. But his movements weren’t quick enough for me to fail to react in time. Burning with competitiveness, I started speeding up too.
“All right. Now, try to move in for real this time,” Lord Klaus said.
At his words, Sacher and I exchanged a glance, our eyes glinting. Sacher was the first to move in. He moved faster than ever before, trying to grab me. I swept at him with my hands, shifting my body aside as I crouched and slipped into his open flank to sweep at his feet.
Sacher braced himself so as to not get tripped up, of course, but...
Whoosh!
...with a satisfying sound, Sacher lurched forward and hit the ground. His face was blank with surprise, like he had no idea what had happened. I giggled to myself victoriously, straightening my posture. Sacher vigorously jumped to his feet, his face red with embarrassment.
“I just got careless this time! One more time!” he insisted.
“That’s fine with me!” I nodded with a combative smile.
We then spent the better part of twenty minutes with me sending him flying through the air and slamming him against the ground.
Oh, this is fun! This is so much fun! I love moving my body!
I let myself go, overcome with the joy of being active as well as the glee of putting a cheeky boy in his place.
“Hmm... I think we should wrap it up here for today, Lady Mary,” Lord Klaus said. “I think Sacher won’t last much longer.”
“Oh. Right, of course,” I said, snapping out of my glee.
Sacher was lying on the floor, covered up in enough mud to spoil his boyish looks.
“I brought Sacher over to teach him what it’s like to be on the receiving end of attacks for once, but...” Lord Klaus smiled. “I didn’t think you’d break the bridge of his nose. That’s Ferdid’s daughter for you, aha ha ha!”
While Sacher was gasping for air, I was breathing just fine. I hadn’t even broken a sweat.
I guess that’s just...the gap between our levels. With me finally having snapped out of my glee, I realized I went too far. I hurried over to Sacher and helped him to his feet in a fluster, but he got up without my help.
“I-I’m just out of it today...” he muttered sullenly. “There’s no way I would lose to a frail girl like you otherwise!”
I’m impressed he can act tough even now. I’m glad he doesn’t think I’m weird, though...
Honestly, I wasn’t trying to exert much of my strength, but I got the feeling that if I had taken this even a bit more seriously, he’d have grown totally suspicious. In that regard, learning that I can get away with restraining my strength this much was a valuable lesson.
“Mary! I won’t lose next time, so you better be read—”
“It’s Lady Mary, you stupid boy!”
Sacher tried to see me off with that line, only for Lord Klaus to cut him off by sinking another painful-looking chop to his head.
And so, I befriended a boy my age...or rather, got myself a cheeky training partner.
But really, moving around is so much fun! ♪ Thank you, God! Thank you for bringing me to this wonderful world! I’m so happy! I thanked God in my heart.
A few days later, however, I would be knocked down to the pits of misery. A letter addressed to me was gripped in my hands. The contents of the letter detailed that the prince wished to see me, and that I was to come to the palace and see him.