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After returning home, I managed to avoid a dressing down from Armeria and Cosmos, and went to bed. Soon enough, the sun had risen on the next day.
As we sat down for breakfast, I decided to inform Claus of my decision to move out of the estate as soon as possible—barring any issues, I’d be out today. Unsurprisingly, my sisters looked terribly displeased with my decision, but aside from a little bit of grumbling about how I was being too hasty, no one attempted to stop me.
Since I could craft furniture at Claus’s manor, I went out into the courtyard to practice spellcraft and made item after item for my new home. As I toiled away, though, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps.
“Hm?”
Since whoever it was hadn’t greeted me, I could safely assume it wasn’t a servant. Turning back to look, I noticed Rose had come out into the courtyard and was heading straight toward me.
“Lady Rose?” I called out to her.
She greeted me warmly. “Hello, Lord Hisui. I’m not distracting you, am I?”
“Not at all. I’m just making furniture, I’m happy to chat if you like.”
“Thank you. I actually have a favor to ask...”
“What do you need?”
“You’ll be leaving the estate today and living outside of town from now on, right?”
“That’s the plan, yes,” I said as I put the finishing touches on a bed I was making. I had a wardrobe done as well, plus a table and some chairs, so I was now fully prepared for the bare minimum of decent living in my new abode.
“Then, before you go... Could you come observe my godcraft lesson?” Rose asked.
“Your lesson? Oh right, you hired a private tutor,” I recalled.
“Yes. Today’s lesson will be starting soon. I won’t ask you to go out of your way to help my tutor teach me, but...I’d be happy if you only came to watch.”
“Observation, huh?”
From what I’d heard, Rose understood godcraft at a fundamental level, but she had little knowledge of how to apply it, and even less experience actually using it. Essentially, she would still be learning the practical basics. Since I’d long mastered the fundamentals, her lessons were sure to be so dull that I doubted I could keep from yawning.
On the other hand, I still owed Claus quite a bit, and I had promised to help her learn. Watching the lesson might not have been a half-bad idea. After all, I wasn’t going to get many opportunities to teach her once I’d moved out.
Quickly coming to a decision, I nodded. “All right. If you’re happy to have me there, I can try giving you some advice too. I’m not sure if you’ll need it, though.”
“Oh goodness, thank you so much! I’m so happy to hear that, Lord Hisui.”
Throwing both hands into the air cheerfully, she did a pirouette on the spot. She was awfully excited for something as unremarkable as someone agreeing to observe her lesson... Not that that was a bad thing.
Rose then asked if she could watch me make furniture, so together we chatted away the morning as I kept crafting. When noon came, we had our lunch—delicious as always—in the dining room, and when we finished, we headed to a guest room. Rose’s godcraft lessons were apparently going to take place there.
Together, Rose and I climbed the stairs to the second floor. We entered an unused room directly across the hall from my own, and there we waited for about ten minutes.
Finally, the door opened.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Lady Rose. Today we’ll begin your lessons in godcraft,” a tenor voice began, but faltered when its owner took stock of me. “Oh? Who’s this little boy?”
The person who entered the room was a young man who appeared to be somewhere in his twenties. His hair fell to about his shoulders, with combed-back bangs and a single lock styled into a curious zigzag falling across his face. I kinda wondered how he’d achieved that zigzag thing, actually, but...
Overall, I thought he looked like a sleazeball, so he didn’t exactly present a good first impression.
For starters, this was the residence of the marquis, a man who was situated quite high on the social ladder, and his daughter—and yet the tutor had opened the door without knocking, which was a terrible faux pas among nobility.
Furthermore, he’d been kind of dismissive in referring to me, despite the fact that we were strangers. Nor did he hide his thoughts very well: His raised eyebrow told me that he disapproved of this uninvited guest. Seeing as I was seated next to Rose, the obvious assumption would’ve been that I was also a noble of high rank... Never mind that I was actually just the youngest son of a baron, therefore occupying the lowest spot on the social ladder for nobles.
“This is Lord Hisui. He came to Lycoris from the neighboring barony of Clematis—and he saved my life,” Rose said, introducing me.
“Clematis? I don’t remember hearing that name before,” the man said with a shrug.
What a jerk. I knew my home was a poverty-stricken barony in the middle of nowhere, but he still should’ve been polite about it. I didn’t like Clematis, but I still had a certain amount of hometown pride about it.
“Well, never mind. It’s fine. I am Graeger, the second son of House Clerkin.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” I said, nodding.
I honestly didn’t want to bow down to a slimeball like him, but given that he was Rose’s tutor, I couldn’t pick a fight with him—especially not in front of Rose herself. I decided to play the part of a well-mannered child.
Graeger turned his attention from me to Rose. “At any rate, why is he here, Lady Rose?”
“Hisui can also use godcraft, and he’s so skilled that even my father acknowledges his proficiency. I thought he might be able to give me some advice,” she explained.
“Is that so? Even though I’m here?” Graeger said, clearly offended.
“I don’t mean to discount your skill, Lord Graeger. This is perhaps not the most delicate way of describing the situation, but I meant for Lord Hisui’s advice to be accessory to your tutelage. The more people there are, the more things we might notice, don’t you agree?”
“I suppose, but even so...” Graeger muttered, clicking his tongue disdainfully before addressing me. “Whatever. Very well. I’ll allow your participation, given the lady is so insistent.”
Graeger turned around, his green robes whipping through the air with a noticeable flap, and he took several paces back. His lips then stretched into a bold grin. “Let’s start our godcraft training at once, then. Are you ready, Lady Rose?”
“I am,” she nodded. “Go right ahead, Lord Graeger.”
Graeger didn’t forget to snap at me before beginning the lesson, though. “And you—remain seated and watch. Don’t speak unless you’re spoken to, got it?”
I bit back my irritation before responding. “All right.”
Ugh, this guy was obnoxious as hell! He obviously saw me as an enemy. I figured he hadn’t gotten a good impression of me, since I was basically here as a plus-one to dish out pointers, but he wasn’t even trying to disguise his open contempt.
Most people would have been polite enough to at least make an effort to keep all that tucked away. Did he look down on me because I was from a house of lower standing than his? If he knew I’d killed a basilisk and a green dragon before coming to this town, maybe he’d change his tune... Wait. Crap.
Very belatedly, I realized something that was bound to give me a headache.
Just now, Rose had introduced me to him by explaining that I could use godcraft, but he’d easily be able to guess that I could use magecraft too if he ever found out I’d fought those monsters. If that happened, the fact that I could use multiple kinds of magic would surely spread to other people than just Claus and Rose.
The only other people who knew about the dragon were the guildmaster of the adventurer’s guild, and Arisa, who’d taken care of my registration. I doubted either of those two would leak the story, but at the same time, I didn’t want to deal with any more trouble than necessary. Maybe I should’ve asked Rose not to say anything beforehand so I could’ve been sure...
“Come, let’s begin by reviewing what we practiced last time,” said Graeger.
“Hmm... Oh yes, I should focus on channeling godcraft energies into my right hand to manifest healing powers, right?” asked Rose.
“That’s correct. Now watch closely! I shall demonstrate.”
“Huh?” Upon hearing the content of Rose’s lesson, my confusion fell from my mouth before I could stop it. Luckily, neither of them noticed... Or at least, they didn’t acknowledge it if they did. Graeger continued with the training session, balling his right hand into a fist, which began to emanate a soft, golden light.
He’d begun to channel godcraft energy. From what I could tell, his skill with control and manipulation was rather limited—the light was barely visible, and he’d only generated enough energy to barely cover his fist.
“Wooow, blegh. Is he even trying? His output is complete garbage,” Fouré groaned from somewhere behind me. She evidently thought little of Graeger’s effort, but that wasn’t a surprise considering she measured everything against both her ability and mine.
While her comment had been rather harsh, I could also tell that his skill with godcraft wasn’t nearly good enough to heal much of anything. At best, he might be able to fix a skinned knee.
This couldn’t be the extent of his real ability, right? I mean, he’d been flashing around that arrogant, shit-eating grin all this time...
“I’ll...try it too!”
After watching Graeger’s demonstration, Rose balled up her own fist and attempted to channel her energy, copying what she’d observed. But she was still a complete beginner, as Claus had previously mentioned, and she couldn’t really gather the power into her hand. From what I could tell, she could actually release some amount of godcraft energy, but her output was too low and her control too poor. Not even a single mote of light appeared.
“That’s no good, Lady Rose. You must concentrate harder! Focus your energy into your hand!” Graeger scolded.
“A-All right!” she responded, voice cracking.