It was Rei who broke the silence that had filled the reception room for a few seconds.

「Right. I don’t mind checking how much Baslero has improved, but wasn’t this supposed to be a nominated request?」

「Ah, of course it is. However, since it’s only for today rather than consecutive days like last year, I won’t be able to offer a very high reward……」

Mouet looked a bit uncomfortable as he spoke. Rei could tell that they didn’t have much money to spare. On top of that, since the request was only for a single day, the reward would undoubtedly be even smaller.

However, Rei shook his head at Mouet’s words.

「I don’t need any money as a reward. Instead, could I have some of this dried fruit? It’s the first time I’ve ever eaten dried fruit that goes so perfectly with herbal tea.」

Rei’s words must have been incredibly unexpected. Not only Mouet, but even the maid, Ashie, who stood waiting behind him, wore an expression of pure shock.

「Um, are you certain that’s fine? I shouldn’t really say this, but that dried fruit isn’t something we bought from a shop. It’s homemade by Ashie……」

As Mouet turned his gaze toward Ashie behind him and asked, Rei smiled and replied.

「Yeah. Honestly, I was surprised when I ate this dried fruit. Normally, dried fruit inevitably ends up looking unappealing, but this still retains its vivid colour. It wouldn’t turn out like this if it were just made normally, would it?」

「True. That dried fruit is made using a recipe passed down through Ashie’s family. You could even call it our family’s specialty.」

「Please, Master. I did nothing particularly special……」

At Mouet’s unreserved praise, Ashie blushed and murmured bashfully.

「Honestly, I think you could sell this dried fruit if you wanted to. Set would probably happily eat it too.」

If a reputation spread that it was officially approved by Set, it would undoubtedly sell. However, Ashie shook her head apologetically at Rei’s words.

「We can’t make this dried fruit in large quantities. Ah, of course, I mean we can’t make enough to sell. There’s plenty for our household to eat, and enough to give to you, Rei-san.」

Rei nodded in satisfaction at Ashie’s words and turned his gaze back toward Mouet.

「What do you say?」

「Well, it certainly helps me out, but……are you really sure?」

Looking at the man as he asked to confirm, Rei couldn’t help but worry about the future of this household given Mouet’s pure good-natured personality. Then again, it was precisely because of that kind of personality that he had come to Gilm, where there was next to no political infighting among nobles.

「Yeah, leave it to me. ……Well then, Baslero, shall we get straight to it?」

「Yes! I’ll show you the fruits of my training over the past year, Rei-san! As for the location……please, let’s use the courtyard. I always practice there.」

Baslero shouted happily at Rei’s words, and seeing that, Mouet narrowed his eyes with a warm smile. This was because he had noticed that his usually polite son held a deep admiration for Rei. For a father with a remarkably well-behaved son, seeing him act like a normal boy his age was a heart-warming sight.

「Well then, Rei-san, I will guide you to the courtyard. Young master, please get ready.」

「I’ll be ready in a second!」

Baslero hurriedly left the room, and Ashie guided Rei toward the courtyard.

「Now then, I wonder how well Baslero will fare against you, Rei-kun? Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the cold myself.」

As Mouet turned his gaze out the reception room window, snow was still lightly drifting down outside. Just as he had said, Mouet didn’t care much for the cold, but he left the reception room and headed toward the courtyard anyway to see with his own eyes how much his son had grown.

 

 

「Guru~?」

Greeting Rei, Ashie, and Mouet as they arrived in the courtyard was Set, who gave an inquisitive cry and tilted his head as if asking what was wrong.

Although the current snowfall wasn’t very heavy, it had been coming down since the previous day, resulting in an accumulation of about 10cm. Set had been rolling around on top of the accumulated snow, enjoying the sensation of trampling the snow, and burying his face in it. Since everyone had suddenly shown up while he was playing, it was only natural for Set to find it strange.

「Set, we’re going to use this space for a bit. Baslero is going to have a mock battle with Rei-kun.」

「Gururu~!」

Set gave a cry at Mouet’s words as if to say ‘I want to watch too!’ and lay down a short distance away. He sprawled out grandly on top of the snow, but likely because he was a Griffon, he didn’t seem cold at all.

Mouet and Ashie initially turned concerned looks toward Set, but seeing that he didn’t mind it in the least, they finally felt relieved. They chatted amongst themselves while waiting for Baslero to arrive.

A few minutes passed……and along with the sound of footsteps running down the corridor, Baslero appeared in the courtyard. He was wearing leather armour made from monster hides rather than metal armour, likely considering his lack of physical stamina. It was light in weight and offered a decent amount of protection, which Rei could easily see at a glance.

「Please train me!」

Holding a long sword, though it was custom-made to fit his smaller frame, Baslero bowed his head. In response, Rei pulled the Thorns Spear out from the Misty Ring. Rei’s primary weapon was originally the Death Scythe, but he had judged that using it in a mock battle against Baslero would be far too dangerous since the Death Scythe weighed well over 100kg even without magic power channeled through it.

Granted, a spear and a large scythe handled completely differently. Even so, since it was a polearm, he was far more accustomed to a spear than a long sword.

Within the courtyard where light snow was falling, Rei and Baslero faced each other. Mouet, Ashie, and Set silently watched the two of them.

『……』

As both sides waited for each other to make a move, silence filled the courtyard. This was because Rei was waiting for Baslero to attack, while Baslero was hesitant, completely unsure of how to break through Rei’s stance. The silence lasted for several minutes until Rei finally spoke up.

「What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to attack? Aren’t you supposed to be showing me the strength you’ve acquired over the past year?」

Rei spoke as he held the spear, which was a solid deep green from its tip to the end of its shaft, and lightly shook the spearhead to provoke him. Hearing Rei’s words and seeing the swaying spearhead, Baslero dashed forward to close the distance between them.

However, no matter how much the snow had been packed down by Set playing in the courtyard, snow was still snow. Compared to launching himself off normal ground, his speed was inevitably slower.

「Yaaaaah-!」

With a spirited shout, the long sword swung down in a diagonal slash. It naturally carried a sharp blade, and a clean hit would undoubtedly result in a severe injury. However, Baslero didn’t expect his attack to actually hit Rei, and he was absolutely right.

……Then again, even if the blow did somehow connect, the Dragon Robe Rei wore would ensure he remained completely unharmed anyway.

Reading the trajectory of the long sword swinging down toward him, Rei gently thrust the Thorns Spear forward. The moment the blade of the long sword collided with the spearhead, its trajectory was deflected with a minimal amount of force. It didn’t even graze Rei, burying itself harmlessly into the snow-covered ground instead.

「Eh?」

「Close, but not close enough.」

As Baslero let out a confused voice, completely oblivious to what had just occurred, the deep green spearhead was already pointed right in front of his eyes. After deflecting the tip of the long sword, Rei had seamlessly guided the spear forward by utilizing the momentum of Baslero’s own strike, bringing the tip right before the boy’s face. However, the execution was so extraordinarily fluid that even Mouet and Ashie, who were watching from the sidelines, failed to grasp what had just happened.

「……Say, Ashie. Did you understand what just happened?」

「No. It just looked like Rei-san’s spear shifted for a split second, and the young master’s attack somehow missed.」

「Right? I suppose that’s the true strength of a titled B rank adventurer.」

As Mouet and Ashie conversed, Baslero launched another attack with his long sword right before their eyes. The long sword swung out in a wide horizontal arc, aiming to slice straight through Rei’s torso……

「Naive.」

Another strike from the Thorns Spear forcefully parried the long sword. Unlike the previous exchange where he had smoothly redirected the momentum to parry the blow, this time Rei forcefully knocked the weapon back with his own raw strength.

The sharp screech of clashing metal echoing through the courtyard proved exactly how much power lay behind Rei’s strike. Unable to withstand the kinetic force with his current strength, the long sword was ripped from Baslero’s grip and sent flying into the air. The blade spun rapidly as it fell back down, plunging directly into the snow and grinding to a halt.

「I called it naive, but that was actually a decent strike. However, you’re relying entirely on your arm strength to swing the long sword, which is a flaw you need to correct. Especially when unleashing a horizontal slash, you should use the rotation of your hips along with your arms. That will significantly increase the power behind your blow.」

「Yes!」

「What do you want to do? Shall we stop here? Your hands must be numb by now.」

Rei questioned Baslero to test his resolve as the boy gave a lively response. However, Baslero immediately shook his head at Rei’s words.

「No, I can still keep going!」

「Very well. Then I’ll keep you company a bit longer. Pick up your weapon.」

「Yes!」

Pulling the long sword out from the snow, Baslero held his weapon ready toward Rei once more. He gradually closed the distance step by step, and the exact moment he judged he was close enough, he forcefully lunged to close the remaining gap.

What Rei held was the Thorns Spear. Since its reach was naturally far greater than that of a long sword, it would have been incredibly easy for him to strike from well outside Baslero’s range. Despite that, Rei simply waited for Baslero to attack. In the first place, this wasn’t a battle Rei needed to win. Its purpose was purely to verify how much stronger Baslero had grown over the past year.

A reckless flurry of consecutive attacks was swung toward him. From Rei’s perspective, the assault was unrefined, and the transitions between swings were so clumsy that he could have easily exploited countless openings. Even so, considering the boy had only begun combat training a single year ago, being able to unleash such a relentless combination proved that the combat talent within Baslero was by no means small. However……

While evading the flurry of blows, Rei suddenly unleashed a sweeping strike with the pommel of the Thorns Spear. Swept off his feet by the butt of the spear as he stepped forward, Baslero tumbled to the ground.

Looking down at the snow-covered Baslero, Rei hoisted the Thorns Spear onto his shoulder and shook his head.

「I’m pretty sure I told you this last year too, didn’t I? You tend to neglect your footwork. While it’s fine to hone your strengths, correcting your weaknesses is just as necessary, you know?」

Baslero quickly scrambled to his feet at Rei’s words.

「Yes! I’m sorry. Please, train me once more!」

「Very well, come at me.」

With those words, the battle commenced once more. Baslero swung his long sword toward Rei relentlessly, but the blade never reached Rei’s body even once. Every single attack was either evaded, parried, or deflected by the Thorns Spear.

About 20 minutes passed like that……until Baslero was heavily out of breath, and his movements slowed down to the point where it was clear he could no longer move his body any further.

「Alright, let’s call it a day.」

「Hah, hah, hah……Yes, thank you very much.」

Rei nodded as the boy offered his gratitude while panting heavily.

「There were certainly various flaws, but you displayed plenty of good points as well. There’s no doubt that you possess talent, Baslero. However, just because you have talent doesn’t mean you can slack off on your daily training, or others will overtake you in no time at all. If you don’t want that to happen, make sure you never neglect your daily practice.」

Judging that the battle had officially ended with those words, Mouet spoke up.

「Now then, shall we head back inside the mansion? If you stay out in the falling snow forever, you’ll catch a cold. Ashie, please prepare some hot tea. Also, could you wrap up the dried fruit we’re giving to Rei-kun as a reward?」

「Yes, right away.」

「Gururu~!」

「Fufu, quite right. We’ll give some dried fruit to Set too.」

Set had likely picked up that dried fruit meant something delicious. Mouet offered a smile as he spoke in response to the round eyes Set directed at him, pleading for a share. Set gave a happy cry at his words. Exchanging those pleasantries, Rei and the others headed back inside the mansion.

 

 

Close to an hour passed inside the mansion as they caught up on each other’s recent news. Eventually, Mouet needed to return to his work, and Baslero fell asleep from the exhaustion of the intense exercise. Because of that, Rei prepared to head home and walked to the entrance hall while accompanied by Ashie.

「Rei-san, please take this. This is the dried fruit we promised. I feel a bit self-conscious since it’s homemade by me, though.」

「Don’t worry about it, it tastes amazing, so I’m glad to have it.」

Stating that, Rei took the basket containing the dried fruit and stored it inside the Misty Ring.

「Well then, I’ll go get Set……」

Just as he was about to finish his sentence, a voice suddenly echoed from behind them.

「Oh, woman. You’re quite a fine specimen. Be grateful, for I shall allow you to keep me company tonight.」

The voice drifted in from behind them……echoing from a carriage parked right outside the gate.

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