Chapter 5

A week had already slipped by since I became Armienne in this world. If anyone asked what I’d done during that time, the answer was basically nothing. Do you know what men love most during their rest periods or vacations? It’s rolling around at home. That right there is the ultimate joy.

There was no need for me to do anything when I had zero intention of ever meeting the protagonists of this book. No, doing nothing was actually the express lane to peace. If I were a woman who loved handsome men, I might have wanted to meet them or felt sorry enough for the protagonist to try and help, but I had no such thoughts at all.

Back when I was just reading the book [Harmiel], I used to think Harmiel was pitiful, but come to think of it, she was also the young lady of a ducal household. If she regressed, she’d live just fine on her own, and even if she didn’t, since I wasn’t around, she certainly wouldn’t suffer anything too severe.

Clatter-

Yul opened the door and walked in, letting out a sigh as she looked at me—still sprawled across the bed as usual, snacking on treats while reading a novel.

“Sigh, just how long do you plan on staying cooped up in the mansion every single day, my lady? Didn’t you say you wanted to look around the village the other day?”

Ah, right, I did. But now that I actually thought about it…

“Hmm, I’ll go next time. It’s too bothersome.”

I’d definitely been full of motivation to do all sorts of things on the first day, but after experiencing a bed soft beyond comparison to my old world, sweet snacks, and ice-cold drinks, everything had become an absolute chore.

I’ll never be able to leave this place. This bed is the clutches of a demon beast.

“Keep that up and you’ll gain weight.”

“Nah, sword training will burn it right off.”

I gave a vague reply to Yul’s words and took a refreshing gulp of juice. The tangy 100 percent orange juice slid down my throat, instantly pumping vitality back into my body.

Oh, man. At this rate, I feel like I could read ten more volumes of novels.

Seeing that I had zero intention of moving, Yul eventually seemed to give up and began cleaning the messy room. A slight pang of guilt hit me at that sight. I just made the room dirty every day while Yul, maid or not, quietly cleaned it all up.

It felt kind of like a mother cleaning up the room of an unemployed slacker who did nothing all day.

“…The room’s a bit messy, huh? I’ll eat cleanly from now on.”

That said, I wasn’t about to give up this lifestyle, of course.

“Not at all. This much isn’t hard work at all. Still, my lady… really, you ought to head outside a little….”

Just as Yul was trying to persuade me once again, the door swung open to reveal an elderly gentleman older than my dad the duke—the proud head butler of the ducal household.

The butler bowed his head without the slightest change in expression, even upon seeing me lying flat on the bed. Somehow, he looked even more graceful than I did.

“The instructors who will teach Lady Armienne swordsmanship and magic have just arrived.”

“Hoh, is that so?”

I’d definitely wanted to learn the sword and magic, but the moment instructors actually showed up and I realized I had to break away from this lifestyle, getting up felt completely unappealing. Honestly, if I could, I wanted to just say, ‘I’m not learning swordsmanship or magic anymore…’ but judging by the look on Yul’s face, I couldn’t get away with that either.

“Up we go! Shall we get moving?”

To shake off the overwhelming laziness, I vigorously kicked off the bed and stood up. The moment I actually got moving, the sluggishness flew far away, replaced by a 50-50 mix of anticipation and tension.

Since the duke had promised to hook me up with incredible instructors, they were bound to be exceptionally talented folks who were a bit older and held high standing. Even if I was the young lady of a ducal house, I couldn’t keep people like that waiting.

“I shall lead the way.”

Seeing the butler anticipate my request just as I was about to ask, I thought to myself, As expected, he’s amazing. The butler took the lead, I followed right behind him, and Yul trailed at my rear.

Watching the direction the butler was heading, I tilted my head in confusion.

“Butler.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Are we heading straight to the training grounds?”

Normally, upon a first meeting, you’d greet each other and talk face-to-face in the duke’s office or a guest parlor, so I couldn’t help but ask after seeing him stride directly toward the training grounds.

To my words, the butler kept walking as he opened his mouth.

“Yes. One of the instructors insisted that training begin immediately starting today. And, though this is a secret, they told the duke that if the young lady lacked the heart for it or tried to quit, they would leave without a shred of lingering regret.”

“Hah—is that so? And Dad actually agreed to that?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t know who it was, but I could strongly feel that they deeply disliked me. Well, it was impossible for me to know everyone, but I did know of one person who was skilled with the sword and had despised me from the absolute start. Because he was one of the novel’s main characters, after all.

‘Carusien.’

Carusien had disliked Armienne’s behavior right from the early days, so he would get angry at her over every little thing or directly block her malicious deeds. However, he probably didn’t realize that those very actions of his only made Armienne even angrier, causing her to make others suffer even more.

If he became my swordsmanship instructor, I was certain I would witness hell. A guy like Carusien was a character notorious in the novel for having zero flexibility. He wasn’t the kind of man to cut someone slack just because they were a woman. Sure, the soul inside this body was a man who had even served in the military, but regardless of that right now, I was a woman.

H.o.w.e.v.e.r., the probability of me running into him was close to zero. Not even one percent—zero. Unless he was an idiot, he would never have thought to come teach me, and the duke, knowing Armienne’s usual personality all too well, surely wouldn’t have thought to entrust my instruction to someone practically my age.

And yet.

I had assumed with absolute certainty that it had to be that way, so who on earth was the person standing right in front of me? The moment I laid eyes on one of the two people who had arrived early at the training grounds to greet me, I couldn’t help but clutch my head.

“It is a pleasure. Ahem, Lady Armienne. I am Capeldeor, the vice-master of the Magic Tower, who will be teaching you magic.”

“Carusien de Farba. I will be teaching you swordsmanship starting today. If you want to quit, you are free to quit right now.”

“…………….”

No, how on earth could something like this happen? Was the unseen god of this novel commanding me to push the plot forward? No, that wasn’t it. Rather than some invisible force, this was unquestionably Dad’s doing, through and through.

He had acted as if he was dead-set against the sword, only to seemingly give his permission in the end and resort to a trick like this.

Should I give up on swordsmanship, then?

Absolutely not. If anything, I’d give up on magic first. I had no intention of giving up the sword. In fact, it was reaching the point where pure stubbornness was kicking in. If you think you can make me give up, try and make me, that was my attitude.

I smiled brightly, bowed politely, and at the same time, kept my posture sharp and disciplined.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Armienne de Celion. Instructors. I will do my absolute best starting today.”

Flinch-

Watching Carusien looking utterly dumbfounded by my greeting, I flashed him a bright crescent-moon smile.

“Is there some sort of problem, Master Carusien?”

“…There is no problem whatsoever.”

Saying that, he glanced at the elderly wizard standing beside him. At Carusien’s gaze, the old man who had identified himself as Capeldeor chuckled heartily and stroked his long, grown-out beard.

“Heh-he-heh, well now. Since His Excellency the Duke mentioned it and this is our first lesson, I think I’ll just observe today. Sir Carusien here will be teaching the young lady swordsmanship for today.”

With those words, Capeldeor took a step back, and Carusien stepped forward in front of me with a triumphant expression.

Although I couldn’t be called short as a woman, I was no match for Carusien, who possessed exceptional physical abilities and had grown taller than average, leaving me with no choice but to look up at him.

If I were an ordinary person, I probably would have trembled under the oppressive pressure naturally radiating from our height difference, but I was different. To begin with, while I might not have been quite that tall back then, I used to be close to that height.

Instead, I stared right back at him with unblinking confidence. Our eyes met. He kept looking at me, perhaps expecting me to avert my gaze first, but I just smiled brightly right back at him.

Flinch—seeing me smile when he hadn’t expected it at all, Carusien jerked back slightly.

Tsk, tsk. Such a mere kid. Glaring so openly like that was nothing short of handing me all the leeway in the world.

“Are we not starting the lesson, In.struc.tor?”

The one who answered my words wasn’t Carusien, but Capeldeor, who had been resting in the shade.

“Heh-he-heh, the young lady is quite an entertaining person.”

“Thank you, Grandpa. Oh, and you can speak to me comfortably, you know.”

“………?!”

At my words, everyone’s jaws dropped. Seeing that, I thought to myself.

‘Hmm, did I do something wrong?’

I wasn’t particularly sociable; I just liked using friendly forms of address. In other words, rather than worrying about whether or not it might be a nuisance to the other person, I just called them whatever I felt like.

Normally, even if they were a complete stranger, if they were elderly, I’d call them grandma or grandpa. Of course, once class started I’d call them instructor, but the person resting over there didn’t look like my magic teacher—he just looked like a nice old grandpa.

“K-ha-ha-ha. She really is a different child than I expected.”

Capeldeor must have liked being called grandpa contrary to his expectations. He was laughing so hard his face had turned red.

Meanwhile, Carusien was gazing at me with a lukewarm, skeptical expression.

What are you looking at? I wanted to say, but I didn’t want to drag this out any longer, so I simply stepped back without a word.

“Ah…”

Seemingly finally snapping out of it, he shook his head once and slowly raised his wooden sword. Just moments ago, he had just looked like a kid lacking both social graces and flexibility, but his aura changed in a single instant.

He wasn’t even holding a real sword—just a wooden sword. And what’s more, he wasn’t even looking at me; he was simply gazing at the scarecrow straight ahead, yet my entire body broke out in goosebumps.

‘This is what someone who wields the sword is like, or rather… Carusien.’

I even had the thought that if Carusien were to unleash that aura directly on me, I might—shameful as it was—wet myself.

“Now, I will demonstrate a brief example, and then we will begin training.”

“Okay.”

“My swordsmanship is Fiore swordsmanship, based on the longsword. Since the horizontal slash, Colpi Mezzani, will still be difficult for you, I will demonstrate the vertical slash today.”

He spoke lightly as if it were no big deal and swung his sword, but the result was anything but light.

Slash—

Accompanied by an eerie sound, I smiled emptily as I watched the scarecrow split precisely in half from the crown of its head downward. Seeing me like that, this inflexible man spoke with a deadpan expression, entirely devoid of falsehood.

“Easy, right?”

Crazy bastard.