Chapter 8
So, several days had passed since I sparred with Enrique.
What I did was simple.
It was one way of controlling mana: concentrating it at a single point.
Of course, mana’s true nature lies in casting spells to produce magic, but hand-to-hand combat like this isn’t bad either.
And today, too, I was practicing my sword swings at the training grounds.
Soldiers passed by, calling out, “Good afternoon, young master! You’re working hard!”
That’s what I’m talking about.
Truly wonderful.
“Ah, thanks,” I said, waving back.
I was feeling a lot better.
If I kept winning the soldiers over one step at a time like this, maybe someone would stand up for me when I finally got my comeuppance???
I had to keep at it.
But still.
There was one person I still couldn’t quite figure out as I carved out my background-character route.
“Hello, young master. Looking well today!”
“........ Ah, yeah. You’re looking lively today, too.”
I reluctantly turned toward the voice.
Standing before me was a grinning loser of a man—Enrique.
“Come on, young master. How about another sparring match?” the F-rank adventurer said, approaching me in high spirits for some reason.
To put it mildly, I had no idea what was going on.
Why was this man trying so hard to hang out with me? Enrique didn’t seem to notice how put off I was, either; he kept barging right into my personal space.
“Young master.”
Enrique put an arm around my shoulder and brought his face close.
“........ When are you going to make your move?”
Huh?????
I was dumbfounded.
I honestly had no idea what he meant.
What did he mean by “make your move”??? Was he asking when the original story was going to start???
I wanted to tell him, “You don’t appear in the original story.”
Wait, was I just unaware of it? Was he actually the protagonist of a spin-off?
I took a good look at Enrique.
A grinning man in his thirties, a perennial F-rank adventurer.
This was the protagonist.........???
No, there’s no way.
If someone like him were the protagonist, Kuzutos would sell better.
Yeah.
I closed my eyes and pictured it.
Him in a game full of beautiful girls.
............ Impossible.
After thinking it through, I pulled Enrique’s hand away from my shoulder and gave a short answer: “Not yet.”
“Not yet........?”
“Yeah. It’s too soon.”
The original story wouldn’t start until the protagonists were around sixteen, after all. So it was far too soon.
Incidentally, Kuzutos was in the same year as the protagonist, but people said he looked older than his age.
............ What a terrible reputation.
“Oh........ I see.”
Enrique slowly nodded at my words.
“Interesting. So you’re building up your strength for now. Lurking in the shadows, waiting for the time to spread your wings.”
“Y-yeah........?”
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I vaguely played along.
What was that about “spreading your wings”?
And don’t say that with a straight face like that! I don’t know how to respond.
“All right, then. I’ll train the soldiers for now.”
“O-okay........”
I watched Enrique head toward the soldiers with a rather uncertain expression.
A perennial F-rank loser of an adventurer was teaching the young-looking soldiers with a smug grin.
“Let’s go, you lot!” and “Watch my technique!” and so on.
............ This is painful. So, so painful.
Was this what they called secondhand embarrassment?
The soldiers cheering, “Amazing!” only made it all the more pathetic.
I almost told him, “Don’t get carried away for no reason—you’ll only make yourself miserable,” but then I thought, well, whatever.
The soldiers seemed to be following him obediently, and Enrique wasn’t a bad guy.
“Everyone goes through a phase like that. I should just leave him be.”
Everyone has a time when they long to be someone special.
Usually around the second year of middle school.
Enrique was probably in the middle of fighting a late-onset case of chuunibyou.
With a warm expression on my face, I headed back to the manor without watching Enrique train.
“Lord Ultos-sama!”
After I returned to the manor and was shown to my room, Liera called out to me.
“What is it?”
“U-um, your magic instructor has arrived today........”
Thinking, Oh, we have one of those?, I followed Liera to the manor’s reception room.
Come to think of it, magic was commonplace in this world.
For a distinguished house like House Randall, it wouldn’t be strange to hire a private tutor.
I opened the door and bowed.
Then I gave the sort of inoffensive greeting befitting a background character.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you—huh?”
But still.
When I saw the person in front of me, I froze in spite of myself.
There was a woman standing before me.
Her overwhelming beauty. The overwhelming combat power of her chest.
And more than anything, I knew her face very well.
“—Carla-san.”
Carla Orlando.
One of the most popular women among the original heroines was standing right in front of me.