035: A Demon King, A Hero, and a Lost Shield

Before this morning’s sword practice, I need to eat some breakfast. Breakfast is an important meal of the day, back in Japan I often heard “You can skip at night, but don’t skip in the morning!”

If breakfast is skipped continuously, it can affect future health. I will focus on building a healthy body for a peaceful life.

When I entered the dining room, my mother Elna was gracefully sipping tea at the table.

“Good morning Mom” Al

“Oh, Al. Good morning… it looks nice out today.” Elna

We smile and exchange greeting, but there was a suspicious pause after that ‘Good Morning’. Did I forget something? I feel like she’s staring at my forehead. As soon as I sit down at the table, she yawns. I wonder if she’s still drowsy too? I hope Eleanora’s Iron Claw attack this morning hasn’t deformed my head.

“Hey, mother” Al

“What?” Elna

“Is there anything weird about me today?” Al

“What do you mean?” Elna

“Is my head deformed? Does it look like a gourd?” Al

“It’s fine, it hasn’t been deformed… heh” Elna

“What? Why did you just laugh?” Al

“I’m not laughing…” Elna

“You definitely laughed a little now!” Al

I’m sure they’re hiding something. If I picked up a cup to drink it and they start laughing, I’d drop it from anger.

“Mr. Alfred, I’ve brought breakfast.” Sarah

Just before I could ask another question from mother, Sarah brought in breakfast. As expected, Sarah is a maid that stays on track. I can’t read her like I can with Mira, who isn’t a serious maid.

“Thank you, Sarah” Al

It can’t be helped, I’ll focus on breakfast for now. Let’s come back to mother’s suspicious attitude until I’m done eating.

“Hmm….. umff” Sarah

“Now Sarah laughed!” Al

“Well, Sarah just sneezed” Elna

Mother is trying to redirect my worry.

The brown eyes of Elna and I are now locked to each other.

“It was a very short and cute sneeze, wasn’t it?” Elna

“Where’s her dignity? Watch out for sneezing” Al

A long silence falls over the dining room. Is that so. Sarah’s a girl, so it can’t be helped. I reluctantly sat back down and picked up my fork again. Elna nods approvingly and sips her tea.

Sarah has put down the food she was bringing and left the room. To improve my mood, I’ll eat the fresh vegetables topped with dressing. Juicy vegetables seem to be good for hydrating one’s body. The sour dressing complements the sweetness of the vegetables.

“Fufufufufuun ♪” Mina

As I was enjoying the vegetable dish, Mina, a less composed maid entered the room while humming. It’s a cute and uncommon song she’s humming along to.

“Ah, Mrs. Elna. Alfuhu!? Hahaha! Mr. Alfred, what happened to you? What’s on your forehead?” Mina

“What? Really? Mom!?” Al

“Well, no, Mina. He’ll have to deal with it” Elna

I quickly looked over to mother, but she’s broken down laughing now.

“Because he’s got a handprint on his forehead. Anyone would laugh when seeing that.” Mina

“Hahh, I’m sorry to laugh too much. That looks like Eleanora’s handprint.” Elna

“Augh!” Al

I left those two to laugh in the dining room and visited my parents bedroom, since that’s where the only mirror in the house is located. Using the mirror, I can see a clear handprint from Eleanora on my forehead. How strong is her grip that it makes such a clear mark? Ugh!

Elna, Sarah, and Mina all laughed at me. I wish I could tell you my honest opinion. Anyway, it looks like I’ll need to get back at Eleanora extra during sword practice. I need to get a good breakfast in my belly, I’ve only had some of the vegetable dish. I can’t defeat Eleanora with just vegetables.

After eating breakfast, I headed to the usual courtyard. Elna and Mina apologized when I returned. I got over their reaction, since there’s a more important target in front of me.

“Al took a good while. You take too long to eat breakfast.” Eleanora

The Demon King has appeared! I must defeat you

“What?” Eleanora

“Sorry for being late” Al

Have I been undergoing training? I reflexively apologised to Eleanora. I thought I was resisting any training I was getting in this life.

“Don’t think too much, move around to warm up your body.” Eleanora

“Roger that” Al

I stretch a bit, then follow Eleanora as jogs over to the rest of the people.

“Yeah, Al! How are you?” Rumba

“Finally, everyone is here” Melna

Rumba and Count Melna welcomed me to the morning practice. Both seemed to have already started, since they were holding practice swords and were sweaty.

“Hi, Rumba. I’m fine. Nice to see you Count Melna.” Al

“Do you want to start practice with me?” Rumba

“No, I can’t start like that. I can’t jump into practicing against a Rumba.” Al

If I have to practice against such a large person, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was blown away by a strong swing.

“What about me?” Melna

“No way, Count Melna looks to be the same level as Nord.” Al

“I’m been given a normal education in martial arts for a nobleman” Melna

No way is he an average aristocrat, he’s in the realm of a generally recognized warrior, that’s Count Melna.

“Well, I’d like to give you some pointers on the sword, not beat you up” Melna

“Well, then let’s do that later” Al

“Hey, I also wanted to mentor Al” Rumba

“It’s dangerous since you don’t hold back, you’d break my practice sword.” Al

Count Melna side-eyes Rumba, who is attempting to look innocent.

“It just got a bit heated that time. That practice sword had passed its expiry date… I think” Rumba

“Eh? Did I hear something that needs more explanation?” Melna

“You need to get warming up for practice, you don’t want to run out of time.” Eleanora

“Yes? Let me take my time!” Al

Nobody is interested in letting me out, so Eleanora pulled my arm to encourage me to start practice.

I start out by stretching my muscles and running a lap around the mansion. Silvio is practicing enthusiastically in his usual spot. It’s like he’s doing a shadow-boxing like practice where he’s reacting to an imaginary enemy. He seems oddly determined today, it’s like he’s got a clear enemy he wants to defeat. Perhaps we both aim to defeat the same person, Eleanora. I hope we can work together to defeat her today.

Be on guard today, Demon King, we are fighting differently now. Silvio’s shadow is concentrating of defense.

After finishing the usual warmup, it’s time to decide the sparring pairs.

“Then, let’s start sparring soon” Nord

Nord gathers us up and informs us.

“Today, lets do some coaching to improve the abilities of the three learners. Al should be advised by Count Melna.” Nord

“Yeah, ok!” Eleanora & Silvio

Eleanora and Silvio seem delighted in a evil way with my matchup. I can understand Eleanora, but what’s with Silvio? Are we going off the rails? I’m starting to doubt that I’ll be able to work with ‘Shield’ Silvio when fighting the ‘Demon King’ Eleanora.

“Then, let’s start the first match with Al and Silvio.” Nord

Dang it! If Eleanora and Silvio took the first match, whoever I took on would be tired. Instead, I’ll be the tired one when I take on Eleanora. Unfortunately, Nord is not doing me any favors today, so I gripped my practice sword and lined up opposite Silvio.

“Which is stronger?” Melna

“Well, usually it’s the older brother who is stronger. In addition, Al should be more skilled in magic than swords.” Rumba

“Yeah, he uses Ice Magic to cool off his fruit juice, or that Earth Magic box escape trick.” Melna

“When I took him into the forest, he used a large icicle spell to kill a goblin. What was the Earth Magic thing?” Rumba

“Right, Rumba wasn’t at yesterday’s Reversi tournament.” Rumba

“No, I wasn’t…” Melna

At my distance, I can hear Count Melna and Rumba discussing the matchup. They seem pretty friendly with each other, is today the first time they met?

“Then, let’s start” Nord

When Nord told us to start, Silvio start to move. He surprised me for a moment since he was taking a different stance than normal, but it wasn’t hard to deal with it. He’s taking an aggressive posture this morning, he usually focuses on countering than straight attacks.

“Aren’t you aggressive today?” Al

“Ha…” Silvio

I thought I had asked a simple question, but Silvio seems worked up. He followed it with a larger attack than his previous slashes. He comes at me from here and there, but I can parry his attacks. I’ve had to deal with Eleanora, who likes to attack hard in between weaker attacks. I’ve getting used to blocking and parrying.

“I don’t get why he’s attacking with such a posture…” Rumba

“I agree Rumba…” Melna

“Hmm” Rumba

“What’s gotten into you two?” Nord

“No- Nothing” Silvio

“Really?” Al

I avoid Silvio’s larger attacks while trying to sneak in a blow or two of my own. Silvio doesn’t fall for it and counters my attacks.

“Dangerous!” Al

“Sorry…” Silvio

I had to counter a sharp blow, perhaps Silvio’s earlier big swing was in preparation for this. Silvio immediately went into a defensive stance after the blow. Our distance is bad, so I’ll have to reposition.

Perhaps because we’ve been going at it harder than an average day, we’re getting more fatigued than normal. Silvio is sweating a lot and out of breath. I wonder if it’s because he was doing most of the attacking, I still can go for a while. Is this my chance to defeat him?

I start running to a better position…

“Yes, that’s good enough!” Nord

Nord’s voice stops me.

“Nobody has won yet?” Al

“That’s right, nobody has to win since we just want to observe your skills” Nord

“This is a nice time to stop, I’m tired.” Al

“Me too, Al. I’ll get you next time.” Silvio

After that, Silvio turned around and headed out of the courtyard center.

“Today, Silvio was really on the attack” Al

“Ah, Silvio has some burdens he has to bear. Silvio is the older son, you don’t want to lose to your younger brother.” Nord

“If it keeps going on like this, I’ll be outmatched before I realize it” Al

Silvio is a hard worker, and he might keep up.

“If it continues on like this, Silvio will get much better pretty quickly.” Nord

Silvio is a conscientious worker, so that could happen.

“If that happens, Al would need to work to not get left behind” Nord

“I can use magic…” Al

“You know you can’t use magic during spars, right?” Nord

“That’s a rule? Then Attribute-less magic at least?” Al

“Nope” Nord

My appeal didn’t reach my father, and it was rejected with a smile.

“Next is Eleanora and Al” Nord

Eleanora looks happy to hear that, her ponytails is shaking in a lively manner.

“Why do I go first? Silvio is the older brother” Al

“No, Al looks less winded, so he’ll go first” Nord

When I looked towards, Silvio, he wiped his sweat with a refreshing look. Silvio game me a thumbs up…

“Augh, I got played!” Al

“Al, are you ready?” Eleanora

Across from me, there’s a demon king ready for battle. I’m scared of that smile, the facial expression and the stance are not alike.

“Don’t be too tough on me…” Al

Brave Alfred, I will take on the Demon King

“Al will never win, even with his style that prioritizes survival.” Melna

“Yeah, even if he had nine lives he would lose…” Rumba

Translation

Good Job!

Do Better!

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