I Was Abandoned Because I Was Told I Had No Talent, but Four Incredibly Strong Yet Clumsy Older Sisters Took Me In. Even the Sword Saint and the Great Sorcerer Insisted on Me Being Their Top Disciple. As a Result of Raising Me in Such an Overprotective Way, My Ultimate Talent Finally Awoke. - Chapter 3

The Genius Girl Won’t Accept a Mukoku

It was hell.

I understood in just three days that Reizel Master only ever told the truth.

I woke up at sunrise every morning. I ran around the cabin. At first she said three laps, but I threw up after one and a half. She made me keep running even after that.

After running came practice swings. Hold the wooden sword, swing it down. That was it. Just that, but after a hundred swings or so my arms wouldn’t lift anymore.

“Don’t stop.”

Reizel Master sat on a tree stump and watched my swings. She never once showed me an example. She just threw short words at me: “Too slow,” “Elbows are flaring out,” “Your feet are dead.”

She never praised me even once.

But whenever I collapsed, she always handed me water. In her blunt way she’d say, “I didn’t tell you not to rest.”

Calluses formed on my palms, burst, and new ones grew. The soles of my feet were covered in scrapes, and bruises kept appearing on my shins.

Still, every morning I gripped the wooden sword.

Because if I couldn’t grip it anymore, I felt like I wouldn’t be allowed to stay here.

＊

On the tenth day of training, Reizel Master said, “We’re going to town. We need food.”

There was a small town half a day’s walk away. Past the edge of the forest and a short way along the highway. It was a frontier town with no big shops, but you could get dried meat and grains there.

“You go buy it.”

She handed me three silver coins. Reizel Master gave me the short list of what to buy, then went straight back to her practice swings.

It was my first time going to town alone. I already knew the path through the forest. I’d run it every morning for ten days.

The town was small. Stalls lined the stone-paved square, and people moved about sparsely. It was much smaller than the town where the orphanage had been. But the atmosphere felt similar.

When I walked by, a few people glanced at my arms. I kept them covered with long sleeves, but people with divine crests rolled theirs up to show the patterns. Anyone with nothing on their arms—a mukoku—was obvious at a glance.

The butcher looked at me and made a slightly suspicious face. When I took out the silver coins he silently wrapped the dried meat, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes when he gave me the change.

—I’m used to it. I’m used to this kind of thing.

After buying the grains and salt, I shouldered the load and was heading back to the square when—

“—Hey, move out of the way.”

The voice came from above.

I turned around and saw a girl with red hair standing there.

She was a little taller than me. Sharp golden eyes with an upward tilt. Long straight red hair that reached her back, and a thin sword at her waist. Her clothes were finely made, the kind of fabric I’d never seen at the orphanage.

—Probably a noble.

On the back of her right hand was a flame-like red pattern. It was big. And the design was complicated.

A great crest.

“Didn’t you hear? I said move.”

The girl frowned at me. Apparently me standing right in the middle of the square was in her way.

“Ah, sorry.”

I quickly stepped aside. The girl started to walk past me—then her feet stopped. She was looking at my arm. The bare wrist visible through the gap in my long sleeve.

“…A mukoku?”

Her tone changed. It wasn’t the irritation from before; now it sounded like she was checking.

“Yes.”

There was no point hiding it. I rolled my sleeve up a little to show her. An arm with nothing on it. Ten years with nothing on it.

The girl’s golden eyes looked straight at me.

“You have no talent, so what are you doing in a place like this? Playing adventurer?”

Her voice was cold. But it didn’t feel quite like she was looking down on me. It was a strange mix—almost worried, almost angry.

“No, my master sent me to buy some things.”

“Master? A mukoku like you has a master?”

“Yes. A sword master. She’s really strong and really scary.”

“…Huh?”

The girl’s expression broke. She probably hadn’t expected that answer.

“My master is scary. Today she told me to do three hundred practice swings and my arms are already—”

When I rubbed my arms to show her, the girl took half a step back.

“Wait a second. I’m not following this at all.”

“You’re not?”

“I’m not. A mukoku with a sword master? That doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t really get it either.”

“…Are you stupid?”

“People say that a lot.”

The girl fell silent. She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

“—Whatever. Just hurry up and go home. If a mukoku like you wanders around this frontier, you’ll get eaten by magical beasts.”

She tossed the words over her shoulder and walked toward the stalls. Her red hair swayed in the wind. The sheath of her thin sword caught the sunlight.

—She’s strong.

A completely different kind of strength from Reizel Master. Sharper, straighter, like a blade of a girl.

＊

On the way back, I left the highway and entered the forest path.

If I entered the forest while the sun was still high, I could reach the cabin before dark. That’s what Reizel Master had taught me.

I adjusted the pack on my back and walked along the path.

—There was a bad smell.

The smell of a beast. Heavier than the wolves that morning. Footprints like something had stomped the ground flat remained beside the path. They were huge. Three times the size of my feet.

The bushes shook.

What came out was a boar. But not a normal one. Its shoulder height reached my chest. Two tusks jutted from its lower jaw, and its eyes were red.

A mid-grade magical beast. Even an adventurer with a small crest would avoid it if alone.

I have to run.

The moment I thought that, the boar scraped the ground with its hoof. A preparatory motion for charging.

I ran.

I tried to head back toward the highway, but the boar was faster. The ground shook. From behind came the heavy low sound of trees being mowed down.

—It’s no good. It’s catching up—

A shadow dropped from above.

Red hair fluttered.

One flash of the thin sword. A silver arc drew through the air and knocked the boar’s charge sideways. The boar lost its balance and crashed into a tree. Without a pause, the second strike. The thin sword struck the boar’s neck precisely.

There was a heavy thud as the huge body fell.

—So fast.

Reizel Master’s sword was overwhelming like a storm, but this girl’s sword was precise like a needle.

The red-haired girl wiped the blood from her thin sword and sheathed it. She turned around. Her golden eyes glared at me.

“—What are you doing, you idiot?”

“Ah, thank you—”

“I told you already! If a mukoku wanders around, you’ll get eaten!”

She was angry. But it was different from the coldness in town earlier. Her voice was hotter, more desperate.

“Sorry. But thank you for saving me.”

When I bowed my head, some of the girl’s momentum faded.

“…Don’t get the wrong idea. I just happened to be on the same path. I wasn’t saving you.”

Even as she said that, she grabbed my arm and pulled me up out of the mud. Her hand was warm. She saw the burst calluses on my palm, her eyes widened for a moment—then she quickly let go.

“…You’re really doing sword training?”

“Yes. Just practice swings so far.”

“Only practice swings, and your hands look like this.”

The girl started to say something, then closed her mouth.

“—Whatever. Hurry up and go home. I won’t help next time.”

She turned her back and walked toward the highway. Her red hair swayed in the wind again.

“Um—”

I called out without thinking.

“Can I ask your name?”

The girl’s feet stopped. She didn’t turn around. After a short pause.

“…Riene. Riene Arcrest.”

That was all she said before she left for good this time.

“Riene. —Thank you, Riene.”

I don’t know if she heard me. But I thought her red hair swayed just once. And I thought her steps got a little faster.

＊

When I got back to the cabin, Reizel Master was doing practice swings. She saw me and stopped.

“Late.”

“Sorry. A magical beast chased me on the way.”

“…Injuries?”

“I’m fine. Someone helped me.”

“Who?”

“A girl named Riene. She’s about my age. She’s really good with a sword—she took down a boar with her thin sword—”

Reizel Master’s eyes narrowed just a little.

“A great crest?”

“Probably. She had a big red pattern on her right hand.”

“…I see.”

That was all Reizel Master said before she went back to her swings. She looked uninterested. But while I was carrying the supplies into the cabin, I noticed her glance once toward the highway.

＊

That night.

In an inn in the frontier town, the farthest room on the second floor.

Riene Arcrest sat at the desk. In the light of a candle, she moved her quill across the letter paper.

—Frontier Investigation Report.

To Father.

Riene continued writing the standard sections of the report. Date. Location. Weather. Appearance status of magical beasts in the frontier. Town security. Presence or absence of abnormal magic reactions.

The pen stopped.

The face of the mukoku boy floated in her mind.

Mud-covered clothes. Hands covered in burst calluses. Yet the face that smiled and said “thank you.”

—Idiot. No talent, and what are you even doing?

She looked back at the letter paper. She tried to write “No abnormal magic reactions confirmed,” but her hand wouldn’t move.

That boy’s master. The person teaching swordsmanship to a mukoku child out here in the frontier.

…Should I report it?

No, a mukoku child and a retired swordsman. It wasn’t information worth reporting.

Riene closed the letter paper.

She blew out the candle.

She looked up at the dark ceiling and closed her eyes.

But—the face of the mud-covered boy smiling so innocently wouldn’t leave her head no matter what.