Chapter 3: People who keep watching (1)

It was morning. No, it was closer to dawn.

However, the servant in charge of the family's young lord, Irene Pareira, had no choice but to be awake.

Since he couldn't be asleep later than his master.

After rubbing his sleepy eyes and yawning, he decided to wash up and dress as perfectly as always.

After accepting food from the maid, he stood in front of the young lord's room.

Knock knock.

"Young lord, may I come in?"

"Huh. Come in."

When he opened the door, he saw Irene Pareira, who was awake.

Making the servant think

'I thought that he wouldn't be able to make it through another day...'

It has been three days, but Irene woke up early once again.

If it was someone else, they would ask what's so great about it, but it was indeed great.

Because the young lord had never once woken up at such an early time in the past 10 years.

'And it's not just waking up.'

If the first day of the training was counted, it would be a total of 4 days.

While contemplating, the servant spoke up in a polite tone.

"Here is your meal."

"Thank you."

He swallowed down the sandwich after chewing it a couple of times and then took a sip of milk.

After finishing the sandwich, he took another sip of milk.

Irene sighed after he quickly finished the meal.

This too seemed different from before. He seldom ate like a normal person.

He hated doing anything to the point that he rarely even walked, so there was no need for him to intake any calories.

But that wasn't the case anymore.

'I need to eat a lot to wield a sword.'

Irene nodded to himself.

The unknown dreams were still tormenting him, and he had to raise his sword constantly as long as the dreams didn't stop.

He couldn't resist it. Yesterday too, he tried to force himself back to bed, but he just couldn't stay still.

Even sleeping after training was difficult.

But, he didn't feel too pained when he was training with the sword.

No, it was tough, but...

'... it was worthwhile.'

Irene thought.

The moment he lifted the sword, the muscle pains he had accumulated would hurt, and once he finished training, the pain would spread all over his body.

Still, it didn't feel that bad.

It was like finding a new refuge for his bleeding heart. Before, sleep was the only refuge he had.

"Young lord, are you going to train today too?"

Irene looked up at the servant, who was the source of the worried voice.

The servant's eyes were full of concern.

Irene ignored the look and nodded his head a couple of times.

"Huh."

"... I understand."

Irene left the room, and the servant, who bowed his head, followed him.

The maids who were cleaning the hallways looked at them and whispered.

"Wow, again?"

"This is interesting. To see this happen in my lif..."

It wasn't just the maids.

The employees who were on duty, the guards on patrol, the soldiers who were in the training grounds, were all busy making fun of the young lord, who seemed to have changed.

"Young lord has come again. It has been three days... no, it's the fourth day, right?"

"Is he getting his mind straight now? If that is the case, then that's very nice..."

"Huh. I don't believe that. How can a person change that easily? To come over and change now, as if..."

"Well, that is true"

Shock, astonishment, and back-talk, these three things can all be considered positive, however, in this case, they are more negative.

Irene didn't know what they were saying. He couldn't hear the words, but he knew how to read the room.

Although he was lazy, he wasn't stupid.

But he understood.

He wasn't angry. It only made it clearer that he didn't have to do these things.

What could he say? What would you expect people to say about a noble who had been neglecting his duties for 10 years?

Irene Pareira picked up the wooden sword as always from the weapons rack and took his stance.

"Phew."

Deep breath.

Focus.

He quietly closed his eyes and thought of the man.

When he wielded his sword, he kept his concentration on his sword instead of getting himself swayed by the comments.

Even if it rains, snows or people make noise it wouldn't be enough to make Irene lose his concentration.

"Phew."

Thinking of the man helped him out.

Taking another deep breath, Irene raised the sword to the sky.

And brought it down hard.

Wheeik!

A vertical hit that was neither to the left nor right.

With many people watching, the lazy prince's long day began.

"Wow, he's at it again."

"I know."

Two senior guards and one rookie, who had finished their shift of guarding the gates, went to the training ground.

However, they weren't there to train their body. They weren't the lazy kind of guards, but they weren't passionate ones either.

The reason the guards came over to the training ground was to watch the young lord of the Pareira family train.

To be more precise, it was to watch his progress, since they had a bet.

The bet was

'How long do you think he will keep practicing?'

Of course, it wasn't because they looked down on the young lord or despised him.

They were soldiers who served the Pareira family for a long time, they wouldn't do that.

But apart from that, the current situation was so exciting that they couldn't hold back themselves from betting.

Without such entertainment, their lives would be far too work-based.

In the case of the senior guard, it was a little damaging.

"For him to come 4 days straight to the ground..."

"Didn't I tell you? It is probably because of that one who humiliated him. Well, we won't be able to completely understand the situation since we weren't there, but sometimes one needs to be humiliated to finally stop being an idiot..."

"Damn it, why was I the only one uninformed about this?"

"Have you lost it? How could I tell my senior about such things? Besides, everyone knows about it, excluding you."

"Huh, maybe a week, but that will be all, he won't come for more than a week."

The big nose guard mumbled as he snatched the money.

"Hm..."

Seeing the seniors argue again, the rookie guard decided to concentrate on the young lord, instead of the bet.

It wasn't because he had no money, but because he was more interested in seeing the most famous person in the estate.

Of course, he didn't plan on looking at the young lord for long.

Being a person who only recently got his uniform, he was afraid to look at the nobles and his superior's training.

But slowly, those kinds of thoughts began to disappear.

The newcomer was getting more focused on the young lord, who wielded his sword with a serious expression.

'... doesn't it look like he is only passing time?'

It was truly like that.

Irene Pareira was really doing that, despite swinging the sword.

One could say, 'What kind of fuss is everyone creating for someone who is only swinging the sword for 4 days?'.

However, the guard knew that not many people can properly display their enthusiasm.

That's how humans are.

No matter how dedicated one is, they'll end up thinking 'I'll put in twice as much effort tomorrow', but very few people actually do.

Most people value sleep over the plans they made yesterday.

Even if he managed to get up and raise the sword, that isn't the end.

The more one repeats the practice with that huge wooden sword, the more the pain accumulates and the more the will erodes. While the only thing you gain is pain in the morning.

The newcomer was the same. He remembered when he first started practicing with the sword, after only three days of practice, he started whining that he couldn't practice anymore.

But...

'Until now, the young lord has never shown a sign of stopping.'

A person who never exercised in his life.

Was working like someone, who has been exercising his entire life.

The newcomers couldn't understand how that was possible.

Of course, the sword skills of the young lord were poor.

Due to the lack of muscle strength, he couldn't hold the sword and his stamina made it difficult for him to take proper inhales.

He was nothing when compared to the nobles of the same age who used a sword from an early age, and even some other healthy young men could show a much better image than what the young lord of Pareira was showing.

However, if one evaluated the mental strength alone, the boy, the young lord, wasn't the kind of person who could be ridiculed by the guards.

Rather, they should be calling him as strong.

No.

Looking at the young lord's eyes, it should mean something more...

It was when the newcomer was lost in thoughts.

Suddenly, the air around him changed.

But it wasn't just that so he tapped the senior guard's shoulder.

"Yah, what is he... gasp."

The newcomer couldn't even finish his words.

Without realizing it, his expression hardened as he looked at one place.

His posture turned stiff, and his shoulders dropped. The same thing happened to the others.

Kwaack!

A small and cute cry, but the thing that cried out had an incredibly majestic appearance.

It was the roar of the legendary animal, the Griffin, who was painted in red.

And riding on it was the bright future of the Pareira family, the one who obtained the title of 'Magician' at the age of eleven.

The half-sister of Irene Pareira, Kirill Pareira.