“…Besides…perhaps you may need to protect Claire…”
“Father. Whatever do you mean?”
“Well…should you two be married, wouldn’t it be natural for him to protect you?”
“What!? Mr. Takumi and I? Married!?”
Ms. Claire’s face turned bright red at her father’s words.
…Hmm. Ms. Claire was so beautiful, and surely there were many others more worthy of her… I would feel bad if she ended up with the likes of me.
Also, it seemed like Mr. Ekenhart had yet to shake the habit of arranging marriages for his daughter… I suppose it had been this way for so long…
“I think you two would be a lovely couple!”
“You too, Tilura!?”
Tilura had been listening to the conversation, and even she agreed.
Sebastian was grinning without any attempt to hide it… Was everyone here trying to push us together?
…Why were we even talking about this…
“…In any case, Mr. Ekenhart. How should I go about learning to wield weapons?”
“Ah, indeed…”
I said to Mr. Ekenhart, in order to change the subject.
“For now, I will teach you to wield a sword, Mr. Takumi.”
“You?”
“…Father, I don’t think…”
Apparently, Mr. Ekenhart was going to teach me.
But was this really a job for a duke?
Though, judging from his appearance, there was no doubt in my mind that he could handle a sword just fine.
Ms. Claire let out a great sigh.
“Mr. Takumi. My father has a habit of wanting to train anyone he thinks is promising. In fact, a few of the guards that work here have been trained by him.”
“That is impressive. Are you that skilled with the sword, Mr. Ekenhart?”
“Indeed…His Grace can beat even the captain of the royal knights, and is surely among the best in the country.”
“Hahaha! The knights captain needs to train more, that is all. But being a captain means a lot of desk work.”
“Your Grace, it is his job to maintain unity in the order. So it cannot be helped that he has many other duties.”
So, Mr. Ekenhart was a master swordsman.
I suppose I was lucky to have such a teacher…but it would likely be hard as well…
“The sword is like the foundation of weaponry. If you can wield a sword, you will be quick to learn with the other weapons.”
“…That is what father believes.”
I didn’t know if the sword really was the foundation, but it did make sense that if I learned one weapon, that it would be easier to learn the others.
For now, I needed to get used to wielding a blade.
“All right, training will begin as soon as I finish eating!”
“…Father. Mr. Takumi was using his Gift only a moment ago. I thought I told you what happens when he uses it too much.”
“…Oh, was it something about suddenly fainting?”
“Exactly. There is still much we don’t know about the Gift’s side effects. And so surely it would be safer to avoid any training today.”
“Hmm…however… When it comes to weapons, it’s best to start training as soon as possible…”
Mr. Ekenhart had wanted me to start training after lunch, but Ms. Claire and Sebastian stopped him.