A Spreading Rumor

Shortly after, the other recruits began to gather in the training grounds one by one. Perhaps because they weren’t official knights yet, they looked more intoxicated by sleep than filled with discipline or dignity.

“So sleepy……”

“Yawn.”

It was already an incredibly early hour, so what on earth was with Enoch, who had come out even earlier to practice first?

He even looked the most put-together and energetic among them. I guess this was what it meant to be a male lead.

“Is everyone assembled!”

“Yes, sir!”

The training instructor leading the recruits shouted loudly. In an instant, everyone responded with voices tightly packed with spirit.

“Today’s training is wooden sword thrusts. Alright, we start with one thousand repetitions!”

“Understood, sir!”

“Begin.”

The instructor turned around with his hands clasped behind his back, and immediately, dozens of wooden swords began to slice through the air simultaneously.

“Is that the best you can do? Faster!”

The sound of wind being split echoed sharply back and forth.

To think that training simply consisted of swinging a wooden sword a thousand times.

At a glance, it seemed like a crude method, but such a brute-force approach felt like it might actually be useful for dragging up one’s skills in a single bound.

“Huff, huff……”

As they crossed the five-hundred mark, exhausted recruits began to surface here and there. One clutched his stomach and groaned in pain, complaining that his lungs felt like they were ripping apart.

“To think those who will become knights of Louis are merely at this level. Pathetic……”

As the instructor shook his head, murmuring those words, a certain recruit caught his attention.

“……!”

It was none other than Enoch.

While the other recruits were entirely worn out and merely flailing their arms, he was still swinging his wooden sword with the exact same structured posture he had started with.

“Ho……”

The instructor’s eyes went round with interest.

“Alright, stop!”

He clapped his hands loudly to gather their attention.

“Now, we shall conduct training in a tournament format.”

“A tournament?”

At those words, the recruits tilted their heads. Conducting training in a tournament style was a method none of them had ever heard of before.

“If you bring down your opponent by any means necessary, you win. And only the winners will continue to face each other.”

In short, it meant they would keep fighting until a final survivor was determined.

Those standing close to one another naturally paired up, and soon, the tournament training began.

‘Will this actually work?’

Since they were all fellow recruits, I thought their skills would be evenly matched and that a victory wouldn’t be decided easily.

I figured it would be better to just thrust into the empty air a thousand times, thinking it was a reckless exercise with nothing to gain, but……

“H-hiieek!”

“I-I want to forfeit! Forfeit!”

“That guy is a monster!”

“…… Genn.”

It was reckless training in a completely different sense. The moment Enoch swung his sword, everyone was too busy scurrying away to save their own skins.

Was it because the very first recruit Enoch faced had been knocked out cold by a single strike of his wooden sword and was still unconscious?

Of course, even just imagining that sword being swung in front of my own eyes made me feel lightheaded.

Those who had recklessly lunged at him were all sorted out within a single minute. It was a hollow exercise that took less than thirty minutes in total.

“T-the winner is…… Recruit Enoch Helios!”

“W-wow……”

Enoch rubbed the back of his head bashfully.

In a way, since he had entered late through a special recruitment, it was only natural for him to be slower than the others. Yet, he was leaping ahead so uniquely that anyone could see it.

‘As expected, the path of a Sword Master isn’t just for anybody.’

While I was lost in that thought, someone came running hastily from the left side.

“M-my lady!”

‘Who is it?’

Judging by the knight’s uniform he was wearing, he seemed to be a private soldier of the Ducal house.

Let’s borrow the system’s power after a long time.

◎ Would you like to check character information? ◎

Ding.

◎ Name: Hugo Wilson ◎

◎ Occupation: Knight Commander of the Ducal House ◎

◎ Characteristic: Strong desire for advancement ◎

He was the Knight Commander, holding the highest rank among the Duke’s private soldiers.

“I-I did not know my lady would come to watch personally, so my greeting is late! My apologies! I shall have some tea brought out at once.”

“No, it’s fine. I just came to take a look.”

The knights’ quarters were quite a distance away from the mansion, so did he not know my standing? To think he would tremble this much at a visit from a neglected lady. It was a strange, unfamiliar treatment compared to the usual.

“S-still……”

“Don’t mind me, please continue your training comfortably.”

He looked completely restless, seemingly half-doubting my words.

“Even so, for the young lady to visit personally……”

“It really is fine. I’m worried I might be causing a disruption to the training because of me.”

I spoke softly, offering a bright smile toward the Knight Commander. He still looked like he was sitting on a bed of needles, but his expression had thawed considerably compared to before.

“Ah, but by the way.”

“Y-yes?”

At the sound of my voice, he snapped his head up.

“Enoch is quite good, isn’t he?”

“Pardon?”

“That recruit over there.”

I spoke, pointing at Enoch who was standing beside the training instructor.

The Knight Commander tilted his head, looking back and forth between Enoch and me.

“Miss, Miss Evelyn!”

“Emma, you’re going to fall.”

Emma threw the door open hastily and came rushing inside. She looked like she had something urgent to say.

“Do you know what kind of rumor is spreading through the mansion right now?”

“Hmm?”

At my expression that showed I knew absolutely nothing, she stamped her feet in frustration and finally shouted:

“A rumor is spreading that the young lady has fallen in love with the newly entered recruit!”

Just when on earth did a rumor like that get out?

“The talk that the young lady went all the way to the training grounds just to see him is rampant within the estate! They say you said he was so good…… and so handsome!”

‘I said he was good, but I never said he was handsome. Did the Knight Commander spread it?’

I had only gone there in the morning, and now it was afternoon. For a rumor to spread like this in that short span of time.

“Well.”

I answered nonchalantly, flipping through my book. Although it was a false rumor for now, we were destined to fall in love eventually anyway, so it wasn’t completely wrong.

“Emma, if I ever happen to marry and leave this house, what will you do?”

“Pardon? Don’t tell me you’re already thinking about marriage?”

“No, I was just curious.”

At that, Emma rested her chin in her hand and began to deliberate carefully.

“I would obviously follow the young lady, wouldn’t I?”

Well, of course. Usually, the closest maid follows her lady even after she marries out.

‘But what exactly is the criteria for the ending?’

The original game ends with the wedding scene of Amy and Johann. A scene of their married life might come out as a side story later, but it hadn’t appeared yet.

Then, do I get to return to reality the moment I marry Enoch without any need to leave the house?

While I was surrounded by such random thoughts for a brief moment, someone threw the door open roughly and entered. The culprit behind the commotion was a young maid.

“Catherine?”

“M-Miss! Emma Unnie!”

“What do you think you are doing, acting so rudely in the young lady’s room right now!”

“N-no, it’s not that……!”

She panted, catching her breath.

“Calm down and speak.”

I gently placed my hand on the young maid’s shoulder.

“T-the person the young lady brought with her……”

“Are you talking about Sir Enoch?”

Emma cut in and spoke. Catherine nodded her head vigorously.

“What about him?”

“Someone dragged him away! To the backyard flower garden……”

An ominous feeling began to creep up slowly within me.