An Old Man from the Countryside Becomes a Swords Saint: I Was Just a Rural Sword Teacher, But My Successful Students Won't Leave Me Alone! Chapter 45

Published at 9th of August 2022 07:03:45 AM

With the girl's sudden confession, the drawing-room is surrounded by silence for a while.

What does she mean by bringing someone back to life? I think she meant it literally but why did her older sister die? Is there Revival Magic in the first place?

The amount of information packed in just that one sentence is too much. This old man's confused.

“I don't have enough time and money,” the girl said, breaking the silence. “So…”

“You decided to resort to crime,” Alexia finished.

“…”

The girl's face got more and more sorrowful.

Perhaps she fully understand this was wrong and that she should be punished. Moreover, it doesn't seem she particularly liked doing the crime, too.

Hmm. Personally, I think there's a lot of room for leeway in this situation but it's not my place to say. I am just an old man, after all.

“However… no, let's stop,” Alexia said. Her gaze was mainly on me.

Yes, yes, I know what she means.

I want to say that there's no such thing as revival magic.

I'm trying my best to suppress the matter I want to dig into.

I'm ignorant of magic and I'm not familiar with how it works. Still, I could guess that there is no such thing as revival magic. If it did, this world would have been extremely different.

However, pressing the point to the girl before us seemed to be a meaningless act at this point.

“By the way,” I said, “how much are you missing?”

This kind of silence is awkward.

I don't like this heavy atmosphere. I've no intention of making light of this situation, but for the moment, I shifted the topic a little outside the main subject.

“… I was told it would cost 5 million dalc,” the girl said, quietly and dejectedly answering my question.

“… It's a lot of money all over again,” I muttered.

5,000,000 dalc. It's an amount you couldn't save just by saving while working a legal job.

And now, we knew that there was someone who had asked that amount from her. I can't help but feel bad about this and I can feel the presence of whoever was taking advantage of her in the background.

Ah, no way, no how. This old man hates people like that.

They're the ones who can't even take advantage of adults with questionable morals, they have to take advantage of children with their poor judgment to do their crimes for them.

“I'm sorry, I need to leave the room for a while,” Alexia said.

“Oh, right, I understand,” I said.

And now, Alexia leaves the drawing-room.

Whatever reason she's doing this for, it's rare for her to leave without telling me her business. Did she remember something urgent?

“…”

“…”

The result is this situation where the old man and the young girl are both quiet. Well, it's awkward. I want to summon Kuruni here right now.

“… Why did your sister die?” I asked.

So, this is the topic I used to kill the silence.

I immediately regretted it. Even if it was a mistake, this wasn't a question to just toss out in this atmosphere.

“… I don't know,” the girl replied. “I was just told she was dead.”

But the girl doesn't care about the atmosphere of this place anymore than I did. You could say she didn't have it in her to worry.

When I glanced sideways, I could see she was sitting on a chair and holding her firsts on her lap while she was looking down.

I don't know why her sister died or what her situation was. Hence, I didn't have any means to comfort her. I was likely to crush her spirit if I tried to spit out something to try and soothe her.

“… I see,” I said.

The conversation ends there.

You can't have too much dead air. Alexia, hurry and come back.

“Speaking of which, I'm going to have to ask you one more time,” I said after a brief silence.

“… What?” the girl asked.

When I think about it, we're talking civilly—though not very friendly—but we didn't even perform the basics.

“I think it's okay to tell me your name,” I said. “Oh, I'm Beryl Gardenant.”

“… Miu,”1 she said. “Miu Freyja.”

“Little Miu, got it.”

“Stop it,” Miu said. “Don't add that. I'm not a little kid.”2

“Hahaha, I'm sorry,” I said.

I see, Miu. She sounds pretty cute despite her attitude. I don't like chanting, but I feel like repeating it in my head.

Unlike Lucy, she looks as old as she does. In terms of age, she'd be in her mid or early teens. I don't have to pin a specific age range, but I get the impression she's younger than she'll say she is.

Her words and attitude are far from an average teenager.

Maybe her environment made her so, but I'm used to dealing with naughty brats. Most of the kids who loved swords from a young age were trouble-making boys.

“Hey, Pops,” Miu said.

“Yeah, what is it?” I asked.

At last, I'm able to have a normal conversation, and when I took a sigh of relief, Miu shook me up.

I was at a loss for a moment to be accurately called “Pops” but it's fine. I am an old man.

“Give me a break already,” Miu said. “Hurry up and give it back.”

“Oh, that's right,” I said. “Sorry, sorry.”

I had still been holding onto the pendant. It's time to give it back.

“I will give it back. But,” I said, holding the pendant out before her.

“What?” Miu asked.

“I'll have you stick with me for a little while longer,” I said. “I have a feeling I can help you.”

“… Tch.”

It was a sour reply, but I don't think it was a sour refusal. I feel like I get her. No, maybe not.

Well, I know her name, so if I try to investigate, I may be able to find out. I don't know how much effort Alexia intends to give her.

Miu picks up the pendant, strokes it a little, and then carefully puts it in her pocket. Contrary to her aggressive front, she had a soft face at that moment.

“… Was that your sister's?” I asked.

“… It was,” Miu said. “It's the only thing I got back of hers.”

She holds back the sadness in her voice.

Miu is young. The tragedy of her family is not something that can be gotten over so quickly. From her attitude, I can see that she really admired her sister.

Another question arises about what their parents were doing but I'll leave it at that, for now.

In any case, it's almost certain that there's someone taking advantage of Miu behind the scenes, trying to get a fortune of 5 million dalc.

Unless revival magic really existed, but that's unlikely. If I get the chance, I might ask Lucy or Thyssel.

“Sorry about that, I'm back,” Alexia said as she returned.

“Oh, welcome back,” I said.

“Well, umm… about you,” Alexia said to the girl, as soon as she got to her seat.

“She's called Miu,” I said.

“Well then, Ms. Miu,” Alexia said as she got to her seat.

“… What is it?” Miu said.

Alexia's gaze is firmly fixed in Miu's direction. She apparently made some progress when she stepped out but what was she doing?

“A member from the Magician's Academy will come here to confirm your magical aptitude,” Alexia said. “After that, we'll consider whether or not to punish you—”

BANG!

“I'm here, Alexia! I heard you found a prospective magical student… wait a minute, is Beryl here, too? And is that our candidate?!”

""

The drawing-room's door smashes open, a proud voice echoes. She hurries over to Miu with that momentum, her long, trimmed, platinum-blonde hair bouncing.

“What the–?! Who-Who are you?!” Miu cried.

She's greatly shocked by her sudden appearance.

Yeah, yeah, I understand how she feels. I wondered who she was when I first met her.

You see, that kid is the Head of the Magic Division. Unfortunately.

Chapter end