TNBCT 10

Chapter 10

Some time ago, Daphne had given Teity an order.

―Make a potion that will allow my body to recover stamina. Slow the curse so I can conserve my strength.

A command to make a potion that would at least make this worthless body of hers somewhat useful.

About ten days passed after that.

―The potion is finished, Lady Daphne!

Teity contacted her.

And the potion was delivered at once.

Since it was an elven-made medicine, Daphne assumed it would work and downed it without hesitation.

To her surprise, her stamina improved compared to before. Raising her stamina that much in a short time wasn’t only from Daphne’s hard work; the potion’s effect must have helped as well.

“This is good, my lady. Thanks to you the knights’ morale has risen, so I’m pleased.”

“Huh?”

Daphne tilted her head as if she didn’t understand.

“Because a lady as frail as you is continuing training, the knights seem to have been motivated. The atmosphere’s better than before.”

Now that she thought about it, she’d noticed several knights doing early-morning training. They hadn’t been visible at first.

Daphne watched the knights running in formation, snorted, and smiled slightly.

“None of my concern. Let them do as they please.”

If merely one child had raised morale, that meant those idiots were hopeless anyway. So she didn’t care much — but Lloyd apparently did.

“My lady.”

Lloyd approached and knelt on one knee before her.

“Do you wish to become stronger?”

Daphne narrowed her brows a little.

“If not, why else would I be doing this?”

“…….”

Lloyd drew a deep breath.

“Only a few within the mansion know that you’re cursed.”

The others all believed she suffered from an incurable illness. Even family members like Arius.

“So…”

Lloyd swallowed.

“Please don’t give up.”

It sounded harsh.

After all, she would eventually die.

But still, despite that, Lloyd hoped she would overcome it. He had a baseless hunch that she might actually manage it.

Daphne stared steadily into Lloyd’s eyes, then snorted and lifted her chin.

“Don’t talk nonsense, human.”

And she said proudly,

“I am a magnificent being who does not know the word ‘give up.’”

“Huff… huff…”

She was on her twentieth lap around the training ground.

But she hadn’t collapsed yet. The potion’s effect seemed tremendous.

‘That guy… not bad at making things after all.’

Thinking she should make more use of Teity in the future, Daphne pushed her running stride harder.

Then—

Clunk!

Something fell at her feet.

“A wooden sword?”

She looked down and it was a wooden sword.

Who’d thrown it?

She turned and was surprised at who stood there.

“Arius?”

“Yup. It’s me!”

It was none other than Arius.

He leaned a wooden sword against his shoulder and shouted boastfully.

“Let’s spar!”

“…….”

Daphne cocked her head.

“Spar! Let’s spar!”

Arius’ pride made him fidget.

“We didn’t fight properly last time. So this time let’s fight for real!”

Daphne was stunned.

This idiot…!

She spun on her toe and walked up to Arius.

“You there.”

“Uh, yeah?”

“You want to fight knowing full well how weak my stamina is? Don’t you remember I passed out after one vertical slash then?”

Daphne was getting irritated.

Right now she was a body that panted just from running the training ground. And he wanted a spar?

She thought Arius was teasing her, so with her temper flaring she glared at him.

“B-but…”

Arius took a small step back and studied her.

“You look better than before, though?”

Daphne’s eyes widened.

Her body really had improved a lot. Her stamina had risen, her strength had increased, and she’d even made a mana vessel.

But she thought the changes weren’t obvious on the outside, so nobody else would notice.

For an eight-year-old to have noticed that…

Daphne felt impressed by this family and let out a small bitter laugh.

“Still not enough. I’m far from strong.”

That was a clear refusal to spar.

“Eek…!”

Arius stamped his foot.

No, he had to fight. He had to!

He grew anxious and blurted out before he realized.

“I want to see your stance!”

Ah.

He’d put it bluntly too quickly.

Arius fanned his red face to calm himself and quickly turned his head.

“No, it’s not like I really want to see that. I mean—”

Daphne guessed why Arius was acting like this.

He probably thought her stance had problems and wanted to learn swordsmanship by watching her through sparring.

Seeing it that way, Arius looked kind of cute.

“Then if you ask me to teach you instead of sparring, I’ll do it.”

Tsk.

Daphne crossed her arms and stared at Arius.

“Say it. Ask me to teach you.”

“What?”

Arius’ eyes went wide.

“N-no way.”

He spun his head away and snorted.

“What do I have to learn from you? I’ll never ask that! No, I can’t!”

Because Arius had intended to learn by sparring and pick up stance techniques, asking to be taught would hurt his pride. So he shook his head violently, his face scarlet.

Daphne noticed the childish pride immediately and chuckled.

“Then you’ll swing with that lousy posture your whole life.”

She said it as if it were fact.

“If you don’t fix it when you’re young, it stays with you forever. But since you don’t want to learn, I can’t help it. Now go. I have to run.”

“Eek…!”

Arius spun the gears in his head.

Daphne was right. If you don’t fix your sword posture young, it sticks for life. He’d practiced a hundred times trying to copy Daphne and failed, which was why he’d come to her.

But she was just going to tell him to leave?

Arius weighed his future growth against this present humiliation.

He didn’t hesitate long.

“…Please.”

“Huh?”

“…Come.”

“You said it too quietly, I didn’t hear. What?”

“Help me!”

Daphne’s lips curved into a thin smile.

“You should’ve said so sooner.”

She lifted her chin and answered, and Arius’ face turned even redder.

But he couldn’t back out now. Having asked to be taught, he planned to stick with it and learn Daphne’s swordsmanship to the end.

“Swing.”

So Arius obediently swung his wooden sword.

“No, not like that. Keep your waist straighter. Yes.”

Daphne had moved close and jabbed Arius’ waist with her finger.

Swish! Swish!

Arius kept doing vertical slashes without stopping.

“Straighten your arms more. When you cut down, put more force into it.”

Daphne also offered endless corrections.

“When you raise it, bend your elbows a little. Are you stupid? Didn’t I say to put more force into it?”

“Aah—how can I when I can’t even do it!”

After several more swings, Arius wiped the sweat from his brow and exhaled.

“Hah! This is hard!”

He was being dramatic over so little, but Daphne admitted there was a huge gap in willpower between her and humans. And this boy in front of her was far too young to be called a man.

Still, he was slowly improving. Daphne felt a strange spark of pride and her eyes shone.

“Daphne.”

Arius called to her.

“Show me how you swing. Then I can watch and learn.”

It made sense.

“Fine.”

Daphne grabbed the wooden sword that had fallen at her feet.

“See, like this.”

Swish!

Daphne’s vertical slash was perfectly formed.

It was impressive enough to elicit admiration even on a second look.

No wobble, no excess motion.

How could a mere five-year-old execute such swordsmanship?

Arius thought there was only one answer.

‘Bloodline.’

It made no sense otherwise.

Daphne amazed everyone with her innate talent.

‘So I’ll climb past her.’

I’ll beat Daphne and rise above her.

Arius told himself that and followed Daphne’s movement with his eyes.

“One, two, three—”

Daphne continued the vertical slashes without difficulty. Four, five, six… her arms trembled slightly, but she held on. The stamina she’d built was working.

So Daphne happily completed ten vertical slashes.

Then, at that moment—

‘Huh?’

Something felt odd.

Her chest tickled, and then—

Gurgle!

A mouthful of blood burst out. What, what?

“…Daphne?”

“No. I was fine just a second ago—cough!”

At that instant, Teity’s words flashed through Daphne’s mind.

―You’ll probably experience symptoms that feel like side effects.
―They’re all part of the body’s recovery process, so don’t worry.

This is how coughing blood is part of the body getting better?!