Training

On a sunny morning.

After Maric cleaned the wooden sword in his hand from dust.

He immediately went to the practice room inside the mansion. Mr. Franz was waiting for Maric there.

And also a little girl in tight clothes lying on the floor. Her breathing was getting irregular due to exhaustion.

Looking at his sister who was currently helpless, Maric began to feel doubts.

"Tina, can't you go back to school? How could you give up that easily."

"I won't..."

"It's still the first day, the next day will be so much fun."

"I don't care..."

"I apologize for forcing you to become class president... so how about you and I go to school again."

"I don't want to... I've said many times that I don't want to... I want to be a knight."

Tina then got up again, she immediately asked Franz nearby to return to training.

"Father... Let's continue the sword lesson."

It had been about a month since Tina decided to quit school, and since Maric's original purpose of going to school was only to take care of Tina, Maric also quit.

It became a bit of a tricky problem when Maric didn't know what else to do to persuade Tina to go back to school. Maric does a few tricks but they all fail.

"Don't tell me that you decided to learn swordplay because you were afraid to go to school."

"I learned the sword because I wanted to."

'That's obviously a lie. I still can't believe that my sister is now making excuses for her phobia of going to school, right after her first day of admission.'

And to make matters worse, if Viscount Franz continued to tutor Tina, Maric worried that a nobleman like him didn't have enough time to work.

There were tons of documents that only Franz could take care of that were related to the territory.

In a situation like this, a nobleman's negligence could make things worse.

If only Tina hadn't asked to practice, Maric could have gone to Franz's study under the pretense of reading a book, but the real purpose was to be able to assess the situation.

"Father, it's time for you to go to work, let's leave Tina's training to the other knights."

"Hey, don't say that, I'm not done here yet."

Tina refused, she made a face as if she suspected Maric was up to something. And she had to thwart him no matter what.

"Don't listen to Tina, dad. I think there's more important work to be done than teaching a little girl like Tina."

"Hey."

"Tina's just trying to be lazy, she doesn't really want to be a knight, she's just saying that because she's afraid to go to school."

"That's not true... Dad, you have to believe me, he just trying to lie to you."

Meanwhile, Franz who was currently putting back the wooden sword then wiped off the sweat with a cloth.

"There... It's almost time for breakfast, let's continue the sword practice in the afternoon."

...

In the dining room of the Noir family mansion.

There was a lot of food on the table, each of which had been prepared using quality spices with a brownish color that uploaded appetite.

Beef and mutton were grilled and chicken soup was boiled.

A little smoke drifting in the air indicated that all the food had been cooked just a short while ago. Ready to be eaten by a noble family enjoying their luxurious life.

"Mutton with brown sauce... thank God for allowing me to enjoy this meal..."

"Praise God."

The two people at the dining table prayed while closing their eyes. It was Maric and Deana.

Out of habit, Maric always tried to be grateful for what he got, that was the teaching of the Church people in this world.

After Maric and Deana finished praying, they ate the food.

Chopping the meat on the plate and then devouring it slowly. As he chewed the food in his mouth, he became curious about something.

It was something that had bothered him for the 10 years he had lived in this world.

That curiosity increased when she became part of the Noir family.

"Mom... Is seafood actually forbidden?"

Nobles should be able to buy many things that ordinary people cannot, including rare foods. But why, Maric had never seen seafood?

He once suspected that it might be related to certain religious beliefs or culture in the kingdom of Eradel. But Maric could never be sure and he had never heard anything about seafood from the Church or anyone he had ever met, so he decided to ask now.

Deana then answered.

"Seafood? I have no idea what you're talking about."

'There really isn't any? Really?"

"Fish and such. Really don't exist?"

"If you mean fish, fish can only be found in rivers and lakes. If you want, mom can buy some for you next Sunday."

"No, it's not river fish or lake fish, but seafood like squid, crab or something like that."

"Squid, crab? I don't even know if they're animals or things. Besides, no one dares to go to the ocean because it's dangerous."

Maric began to feel confused, this was far from what he could have imagined.

It couldn't be a vast ocean without any sea animals in it. It just didn't make sense.

It should be another story if the ocean really was full of dangers.

There would be a lot of stories that paint the ocean as a horrible place, that would suggest that one shouldn't go to the ocean or something.

But this is a bit different. That there aren't many stories or tales about the ocean proves that all the surrounding civilizations or kingdoms never looked into it.

How could someone possibly know whether or not the ocean was dangerous if they didn't even have enough information. They just didn't want to explore it because they felt it wasn't necessary.

Since they don't know what's in the ocean, one would answer with one simple word if asked by others, which is that the ocean is a dangerous place.

It's similar to how in storybooks, the truth is always different from what people say. No one can be sure.

Maric who returned to eating his food lost interest in asking questions, he didn't want to find out more because he felt that it was pointless.

Seeing that, Deana who was watching now asked Maric.

"What is it, is there something that worries you?"

"No, mom, it's nothing."

"Maric, you can say it now if you feel it's necessary."

'This woman is too sensitive. I only asked because I had thought about it, that's all, which means that it's not really important for me to find out.'

Seeing Deana act more like her biological mother did make Maric a little happy, and that was also the reason why restoring Tina's cheerfulness was no longer a serious problem.

The innocent little girl clearly needed a mother figure. No matter how many bad things the girl went through, as long as she still had hope to rise, there would still be hope.

And hope is always the solution for those in need. As someone who has lived in a church environment, Maric understands very well how people of faith think.

What's more, she had plenty of time to reflect on what she had experienced.

'I sometimes think that I might become a pastor. But I realized that if I'm a sinner myself, I can't be someone who has no face before God... Oh God, forgive me... I might have to lie again.'

Maric's head was then bowed, his eyes looking at the food on the plate while slicing with a small knife.

As he did so, he finally came up with an excuse.

"Mother... this food is very delicious, but I sometimes hear from others, that there are so many people who can't even eat a piece of bread and then starve to death... I understand, that there are not many food sources in this kingdom, so I thought that there might be foodstuffs in the ocean that can be eaten so that more people would live happily because of that food."

The chance of a child growing up is very low. Out of ten children born, perhaps only three or two survive into their teens.

That's normal, so what if the post-war crisis continues for a few more years? Of course, the chances of survival may be even lower. If a child that normal people care about can have such a bad fate, then an adult must have a much worse fate with so few people who will care.

Although that's what Maric meant, but a child couldn't possibly think that far ahead.

So this was a safe move, because for Maric. Deana could definitely relate to what Maric was saying when she recalled the activities they had done over the past two years when Maric and she often went to church for charity work.

And that was the case.

Deana, who had lost her appetite, looked at Franz.

"Franz...did you hear what Maric said?"

"Yes..."

Franz replied in a low voice and continued chewing his food while answering.

"There's not much we can do... I and the nobles did agree to change the currency to get the economy back on track, but I and some of the nobles doubt that that alone will be enough to improve the situation... There are several more reasons why goods are so expensive that ordinary people can hardly afford them."

"Father, that's also the reason why I asked you not to teach Tina how to sword anymore."

Maric interjected briefly. This would strengthen Maric's position and the reason for his every word.

Now, Franz and Deana would probably side with him.

Tina, who had overheard the whole conversation, realized something was wrong. She didn't want to question whether Maric's words were lies or not, but she did question what Maric was saying them for.

As always, everything had a reason.

"Dad, mom, don't take his word for it, the reason he said that was because he wanted to tease me."

"Tina, stop saying that, Maric just wants to help you, he doesn't mean to tease you or anything."

"Eh! You don't believe me?"

"It's not like that..."

"If it's not that, then what? My brother is just trying to tease me because I'm younger than him...if only I had a brother younger than me, maybe brother wouldn't do this."

'Hey. Hey... you said something you shouldn't say to an adult..and I wasn't planning to tease you either, I did all this because I was thinking of your future.'

Misunderstandings were sometimes unavoidable, it was hard to explain to Tina what Maric wanted when her sister harbored so much suspicion.

Maric occasionally glanced at Deana and Franz to see their reactions.

Maric felt that he had to end this conversation soon to keep his course under control.

"Listen to me Tina, don't bother dad when he's working.. he's working for the good of many people... for God's sake, I beg you not to bother him."

"But, but... I don't understand what the knights teach, only father can teach me."

........

About two weeks later.

Apparently, what Maric said was taken quite seriously. So Maric occasionally gave Franz advice on how to take care of Tina's wishes who was now a spoiled girl.

It wasn't anything too troublesome, but the problem lay in Tina refusing to socialize with anyone other than her family. It was all because of an incident at school that deserved to be called a tragedy for Tina.

Therefore, Maric had to find another way, a more subtle way. Using a few little tricks in the study, Maric managed to get Franz to think of a solution for Tina's training.

A 16-year-old knight finally came to the Noir family mansion.

However, a very bright light from a fact that Maric could not imagine caused Maric's eyes to open wide.

The reason for that was when the young knight introduced himself.

"Good morning... my name is Vincent Van Reinland... For the next two months, please cooperate."

"Hero?!"

"That's an exaggeration, I do come from a family of heroes. However, hearing what the Noir family has done, you guys are more worthy of being called heroes than me and my family."

It was a short meeting and two years have now passed by.