Chapter 28 - Light as a Feather

Prepare yourself in some annoying monologue of a brat. Though, I promise I'll make her better.

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(Eris POV)

When papa told me I was getting a new bodyguard I was already unhappy with it. Why would I need a new bodyguard and tutor? Ghislaine is the strongest. She is more than enough to protect me. She appears whenever I call her, and no one would dare to try anything when she is around.

And then papa told me that he was actually coming to learn from Ghislaine while working as my bodyguard to pay for those lessons. I don't know why but that pissed me off even more. Who the hell does he think he is, trying to learn from my Ghislaine? If Ghislaine has to teach him as well, doesn't that mean she will have less time for me? I will never let that happen!

So when I first met the one going to tutor me who introduced himself as Rudeus, and found that he was actually younger and shorter than me, I didn't like him from the get go. There was also another boy who was younger than me but taller than Rudeus. I didn't bother letting him introduce himself. Because getting a kid who is even younger than me to protect me was so insulting! They were basically saying that I was so weak even some random brat was stronger than me! 

I wanted to teach the rude brat a lesson. So I slapped him. Or at least I tried to. The bastard actually dared to dodge it! Being rude was one thing, but not willing to take his punishment and daring to run away was another issue altogether.

But no matter what I tried, he just kept running away while calling me 'Lady Eris' the whole time, which I hate being called that! He must have known that I hate it and kept calling me that on purpose!

That bastard then held my hand behind my back and pushed me down. How dare he! Not even grandfather or Ghislaine have done something like that to me before. But he was too strong, I couldn't break out of his hold. I'm going to get him back for this, I promised myself. No matter what I would make him pay!

But then he let me go, and made me a deal. To show that he was strong, he would spar with Ghislaine. And if I was not happy with his performance then I would get to punch him and chase him out of our house.

That sounded great in my head. Because I already knew that no matter how well he did, I was going to say I was not satisfied. I won't let him stay here and learn from Ghislaine no matter what.

But first, I demanded to let me punch him five times before anything else. I had to vent the frustration inside me after he dodged and held me down for so long.

He said okay, but that pissed me off even more. He was so nonchalant about it, like being punched by me would be nothing at all. He would regret that. And so I punched his face. But punching him felt like I was punching a stone wall! It hurt my hand more than it hurt his face! In fact, he didn't look like he even felt anything.

The boy that I didn't know his name smiled when he saw me in pain. 

He was enjoying it, I was sure. What a detestable person! No matter how hard I punched him, he would not feel anything but my hand hurt even more.

Then I remembered what I overheard some maids talking about before. A boy's weakness is their thing between their legs. Sometimes when they are attacked by men, the maids would kick the man's thing and run away. He was a boy too. So he must have the same weakness.

But when I kicked him there wasn't even a reaction and only stared at me weirdly! Why can't I hurt him! I already hate him and this is already making me hate him even more! 

So I decided to use a feint, like what Ghislaine had taught me before. Swing my leg at the thing between his legs and let him think I was aiming for that. But in reality, it would just be a trick.

When he caught my first kick, I jumped and aimed my other leg to kick his face. This time, I poured all my anger and frustration into this kick. I wanted to hurt him, and teach a lesson for underestimating me.

However, he still remained unfazed and the thing that pisses me off is that he didn't even flinch and just smirked at me! I wanted to hit him again but it's too bad that that was the last hit out of the five we agreed on. 

Normally I wouldn't care about breaking a promise with someone like him. He did not have the qualification to even ask me to keep my promise. But since both papa and Ghislaine were there too, I had to keep to our deal. But it was fine. After he fought with Ghislaine, no matter how well he did, I would tell him to get lost anyways. And then I can punch him even more after that. Serves him right for trying to come to my house and steal my Ghislaine from me.

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Eris led our group that included myself, Philip, Rudeus and Ghislaine towards the estate's training ground. Thomas the butler had been called away for some task or another had to do. 

When they arrived, I immediately requested Philip to ask everyone else aside from the four of them to leave the training ground. He did not want people who did not need to be there to see his unique abilities.

I was going to show more than I thought to at least truly test myself against Ghislaine and didn't much care if they knew about [ Magia Erebea ] because I have many more trump cards and this way if they knew about me then they'll likely kidnap me instead of killing me since children are much easier to manipulate and trick but unfortunately for them this is what I intend. 

Either way if I am exposed or not is carefully planned in my mind and would benefit in the end.

From now onwards, people who were allowed to find out about my Sacred style and my magic but they'll only witness the most basic and won't need to go [ Godspeed ].

Looking at her expression I could see that she was confident that it would be a dull fight which I didn't intend it to be. 

'Grandfather , if you're the one matchmaking, please stop.'

There was no response but I could feel that she was laughing in the void seeing me trying to impress a bratty girl. Though, I can't judge her for who she is now instead I should see what she would become if her temperament changed. 

Philip was understandably a little hesitant to proceed with this request. When I asked everyone else to leave, he included the various estate guards that were stationed at the manor or patrolling the grounds. This would be an ideal scenario for any assassins because there be vulnerable without guards.

But the Young Master of the Boreas family still dismissed all the other unnecessary spectators. That was the extent of the trust he had in Ghislaine's ability. Unless it was another King-level assassin, Ghislaine was more than capable of handling it even without any other guards.

"Hmph, you just don't want people to watch you get beat up right?"

Eris immediately pounced to poke fun at me. I merely ignored her that made Eris more annoyed than before and couldn't help but pray for the boreas if things turn different because Eris isn't the ideal noble heiress and would likely cause their name to be ruined.

I could tell from the smirk on Eris' face that it was very likely she would insist she was not satisfied with his performance no matter what happened but I don't really care much to impress her since I'm doing this as killing two birds with one stone or more. Attracting assassins to kidnap me and infiltrate their organization, test my serious mode against Ghislaine and impress her. I doubt Phillip would just let me go after seeing my performance that would benefit their family.

Though, he had heards things about me from Ghislaine doesn't give her the full scope of what I am valued at. 

Regardless, The little noble was unruly, unrestrained and spoiled rotten. But ultimately, she was still a child that respected strength. I recalled that when rudeus showed his worth when they were kidnapped the canon was quickly drawn to learning from him. If she by chance wants to learn things from me then I'll surely train her both in mind and body. She already has talent for it and only lacks the discipline. 

Me and Ghislaine walked to the middle of the training ground while Philip and Eris stayed at the periphery to watch. The training ground itself wasn't that large, since it was more of a private area meant for the Boreas family members' usage. So it was actually more secluded in the interior of the manor.

Normal Boreas guardsmen had their own barracks away from the estate grounds, with their own facilities and training field for their drills as well. 

We stood a fair distance away from each other, reminiscent of how we had faced each other back at the Greyrat household in Buena Village.

"As much as I want you to be my disciple, I won't be able to hold back, Reinhard. At most I can limit my Battle Aura to Saint-rank. Otherwise, Eris will be angry at me." 

Ghislaine said as she unsheathed her blade. I merely chuckled and replied while similarly taking out my sword. 

"I would have it no other way."

The beastwoman smiled. I can tell that my impression of me is to her liking. I believe that my passion for the sword reminded her of herself when she was younger after being picked up by Gal Farion, the current Sword God, and shown the way of the sword.

She had been even wilder and more feral than Eris when she was her age. It was only through tempering her spirit and taming her wild nature from learning 

swordsmanship that she was able to mature and grow beyond being just a beast-like person.

We seem to share a similar thirst to improve his strength and swordsmanship. Though I also incorporated the 3 sword style and magic into my techniques, Ghislaine could sense that this was my path of the sword. 

While she had relied heavily on instincts and impulses when she was younger, anyone who could break through to Saint-rank and beyond needed much more than just instincts. They not only needed talent, they would also need, above all else, a deep obsession for swordsmanship. Magicians would call them simple-minded, but no one else but other Saint-ranked swordsmen and above could understand it. 

Just from hearing his description of how Paul had taught him, Ghislaine was baffled how I could reach the heights he did with swordsmanship. My father always called her an idiot, or muscle brained, but he was a terrible teacher. Gal Farion had sharpened her instincts, tamed her feral nature, and guided her in comprehending techniques. 

Ghislaine felt confident that if she could apply what she had learnt and teach me, a boy who never had an excellent teacher to guide his swordsmanship before would achieve no less than what she had in the sword. Truthfully, I don't take pride in my talent when it's merely a gift from my grandfather and hasn't proved it's worth.

"You mention that I hold back whenever we spar?"

The words seem to strike Eris who thought I was merely boasting while Phillip pique his interest since if he truly held back then his value would be more than what their family could even afford! 

"This is going to be the first time that I'll see Nii-San for real."

Phillip looked down at Rudeus who was silent and intently watching me while Eris merely scoffed at his words. 

"Hmph! He's just boasting! There's no way that Ghislaine is going to lose!!"

"If you keep saying that then you're going to regret it, Lady Eris."

"Shut up! I didn't give you permission to speak! Hmph!"

Ghislaine looked at me differently than before and slightly increased her strength. I can see that her instinct was acting from my presence realizing that underestimating me would be dangerous and could be fatal. At that moment, a powerful blast of Mana flared throughout my body as I released the 40 times gravity that had been weighing on me every time I trained. Everyone felt the tension in the air making those who hadn't sensed Mana to feel the pressure. Though, someone like my brother wasn't fazed by it since he was used to my presence.

"Ah, I feel so light! My body has been aching for so long!!"

I felt like feather jumping a bit and flexing my muscles that had been under such a huge burden. It had been screaming at me to release myself but push through since the payoff was worth it. I glanced at Eris who seemed to start to waver but her pride didn't allow her and 'Hmph' me. Frankly, her reaction started to grow on me like a cute wild puppy.

"....What did you do? I can see that your aura and presence has changed and I am confident that you have the power of a saint."

I merely smiled since my strength was at the Advance level when I'm under my brutal training since I was able to find a way to compress my strength and cause a massive growth when released. It was excruciating and could have killed me if not for my Zenkai Boost. 

"I can't exactly explain it to you even if I tried but I assure you I'm not done."