Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 170: The Royal Knight Order Training Ground
The Royal Magic Pharmacists stared hard at the icehouse plans. Their faces held a mixture of hope and anxiety. If we really managed to reproduce an icehouse from the age of the ancient advanced civilisation, it would be extraordinary. But they wanted it. Their expressions said that plainly.
“Julius-sensei, I don’t mean to doubt you, but perhaps we should show these plans to the royal magic-tool specialists once. I’m sure they could offer excellent advice.”
“No. I don’t intend to show them to the magic-tool specialists. I’m trying to become a magic pharmacist, not a magic-tool maker. If the magic-tool specialists take an interest in me as well, that would be a serious nuisance.”
I heard murmurs of, ‘True,’ and, ‘That makes sense.’
I only had one body. Becoming both a magic pharmacist and a magic-tool maker at the same time sounded impossible to me. Was I wrong? So far, I hadn’t met a single hybrid who formally did both.
“Hmm. But if we actually build the icehouse, won’t people notice when materials are brought in?”
“That won’t be a problem. I plan to remodel the existing icehouse itself. If we still need anything beyond that, all of you can quietly bring the materials in.”
Everyone swallowed.
Apparently they understood my intention.
Heh heh heh. You’re all going to become accomplices too. Once that happens, you’ll have no choice but to keep quiet.
Besides, they wanted a true ancient icehouse badly enough to reach out and grab it with both hands. I was sure they would cooperate.
“Understood. We’ll cooperate.”
“Much appreciated.”
Good. That settled it. We could install the icehouse without trouble. If the royal palace could preserve its valuable ingredients properly, then in an emergency we might even be able to make some wildly unconventional potion using them.
That finished the morning’s work. We would begin modifying the icehouse little by little from the following day. The first priority remained the task entrusted to me by the state: increasing the Panacea’s production success rate. Once that was finished, I should be able to move more freely.
After lunch, I headed towards my afternoon swordsmanship practice. The destination was the training ground normally used by knights working inside the royal palace.
Quite a few children had already gathered. Apparently these lessons were very popular.
“It’s lively.”
“According to Lord Alex, the person instructing you is Commander Yeongseon of the Royal Knight Order. He’s said to be the strongest man in the kingdom. Being personally taught by him makes these lessons extremely popular.”
“Brother Alex didn’t have to throw me into a place like this. Learning from some ordinary knight would have been plenty.”
The servant gave me a doubtful look. What? Did he want to say something? I’d assumed the main purpose of this swordsmanship practice was simple exercise. If I stayed cooped up in the townhouse, I wouldn’t move enough, so Brother Alex had arranged for me to exercise inside the royal palace.
“Young Master Julius, the Margrave told us that you can fight Lord Lionel on equal terms—or better.”
“…”
Goddamn it.
Lionel, were you one of Father’s spies? I hadn’t expected that story to reach him. I almost wanted to laugh, ‘Ho ho ho.’ No wonder Brother Alex had shoved me into training under the Knight Commander.
“I’ll be joining the training from today. I’m Julius Heine. Thank you for having me.”
“Welcome. His Majesty told me about you.”
So the Knight Commander had also heard about me directly from His Majesty. That meant three major figures—the commander of the Royal Magic Pharmacists, the commander of the Royal Mage Corps, and the commander of the Royal Knight Order—had all been asked by the King to look after me.
Thinking about that calmly, it was completely abnormal.
I looked over the children who would be training with me. Unlike the magic training the other day, there didn’t seem to be many children from noble houses here. If so, perhaps this was a more serious, practical training session.
Among them was a red-haired boy. Just as I’d heard, his hair stood straight up. This had to be Axel, the boy Ijidol had mentioned yesterday. I should make contact quickly and start building a friendship.
Training began with laps around the field. First, build stamina. The most basic of basics. After that came repeated wooden-sword swings, then form practice.
And that was all.
Extremely important. Extremely plain.
“Father, shouldn’t we start holding mock battles soon?”
Oh. Was he the Knight Commander’s son? He immediately wanted to show everyone what he could do. Come to think of it, hadn’t he been here yesterday too?
Commander Yeongseon looked troubled. Fathers everywhere seemed to be soft on their own sons. If I remembered correctly, the boy was Ovidio Yeongseon. He was taller and more solidly built than me, so he was probably older.
“No. I’ve told you before. What will you do if someone is injured before their body has developed properly? An injury could remain with them for the rest of their life. Can you take responsibility for that?”
“But… being weak is what’s wrong.”
“A knight’s duty is to save the weak. Never forget that.”
Ovidio made an ‘ughh’ sort of face.
Match over.
If someone who couldn’t think about other people gained power, everyone around them would suffer. I hoped Commander Yeongseon drilled that lesson into him while he was still a child.
Even so, perhaps he couldn’t completely ignore his son’s request, because we ended up doing controlled sparring after all.
I hurried straight to Axel.
“Want to spar with me?”
“Huh? I mean, sure—no, I mean, I don’t mind.”
Axel looked bewildered. If the son of a high-ranking noble suddenly walked up and spoke to you, that reaction was probably natural. I’d better reassure him.
“Just call me Julius. I heard about you from Ijidol.”
“Ijidol? That guy said something he shouldn’t have, didn’t he?”
“Don’t be angry with him. I was only asking whether he had any good friends.”
“Good friends? Did he say anything else?”
He looked at me suspiciously. Repeating that Ijidol had called him rough around the edges would probably be a terrible idea, so I decided I hadn’t heard anything else worth mentioning.
Axel looked relieved.
Maybe he was aware of it after all.