“Whew.”
I leaned back in my chair in the office of the Minister of Military Affairs, which also served as the Lord Protector’s office.
There was much to do.
I had gone from being the mayor or governor of a single city to taking on the role of king—well, more precisely, prime minister. Naturally, the work had become far greater and more overwhelming.
“The Queen must be tired as well.”
Though attempts at centralization continued, this was not yet a properly centralized state.
Did not I, a Martial God from the frontier, prove as much?
If Her Majesty was to establish authority, she would ultimately have to employ centralizing policies.
That was all the more necessary because it was not easy for a young Queen to establish authority.
If so, Her Majesty would be burdened with even more work.
‘Even the late King could not endure such work, and he had been so strong.’
If Her Majesty cultivated an eye for talent, she would be fully capable of handling it.
To do that, she needed the intelligence to recognize and assess talent.
If she herself had talent and ability, she would at least immediately recognize how much knowledge someone with the potential to become talented possessed.
I should also verify the quality of the education Her Majesty was receiving.
“Chief Attendant.”
“Yes, Lord Protector!”
“Lead me to the rear garden.”
Other than several protocols and coronation practices I had instructed her in, Her Majesty was mainly receiving an education.
Since her days as a princess, she had had private tutors in poetry and literature, mathematics, law, and swordsmanship.
In other words, she had private lessons in something like language, mathematics, social studies, and physical education.
Besides that, I understood that the Archbishop personally gave her readings from the holy scriptures on every Holy Spirit worship day.
Even by the standards of the age, she was studying under a fairly sound curriculum.
However, given the nature of one-on-one tutoring and education received as the sovereign, I was concerned about excessive lip service from her poetry and literature teacher.
Who could give the Queen an examination?
And what teacher could scold her for failing to memorize what she had learned?
I thought she should learn human interaction through some degree of competition and cooperation, but the Kingdom currently had nothing like a public school or academy.
The Lion Unit Training Institute was only the rudimentary prototype of a military school or martial arts hall.
‘Come to think of it, I must establish educational institutions as well.’
It was one of the approaches I had in mind: to hold the children of nobles hostage in the capital, while also nurturing an elite guard of people around Her Majesty’s age who would lead both Her Majesty and the Kingdom with her.
Some noble territories did have schools for the promotion of the arts and schools for training clergy, but those were art schools and religious schools.
“Hmm. Should it be a girls’ school?”
But as I considered it, if I realistically established a school in the capital for Her Majesty’s elite guard, it seemed that only the children of assorted second-rate nobles would gather there.
Could nobles fail to realize that the children they sent to a school in the capital would be hostages in the royal capital?
They would naturally hide their eldest heirs, who held important rights of succession.
Even the Queen’s natural act of receiving male retainers often became a scandal, so this required some thought.
When people feared the Queen, such romantic rumors did not spread. But a Queen’s accession already meant that the men of that family had died out, weakening the house.
Thus, royal authority was weakened and slander was rampant. If I established a coeducational royal school and had Her Majesty attend it, those rumors would...
“I do not know how many tongues I would have to cut out before they stopped.”
Building Her Majesty’s elite guard would require more thought.
Anyone who dared speak of scandals about Her Majesty, even if those scandals were true, would have every tongue cut out.
It would probably be better to appoint women from the noble faction, but I questioned whether they could fully control the military in this martial Kingdom.
If Her Majesty gained an aptitude for swordsmanship, that concern would lessen...
In the meantime, I arrived at the rear garden of the royal castle.
“Haaah!”
Her Majesty was undergoing swordsmanship training, a form of physical education.
One of Her Majesty’s guards noticed that I had arrived and looked at me, about to notify Her Majesty, but I signaled for him to keep quiet.
“Your Grace!”
“Shh. It is discourteous to salute me before Her Majesty. Watch for now.”
Her Majesty was practicing elegant swordsmanship with an estoc, a thrusting sword specially made by shortening its length to reduce its weight further.
Her physical education teachers were the female knights who attended Her Majesty most closely, but swordsmanship required an opponent.
Her Majesty was in no way at a level where she could face knights.
With those arms and legs, that was.
But she had an opponent.
“Ahh, Dvariiii!?”
It was Countess Dvari, Her Majesty’s nurse.
“You should stab here, Your Majesty!?”
Her Majesty was far too outmatched by a knight, but if her opponent was a noblewoman who had learned some elegant swordsmanship, Countess Dvari seemed like she would not merely be a match for Her Majesty...
She was good?
I was genuinely impressed, thinking that if she were placed among ordinary soldiers and sent to the front, she might well stab to death two or so peasant soldiers who did nothing but swing flails stupidly.
“The Countess knows how to do that, too?”
“I heard that she has been training in her own way. She says that, at the very end, she must buy time herself.”
“She is a responsible woman. Even so, I must reassess her skill.”
“Eek?!”
“You must get up!?”
I flinched slightly, but on reflection, there were probably not many people who could strike Her Majesty’s shoulder and knock her down.
As an officially acknowledged bastard in the royal palace until the Deposed Queen’s Rebellion, I understood that Her Majesty had had few friends among the boys and girls of noble families who came to the royal palace.
I had heard that she had rarely interacted with them and had been ignored.
“Hmph! Again!”
“As many times as you wish.”
I had thought Her Majesty’s stamina and strength would be weak, but she was lively, as one would expect of a child old enough to run and play.
And she was competitive as well.
I had imagined a girl who quietly read books and wrote poetry, so it seemed I had judged her somewhat wrongly.
Still, in any case... Hmm?
“Oh my!?”
“Ah? Huh!? Um. W-why am I being pushed?!”
Her Majesty parried the sword strike, then seized an opening and shoved the adult Countess Dvari’s stomach with her shoulder, breaking her stance.
“Yaaah!”
“Oh my, oh? Goodness?”
“Ah, ha?! I won!”
Countess Dvari was overwhelmingly stronger not only in skill, but in weight class as well. I thought that even if a whole group of children like Her Majesty charged her, Countess Dvari would at least not be defeated.
Yet Her Majesty had pushed the Countess with her shoulder through the instant opening, throwing her off balance instead of using her sword.
Then she launched a sudden fierce assault that bewildered Countess Dvari, until at last she held her blade to the Countess’s throat.
This did not merely show that Her Majesty had good combat sense...
“Huh?”
‘The moment she gained the advantage, her speed rose explosively... She may have learned it, but swordsmanship that her body should not have been able to perform just came out.’
With victory before her, she had exceeded the limits her body could produce and displayed a leap in combat ability.
I had seen quite a few people bring out something like that at death’s door. One person in ten, upon feeling that they had the chance to win, would display ability beyond their normal skill.
But even if someone produced strength beyond their usual level depending on the situation, I had never seen such a dramatic rise as Her Majesty’s.
To overcome such a difference in weight class, she had produced not thirty or forty percent more instantaneous strength than usual, but three or four hundred percent more...
Could that be possible?
“I lost, I lost. You are amazing. Have you put on weight?”
Though Countess Dvari admitted defeat, she was apparently upset by the attack that had overwhelmed her in an instant and picked a needless quarrel.
Her Majesty’s shoulders rose high.
“Where do you see that?!”
Exactly, where did she see it?
[The chicken-catching girl is rather better than I expected?]
“Insol—”
I was about to rebuke the voice, but realized it was not a voice.
It was a useless sword meant solely for cold compresses.
‘You insolent bastard. How dare you say that before Her Majesty?’
[No kings have ever acted insolently before me. Agh?! Hey, you mad bastard! My edge will chip!]
I struck the stone wall of the royal castle to discipline the Frost Sword’s ego.
But the stone wall was gouged.
It was a good sword, at least.
‘How dare you say that Her Majesty is merely rather good?’
[You said the same thing, you bastard?]
‘Ah, did I?’
That thought of mine had been wrong. I would repent.
[If you are going to use me like this, just give me to the late King’s brother.]
‘That will not do. Do you know how useful the ability to freeze meat is?’
[You mad bastard, this is a sword a king uses?!]
I knew that the Frost Sword was a famed sword, and it was not bad, but it was not much help.
It was useful only in practical ways.
In terms of durability and cutting power alone, I had several other famed swords, and they were better.
I carried it only as acting representative of royal authority because it had become an object symbolizing a valiant king.
‘So have you ever felt Her Majesty’s ability for yourself?’
[What ability? I resisted when my previous master tried to force her to wield me.]
‘Why?’
[I said that, in order to separate me again, your bitch of a daughter’s palm would have to tear off, or her wrist might detach first if things went wrong... Hey, you mad?! Are you out of your mind? Ah, fuck.]
There was a brazier in the royal castle, so I set it on it for a while.
The sound was spectacular, like water splashed on an induction burner... No, a brazier.
How was it not disrespectful to call Her Majesty a bitch daughter?
[Are you not a warrior? How can you treat a weapon, the foundation of a knight, like this?! Is it not proper to hone and polish it every day?]
‘It is proper for steel to be honed and polished in fire.’
[Do not compare me to iron-headed things born from mere fire. No, why are you tormenting me at all? Huh?]
There was much stress from handling state affairs, but tormenting subordinates would make me a madman.
Tormenting animals that could not speak would make me an animal abuser.
Punching a rabbit doll instead of people was rather helpful to one’s mental health.
Moreover, I was the most exalted figure in the Kingdom’s royal protocol, so everyone either loved or feared me. This bastard did not, which made tormenting him entertaining.
‘So long as you are not disrespectful to Her Majesty, why would I have any reason to torment you?’
[You do it because it is entertaining, you crazy bastard.]
‘Ah, that was it.’
Should I bend it once more for reading my true feelings?
‘Then is it because of the oral tradition that, as legend says, it freezes warriors who are not valiant?’
[Well, if a warrior whose ability has not been acknowledged holds me, his hand will freeze along with mine. There was someone who lost his wrist while trying to force me to be used.]
‘You tore off someone else’s wrist. What do you mean, what did you do right?’
[I can take heads too, so what are you talking about? You only have to say, “Ah, cold!” and let go. It does not freeze you right away. People have body heat, do they not?]
‘Certainly.’
The hand holding the Frost Sword was cold, as though I suffered from cold limbs.
It was almost warm enough to lay my left hand over it.
[That is why. How sad would you be if your ignorant little daughter touched me and her wrist came off?]
‘What if she wears gloves?’
[Then the gloves freeze first.]
‘According to the oral tradition, unless one is an outstanding warrior, even someone of royal blood cannot receive an answer like this, can they?’
[Ah, that? I can speak, you see. But most people cannot hear me. You are remarkable for hearing me even though you are not a king.]
Had this bastard’s crude words been silent cries directed at royal family members who could not hear him?
He kept talking at people, and anyone would lose their temper if no one could hear them.
‘I see.’
[To speak seriously, hmm. Only someone with both royal blood and the qualities of an outstanding warrior can hear my voice.]
‘They called you a sword that trains kings. Was that what it meant?’
[Something like that.]
‘Then does an outstanding person hear you, or does the one who hears you become outstanding?’
[You have experienced it. While wielding a sword, when you shed a layer and gained the power to draw out the sword’s length from my hand, you experienced sounds beneath the surface and senses beneath the surface.]
‘...That is certainly true.’
[In that regard, one cannot say which comes first. You may have heard me because you were that sort of person, or your potential may be limitless because you heard me.]
“Yaaah?!”
“Why are you practicing more than usual?! I will not lose this time.”
I had heard that Her Majesty did not normally become wholly absorbed in swordsmanship practice.
But perhaps she was excited after winning, for she was dueling once more.
As though she had shed a layer through a single experience, she displayed an unusual skill in pressing Countess Dvari back, even though the Countess was no longer going easy on her.
“Are you going easy on me now?!”
“I am not! Goodness?”
In the midst of it, Her Majesty’s sword broke.
Countess Dvari’s sword strike had been serious after all.
“Shall we stop?”
“Um... no. At times like this, is there another sword that is not... sharp? And perhaps a little heavier?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I shall inform the royal castle guard.”
Her Majesty happened to be in need of a sword.
‘Let us go.’
[Hmm?]
‘If you freeze Her Majesty, I will snap you in two, so mind your conduct. Let Her Majesty hold you once. You will be hers in a few years anyway.’
I intended to let Her Majesty hold the Frost Sword once.
This fellow was apparently useful as a gauge of combat power and potential.
[The child has more aptitude than I expected, but are there only one or two talented children? Do not. She will hurt her hand.]
‘You must pay your respects to Her Majesty.’
[It is you who should pay respects to me, the Royal Regalia. Do you know how old I am?]
‘Quit your bullshit.’
“Your Majesty, I have watched your splendid skill.”
“E-eh?! Ah, no. Grand Duke, I...”
She was always like this when I approached.
Flustered, her face turned red at once.
Her Majesty wore white gloves and custom-made gauntlets to keep her hands from being injured.
Then perhaps she would not suffer frostbite.
“Would you perhaps like to try the Frost Sword once, Your Majesty?”
“What? Um, no, I heard that my hand would freeze. Um, um, and it is already cold.”
“It says that you will be all right with gloves. Why not hold it briefly? This is the sword the late King ultimately left to Your Majesty. I am only its temporary owner.”
“Um. Yes, I will hold it once!”
I had heard that Her Majesty had been interested in the Frost Sword since long ago.
She gripped it firmly.
“It is light!”
Perhaps because it was lighter than she had expected, she even showed the sword movements she had learned through her wrist.
But it seemed that she still could not hear the Frost Sword’s voice.
Nor did her hand appear to be freezing. Or perhaps the Frost Sword was simply not speaking?
I had told it to offer its greetings.
‘It seems that she does not have that degree of aptitude.’
She could likely become a battle knight who had reached the limits of physical training and martial arts, but she seemed somewhat far from reaching the level of drawing power from a sword.
That required a condition that nearly drove one mad, or continued and repeated severe wounds. A queen should not undergo such things.
Then it happened.
Her Majesty suddenly stopped and looked around.
“Huh?”
“What is wrong? All of a sudden?”
“Peep, chirp? Um, where is that sound coming from?”
That mad sword was making chicken noises.