"Mother?"
The word Chloe let out reflexively.
I quickly looked through the body's memories.
Memory surfacing like a flash.
But.
What is this person?
Kalian's mother in the memories, and now my mother.
Lucia Facial.
A stray impression of Lucia Facial rose reflexively.
A strange person.
And then.
BOOM!
A roar rang out.
"Aaagh!"
I screamed despite myself and threw my body forward.
The roar had come from the carriage door.
Precisely, the carriage door blew apart.
PATTER!
Fragments of the door that had drummed against my back fell away.
And what came into my sight.
"Damn it!"
A rough shout burst out of me on its own.
Because Chloe was curled up in my arms.
And more than that, she was gazing up at me with doe eyes, overcome with emotion.
How could I not curse?
I had protected Chloe without realizing it.
Me? This witch? Protect her? And reflexively, in a sudden emergency?
Absurd.
It can't be.......
-Oh, Master. For all your complaining, you instinctively protected your sister. Blood really is thicker than water.
'T-this was purely a display of the chivalry that says one must protect a woman.......'
-Come now, since when were you a knight?
'W-well, uh? In the sense of protecting the weak.......'
-Since when is a Fifth Circle mage the weak.......
'You want to die?'
-Hup!
Velkarion, who had seized the chance to needle me, belatedly read the situation and shut his mouth.
But the incident wasn't over.
"Kai, you dared to run away from home?!"
Someone's roar burst out.
Wow, this was a novel experience.
The voice was frighteningly beautiful.
Even bellowing, that voice was enough to enchant you.
I turned my head, and the person from the memories was standing there.
Beneath jet-black hair cropped as short as an ordinary man's stood a beautiful middle-aged woman with striking features.
But the presence she gave off was no joke.
First, her height.
A tall frame close to at least a hundred and eighty centimeters, with long limbs.
Her clothing, like her hair, was plainly different from that of other noble ladies.
An outfit as plain as could be, aimed solely at freedom of movement.
And a single longsword hanging at her waist.
Yes, that person is this body's mother, and one of House Facial's four wives, the Lady of Summer, Lucia Facial.
Exactly the same as the Lucia Facial in the memories left in this body.
Which is why that stray impression had surfaced.
A strange person.
"Mother, I'm an invalid! I told you in advance!"
Chloe shrieked irritably.
But Mother acted like someone who couldn't hear a word of it.
"Kai, you brat!"
With that short bellow, Lucia's, no, Mother's hand came at me.
I reflexively threw my head back and twisted my torso.
But the hand was faster.
Against the hand doggedly closing on my head, I raised my own.
In an instant I set my wrist against Mother's and fed force sideways.
Apply lateral force to an object in linear motion and its direction turns easily.
But.
GRRRIT!
The tendons in my wrist joint were compressed as if to be crushed.
"Hup!"
Separately from handling Ether, I had perfectly internalized every sword form and body art this body held.
Two right hands tangled dazzlingly in the air.
THWACK!
Each clash of hands made me screw up my face.
A shock like muscle bursting and bone crumbling.
I had to clench my teeth against the groan trying to escape.
All the while my hand and Mother's tangled and collided without pause.
But.
"Excellent, my son!"
Mother cried out in that beautiful voice.
What? Why is she so delighte.......
CRACK!
"Kk!"
A groan finally burst from my mouth.
The force in Mother's wrist suddenly surged.
My joint ached.
I raised my own energy as well.
SNAP, SNAP SNAP SNAP!
Hand tangled with hand, and fierce impacts cracked out.
My vision grew dizzier.
Mother's hand moved indescribably fast.
I gathered every sense into my fingertips.
Catching even the faintest currents of air, I blocked the path her hand pushed along.
But.
Bent at a strange angle, Mother's hand finally hooked the inside of my wrist.
"Kk!"
The moment a groan slipped out, Mother's hand climbed my arm like a snake.
The moment to stop it was as it passed the shoulder: gather Ether in the shoulder and flick it up.
Now!
The instant I decided, I snapped the shoulder muscle as if to burst the Ether I'd driven into it.
FWIP!
Success.......
CRUNCH!
It was a trap.
Bounced up off my shoulder, Mother's hand seized my ear as though it had been waiting.
Don't tell me she was aiming for this from the start.......
"Aaaagh!"
A scream burst from my mouth on its own.
"You brat, you dare run away from home?"
Run away from home?
I never did any such thi.......
That was when my eyes met Chloe's.
And Chloe hurriedly avoided my gaze.
Don't tell me.......
It was you?
"Come with me, you brat!"
That damned witch!
"Aaagh, Mother! Let go of my eaaaaar!"
That day the youngest of House Facial's Summer Castle was dragged endlessly off somewhere by the ear.
***
THUD!
SHWEEE!
Three thousand nine hundred eighty-eight.
Wow, this is killing me.
Sweat poured down my whole body.
The floor was soaked through with the sweat I'd shed.
And still I.
THUD, SHWEEE!
Three thousand nine hundred eighty-nine.
Swung the blade once more.
The one-handed longsword knights use weighs about one to one and a half kilograms.
But what was in my hand was a ten-kilogram longsword.
And the place I stood was a magical space that inhibits the use of mana.
So what was I doing?
'Ten Thousand Cuts'
Training and punishment at once.
THUD, SHWEEE!
Three thousand nine hundred ninety.
Kgh, I'm dying.
Six thousand and ten more to g.......
-The Facial Succession Contest, and the Final Victor Is the Lady of Summer Castle!
What?
Why is the skull-head suddenly like that?
'What are you on about?'
-It's a headline.
'A headline?'
-Yes. Walter Facial becomes the Young Patriarch, doesn't he? At the time every newspaper on the continent was plastered with it. Both Walter and Chloe really are extraordinary figures.
News of the continent's Three Great Houses draws the whole continent's attention.
Which is perhaps only natural.
Under the continent's current order, every kingdom and duchy has its legitimacy recognized only by receiving the Emperor's investiture.
And within that, the only ones free of the subordinate relation of investiture were the Three Great Houses.
So the affairs and doings of the Three Great Houses are always a matter of continental interest.
Among them the most widely known is House Facial.
The least known is House Renhardt, my home House.
'Why do you remember that?'
-I subscribed to no fewer than ten newspapers. My morning routine was always reading them.
'Right. Exactly what you'd expect from a shut-in Archmage.'
-No, why does that come up again?
Velkarion flared up and shouted.
'Enough. Keep your mouth shut until my training is over.'
-Uh, yes.
Velkarion's voice went sullen, but this was no time to care.
I was the one dying.
Six hours already since I'd started the Ten Thousand Cuts.
Six thousand left, so at least twelve more hours before it ends.
THUD, SHWEEE!
Three thousand nine hundred ninety-one.
Still, I agree entirely with the headline Velkarion quoted.
She's a remarkable person.
This training I'm doing now.
Searching the memories, Kalian did the Ten Thousand Cuts fairly often under Mother's disciplinary method.
The pathetic Kalian seems to have resented being made to do this while sick.......
That's wrong.
This training is, if anything, Mother's desperate love.
The essence of this body's problem is mana filling past its capacity.
So Mother repeated this training.
First, to temper the body to its limit and raise the ceiling of mana it can hold.
Second, so that a body hardened by training could endure the seizures and the pain from mana even a little better.
In that sense, wasn't it Mother's heart, driving her sick son so harshly, that was torn most of all?
So I'd do this training diligently.......
BANG!
"Khk!"
A groan escaped me and I staggered.
A sudden roar while you're concentrating on training isn't good for your heal.......
"Kai!"
Mother stood in the opened training-room door.
W-what's going on?
Joy, emotion, and regret were all mixed on her face.
"What is it, Mother......."
Before I could finish, Mother asked.
"I heard from Loe!"
Loe is Chloe's pet name.
But heard what? That damned witch, lying that I'd run away from home.
"H-heard what?"
"That you're cured?"
"Ah!"
In this situation there was no reason to think of anything else.
She meant Ether Hyperventilation Syndrome.
"Yes, I received help by chance......."
"I'm truly glad."
STEP!
My tall mother strode toward me.
And spread both arms wide.
Ah, this sort of thing between mother and son is exactly what I hat.......
"Take it!"
"Hup!"
CLAAANG!
I couldn't bear the weight suddenly laid across both hands and dropped it.
What fell to the floor was a blunt longsword.
Similar in shape to the ten-kilogram longsword in my hand.
So it was the thing Mother had meant to put in my hands.
"W-what is this?"
"A thirty-kilogram training longsword."
"Eh?"
"It's the one your brother used. Until now you were ill, so you used the ten-kilogram one. Now I can put you through proper training!"
Huh? What.......
Did I mishear?
"Now, training! If you've taken up the sword, naturally you must surpass your mother. Only then can you be called Lucia's son."
THUNK!
Before I could gather myself the ten-kilogram one was gone and the thirty-kilogram one was in my hands.
Wow, this is going to pop my shoulder out.
PAT PAT!
Mother spoke, her whole face expressing delight.
"Ten Thousand Cuts again. When you finish, let's enjoy a feast together! I'll have a banquet prepared to celebrate your recovery."
Mother walked out of the training room wearing an expression of delight fit to make her faint.
Huh? Uh.......
So.
The mother who, holding back tears for her sick son, drove him into brutal training...... perhaps she wasn't that at all?
Give me back my sentiment.
-As expected. The mother who won the Facial Succession Contest.
'Quiet!'
Wow, I'm losing my mind here.
***
-By the way, Master.
Velkarion called me abruptly.
Don't talk to me. I'm dying.
What came right after Ten Thousand Cuts with a thirty-kilogram training longsword was hellish muscle pain.
Without a word of exaggeration, even my facial muscles hurt.
After this training you lie down for two full days and undergo separate measures.
Deadly stretching, medicated baths, and taking recovery potions.
The rest of the time is spent entirely lying down and resting.
The medicated baths and recovery potions were a secret cultivation method of Mother's family.
It isn't as if they have some absurd effect of increasing strength or growing muscle.
They're medicines that aid rapid recovery after enduring immense training.
It's only that, coupled with Mother's absurd training method, they produce terrifying training efficiency.
And this training isn't only for me and my eldest brother Walter, the martial artists.
Chloe does it too.
The only difference being that, as a mage, her sword weighs about five kilograms.
Mother's training like this played a part in Chloe being able to overcome Neik's [Coercion].
So that's where Chloe's innate witchiness came from.......
Ahem, ahem!
-Master, Master!
Velkarion called me again.
'Ah, what?'
-There's something I've been wondering.
'What?'
-When Neik Renhardt offered to train you, why did you say you'd come in half a year?
'Because there's something I absolutely have to do at House Facial.'