261. Country of Sakura, Cherin and Seven Holy Swords [32]

The flushed Rose approached Bacchus-san while breathing heavily.

「Grandfather! Why did you bring out my album?!」

「Let me ask you this instead. Do I really need a reason to be proud of my cute granddaughter?」

He spoke defiantly.

「Don’t try to dodge the question. Anyway, I’m confiscating it!」

She said and reached out her hand, but…

「Oops, I won’t give it up so easily!」

Bacchus-san raised his hand high and held up the album over his head.

「Kuh… Hurry up and give it back!」

Rose desperately tried to recapture the album with agile body movements.

「Bararara! With those movements, even a hundred years wouldn’t be enough to reach it!」

The difference in height between the two is large. And above all, the difference in physical ability was apparent.

「Damn, as quick as ever.」

「Come on, show grandpa how much you’ve grown up.」

「Alright. If that’s what you want.」

Getting riled up by Bacchus-san’s provocation, Rose popped a vein on her forehead and seriously tried to get the album back.

However,

「Barabara! You’re still immature!」

「Damnit…」

He handled Rose easily as though humouring a child.

「Fufu, they really are close.」

「But they’re both so fast! As expected of the legitimate successors of Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style!」

「It’s extraordinary body movements, though…」

The president and senpais each expressed their own impressions

A few minutes later,

「Fuu, it can’t be helped. If my lovely granddaughter begs me this much, I have to give it back as a good grandfather.」

After being outlasted by Rose’s persistence, Bacchus-san gave up and handed her the album.

「Haa haa… G-Good grief… If you do this again, I’ll never forgive you!」

Rose sealed the album deep in the cupboard, while breathing heavily.

「So harsh… In the old days, you used to call me『Grandpa! Grandpa!』and followed me around everywhere like a duckling.」

「S-Shut up! That is then, this is now!」

With a new tidbit story of hers exposed, she became bright red and rebutted.

(Ahaha… Somehow, this atmosphere is really nice…)

Joking around with family, arguing together, and in the end, working it out peacefully.

This can only happen when there is firm trust between each other.

It was a very gentle feeling.

Besides, Rose got so angry that she forgot the honorifics, and acted cutely like a teenage girl appropriate for her age.

When I was thinking of that,

「Allen, was there… Was there any strange pictures?」

She asked me with a downcast look.

「Aa, you don’t have to worry. All of the pictures were cute.」

「I-Is that’s so!? Thank goodness…」

She breathed a sigh of relief and safely concluded this little exchange.

After that, we feasted on the “sake side dishes” lined up on the table.

From the classic ones such as green soybeans, grilled chicken, and deep-fried chicken, to the delicacies such as monkfish liver, dried mullet roe, and salted sea cucumber. We ate a wide variety of side dishes with relish.

「I kinda feel like wanting to taste sake a litte.」

「R-Ria, let’s do it when we’re adults, okay?」

「Y-Yeah! O-Of course…」

Although her mouth was saying that, Ria had the expression which seemed to really want to do it.

(Maybe Ria will become a drunkard in the future.)

I took a sip of the warm tea that Rose brewed while feeling uneasy about that.

And, Bacchus-san told various stories while everyone was eating the snacks.

A fierce battle with a giant wolf that manipulates ice which ended in a draw about 150 years ago.

A funny story about an old friend whom he once traveled with.

A hidden hot spring, Sakura Drop, which he often uses for hot-spring cure.

He told all the stories with a hearty tone and a lot of gestures, so they were all really interesting and educational.

Once we finished the side dishes and the stories came to a pause,

「By the way, kid. You said your name is Allen Rodore, right?」

「Y-Yes.」

Bacchus-san called out to me with a quiet expression

「When we crossed swords a while ago, you used a lot of weird techniques. Who’s your master? Which school do you belong to?」

「……」

I honestly don’t want to talk much about that.

To announce that I am self-taught feels like admitting to myself that I’m a “dropout swordsman.”

However, if I tried to hide it, it would seem as though I am bothered by that fact. And that would make me look uncool.

So I decided to state the truth as it is.

「Well, um… The truth is… I requested the teachers of various schools to accept me, but… I was so untalented at swordsmanship that I wasn’t accepted into any of them. So I am a “self-taught swordsman”.」

「Hou… untalented, huh…」

He murmured that one line and stared at me.

(The hermit of time called out to an untalented swordsman, and on top of that, let the kid spam the scarce 100 Million Years Buttons? …Impossible. It doesn’t match his purpose. And the kid also has the “Darkness” which he showed previously. It seems that there is something “else“ to this kid.)

Bacchus-san became silent for a while, and then–

「I see. I somewhat understand your situation.」

He nodded several times in a way that doesn’t seem to be the case.

「Even though it’s self-taught, you have already mastered swordsmanship enough to match my own. Even if you dabble in any other school at this point, it will be of no use.」

Bacchus-san said so frankly, and then–

「Would you be willing to learn my secret sword “Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style”, which was hailed as the strongest sword in the world?」

He brought up an unexpected proposal.

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