Chapter 16:  Sword War (4)

“Echina, Grand Duke’s daughter. Why do you have such an angry look in your eyes?”

Helena still gazed leisurely at the Grand Duke’s daughter of the North who stood facing her.

However, her blue eyes had changed from how they usually were.

“I’ve heard that you’re famous for being cold-blooded.”

When I’d seen her at the conference, her gaze had been like a blue lake, but now it was as cold as a glacier.

Like a lion come to plunder someone else’s den.

“That child over there is just a trainee anyway.”

The golden lioness pointed at me with her finger.

Then, with a relaxed look in her eyes, she spoke leisurely.

“Isn’t that leash of ‘trainee’ tied around your neck because they still don’t trust you?”

Helena, folding her arms alone, narrowed her eyes thinly.

As if it were a habit, she fiddled with the golden lion badge hanging on her taut blouse.

“In that case, I think it would be better for you if I formally hired you myself.”

At the Western Grand Duke’s daughter’s sharp remark, Echina didn’t even blink.

Standing beside me, who was only a trainee, she merely placed a hand on her hip.

“Whether trainee or full staff, she belongs to our Luton family. I’ll manage her myself.”

Perhaps it was because, ten years ago, the Luton family had been an unrivaled power.

Echina didn’t seem intimidated by her opponent in the slightest.

“Shouldn’t you be finding talent in the West? Why are you trying to recruit someone here?”

Echina, stepping closer, stood face to face with a figure as striking as Helena herself.

Even clad in her thick uniform, her figure was impossible to conceal.

“Does the West truly lack that much talent?”

Helena was twenty-two years old.

Echina was twenty-one.

They were clearly among the youngest present here.

Yet, as if they could not deny the blood running through them, the aura they radiated was as fierce as that of a Knight Commander.

“…….”

Until now, Helena had never encountered a true rival, so she showed interest.

She briefly placed her hand on her smooth chin, then posed a meaningful question.

“Then, do you think you can make this child’s project succeed?”

Already, the Leonil Sword of the Western Grand Duke’s House had gained recognition across the Empire.

However, what about the newly born Luton Sword?

Could it surpass a proven blade already enjoying great popularity in the western regions?

Even if this place belonged to the Luton family’s territory, it was hard to say anything with certainty.

“I’m asking if you can defeat me and make the Luton Sword a success.”

Debier and I looked at the Grand Duke’s daughter of the North with our characteristic black eyes.

The workshop’s staff and Schmidt also watched tensely, waiting for her answer.

At that moment.

“Success?”

Echina folded her arms alone.

Between her black hair, her golden eyes shone brilliantly.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

The Grand Duke’s daughter of the North looked at me intently.

Responding to her gaze, I respectfully presented her with the sword.

“What happens when you provoke the Luton family.”

A northern knight drew his longsword.

Then, observing the blade sharpened to a murderous edge with a piercing gaze, he spoke.

“After this, you will come to realize just how arrogant you have been.”

Helena’s face was reflected in the chilling steel.

Her expression didn’t show a trace of fear.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Rather, she only wore a leisurely smile, like a beast relishing the fight.

“Then, shall we make a wager?”

A wager…?

As far as I could remember, Helena, the Grand Duke’s daughter, was not a woman who enjoyed gambling.

Yet she was suddenly proposing a wager…

“Our Leonil Sword has been stocked at Nord Academy for exactly one week.”

The Western Grand Duke’s daughter spoke calmly, hands clasped behind her back.

“So we’ll tally the sales of the Luton Sword for a week from its release and see which one proves more popular.”

At Helena’s proposal, Echina’s distinctive sharp eyes glinted.

As befitted the brave second daughter of the Grand Duke of the North, she decided to at least hear it out.

“If the Luton Sword wins, we will stop selling the Leonil Sword at the Academy altogether.”

It was quite a drastic condition.

After all, Nord Academy was the largest institution in the North.

‘She’s confident because she already has the middle-aged clientele firmly in her grasp.’

“And if Leonil wins, what do you intend to demand?”

At Echina’s cold question, Helena slowly closed her eyes.

Then, after pretending to deliberate for a moment, she pointed at me with her blue gaze.

“That blueprint the child has should be sufficient.”

Blueprint technology.

At those words, both Echina and Debier turned to look at me simultaneously.

Because the one who had designed it wasn’t Schmidt, but me.

“Come to think of it, Roger. Where did you acquire that technology? You didn’t develop it yourself, did you?”

“It’s the exact request form my father used whenever he commissioned a sword from the craftsmen in the past.”

It was the kind of answer that, under normal circumstances, would have aroused deep suspicion.

However, Debier, who remembered my father’s flamboyant demeanor, would understand.

“If your father was that man, it must have been Baron Robin himself.”

But surprisingly, even Echina knew my father’s name.

I had been sure she knew nothing about me at this point in time.

“Considering Sir Robin’s fondness for refinement, he likely researched it himself.”

“If that blueprint truly is an inheritance from your father, then this is your matter as well, Roger.”

After hearing Debier’s words, the Grand Duke’s daughter silently nodded.

Then, looking at me, she asked calmly.

“What do you think of Lady Helena’s proposal? I will leave the decision to your judgment.”

At the Grand Duke’s daughter’s earnest question, I exhaled deeply.

Then, I pretended to ponder very carefully.

There was a simple reason I made a show of it.

Because when Helena set the condition to hand over my technology…

“It would be a great honor if my humble skills could be of help to the family.”

In truth, I was secretly smiling to myself.

“I wish to accept the wager.”

For a moment, Echina pressed her lips tightly together as she looked at me fulfilling my role.

Then, as if her resolve had settled, she fixed me with a serious gaze and spoke.

“Very well. I will see to it that your father’s legacy does not go to waste.”

The Grand Duke’s daughter, who so closely resembled the Grand Duke of the North, straightened the collar of her uniform.

Then, stepping up to Helena, she shot her a keen look.

“I accept your proposal, Lady Helena.”

The Western Grand Duke’s daughter watched the dignified Echina before slowly nodding her head.

After that, she extended her hand first and said.

“I knew you would not shy away, Echina.”

The two daughters of the Grand Dukes clasped hands and shook firmly.

The moment those hands parted, the daughters of the two strongest men in the Empire after the Emperor himself would, for the first time, be set against each other.

And the first spark would be the ‘longsword’.

“Well then, I shall be on my way.”

Helena folded her hands behind her back and began walking ahead.

After a few steps, she suddenly stopped and turned her intelligent gaze briefly toward me.

“See you again, Julius Roger.”

The Western Grand Duke’s daughter called me out by name directly.

Leaving behind that indifferent remark, she quietly departed the workshop.

Her golden hair, bathed in the noon sunlight, swayed softly with every step she took.

Though it had been but a fleeting encounter, she was a truly peculiar person.

How she immediately recognized another’s ability upon a first meeting was remarkable.

Perhaps she was the true driving force behind the Western Grand Duke’s House.

‘I’ll have to look into her separately before long.’

“What are you thinking about so intently, Roger?”

Echina’s face came into view, studying me with a rather sullen expression.

She watched me so closely that I could almost see the fine down on her skin.

In my previous life, during my trainee days, she hadn’t even known I existed, but in this one, she was unusually attentive.

Was she perhaps worried I might defect to the Western Grand Duke’s House…?

“I was thinking about how Lady Echina might best secure victory in the wager.”

“You need not trouble yourself. Now that you’ve pledged your collateral, it’s my turn to do my part.”

Echina placed her hand on her hip.

Then, looking over at the Chief Secretary, she began laying out her own plan.

“Debier, send letters to the professors at the Academy.”

“As you command.”

First of all, she intended to recommend the Luton Sword to the acquaintances she already had.

Seeing her decisiveness, I quietly nodded to myself.

However, there was an even simpler and more effective way.

“My lady, if I may speak presumptuously, there is a far simpler and more effective method.”

Simpler and more effective.

At those words, Echina raised her hand to halt Debier for a moment.

Then, as if willing to hear my thoughts first, she parted her red lips.

“Let’s hear it.”

“There’s only so much you can achieve selling longswords to acquaintances. Besides, since they didn’t buy them out of necessity, they won’t use them often either.”

I picked up the Luton Sword and slowly drew it from its scabbard.

In the blade, honed to a sharp edge, both my face and Echina’s were reflected.

“The best way to increase sales is to focus solely on customers who truly need swords.”

Selling to acquaintances or hawking them in market squares like some wandering peddler was an outdated method.

It might put food in one’s mouth, but it would never make you a magnate.

“Customers who truly need swords…?”

At my meaningful words, Echina furrowed her lovely brows.

Even when she frowned, her face was remarkably beautiful.

“Yes, there’s nothing difficult about this at all.”

I was sure even the expression she made while wielding a sword would be noble.

Having watched her beauty for so long, I could say so confidently.

“My lady, as always, you need only focus on the sparring scheduled for tomorrow.”

To see that sight, where would her admirers flock?

To the sparring grounds.

Whether they adored her or simply admired her, it made no difference.

The young knights who secretly loved her would seek out any common ground with her just for a chance to exchange words.

And what would happen if she appeared there with a new sword?

Our wealthy noble youths would buy it on impulse without hesitation.

The female knights who admired her would be the same.

Ever since their days as juniors, they had revered Echina, the strong senior.

They would even purchase the hairpins she wore to tie her hair during sparring.

They would wear black stockings up to their waists just like her. The Grand Duke’s daughter of the North had always been a pioneer of fashion.

‘Of course, she herself never realized it.’

“And the weapon you will carry shall be the Luton Sword.”

Echina rested her fist against her chin.

Then, thinking deeply just like her father, Duke Luton, she soon nodded her agreement.

“Let’s do that.”

She glanced at me, as if she had fully grasped my intent, and gave a small laugh.

As I thought, she had been clever since the age of twenty-one.

“Debier. Who is my sparring opponent tomorrow?”

“He is Giovanni of the Count’s House.”

The Giovanni Count’s House.

A family closely connected to the Western Grand Duke’s House.

One of the renowned swordsmanship houses located in the northwestern part of the Empire.

“He will likely use the Leonil Sword as well.”

Echina let out a small laugh and gently rolled her neck.

In the fresh spring breeze, her black hair swayed softly.

“It looks like I will have to take tomorrow’s sparring seriously for once.”

Debier let out a deep sigh.

It wasn’t that he doubted her skill, but as the second daughter of the Grand Duke’s House, he worried she might push herself too far out of pride.

“Let’s head inside. It’s nearly time for the lectures.”

“Yes, we will return to the residence as well.”

Echina fastened the Luton Sword to her uniform skirt.

With each step she took, the scabbard swayed elegantly.

“Julius Roger.”

The black lion figure adorning the end of the hilt suited Echina perfectly.

She looked back at me briefly, then spoke in her golden eyes glinting under the noonday sun.

“Do not worry. Your efforts will never be in vain.”

I silently looked upon the dignified face of the Grand Duke’s daughter, her back to the sunlight.

Gazing at the eyes that shone from within the shadows, I quietly vowed to myself.

To repay the ‘heart’ she had shown me in my previous life.

The carriage carrying Debier and me departed in the opposite direction from Echina.

As we rode together, he glanced at me and spoke.

“There are no further appointments this afternoon, Roger.”

Normally, I would have been scheduled to continue studying the etiquette and culture of the Grand Duke’s House independently.

But perhaps because he tacitly acknowledged my first-place performance in yesterday’s evaluation—

“Until the evening roll call, you have free time. Use it to put your affairs in order.”

He had granted me leave, something usually awarded only to the quarterly top achiever.

“Thank you, Chief Secretary.”

Debier studied my unexpectedly calm reaction to the reward with a curious gaze.

Then, he asked me quietly.

“What do you plan to do with this time?”

I didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, I looked out at the academy as we passed.

“…….”

In front of the academy, two enormous sparring grounds had been set up.

Perhaps because of the recent conflict with Lize, all the sparring ground tiles had been replaced.

My eyes fell on a group of students sitting on the benches of the sparring ground.

Around their shoulders, they wore armbands that read:

[Nord Academy Press Club.]

“I plan to meet a ‘friend’ who attends the academy.”

They were all energetic youths in their early twenties, each with a sharp glint in their eyes.

As if searching for something interesting to write about.

“Would it be alright if I disembarked here?”

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