I Obtained Sword God Level Talent

42 – 042. Swordsmanship Basics (1)

The tears flowed like a dam had burst.

“…Indeed.”

“…?”

After a long silence, Frey opened his mouth.

Maria cautiously turned her head to look at him. Initially, Frey wore a flustered expression, but that quickly morphed into a bright smile.

“Maria, you really are someone impossible to hate.”

“…Impossible to hate?”

“Yes. Even your crying face looks pretty.”

“…?”

There was a hint of playfulness in his tone.

Maria couldn’t understand what Frey meant. There wasn’t a mirror in the cabin, but she knew very well how disheveled she currently looked.

“Maria.”

*Sssip*, Frey inhaled deeply, an unusually long breath, before quietly exhaling.

“I knew how much you cared for me, and how much you’ve helped me. I also knew you were always watching my back.”

“…!!!”

A faint shock flickered across Maria’s face.

She never expected Frey to know about her… eccentric behavior. If that were true, it meant he’d known about her hiding all along.

And that he remembered those embarrassing moments.

‘….’

Maria’s expression, previously marred by ugly crying, changed drastically. Her mind was now focused solely on the need to explain the past incidents.

“That was, a coincidence.”

“Pardon?”

“I wasn’t trying to peek at Frey’s shower. It was simply a random situation.”

*Shk shk*, wiping her eyes, Maria spoke with her usual dry tone.

“…Bathing?”

Frey’s eyes narrowed.

Like he’d said earlier, he’d known for a while that Maria had been following him around.

It wasn’t like Frey was some protagonist in a cheesy drama.

How could he not know, considering she always provided him with whatever he needed, exactly when he needed it?

But…

She saw the bath scene too? This woman, she’s even more obsessive than I thought. I knew she was watching me, but I didn’t expect her to be keeping tabs on my every move.

“That’s news to me. Looks like I’m already doomed to be unmarried.”

A twitch.

At Frey’s exaggerated jest, Maria’s lips trembled.

‘……Huh?’

It was a subtle change, gone in a fleeting instant. But for Frey, who had been focusing all his attention on Maria, it registered as quite a significant shift.

‘Just now, did she smile?’

He’d seen her lips twitching with his own two eyes. That was definitely not a delusion.

“Joking aside, I’m actually incredibly happy.”

“……Why are you happy?”

Maria’s voice, still faintly trembling, was directed at Frey.

As if to lighten the mood.

Frey’s smile was full of ease.

“Because I’ve been reminded that Maria-nim thinks about me.”

As if he wished Maria no longer to be in pain, his voice, more polite than usual, held an eerie power that burrowed into one’s psychology.

“……Ah.”

Seeing that, Maria realized it in a brief flash.

No, she recalled the fact she had been guessing all along.

The reason why her heart was being tormented, and why, as her nanny had said, a current seemed to flow through her heart.

“Aah…….”

Maria’s vision swam. She could feel her face, her forehead, her ears growing hot.

‘I am.’

Maria, head bowed low, mumbled to herself in her heart.

The realization that had flushed her face, past her ears, down to her pure white neck, was something special, yet not at all special.

‘This person…….’

Maria struggled to admit the truth. The true nature of the emotion she had been denying so far, was a shade of light pink that didn’t seem to suit her at all.

“Now that Maria-nim has shown me her true feelings, I’ll share a secret with you as well.”

“……A secret, you say?”

“Yes. Please don’t be too surprised. It might be a slightly sad story.”

*Gulp!*

Why?

At Frey’s wry smile, Maria unconsciously swallowed hard. Finally, as the awaited lips opened, her mind focused entirely on the man.

“The truth is, I’m not from the Eastern Continent, nor the Western Continent.”

“…What does that mean?”

“It means exactly that. I’m someone from another world. Like the ‘heart’ that you agonized over, Maria-nim, I too had secrets I couldn’t tell just anyone.”

“….!”

It was a much heavier story than she’d expected. It was also something that defied common sense. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought his origin was not some distant land, but another world altogether.

“…Then.”

Maria pressed her lips together, her mouth having fallen open. Her unwavering gaze returned to Frey.

“Why… why are you telling me this…?”

But despite her bright eyes, her voice trembled uncontrollably. Frey, letting out a faint laugh, moved slightly, just a little, closer to her.

The distance between the man and woman on the bed closed significantly.

“Sharing a secret with someone is,”

“…..?”

“A much more thrilling and interesting experience than you might think.”

“———!!”

His whispering voice felt astonishingly sweet.

Naturally, Maria’s face, which had been flushed, was now as bright as a ruby.

And at the same time.

*Thud.*

Maria’s body slumped onto the dusty mattress… light as a feather.

Maria thought again.

‘…Indeed, this is.’

Long ago, when her father, the Grand Duke, hadn’t yet realized Maria’s ‘strangeness’.

The Grand Duke of Kajimesi would often say, habitually:

About what love was, how powerful it was, and how much it could ruin a person.

Of course, young Maria had not understood her father’s warm teachings. The feeling of liking someone had seemed entirely foreign to her.

But.

It was different now.

My father used to say it was,

Like playing with fire.

A feeling with no known cause.

A feeling you can’t dare end.

A feeling where all your mind and desire are pointed.

A feeling you don’t know when it began.

…A feeling like a natural disaster, no one could have foreseen.

Only then could Maria understand her father’s words.

It was because the feelings she was suffering matched the teachings of the distant past so perfectly.

* * *

The day broke.

The torrential rain, as if a hole had been torn in the sky, finally stopped in the early morning. At last, they could head toward the Plateau of the Storm.

“……?”

However, Maria’s condition had been a little strange since last night.

Was she embarrassed that she burst into tears without even realizing it?

During the journey, she subtly kept her distance from me. Considering yesterday, the gap felt vast.

“Maria.”

“……Yes?”

“Yesterday, I thought I had become closer to you, Maria. But I guess that was just my misconception.”

“No, it’s not…!!”

Good heavens.

As if to say, what are you talking about? Maria’s cry echoed through the deep mountains.

Taking large strides, she came to my side. It was as if she was trying to prove with her actions that what I said wasn’t true.

‘She’s kind of cute.’

Perhaps yesterday’s deep conversation had acted as a trigger.

As Maria climbed the mountain, I thought she seemed much more vibrant compared to the past.

To put it simply…

Let’s say, a person who had no emotions was now able to express their own, clumsy as it may be.

And so, we traveled in silence for quite some time.

“……Now that I think about it.”

In the subtly closer distance after the previous conversation, it was Maria who spoke first.

“I think, Frey-nim, you have a deep connection to Britzhart.”

“It would seem so. Isn’t it Maria-nim’s family?”

Nod nod.

Maria, who was quietly shaking her head, continued to speak directly, as if not wanting to miss this timing.

“The family’s sacred ring, the millennium-ginseng elixir, family support funds, even the heirloom sword passed down. Their value, it’s truly unthinkable.”

“…….”

Uh, uhm? The sword she gave me was that rare?

Judging by my memories of using it in the ‘Gap of Hell,’ I’d anticipated that it was a flawless, enormous item.

But to think that even that was a Britzhart heirloom, just like the legendary ring named ‘The Nameless Boy’s Heirloom’…

“Looking at it, anyone would think you’re a Britzhart person, Frey-nim.”

“Y-yeah, haha.”

An awkward laugh bubbled out for no reason.

Yesterday’s ease was completely gone. If Maria suddenly demanded compensation, I’d have no choice but to listen to her, it felt like.

…Of course, I know Maria isn’t that kind of person, but there are ‘what ifs’ in the world, aren’t there.

“Almost like a son-in-law.”

“H-hahahahah!”

For some reason, her voice, heavy with weight, rang out coldly. There was nothing to say. I could only laugh it off awkwardly.