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Tilura Studied Hard
You never knew when or where knowledge would become useful.
It wasn’t just knowledge. It’s important to continue to use your head and think.
Without thinking, you won’t know how the other person will move, or how you should move. There would be so many things that you didn’t know.
I had only just started training, and I was not at a level to be able to instruct others. But even then, I felt that being able to think was very important.
Because I had that experience of facing Mr. Ekenhart and swinging my sword without thinking of anything, and being easily beaten.
“Life is filled with surprises. You have nothing to lose by studying hard.”
“I understand… I will try to study…so I can continue training.”
Tilura seemed like she still didn’t quite understand. However, she did agree to do her best with her studies.
I think that now, she would focus a little more.
As we had the new training tomorrow, I would feel bad for her if she couldn’t participate because she needed to study.
“Thank you, Mr. Takumi.”
“Not at all. When I was that age, all I could think of was playing, and I didn’t care for school at all. But that’s something I regret now… And I don’t want Tilura to feel the same way.”
While Ms. Claire was thanking me, I had only said it because I didn’t want her to experience what I did.
And I had a lot more to regret when I started work… Perhaps if I had studied harder, I would not have ended up at such a terrible company.
After lunch, I drank one cup of tea and then returned to my training.
Ms. Claire had taken Tilura back to her room.
“I hope she’s able to focus properly now.”
I muttered.
Eating herbs while training meant I was capable of training for much longer than would usually be possible.
Though, being able to focus since I was alone might have been part of it. In any case, it was much more work than what I did when Mr. Ekenhart was with us.
…And I was getting used to moving my body. Perhaps it was starting to change.
I stopped before dinner time so that I could take a bath, and then I waited in the dining hall.
Usually, there would be someone else waiting there already, so it was a strangely new experience.
“Mr. Takumi. Have some tea.”
“Thank you.”
Ms. Lyra had poured me some tea, so I took a sip.
As always, Leo had a bowl of milk prepared by Ms. Gelda, and she drank it eagerly.
Sherry seemed to have been with Leo all day. Perhaps it was because Tilura had no time to play with her now.
But then again, Sherry had taken a liking to Leo’s back, and had been sleeping there a lot.
“Kyau. Kyau.”
“Wuff.”
Sherry had been drinking her milk next to Leo, but then she raised her head and started barking.
And then Leo also looked up and barked.
At the same time, the dining room’s doors opened, and Ms. Claire, Tilura and Sebastian walked in.
Apparently, Leo and Sherry had been reacting to their footsteps.
They must have very good hearing.
“Ms. Claire, Tilura. Good evening.”
“You’re quite early, Mr. Takumi.”
“I finished studying, Mr. Takumi.”
I greeted them while drinking my tea.
Ms. Claire was a little surprised to see me waiting here.
Well, I had been quite busy during the past few days…
But Tilura seemed to have been able to concentrate, unlike during the morning, and there was a look of accomplishment on her face.
“And how did it go, Tilura?”
“Yes. I told myself it was so I could train, and I did my best.”
“…If only you didn’t need that as an incentive… Well, you at least did well today.”
As for Ms. Claire, she did not like that sword training was the goal here. But she had observed that Tilura had indeed studied hard, and so she had to be satisfied for now.
“Mr. Takumi, I won’t have to study for a while, starting tomorrow!”
“Is that true, Ms. Claire?”
“Yes. After lunch, Tilura studied to a shocking degree, and finished several day’s worth of lessons. …Of course, all the effort was for her sword training…”
“Hahaha.”
Then she must have believed my words and taken the bait. And look at the results.
Indeed, even though she sometimes looked like she was having trouble while training, I could also tell that she was having fun. She really wanted to do it…
“Because we’re going to start the new training that father talked about. I’m not going to let any studying get in the way!”
“Ah, I see. So that’s why.”
“That… I’ll be counting on you, Leo.”
“Wuff.”
Tilura was very much looking forward to tomorrow’s training.
And it happened to be something that required Leo’s cooperation.
I’m counting on you too, Leo.
Once we were all seated, the food was brought in, and we ate dinner.
After the meal, Tilura and I went out to finish our daily sword swinging practice.
Then I shared some herbs that would help her sleep in preparation for tomorrow, and then went to bed.
As I had trained hard today, I would likely get a good night’s sleep once again.
——————
After breakfast the next morning, and a short break for digestion, Tilura and I went out into the garden, followed by Ms. Claire and the others.
From today, we will start training while holding our swords.
I did some stretching so that I could move quickly, and then unsheathed the sword and moved away from the others.
“Leo, you’re up.”
“Thank you, good Leo!”
“Wou!”
As if to answer Tilura’s call, Leo barked loudly.
Then she walked towards us and stopped so that she was facing us.
This was the training that Mr. Ekenhart had suggested.
While it was new, it wasn’t anything special.
Simply put, we were going to face Leo and attack her with our swords.
“You’re rather intimidating when viewed like this…”
“Good Leo, you’re a little scary.”
“Gau…”
Leo was taking this training very seriously, and the aura of the Silver Fenrir seemed stronger than usual.
She was large enough to carry multiple people, and had silvery fur that shone with dignity. And then there were the claws and fangs.
We immediately knew that if she wanted to, she could shred us to ribbons in a flash.