His smile was contagious, and made me feel a kind of ticklish happiness.
“Thanks.” I laughed, embarrassed. “Even if this arrangement is only temporary, I’ll work hard to be a fitting master for you.”
Then, I smiled a little nervously, and added, “But I’m not very confident I can teach you about bravery.”
Al looked at me blankly. It was as if he didn’t understand what I was telling him.
“Umm…”
“What I mean is, I’m not actually very brave.”
There was a pause before he responded. “Even though you stood up against a wyvern and a chimera?”
I nodded. “Listen, Al. The world at large might see those as the actions of a brave man. They might see me as a champion standing up against terrifying monsters. But I’m not so sure.”
I really couldn’t see it that way myself. After all—
“Can you really call it ‘bravery’ to challenge an opponent when you know for a fact you can win?”
Al goggled at me. “You knew for a fact you could win?”
“I mean it.”
That was just how it was. If I had to go against that wyvern again and fight it bare-handed a hundred more times, I was sure I’d win at least ninety-nine. Even if I had to take on that chimera, as long as I had the right weapons and armor, I would almost never be bested.
“I’m overwhelmingly more powerful than a wyvern or a chimera. That’s my most honest analysis. I can kill those things just by trusting my training to make the right moves.”
Al was speechless. It looked like he didn’t know how he should respond.
“I’m probably a lot stronger than you and the others imagine.”
In fact, probably the only ones to have a concrete grasp on just how much I deviated from ordinary people were Menel, Reystov, and maybe a few others with good eyes.
“They don’t scare me. Wyverns or chimeras.”
Only once had I felt fear from an opponent’s strength in battle: that being shrouded in black mist. I had despaired, fallen to my knees, and curled up on the ground. And the reason I was able to stand up again had absolutely nothing to do with being brave. If I’d been alone, I was sure that I’d have stayed there clutching my head until the storm was entirely past, crushed under the weight of my fear and despair.
“A person who beats those far weaker than himself is no brave hero. Winning against something that doesn’t scare you isn’t bravery.”
“Then—” Al hesitated for a moment before asking. “Then what is bravery?”
“Honestly? I’d like to know that too.”
I’d been able to stand back up only because Mary had been there to admonish me. I’d forced my shaking legs forward because I wanted to protect those three.
It wasn’t that I was especially brimming with courage. In fact, I wasn’t relying very much on my mental strength at all. I had a well-trained body and was well prepared. I was winning because I had every right to win. That was all.
Perhaps my old nature had carried over into this world. Maybe I really was a coward.
“How are you meant to challenge an opponent who’s stronger than you?
Hopelessly stronger than you?”
The time for battle was drawing near, and I doubted I would get a chance to put together a surefire winning strategy. When that time came, would I be able to fight? Did I have that much bravery?
That afternoon, Al and I were in my office getting the small amount of paperwork I had to do out of the way when I heard noises at the entrance to the mansion. Wondering whether I had a visitor, I put the paperwork away for now.
Then, there was a knock at the door.
“William, I’m back,” said a familiar voice. The door opened, and there stood a man with an unshaven face, piercing eyes, and a well-built body. His thick beast-hide cloak was mottled with blood spatter and grass stains that couldn’t be washed off. He was an adventurer who carried the title of “the Penetrator.”
“Reystov! Welcome back! How’d it go?”
“I dispatched all the beasts you ordered. There were a few Commander demons going around leading troops, so I took care of those as well.”
Beast Woods was vast. Beasts and demons showed up all over it to cause problems. It was physically impossible for me to handle them all by myself. I always struggled to secure people who had both a trustworthy personality and the necessary combat skills to solve these issues. Reystov, meanwhile, was an adventurer seeking strong, substantial enemies to defeat for honor and glory. His skills with a sword, especially his lightning-quick thrusts, were the stuff of epics, and he was a loyal adventurer with class among a sea of ruffians.
In short, our interests basically matched. I guaranteed his basic needs and provided a steady stream of enemies. He lent me his sword skills, defeated those enemies, and added more exploits to his name. Officially, Reystov worked for me, but actually I was the one who could stand to learn from him. He was a real veteran. This alliance, in which it wasn’t clear which of us was really superior, was going very well so far.
“I didn’t come across anything particularly unusual. Should I just report the details to Anna as per normal?”
“Yes, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Also, I heard you had a new squire, but—” He looked at Al. “He looks like a nobody,” he muttered in a low voice.
For a while now, Reystov had been going around villages far from here, so this was the first time he’d seen Al. He gazed at the dwarf standing there and said nothing for a few moments. Al tried to say something, but subjected to the man’s hard stare and blunt way of speaking, he shrank back a little and produced only a whimper.
Reystov walked straight up to him. “You’re stooping too much.” He slapped Al lightly on the back, grabbed his shoulders, and pulled them up towards him.
“Your shoulders are too far forward. It makes you look despondent and completely destroys any commanding presence you might have had. Listen closely: if you’re a man, tuck your chin in, straighten your back, and keep your jaw tight. Don’t let your eyes wander. Keep them trained on either the eyes or the mouth of whoever’s facing you.”
“R-Right!”
“Good. You look a little more respectable now.” Reystov always made eye contact when speaking. “I am Reystov. You are?”
“A-Al.”
“Al. I see. What do you think of William?”
“I, I respect him!”
Reystov nodded. “Then, as a squire, don’t conduct yourself in a way that lowers the status of your master.”
Al’s breath caught in his throat.
“Always walk tall and dignified, with your back straight and your eyes fixed forward. When opening your mouth, speak the right words with confidence. If you cannot, choose to remain silent instead. That is what will make you somebody. Got it?”
“Yes!”
As Reystov continued talking to Al, I could see Al’s back getting straighter and his eyes becoming more focused. I got the feeling that I knew how Al felt at this moment. When Reystov looked at you with that penetrating stare while giving you advice, you felt as if what he was saying was actually achievable. It gave you confidence. It might have been another one of his talents that he could have that effect on people.
“William.”
“Yes?”
“You don’t mind?”
“No, be my guest.”
Reystov could be a little too brief sometimes, but we had known each other for a few years now, so I had grown to understand him most of the time. By
“You don’t mind?” he meant “Do you mind me sticking my nose in and correcting him on his demeanor and so on?”