CHAPTER 09
“Ah, that’s a compliment commonly used among commoners! It’s essential if you want to talk to commoners, so you absolutely have to remember it! When you meet someone for the first time, it’s considered polite to compliment them by calling them an old fogey!”
“……?”
I explained the meaning of the word “old fogey” in a lively tone, as though it were nothing important.
Iqua looked puzzled after hearing me.
This should be fine, right? After all, there was no way Iqua would have to have a one-on-one conversation with a commoner until he grew up.
The word “old fogey,” along with the term “Hellbaros,” was a concept I had introduced to the Baros Empire.
When the people of Baros were subjected to the kind of behavior associated with an old fogey, they felt annoyed but had no proper word to express their frustration.
The word “old fogey” had relieved that frustration.
The people of Baros happily adopted the term.
As a result, I wasn’t sure about the nobles, but among commoners, it had already become a commonly used expression.
Iqua crossed his arms tightly and said with a deeply dissatisfied expression,
“I’m telling you this because you seem not to know, but I’m your older brother.”
“Older brother?”
“Yes! I’m two years older than you!”
“……But you said you didn’t recognize me as family. Then why are you telling me to call you my older brother?”
“…….”
Iqua stared blankly at me, as though he couldn’t find an answer to my question.
I took a step back with a startled expression and said,
“Gasp. Don’t tell me…… you want to become family with me?”
“I don’t! Grrr!”
Iqua irritably shook his head before speeding up and starting to run again.
In the Baros Empire, the title “older brother” was not used for anyone other than one’s male siblings.
It was a term reserved exclusively for family members, so it seemed Iqua had already accepted me as part of his family.
Hehe. What an honest little boy he is, despite being so bad at expressing himself. If he likes me, he should just honestly say so.
I started running around the training grounds again.
Older brother…… Older brother, huh…….
Actually, I didn’t have a very good impression of the concept of an older brother.
That was because I remembered having a delinquent older brother in my previous life.
He would constantly leave the house, abandoning me and my younger sister, just to get into fights and wander around.
And, of course, I was always the one who had to clean up the mess afterward.
The reason I had grown mature at such a young age was partly because of our poor circumstances, but my biological brother was the biggest reason.
So I had nothing but bad memories when it came to older brothers.
I didn’t even want to think about it.
Could that be why I keep snapping at Iqua for no reason?
“Iqua.”
“What.”
I called out to Iqua, who was running ahead of me.
Of course, Iqua didn’t stop just because I called him.
Still running, I stared at the back of his head and finally revealed the real reason I had followed him out here before dawn.
“I want to learn swordsmanship too.”
“…….”
At my words, Iqua stopped in his tracks.
I looked at his face.
The moment swordsmanship came up, Iqua looked at me seriously.
It felt like this was the first time I had ever seen Iqua without anger on his face.
Without his brow furrowed, his face looked like that of a pretty doll.
Iqua stared at me with his red eyes, seemingly trying to determine whether I had any talent for swordsmanship.
For some reason, I felt nervous and clenched my tiny fists.
After staring at me for a while, Iqua spoke firmly.
“No.”
“Why?!”
I forgot all about keeping up appearances and jumped in protest.
“You don’t look like you have any talent for swordsmanship at all.”
“How do you know that!”
This was the first thing I had wanted to do since coming to the mansion, and he had rejected it without hesitation.
“My father, the commander of the knights of the Baros Imperial Palace, is the one who teaches me swordsmanship. This isn’t a place for a little kid to join in!”
Iqua spoke firmly, as though scolding a child who was throwing a tantrum.
“But you do it!”
“I’m different from you! And I’m two years older than you!”
“What does age have to do with it?!”
“If you’re so upset about it, then be eleven years old too!”
That little runt! Seriously!
I’m fifteen years older than you!
Somehow, I had ended up having an absurdly childish argument with a little boy named Iqua.
No matter how much we argued, it seemed impossible to reach an agreement.
I huffed angrily before saying,
“If I defeat you in a sparring match, will you grant my request?”
There were two ways I knew to get what I wanted.
First, resolve it through conversation. If I could get what I wanted that way, it was obviously the best method.
Second, if words didn’t work, overpower the other person with force.
I was confident in both methods.
“A sparring match?”
Iqua frowned as though he had just heard something ridiculous.
And understandably so. I was a girl two years younger than him. On top of that, having lived as a commoner on my own for so long, I hadn’t received proper nutrition, so even though I was nine years old, I was much smaller than other children my age.
At first glance, I looked about six or seven.
Compared to me, Iqua was completely different.
He had been holding a sword since he was much younger than I was.
Though he was only eleven, he was already huge for his age and at least a head taller than me.
He still had some baby fat, which made him look cute, but judging by his build, it was obvious that he would become quite manly within the next year or two.
I didn’t know how skilled he was at swordsmanship, but he certainly wasn’t a beginner anymore.
He was obviously looking down on me.
Perhaps Iqua thought the same thing, because he said in an incredulous tone,
“I see no reason to fight you!”
“Why?”
“Because bullying someone weaker than me would go against the chivalry of a knight!”
“Hmph. You received a challenge to a sparring match and backed down! Are you scared?”
I planted one hand on my hip and pointed at Iqua with my index finger.
Then I puffed myself up and struck the most intimidating pose I could.
“…….”
Iqua stared at me with an utterly dumbfounded expression for a long while.
Then he shook his head and started walking away.
I hurriedly shouted after him as he passed me.
“D-Don’t run away! You coward!”
“…….”
“Are you even a knight?! Running away because you’re scared before the fight has even started! Face my sword fair and square!”
“…….”
“Th-Then I win?! Yay! I won!”
“…….”
W-Well, this is getting more childish by the second!
Normally, you’d expect an eleven-year-old to at least turn around out of sheer irritation by this point, but Iqua didn’t react to my provocations at all.
Ugh. Right. He isn’t an ordinary little brat.
I never expected him to shut me down this completely.
“Fight me! You old fogey! Idiot! Coward!”
I really hadn’t wanted to stoop this far, but I was becoming more childish by the second.
My body got younger, so my mental age must have dropped to nine as well.
Just then, Iqua suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Oh! Did it finally work?
Of course. A child is still a child! I can’t believe he fell for such a low-level provocation!
But something about Iqua’s reaction was strange.
He wasn’t looking at me.
He was staring far above me.
“……Father.”
“Iqua.”
Eloise was standing behind me.
When did he get here?!
Then he heard and saw everything—including me arguing with Iqua like an elementary schooler and calling him an old fogey, an idiot, and a fool.
My face grew hot with embarrassment.
“…….”
Eloise looked down at Iqua with his cold red eyes.
No matter how I looked at it, those weren’t the eyes of a father looking at his son. There was no emotion at all, as though he were looking at an inanimate object.
Even I, who prided myself on having been through all kinds of hardships, instinctively flinched under his presence.
No wonder Iqua is afraid of him despite him being his father.
Though, I had to admit, he really was handsome.
Eloise resembled Iqua, but he gave off a much colder and more detached impression.
As befitting someone known as the commander of the knights of the Baros Empire, he was unmistakably tall and broad-shouldered.
They were brothers, but compared to Bernardo, Eloise had heavier features and a more rugged, straightforward appearance.
He was so tall that I had to crane my neck for quite a while just to see his face.
Looking closely, I could see numerous small scars scattered across his face and body.
I vaguely remembered hearing someone say that Eloise was a battle maniac.
Apparently, he could stand there with that indifferent expression, looking as though the death of someone right in front of him wouldn’t faze him in the slightest—but the moment he saw blood, he would completely transform and become utterly obsessed with it.
I was curious about what exactly happened to him when he saw blood, but…… well, I’d probably get a chance to see it someday.
I looked back and forth between the two of them.
Anxiety and fear flashed through Iqua’s eyes as he looked at Eloise.
Just as I noticed during dinner, this definitely isn’t an ordinary father-son relationship.
Amidst all this, it was a third person who spoke first.
“You two have gotten close rather quickly.”
“No, we haven’t.”
“Yes, we have!”
The third person was Bernardo, who appeared from behind Eloise and added his own comment.
The words of denial and affirmation came simultaneously from Iqua and me.
Naturally, Iqua was the one who denied it, while the affirmative answer came from me.
Hmph. Why is he so embarrassed?
He was telling me just moments ago to call him my older brother.
Bernardo came to stand beside Eloise.
The morning sunlight made Bernardo’s hair shine almost like gold.
Standing side by side like this, Bernardo and Eloise looked completely different.
If Bernardo gave off the impression of being beautiful, then Eloise gave off the impression of being handsome.
Thanks to the adults in this family, I’m getting quite the feast for my eyes first thing in the morning.
If only they had some humanity to go with their looks, either of them could become the greatest handsome man of their generation.
“……Why all the commotion, Iqua?”
While I was distracted by the two men’s looks, Eloise finally spoke.
