Chapter 09
If the knight commander rushed all the way to the annex, there must be a reason.
Daphne nodded.
“Speak.”
“Have you ever learned swordsmanship before?”
She had learned it.
From an old man whose name she didn’t know.
But she couldn’t talk about her days as a dragon.
Daphne shook her head.
“No. I haven’t.”
Lloyd’s eyes widened.
“…Then it’s truly innate.”
He muttered to himself without realizing it. Like Arius, he had been shocked by Daphne’s swordsmanship.
It was just a single vertical slash, but Lloyd felt a strong intuition.
This will work.
She’s someone who can make it.
The desire to teach, which had been hidden within him, stirred. This was a desire that had never surfaced when he was teaching Arius.
He calmed himself and asked,
“Do you plan to learn the sword in the future?”
Daphne nodded.
“Of course. But there’s a problem.”
Something she had been thinking about until just moments ago.
“The fact that my health and strength are utterly pathetic.”
Her strength of 1 and health of 10.
If these weren’t improved, her swordsmanship and magical abilities would be rendered useless.
“Do you know how to increase health and strength?”
Lloyd didn’t quite understand the meaning at first, but then he exclaimed, “Ah!” and tilted his chin.
“Yes. I know.”
At his confident assertion, Daphne’s eyes widened.
“Really? How? How do I do it?”
But in contrast, Lloyd let out a sigh.
“There is a way, but I doubt you’ll be able to accept it, my lady.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Daphne shouted in frustration, but Lloyd remained calm. No, rather than calm, he seemed to pity Daphne a little.
“Well…”
Lloyd rubbed his face with his palm and continued slowly.
“You have to run.”
That’s right.
For someone as frail as Daphne, the only way to build health and strength was to run. Running would increase her health, and only with increased health could she build strength.
But Daphne couldn’t run.
“However, you’re terminally ill with a curse, and your body is weak, so it’s dangerous.”
Because she was afflicted with a curse.
Because her frail body would spill blood with just a little movement.
“Your talent is already a fully bloomed flower, but the vase holding it is cracked, unable to supply nutrients to the flower.”
Lloyd let out a sigh and muttered.
“What a pity. You could have perhaps succeeded the master…”
It was a small murmur, but there was no way Daphne wouldn’t hear it.
“I’ll take my leave now.”
Lloyd bowed and left the room.
And Daphne, left alone,
“…I could succeed the warrior?”
Her tiny fists clenched, her body trembling.
“Are you insane?”
Daphne gritted her teeth.
“To compare this great me to the warrior?!”
And the next day,
Daphne appeared at the training ground.
Filled with determination.
☆☆☆
“Your talent is already a fully bloomed flower, but the vase holding it is cracked, unable to supply nutrients to the flower.”
Lloyd’s words truly infuriated Daphne.
Of course her talent was a fully bloomed flower. Wasn’t she the great calamity, Cellus?!
But to say the vase was cracked. This damned body!
And his next words provoked Daphne even more.
“What a pity. You could have perhaps succeeded the master…”
Succeed the warrior?
No.
I’m not going to succeed the warrior.
“I’m going to surpass that warrior bastard!”
Daphne ran in a frenzy of rage.
“Kyaa!”
“Lady! Please be careful!”
Anne and Anna, watching her from a distance, shouted, but Daphne didn’t stop running.
“Huff, huff…”
Her breath reached its limit. Her entire body screamed for mercy. It couldn’t be helped. This was a body that had never exercised in its life.
But Daphne didn’t stop running. To others, her pace might not even look like running, but Daphne squeezed out every ounce of strength to run and keep running.
*Cough! Hack!*
Until she finally coughed up blood.
“Lady!”
“Call the physician! Hurry!”
Anne and Anna rushed over, shouting.
“Hoo, hoo…”
But Daphne wiped the blood from her lips and stood up again.
“I’m fine.”
Daphne steadied her breathing and looked around the large training ground.
She needed to run at least five laps. That’s how she could increase her health.
With that thought, Daphne clenched her teeth and tightened her fists.
“I can run more.”
At those words, Anne and Anna nearly collapsed.
“But, Lady!”
“No! If you keep going like this, you could really die!”
They genuinely worried for Daphne.
What was the Black Butterfly disease?
Wasn’t it a disease caused by a curse from the world’s greatest dark mage?
The curse grew more painful the more the afflicted exerted themselves. That’s why those cursed were best off doing nothing and lying still until their death. That way, they could meet a painless end.
But Daphne wasn’t doing that. She had been running for days on end! And she seemed to mutter something about “the warrior …”
Was she really exercising like this to gain the attention of the warrior, her master? Out of longing for her father’s affection?
Anne and Anna were on the verge of tears. That cold-hearted master, not even recognizing the lady’s feelings!
Anne and Anna stomped their feet beside Daphne.
Daphne had no idea what they were thinking, nor did she care to know.
She was only looking at the results of her detection magic:
[Daphne Akion]
Health: 11 Charm: 300
Strength: 1 Magic: 1
Her health had increased by 1.
‘It’s definitely working.’
Lloyd had given her a proper method.
Now that she saw how effective it was, Daphne couldn’t stop.
“Don’t block my way. I’m going to keep running.”
“Lady!”
Anne and Anna shouted in unison, but Daphne ignored them and ran again.
“Hey, stop running!”
Even Arius, practicing swordsmanship in the distance, shouted in exasperation at Daphne’s tenacity, but Daphne ignored him and kept running.
Daphne couldn’t manage the five laps she had planned, but she completed one lap, and finally…
[Daphne Akion]
Health: 15 Charm: 300
Strength: 1 Magic: 1
She raised her health to 15.
Of course, she collapsed from exhaustion right after.
☆☆☆
Early in the morning.
Lloyd came to the training ground to stretch his stiff body.
As soon as he arrived, he noticed a tiny figure circling the training ground.
It was Daphne.
‘Ho.’
Lloyd crossed his arms and watched her.
Today marked the fifteenth day.
Excluding the few days when Daphne had fainted and hovered near death, she had been coming to the training ground and running almost every day for nearly two weeks.
Honestly, when Daphne first started running at the training ground, Lloyd thought she wouldn’t last a few days.
And why wouldn’t he? Daphne had a frail, utterly pathetic body that had never been trained in her life!
For a body like that, the initial stages of training are always the hardest. The body has to be rebuilt, after all. So Lloyd had assumed a mere five-year-old like Daphne wouldn’t endure.
But he was wrong.
“Huff, huff…”
Daphne kept running relentlessly. Even though she had fainted from running just days ago and didn’t wake for several days!
‘I underestimated the lady.’
Lloyd reflected on himself. He had been blind, unable to recognize true potential.
So Lloyd hurried over to Daphne and spoke to her as she ran.
“Lady, do you realize this is your fifteenth day of running?”
Daphne, panting heavily, glanced at Lloyd.
“I’m dying from exhaustion, and you’re talking to me? Get lost.”
“…”
Lloyd felt awkward. But knowing Daphne’s usual temperament, he realized this level of cursing was practically affectionate, so he let it slide.
“I’m saying this because you’re truly impressive, my lady. Will you keep running like this?”
Instead of answering, Daphne used her detection magic.
[Daphne Akion]
Health: 30 Charm: 300
Strength: 4 Magic: 1
Her health had jumped to 30, and her strength had risen to 4. To achieve this in just two weeks was remarkable progress, so Daphne felt good.
But it was only her mood that felt good.
Her body was now at the stage of begging, “Please, save me…” She strongly felt that she was about to collapse again.
But.
“Yes. I’ll keep running.”
Daphne had something she believed in.
That was…
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
By Anna 💓
