9 — Learning Something New

It had been raining since morning. It had been raining a lot lately, in fact. We’ve hit the year’s second rainy season, huh? So depressing.

Once the curtains were opened and I saw the gray sky through the window, my mood just dropped like a stone. And the days when I could hear it pouring outside made me just want to pull my blanket over my head and go back to sleep. I would’ve just faked sick and played hooky, but since that might start a riot (a certain someone would start screaming about sickness, doctors, and medicine if I did!), I got up like a good girl so I wouldn’t bother anyone.

...I had to praise myself for this, to raise my spirits, because no one else would.

Dahlia gave me a wry smile when I was acting unusually sluggish. “Good morning, Madam. Unfortunately, it’s raining today,” she said, completely seeing through me.

“Rain, huh...” I slowly got out of bed and headed to the dresser where Stellaria was waiting. If I didn’t get ready now, I’d be late for breakfast. And if I was, a certain someone would...

“Oh, don’t look so glum. Let’s put you in something brightly colored today!” said Stellaria, bringing an orange gown out from my dressing room. It was knee-length with an elegant design that still came off as cute. It was one of my favorites, because it was the same length as my uniform and easy to move in. It did actually help my mood a little bit. Having my hair put into two loose braids, my wifely style was complete. After that, I went to the dining room at the usual time, and had my usual breakfast with Mr. Fisalis. It was fine—someone didn’t fuss—so the Fisalis manor was running exactly as normal.

Once we finished breakfast, I saw him off at the entrance. Now that I thought about it, his uniform had changed. Not the design, just the color. He wore a navy blue jacket back when he was in the Special Ops division, but now it was dark red for the Royal Guard—just like Celosia told me back at the departure ceremony.

He looked beautiful in his brand new uniform. Dark red suited him! People with great figures had it easy. They could wear whatever they wanted and look good in all of it.

After Mr. Fisalis left, I took a breath. Fretting about what I was going to do today would be a waste of energy. I turned around, wondering if I could make it back to my room before Rohtas came back inside from seeing him off.

“Madam.”

Eeek! All Rohtas did was call for me, but my shoulders twitched. Here comes the lesson invite! “Y-Yeeeees. Lessons, right? Dancing, right? I’ll do my best again today~! Ahahahaha~” I said, turning around and answering with a twitching smile.

A Flür nursery rhyme about a calf being sold at the market kept running through my head, because I felt just like that little calf.

It must have been easy to see how little I wanted to do any of this. “You don’t need to strain yourself...” he said, chuckling.

It’s because you’re a demon. You don’t know mercy. But you did increase my ‘I can kinda technically dance’ skills to a level where people praise me, so I’m super grateful!!

“It’s fine! I’ll do my best!” I gripped my hands into fists to try to psyche myself up. Go, me!

“Heheheh. Then how about we try something different today?” he offered, laughing at my attempts to be brave.

“Something different? Like walking?” The incident at Le Pied ran through my mind as I asked.

“No. Martial arts.” Smiling brightly, Rohtas suggested something I never expected.

Martial arts? Why? “Martial arts is that stuff where you throw people, or knock them down, or hit them, right?”

“You are quite aggressive.”

He was quick to retort, but that was what he was talking about, right? The same kind of thing that Mr. Fisalis used on those thugs. What did he want me to learn that for?

I stared blankly, not knowing what he was getting at, only to get a forced smile in return. “There are attacks involved, but defense is the most important thing. Remember the incident back in Le Pied.”

“Um, the one where bad men almost carried me off?”

“Yes,” he said, nodding seriously.

So, the time when I was nearly kidnapped by some not-so-nice guys. Back then, Mr. Fisalis acted like a proper knight and defeated the thugs with martial arts and sword skills. He was so cool.

“I’m not talking about how cool Master may or may not be.”

Whoops, he read my mind!

...Er, maybe it was obvious.

Rohtas adjusted his falling glasses. “If Master hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t have been able to do anything against them, would you?”

“Uum...” Erk. He was right. Really right. I cringed.

“Do you know what would happen if that were to occur?”

“I’d cause a whole lot of trouble for a lot of people—”

“No,” he interrupted me as I timidly replied. “Master, the former Duke and Duchess, and all of us here would be worried sick. No, not just worried. We would go berserk,” he said, emphasizing his words.

All of our high-specced servants banding together with Mr. Fisalis at the helm... The criminals would never see the light of day again. Or rather... there would be nothing left of them. Uwah. That’s terrifying!! Thinking of what would happen, I started to tremble. “I wouldn’t want that!”

“Of course you wouldn’t.” He smiled at how quickly I caught on. I must’ve been right on the money. “It would be the same in Rozhe. You may be safe with Master or the guards, but if you were to somehow find yourself alone, you would need to protect yourself,” he explained kindly.

I see, I see. That’s why I would need to learn martial arts, I thought, impressed. “Huh. Ah, but I won’t be going out much—” I tried to correct him, but...

“You will have more opportunities.”

“—Ah, yeah, you’re right.” I failed.

I surrendered to his big smile. He’s so intimidating.

After I honestly(?) agreed, he looked satisfied and continued, “It’s important to be prepared for any possible occurrence. I’ve run out of things to teach you about dance, so next, how about we focus on teaching you some self-defense?” Grin.

...He was pushing everything through with a smile today. I couldn’t go against him.

“Y-You’re right. Might be fun to change things up?”

“If you learn martial arts, you’ll be able to immediately land safely without any serious injuries if you fall out of another tree.”

“That’d be great!” I said, suddenly getting into it.

Rohtas was never going to let me forget that. “We’ll have you learn the basics with a suitable maid.”

“A maid will be teaching me?” I smiled as soon as I heard he wouldn’t be my instructor. A maid wouldn’t be as much of a demon as him!

“Yes. For a beginner such as you, Stellaria would be most appropriate. And since this is Bellis’s realm of expertise, he can coach,” he said, moving to call for my new teachers almost as soon as he thought of them.

Bellis, huh? He’s well built and strong, so he really does look like he’d be good at all this stuff! “Okaaaay. Ah, but are you not good at them or something?” I asked, even though I was pretty sure Rohtas couldn’t be bad at anything.

“No. I am somewhat knowledgeable about hand-to-hand combat, but I’m more of a swordsman.”

“Ah. Swords. They totally suit you!” I imagined him straightening his back and standing at the ready with his blade. How cool!

We went straight to the salon to start practicing. All of the sofas and tables were pushed up to the walls out of the way. There were also two or three layers of long shag carpeting covering the marble floors so no one would get hurt if they fell to the ground. We were ready!

“First off. Don’t try to throw someone using your own strength. Use the momentum of your attacker to do it.”

“Got it, Teach!”

Practice started with a lecture. Bellis did the explanations instead of Rohtas. Since I had no need for any of this stuff back at my family home (no way we would’ve been targeted☆), we were really starting from step one.

Next was a demonstration. Bellis attacked Stellaria.

“Hiya!” With a gallant cry, she grabbed his hand as he lunged at her. The small woman used her size to get in close to Bellis’s chest. By sinking her body down skillfully and standing back up, she performed a fantastic shoulder throw. Bellis’s heavy body flew through the air.

“Ah—!” Of course, he performed a splendid controlled fall and was completely unharmed. After landing perfectly, he brushed the dust off himself as he stood back up.

“Woaaaaahhhhh!” I said, watching on in astonishment. Stellaria made it look so easy, but would I be able to do the same?

“Professor Bellis! I have a question!”

“...What is it?”

“What do you do when you’re attacked from behind?”

“We’ll teach you how to deal with that. We’ll also not be only focusing on martial arts, but how to use concealed weapons, so you can fight back with either.”

“Concealed weapons!!”

He mentioned it so nonchalantly, but concealed weapons!

“All of the servants in the manor carry concealed weapons, of course.”

“I didn’t know!!” Seriously? It was kind of (no, more than kind of) a shock to hear.

“The reason that the uniform skirts here are longer than those of other houses is because we all carry weapons strapped to our thighs,” Stellaria added onto Bellis’s explanation.

Oh, so our uniforms are longer than usual, huh! I had no idea.

“I didn’t know that. That’s kinda sexy!”

“That shouldn’t be what you get out of it, but... Also, all of the maids carry hidden knives.”

“Woaaaaah!” Everyone is always so bright and having fun doing their jobs, but they’re all packing heat! If anything happened, they could flip their skirt up and whip out their knives...! Kyaaa~! That’s so cool!

...Sorry, getting a bit excited.

No, really, though. I was nothing but shocked at all this new information.

“We’re all trained in martial arts and swordsmanship to a master’s level, so we’ll always be able to protect you from any enemies. Don’t worry!” Stellaria was smiling cutely, but the words coming out of her mouth were so super brave and manly. I’m gonna fall in love! And seriously, how overpowered are all of the duchy’s servants...

“Let’s get to practice. We’ll start with the basic methods of falling—”

That said, I started learning martial arts from the very beginning with Stellaria, under Coach Bellis. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to throw him like that?