Chapter 18: The Night Before the Ball
âA dream. A terribly uncertain dream.
Fragmentary, not a perfect replay of all my memories.
In it were me, Yous, Father, andâ
Blurry as it was, I think it was after Yous took me out to the flower field, back when I first awakened to platinum. Yousâs face was bruised. I remember Father had punched him straight on.
And thenâ
"âŚDo you have any idea what youâve done!?"
Father tore into Yous.
Of course he would. If you thought about it, Yous had acted on his own, and even though I survived, he took so much else from me.
As a father, as a duke and noble, that reaction was only natural.
Yous was the one in the wrong. Father was right.
âŚAh, but FatherâYousâs still just a kid.
Heâs not like me, with memories of a past life, or like you lot.
Iâm not exactly sure if my mental age counts as an adult, but still.
The only real child here is Yous.
So whyâd you go and do that?
No matter how right you are, thatâs not something an adult should do to a kid.
Câmon, Father.
âŚThat was just throwing a tantrum, no matter how you spin it.
The clashing of wooden swords rang out.
A sharp, crude, unmistakably physical soundâone that left no doubt this was a training session.
And yet, what was happening here could only be described as absurd.
"Rrraaahhhh!!"
A full-grown man went flying with terrifying force.
He tumbled across the ground and lay still, unconscious.
Oddly enough, nothing seemed brokenâprobably thanks to this being a fantasy world. That, and his impeccable control.
"âŚDammit! What the hell is up with that guy?!"
"Is he even human�"
The two men muttered as they adjusted their stances, circling warily.
They werenât slacking offâno, they were fully focused, desperately trying to predict their opponentâs next move.
Butâ
"âŚIf you wonât come, Iâll go to you."
Before they knew it, heâYousridâwas right in front of them.
"Whaâhowâ?!"
"Shit, when did heâ?!"
They barely managed to raise their swords in time, but it was too late.
In an instant, Yousrid sent both their wooden blades flying with a flashy strike, then followed up with a single, brutal kick.
The sheer force of it swept both men off their feetâterrifying, honestly.
And these were my party membersâA-rank adventurers, mind you!
Butâ
"Gotcha now, Yousrid!"
Thatâs an opening!
I lunged in.
Thanks to those two idiots leaving him no choice but to overextend, I had my chance!
Swinging my sword down with all my mightâ
Only for Yousrid to neatly cleave it in half a second later.
"Ah."
Two voices overlapped as I froze mid-motion.
If this were a real battle, Iâd be deadâbut more importantlyâŚ
I broke another wooden sword.
Yousrid seemed to be thinking the same thing, because we both just⌠stopped.
Actuallyânow that I looked, everyone else had frozen too. Guess that meant training was over for today.
Ugh. Another failure.
"Rina, for the love of god, stop bringing battlefield tactics into training."
"Quit whining. This is how I fight. Trainingâs for sharpening that, right?"
Right now, Yousrid was sparring against all of my frontline fighters at once.
And terrifyingly enough, in pure skill alone, even like this, Yousrid was stronger.
Throw in all our individual tricks and dirty moves, and then heâd be overwhelmedâbut in raw physical ability? Yousrid was in a league of his own.
Me? My sword skills werenât much better than the rest of my frontline.
I just knew Yousridâs habits inside out, so I lasted a bit longer.
But at that point, it wasnât trainingâit was performance. A dance, meant to make our swords look beautiful.
"Tch⌠Yousridâs swordplayâs still impossible to read."
"Thereâs definitely a form to it, thoughâŚ"
The downed fighters groaned as they picked themselves up.
"Form" meant swordsmanship style. This world had many schools of swordplay, yet Yousridâs belonged to none of them.
But unlike mineâwhich was practically self-taughtâhis was unmistakably refined.
Martial arts, swordsmanship included, grew more polished the longer their history.
A fighterâs individual talent still decided battles, but the techniques with the least waste were always the oldest.
By that logic, Yousridâs style seemed like it had centuries behind it.
âŚIn reality, though? The previous Sword Saint created it in a single lifetime.
Every now and then, monsters like that appearedâones who trampled over history and remade it from scratch.
"My swordâs⌠not an easy one to handle. I donât mean to boast, but anyone who tries learning it half-assed will ruin their skills."
"We know. Weâre professionalsâwe get what happens if someone without the talent or specs tries that crap."
âWell, thatâs good. Now then, letâs wrap things upââ
With that, Yous looked up at us and began summarizing what heâd been focusing on during todayâs training.
âIn any kind of interpersonal conflict, the key is to take away your opponentâs options. You force them into picking between a bad choice and an even worse oneâthen stop them from choosing the worse one. Thatâs how you strip away their options.â
âSavage! Heâs such a nice guy most of the time, but the second weâre in combat, boom, heâs like this.â
Yous casually brushed off the jeering that came flying in from our teammates.
Heâs just... quick to flip the switch, that guy.
In combat, in normal life, when girls start flocking to him, even when heâs with meâhe shifts his mental state for every situation like itâs second nature.
This is the same idiot who once tried to kidnap me just because he didnât want me getting engaged. Total rock-and-roll move. But weirdly enough, heâs smartâlike, freakishly sharp.
Especially when it comes to dealing with girls. Most of how he manages to survive that circus is thanks to that fast-twitch brain of his.
âStill, you really saved me. I get rusty way too fast when the breaks go long.â
âSame here. For me, fighting against a group is the most intense kind of training, so it really helps.â
Anyway, just as we were all thanking each other and winding things down to go our separate waysâ
âRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINAAAAAA!!â
Anna came charging at me like a hurricane.
Whoaâmy ears are ringing.
âWh-What is it, Anna?! Why are you so worked up?!â
âYouâ! Youâre supposed to be picking out a dress!!â
She grabbed me and shook me so hard my vision blurred.
And for some reason, she was bouncing all over the place while shaking me. What kind of psychological warfare is this?
âThe guys have it easy! Just throw on your fanciest gear and youâre done! But us? Us girls have to wear dresses! Unless you want to be called a âknight princessâ and laughed out of the ballroom, you donât show up in armor!â
âŚA dress.
âŚA ballroom.
Great. Thanks for the headache.
To explain a bitâour party was recently promoted to S-Rank.
Itâs a big deal. And naturally, the kingdom wants to throw a party for its new national heroesâor more accurately, they want to flaunt to nearby countries that theyâve got an S-Rank party nowâso theyâre throwing this grand ball in our honor.
What Annaâs yelling about is the dress Iâm supposed to wear for that.
The guys can just show up in their best adventuring gear. When youâre S-Rank, your equipment is your prestigeâit practically counts as formalwear.
But that doesnât fly for women.
Thanks to good old-fashioned gender expectations, girls are supposed to wear dresses. Armor doesnât cut it.
And honestly, for female adventurers, getting scouted by a noble at a ball could mean marrying rich. So thereâs no real reason not to dress up.
But in my case, itâs irrelevant.
âI mean⌠I already have a dress. No need to pick one out.â
I am a dukeâs daughter, after all.
Okay, technically Iâm just reusing one my mother had tailored for me a long time agoâsomething she had made thinking Iâd grow into it someday. Itâs wildly out of fashion now, sureâbut nothing could be more appropriate for a moment like this.
This ball is where I plan to settle a lot of things. And I wonât be wearing anything else.
But thenâ
ââŚHuh?â
ââŚWhat?â
Anna stared at me, mouth hanging open, and even the guys around us stopped and echoed my words back in disbelief.
âŚWhat the hell do you all think I am, huh?!
That asideâbecause Anna said she couldnât decide on a dress and wanted my opinionâIâd ended up being dragged to her room.
And there it was: a mountain of dresses lined up in perfect rows.
She didnât⌠buy all these, did she?
At the entrance, a merchantâpresumably the one who brought themâwas waiting with a cheerful smile, so I figured she was just picking one to buy from the collection.
âWhich one do you think would make a hot noble fall for me!?â
âJust wear this one or whatever.â
I handed her something with a completely exposed neckline.
âPerv!!â
Hey, if you hesitate over that, no oneâs going to look at you at all.
You saw how the guys reacted earlier when your chest was bouncing while you shook me, right? They averted their eyes. Thatâs proof they donât even see you as a woman.
âŚNot that Iâd actually say thatâdealing with the fallout would be a nightmare. So I just sighed and picked another one.
âHere. This one.â
â...Huh? Why this one? I mean, yeah, itâs cute, butââ
âOut of everything here, this is the dress code that best fits the scale of this kind of formal gatheringâfor an outsider adventurer, I mean.â
Honestly, even though theyâre calling it a celebration in our honor, itâs still just the usual political party sideshow.
To put it bluntly, weâre just being used as props.
Thatâs why standing out too much will only make the nobles dislike us, and weâll end up being treated coldly.
So your choices boil down to two: either go full cleavage and play the seductive angle while ignoring the risk, or pick something safe that fits the proper dress code.
â...How do you even know this stuff?â
âWho knows~?â
Now that weâre S-Rank, I no longer need to hide my background.
At this ball, my true identity will almost certainly come out. Which means thereâs no reason to keep tiptoeing around things like this anymore.
âThey say weâre the stars of the night, but balls arenât like theater. Not everyone has to wear a showy costume just to be seen.â
âI donât know about that...â
Anna looked a little dissatisfied, but still took the dress I handed her and held it up to herself, spinning in a slow twirl.
âIn theater, itâs a win if the lead stands out. The audience isnât there for the script or directionâtheyâre there to watch the lead, outfit and all.â
âIs that so.â
Well, yeah. I guess when people go to a play, the first thing they notice is whoâs playing the main role.
âA famous actor alone can make or break a production. And if the role doesnât suit them, people say theyâre ânot good enough for it.ââ
I guess even this world has people misusing phrases like ânot good enough for the roleâ...
âBut thanks, really. If you say this dress is fine, I kind of feel like I can go through with it now.â
âSure. I mean, you get used to this stuff. As long as you own being a beginner and let people know youâre new to it, most of them will cut you some slack if you mess up.â
âSeriously, where do you even learn to say things like that...â
Chuckling softly, I left her room behind.
âŚGuess I should probably try on that dress soon, huh?
The chest area was a little more open than I wouldâve liked, but otherwise, it looked pretty good.
Mom had the same slender build as me, so⌠where exactly did she get that idea?
Dadâs chest, maybe?
Anyway. I woke up in the middle of the night and went downstairs to the dining room, thinking Iâd grab some milk, andâ
ââŚLeader?â
Leader was there, drinking alone.
His bronzed, gleaming physique was lit by the faint flicker of a nearby lantern.
There was something almost melancholicâno, gently subduedâin his eyes. I sat beside him, milk bottle in hand, and took a sip.
âCouldnât sleep?â
âNah, just woke up thirsty. If you werenât here, Iâd have had a drink and gone right back.â
âFufu⌠thanks for keeping me company.â
That said, we didnât really talk much after that.
We just sat there, side by side, quietly drinkingâmilk and liquorâas the moments slipped by.
Eventually, Leader murmured softlyâ
ââŚItâs finally here.â
âFive years, huh? Feels like itâs been forever.â
âYou okay? No regrets, right?â
âAhaha, weâve been prepping for this all along. Iâm good.â
âThatâs not quite what I meant⌠fufu. But if you say so, then Iâm relieved.â
âŚNot quite what she meant?
Before I could ask, Leader continued.
âListen. No matter the situation, what matters most in the end is sincerity.â
ââŚMeaning?â
âWhen you talk to someone, even if youâre completely in the right, theyâve still got their own feelings. And when push comes to shove, itâs emotions that decide things. You canât ignore that part.â
ââŚYou really think heâs got something like emotions?â
I think I get what Leaderâs trying to say.
The one weâre going to confront tomorrow⌠is my father.
The man who rejected Yous. Who refused to acknowledge the relationship between me and Yous.
To be honest, I donât like him. I donât see a single thing about him I could ever like.
But maybe thatâs exactly why Leaderâs telling me sincerity matters.
âYouâll understand once you try.â
ââŚIâll do my best.â
She gave me a confident little wink.
Really⌠I canât win against her.
That thought quietly settled in my chest as I drained the rest of my milk.
The ball is tomorrow.
And with it comes our other battle.
The culmination of five long yearsâwas finally about to begin.
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