Chapter 100

VF 100 – Another Apprentice Appears

[Ha! Ha!]
The prince is swinging his sword full of vigor today as well, huh. This is good since one should not stop practicing the basics regardless how much they’ve already mastered them. It’s comforts me that the Prince recognizes the importance of that principle, but this one on the other hand…
[Concentrate, Macbeth-san.]
[Yeah, I know… But I don’t really intend to get myself delved too much into swordsmanship.]
Starting from this day, I will be training another disciple. What’s more, it is Macbeth, the son of the prime minister. His father and the first princess asked me to look after him but after observing the sleepy child halfheartedly swing his sword, I know that he isn’t that motivated putting himself into this training. However, as someone who’ll eventually succeed his father into becoming a prime minister, it wouldn’t be acceptable if he can’t learn to protect himself at least. Since that’s the case, then…
[Yosh, why don’t we have a little match, Macbeth-kun?] (Calis)
[A match, is it?] (Macbeth)
[Yeah. If you win, I’ll let you do whatever you please during the training. However, if you lose, I’ll make sure that in every session, you’ll put your everything.] (C)
[There’s no way I’d stand a chance if you’re my opponent.] (M)
[That’s true. And I am not childish enough to force you into a match that you have no chance of winning. So that being said… Prince Seryu, I’d leave it to you.] (C)
Does the prince think I don’t know he’s listening while pretending to continue practicing? Since he is also interested, then I’ll let him go at it.
[*Shocks* W-why me?] (S)
[It would be better for you to have practice matches other than myself. You don’t have to be scared. There’s no way you’ll lose this.] (C)
[No, no, no, no. How can you be so sure that I’ll lose? There’s no way I’d be inferior just because he’s from the royal family.] (M)
[That’s what he says.] (C)
If my predictions are correct, then this child Macbeth standing before me should be a genius, or at the very least, has an overwhelming talent. He’s probably the type to slack around in public while working hard secretly by himself. The blisters on his hands tell me that he isn’t just someone who sleeps all day long. But now he’ll witness a genius whose talent is equal to his but dedicated much more time than his own.
Macbeth took a moment before finally nodding his head after all my provocations.
[…Yeah, yeah, let’s do this. I just have to win right? However, don’t blame me if someone actually gets hurt.] (M)
[That’s what he says. So how about it, Seryu-sama?] (C)
[Uhm… I don’t really mind, but is this really okay?] (S)
[Ofcourse, feel free to show him everything you’ve got.] (C)
This should be an easy game considering how much experience Seryu-sama has gained after fighting me for quite a lot of times recently in the guise of ‘training’. That being said, he has no reliable measure of his own strength considering the gap between our skills so I find this to be a good opportunity. I somehow feel sorry for Macbeth but in this game, he has to be the guinea pig.
If you don’t have a grasp of your opponent’s strength, much more of yourself, you’ll probably lose your life in battle. Well, not like the prince of a kingdom will actually stand in the frontlines and fight personally, but there’s nothing wrong with teaching him such a mindset.
Actually, letting the captured targets get stronger has a lot of demerits for me. However, perhaps allowing them to grow stronger would let them mature in a way that’s different from how the game described their behaviors.