Older brother, anguish of his past
“Roy”
“I understood”
Roy have his name called understood my intention, turned around to face the approaching Lambert family, to hold him down.
“Let go! What have you done?”
“If I release you, would you try to seize the boy? What if such actions lead to a greater decline of his health? You need to cool your head.”
I leave a yelling attendant to Roy, and slowly carry Gasper from the pathway up the hill. I then laid my jacket out and had him lie on it. He’d forced himself beyond his usual distance and pace, and was sweating a lot.
He seems to be a very compet.i.tive person.
I retrieve the drink bottle from the luggage I’d brought. It is a sports drink with several types of fruit juice mixed in, as well as water, sugar, and salt.
“Are you ok? Slowly drink a little of this.”
“Ugh…, I don’t drink water during training.”
Is this a show! I want to smash his grandeur at once, but I endure it somehow.
“This isn’t ordinary water. If you are the son of a marquis house, then you have probably read the king’s older brother Raiheart biography as well. This is a n.o.ble drink that Raiheart used to overcome the fatigue of running long distances. Thankfully drink it!”
In fact, it is bad for you to only drink water after an entice workout. When you exercise and perspire, ions such as the salt are lost as well as water.
When only water is replenished, the body’s balance greatly collapses. This was how the structure of the human body worked in my pervious life, and I have learned that it is the same in this world as well. When I started training in the beginning of autumn, a combination of the lingering summer heat and a mistake in pacing caused me light dehydration. With my past life’s knowledge I made a supplementary drink to improve my symptoms.
The body structure is the same here as it was in my past life. When exercising after that, I decided to always have this drink made, so I could apply myself to the training smoothly.
That’s why, I gave it to Gaspar with confidence.
“Ugh…”
“Don’t give that strange thing to Gasper-sama……”
“When having the gull to criticize the Duke Alderton kitchen, the appropriate resolution is required”
Roy says indifferently.
The attendant over there went silent to this.
“This is…”
Gaspar takes the bottle by himself and begins to drink.
He is more obedient than I thought. If he drinks too much it would be bad for his body, so he is stopped after a while and handed a wet towel. In addition, it is the normal water we brought that is used to wet the towel.
“…………”
Silently he wipes the sweat off his face and neck.
“Roy”
“Yes, sir.”
Understanding my will, Roy releases the restraint attendant.
But, the attendant just stared blankly.
“Don’t you have to hand another towel to your master?”
When this was pointed out, he ran to his baggage in a hurry.
Mmm, Roy seems to be quite excellent follower as expected.
“You seem to be all right, but you should drink a little more”
I try to hand him the bottle again.
“……it is unnecessary”
He says it bluntly, pushing the towel back to me.
“Gaspar-sama, I’m sorry to have kept you waiting!”
Gasper slowly raised himself up and began to wipe his face with the towel his attendant brought.
“Sid, my sword!”
“Yes!”
It was an abrupt order, but the attendant Sid moved alertly and untied cloth of the wooden sword.
“I may have failed in running, but I won’t loss with the sword. Be ready!”
Gasper throw his towel to his attendant, grabbed his wooden sword, and declared his challenge.
“I decline”
I refused it plainly while taking an orange out of the basket at unhurried pace.
“What was that!?”
Suddenly, I throw an orange towards Gasper’s face.
“Even if I win a fight against you, there would be no glory in defeating an already fatigued opponent.”
He managed to catch the orange by placing his sword at his side, and jumping a little.
“Oh”
“It is a gift to you. It is an orange I got from the duke Alderton family’s merchants, so it should be good”
Phew, it went well somehow.
Because I learned Lloyd’s feinting skills directly I could buff in good conditions, I looked good and said little.
This was a skill Lloyd me, when in pig mode I asked “to learn some cool skills”.
From three steps away, Lloyd throw an orange my way. When I received it, there he was before my eyes.
So I practiced desperately and acquired it to the degree of an appearance for the time being. While their attention is distracted by the object, I use my footwork to close the distance instantly.
“Duke Alderton……? I didn’t hear that they adopted a child?”
Gasper suddenly spoke a strange thing.
“My only sibling is my little sister Micheline?”
“You are the older brother of Micheline of the Alderton family? There is no way, could you be Marcel Alderton!?”
Why did you say that in such an astonished tone?
I mean I am Marcel Alderton.
“There is no difference between the past and now, I am Micheline’s older brother Marcel”
Gasper had a stunned expression.
……oh, perhaps this is not our first meeting?
Suddenly, I look towards the tree in the park’s center. A vision of a crying red haired child appeared next to one of the roots.
“Ah!”
I let out a stupid voice.
I seem to have met Gasper here three years ago.
If I’m not mistaken, when I came here I climbed one of the tree’s roots and declared the whole tree mine. It extended to the point of kicking other children (who were younger than me) off when they tried to climb the tree.
Gaspar appeared to have been one of them.
When I was dragged down, I was told apologized to the other children. Since I was already a jerk at the time, I instead said I would tell my father and escaped.
It seems like I gave the worst first impression.
“… Uh, I’m sorry. I remembered. I was a brat 3 years ago.”
I lower my head to Gaspar, while feeling bitter about my past actions. The direct victims of my actions were the children of the local n.o.bles, when I meet them at the party I will have to apologies to them as well.
Gasper opened his eyes wide when he looked at me.
I understand the feeling.
Nevertheless, the past can’t be changed with this fellow. I started a game and selfishly declared victory. Thus, etiquette states that I should apologize for the transgression.
In addition, I offer my sword to him, even if it is just a wooden one.
I have no excuse.
“…………………………”
Gasper said nothing. No wait a voice was heard, but it was barely audible.
“Hmm? What is this? …….that drink, was not bad was it?”
Would he accept this apology?
“It was good.”
Offering a weak smiling, I replied.
“Come here tomorrow at this time, and fight me at your best condition! Let’s go Sid”
“Yes!”
Gasper declared the time of the match, and started to run before I could hear a proper reply.
To be able to run like that, it seems he has a great recovery rate.
“I don’t remember it well, but Roy you accompanied me when I last came to the capital 3 years ago right?”
“No, that time another attendant went”
“Was it a person working for the mansion or the villa? Can you contact them?”
“……it will be hard to contact the man that once served as your attendant”
I study Roy’s face.
That person appears to have incurred father’s displeasure and was thrown out.
Because I am uncertain of what I did 3 years ago, I want to learn of my past actions immediately.
For the time being, I have to worry about it later as a complete my daily training and practice my footwork.
No one else came to exercise, probably do to the cold.
When I returned to the villa; I had a bath, ate some lunch, had a short rest, and thought about tomorrow.
“A bout. What will happen now?”
“What bout?”
Micheline who was relaxing in the same room heard what I was thinking and came near.
“When I was training in the park today, I met the eldest son of the marquis Lambert household. He challenged me to a sword fight tomorrow”
“When you say the eldest son of the Lambert household, do you mean Gasper?
“You know him.”
“Yes, it is common that friends of the same generation, exchange letters with one another. The boy from the Lambert house has the nickname red lion, and he started sword training last year. Since onii-sama only started training this autumn, I think it is best that you don’t force yourself.”
Micheline looked at me with pity.
If he is able to live up to his reputation then, today might have been my only chance to defeat him.
But taking advantage of the opponent’s fatigue in a dual would make me feel terrible.
“Can’t you fight with a method which won’t be painful somehow?”
“I would like to do so, but –”
As I spoke, and I was suddenly reminded of something. Yes it might work. The problem is the material, but I should be able to make something similar.
“Thank you Micheline, I might be okay somehow.
“Huh!?”
I hugged Micheline and told Roy to start gathering information on woodworking artisans and leather craftsmen.