"Humph, at least he makes decisions quickly, unlike that Paul guy."
Sauros showed approval towards Shirou. The old man seemed to just have a bad temper, not real dislike for Paul's son.
Shirou quietly responded, "After all, when I came here, I thought about finding a decent job, so I wouldn't just be idle every day except for practicing swords. Being a sword teacher for your granddaughter isn't too much to ask. However, I actually have a question."
"Oh? You have a question for me?"
Sauros coldly glanced at Shirou. The old man's presence and eyes were like a lion, giving off an indescribable pressure.
Shirou didn't seem to care at all, calmly answering, "I'm actually very curious. Your family is so big, and you have such an excellent Swordsman like Ghislaine. Why did you look for me to be your granddaughter's sword teacher? My skills should be far below Ghislaine, right?"
"This..."
Ghislaine seemed a little embarrassed by Shirou's words.
She had actually been wanting to remind Shirou to refuse Sauros' excessive request, but Sauros' authority was too great, so she couldn't bring herself to speak.
"Does Paul's son like to ask so many questions? Just like his unreliable father!"
"Is Paul unreliable?"
"Yes, he's just a guy made up of all sorts of unreliability! And he loves to make excuses to argue! Making excuses for wetting the bed! Making excuses for fighting with others! Making excuses for skipping class!"
Sauros' dissatisfaction with Paul was quite strong.
But from the old man's tone, Shirou didn't feel obvious dissatisfaction, but rather a kind of 'hate-to-see-him-fail' attitude.
If he didn't know that Sauros was the leader of the Boreas family, Shirou would even suspect that Sauros was Paul's father or something.
After Sauros cursed Paul out, he refocused his gaze on Shirou:
"Humph, you kid look different from Paul. Not only is there a rumor that you defeated the Red Dragon, but you don't back down at all when facing me, which is a million times better than Paul, who shrinks his head every time he sees me. However, your attitude doesn't matter to me. Whether you really defeated the Red Dragon or not, for Boreas, what you need to do now is prove your worth! Teach my granddaughter swordsmanship. As long as you can do that, I'll admit you're Paul's son!"
Sauros conveyed some information in a roundabout way.
Especially about Paul, it feels like Paul's position as a noble isn't as meaningless as imagined, and might even be very important.
But Shirou didn't care about Paul's noble status, nor did he have any intention of inheriting Paul's position.
For him, he came here to learn swordsmanship from Ghislaine, and to achieve that goal, getting the Boreas family's approval was something he had to do.
That way, the Boreas family would allow him to stay in this castle.
In that case, he had to teach that Boreas family's young lady swordsmanship no matter what...
Shirou made up his mind and said decisively, "I understand. I will give your granddaughter sword lessons according to your request."
"Good!"
Hearing Shirou's answer, the white-haired old man stomped hard on the floor. "Although your attitude and manners are far from Greyrat standards, your willingness to take responsibility is already a million times better than Paul! I allow you to stay in this mansion, and I also allow you to learn Sword God Style from Ghislaine!"
"..."
Hearing Sauros' words, Shirou breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Although he didn't know why he had to teach the Boreas family's young lady swordsmanship, being able to learn swordsmanship from Ghislaine was already a great thing.
He looked at Sauros, thinking that the old man would say something else to him, but he didn't expect him to leave like a gust of wind, without even stopping for a moment.
"Is that the head of the Boreas family?"
Shirou looked at Ghislaine.
"Yes, he's the lord of the entire Fittoa territory, Sir Sauros Boreas Greyrat, and also Paul's uncle."
"So they're related."
Shirou nodded. He could feel the special relationship between Sauros and Paul from their conversation.
And from Sauros' attitude, he even extended that special treatment to Shirou, and had special expectations for him.
But Shirou made it clear that he didn't care about the affairs of nobles at all. He just wanted to train swordsmanship with Ghislaine and find a job to earn some money.
As Shirou hesitated, wondering how to ask about the Boreas family's young lady, another figure suddenly walked in from outside the door.
"What's wrong? Why did Father suddenly come over so forcefully? And why is the door open?"
The person who walked in was a young man with smooth brown hair, looking thin and casual.
Judging by his statement "Father," he was undoubtedly Sauros' son.
"Sir Philip, I'm very sorry. Earlier, Sir Sauros met Shirou and seemed to have developed a different idea about him."
"Shirou? You mean Paul's son?"
Philip seemed to have known about the Paul family from the beginning, and his eyes lit up as he walked over and looked at Shirou.
The young man's eyes were very sharp. Unlike Sauros' oppressive gaze, they gave off a feeling full of schemes, like a fox.
He examined Shirou. Seeing that the latter didn't seem to avoid his scrutiny, he smiled and said, "You're the young man who defeated the Red Dragon? I can't believe you have such ability."
"Does everyone here know I killed the Red Dragon?"
Shirou was quite helpless. He never expected the news of him killing the Red Dragon to spread so far. Everyone he met said the same thing.
Seeing Shirou's attitude, Philip seemed to understand his personality, and his smile became even brighter:
"Hehe, it seems you're not the kind of person who cares about fame and reputation. Don't worry, the number of people who know you killed the Red Dragon won't exceed three. Basically, it's just me, Ghislaine, and my father, because we all pay attention to the Paul family."
"Pay attention to the Paul family?"
"Yes, although Paul is now just an ordinary lord knight on the surface, in reality, his bloodline is that of the eldest son of the Notos Greyrat family. From every perspective, he's qualified to inherit the Notos family, one of the four great lords. It's just a pity that he himself doesn't seem to have any ambition in that regard."
Philip said with a regretful expression, as if he hoped Paul could be more ambitious and greedy for power.
But Shirou had no interest in power, so he frankly said, "Paul probably doesn't want to go back to be a lord. Life in Buena Village is good."
"Yes, of course I know that, so I naturally shifted my focus from Paul to his descendants."
"Descendants?"
Shirou frowned slightly, vaguely realizing something.
Philip didn't seem to care about Shirou's attitude, calmly continuing, "That's only natural. Paul's son also inherited Paul's position, and thus has the legal right to inherit the Notos family. If we, the Boreas family, support him, it's not impossible for him to return to the Notos family and become its ruler."
"No, I have no interest in that."
"Yes, I can see that."
"..."
Philip's attitude was too straightforward, which made Shirou feel a little uneasy.
But Philip didn't continue to be pushy, instead showing a gentle smile: "Don't worry, I'm not the kind of power-hungry person you think I am. If I were that kind of person, I wouldn't have helped Paul settle down in that rundown village in Buena Village. Compared to power, I'm someone who values family and friends more."
"Is... that so?"
Shirou remained suspicious of Philip. His intuition told him that the man in front of him wasn't someone whose every word could be trusted.
But Philip quickly changed the subject: "Alright, let's not talk about such heavy topics on our first meeting. How about I introduce myself first? I'm Philip Boreas Greyrat. When nobles greet each other, they put their right hand on their chest and bow slightly. If you don't do that, it's considered insulting them."
"Is that so?"
Realizing why Sauros was angry at him earlier, Shirou quickly imitated Philip's actions and gave a bow.
However, because he wasn't used to that kind of movement, his posture was quite stiff.
"Haha, it seems you'll need some time to adapt to life here."
Philip laughed cheerfully and sat directly on the sofa nearby. "I heard that you came here to learn swordsmanship from Ghislaine, but I heard that you defeated the Red Dragon. With such strength, do you still need to learn swordsmanship from our Sword King?"
"..."
The other party's words were a test of him.
Shirou was already used to his attitude and said quietly: "Although I defeated the Red Dragon, it was just a fluke, not my own strength. In fact, my Sword God Style is only at the level of an advanced Swordsman. It's reasonable to learn swordsmanship from a Sword King like Ghislaine."
"Ghislaine, is that so?"
"That's right."
Ghislaine's answer made Philip nod. He was obviously the kind of leader who trusted his subordinates very much, and didn't blame Shirou too much.
But Shirou couldn't help but ask, "Speaking of which, your father, Sir Sauros, made a request earlier, saying that he wanted me to teach his granddaughter to practice swordsmanship. His granddaughter should be your daughter, right? Can you tell me a little about this young lady?"
"My father wants you to teach Eris swordsmanship?"
Hearing those words, Philip was stunned.
It was the first time he had shown such a shocked expression. His original relaxed attitude suddenly became a bit complicated and helpless.
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