Chapter 8: Diela (1)
–"What does it even mean to teach someone, master?"
Back when he was in the middle of learning magic. Derrick asked Katia.
They were inside a carriage returning after finishing a request to subjugate monsters in a remote area.
Derrick had suffered a few injuries, and Katia was in the middle of treating them.
–"Why are you suddenly asking that?"
–"... Just because."
Having wandered around the mercenary world since a young age, he had seen quite a few warriors who served their masters under the name of a master-disciple relationship.
Even those with rough and cruel personalities often behaved properly in front of their masters, and seeing that always felt strange.
Because of that, a small and trivial curiosity suddenly rose up.
–"I've seen guys who stab people in the back without a second thought and shout at strangers, but in front of their masters they kill their own personalities. Hm... Actually, master Katia is just kind, but are they all like that?"
–"It's troublesome to think about everything by fitting it to the harsh mercenary world. Not all master-disciple relationships are like that."
Katia said in a gentle voice while wrapping a bandage around Derrick's arm.
–"And Derrick, you're relatively easy to teach. Your Magical Aptitude is excellent, so you absorb things quickly, and you're always cooperative."
–"If you want to learn something, isn't it natural to be cooperative?"
–"That would be the proper argument. But the world doesn't always work according to proper arguments, does it? Sometimes there are people who look down on their masters and bare their teeth, trying to start power struggles."
Derrick stroked his chin and fell into thought.
If someone called a disciple bares sharp teeth at their master, can you really call that a disciple? Is there even a need to teach such things in the first place?
However, as Katia said, the world doesn't always work according to proper arguments.
–"If you had to teach such a rough and ungrateful disciple, what would you do, master?"
–"I would try to understand that child until the end, and embrace and protect them."
–"... That sounds too idealistic."
–"..... Yes. You're right. Still, in the end, the essence of teaching lies in leading a disciple in a better direction, embracing them, and guiding them."
She continued in a tone as if it were obvious.
–"If you can't communicate through understanding and tolerance, you'll have to look for another starting point, but you must never forget that essence."
–"Another starting point? What is that?"
Katia quietly lowered her gaze while continuing to wrap the bandage.
–"To imprint fear."
Derrick quietly closed his mouth.
–"Sometimes, you have to start from there."
*
"Treat others with consideration and respect."
Derrick's cold voice sank into the quiet room.
In the room of young lady Diela, whose floor was dirtied with filthy water, Derrick once again said what he had to say even in the midst of the silence.
"Stand up."
Young lady Diela looked at Derrick with trembling eyes, then, as he said, she raised her body.
And slowly approached Derrick, then swung her hand and slapped him across the face.
–Smack!
Derrick's head turned to one side.
Young lady Diela, breathing heavily, spoke in a voice that seemed to be burning.
"You... you... what are you...? You..."
–Smack!
Before young lady Diela could even finish her words, Derrick's hand flew again.
This time, young lady Diela's head turned to the side. The girl's pupils widened to their limit.
When she looked up at Derrick, there was still not the slightest change in his expression. Those bright red eyes were just quietly staring at Diela.
The girl had grown up like a flower in a greenhouse, and the boy had grown up like a weed by the roadside.
The moment she realized that gap, a feeling she had never encountered before came rushing in.
The framework of that feeling was fear, fear of the unknown.
"As I told you, when dealing with others, you must show consideration and respect."
"Shut up!"
Diela grabbed Derrick's collar with her tiny hands as best as she could.
No matter what she tried to do, it was meaningless. No matter how much a small girl repeated insulting words, Derrick did not even sneer.
"W-what is all this! Why are you just standing there and not stopping them!"
Head butler Delron, who had heard the news, quickly pushed through the servants and ran out.
That old head butler scolded the servants who were standing there in shock, then quickly stepped in between Derrick and Diela.
He already knew Derrick. He was the man who had wandered around with young lady Aiselin while looking for a teacher.
"That's enough. Any more than this is really dangerous."
Dangerous.
That expression was closer to something said to Derrick than to Diela.
A mere commoner laying hands on a ducal young lady is a serious crime that wouldn't be strange even if his arms and legs were cut off on the spot.
If it ends here, he might live the rest of his life disabled, but at least he can keep his life. That was what head butler Delron meant.
However, Derrick took out a document stamped with the duke's seal from his chest and tossed it onto the tea table.
The contents were not that complicated.
"His Grace the Duke has entrusted me with full authority over all education regarding miss Diela. Please keep in mind that whatever method I choose, it is something the duke has permitted."
"W-what... did you say?"
Even the head butler did not know about this document. He couldn't help but be shocked.
It meant that it had not been formally delivered through the head butler, but that the duke had written it on the spot.
Head butler Delron could not help but doubt the authenticity of the document. A commoner laying hands on a noble is not simply a moral issue of right or wrong violence. It is a challenge to the authority of the nobility.
If the fact that this was permitted were to leak out somewhere, it would become a great disgrace to the entire ducal house. Nobles must always be dignified.
How could Duke Duplein, who stands at the very top of that authority, permit such a thing?
When head butler Delron looked at Derrick with that doubt, Derrick answered as if he understood his thoughts.
"I heard young master Raig told you to look into something."
"....!"
The second son of the ducal house, Raig, had already completely given up on rehabilitating Diela.
He had changed direction and was planning to confine her in a remote monastery. As part of that plan, he had instructed the head butler to look into monasteries.
Duke Duplein had dismissed that proposal, but that didn't mean he didn't feel burdened.
The very fact that such a plan was being openly discussed in front of the duke meant that the situation had gone as far as it could go.
Not only the servants of the annex, but even the retainers of the main house were already being exhausted by her rampages.
As the head of the group, he could not keep turning a blind eye forever.
So this decision was the last drastic measure of a father who loved his daughter and steeled his heart.
If even such drastic medicine did not work, then there would be no choice but to judge it as an incurable disease.
"Young lady Diela does not have much time left."
When he put it so succinctly, Delron's expression hardened.
More than anything, Derrick's own actions were hard to believe.
A boy who was a mage from a mercenary background. Even if he had grown up raw in a wild environment, this was not the kind of courage an ordinary human would have.
No matter how much he had the duke's document backing him, a person who could slap a noble young lady was never common.
Duke Duplein is sharp in judging people's capacity.
Whether he had predicted this far or not, Delron could not know from his current point of view.
*
"Brother! Brother! Please calm down first, brother!"
–Boom!
That night, after the situation had been roughly settled and Derrick was organizing his equipment in the guest room the butler had shown him.
A man filled with anger kicked open the door of the room where Derrick was staying and rushed in.
"Are you the mercenary that Aiselin brought? Yeah, you're that guy I saw in front of the audience hall during the day."
"Brother! No, let's calm down first, brother!"
The first son of the Duplein family, Valerian Delromaine Duplein.
A handsome man with a tall build and long blond hair grabbed Derrick by the collar with a face twisted in anger.
He was the one designated as the next Family Head of the Duplein family, and was known as a man with a gentle and benevolent atmosphere.
However, there was no such benevolence on the face that was glaring at Derrick while grabbing his collar.
In front of the impudent commoner who had beaten his precious youngest sister, he could not keep his reason and his voice trembled.
"You dare... you dare..."
"Brother!"
Raig, who was trying to stop him from the side, almost looked pitiful.
Derrick listened while being grabbed by the collar, then eventually answered in a quiet voice.
"It is something His Grace the Duke has permitted."
He stated the plain fact, with as much courtesy as possible.
Hearing that, Valerian held his breath for a moment, then slowly closed and opened his eyes, and released Derrick's collar.
".... Hoo."
Then Valerian let out a deep sigh, wiped his face as if washing it dry, and said.
"Follow me. Raig, you go train."
"No, if I hadn't followed you, who knows what would have happened..."
"I won't say it twice."
Valerian said that, then glanced at Derrick as if telling him to follow, and walked back out through the open door.
Raig quietly watched Valerian, then let out a deep sigh and patted Derrick on the shoulder.
"Yeah. I heard about what happened during the day. I'm on your side. That Diela really needs to be beaten to come to her senses. Just because she's a noble, does she think fists will avoid her?"
"... No."
"Anyway, you're having a hard time dealing with a kid who can't be rehabilitated. Well, she'll be sent to the monastery soon anyway, so just endure a little longer. Brother Valerian is... well... he's kind-hearted, so he has that side to him, but he's a good person. He won't really harm you, so don't be too tense... Anyway, since things have turned out like this, I should get going."
Raig, with a sturdy build, square jaw, and solid muscles that made his whole body look reliable, let out a deep sigh and followed through the open door.
"Good grief... what's the point of holding onto something with no hope..."
Raig's expression as he left, lamenting like that, didn't look very good either.
It seemed he had already given up all hope for Diela.
*
The place Valerian took Derrick to was a room in a secluded corner on the first floor of the main building of the mansion.
At a glance, it was a place that hadn't seen people come and go for a long time.
Nevertheless, it seemed to be cleaned neatly every time, as there wasn't a speck of dust to be found.
–Fwoosh.
When Valerian raised mana, the candlesticks around the room were lit, and the interior came into view at a glance.
It was a pretty and cute room.
On one side was a bed full of cute lace and ribbons, and on the other side was a bookshelf where pretty and cute dolls were neatly displayed.
A wardrobe full of cute frilled dresses, and bookshelves with various books neatly organized.
It was a classical yet girlish room. It was a bit too big for a girl to use alone, but considering her status, it wasn't strange.
"This is the room Diela used when she stayed in the main house."
Valerian said in a low voice.
Now she was half-confined in her own kingdom called the annex, but it seemed that Diela back when she stayed here had been a little different.
In one corner of the room, several canvases and painting tools were placed.
When Derrick looked that way, Valerian added an explanation.
"Diela used to enjoy drawing. She mainly drew landscapes. She started as part of High Society education, but she became very interested in it and would always happily draw and come show me."
"......"
"I still often remember her body bouncing around every time she asked me to look at her drawings."
As he wandered among the canvases, one canvas covered with a pure white cloth caught Derrick's eye.
Seeing Valerian's reaction, he removed the cover.
A neatly painted sunset scene came into view at a glance.
A painting of a young girl riding on a maid's back and looking at a magnificent sunset.
However, the edges of the painting were left blank.
"This is the last painting she was working on. As you can see, it's unfinished."
"Unfinished?"
"Diela always liked drawing, but she almost never finished them. She usually left blank spaces and only drew up to the parts she liked."
Looking again, indeed, they were all landscapes with blank spaces left here and there.
While they were looking at the paintings like that, Valerian sat on the edge of the desk in one corner of the room.
Then he pressed his forehead, let out a sigh, and said.
"..... I'm sorry for grabbing your collar emotionally earlier. I apologize."
A heavy feeling was evident on his face.
For a noble young master to apologize to a mere commoner was not an easy thing.
"I always resolve to be a rational person, but at important moments, I end up acting emotionally. Even more so when family is involved. In that regard, I am still far from being a ruler."
"... May I ask why you showed me this room?"
"... I wanted to convince you. She wasn't a child who deserved to be treated with contempt and beaten."
Valerian spoke calmly in a heavy voice.
"But, from some point on, she started to obsess excessively over her Bloodline and look down on those beneath her. I don't know why she became like that... I don't know what the trigger was. She started to change little by little, and recently, she's become like the state you know."
"......."
"I just... I just don't know. Why she's so fanatically obsessed with her Bloodline, and what makes Diela so vicious. She was slow at learning magic and wasn't perfect in every field, but... still, she was always bright. She drew lots of the pictures she liked, and she was a lovely child who always happily chatted with her family."
Valerian stood up from the desk he was leaning on, straightened the sharp formal wear that noble young masters wear, and bowed his head.
Derrick couldn't help but be greatly flustered.
Although it was still far in the future before he would take power since the duke was still healthy, he was still the next Family Head of the Duplein Ducal House.
He was in a position where bowing his head to a commoner was not permitted.
Leaving aside pride, it was simply not allowed by noble rules.
"I heard from my father. If this continues, Diela really is going to the monastery."
"This is troublesome."
"If she can somehow just learn one 1-Star magic, I can try to persuade my father. At the very least, she can start preparing for her debut in High Society. So... please... please give Diela one more chance."
Valerian, who had raised his head, had a serious expression.
He could understand the desperation, but from Derrick's point of view, his head hurt right away.
From what he heard from the servants, if things didn't go her way, she beat people, broke things because she was annoyed, insulted retainers, and crushed them by bringing up her status.
To the point that Valerian's story was hard to believe, she was a scoundrel, a hopeless case, and a broken personality.
And he was being told to rehabilitate such a child into a proper young lady and even teach her magic.
That was no different from being told to perform magic in the literal sense.
It made perfect sense that she had replaced 20 teachers in 8 months.
"......"
Even so, Derrick first walked around Diela's room and organized his thoughts.
Canvases full of various landscapes. Neatly arranged bedding. Cute lace and ribbons.
As he quietly looked up at the bookshelf among them, there were also many books used during home education.
Books containing information about embroidery, flower arrangement, horseback riding, and such.
There were even several Magic Books, which were said to be expensive.
It seemed that a ducal family even prepared separate Magic Books for education.
"... Hm."
Derrick held his chin and slowly examined the bookshelf.
They were all Discipline School Magic Books of the Noble Society.
Of course. This is the Duplein family.
When he took one out and turned it around, it clearly showed traces of having been read diligently.
There were traces of notes here and there, and even impressions of practice.
It wasn't hard to tell.
Diela hadn't given up on everything from the start.
Despite grinding efforts, she simply hadn't achieved any results.
The amount of effort is important, but just as important is its direction.
Looking at the Discipline School theory books stacked full on the shelves, Derrick couldn't help but think that way.
"Alright. Let's try once."
Derrick put the book he had taken out back into the shelf and said that to Valerian.
And then, he put his robe hood back on and left the room.
The place his steps were headed for was not the bedroom, but the annex of the mansion surrounded by countless rose vines.
The deep night darkness welcomed him as he quietly crossed the garden.
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