After the knights were defeated in two consecutive practice matches, they were made to run a lap around Moterno, which, if I give an estimate, should be at least 20 kilometers long.

As for me, I'm with Yuna and Liz at an isolated location, testing out and training Liz's magic with the help of my summoned creatures.

「《Water Blade》!《Water Blade》!《Water Blade》!」Eliza

One after the other, Liz's spell cut off the summoned goblins's heads. If it were a few days ago, this wouldn't have been possible, but with Liz's hard work, she managed to pull it off.

While Liz is still at H-rank, she wouldn't lose to any adults in terms of combat power, she would even be able to beat them easily. That's just how much Liz has improved over the past 4 days.

Though, it wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for me instructing her how to do things right. The knowledge God had imprinted on me was really amazing.

「Alright, Liz, I'll summon a stronger opponent.」Grey

「Un.」Eliza

「《Summon: Trentling》.」Grey

As I casted the summoning spell, a crack appeared on the ground and a small tree about my height sprouted from it. A few moments later, the tree started moving and charged towards Liz.

「《Water Blade》!」Eliza

Liz tried to cut down the trentling with a water spell, but because of the trentling's tough exterior, the spell was only able to graze it.

This would be good training for Liz. With this, she should learn that not all opponents are the same, and that adapting to the situation quickly is one of the most important things a fighter should learn.

Seeing that her spell didn't work, Liz grabbed the hilt of her sword and unsheathed it. By the time the trentling was in her range, she was ready to engage in close combat.

Liz brandished her sword left and right, wounding the trentling as time passed, but the trentling did not just stand around and let itself get cut down, it also tried to counterattack.

The trentling lashed out its branches in an attempt to land a hit on Liz, but everytime it did, Liz would successfully parry it with her sword. And when the trentling's guard was finally down...

「《Heavy Slash》!」Eliza

... Liz delivered the final blow and cut the trentling down. Without much resistance, the trentling fell to the ground, and moments later, the trentling turned back into mana and melted into the air.

When the trentling was defeated, Liz collapsed on her knees and was audibly grasping her breath.

「Ha... Ha... Ha...」Eliza

「Do you want to continue, Liz?」Grey

「Ah, y-yes. I can still fight!」Eliza

Or so she says, but her trembling body says otherwise.

「Don't be too hard on yourself, Liz-chan. You don't want to suffer rapid mana exhaustion again, right?」Yuna

「Ugh...」Eliza

Hearing Yuna's words, Liz recollected the time she suffered muscle aches all over her body because of rapid mana exhaustion, and made a cramped face.

It must have been a very unpleasant experience for her...

「Then why don't we take a break. I have pudding in my『Storage』, do you guys want some?」Grey

「Ah, Grey, I want some!」Yuna

Hearing the word "pudding", Yuna's ears twitched and her eyes sparkled. Yuna really does love food.

「Pud... ding...?」Eliza

「It's a sweet dessert made from eggs and flour.」Yuna

「Then, I'd like to try one too, Grey-oniisama!」Eliza

After she heard Yuna's brief explanation, Liz's curiosity was piqued and she asked me for one too, which I gladly gave to her.

Hmm... Is it just me, or is Liz being influenced by Yuna...

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Nah, it might be just my imagination.

「So sweet! And delicious!」Eliza

「I know right?」Yuna

「Grey-oniisama, I want to eat this everyday!」Eliza

「No, you'll get fat if you do that.」Grey

When I said those words, Liz's hands stopped from moving and she looked at the pudding with crestfallen eyes. One the other hand, Yuna ate as if she didn't have an ounce of care for the world.

Ah... Looks like the word "fat" is a taboo to all women even in other worlds. It must have been really hard to control oneself in front of temptations.

But well, Liz is still a child so she shouldn't get fat that easily... probably...

「Don't worry, you won't get fat if you only eat it every once in a while.」Grey

「A-Alright...」Eliza

「Hm? Pudding can make you fat?」Yuna

While Liz continued to eat her cup of pudding in silence, Yuna on the other hand, stopped and asked a silly question.

Come to think of it, Yuna has been eating lots of foods that are high in calories and sugar, yet she didn't even get a bit chubbier. It would only do justice to say that Yuna never gets fat.

I wonder, are all elves like that, or is Yuna just a special case?

After our short pudding break, we continued with our training, and after a few hours, Liz was able to defeat trentlings with ease.

It was already late in the afternoon when we finished, and in that short amount of time, Liz was able to reach the level where she could stand equal grounds against any H-rank adventurer.

When we returned to town, we were greeted by Gil-san and Hal-san. For the past days we have been going in and out of the gates, we already became familiar with each other.

「Did you finish your training Eliza-sama?」Gil

「Un!」Eliza

「Did you have fun?」Hal

「I did! I was able to beat trentlings!」Eliza

「「Trentlings!?」」

Because of Liz's sudden declaration, Gil-san and Hal-san's jaws dropped to the ground from shock.

「Wasn't it supposed to be slimes?!」Hal

「Eliza-sama, you're not hurt, are you?!」Gil

「U-Umm...」Eliza

「Wait, do you have any wounds?」Hal

「Bruises? Scratches? Blisters?」Gil

「I'm fine, reー」

「What if you got poisoned, no what ifー」Hal

「Annoying.」Yuna

「「S-Sorry...」」

Because they were worried about Liz's safety, Gil-san and Hal-san started bombarding Liz with questions about her current status, and seeing Liz feeling uncomfortable, Yuna put a stop to them with just a single word.

「Umm... Gil-san, Hal-san, you really don't have to worry about me. After all. Grey-oniisama and Yuna-oneesama were there to protect me.」Eliza

「Ah, right...」Gil

「Well, they are the Grim Reaper and the Phantom, after all.」Hal

Hm? I think I just heard something weird mixed in. If I'm the Grim Reaper, then does that mean that the Phantom is... Yuna...?

「Phantom?」Yuna

「Yeah, that's what the knights nicknamed Yuna-sama after the practice match this morning. Apparently, none of them were able to see Yuna-sama when you attacked. They said it was as if they were fighting a phantom.」Gil

「They also said that in less than a minute, all of them were defeated and that Yuna-sama didn't even break a sweat.」Hal

「That's true! I saw it all with my eyes! Yuna-oneesama is amazing!」Eliza

Hearing the stories about the Yuna's practice match with the knights, Liz started singing praises for her. She was like a proud younger sister who just saw her elder sister perform on stage for the first time. While Yuna on the other hand...

「The Phantom...」Yuna

... was frozen in awe after learning about her nickname.

Although I knew that Yuna had always wanted one since I got mine, I didn't think she would be that moved by it. Also, isn't she a bit embarrassed about it?

Even now, I still cringe whenever I hear that embarrassing nickname of mine. I really want to get rid of it.

「Grey, I got a cool nickname...!」Yuna

Before I noticed, Yuna had approached me and whispered something into my ears with a bright smile in her face.

But it was so sudden that I became flustered by it, and my heart started racing.

「Ah, I'm happy for you.」Grey

「Really...? But your acting a little odd.」Yuna

「Ah, that's because...」Grey

「Because...?」Yuna

「Y... You're too... close...」Grey

She might have not noticed it, but Yuna was really close that I could clearly hear her breathing. And since I'm already aware of my feelings for her, I can't stop myself from getting flustered.

「Ah! S-S-Sorry!」Yuna

When she noticed, Yuna immediately backed off and her face became beet red, she was so red that it almost gave me a misunderstanding that she was conscious of me.

「Don't worry, I'm not really bothered by it.」Grey

That was a lie. I really am bothered by it, in fact, my heart might explode any second now.

「I-I see... Ah, Liz-chan, you're hungry, right? How about we head back to the mansion and prepare dinner?」Yuna

「O-Okay...?」Eliza

Embarrassed by what she just did, Yuna tried to quickly change the conversation and asked Liz to go home with her.

And while the two were heading first... I noticed Gil-san and Hal-san looking at me with a large grin on their faces, and giving me a thumbs up.

I don't wanna talk about it, so I'll just ignore them.

Without making eye contact with Gil-san and Hal-san, I quickly followed Yuna and Liz's lead and headed back to the mansion. But throughout the whole walk, Yuna and I didn't say a word to each other.

Upon arriving at the mansion, Yuna quickly headed to the kitchen with Liz and started preparing dinner. And since I was left alone, I decided to head to the dining room to set the table. But when I arrived...

「Oh, Grey-sama. You're back, how was your day?」Gustav

... Gustav-san was there doing who knows what.

Although I am bothered by how he addresses me, I can't do anything about it. When I asked him to just call me "Grey" like Fritz does, he responded「I can't do something as rude as that, after all, Grey-sama is a noble of his own right, while I myself am just a humble knight.」.

Although he was of noble descent, Gustav-san is not the family's head, meaning that he does not have a peerage rank himself and was just a knight. Although I managed to convince the ever so stiff Kurt to call me casually, Gustav-san is someone who respects the hierarchy highly.

「Ah, good evening Gustav-san. It was fine, Liz also made some progress today, I appreciate you asking.」Grey

「Oh, really? Then just for reference, how strong is Liz right now?」Gustav

「Hmm... I think she could stand in equal grounds against a hobgoblin.」Grey

「A hobgoblin!? But didn't you start training her just 4 days ago!?」Gustav

Yep, everyone would react this way. After all, where could you find a ten-year-old who's able to defeat a hobgoblin?

「Well, that's because Liz is a talented child.」Grey

「No, no, even if she is, it would have still taken her at least a couple of weeks or even a month to do so. It must have been because of how you taught her.」Gustav

「You're exaggerating.」Grey

「No, it only makes sense since even though Grey-sama is so young, you are already in a level where you could fare equally against a lesser dragon.」Gustav

「Ahaha...」Grey

In response to Gustav-san's comments, I could only give off a dry laugh, just showing how on point he was.

「Say, Grey-sama, how did you get this strong at such a young age?」Gustav

「...」Grey

「Ah, if it's a secret, you don't have to tell me. I apologize for prying.」Gustav

「Ah, no. It's not that it's a secret, it's more like it's so simple that you might not even believe me. Truthfully, I just trained as if my own life depended on it, and fought against real opponents in order to get real combat experience. I repeated that day after day, and before I knew I already became this strong.」Grey

Although what I said wasn't a lie, it wasn't the full truth either. While having real battles is more effective than just training, the knowledge God imprinted on me played a big role, too. Though, I can't really say that, and even if I did, I don't think he'll believe me.

「I see... So real battle experience, huh...」Gustav

「Sorry if my answer was too simple.」Grey

「No, it's really helpful. Right now, our soldiers are only being trained with drills and practice matches. Being in a life and death situation might help them, though it's very risky so I don't think we'll adapt this teaching style anytime soon.」Gustav

Thank goodness... If they did adapt my training style, I wouldn't be able to sleep just thinking how many soldiers lost their life because of my idea.

「Ah, by the way Gustav-san, how are the knights?」Grey

「Them...? Well, after they had their run, they said they would practice some more. I think them losing twice in a row against someone younger than them had an impact on them, and made them eager to train even harder.」Gustav

「Oh, I see...」Grey

「Though I don't think they can still beat you anytime soon. Hahaha!」Gustav

「Ahaha...」Grey

I think I know where Liz inherited all her energy from.

「Ta-da!」Eliza

Just as mine and Gustav-san's conversation ended, Liz and Yuna entered the dining room with the other chefs, with the dishes for dinner on their hands.

And when I made eye contact with Yuna, she suddenly jolted and turned her head away from me.

Minutes later, Fritz and the others joined us in the dining room and we had a hearty meal together. Though, Yuna still won't look at me.

Haah... I just wish we won't be like this tomorrow. I really do.

CHAPTER 38 END