Heir Of The Supreme
Chapter 73: Home Tutor Bodyguard Blaine! (6)

Chapter 73: Home Tutor Bodyguard Blaine! (6)

Standing behind a pillar of rock, Blaine studied Cecelia with a blank look.

At his own behest, the princess was once more facing off against another Rank 1 monster, that too with only a dagger in her hands.

It also just so happened that it was another long-eared magical creature.

While Blaine had yet to encounter such creatures himself, according to Cecelia, they were known as ’Rabmoles.’

She hadn’t told Blaine their name explicitly, but he did hear the princess curse herself out for ’not being able to beat a single Rabmole.’

Well... regardless of what they were called, Cecelia was once more shaking, shaking in fear while in the presence of one.

With a glimmer of ravenous hunger flashing across its eyes, the Rabmole once more kicked off the floor and dashed in the princess’s direction.

Intent on tearing the girl to shreds.

’...It seems she still needs more time.’

Shaking his head with a tinge of disappointment, Blaine unsheathed his dagger and prepared himself to intervene and save Cecelia.

However, just before he could throw his dagger, he suddenly stopped.

Cecelia’s shivering arms... were starting to move.

Instead of completely freezing in terror, Cecelia was fighting that impulse and preparing to fight back.

True to this, her dagger lifted into the air.

Cecelia visualized the motions Blaine showed her and slashed down at the oncoming monster.

However, as she did this, the teachings of her other tutors guided her to take a step forward into a lunge and channel the entirety of her body’s force into the strike.

Although her weapon’s length was far too short for her to make full use of her body’s strength, anything was still better than nothing.

Just as her dagger was about to plunge into the monster’s flesh, another one sailed through the air and impaled itself in the Rabmole’s skull.

As its eyes full of life dulled, the monster’s body fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Knowing the perpetrator of the monster’s untimely end, Cecelia turned her head in Blaine’s direction.

"I... Failed again..." Cecelia sighed.

Despite another whole week of travelling having passed between her leaving the campgrounds, she still couldn’t do anything.

It was a painful feeling.

No matter how hard she tried, her goal seemed far too distant to ever feel reachable.

However, Blaine’s following words completely surprised her.

"No. You did well."

Fighting the overwhelming urge to let her knees buckle, Cecelia blinked her eyes several times in confusion.

"Me? I did Well?"

This was the first time she had heard any form of praise from her tutor... Not that he really admonished her, either.

He just impassively watched her actions without offering a word of advice.

However, just now... he’d finally complimented her, although Cecelia had no idea why.

Blaine nodded his head, affirming his earlier words.

"You overcame your fear."

"Overcame... my fear?"

"Yes, and stop parroting me. Overcoming your innate fear of running away is the first step to learning how to fight. If you can’t even hold your ground, there is no point in training."

Cecelia’s eyes widened in realization.

"Wait... so, this whole time you kept harassing me, it was all to force me to be braver?"

Blaine nodded his head.

Cecelia felt a vein bulge on her forehead. As per usual, the auburn-haired bastard picked the most infuriating way to ’teach’ her.

Taking a deep breath to calm her taut nerves, Cecelia studied Blaine with a complicated look.

Beneath the residual anger... there was a look of hope and expectation.

"So... are you going to finally ’train me’ for real now?"

Blaine nodded his head in affirmation.

While Cecelia was joyous at this development, she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of wariness in his words.

This was surely going to increase her already immense workload, wasn’t it...

Cecelia’s body was already more than just a little sore from the repeated abuse she was giving it.

However, Blaine’s following words sounded almost angelic.

"Now that you’re capable of thinking in tense situations... It’s time to teach you ’how’ to think."

"So, you’re going to impart your thought process to me?" Cecelia asked in expectation.

Blaine nodded his head.

"However... Before I do, I want to ask you a question. In order to win... how far are you willing to go?"

As the boy’s question entered her head, Cecelia paused in confusion.

’How far... would I go?’

As the faces of the people who died on her behalf flashed across her mind, Cecelia’s eyes shone with a resolute light.

The members of Eclipse who died for her during her First Trial, Rick who died escorting her, and so many others.

Cecelia already knew her answer... she needed to do their sacrifices justice.

"Anything. I would do anything and everything to win."

Blaine watched the princess’s declaration without as much as a tinge of reaction.

"Do you... understand the true meaning of the words you’ve just said?"

At Blaine’s unexpectedly grave tone, Cecelia raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"...Yeah?"

Honestly, she felt a little bit of self-doubt after hearing Blaine’s words.

Blaine let out a light sigh.

"Attack me. I won’t strike back."

Instead of wasting his breath to explain, it was far more efficient to just show her.

Despite feeling perplexed at the boy’s words, Cecelia complied without question.

Her body was quite exhausted, but she still managed to assume a shoddy combat stance.

Raising her dagger into the air, she repeated her earlier strike and plunged the weapon in Blaine’s direction.

However... moments before Cecelia’s dagger could pierce Blaine’s flesh, the boy’s hand suddenly moved, and a handful of dust soon entered Cecelia’s vision.

"Ahh! My eyes!"

As the dust went directly into her light blue pupils, Cecelia cried out in agony.

Before she could properly process what was happening, she felt her feet stumble against something on the ground, sending her off balance.

Being disoriented and blind, the princess couldn’t stop herself from falling to the ground with an audible thud.

"What the hell?!? Why would you do that?" Crying out in justifiable anger, Cecelia moved her hands to rub her eyes, "You said you wouldn’t strike back!"

Blaine looked down at the princess and shook his head.

"I never did strike back. I just threw dust in your eyes and let you trip yourself over my foot."

"You’re just using technicalities at this point!"

"Yet, I still managed to knock you down. All without having used either my physical strength or my Mana Art to do so."

Having finally rubbed the last specks of dirt from her eyes, Ceceila gave Blaine a blood-shot glare.

"Aren’t you supposed to be a knight, one of the Royal Guard at that? You’re supposed to be representing the entire kingdom! How could someone like you use such underhanded tactics?"

Feeling a tinge of Nostalgia, Blaine’s lips curved upwards ever so slightly.

"This is your first lesson, Princess: Do anything it takes to win... No matter how scummy or underhanded it may seem. Things like honour and fair fights are meaningless if you’re dead."