Losing Virginity

Translated by Raizu

We stayed in the fortified city of Portu for only one night and headed for the territory capital of Lioncoeur.

The word『Lioncoeur』 is so confusing that when you read materials such as『Earl Lioncoeur』, 『Indigenous people of Lioncoeur』, 『Lioncoeur Basin』, and 『Lioncoeur territory』, it is a word that appears so often that you get confused.

Therefore, it seems that the territory capital of Lioncoeur is often simply called “the capital”.

By the way, since there is only one [Royal Capital] in the Kingdom of Amoros, it is rarely called anything other than [Royal Capital].

This capital is a little over a day away from Portu by horse-drawn carriage, but we didn’t enter at night to let the people announce and prepare for the return of the lord.

We decided to stay overnight in a nearby village and enter the capital the next morning.

It’s ridiculous to spend the night right in front of your own house. But if a lord returns at night, it tends to be equated to “defeat” or “escape”.

Or something like that. The answer that I got was rather vague.

When entering the capital, despite his sore butt, Robel chose to ride a horse. So I returned to the carriage.

It seems that this is also an appeal to the people of the fief..Do they really care that much?

There are three large cities in the Earldom of Lioncoeur.

The capital.

The fortified city of Portu, the protector of the west.

And the mining city of Fehr at the eastern foot of the mountain.

The capital is the residence of the feudal lord, but since the Earldom is protected by Portu, the capital does not have an actual strong defensive structure such as a fortress.

All the fortifications are in Portu.

However, located in the middle of the Lioncoeur Basin, the fief capital is the center of political administration.

We entered the castle and headed to the mansion while being sent off by the citizens.

Lioncoeur’s mansion was a large one-story house with splendid plastered stone walls and unglazed roof tiles.

If you look at it, it even has a stone tower.

[ It was hard work! You should rest your body for a while!]

Rudolph declared dissolution and the squires dispersed.

The slaves stayed to do some cleaning up.

[Young Master, I’m here to bid you farewell.]

Giroude came all the way to greet me.

He was supposed to leave his role as my bodyguard since he has to get married and take over the family estate.

He belongs to the class of squires who own land, and they have to exercise discretion over clans and slaves.

Giroude will probably be busy from now on.

We only knew each other for a few months, but he was my benefactor who saved me when I lost my way into this land of Amoros and didn’t know what to do.

[Thank you, Jiro.]

When I thanked Giroude with all my emotions, Rudolph called out from behind me,?[Honore, thank you very much].

By the way, Honoré is Giroude’s name. Honoré Giroude is his full name.

[I think I’ll leave Varian to Albert.]

[Haa, Young Master.. to that Albert, huh..]

At Giroude’s confusion, Rudolph fearlessly laughed,?[It’ll be fine].]

I clearly have a bad feeling about it.

[Father, who is this Albert..?]

[Albert is a member of our family and a butler.]

I was a little surprised by Rudolph’s words.

If you think about it, the Lioncoeur family is an Earl family. It is no wonder that there is a butler.

Butler? Butler, huh..

Speaking of the image of a butler, there was a time when I thought that a butler must be an intellectual nice middle-aged man dressed in a tailcoat.

=========

[It’s been a while, Rudolph. This fellow here is Varian?]

[Albert, I leave him in your care.]

The white-haired man and Rudolph only exchanged brief greetings, leaving only Albert and me.

Apparently Rudolph would only bring Rushieno and Robel for the greeting tour.

[So, you are Varian? Hmm, you look like a true Lioncoeur.]

As soon as I saw the person in front of me, I immediately thought,『This is the guy』.

This Albert is an elderly person around 50 years old, but his face is amazing.

On the left side of his face, he had scars that stretched from his mouth to his ears, and he had no left ear.

The right half of his face was filled with shredding scars, leaving a twitch.

His right eyeball was probably also crushed when he received that scar.

..Where is Albert the butler? You’re an assassin, aren’t you? Isn’t it a fraud?

I felt the “butler image” of Seba*tian and Gary*n Tokita shattered into pieces.

However, ”butler” refers to a position that supervises and executes the practical work of aristocrats. It is natural for a butler to be a warrior in a noble house like Lioncoeur.

This is an aside, but real-life butlers almost never wear tailcoats.

Someone who wears a tailcoat, is like advertising himself as a VIP to the enemy attackers.

Real rich people are wary of kidnappings and tend to avoid standing out, and even the butlers wear ordinary suits.

Back to the topic.

[I’m Varian. Are you Albert?]

[That’s right, I’m Albert de Grote. I’m a knight. I’ll train you at Rudolph’s request.]

Albert let out a strange laugh, saying,?[Be prepared].

[We start now.]

[Yes..]

As soon as I answered, I received a strong impact on my face, and sparks flew in front of my eyes.

I was beaten.

It took me a few seconds to realize that fact while falling to the ground.

[I told ya we start now, didn’t I?]

This was how Albert and I first met.

===========

Albert’s special training was extremely harsh.

Over the course of the day, I practiced horsemanship, martial arts, and archery, and even though it was still chilly, I experienced sleeping outdoors several times.

You could say he completely destroyed my spoiled modern sense of values.

Giroude taught me how to use swords and shields, but Albert said,?[There is no need for such elegant techniques], and made me practice with various weapons, occasionally killing dogs and goats.

It seems that everything is “practicing to kill”.

I understand that the battlefield is not a beautiful thing, but dogs were tough for the 8 year old me, and I’ve been in danger many times.

Sometimes I would carry a spear for half a day and practice marching.

The three people who received Albert’s education were me, Albert’s grandson Jean, and Rolo.

Jean’s full name is Jean de Grote, and he is a boy with blond hair and blue eyes who is one year younger than me and Rolo.

You can say that Jean was my [classmate]. But honestly, I felt out of luck.

I’d rather become my brother Robel’s [classmate] so that I can be taught by Dekos instead...

And, surprisingly, Albert didn’t mind Rolo’s participation..in fact, he was happy to have as many strong battle slaves as possible.

And then, a memorable day for me came.

[Hey, kiddos, kill these guys.]

One day, Albert lined up four tied men and women.

All of them were thin and shabbily dressed.

[But, who are they?]

When I asked what I thought was a natural question, Albert punched me.

Sparks flew in front of my eyes, and a nosebleed erupted.

[Don’t talk back to me!]

Albert threatened me, but I couldn’t back down here.

I couldn’t condone blind murder.

[No, no. In some cases, it’s against the law. I can’t let Rolo and Jean do that.]

With my nose bleeding, I asked again,?[Who are they?].

[Tsk. sick slaves and criminals. Rudolph already know about this.]

Hearing my words, Albert threw up in annoyance.

[Learn how to kill. First, kill the slaves. One by one, stab them to death with a sword. Next, you three beat the criminals to death with sticks.]

I was shocked when I heard Albert’s words.

The four bound people let out a small scream and begged for their lives.

Gluk, my swallowed pretty hard.

The criminals might deserve it, but is it right to kill innocent slaves just because they’re sickly?

....it can’t be good....

One was a female slave. She was a skinny woman with black hair, about 30 years old.

The woman desperately begged for her life.

There’s no way I’d kill her.

When I realized that, my body shook violently.

Albert raised his voice happily,?[What’s wrong? Are you still choosing?].

I’m thinking about stabbing Albert instead, but I don’t think it’s possible.

[Varian-sama. Let me..]

Perhaps I should just let Rolo do it for me.

....What was I thinking? Learning martial arts that are meant to kill people.. it will never be all flowery and beautiful!

I grabbed the dagger and stabbed the woman in front of me.

This was the [sword stab] that I learned from Giroude.

[Gyaaaa!? Stop!! Don’t kill me!]

The woman burst into tears at the sudden event.

[Not yet! She’s not dead yet!]

Albert scolded me.

[Uwaaa!]

I screamed and stabbed repeatedly.

By the time the woman stopped moving, I might have stabbed her more than 10 times.

The miserably sick woman died from blood loss.

[Gufufufu, it’s not bad, next time think about where to aim.]

Albert tapped me on the shoulder.

I stared absent-mindedly as Rolo stabbed the sick man.

It’s human we’re killing.

I killed an innocent slave.

I killed someone for the first time in my 42-year life.

That was the first time I lost my virginity.