358 Chapter 358: Assassin’s Pride II (1/2)

”…excuse me?”

I wasn't sure I heard Melina correctly. This had to be some sort of joke…right?

”Private tutor? Me?”

”Yes, that's right.” Melina nodded earnestly. Beside her, Adrian grinned brightly, as if he was prud of me. The blond girl continued, taking encouragement from her friend's smile. ”You are the perfect person for the job. You are strong enough to defeat my older brother – no mean feat in itself, considering that Brother was the candidate for the Sword Saint before Cousin Kureha. That alone is more than enough qualifies you to teach me.”

No, it didn't, but I doubted she would let the truth get in the way of her agenda. Maybe I was mistaken and she held some grudge against me for being involved in her brother's death in an indirect form. This had to be a trap. There was no other reason behind this nonsense.

”Furthermore, you're the only one who can help me.” When she saw that I had remained silent, with a suspicious expression on my face, her own features fell. ”No one else is willing to teach me swordsmanship.”

”…what? Really?” I raised an eyebrow at that. ”I saw you fight earlier. Those were some superb skills. Where did you learn that from?”

”Self-taught. I imitated the sword techniques of my relatives by watching them train. But none of them agreed to teach me.”

”Really? Not even Kureha? Kureha would be a much better and more apprioriate teacher for you. I'm sure she will teach you if you ask her instead…”

”About that…” Adrian was the one who cut in this time, raising his hand. ”Melina has some, uh, problems with her family. They don't recognize her as a swordsman…at least not a swordsman in the Franklin tradition.”

”What the hell is even a 'Franklin tradition'?” I demanded, growing increasingly skeptical of this nonsense.

”As you know the Franklin family is a clan of swordsmen. You know, you've met Brother Shawn and Sister Kureha. Among the ten great families, they are known as the Paladins.”

”…so?” I glanced from Adrian to Melina, still not sure what the hell they were driving at.

”So, to preserve their honor and reputation as Paladins, all members of the Franklin family must excel in swordsmanship, or…stay out of the public.”

”…I'll be married off to someone from one of the other ten great families,” Melina whispered sullenly. I shrugged.

”That's great. Why don't you and Adrian get married?”

Both kids gaped at me, their faces turning bright red, and they began spluttering. Adrian finally found his voice.

”Come on, Brother Richard! Be serious!”

I was actually being serious, but I could understand if the two young mages still didn't want to resort to marriage at their current age.

”I wish to choose my own partner…and above all, I wish to prove to everyone that I can be a swordswoman. An excellent, peerless swordswoman just like Cousin Kureha.” Melina puffed her not significant chest out determinedly. ”I want to show everyone that I can be a Paladin just like Brother and Cousin Kureha, and stop everyone from looking down on me!”

”A noble goal,” I conceded, pushing my glasses up. ”But that doesn't explain why Kureha would refuse to teach you. I know her personally, and she doesn't strike me as someone…mean and petty. She seems like a nice and helpful person to me.”

”That's…well, a little more complicated than that.” Melina fidgeted a little, turning her head away and avoiding my gaze. Adrian quickly stepped in to help her out.

”Melina is known among the noble families and the school as the Incompetent Talented Girl.”

”WHAT THE FUCK!?” I bellowed. ”Are we ripping off Assassin's Pride now?! Screw this bullshit! At least change the nickname or something!”

Both Adrian and Melina were staring at me, and I sighed before burying my face in my palm. Suppressing my fury, I gestured for them to continue.

”Aside from ripping off a light novel with the most ridiculous nickname that you couldn't even be bothered to alter, what does that have to do with anything?”

”Melina has been judged as talentless or untalented when it comes to swordsmanship,” Adrian explained, casting an apologetic look in her direction. ”So her family has basically given up on her. They also told her to give up on learning swordsmanship, and instead focus on becoming a lady befitting of serving as a noble's wife.”

”Like hell I'll do that!” Melina snarled defiantly, balling both of her fists.

”I know, that's why I suggested that you approach Brother Richard for help.” Adrian turned back to me. ”Please, Brother Richard. Even Sister Kureha has abandoned Melina, saying that it'll be a waste of time to teach someone without talent.”

A scowl creased across my face and I also clenched my fists. Talent? Untalented? Waste of time? What utter bullshit. I had never heard of such nonsense in my life. Since when was someone's worth decided by this intangible and invisible thing called ”talent”? How do you decide if someone has talent or not? Just because they were not as good as others? So they should just surrender and stop just because they weren't as good as others?

What rubbish. While I wasn't going to deny that there was a clear difference between geniuses and ordinary people, that was no reason for people to submit to such bullshit. I had absolutely no talent in writing, especially if you read the comments from 99% of my readers, who often claimed that I should stop contaminating the Internet with my trash and accused me of wasting everyone's time by trying to write even though I evidently lack the talent or skill to do so. Yet I wasn't going to meekly obey them and abandon my efforts to write a story, as you can see before me.

So I totally understood Melina's predicament. Being told to stop doing the thing that you love just because you didn't have ”talent”? Condescending bastards going around calling you trash because they didn't like what you write, or because you weren't able to execute sword techniques as well as others? Fuck them. They could go rot in hell.

”…I'll see what I can do. Just a disclaimer, though. Please don't expect anything from me. I'm a terrible teacher, and my own swordsmanship is terrible. I'm actually better at magic than swordsmanship. It's actually a better idea to approach my dad and ask him to teach you.”

”Really? You will?” Melina brightened up, hope flaring up in her for the second time since I had seen her. ”Thank you so much!”