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“I’ll be in your care, Lady Lapis, I mean, master.”
“You heard her, Lapis. You’ll be training Princess Luvias so she can be a hero candidate. According to the king’s mandate, you’re allowed to treat her as an equal while you train, without regard to her position. Just think of her as another student, or rather, someone you should train even more rigorously.”
“…”

Luvias lowered her head reverently while Grom stood at her side. Meanwhile, I was lost for words trying to comprehend how this came to be. When the mock battle was over, I was led to the waiting room alone and spent around an hour there restlessly, after which Grom came to inform me of the conclusion of their meeting, pushing a pupil onto me without even asking for me to agree.

“Err…a pupil…?”
“Yes, apart from your job as an instructor, we want you to give the princess a special training regime. The goal of which is to nurture the hero who will represent our country. Sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it?”
“If…if I don’t…”
“You have to. This is the condition if you don’t want to accept the title of hero and move to the capital. If you refuse, you’ll have to remain here, and you don’t want that to happen, do you?”

My head started hurting. I would hate having to stay here, but I felt like I had been given an even more difficult task by having me turn a princess into a hero. That was easy enough to ask for, but they gave no indication just how much I was meant to train her. I felt like they had no idea what my standard for a hero was.

“This training you’re talking about, would it be enough if she passed all the high level courses in the training school? Or even more than that?”
“If she’s just like any other student, there won’t be a point to it. The same level as you…is probably asking too much, but if you get her close enough, there won’t be any problems with calling her a hero.”

That was easier said than done. Not only had I received blessings from multiple gods, but I had been subject to inhuman training since I was a kid, and only then I gained this power. Having to train someone to reach the same level as me might even take a lifetime. Even if she spent decades of neck-breaking training, it was hard to know if she would be as strong. She needed talent, effort, time and blessings, without all four of them it would be a waste of time no matter how hard she trained.

“I realize how irrational of a request this is, but even then I want you to accept me. Make me stronger than anyone else!”

Luvias bowed again while I looked at her with a confounded expression. I could not understand her resolve to become a hero so much. A princess would be able to spend her entire life in a palace without having to worry about a single thing, the least of which was to become a hero. Why was she so willing to train in a way that could endanger her life?

“Could you…tell me why you want that? Why do you want to be strong? You want to be the hero who defeats the Demon King and becomes famous, perhaps?”

Grom tried to interrupt me, but Luvias stopped him. With a slightly self-deprecating look, she replied.

“It’s nothing so grandiose. This is just…a whim of mine. As the third princess, my inheritance is minimal and I don’t have enough influence to serve as a tool for someone, so I want the strength to live on my own.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Let me explain, Lapis.”

Luvias had a hard time expressing herself, so Grom explained everything in her stead. The situation between the princess and how their lives were determined, the disadvantage women born into royalty had, and that the only use for her was as a political tool. Something akin to a curse brought unto her by simply having ‘royalty’ attached to her blood, and how being a hero was her only way of escaping that fate.

“So there was such a story behind all that…”

Her story was even more serious than I thought and without realizing I sighed after hearing it all. From my past experiences, I knew that the unique society of nobles revolved around people’s greed, grudges and regrets. But my experiences with them had been only momentary, without getting my entire future planned for me and my own wishes ignored.

And as opposed to the princess, I had the power to run away if I wanted. Even if assassins were sent to pursue me, I could easily overpower them. But the princess? Just a little bit of training would not hold the nobles at bay. If I rejected her wish, her future would be very dark. Just like Grom had mentioned, she probably would end up spending the rest of her life as a political tool.

I looked at Luvias again, who was staring at me nervously. Maybe she had not noticed, but her entire body was shaking, almost like trembling in fear. Looking at her like that reminded me of Karin not too long ago, which made me scratch my head. Apparently, I had a weakness to sad girls.

“…Alright. I’ll take you in. I can’t possibly reject now that I know all that.”
“Really?! Thank you! Thank you, Master!”

She grasped my hand and firmly shook it while thanking me. Meanwhile, I already began thinking just how I was supposed to train her.

§　§　§

Grom and I departed to return to Surfour, taking the princess, or rather my pupil, with us. During the trip she would constantly ask me to spar with her, so I never really got bored, but her passion was a bit overwhelming so I ended up getting more tired than I hoped.

When Luvias left the capital, she was barely seen off by anyone, and she only took the minimum amount of belongings with her. She only took her sword, armor, and a small amount of money, that was all.

Though since she was royalty after all, one maid was sent to accompany her and take care of her needs. The maid’s name was Sepia, she had been serving Luvias exclusively ever since the princess was little, so she was very experienced as a maid. She was around thirty years old, her brown hair tied at shoulder height, and was a very brisk woman.

She knew Luvias very well and it felt like she could read her future moves, preparing everything for her beforehand. Luvias and Sepia would be staying in the governor’s castle when we arrived at Surfour. Even while being my pupil now, it was impermissible for a princess to stay in a common household or cheap inn, so I thought that much was to be expected. Luvias hated receiving special treatment like that, but the king’s wishes had to be respected.

She would only be allowed to live on her own once I had acknowledged her power to do so. In other words, she would stay in the castle until she was strong enough to fend off assassins and could earn her own money. Grom would procure her everything she needed as long as she lived in the castle, giving her an environment in which she only had to focus on training. Because of that, she might grow stronger faster than I anticipated, so it might not take too long before she can become independent.

“Either way, make sure you attend the training school starting tomorrow. I work there, so you’ll be able to meet new people while also start training.”
“Yes! I’ll look forward to it, Master!”
“…You’re awfully set on calling me that, huh…”

I suggested some gentler ways of addressing me, but Luvias stubbornly refused to switch from ‘Master’, which I found slightly embarrassing. When I was reunited with Karin and Ciel after so many weeks, I told them about Luvias, who they decided to think about as their fellow.

“Since you’re the master of a princess, I think your name will get well known even outside the country.”
“And you’re her exclusive teacher, right? That’s so cool!”
“Thanks… Though there was also something I wanted to ask of you. Once I’ve trained Luvias for a bit, do you think she could go on hunting quests with you two?”
“What do you mean?”

Luvias was not a mere beginner and had already gone through a considerable amount of training inside the palace, and I expected she would match up with the rest of the students in the training school rather quickly. But there was one thing she was severely lacking on, actual experience outside of training.

Fighting with one’s life at risk placed a heavy burden on one’s mind and body, so sometimes one’s body would refuse to move the same way as during training. Even if someone was the strongest while training, it was possible to get taken down by being outnumbered by less powerful opponents.

To overcome that weakness, training one’s mind was also needed. In other words, hunting and killing monsters, actual combat. Karin and Ciel were strong enough to take down pretty much any common monster, so they would be perfect to support Luvias during her first experiences.

“No matter what, once she enters the Haunted Lands she’ll be forced to camp out in the open, so fighting monsters will be unavoidable. I want her to learn how to live and survive as an adventurer from you two.”
“Sounds good to me. I’m also interested in the princess after all.”
“That will be no problem at all. We’re also getting stronger as the days go by, so who knows if once the princess gets strong we’ll all form a party and defeat the Demon King.”
“Ahahah… Don’t get too carried away with her now.”

Now that the two had agreed to help, all I had left to do was train her.