The next day.
"The sword is dipping. Focus, focus."
"Ughhh...."
Today, too, Matthew was caught by Patrick and undergoing hellish training. He was holding a sword in a horse stance, and the blade was laden with heavy weights. While he was in that state, Patrick was lounging comfortably to the side, observing Matthew's form.
"Mind your center. The sword feels heavy because you're only using your arm strength. Try holding it while being conscious of your whole body's balance. It won't feel heavy at all."
"Ughhh...."
Matthew tried with all his might to put Patrick's words into practice. He put strength in his lower body, paid attention to the core muscles rising from his legs, and desperately maintained the weight. Seeing Matthew sweating profusely while training, the other first-year students commented.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, it's gotten to the point where it's truly pitiful."
"You're right."
"I don't know why he's doing that meaningless training."
To the other first-year students, the training Patrick was making Matthew do looked like nothing more than simple bullying. Shouldn't a knight be swinging a sword to increase their mastery of swordsmanship or dedicating themselves to Aura Blessing to increase their aura reserves?
Strength training?
That was a foolish training method that common soldiers who couldn't use Aura Blessing would do; this was their common sense.
"Leave them be. He's the one who wants to do it."
"True, and even the professors aren't stepping in."
As the first-year students were talking, one person walked straight towards Patrick and Matthew. Usually, when these two were training, no one approached them, but this time, there was someone approaching with unhesitating steps.
"Patrick Schneider."
"Huh? What brings you here? Princess."
It was none other than Isabella. As Patrick sat up from his slouched position, Isabella spoke.
"Senior."
"... What about it?"
"Inside the academy, you should call me senior, not princess."
"Oh, is that so? I didn't know."
"So, what's the matter? Senior?"
At Patrick's question, Isabella answered.
"I want to have another match."
"A match?"
"Yes. Because..."
"No." Patrick cut Isabella off as if there was nothing more to hear.
Then he lay down on his side again, resting his head on his arm, and said.
"If you've said all you have to say, then go. Hey, your posture. The sword is dipping. If it goes any lower, your life will go down with it."
"Aaaahhh...."
Feeling a sense of crisis, thinking, 'That guy might actually do it,' Matthew lifted the sword with all his might. His entire body was trembling, but he didn't give up until the end. Watching him, Isabella was momentarily impressed by his incredible grit.
But the problem right now wasn't him, but Patrick.
"Patrick Schneider."
"What?"
"Fight me."
"No." "Please."
"No." "What if I command it in the name of the royal family?"
"Didn't you just say that inside the academy, you're a senior, not a princess?"
For a moment, Isabella regretted teaching him that. Seeing Patrick not even glancing her way the entire time they were talking, Isabella began to ponder how she could persuade this junior.
"I earnestly ask you. Please have a match with me."
"I told you, I don't want to."
"Please. Bestow your teachings upon this inadequate one."
"Go see a professor. Why are you asking a junior for that?"
"Don't be like that..."
Isabella pleaded repeatedly, and Patrick curtly refused, as if annoyed. And the other first-year students couldn't hide their astonishment at the sight of these two.
"What... what is happening right now?"
"Is this a dream?"
"If it's a dream, it must be a nightmare. My goodness, that Princess Isabella is..."
To the first-year students, Isabella was an object of admiration and envy. Her beautiful looks and cool-headed charisma. Her skill, enough to be the top student of the third year, and her status as the kingdom's princess.
Even within the academy, where the upper class of the kingdom mostly gathered, she was a presence that shone even brighter. There probably wasn't a single first-year student who hadn't imagined a sweet romance with her, at least in their fantasies. And that very woman...
"Please, I beg you. Just once is fine."
"Ugh, I said no. As if I don't know that one time will turn into two, and then three."
"Don't be like that..."
"No. I won't do it. Just go away." ...was earnestly pleading with Patrick.
To top it off, Patrick was refusing out of annoyance.
"That guy, wallowing in happiness..."
"Wow, that's just too much. Really."
"Why would the princess... to a guy like that..."
The other first-year students looked at Patrick with eyes full of jealousy and envy. If they were in Patrick's shoes, they would have granted Princess Isabella whatever she wanted. But what was this?
That curt and even rude attitude...
"Rotten bastard."
"Hope you get indigestion while eating."
"Hope you get hit by bird droppings on the street."
"Hope you can't get it up on your wedding night."
That day, Patrick turned most of the first-year students into his enemies.
"Tsk, what a leech."
Patrick clicked his tongue and grumbled. The reason Patrick was grumbling like this was Isabella, who had been tirelessly chasing him recently, requesting a rematch. She was so persistent and tenacious, a leech couldn't compare.
"Tsk, if I knew this would happen, I should have just thrashed her on the first day's match."
If he had beaten her to the point where she wouldn't even think of a rematch, she wouldn't be clinging to him so tenaciously. But what could he do? She was royalty, after all.
He couldn't just make her a sacrifice for the Infinite Hell Chain Fist, could he? 'No. Should I just go for it?' As Patrick was contemplating this, April poured him some tea and spoke.
"If she is too much of a nuisance, shall I take care of her?"
"You're more reckless than I thought."
"......?"
Even Patrick had some resistance to the act of beating up royalty. But in April's case, for Patrick's sake, she wouldn't hesitate at all, whether they were royalty or an emperor's family.
"I'll say this for now, don't do it. If it was something that could be solved by beating her up, I would have done it long ago."
"I understand."
"Tsk, if I leave her be, she'll probably give up on her own. More importantly, if you have time, run an errand for me."
"Please speak, young master."
"Go to Red and check if the silk from the fief is finished, and if there's anything completed, even a sample, tell him to bring it."
"Yes, I understand."
'It's not an easy task. Still, I have a feeling mother would have somehow managed it.' The grade evaluation exam was coming up soon.
After that exam, Matthew said he would be returning home for a bit, and Patrick planned to use that opportunity to follow him. There, he would meet Matthew's father and start talking business in earnest.
"No matter how good a product you make, if you have no way to sell it, it's just a waste of effort."
There was no doubt about the marketability of the silk. If the product was made properly, it was a sufficiently competitive item. However, Patrick also knew.
Making a good product was just the first step in the business world. What's the point of making a good product? If the world doesn't recognize its value, no one will pay money for it.
Especially for a new product not on the existing market, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that promoting its value accounts for more than half the work. And after promotion, a distribution network is needed to sell the product as widely and at as high a price as possible.
'In my past life, I suffered because I didn't know that.' In his past life, Patrick had succeeded in bringing a new medicinal herb called red ginseng from a distant eastern country. But because he couldn't sell it properly, he ended up taking a huge loss.
It was an excellent medicinal herb, so much so that even the physicians of the Myriad Medicine Sect, renowned for their medical skills in the martial world, acknowledged its efficacy. That's when Patrick realized. The idea of simply making money by selling a good product at a high price was a very naive thought.
Leave rice cakes to the rice cake shop. Business should be left to the merchants. The Elbador Merchant Guild would be a more than satisfactory business partner.
"Huhuhu. Hehehehe.... Kukukukuku... once this is settled, I'll be sitting on a cushion of money, no, sleeping on a bed of money. Kuahahahahaha!"
"So you were here."
"Whoa, you scared me!"
Patrick, who was in the middle of a happy daydream, was startled. And Isabella, who had approached at some point, looked at Patrick and said.
"Spar with me."
"Ugh, I told you I don't want to."
"If you don't, I'll stick to you until you say you will."
"Senior, are you some kind of leech? I said no, didn't I?"
"Just do it."
"No. I won't." "Please, we did it once before, didn't we?"
"Ugh, that was then, and this is now. I don't want to."
"Don't be like that, just do it. Just one more time."
"You really don't listen!"
Patrick jumped up and started to run away, and Isabella chased after him, begging him to do it. And this scene was witnessed by numerous people in the academy, leading to a very big misunderstanding.
"Hey, did you hear the rumor?"
"What rumor?"
"They say Princess Isabella from the third year of the knight faculty is passionately chasing a first-year student."
"Really?"
"Ah, I heard that too. They say she keeps chasing him, saying, 'Do it. Do it.'"
"Do what? What?"
"Well... what could it be?"
In truth, a certain act that could certainly happen between a young man and woman who had fallen for each other came to their minds. It came to mind, but...
"Nah, no way."
"It's Princess Isabella we're talking about."
"Isn't she famous throughout the kingdom as the princess who's crazy about swords?"
"Right. Right."
They tried to erase the possibility that came to mind. No matter what, they didn't want to think that Princess Isabella, who could be called the flower of the kingdom, had fallen for a provincial noble they had never even heard of and crossed such a line. But at that moment...
"Stop right there, Patrick."
"You think I'll stop just because you say so?"
"Please, just stop! I said let's do it just once."
"As if I don't know that one time will turn into two, and then three!?"
"Then just do it!"
"Ugh, I said no!"
Patrick running away, and Princess Isabella chasing after him, pleading 'let's do it'. The academy students watched this scene, their jaws dropping. No matter how they looked at it, this scene before their eyes...
"No way... no way...?"
"Nah, but... nah... but still..."
"How can this be? The princess... that Princess Isabella..."
"The world is dead. Damn it."
They became convinced of the rumor. Having witnessed the scene with their own eyes, how could they deny it any longer? Thus, the rumor snowballed, spreading widely throughout the academy.
Princess Isabella is ardently courting Patrick Schneider, a first-year transfer student. The two are already in a deep relationship. They even intend to elope if the kingdom doesn't approve.
Aren't rumors always like that? They spread quickly, but in the process, they grow in size and change their shape on their own. Into a more sensational form.
The rumor that spread in this way eventually grew to the level that there was a secret child between Patrick and Isabella, and that rumor reached someone's ears.
Crack!
"That bastard... I was just playing hard to get, giving him some space, and he couldn't wait and went to cheat on me?"