Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 28

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 28
The Winter Sword (28)

“Is that so?”
It was welcome news to hear. Before Boris could ask further, Rosnis eagerly rattled off everything she knew.
“He’s supposed to arrive tomorrow morning! But apparently he’s quite an unusual person, so you might have a hard time with him, older brother. They say his skills are exceptional, but his personality is rather difficult. Well, that’s what I heard anyway.”
“Hmm….”
There was often truth in reputation, but ultimately one couldn’t know for certain until meeting someone in person. There had been two Sword Masters who taught my brother in the past, and later he shared this story with me.
The relationship between master and student was peculiar—someone could be the worst teacher for one person yet the finest for another, or vice versa.
The man who first taught Yefnen fell into the worst category. Father had carefully selected him, a renowned instructor, but my brother’s personality clashed with his so thoroughly that they constantly bickered, and my brother made no progress whatsoever.
After dismissing that man, the second instructor they brought in had no great reputation, yet remarkably he proved perfect for Yefnen. My brother’s rapid advancement afterward was entirely thanks to that teacher.
It was absurd, but my brother soon surpassed that teacher’s skill. Yet they maintained their master-student relationship for quite some time afterward.
Once they parted ways, my brother no longer needed a teacher.
Suddenly, Rosnis said something unexpected.
“I’m going to pester Father into letting me learn swordplay too!”
“….”
I couldn’t very well stop her, but I was genuinely concerned about how much she’d actually be able to learn given her temperament.
That morning, Boris left the castle after breakfast.
Having been cooped up inside for several days, my body felt stiff. The thought that I’d struggle from the start once the Sword Master arrived made me determined to move around no matter what.
I walked slowly toward the forest I’d seen on the first day. The carriage had passed it quickly, but on foot it proved quite far.
The morning air was crisp and refreshing, making the walk pleasant. I deliberately left Lanji behind. While having an attendant nearby was convenient, it made it difficult to have time alone. Boris wasn’t the sort who particularly enjoyed being around people.
As the forest drew near, trees laden with unripe walnuts began to appear in rows. They were walnut trees. The weather had grown cool enough that there should be some ripe fruit, but I couldn’t spot any at first glance.
The fallen leaves looked invitingly soft, so Boris sat down leaning against a tree for a moment. Then I began wondering what it would be like to climb up into the branches.
In the old days, I would have pestered my brother to give me a piggyback ride and scrambled up quickly, but now I worried whether such an action might be inappropriate. It wasn’t as though I desperately wanted walnuts. It was simply that Boris was still a boy, and seeing the branches so heavily laden with fruit stirred an impulse to pick some.
Thud, thud-thud-thud….
Walnuts suddenly rained down from above, startling Boris to his feet. I quickly moved away and looked up.
At first I saw nothing. But soon I noticed something moving rapidly back and forth across the tree canopy. Its form was indistinct. Suddenly fear gripped me. Could it be some unknown beast? One as dangerous as what had been in Emera Lake?
Thinking more rationally, it was bright morning, and just six or seven paces away lay the road where carriages passed. There couldn’t possibly be monsters here.
Feeling foolish for becoming so tense, I let out a small laugh, when a voice called down from above.
“You like walnuts?”
It was a person after all. Of course it was.
Boris couldn’t help but laugh. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, this was the first time I’d laughed aloud since my brother died.
“Gather up those walnuts down there!”
This time it was a command. Before I could even respond, walnuts began pouring down like thunder from above. Not from just one tree, but from all the trees around me. Rather than gathering them, I had to shield my head and dodge.
Thud-thud-thud, thunk.
The walnut downpour ceased. A moment later, suspicious movement traced the tree trunk several times before descending in an instant. Boris stepped back several paces. With a sharp sound, a green shadow stood before me.
“Ha, really. I told you to gather those walnuts, and look how many fell. Hey, help me out here. If we’re not careful, this’ll take all day.”
The man who had appeared so unexpectedly and was speaking so freely was in his thirties. He was noticeably taller than my brother Yefnen had been, with long chestnut hair tied up loosely. A long sword was strapped across his back.
Seeing the loose robe he wore—the kind one might don in the rain—I understood why his form hadn’t been clearly visible in the tree. The robe was the same green as the leaves. I’d never seen anyone wearing such a colored robe before.
As Boris stared, the man’s stubble-covered chin twitched as he grinned widely, then casually began removing his robe.
“Is something the matter? Let’s gather some walnuts while we’re here.”
I glanced down at the ground and gasped once more. Overhead, unripe walnuts still hung in abundance, but the fallen ones were so perfectly ripened that their shells would split open with the slightest touch of my foot.
Bewildered, I picked up one of these walnut fruits, and the man suddenly cried out.
“Fool! Touch a walnut still in its shell and you’ll break out in a rash!”
I seemed to recall hearing something similar from my brother before. I quickly dropped the walnut and hid my hand. Then I looked at the man again.
After all the complications, I gathered over a hundred walnuts into my robe. The man rolled the robe up like a sack and slung it over his shoulder, then began striding forward with long steps.
The more I observed this man, the more entertaining I found him. So I followed behind and asked.
“Where are you headed?”
“That castle over there.”
“What’s your purpose in going?”
“What business is that of yours?”
“Do you know what that place is?”
“What? You mean to tell me there’s someone who doesn’t know that’s the castle that would be second only to Belcruze if anyone dared call it second—though really, no one even says that? Hmm, but what was that castle’s name again?”
I suspected this man still didn’t know who I was. All things considered, he seemed to be the Sword Master who was supposed to arrive this morning, yet he spoke and acted as naturally as if he’d just met some boy on the street.
Of course, I preferred it that way. Since I wasn’t actually the Count’s son, the obsequious bowing and “young master” this and that felt rather uncomfortable.
If this man truly was my teacher, wouldn’t it be good to become somewhat acquainted on equal footing? I decided to converse with him at a similar level and asked.
“So those walnuts are a gift, then?”
“Well, one cannot visit someone’s home without bringing a proper gift.”
“Do you think the master of the house will appreciate the gift?”
“If a host shows displeasure at a gift brought by a guest, he’s unfit to be called a master. Such a man deserves nothing more than to live as a vagrant without a home.”
“So then, any gift will do?”
“That’s not proper etiquette on the guest’s part either. You see, a gift is a matter of….”
By the time his impromptu lecture on the origins of gifts, the proper way to give and receive them, precautions to take, and examples concluded, we had arrived at the castle entrance. I felt a subtle urge to tease this man, so I called for the Gatekeeper.
“Tell Father that we have a visitor.”
“Yes, young master.”
After the Gatekeeper soldier went inside, I tilted my head and studied the man’s face. The height difference was so great that I couldn’t even see his face without lifting my head considerably.
“What are you staring at?”
His tone hadn’t changed in the slightest. Only then did I realize that this man had known my identity from the very beginning.
“Young master, the guest is to be shown to the reception room. The master awaits with the young lady.”
The two of us followed the servant down the corridor.
The man wore only worn-out clothes beneath his robe, which clashed entirely with the splendid corridors of Belnoir Castle. I recalled that my brother had once mentioned there were many eccentrics among those skilled with the sword, so I decided to think of it in those terms.
Pretending not to notice was far from easy. Walnuts kept dropping one by one from the robe slung like a sack over his shoulder. Some had their shells crack open when stepped on, others lodged themselves in corridor corners, some rolled down the stairs in all directions, some got caught between carpet seams, and others disappeared entirely into random rooms.
Yet the man continued walking as if he neither intended to pick them up nor even noticed they were falling. I heard the passing maids stifle their laughter behind their hands.
As we progressed further, people began collecting the walnuts. When I glanced back, one maid had gathered several in her apron and quietly slipped away, and another young maid peeked her head out, picked up one, and scurried off—this pattern repeated.
These were maids from a noble household, so it wasn’t that they lacked food. It was simply that seeing so many edible fruits scattered about and left behind caught their eye.
By the time we reached the reception room, the walnuts in the robe had been reduced to half. Throughout the walk, the walnuts inside the robe clattered against each other, and even I couldn’t suppress an awkward smile.
“Welcome.”
The Count rose in person to greet the Sword Master. The Countess, who had complained of indisposition since yesterday and hadn’t appeared even at mealtimes, was nowhere to be seen today either.
Rosnis watched the man laden with walnuts with curious eyes. Then the moment I’d been dreading occurred. The man lowered the pile of walnuts from his shoulder and suddenly thrust them toward the Count.
“Thank you for the invitation. Though humble, I’ve brought these as a gift.”
His tone sounded convincing enough. Yet the Count was clearly not the type to become a vagrant. Without even examining what it was, he politely expressed his gratitude and summoned a servant to take it away. But during the handover, a mischievous walnut tumbled onto the table.
“Oh my!”
Rosnis’s eyes widened. The man glanced at her, then spoke in a tone entirely different from the one he used with Boris.
“This is the fruit of secrets. Every time a young lady like you eats one, you grow a year older. Eat eight of them, sleep for just one night, and you’ll wake up as a twenty-year-old maiden.”
Rosnis stared even more intently at the walnut sitting innocently on the table.
Rosnis was not unfamiliar with walnuts. However, this one was still wrapped in its outer shell, its familiar brown casing hidden from view. It was hardly surprising that she, who rarely ventured into forests, failed to recognize it.
Moreover, the man they had brought in as an excellent Sword Master was saying such things, so the child’s heart couldn’t help but wonder if there might be some truth to it.
As Boris watched, Rosnis’s eyes grew increasingly fixated on the walnut, until her pupils nearly crossed.
Boris found it difficult to suppress his laughter. Here was this man, speaking of walnuts freshly picked from the forest just moments ago as the fruit of secrets, and his shameless expression made it all the more amusing.
Suddenly, a realization struck Boris.
“How did you know Rosnis is twelve years old, sir?”
“That’s something you can tell at a glance. You’re twelve too, aren’t you?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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