"A-hahahahaha! Now I can finally become a Sword Saint!"
Cain Vermilion, the eldest son of Viscount Ryan Vermilion, was laughing out loud.
Finally, he would become a Sword Saint.
For some reason, the dragon scheduled for extermination in Fundantal had disappeared, and he had missed his chance to become a Sword Saint.
He had no idea when the next dragon would appear.
But luckily, he didn't even have to wait years—he had learned that a Book of Skills would be awarded at the Martial God Festival in the royal capital.
He should have been able to get it through his usual backroom dealings, but the expedition to Fundantal had wasted a bunch of money, so he ended up borrowing the help of Count Butterfly, was drugged into a stupor, and was made to sleep with the eldest daughter, Agliss.
He hadn't seen her even once since that one encounter, but letters arrived practically every day, and he was sick of it.
All he could do was pray she wasn't pregnant.
But Hector, the one he had gone to all the trouble of hiring—
Pride
—was defeated in the finals by some commoner named Alisa.
Hm, now that he thought about it, that name Alisa did ring a bell somewhere... Oh well.
On top of that, the mage and priest he had also hired "just in case" didn't do their jobs.
They were supposed to heal Hector and interfere with the opponent—that was the plan.
The magician with the red ponytail couldn't use magic for some reason.
But her face and body were nice, so he planned to make her a concubine.
He didn't care about the priest since he was a man, but it turned out the priest's healing magic didn't heal people—in fact, it made injuries worse—and he was apparently expelled from the church.
Since neither of them had to be paid for the job, his father was relieved.
And so my quick-witted father dragged Arisa down from her victory.
Of course, the First Prince and Father had already worked out the arrangement.
◇◇◇
Skill Book.
Now, make me a Sword Saint!!
I flipped through the pages one by one, and the Skill Book glowed and vanished.
The light was absorbed into my body.
Ohh, power is surging through me... com...ing...?
Wha—wait, this feels wrong.
It's like I've been powered down.
I checked my skills again.
It's not Sword Saint!!
Not only that—the Sword Master I should've had is gone too!!!
What the hell is going ooonnnn!!!??
◇◇◇
That's probably how the story goes over at the Vermilion residence.
I was disqualified on some bogus grounds and couldn't get the Skill Book, but I didn't exactly throw a fit over it.
It wasn't that I just took it lying down—right then and there I was about to
'
S
k
i
l
l
Book's
ef-
-fect—
but I
had
already
reversed
it.
Cain would use the Skill Book, never knowing that doing so would cost him his skills.
And then the Sword Saint would be gone.
When I thought about it, wouldn't it have been better if he'd just let me win fair and square so he'd never gotten his hands on the Skill Book?
Consider this my thanks for the little three-penny show he put on.
And as for Prince Mercurius, who so clearly helped stage that pointless farce—
for
good
measure.
To them.
I'd already given it as a present, right there on the spot.
Because I'd reversed their [Royal Tamer] into [Third-Rate Tamer].
Disrespectful? Couldn't care less.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Skills: [Reverse] [Divine Eye] [Sword God] [Gentleman Thief] [Dark Magic] [Rock-Iron Magic] [Holy Magic] [Space-Time Magic] [Scorching Magic] [Freezing Magic] [Magic Hand] [Seduction] [Pain Relief] [Complete Status Ailment Resistance] [Fire Spirit's Protection] [Phantom Demon] [Gale and Thunder] [Dark Spirit's Protection] [Monstrous Strength] [Thunder God Sword] [Fortune] [Clear Gale Magic] [Humility]
Rank: Silver (Alisa: Gold)
Thank you all so much for reading, as always! 😊