"Leader, make sure to fulfill the dreams of all us duelists from Sorset!"
"Our leader is definitely going to win!"
"You absolutely can’t lose to anyone else!"
Thwack!
Ada raised her fist in response to the cheers of the neighborhood kids rallying behind her.
“There it is! The victory pose!”
At so point, raising a clenched fist had beco Ada’s habit whenever she was confident of her victory. The children, now accustod to the gesture, erupted in even louder cheers, thrilled to see her signature pose.
“Alain, it won’t be easy, but ensure that Ada doesn’t cause any trouble while she’s away,” said Marquess Bradley Sorset.
“Yes, my lord. I still have the strength to handle such a task,” Alain replied calmly.
Although sending his still-young daughter to the capital made him uneasy, Bradley couldn’t bring himself to ask Ada, who was so excited about qualifying for the finals, to withdraw.
Initially, the Marquess had planned to accompany her himself.
"My lord, your responsibilities have grown too nurous to leave unattended."
Thanks to Rupert, the Sorset family had flourished so much that they were elevated to a marquessate. With the family’s increased prestige ca a significant expansion of duties, leaving Bradley no choice but to stay behind.
While Bradley hadn’t fully adjusted to his new status, the reality was that as a Marquess, he now stood among the upper echelons of nobility.
He could appoint a count and two barons as vassals, and even grant the rank of quasi-baron to a commoner.
"Thank you for staying by my side during the hard tis."
To show gratitude to those who remained loyal when the family was on the brink of ruin, Bradley elevated Baron Klein to a Viscount and entrusted him with the managent of a portion of their newly acquired lands.
He also bestowed the title of quasi-baron on Mullus, a loyal knight who had steadfastly served the family, opening a path for him to join the nobility.
With Sorset not only recovering its forr glory but soaring to unprecedented heights, it was inevitable that opportunists would begin to swarm.
"My lord... no, Marquess! For old tis’ sake, just one more chance...!"
So forr vassals, who had abandoned the family during its decline, shalessly returned, begging for positions.
Others were even more brazen.
"I have served the Sorset family since the days of your predecessor! How could I stand idly by and watch this estate run into the ground?"
They went so far as to harass the workshop staff, behaving as though they owned the place.
"Those lunatics..."
"Unbelievable."
Rupert, of course, had no intention of letting such behavior slide.
Even Bradley, known for his generosity, refused to forgive them. These audacious individuals quickly found themselves beaten and expelled by Sorset’s elite guards and knights.
“Marquess, with so many outsiders coming into the territory lately, public safety has beco an issue. We’ve also apprehended thieves targeting the Sorset goods store and punished them accordingly…”
“A date has been set for the eting with neighboring lords to delineate the exact boundaries of the new fiefs we were granted. I’ll need to prepare the relevant docunts in advance…”
Though Sorset had dealt with the opportunists decisively, there was no denying that they were short on manpower.
To address this, Sorset replaced its forr retainers with talented individuals, allowing the estate to run smoothly without Rupert’s constant oversight.
"Can’t I... can’t I just have so ti to rest?"
However, Bradley, still the head of the family, was being crushed under the weight of his responsibilities.
"Richard! I’m willing to forgive your wandering ways—just co back and..."
"Apologies, Father. Sifris seems to be pregnant, so I can’t leave her side right now."
"Why is he only quick about things like that?!"
Desperate, Bradley tried to summon his eldest son Richard to help, but even that proved futile.
"Work is good for your health, Father. A little effort won’t hurt you."
Bradley knew better than to complain to Rupert, the heir. Rupert, far from sympathizing, seed determined to "restore the dignity of the head of the family," piling on even more tasks.
Watching Rupert’s relentless work ethic, Bradley finally understood why the workshop employees used to have such haunted looks.
Unable to leave his post, Bradley assigned Alain and Owen as Ada’s escorts to the capital.
The decision ca with confidence.
Owen was a knight of Expert level, and Alain, though discreet about his abilities, was an even stronger combatant. Together, they could handle almost any threat.
"Today’s technique is a bit unusual, young lady," Alain said with a slight smile.
"Unusual? Tell more!" Ada’s excitent at learning sothing new was palpable, and Alain couldn’t hide his joy as he watched her enthusiasm.
"My life hasn’t been in vain!"
Having dedicated himself to protecting the Sorset family, Alain was overjoyed to see the family erging from its forr hardships into prosperity.
As the last leader of Sorset’s secret organization, the Acrobats, Alain had followed the forr head’s command to disband the group.
The Acrobats had protected the family through shadowy ans, often involving bloodshed, and the forr head didn’t want his descendants to bear such burdens. Alain understood and respected this decision, though he felt so regrets.
One was his failure to prevent reckless warti investnts that had nearly ruined the family—a problem Rupert later solved.
The other was the inability to pass on the secret techniques of Sorset Style, the pinnacle of the Acrobats’ skills.
Passing on Sorset Style wasn’t easy. The techniques were ant only for mbers of the Sorset family and the Acrobats. With the Acrobats disbanded, only the Sorsets themselves were eligible.
However, Bradley, the current head, had neither the talent for martial arts nor the inclination for conflict.
Alain had once hoped to train Richard, the eldest son, but Richard’s decision to leave the family dashed that hope.
That left only Rupert, though Alain had serious doubts.
"Huff... huff... how long have I been running? About thirty minutes?"
"Three minutes, young master."
"What?! You’re lying!!!"
Unfortunately, Rupert’s physical prowess mirrored his father’s lack of it, leaving Alain convinced that Sorset Style was dood to fade away.
Just when he had resigned himself to this fate, Ada entered his life.
"Make strong enough to beat Owen!"
Alain had always known Ada had exceptional talent for physical activity, but he dismissed her as a candidate due to her status as the family’s young lady.
However, Ada’s blooming potential was undeniable—her abilities were nothing short of divine. Alain couldn’t turn a blind eye to her natural gifts and began teaching her the basics of Sorset Style.
Sorset Style was designed to be accessible even to children with physical talent, and Ada absorbed the techniques as easily as a sponge soaks up water.
Now, she was learning one of the style’s ultimate techniques.
"This technique, known as Third Eye, relies on vision—specifically, reading and predicting an opponent’s movents while even copying their techniques," Alain explained.
"Wow! Alain, your eyes are spinning!" Ada cheered as she watched Alain demonstrate. She imdiately began trying to mimic him.
"The key is channeling the mana flow within your body toward your eyes by opening a new pathway through your nervous system," Alain continued, his tone instructional.
Owen, observing the lesson from his seat in the carriage as they traveled toward the teleportation circle, couldn’t hide his shock.
"What?! That’s insane…"
Channeling mana through the nervous system was a technique mastered only by expert-level knights proficient in mana breathing. For a child like Ada, it should have been a dangerous, nearly impossible feat.
Yet—
"Got it!"
"Excellent work, young lady!" Alain praised as Ada successfully executed the technique.
Owen chastised himself for underestimating her.
"I was foolish to judge her by normal standards."
Ever since Ada defeated him in a duel, Owen had co to accept her as an anomaly—a being beyond conventional limits. Watching her effortlessly master the advanced Third Eye technique made him want to look away from reality altogether.
While Ada’s abilities had inspired Owen to push past his limits and develop his own skills, her progress still left him uneasy.
Oblivious to Owen’s internal struggles, Alain and Ada excitedly practiced the Third Eye together.
"Using her love for manga to spark her interest was a great idea," Alain thought.
To motivate Ada, who was often distracted by her obsession with The King of Cards, Alain had cleverly incorporated the series into his lessons.
"Alain, how do the characters pull things out of thin air like that?"
He adapted Sorset Style techniques to resemble abilities used by the manga’s characters, teaching them in ways that captured her imagination.
"This technique is similar to the Thousand Eye ability used by Flyinghorse in The King of Cards," Alain had said while introducing the Third Eye, sparking Ada’s determination to learn it.
Her excitent and joy as she mastered each technique filled Alain with pride.
"Rasshu, I got even stronger today!" Ada announced triumphantly to her wolf companion.
"Woof!" Rasshu barked in approval.
As Ada bead, Alain couldn’t help but feel imnse satisfaction as her teacher, marveling at her potential and relentless spirit.
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