Chapter 98: About Skills

The harmonious atmosphere up until now was over.

Richelieu-sama’s expression changed completely, becoming serious.

"Robin-sama, you possess various skills. May I ask how you acquired them?"

His tone suddenly turned interrogative. Caught off guard by the abrupt shift, I answered:

"Some I learned from others, and some I realized on my own."

"I understand the ’learned’ part, but what do you mean by ’realized on your own’?"

"I can’t answer that."

Richelieu-sama stroked his chin.

"Hmm... You can’t answer, I see... Well, I won’t try to force it out of you. On another note, are you interested in learning more magic?"

"Of course. I’m hoping the demon beast subjugation ends quickly so my teacher can come back."

"Oh? Your magic teacher also joined the demon beast subjugation? Who might that be?"

"Debbie Jones-sensei."

Richelieu-sama didn’t seem to recognize the name. Since she was a renowned mage, it made sense that she wouldn’t live in a rundown shack like that. Still, as her student, it felt a little sad.

"Debbie Jones-sensei, you say? Hmm, unfortunately I don’t know that name. Oi, does anyone here know her?"

Richelieu-sama turned to the people behind him. Someone apparently did, and whispered into his ear. Richelieu-sama listened with nods, then turned back to me.

"I’m afraid Jones-sensei will not be returning. She can no longer teach you, Robin-sama."

"Eh? Why is that?"

"Jones-sensei has passed away. Together with His Highness the Crown Prince. She was by his side during the demon beast subjugation force."

What?! The shock made me stop breathing for a moment.

"I-is that true...?"

"Yes. I’ll arrange a replacement magic instructor for you. I’ll introduce you to an even more excellent teacher."

"...Thank you. I appreciate it."

Ugh... another person who had died. I wondered what her fellow disciple, who was guarding that rundown shack, would do. Did he already know that their master had died?

"Who taught you the two sword skills you possess? There must have been instructors inside the Inner Palace as well?"

The background check continued.

"Yes. In the Inner Palace, I learned from Marin Brando-sensei of the Knight Order. But since the Knight Order went on the demon beast subjugation, Marin-sensei became very busy and no longer had time to teach me. When I went outside the palace, I met Browning-sensei, who began teaching me."

"I see. Hmm... So that’s how you obtained these skills. He must be quite the skilled instructor. Should I summon him to the palace to teach you?"

It seemed Richelieu-sama assumed I had learned all my combat-related skills from Browning-sensei. It was better if he thought that, since it saved me from complicated explanations. I decided to stay silent. However, I had a feeling Browning-sensei himself wouldn’t want to come to the palace to teach me. He probably didn’t want to meet people from the Knight Order.

"No, if possible, I’d like to continue going to Browning-sensei’s place to learn. After the lessons, I also get to eat lunch at his wife’s cafeteria, which is delicious, so I’m looking forward to that too."

When I said that, Richelieu-sama’s eyes widened.

"A prince says the food at a commoner district cafeteria is delicious? How extraordinary!"

"And if the head chef of the Inner Palace hears that, he’ll be devastated. Ahaha."

I got laughed at again.

"In that case, it’s fine for you to continue your martial training with Browning. I’ll cover the tuition fees, so you don’t need to work at the Accounting Bureau anymore."

Hmm... It was nice to be told I didn’t need to earn money, but after being so warmly treated by Christine-san just earlier, I really didn’t want to quit. I wanted to keep working there!

"Ah, no, I’d like to continue working at the Accounting Bureau. Listening to everyone’s stories there is really fun. It’s interesting to hear things I never knew about while living in the Inner Palace."

"Oh? You still wish to work there? If you’d like, you could work under me instead. I’ll pay you even more. What do you think?"

Richelieu-sama smiled kindly as he made the offer.

Whoa! A job offer! But working under Richelieu-sama would mean being surrounded by men, and it smelled like a black company environment. In this world without labor laws like the 36 Agreement, overtime would probably be unlimited, with no overtime pay. This was definitely something I should refuse! No matter how I looked at it, I could only see full-time work ahead. Even asking for two days off per week as a prince would be impossible when everyone around me was working.

"Thank you for the kind offer, but I am currently being well taken care of by the Director of the Accounting Bureau and my colleagues, so I would like to continue working there for a while longer. I’m sorry for declining your proposal."

Despite my polite refusal, Richelieu-sama stared at me.

"Robin-sama, where exactly did you learn such phrasing? How did you acquire it? No matter how you are a prince, those are not words I would expect from a ten-year-old child."

I felt like crying. Why did everything I said or did become a problem in front of this person?

"I learned it from my mother and the maid Catherine Gilmore. I also studied by reading books in the Inner Palace library."

I answered with a smile, though inside I was on the verge of tears. I really wished he would stop digging so deep.

"Hmmmm... Robin-sama, you are far too different from the rumors that reach my ears inside the palace. The gap between the false image and the real one is unbelievable. My common sense no longer applies. To think there was a prince like this..."

Richelieu-sama muttered to himself, deep in thought. At that moment, an idea came to me, so I decided to make a request.

"Richelieu-sama, I have one favor to ask regarding my martial training."

He raised an eyebrow and looked at me.

"I heard that Browning-sensei sometimes does night patrols in the commoner district. That would make it difficult to attend daytime training sessions. So, if possible, I would like to accompany him on those patrols. Would that be feasible?"

I made the request timidly. I believed experience in everything was important. I recalled that a British prince had also been deployed to a war zone with the British Army. Could this work? However, the answer came immediately.

"That is impossible."

Richelieu-sama rejected it outright, and the people behind him were shaking their heads.

"To begin with, a prince going to the commoner district itself is highly irregular, and going there at night is completely out of the question."

"I see... Yeah, I figured as much."

Perhaps my disappointment showed, because he continued:

"Besides, why would you want to do something like that? Going to Browning during night patrol is impossible in itself. Moreover, we cannot guarantee your safety in the commoner district at night. How many knights would we need to assign as your escort? If that happened, the criminals would flee the moment the security force approached, and we wouldn’t know what they were actually doing."

Hmm... That might be good for public safety, but it was completely different from what I intended, so it was rejected. I had hoped there might be a chance to use "Life-Stealing Technique" during patrol, but... well, I knew it was a long shot. Wait... Could it be that the person who "Appraised" me couldn’t see "Life-Stealing Technique"? Since they didn’t ask about it, maybe it wasn’t visible to them?

Even so, my doubled disappointment must have shown, because Richelieu-sama said:

"If you want to accompany the security force that badly, how about joining the noble district’s security force instead? We’d still need to arrange proper escorts... Is there anyone suitable?"

He asked the people behind him, but no one seemed to have a good answer. So I spoke up.

"Um, in that case, how about someone from the Garden Maintenance Department? For example, Section Chief Greg Lake?"

The moment I said it, I thought, Oh no! I shouldn’t have given a specific name, but once it was out, there was no taking it back.

"Greg Lake, Section Chief of the Garden Maintenance Department? Who is that?"

Richelieu-sama was consulting with the people behind him again.

"I’m sorry! Please forget that name! Remove it from consideration!"

I hurriedly tried to retract it, but Richelieu-sama grinned.

"No, I’ll have this looked into. I’ll contact you later."

He gave me a surprisingly positive reply. Ahhh...