Chapter 88

Camelia couldn’t believe her eyes when she first saw Lancelot—no, Raven’s face in the sewage. She had already accepted that he was dead, and she could even accept the fact that her father, whom she had tried to let go of, had reappeared. After all, not everything in the world happens as expected. But… she couldn’t believe that her father, who had always been just and strong, was a member of that trashy organization that had hurt Werner.

While Werner had left for the imperial castle to hold the responsible parties accountable, Camelia was alone in her room, still denying reality. How could her father, who valued peace and order so much, be part of such an organization? No matter how many times she denied it, the face she saw in the sewage was her father’s. No matter how many times she tried to forget, the voice she heard was his.

“Father…”

Camelia tried to dig up the memories she had forcibly buried in the swamp of oblivion.

—

In a fragrant bamboo forest, a young girl dressed in Eastern-style clothes and a man were practicing swordsmanship.

*Swish!* The wooden sword sharply cut through the air, striking a straw target with a dull thud.

Camelia, the half-elf girl with black hair holding the wooden sword, looked at her father with hopeful eyes. She thought she had succeeded this time. After all, she had mastered the technique in just a week, so she was sure her father would praise her.

However, Raven, her father, coldly spat out a single sentence.

“Your shoulders are too tense. Start over.”

With those words, Raven slammed his wooden sword into the ground. The sound was enough to make Camelia flinch, and she had no choice but to continue repeating the sword techniques her father had taught her.

“Your footwork is unbalanced. Start over.”

She repeated.

“Too slow, and your wrist is weak. Start over.”

She repeated again.

“Total disaster. Slow, your posture is collapsing, and your side is wide open. No need to look, start over.”

She repeated yet again.

“Didn’t I tell you to keep your eyes fixed? Start over.”

By now, Camelia was exhausted, and her arms wouldn’t move. Swinging a weighted wooden sword from dawn until noon without rest was harsh training for a 10-year-old. Learning Raven’s swordsmanship, which was as sharp as the wind, as fluid as water, and as solid as the earth, was no easy task.

“If you want to quit, you can. It was you who begged me to teach you the sword in the first place.”

Raven looked at Camelia with a displeased expression. He had never wanted to teach his daughter swordsmanship in the first place, but Camelia had insisted.

“I… can do it…”

Camelia used the wooden sword as a crutch to stand up. She had been swinging the sword for over six hours without rest, her body felt like it weighed a ton, and her limbs were trembling, but she couldn’t stop. Since she had no talent for magic, swordsmanship was her only option. But the training her father, who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, put her through was no joke.

Forcing herself to gather her strength, she struck the straw target. Raven let out a sigh. Camelia immediately thought she had made a mistake and braced herself for another “start over.”

“That’s enough for now. Good job.”

Hearing those words, Camelia collapsed onto the ground, using it as a bed. Her training clothes were soaked with sweat, and she had no strength left in her body.

“Haah… Haah… Did I really succeed…?”

“Don’t get complacent. You’ve only just learned one basic technique.”

“Yes…”

Camelia’s voice trailed off. She had hoped for a bit more praise from her father, but all she got was a “good job.” After two weeks of being scolded, she had hoped for a little more, but Raven remained cold.

“This is the second technique.”

Raven lightly swung his wooden sword. Though it was just a wooden sword, the straw target split into five pieces and fell to the ground.

“From now on, repeat it 100 times. No breaks until then.”

Having already learned that saying she was tired or in pain wouldn’t work, Camelia forced her unresponsive body to move. Just as she was about to strike the straw target again, a gentle voice called out.

“That’s enough, both of you.”

Camelia and Raven’s gazes turned to a blonde woman.

“Mother!”

“What brings you here…”

“You two have been out since dawn, and it’s already noon. You haven’t even eaten breakfast. What are you doing?”

The blonde woman, with her hands on her hips, was clearly angry. In her arms was a basket full of food.

“Isabelle, we’re still in the middle of training…”

“Training? You think it’s okay to starve a child and train her like this?”

“Sigh… But still…”

Camelia’s mother, Isabelle, was a strong woman. No matter how strong her husband was, she wasn’t the type to kneel and obey.

“Light, explode and scold him.”

Raven was nearly blown away by a sudden pillar of light. If he hadn’t used his wooden sword as a support, he would have been slammed into the wall.

“Alright, let’s eat… lunch, I mean.”

“Sigh… Fine.”

Camelia quietly sat down and bit into the sandwich her mother had made. Filled with cheese, ham, lettuce, and tomatoes, the sandwich was more than enough to fill her hungry stomach.

“Our daughter, you’ve been working so hard learning swordsmanship.”

“No, Mother. I don’t have the magical talent like you or my younger sibling, so I have to work hard at swordsmanship.”

Isabelle had once been a renowned sorceress. But after falling in love with Raven, she gave up all her glory and lived as a housewife on a distant continent.

Hearing Camelia say she had to work hard at swordsmanship, Isabelle lightly tapped her daughter’s head.

“Swordsmanship isn’t something you choose just because you can’t use magic, my dear.”

“Yes… Mother…”

Isabelle then turned to Raven with a question.

“So, how is our Camelia doing in her lessons?”

Camelia’s heart sank. After a week, she had only just mastered one basic technique. She was afraid her mother would be disappointed.

“She learned one basic technique in a week.”

“Hmm~.”

Camelia put down the sandwich she was eating. She didn’t want to feel the weight of her parents’ disappointed gazes.

“She’s got some talent, I’d say.”

“That’s a relief. One of your previous disciples took half a year to learn one basic technique, right?”

“That kid had some talent too, which was the problem.”

“That’s a relief. Our daughter is a genius, then.”

Camelia was stunned. She had never received any praise before. She had expected her parents to be disappointed, but instead, they were praising her.

“I’m… a genius…?”

“Sigh… I didn’t tell her because I was afraid she’d get arrogant, but Isabelle, now it’s all over.”

“Oh, come on… And our daughter isn’t the type to get arrogant from a little praise.”

Isabelle defended Camelia and hugged her tightly. Raven scratched his head and finally sat down in front of Camelia, picking up a piece of sandwich.

“I won’t use the word ‘genius.’ I don’t want to insult your hard work over the past week by calling it mere talent.”

Camelia was speechless. Her usually stoic father had suddenly praised her talent.

“But if you keep up this attitude, you might even surpass me as a swordsman.”

“Really…?”

“And when that day comes, I’ll pass my sword down to you.”

Camelia stared at the sword Raven always carried at his waist. It was a legendary sword, forged to defeat evil and protect the weak.

“So keep working hard.”

Despite Raven’s usual stern tone, Camelia was able to respond with a cheerful smile for the first time in a long while.

“Yes! I’ll work hard, Father!”

Though it was a short break, the memory of that day would stay with Camelia for the rest of her life.

—

As Camelia looked at the sword she had inherited from her father, she gently stroked it. She couldn’t believe that her father, who had spent his life defeating evil and protecting the weak, had joined such an organization. The reunion with the father she had spent her life searching for was crueler than anything she could have imagined.

“Father… If you… intend to harm that child, then I…”

[I have nothing to say to you.]

Her father, who had changed so much, and the growing significance of Werner within her.

Camelia was still conflicted.