A Plan to Educate the Young Lady

Eris panted heavily, looking as though she would not stop until she had beaten Rudeus to death.

Oh, pretty fierce, huh? This little girl really has the makings of a warrior!

Radeus offered his assessment as he watched Eris beating Rudeus like mad.

Philip and Ghislaine stood at the door, looking equally troubled.

"Good grief!"

What are you still watching for? Come help me!

Rudeus sent his voice to Radeus.

Like hell that's my problem. It's fine. Even if you die, I can resurrect you. Don't worry. Go in peace!

Seeing that Radeus refused to help, Rudeus had no choice. He stretched out a hand and used wind magic to blow Eris off him!

Then, without the slightest hesitation, he ran out the door. Eris was not one to let things go, either, and quickly got up to chase him.

He fled, she pursued, and he could not have escaped even with wings!

Paul, you bastard! What kind of place did you send me to?! And you, Rad, you animal-just you wait!

Rudeus cursed as he ran.

"Stop right there! I'm going to beat you flat!"

Eris's voice rang out behind Rudeus, frightening him into speeding up, terrified that she would catch him and beat him again.

"Ooh, impressive, impressive!"

Radeus applauded as he watched the two racing along, one chasing the other.

"Are you really Advanced in all Three Sword Styles?"

Ghislaine posed the question to Radeus.

"Yes!"

"You're already on Paul's level at your age. Impressive!"

Ghislaine was generous with her praise.

"You flatter me, you flatter me. It's all thanks to how well I taught myself!"

Radeus gave Paul none of the credit.

Everything he had achieved was thanks to his own sweat and hard work!

"What do you say? Want to practice swordsmanship with me?" Ghislaine suggested.

"I'd love to!"

Watching the two, Philip also chimed in:

"If we don't go stop them, Rudeus might get beaten to death..."

At Philip's reminder, the two finally remembered Rudeus and prepared to go after him, but Radeus stopped them.

"It's fine, it's fine. With Rudeus's abilities, he can handle it himself. Let's just wait in the reception room from before!"

They thought it over and agreed. After all, Eris was only around Intermediate Rank at present, while Rudeus was already a Water Saint. There should not be any problems.

At that moment, Rudeus was hiding under a table in the kitchen, trembling nonstop.

You call this a little willful? Philip, you bastard!

Only after quite some time did Rudeus escape Eris's clutches. He came to the reception room, and the sight of Radeus drinking tea with Philip immediately infuriated him.

"You! I was out there playing Temple Run, and here you were, leisurely sipping tea!"

Rudeus snatched the tea straight out of Radeus's hand and began drinking it.

"If you wanted tea, couldn't you pour yourself some?!"

Radeus was none too pleased with Rudeus for stealing his tea.

"Besides, would this have happened if you hadn't lost your mind and hit Eris? You brought it on yourself!"

"..."

Radeus had a point. At the time, seeing how effortlessly cool Radeus looked had gone to Rudeus's head. He had thought he, too, was Advanced in all Three Sword Styles, and ended up swinging at her.

"Hahaha! Rudeus, what do you think of my daughter?" Philip asked as well.

"What do I think? That vicious creature..." Rudeus still looked shaken.

"Hmm?" Philip raised an eyebrow.

"No, no. This is the first time I've met such an innocent young lady. Hahaha..." Rudeus hastily tried to recover.

"What will you do? Give up?"

"I'm not giving up. If I go home like this, I'll definitely have to face my father's mocking expression."

Rudeus answered Philip's question without the slightest hesitation.

Giving up was out of the question. She was just a little girl. He refused to believe there was no way to bring her under control.

"Well said! All her previous teachers had already given up by this point! But do you have a strategy?"

Philip applauded Rudeus's courage.

Then a terrible idea came out of Rudeus's mouth.

"Could we stage a little act? Something that would get the young lady to study of her own accord."

Philip immediately took an interest.

"Let's hear it. I'll give you my full support!"

"We do this, then this..."

A guard standing nearby listened to Rudeus's plan with a thoughtful look.

Rudeus's plan was to stage a kidnapping, then have him easily escape using magic in front of Eris before guiding her toward studying magic.

Radeus considered the idea fairly average-neither good nor bad.

"Will this really be all right?"

On the way back to their rooms, Radeus asked Rudeus.

"What could go wrong? I've still got you and Ghislaine, haven't I?"

"All right, then. Just be careful."

With that, the two returned to their respective rooms. Philip had assigned them a room each, with Radeus's right next to Rudeus's.

The rooms were neither large nor small, but had more than enough space for one person.

Radeus and Rudeus lay on their beds, waiting for tomorrow to arrive.

The next morning, Rudeus found himself inside a wooden crate, his hands securely bound with rope. He knew the plan had begun.

"Hey, Ghislaine, was the place we picked outside the city? Isn't the carriage going the wrong way?"

Radeus noticed the carriage carrying Rudeus and Eris heading out of the city, which immediately caught his attention.

"Hmm, I think so? I think Lord Philip mentioned it yesterday?"

Ghislaine held her head as she tried to remember. She had also been present at the time in case anything went wrong with the plan, but a plan like this was still too complicated for her, so it was normal for her not to remember clearly.

"Was it?"

Neither Radeus nor Rudeus had been present when Philip arranged the location. Only Philip, Ghislaine, and a few trusted aides had been there, so they did not know much about the arrangements for the location.

All he knew was that he would need to patrol the town with Ghislaine when the time came.

Confirming the situation now was simple. He only had to ask through party chat. Judging by the time, Rudeus should have started moving by now, too.

Hey, scrub. Is the plan going all right so far?

At that moment, Rudeus had just climbed out of the wooden crate. Looking around at the dim, filthy surroundings, he could not help remarking:

"This sure sets the mood. Didn't they say it would be somewhere cleaner?"

Before long, Rudeus heard Radeus's transmitted voice.

No problems with the plan. It's going pretty smoothly. Next, I'm going to start educating the young lady!

Rudeus looked confident. He was determined to secure the tutoring job.

All right. Contact me immediately if anything goes wrong. I keep feeling something's off!

Stop jinxing it. What could possibly be so off? Fine, I'll definitely contact you if anything goes wrong! I'm about to get to work, so stop bothering me.

Rudeus went over the specific steps in his mind, completely unaware that something had already gone seriously wrong with the plan.