After carefully and tightly making the shadows disappear completely, I looked around.

　A large number of travelers who hadn't escaped were down, unconscious and unconscious.
　I walked up to one of them and squatted down to check on him.

'Just fainting?'

　His breathing is regular, and there's no sign of trauma.
　The shadows knocked him unconscious, but there's nothing left behind.

　Then we'll be able to leave him alone.
　Now we just need to figure out how to cover this up--

"You never want to get old.
Mwah!

　I turned toward the voice as if I'd been played.
　The swordsman old man I had beaten up and the shadow haunted him.

　The old man, who must have been beaten up in a lot of ways compared to the travelers, was the first to wake up.
　He sat cross-legged on the ground with his body up.

　The sight of him, he seemed more indulgent than the first time.

'Kid, did you do that?'

　The old man said and looked at the preparation staff I was holding.
　He took it away and used it as a weapon.
　This is why they're suspicious of me.

　I sheath the blade of the preparation staff and offer it to the old man.

'You're wrong, I just picked this up.
Okay.

　He stood up slowly and reached for the staff I held out to him.
　I didn't even take it.

　It's a very good idea to be able to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!

　He let out a strange cry and slashed at me.

　It seems that it's not cool to be called a sword saint, the slash is sharp and powerful enough to cut down both sides of even steel.
　I have to intercept it--

(No!)

　My mind raced back to what had happened earlier.
　The trouble started when I reacted to my grandfather's attack and kill and let him counter.

　No interceptions, let's just take it (...).

　I'm still holding the sheath part of the preparation staff that my grandfather left me just in time.
　You can use it to catch his slash.

　I don't counterattack.
　I received it and kept it in the form of a spiteful battle.

　With the slash blocked, Grandpa sighed and pulled back.
　He lowered his stocking staff and nodded discouragingly.

Hey, what do you think?
A first-rate swordsman's strength is evident from a fight. The boy is much stronger than I am.
Mmm.
You don't want to grow old but you'll never be as good as you were in your prime.

　The old man made a divine face.
　This reaction was a bit out of tune, as my first impression was that he was a s*xually harassing old man.

　But I can't leave it at that.

　I know what you're talking about, if you strike each other, you'll know your strength.
　I also understood the power of the shadow with just a glance.

　The old man, who is so old that he's called the Sword Sage, should already understand my power.

　I have to keep my mouth shut.

''I'm sorry to be discouraged, but I don't want you to tell anyone about today.
About today, then?
Yeah, everything that happened today.
....

　Grandpa stared at me for a moment.

"...well, the loser is not denied. We'll take this day to the grave.

　He agreed to do so.
　I give the sheath of the training cane back to my grandfather.

　The old man takes it and puts the blade back on the staff.
　He follows it and watches it totter away.

　The truth is, you can pretend that Grandpa did the shadow defeating, but a lie can be found out from somewhere.
　Or rather, we have a sister, someone who wants to expose that kind of lie about me.

　It should be best that I don't say anything.

　　　　　☆

　A few days later.
　The cleanup of the meteorite and the demons that came out of it went smoothly.

　The city streets were restored as a matter of course with the highest priority, to the point of saying, "Alright," as a matter of course.

　As for the demons, I had a hard time with them right before, and the remaining travelers all fainted.
　Rumors that I defeated it didn't circulate at all.

　My grandfather said he was going to take it to the grave, and he meant it.

　I wouldn't have to poke around in the bushes to get the snake out if he would just shut up.
　And I "did" all kinds of office work, trying to be more discreet than usual.

　As a by-product of this, the office ended early.
　The sun was still high when Mimis and the rest of the vassals had all left the audience room.

　It's a good time to go somewhere to have fun.

''Haaaaah!

　Suddenly, the glass in front of the audience broke and a girl jumped in.

　A girl who was only fifteen or six years old, usually probably a vivacious type of girl, I could vaguely imagine from the makeup of her face and her hair style.
　That girl broke through the window from outside and entered the audience hall.

''It's you!　Hermes Cano, that is.
'What?　Oh, yeah. That's what--
Preparedness!

　--I'm not going to be able to get to the point where I can say, "What's the matter?
　She pulled out her orthodox longsword and slashed at me.

　I dodged the attack and swapped positions with the girl who rushed at me.
　The girl who rushed forward slashed the chair I was sitting on with her sword. She's pretty good at it.

　I'm a pretty good user there, but I can take him down if I want to.
　But.

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do that. What do you have against me?
Don't play dumb!　You, what did you do to Grandpa!
Grandpa?
Don't tell me you didn't know that!

　The girl who thrusts the point of the longsword at me, and raises the eyebrows upside down.
　That face, and the way she wields her sword.

''Grandfather--you mean Swordsman Perseus?
Yes!
Oh, you're that old man's granddaughter?

　It got a little more interesting when I found out who he was.
　That old man had such a cute granddaughter.

''Because of you!　There's a new rumor about your grandfather!
A rumor?
'Yes!　Grandpa is the greatest man on earth!　Grandpa should have defeated that monster too, but he hasn't said anything since he left!
Yeah.

　Take it to the grave, you've protected it.

Oh, I knew it!
No, that's not what I'm talking about.
"-na.
Hmm?

　The girl who was holding the longsword and shaking her raspy shoulders.
　She was so angry that she couldn't hear what she said, even her voice was trembling.

''What kind of dirty hands did you use!
No, no, I mean, dirty hands--
I bet you knew that Grandpa knew about the pornography and tried to bang her up!
'You're so eloquent that even my granddaughter says you're eloquent!

　I went into it as hard as I could.
　The old man is reviewing it by the look on his face when he was saying goodbye and executing the "take it to the grave", but it seems he was still eloquent.

'It's your fault!　Grandpa said he's going to put the sword away now.
You're going to go that far...
''If you take the sword away from Grandpa, you'll just be a dirty old man!　What are you going to do about it!

　The skeletons are still there, aren't they?

　I mean, the story doesn't seem to get any more serious, despite the girl's tremendous swordplay when she comes in.

　Well, that's a bit of a relief.

"Oh well, it's okay, it's 'like' dirty, if it's still there.
'The amount of skeletons I've sealed in my sword has made it more powerful!

　The girl on the ground.

"...why are you in tears?
I almost had my ass touched too!
Oh that's ... that's ... my condolences.

　I mean, haven't you lost sight of the eroticism, old man?
　Power ups, you don't have to go in that direction.

'It's all ... it's all your fault!

　The girl slashed at me with tears in her eyes.
　I can't fight back - oops.

　The outside of the room began to buzz.

　It seemed that people had heard the commotion and gathered around.
　Of course, a commotion in the audience hall, the head of the family is still inside. No wonder they're all, "What a bunch of bastards!

　I try to listen carefully.
　From the sound of footsteps, it seems that soldiers are gathering here too.

　Grandfather would have been able to gather all the soldiers in the mansion and still be kicked out, but this girl's strength is not that great.

　He figured he could get rid of her if he took them all on.

　Well, then, I won't have to do it.
　I'll buy you some time and let my men handle the stunts.

　Let's do what any good lord would do.

"Don't look at me!

　The girl slashed at me with fury.

　The thought popped into my head, I quickly grabbed the one lying in my hand and swung it up.

　--You can't fight back.
　I quickly discouraged myself and only received the girl's slash.

　I won't fight back.

''Eh.''

　It was a chair leg that was slashed.
　The chair leg that the girl slashed and dismembered was lying at her feet, so I quickly grabbed it to prevent the slash.

　-- which is fine.
　For some reason, the girl was extremely, deathly surprised.

''What do you mean...?''
What do you mean by that?
This feeling ... stronger than your grandfather?

　A girl murmuring in a questioning manner.

　Suddenly, she remembered her grandfather's words.

A first-rate swordsman's strength can be understood when they fight a match. The boy is far more skilled than I am.

　...You don't think she's capable of that?

"...no way!　I'm going to ask Grandpa!
'What?　Hey!

　I tried to stop her, but the girl ran out.
　She didn't bother the soldiers in the house who ran to her, and kicked them all away.

　She was a funny and unlikeable character, though.

''I have a feeling that ... a storm is brewing.