I Don’t Care About the Story, I Want a Cat ～Transmigrated into an Otome Game～ - Chapter 37

Approaching the Tournament (Part 2)

The four men made their way off the training field. Although they looked a little tired, Edward and the General had bright expressions on their faces. 

Edward and Alexander had been practicing sword fighting with General Riley and his grandson, Kevin, ever since they were old enough to hold swords.

Kevin was the same age as Amy’s brother, Harold. He was the one in charge of training and sparring with the two boys, but recently the General had also started sparring with them. 

Even though Edward was the Third Prince, he was still a direct descendent of the Royal Family. He had always been talented and if he trained hard enough he could easily surpass his elder brothers in sword skills. But he had no desire to actually do so.

However, he had learned sword fighting as a means to defend himself in case he ever needed it. He was still a member of the Royal Family, it would be chaotic if something ever happened to him. 

They returned to the rooms built on the edge of the training field. They returned the weapons to their stands and were changing out of their practice clothes when Alexander addressed Edward. 

“I’m heading back to the dorms now. What about you?”

“I’m going to go to the Department of technology. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Oh it’s about magical tools? Did you start a new research project?” 

“I’ll get some survey results tonight. It’s not something urgent, I just need to analyze them.” Edward replied with a smile.

It looked like he was having a productive time in the research centre. He liked experimenting with the magical tools, and enjoyed listening to the new research projects being undertaken. 

Kevin, who was clueless about magical tools apart from weapons, looked at him with a puzzled face. 

“Results? About what?”

“How shall I put it?…… It’s from a survey about magical tools currently in use by the public. It’s to check the usage and the condition of these tools.”

“Hmm, it sounds complicated. Did Count Northland ask you to do this?”

“I was the one who brought it up but, yes, he left me to handle it.”

The Count of Northland, Joshua, had a strong stance on meritocracy when it came to work. Status or age didn’t matter to him as long as a person had the necessary skills for a job. Even if it was a member of the Royal Family, he expected them to earn their position.

It was very rare for Edward to be judged purely by his skills and abilities rather than his status as Royalty. Even his tutors or the academy that advocated equality gave him special treatment. 

General Riley and Count Northland were one of the rare few tutors who didn’t feel the need to judge him by his status. 

Edward smiled broadly after admitting to the responsibility the Count had put on him. General Riley, who was checking on the weapons near them, suddenly spoke up. 

“Ah, Rudolph’s son-in-law worked at the Magical Tools bureau? Is he well?” 

“He’s fine. He’s just always busy with work.”

“Haha, he’s always been like that.”

Edward thought back to Joshua who was always running around at work going from one research group to another, giving instructions to others while also juggling his own research on the side. 

Joshua was always so busy with work Edward rarely found the time to talk to him in person. He would occasionally interact with him to hand over a letter or gift for Amy but that was about it. As for the progress of his engagement with Amy, they hadn’t talked more about it after the very first meeting they had. 

That day he’d told Joshua that he wanted Amy to actually like him and not just think of him as a fiance in name only. Ever since then he felt like Joshua had been keeping a close eye on him to test him, so he had no choice but to work hard and do what he could to prove himself. 

As a result, he was promoted to the position of a researcher. Though he wasn’t displeased with this outcome.  

“So what are you going to do with the survey results anyway?” 

“I was wondering if we could make predictions for failure in these tools. It would naturally help in the development of future products, but would also be useful for managing repair parts and making adjustments in inventory for current magical tools. Some parts can be hard to find, or take a long time to make so this would be useful.”  

“…… How can I put it? It’s like you’re a technician already.”

“That’s right.”

Both Alexander and Kevin looked amazed at that but Edward just shrugged at their reaction.

“It’s not a big deal. Aren’t you already looking after the management of your estate too, Alex?”

“That’s completely different. I don’t work; all I do is give approvals or make decisions. I give a lot of work to the old butler as well.” Alexander explained, showing it was nothing special. 

“That is enough to be considered work…… geez, these people. They are unnecessarily capable and yet completely clueless about it.” Kevin said, shaking his head at them. 

“I heard you’re supervising this year’s fighting tournament, Kevin.” Edward pointed out to him.  

“It’s not that difficult. The tasks are almost the same as my usual duties. Though it is a bit troublesome to coordinate with the guild and other Kingdoms. And speaking of, the applications for the tournament have been finalised. We got one from Harold’s party too via the guild.”

Alexander leaned forward in interest after hearing the last part.

“Harold is also going to participate!? When is he coming to the Capital?”

“I don’t think they’re coming back soon. They are ranked highly so they’re exempt from participating in the preliminary rounds. They might show up just before their turn. I heard that currently they’re going to the special zone to hunt.”

“The special zone? Are you serious? As expected of him…”

“You seem happy about him participating but you know you might have to fight him in the tournament, Lord Alex.”

The tournament held both individual competitions and team competitions. Alexander, who was participating as a team with Kevin and Edward, fell in the same category as Harold who had also entered the tournament with his party.  

“I’m actually looking forward to being able to fight against his team. You were in the same class as them, right, Kevin?”

“Hmm, who knows. Those guys… particularly Harold always went beyond expectations. I don’t know if my fighting experience would fall on the same level as theirs. He can be a bit wild with his swordsmanship and his thinking.” 

“That’s probably the influence of the Northland blood in him.” General Riley said.

“What do you mean?” Edward asked, leading the General’s face to turn nostalgic. 

“There was a small instance when Joshua proposed to Isabel all those years ago. Rudolph is quite fond of his daughter so he declared that he won’t give his daughter to someone who couldn’t beat him in a fight. And so they settled on a duel.”

“Isn’t that too difficult? I can’t imagine anyone could beat the Margrave of Warram in a one-on-one fight.”

Kevin spoke, voicing what both Edward and Alex were also thinking. 

The General standing before them was renowned for his battle prowess on land, while the Margrave of Warram was renowned for his prowess at sea. He wasn’t only great at commanding naval battles but his sword fighting skills were also extremely good. 

On the other hand, Joshua had just begun to gain recognition in the field of magical tools research. He was merely a civil officer in comparison to the Margrave. 

“I can’t really imagine the Count holding a sword, let alone fight with one.”

“Exactly. Everyone was convinced he would lose. However, when they started fighting Joshua struck Rudolph with a unique technique, while he had his guard down. It was a close call but he managed to win the duel and the two got married with no problems.”  

Actually Joshua had trained in Kendo in his previous life, and his sword fighting was heavily influenced by that. People in this world were not familiar with it, so the posture and footwork of Joshua had taken Rudolph by surprise. 

General Riley, who knew both these men quite well, turned to Edward with a mischievous smile on his face. 

“Even though they’re father-in-law and son-in-law, they’re both very similar. I think it would be better if you also trained yourself, Your Highness.” He advised.

“Don’t worry……. I’ll make sure to pick up your corpse.”

“That’s not very encouraging, Alex…” 

Kevin tapped Alexander’s shoulder and they both looked at Edward in sympathy. 

But Edward just smiled back in relief. “If all the Director wants is a duel then that’s rather easy.” 

“Oh, that’s the spirit, Your Highness.” General Riley replied with a grin.