News of the match must have spread through the palace like wildfire.

“Well done in your sparring match,” Perceval said, meeting me at the door of the library. “I am genuinely surprised you have come so far in so short a time.”

Well I can’t take all of the credit. Had Alea not been so obvious with her use of magic I certainly would have lost. Or did word of the princess’ obvious telegraphing not make the rounds. Perhaps the knights were trying to protect her reputation.

“…Thank you,” I managed.

“But I thought you said you had no battle experience? No training with a sword and such. Princess Alea is no push over when it comes to the blade…”

He seemed to think deeply and it made me think too. Was it possible Alea had let me win? She did say she was paying me back for her behavior. Maybe this was some kind of honorable loss thing. All of a sudden I felt really bad about being proud of my victory. If she really was a skilled swordswoman then I…ugh…I really did lose. I should have known she wouldn’t just give away her moves like that without good reason.

“…Well, let’s get to your magical training,” Perceval said with an odd amount of enthusiasm.

I thought he was reluctant to ‘waste time’ on my magical training. Why this change of mood? Was it the supposed victory against Alea? That was certainly all I could think of.

He pulled out the blue sphere and I began displaying that single pitiful ability: [Interpretation].

It was like a constant reminder that I wasn’t really a hero. That I was a sham. But it also spurred me on. I poured as much mana as I could into that sphere. Determined to build my tool magic affinity. One day I would be strong enough to win for real.

Perceval and I moved on from chemistry to discuss physics. Momentum and Energy. We really did skip around in topics, but it seemed appropriate for the day’s discussion given my ‘victory’ against Alea. I even told him about the art of Judo while I was concentrating on the crystal ball. I described it as a defensive martial art which had a lot of throws and used an opponent’s momentum against them. I also told him that Bella and my friend Tara were far better at it than I was as they had studied Judo in much more depth.

“Interesting,” he said. “And you defeated Alea…princess Alea with this Judo?”

I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not. Surely he realized Alea had let me win, right?

I shook my head in the affirmative. Hopefully he wouldn’t ask for any demonstrations as I only knew the couple of moves.

By the time I left his study I was mentally exhausted. Mostly from overthinking the conflict with Alea. I didn’t even really know where we stood now. Was she still upset with Bella and I?

“I heard about your mock battle?” Fiena said the moment she entered my room for our second study session. “Why didn’t you tell me? Did you really beat the princess in a swordfight?”

I couldn’t quite judge her reaction. It seemed to be a mix of surprise and excitement. Did she not like the princess? Or maybe she was just excited for me. Yeah that was probably it.

“Um…well I guess so,” I said uncertain. “I kind of think she let me win.”

“Let you win?! That doesn’t really sound like the princess.”

Is that really something Fiena should be saying? I don’t know it just sounded strange to hear.

“If possible could we just get to reading?” I said trying to change the subject.

“What…oh right. Sure. Let’s start by having you read the tale of the Hero Niiro.”

That was an easy enough task. With my new memory I could easily remember which words went with each symbol. It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Fitting words with meanings. Although it was slow going I could read the entire story.

“That’s amazing,” Fiena said. “You’re picking it up so quickly. Do you have some kind of trait or ability which helps you learn languages?”

There was an awkward pause. I knew that it was a taboo to ask about someone’s traits and abilities, but she seemed so genuinely interested that I wanted to tell her. Maybe her home country didn’t have the same conventions about blessed traits and abilities.

“Um…” I hesitated. “Well…I do have the [Interpretation] ability. It’s what lets me speak the language of the people of this nation. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to communicate.”

“Really? Then can you understand this?”

“Understand what?” I replied.

“Wow you really can translate any language. I’m speaking in the language of the sidhe right now not Aconian.”

Really? I didn’t even notice a difference. That’s amazing. Then I really can interpret any language on Praecantio. I could be like a translator or maybe even a diplomat.

“What about me? Did the language I’m speaking change?”

“Yes, you’re speaking sidhe also,” she beamed. “That’s remarkable. What about the other hero does she have the same ability? Is that why the two of you speak so fluently?”

“Well…I suppose so,” I managed.

I never really considered myself a great speaker. Sure I studied language, but on a theoretical level. Bella had always been better at things like public speech and languages too.

“No I mean it,” she insisted. “You really speak very eloquently. It’s a pleasure to listen to you speak.”

The compliment coupled with her leaning over the book took me by surprise. She was so close…I was flustered.

“Th…Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she said sitting back down. “Now tell me more about steam engines. They must be the peak of technology in your world to move these locomotives you told me about. So, how exactly do they work?”

We spoke well past the time we should have ended our conversation. I telling her about different kinds of engines and the principles behind their functioning. She reading through another story.