"Little 21, that was amazing. Let me guess, are you related in some way to Grabberton House?"
"…"
Geh…
What…
Wait, wait, wait, how did it come to this?!
Excuse me, what do you mean by it's to be expected?! But I clearly have altered my style there!
"No… why?"
"Eh, really? Your way of swinging the swords slightly reminds me of the Grabberton style, so I thought that perhaps you are related to them in some way…," he scratched his short beard while tilting his head in confusion.
Is the Grabberton style rooted that deeply in my swordsmanship? This is bad, then…
Wait, I have established a way out (more or less) during my sixth birthday, haven't I?
"I simply saw the Grabberton style and thought it was amazing, Keith-sensei! Did I do well in my swordsmanship?"
I tried to make my facial expression to show all my childish aspects, in order to distract his suspicion if he still wouldn't believe my words!
"Oh? So, you're their admirer? That's great, you have nice eyes there, little 21!" He rubbed his bulky hand on my head—ayy, this sensation is different from my dad's head-pat!
"Hehe, thanks, Keith-sensei!" I continued my act~☆!
"Little 21, tell me your name now! I will remember you! Hahaha!!"
Oh, his way of laughing… it's typical of a fighter's rowdy laugh… if you get what I mean.
"I'm Alrescha Lyra Hartmann, just call me Lyra!"
At my words, his laugh stopped and his smiley expression turned serious.
"Wait what, you—what?"
…Uhm, sorry, did you already know me? Am I that famous? Or… what?!
He glanced at me with his squinted eyes and his right hand rubbing his beard, his expression told me that he was fiercely thinking about something!
"Oh, you concealed your odd eye color, or are you the odd one in the family?"
Odd one in the family… is he talking about the rare case of a Hartmann member without heterochromia?
"T-the former one!!" I quickly answered.
"Hmm, I see. The Hartmann… huh…"
"…?"
This time, it's my turn to tilt my head in confusion. I thought he was puzzled about that fact alone and wouldn't question anything else—I mean, he should know that the Hartmann family is a magician family, so it's not that weird that I have a way to alter my eye color…
"The Hartmann family should be a magician family, right?"
"Yes…"
…wait, I think I figured out why.
"Though Cyan-san's taking up physical combat as well… I wouldn't have guessed that a Hartmann family's child would be this great in physical combat! I really thought you were a child from the Grabberton instead!"
…Bingo.
See?
This is the problem!!
Normally, a child who displayed a good swordsmanship at a tender age like me would be a child from a swordsman family, so… yup.
And here I am, coming from a magician family.
"Could it be that a Grabberton is your distant relative—wait no, I heard the Hartmann and the Grabberton disliked marrying into each other's clan due to their polar opposite style… one magic, one pure physical strength…"
He continued to mumble and I slightly nodded in agreement. True, the Grabberton typically has low magical compatibility and the Hartmann favors high magical compatibility, so marriage between the two clan is never being talked about…
Keith-sensei suddenly clenched his right hand to form a fist and hit it on his left hand while shouting, "Oh, I know!"
…That startled me!!
What did you know???
No, no, no, there's no way that you have discovered my closely-guarded secret?!
But how could that be?
Unless he can read minds, then I highly doubt it that he would find out about it at our first meeting...
Drops of cold sweats formed as I stared at Keith-sensei in a worry.
"You must be admiring the Grabberton so much that you walked on the path of swordsmanship despite your magician family… knowing that you'll never be able to enter the house of Grabberton, just assuming their swordsmanship style is enough… Well done, well done!!"
Keith-sensei looked at me with a sympathetic gaze as he nodded several times to indicate his understanding of the matter. It's like he's 100% certain of his... hypothesis.
Keith-sensei, are you a person with a vivid imagination, or are you simply a muscle-head?!
But that reasoning is not so bad! I thought my secret was found out—phew.
…Keith-sensei can write stories as his part-time job. The way he talked just made the whole story more dramatic. Ah yeah, he can be a story-teller instead.
"I support you, kid. I can understand the awesomeness of swordsmanship! No wonder that you will fall in love with a certain style in swordsmanship!"
Keith-sensei nodded his head many times over as he closed his eyes, immersing in his imagination.
I smiled stiffly at his monologue, neither trying to affirm or deny his whole deduction. After all, this is my life saver, though it feels a bit awkward...
"Keith-san, if you are done, can we proceed…"
The teacher who did the roll call on the examinees timidly cut Keith-sensei's daydreaming.
"Eh? Oh, right! We still have more examinees! My bad, my bad, hahaha!!"
He opened his mouth so wide and let out that laugh again, as he scratched his head.
"Well then, little Lyra! I'm looking forward to see you at school!" He firmly grabbed my shoulders as he said that.
Okay, Sensei. Does that mean my enrollment here is guaranteed? No—I mean, my enrollment to the special class?
If it is, then I'm so happy. I am quite confident, but eeh, only god knows how this will turn out.
Somehow, I managed to escape from yet another danger flag in my life!
Next up is magic exam!!
I wonder how will it be held?
It's gonna be my first time ever to join in a magic exam!
Finally, another new experience in my life~
A high dose of excitement and a low dose of nervousness ran through my whole body.
Don't call me smug for stating that I have only a low dose of nervousness, please…