Greetings, I'm Zilvagias, the prince who has been living comfortably for over two years, far away from the blood-soaked battlefields.
Even as Sophia closed in on me, my body reacted instinctively.
—A punch aimed at my abdomen.
—Jumping to dodge?
—No, I'll be caught in midair.
—I'll have to deflect it.
I batted away Sophia's arm and tilted my body to evade the punch. After executing the move, my thoughts caught up, and my actions gained meaning.
—How ironic. Even in a different body, the "movements engraved into my bones" still surface.
While a part of me mused on that, I threw a light counter jab at Sophia.
Sophia's intensity was impressive, but it felt half-hearted—she wasn't trying to kill me, after all. All I had to do was land a hit to win. And being this close, even with my short childlike arms, I should be able to reach her.
"Whoops."
But with a sudden, mocking halt to her movement, Sophia gracefully dodged my punch.
Damn it, this is why I hate demons. They float around, ignoring gravity all the time, and of course, that extends to their fighting style. During my time as a hero, I'd tasted the frustration of facing their unreasonable movements more than once.
If only my arms were a bit longer... I can't wait to grow up.
I gave up on the follow-up attack and extended my left hand, pulling my right hand back to my waist. I began sidestepping while keeping an eye on Sophia.
"Interesting..."
Sophia was observing me as well, landing lightly on her feet and tapping the floor with her toes as if testing the gravity.
"Impressive, young master."
Sophia tilted her head, looking at me with curiosity.
"But... where did you learn to move like that?"
...
The blood that had been boiling with excitement from my clash with a demon suddenly cooled.
She was right. No two-year-old should be able to move like this. My body's muscle memory had betrayed me.
"...I saw it in the training grounds," I said, quickly coming up with an excuse. Now that I think about it, it's a pretty perfect cover story. All that exploring in the Demon Lord's castle wasn't for nothing!
"Really? But that movement isn't part of any demon martial arts..." Sophia said, extending her left hand and pulling her right hand back, imitating my stance perfectly as she smoothly moved her feet.
—I was shaken.
That's the basic stance of the hand-to-hand combat style taught to me by the monks of the Holy Church. And Sophia had recreated it almost perfectly after seeing it only once?!
Wait, this is bad. The fact that she can recreate it means I've already shown it! Anyone with the right knowledge could recognize it for what it is!
Feeling the sweat drip down my back, I glanced at Platifia.
"Sophia. Not everyone can perfectly mimic movements just by seeing them like you do," Platifia said in an exasperated tone, fanning herself.
"When people try to copy movements, they usually make some mistakes. Besides, your expertise is in demon martial arts, not the combat styles of other races."
"True, you're right," Sophia agreed.
"Zilvagias's movements are closer to those of the beastmen. He probably saw some of the soldiers training in the barracks and picked it up there."
Platifia went ahead and interpreted it however she wanted.
"Well, well, as expected of my child. To mimic such movements just by watching... I look forward to seeing what you can do in the future."
...That was close.
To be fair, the hand-to-hand combat techniques of the Holy Church were derived from beastmen martial arts, adapted for human use.
And, when I think about it, the chance that anyone in the Demon Lord's army would have seen the Church's techniques on the battlefield is slim to none.
Unarmed combat (or more accurately, claws and fangs) is the beastmen's specialty. Human soldiers use swords and shields, and when a human loses their weapon, they're usually killed on the spot. Even within the Holy Church, hand-to-hand combat was seen more as a form of self-defense or training.
If anyone were to recognize my movements for what they are, it would have to be someone from the same school or a rare individual who's fought humans in unarmed combat multiple times.
"I should have taught you martial arts much earlier... I thought you were too young," Platifia said, sounding a little regretful as I silently breathed a sigh of relief.
"But Zilvagias, a proud demon shouldn't imitate the fighting styles of lower races like the beastmen. Stop doing it."
I instinctively glanced around the room. There were only night elf attendants present—no beastmen servants.
...Would she still say that in front of them? That's bound to hurt their loyalty.
"Understood. I'll be careful," I answered carefully.
I got away with it this time, but who knows what'll happen next. Especially if any beastman combat specialists catch me using those moves.
I'll have to seal away all of my combat techniques from my hero days...
"Now, Zilvagias, you will learn the proper martial arts of a noble demon," Platifia said with a sadistic smile, half-hidden behind her fan.
"Don't worry, we have all the time in the world... Sophia, continue."
"Yes, my Lady."
Sophia took her stance. Her small frame belied the aggressive posture she adopted.
So this is what the noble demon martial arts look like...
"Well now, this seems more challenging than I thought. I'm starting to get excited. Plus, the young master's movements could be quite useful to study."
Damn it, if I make any careless moves, she'll copy them again, and I won't know when I'll slip up!
"Here I come!"
With a leisurely voice, Sophia stepped forward.
...
Later, after having my movements completely shut down and getting thoroughly beaten, I found myself lying on the floor.
Though "beaten" is an exaggeration. Compared to being pulverized by the Demon Lord, this was nothing. It didn't even hurt.
"Yay! Now we can finally study!!" Sophia exclaimed, clearly overjoyed.
Ignoring her excitement, I begrudgingly sat down at my desk.
I lost, so it was time for study.
Well, there's no helping it. For now, I'll pretend to focus on learning the basics of reading and writing while conserving my energy. I also need to master demon martial arts soon... Once my body is more grown, I'll pay this annoying demon back for sure...
As I was thinking this, a piece of parchment was placed in front of me.
"Now, young master! These are what we call 'letters!'"
A series of unfamiliar symbols lined the page.
"...What?"
I couldn't read any of it.
"W-Wait... these are letters?"
"Yes, that's right."
Sophia explained nonchalantly.
"They're the letters of the demon language."
...
Now that I think about it... I vaguely remember the Church commanders mentioning something like this...
The demon language has the same spoken words as us, but the writing system is different...
That's why when we captured demon documents, it took so long to decipher them...
"Young master, demon script is a phonetic writing system, where each character represents a sound. This one here represents 'a,' and this one 'i.' By combining them, you can create different sounds. Oh, and even though it's phonetic, there are also logograms, similar to what humans and elves use—"
Sophia went on in a fast-paced explanation, but I was already feeling faint. My mind flashed back to my time at the Church's orphanage, when I struggled to finish my writing exercises and was forced to stay up late every night to complete them...
That day, I might have felt the most despair since my rebirth.
Damn it... I really can't forgive demons.