Table of Contents
Copyrights and Credits
Table of Contents Page
2.5 Intermission: Instructor Freya’s Diary
Chapter Two: The Hero and the Demon King
Chapter Three: Inescapable Hurt
Chapter Four: When It Rains, It Pours
Chapter Six: An Adventurer Caught in the Cross Fire
Chapter Seven: The Back of a Hero
Newsletter
Color Gallery
Characters
Chapter One: Pawn
Chapter One:
Pawn
1
THE SUN PEEKED OUT FROM BELOW THE horizon. Rays of soft light spread gradually up and out across the night sky, heralding the dawn of a new day. Luke couldn’t help but sigh at the sad scene before him: Mia, lying unconscious on the floor. She had suddenly decided to pay him a visit at the crack of dawn, and when Alice appeared in the doorway, completely nude, Mia fainted in surprise. It hadn’t exactly been the most relaxing morning so far.
“She wants to be your pawn? Doesn’t she know you have me? I would carry out with perfect precision any order you gave me, no matter how vile or despicable…and do it much better than a girl like Mia ever could.”
Alice spoke a little louder than she usually did, and her voice was tinged ever so slightly with genuine emotion. Most people wouldn’t have been able to detect it at all, but Luke knew her well enough to perceive the subtle shift. Additionally, her facial expression appeared very complex indeed.
But Luke did not understand why.
“How did you come to such a misunderstanding? You’re my fiancée, not my pawn.”
Alice gave a small gasp, then fell silent.
To Luke, it was a complete nonissue. Alice and Mia occupied different positions in relation to him, and that was an objective truth. However, there was something that Luke had yet to realize: Privately, his perception of Alice had changed, and he accepted her as a part of his daily life. At first, he had resented the very idea of being with her, but over time, he had come to acknowledge her as his fiancée. It was a clear transformation that had taken place.
Fiancée, fiancée, fiancée…
But to Luke, it was all so normal that he barely noticed the change at all. He certainly didn’t outwardly display it—he was just as reserved as Alice, or perhaps even more. He was similarly cold and aloof, and that made the merest glimpse of his feelings toward her all the more stimulating and enticing. She turned the word “fiancée” over and over in her head, repeating it to herself as it melted into her, until she was completely intoxicated by it.
Her excitement gradually turned into lust. She felt her body getting hot, her breathing ragged. She would usually have made some attempt to hide her filthy desires, but didn’t have the will to do so this time around.
“You really do know how to drive a woman mad.”
Alice was completely naked, but that didn’t appear to bother her at all. In fact, she thought it was pretty convenient that she happened to be nude already, as she slipped her hand behind Luke’s neck.
“Hey! Mia’s still here,” he pointed out.
“Heh heh…we’ll be in trouble if she wakes up, then.”
Alice stretched up and pressed her mouth to Luke’s. It wasn’t a warm, soft sort of kiss, but the sort in which two people completely surrendered to their desires. With Mia unconscious on the bed, they found themselves collapsing onto the floor beside it.
***
“Hey. Get up already.”
“…Urgh.”
With that business concluded, Alice and I arose to prepare for the day ahead. However, Mia still wasn’t waking up.
At this point, I can’t tell if this girl’s too sensitive or not enough… Either way, I guess she was really stressed out.
“Finally awake then, sleepyhead?”
“Uh…A-Alice…? Wha—”
Mia jerked awake at the sight of Alice, and she jolted upright in bed to sit with her back to the wall.
“Wh-wh-wh-what are you doing here?!” Mia spluttered.
“I should be asking you the same thing. You know that Luke and I are engaged to be married, and you still come knocking on his door? You sneaky little home-wrecker.”
“Th-that’s not why I’m here!”
“No? Then perhaps you can explain why you had that look on your face when you arrived.”
“I-I didn’t have any look on my face! Stop being weird!”
I watched silently for a moment as Alice teased the poor girl.
Well, I suppose I am the one that started all of this, so I should put an end to it. I’ve already explained the situation to Alice, but I guess the two of them really just don’t get along, huh?
“Mia, what classes are there today?” I asked.
“Um…we’ve only got lessons in the afternoon, third and fourth period…that’s it.”
“In that case, go ahead and reserve one of the magic training areas. Either One or Two. Doesn’t matter which.”
“O-okay.”
“I’ll be in the library. Come get me once you’ve got a training area booked.”
“Okay… I understand.”
Hm, she’s already obediently accepting everything I say without a second thought. Everything is working out even better than I expected. Actually…on second thought, maybe it’s going a little too well. What’s this faint sense of doom I feel in the back of my mind?
“Arranging your clandestine meetings right in front of me? How wicked of you,” said Alice.
“…I’ve already explained what this is.”
“Yes, and I understood what you said, but whether I accept it or not remains to be seen,” she retorted, her breathing growing steadily more ragged. “I’m sure I w-won’t be able to concentrate on a-anything else, so I’ll end up coming to find you…watching from some secret h-hiding place…keeping an eye on everything that the two of you get up to.”
She began panting openly with excitement as she continued. “I’m sure it will be, ah, so terribly hard to watch, b-but for some reason, I find my body growing hot at the th—”
“Wh-wh-what are you saying?” I interrupted. “We won’t be doing anything like that!”
“Oh? And what is it you’re imagining that has made you blush such a bright shade of red? I didn’t specify any particular activity, did I? I merely mentioned that I would be watching everything the two of you get up to.”
“Urk, that’s not…”
If you really want to observe, you could just sit and watch like a normal person, you know. Why do you need to hide? I honestly don’t understand that at all—nor do I really care to.
“I’m going to the cafeteria. Both of you, get out of my room.”
“Yes, quite right. I don’t want to spend another moment speaking with this shameless harlot.”
“I told you that’s not why I came!”
All three of us exited the room. I locked the door and headed for the cafeteria, where I found a familiar scene.
A red-haired boy with mean eyes was already seated at a table, eating breakfast.
Ah, it’s Lloyd. He always gets here earlier than everyone else.
He looked in our direction, and our eyes met.
He must’ve seen Mia too, naturally.
Lloyd didn’t say anything as we walked in. He quickly averted his eyes and turned back to his breakfast.
He’s sitting a bit further away from the table than yesterday. Is he still doing as Alice told him? Heh heh…interesting.
“…Hm?”
Mia suddenly walked toward Lloyd’s table.
“I lost. No excuses,” she admitted plainly. “But I’m definitely going to get my revenge.”
“…Yeah? Well, come at me anytime, then,” Lloyd said. “Ready when you are. Better hurry, though, ’cause I’ll just keep on going, always one step ahead. Ain’t gonna run or hide, but I’m sure not waiting around for you to catch up neither.”
Lloyd looked in our direction—not at me but at Alice. He got up from his table and slowly approached her.
“I want a rank duel.”
“Is that so? Very well,” Alice answered immediately.
“I mean…it ain’t like I think I can beat you,” he added, “but we all just got here. I wanna get a clear idea of how much further I’ve got to go. Sorry, but that’s why.”
“I assure you, I really don’t care about your reasons, so you can stop flapping your mouth. I’m not actually listening, you know?”
“…”
With nothing to say in response to that, Lloyd went back to his seat.
“Mwa ha ha…”
I couldn’t hold back my laughter.
Lloyd is just too interesting. I like him.
“Why not challenge me instead, Lloyd? You don’t have to bother with this mere girl.”
Upon hearing the phrase “mere girl,” Alice’s breathing became heavier for some reason.
How irritating…but I will allow it. I’m in a good mood today.
“You? Nah, not yet. Ain’t no point in challenging you now.”
“Ah ha ha ha… I see. When you are ready, then. Though in your case, we need not fight a formal rank duel. Something more casual is fine.”
“Huh…you serious?”
“Yes, I am.”
I’ll give him some of my precious time. I suppose that shows how much I like the guy.
“Right.” Lloyd hesitated. “Then…maybe. Sure.”
“Don’t be shy, please. I will allow it—for you.”
Lloyd’s eyes opened wide for just a brief moment, then his expression returned to normal.
Mwa ha, mean-looking as ever.
That was the extent of our conversation, and the two of us returned to our food. A few moments later, Leonard entered the cafeteria.
“Hey, good m—” he began, and then spotted Alice.
She locked eyes with him, her gaze cold and disdainful.
“R-right…I guess I’ll go eat in the corner…ha ha ha…”
That was all it took to send Leonard drifting away to sit with Lloyd instead. That, too, was something I was getting used to seeing.
Then, a new voice chimed in as I ate my breakfast.
“Uh…um, do you mind if I sit here?”
“…”
I turned to see Abel standing beside me, accompanied by the loud irritating girl that was always with him.
Lily, was it? The moment I turn Abel down, that girl’s going to start wailing about it on his behalf, making a tiresome scene in this cafeteria. In that case…
“…Do as you please.”
“Ah! Thanks!”
Abel sat opposite me, smiling like he was truly happy to be there.
Gross. Why do I feel like this guy’s taken a weird liking to me? I’ve really got no idea why that might be.
“Um…sorry about yesterday. I misunderstood…” he started.
“I don’t care.”
“…What?! Listen, you—” Lily protested.
“C-calm down, Lily. I’m sorry, Luke.”
“Why are you apologizing to him, Abel?!”
“You ought to keep that thing on a leash. Could you quiet her down for a moment?”
“What did you just say?!”
“…Shut up.”
When did this start…? When did everything around me get so damn loud?
“I knew it.” Abel was talking to me, but he was looking at Mia. “She’s smiling again.”
“You’re massively misunderstanding something important about this situation.”
“Y-you think?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“But she’s smiling, isn’t she?” he countered, his eyes still filled with an odd satisfaction. “You can’t deny that.”
“…”
Sounds like he seriously thinks I went to see Mia last night just to cheer her up.
“Sometimes…I see you training with the sword, y’know?”
“What of it?”
“The way you swing is so beautiful, it’s hard to even put into words. I don’t know much about magic yet, but I know a bit about swordsmanship, and…I-I felt this way during our duel, too.”
I said nothing.
“See, my master told me that when it comes to the sword, what’s important is heart. A bad person can’t be a good swordsman…so that’s how I know you’re not really a bad person, Luke.”
I raised my brows slightly at that, but remained silent.
I see… I thought to myself, watching the carefree smile spread across Abel’s face. This master of his has fed him that stupid nonsense. He thinks I’m pure of heart just because I can handle a sword? The world’s not that damn simple.
Later that afternoon, I arrived at Magic Training Area One to teach Mia some spells.
“When I came to reserve this place, I talked with Instructor Freya,” Mia rambled at me in greeting. “She said I looked quite energetic for someone who had been so thoroughly disgraced by one of my peers in such a public fashion…and that it was a relief to see I was okay…”
“I don’t care. Quickly now. Let’s get started.”
“Ah, th-thank you for teaching me!”
“I’ll be taking some mana first.”
Mia gasped as part of her mana flowed into me, thanks to my Dark magic’s draining abilities.
Oh yeah, this is good stuff.
“Watch. Armor of Healing Thunder.”
In the next instant, bolts of purple electricity streaked across my body.
I just thought this spell up on the spot; I’ve never actually done it before. I knew I’d be able to pull it off though—and look at that, I was right. It does need a bit of fine-tuning, though.
“…Huh?”
A thunderous boom resounded as I kicked off from the ground.
This spell contains a mix of the elements of Electricity and Healing. The Electricity aspect gives the user lightning-fast speed, but the human body can’t withstand that immense physical stress. That’s where Healing comes in—to instantly heal whatever parts of me get broken in the process.
It really is fast…so fast that my reflexes are kicking in just a little too late. Maybe I should pair it with a spell that boosts my senses. It’s going to take a while to get used to this, and it consumes a massive amount of mana too. Can’t use it for too long at a time…but it more than makes up for that with its sheer, incredible power.
After some more testing, I disabled the spell.
“You like it?” I asked.
“Th-that was incredible…”
“It’s a compound spell, using both Electricity and Healing. You’ll be learning that yourself and making it your own,” I told her. “Also, you’re far too slow to acti-vate your spells, so you really ought to work on that as well. Anyway, I’m leaving.”
“Huh?”
Back to the dorms…or maybe the library, actually? There’s more I want to research.
“W-wait!”
“What?” I paused and glanced back.
“Are you really leaving already? I don’t know if I can do this on my own,” Mia fretted. “If you wouldn’t mind…I-I’d like you to stay here with me…m-maybe…”
I stared at her.
What’s she saying?
“What more do you want from me? I just showed you the spell.”
“I saw it. It’s just…”
I could see that Mia was about to dig her heels in and complain even more.
“Mia. I’m disappointed in you.”
I looked her dead in the eyes and was kind enough to be straight with her.
“It’s so much easier to walk a path that’s been set out for you, but there’s value in forging your own through the desolate wasteland. If you can’t even see that, if you require me to hold your hand the entire way…I have to wonder, was I wrong about you?”
“A-ah…”
I have no interest in hand-feeding her these things. She’s being too soft. Much of magic acquisition is instinctual—a conversation with yourself that takes place over many hours. If she’s truly this incapable of thinking for herself, then I have no need for her. No matter how much talent she might have, it’s all worthless if she’s overly reliant on others. She’s no different from the rabble. If I spoil her now, she’ll continue to rely on me for every little thing that comes up. That’s why I need to light a fire under her, I reckon. I’ve already told her everything she needs to know.
I made to walk toward the exit once more.
“I-I’m sorry…”
A hand grabbed at my sleeve—it was, of course, Mia.
“What the heck do you w—”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry,” she repeated desperately. “Sorry, sorry, sorry…don’t abandon me, please don’t abandon me…”
“…Huh?”
Mia’s eyes were so full of tears that they looked black and hollow, as if not a single beam of light could reach past the watery surface.
I just tried to encourage her a little… How did this happen? What did I do? I didn’t think she was the type to respond like this. Could it be…this is all happening because I put in a bit of effort?
***
“I’m disappointed in you.”
The moment he said those words, I felt as if the ground had suddenly dropped out from beneath my feet. I was in freefall, endlessly plunging down into a bottomless abyss.
Would I never again be allowed to see the dazzling light that had illuminated my heart, no matter how hard I reached for it? When that thought occurred to me, everything before me went dark.
No.
No, no, no!
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…
***
I stared down at Mia, who was now clinging to my leg and crying. She sniffled and gasped for breath between choking, panicked sobs.
…You’ve got to be kidding me. What’s she crying for? I don’t get it.
“I-I don’t need to be your number one,” she wailed. “J-just let me be by your side…please…please…”
Mia looked up at me, her eyes murky and pleading.
What the heck is she doing? Seriously, why is this happening…?
“Look, just listen to me,” I said firmly. “Try it on your own first. If you won’t even try, I’ll never have any idea of what you’re capable of on your own.”
She sniffled again pitifully.
“You have to stop immediately relying on other people. That’s a real bad habit of yours,” I told her. “Discipline means having a conversation with yourself, and that only happens when you’re alone. Magic especially so… But, yeah, I’ll show you the path.”
“I’m s-sowwy… I’ll try m-my best, I will, s-s-so…d-don’t abandon meee…”
“…All right. Get off me already, jeez. You’re annoying.”
“Don’t s-say…I-I’m annoying…”
“…”
What even is this? Who is that irritating little thing down there? Surely not the same Mia I considered capable of being my pawn. I mean, what’s with her?! Man, it’s even giving me a stomachache just thinking about it. Damn it…why do I have to worry about this?
“I’ll give you one piece of advice,” I told Mia, one hand lightly clasped over my stomach. “Focus on Healing more than Lightning. The latter will hurt you, so just keep healing the parts of yourself that break. Lightning is raw power, but Healing will keep you alive, you got that?”
“Yeah… Okay.”
“…”
She was still crying. I didn’t understand how anyone could be so upset over something as small as this. It was sort of exhausting to deal with, truthfully.
I should go take a nap or something…
Before I could hurry off to do that, though, I had a sudden epiphany. That happened to me sometimes, where I’d just instinctively know what I should do next.
Gently, I placed a hand on Mia’s shoulder as my intuition guided me to do. I knew without a doubt that my actions now would steer her toward the best possible course.
“I went too far,” I said stiffly.
“Huh?”
“Forgive me. I was harsh because I expect so much of you.”
“Ah…um…”
Mia’s mouth opened and closed in silence. I thought I saw the swirling void behind her eyes growing darker, but I ignored it.
“I don’t make mistakes. I know I was correct in choosing you. You can do this, right?”
“Yeah…I can…I can do it…”
Mia furiously nodded her head in reply.
Oof…man, I’m tired of all this. I think I’m done with making new pawns for a while…
“I’m going then.”
“O-okay! I’ll try my best!”
I felt a strong will within her.
That’s a good strong look she’s got in her eyes…probably? Or is it…? Ah, forget that now, I should just put all of this out of my mind.
Finally, I took my leave in earnest. However, near the exit, something caught my eye.
Someone was there—someone who was almost certainly watching us. Before I could get a proper look at them, the shadow darted away and disappeared.
I thought that was Alice at first, but it definitely wasn’t. Huh.
“Who’s there?” I said curtly, once I was out of the training area. I looked around—they likely couldn’t have gotten far.
I didn’t sense a massive amount of mana from them either. Probably not enough to escape via magical means. They must still be close, but where could they be hiding in a place like this…?
I glanced around, but failed to notice any potential hiding spots except for a big cleaning locker.
Wait a second.
As if adding insult to the injury of my tired mind, I realized that my constantly active Mana Perception spell indicated that there was a source of mana coming from the aforementioned locker. It seemed that whoever was inside was trying to use magic to cover up their presence, but perhaps due to their panic, they hadn’t quite managed it fully.
“Come out. I know you’re hiding in there.”
“…”
No response. Doesn’t seem like they plan on coming out any time soon.
“Right. I’ll just have to open this locker, then.”
As soon as I touched the handle, the double-doored locker burst open—and I saw her.
“…Huh?”
It was someone I very much hadn’t expected to see.
“Well, fancy meeting you in a place like this, Luke Witharia Gilbert.”
There, crammed in the locker with several cleaning tools in her arms, was our first-year homeroom teacher, Instructor Freya.
She’s just gonna greet me as if she weren’t perched in a storage locker? Like it’s only a bit of a coincidence to run into her here? Man, I don’t know what the heck’s going on here, but I’m already exhausted from all this Mia stuff. Why is all this nonsense happening on the same day?
The confusion that swirled within my mind showed no signs of slowing, as fresh questions sprung forth.
“I know what you’re thinking: ‘Why?’ That’s it, isn’t it? But that question is an incredibly foolish one.”
“…”
“Perhaps consider something like ‘Who?’ or ‘How?’ instead.There is an instructor hiding in a locker that is meant for cleaning supplies. The chances of such a thing occurring are not high, of course, but they are by no means zero. What you see is an uncontested fact. It is a reality that is not up for debate.”
“…”
“Well then, I’ll be leaving. I have work to do.”
I still had no idea how to respond to any of that, and I had already mentally checked out of this absurd conversation. So many inexplicable things had happened to me in such quick succession, I couldn’t help but switch off.
“It is just as my older sister told me, you’re very talented. You also seem considerate toward your classmates. I’m impressed.”
With that, Instructor Freya left. She kept her head held high and proud as she walked away. Not once did she show the slightest hint of embarrassment about all of this, which only made the whole situation seem even stranger.
“…I’m going back to my room,” I said with a sigh.
I’ll just sleep off the rest of the day… It’s probably a more efficient use of my time, I concluded, casting aside every other thought in my head.
***
Not far from Aslan Magic Academy, in an area untouched by any man-made light source, stood two people dressed in black from head to toe. Illuminated only by the glow of the moon, the man and the woman carried on a hushed conversation in the dead of night.
“Hey,” said the man, “y’sure you got it?”
“Got it. Scouting only today. Just looking.”
“Fine, but…just don’t get carried away, okay? You got that?”
“Understood. But if we can kidnap, then let’s do it.”
The man sighed. “Why d’you always get so worked up ab—”
There was a flash of movement above their heads, and in an instant, the conversation ended as the two jumped apart.
“Hm, nicely dodged,” said the stranger as he alighted before them. “What incredible physical abilities… Is that magic? Magic tools, perhaps? Or something else?”
The man laughed out loud, his silver hair reflecting the light of the moon above. Yolande—just the sight of him set off deep, instinctual alarm bells. The man and woman both knew this person was far too dangerous for them to deal with now, and there was nothing to do except flee at once.
“…Urk!”
“You get it, right?”
“…Understood. Not that self-absorbed.”
The shadowy figures exchanged a glance, signifying an unspoken agreement: “We can’t fight him. We have to run.”
“Man, I figured it was about time for you lot to start showing up…and to think, I was right on the money! I sure am lucky.”
In the next instant, Yolande kicked off against the ground, using the repulsion between himself and the dirt below to launch himself forward. He traveled at inhuman speed, closing in on the two figures. His victory would likely be assured if he could just get them within range of his attacks, but they weren’t about to just let him do that.
Yolande yelped in surprise as a smoke screen billowed out and obscured his vision.
“You think that this will stop m—huh?”
Assuming it mere smoke, Yolande tried to blow the cloud away with his magic, but found he was unable to. There was some trick to it—something hindering his spells. It took him only a little extra time to clear the smoke, but that proved more than enough of an interval for the two figures to conceal themselves. When the smoke cleared, there was no sign of either of them, no matter where Yolande looked.
“Hm? I can’t track their mana either. I can’t believe it, they’ve actually managed to get away from me,” he said, evidently disappointed.
Yolande sighed.
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter,” he muttered to himself quietly. “Those two had to be beastlings, I think… This kingdom sees them as an inferior lot due to their lack of mana, but such thinking is foolish. Beastlings have so many uses, after all. They might be unable to use magic, but they’re incredibly athletic.”
Yolande used Flight to rise slowly up into the air.
“Most likely they’re here for Luke, eh? I should assume that news of his Dark element has traveled far and wide. I wanted to hide it, at least until he could develop and mature. Alas, despite this nation of ours excelling so greatly in magic, it seems few know how to effectively gather intelligence…”
He sighed, and after a time, another shadowy figure approached him.
“Sir Yolande. We mobilized fully in search of them, but…”
“Thanks for your hard work, Gordoba. It’s fine. Hard to look for them when they don’t have mana, isn’t it?”
“My deepest apologies…”
“They’re a little too direct to be assassins from the Kingdom of Beasts, I think. Could it be that another nation is using beastlings to disguise their involvement in this…? Our kingdom has a lot of enemies after all…but that’s not really my concern. We’ll simply deal with them either way.”
With that, Yolande and Gordoba disappeared into the dead of night.
2.5 Intermission: Instructor Freya’s Diary
2.5 Intermission:
Instructor Freya’s Diary
†TH OF ○
Got a message from Big Sis today. Apparently she’s going to be staying in Gilbadia for a while. Something about discovering Dark element magic in the heir to the Gilbert house. I mean, come on! Like, I know that rare elements are amazing and all that…but she’s just so selfish! She’s always been this way, ever since we were kids. She’s usually so clever, but she always gets way too worked up about some things. Whenever a research topic catches her eye, that’s it! Nothing else matters. Like, she’s still living in my house and everything…
Not that that’s not okay! I mean, I bet she just thinks of me as a convenient servant anyway! Ah, it feels good to get this off my chest! Um…I guess I can also admit this here: I do get a little lonely sometimes. I’d never tell her that, though.
☆th of ○
I’m getting letters from her almost every day now, which does make me happy, I suppose…but why do they all say the same thing?! It’s all “Luke’s incredible!” and “Alice is amazing!” and “Dark magic’s seriously out of this world.” It never ends! I get it, okay?! Tell me a bit about how you’re doing, won’t you?!
Like, come on! This page, that’s mostly just the phrase “oh boy, oh boy, oh boy” over and over again, doesn’t even count as a letter! Come home already, you big magic-obsessed dummy!
○th of △
After around a year in Gilbadia, Big Sister’s finally come home. Hurray! …Yeah, to be honest, I’m pretty happy about this. I was lonely, you know? But, like…the moment she comes back, she starts talking about working as an instructor for the next three years?! What the heck?!
Like, wait a second now, this is all happening way too fast! Man…I’m her little sister, and even I’m getting tired of how free-spirited she can be. I mean, I get it, that Luke kid and his newly discovered Dark element are super interesting, I know that. But come on…she’s moving way too fast! Who even knows if he’ll pass the entrance exam or not?
It’s an amazing magic academy too. It’s not like you can become an instructor there by just walking up and asking nicely…but I bet Big Sister could do it, if she really wants to. I mean, she’s already managed to climb to the position of Magic Knight, which is amazing, given how lazy she is when she’s at home. I had to work so hard to get my Magic Knight position, so we’re nothing alike in that. Ah, Big Sister, you’re so focused on the things you like, and you never compromise on them… I gotta say, I do respect you for that.
△th of △
Today was the day of Aslan Magic Academy’s entrance exam.
Yep…Luke really was amazing. I did wonder, since Big Sister won’t shut up about him, but he definitely passed the exam with that performance. He settled every one of his fights in an instant during the practicals, so I was a bit disappointed I didn’t get to see more of his magic. Honestly? He’s just like my big sister in some ways. Both of them are the real deal with their immense raw talent. Yeah, Dark is a powerful element, but it’s not just that. If he didn’t have the magical aptitude to wield it effectively, it wouldn’t matter how good his element was. But he’s got a massive amount of talent… Both of them do. They’re special.
It’s just…those gifted kids who can do just about anything on the first try can be surprisingly sensitive. That’s what worries me… Which is why I’ve got to support him as one of his instructors, I suppose! All right! I’m starting to get fired up!
But, like…see…I love kids, but I always get super nervous around them and end up being strict instead…trying to play it cool, I guess? It’s such a shame…I’ve been totally pigeonholed at the academy as one of those mean teachers.
No! Don’t give up, Freya!
This is the year I’m going to get closer to the students! I’m going to be the one they turn to! The one they ask for advice about all their problems!
And so it was that I set in motion my “Cool Homeroom Teacher Debut Plan.”
JK.
#th of †
Finally, finally, finally!
I got the first-year homeroom teacher position! All right! I’m, like, super stoked about this! I’ve always wanted to be a homeroom teacher, so I really am happy about this. But…also a bit nervous.
This academy isn’t just a place for having fun… Everyone gets really brutal because of that rank-system stuff. Every single year, a handful of first years will inevitably transfer out…
Oh man, just thinking about all this is making me even more nervous! What do I do? Am I really going to be able to do this? Whenever the kids come talk to me, I panic and end up being super formal with them… Argh, I’m really in my own head about this. Like, I think I’m going to make a massive mistake somewhere. I don’t know if she’ll be able to help, but I should ask Big Sis about this later.
○th of ○○
Tomorrow…it’s finally the big day, when all the new students come in for their orientation. I’m so freaking nervous… I’ve been thinking about this so much. I’ve had this little stabbing pain in my stomach the whole day I’ve been here at the academy. It’s not like it hurts that much, but it’s more like one of those constant little torments. Like hell, I suppose. Oh, help me, Big Sis… I’m always so jealous of how well she seems to sleep. Be a bit more nervous about all this, won’t you…?
Like, even if I was being charitable, I wouldn’t say you’re much good at teaching people, Big Sis! Geniuses are the worst! They always get things instinctually and leave the rest of us behind. Ever since I was little, she’s been looking over my work and trying to teach me magic…but I never learned a thing from her, y’know? She overloads you with too much information at once…like so much background knowledge and advanced stuff that it makes your head feel like it’s going to explode.
She’s even worse when it comes to magic…just gives you a long stream of mouth noises like “You have to bwoosh here! Not like a fwsh-fwsh-fwsh!”
Seriously, I have no idea how she manages to write essays. I’ll never understand how geniuses feel so long as I live. Ah…but I guess thinking about her has calmed me down a bit.
Thanks.
†th of○○
Oh boy… Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.
This is messed up. Today’s my first day as a homeroom teacher, and they’re already doing rank duels: Luke and Abel, the top of the class against the bottom. This fight’s only going ahead because they just arrived. I sort of got carried away and gave them permission to duel without checking first, and, man, did I get shouted at for it…but I don’t have a single regret. I mean, they were both amazing! Their duel was just awesome, totally nuts! I mean…they fought with swords, y’know?! Both of them! Luke pulled out his sword, and I had no idea what was going on. And Abel fought with enhancement magic stacked on himself… That kid’s a total mystery. He really is amazing, though I feel like he’s still getting kicked around by his own spells a bit. His movements are too direct, and there’s no mana in his sword just yet. He might be able to make up for that with magic tools someday, but he’s never going to win without any Anti-magic to cut through spells. He absolutely needs that if he’s going to make his style of swordsmanship work. Yeah, there’s a lot for him to work on…but I’m really looking forward to it. Maybe Abel and Luke are going to change the accepted wisdom that magic users are only meant to fight with their spells. Like, they could be spell-swordsmen maybe?
Luke is…just incredible. Really, truly something else. The one real advantage Abel had over him was his speed—I couldn’t even keep track of him myself. If I were Luke, I think I’d try and attack him with some long, wide-ranged spell. Most people with the Dark element would do the same, probably. Doesn’t matter how fast you can go if there’s nowhere to run.
But Luke…he kept it simple, fighting with his sword! He didn’t even enhance himself at all! I really have no clue what he was doing. I don’t know the first thing about swords, but even I could see how talented he was. Then there was that Dark spell he used right at the end! That thing was so incredible, it made my mind go totally black for a second! Big Sis told me that Dark was an element that absorbed. Sure…but I never thought it’d be so powerful! I was so smitten by it, I didn’t even think to manipulate my mana to resist him, and he sucked me half dry. He broke all the magic tools that were deploying Magic Barriers around the arena too. I think I understand why Big Sis is so obsessed with him now. I mean, he’s so special, you can’t help but notice it at a glance.
Uh-oh…I also completely failed my quest to be an approachable homeroom teacher. I’ll be going with the “cool instructor” character this year too.
How…depressing.
☆th of ○○
A few days have passed since classes started. Everything’s going really well, to be honest. Seems like the students are getting along in the dorms too. Though the hierarchy system means they’re all rivals, they do need to work together as classmates too, I suppose. They’ll never beat the upperclassmen if they don’t actively share information with each other so they can all better themselves. Well…I suppose there are exceptions to the rule every year, though.
Anyway, Mia and Lloyd’s rank duel is coming up tomorrow. It’s the first official freshman duel that the public is going to get to see. I bet they’re both nervous…I wonder if there’s anything I could do to help. Honestly, I’m not actually in favor of rank duels for first years. In my opinion, it’d be much better if they could begin in second year. These students need to grow up a bit first, y’know? Plus, that would probably cut down on the number of transfers in the first year.
Sadly, though, I’m not in any position to change the systems of this academy. So, in that case… Mia! Lloyd! Both of you try your best out there! I’m rooting for you!
◇th of ○○
Lloyd ended up winning the rank duel. Mia’s got three elements, and she’s undoubtedly talented. She’s got no less potential than Lloyd, and the duel really just came down to her indecisiveness and poor mental fortitude. Also, Lloyd only has one element. That put her at a disadvantage as well… There’s a unique sort of late blooming that comes from having so many talents.
You might consider her a bit of a disappointment if you only got a look at the results, but I think both of them did really well. It was a fantastic duel, and I’m sure the experience will spur some serious growth in both of them. Lloyd’s good at fighting. He doesn’t have multiple elements, so that really limits his choices in a duel. That’s why he puts his enemies down with overwhelming firepower before they can do anything to counter him. It’s simple, but I think it’s the best tack that he’s got. It makes a lot of sense for him to fight the way he does.
Mia…I’m kind of worried about how she’ll handle this. I think this is probably the first real frustration she’s faced in life. I wonder if she’s okay? I thought about going to see her, but I decided to let her rest for the day. I don’t think anything I tell her now will really reach her, and I think if it were me, I’d just want to be left alone.
I will go see her tomorrow, though.
□th of ○○
I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished, I’m finished.
Mia came to ask for permission to use one of the magic training areas today. Man, she’s back on her feet quick! I thought. I’m still cursed though…still trying to play the cool teacher, and so I ended up saying something pretty insensitive to her. I wanted to apologize, so I went to the training area to see what she was up to.
When I got there, she and Luke were talking about something together. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but something was clearly off. I mean, like, Mia started crying partway through, and then she was clinging to his leg. I sort of gave in to my curiosity and just watched them for a while, but then Luke came walking toward me. I panicked, ended up hiding in one of the cleaning supply lockers, and that’s about where my luck ran out.
He found me.
I was so panicked, I came out with this mysterious line, like…
“There is an instructor hiding in a locker that is meant for cleaning supplies. The chances of such a thing occurring are not high, of course, but they are by no means zero. What you see is an uncontested fact. It is a reality that is not up for debate.”
…To be honest, I don’t even know what I was saying. Then I just left.
Aaaaaaah! My cool teacher image! How am I supposed to go to school tomorrow?!
Big Sis! Help meee—
(The rest was illegible.)
Chapter Two: The Hero and the Demon King
Chapter Two:
The Hero and the Demon King
1
AFTER I OPENED THE DOOR TO MY ROOM, I walked in and immediately dove straight into bed. I buried my face in the pillow and relaxed completely, letting out a deep sigh that took with it all of the exhaustion of my day.
“…I’m tired.”
Somehow, it felt like it would help to say the words out loud—just to let them escape my mouth.
Yeah. I’m tired. Really, really tired.
I rolled over onto my back to look at the ceiling and lost myself in absent-minded thought.
Why do things keep happening that are so beyond my imagination? Thinking back, it all started when I asked Alfred-san to teach me how to fight with the sword. I still don’t know much about the original book, but from what I remember of the characters, Alfred-san was never meant to come out with lines like “Even if you do turn to evil, I want to see what you’ll do, Master Luke!” was he…? Didn’t he quit being a butler to train Abel in the original?
Next there’s Alice. She starts panting and blushing at the drop of a hat, but I don’t think she was meant to be this way. I think she was more of the sophisticated, villainous, aristocratic heroine type. I think it was that fight the two of us had after we first met at that party that drove Alice insane. And who’s this Yolande character, anyway? Was he even in the book? I don’t remember if he was, but how could I forget someone so intense?
I sighed.
The common thread here…it’s me. I’m the reason all of this is happening. I really couldn’t deny that any longer. All of these people strayed so far from their original characters because of the way my interactions with them changed.
I haven’t really spoken with Freya at all, so it does concern me that she’s acting so weird, but that’s the least of my problems, really. No reason to think about that right now. After all, there are exceptions to every rule. Come to think of it, Freya is Amelia-san’s little sister, right? So, that’s the explanation right there.
I sighed again as my thoughts continued to race around and around in my mind. The ripple effect of that one change that I made to my own life—my decision to make an effort—changed the course of everything for everyone else as well. I mean, it’s the only thing that sets my story apart from the original. I accepted Luke’s innate arrogance pretty quickly, so I never tried to be a particularly good person. I never knew any spoilers for the original story either, so it’s not like I was laying plans for what’s coming.
I guess that’s really it then, huh? All I did was try, and it’s brought all these weirdos and oddballs flocking to my side. Or maybe they only became weird by interacting with me…?
Still, I don’t think I did anything wrong. Everything I did, I did to avoid the absolute worst possible ending…defeat. I don’t think I’d recover from the frustration of even a single loss, honestly. It’d plunge me into depression for the rest of my life. That’s why I’ve devoted myself so uncompromisingly to my studies ever since the day I woke up with these memories.
Yeah, no regrets, but I should be aware of the facts. My choices have had an unexpectedly huge effect on this world. Luke might’ve been incredibly talented in the original story, but I’m pretty sure he only appeared in the academy arc of the story… That’s all he was, as a character. I think I underestimated the impact I’m having on this story.
Acknowledging that didn’t change anything about my plans moving forward, though. And I knew that as long as I kept trying, these irritating things would keep on happening.
“Focus,” I told myself. “I have to keep my priorities straight. What’s the most important thing here?”
The answer is obvious: I need to keep on winning. I can’t ever compromise on that. No matter what other troubles I face or what complications arise, I can’t let up in my pursuit of strength…no matter what happens.
Suddenly Mia floated into the back of my mind.
…But I don’t ever want to go through anything like that again. I suppose it did only come about because I made a mistake, though. That was the result of me prioritizing my own selfish goals over everything else. The human heart really is a mystery, even my own sometimes…that’s what all of this has taught me.
Just remembering what happened gives me a faint pang in my stomach. It’s not like I’m suffering…it’s more an unpleasant, uncomfortable sort of pain. An uneasiness that just plain feels bad to sit with. Maybe I’ve been too tense lately. Ever since I came to this academy, I’ve been on high alert all the time, and I hadn’t realized how stressed out I am until now. Seriously, so much has happened…too much. I can really feel the stress of it all in my stomach now, especially after that awkward stuff with Mia. I should stop thinking it over and get a bit of sleep. I’m sure I’ll be able to keep going once I’ve gotten some rest.
2
“C’MON! LET’S GO, ABEL!”
“Yes, sir! Thank you!”
At Instructor Brad’s signal, I directed the mana inside me to cloak the sword that was in my hands.
I’ve been doing nothing but training and sleeping of late, and I’m still struggling… This is so difficult. I haven’t managed t—
“How many times do I have’ta tell you?! You’re focusin’ too much attention on your damn mana!”
I looked up to find an arrow of fire hurtling toward me, closing in fast. With a yelp, I dodged it at the last second, letting the shot pass by my side.
Th-that was close… One second later, and that would’ve been a direct hit.
“The battle’s started, y’hear me?! Keep your eyes on me!”
“Yes, sir!”
“C’mon! We’re goin’ harder, keep your mind sharp!”
Watch, observe, think, and predict.
“Anti-magic!”
That was the first technique that Instructor Brad had taught me—how to cut through magic. It was a vital technique for any swordsman who wanted to fight against magic users, particularly if they were unable to use magic themselves.
You can use mana manipulation or magic tools to coat your sword in mana…but when I do it…I feel like it’s not just mana. It’s like I’m using some different power too…
“Urk!”
Another fireball whizzed by my head as I dodged at the very last moment, a strike that had been intended to land just as my focus slipped.
I’m being an idiot! We’re in the middle of battle right now!
Instructor Brad continued his merciless barrage of spells.
Dodge. Dodge. Cut. Slowly close in on him, step by step. Don’t panic. Stay sharp. Are my movements getting predictable? What is Instructor Brad going to do next? Watch the enemy. Keep thinking.
“Fortify Strength!”
Start with one stack. Don’t rush.
In the fight against Luke, I activated all of my magic at once, immediately pushing my body as far as it could go, but now I know that’s not the right way to fight. It made me too slow. For some reason, Luke chose to wait for me to finish my spells, but I can’t count on my next opponent being that patient. I left him an opening to strike; it’s just that he didn’t take it.
“Fortify Strength.”
That’s why I’m going one step at a time. All right, now I’m at two stacks! It’s gotten a lot easier to dodge! This is about the extent of what I can fully control, but it’s enough. Keep predicting his movements. Keep dodging. Cut through his spells with Anti-magic. That’s all I’m focused on now.
I continued to close in on Instructor Brad. I could tell from his stance, the way he held himself, that he was about to cast another spell at me.
“Graah! Wall of Fire!”
I knew that was coming…!
Fortify Strength is the only magic I’ve got, but it pairs up well with this Anti-magic technique. The stronger my sword strikes are, the greater the magic I can cut through.
“Anti-magic!” I said. “Wait…huh?”
“Still pretty damn gullible, Abel.”
I cut through Instructor Brad’s Wall of Fire spell, only to find his fist waiting right there on the other side.
***
“Ouch…”
“I figure you’ll be fine, but go see the priest if it’s hurtin’ ya.”
“I-I’m okay…”
After that first punch of the day, I kept going. I challenged him again and again, too many times to count, but I never beat him. Instructor Brad’s from a knightly lineage…so although he’s not a swordsman, he knows a lot about fighting them. That’s what makes his advice so good, and easy to understand…though he is a bit harsh, I suppose. Still, this is fun.
Back when I trained with Master Elka, I was so focused on getting stronger that I didn’t think about anything else. But now Instructor Brad is teaching me how to use that strength. No matter how much it hurts, how hard it gets…it’s all new for me, and that’s pretty fun. Everything I have now—it’s all thanks to those days I spent training with the master. Without her, I would never even have made it to the starting line. Thank you, master…truly.
“How do I put this…you seem sorta desperate, Abel,” Instructor Brad said, his voice pulling me back to reality. “Like you’re in a dangerous place right now.”
“D-do you really think so?” I replied, startled.
“Yeah. Not gonna pry, ’cause I ain’t really all that interested…but don’t rush yourself, okay?”
“Rush myself…”
Something in those words caused me to stop and think. Was I rushing? I didn’t think I had been—at least, not until he pointed it out.
“Yeah. You look like you’re try’na go too fast, from my perspective. You’re too damn focused on gettin’ stronger, if I had to say it.”
“Yes…you might be right.”
“It’s good to be hungry, but gettin’ so desperate that you get sloppy…that’s gonna put blinders on you. It’ll only hurt you in the end, gettin’ all focused on climbing higher at any cost,” he said gruffly. “Tends to be the narrow-minded guys with no time to think that make all the dumbest choices.”
“…”
He might be right about all that…I’m desperate for strength. Hopelessly so.
“Listen, okay? You know why only a small number of students ever make it into this academy? It’s so that we can raise you up properly—give you everythin’ we’ve got. We instructors are serious about you kids, y’got that? Don’t keep everything to yourself.”
Ah, right…I really am fortunate, aren’t I?
“Thank you!”
“…Ah, man, it ain’t my style to say stuff like that! That’s enough for today! Get outta my sight!”
“Y-yes sir!”
Instructor Brad shooed me away with a wave of his hand.
He can be harsh, and a bit scary at times…but I know by now that he’s a really good person.
I headed for the exit, and turned to bow to him one last time before I left.
“Thank you very much!”
“…Sure. Catch you later.”
With that, I opened the door and left the magic training area behind me.
I’m so tired… Training with Instructor Brad is really tough. I just want to go curl up and take a nap somewhere. My whole body aches with every step, but it’s…kind of nice, somehow. I think it’s the feeling of satisfaction.
I’m so glad I got to come to this academy. All the people here are so nice. Almost everyone is an aristocrat except me, so I thought they might make fun of me at first, but there’s been none of that. I guess that might just come down to everything else on their minds, though. Life here’s kinda tough for all of us.
Suddenly, I caught sight of Instructor Freya. She appeared from around a corner, then began to walk in the same direction I was heading in.
Huh? Did she not notice me? A-am I really that forgettable…? I’m a bit shocked at that…
To be fair, she seemed distracted. It even looked like she might be muttering to herself as she walked.
Maybe she’s thinking about something important. I shouldn’t go and talk to her…ah, but maybe it’s rude if I don’t greet her… Okay, yeah! I should say hello!
I quickened my pace a little, closed the distance from behind, and raised my voice to call out to her.
“E-excuse me!”
My voice was a little louder than usual, as I wanted to be sure that she noticed me.That, in retrospect, might have been the problem.
“Gyaaugh!”
She let out an odd, shrill cry as she jumped in surprise. The stack of papers she’d been carrying was promptly sent fluttering up into the air.
G-gyaaugh…? What kind of weird sound was that? N-no, that doesn’t matter now! What have I done?! A-all I wanted to do was talk to her, and now—
“Abel.”
Despite the initial fright, Instructor Freya seemed completely unfazed now. She looked at me calmly as a blizzard of papers fell around her. Her arms were crossed, with her sharp, frosty eyes fixed directly on me.
“Startling your teachers to enjoy their reactions, are you? I see. What a fine pastime you have found for yourself.”
I wasn’t sure what she was saying at first. Unlike Instructor Freya, I was incredibly frazzled by this entire encounter. It took me a minute to realize just how badly she had misunderstood my intentions.
“Th-that’s not…! I only meant to say hello, I swear! I really didn’t mean to scare you!”
“Oh, just a greeting? Then I suppose you’re trying to say that I am in the wrong for being startled by a mere hello?”
“N-not at all! I’m in the wrong! Ah, um…th-that is…I mean…”
“Enough. I must gather these papers. Assist me.”
“O-of course!”
Instructor Freya sure is scary… She’s a bit like Alice, I suppose, so it makes sense that I’m not very good at dealing with her.
I started to help her pick up her papers.
“…Incidentally, Abel,” Instructor Freya began.
Just the fact that Instructor Freya was speaking to me made my heart skip a beat.
“Y-yes…?”
“Have you…heard anything?” she asked vaguely. “For instance, well…specifically, anything about me? Maybe from Luke in particular…?”
I really had nothing to tell her about that, and so with no cause to lie, I answered with complete, genuine honesty.
“Eh…? From Luke? Nothing in particular… He isn’t really the type to gossip about things like that…”
“Wh-what about the other students? Have they said anything?”
This energy she’s giving off is sort of scaring me…
“N-no…not that I know of.”
“I see…”
Instructor Freya smiled, with what looked like relief…apparently? Maybe that was just my imagination.
By the time we’d finished speaking, all of her papers were back in place.
“Alice and Lloyd will have their rank duel soon. If you wish to advance your own rank, I suggest you attend.”
“O-okay.”
“Well then, I will be leaving. Keep your teacher-scaring to a minimum, Abel.”
“I didn’t mean to…!”
I kept protesting this unfair assumption, but Instructor Freya just walked away.
How do I put this…She really is a bit intimidating, but I don’t think she’s a bad person.
3
UPON ENTERING THE HEADMASTER’S OFFICE, one’s eye was immediately drawn to two paintings which stood in stark contrast to each other. The first depicted a group of happy people enveloped in the soft light of compassion, while the second displayed a scene of misery, full of murky figures suffering in darkness. The office was not particularly luxurious—some would even call it plain—but there was also an undeniable refinement to the room.
“Ho, ho, has it truly already been two months since the newest batch of students arrived at our academy? ’Tis now that matters grow interesting, Brad.”
“I don’t like the look on your face, old man.”
“…If you will recall, I have asked you countless times to call me headmaster—”
“Yeah, yeah, headmaster. Jeez, there ain’t nobody else here, so who gives a damn?”
“’Twould appear the first years are attracting quite a bit of attention this year.”
“Yeah, some of ’em even have nicknames already. They’ve only had one or two rank duels, but the crowds seem to like these kids.”
“’Tis not the frequency of their duels but their quality. Of course, the true talent of these individuals entrances the people. I do not think it strange at all.”
Rank duels were public events, open to any citizen of the kingdom who wanted to attend. Because they were viewed as a form of entertainment by the people, it was only a matter of time before some particular participants rose to a sort of minor stardom. A student’s popularity might grow for many reasons—it could be their strength, their intelligence, their passion—but regardless, all the most popular students came to have nicknames of their own eventually. It was said that some of the students had already been given theirs, in fact, and that many were looking forward to their next rank duels.
Ice Queen, Alice.
Blue Flame Beast, Lloyd.
Little Thunder God, Mia.
When it came to the first years, these three in particular clearly enchanted the crowd with their incredible powers and high ranks. Even those with only a cursory knowledge of magic could see their strength—but it was not actually that trio of students which ended up drawing the most attention.
“Mwa ha, Abel the Hero, huh? Fine nickname, that.”
Brad smiled to himself quietly. There was joy and pride in his expression that he simply couldn’t contain. Abel was, after all, no longer the lowest-ranked student in the school. More than that, he was getting more attention from the crowds than any of the others.
Alice, Lloyd, and Mia were clearly exceptional—that much was indisputable fact. Aslan Magic Academy, however, was a place for those with such incredible talent for magic. Every year, there were students who stood out from the rest, absurdly powerful, and so, to an extent, the crowds were used to them.
But then there was Abel.
It was obvious to everyone watching that his inability to use elemental magic was a disadvantage. His strength was also simple to understand—a combination of his powerful physical abilities and skill with the sword. His abilities were heresy, and his personal background was far different from that of his noble-born peers. For better or for worse, there were lots of reasons for the crowd to root for Abel. He was a bit of an underdog, and they had only seen him participate in one public rank duel—a match against Hugo, with whom he shared a grudge following their encounter during the entrance exam.
Standing there alone, sword in hand as he faced Hugo’s powerful Rock magic head-on, Abel looked every bit the hero. It was that day that Abel won his first victory and his popularity skyrocketed.
“Since Abel can’t use elemental magic, I supposed we might be in a little trouble unless the boy showed us some results. ’Twas a relief to see him win in that way.”
“Ah…damn it.” Brad sighed. “I hate that you’ve gotta think about bullshit like that, headmaster.”
“Ho, ho. I’ve grown quite accustomed to it.”
“Y’sure? But heck, it ain’t all good for the kids… I do get why it happened though, this time around.”
“You speak of the transfer, yes? Hmph. There is nothing that can be done about that…’tis the way of our academy.”
Abel’s victory had caused one issue: Hugo transferred schools. Abel’s entry into Aslan Magic Academy had convinced most of the students of his strength, but there were still some who thought of him as lesser. A segment of the student body looked down on him for his inability to use elemental magic. Hugo had been one such student.
At Aslan Magic Academy, students were constantly looking up—at their lofty goals and those above who stood in their way. Looking down, on the other hand, could provide some reassurance and peace of mind. However, in some cases, it could drive one into even darker depths of despair. This was precisely why Hugo transferred out—he had fallen into a depression after being defeated by someone he considered his inferior.
“I suppose the chance remains for him to return, though that now depends on his own efforts.”
“Cold as always, eh?” Brad remarked. “You mind if I keep my eye on Abel?”
“Please do. I was right to entrust him to you.”
“Well, thanks.”
“Ho, ho. He seems to be a favorite of yours, so I shan’t take him from you, lest it causes a tantrum.”
“Huh? That ain’t it! Ain’t that I like him…I just don’t hate the kid, that’s all! I’m outta here, anyway! No more time to sit around talkin’!”
With that, Brad turned on his heel and headed for the door.
“See ya, old man.”
He slammed the door with reckless abandon on his way out.
“Ho, ho, energetic as always, that one,” the headmaster chuckled. “Ah, right, right. Today is the day I finally get to see one of Luke’s rank duels. How I look forward to his Dark magic! ♪”
***
“Watch this.”
“Sure, sure! I’m totally watching!”
I took the piece of wood that Amelia-san had prepared for me and activated my latest spell.
“Dark Gluttony.”
Instantly, a little spot of darkness appeared above my palm. I felt a rush of mana leaving my body and felt a little faint after the spell was cast.
This is about all I can manage for now, but it’s the result of two months of hard work. I seriously poured so much time and energy into developing it… It’s not just some half-baked trick.
I dropped the piece of wood into the darkness with my other hand. It was slowly swallowed up until it disappeared completely.
“Ah…ahh… Aaahhh!”
Yep. My Dark magic can affect not just mana but physical matter now. This is a massive step forward.
I couldn’t help but smile.
“‘Darkness swallows all…’ So, this is what they meant,” Amelia said excitedly. “The legends were right! They were true all alonnng! Oh man, this is super messed up, Luke!”
As I’d expected, Amelia was so overjoyed that it creeped me out a little bit.
…More than a little, actually. But heck, it’s thanks to her that I’ve managed to complete this spell. She isn’t popular with the other students for her onomatopoeia-centric teaching style, but the things I learned in her Study of Elemental Magic: Practical classes really helped me out.
“This is all I can do for now, but someday I—um…h-hey.”
Amelia’s eyes looked strange, almost lifeless. A bit of drool escaped the corner of her mouth as she scribbled on her memo pad at breakneck speed and continued to mutter to herself.
She keeps mentioning “the many interpretations” and the “effect on others,” but that muttering is just terrifying to behold.
“Hey, you listening?” I asked, lightly tapping her on the shoulder.
“Oh! Sorry. Ah ha ha…I got a bit overexcited there…”
“…”
She’s clearly a really, really talented person—that much isn’t up for debate. It’s just…there’s something broken inside her, I guess? But she’s always been like this, ever since the day we met.
“Come to think of it, don’t you have a rank duel today, Luke?”
“Yeah. Not much of an opponent.”
“…He is an upperclassman, though, isn’t he?”
In terms of the whole academy ranking, I was in 81st place.
My magic research has settled down a bit, so I figured I should get to doing some rank duels…but to be honest, I’m not that excited by the idea. I already have information on my opponent, and I even attended one of his rank duels, but it was nothing special. He’s just a Water magic user. He looked like he was good at dueling, but overall, his magic wasn’t really that advanced. Not that any of that matters for a Dark magic user such as myself.
I suppose I have to admit that there are some students in the academy who do look a bit more interesting, though.
“Oh! Isn’t it almost time for your duel?!”
“Yeah. I should get going.”
“It’s just like you to be so relaxed about all of this, Luke…but I’ll be cheering for you, okay?! I-I’m coming to watch…heh heh…”
There was an indescribable, crazed ecstasy in her eyes.
How exactly is she going to feel as she watches me fight?
In my mind, I knew that there was no chance that her feelings were as pure as just wanting to cheer me on.
***
Luke entered the arena first, followed by his opponent, a second-year student named Polpon. The audience was already so amped up that their mere entrance inspired the crowd to roar at their highest decibel, the deafening cheers ringing out through the arena. Rumors about the talented crop of first years had already been swirling for a while, and that only swelled their expectations for Luke. Finally, the boy at the top of his year would be taking part in a public rank duel; their frenzied enthusiasm was understandable.
“…I’ve heard about you. They say you’re a monster who uses Dark magic. Even the upperclassmen are talking.”
“I see.”
Luke’s dismissive two-word answer drew an irritated grunt from his opponent. Polpon glared back at him, but Luke didn’t bother to hide his disdain and acted as if he didn’t even see his opponent standing before him.
…He looks young, just as I thought. Is he really older than me? I’ve got this weird feeling though. Like I might have met him somewhere before, a long time ago…
While Polpon was raging inside, Luke’s thoughts were fairly mundane—a sense of déjà vu, and something he couldn’t quite remember.
“But…I’m not going to lose,” Polpon declared. “I can’t! I’ll win, no matter what it takes!”
“…”
Polpon’s spirited cry echoed out across the arena. His intensity stirred something, ever so slightly, in Luke’s emotions too.
He’s pretty damn strong-willed.
But that was all Luke thought of the boy, and his mind quickly turned to strategizing for the imminent duel. He thought of every possibility and came up with answers to each of them, one after the other. The only thing on Luke’s mind was how to achieve complete and total victory over his opponent.
The duelists separated, and the crowd buzzed with excitement, waiting for the duel to begin. The contrast between the two boys was striking—one glared daggers like he was trying to murder his opponent with his eyes, and the other wore a thin smile as if in an attempt to goad his opponent on. Polpon readied his staff. Luke watched quietly, making no particular movements of his own. The crowd’s anticipation ballooned further and further, swelling up until finally—
“Begin!”
The battle kicked off with the immediate activation of a spell—and it was not Luke who cast it.
“Flight!”
He’s good at that, thought Luke, as he watched Polpon soar through the air above him.
I knew well in advance that his opening move would likely be Flight magic, but I can fly too, you know? Though mine works a little differently, mwa ha…
Polpon immediately switched his focus into working up his mana in preparation for his second spell. Next, however, it was Luke’s turn.
“Wings of Darkness.”
Polpon expected that Luke would use the advanced magic technique of Flight during their duel, but he hadn’t counted on the dramatic black wings. For a moment, he was captivated by them, and it took him an extra fraction of a second to activate his next spell. In a duel against Luke, that was an incredibly significant opening to allow.
“…Huh?”
The wings flapped once—that was all that Polpon saw. Then Luke’s wide grin was right there in front of him. It was impossible for him to comprehend what had just happened.
“Augh!”
He felt a strong blow to his right cheek. Before he could even register that he had been punched in the face, Polpon had fallen from the air and crashed hard into the ground below. A sharp pain ran through his whole body, but the attack did nothing to break his concentration. Polpon continued to prepare his next spell. He was persistent in his relentless pursuit of victory. He intended to win, no matter what.
“Eat this—Water Dragon King!”
Polpon knew that regular magic was worthless against Luke, so he had resolved that he would not pull his punches in this fight. He activated the strongest spell that he had at his disposal, spawning a water dragon king that soared up into the air, seeking to pierce its cursed foe.
“Oho, that’s a nice spell.”
Luke’s smile never faltered, even when facing down a massive dragon that was many times his size. In fact, he was pleasantly surprised to see his opponent cast a spell that was a bit more complex than he had anticipated. However, it posed no real threat to him, and his mild interest waned quickly.
“Dark Sun.”
A small black orb appeared in the palm of his hand and abruptly swallowed the dragon king whole with terrifying ease. The little sun swelled up in size, as if using the dragon’s nutrients to fuel its growth.
The disappearance of the dragon stunned the crowd into bewildered silence. For a moment, it seemed that no one knew quite how to react, and every last member of the audience was so entranced by the duel that they scarcely wanted to blink, for fear of missing something. But their collective enthusiasm to see what would happen next was intense and irrepressible, and soon the cheers erupted to punctuate the silence.
“…N-no…”
“Mwa ha ha. That’s a nice expression you’ve got now too.”
Every emotion drained from Polpon’s face—all the fighting spirit brimming within him, all his unbending conviction, everything. It brought Luke unimaginable joy as he watched it all slip away before his very eyes in real time. Then he shifted his attention to deploying his next spell.
“Let’s see here…”
Suddenly the giant black sun, which had transfixed every last person in the arena, disappeared completely. Luke continued calmly as the crowd looked around in disbelief.
“Is this how you do it, then?” he muttered to himself. “Water Dragon King.”
Right on cue, a water dragon king appeared.
The word “despair” was not enough to describe how Polpon felt. It was so far beyond that. How long had it taken him to learn that spell? And yet, in an instant, Luke was able to deploy it against him? All he could do was stare wordlessly at the dragon before him.
This doesn’t make sense… That’s…one of my spells…
He was wrong, he decided suddenly. It was foolish to have even considered fighting Luke. His heart sank into the darkness, and in that moment, he lost all will to fight.
“Ha…ha ha…ha…”
A bitter smile crept across Polpon’s lips.
“Aha ha ha ha!”
The water dragon king closed in upon him—the spell that should have been his greatest ally, his most powerful weapon. He closed his eyes and gave up entirely. The only sound that reached him was Luke’s delighted laugh, genuine and joyous, echoing in his ears to the end.
***
Dark was a rare enough element that most of the citizens were not used to seeing it used in rank duels. Luke left a clear, fearsome impression upon them, as evidenced by the words on every crowd member’s lips that day. Those words would quickly become his nickname.
Demon King.
Wearing a cloak of darkness, laughing wickedly as he brutally overpowered his opponents and stomped them flat, Luke truly did look like a demon king. That was the day that Luke captivated his first group of passionate fans, enamored with his incredible power, and that number would only continue to increase with time. Needless to say, this new and unexpected popularity was also a great boost to Yolande’s plan to make him king.
Chapter Three: Inescapable Hurt
Chapter Three:
Inescapable Hurt
1
IRUN A LITTLE SHOP IN THE ROYAL CAPITAL. Business is…well…it’s all right, I suppose. I’m leaving the store to my wife today and heading to Aslan Magic Academy. There’s a duel on today that I just have to see. I don’t think I’ll be too late coming back today, but I guess I should buy a little something on my way home to keep me in the wife’s good graces…
Today, it’s top of the first-year class, Luke Witharia Gilbert’s, first public rank duel…I really can’t wait. I’ve been watching Aslan rank duels for years now, so I know best of all that the first years this time around are really something special. First, I saw that match between Blue Flame Beast and Ice Queen. I’m so spoiled by the big, showy magic battles of the upperclassmen, so to be honest, I hadn’t expected much out of the two of them. Their duel was seriously shocking stuff, though, when I actually went out to see it. Those flames had such pure strength, I still remember how they literally heated up the whole arena, lightin’ a fire in all of us. Then there was Ice Queen, who froze the flames and everything else. That sent shivers down my spine—“incredible” doesn’t even begin to describe her.
So then, that got me wondering about the highest-ranked first year. A while later, there was the first victory of Little Thunder God and the birth of Hero—both students who really got the crowd going. Personally, I cheered so loud for both of them that my voice was hoarse by the end. But heck, that’s exactly why I want to see the best they’ve got. If they’re so amazing, then just how much better is this first-rank student? I want to see him so badly, I just can’t wait.
My expectations have just been growin’ day by day…but it took so long for a single one of his duels to come. How come nobody challenged him? Everyone else is powerful too, so why didn’t they even try?
Today’s the day I figure that out.
I entered through the crowd doors, and once up the arena staircase, I found half of the seats already filled by others who had gotten there early. I picked out the best spot of what was left and took my seat.
“Hey, I figured I might see you here. Can’t miss this one, eh?!” said a voice beside me.
“Well, well!” I exclaimed, turning to see a familiar face. “If it ain’t Butch!”
He’s an acquaintance…runs a little bar in the city, and he’s just as big a rank-duel fan as I am. We got to know each other after we met a few times at the arena.
The two of us spent a while chatting the time away. It was only natural that we would lapse into such lively conversation, given our shared interests. We were still talking when the announcement came.
“Attention. The ranked duel is about to begin. Polpon Revy Dina Milestia in 72nd place, versus Luke Witharia Gilbert in 81st place!”
The announcer’s voice sounded inappropriately sluggish—a feeble prelude to what was to come.
We didn’t get a great commentator today, huh… I thought to myself. Regardless, my excitement was already reaching its peak. The other crowd members clearly felt the same, almost shaking the arena on its foundations as they raised their cheering voices.
“All right, it’s here at last!”
“Yeah! They’re finally gonna fight!”
The two students entered, and the sight amped up the crowd’s voltage even higher, making them cheer even louder, their expectations rising to new heights.
“That’s him…”
That was the first time I ever saw the boy—Luke. From the very second I laid eyes upon him, some sort of deep instinct kicked in, and I knew in my heart that he was evil.
“Begin!”
But once the duel began, none of that seemed to matter anymore. The outrageous spells that the two of them began to use left me speechless.
What is that…? What the heck is that…?!
I encountered a dragon once, back when I was just a kid. I learned later that the dragon I saw was just a child itself, only just born into this world…but I still have clear memories of the primal fear I felt in that moment, like my blood was boiling in my veins. That moment taught me the true hierarchy of living beings. I felt I could do nothing but wait for my own death in that dragon’s presence, and it took years for me to recover from the nightmare.
If a passing adventurer hadn’t saved my life back then, I wouldn’t be here today. I don’t know why, but…I feel an incredibly intense and weirdly similar emotion filling my heart today too. This time though…it’s an intoxicating fever burning inside of me. It’s not fear.
That was how awesome their battle was—I forgot to breathe.
“Aha ha ha ha!”
He’s a demon king, I thought to myself when I heard his evil laughter. That’s the evil that the bards are always singing about. The lord of monsters, using his great power to plunge our world into fear and darkness. I don’t know if such a thing could even exist…but if it could, this is what it would look like, no question. Ah…I just want to see what this kid is going to do next! Does that make me his fan? Even if it does, I don’t care! I want to watch his duels so badly!
When I came to, everyone in the arena was on their feet and clapping their hands with enthusiastic abandon.
***
A number of problems came to light over my first two months at the academy, like the terrifyingly thick letter bundles that my parents would send from time to time, or the allowance so large that I couldn’t possibly hope to spend it within the month…
Still, you do sort of get used to that sort of stuff.
I supposed most of my problems were never really problems at all. Things that most ordinary individuals would struggle over, I could manage with ease…usually.
I do still get those sharp pains in my stomach. I’ve got them right now, actually…“Huh? A prince?”
Well, there’s one more thing to worry about.
“Yes, a prince. The boy you beat yesterday was the second prince of this kingdom. You must have met him on several occasions at palace parties… You really don’t have any interest in others at all, do you?”
“…”
She’s totally right. I can never remember a thing about the people I don’t think are worth remembering.
I could say nothing to defend myself against Alice’s accusations. I remained silent while we walked side by side, as we often did nowadays, and my thoughts turned to analyzing the prince.
He didn’t look like he was older than me. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was a bit younger, actually. Putting it in slang terms, I’d call our second prince one of those “shota” character types. Anyway, I guess there’s nothing strange about a prince being enrolled at this academy, and since he’s royalty, it figures that he’s good at magic.
…Wait a second. Come to think of it, his last name was “Milestia,” wasn’t it?
I couldn’t help but groan outwardly.
I had a pretty bad feeling about the whole thing. As much as I hoped that nothing would come of it, I was also resigned to being dragged into more trouble as a result of yesterday’s duel.
“L-Luke…it’s okay.”
“…Yeah.”
Why am I so resigned, exactly? That has a lot to do with the fact that Mia’s walking by my side, just like Alice. Over these past two months, I’ve had her complete her training with that Armor of Healing Thunder spell. It still needs to be refined, but I think she’s done well, given the time constraints. She also won her first victory in a rank duel against Lily, that girl who’s always tailing Abel, and right now she’s burning with the desire to get her revenge on Lloyd. Mia’s my pawn, and I’m happy about that. But, well…I don’t actually need any pawns right now. This all started because of Yolande, Alice’s creepy older brother. I’m sure I’ll need loyal followers at some point in the future, but all that doesn’t have to happen right now. There are far too many other things I should be doing with my time.
Under my direct guidance, Mia developed some powerful abilities and even won herself a victory. I was sure she’d be well free of the fear of defeat now. That’s why I told her that she could quit being my pawn, that my obligations to her had been fulfilled. Well, apparently that was the wrong thing for me to say. She started crying—just full-on sobbing, really hard. She was seriously wailing so much that she even left Alice speechless. To make matters worse, this happened in one of the academy buildings, so her crying attracted the attention of a few instructors and students and caused a minor panic. Seriously, I don’t get her. I mean, I was the one who took advantage of her weakened mental state. It’s not like I’ve ever shown her kindness… To be honest, I’ve been pretty mean to her this whole time. We also haven’t known each other for that long. So, how did this happen? I simply can’t comprehend what caused all of this…
“…”
I gave Mia a sideways glance.
I mean…I think I see real, deep darkness behind her eyes…or am I just overthinking things? Alice was really hostile toward her at first, but she’s stopped talking about Mia now. It’s a bit scary that it’s become so normal for the three of us to be together…but it’s not all bad, I guess.
My father recently sent me a letter about a big festival coming up in the neighboring empire this summer, called the Sword Saint Festival. The event is for strong warriors from nations across the world to put their sword skills to the test—a tournament to find the peak of swordmanship. I bet Alfred told my father about it, but it really does sound like a fun opportunity. I’ve decided that I really want to compete, and I’m going to make that happen, no matter what. For the time being, I guess I’ll go and check with my homeroom teacher, Freya.
I still can’t stop thinking about that day I found her in the cleaning supply closet, though. Instructor Freya is usually so strict and formal, which really only makes that incident stick in my mind all the more. Why did she feel the need to hide in there? Why was she acting so weird? I’ve got no idea what she was thinking.
Eventually, we reached the door to the student cafeteria. I stepped inside, picked up whatever caught my eye first, and sat down wherever was closest. It irritated me to no end that even those small actions drew glances from others in the hall.
I guess it’s not like this only started recently. Rumors about my Dark element had been swirling since before I even entered this academy. After yesterday’s rank duel though…I feel like the looks have gotten even more intense. Whatever. I seriously don’t give a damn about the rabble.
“Ah, Luke! Let’s eat together!”
It was just as I was settling down to eat that I heard someone call out to me, and I looked up to see Abel and Lily. Without even waiting for a response, they both sat down opposite me, as if they always sat opposite me—another thing I just couldn’t understand.
I threw a puppy a few scraps, and now he won’t stop following me around and nuzzling against my leg. He’s even coming to eat with me now, like this is some sort of regular thing?
However, I was too tired to turn him down.
Why is this happening? What did I do to him to deserve this…?
“I saw your rank duel yesterday!”
“Uh-huh.”
“Yeah, it was really amazing! I’ve gotta try my best too!”
“Just you wait, Mia,” said Lily. “I’m going to get my revenge, I guarantee it!”
“Whenever you’re ready…” Mia replied.
“Hmph! Playing tough, eh?”
“A pathetic battle between those at the bottom, rolling about in the mud,” quipped Alice.
“Wh-what did you just say—”
Oh, just shut up.
The others around me only became louder and louder.
Damn it. So there are some things I cannot even do anything about? Screw that. Screw it all. They really should…I mean, I’m gonna…well…ah, screw that too, actually. I’m tired, so I guess I’ll let them off the hook just for today.
“Hey, Luke. Look over there,” Alice whispered in my ear, indicating a direction with her eyes. A certain student was walking toward our table. I knew exactly who they were, and a sadness as wide and deep as the ocean swallowed me immediately. It was the shota prince—Polpon.
Stop it…stop getting me mixed up in all of these annoyances! But wait…it’s too soon to be jumping to conclusions. Maybe he’s got something to say to the person behind me?
“…Luke.”
Of course not.
I knew this was coming. I suppose I’ve just got a talent for getting myself mixed up in irritating crap like this.
“I must swallow my pride and ask you for a favor!” declared Polpon.
“I refuse,” I answered without delay.
“Wh-what?! N-no…”
Man, this kid’s weak. He already looks super dejected.
“Wait a minute, I can’t give up just like that! Please, won’t you at least listen to what I have to say?!”
There was a weird determination in his eyes that told me he wasn’t going to back down. Not to mention, this odd interaction was drawing unwanted attention.
At this point, I just wanted the situation to be over with.
“Fine. Spit it out.”
“Thanks!”
Thus, I agreed to listen to what he had to say…
“Please teach me magic!”
…and regretted my decision terribly.
I wasn’t sure how to respond at first. I never expected he’d come out with something so completely incomprehensible. We’re in a place with top-class facilities, a library stacked to bursting with knowledge-filled tomes, first-rate instructors…and he comes to me? Of all of the options available to him, why the heck has he chosen me?
“I know that the girl sitting by your side, Mia, has been studying magic with you. I also know she’s grown unbelievably quickly in just one month…and in our rank duel yesterday, I understood the reason why. Please, I want you to teach me magic! I…I have to make it to the top ten in the rankings, no matter what!”
So, because I wanted to make Mia a pawn, that triggered the prince of this entire kingdom to come to me, a villain aristocrat, seeking magic lessons? Wild. I still don’t quite understand either.
“I might not look like much, but I’m still royalty. Rumors will start to spread the moment that you start teaching me. That fact alone will increase your fame, so…h-how about it?”
I stared at him, silent.
Jeez, it’s like every last thing I do has unintended consequences. This world really has no love for me, huh? Argh, damn it, so what if it doesn’t?! I can overturn fate as many times as it takes. In this academy, power is everything. He might be a prince, but now that I’ve shown how much more powerful I am in the rankings, there’s no need for me to respect his title anymore.
“Get lost, you worm. Who would ever agree to teach y—”
“I don’t wanna!”
“Get out of my s—”
“Please…”
“Get lo—”
“Augh…”
“…”
Why does he look like he’s about to start crying? You’ve gotta be freakin’ kidding me. I mean, you’re free to ask, but I’m allowed to turn you down, damn it! Shit. I guess we’ll have to go somewhere quieter so I can hear him out, at least…
The situation was about to get a whole lot worse, however, as Mia dropped a bomb on the whole conversation.
“Luke only taught me because I became his pawn, so I think you should just become one of his pawns too, Prince Polpon.”
Mia’s eyes were unclouded, completely sincere. It sounded as if she believed, truly in her heart, that her advice would bring happiness and joy to anyone who followed it.
“P-pawn…?”
The shota prince was, of course, baffled.
Man…I’m so tired… Ugh, my stomach…
2
DETERMINING THAT ABEL AND LILY’S PRESENCE would overcomplicate matters, Luke broke up the party for the time being.
I should talk this over with Alice and Mia, since they’re aware of my situation, and Polpon—since he’s the root of my current problem.
There was one thing that Luke wasn’t happy with, however.
“Why’d we have to meet up in my room?”
“Quite inappropriate, I agree,” complained Alice. “I should be the only one permitted to enter.”
“Shut up, you.”
“Ah…s-sorry…”
“Your room makes me feel calm,” said Mia.
“P-pardon the intrusion.”
The room was spacious enough to accommodate them all, but Luke was incredibly displeased with what was happening. He didn’t make a habit of inviting guests over for no good reason, and while he did consider for the briefest second that their topic of conversation might warrant the privacy of his own dorm room, he felt this was entirely unnecessary.
Was this really the most suitable option…? Ugh. Well, fine, let’s finish this as quickly as possible.
“I remember now,” Prince Polpon said, looking at Mia. “You’re the daughter of the house of Lennox, aren’t you?”
“…So what if I am?”
Prince Polpon, the root of all their woes, sat beside Luke. Mia stared back at him defiantly, her demeanor ice-cold.
“As a member of the royal family, I’m embarrassed it took me so long to recognize you as a royalist,” Polpon explained.
“That isn’t what you came here to discuss, though, is it, Prince Polpon?” Mia reminded him.
Luke sighed faintly to himself, sensing that the conversation was about to head down a troublesome path.
“It’s relevant though,” Polpon insisted, his expression growing more intense. “I mean, I am here to ask a favor of Luke, heir to the house of Gilbert, and they’re one of the top noble-faction families in the land.”
The Kingdom of Milestia was home to three great aristocrat families who each held a large amount of political power. These houses belonged to Marquis Godwin, Marquis Drummond, and Marquis Gilbert.
The houses of Godwin and Gilbert joined forces to create a faction of nobles, while Marquis Drummond was loyal to the crown and formed the opposing royalist faction with other like-minded aristocrats. Twenty years ago, a fierce battle for power erupted between these factions, but the fighting had long since died down.
Claude’s ambition quickly faded after the birth of his son, Luke, after all.
“I suppose you’re right,” Mia admitted coolly. “Maybe that’s also part of the reason I was so aggressive toward Alice at first. Ever since I was a child, I’ve witnessed so much of that sort of fighting. It might be that I have an unconscious hatred for supporters of the nobles. However, I don’t care about any of that now…heh heh.”
Mia smiled calmly to herself, which was actually more than a little bit terrifying. It sent a wave of indescribable fear shooting down Luke’s spine. House Lennox were royalists, and House Lonsdale were influential members of the noble faction. Of late, there was less fighting between the groups on the surface, but the roots of the feud between the factions ran deep. It was this that Polpon thought was a little strange, as he saw Mia walking around with Luke and Alice.
“It’s a little late to be saying this, but, Prince Polpon, are you sure this is wise? Asking Luke for help, I mean…”
“I have to reach the top ten in the academy hierarchy, no matter what. I know that there are many people who won’t agree with what I’m doing, but I will sacrifice what I must,” he answered. “And right now, I’m just another student, the same as you. Won’t you cut the ‘prince’ stuff and just use my name?”
“Right. Polpon it is, then,” replied Alice immediately.
“Oh.”
Polpon couldn’t help being a little bit shocked at how easily Alice took to addressing him casually.
“What is it?”
“N-nothing…”
Just like that? thought Polpon.
“Sure, whatever,” Luke said dismissively. “Polpon. So anyway…”
Luke, you too? Ah…um, I’m still your upperclassman, you know? Maybe you could be just a tiny bit more respectful…?
“Why do you need to get into the top ten so bad?”
Just as Polpon was beginning to wonder whether he was in the wrong on this whole formality issue, Luke’s question brought his focus back to the real issue at hand.
“Well…”
Polpon hesitated for a moment, but looked Luke dead in the eyes when he eventually answered.
“The king, my father, is incompetent. That’s why.”
As he made this statement, his expression was not one of anguish or anger—rather, the complete opposite. All emotion had vanished from Polpon’s face, as if a candle had just been blown out.
“My father places too much trust in magic,” he continued. “There are many in the line of succession, but he intends to choose the most talented magic user among them as the next king. That’s his only criterion.”
Polpon quietly fretted over the future of the kingdom.
“There’s no shortage of problems facing this nation. Our political power struggles have loosened our grip on the aristocrats, and many of our subjects are suffering in poverty. We have a mountain of diplomatic problems to deal with too. Many other nations will view us with hostile eyes if we don’t comport ourselves properly. We might appear to have a friendly relationship with the neighboring empire on the surface, but in terms of the national strength of our two nations, our whole kingdom is a house of cards. Our lack of magic technology really is going to be the death of us. We should have realized how far behind we are in the development of new magic tools, but we as a nation are too prideful. We disregard all that research just because our base magic strength is naturally higher than theirs.”
The blackened pus of the kingdom came oozing out as the prince spoke. The issue had been in need of resolution for years, but had been swept under the rug as the country rested on the laurels of its innate magical strength.
“I want to change this kingdom. For that, I need to become a better magic user than my older brother, so that I can become king—that’s the most basic requirement for what I want to do. I can’t beat my brother right now, though. He’s the better magic user, but he doesn’t give a second thought to the people of this kingdom, so I can’t let him take the throne. Respectfully, I beg of you…”
Polpon lowered his head. The gravity of this action was not lost on Luke—he did, more or less, understand what it meant for a member of the royal family to be bowing to him.
“I want you to teach me magic.”
There was a moment of silence, then finally, Luke answered with a laugh.
“Mwa ha, you seem to have misunderstood something here.”
His tone of voice was evil, cold as ice.
“Prince, I do not give a damn about what becomes of this country,” he said bluntly. “My own happiness is all that matters to me. I am one of those very aristocrats that you so despise.”
Polpon was speechless. It was partly due to anger, of course—Luke’s statement amounted to a complete abandonment of his responsibilities as a noble, after all. It was only natural that Polpon would grow angry, as someone who worried for the future of his nation.
But there was something else to it as well.
I’m angry, but it’s not the anger that has left me speechless. It’s like there’s some…unknown power behind his words that’s overwhelmed me, thought Polpon anxiously.
“Should it prove necessary to attain my own happiness,” Luke continued, “then yes, I shall put in the work to improve this country. At present, though, I don’t see any need for that.”
“B-but why?! You know what’s happening, don’t you? You heard what I just s—”
“I know what’s happening, yes. But I believe that the magical power of this kingdom is much, much stronger than you think it is.”
“…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take perfectly good care of my own domain. I won’t allow anyone to consider me inferior to the other lords in any way.”
Luke had not a scrap of patriotism in him. He also had no interest whatsoever in spending even a moment of his time trying to improve the nation’s fortunes or making Polpon king. He was also, most importantly, convinced that all the events that were currently unfolding around him were not supposed to be happening.
This speech of his…wasn’t he meant to deliver it to Abel? They overcome a bunch of trials together or something, I think, and Polpon ends up king… Wasn’t that how this story was supposed to go? Actually, I’m positive about this. That’s definitely how it was meant to go.
Indeed, it could not be. Luke was a villain aristocrat, after all—it was bizarre to think that Polpon, second prince of the kingdom, would ever lower his head to someone like him.
Jeez, I guess that just shows how crazy things have gotten now…
In the original story, Abel was meant to have a duel against Polpon’s older brother. They signed some kind of magical contract agreeing that if Abel won, Polpon would get to become king, and if he lost, then both Polpon and Abel would have to leave the academy.
That’s not what happened, huh?
Luke’s instruction of Mia and the rapid improvement of her abilities in such a short span of time had caught Polpon’s eye instead. Then came his duel against Luke. He felt that raw power against his skin firsthand, and that was what had made everything go insane.
“Right, enough. Your presence is an eyesore. Get out.”
“…”
Polpon’s really got a lot of what it takes to be king. If he does ascend to the throne, and the influential aristocrats band together to work for the good of this country, the Kingdom of Milestia is really going to become a much better place than it is right now—I’m sure of that. But heck, regardless of how talented he is, Polpon’s still just sixteen years old. I guess being young and inexperienced can lead you to make some bad decisions, especially if you let your emotions take the wheel.
“Luke only taught me because I became his pawn, so I think you should just become one of his pawns too, Prince Polpon.”
Just as he was about to give up, Polpon remembered the words that Mia had said. They were all that he had left to cling to.
“If…if I become your pawn, will you help me then?”
“…Huh?”
Polpon desperately clutched at his last remaining hope as panic set in. He was the lowest-ranked student in the school, aside from the first years, and he felt a huge amount of pressure to close the gap between him and his magically talented older brother. Then he met Luke…or rather, encountered him. He had stumbled upon a monster whose spells were so powerful that they put him on a completely different level than everyone else. To Polpon, Luke was a single speck of light in the darkness, his best chance at a breakthrough. He convinced himself that the only way he would be able to improve his present situation would be to have Luke teach him.
I’ll become his pawn, even if that means signing a magical contract with him. Luke…I don’t think he’s truly evil to the core, despite the way he acts. I can only hope I haven’t misjudged him too badly, or else I could end up a puppet king…but that’s a risk I’m willing to take. If it means forging my path toward the throne, I’ll gladly prioritize Luke’s happiness for however long it takes. I’d prefer that so much more than never becoming king and standing helpless on the sidelines!
Polpon made up his mind. Perhaps if he’d been able to calm himself down a little, he would have taken a moment to reflect and realize that he wasn’t making the right call. In that moment, however, that just wasn’t possible for him to do.
“I’ll become your pawn, Luke!” he declared. “I’m royalty, so I know I’ll be able to do something that can make you happy. So…please! Please teach me magic!”
Polpon bowed his head yet again, and Luke felt his stomach twist into an anxious knot.
Luke had no way of knowing the thought process that had driven Polpon into such an insane decision. The sight of the prince begging him like this disturbed him terribly.
“…Just, give me a second…my head hurts… My stomach hurts too…”
“A-are you okay, Luke?!” cried Mia.
He had one hand on his forehead and the other on his stomach, but that did nothing to stop the downward spiral. In turn, the sight of Luke in such terrible pain disturbed Mia terribly. She immediately came to his rescue with her Healing magic.
“Heal.”
She repeated the process. Then repeated the process. Then repeated it some more.
“Heal, Heal, Heal, Heal, Heal, Heal, Heal, Heal, Heal, Heal.”
“Stop. That’s enough…” Luke muttered miserably.
“S-sure.”
“…That was way too much.”
Not even Mia’s fervent over-Healing did anything to ease the pain in Luke’s heart.
3
THE GRAY WOLF’S CLAW MARKS WAS NOT JUST any run-of-the-mill adventurer party. Not only had the four-member party achieved A rank, but in fact, they were closer to hitting S rank than any other adventurer party in the entire kingdom. They were led by a swordsman named Zack, and then there was the heavily armored warrior Sippel, a bandit named Sufsasa, and an archer called Qui Gong. Together, they had worked hard to climb to these heights.
Ironic stuff…seriously.
Once, not too terribly long ago, Zack had been a broken man. After an encounter with a true monster, one of the chosen people, he’d been ready to throw in the towel. It was Alfred’s scheming that got him back on his feet, and he resolved to keep working as an adventurer for just a little longer.
Zack used to dive straight into battles, barging right through his enemies, while his companions followed along as backup. Now, though, he knew his limits. After his defeat at the hands of Luke, Zack’s party began to fight together as a team and had improved to a shocking extent.
“Understand your situation, then give precise orders to move your men.”
That was what Zack excelled at—the tactic that he had relied upon for years—but one day, he realized that maybe that’s not actually what he wanted to be good at doing. He found that he had reached a dead end, and so he smashed down the wall to find a clear path waiting for him on the other side.
“Huh? Where are you off to, Zack?”
“Just hittin’ up the tavern. Got some people to see too.”
“Wahey! Sounds great! You’re buyin’ the first round. I’ll see you there a bit later.”
“Sure.”
The party had recently arrived at the capital, so Zack left his bags in his room at the inn, changed clothes, and then headed straight out to get a drink. Experience had taught him that the tavern was always the best place to make friends in a new city. His group had been operating out of Gilbadia for so long, it had actually been quite a while since he’d visited the capital.
Zack walked the streets, only half remembering where he was going, until he came upon the little tavern. The wooden door was old and worn down, but it made him feel much more at ease than any of the fancier places ever could. Zack decided that this would be his spot for the night and went inside.
“Ha ha ha! I jus’ can’t wait fer the next one!”
“Me neither!”
There were only three patrons in the entire place—was it just too early for most folks to start drinking, or was this a reflection of the tavern’s waning popularity? In any case, one person sat at the bar counter, drinking and chatting with the owner, while two others were sitting a little further away and snacking on some appetizer dishes.
“Man, what do we even do…?” One sighed.
“Been saying the same thing for hours. Get it together.”
“Yeah, but…I just can’t forget what happened that night…”
“Sissy. Coward. Chicken.”
The two in the corner who were eating and sipping at their drinks wore some sort of cloth wrapped around their heads.
Don’t see those that often, Zack mused to himself. Turbans, I think they’re called?
There was also an intimidating atmosphere of melancholy around the pair that made them a bit hard to approach.
“Hey, welcome! A new face, eh?”
The master of the house conveniently chose that moment to call out to him, so Zack began to gravitate toward the counter.
“Well met, master! I just got into the city, yeah! The name’s Zack, and I’m an adventurer. Nice t’meet you. I’ll have an ale, if you wouldn’t mind!”
“Comin’ right up!”
With practiced ease, the man poured out an ale from the wooden barrel behind him and somewhat roughly clonked the ale stein down on the counter.
“I’m Butch, and this is Korko,” he said, gesturing to the other customer at the counter. “He’s got a shop out on the market. Nice t’meet you!”
“Nice to meet you, Zack,” said Korko.
“Yeah, same.”
Zack took a long swig of his ale.
“Ahh! That’s good stuff!”
“Sure looked like you enjoyed it! What are you doin’ here in the capital, then, Zack? Just say if you don’t want to answer, I guess.”
“Nah, I’ll tell ya. Got called here by Aslan Magic Academy. I’m gonna be a special instructor there, startin’ this summer.”
“Wh-what?! That’s friggin’ incredible!!”
“Eh, it ain’t all that big a deal,” Zack shrugged. “The guy they wanted to come couldn’t make it, so I’m just fillin’ in.”
“But still, that’s amazin’! I’m sure I’ve just not heard of you because I don’t follow adventuring, but you’re famous, right?”
“Nah, I mean it, I’m really a nobody. I’m just your average adventurer. Used to work out of Gilbadia.”
Zack’s continued protestation wasn’t a matter of modesty. He genuinely believed in his heart that what he was saying was true—he wasn’t a hero or a villain, he was simply some guy who happened to be an adventurer. He knew that there were true monsters in the world. With that thought, the image of a young boy floated into the back of his mind—a boy who looked down on everything.
“Gilbadia… Then you must know Luke, right?”
The second that name hit Zack’s ears, he spat out the mouthful of ale he’d just drunk.
“H-how do you know that name?” he spluttered. “I guess…yeah, I know who he is…”
“Oh! You do know him then! I gotta ask, has he always been such a great magic user?!”
“Huh…? What the heck are you talkin’ about? Luke’s a swordsman.”
“What the heck are you talking about? Luke’s an awesome magic user.”
“Hm?”
“Eh?”
Are we really talking about the same person?
Just as Zack’s doubts began to form, he felt a little tug at his sleeve.
“I want to hear about him too.”
Zack turned to see a girl wearing a turban standing next to him. Before he could respond, a tall man—also wearing a turban—rushed over and bowed his head in apology.
“Ahh, sorry about that. She’s not much for manners, y’see. She’s always gettin’ in people’s way like this.”
“Huh? S-sure…don’t worry about it. I mean, I was a bit surprised, but I don’t mind. You two want to drink with us?”
“Oh, thanks a bunch! I appreciate it!”
The little tavern was bustling, despite the few patrons inside—and many of the things that Zack learned from his new friends came as a great surprise.
Chapter Four: When It Rains, It Pours
Chapter Four:
When It Rains, It Pours
1
IN THE RECEPTION ROOM OF THE GILBERT mansion, the mood was not exactly peaceful, to put it mildly. Each of the four men present bristled with dangerous and barely concealed aggression that threatened to break right through the suffocating tension and cause a full-scale war at any moment.
“You’ve some nerve coming here, Count Lennox. What is it you want? Mwa ha, or do you require a formal greeting first?”
“There is no need, Marquis Gilbert.”
Count Lennox kept himself composed in appearance, but he could scarcely keep his enmity and irritation from bubbling up to the surface. Yolande sat nearby, watching over the proceedings with a thin smile on his face.
Hm, I understand why Marquis Gilbert called me here. A sudden visit from a powerful royalist noble? I wonder what he wants…
“There is something I wish to discuss with you in private…” He trailed off, then glanced pointedly at Yolande. “What is a Lonsdale doing here?”
“You must be aware of the connection between the houses of Gilbert and Lonsdale. He is no different to me than the man standing at your side is to you. You may speak.”
“Very well,” responded Count Lennox, though it was clear that he was absolutely fuming. He was so used to being treated with respect that Claude’s arrogance irritated him greatly.
“I will ask you directly, then—what are you plotting?”
“Of what do you speak?”
“Don’t play dumb with me!”
Count Lennox slammed his hand down on the table as he rose from his seat. The explosive show of anger did nothing to alarm Claude, nor even slightly darken his facial expression. He just smiled, as if the whole situation were amusing to him, which only served to irritate Count Lennox further.
“I don’t know what your objective here is yet, but I am well aware of your strange dealings of late! Don’t think I haven’t noticed the odd influx of royalists who have recently started switching sides to join your noble-faction cause! Suspicious indeed, and certainly connected to whatever underhanded arrangements you’re making.”
“Mwa ha ha…and?”
“What…?”
“What are you going to do about it? Supposing I am responsible for everything you say, that is.”
“You…!”
Count Lennox abruptly shut his mouth. In the face of Claude’s apparent shamelessness, he’d almost lost his composure. He knew he’d regret it if he allowed the curse to escape his lips, so he somehow managed to swallow the insult. His anger remained strong, however, as he took a letter from his chest pocket and held it up to Claude.
“I know that you are responsible for this!”
“…What is it?”
“A letter! Correspondence from my third daughter, Mia, at Aslan Magic Academy!”
“Aha.”
A few different possibilities instantly floated into Claude’s mind, but he could not come to a conclusion. To him, the news was completely unexpected. Claude glanced over at Yolande, who shook his head faintly from side to side.
“…You still feign ignorance, then?”
Count Lennox ripped the letter from its envelope and jabbed a finger at a portion of its contents. Claude and Yolande glanced at the line in question, which read:
“I intend on devoting myself entirely to Luke.”
The moment Yolande finished reading the sentence, he instinctively put a hand over his mouth—keen to ensure their guest did not detect the twisted smile spreading across his face.
Brilliant! You’re brilliant, Luke, truly incredible!
The letter went on to state that Mia intended to leave home if her father would not accept what she had written. She was a smart, cunning girl, and she fully understood her value to House Lennox as a triple-element user. Count Lennox, of course, had been unable to accept his daughter’s declaration of devotion, and he had come to Claude in a state of anger, thinking that he must be the root of this problem. It was, however, not his only objective in coming.
“Only two months have passed since she entered the academy, and now she’s ‘devoting herself entirely’ to your son?! Damn it all! I have had multiple offers of engagement for Mia—from the first prince and the heir to the house of Marquis Drummond! What position will I be left in if she flees my home?!”
On the inside, Claude laughed scornfully at the man before him.
An incompetent, through and through. To think you would show such weakness to me and to the noble faction. Yet…I should have expected as much of my son! He has even made a royalist daughter his own! It makes perfect sense, I suppose, now that I think about it. He surpasses even myself in his talents; it is a law of nature that he should be so attractive to others.
If they had not been gathered for a formal discussion, Claude would have been positively beaming—but he would not show such emotions to others, and his expression remained firm and unchanging in spite of the news.
He did, however, begin to consider what he should do next.
What is the best course of action? What will earn me the most advantage?
Yolande, meanwhile, was still trembling with joy, convinced that the world was smiling upon him.
Marquis Claude is a talented man. I am sure that he will come to the same conclusion that I have: This is our opportunity to turn Count Lennox to our cause. In this moment, he may be convinced to betray the royalists for our noble faction.
An additional prominent aristocrat added to the noble faction’s ranks would accelerate Yolande’s plan greatly—and would make the world much more interesting for him. He had intended to take more time to secure the foundations of the noble faction before taking action, but he would not let such an opportunity go to waste.
But how did Luke make her fall so head over heels for him in just two months? I could never do anything of the sort. Oh, you really are going to entertain me, aren’t you? Heh heh…
Count Lennox, whose eyes had been on the floor, suddenly jerked his head up to look at them.
“But…that said, let’s drop the matter here for now. I have other matters to discuss today.”
Count Lennox sighed—he couldn’t help it. This maddening conversation had brought his anger to its boiling point. The pressure within him was such that a sigh of complaint just slipped out, like an emergency release valve letting off steam.
Why was it, then, that he had visited Claude? What was his true objective?
“I wish you to welcome my daughter Mia into your family, as wife to your heir and son, Luke Witharia Gilbert.”
He had come to speak of engagement.
Unlike Claude, Count Lennox had no love for his children. If they proved themselves capable, he would raise them so as to improve the prestige of his house, but would disown them without a second thought if they were incapable.
That was just the sort of man that he was—cold, calculating, rational. But this shrewd nature of his was, in fact, responsible for his rise to the position of power which he presently occupied. Mia had grown up without the love of a parent, and so she unconsciously felt the need to prove her worth to those around her. She wanted to be needed by others—to be seen by them. That was precisely why she had competed with Alice and likely was what led to her obsession with being wanted by Luke.
“Mwa ha…I take it you mean to switch sides and join the noble faction?”
“Yes. If the decision must be made, it should be done quickly. My worth to you will only deteriorate once my position has crumbled. It’s not a bad proposition I’m offering, is it? You already have several other royalists in your pocket. I cannot claim to understand all of your motives and aims, but I know that much to be true.”
Yolande was having real trouble suppressing his smile.
It’s almost scary how well this is going. I never expected Count Lennox to be so quickly drawn over to our side.
The situation was developing far better than Yolande had even imagined possible. If nobody had been watching, he would probably have literally been rolling on the floor, laughing and holding his sides.
Claude hasn’t answered yet, but…there’s no need for that, is there? I can’t imagine he would ever refuse an offer like th—
“Hmph. I will consider it.”
“Huh?”
“Huh…?”
Claude’s answer was so shocking that Yolande couldn’t help but put voice to his surprise. Count Lennox hadn’t expected the answer either and sat there in stunned silence for a moment.
“I-I am not asking that Mia be his official wife, of course. A position as concubine would be acceptable, you understand?”
“Yes. I told you I would consider it. Do not make me repeat myself.”
“Wh-what?! What could you possibly have to consider?! Mock me no further! In spite of my position, I have bowed to you! I have made real concessions!” Count Lennox shouted in frustration.
“Do not misunderstand me,” answered Claude. “That is not why I am asking you for time to consider this.”
“Then what is it?!”
Claude took an elegant sip of his tea. The action only irritated Count Lennox even more, but there was nothing that he could do except wait for Claude to speak.
“I must ask Luke himself. I am not so foolish as to make the same mistake twice.”
“Huh?”
Given the lack of affection for his own children, the statement was almost incomprehensible to Count Lennox.
Why does he need to ask his child? I don’t understand what he is saying.
Secretly, from the moment that Luke’s rare Dark element had been discovered, Count Lennox began to consider the possibility of switching sides. The noble faction would have a massive amount of power at their fingertips, considering a Dark magic user was about to join their ranks.
Count Lennox was a terribly logical man and hadn’t even considered that Claude might balk at his proposal. It was not arrogance that led him to that conclusion but his analysis of the situation. He recognized Claude’s abilities, and he understood the worth of his own house to the noble faction. Given this thought process, it was only natural that he had been unable to anticipate Claude’s response—it was just about as far away from logic and reason as any answer could be. Fifteen years prior, Claude set about putting his priorities in order—and number one, by a large margin, was the happiness of his son, Luke.
Luke had to be happy. That was the most important thing. It didn’t matter what needed to be sacrificed in order to make that a reality. Claude never wavered in that, even as he began to rekindle the spark of ambition within his heart.
However, he had made one genuine and unfortunate mistake, which was Luke’s engagement to Alice. He tended to lose his cool when it came to matters involving his son and had jumped the gun. The moment he saw Luke’s face, he realized his mistake, but he could say nothing to rectify it. It was too late for that, but he was also not such a fool that he did not understand why Luke never complained to him at the time.
I won’t make that same mistake again, Luke!
Thus, Claude was determined that, no matter what, he would never cause Luke to make that face at him ever again. Yolande, of course, was well aware of the great love that Claude bore for his son, but it was only now that he realized the true extent of it.
I can’t believe it… Why would he go so far…?
It was that day that Count Lennox realized that the depth of Claude’s affection knew no bounds. This man’s doting nature meant that he was ready to discard anything and everything for the sake of his son.
2
JUST AS THE MORNING LIGHT BROUGHT THE night to a close, so, too, ended the silent symphony of blows that had shaken the air for the past several hours.
“Morning already, huh…”
Luke was a bit startled to discover this fact. He’d been so completely focused on nothing but swinging his sword that he lost all sense of time. It was only when he was training like this that he didn’t have to think about any of the other things that irritated him. He could focus entirely on the weapon in his hands—a brief respite. With his mind under constant assault from unexpected events these past few days, Luke felt he needed more time with the sword.
This weapon is blunted, but at times, it looks like it really could cut through anything.
Luke looked down at the sword, still holding it in both hands. It was expertly made, but it was ostensibly useless for combat. It was, after all, only a replica for training purposes.
Alfred taught me that finely honed swordsmanship could make a man sharp, even without a blade in his hands. But this is something else…more distinct…
It was there that Luke’s thoughts ceased.
“C-cold today, isn’t it, Luke?”
An unexpected visitor approached him.
Someone else was there that day to train with the sword.
“What are you doing here, Abel?”
Luke’s concentration was so intense that he didn’t admit a single scrap of unnecessary information. His concentration was so great, in fact, that it would be a difficult feat for any normal person to ever reach his level. That is why Luke did not realize that Abel had been there all along, standing some distance away from him, also practicing with the sword.
“Huh? I’ve been here all night…”
Luke said nothing.
“Y-you didn’t see me, then…”
Abel seemed disappointed at Luke’s response, or lack thereof. It was depressing to find out how little impact his presence made, but even so, Abel was determined to interpret Luke’s actions in the most charitable and convenient way. Surely his reaction was rooted in honesty, not malice.
Luke really is a hard worker.I guess all I can really do is try my best…so I have to make sure I put in at least as much effort as him, no matter what!
Abel wanted to beat Luke someday, but his feelings of admiration were just as strong. He looked up to him and the pure, immense strength that he possessed.
“…What’s that gross look in your eyes?” Luke sneered. “You’re irritating me. Get lost.”
“D-did I really have a weird look in my eyes?!”
Luke treated Abel with the same disdain as he always did, and yet he could not shake him off. Worse still, Abel kept approaching of his own accord—a fact that was disturbing to Luke in a way that was quite difficult to express. Luke turned on his heel to return to his room.
“Ah, wait up, Luke!”
“…”
Abel made to follow immediately.
“Um, Luke… There’s this event that the empire holds every year, apparently…have you heard about it? The Sword Saint Festival.”
“…”
“I just recently heard about it from my master, so I don’t know the details…but I hear they gather master swordsmen from all over the world, and they compete to find the best! It sounds super exciting, right?!”
“…”
“S-so…how about it? Want to go and watch it with me? Uh…I think it’s going to be held on the—huh? Are you listening?!”
“…”
“Um…L-Luke? Do you want to go to the festival tog—”
“You’re so annoying.”
Luke picked up the pace in the hopes of getting away from Abel—who persistently trailed close behind and continued to talk to Luke, despite the other boy ignoring his every word. Luke knew about the Sword Saint Festival, of course. He was even considering participating in the event, but of course he had no intention of telling Abel that.
3
IT WAS IN MAGIC TRAINING AREA THREE THAT I finally found myself facing off against Luke.
“What’s wrong?” he taunted. “Hurry up and cast, Lloyd.”
It took me so long to complete this new spell…and there’s nobody else I’d rather show it to first. It ain’t like I think I’ve caught up to him…but I’ve come a long way, and I wanna know how much further I’ve got to go.
“If you’re sure you’re ready for me.”
“Mwa ha, you worry for my safety? Don’t get so cocky.”
Luke’s words sparked anger deep inside of me—but that was all. A chill ran through my whole body and gripped my heart. Goosebumps formed all over my skin, and my legs felt weak. I was only facing down one of my classmates, but I felt the sort of dread I’d probably feel if I were facing down some great monster.
Can’t lie to myself. Deep inside, I know it already. I can’t beat this guy…
Ha ha!
Man, he’s so freakin’ cool. Strong guys are so damn cool! I love how simple this academy is. It’s all so easy to understand that even an idiot like me can get it—those with power are at the top, and that’s it. Really feels like this is where I belong.
“Here goes, okay?”
“Sure. Do it.”
I lost in my rank duel against that ice girl. She’s awful, that one. She knew I had confidence in my firepower, so she kept her approach simple to twist me into submission. My flames are never gonna beat that girl’s ice…not yet anyway, so long as I’m just shootin’ like an idiot. But fine, I can accept that I’m not as good as her just yet. I ain’t givin’ up on gettin’ my revenge with pure firepower, but I figure this is a good opportunity to try somethin’ new. Besides, I can’t brute force the duel that comes after I beat her, anyway. I know I can’t win against Luke just by firin’ off simple spells.
That’s why I made this one. It’s not a big area attack or nothin’ like that, just real narrow. I don’t let my mana spread, I concentrate it all into a single dot, then let it go.
“Searing Flash!”
A single, thin stream of fire shot straight toward Luke at incredible speed, threatening to incinerate him right where he stood.
This spell’s all about precision. I made it to target a single point, blast a hole through thick walls. Luke’s Dark magic absorbs everythin’ it touches…but there’s gotta be a limit to the amount of mana that he can take in at one time.
“Dark Barrier.”
Luke deployed a defensive spell, as expected. My flames ran straight into his shield of darkness—and pierced through, grazing his cheek.
“Brilliant,” he remarked.
“Ha…ha ha! All right!!”
I couldn’t help but raise my fist and yell out in joy.
I did it! It really worked! My flames pierced his darkness! Seems like the barrier took a lot out of it, though—it was super weak after it made it past the wall. Guess I ain’t properly concentrating it yet. Ah, there’s a million things I still gotta work on, but this is a huge step forward!
“Hmph, I see. You concentrated your mana into a single point, then. Simple, but effective. That’s some good magic work… The mana density is what’s most critical.”
“Amazin’! I only fired the thing at you once, but you already know so much abou—”
“And by creating a link to Detect Mana I could reduce my barrier’s redundancies and focus its size to create a denser shield,” Luke muttered to himself cryptically. “Mwa ha…Dark Blessing could also incorporate this technique.”
“Huh?”
I had no idea what Luke was even saying.
“Come. Once more.”
“Wh-what did you just say?”
“Fire that spell at me again.”
“Uh…all right.”
Confused, I did as he asked.
Gotta do what he says—he’s stronger than me. The flames might’a been weak when they reached him, but my spell touched Luke. It made it to him—didn’t it?
“Searing Flash.”
“Dark Barrier.”
The spell I used was identical, but the results were like night and day. My Searing Flash was swallowed up by the darkness, disappearing into the black shield without a trace.
“Huh? H-heh…ha ha ha!”
For some reason, I found myself laughing.
Seriously, what the heck was that thing? The first time I saw Luke’s magic, I knew he was a monster, but…I-I mean, I really thought I made progress here, but it looks like I was wrong. All my hard work and effort, and he overcomes it all in an instant, just like that…?
“Hmph, I knew it. Okay, I get the gist. This is how your magic works, right?” he said, raising his hand. “Darkening Flash.”
I sensed mana gathering in Luke’s fingers…mana just like mine.
No way.
In the next moment, a flash of concentrated darkness grazed my cheek and left me speechless.
Finally, I found my voice.
“Ha…ha…ah ha ha ha!! You’re freakin’ awesome! Seriously, man, that was so cool!”
All the conflicting emotions welling up inside of me mixed together and, for some reason, ultimately burst out as laughter.
Yeah…he’s on such a different level from me, I don’t reckon I’ll ever catch up to him! Man, that was so wild! He’s just so damn cool.
Makes me think, though… I feel it in my bones, somethin’ deep inside telling me that I shouldn’t even try to be like him.
Ever.
***
“Thanks for that,” Lloyd said. “I’ll be comin’ back for more.”
“Sure. That was good magic,” I replied.
We left the training area and went our separate ways.
Mwa ha…interesting. Lloyd’s technique is still rough around the edges, but that really was a fine spell. He’s got good magic, that one—gotta be on the same level as Alice and Mia, I reckon.
…But this is still pretty boring. I’m sure magic has a lot of depth to it normally, but I end up succeeding way too easily at everything I attempt. More importantly, magic duels don’t have the same push and pull that sword fights do, especially when I can curbstomp any opponent, thanks to my overpowered Dark element. I miss the spine-tingling action, the trading blows and the tactical retreats that can allow for the weaker party to gain the upper hand… It’s so much more exciting.
The sword really is what I prefer, to be…huh? Hang on, I think I see someone over there… Are they watching me?
I turned, but the watcher panicked and ran the moment our eyes met.
That purple-haired girl…I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before? Or maybe I haven’t… Maybe she just looks familiar because she’s also in the first-year class?
Hm. Not that I particularly care who she is, anyway.
“Hey there! Luke!”
Someone called out to me from the opposite direction, and I turned to see the root of all my current worries standing there—Polpon.
I gritted my teeth and turned away.
“Ah, hey! Wait up!”
I think he irritates me in the same way Abel does. No matter how many times I knock him down, he just ignores it and gets right back up… Ugh, I’m sick of dealing with this damn prince. I mean, that day he went crazy and started asking to be one of my pawns, I turned him down. At least, I think I did. I tried to…but he hasn’t stopped following me around. He doesn’t know when to give up.
I swore a bit under my breath thinking about it. Then again, maybe I brought this on myself. I was just a little bit curious about what was going on in his unpleasant little mind, so I asked him what he would do if he actually became king. His answer was…well, it sure was something.
“What a good question! First, I would purge all the incompetent aristocrats in the kingdom, being careful not to remove so many at once that it affects the functioning of the state. I don’t know how many years that process would take, but unless this country comes together as one, I really don’t think I can make anything else happen. So…for starters, I’m fine with ruling by fear.”
That was his answer, and he seemed pretty cheerful when he was talking about it. He used the word “purge” like it was some normal, everyday activity, like it wasn’t a completely unhinged thing to say.
I guess what he means is that he’ll strip the titles of all the incompetent nobles and not allow any dissent. That’s real ruthless stuff, honestly. I never expected any of that from him. Unfortunately, I couldn’t help being just a little impressed by him… That was my biggest mistake because it just made him even more persistent.
I sighed.
“What’s the matter, Luke? Are you tired?”
“…”
It wouldn’t be all that simple, anyway. He’d need a wildly powerful military force to subjugate those nobles—it’s not like they’d just roll over and go down without a fight. That means the royalist faction would need to gain more strength, which takes time… Really, everything he’s suggesting would take years to come to fruition. But still, his heart must be made of ice-cold steel to be so sure of himself and so willing to take the lives of others for his country. That’s a bit interesting, I suppose…
I couldn’t help but think so, at least privately. But Polpon was perceptive, and, sensing that he was making progress, he began to follow me around.
I sighed again, more forcefully.
“Luke…? You look really exhausted. Are you sure you don’t need me to become one of your pawns? You wouldn’t be so tired out if I w—”
It’s your fault I’m like this, dumbass, I thought, tuning out the rest of his sentence.
“Ah, come to think of it,” he exclaimed suddenly, “the number one girl in the hierarchy is coming back from her magic division training soon. You know her pretty well, right? I mean, she is the daughter to House Godwin.”
“Eh…?”
Eleonora… That name didn’t consciously ring any bells, and yet it seemed vaguely familiar. For some reason, for just a brief moment, I felt like I knew her.
***
“Come back tomorrow, okay Canis? You too, Ferris!”
“Sure, and thanks for the awesome grub, master! See you around!”
“…Thanks for food.”
Canis and Ferris made a somewhat visually striking pair—Canis was a particularly tall man, and Ferris was a young girl who was quite small in stature. Both wore turbans wrapped around their heads in the same style.
“Ahhh!” Canis exhaled with satisfaction. “That was good stuff!”
“…”
“Huh? What’s up, Ferris? You seem down.”
Ferris didn’t answer.
“Hm…you’re thinkin’ real hard about somethin’, eh?”
“No progress,” she said finally. “Nothing. Not since that day.”
“What? We’ve totally made progress.”
“Explain.”
“We figured out that our target doesn’t just use magic, but he’s also an awesome swordsman. Well, guess we ain’t super sure if that’s true or not yet, but it’s valuable intel.”
“…”
“Come on, don’t look at me like that! You’re scaring m—”
Canis abruptly cut his sentence short as he saw a black-hooded man disappear into a nearby alleyway. From the way he walked and everything in his demeanor, Canis knew at once that they were in the same business.
Still, there was no reason for the two of them to interfere. It had nothing to do with them. Canis should have ignored the man, and yet he found his attention pulled irresistibly toward the stranger. Then, with his incredible hearing, Canis caught a snippet of their conversation:
“Execute the plan tonight. Capture the Dark.”
“Understood.”
This was a discussion that he couldn’t ignore. He could easily imagine what they meant by the “Dark”—and had to make sure that wasn’t the case.
“Ferris.”
“Yes. Heard them,” she confirmed. “Need to investigate.”
“Yeah. Just make sure you follow my orders. You got that?”
“…Got that.”
With that, Canis and Ferris both vanished, melting away into the night.
4
THE HOUR WAS SO LATE THAT EVEN THE TREES were sleeping, as three hooded men dressed in black sprinted through the darkness, blending in with the night. They ran with such elegant discipline that their footsteps were almost inaudible.
“Final confirmation. This magic tool interferes with mana use in an area of effect. It only lasts five minutes. After that, it self-destructs to avoid anyone learning any more about it…that is all.”
“Then we can’t fail, huh?”
“Understood.”
“That’s right. We incapacitate the Darkwithin the time frame, get him in the Shackles of Mana Sealing, and get him out of there.”
“Yep, you got it!”
“…Understood.”
The group was headed toward the Aslan Magic Academy dormitories. Normally, the building was under the strict guard of several different magic tools that prevented intruders from gaining entry. But on that night, for some reason, none of them seemed to be working. The men arrived at the dorms, then made their way around to the rear of the building. One of them placed a hand on the back door handle, and it easily swung open.
“Just as the intel said.”
“Yeesh! This lot sure have gotten used to bein’ at peace, huh?”
“Quiet. Focus. We cannot fail.”
“Yeah, yeah. Sorry ’bout that.”
The man who scolded his comrade continued his lecture.
“So far, everything has been just as we were told. We don’t know what might happen in there, though, so we’re activating this magic tool the moment we enter the dorms. Keep your eyes on the clock, got it?”
“…Understood.”
“Yep. Five minutes on the dot. We’ll be in and out lickety-split.”
“…Agreed.”
“You really can’t give more than a one-word answer, huh?”
“Right. Let’s go.”
The man in front opened the door, stepped inside, and immediately activated the magic tool in his hands, just as he said he would. The drawback of the tool was that its effect also applied to the three men themselves—but they had all known that ahead of time, and so that wasn’t an issue.
The trio immediately sprang into action. First, they came upon the cafeteria, where they found two men that appeared to be guards lying suspiciously in the hallway. They seemed to be breathing, so they were clearly unconscious rather than dead.
“…”
The intruders didn’t appear to be surprised by the two guards. They spared them only a brief glance as they proceeded down the hallway. The dorms were cloaked in darkness, but the intruders’ footsteps were certain, as if they knew the place well. They stopped in front of the door to a certain room and exchanged glances.
This is the one, they agreed silently.
The door was locked, but one of the men made quick, well-practiced work of picking it open. After another glance to his comrades, he quietly pushed the door ajar.
“Oh my, welcome.”
“Wh—”
The man could not suppress a small cry of shock—it was the first thing to happen that night that he had not anticipated.
The room was illuminated by a faint little light, revealing a beautiful young girl with silver hair sitting leisurely on the bed before them. The man only hesitated for a split second, then quickly took action. If the girl were to scream, their mission would fail on the spot. She had to be killed. He had no idea who she was, but it didn’t matter—there was no other option but to silence her immediately. Swiftly, he drew his stiletto and held it in his right hand as he advanced on the silver-haired girl, a murderous glint in his eyes. He took another step closer…and then he dropped his weapon to the ground.
“Hmph, I knew it. Foes, then. That’s all I needed to know.”
***
“Ugh…what the…?”
Luke awoke with an unsettling feeling that he couldn’t ignore. He still felt drowsy, and there were, of course, the usual unpleasant and irritating sensations that came along with that—but also something different. The way he felt was so unsettling that nothing else mattered to his muddled brain. It was intense, like nothing he had ever felt before.
The cause, however, was easily identified: All the spells that he had set up to be constantly active were, for some reason, not working.
“Huh?”
Slowly, he then realized that he couldn’t use any magic at all. Clearly something strange was going on. As his consciousness awakened, so did a deeper understanding of what was happening.
My mana is being stolen.
That brought a single possibility floating to the forefront of Luke’s mind:
“Dark magic.”
That’s it. Magic that swallows everything.
It was Luke’s first time experiencing the sensation for himself, but he was almost certain of its nature.
But that doesn’t matter now.
His thought patterns switched over, as if a line had been cut and all the tension released in an instant. Now intensely focused, he began to deal with the situation at hand.
I see…whoever gets their spell off first has the advantage, eh? That’s a good lesson to learn. I may not be able to use my spells, but I can still sense mana.
As Luke’s mana-detection abilities were constantly linked to his spells, his mind received a constant stream of information about the mana around him. This fact made his mana-detection abilities much more precise and wide-reaching than those of other magic users—so much so, in fact, that they could barely even conceive of what he was capable of. Luke focused his honed senses and quickly determined that something was on its way toward him…then sighed a little to himself at the realization.
“Not again,” he groaned. “More of this crap?”
There were a great many things in Luke’s life that had been causing him stress of late. Alice sleeping by his side was one of the direct causes of his stress. Despite his reservations, he’d found himself actually inviting her to his room more frequently these past few weeks. Not to mention the fact that his invitations ended up being closer to orders than offers.
Luke felt trouble on the way; he was familiar enough to know the signs. The situation gave him a pain in his stomach and a sense of disappointment and resignation that prompted his “Not again” response. His sigh was no indication of his inner thought processes, however, which were calm and collected. He compartmentalized all that to quickly and logically make calculations to deal with the unexpected circumstances that he was facing.
“Alice. Get up.”
“What’s wrong, Luke? Or…heh, are you perhaps in the moo—”
“Shut up. Just answer this question for me,” he snapped. “Can you use magic?”
“Hm? Of course I can…” She paused. “Not? No, it seems I cannot. Curious.”
“I see. At least it’s not just me, then.”
Luke got out of bed, headed over to his desk, and opened one of the drawers. Inside was the present that Alfred gave him upon his entry into the academy—a small but deadly dagger, with a real blade. As Luke looked down at it, a cruel smile twisted across his lips, and he remembered what Alfred had taught him:
“Master Luke, the main purpose of a concealed weapon is to catch your opponent by surprise.”
Alfred had taught him techniques for killing enemies, and the immoral nature of the moves had confused Luke at first, but that initial hesitation was a thing of the past.
Alfred-san…I really am so grateful for everything you’ve done for me.
Luke drew his dagger from its sheath. He hadn’t handled the blade in some time, but his body remembered.
I can do this.
“You should feel it too, no? Somebody’s coming this way.”
“Yes. So it would appear.”
“We don’t know if they’re friend or foe. You’re in my way. Get yourself hidden somewhere.”
“Wait. Can’t I help you somehow?”
“Without magic, what use could you possi—”
“I could be a decoy, at least.”
“…Huh?”
Luke was a little surprised at himself. In that instant, he realized he had unconsciously completely discounted the idea of using Alice as a decoy from his list of available options.
She’s right, it’d be easy to surprise these enemies if I used her as a decoy. But then why did I…? No, forget it. I don’t have time to think about that now.
Luke’s mind kept racing. He discarded his emotions, concentrating purely on finding the best solution to the present state of affairs.
It’s probably safe to assume that these intruders are foes of mine, and in that case, it seems likely that there’s more than one of them. If they’re on their way here to confront me directly, they must have this thing pretty carefully planned out. I mean, they’re almost certainly here for me, right? I doubt it’s a random, opportunistic sort of operation. But there’s just not enough clear information right now, and I can’t use my magic to learn anything further. They must have a Dark magic user with them, or some other sort of unique power… I also can’t discount the possibility that there’s some sort of technology that can do this. In any case, if I can’t beat them, then all of this is over.
Luke made his decision.
I’ll use Alice as a decoy and take advantage of the element of surprise to kill one of them outright. That should be the best way to increase my odds of victory. It’ll work out, and she’ll be fine…
Jeez. When did I get so soft?
For all Luke’s logical planning and cold calculations, there remained a part of him that wanted to avoid using Alice as a decoy.
“It’s okay,” Alice whispered. “I trust you, Luke.”
Luke silently looked over at her. Her eyes were filled with absolute, unyielding confidence in his every word.
…What a stupid girl, thought Luke, smiling.
“All right then. I’m counting on you.”
“Of course.”
Luke hid in the corner of the room and focused all of his attention on tracking the mana signatures he could sense coming his way. There were three of them. Luke considered the possibility that they might be using some technique to block their own mana, sending out false signals instead to trick him. They steadily grew closer and closer.
I knew it. They’re heading straight for this room.
Luke put his ear to the ground.
Yep, three of them. They’re fast, and their footsteps are quiet, methodical… They’re well trained.
The gravity of the situation could have easily caused Luke to panic, but he remained calm and focused. It was the first time in his life he’d ever experienced such danger, and he truly had no idea how powerful the enemies approaching him might have been, but Luke was confident. His calm demeanor was a testament to the infinitely arrogant belief he had in his own strength.
Such trifling foes could never pose a true threat to me.
Luke laughed faintly to himself as he gripped the dagger that Alfred had given him.
A graduation gift and proof of my mastery, eh…? Mwa ha…I never expected it would come in handy at a time like this.
A switch flipped in Luke’s mind; only the icy cold part of him remained.
“Oh my, welcome.”
“Wha—”
I knew it.
Their confusion demonstrated to Luke that the assailants had been aiming for him, after all. Following the man’s cry, everything happened quickly. Luke had already sensed that the man had clear murderous intent, and the moment the intruder took out his stiletto and directed it toward Alice, Luke made his move.
“Hmph. I knew it. Foes, then. That’s all I needed to know.”
In a flash, faster than the blink of an eye, Luke shot out of the shadows and ripped the man’s throat open with his dagger. Fresh blood spurted up into the air, splashing Alice with red—then with a wordless moaning sound, the man collapsed to the ground.
That was my first time killing another person. It was easier than I expected—now on to the next one.
Luke glanced over at the other two, quickly kicking off against the floor to close in on them.
The second man intercepted his strike in silence. The all too sudden loss of one of his comrades did, in truth, somewhat shake him. His body moved instinctively to respond, however, thanks to many years of practice. He launched a stab at Luke’s right eye, but Luke dodged it with the slightest movement of his neck and attacked again.
It can’t be. Those aren’t the moves of an amateur. This isn’t what our intel stated. Not at all.
The slight agitation in his movements proved fatal, as one of Luke’s incredibly accurate strikes embedded itself into the second man’s left shoulder. He couldn’t dodge the attack and, finding he could no longer lift his arm, dropped the stiletto that he had been wielding. Luke didn’t let up in his attack, stabbing at the man’s throat, then finally through his unguarded heart to finish him off. It was terribly elegant—a three-strike combo that flowed with smooth precision.
“Gah!”
The second man fell to the floor.
“Nobody warned me…nobody said anything about this…!”
The third man began to take slow steps backward, and for the briefest of moments, the thought of restraining him to obtain information floated into Luke’s mind. He quickly discarded the idea.
There are far too many unknown variables for that.
“Don’t let your guard down. Be most careful when you have driven your enemy back. Do not let up.”
Alfred’s words came back to him, and Luke made up his mind.
Kill.
The last man put a hand in his pocket, trying to take something out—and that was the moment that the dagger pierced his skull. Luke’s merciless throwing attack granted his target such an immediate death that he did not even have the time for a bitter, final cry before it was over.
“…”
Luke calmly exhaled a long breath. He looked down absentmindedly at the red-stained corpses that were sprawled out beneath him. He just stood there for a moment, a bit frozen and numb.
“Luke, are you—” Alice cried out, then stopped abruptly at the sight of him. “Luke!”
Alice ran over to his side, screaming his name. Her response was understandable, given the grim scene that only became darker the longer she looked. Luke had just dropped to his knees. He let his arms fall to the floor too. Something was clearly wrong.
“You aren’t injured, are you?! I-I’ll get Mia at once—”
He had no visible injuries, but Alice decided that some of Mia’s Healing magic was in order, just in case. That was the most reasonable conclusion she could reach as she struggled to find answers in her panicked state of mind.
“Why…? Seriously…” Luke mumbled to himself.
Seeing that his life didn’t appear to be in danger, Alice breathed sigh of relief and listened quietly to what he was saying.
“I just…why? Why are these people attacking me…? It’s the middle of the damn night! Why?! What the fuck is going on?!”
It was a cry that came from Luke’s very soul, the accumulation of days upon days of unrelenting stress and anxiety finally spewed out into the world.
***
Luke’s cry from the soul woke every student in the dormitories at once and immediately brought to light the unprecedented attempt that had just been made on his life, as well as the bloody aftermath. It was by far the biggest, most scandalous incident to take place at Aslan Magic Academy, and it shocked the people of the kingdom to their core.
“Quickly. Get the carriage.”
Luke’s father, Claude, was beyond outraged.
Chapter Five: Fate
Chapter Five: Fate
1
ROSWALD MERLIN GOLDBERG, HEADMASTER OF Aslan Magic Academy, quietly looked out of the window of his office. The black curtain of night had yet to open on a new day, but there were a great many guards rushing around the buildings outside.
“Luke is strong. ’Twas that strength of his that saved us this night. Oh, how pathetic…”
Who exactly those words were directed at was unclear. Perhaps the headmaster was speaking to himself, unable to protect the students of his academy, or perhaps—
Thud, thud!
There was a booming, rough knock at the door, which then opened without the slightest pause for a response. An academy instructor entered—a man named Duke.
“I’m back, old man. Silver lining is that we had barely a scrape here tonight, let alone any casualties… You been to see him?”
“Hmph, Luke appeared completely unfazed. He even looked annoyed by my fretting over his well-being,” the headmaster replied. “Ho ho…truly, the boy looked quite displeased with me indeed. Strong, that one.”
“Yeah,” Duke nodded. “Looks like he killed all of his attackers. Much as I hate to admit it, the kid really saved us. I mean, if it weren’t for him—”
Thump!
Roswald drove his fist into the wall.
“What kind of instructor am I, when I cannot protect my students?”
The headmaster’s words were drenched in anger and regret. This behavior was so uncharacteristically concerning that it made even Duke fall silent.
“To be so brazen too…” Roswald continued. “The contemptuous, uncivilized brute responsible for this will rue the day that they undermined my academy, I will make sure of that.”
“You realized it too, then?”
“Of course. The long life I have led hasn’t been for naught. ’Twas someone on the inside that guided the attack this night, no?”
“Yeah,” Duke agreed uncomfortably. “I don’t want to think it, but that’s the only explanation that makes sense to me.”
“Nor do I wish to believe it, yet nothing can be done about that now.”
There was someone in their order who had betrayed them. It was not an uncommon occurrence by any means, but that did not make it any easier to stomach.
“Heck…this might spell the end of the whole academy, so that might not even matter much.”
“Indeed. The noble faction will not allow this incident to go unpunished… ’Tis an awful thing that I must consider now.”
“Damn right. We’d all forgotten, but this attack’s exposed just how weak Milestia really is…” Duke paused. “Nah, I think maybe we already knew. We were just tryin’ not to see the truth all this time.”
“…Hmph.”
Roswald stroked his long beard and silently turned to face Duke. In the headmaster’s eyes dwelled the stubborn light of determination.
“We’re having a meeting. Call everyone together for me, won’t you?”
“Sure.”
With that, the two of them left the headmaster’s office.
***
In the aftermath of my agonizing scream, cursing my own blasted fate, the newly awakened students of the dorm began to gather.
At least it was only the first years in this building, I suppose, so about forty people. Wait, no, some idiot went and lost to Abel, then transferred out, so now that’s thirty-nine students.
Everything that followed was chaos and pandemonium. Some students began to cry and wail. Some seemed driven into confusion after what was presumably their first time ever seeing a corpse. Then someone was sick—then someone else—then another. It was hell.
“I’m sleepy.”
Guards arrived immediately, and as the person at the center of the incident in question, I had to answer to them. Night passed quickly into day, and I barely got any sleep.
I got tired of thinking and just answered basically whatever they asked me…but thinking about it now, shouldn’t they have let me get some rest first, given the state I was in? This whole country’s really gone to crap, huh…
“I’m sorry. ’Tis the fault of my academy, and thus responsibility lies with me. I am bound to protect you all, yet I failed. I never imagined such a thing could happen here…I am still at a loss. More importantly, though, I am so glad that you are safe.”
“…”
“Freya…yes, yes. We grew so used to peace that, on some level, we convinced ourselves it would carry on forever… But no matter how long the peaceful days might last, nobody can ever know what the morrow may bring…”
“…”
Jeez, this atmosphere’s suffocating.
Freya came to explain a bunch of things to me right after the attack, but it was only yesterday that all this happened—or rather, a few hours ago. Seems as if all the teachers are still in panic mode. According to Freya, the school’s most likely going to be on an indefinite break. In other words, everyone here will be going home…but the logistics of that will take some time, so the academy’s finding us some temporary accommodation. In the meantime, there are dozens of Royal Knights here to give us the highest level of security this kingdom has to offer.
The indefinite break makes sense, I guess. I mean, this is the first time a student’s ever been attacked at Aslan Magic Academy. I’ll bet this attack has been a massive shock to everyone in so many ways. There’s that mysterious mana blocking to think about too…that stuff could threaten the decades-long peace of this whole magic supremacist kingdom. That’s a real serious weak spot for all of us. There’s no question that this incident has awoken a long-forgotten sense of danger in everyone.
They didn’t find anything on the bodies of the attackers that might have caused the mana blocking. They found some Shackles of Mana Sealing, I guess, but those are completely ordinary items used in the Kingdom of Milestia for arresting and imprisoning magic users that have committed crimes. If the attackers intended to commit a kidnapping rather than a murder, then it makes sense that they had shackles with them. But, well…Shackles of Mana Sealing are only effective when they come into direct contact with a person. The shackles couldn’t have caused what happened that night…so was this Dark magic all along? It’s just a feeling I get, but I don’t think the guys who came for me were talented magic users. Meaning…nah, there’s no sense in thinking about that now. All I know for certain is that I felt something similar to my own Dark element that night. That might have something to do with why they came after me in the first place. If Alfred hadn’t taught me how to handle myself with a weapon, I would’ve been helpless against them.
Hm…I wonder, does that mean those three succeeded in kidnapping me in the original book? As with most things, I don’t remember much, but I can imagine what was supposed to happen next: Abel would’ve found some way to rescue me, and being saved by him would’ve badly hurt my pride, causing my grudge against him to deepen… Yeah, that’s probably it.
As I pondered these things, my ears caught a fragment of the conversation between Freya and Amelia nearby:
“Not being able to use your spells must be really tough.”
“Yes…quite so.”
“H-huh…? What’s gotten into y—”
“Will you please just be quiet for a moment?”
“…”
I’ve never seen Amelia-san look so weak, and it sounds like Freya hasn’t either. Hmph…would the people of this kingdom truly be so feeble if their magic were sealed away? So these are the harmful side effects of an overreliance on magic, eh?
“C-come to think of it…Alice, you were covered in blood too, weren’t you?” said Abel suddenly.
Alice stared at him coldly.
“Excuse me, but what exactly is your misunderstanding? I will not be spoken to so casually by the likes of you. I am not as kind as Luke is.”
“S-sorry…”
“Hey! What was that for?! Social status doesn’t mean a thing at this academy!” Lily shouted indignantly.
“Oh, your screeching is so irritating. I am tired. Be quiet.”
“Wh-what did you just say to me?!”
“Luke…I’m so glad you’re okay,” Mia said, turning to me. “Are you hurt at all? Just say the word, okay? I’ll use my Healing ma—”
“Ah, I’m exhausted.”
Contrasting with the hushed tones of Amelia-san and Freya, the group gathered around me was as noisy as ever. My extreme drowsiness was making their voices sound even louder than usual, and it was hurting my head.
Alice should have gotten just as little sleep as me, but she seems fine.
“Very well. I will clarify this, just to avoid any further misunderstandings. I heard Luke screaming and rushed to be the first to the scene. I am his beloved fiancée, you understand? It’s only natural.”
“…”
“But, well, I was frightened when I saw the sea of blood at the scene,” Alice continued seamlessly, “and I slipped on my way to his side.”
“Y-you slipped…?”
“Yes, and quite badly, at that. That is why I was so covered in blood…or do you perchance not even possess sufficient intelligence to follow a word I just said?”
“S-sure…thanks for telling me…”
There was a brief, awkward silence—nobody seemed to know how to react to Alice’s statements.
I’m surprised she can rattle off all those lies with a straight face. Not that I’m complaining. I mean, I’d be in all sorts of trouble if everyone found out that I’d been sneaking Alice over to my room… So, yeah, let’s just say she slipped on all the blood, eh?
“Luke!”
A voice called down to me from the sky above. It was a voice I knew all too well, driving my mind into further depths of despair.
Yolande.
He floated down to land beside me.
“Ah, I’m so glad you’re safe!”
I said nothing, and he spread his arms wide as if to embrace me—oh, hell no.
The sight was so disgusting that I reflexively slapped him in the face.
I’ve done nothing wrong. Justice is on my side.
“Gross. Stay away from me.”
“Wh-wha…ah…th-that was so mean,” pouted Yolande, suddenly breathing quite heavily. “I-I’m just worried about you…”
“No…how could you? And to my brother, of all people…”
I shifted my gaze away from Yolande and his gross panting, over to Alice, who seemed to be upset for the wrong reasons.
Ah, now I remember. These two are always like this.
“L-Luke. You shouldn’t hit people… Instructor Yolande is just worried about you” said Abel.
Meanwhile, both Lonsdale siblings were quite disgustingly worked up—Yolande panting and flushed; Alice seething with unconcealed jealousy.
Oh, Abel. You really don’t know what’s going on here, do you? If only I could be so naive. Man, though, you’re way too kind, huh? Like, to an almost hilarious extent.
“I’m glad you’re okay too, Alice.”
Alice did not deign to answer, merely glaring at her older brother.
“Still, this attack,” said Yolande, his demeanor switching in an instant.
in an instant. “I never expected the Royal Knights to be so incompetent. Does nobody bother to patrol this academy?”
Yolande made sure to say that part just loud enough for all the nearby knights to hear. None of them raised their voices in protest at his comment, but there were bitter looks on many of their faces.
“The knights’ power has been declining, year after year. I suppose I can’t exactly pin all the blame on them though—this whole kingdom must be remade.”
Yolande’s comments sounded like trouble that I didn’t want to deal with at the moment. I ignored them and walked away.
I’m not thinking straight. I’m so tired. I just want to get some sleep. That’s all I want right now. The rabble can attack me all they like—I’ll kill anyone who comes at me. But please…just let me get my sleep.
***
Several days had passed since the incident.
“Luke…”
When Luke’s father arrived at the royal capital, he looked frailer than Luke had ever seen him. He descended from his carriage and hurried to his son.
“Father. I am sorry for worrying y—”
He was interrupted by his father’s embrace. Claude held his son tight to his chest.
“You are my pride and joy…and I am so, so glad to see you are safe…”
“…”
He’s a little weird, and he can get weirdly carried away about stuff, like with the incident resulting in my engagement to Alice… But from everything I remember, my father has always seemed to me like perfection incarnate. He’s always calm, no matter the situation, completely majestic, with the sort of demeanor only adopted by the truly strong.
“I’m sorry…sorry that I made you worry.”
Right. Maybe this is what love is.
Just as the thought crossed Luke’s mind, he felt a strong emotion emanating from his father It was intense and angry, bordering on murderous rage.
“Right then. Let us make quick work of destroying this incomprehensibly incompetent academy.”
What…did he just say?
2
“I SAID I WOULD DESTROY THEM! COMPLETELY and utterly, at that. The world has no need of an institution that would expose my son to such danger.”
Oh man, he’s serious about this…
There would be no arguing with him. Luke understood that the moment he met his father’s gaze to see red-hot flames of true rage burning bright within his eyes.
“Wait. I believe you may be being a little hasty, Father.”
And yet Luke objected.
“Oh…? You do not often speak out against my decisions. Mwa ha, hasty, then, am I? Very well, I will listen to what you have to say.”
“Thank you.”
Luke did not think to ask why. His father’s rage was extreme, but it was also justified.
Still, I can’t let the academy be destroyed over this.
Fierce, irrepressible emotions raged inside of Luke, all in service of his own extremely arrogant purpose. Claude, on the other hand, was overjoyed that his son had chosen to speak out against one of his decisions. He had to repress a smirk forming in the corner of his mouth as he reflected that this was what it really meant to be father and son. As happy as he felt, Claude could not break his majestic facade by smiling like that in front of Luke. He wanted nothing more than to be respected by his son, which ultimately caused his gaze to only become sharper when directed toward him. His looks became invisible arrows, an oppressive force bearing down on Luke, skewering him all over.
Claude’s anger had also not dissipated in the slightest; his burning rage against those who had put his beloved son in danger could not so easily be sated. He truly wanted to fulfill Luke’s wishes, to the extent that he was able to, but could not so easily sign off on this one.
“There are three advantages to letting this academy continue to exist.”
“Hmph, three, is it?”
Before Luke had gained control of his own racing thoughts, he had given voice to them. He felt, simply, that he should probably wrap up his argument into three points—a habit that had been imprinted upon him by the siblings of House Lonsdale.
“First, there’s the fact that Aslan is the best magic academy in the kingdom. You’re right that they made a grave mistake, and I can’t even attempt to defend it. I think the idiots who trouble me with their incompetence should die, but it’s also true that this place has produced countless immeasurably talented magic users over the years. We need a place for elite students to learn from a staff of talented instructors, with a strict hierarchy system and the best resources. From my perspective, everything about this place makes sense.”
Claude listened quietly.
“This security issue has been exposed, so now we can remedy it,” Luke continued. “I think it would be somewhat of a waste to destroy this entire institution.”
The attack, in all truth, could easily have happened anywhere. The attackers were specifically targeting Luke, after all. Whether it had been Aslan Magic Academy or any other school that he had chosen to go to, the attack would have likely taken place regardless of venue. It wasn’t a matter of Aslan Magic Academy being particularly vulnerable, but of the Kingdom of Milestia as a whole becoming too complacent due to its magical strength. They convinced themselves that they were untouchable, and there were fatal deficiencies in their threat awareness.
“Second, I believe that this incident may prove the perfect opportunity for we of House Gilbert and our allies in the noble faction to seize greater power.”
“Oh?”
“I am sure that this attack will anger many aristocrats regardless of which side they are on. They will all be left in shock and disbelief. That’s why, as head of the nobles, you should take the lead in calming the other aristocrats’ malicious whispering. Doing so would earn you significant favor from the academy, the Royal Knights, and even from the King of Milestia himself. I am confident that such an action would work to the advantage of our house.”
Claude listened, then nodded.
“Brilliant.”
He was impressed, pure and simple. He had, in fact, already thought of everything that Luke had just said to him. Yet he entertained that course of action only as an individual—as if he were some ambitious noble who sought the throne—not as a father. Claude had a clear set of priorities, and compared to the blood-boiling rage that he felt at those who had put his son in danger, his ambitions to power meant nothing at all. Losing Luke, to him, would mean losing everything.
I expected nothing less of my boy! Oh no…I am so moved by all of this, I feel I might start to cry.
Claude was awed and overjoyed that his son had struck upon the same line of thinking that he had. It stirred up fierce emotion, lighting a fire within him. He was filled with such intensity that he felt that if he let his guard drop for even the briefest of moments, he might just burst into tears.
“Finally,” Luke said, moving to his third point, “I believe that there is worth to the academy, insofar as that it will allow me to demonstrate that I am more talented than anyone else who attends it.”
Claude was speechless for a moment.
“I…apologize, Father. This request of mine is selfish, of course. I simply cannot abide the thought that my inferiors believe that they are better than me. I wish to prove that I hold first place in their hierarchy—that I am the strongest.”
“Heh. Ha ha…”
Once Luke was done speaking, Claude began to laugh. First, quietly to himself, then louder and louder until he could no longer hold back his pride and adoration.
“Ah ha ha ha! You truly are my son!”
He was undoubtedly happy that his son had expressed a selfish desire, of course, but it was more than that. He had a perfect understanding of how Luke felt.
“You are looked down upon by your inferiors. Such humiliation is hard to endure.”
We really are father and son, thought Claude. Given how clearly Luke had expressed his desires, Claude had no hesitation in making his decision now.
“Understood. I will do as you ask. I will still be making my thoughts clear on the security situation at the school, however.”
“Thank you, Father.”
Claude had been intent on directing a portion of his rage at the academy, in truth, but did not admit that to his son.
“I will have to apologize to Julia.”
“Mother? What for?”
“Mwa ha ha…I promised her that I would give hell to the imbeciles who put our son in danger.”
“…”
Luke gave his father a tired look—he genuinely was quite tired. The relief of his managing to sate Claude’s anger at the academy was quickly overtaken by all the accumulated exhaustion that the process of doing so had involved.
“Fear not, I will ensure that your academy remains. You may leave this matter in my hands.”
“Thank you, Father.”
“Hmph. Ah, and in the next few days, we will be departing the capital and returning to Gilbadia. Ready yourself.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Well then, I have a few things to say to your headmaster. Alfred, I leave Luke in your care.”
“Yes, master.”
Claude walked away, and Luke bowed his head as he watched his father leave. Alfred, who had been doing his utmost to blend into the background, moved to stand closer to Luke’s side. Aslan Magic Academy was considered the foremost place for the study of magic, an unrivaled institution of learning. That said, the attack was unquestionably a huge failure—an inexcusable fiasco, no matter the school’s record of educational successes.
The balance of political power in the kingdom was, at that moment, beginning to shift ever so slightly in favor of the noble faction. This meant that unless Claude moved to calm tensions between the aristocrats and the Royal Academy, it would be incredibly difficult for the school to continue operating. Claude was only the head of the noble faction, however.
Will this turn of events truly bring fortune to the King of Milestia? The academy will not be destroyed but allowed to continue its operation, at the cost of a great debt to our noble faction. This is the answer that Luke arrived at, and, though he may not realize it himself, he walks the path of a conquest that he does not desire.
Claude walked toward the academy. He was incredibly handsome but succeeded in intimidating everyone he came into contact with. Those who knew him well, however, might well have been able to identify that he was in a good mood.
Luke truly is fit to be king; a born ruler.
Claude saw glimpses of that in him, yet he did not inform his son of the plot he had in mind. Yolande had asked him to remain silent, of course, but that was not the only reason that he did not discuss the matter with Luke.
Mwa ha ha…I can just picture the look on his face when he finds out!
The concept was quite far removed from the way in which any ordinary person would employ it, but to Claude, usurping the throne was to be a “surprise” for his son.
He did intend on learning his lesson from the incident with the Alice engagement, of course…but in the end, perhaps it was the incredible love that he bore for his son that continued to cloud his judgement.
***
In the small tavern in the royal capital that night, the man wearing the turban had been drinking at the counter since before most of the other patrons arrived.
“Hic.”
“You feelin’ okay there, Canis? You ain’t lookin’ right these days.”
“Nah…I mean, thanks for askin’, Butch,” Canis muttered. “But things have been terrible, no kiddin’.”
“What’s up? I’ll listen if you’ve got somethin’ to get off your chest.”
Canis lifted his ale stein and took another swig of his drink.
“So…I had somethin’ I was workin’ on all secret-like, all this time, yeah? But then some guys I don’t even know just came and took it all away… Just butted right in, and to top it all off, they screwed up so royally that now everythin’s so messed up, I dunno what to do,” Canis explained miserably. “Like, this was tough to begin with, but now…ah…those damn idiots!”
Canis was drunk, his speech slurred, and his words coming out in incoherent fits and starts. Butch couldn’t understand much of what he was saying, but he’d been running his little tavern for years and was used to chatting with heavy drinkers.
“Man, that sounds tough. I get what you’re goin’ through.”
“You do…?!” Canis exclaimed. “I…like, I’m gettin’ sorta tired…”
“People can’t just try and try and jus’ keep that up forever,” Butch said gently. “Sometimes you gotta stop and take a breath. Get some rest, that’s what you need.”
“Ah…Butch…”
Just then, the door swung open with a creak and a rattle.
“Still open?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, heck, if it ain’t Zack! You too, eh, Ferris? Welcome, welcome!”
The pair’s arrival was a gift from heaven to Butch, who let out an internal cry of joy as they walked in.
“Huh, Ferris, is it time to go already?”
“No. Well, yes,” she corrected, eyeing him critically. “But no. Things to talk about.”
“Hmm? What’s goin’ on? Gimme the deets!”
“Gross. Annoying. Drunk.”
“Th-thas’so mean…!” Canis slurred.
Zack and Ferris walked over to the counter and took their seats.
“I’ll take an ale, as usual! What’re you gettin’, Ferris?”
“Mead.”
“Comin’ right up!”
Butch quickly prepared their drinks. Zack swigged his like a sailor, and Ferris sipped gingerly from hers.
“Ahhh! That’s the stuff!”
“…Tasty.”
“Man, sure was a surprise when you came to see me outta the blue, Ferris,” said Zack.
“Huh? Ferris went to see you…? What for?” asked Canis.
“Asked about Gilbadia. We should go too.”
“Huh?” Canis hiccupped.
Zack took another swig of his ale, then turned to Butch.
“I’m actually gonna be headin’ back to Gilbadia tomorrow. Since…y’know…given everythin’ that happened at the academy.”
“Whoa, whoa, this is so sudden! Gonna be sad without you here.”
“Aw, heck, I’m glad to hear that! I was finally gettin’ used to the city m’self! Tough break!” Zack said. “But…Gilbadia’s my home, I reckon. I’d always planned on goin’ back someday. I owe a heck of a lot to the guild master who runs things out there.”
“I see,” said Butch. “You’re a real loyal one, eh? Ain’t gonna stop you if you’re goin’ for a good reason!”
“C’mon, I’ll be back before you know it! I’ll be sure to come an’ see you, all right?”
“Yeah, you better! All right then, you ain’t payin’ tonight!”
“Sweet! I got friends on the way, gimme drink enough for them too!” Zack grinned.
“Gah ha ha ha! Y’damn freeloader!” Butch exclaimed with a raucous laugh. “Fine, fine, call as many of the damn lads as y’like! I’ll drown ’em all tonight!”
“Hell yeah, I knew you had it in ya, Butch! Cheers!”
Ignoring the casual exchange between Zack and Butch, Ferris leaned in to whisper in Canis’s ear:
“Academy on break. Need to return to Gilbadia. Good chance for us, even. No reason to stay.”
Ferris’s expression was deadly serious as he listened, and yet none of it stuck in his alcohol-soaked mind.
“Huhhh? Hic! Whadd’ya say?”
Ferris fixed a silent glare upon him. Canis was far too drunk to talk about anything so important.
“Never could hold your drink,” she remarked. “Lightweight. Weakling.”
A short while later, Zack’s friends arrived. From that moment on, the loud peals of laughter never ceased, ringing out late into the night from the windows of the small city tavern.
3
I COULDN’T WAIT TO BE HOME.
There’s nowhere better than this in the whole wide world, I thought to myself, as I dived into my own bed and buried my face in the pillows. It had only been a few months since I’d entered Aslan Magic Academy, but so much had happened in that short amount of time. I’d had so many new experiences; though unfortunately, most of them had been irritating, troubling, or downright miserable.
Seriously, why is all this happening to me? Not even I know the answer to that one yet… But if there’s one thing that I’ve come to believe in, it’s fate. I made the choice to fight desperately against my fate, to prevent my defeat at the hands of the main character of this story, Abel, by putting in a little more effort. Honestly, while I might have caused a few disparities between the original story and this one, it sure seems like nothing about the fundamental underlying story has changed.
Or has it, I wonder? My efforts have brought obstacle after obstacle my way, an unending parade of issues. Is that why, now that I’m back home with my parents, all I want to do is stay here forever? Why can’t I stop wishing I’d never have to set foot outside again?
There’s nothing to irritate me here. Everything’s in order; all my needs are met. This place is wonderful. When the world out there is so full of nuisance and bother and bore, why should I ever trouble myself to leave this house again? I really should just stay here forever.
As I considered shutting myself off from the world entirely for a brief moment, another thought struck me.
Perhaps this is my fate?
I reflected that my destiny might be to live life as a shut-in, locked in my childhood bedroom for the rest of my days. And then, unfortunately, I remembered the news my father had delivered not long ago:
“Actually Luke, something did come up. You have an offer of engagement from House Lennox. Her name is Mia, and I believe you’re in the same year at Aslan, so you might well have met—ah! That look on your face! This upsets you, then? I see you’re displeased, Luke! Right, I will refuse their offer posthaste. Don’t you wor—”
“Father…might I have some time to think?”
The fact that my father had come to pour fuel on the fire just as I was pondering my future really only made things worse.
It does make me think there might be something like fate. Father knew I would be exhausted in both body and mind after the Aslan attack, so he waited until I got home to bring this topic up. I’d expect nothing less. He’s way more considerate than those foolish guards at the academy were.
Ugh.
My stomach hurts.
Where did this ridiculous talk of an engagement with Mia even come from? How did this happen? Seriously, I really don’t understand. Why…just why…?
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find the answer.
But Father did say that the choice was mine…so in other words, I can turn this down. Not to mention that House Lennox apparently claimed they’d be happy with a concubine position.
…I don’t get it. What’s an influential royalist family doing, making this offer in the first place? Why do they want this so badly that they’d even make the compromise of having their daughter become my concubine? Is it because Mia’s their third daughter? Has House Lennox been wanting to switch sides all this time? If so, why?
There was just too much about the situation that was incomprehensible.
What the heck is going on?
I went through the possibilities in my head, but there was too little information to go on. I couldn’t conjecture too far on this. I did, however, understand that the root cause was almost certainly my attempt to make Mia into one of my pawns.
That’s gotta be what started all of this. That’s when everything got weird. I don’t know much about the original story, but I think Mia was meant to be on Abel’s side, not mine. Ah…now I remember. When she experienced her first defeat, Abel was meant to be the one to comfort her in the depths of her despair and help her climb back up from rock bottom. I guess Abel and Lily did go to see her that day, but I sort of ruined it by getting there first. I see…so that was when they were meant to become friends, and I took that chance away from them.
So what, is this karma? I took advantage of Mia in her weakened state, became her false savior…all so that I could turn her into a loyal pawn. This is the result, then. In a roundabout way, that’s led to this proposal that she become my concubine.
Ah, damn it. See? This is the fate I was talking about. All these phenomena converge in a way that, in the end, always leads “Luke” to hole himself up in his parent’s house and shut the door tight. It might be a bit eccentric of me, but if this is some light-novel fantasy-book world, then this course of action should definitely be on the table… I’m just so sick of thinking about all this. The problems just keep coming, one right after another. I can’t keep putting them off, though. I have to seriously think about this engagement and face it head-on.
Refusing would be easy. All I’d need to do is tell my father I don’t want to do this. But…would that really be for the best?
I pondered that for a moment.
To aristocrats, marriages aren’t only about emotion in the first place. Deep links between two houses can be the foundation of real power and lead to greater things for both parties. That’s especially true with an offer from an influential house like this one. There’s also the fact that, for some unknown reason, House Lennox is clearly making significant compromises. Refusing in spite of that could worsen relations between our two families.
And, well…Father did agree to my request to spare the academy after the recent attack, but I caused him real trouble by doing so. My pride won’t allow me to be any further indebted to anyone in this world—not even my own father.
But that’s not the true reason I’m hesitating like this. It’s Mia herself who’s the problem. How do I put this…? There’s something unsettling in her that scares me. Not even I know what she might do if I refuse. If I knew that turning her down would just make her one of my enemies, then it would be a moot point. Whatever. Fine, bring it on. But I’m not so sure that’s how she’d react. She’s unpredictable. I can’t quite fathom what’s going on in her head enough to anticipate her actions, and that makes it difficult to decide what to do. If I turn her down, I’ll be leaving an unstable element out there, studying right alongside me at the academy, and I’ll never be sure whose side she’s really on.
Screw that. No. That’d be so much stress. What does Mia even think about this engagement offer, anyway?
Then there was also the issue of Alice and the rest of House Lonsdale…
I really don’t know what to do. Why do I have to waste my time fretting over all of this anyway? I just want to get strong and be happy in life…but I guess things aren’t that simple.
At the very least, all my agonizing led me to a conclusion in the end: I decided to talk things over with Mia in person before making up my mind, thus completely kicking the can down the road, leaving the matter to my future self.
***
“I knew you were a home-wrecker, but I didn’t think it was this bad. I am past anger, even… I think most of all, I am simply shocked by your actions.”
“…”
“Don’t misunderstand me, of course. I’m not angry about this engagement offer. I understand the position that Luke is in. Concubines are not uncommon by any means, and I am not so narrow-minded.”
“…”
“What angers me, you see, is the way in which you advanced this offer with such secrecy.”
“Now, now, calm down, Alice. Let’s hear what Mia has to say ab—”
“Shut up, brother. Do not open your mouth again. You disgust me.”
“Wha-? That was s-so mean, Alice,” Yolande whined, growing flushed.
“…”
And so, the houses of Lonsdale and Lennox came over for a discussion.
To talk about the engagement, of course. Right now, Alice, Yolande, and Mia are here…and my father’s dealing with the others. He accepted another of my selfish requests to let the four of us talk.
“Sorry. I really didn’t know about any of this,” Mia said. “I had no idea that things had gone this far…”
Her voice sounded frail, like it might blow away in a gust of wind.
I see…so this was a surprise to the both of us. That makes things easy. Let’s get this proposal off the table.
“Right. If this isn’t what you want, then this talk of engagement is—”
“That’s not what I meant!”
There was real emotion in Mia’s voice, and suddenly she was briefly overcome by a small flare of a fierce conviction. The moment I met her gaze, I had a terrible premonition about what she might say next.
“I…I do love you, Luke…really, I do.”
See? I’m always right about these things.
Alice’s eyes were an infinite, freezing-cold abyss, whereas Yolande was grinning unsettlingly, for some reason, as he watched our exchange play out.
“Let me tell you something,” I said with a sigh. “The feelings you have right now aren’t real. They’re fake. I planted them inside of you only so that you’d become my pawn. It’s all an illusion, see? The whole reason I went to your room to comfort you that day was—”
“I know that,” Mia interrupted. “I know all of it. These emotions might have been fake at first…but they’re real now.”
“…”
I don’t feel guilty about what I did. I’ll never compromise on my own happiness, no matter what…even if that means treading all over the happiness of others. I did take advantage of Mia, and I did try to use her…but I’ve no regrets about doing that.
“I don’t love you,” I said bluntly, determined to lay the truth out entirely. “You still want to marry me?”
“Yes. I still want to be by your side. I want to be of use to you,” she insisted. “I’ll try my best, though. I’ll try as hard as I can…so that maybe someday you’ll love me back.”
I stared at her in stunned silence. Mia’s feelings were much more intense than I’d expected.
Her love’s way too damn heavy. What made her feel this way? I did take advantage of her weakness, but what did I do to inspire this kind of love? No, not “love.” I don’t think this is even really “love” at all… It’s gotta be closer to “addiction” than anything else at this point.
“I don’t mind being in second place,” she added with a giggle.
The ecstatic look in her eyes sent a shiver down my spine—and immediately confirmed to me that the decision I was about to make was the correct one.
While I was infinitely confident in my abilities and unmatched strength, I faltered slightly in that moment. For some strange reason, a vision flashed before my eyes that made my stomach drop. It was a vision of my own tattered body lying in the dirt on a dark and lonely road, after being stabbed in the side by…someone.
Even so, I don’t regret the decisions I’ve made.
“All right. I accept this offer of engagement. You’re good with this too, right, Alice?”
“I have no right to object to your decision, Luke. I do wish to make one thing crystal clear, however,” Alice replied. She turned to Mia and continued, “I am on top, and you are on the bottom. Is that understood, Mia?”
“I understand. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about this properly, Alice.”
“Congratulations, Luke!” Yolande chimed in.
I sighed.
I’m really tired right now.
“How will you fare in the bedroom, Mia? Are you sure you will be capable of satisfying Luke?”
“Th-the bedroom…?”
“You don’t understand me? There’s only one thing to do in the bedroom, no? Se—”
“Shut the heck up, Alice.”
I slapped her lightly on the back of the head before she could say something completely outrageous. The mere touch made her start panting heavily, unfortunately.
I’m so sick of her…
Damn you, fate.
Chapter Six: An Adventurer Caught in the Cross Fire
Chapter Six:
An Adventurer Caught in the Cross Fire
1
“I’M SORRY! I’M SO SORRY! THIS IS ALL MY FAULT! Please…please…I beg you, spare my daughter…”
When I raised my right hand, the irritating, sniveling woman at my feet finally stopped crying. In truth, it would have been all too easy for me to give in to my annoyance and simply lop off her head, but I resisted the impulse.
No, I can still make use of her.
“Raise your head.”
…How ugly.
The woman’s grim face was contorted with terror and streaked with tears. She was such an awful sight that I could hardly stand to look at her.
Humans lose so much of their value when they happen to be unattractive, don’t they?
“You’re doing very well. Come now, don’t put yourself down like that.”
“Ah…ahh…”
“Your daughter followed orders and flawlessly guided their entry into the building. The error is mine. There’s no need for you to feel responsible for this.”
“That cannot possibly be true…!”
I stood up and walked closer to the woman. Then, crouching down to draw my eyes level with hers, I gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
I don’t want to be doing this. But it needs to be done. The binds around this woman’s heart must be firm indeed. Ah…what is this unpleasant feeling crawling up my arm? Disgusting. I will have to remember to wash it later.
“The ‘Dark’ will bring disaster to our world. He must be destroyed. Please continue to assist me in this.”
“…Everything in me is yours, my master. My body and soul are devoted entirely to your service.”
The ecstatic look in the woman’s eyes confirmed to me that my decision was the correct one. I was done with the woman and backed away from her.
Their kingdom truly has the worst sort of good luck.
I have been plotting the downfall of that blasted Milestia and their accursed hegemonic regime for years and years now… Yet, at the moment I move to put my plan into action, I hear rumors of the discovery of a Dark element that make me doubt my ears. In the last great war, a single magic user with the Light element overturned the whole course of the fighting and allowed Milestia to claim the spoils it enjoys today. Given the nation’s history, I can hardly ignore this new manifestation of the opposite element, Dark. I know the terrible nature of Dark all too well, of course…
No, this power cannot be allowed to remain in their hands.
That is why I spread my intel to the other nations—ensuring, of course that nobody would ever discover that I was the source. Anything to extinguish the Dark. Milestia will move to eliminate the countries that despise it, that much is certain. I have made moves too, of course. There are many idiot nobles in this nation, and flattering them was an easy task.
The result of this flattery was the attack on the Aslan Magic Academy. At the very least, I wished to eliminate the Dark before he could develop. Or better yet, to kidnap him if possible. The latter would allow us to utilize him as one of our pawns. I know that I could talk him over.
It was a solid plan, so why did it result in spectacular failure? Where did I go wrong?
I set my mind to thinking.
Did the magic tool not activate? No, the odds of that are low. Hmm…ah, I suppose there was that one bit of intel about the boy being quite the skilled swordsman, for an aristocrat. I didn’t think much of that when I first heard it, but is it possible…? Did he drive them back with his non-magic strength alone? Did he defeat trained assassins? A child, in that magic supremacist nation…?
I cannot believe it could be so. Or rather…I don’t wish to.
…No. Maybe it was another student. This year, they accepted a student into their academy who is an incompetent by their standards, a boy who cannot even use elemental magic. Was it him? Or could it have been some third party that I cannot even imagine?
Hm…ah, I just don’t know.
There’s too little information.
…So what do I do now?
2
“RIGHT THEN, ALFRED. A QUESTION: HOW MUCH did you tell Father about the Sword Saint Festival?”
“Only the basic details. I informed him that the event would be taking place in the empire, that is all.”
“Good, that’s vital,” I replied. “He isn’t aware that people die in the intense fighting every year, then, I take it?”
Alfred said nothing.
“Mwa ha ha…speak of this to no one, Alfred. Worry not, I will leave written record that you are not to be held responsible should anything befall me there.”
With the whole Mia issue finally resolved, my head was full of thoughts of the Sword Saint Festival. The event was to be held in a few months’ time, and I was very much looking forward to it.
“That will not be necessary,” Alfred said.
“What?”
“My apologies, Master Luke. I must admit that I would like to see you compete in person. That is my wish…and so, on the off chance that anything does happen to you at the competition, I will take full responsibility.”
“Mwa ha…how bold you’ve gotten, Alfred. I don’t give a damn what you ‘wish’ to do. I will prioritize my own desires, and what I intend to do is leave a written record absolving you of blame. I will not be swayed.”
“…Yes, Master Luke. Thank you.”
I found out during my research into the Sword Saint Festival that the fights there were conducted using real swords. The competition did not necessarily condone murder, but the killing of competitors was shrugged off as an unfortunate consequence. In other words, the fights were completely genuine.
Mwa ha…I feel my blood boiling. It has been so long.
“First, I will acquire a real blade. I wish to choose for myself. Make preparations now; we leave at once.”
“Understood. I will ready the guards for a tr—”
“No. You will suffice.”
“Yes, Master Luke.”
All I’ve got right now are replicas meant for training, but after the attack at the academy, I really started feeling like I should get my own proper sword. I suppose the knights of our house have weapons, and Alfred gave me that dagger, of course—but I want to choose my own. Besides, I’ll need a real sword if I intend to start operating as an adventurer. As for clothes…I guess my academy uniform will do for the time being. Aslan uniforms are made to withstand intense magic duels, so I don’t figure I could find anything more functional even if I tried.
To be honest, I’m pretty excited. Like, really pumped. It’s probably because of how much trouble I’ve had lately, but getting to do this is a big relief. Almost relaxing, even. There is one massive problem though—if my father were to find out that participating in the Sword Saint Festival would put my life in danger, he’d never let me go.
That’s why I came up with this idea to get myself qualified as an adventurer. That’ll let me visit the empire not as an aristocrat but as a working adventurer, neatly sidestepping all the pomp and circumstance that being a noble would usually involve. The only thing that does concern me is the danger I’d be in if anyone at the event discovered my true identity…but I’d never make such a mistake.
“Mwa ha ha… Ah ha ha ha!It’s perfect!”
Alfred gave me a dubious look as I burst out into laughter, but I cared naught.
My preparations were already in place, and I had faith that everything would proceed smoothly.
Father will surely grant his permission for my participation in the Sword Saint Festival, so now…off to the blacksmith!
***
“Man, sorry about this, Zack. I know y’said we could come along, but still… Hey, Ferris, you thank him too.”
“Thanks.”
“It’s fine, don’t worry ’bout it! I ain’t exactly doin’ much.”
That much is true, at least. And hey, it’s no skin off my back. When you’re an adventurer like me, you really start to realize how important makin’ connections is. These sorta favors always loop back around to help you in the end.
“But I mean, you’re introducing us to other folks ’n’ all…” Canis insisted. “I really don’t know how we could begin to thank you.”
“Seriously, don’t worry about it. More importantly, look…so, er, about the blacksmith we’re off to see today…”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Well, y’see, he’s good…seriously, skilled craftsman and all that…but he can be a bit tough to work with…”
“Oh. No worries. Okay. Good at dealing with people,” said Ferris.
Where does this little one’s confidence come from, eh? She’s usually got a vacant expression on her face and looks pretty unapproachable. Not to mention, she barely talks in the first place…and when she does, it’s all short and choppy.
N-nah, there must be something… I bet she’s got her ways of dealing with people. I’ll be there to step in if anything goes wrong, either way.
Before I knew it, we’d arrived at the blacksmith’s shop. The place was just as I remembered it, an unassuming house turned into a workshop.
“This is the place I was telling you ab—”
“I ain’t bendin’ to your damn authority!!”
There was a booming, angry cry from inside the shop that made those on the street outside stop in their tracks to look and see what was happening.
“Wh-what?!”
I didn’t understand it either but quickly stepped inside.
“Shut up. Don’t scream at me.”
The moment I saw him, all the nightmarish memories of that day came crawling back up from the abyss to ensnare my mind once again. I wanted to scream out at the top of my lungs in disbelief, “What the heck are you doing heeere?!”
But I didn’t. I felt my restraint in that moment was quite admirable, honestly.
***
“Al…and Master Luke?!”
“Eh? Who are you?”
“O-of course you don’t remember…”
Zack wasn’t at all surprised that Luke had no memory whatsoever of their meeting.
I’m just a fallen pebble by the road to him, I guess. Hard to remember that. I get it, but damn if it doesn’t still make me sad to hear it like this…
“Um, Al…? What’s going on?”
Zack met Canis and Ferris at the royal capital, where the three formed a little connection that led to Zack bringing them all the way back to Gilbadia to introduce them to the best blacksmith in town. The introductions would have to wait, however. Zack decided that calming the immediate situation down was his best course of action.
“Oh, it’s you, Zack… You tell him, won’t you? This blasted idiot says he won’t sell us a sword.”
“R-right…”
Ah…Al’s real angry… I already wanna leave…
Alfred’s voice was quiet and calm on the surface, but Zack was sharp enough to sense the clear anger in his tone. He recognized that the situation was much more chaotic than he’d first thought, and his stomach clenched with anxiety.
“Don’t do anything.”
Canis whispered those three words to Ferris, as the two of them stood rooted to the spot at Zack’s side.
“I know.”
That was her only reply. Everyone else in the room was too preoccupied with their own circumstances, and no one heard their brief exchange.
“I don’t give two hoots if he’s the lord’s son!” snarled the blacksmith. “My swords ain’t for no dress-up! You want a ceremonial piece, go bother someone else!”
“It really is unpleasant to find myself interacting with someone so incredibly stupid.” Luke sighed.
“Wh-what did you say, you little—”
“Ah! Wait, please, Master Luke! Please! Just a second! Will you give me just a minute to talk with him?!”
“Second time: Who the heck are you?”
“My name is Zack, I’m an adventurer! We crossed swords once, several years ago!”
Luke gave him an appraising look. He didn’t answer.
“You don’t remember me! It’s okay! I know you don’t recall!”
Zack raised his voice to try and calm the situation down—his desperation coming across in his facial expressions and in every movement of his hands.
Luke saw the flustered new arrival and felt his disgust and repulsion toward him overtake his anger at the blacksmith—but there was also something about Zack that, strangely, he didn’t immediately dislike.
“Master Luke. When you trained under my instruction, do you remember that I sent a bounty to the Adventurers’ Guild?”
“Yes.”
“You fought against a man named Zack at that time—this man.”
“Zack… No. I still don’t remember.”
Alfred’s whispered words brought no memories flooding back to Luke. His mind, it seemed, would completely wipe all memory of those that he considered insignificant. It was, however, a great victory for Zack that he had managed to convince Luke to pause for just a moment.
“…I will not wait long.”
“Thank you very much!”
Zack bowed his head low and walked over to Dalkin the blacksmith, who was at the center of all the chaos. It was then that Luke also noticed the other two people in the room.
“Oh? You don’t see that every day,” he remarked, glancing over the odd pair wearing turbans. “Beastlings, are you?”
“Gah.”
He had easily noticed that the two of them were not purely human. His mana-detection abilities, refined by constant use, told him that neither had any mana within them whatsoever. His words caused Canis’s and Ferris’s faces to stiffen in fear, but only briefly. They quickly recovered, and Canis took action.
“Y-yeah, we actually are, y’know?”
He unwrapped his turban to show the distinctive features of a beastling—floppy, doglike ears. He then took Ferris’ turban off too.
“Urk!”
Ferris’ ears were catlike. She hadn’t exposed them of her own accord, and so quickly made to cover them with her hands.
“We’re siblings. Hard for beastlings to get along in this kingdom, ain’t it? That’s why we hide ourselves with these turbans to stay out of any unwanted trouble.”
Canis forced himself to offer Luke a pleasant smile. Ferris stayed silent.
“Hmph. Why did you come to this nation?” asked Luke.
“Huh?”
Luke’s sharp gaze pierced right through them, as if reaching straight into their chests to wrap his hands tightly around their hearts.
“The empire’s right across the border. Why come here?” he asked again.
“W-well…”
It would have been easy for Canis to make something up on the spot, but both he and Ferris knew that Luke would see through that in an instant. It was just a hunch, but they were instinctively sure he had the ability to expose their lies. As a result, Canis struggled to find his words. Time dragged on, the seconds feeling longer and heavier as the silence began to smother everything beneath it.
“Um, do you mind if I jump in?”
Just then, Zack returned.
“What, you’ve already talked things over with that guy, then?” asked Luke.
“Yes, well…the blacksmith’s name is Dalkin, you see, and it seems he was under a bit of a misunderstanding.”
“Go on, spit it out.”
“Ahem, well, as I’m sure you’re well aware,” Zack began, “it is customary that the great aristocrats of this proud kingdom…that is, in all their uh, great and noble wisdom, of course…it’s customary that—”
“Speak normally.”
“M-my apologies. It seems he thought that a person of your status, Master Luke, wouldn’t be interested in swordplay at all. He was under the impression that you wanted to buy a ceremonial sword. And well…ahem…”
“Just tell me already.”
“Well, I explained to Dalkin that you’re a swordsman, but he’s really stubborn… He says he’ll believe it when he sees it with his own eyes.”
“Huh?”
“Ah!”
Zack winced, sensing the flames of rage that quickly began to rise within Luke.
“You want me to demonstrate my power to him?” Luke said, emanating a terrible aura of fury. “And who the hell is he? A nobody! A pile of horseshit! And for that matter, who do you think you are?!”
“Aaahh…I’m sorry! Sorry!” Zack wailed and cursed his fate, his stomach twisting itself into knots.
“But,” Luke added suddenly, “heh…I suppose maybe I should, eh?”
“Huh?”
Luke’s expression was pained.
If I’m going to be playing the part of an adventurer, I can’t be getting angry over every little slight…
Luke sighed—an attempt to let out the rage churning inside him.
“Zack, was it? Promise me one thing.”
“Ahem…what can I do for you?”
“I accept. I’ll show you my skills with the sword. But you see…” He hesitated, frowning. “I can’t explain it exactly, but I feel like if I do this, it’ll cause some kind of irritating new problem to manifest.”
“Um…?”
The feeling was only a hunch, really, but it was a well-founded one based on his experiences. He had a bad feeling that he just couldn’t shake; a sense that the action that he was about to take would have unfortunate and unforeseen consequences.
“Look, I’ll demonstrate my sword-fighting abilities…but if that causes some kind of problem, then you’re fixing it. Do you comprehend me, Zack?”
“Y-yes…I understand.”
Zack didn’t understand what Luke was saying at all, in fact, but he agreed regardless.
“You can test your blade in the backyard,” said Dalkin, as he walked off to the rear of his shop, assuming this action alone would be a sign for them to follow.
Luke raged at his insolence, but he endured, reminding himself that he needed to behave like any other adventurer. Alfred let none of his emotions show but felt much the same as Luke did. He was so loyal that he even felt the same rage that his master did when he was slighted. Everyone moved to follow Dalkin, including Canis and Ferris, who tailed them in silence.
“This is the place.”
There were a few bundles of straw in a row in the backyard—a place perfectly set up for testing one’s blade, just as the blacksmith said. Luke quietly walked toward the straw bales and laid his hands on them.
“This should pose no issue…”
With that, he drew his replica sword, the one he always used in training sessions. He had brought it as an example to show the blacksmith for the sword he wished to forge, as he was so accustomed to the feel of it.
“Hey, that thing don’t even have a blade or noth—”
“Shut up and watch.”
“Wh-what did you just say to me?!”
“Come now! Let’s just watch for a moment, Master Dalkin.”
Luke felt the sword in his hands for a moment, then adopted his stance. He dropped his hips just a little lower to the ground and, in the same movement, put his right foot forward while holding the blade on his right side.
Luke focused his mind, and the shift in his demeanor was dramatic and immediate. He radiated an intense, dangerous aura.
This is it.
The sight served as a grim reminder to Zack that the boy before him was a true monster. All Luke had done was take up his sword and get into position, but it was enough for everyone present to sense his power. They all saw it, including Dalkin. He was a blacksmith, but he knew his way around a sword well enough to know what he was seeing.
I’m the one who was prejudiced here. The boy’s an aristocrat, so I looked at him differently…
Luke’s strength was already undeniable, but Dalkin did not stop Luke from going ahead with the demonstration. He was overcome by the irrepressible desire to keep watching. He had to see what was going to happen next. Luke’s mind, however, was no longer open to anything but the target before him. His honed senses were focused intently on one thing, and one thing only.
His strike came so swiftly, it was barely perceptible.
Only Alfred, Canis, and Ferris were able to fully witness the technique—Alfred due to his years of training, and Canis and Ferris due to their superior senses as beastlings. Zack saw a flash of something, but it was fuzzy and indistinct. Dalkin couldn’t see a thing, but he did feel something happen.
The top half of the straw bale was severed from the bottom and dropped to the ground with a heavy whump.
“Wha—”
The cry of surprise came from Zack, who had still been watching in confusion as the bale hit the dirt and split into three pieces. To the untrained eye, what appeared to be a single movement had, in fact, been multiple swings of Luke’s sword. The small crowd in the yard remained quiet as the realization set in, and then one man broke the silence.
“Brilliant!”
A cry burst forth from Alfred’s very soul. He dropped suddenly to his knees and, raising his hands to the sky, shouted words of praise and admiration.
“Master Luke! I had no idea—absolutely no idea—that you had become so strong!”
“Huh?”
Luke stood aghast at Alfred’s transformation, and the situation only devolved from there.
“Hey, what do you think you’re—gah!”
Luke was interrupted by an unpleasant sniffle, followed by a choking sob.
For some reason, Dalkin had begun openly weeping. The moment that Luke saw tears glistening in his eyes, he knew at once that his choice had caused him the exact problem he feared it might. He called out for help.
“Hey, Zack! Do something!”
“Ehhh?!”
Entranced by the movements of Luke’s sword, Zack had been in something of a daze. He quickly snapped out of it as the pain in his stomach returned tenfold, thanks to the pandemonium unfolding before his eyes.
3
IKNEW IT. THERE’S THIS STRANGE LIGHT THAT gets focused into my sword, but…what is it? It clearly isn’t mana. It’s definitely something else; some strange power I can’t understand. Man, I feel like I might be missing some important settings option…
Whatever it is, it superpowers my strikes enough to make my bladeless practice sword sharper than any real blade.
I’ve been focusing on this new power recently while I train. I might not understand it fully yet, but I’m sure this’ll be the key to reaching new heights for me. I mean, my sword really is faster and sharper than ever. But it hasn’t reached its limit, and neither have I. No, I can go even higher. Mwa ha…the sword is so much fun.
“Er…Master Luke? Do you have a moment? Master Dalkin has something he’d like to say.”
“I’m sh-shooooooory!” Dalkin wailed as he made a mad dash to press his forehead to the dirt in front of me. “I w-w-waah…was w-wroooong! Just because y-you’re an aristocrat, I…I…w-waaah!”
I stared down at him in disgusted silence.
…Gross.
“Ah…I’m sorry! Master Dalkin’s a blacksmith, and so this sort of comes with the territory…b-but would you at least agree to hear him out? Please, Master Luke!”
I glanced at Zack. He bowed his head quickly, apparently sensing that I was losing patience with the blacksmith.
I don’t quite understand why, but I don’t hate this Zack character… I might actually quite like him, in fact. As a man, he’s of little consequence, but I feel a strange sort of fellowship with him. We only just met…wait, no, we fought once before, I think? Not that I recall.
“So…” Zack began again, but Dalkin interrupted.
“Please…accept this sword! I don’t need payment! Please! I want you to use this sword!!”
Dalkin held a sword out toward me. I drew it from its black sheath and saw my reflection in the silver gleam of the blade. I also felt strong mana in the sword. There was little difference between my beloved replica and this new sword, truthfully. In fact, it felt just as good in my hands.
Hmph. Marvelous.
“Old man, that thing’s mithril, right?” Zack said to the blacksmith. “Like, whoa, that sword’s a work of art, it’s way beyond what I’ve got. Ain’t mithril s’pposed to be real hard to work with, ’cause of how tough the stuff is…?”
“Yeah, it sure is. The sword’s made of mithril with a black dragonbone core. The guard’s made of black dragontooth, and there’s black dragonhide in the sheath. That right there’s my finest work, no two ways about it!!”
“B-black dragon?! How’d you get your hands on that?”
Oho! One of the various-hued dragons, then? I recall learning in a Monster Studies lecture that those are high-level monsters, second only to the elemental dragons and the dragon kings. I liked that class…the instructor told us all kinds of things that weren’t in the book. I’d been looking forward to the monster-hunting practicals that were due to take place this summer, but those blasted attackers took that away from me.
I took the sword from Dalkin’s hand and gave it a few light swings. It had a good weight to it, and it felt good to cut through the air with its blade.
This really is a good sword.
“Dalkin. I misjudged you.”
“O-oh…” he said with a small gasp. “I am ever so pleased to receive those words…”
“‘Ever so pleased’?!” Zack laughed. “Master Dalkin’s speakin’ like a gentleman now?!”
His insolence has been inexcusable, but I do like a man with true talent. I will forgive him. I am quite lenient, after all.
“You will take this money, however,” I informed him. “Alfred.”
“Yes, Master Luke.”
“Wait, please! I couldn’t accept pa—”
“Do not misunderstand me. This is an investment, which you will hereby use to forge me an even greater sword. Is that understood?”
“A-ah…I, er…I will! I promise!”
“He’s starting to irritate me again. Zack. Do something.”
“Why me?!”
I do want him to make me an even better sword, but that’s not the only reason. Honestly? I couldn’t bear being indebted to this man. That’s why I offered payment…but, man, it sure seems like he’s trying to make me regret it, the way he’s blubbering and wailing in the dirt at my feet. Come on, you’re a grown man!
But, hey, I guess I’ll leave that problem up to Zack.
***
“Ahem, ’scuse me…but I just remembered we’ve got somewhere to be. Sorry for leaving so suddenly. Thanks so much for today.”
“…Thanks.”
The moment we stepped out of Dalkin’s blacksmith shop, Canis and Ferris made to leave.
“Oh, right! Don’t worry ’bout it! I’ll take you both somewhere for some proper food next time, you got that?!” said Zack, seeing the two of them off.
“Wait.”
Luke called out to stop the pair from leaving, and Canis and Ferris felt the hand close tightly around their hearts once more.
“There’s something I want to ask you two. Let’s meet again.”
“Of course, Master Luke. Well then, goodbye.”
“Hmph.”
That was all that Luke had to say at this time. Canis and Ferris left.
“Er…I should get going too…”
Zack also tried to take the opportunity to escape. Ever since he’d arrived at the blacksmith’s shop and encountered Luke, he’d felt like he wasn’t breathing properly due to the weight of the immense, panicky fear that pressed down upon him. He was so scared of saying the wrong thing that it hurt his stomach. Luke was a great aristocrat, and while Zack was an accomplished adventurer, he was nonetheless a commoner. He couldn’t help but be mindful of his every word, and it was only natural that he should feel on edge.
Unfortunately, Zack’s fervent wish to leave would not be granted.
“Zack, take me to that guild of yours, or whatever you call it,” Luke cut in. “I am going to become an adventurer.”
“…Eh?”
“Do not make me repeat myself.”
“Ahhh, I’m sorry! I’ll take you there right away!”
He had no choice in the matter, of course. Zack knew that protesting would be futile, but he couldn’t help casting Alfred a pathetic, pleading glance, just in case. Sure enough, his puppy dog eyes were met by a silent, sharp glare.
The look only made Zack’s stomach twist even harder, so he gave up on resisting. He knew quite well that there were times in life when it was important to give up.
No more…I just want to go home to my friends…
He dutifully led Luke toward the Adventurers’ Guild, and the trip passed in fairly awkward silence. Zack was skilled at conversation, and under normal circumstances, he would have filled the lull with some chatter, but he judged that it was better if he said nothing in this situa-tion. He didn’t know what Luke might take offense to and wanted very much to avoid provoking him with an offhand comment. As a result, he went with the safest possible choice: silence.
After they’d been walking a while, they came upon a few horse-drawn carriages riding toward them down the road. They clearly belonged to an aristocrat.
“Huh? Isn’t that…?”
Luke searched his memory, but couldn’t remember his father mentioning anything about visitors. This was clearly somebody, but who?
Unbeknownst to either of them, Luke and Zack were about to experience the exact same thought at the exact same time, in perfect unison:
I have a bad feeling about this.
The two of them desperately wished that the carriages would just keep on rumbling past, but it seemed as if the world itself were making a mockery of their prayers. The carriages came to a halt right in front of them.
“The Godwins, eh?” Luke muttered, eyeing the crest emblazoned on the carriage doors.
The Godwins were one of the leading houses of the noble faction, alongside the Gilberts. The carriage door opened slowly, revealing a woman inside.
“Long time no see, Luke.”
Luke swept an appraising gaze over this person who apparently recognized him.
She was incredibly beautiful, but there was a roughness to the woman that didn’t quite suit an aristocrat. Her long red hair looked like a lion’s mane, and there was an arrogant and quiet pluck that dwelled behind her dark-blue eyes.
Huh. She’s got real big…uh…hair. Among other things, thought Luke.
As he looked at her, he felt the puzzle pieces slowly begin to slide into place within his muddled mind.
“Eleonora?”
“Oh, I sure am happy you remember me!”
Right, I do know her. Or Luke knew her, before I ever came to this world. I can see it in Luke’s memories. I guess she’s my childhood friend.
He now understood the strange feeling he’d gotten when he saw her name in first place on the rankings and when Polpon had mentioned her later.
I…remember everything.
The process had been slow, but relations between the houses of Godwin and Gilbert had worsened significantly when Claude lost his ambition to take the throne. Luke and Eleonora had been friends at the time, but naturally grew apart as their families’ connection frayed. Then came the rumors that Luke was learning swordplay, which finally estranged them for good.
“You too, Alfred. It’s been a while.”
“It has indeed, Lady Eleonora.”
“I’m happy to see the two of you, but—” Her calm and friendly demeanor flipped in an instant.
“What are you doing with that commoner, Luke?”
Zack wanted to run as fast as he could. There were two great aristocrats now—and just one had been enough to stress him to the point of breaking. Not to mention that one of them was clearly upset and staring right at him as if he were lower than dirt, and he just couldn’t take it any longer.
Why is all this happening?! Why meeeee?!
Even if it was all just some misunderstanding, Zack didn’t dare say a word about any of it. He resorted to an anguished internal scream instead.
“That’s got nothing to do with you,” Luke snapped.
“You’re right, I s’ppose,” she replied. “I just don’t want you doing anything else that will lower your standing, Luke.”
“Huh?”
“When I found out you were learning the sword, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.”
Luke’s rage was immediate and obvious, but Eleonora behaved as if she hadn’t noticed it. Perhaps she really didn’t. In any case, she kept on smiling, even wider than before.
Noooooo!! Zack cried out privately. He couldn’t bear to watch the tinderbox be lit, and a cold sweat began pouring down his face.
“Hey, Luke, you remember when we used to play together as kids? You sure were amazing back then. It seemed like you could do anything you put your mind to. I really looked up to you, you know?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I made it to the top of Aslan Magic Academy in just one year,” Eleonora sneered. “I’m ahead of you—for now, at least. But do you really think you’ll be able to surpass me with mere swordplay?”
“Mwa ha ha…very well, then,” Luke said, laughing quietly to himself. “We can settle this right now if you’d like. I know what the result will be.”
Eleonora let out a loud bark of laughter, which only intensified the dangerous aura about her.
“Heh… Ah ha ha! All right then!” she declared.
The two aristocrats glared each other down like feral beasts, and the air was fraught with tension. It was as if they were circling each other, eager for an opportunity to lunge at the enemy’s throat.
However, that terrible tension was broken in an instant.
“Eleonora, what are you doing out there?” someone called from inside one of the carriages. “Hurry up!”
“Unfortunately, that’ll have to wait for another time,” she said tersely. “Goodbye, Luke.”
“…”
Eleonora turned on her heel and returned to her carriage.
He didn’t even get out! What’s with that? thought Luke as the horses pulled away. Did Eleonora’s father purposely snub him? He had not stepped out of his carriage once, not even for a moment. It was as if he did not deign to offer Luke the bare minimum of a polite greeting.
The thought filled Luke with self-righteous fury.
“Let’s go,” he growled.
“Yes, Master Luke.”
“R-right…sure…”
Luke walked away, and Zack and Alfred followed.
Eleonora…that woman will be my stepping stone.
The whole experience caused a few memories to surface in Luke’s mind, and he remembered a little more about the original story.
She’s so exceptionally talented that she reached the top of the whole academy while still in her first year, but Luke defeats her easily to demonstrate his power as a villain. Yeah, I remember now. Her role in the story was to set me up as the last boss character of the academy arc… Not that it matters at this point. I don’t care about any of that. I’m going to make myself so powerful that nothing in this story will tie me down.
With his memories a little clearer and fresh resolve in his heart to claim happiness, Luke resumed his walk toward the Adventurers’ Guild.
Come to think of it…what was House Godwin doing here anyway?
***
“What’s the matter, Eleonora? Did something happen between you and Claude’s son?”
“Nothing, really.”
Eleonora settled into her seat as the carriage departed once again.
“Are you sure? Why is your face so red…?”
“I am fine, Father.”
“I see…” He paused. “Wh-what exactly are you fidgeting like that for?”
Whoa, like, like…when did Luke get so freakin’ cool?! He’s so much bigger and talks such a big game! Like, he didn’t back down at all! That was so wild! I’ve got so much pent-up energy now, I feel like I’m gonna scream or something! He’ll definitely beat me, right? Ahh, I can’t wait to go all out against him!
Eleonora gazed fiercely off into the distance as she squirmed in her seat. The rift that Luke’s sword fighting had driven between them had caused quite a change to come over her.
Chapter Seven: The Back of a Hero
Chapter Seven:
The Back of a Hero
1
WHILE LESS BUSTLING THAN THE ROYAL capital, the city of Gilbadia did attract a good number of adventurers. It was, after all, a city with a great diversity of visitors and a vibrant trade in all kinds of items, which made it easy for guild members to stock up on weapons, magic tools, restoration potions, and whatever else they required. Another advantage the city offered was ease of travel access. In short, it was an ideal hub for adventurers. Thus, the Adventurers’ Guild in Gilbadia occupied a fine building, quite imposing from the outside.
When Luke, Zack, and Alfred arrived, they were greeted by the smell of food and hard drink and the muffled sounds of laughter from the other side of the door that stood before them. Finally, they had arrived at the Adventurers’ Guild…but just as Luke made to open the door, Zack hesitantly raised his voice.
“Um…do you mind if I ask you something?”
“What?”
“Well…I’m sure you’re aware of this, but aside from the odd former aristocrat, most adventurers are just common folk, same as me. There’s a chance, er, well…some of them might be a bit rude to you, Master Luke. If you could, possibly…I’d like you to overlook some of their bad manners…”
“Hmph, very well.”
“Oh?”
Luke’s immediate agreement was so unexpected that Zack couldn’t help but express a bit of his surprise out loud.
“Eh? Is there something else?”
“N-no…that was all. Thank you.”
At Dalkin’s blacksmith shop, Zack had done as Luke asked and calmed the situation from utter chaos into something more manageable. That made Luke feel a little fellowship with the adventurer. For better or worse, Luke liked the man, in a fashion.
“Let’s go inside, then. Lead the way.”
“A-all right.”
Zack paused for a moment, a last prayer in his heart.
Please…don’t let anything happen in here!
With a determined push, he opened the door to the guild and stepped inside. What he found in there was all familiar to him, but completely new to Luke. The guild also served as a tavern, so it tended to be quite lively. Not only were there groups of armored adventurers milling around but a number of other people drinking at the bar.
“Gah hah hah—oh! Well, well, if it ain’t Zack!” boomed one of the patrons as he turned to greet the newcomers. “Long time no—”
The man who greeted Zack shut his mouth as soon as he laid eyes on the boy standing behind him. As more heads turned toward them, the chatter dropped off sharply into silence. No adventurer in the city of Gilbadia would fail to recognize the heir to the house of Gilbert, nor would they have any idea what he was doing there in the first place. It was more than just confusion and mild concern, however. Luke’s mere presence awakened long-dormant, traumatic memories buried deep in the minds of many an adventurer.
Suddenly, one of the men let loose a terrified scream.
“H-huh?! What’s wrong, Mokkel?! Hey, wait a minute!”
Ignoring his companion, the man sprinted away into a back room.
“What was that for?” asked Luke.
“I wonder, eh…? Upset stomach, maybe?” Zack suggested, his voice weak and unconvincing. “Must’a ate some bad fish or something, I bet. Jeez, what an idiot! I’m sorry about that, ha ha…”
Zack’s quiet, dry laugh seemed to bounce off the walls of the silent guild. He knew what had just happened, of course. The man who had just run away was Mokkel, an A-rank adventurer who was well-known throughout the city. Zack was also aware that, roughly three years ago, he’d had the misfortune to encounter Luke. Just like Zack and countless other men, Mokkel’s self-esteem was irreparably shattered by Luke’s blade, and he carried deeply traumatic memories of the incident. It was, sadly, a very common story in these parts.
Stay strong, Mokkel. I believe in you.
Zack offered him a wordless prayer.
“Ah, um…Zack! What can we do for you today?”
A waitress with a tray of food in her hand called out to him. Her movements were wooden, and she kept glancing over at Luke and Alfred as she spoke.
“Actually, Master Luke is here to register to become an adventurer, so—”
“Huh?!”
The waitress reacted in complete shock to Zack’s mumbled answer. Her exclamation of surprise was quickly echoed by everyone in the building.
“I-I’ll call the guild master at once!” she cried, setting down her tray of food on a nearby table and quickly running off up the stairs into another room.
Luke watched this display in stony silence.
“…Ahh.”
Zack sensed that Luke’s mood was slowly worsening and let out a little wail of despair, but little did he know, they hadn’t hit rock bottom quite yet. Indeed, things were about to take a turn for the terrible.
“Gah ha ha ha! The adventurers in this city are pathetic!!”
A large man began to walk toward Luke. Alfred’s expression grew just a shade sterner at his approach, and he stepped forward to protect his master.
This is the wooooorst! Zack cried internally.
He knew almost everyone in the room, but he’d never seen that particular man before.
He must be a new arrival, then, or he’d never think of doing anything so stupid.
“What, the little noble boy wants’ta play adventurer? Gah ha ha ha! You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me—”
In an instant, three other men were on their feet, dashing toward Luke and his butler. At the same time, the large, aggressive man finally came within range…and Luke promptly sent him flying.
“Stop!” cried three terror-stricken voices in unison.
“Blargh!” grunted the man as he bounced across the room.
Luke was tired of such situations, but also found himself growing used to them. He sighed with something like resignation.
“What the heck are you thinkin’?!”
“Grrrr, what are you doin’?!”
“Eh? I was j-just…”
“Idiot! Dummy! Brain-dead! Cut that out!”
“Yeah, cut it out! Grrrr!”
“Huh?”
The three men took a brief moment to berate their colleague, then flipped around to face Luke.
“Please accept our deepest apologies!” they said as one.
The trio bowed their heads with such perfect synchronicity, Luke thought they must have somehow arranged it ahead of time. He stared at them quietly.
“Hey, you!” one of them exclaimed, turning back to their aggressive companion. “Ain’t you gonna apologize too?!”
He thumped the larger man on the back of the head, forcing him into a bow too.
“Ouch! S-sorry…”
With that, he was summarily dragged off into one of the back rooms. As they left, one of the three glanced over at Zack and gave him a thumbs-up.
“Y-you guys…!”
The three men were fellow adventurers, all of whom Zack knew quite well. The large man who’d approached Luke had only been following the time-honored tradition of hazing the new recruits, but he failed to recognize that Luke was not an average newbie. Zack wondered if the man appreciated just how lucky he’d been to have his three friends rush to his rescue.
“Well, well…Master Luke!” called another man as he rushed out of one of the far side rooms. “And if it isn’t Al…I mean, Sir Alfred! Welcome to the Adventurers’ Guild!”
It was the guild master of the Gilbadia branch, Dolce Pannacotta.
“Am I correct in understanding that you wish to become a licensed adventurer?” the guild master asked, glancing at Luke.
“Yeah.”
“Understood. Then please, allow me to handle your application.”
Luke eyed the man silently.
Isn’t the reception for applications and work requests right over there? Why has the guild master come out to do this personally? Is it because I’m an aristocrat? That’s irritating…
Luke felt a certain frustration at the extra, unnecessary attention that his noble birth brought him.
“Right then, step this way. I’ll be happy to explain our work, scheduling, and rewards systems to you in the other room,” Dolce said, politely ushering them along. “Incidentally, might I ask what your relation to Zack is?”
“Hmph, I’ll be joining his party for a while.”
Dolce’s question had been casual, and so Luke had answered him in kind.
“What?”
It took a moment for Zack to comprehend what Luke had just said. He’d been eagerly awaiting the right opportunity to turn on his heel, announce a jovial “Right then, see you later!” and escape for good this time. He was quiet as he let the meaning of the words slowly seep into his brain, until at last he understood them.
“Whaaaaat?!”
A scream burst forth from Zack’s soul. He instinctively looked to his fellow guild members for salvation, but every adventurer in the room, including the three good friends who had just helped him out with the big man’s attack on Luke, averted their eyes in perfect unison.
2
ON THAT DAY, LUKE BECAME A B-RANK ADVENTURER. Dolce, guild master of the Gilbadia branch, was well aware that, in terms of ability, his recruit could have been placed in the highest rank available. To attain an A rank and above, however, an adventurer needed to get results. Those were the rules, and Dolce could do nothing but bow his head countless times in explaining them. Luke, however, accepted the rank quite readily. To him, becoming an adventurer was just a means of gaining access to the empire across the border, and he cared nothing for their ranking system. Most importantly, though, he was in a good mood—he had finally obtained a real sword and officially become an adventurer. His current plan was basically to kill time with adventuring while preparing for the Sword Saint Festival. He was free of many of the annoyances that had plagued him at the academy. For once, he was excited for the future and really, truly happy.
Once he had registered as a licensed adventurer, Luke visited an inn to assemble Zack’s companions, then returned to his mansion. He needed to explain to his father, Claude, what he was about to do, after all.
By the time he returned home, there was no sign of Eleonora or the Godwins’ carriages. Their presence interested Luke somewhat, but he understood that his father was making moves related to the recent Aslan Magic Academy attack and didn’t press him on what those might be.
Meanwhile, Zack wanted to run away again, but with everything that was going on, he was too exhausted to try. His mind was completely blank as he succeeded in convincing his party companions to come along. He felt almost hollow as he arrived at the mansion, but the terrible gravity of the situation set in soon thereafter. It wasn’t until Claude skewered him with loaded questions like “You do know what will happen should anything befall my son, don’t you?” that Zack’s whole body began to shake.
***
The Great Forest of Ispleet, also known as the “Spirit Forest,” was a sea of trees that surrounded the city of Gilbadia. The forest was lush and bountiful, providing the city with great natural resources. Many monsters also resided in the forest, however, and would often threaten the lives of those who lived in the small villages nearby. A well-used highway also ran along the edges of the woods, and so the adventurers based in Gilbadia very often found themselves tasked with hunting these monsters. In fact, such jobs made up the bulk of requests submitted to the guild.
Between the Great Forest of Ispleet and the city of Gilbadia stretched a very large plain that was, predictably, home to some very large monsters.
“Graaaaaah!!”
“I’ve drawn it toward you! It’s up to you now, Master Luke!”
“Master Luke!”
“Sure.”
Zack and the other members of the Gray Wolf’s Claw Marks called out to Luke, who answered simply and calmly, despite the giant lizard pounding madly through the grass toward them.
These things always look huge up close, huh?
The monster that was bearing down on Luke was so large, it looked like it could easily swallow a human whole.
Pretty used to these things by now, though.
It was, in fact, quite common for the adventurers of Gilbadia to encounter giant lizards in the field, and Luke had defeated several already. They did have a difficulty ranking of B, however, and could pose a significant threat.
Sword or magic…which do I use to defeat it?
After a moment’s hesitation, Luke grasped the handle of his sword. It was not that the sword was more efficient at killing monsters—such rational considerations didn’t enter into Luke’s head. He preferred the sword, and that was his sole reason for choosing it.
The beast let loose another terrible howl as it drew nearer.
“Mwa ha…loud as ever.”
Luke kicked off toward the giant lizard, leaping up to the monster’s neck and drawing his sword in one smooth motion. There was a flash, and by the time Luke landed on the other side of the creature, its head was missing. He made it look so easy that the kill came off as anticlimactic.
“Great work, Master Luke!”
“All these things ever do is charge at you. I’m bored of them.”
“Ah ha…well, I mean they are huge, so it’s pretty scary when they charge like that.”
“Gah ha ha! I knew you could do it, Master Luke!”
“Well done!”
“Great work, as always.”
Two weeks had passed since Luke temporarily entered the Gray Wolf’s Claw Marks and began working as an adventurer. His swift promotion to A rank had been unprecedented, and he had a more or less friendly relationship with the other members of Zack’s party. The first three days were fairly miserable, what with Zack being constantly on edge, stressing over every word he said. However, despite the awkward start, it quickly became clear just how beneficial Luke was to their party. They could complete their bounties much more efficiently with him on board, and their overall income shot up as a result. Zack had worried that Luke’s presence would disrupt their formations, but strangely, that didn’t seem to be an issue at all. Zack still often felt more stressed than normal, but he decided he could hardly complain about any of it, considering how much money they were raking in. After all, he was perfectly capable of thinking positively when appropriate.
“Er, so the field dressing and disposal…”
“I’ll do it, of course,” Luke replied quickly.
“Understood. Sippel—you, me, and Master Luke will handle the dismemberment. Qui Gong, Sufsasa, you two watch our backs.”
“Gotcha!”
“Understood!”
“…’Kay.”
What’s Master Luke doing all this grunt work for? This is the annoying part of this job that nobody likes doin’, Zack thought to himself as he took out a knife to dismember the corpse.
After a monster hunt was complete, the corpse had to be processed in several ways. The adventurers who’d made the kill needed to bring back proof of their work, along with whatever useful materials could be harvested from the body. Dismemberment also served to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. It was a very important task, but few adventurers relished the experience. Put simply, it was boring, irritating, and unpleasant. Some monsters required a deft hand with precise cuts, which was another reason that many adventurers loathed the work. Some hated it so much, they refused to take part in it at all and spent their own money to have the guild do it for them.
One big reason that Luke chose to do this grim task himself was simple arrogance. It was his way of demonstrating that there was nothing in this world he couldn’t do, no matter how grand or how menial. Moreover, every-thing about adventuring was new to him, and even the least enjoyable aspects seemed fresh and exciting. He was bound by nothing, and the life he led finally felt like his own. He hunted monsters, killed them, and earned coin in recompense. The simplicity of the entire process felt good.
“Hey, Zack!”
“Y-yes?!”
Zack’s voice cracked a little in surprise at the sudden call of his name. He was used to being around Luke, but something about the boy still made him cower.
“Y’know, I’m a bit curious,” Luke said. “Is there some reason that this party is called the Gray Wolf’s Claw Marks?”
“Ah…”
It was mild, idle interest on Luke’s part—a simple question that had popped into his head.
“Um…well, first things first, I guess. Do you know what a gray wolf is?”
“Of course. They’re D-rank monsters, no? Hardly worthy of consideration.”
“Well, when I was just starting out, a bunch of them, uh…almost killed me…heh heh,” Zack laughed sheepishly.
“What?”
“Gah ha ha! Sure did! You were on death’s door, man! That sure takes me back!” laughed the big man, Sippel.
“I was still an amateur back then,” Zack explained quickly. “Confident, but for no good reason. I let my guard slip, and the wolves almost took us all out. Take a look.”
“…”
Zack pulled up one of his sleeves and showed Luke the long scars on his arm.
“So the name’s like a warning, I suppose. For myself, y’know? I wanna make sure I don’t forget what I was like starting out. When adventurers get complacent out there, even for just a second, they can end up dead in the blink of an eye.”
“Hm, I see. I knew I liked you.”
“…Eh?”
Luke was already confident that Zack was a first-rate adventurer, and for better or for worse, the story had only increased the affection that Luke felt toward him.
***
Once the giant lizard corpse was dealt with properly, Luke and the party returned to Gilbadia.
“We’re here to rest for a while, then we get back out there when there’s a good bounty, right?”
“Of course.”
“All right, Master Luke.”
Their party was now used to clearing several bounties in a day, but first, they had to return to the city for their rewards. Luke and the others headed back to the guild, picking up consumable necessities on the way. Many of the citizens of Gilbadia still looked at Luke with fear in their eyes—but as was the case with most things, they were slowly growing used to him.
“Hey, Zack, stop in a while!”
“What’re you sayin’, old man? Sun’s still up!”
Many people called out to Zack and his companions as they walked the streets. The party was particularly well-liked by those in the city, and everyone was eager for their friendship and favor. Zack called out jovial replies as they passed, until eventually they came to the Adventurers’ Guild. Just as Luke placed his hand on the handle to push his way inside, a shrill voice drove its way through the door and into his skull:
“I told you already! I’m here to ask where Luke is!”
Luke felt his heart drop like a lead weight.
“…Zack, listen to me.”
“Wh-what is it?”
“I feel like something…annoying is about to happen.”
“That’s a coincidence, I have the exact same feeling.”
“Then you know what I’m about to say, right?” Luke said, casting him a glance.
“Yeah…it’s up to me to fix it again, huh?” Zack sighed.
Not only had Zack also heard the voice, but he’d reacted the exact same way. He felt similar trepidation about whatever was on the other side of that door, and Luke’s and Zack’s premonitions were generally right. Even so, they couldn’t just stand outside the guild all day. Luke steeled his resolve, then slowly pushed open the door.
“Hey, Lily, calm dow—ah! Luke!”
Abel turned to greet Luke, who could practically feel the question marks popping up above his head as he stared back, speechless.
“S-sorry for the sudden visit. We just wanted to come and see how you’re doing,” Abel said. “To hang out, that’s all!”
“Long time no see, Luke,” said Lily beside him.
Luke had no idea what Abel was talking about.
“You came…to hang out…with me?”
Luke struggled desperately to digest the meaning of the words. He understood them separately, but was completely unable to process them together as a coherent whole.
“Yeah! I was so surprised when I heard you’d become an adventurer!” Abel grinned. “Me and Lily actually went and got our licenses too! Real coincidence, huh?!”
Luke’s brain almost short-circuited at the inscrutability of it all, but there was one shred of information that caught in his mind:
Does this idiot seriously think that we’re friends…?
Luke suddenly felt intensely dizzy.
“Zack…I’m tired. We’re done for the day.”
“Huh?”
“A-are you okay, Luke?!”
Abel rushed over to Luke’s side, with a look of genuine concern for his well-being.
3
THAT WAS THE MOMENT THAT MADE LUKE SURE of it.
There is such a thing as fate in this world. That’s the only explanation. Why else would Abel be here? I just can’t explain it any other way.
Abel gazed at Luke with a worried expression, completely unaware of his inner lament. The sight of the boy only darkened Luke’s heart a deeper shade of black.
And yet…
When did this happen, I wonder? When did I start to accept these irksome aspects of reality as inevitabilities? Nothing I do has assuaged the never-ending parade of annoyances and irritations, and each time the waves rise, they surpass my expectations.
Somewhere in Luke’s subconscious, he had begun to accept the need for compromise—that he must give ground. That was it, he realized.
I’ve been compromising, have I…?
“Mwa ha…don’t make me laugh.”
Luke’s mind, so full of sorrow just moments earlier, was now overcome by rage. All traces of self-pity vanished, leaving nothing but pure anger. He was not just angry at Abel, but at everything in the world that irritated him, and as Luke’s emotions reached a fever pitch, a terrifying amount of mana poured from within him. The air temperature seemed to drop, and suddenly everyone in the room remembered something horrible—Luke. They recalled in vivid detail the trauma he’d inflicted on them, felt his monstrous presence before them, and it sent a chill through the room.
Zack was standing closest to Luke, so he was the first to feel it. A wave of overwhelming terror pressed down on him, and he let out a short wail in response. There was a monster standing by his side, right within arm’s reach and yet nigh untouchable.
“Gaaah!”
“M-Mokkel?!”
The adventurer Mokkel screamed out for the second time that month and ran off into another room. Most of the others were rooted to the spot by Luke’s violent release of mana, unable to move a muscle. The fact that Mokkel had been able to flee at all was, in fact, proof of just how capable he really was.
“When did the two of us become equals?” Luke demanded, focused on the so-called protagonist before him. “Come on. Answer me, Abel.”
“Huh?”
Luke closed in on Abel.
“You seem to have misunderstood, so let me tell you. You and I are not—”
“Hey, cut it out!”
Lily stepped in between the two boys, as if she wasn’t scared of either of them. Luke glared at her for her insolence, only to realize that her hands were trembling slightly.
“You’re both Aslan students,” she said firmly, “and we’re here to hang out! Abel was super looking forward to coming to see you, Luke!”
Lily strained to raise her voice even louder than usual, so she wouldn’t give in to the fear.
“…You—ugh…! What?”
Luke looked at the new dissenting voice standing between Abel and himself, and fresh emotions began to churn within him. Before he could begin to process them, the guild’s alarm bell cut sharply through the suffocating atmosphere to shake him to his core.
Then came the announcement, the man’s voice trembling slightly as his words rung out over the city:
“Emergency!! An S-rank monster, disaster-level, is heading for the city!! It’s an ice dragon!! All adventurers and knights are to arm themselves and gather at the western gate!!”
***
Human mana can be elemental, but what about monster mana? Same applies to them, of course. Probably the greatest example of that are the “elemental dragons”—the creatures are called disasters, and rightly so. Their tough bodies are covered in scales, they’ve got teeth and claws that can easily rip through steel, and they can dish out powerful area of effect attacks with their breath. They’re not only physically strong and incredibly hard to damage, but they’re also so intelligent that they can use magic. Honestly? As living beings, I think they’re far superior to us humans. I guess it makes sense that we consider them disasters, huh?
“…Mwa ha ha.”
But where did it come from? What’s an ice dragon doing here? Why’s a disaster-level monster suddenly descending on the city?Hm, actually…I might have an idea.
“L-Luke…? Um, sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t be bringing this up now, b-but I…”
Obviously, it’s this idiot nervously fidgeting beside me. Abel, the main character of this world, has probably gotten himself mixed up in some big plot event. If he came from the royal capital, then did all of this start there? But then what’s he doing here in Gilbadia? This is the result of wanting to “hang out,” huh? Jeez, what does he think he’s playing at? I don’t understand any of what’s going on…but fine. I detest Abel, but this encounter actually serves me well. It’s very exciting to have this chance to fight an enemy as fierce as an ice dragon. I’d been getting so bored of regular giant lizards.
Adventurers continued to gather around me, but I saw darkness in them, their faces drained of hope.
I can’t see the ice dragon yet, but I can feel it. It’s getting closer. Hey, where did those two beastlings run off to, come to think of it…?
I looked around a bit, but couldn’t see them in the crowd.
There’s still something I need to ask them about.
“Luke!” someone called out.
I turned to see my father hurrying toward me, with countless knights at his back. Alfred was there too.
“Aren’t you going to evacuate, Father?”
“Don’t be foolish. I would never be so weak. You are my concern, Luke. Accompany Alfred immediately to—”
“You don’t intend on ordering me to run away, do you, Father?” I interrupted.
Normally, I would never do something like this…but right now, I just can’t allow it. I’ve finally found an enemy that I can give my all against. I won’t let anyone take that from me.
I had a burning desire to fight the ice dragon. No, more intense than that; it was a deep, almost primal urge raging inside of me that was too intense to resist. I set my mind racing, searching for a suitable reason that would justify my going out to fight if my father needed to be convinced. I quickly landed on a model answer, which I delivered immediately.
“As heir to House Gilbert, I refuse to turn and flee while the citizens I am bound to protect remain. I will stake my life and fight to the very end.”
Everyone in the vicinity fell silent at my words, and I could feel eyes upon me, filled with all sorts of emotion. That included my father and Abel as well.
“My dear boy…I should’ve expected nothing less from my son!” cried my father. “I had no idea that you were so determined to fight, but very well. You have beaten me! I will not ask you to retreat.”
“Th-thank you…”
My father was so happy, it creeped me out a bit.
Hey, I just want to fight an ice dragon, that’s all…
“I do not permit you to die, however.”
“Yes, Father.”
My father’s expression was much the same as it always was, but I detected a complex mix of emotions churning just below the surface. He still very much wanted me to run, I was sure, but he had made a conscious choice to respect my determination to fight.
I guess I’ve gotta be grateful for that.
“Luke, you’re so determined to fight this thing. I knew it, you’re incredible! Really, you’re so amazing! Let me help out too!”
“You’re a mean guy, but I might’ve been a bit wrong about you. All right, I suppose I’ll have to help!”
Abel and Lily were both looking at me with a strange intensity—what’s with those two?
“I’m sorry. I misjudged you. I had no idea you cared for us all so much, Master Luke,” said Zack suddenly, and that was the moment that I noticed the change in the crowd too. There was a fighting spirit in everyone around me that had been completely absent just seconds earlier.
“Master Luke! I’m touched!!”
“Zack, cut it o—”
“You lot! You hear what Master Luke just said?! We adventurers ain’t just gonna sit back now, are we?!” Zack called out to his comrades, raising his sword high into the air.
“Raaaaaaah!!”
The beast roared so loudly that it felt like an explosion, shaking the ground beneath everyone’s feet.
“Let’s beat that ice dragon, eh, Luke?!”
I didn’t answer immediately.
Seriously? I didn’t expect my lame excuse to light such a fire under them. I really don’t understand the way that stupid people think. Well, fine. Whatever.
A freezing mana front began to drift toward us. I could feel the temperature drop, my skin suddenly cold and clammy. It was time to confront this incoming disaster.
“Grraaaaaaaah!!”
Finally, the ice dragon made its appearance, and I couldn’t help but grin.
Let’s see just how powerful you really are, eh?
I drew my sword—and paused, as the sound of a whistle drifted mournfully through the air. The tone was strangely sad, yet so beautiful that I was entranced by it for a brief moment.
“Th-that whistling sound…” Abel mumbled, stricken.
Looks like he knows something about that noise… I wonder what? Then again, I suppose that’s to be expected. It’s gotta be related to this attack, and he’s the one that brought it here, after all…I’m pretty sure, at least. Either way, I’m just caught in the middle of it. Forget about all that now though.
Let’s do this—you’re going down, ice dragon.
***
The days that Abel spent at Aslan Magic Academy were by far the happiest ones in his entire life. Of course, he also had many precious and irreplaceable memories from the time he’d spent with his instructor, Elka, but his time living in the Aslan dormitory changed him. Being there on campus, working hard alongside both friends and rivals, and finding his place among his peers…that was what had finally started to slowly melt away the solitude that Abel felt deep inside at his core. To put it more simply—he had fun. So much fun, in fact, that he almost forgot the despair that he felt that day when he lost everything he ever knew.
The sound of the whistle came out of nowhere and suddenly awakened the darkness within Abel.
“Monsters take everything from us. That’s why I have to kill them. Kill them so they can never take anything from me, ever again.”
“That whistle. You know what it is?”
“…Huh?”
Luke’s question drew Abel back to reality, surfacing from the ocean of his mind.
“S-sure…” Abel replied shakily. “I’ve heard it before, s—”
“Grraaaaaaaaaah!!”
The dragon roared, cutting him off.
Luke glared at the monster in silence. It had a savage look, but almost seemed to be fighting to resist something.
“H-hey, what do we do? It’s not coming to attack us…” asked Lily nervously.
Most of those in the crowd stood frozen, awed by the terrible presence of the ice dragon. They watched and waited, swords up, listening for how Luke would respond to the question.
“Hmph. There’s a chance that thing’s being controlled, yeah?”
“Eh?! Do you really think so, Luke? But, well…it’s possible, I guess. Why didn’t I notice that until now?”
“Huh? Someone’s controlling the dragon?!”
A murmur rippled through the crowd, punctuated by cries of shock.
Luke had only said it as an offhand suggestion, but it made Abel put his head down to think. If what Luke was saying turned out to be true, it would massively change the way that Abel interpreted the events of that day. Abel had subconsciously kept a lid on the terrible memories—or perhaps consciously pushed them down—and that was why the possibility had never occurred to him.
“Dragons can’t blow whistles,” Luke pointed out. “There’s mana in that sound too. Whatever, just forget about it. Now, let me test this theory.”
Given that it wasn’t attacking them yet, Luke figured it was safe to assume that whoever was commanding the ice dragon didn’t have complete control over it.
“Arrow of Darkness.”
The spell was so basic that it seemed a puzzling choice to those who overheard him say the words. Luke’s magic contained his Dark element, but even that surely wasn’t enough. Nobody expected his spell to be capable of damaging the dragon. Luke’s true aim, however, was something else entirely.
“…”
The small Arrow of Darkness hit its mark and was absorbed into the ice dragon’s great body…then it exploded. The ice dragon stopped in midair, no longer raging and struggling as it had been moments earlier, but gracefully flapping its wings to hover in place. Luke’s suspicion proved correct as the Arrow of Darkness swallowed the mana that had been controlling the ice dragon.
“Th-the spell’s been broken?! Wh-where’s that whistle? I gotta—gah!”
Luke heard a man’s voice, panicking and distraught. As everyone watched, confused and disoriented, the ice dragon shook its head. In doing so, it threw something from the back of its neck out into the open air—a man wearing a robe, who seemed to be the root of the problem.
“I-impossible!! Nooo!!”
Chomp.
The ice dragon opened its monstrous jaws and, in a single bite, unceremoniously swallowed the man whole. Shocked silence reigned over the crowd, until it was eventually broken by the booming voice of the dragon itself.
“You humans taste awful,” it informed them.
It glared down at the crowd of humans below, and the look alone was enough to inspire even the bravest knights to suddenly visualize their own imminent deaths. Nobody said a word in reply, but Luke thought he heard shrieks from some of the men—awful wails, as if their souls were being crushed inside their chests.
“Yet what a mistake I have made,” it continued. “To allow myself to be ruled by a human, an inferior being…nothing vexes me more.”
To the dragon, this was merely an expression of simple annoyance. To the humans below, however, it was a harsh lesson in reality. No matter how hard they trained, how strong they grew, how perfectly they refined their techniques—in the end, a human was only a human. No individual human could even begin to measure up to a disaster-rank monster. Men were incapable of reaching the level of power and destruction that an S-rank ice dragon rained down. The rattling of metal on metal sounded louder than ever before, as the knights trembled in their armor.
Th-that thing’s in a different league…in a whole different biological hierarchy from us…
Zack tightened his grip on his sword, feeling the will drain from his spirit and fighting hard to regain it. He knew better than most that if he fell into the depths of despair, there would be no clawing his way back up from the bottom of that pit.
“Even so…I was freed by a human,” the dragon mused. “That is evident.”
Many in the crowd saw hope, as the ice dragon’s rage appeared to dissipate for just a moment. The monster’s words suggested it might have intellect, which meant it could be capable of pitying them. It could just fly away and leave them in peace, or even thank them, perhaps.
Such were the frail, fleeting hopes of those weak human onlookers.
“Regardless, I find you humans unpleasant. There is no reason that I should let you live.”
The ice dragon’s reasoning was incomprehensible and arrogant to the assembled crowd. For the first time, the dragon clearly displayed to them its intent to kill.
The morale that Luke had inspired within the crowd was lost in an instant, leaving only cowardice and fear in its place. Only a portion of the A-rank adventurers and knights who had seen real battle managed to hold on to their will to fight. Some sensed that death was at hand, while others tried to motivate themselves to go on.
There was silence, and then a hearty laugh rang out:
“Mwa ha… Aha ha ha ha!!”
The men watched as Luke stepped forward from their ranks, laughing openly. He appeared to be quite unhinged, and much of the crowd wondered if the boy had finally snapped. Zack had already been planning his retreat for the last few minutes, and now he quickly began considering the logistics of how he could help Luke to escape as well.
How many of us will survive the coming attack? he wondered.
That was the sort of battle that was to come, in his judgement, and Zack began to rack his brain for a way out. Luke was incredibly strong, of course, but at the end of the day, he was still human.
“Master Luke!” Zack screamed.
“Listen up, you lot.”
Luke didn’t even turn to look at them. His back to the crowd, he appeared taller than he usually did.
“I will not allow any of you to intervene. I will fight this dragon alone.”
Luke was likely the only person present who was fully enjoying the situation for what it was. His mind filled with sword techniques and magic spells that he could never think about using against a human opponent. Against such a strong enemy, he might even be given the opportunity to use them all, in fact. Luke was in possession of such great power that he had to constantly regulate and control his abilities, and he wanted nothing more than to let loose completely.
No-holds-barred. This is gonna be fun…a truly exhilarating fight at my full strength.
The thought had him smirking the moment it crossed his mind.
“No matter what, no interferences.”
“Luke…”
Luke just wanted to fight with everything he had—that was all.
Obviously, Abel’s going to use his main character powers to beat this thing in the end, right? What’s the problem with me taking it out instead, then?
Luke’s thinking was simple and self-centered, but to the men at his back who watched him standing off alone against the deadly monster soaring high above his head…
Well, Luke looked like a hero—a real one, straight out of the songs.
“Augh…you really are…!” Zack said in a panicked whisper.
He’d only really been thinking about his own life, which he could hardly be blamed for, given the circumstances. Nobody could have scolded him for self-preservation.
But then there was Luke, a boy who laughed in the face of this desperate situation, who didn’t hesitate to put his own life on the line to save others. It was evident to everyone that “hero” was the only word that fit—though, of course, they had no idea that Luke himself had no noble reason for taking action.
Abel hated monsters. Even if they had been controlled by someone else that day, there was no denying their inherent sadism. More importantly, monsters had taken everything from Abel, and he could not help but hate them for that.
As a result, the only thought he could focus on was about how he would kill the ice dragon. Those dark, vengeful emotions were all he had…at least, that was, until he saw Luke standing there proudly and declaring he would face off against the ice dragon to protect his people.
Luke…you really are incredible. I’m so proud to call myself your friend. But if things really get dangerous, I’m coming in to help you. I know how much that’s going to annoy you, though.
“You’re going to go and save him if he gets in real danger, aren’t you?” asked Lily.
“Yeah.” Abel nodded.
“To be honest, I think if Luke can’t beat that dragon, not even all of our strength combined could take it down…” Lily said. “But you’d still go to try to save him, wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Heh heh. I knew you’d say that, Abel.”
Lily didn’t question him any further, but went on, “What’s he playing it all cool for, anyway? I mean, what’d be the harm in letting us fight alongside him?”
“You’re right,” answered Abel. “But this is…well, it’s just like him.”
Completely unaware of his soaring reputation, Luke activated his spells.
“Armor of Darkness. Wings of Darkness. Apply: Dark.”
“Oho, the Dark element?” the dragon remarked, its interest piqued. “That’s quite uncommon. I appreciate that you are sacrificing yourself in the service of others. So, how about we make a deal? If you’d prefer, I will spare you, and you alone, on the cond—”
“Shut your damn mouth, you overgrown lizard.”
“What did you just say to me?”
The ice dragon’s demeanor flipped. The rage and mana emanating from its body literally froze the area around it.
“Mwa ha…didn’t you hear me? I asked why some flying lizard would ever presume to speak down to me?” Luke said boldly. “Know your place.”
“Y-you cretin!! I won’t grant you an easy death!”
Thus began the battle between Luke and the ice dragon, with neither in particular definitively firing the first shot.
4
“GRAAAAAAAAAHH!!”
The ice dragon collected a terrifying volume of mana in the back of its throat, then blew it forth in an icy breath attack. Luke knew that for all his talent and ability, a direct hit would kill him instantly. He gazed in silence at the cloud of death moving toward him, as if it were just some unremarkable aspect of his everyday life. With a cocky, lopsided smirk, he activated a spell in response:
“Dark Sun.”
There was less than a second before the breath hit him, but Luke measured the amount of mana behind the attack to a rather astounding degree of accuracy and felt that he would be capable of absorbing it without issue. The dark sun in his right hand slowly rose up into the air, and the ice dragon’s breath made an unnatural jerk toward it, shifting its course to be swallowed whole by the blackness.
“The insolence!”
The ice dragon let out another icy breath, but this time, it was not directed at Luke. Instead, it rushed at the black sun that had swallowed the first. This time, though, the attack was somewhat narrower and more focused than the last.
In the next moment, the dark sun was frozen over. Luke’s magic had been defeated.
“…Brilliant.”
Was it due to this creature’s wisdom, deep and vast as the ocean, that no human could ever hope to achieve? Was it the dragon’s outstanding insight?
In either case, the ice dragon knew the weakness of Dark magic—that there was an upper limit to the amount of mana it was capable of absorbing at any one time. That was precisely why the ice dragon had concentrated its mana during its second breath attack.
“So the intensity of one’s mana is truly vital, then. I see. Mwa ha…Lloyd really is talented.”
“What are you say—”
“Then I will concentrate my own mana as well. Behold, the smaller, deeper core of my…Ultimate Dark Sun!”
This is bad, the ice dragon instinctively sensed. That should be the same spell, but there is no magic at my disposal and, of course, no breath that could break it.
The feeling was only instinctual, but the ice dragon was almost completely sure of its accuracy. Moreover, there was also the fact that Luke had worked up so much mana in such a short span of time. There had been almost no delay between Luke’s first spell activation and his second.
I must be decisive, then. I must act immediately, before this Dark Sun grows large enough to suck every drop of mana from the air.
“Augh!”
Dragons were strong creatures with terrifyingly high resistances to both physical and magical attacks, as well as phenomenal regenerative abilities. As living creatures, they were truly in a league all their own, which was why the ice dragon chose to break Luke’s magic using its own body. It whipped its powerful, flexible tail toward the dark sun as sharp and as fast as the thrust of a spear.
The dragon howled as its tail pierced into the dark sun, only to find its mana being rapidly sucked away. The creature was stunned.
How could so much of my strength be sapped with such minimal contact? I must absolutely avoid any direct attacks.
“I see. You dragons really do have incredible resistance, and that also plays to your advantage in your own attacks as well. Hm, yes, and your high resistance to physical threats assists you in dealing damage…or maybe it’s more due to the magic resistance, I suppose. Having both makes you much more powerful, eh?”
“…Gah!”
Luke gave the dragon a fearless smile, and it was in that moment that the creature finally understood.
This human standing before me is an inferior being, yet he truly intends on killing me.
The ice dragon had no knowledge of what human facial expressions might indicate, but it was highly perceptive. Its senses were keenly honed and far more sensitive than that of the average human. It didn’t know what Luke’s smile meant, but it felt his intent. Once it understood, an uneasy haze clouded the dragon’s mind, and it felt an emotion it had not felt in a long time.
It cannot be. Am I…afraid…?
The fear, however, was quickly overtaken by another emotion: burning rage. The ice dragon was completely unable to accept that a mere human had, even for the briefest of moments, caused it to experience genuine fear.
“Yoooouuu!! A mere human!”
The dragon flapped its wings, accelerating in speed.
“Mwa ha…aha ha ha ha!! Oh, this is so much fun!”
The dragon had given in to its rage, but knew that it could not let Luke use his magic again. That was the reasoning behind its decision to close the distance between them as quickly as possible. Luke flapped his black magic wings and surged up into the air to meet the dragon’s charge. The ice dragon’s claws and teeth clashed against Luke’s sword, again and again. In terms of pure strength, it was clear that neither human nor dragon had the upper hand. This battle was a surprisingly even match.
Scratch, bite, or tail swipe—any one of these blows was lethal to a human…but only if those attacks landed. Luke managed to dodge every blow at the last second. No matter how fast or how heavy the ice dragon’s hits, Luke remained untouchable. And of course, it was a simple matter for him to cancel out every breath and magic attack that the dragon used, thanks to his Dark magic. The stalemate clearly irritated the ice dragon, who seemed annoyed that a mere human was taking up any of its time. However, the longer the fight went on, the more precise Luke’s sword attacks became, and the dragon’s feelings of annoyance faded into something more dire.
“…Ugh!”
The ice dragon had realized it from Luke’s very first attack. The anger had overwhelmed it, and it had tried to avert its eyes from the facts—but that was no longer possible.
I cannot look down upon this “Luke” any longer…cannot disregard him as a worthless human. If I continue to underestimate him, I will be the one to die this day.
The ice dragon sensed that instinctively, and it finally accepted Luke as an equal. It decided then and there to stake its life in the fight to come.
***
The Kingdom of Milestia, as a whole, considered magic to be inherently superior to all other forms of combat. Most adventurers had no knowledge of magic whatsoever, and thus did not occupy a particularly favorable position in this society regardless of their other talents. Naturally, the majority of truly great adventurers tended to leave the kingdom for greener pastures. In other words, the only adventurers that remained in Gilbadia were A rank and below.
“Whoa,” someone muttered.
To the crowd of low-ranking adventurers on the ground, Luke’s battle against the ice dragon seemed like something out of a picture book. It was impossible, almost unreal, and yet it was unfolding right there before their eyes. A-rank adventurers were part of an elite class—the best of the best—and not one person in the crowd was deluded enough to believe themselves strong enough to join the battle. Only the truly chosen would be capable of that, the heroic S-rank and X-rank adventurers who stood above even them in the rankings.
They stood on a battlefield, but most in the crowd had lowered their swords. They knew that they had to be ready to move at any time, yet they were completely entranced by the duel above them.
“Luke…just how powerful are you?”
Abel gazed up with the rest of the awestruck crowd.
A single thought filled his mind: Incredible.
It would have been completely natural for him to think, I wish I could be like him someday, but Abel found he couldn’t quite get there. Instead, he landed on an adjacent feeling.
I’ll never be like Luke.
The only confidence remaining within him was the feeling of assurance that he would never approach Luke’s level. He didn’t give up, however. As expected of the main character, he was fully determined to walk his own path.
He’s so far ahead of me, I can’t even see the distance that lies between us…but…I want to catch up someday. No matter how long it takes, I’m sure eventually I’ll b—
Abel’s introspection was suddenly and unexpectedly interrupted. With the terrible monster, fierce battle, and the ever-present looming threat of death, the crowd was very quiet and subdued. Hardly anyone broke ranks. No one, that is, except for one man.
“Maaarvelous!!”
A scream of crazed joy erupted from somewhere near Abel, and everyone in the crowd turned their heads to find its source. It didn’t take long for them to find it.
As it turned out, the cry had come from a man standing atop a nearby stone tower. It was Alfred, of course, ecstatically watching the show. Claude stood by his side, simply because he was too stubborn to evacuate. Together, the two of them were watching over Luke’s fight from higher ground.
“…Hm? Alfred, what has gotten into y—”
“Maaaaster!! Did you see that blow, perchance?! Ah, truly, he has ascended into the realm of the gods!!” wailed Alfred. “Reached heights I could never summit!!”
Claude blinked. He was suddenly confronted with the fact that, despite Alfred’s many years of service, it turned out that he knew nothing about the man.
***
Most magic spells required the caster to make split-second decisions regarding how to divvy up their limited mana—to either make their spell strong, or to make it fast. Most performed this balancing act without much thought and subconsciously selected the ratio between speed and power that they wished for. Luke had learned about this fact during his studies at Aslan Magic Academy, but it really didn’t apply to him. In his case, he could control the balance completely at will. This skill was not something he acquired through practice. Luke could do just about anything he wanted to with magic and had been like that right from the start. Nobody had to teach him, as, to Luke, magic was as easy as breathing—and that was what made it feel so boring.
Luke’s new spell, Wings of Darkness, was an adaptation of Flight magic that was drastically improved by his Dark mana. Every flap of his black wings absorbed mana from the air and turned that into speed. This allowed him to move faster than any other Flight magic spell would permit—at such speeds that not even a dragon, lord of the sky, could keep track of him in the air.
“Stay still! Augh!”
Luke dodged the ice dragon’s bite easily. He slashed at it with his fearsome wings as he soared past, but his attacks had barely any effect. No matter how many times he cut at the dragon, the damage was minimal due to its high resistances and tough hide.
I could use Dark Gluttony…but, well…
That fearsome spell was the greatest that Luke currently had in his repertoire. It was an adaptation of his Dark magic’s ability to absorb mana that allowed him to swallow physical matter whole.
But the spell’s still in development… I don’t know what kind of toll it would take on my body to cast it now.
In any case, I’m not using magic to settle this. I’m going to cut this thing down. I’ve already seen through this damn dragon’s movements. They’re so predictable and dull… I suppose this is just another monster, at the end of the day.
Luke had no intention of using Dark Gluttony during their fight. He would make the mysterious power within his sword his own—a power which was not mana at all—and cut down the ice dragon with it. That, he resolved, was what he had to do.
He remembered his training with Alfred, the days he spent practicing his swing at Aslan Magic Academy, the time he had tested his blade at the blacksmith’s shop. Slowly, what had once been a vague, fuzzy feeling rose into sharp focus as he exchanged blows with the ice dragon.
It would be a wasted opportunity to end this with magic.
Luke had overcome all his previous trials without this unknown power. Every one of them had been so easy that he hadn’t even needed to consider it. Yet now he found himself faced with a truly powerful foe whom he could not slice through. He handled the ice dragon’s clawing, biting, and breath attacks with his sword. As the fight progressed, blow by blow, he felt the power slowly become his own, and a sort of realization washed over him.
“Ah. So this is what it is, then?”
The time was right. Luke didn’t understand the root of that unknown power within him, but his monstrous talent allowed him to wield it anyway. The power was a “warrior’s magic” of sorts—and that, Luke decided, was all he needed to know about the ability for the time being. He quickly shifted gears and focused all of his attention on the sword in his hands, which then began to glow with light.
“Slash.”
Fresh red blood came spurting from the ice dragon’s tough hide. It was more blood than their fight had produced up until that point.
“Graaaaaaah!”
“Mwa ha ha…ah ha ha ha!! Brilliant! I like it!!”
Once Luke had a hold of the sensation, it quickly felt like it was a part of him.
“More!” he laughed, focusing power into his sword again. “I can do more!!”
What would have taken any normal person years upon years of training to master, Luke surpassed in an instant—he could not help but do so.
“Double Slash! Triple Slash!”
“Graaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!”
A two-hit combination, then three, swinging with divine speed. The ice dragon fell to the ground, writhing in intense pain—a sensation it hadn’t felt for almost two centuries. Luke laughed as the blood spatter hit him and appeared to truly be enjoying himself.
“Ah ha ha ha!! So then, what’s next?! Hm?! Why don’t I try mixing things up?”
Luke focused light into his sword again—but this time, something was clearly different. The Dark mana in his sword enveloped the light, dying his blade jet black.
“Dark Slash.”
Luke fired off the attack with ease, as if it weren’t an incredibly complex and advanced technique that probably should have been beyond his understanding. The ice dragon instinctively and immediately knew that the incoming attack was trouble, but it was all too late.
“Graaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
The ice dragon let out a wretched screech as its body was assaulted by an intense pain—far, far worse than the hurt of the initial blow had been. A vision of death lingered in its mind, clear and ever present. As the dragon’s consciousness flickered and faded, it saw something it did not think possible—an even greater, even more terrible power gathering strength in Luke’s sword.
“It was fun, but this is the end,” Luke said with a smirk, preparing another warrior spell. “Dark Bla—”
“W-w-w-wait!! Wait a second, please!!”
Luke’s sword halted right in front of the ice dragon. The release of pressure from the mighty swing sent dirt and dust swirling up into the air.
“…What are you playing at?”
“I-I-I-I offer a…f-full sur…r-rend…er…” it choked out.
The dragon kept its head down, tail wrapped around its legs to make itself as small as possible. It was the ultimate mark of respect from a dragon—a show of obedience.
***
Dragons were, quite rightly, seen as the strongest beings in the world. They had scales that were tough as armor, fangs and claws that could easily rip through steel, and wings that let them soar through the sky. Not to mention their myriad other special abilities, such as their breath attacks and free use of magic spells.
Typically, dragons were solitary creatures. They barely even raised their young, and a dragon hatchling would be cast out of its nest after one or two years. Some species simply left their eggs unattended entirely and let them fend for themselves.
The ice dragon had never met its parents, nor did it have any interest in them. It was born into the world roughly two hundred years earlier and never doubted for a moment of its life that it was the strongest being in the world. Every single aspect of its environment served as proof of that fact, after all. The dragon went wherever it pleased, or wherever the wind blew it. It killed anything that bothered it even a little and lived its life gathering whatever treasures took its fancy. At a certain point, the dragon found that nobody dared to oppose it at all anymore. Dragons were the strongest of all the races, after all. Nobody in the world could stand against an ice dragon, master of elemental magic.
And then, unexpectedly, its world was turned upside down. The reversal came quite suddenly when, one day, the dragon sensed that someone was drawing close and slowly opened its eyes to observe the intruder.
A human.
The ice dragon felt intense disgust and irritation at their presence.
This human has disturbed my sleep. For that alone, they deserve a thousand deaths.
Just as the dragon arose in order to kill the intruder, the sound of a whistle wormed its way into its ear. The dragon didn’t know it, but it was a magic tool called a “Whistle of Domination.” It had been developed independently, not by any state or kingdom but by a certain organization.
Shiver.
The ice dragon’s body trembled, just slightly. It did not know the name of the emotion it was feeling—it did not care to know. With draconic senses far more honed than any human’s could ever be, the dragon detected the danger that, by rights, should not even have been there. It felt as if the inside of its head was dyed black and a part of its mind was being peeled away, ripped from it. Eventually, the ice dragon came to the realization that the emotion it felt was fear.
This human…it is trying to overtake my mind.
It cannot be. It is not possible. A mere human would never be capable of such a thing.
“Grrraaaaaah!! You…you damned humaaan!!”
With a bloodcurdling roar, the dragon resisted with all its might. However, despite this, the human’s foul magic continued to eat away at the monster’s consciousness. It had no time to launch a breath or magic attack against its assailants. The dragon knew that all of its energy had to remain focused on simply resisting, or else its mind would be overtaken in an instant.
Long years of research and constant revisions and improvements had finally yielded results in the Whistle of Domination—a magic tool capable of dominating the strongest race in the world.
“Brilliant…it worked! Arthur’s going to be happy about this!”
And yet the whistle’s control was not absolute.
***
The ice dragon had seen humans as nothing but an irritating nuisance, like little buzzing flies. To a human, an insect was nothing; to a dragon, a human was nothing. One was simply on a completely different level from the other.
It is simply that they irritate me. That is why I kill them. That is reason enough. All other beings are inferior to me, and that truth will never change, the dragon had always thought.
“Slash.”
“Graaaaaaah!”
The dragon’s worldview was smashed to dust. The monster had never felt such intense pain before in its life, and its thoughts immediately turned to death.
“Double Slash! Triple Slash!”
“Graaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!”
In an instant, the onslaught completely blew away the dragon’s arrogance and confidence in its own supremacy, and a part of its mind was shattered.
No more. No more. No more.
I don’t want to die…I don’t want to die…I don’t want to die.
It wanted to call out, desperately clinging to life, but the next swing of the sword came before the ice dragon could get the words out. To the dragon, wallowing in the depths of despair, the human flying above him looked like a demon. Time slowed down to a terrifying pace.
“Dark Slash.”
“Graaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
If the ice dragon had, in its past, been blessed with stronger enemies to fight—those who could have granted it a degree of tolerance to pain, made it less complacent—then the result might have been different.
The pain that Luke inflicted upon the ice dragon that day was the first it had ever experienced—and was so intense that it changed the monster’s personality, thinking, and value system completely.
It was something of a rebirth, one might say.
A switch was flipped, and the ice dragon was born anew into a world where pain and death were possibilities to be feared.
I have to apologize…I have to apologize…I have to apologize…I have to apologize…
I have to apologize!
It was its urgent priority.
I was being too full of myself. I’m sorry. I mean it. I’m really sorry. If I apologize hard enough…over and over again…then maybe, just maybe, he’ll forgive me.
Such was the dragon’s fading hope.
…Huh?
Mercilessly, the human’s sword continued to gather light. As it grew ever larger and more terrible, the dragon had a horrible realization:
Ah, this is going to hurt even more, isn’t it? I see…augh! N-no…no, I can’t take it!!
“It was fun, but this is the end. Dark Bla—”
“W-w-wait!! Wait a second, please!!”
The dragon had never used the word “please” before. It had never been so polite and was surprised at how naturally the word rolled off its tongue. Understanding its own responses as a survival instinct, the dragon kept its head down, tail wrapped around its legs to make itself as small as possible.
The dragon felt the wind pass over its body as the sword thankfully came to a stop mid-swing.
I don’t care what comes next, as long as it’s not that awful pain. I just don’t care.
It was pure self-abandonment.
“…What are you playing at?”
“I-I-I-I offer a…f-full sur…r-rend…er…”
The dragon lowered its head to the human.
Perhaps once, before it knew pain and fear, the ice dragon would have twisted its face up in disgust, bitter tears in its eyes due to the humiliation.But it did not do so now, however. The only feeling the dragon felt wash over it was intense relief that the attacks had stopped and a little bit of embarrassment that it had stumbled over its words when offering its surrender.
Luke looked down at the ice dragon, who trembled pitifully before him, and took a moment to consider how the situation could be best used to his advantage.
“Your name.”
“E-excuse me?”
“I am asking if you have a name,” Luke repeated.
“Y-yes! Yes, I do!”
Luke briefly wondered why the dragon kept stumbling and repeating itself, but decided to ignore it.
“What is it?”
“K…King of, um, th-the World…”
“Huh?”
“Aaah, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It was so presumptuous of me!”
Luke raised an eyebrow silently.
Is this thing trying to make a joke, or what?
Incidentally, the name was one that the ice dragon had chosen for itself rather idly one day. It had no need for names and had only thought it up while killing time, but it ended up taking a liking to the moniker. The dragon truly believed that it was king of the world in which it found itself, after all. At least, it did until it encountered Luke.
He looked at the dragon with suspicion. The monster was incapable of reading the subtle differences between human facial expressions, but with its superior mental faculties, it sensed that the human before it was in a bad mood. It felt as if Luke had a hand around its heart.
No. Stop. This is no good at all.
The ice dragon’s mind began racing.
“R-r-r-right, yes…I will think of a new name.”
“Hmph.”
The ice dragon couldn’t think of a new one on the spot, but it resolved that the next name it chose would be as humble as possible.
The wonderful name “King of the World,” I will give to this human. I am sure he will like that. It will show him my respect.
But just as the dragon was about to tell him that, the human spoke:
“Mwa ha, I have decided. You can serve as a mascot for our domain.”
“…Huh?”
Luke had finally found a way to repay the large debt that he owed his father. Family or not, he did not wish to be beholden to anyone. He struck on the idea of using the ice dragon as a mascot for the Gilbert domain, to bring further prosperity to their lands. He was sure that a rare elemental dragon would draw crowds, and much wealth would come as a consequence.
“For the rest of your life, you will serve as my pawn to bring prosperity to these lands. Agree to this, and I will spare you,” Luke sneered. “You will serve the humans that you once despised. I expect it will be a humiliating ordeal for you, but in exchange, I will not take your life. Am I not generous? Mwa ha ha.”
“I’ll do it! I’ll become your pawn!”
“Ha ha…huh?”
Luke was a little confused. Just like that, then? He’d expected a pained look of deep indignity paired with some sort of internal struggle, but the dragon took no such emotional journey. In fact, it seemed enthusiastic—even a little bit impatient—to become one of Luke’s pawns.
“Oh, and I will also be stripping materials from you,” he said, assuming an intimidating demeanor once again. “You dragons have incredible regenerative abilities, no? Then I’m sure you won’t mind if I regularly harvest your claws, teeth, and scales? Mwa ha ha ha! Aha ha ha—”
“Not at all! Nothing would make me happier than to have my flesh be of service to you, master!”
“…”
Luke blinked in confusion. He had no guilt over what he had suggested, but he was aware that the proposal was insulting. That was part of the reason he’d made it, in fact. The ice dragon still seemed enthusiastic, though.
I don’t get it.
“Then as a mark of our new fellowship…” began the dragon.
“Wait…h-hey, what are you doing?”
“Hyaah! I cut off my tail as an offering… It will quickly grow back, after all.”
“…I see. I don’t need a tail just yet.”
“Ah, uh, understood.”
“…”
Luke’s confusion deepened.
What’s with this sudden transformation? This dragon was trying to kill me a few minutes ago, calling me a “mere human” and everything.
“You aren’t attempting to deceive me now, are you? It is no use. I am going to use Contract magic to make you my familiar and ensure your full cooperation, of course. Mwa ha ha…I expect you were waiting for my guard to slip, so that you could a—”
“It would be an honorrrrr!”
Luke couldn’t even begin to form a response to this.
So long as I live, I will never be an enemy to Luke again, the dragon silently vowed to itself, and the very thought filled it with deep satisfaction and joy.
“Please! Let’s perform the spell at once!” it cried.
“S-sure…”
Luke set to thinking again.
Am I missing something? I mean, this has to be a trap, right?
But how would it be? He analyzed the situation, trying to imagine what plan the dragon might have in mind, and came up with nothing—and that in itself made the whole situation that much more unsettling. Luke genuinely hesitated for a moment over whether this was really a good idea. Finally, he gathered his mana and cast the spell.
“Contract: Familiar.”
A giant magic circle appeared around Luke and the ice dragon, producing a flash of blinding light. Contract magic was a non-elemental sort of magic that only functioned when both parties were consenting. The amount of mana required for a contract depended on the severity of its terms, but in this case, the process went incredibly smoothly.
The two gazed at each other for a moment as the Contract magic took effect. Luke knew precisely when the invisible bond had fully formed—through their new connection, he felt the monster’s acute desire to serve him and saw the genuine and absolute loyalty within its heart.
“I swear to serve you, with all that I possess!”
“…Hmph.”
Luke was tired of doubting. He climbed aboard the creature’s back and instead turned his thoughts to the development of a new Gilbadian delicacy…something involving roasted ice dragon tail.
He then returned to the adventurers who had been watching his battle from afar. He truly looked like a hero of old as he approached, a dragon rider soaring majestically through the skies. The moment Luke landed, a cry of victory exploded from the crowd, and many fists were thrust up into the air in a display of both relief and congratulations.
***
“Ah…yep! This isn’t gonna work!”
“Impossible. Super impossible.”
Away from the throngs of onlookers, Canis and Ferris had also watched Luke’s battle against the ice dragon from start to finish. Their shared expressions were ones of relief, as if some terrible spirit that had been haunting them had finally been banished.
“We did our best…but there ain’t nothing we can do about that, eh? End of the line,” chuckled Canis. “We’ve got two choices, I think, yeah? Either we just run away as far as we can…or, well…”
“…”
As in everything they did, Canis and Ferris planned their next move to ensure the future of beastling kind.
Author’s Note
Author’s Note
LONG TIME NO SEE, EVERYONE. THIS IS YUKIHA Kuroyuki.
I’m so happy that we’re here in this second volume, and it’s all thanks to your support. This book has shown us a little bit of the enemy of our story and has mostly focused on how things haven’t been going great for Luke—what did you think?
With so many really intense characters, my personal favorite, by contrast, is actually Zack. I’d appreciate it if my readers enjoyed him as much as I do. I like the sort of characters that overwhelm and annihilate their enemies with strength, of course, but I also like the sort that fight in the mud, making up for their lack of talent with guts and cunning. He’s an A-rank adventurer, so it’s not like he’s talentless or anything.
I’m not sure if we’ll be getting another volume yet, but the story will be really advancing in the next book. All kinds of forces will be making moves, and Luke-kun’s stomach is going to start hurting through all of it. I hope you’re looking forward to it. This work was turned into a novel quite soon after the online version started releasing, so there is the issue that we’re going to catch up with it quite soon…but I’ll try my best.
Right then, I’d like to make some acknowledgments. First, thank you to Uodenim-sensei for all the beautiful illustrations in this volume. I felt this way in the first volume too, but having wonderful pictures between pages of text really makes me enjoy the process of reading a lot more. It’s all thanks to Uodenim-sensei—really, thank you so much for your hard work.
To Kida-sama, the editor of this volume—I would like to apologize, as I did in the last book, for all the trouble I caused. Every time I received a message saying, “We fixed that on our end!” it made my heart ache a little. I also appreciate all your hard work, especially given the tight deadline for this volume. Thank you very much.
Lastly, thank you to all of my readers for making it this far. I wasn’t feeling well while working on this book, but thinking about all of you readers really encouraged me to keep going. I made it through somehow. I’ll focus on making this story really interesting as we keep going into the next volume, so I hope you’ll stick with me.
Goodbye, then.