I am out of breath.
My opponent, Arvain, was looking at me with a calm expression.
But now I know.
He is also somewhat exhausted.
Now, just one last exchange.
This will end our duel.
“Huuh.”
I slowly take my stance.
The challenger is me.
In this standoff, I was the first to make a move.
“Ha!”
With a battle cry, I charge forward without hesitation.
I aim for the gaps in Arvain’s defense that have begun to show after four days of sparring.
I target his shoulder and bring Neia down from above.
Arvain’s reaction was swift.
He quickly swung his sword to deflect Neia.
Using the rebound, I extended my right foot towards Arvain, but he raised his left knee and blocked it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Arvain’s characteristic.
His speed isn’t particularly fast.
However, each of his attacks precisely targets my openings, and every strike is heavy.
Once that momentum begins, I have no chance of winning.
Until now, I had been trying to strike as quickly as possible to avoid losing that flow.
But that approach was wrong.
No matter how fast I attack, if I can’t land a solid hit, it just means I’m exhausting my stamina.
In other words, what I need to do is land a single precise strike.
And that moment is now, with his knee raised and posture unstable.
Without hesitation, I took out Diana and threw it at his remaining right leg.
“Mm?”
Arvain had a puzzled expression as he blocked Diana with his sword.
And finally, I saw an opening.
Should I say it’s a habit Arvain has?
While there was no gap in his attacks and defenses…
When he got tired, right before he regained his stance, his left shoulder slightly dropped.
I aimed for that spot and extended Neia without hesitation.
“Sharp.”
His slight admiration burst out, and I finally thought, “I did it.”
“But you’re still inexperienced.”
“Huh?”
Before I knew it, I was flying through the air.
Arvain’s handiwork as he knocked me down while I was swordless.
“Kuh!”
When my back hit the ground, shock radiated through my body.
It felt like my insides were twisting.
“When you aim for an opening, make sure to divert your gaze completely until the end. If you hesitate, like just now, you’ll be countered.”
“…Understood.”
I learned a lot during the four days of sparring.
Still, if there’s one regret, it’s that I couldn’t secure even a single victory.
Of course, it would be presumptuous to have such thoughts against an opponent who is a High-Class Knight.
But feeling a hint of stubbornness was inevitable.
“Is it finally over?”
But just as Arvain said, it was all over now.
Tomorrow is the day I return to Arcana, so this duel also comes to an end.
The research I had been doing with Arvain for ten years is over too.
And the result is…
“This isn’t bad.”
It was a definitive success.
“Aike. Don’t you think of joining the Knight Order?”
“Excuse me?”
It was such a sudden question.
“You currently possess the skill to be immediately placed as a Junior Knight, not just an apprentice. Isn’t it a waste to let that talent go to waste?”
But I couldn’t easily respond to Arvain’s serious words.
The future I had envisioned was confined only to the content of the original story.
What I would do beyond that.
What kind of profession I would have.
While I had thought about it, to be honest, I didn’t care much.
Of course, it was a conversation I would eventually need to consider.
“…I still want to spend a bit more time in Arcana.”
But that wasn’t what I wanted to say in that moment.
“I see. That’s too bad.”
Arvain got up from his chair and approached me, extending his right hand.
“But we’ll meet again someday. Thank you for the past four days.”
“Thank you for your efforts.”
After shaking hands with Arvain, I left the room.
★
“Thank you, Lady Charlotte.”
Before the carriage returning to Arcana, Charlotte waved us off.
Arvain was nowhere to be seen.
According to Charlotte, he was busy perfecting the research findings.
“Come visit the Magic Tower again later. You all have just taken your first steps.”
Charlotte said that while patting Reina and Sophia’s shoulders.
Reina nodded with an expressionless face.
Sophia smiled brightly and bowed her head.
It was a short time to call them master and apprentice.
But they were already showing their respect towards Charlotte, saying they had learned a lot.
“Then, safe travels.”
“Yes!”
Reina and Sophia boarded the carriage first.
I was waiting because Charlotte had something to say last.
“Aike.”
“Yes?”
“When the intruder broke into Arcana, I heard you were the one who held out until the end.”
“That’s correct.”
“You can take this lightly as it’s just a gut feeling with no basis, but I think that intruder will appear before you again.”
Of course, I already knew that.
Rex was one of the final bosses in the original story.
If the empire clashes with Avatarara, he will inevitably be the opponent I face again.
“So when I came to visit Arcana, I thought from the beginning that I would take you to the Magic Tower. I believed Arvain’s research would be beneficial to you.”
“The reason I was able to hold out back then…”
“Don’t give me any strange excuses. At the end of the day, it was you who stood firm and protected everyone else. That’s the only fact.”
At Charlotte’s words, I silently swallowed.
“Anyway, when that intruder appears before you again, the most important person will be you.”
“I think you’re overestimating me.”
“I’m being sincere. People become dependent on many things from a single experience. The fact that you stood until the end will certainly be a great help.”
Charlotte’s gaze was unwavering.
It would be a lie to say I didn’t feel pressured by her eyes.
But I could no longer deny her words.
I was already aware.
From the moment Rex targeted me, the figure of Aike Akses was no longer a minor role.
Even if I said I’m not the most important in this story.
I realized I was now standing in the midst of the narrative.
“I know that Arvain’s research won’t make you radically strong. But I still think it would help you in various aspects.”
Certainly, the time spent in the Magic Tower was short, but it had been of great help to me.
Even taking into account just the sparring with Arvain, I had more than enough reasons to have come to the Magic Tower.
“Thank you.”
Acknowledging that fact, I gently inclined my head to Charlotte.
“By the way, why did you only bring me along?”
Before getting onto the carriage, I suddenly threw a question at Charlotte.
While I appreciated her bringing me to the Magic Tower, thinking back, it wouldn’t have hurt to bring Helen and the Crown Prince along as well.
That thought crossed my mind at the end.
In response to that question, Charlotte crossed her arms and opened her mouth.
“First of all, Helen Oberon cannot benefit at all from Arvain’s research. Unlike you, who has an unusually broad Magical Realm, she has an unusually high amount of magical power.”
“Does that make any difference?”
“She would negate any openings that arise due to her overwhelming output, according to Arvain.”
That certainly made sense.
Arvain’s research aims to eliminate risks arising from openings.
But if there are no risks, there’s no need for it.
“And the Crown Prince… he never has openings to begin with.”
“Excuse me?”
“Literally. There was a time when I visited the Crown Prince for help with Arvain’s research. As soon as I explained the basics, he rejected it outright.”
The reason there are openings in physical enhancement is that during battle, part of one’s consciousness must be utilized for the circulation of magical power.
However, from what Charlotte said, that genius Crown Prince has never had a problem in that regard.
In other words, when I, Reina, Sophia, Helen, Atal, and the Crown Prince clash with Avatarara.
Among us—who makes up the front lines, the one who truly needed this research was only me.
“Well, I thought that even just sparring with a High-Class Knight would be beneficial, but Arvain dislikes having too many people around.”
Ultimately, due to various factors, I was the only one she ended up bringing, Charlotte concluded.
★
Inside the carriage returning to Arcana.
“So, does that mean Reina and Sophia only practiced magic battles for four days?”
“Yes. In the evenings, before bed, we studied on our own, and only practiced magic battles with Lady Charlotte.”
“In the end, we received advice too. We didn’t learn any new spells, but it was certainly a great help.”
I finally realized something was off.
In the original story, the Magic Tower is the first step for Sophia to become a Saintess.
“Miracles don’t always come unexpectedly. Obtaining it solely depends on oneself.”
This was the line I had said to Ender Dean to get a weekend outing.
This was the very episode Sophia would hear for the first time.
While her talent in light magic was clear, Sophia had some flaws in her control over magical power.
What Charlotte prepared for her was the “Trial Room.”
That room, created using wind attribute S-class magic, endlessly stirs the magical power of those inside.
To endure that, one needed to create a suitable flow of magical power.
For someone like Sophia, who had a lot of useless magical power waste, it was the perfect training.
However, Charlotte deemed it too simple and added extra elements.
That was the hallucination in the subconscious.
Inside the Trial Room, it forcibly replayed various memories from the person’s subconscious.
They had to create the flow of magical power while enduring this hallucination; it was truly a complete trial.
At first, Sophia endured well in this trial room, but past the one-hour mark, she began to tire.
And eventually, just before passing out, she saw an apparition of the Saintess Selene reciting that very line.
Sophia being recognized as a Saintess starts with her uttering that line in front of Ender Dean.
If she doesn’t know that line from the beginning, the story cannot progress.
“…Am I really that underqualified?”
Originally, the Magic Tower episode in the source material is supposed to happen next year.
It goes without saying, but a year’s time difference can be significant.
While the original Sophia would be at a level to be recognized by Charlotte,
there’s no way the current Sophia could build up enough skill for that.
But I can’t just say let’s go back to the Magic Tower now.
I was in a bind.
“Damn it.”
I felt resentful towards fate.
For now, I took a moment to stop the carriage for a meal.
Egg bacon sandwich and milk.
It was a simple, easy-to-eat combination.
Of course, I couldn’t taste any of it as I was consumed with thoughts about the future.
“Aike, Prince.”
In the midst of my intense pondering, Sophia finished her meal and spoke up.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“You and Reina were childhood friends, right?”
“That’s correct.”
Sophia hesitated for a moment, then whispered.
“But why do you speak to Reina in formal language?”
“…Excuse me?”
“…!”
At the sudden question, I turned to find Reina’s face crimson as she was choking.
