Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Master (End)

Cranber Soup had a long table attached in front of the owner’s kitchen.

Should I call it a bar table?

“You’re all working hard from the morning! You’re in the same year, so why not sit together?!”

At the owner’s seat recommendation, I saw no particular reason to refuse and sat beside Kaen.

For the menu, I asked for chicken soup.

When going to a shop for the first time, it was right to try the best-selling menu first.

The moment I sat beside her, I felt Kaen’s shoulders twitch.

“Keen Senses” was providing me with a good deal of information even without me directly looking somewhere.

“Is this the first time I’ve seen Kaen this close?”

Since our classes were still different, there had been no real chance to run into each other.

From Kaen’s perspective, she was hiding her identity and hiding her strength, so it would be awkward for me to approach her first too.

In any case, the current Kaen must be acting as an ordinary Class C student.

“N-nice to meet you! Ever since the placement exam, I’ve been keeping an eye on you...!”

Kaen spoke to me in an extremely bright tone.

Her “real” way of speaking was much more serious than this.

It was far clumsier than Eisel’s acting, but acting was still acting, so it would be better to play along.

“Ah, I’m Zeto.”

I slightly lowered my head and greeted Kaen beside me.

“I’m Kaen!”

Kaen also greeted me, and her pink hair swayed accordingly.

Her emerald eyes, contrasting with the color of her hair, made for an appearance that immediately stood out.

Meanwhile, beside Kaen, Sierra was doing things like waving an arm that had sunk through Kaen’s body or suddenly staring intently at the crown of Kaen’s head...

A whole commotion of strange behavior was unfolding. It was fortunate that only I could see that sight.

“Ugh...”

Kaen, who was being carefully inspected by Sierra, stopped eating soup and clutched her own shoulder.

“What is wrong?”

It was pure curiosity.

I was curious what sort of influence Sierra’s existence had on others.

“It’s just... suddenly, there was this unknown chill... Ahaha...! There’s no reason for it, though...”

Kaen scratched the back of her head.

“A chill...?”

Was it similar to getting goosebumps?

I would have to tell Sierra later to refrain from doing things like that as much as possible.

Before the chicken soup I ordered came out, Sierra, who had stopped examining Kaen, spoke to me in a low voice.

[ Disciple, this woman is no ordinary person. And yet... she seems to be pretending to be ordinary, unlike herself. ]

Since I could not answer Sierra’s words here where people were present, I listened appropriately and let it pass.

It seemed Sierra had noticed.

It did not seem she had reached the information that Kaen was the Sword Saint’s disciple yet, but she would learn it someday.

Each character had their own episode, and in order to guide the results in a better direction, I had to intervene in them, so I would end up clashing with her eventually.

“Here’s your chicken soup!”

The owner, having finished making the soup, pushed it before me and said that.

“It comes out really quickly.”

I scooped up a spoonful of soup and ate it.

“M-Mister! One more bowl for me too!”

Kaen, who had been watching me, shouted.

“I thought you were a good eater from last time, miss!”

The owner, excited by the additional order, shouted along with her.

“One more bowl...?”

The Kaen I knew ate lightly.

She was not the type to eat much.

If it came to a big eater, Yuri was far more on that side.

Then, considering Kaen’s calculating personality, it meant she wanted to stay beside me a little longer, but I did not know the reason.

It had not been long since I noticed she was secretly watching me, so I had no information.

If this were Kaen from the game, right around now, she should have been acting as an ordinary Class C student and not even showing her face in the game.

That was how inconspicuously she behaved, and even if one found her from the early part of the game and tried speaking to her, she would not respond well. She would end the conversation quickly and avoid the place.

“Student Zeto, even though you cannot see, you handle the sword well...! Surely that is the result of ‘effort,’ right...?”

While waiting for her soup, Kaen scraped her empty bowl with a spoon and said that to me.

“Mm... It is thanks to having a good master.”

At my next words, Sierra beside me thrust her face toward me.

Sierra came so close that she blocked the soup I was eating and whispered.

[ A good master... This master has not yet taught her disciple swordsmanship, you know. A master whose identity cannot be known... truly a convenient excuse. ]

Of course, I did not actually hear it by my ear, but her languid voice, tickling my whole body, rang inside my head.

Sierra seemed to have found enjoyment in picking at my excuses.

“Master... They must be a good person!”

Kaen repeated the word master, then soon smiled brightly with a foolish grin.

I nodded to her and ate another spoonful of soup.

[ Pfft... Seeing both of you wearing thick masks and conversing feels like watching a play good for killing time. ]

Sierra had also roughly noticed Kaen’s acting. What on earth had she seen while looking through Kaen’s body to act like that?

Kaen and I ate our soup in silence after that.

The soup was seasoned properly, with a safe flavor that warmed the stomach and would not be tiring even after eating it several times.

“Urk...”

Suddenly, I saw Kaen struggling beside me as she ate her soup.

It seemed she was extremely full.

“Why did she order more when she wasn’t even going to talk much...”

I had just finished my meal, and for Kaen, who was having difficulty eating more, I intended to leave my seat.

“Come again next time~!”

I greeted the lively owner and had just stepped out of the shop.

Someone hurriedly ran out after me from behind.

“Um... Student Zeto...!”

When I turned around at the urgent footsteps, I saw Kaen panting for breath.

“Would you perhaps spar with me sometime? I also handle a sword, so... though I am lacking, I would like to learn a move from you!”

Kaen’s sparring request, whose intention I could not understand.

By crossing swords, one could find one’s shortcomings and improve, but...

Kaen was the Sword Saint’s disciple.

If one had to say it, like Eisel, she was someone who had no need to attend this academy at all.

Sierra was also watching Kaen’s mysterious sparring request.

[ Hmhm. Interesting, Disciple. What are you doing? Hurry and accept. ]

Taking Sierra’s words to heart, I sank into deep thought.

“Kaen is the disciple of the Sword Saint, Sierra’s goal, but...”

If Kaen did not use the Sword Saint’s swordsmanship, perhaps it could somehow pass in a good direction.

In any case, it did not seem Kaen had asked to spar in order to beat me.

There was no way she would reveal the Sword Saint’s swordsmanship in such an ordinary sparring match.

“...Very well. Let us cross swords sometime.”

I accepted Kaen’s proposal.

Kaen wore an expression that made it hard to tell whether she was happy or surprised.

“Then I’ll come find you when I have time!”

Kaen smiled brightly and waved at me.

I would need to use this chance to find out Kaen’s intentions.

***

After confirming that he had moved away, I stopped making a bright expression.

Since he was a blind man who could not see anyway, a bright expression meant nothing to him.

It was simply my terrible habit.

I lowered the corners of my mouth and opened my eyes calmly.

“Was that guy watching me too? Since when?”

How had he learned that I had become a regular who visited that soup shop every morning?

It had not been long.

Judging from his actions, it seemed he had come to this shop for the first time.

“Was it simply a coincidence...”

For that, he had noticed my surveillance. After that, I had tried to use a more secretive “Shadow Erasure.”

I thought things had gotten better, but he came to find me instead.

That guy sat beside me and brazenly exuded pressure.

“He is hiding his strength. Definitely.”

The chilling aura I felt after that guy sat down was an indescribably eerie energy.

I disliked even the timing of his appearance at the shop.

He came when I had nearly emptied my soup, so in the end, I had no choice but to force myself to eat another bowl.

“I’m full...”

Humiliating.

But to request a sparring match with that guy, there was no helping it.

“Still, he accepted the sparring request so easily... Amateur.”

A sparring match between students is naturally supposed to be a pure contest, but things are different for students who draw attention.

I plan to quietly spread rumors before this sparring match happens.

So that many students will come to watch the sparring.

“I will make him reveal his strength before the students’ eyes.”

Now that he has become a Class A student, he cannot lose to a Class C student. If I make him reveal his strength by matching him moderately, that will be the end.

I, too, will reveal my hidden strength and seize the students’ attention all at once.

Even I thought it was a wicked plan.

“You dare hide your strength before me? You are a thousand years too early, Zeto...”

I have done all kinds of things until now to hide my strength.

I even came to Innocence Academy to obtain an even more thrilling pleasure.

Months of effort still lay ahead, but I had no intention of sitting still and quietly letting myself be beaten by him.

“But it does feel as if he accepted the sparring too easily...”

It was not a choice befitting someone hiding their strength.

That point bothered me.

At present, I judged that he was hiding his strength to seduce women.

A few days ago, I remembered seeing Student Eisel enter the male dormitory for that guy.

Just in case, I waited for Student Eisel to appear, but until morning came, Student Eisel did not leave the dormitory.

There was no way I could fail to know what that meant.

Even now, when I think of that day, my face grows hot.

“What shamelessness...”

Thanks to that, I stayed up all night and ended up being scolded by Instructor Kaliman for dozing off during class that day.

Student Eisel was not the end.

Perhaps Student Yuri, who spent time close to him, was also in danger.

“Could it be... he’s targeting me too...?!”

I sensed that his demonic hand was reaching toward me.

This and that aside, I too was a woman.

“Whether a woman is cool, cute, or strong, are all of them merely the same woman to you?”

I vowed to thoroughly crush him in the sparring match.

“I will finish you without using Grandfather’s swordsmanship, Zeto.”