Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Superior and Subordinate

“Why isn’t he coming?”

Even though such a large crowd had gathered, Zeto had not arrived.

“I worked so hard to gather this audience...”

Over the past few days, I had investigated students with loose lips, whether seniors or first-years, and had subtly leaked rumors to them.

Everything had gone according to my calculations.

Labyrinth practice had ended.

Naturally, conversations among the students could become lively again, and especially for the senior students, they needed a spectacle more stimulating than the Labyrinth they experienced every time.

However, if Zeto did not come, it would be a disaster.

From his position, his rising reputation would be smeared with mud, but if he did not show up, I would gain nothing either.

“When is he coming?”

“Are you sure he caught the lycanthrope?”

“They said he came out holding its head in his hand.”

“I can’t get excited when his opponent is Class C...”

Everyone was getting tired of waiting.

I too was growing parched because he would not appear.

Just then, I heard the murmuring of students near the entrance.

When I looked at the entrance of the sparring arena, he was walking in with Yuri.

Once Zeto fully entered the sparring arena, the gazes of the people gathered not on me, but on him.

Even that was a little thrilling, and my body swayed slightly.

It already felt as if the gazes and attention that would pour onto me after defeating him were wrapping around my body.

“...Are you all right?”

The academy staff member conducting this sparring match asked me with a worried face.

“I am fine.”

I immediately corrected my posture and answered the staff member.

“Well, so many people have gathered... I heard you are in Class C, and I am rooting for you. I was also in Class C when I attended the academy, you see. Even if your opponent is Class A, one never knows whether something is long or short until one measures it. It happens sometimes. Students bloom with talent in the middle of sparring...”

“Ah... Thank you.”

Listening to the staff member’s explanation, the excitement I had tried to calm down rose within me again.

“An overwhelming underdog awakening through a sparring match...”

That scenario did not sound bad either.

As I was thinking idle thoughts, Zeto had already come right up before me.

That arrogant smile never left his lips.

“This sparring match will be conducted within illusion magic. You must not possess any item that may interfere with the magic, and since this is not an official match, there are no penalties or rewards for victory or defeat....Any objections?”

The staff member looked between Zeto and me and asked.

I wanted to start the sparring match quickly.

The more the atmosphere of the sparring arena heightened, the more my whole body tingled and trembled.

“You said there are no penalties or rewards, but would it be all right to make a verbal ‘promise’ through discussion?”

At the staff member’s question, Zeto suddenly spoke.

“Just for fun.”

Puzzled, I tilted my head, and Zeto added that. When I met him yesterday, there had been no talk like this.

“...There is no issue with that. However, it will hold no effect or coercive power.”

The staff member looked at me with a worried gaze and said quietly.

I did not know what his scheme was, but there was nothing bad about playing along.

“...Is there something you want, Student Zeto? The cake you bought me yesterday was delicious, so I will at least hear you out.”

I no longer needed to act foolish in front of him.

I had waited only for this moment, when I would reveal my skill.

“I repeat, what happens here holds no effect or coercive power. Please keep that in mind.”

The staff member’s urgent guidance continued, but it could not stop the conversation between us.

“How about granting one wish?”

Zeto continued speaking firmly even after hearing the staff member’s emphasis.

“...A wish?”

What he wanted was a wish.

But there was one thing I could imagine if it was his wish.

“My body...?”

Because it was so absurd, my face twisted.

Zeto, who could not know my face had twisted, opened his mouth.

“A suitably light wish?”

“...Fine. My wish may be harsh for you, though.”

Then it would be good for me to strike back too.

My wish was for him to never touch women at all. I did not think he would obediently grant it.

For my part, following Grandfather’s words that promises must be kept, I intended to grant whatever wish he demanded, but no situation would arise where I had to grant his wish.

Boos were pouring from the audience.

It was because the sparring match was not starting quickly.

These boos would later become powerful cheers.

That was reason enough to defeat him.

“...It seems the two of you have spoken enough, so I will proceed. Ah, the instructors requested that the transmission screen be changed to the largest one. Is that all right?”

“No issue.”

“I have no issue either.”

Zeto and I answered the staff member firmly.

“Then.”

Then the staff member placed his hand on the magic circle on the floor.

The boos died down, and the audience began swelling with anticipation.

To be precise, they were likely anticipating Zeto’s skill.

“Perhaps they are exchanging reactions like, ‘If she is Class C, we’ll at least be able to see his swordsmanship.’”

I was curious about the reaction of the audience that would not merely confirm his swordsmanship, but witness his miserable end.

As I focused on the voices of the audience striking my ears, my body slowly began to heat.

Soon, the magic circle shone, and my vision blurred.

Before long, the scene reflected in my sight completely changed.

I slowly turned my head and looked around.

“A reed field.”

Reeds high enough to reach roughly my waist filled the surrounding area.

—Rustle, rustle.

The wind that happened to blow made the reeds brush against one another and produce a gentle sound.

Should I say this was unlucky... Zeto was blind.

Since he was sensitive to sound, with reeds here, it would be easy for him to detect the sound of my movement.

Still, that would not affect victory or defeat.

Soon, I saw him located not far away.

His head was already turned precisely toward me.

“Right. Since he noticed my tailing, there is no point considering that.”

There was no need to clash violently from the start.

In the beginning, showing the skill of an ordinary Class C student without collapsing would be appropriate.

Unlike what he thought, I would not collapse so easily.

If I simply kept doing that, he would become more than a little flustered and begin revealing his strength in order to defeat me, who was nothing more than Class C.

That would be my timing to reveal my strength.

The scenario was perfect.

Soon, I drew my sword.

—Shing.

I pointed the sword at him and took a stance.

“Balanced, but a little clumsy.”

All of this was building a staircase. A staircase toward the pleasure of standing even higher when I revealed my strength.

“Haa...”

A rough breath burst from my mouth.

This was not good, but I kept getting excessively excited.

For the sake of the audience watching the sparring match, I calmed my excitement and focused on Zeto’s movements.

The ideal picture was Zeto, the Class A student, clashing with me, the Class C student, full of confidence.

“The finish will look coolest if I cut off his head.”

While waiting for his charge, I was thinking about what kind of finish would be the coolest.

—Rustle, rustle.

A leisurely wind swept across the reed field once again.

Soon, Zeto drew the sword at his waist.

His new sword.

It was my first time seeing him draw it.

The revealed edge was red like blood, and the black body of the blade shone so brilliantly that it made me wonder whether it was black crystal.

“I already thought the handle looked expensive.”

His sword was so “stylish” that it was irritating.

But so what? Grandfather had told me that no matter whether it was a famous blade or whatever else, in the end, the one handling the sword was what mattered.

Visible between the reeds, Zeto held his sword in a reverse grip.

Anyone with even a little knowledge of swords would know.

They would know how fatal the weakness of a reverse grip was, and how impractical it was.

“Is he looking down on me, or is he showing off his composure?”

Even holding it in a reverse grip, he could beat me.

Was that the meaning he wanted to show?

Strength entered both of my hands gripping the sword.

Once, I had asked Grandfather about reverse grips.

“Kaen, listen carefully. Those who hold their swords in reverse grip are divided into two types. The first are mere show-offs. Most people who hold it in reverse grip fall into this category. Ridiculous fellows. If you simply counterattack a little, people like that quickly lose their posture and stumble.”

“Then what is the second?”

“The second is...”

At my question, Grandfather stroked his beard and said this.

“...Those who have no problem even when holding it in reverse grip. They are ones with that much superior skill. So pay them at least a little caution.”

Of course, I did not think he belonged to the second category.

However, the smile I could faintly see on him from far away was needlessly raising my wariness.

“Get a hold of yourself, Kaen. There is no way.”

Even if he was someone hiding his strength like me, even if he could dispel with a sword.

There was no way he could beat me with a sword.

I was Kaen.

The disciple of the Sword Saint, the greatest swordsman on the continent.

“For the finish, it would be good to take off his head with sword aura.”

If an academy student, and on top of that a first-year, and on top of that a Class C student, revealed sword aura, how would the audience react?

I inhaled deeply.

I felt it was about time for him to charge.

“If he clashes hard from the first exchange, I will counter as if it is a little burdensome.”

Thanks to the illusion magic, this sparring match was a duel with real swords.

A momentary fatal blow would matter greatly.

Yet even though all the calculations in my head were finished, Zeto still was not charging at me.

Thinking the audience would grow frustrated, I tried to move first.

It was the moment my leg pushed through the reeds and took one step.

His arm moved.

However, what moved was not his right arm holding the sword.

Zeto suddenly raised his left hand and swept it along the blade.

“What is that now?”

He was preparing something.

“Let’s just not let my guard down.”

If I let my guard down, I might not get the production I wanted.

The instant his left hand swept all the way to the tip of the blade, I could tell that the aura I felt from him in the distance had changed.

Because there was a fair distance, I could not confirm it properly, but something had definitely changed.

Then Zeto’s arm, holding the sword, moved.

For a fleeting moment, slow enough that the scene of Zeto’s sword cutting diagonally through empty air seemed to flow slowly.

Many judgments followed in my head.

“Don’t tell me he has sword aura too?”

However, it was absolutely not sword aura.

No mana was pouring from his sword at all.

Not only his sword; I could not see mana bursting from his body either.

“Then why that meaningless slash...?”

Had I been overestimating him without realizing it?

Perhaps he had swung his sword without any meaning at all.

The moment my thoughts reached that point.

—Sssshk!

Suddenly, I heard the reeds before my eyes being cut.

Then, the severed reeds rose into the air before my eyes.

I could not understand.

Why the reeds were being cut.

Even though I had watched it with my own two eyes, it was a sight that could not be explained.

Whether it was sword aura or not did not matter.

His invisible sword strike had already reached right before my nose.

My body, trained by the Sword Saint—by Grandfather—from childhood, could react to it.

However, perhaps because something so impossible had happened.

“What direction did he cut with the sword again...?”

My head went blank.

Then my vision tilted.

“Ah...?”

I tried to make a voice full of doubt, but no voice came out.

My vision rotated, floating in the air.

My head was literally spinning.

My vision gradually plunged downward, and I saw my own body, blood gushing out without a head.

“My neck was cut...?”

Soon, my vision went dark.

How many seconds passed?

The darkness lifted, and light began to appear again. I was standing once more in the sparring arena filled with people.

After coming out of the illusion magic, I staggered, then collapsed onto the floor.

My neck had been cut.

It was not sword aura.

If it had been the sword aura I knew, the reeds in front of him should have been cut down first.

It was a distance where the sword could not reach.

Even so, Zeto swung his sword, and my neck was cleanly cut.

Completely unlike what I had expected, Zeto revealed his strength from the very beginning.

As if there was no need to hide his strength or anything else, he casually swung his sword and destroyed every scenario I had prepared.

From the dispel during the placement exam to the swordsmanship with unknowable roots in this sparring match.

Because I could not understand any of it, my head went blank.

From the audience seats, what I heard was not cheers, but doubts about his swordsmanship.

They were not looking at me.

Their gazes were fixed on Zeto, who had white bandages around his eyes.

The audience was dyed with shock as they looked at Zeto.

“I lost...?”

As someone trying to gain people’s attention.

And as a proper swordsman.

It was a perfect defeat.

What would be the point of asking for a rematch now, using Grandfather’s swordsmanship, and beating him?

My defeat as the “Sword Saint’s disciple” would only become uglier.

I had to admit it.

It was my fault for judging him, deciding what he was, and predicting him as I pleased.

That was the main reason for my defeat.

“This isn’t right...”

Against my will, tears welled up, and my vision blurred.

I was frustrated.

What frustrated me more than anything was...

...that in the fleeting moment when my head was cut off, I had thought his attack was cool.

That fact made me even more miserable.

***

“What was that just now...?”

“She died in one strike?”

“She’s Class C, though.”

“Sword aura... It wasn’t that.”

“What did he just do...?”

The doubtful voices of the students nearby struck Edward’s ears.

Edward turned his head from the screen, looked at Kaliman, who was standing there dazed, and spoke to him.

“I do not even have a sense of what I just saw... What do you think, Instructor Kaliman?”

Edward was a mage one way or another, and judged that Kaliman, as a martial artist, would understand swords better.

At this, Kaliman answered Edward’s question without taking his eyes from the screen.

The screen showed Zeto standing leisurely in the reed field.

“It was neither sword aura nor sword energy.”

“It was not magic either.”

Reina, holding soup in one hand and no longer lifting her spoon, answered after Kaliman.

It was not sword aura.

Nor was Zeto a “magic swordsman” who handled both magic and swordsmanship.

“...I have never seen swordsmanship like that in my life.”

“I do not like agreeing with Instructor Kaliman, but the same goes for me.”

Edward said this in an annoying voice and stroked his chin.

Edward’s already narrow eyes became even narrower.

“I thought he was growing at an overwhelming pace... Then his sword changed, and his swordsmanship changed too.”

The amount of mana Edward had observed in Zeto had been increasing strangely quickly every passing day.

From an instructor’s position, there was no need to question a student working hard and growing.

But this time, the story was different.

“If I did not see wrong, Student Zeto reversed the flow of his mana for a moment.”

Reina, serious-faced, spoke quietly.

“Yes, and yet as you can see, he is walking around perfectly fine.”

Answering Reina’s words, Edward looked at Zeto, who had come out of the illusion magic and was approaching Kaen.

If one twisted the flow of mana, one would usually cough blood. In severe cases, one could even die.

That was the basic “common sense” the instructors possessed.

“...What’s interesting is that Kaen reacted. She definitely reacted to Student Zeto’s attack, even though I cannot even tell whether it was sword aura or something else. She is in my class, but I did not know she had that level of skill...”

“How about paying even a little attention to the students in your class, Instructor Kaliman?”

Edward said this while glancing at Kaliman, who had been scratching his beard and praising Kaen.

At Edward’s sarcasm, Kaliman glared at him.

“Well, I suppose I am not one to talk.”

Edward let out a small laugh and thought this.

“At this point, I am curious who Student Zeto’s master is. Perhaps I should have at least asked the name during the placement exam, hah!”

“That peculiar swordsmanship using a reverse grip was probably taught by his master too.”

After having that conversation with Kaliman, Edward clapped loudly.

“Interesting. Very interesting.”

Edward was terribly curious what kind of story Zeto’s highly intriguing path would write from now on.

“I bought this soup for nothing.”

Meanwhile, Reina looked down at the soup she had not even finished half of and muttered softly.

...The soup was 20 copper more expensive than its usual price, costing a full 50 copper.

***

The sparring match ended cleanly, just as I had expected.

The moment I entered the illusion magic and saw the “weaknesses” on Kaen’s body as she held her clumsy stance, I sensed victory.

“...Still, she did react.”

Because it had been a reed field, Kaen had been able to notice the sword strike a little faster.

But I felt relieved when I saw her head fall immediately afterward.

Kaen was still Kaen.

Only she could have reacted to that degree.

“If the one standing there had been the ‘Sword Saint’... that would have been a different story.”

Thanks to the sparring match with Kaen, I was able to find one small weakness of Chapter One of Rebellion Against Heaven.

As soon as I came out of the illusion magic, I thought.

“More importantly, what would be good to use Kaen for?”

It had been a rather improvised matter, so I had nothing prepared.

Still, thanks to it, I had gained a chance to freely use a level 30 swordsman.

Moreover, she was a woman.

In the game, quests one could receive or matters one could resolve sometimes differed depending on the player character’s gender.

For example, it had not been a quest, but since the petal used as a cursed blade material was in the female dormitory, proceeding as a female character had been overwhelmingly more convenient.

It seemed best to take this opportunity to obtain the reward for a quest or matter whose progress required a woman.

“A woman... Was there something like that...?”

It was something I had not had in mind, but the thought did not take long.

That plan had, as a condition for progress, exactly “one young maiden.”

Conveniently, a target matching the condition was right before me.

In front of me, I saw Kaen sitting collapsed on the floor.

I approached Kaen with careful steps.

Sierra approached Kaen before me, checked her face, and spoke.

[ That is the face of someone whose heart has broken... I thought it impressive that she reacted to Rebellion Against Heaven too... ]

Sierra did not know that she was the Sword Saint’s disciple, so she would make such an evaluation.

This must be Kaen’s first defeat and first failure.

When I approached right in front of Kaen, she lifted her heavy head from where she had been slumped.

Her eyes, as she sat collapsed on the ground, were red-rimmed, and tears brimmed at the edges.

I held out my hand to her and opened my mouth.

“It was a good sparring match.”

It was a very formal greeting.

“...”

However, Kaen simply stared at the hand I held out, sniffling, and gave no answer.

“...Since I won the sparring match, may I tell you my wish as promised?”

I withdrew the hand that had been awkwardly extended and continued speaking.

She had to keep her promise.

It was none other than the Sword Saint’s teaching.

To Kaen, that held tremendous coercive power.

“Nngh...”

Kaen, who had continued giving no answer, looked like she might burst into the tears she had been holding back.

I paid no attention and continued speaking.

“Could we meet alone tonight? There is something I need Miss Kaen’s body for.”

I said this in a voice small enough that the others inside the sparring arena could not hear.

It was a statement that could cause more than a few misunderstandings.

But it was not a lie.

We would be meeting at night and leaving the academy together.

In any case, all misunderstandings would be resolved once the day came.

“...”

After hearing the contents of my wish, Kaen lowered her head deeply, as if what had to come had finally come.

I silently waited for her as she kept her head lowered.

Sierra was staring at me with a puzzled gaze.

Sierra was probably misunderstanding too.

However, right now, my desire to tease Kaen was stronger.

It was only because the way she had thought of me as nothing more than a simple tool for obtaining pleasure bothered me a little.

Kaen finally seemed to stop crying, wiped her eyes, and raised her head again.

In her eyes, even the faint streak of light that had remained had disappeared.

Soon, Kaen, whose focus had grown hazy, answered me while stammering in a fairly detached voice.

“A, a promise... is a promise... so, do... whatever you want...”