From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone - Volume 4 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: An Old Country Bumpkin Dances with Shadows

“Ooh, looks like you’ve gotten better.”

“Right?! Right?! Heyaaah!”

A week had passed since I’d had that delightful lunch with Kinera and heard about Sphenedyardvania’s situation from Ibroy at the church. I was teaching my weekly sword magic class—something I was getting accustomed to now—and observing how everyone’s swordplay was looking.

I realized they were all moving quite a bit better than before. They hadn’t just improved overnight, of course. Much like any martial art, swordsmanship wasn’t something you just suddenly got better at out of nowhere—it was built on an accumulation of minor daily improvements.

However, on any path to mastery, there were times when you noticed a clear change. As far as I could tell, today’s class was one such instance.

“Seems you’ve grasped your own little knack for it. That’s a good thing.”

“Ahem!”

I offered some honest praise and got an equally honest reaction from Cindy. Her mannerisms still reminded me of Curuni—both her characteristic cheerfulness and her inexhaustible supply of energy.

“Hmm!”

“Hah! Hah!”

“You’ve both stabilized your technique considerably. Looking good.”

Taking my eyes off of Cindy for now, I focused on the others. Both Lumite and Nesia were shaping up well. Lumite had learned a little swordplay at home, and Nesia had the best build of the bunch. One had the foundations in place, and the other had the qualities of a swordsman. Given some proper instruction, they were improving relatively fast.

“Hmph...”

“You’re getting better too, Mewi. That’s the spirit.”

“...Hmph.”

Unlike Mewi’s mouth, her sword was rather honest. She didn’t have any weird quirks. She’d never used a sword before this, so her skill was a result of obediently absorbing my and Ficelle’s teachings.

“Yo...! Hoh!”

“Ooh, nice. Your axis has stabilized a lot.”

“Haah... I’ll show...I can at least do...this much!”

Even Fredra, though still somewhat shoddy and wheezing for breath, was shaping up well. Her stamina was definitely still a problem, though. This was one thing that required an extended amount of time in order to build a proper foundation, so while I couldn’t say anything positive about her stamina now, it would indeed improve with continuous effort.

Mewi and Fredra didn’t have the proper groundwork in place. They were like clean white sheets, and that was what made them all the easier to dye.

Even though my students’ dormant potential was still an unknown quantity, all five of them were excellent students who gave me a glimmer of hope and expectation. How far could they go if they continued their training?

“It’s all thanks to you, Master Beryl,” Ficelle said, putting me on a pedestal as always.

“Not at all,” I told her. “Their efforts, and yours, play a part in it.”

“Heh heh.”

I didn’t really need to be propped up like that, but I wasn’t going to deny everything she said either. I accepted a modicum of her praise while making sure she knew it wasn’t only my effort that was paying off.

I had some talent for teaching the sword—even looking at things objectively, that was the truth. However, no matter how talented the teacher, the student had to have a decently solid foundation if they wanted to produce any results. These five had more than enough potential to make good swordsmen.

To take things further, I hadn’t taught them how to use a sword from scratch. Even excluding Lumite, who’d learned a little back at home, the other four had started their lessons with Ficelle. Indeed, their growth was also her accomplishment.

“At this rate, if they keep putting in the reps and practice, I think they’ll have no problem grasping the fundamentals,” I said. “What’s the plan after that, Ms. Ficelle?”

“Mm... Practice swings in tandem with mana drills.”

“Hmmm...”

Since I was unable to use magic, I couldn’t really give any input about that. I had no idea what mana drills were. In all likelihood, once they passed a certain threshold, Ficelle was planning to shift their lessons to focus on the magic component of sword magic. The true thrill of this field of magic wasn’t just swinging a sword—it was getting mana to ride the blade and unleashing it as an attack.

“My grades in fundamental magic have been pretty good lately,” Nesia said, taking a short breather from practice swings. “It’s thanks to you, Mr. Beryl.”

“Yes, the same goes for me,” Lumite joined in. “I feel like I’m able to concentrate far better than before.”

“Ha ha ha, that’s good to hear,” I told them, chuckling. “Thank you.”

It seemed these lessons had a positive influence on their personal growth. If that was truly the case, then I couldn’t be happier. I knew nothing about magic, but the path to mastery had to be the same for both swordsmanship and wizardry. The mental fortitude and focus you built up for one had to apply to the other, even if only a little.

“Also, we haven’t been told to do an unreasonable thousand practice swings lately,” Nesia added.

“Hmm?” I muttered in interest.

“Mrgh.”

Ficelle was pouting...or maybe she was embarrassed? She really is still young.

“Hgggh... Haaah... Recently, we’ve been learning how to charge our swings with mana,” Fredra explained as she wheezed for breath. “It’s quite difficult, though...”

I wouldn’t mind if they did that while I was present too, but I would end up as no more than a decoration. Ficelle’s judgment was correct.

Sword magic classes were held twice a week. I attended one of these where we focused on swordsmanship and building muscle. On the other day, Ficelle was apparently no longer forcing her students to do a reckless number of practice swings, but she was instead teaching the fundamentals of sword magic.

I wanted to quip that she should’ve just done that to begin with, but I had an idea why she’d done it that way. Ficelle had combined her swordsmanship and wizardry on her own to learn sword magic, so she surely had no idea how to teach it to others.

She’d concluded that she should teach things the way she’d learned them. In other words, her plan had been to hammer swordsmanship into them, then open things up to magic. However, though Ficelle had graduated from my dojo, this was her first experience on the teaching side of things—she’d been under the impression that the students would figure things out by simply doing practice swings. After witnessing that first class with Ficelle it was perfectly understandable for Lucy to say, “She sucks at this.” Lucy was a master of magic, but an amateur at swordsmanship.

Well, I would be lying if I said Ficelle’s teaching style had been problem-free. That was why I’d cut in upon witnessing it for myself. Still, in this short period of time, Ficelle had been thinking about the proper way to teach these students in her own way. I was honestly glad to see it.

I taught swordsmanship, while Ficelle taught magic. By watching me, she would be able to steal my techniques for teaching swordsmanship too.

“It’s not difficult,” Ficelle said. “I can do it, so everyone can.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s pushing it...” Nesia grumbled.

“Ms. Ficelle, you can only say that because you’re talented...” Fredra added.

You could easily call Ficelle a talented genius, but she was the type who developed based on extreme practice and intuition. That was what made it difficult for her to teach her juniors anything based on theory—yes, theory was important for swordsmanship, but it was probably doubly so for magic.

“I think it’s important to have conviction on an emotional level, though...” Ficelle said.

“Yeah. You’re right there,” I agreed.

The will to see things through, an unyielding heart, an objective to reach, admiration—it didn’t really matter what exactly it was, but these kinds of mental support were important. Even I’d set my sights on the lofty objective of reaching the same heights as my dad. This had supported my swordsmanship from childhood to the present day. I didn’t feel like I was ever going to reach that goal, though. He was seriously way too strong.

Anyway, enough of my life story. The important part here was that Ficelle was giving proper thought to the teaching progress and showing growth. Just being able to witness that made becoming a temporary lecturer for the sword magic course worth it.

“It might be about time for us to start attack and strike practice,” I remarked.

“What’s that?” Lumite asked.

“In short, you work in pairs...you wield your sword with someone actually in front of you,” I explained. “I’m sure you’re all getting tired of just swinging and running on your own, right?”

Magic seemed to have plenty of applications, but sword magic was a technique meant specifically for combat. It was fine to learn it simply for appearance’s sake, but I doubted these five wished to stop at that level. Besides, just as I said, no matter how motivated you were, doing the same thing over and over again definitely got boring. Using training dummies like at the order’s office would work too, but I couldn’t exactly bring one to the magic institute.

“That sounds great,” Nesia said, clearly more enthusiastic than the others. “I’m suddenly looking forward to this.”

He did seem like the most warlike of the bunch. Naturally, just letting them go at it right off the bat would lead to injuries and bad habits, so we were only going to do this after repeating some basic forms. Still, it was definitely going to be more stimulating for them than swinging a sword at empty space.

“Got it. I’ll beat everyone black and blue,” Ficelle said.

“How ’bout...you don’t?” I muttered.

“Erk...”

It was fine to show off her strength as their teacher, but beating up her students was out of the question. Anyway, this suggestion wasn’t only for the students’ sake—Ficelle wasn’t exactly prone to confrontation, but she was actually fairly muscle-brained by nature. Watching her students exercise while she did nothing had to be a strain for both her mind and body. It was fine for me since I got to exercise at the order’s office pretty much every day, but a member of the magic corps probably didn’t have that luxury.

“Starting next week, let’s teach them the process little by little,” I suggested.

“Mm.”

Now that the general direction of our lessons had been decided, it was about time to call it a day. After teaching at the institute several times, I now knew that all classes were about an hour long. This made it pretty easy for the teachers to have a set plan.

“Oh.”

And just as that thought crossed my mind, the chime rang, signaling the end of class. I was genuinely curious about where the sound came from. As far as I could tell, there was no giant bell anywhere on campus. Was it some kind of magic?

“Thank you for today’s lesson.”

“Mm, good work everyone.”

“Thank you!”

I exchanged polite farewells with the students. Yup, this stuff is definitely important. Manners were key to everything. Even if they were learning how to fight, they weren’t here to kill each other or anything.

And just as I was considering a stroll through town on my way back home, Lumite called out to me.

“Oh right. Mr. Beryl, may I have a moment?”

“Hm?”

I wondered what it could be. Was it a question regarding swordsmanship? He was diligent in an altogether different way from Nesia. By nature, he seemed more suitable for wizardry than swordsmanship.

“Are you available this weekend?” he asked.

“Well, I can make time if I want... Do you need something?”

His question wasn’t about swordsmanship, but instead about my schedule. I was just getting more and more curious. The only thing I really had to do was train at the order’s office. And if I let her know ahead of time, Allucia would surely give me a day off.

“It’s Cindy’s birthday,” Lumite said, lowering his voice a little. “We’re planning to throw a little celebration, and we were wondering if you could attend.”

“Hmm, that sounds nice.”

A birthday, huh? This old man is forty-five, so I don’t have that much emotional attachment to counting the passing years. Still, I guess it’s a pretty important event for a student.

“Are you sure I should be participating?” I asked, wondering if such an old man should be hanging out with the youngsters.

“Yes, I insist.”

Well, I could’ve expected that answer based on the fact that he’d invited me in the first place. Still, there was a good thirty years between us. I couldn’t help but feel a little reserved.

“By the way...are you going too, Mewi?” I asked.

She paused for a long moment. “It’d be awkward to refuse...”

“Ha ha ha, it sure would.”

It seemed she didn’t want to be left out. Though she was somewhat socially clumsy, she was slowly building up a circle of friends with the help of those around her. I couldn’t ask for more.

“All right, no point in turning down an invitation,” I said. “I guess I’ll drop by for a bit too.”

“Great! I’m sure she’ll be pleased,” Lumite said.

Hmm, now that it’s decided, I’ll have to think of a present. We can’t have an adult showing up empty-handed. That said, I had no idea what a young girl would like. Handing over something expensive or high-class seemed wrong too. I considered wandering around the western district to figure something out.

“They’re planning to hold it at night in the dorm’s cafeteria,” Ficelle explained. “I’ll bring you.”

“Sure. Please do.”

She’d obviously been invited too. It would’ve been weird to invite me and not her. I also took her up on her offer of guiding me to the party. An old man wandering into the school dorm alone at night... That could get me arrested by the guards.

“Okay, everyone,” I said. “Don’t be late for your next class.”

“Right! Then please excuse us!”

The students ran off in a hurry. Yup, that’s youth. Study diligently, foster friendships, and grow. My parents had provided me with what education they could, but I hadn’t ever really experienced this kind of communal life. We had plenty of people at the dojo, but it wasn’t like I’d lived with my pupils. I felt somewhat envious about this as I prayed for Mewi to be able to grow in this environment in both body and mind.

◇

“All right, time to get going.”

It was the weekend of Cindy’s birthday party. I’d woken up early as always, had spent the afternoon taking a stroll around town, and was now leaving the house to meet Ficelle.

Incidentally, there were no classes at the magic institute today, so Mewi would usually be home. She’d left ahead of me, though. It seemed she was still shy about being seen walking with me. I knew she didn’t hate me or anything, but this sense of distance between us was still hard to grasp. Well, there were a good thirty years separating us. I could somewhat understand a young girl not wanting to walk around with a boring old man.

I didn’t have much interest in fashion or the like, but I wanted to avoid bringing Mewi any shame. So, I started paying a bit more attention to my personal appearance...just a little, though. I didn’t buy any new clothes or anything—I simply gave more care to my daily cleanliness. Frankly, I had no idea what was in style anyway.

“Did I forget anything...? Nope.”

Normally, I didn’t carry much more than some money and my sword, but today, I had Cindy’s present too. It would be ridiculous to forget it here. I had to put on a little pride as an adult.

On that note, it’d taken me several days to choose a present. I’d spent my afternoons after training strolling around the western district, but nothing had really struck a chord. I’d tried asking Mewi for advice, but that conversation had ended quickly with a “dunno.” I was a little sad about that, but maybe I shouldn’t have asked my adopted daughter about that at my age.

In the end, I’d settled on somewhat fancy leather gloves. They were clearly nicer than what I usually used, and I figured they should work for wielding a weapon. Cindy was a budding wizard, but from what I’d seen during our lessons, she enjoyed the simple act of swinging a sword. So, I’d made my choice in hopes that her fun could continue, even if only a little. I wasn’t entirely confident that it was an appropriate gift for a growing girl, though. Still, it wasn’t like I knew the latest fashions—I had no idea what girls wanted.

I could’ve probably gone to others for ideas. However, Mewi, the closest one to me, had given a one-word refusal; Allucia and Curuni seemed like they would say anything worked; Henblitz was also an option, but he was a tried-and-true warrior. So, I’d decided to pick something on my own.

Speaking of Henblitz, he had the looks and personality that made him very popular with women, but I’d never heard of any such stories. It was possible it was happening where I couldn’t see it, though. Anyway, the lieutenant commander of the Liberion Order didn’t have the time to play around like that, so it just showed he had integrity.

Incidentally, I’d told Mewi she needed to prepare a present for her friend’s birthday—I’d even given her some spending money. She’d been shy about going shopping with me, so I’d left it entirely up to her own sensibilities. I wondered what she ended up picking.

In a sense, Mewi was more distant from the way the world worked than I was. Luckily, she was shopping for Cindy this time, and I was pretty sure the girl would be happy with anything Mewi gave her. Mewi had sneaked out whenever she’d had the time and diligently looked for something appropriate. She wouldn’t tell me what she’d bought, though. She doesn’t have to be that shy about it.

And as I walked through the town with such thoughts on my mind, the sun was setting to the west. I soon arrived at the magic institute, and someone was waiting in front of the gate.

“Ficelle, thanks for waiting.”

“Mm. Evening, Master.”

“Yup, good evening.”

She wasn’t wearing her usual robe but was instead dressed in loose-fitting trousers and a top with cold-shoulder sleeves. Now that I thought of it, it’d been a while since I’d seen Ficelle in anything but formal attire. During her days at the dojo, I’d only ever seen her in training wear too. She hadn’t worn such feminine clothes around me for a long time.

However, she still had a sword at her waist. This had to be her pride as a swordswoman showing. Her fashionable clothes were somewhat unbalanced by the weapon, but as a fellow swordsman, I understood her well. No matter where I was or how I was dressed, I was restless if I had nothing at my hip.

“Did you buy a gift?” I asked.

“Mm-hmm. You too?”

“Yeah. It might be a bit boring, though.”

“I’m sure it’s not. She’ll be delighted.”

This was why I found it hard to go to my pupils for advice regarding presents—they were bound to give me this reaction. For some reason, they found unconditional joy in any present I had to give, so they were useless as a point of reference for what might actually be a good gift.

I wasn’t planning on giving anything weird, of course. But still, getting such a high assessment from those around me felt like it would one day make a mess of my common sense. It was a frightening thought.

Well, I could always rely on Mewi. She was pretty distant from concepts like reading the room or partiality. The same went for Lucy, but it was hard to go to her for advice in an altogether different way.

I took a sidelong glance at the school building as the setting sun dyed it red. We were walking toward the student dorm. This was my first time going this way, and I noticed that the dorm was somewhat smaller than the school building. Regardless, it was ridiculously large compared to anything normal. Whenever I came here, my sense of the ordinary was blown away by the ludicrous scale of the campus. This place was far larger than the inn where I’d stayed.

“Ah, Ms. Ficelle, Mr. Beryl.”

“Yo, good evening. Pardon us.”

Right as we entered the dorm, we came into a spacious room where the five sword magic students had already gathered. They were seated at a table in the corner. It was a day off with no classes, so none of them were in uniform. Their casual attire was a fresh sight. I only saw them during class, after all—excluding Mewi, of course.

“Everyone! Thanks so much for putting this together!” exclaimed the star of the day.

“You got it,” Nesia said. “Happy birthday.”

“Happy birthday,” Lumite joined in. “Let’s give this year our best.”

It seemed Ficelle and I were the last arrivals. Other than Mewi, the others all lived in the dorm, so they’d been able to gather immediately.

Food was already lined up on the table. They’d probably each bought something themselves and had pooled it all together. It was a repertoire of relatively cheap foods that could fill the stomach like meat, beans, and bread. They were at an age where they grew in both body and mind, so coming up with this kind of hearty meal was probably natural to them. Even Mewi ate quite a lot for a girl as young as she was.

“Shall we start with a toast?” Lumite suggested.

“Yeah,” Nesia said, turning to Cindy. “C’mon, today’s your day. Take a seat and leave it to us.”

“Right! I’ll take you up on that!”

Lumite and Fredra poured drinks into several wooden tankards. I was relieved to see that it wasn’t alcohol. They were sure to acquire a taste for it in the future, but it was too early for Mewi to start drinking.

“Okay, then. To Cindy’s birthday! And to her good health—”

“Cheers!”

“Mm...”

After Lumite’s simple toast, everyone clanked their tankards together. As to be expected of the son of a viscount, he seemed to be very familiar with preparing and running this kind of event. Mewi also raised her mug shyly and gave it a reserved thunk against the others.

“Wow! There’s nothing better than having friends!” Cindy shouted cheerfully as she dug into the food.

I wasn’t here to be a statue, so I picked at the food too and joined their conversation.

“Cindy seems like the type to have a ton of friends,” I remarked.

“I wonder about that... From an outsider’s perspective, you might think she’s just noisy,” Nesia said.

I was raised in the countryside, but I took pride in treading the path of swordsmanship for my entire life. From my personal experience, people who were constantly cheerful were considerably more likable than the quiet ones. Naturally, diligence and seriousness were also important traits, but people who were overflowing with energy were simply suited to swinging a sword.

“I guess there are a lot of quiet types at the institute, huh?” I asked.

“I’m not so sure about that,” Lumite said. “People like Cindy are definitely rare, though.”

“Ha ha ha! Thanks!”

“Pretty sure that wasn’t a compliment,” Nesia quipped.

Cindy was as positive as always. As long as she wasn’t being blatantly slandered, she always saw the bright side of things. This was a talent, in a sense. Mewi had the exact opposite talent—she saw everything in a negative light, so I hoped she could learn from Cindy.

After everyone enjoyed the food for a while longer, Nesia suddenly muttered as if he’d just remembered something.

“Oh, right. Take this before I forget.”

“Hm? Ooh, thank you!”

He practically threw a small package at Cindy, and she broke into a huge smile. I guess now’s the time to hand over presents. I was glad Nesia had gotten things started.

“I’ve got something for you too,” I said. “Happy birthday.”

“Mr. Beryl?! Thank you very much!”

Judging by her reaction, she hadn’t expected to receive anything from me. I resisted the urge to ask if I looked like that rude of a person. Maybe it was uncommon to get something from a teacher, even if only a temporary one.

“I have a gift too,” Ficelle followed up. “Use this to take your studies further.”

“Yes! I’ll gladly put it to use!”

Ficelle’s package was clearly rectangular—definitely some kind of book. In all likelihood, it had to be something like a grimoire for wizards. I’d read several books on swordsmanship before, and I wondered what books on magic were like in comparison. They would be useless for me to read, but I was at least interested.

“Please accept my gift as well,” Lumite said. “Happy birthday.”

“Happy birthday,” Fredra joined in, handing over a present of her own.

“Everyone! Thank you so much!”

Cindy now had too many gifts to hold in both her arms. Her smile was practically bursting at the seams. She still hadn’t checked what the gifts actually were, but simply receiving birthday presents was that big of a deal to her. Her smile was even grander than usual.

“Happy birthday...”

“Mewi...! Thanks!”

To finish things off, Mewi handed over a gift somewhat shyly. Hmm, even if it’s just a little at a time, Mewi is definitely growing. Before this, she would’ve never participated in this kind of social event, let alone picked out a gift for someone. That in itself made it worth enrolling her in the magic institute. I wanted her to continue growing healthily to the point where she could recover from everything that’d happened to her.

“Now if only more people start picking the sword magic course, I’ll have nothing to complain about!”

“Mrgh...”

Ficelle puffed her cheeks out as Cindy rounded things up. Ficelle wasn’t really pouting or anything—she simply wasn’t satisfied with the present state of things and wasn’t sure how to break the deadlock.

“I suppose it really isn’t that popular?” I asked hesitantly.

“It isn’t,” Lumite answered. “There were a few more people taking it at first, but...”

Well, I’d pretty much figured that out from the fact that there were only five students. It seemed the class wasn’t really popular as a whole. I didn’t know whether this was because it was sword magic or because of the problem with Ficelle’s teaching.

“There were more people at your dojo,” Ficelle said. “We should have more students for the sword magic course too.”

“Hmmm, so you say, but still...”

I hadn’t intentionally spread the word about my dojo or anything. Beaden was pretty far in the sticks, to begin with. For some reason, we’d had a lot of pupils who’d come from afar, but if asked why our dojo was relatively popular, I couldn’t really give a logical explanation for it.

“Ficelle, do you want more people to take the sword magic course?” I asked.

“Mm... That’d make me happy,” Ficelle answered quietly but clearly.

“Then let’s see... Why did you choose to learn swordsmanship?”

Ficelle’s expression turned meek at my question. The students had been making a ruckus, but they were now also listening carefully to my words. Huh? Things seem to have gotten really serious. Crap. I don’t think I’m about to say anything really smart here.

“Why...? Um, maybe because it was fun...?” she said, not entirely sure of her answer.

“That’s a prerequisite, of course,” I agreed.

The reason people learned the ways of the sword naturally differed depending on the individual. Some started because their father or someone similar had told them to. Others wanted to become strong. There were even those who chose it just as a way to distract themselves.

Of those who’d graduated from our dojo, Allucia had started almost entirely on a whim. In contrast, Curuni and Ficelle had taken the initiative to learn the ways of the sword themselves. However, regardless of their reasons for starting, those who didn’t enjoy learning wouldn’t continue for very long. What made things even more complicated was that, even if one person enjoyed it, it didn’t mean others would too.

“So why did you find it fun?” I asked.

“Hmm...”

From what I’d experienced, everyone had their own sensibilities. There was an infinite variety of personalities and dispositions out there, so it was hard to guide her to a universal answer. Ficelle and Curuni in particular were the type of people to find considerable joy in the simple act of swinging a sword. It was a little harsh to expect that of everyone.

Ficelle fell silent for a while. She definitely enjoyed swordplay, but she was a little stumped over how to explain it logically.

“Ummm... Because...I get praise?” she finally said.

“Mm-hmm. That’s not a bad reason.”

Receiving acknowledgment from others was more than enough of a good reason in my opinion. Put another way, she had people close to her who praised her—who acknowledged her—if she did well with a sword.

“I dunno if I’m really one to talk, but is that kinda reason good enough?” Nesia asked. He seemed to have found Ficelle’s rationale somewhat unexpected.

“It’s fine,” I told him. “Taking it too far isn’t good, but it’s a perfectly legitimate reason.”

“Is that how it works...?” he muttered.

Honestly, any reason taken too far wasn’t admirable, but having a layman’s reason and attitude for learning anything was completely okay. For example, wanting to be strong was a splendid motive, but taking it too far was bad for the body and mind. Everything was best in moderation. That applied to how much you trained and the degree of your feelings too.

“I did get a lot of praise from you,” Ficelle added.

“Ha ha ha, it’s my belief that praise should be given when it’s earned,” I said.

“Getting praise is so delightful!” Cindy shouted. “Ha ha ha ha!”

Unless someone did something really, really bad, I pretty much always provided words of encouragement. Objectively speaking, my dad was very harsh with his lessons, but the reason I still continued to wield a sword to this day was because he praised me every now and then too. It was great to be acknowledged by others, regardless of whether it came from a teacher, a senior, or a friend.

“Oh...”

“Did you figure it out?”

Ficelle’s expression had softened while reminiscing over her days as a student, but it immediately stiffened again when she came to a realization.“I...never give any praise...”

Ah. That has to be one reason there are so few students taking the sword magic course.

That was exactly it. To put it harshly, despite coveting acknowledgment from others, she very rarely praised anyone else. This wasn’t because she had an abrasive personality or anything—Ficelle’s standards were simply too high.

She was a genius. She had both a talent for swordsmanship and a great aptitude for magic. She also possessed more than enough concentration and drive, so she could bring the best out of her talents without foolishly sitting on her laurels.

Conversely, she expected others to be able to do the same. From a certain perspective, this could be said to be a virtue—her words held that much more weight. However, for a teacher, this had adverse effects too. It was the same inclination that drove her to assign a thousand practice swings. She could do the swings. She had done them. Not that we’d made her do anything of the sort at the dojo. This was just the kind of training she’d independently imposed on herself.

“I understand that you enjoy getting praise,” I told her. “So you need to turn that around and give some to your students.”

“Mm...”

The five remaining students taking the sword magic course were oddities. Despite getting no acknowledgment from their teacher and enduring her tactlessly frank instructions, they’d swung their swords simply because they’d wanted to. That was why we were able to speak about this topic so plainly in front of them. It would normally be hard to drag normal students into this kind of conversation. Naturally, not every student could be like these, and Ficelle’s lessons had verged on being acts of penance. Of course, the overwhelming majority of people would retire midway through.

As an instructor, I wanted others to enjoy the process of learning new things. I wasn’t perfect, of course, so even our dojo had those who’d left partway through their training.

“Okay. I’ll do my best,” Ficelle said. “Cindy, you’re doing great.”

“That’s awfully half-assed,” Nesia retorted.

“I’m not that good! Ha ha ha!” Cindy exclaimed.

“That worked on you...?” Nesia grumbled in confusion.

Cindy was extraordinary in that way—she would probably be genuinely delighted if she got praised for waking up early in the morning.

“Ummm... If I praise the students, will the class become popular?” Ficelle asked, racking her brain.

“Hmm, I don’t know about that,” I told her. “I think it’ll be pretty hard if that’s all you do.”

Watching her like this, it was difficult to see her true intentions, but I believed she was giving serious thought to her instructional methods. She wanted to teach others the swordplay she’d learned at my dojo, and she wanted to popularize the sword magic Lucy had taught her. These were both feelings she had to maintain. If the teacher lacked passion, her lessons were never going to get through to anyone.

Anyway, in practice, most teachers at least gave their students praise in the spare moments between classes. I felt like that wouldn’t be enough to increase the popularity of the sword magic course, though.

“Just to give an example, if you all only ever did practice swings and were praised for it, do you think you’d keep going?”

Seeing that Ficelle had reached an impasse, I tried turning the conversation to the students. The whole birthday party atmosphere had vanished, but there wasn’t much that could be done about it now that the conversation had gotten to this point.

“I’d be happy!” Cindy exclaimed. Well, that was probably the case for her. However, on this one point, her opinion wasn’t very useful.

Lumite and Nesia also gave their thoughts on the matter.

“I think I’d like it at first...but if it were always the same thing, I’d probably get used to it eventually...”

“Yeah. We ain’t dogs or nothing.”

They were right. People got used to things through repetition—the same went for both training and receiving praise.

“But Mr. Beryl, from what I’ve heard of your teachings, I believe the fundamentals are extremely important,” Fredra joined in.

“You’re right. There’s no mistaking that,” I agreed. “I’m sure the same goes for magic.”

Swordsmanship and magic couldn’t be mastered in a day. If they were that simple, we wouldn’t have institutions to study these arts. Training through repetition was an inevitable necessity, however, I believed it was extremely important for a teacher to be able to give their repetition some flavor.

Doing something brand new all the time would certainly attract attention, but it wouldn’t help improve anyone’s techniques. That said, people would definitely grow tired of focusing single-mindedly on practicing the fundamentals. That was especially the case for something simple like practice swings.

“So it’s important to have a balance...”

“Exactly. Well put, Mewi.”

“Quit it...”

Mewi was pretty close to the right answer. I praised her out of habit, and as always, she pouted.

“So it’s important to teach the fundamentals properly while adding in other things every now and then to draw interest. And also...I should give praise?” Ficelle asked.

“Mm-hmm. Looks like you’ve got the idea now.”

Ficelle still didn’t seem to have gathered all her thoughts, but she was mostly right. Well, that was my method of teaching—I wouldn’t claim to be the arbiter of good teaching methodology.

“I see... Back when you taught me, you showed me all kinds of things,” Ficelle said. “You praised me a lot too. It was really fun.”

“Thanks. Now it’s your turn to make others feel that way.”

She’d managed to derive an answer to this problem in her own way. Finding this perspective was something you couldn’t really get just from teaching. Much like how someone strong didn’t always make a good leader, the talent to acquire techniques and the talent to impart them to others were different skills. I did, of course, enjoy swinging a sword on my own, but maybe I actually liked teaching others how to use a sword even more than that.

“Mm. Strict and fun,” Ficelle said. “I’ll do my best.”

“Keep the strictness in moderation, okay...?”

Her brakes did have a tendency to stop working once she got started. I was going to have to get her to learn how to hold back a little.

“No more one thousand practice swings,” I added.

“I’ll do it if I feel it’s necessary.”

This got various reactions from the students.

“Ugh...”

“Ha ha ha.”

Well, practice swings were important in their own way, but humans weren’t strong enough to repeat them endlessly.

“Things got a little serious, huh?” I said. “Sorry for derailing your birthday party.”

“Not at all!” Cindy shouted cheerfully. “It was worth listening to!”

Even if this had been necessary for Ficelle’s growth, maybe doing so in the middle of a celebration had been inappropriate. Today’s star didn’t seem to mind though, and this was a great virtue of her personality. I wanted her to continue growing healthily, and while she was at it, get along with Mewi.

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” I said. “There’s still plenty of food. Eat up.”

“Yes!”

It would be a waste to let the food go cold. We had five growing children with hearty appetites here. Unfortunately, they were too young to drink alcohol, but I wanted them to eat and hydrate and get plenty of nourishment.

“———!”

“Hm...?”

We had wrapped up that conversation at a good spot and returned to chatting cheerfully. Suddenly, right as we were polishing off all the food and it was about time to call it a night, we heard a faint shout from the direction of the school building.

There were no classes, and it was late at night, so the place was supposed to be deserted.

Something was wrong.

“What the...?”

I got up from my seat and looked out the window. The student dorm was a fairly tall building, but the cafeteria was on the first floor. Because of that, I couldn’t see very far away. Combined with the fact that the sun had set, visibility was poor.

“Is someone making a ruckus out there?”

“Well, we’re making a ruckus in here too! Ha ha ha!”

The students were also drawn by the sudden voice—they came over to the window to peek out. It was the weekend, so I could understand if students were just having fun. However, the voice hadn’t seemed like anything so innocent to me. If anything, it had sounded urgent.

“Ficelle, is there anyone in the school building at this hour?” I asked.

“Pretty much just teachers,” she answered. “Even if they’re studying late, there are never students there at this hour.”

“Hmmm...”

If it wasn’t a student, that voice was likely a teacher or someone from the outside. We could’ve passed it off as horseplay or a prank if it’d been a child, but that was very unlikely behavior for a teacher who served at the prestigious magic institute. Could there potentially be a trespasser? We couldn’t say for sure as things stood.

“—run! —get—!”

What we heard next was far clearer than before. There was an air of panic to the voice now.

“Ficelle.”

“Mm.”

Ficelle nodded back to me, and our hands naturally went for the swords at our waists. Some kind of trouble was going on out there. I didn’t really want to imagine what kind of incident might be taking place inside the magic institute, but it was the adults’ job to handle it.

“Ficelle and I will take a look. All of you, stay here.”

“U-Understood.”

The students sensed something out of place too. They obediently accepted my orders.

Man, way to ruin a good birthday party. If this is a prank, I’m seriously considering giving someone a good smacking for it.

There was the slim possibility this could lead to a fight, so I couldn’t get the students involved. Even if this was just me being overly cautious, there was no point in taking unnecessary risks. And though I wanted this potential danger to just be a trick played by my imagination, lately, I’d gotten dragged into all kinds of trouble.

“You think this is some kind of violent incident?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Ficelle said. “Things like that don’t really happen here.”

“You have a point...”

We left the student dorm at a half run. Just as Ficelle said, this wasn’t a normal school. This was the magic institute, a place where educators guided the chosen elite, and the teachers were all first-class wizards. Even if there was a trespasser, it would be extremely difficult to start any trouble without significant organization and skill. An instigator would need to plan something on the level of the recent assassination attempt against Sphenedyardvania’s prince. If possible, I wanted to be spared from going through that again.

“What’s going on here...?”

“Everyone’s...running away?”

As we headed to the school building, we saw the teachers—probably the few who’d still been inside—pouring out in a panic. There weren’t that many. Few had remained in the school at this hour on the weekend, so only about a dozen scattered from the building.

The teachers of Liberis’s great magic institute were running away. This was an extremely abnormal sight. So, what exactly were they running away from?

“Ficelle!”

As we approached the school building, we suddenly heard the sound of shattering glass, and the answer to my question came bursting outside.

“Wha?!”

It wasn’t all that big. At most, it was probably the size of a large dog or a wolf. I say “probably” because I could only see a faint outline of its body. I had relatively good eyesight—it was one of the few abilities I could take pride in as a swordsman. Yet despite this, I had no idea what exactly had come through the window.

At a glance, it was kind of like a big canine of some sort. The shadow ran on four legs and had a distorted space at its head that resembled wide-open jaws. Despite it blending into the dark night, I could see ominously glowing fangs closing in on me.

Still not sure what exactly I was facing, I drew my sword unconsciously and slashed at the incoming shadow. It seemed my attack worked. Whatever had attacked me fell to the ground without a sound. But then...

It vanished with equal silence.

“It disappeared...?”

I had cut it, but I hadn’t felt any kind of feedback. It was as if my sword had passed through slightly thick air. If someone had told me there’d been nothing there at all, and the air had been coincidentally dense in that area, I would’ve believed them.

“There’s more...!” Ficelle cried.

“Dammit! What’s going on?!”

More windows shattered, and more shadows were definitely heading toward us. That meant these things were capable of physically affecting the world. They were also hostile toward us. If they meant harm, we had to eliminate them.

“Hmph!”

I cut another wolf-shaped shadow down with a rising slash. It seemed they weren’t particularly durable. I was glad that a single slash from me was all it took to repel them. Still, I couldn’t get a grasp on the situation. Were there actually monsters pouring out of the magic institute? That sounded impossible.

“Hah!”

A shadow attacked Ficelle instead of me, and it vanished after she swung her sword through its body. These things weren’t particularly agile either—it didn’t feel all that different from facing wild dogs or wolves. They were somewhat fast on the charge, but Ficelle and I were more than enough to handle them. Against opponents like these, it wouldn’t be a major problem even if they swarmed us.

“What the hell is going on here?” I grumbled.

“I don’t know...” Ficelle replied. “But it’s clearly abnormal.”

After taking down a few more shadows, the enemy offensive came to a temporary pause. Taking a look around, we spotted one of the teachers who’d escaped the building intercepting one of the shadows with magic. Just as I thought—the teachers at the magic institute were accomplished wizards. But that only made the situation more confusing. What had forced them to run away? Ficelle and I were capable of easily overwhelming these opponents, so why would magic experts need to flee from them?

I had a hunch something serious was going on, but I also had an overwhelming lack of information. I didn’t even know if it was the right choice to charge into the school building. We had to protect ourselves and the students in the dorm, so it could be a poor choice to move from this spot.

“Mr. Beryl! Ficelle!”

“Ms. Kinera?!”

And just as I was wondering what to do next, a familiar voice called out to us. It was Mewi’s homeroom teacher.

“What are you two doing here?” she started. “Wait, no, that doesn’t really matter right now. You really saved us. Thank you for your assistance.”

“It was nothing,” I said. “An explanation would be nice, though.”

It was a relief to see a familiar face, but now wasn’t the time for a casual chat. I kept my greeting brief and tried to get a grasp of the situation. Kinera seemed to understand my intent, and after catching her breath, she got to the point.

“I don’t really know much either. Those shadows suddenly started flowing out of the school building... We’ve been hard-pressed trying to deal with them.”

“I see...”

Even Kinera, who’d probably been inside the building, had no idea what was going on. That still left me with questions. She was supposed to be a master of defensive magic, so even if she couldn’t outright defeat these shadows, she wasn’t going to lose to one. Also, there should’ve been no need to panic. I could understand being taken by surprise, but they should’ve had time to rally. I simply couldn’t come up with a reason she and all the other teachers needed to evacuate as fast as possible.

“Oh, here they come again!” I shouted.

And just as Kinera finished explaining, more windows shattered and shadows came flying out. On an unrelated note, the repair fees were going to be through the roof after this was all said and done. Not that I should be thinking something like that right now...

“Mr. Beryl, please take two steps back!”

“Hm?!”

Around ten shadows were charging us. Just as I was wondering how to handle them all at once, I reflexively jumped backward at Kinera’s request.

“Hah!”

She let out a spirited yell, and the charging shadows slammed into an invisible wall and tumbled backward.

“Forgive me—now’s your chance!” Kinera shouted.

“Understood!”

So this was defensive magic. I’d experienced no more than a thin layer on her hand, but when she got serious, she could cover a pretty wide area. I’d been under the impression that it could only be used to protect your own body, but it could be adapted quite drastically depending on the caster’s skill.

“Hup!”

Now wasn’t the time to be admiring it, though. The shadows had slowed down significantly after running into Kinera’s wall. I charged them, and with Ficelle’s help, they weren’t particularly difficult to handle. We were going to be fine as long as we weren’t ambushed.

“Seriously, there’s no time to gather ourselves...” I complained.

“This is indeed troublesome,” Ficelle agreed.

We finished eradicating the new shadows, but I could sense more within the building. Could they spawn infinitely? That would be a bit of an issue. Each individual shadow wasn’t all that impressive, but there were limits to my stamina and willpower.

“Thanks for the help, Ms. Kinera. But why did you all run away?” I asked.

Now wasn’t the time to beat around the bush. I could tell from this short interaction that Kinera wasn’t only an expert in defensive magic, but she was also experienced in battle. She’d immediately given me orders based on the situation and had deployed the appropriate magic to deal with it.

More and more, I couldn’t see any reason for her to run away from these opponents. Even if there was a never-ending source of them, she had more than enough skill to create the time to calmly think of a way to overcome the situation. What was more, she wasn’t alone—there were other teachers. If they’d worked together, they wouldn’t have been driven on the back foot like this.

“To tell you the truth...for some reason, we can no longer use magic within the school building,” she said with a disconcerted look that answered all my doubts. “We believe some kind of power is interfering.”

“You can’t use...magic?” I repeated.

“Yes. Fortunately, as you saw, we’re able to use it again outside the building...but inside, it doesn’t work at all.”

They couldn’t use magic. That was, in fact, a serious problem. I didn’t know the mechanisms behind how magic worked, but this was definitely abnormal. It also explained why the teachers had been so overwhelmed by the shadow wolves. The majority of those who worked at the magic institute had found their primary means of attack sealed. They’d been helpless.

“Just to be sure—has this ever happened to you before?” I asked.

“It hasn’t,” Kinera said. “Not ever. I believe the same goes for Ficelle.”

“Mm-hmm,” Ficelle confirmed. “I’ve been in a poor condition, but never to the point of not being able to use magic.”

Their answer was just as expected. Them losing their magic would be similar to me suddenly being incapable of wielding my sword. I would definitely be unsettled if that happened, yet the same mysterious phenomenon was happening to these wizards.

There had to be some kind of source behind the anomaly. This couldn’t occur naturally, so it was only right to assume someone was behind it.

“Seems like we’re best off looking for the source...” I suggested while fending off more shadows. “Hup!”

“Agreed. It’s inconvenient without magic,” Ficelle said.

We got the conversation moving while cutting down the wolves. At this rate, things would only get worse, but that didn’t mean we could just tuck our tails and run. Fortunately, I seemed more than capable of dealing with this, so it made sense for me to search the school building while scattering these shadows to the wind.

“I’ll check inside the institute,” I said. “What about you, Ficelle?”

“I’ll go too. Even without sword magic, I have the techniques you taught me.”

“How reassuring,” I told her. “But don’t push yourself.”

It looked like Kinera could use her magic as long as she stayed outside, so she wasn’t going to lose against enemies of this level. The fact that I didn’t have to worry about such things was a significant relief on my nerves.

“Understood. Please leave the students to us,” Kinera said.

“Right. They’re in your hands,” I said.

The students of the magic institute all had varying degrees of knowledge regarding magic. In terms of sheer numbers, they could technically be relied upon in a fight. However, almost none of them had any combat experience. Combined with the abnormal situation, it was unreasonable to suddenly ask them to take part in this.

So, someone had to protect them. It looked like I could put all my hopes in the teachers. I was confident Kinera could handle it—I had a pretty good eye for people, after all.

“Let’s start by forcing our way in and taking a look around,” I suggested. “That work for you?”

“Mm-hmm. Not a problem,” Ficelle agreed.

Now that it was decided, we needed to take action. Things weren’t going to improve for the better if we waited here, so it was a good idea to break into the building as soon as possible. The magic institute’s campus was pretty huge, after all. We were keeping damage outside of the school building suppressed for now, but it would be no laughing matter if these things got out.

Now that I was a teacher, even if only a temporary one, it was my duty to protect the students. Well, even without such a title, as a swordsman, I couldn’t overlook a situation like this when it was happening in front of my eyes.

We had two major objectives here: identify the source of these hostile shadows and determine why magic couldn’t be used. The troublesome part was that we had no idea how to solve either problem. So, we had no choice but to search the place with a fine-tooth comb.

Still, we had one advantage. I didn’t know why, but our enemies had no durability, so I didn’t have to worry about my sword’s edge. I could cut them up all I wanted without chipping the blade. That definitely wasn’t the case against humans or beasts.

“All right, let’s get to work,” I said.

“Mm.”

“Please be careful!” Kinera yelled as we ran off. “I’ll protect the dorm with everything I have!”

As we went straight into the building, we were spotted and attacked by several shadows.

“Oh, coming to greet us already?”

I slashed the charging shadows. Following after me, Ficelle attacked with fluid strikes and took down several enemies with ease. Much like during our bout, her swordplay was beautiful yet practical. I had no problem entrusting my back to her.

The shadows we defeated vanished like bubbles. Having slain several of them at this point, I could see they didn’t really have any physical substance. It’s awfully convenient that they didn’t leave corpses behind, I thought casually before cutting down another group of shadows that came around the corner of the corridor.

I wondered whether I was able to cut them because of their nature or because my sword was special. Ficelle’s sword was striking them down as well, so it was probably the former. But if their only weakness had been magic—and magic could no longer be used—the situation would’ve been pretty bad.

“There’s only one kind of shadow?”

After defeating a good number of them, I noticed the shadows all looked like wolves. I couldn’t sense any of a wolf’s intelligence in them, though. They also didn’t coordinate their attacks—they simply charged their enemies on sight as individuals. Also, they weren’t suddenly appearing out of thin air. They were being created somewhere specific and charging us from that point. In that case, one possibility came to mind.

“There’s probably a mastermind behind this,” Ficelle said, arriving at the same conclusion.

“Yeah, I think so too.”

I wasn’t too familiar with this stuff, but the shadows were probably something like a wizard’s familiar. Maybe they were summoned or something.

“So you really can’t use magic?” I asked.

“Nuh-uh... Something is getting in the way when I try to knead my mana.”

Ficelle was still using pure swordplay to deal with her enemies. Despite this, her movements were in no way inferior to mine. This was likely a result of training and focusing so that she didn’t need to rely too much on magic.

“So, about where this mastermind might be...” I muttered. “Any ideas?”

“Hmm...”

At this rate, we could just search the entire building, but if possible, I wanted to have a general destination in mind. Besides, I didn’t know the whole layout of the institute. Moving around at random would be a waste of stamina and time.

“Maybe...underground?” Ficelle suggested.

“Hmm...”

Good guess. Vice Principal Brown had mentioned there being a lower level to the magic institute—one that he’d told us not to approach. Ficelle didn’t know what was there either.

I didn’t really like the idea of going somewhere I’d been warned away from, but considering the situation, I didn’t have much of a choice. It was best to keep it high on the list of places to search.

“Okay, let’s head there now,” I decided. “If it’s a miss, we’ll figure out what to do afterward.”

“Got it. This way.”

With our destination set, Ficelle led the way at a run. We repelled the shadows in our way, proceeded onward, encountered more shadows, and defeated them too. This repeated over and over, and now I was convinced—these things weren’t popping up randomly out of nowhere. They were all coming from one specific point.

As proof of that, the moment we started heading toward the lower levels, the shadows stopped attacking us from behind. They were all coming at us head-on. In other words, it was highly likely they were being created at our destination in the underground.

“Looks like we hit the bull’s-eye,” I commented.

The entrance to the lower levels was next to the staircase at the center of the building. An overly large and elaborate door stood at the end of a somewhat long and empty corridor. However, this overbearing door was now partly open. It didn’t look like it’d been damaged.

“Someone went in ahead of us...?” I muttered.

“It’s usually sealed,” Ficelle said. “I don’t even know where the key is kept.”

If the shadow wolves were being created beyond this door, it would be normal to assume they’d damaged it on their way out. It was usually sealed, so they wouldn’t have had any other way to escape. However, the door was open, and it wasn’t damaged, so someone had definitely unlocked it.

The person behind all this was definitely in the lower levels.

In that case, had someone stolen the key specifically to trespass? Or had someone who knew where the key was stored taken it and had gone underground legitimately?

“Guess we’ll just have to go and see,” I said.

“Mm...”

I prepared myself and stepped through the door. This was unknown territory for Ficelle too. I wanted to believe there was nothing weird down here, since the magic institute was right above it. Still, this was a prohibited area. It was best to assume anything could come jumping out at us.

Beyond the door was an unexpectedly long staircase that slowly descended into the depths. I couldn’t even see the end of it.

“Hup!”

I thrust my sword at yet another sporadic shadow that charged us. The passageway wasn’t very wide, so there was no space to swing my sword. That meant a thrust was the natural remaining option. I was glad our enemies lacked intelligence. They simply charged us on sight, so once accustomed to it, combat became less like fighting and more like busywork.

“Master, are you all right?” Ficelle asked.

“Yeah, this is nothing. But just in case, keep an eye behind us.”

“Got it.”

Ficelle and I couldn’t walk down this narrow passage side by side, so I took the lead. I doubted it would happen, but getting caught in a pincer attack here would be bad. I decided to leave my back to her, and we proceeded carefully.

“Hmm. Another door,” I remarked. “It’s also open.”

Going down such a monotonous path messed with my sense of time. It’d taken both a short and long time to reach the end. And now, there was another door. This one was very plain, and I could sense the years behind it. I was just guessing, but the heavy door at the entrance to the lower levels had likely been created long after this one. That was simply how much older this door seemed.

“A room...?”

Passing through the door, we found ourselves inside a somewhat wide space instead of another passageway. The fact that it was illuminated, even if not well, meant this place hadn’t simply been sealed for years. Someone had been coming here. The frequency with which they did so and their objective remained a complete mystery, though.

Ficelle peeked over my shoulder into the room. When she spotted what was inside, a rare and pronounced air of shock highlighted her voice.

“Master, that’s...”

“Yeah...”

“Hee... Hee hee... Hee hee hee hee...!”

What we saw was an old man on his knees in a corner of the room, his intermittent sobbing and laughing echoing around us.

“V-Vice Principal Brown?!” I shouted.

It was a strange sight. The old man continued laughing and crying on his knees in this room deep beneath the magic institute.

“Hee... Hee hee hee...?”

Upon noticing us, Brown’s laughing ceased. His eyes turned unsteadily toward us. I had no idea what was going on. Judging by the look in his eyes, he’d clearly lost his mind. I’d only met Brown that one time after my first sword magic class, but back then, he’d given the impression of a man who stood firm in contrast to his age. That first impression was far and away from the man I saw now.

“Vice...Principal...?”

Ficelle was speechless. I didn’t blame her. With one of the magic institute’s great veterans in such a horrible state, anyone would be shocked dumb.

He held what looked like a shortsword in one hand, but it was chipped all over. He’d likely been using it to repel the shadow wolves who’d been attacking him. I couldn’t see another reason he might still be alive down here otherwise. The question of why a wizard was carrying a shortsword came to mind, but it was a small one—it wasn’t strange for a wizard to have one for self-defense.

The room as a whole was a huge mess too. Books and furnishings were scattered all over the place. It might’ve been tidy and clean at one point, but just maybe, the vice principal had wrecked the place himself. That was simply how little of his original intelligence was left in his eyes.

“Wh-What happened here?!” I yelled as I ran over to him.

I didn’t get a good reaction out of him. He recognized that I was present, but my words weren’t getting through. I figured it was best to take him under my protection for now. The situation still wasn’t clear, but he probably couldn’t use magic here either. Even though he was acting weird, that didn’t mean I could just abandon him.

“Hee hee... Hee... Nothing... There was nothing.”

“Hm?”

He finally spoke, but I had no idea what he was saying. What did he mean by nothing?

“I just don’t get it... Hee hee... The headmistress’s secret to eternal youth... The ultimate mystery... I was convinced it was down here... Hee hee hee...! And look what happened. When I opened the door, it was nowhere in sight... Hee hee... Hee hee hee...!”

His vacant eyes weren’t focusing, but there was still a glimmer in them as he spoke in a hoarse voice. The secret to eternal youth. The ultimate mystery. If I didn’t know better, it would’ve sounded like an extreme exaggeration. However, I had a feeling I knew what he was talking about. He was referring to the headmistress’s—Lucy’s—secret.

She’d introduced herself as being older than me during our first meeting. She’d also told me she was far older than I imagined. If I remembered right, Allucia had mentioned Lucy using magic to alter her appearance. Up until this point, I’d figured that was pretty neat and nothing more. However, if she wasn’t simply altering her appearance—if she had instead acquired eternal youth—things were a little different.

Lucy had once told me that wizardry to resurrect the dead didn’t exist. But what if she’d cast a spell on herself to make her immortal? Resurrection and immortality were very different things, but they were similar in that they defied the providence of life.

Lucy had called Brown a youngster. In other words, she was older than him—maybe she even saw him as no more than a child. No matter how you looked at him, this man was even older than my dad.

The mysteries surrounding her were only deepening. However, pressing Brown for answers now wouldn’t improve the current state of affairs in any way. Right now, we had other things we needed to confirm. I postponed all matters related to Lucy for the time being.

“Vice Principal Brown,” I said, “do you know anything about why magic can’t be used in the institute right now?”

I still didn’t know if the vice principal was directly related to this incident, but it was extremely likely that he was somehow involved. I wasn’t sure whether he could give me a straight answer, but I had to ask anyway.

“Aah... I canceled it all... Hee hee... This underground area is equipped with a magic seal... For decades... For many, many years... I created a tool... Hee hee hee... I was sure the headmistress sealed it... The timing was just right... She’s away for an extended period, after all... Hee hee...!”

In contrast to my expectations, he talked about everything with a vacant expression.

“I see...”

In other words, he was the culprit behind this turmoil. I’d had a faint feeling a complete outsider wouldn’t have come all the way to the magic institute just to cause this incident, but I’d never expected someone of Brown’s stature to be responsible.

“Ficelle, do you know anything about this seal?” I asked.

“I don’t. I knew this door couldn’t be opened, but that’s all...”

Going by what Brown had said, nobody was allowed into this underground area. It’d been sealed the entire time, and he’d spent many years developing a magic tool to undo the seal. I didn’t know anything about magic, so I had no idea how much work that required. Going by the years he’d spent on it, I could imagine it hadn’t been easy.

“Then what about those shadow monsters?” I asked, turning back to the vice principal.

“Hee hee... I don’t know. The moment I undid the seal, they came into being from this room... I don’t know anything... Hee hee hee...!”

It seemed these shadows had indeed come from the lower levels of the magic institute. Two thoughts came to mind: something outrageous had been sealed down here, and why had the seal been placed here of all places?

I doubted the shadow wolves themselves had been sealed here. This might sound strange coming from me, but they are far too weak to be locked away in the magic institute. It was confusing to bump into them out of the blue, but it wasn’t hard to repel them. Anyone with a modicum of interest in martial arts would be able to do it with relative ease.

It made more sense for the shadows’ boss to have been sealed here. That brought up the new question—what such a thing was doing here in the first place?

“One last thing,” I said. “Where is this magic tool you made?”

“Aah... I set it up in one of the first-floor classrooms... I simply couldn’t undo the seal, you see... I’ve been working this whole time to dismantle the mana itself... Hee hee hee...!”

His babbling had unveiled pretty much all the details behind this incident—assuming he was telling the truth. The reason magic couldn’t be used was because of the tool Brown had created. It was probably because of this dismantling of mana. Not that this part made any sense to me.

Anyway, the source of the shadow wolves was this underground area. I still had no idea what the boss was like, but striking it down would probably bring things to an end.

From what the vice principal had said, he’d been under the impression that Lucy had created this seal. So, he’d had his eyes on the lower levels, thinking that Lucy’s secret to immortality was down here. Her appearance was difficult to explain. There was definitely something magical involved, but even if that was the case, I was pretty sure he could’ve approached things from a different angle.

Still, it was unclear how involved Lucy was regarding this underground area. It was entirely possible that all of this had simply been a product of the vice principal’s delusions. I doubted she was completely uninvolved, but Lucy might’ve inherited this place from someone else too.

“I’m done for... Hee hee... Everything was for naught... Hee hee hee...!”

Brown was answering all of my questions, but he was far from sane. He’d likely broken upon finding out that the secret of immortality he’d been coveting wasn’t here. What was more, knowing that what he’d done couldn’t be forgiven, his heart could no longer keep up.

I was already forty-five myself. It was hard to imagine my physique would improve at all from this point onward. Everything was downhill from here. In the years and decades to come, I too would grow old and weaken. Even if I did live a long life, I was sure to pass away far earlier than my pupils would.

If, upon approaching my deathbed, I knew someone right next to me had undone the effect of age and the deterioration that came with it...maybe I would cling to such possibilities too. I couldn’t say with conviction that my future self wouldn’t do so.

“Master.”

“Yeah...I know.”

That being the case, it was too early to bask in sentimentality. I was still in my active years, and both my mind and body were working fine. In my opinion, I’d led a life of high morals up to this point. So, if there was a problem I’d gotten involved in, I wanted to do something to help resolve it.

“Ficelle, evacuate the vice principal from the building,” I said. “After that, turn off the magic tool in the classroom. If you can’t, destroy it.”

“Understood.”

If we could at least do something about this tool on the first floor, we could resolve the problem of magic being unusable. I was worried about whatever was sealed in these lower levels, but the tool took priority. So, I decided to have Ficelle take the vice principal into custody and search for it. I would be fine going along with her, but I knew nothing about magic tools—it was more reliable to leave this part to a specialist.

In the meantime, I was thinking of greeting the big bad boss who was somewhere down here. If whatever it was ended up being way beyond me, I could just fall back. Once magic was restored, the institute’s teachers could make a move. At worst, it would be more than enough if I just bought them some time.

“Master, be careful,” Ficelle said.

“Yeah, you too.”

She held her sword ready in one hand and used the other to support Brown’s shoulder as she headed back upstairs.

Okay, all that’s left is the boss. I wonder what it is.

I took another look around. This seemed to be something like a personal room. There was a table, a chair, a bookshelf where the books on the floor probably belonged, and a bunch of mysterious utensils. The one who’d been taking care of this room had definitely noticed the existence of the being farther into the depths—they’d created this facility to do something about it. The scenery here was so strange that my imagination ran wild, and I came to that conclusion.

So who then was the person taking care of the room? Was it Lucy or someone else? I still didn’t know the answer to that, and it wasn’t something I could figure out on my own.

“That way...”

On the opposite side of the room from where I’d entered, I spotted another door. This one was also half open. Like all the other doors leading into the lower levels, it showed no signs of being damaged, and it hadn’t been forced open. Either something had made it open itself, or someone had intentionally opened it. Had Brown done this too? Or was it a result of the magic seal being undone?

“Whoa!”

The moment I peeked through the door, I sensed a distortion in space and jerked back a step. My instincts were pretty reliable for this stuff. A beat later, a shadow jumped through the door and lunged at me. I cut it down by reflex.

“That was close...”

Man, why am I exterminating these inexplicable monsters at my age? There’s no telling what the world has in store for you...

The source of these shadows was definitely beyond this door. What was more, they weren’t being created randomly or unendingly. From the moment we’d heard a commotion coming from the school building to my arrival here in the underground area, the shadows had attacked us at fairly fixed intervals.

“Okay then...”

I fired myself up and opened the door. It wasn’t all that heavy, but it wasn’t flimsy enough that I could break it. Still, even with my meager strength, it opened easily. It hadn’t been kept shut physically, but magically.

“Awfully roomy in here...”

Beyond the door was a space that seemed far too open to be some lower level of the institute. I doubted it had been built—it made more sense if it had existed here before the institute. I took a look around. The walls weren’t man-made but were closer to natural rock formations. My eyes turned to the farthest corner. I could sense a presence there that was far stronger than any of the other shadows.

There’s no mistaking it. That’s where the boss is.

“What the...?!”

After taking ten steps in, I saw an enormous shadow wolf with chains wrapped all over it.

“It’s huge...”

I was now facing an unidentifiable giant. If this had been some kind of heroic tale, such a development would’ve been welcome. A minstrel recounting the story would’ve probably attracted a lively crowd at this point. I was no more than a commonplace swordsman, though—I was neither a hero nor a legend. My honest first impression was “Man, I don’t wanna deal with this.”

The shadow boss was right in front of me, but it didn’t look like it was free to move around. The chains coiled around it were keeping it restrained. I didn’t know whether this was a physical or magical property of the chains, though.

I readied my sword and approached slowly. Since I didn’t sense any imminent danger for now, I figured it was probably all right to get a little closer and check things out. This underground hollow was far larger than the corridor and room I’d gone through to get here. There wasn’t much light, so visibility was poor. Regardless, I could tell this wasn’t a confined space, and I didn’t know whether someone had dug the place out in the past or if the cave had existed to begin with.

“Hm?”

After getting a little closer, the shadow monster became clearer. That was when another fact came to light.

“They’re...eating it? No, they’re trying to break it free.”

Several shadow wolves that’d probably been created by this thing were biting on the chains. They seemed to know by instinct that this giant was their boss, and they were trying to destroy the chains to free it. There was, however, limited space to gnaw on the bindings—the shadows that hadn’t been able to find a spot to gnaw must’ve left this cave for the surface. That was just a guess though, and not a confident one.

“Hmm...”

Now then, what to do about this? Even if I cut down the shadows chewing on the chains, more are sure to spawn. A part of me felt like I couldn’t just strike down the boss itself without consulting anyone. It’d been sealed down here in such a grandiose way. Was it really all right to lay a hand on it? Still, now that some damage had actually been done, I couldn’t just turn a blind eye.

“Hrm?!”

I considered just striking down the shadows biting at the chains for now. It would probably be best to do that and then keep an eye on things until Ficelle or some other reinforcements arrive.

Suddenly, a creaking and cracking I really didn’t want to hear started echoing around me.

“It’s on the verge of breaking?!”

Yes, the chains binding the giant wolf were clearly coming apart. This wasn’t good. Up until a moment ago, the small wolves had been doing their best but accomplishing nothing, but something had suddenly sped up the process.

“Dammit!”

Still not sure what to do, I slashed at one of the shadows chewing on the chain. Much like the shadows who’d surged to the surface, it vanished right away, but another took shape at the boss’s feet to replace it. Something really had to be done to this thing or the shadows would spawn endlessly. What was more, due to the chains weakening, the boss was starting to stir.

“Ugh!”

I tried cutting down the shadows one by one, but it didn’t seem like that would stop the chains from breaking. What do I do? What the hell do I do? Should I just consider this beyond me and back off for now? No, if this monster gets out of here, it’ll be really bad.

“—————”

“I have no idea what you’re saying!”

The giant wolf had opened its massive jaws and spoken in a wordless voice. I couldn’t make any sense of it. Was it joy at finally being released? Or maybe a cry of resentment over being held captive? I’d rather you calm down and be quiet. Can you? No? Dammit.

“———”

The chains sealing the giant wolf continued to clatter and come apart. The boss then opened its jaws even wider, and in that instant, all the chains shattered and fell to the ground, freeing the beast from its restraints.

Yup, it’s huge.

If I had to compare it to something, it was about twice the size of the named monster I’d encountered in the Azlaymia Forest. However, much like the shadow wolves surging forth beneath it, it had a hazy contour, so I couldn’t get its exact dimensions. At any rate, the pressure I felt emanating from its body was annoyingly easy to understand.

Hmm. Seriously, what do I do about this? Now that it was free, the best outcome would be to defeat it right here. However, I had far too little information on my opponent. Ficelle didn’t seem to know what was down here either, so it was unlikely I’d be able to call on someone well-informed about this situation.

Dammit, Lucy, why the hell did you have to go on a business trip now? I mean, I know the vice principal chose this moment to act exactly because of that...but at least let me complain a little.

“Whoa!”

And as such thoughts went through my mind, I’d yielded the initiative to the giant wolf. With sluggish movements, it swung what I assumed to be a foreleg downward at me. I didn’t know whether I could parry it with my sword, so I dodged to the side. It was a good thing it was so spacious down here—if this cavern had only been just big enough for the giant wolf, that attack might’ve crushed me to death.

“———”

“I don’t suppose...you’ll just let me go?!”

I jumped backward to dodge a horizontal sweep. Even if my opponent was a mindless beast, I would be able to read some kind of emotion behind its expression. This applied both to animals and monsters. However, I couldn’t read any such emotion from the shadow in front of me. I hadn’t expected to be able to chat with it or anything, but it seemed things had reached the point where I needed to let my sword do the talking.

“Hmph!”

To keep it at bay, I slashed at what I thought was its attacking foreleg. Much like with the other shadow wolves, I felt no resistance. My blade passed clean through a shadowy part of its body—that part distorted slightly and faded away. But unlike before, my opponent as a whole showed no signs of vanishing. Is this gonna be an unproductive battle of attrition? That’d be a bit of a problem for me. Can you not?

“——, ————”

It was crying—no, saying something. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make out any words. I didn’t even know if this was some kind of language. It was like a wordless sound echoing chaotically in my ears.

“Hm?”

There’d been one other development since the giant wolf had begun moving. The smaller shadows that’d been swarming to the surface were now melting, as if fusing with the main body. This really was a boss and its spawns. Now that the core was free, the little shadows had fulfilled their purpose. All of the shadows made a beeline back to the giant wolf.

At any rate, my opponent was being relatively docile. I wasn’t going to claim I could beat it like this, but I did feel confident I could buy time without losing. Still, not being able to win was a bit problematic. Slashing at it didn’t appear to do any damage, but that didn’t mean I could just ignore it. Though I had plenty of energy now, the prospect of a long, drawn-out fight honestly sounded backbreaking.

Above all else, I felt significant pressure from the mysterious nature of its attacks. There was no telling whether I could block one of its strikes, let alone take a hit. I exhausted a fair bit of stamina making sure I wasn’t careless. In the most extreme case, the slightest touch from its body could potentially seep into my being and defeat me. My sword strikes were working, so I doubted this was the case, but being cautious was far better than being dead.

“Hah!”

I slashed at the incoming shadow and then fell back a step. Well, this is a problem. It’s pretty rough not knowing what this thing is, but it’s even harder on me since I have no idea whether my attacks are working.

Zeno Grable had been a tough opponent, but I’d been able to target its soft spots like the eyes and the interior of its mouth. At a glance, I couldn’t spot any such weak points on this opponent. It had something like a mouth, but all I saw within it was the abyss. I doubted jamming my sword into it would achieve anything, and that act was liable to get me killed too.

Still, at least the shadows vanished when my sword struck them—I didn’t want to believe my physical attacks were being completely neutralized. That was pretty much the only bright spot in this battle, but at this pace, the sun was likely to rise before it was over. Maybe the moon would even be up in the sky again. I definitely don’t have the stamina for that.

“———”

“Aah! What a pain in the ass!”

What was even more annoying was the fact that my opponent was clearly learning. The first vertical strike into a horizontal sweep had been a simple chain of attacks relying on brute force. However, after taking a few hits from me, its movements were shifting between offense and defense.

Now it was launching rapid attacks with no openings, then almost always leaping away. It was a picture-perfect hit-and-run strategy. This would be shocking, even coming from a wild wolf. I was managing to get some strikes in by matching my opponent’s pace, but they were all shallow. Well, maybe there was no deep or shallow when it came to striking an insubstantial enemy. At this rate, I didn’t feel like I was getting any good hits in.

Still, this also meant my attacks were having an effect, even if minimal. If it was capable of ignoring my sword, it could’ve just charged forward without caring about being hit. Maybe that was something to be grateful for, but it would still be problematic for things to continue this way. It was also rough that I couldn’t get a read on my opponent’s stamina.

I’d never fought an enemy like this, so I didn’t know how to approach it. If my opponent had been a human or a wild beast, my experiences would’ve applied somewhat, but they weren’t of much use now. It was similar to a wolf in both movement and appearance, but I doubted that was all there was to this thing. If anything, Zeno Grable has been easier to handle. I didn’t even know if this wolf was alive.

“Whoa!”

I wasn’t able to keep the giant wolf within my reach. Right as we glared at each other from just out of range, it did something new: it launched a long-range attack. A shadow split off from the main body and flew at me like a sharp arrow.

“What a lousy joke!”

If I wasn’t imagining things, my opponent was getting better and better as time went on. Just maybe, it’d been groggy from waking up. If that were the case, things were looking pretty bad.

“Oop!”

Shadow arrows flew at me in rapid succession. Reminds me of my bout with Lucy. I was forced entirely on the defensive. It was breaking off parts of itself as projectiles, so I’d hoped for a second that it was shrinking, but that seemed unlikely. The giant wolf was perfectly healthy and as large as ever.

What to do? This is seriously bad. I can’t think of a way to win at all. If anything, things are just getting worse and worse. I’m definitely gonna lose.

“Master, sorry to keep you waiting.”

And just as I was thinking I was really in trouble, much like a certain incident some time ago, something flew right past my side and saved me from my predicament.

“Ficelle!”

I didn’t turn to look since my opponent’s offensive was only growing more intense, but I knew who was there without having to check. Ficelle launched sword magic at every incoming projectile. The shadow arrows and her magic slammed against each other—the shadows lost the clash and were intercepted one after the other.

Things had gotten really dicey there. If all I’d had to do was avoid and strike down the shadow arrows, I probably could’ve pulled it off. However, due to them being an unknown quantity, I’d wanted to avoid touching any of them directly. I was glad Ficelle was here—she had a means of intercepting the arrows with projectiles of her own.

There was one other thing of note too: Ficelle had used sword magic. In other words, one of our major problems had been solved.

“Thanks, you saved me!”

I jumped away from the giant wolf and stood side by side with Ficelle at the entrance to the cavern. I was larger than her in terms of physique, but she’d become so reliable. Now wasn’t really the time to dwell on this, but I was deeply moved by the growth my former pupil had shown. She was now able to stand shoulder to shoulder with me.

This was the second time Ficelle had saved me. The first had been during Reveos’s arrest, and now, we were faced with an inexplicable beast that I had no idea how to handle. I’m placing great faith in your skills, Ficelle.

“I broke the magic tool,” she said, keeping her sword at the ready.

“I see. That was quick.”

“Mm. I hurried.”

She’d resorted to destroying the vice principal’s device. Honestly, that had saved me a lot of trouble. Had Ficelle taken the time to analyze the thing instead, things could’ve been quite dangerous for me here. I doubt she would’ve done that, but still...

“Mrgh... It looks strong,” Ficelle commented.

“Yeah, attacks kinda seem to work on it, but I’m not making any progress. We have too little information.”

It was now two-on-one, but that still wasn’t a complete relief. It was a lot easier on me now that I wasn’t alone, but even with Ficelle’s flexibility and ability to fit any combat role, I couldn’t think of any plans to win. In short, we lacked information. We simply didn’t know what kind of attacks would work against the giant wolf or what abilities it possessed.

“Let’s start by trying a few things out,” Ficelle suggested.

“Got it. I’ll match your movements.”

It seemed she had no intention of withdrawing either. It wasn’t clear what would happen if we tucked our tails and ran, but I didn’t plan to lose, so it was best to try everything we could.

“——, ———”

“It’s talking?” Ficelle muttered. “I can’t understand it, though.”

“Mm, I can’t either. But there isn’t really any time to worry about that.”

The giant wolf seemed to have thoughts about the new arrival. It came to a stop for a moment and spoke in a wordless voice again. Ficelle had no idea what it was saying either, though I hadn’t expected her to understand. Now wasn’t really the time to be brooding over that. Our opponent was definitely hostile toward us, so our only choice was to fight. If things got genuinely dangerous, I was at least planning to take Ficelle and run away.

“It’s coming!” I yelled.

After letting out that strange murmur, the giant wolf burst into action. Much like before, it chose to split off pieces of its body to fire arrows at us. But by straining my eyes, I could read the preparatory movements it made for this strike. A part of its body would bubble up unnaturally, so as long as I paid attention to that, it was a simple matter for me to dodge.

“Hm!”

Weaving her way through the attacks, Ficelle approached and slashed with her sword. Much like when I’d done it, the part of the shadow her blade passed through was shaved away, and it vanished into thin air.

“It doesn’t feel like I’m cutting anything...” she grumbled.

“I couldn’t agree more...”

If things were going exactly as they appeared and our opponent was weakening with every bit of shadow we scraped away, then the situation wasn’t all that bad. Still, even with two people here, this was far too inefficient. Things might’ve been different if we’d been using large weapons like hammers or great axes, but we both used longswords. Maybe there was a limit to what we could do with physical attacks.

“Next is this.”

After taking a breath to digest that information, Ficelle jumped in once more. This time, she didn’t attack directly with her blade—she launched sword magic like she had against the shadow arrows.

Ficelle’s sword magic plunged into the giant wolf’s body. A few moments later, the places she’d hit bubbled up, and the shadows in those areas vanished, melting away. It seemed sword magic worked somewhat better than physical attacks. That said, there was no telling how many attacks it would take to defeat this wolf.

“I’ve gotta put in some work too...!”

I couldn’t leave all the fighting to Ficelle. I still had no idea how much intelligence our foe had, but it would be problematic if all the attacks it’d focused on me were instead redirected to Ficelle. We finally had a two-on-one advantage, and there was no reason to let that go.

As the giant wolf’s focus shifted over to Ficelle, I approached and attacked it. Hmm, that felt a bit deeper than before, but it doesn’t really feel like it’s working. I was slicing at it, but the feedback was all wrong—the information I was processing in my head was remarkably different from the sensation in my palm. This was something I didn’t want to get used to as a swordsman.

“——, ———”

“Dammit, this thing is really throwing me off!”

Even with its wordless voice, things might’ve been different were I able to read some kind of intention behind it. Unfortunately, I really couldn’t understand a thing it said. Was it even putting emotion behind its voice? The shadow boss might’ve been trying to tell us something in its own way, but unfortunately, it wasn’t getting across to us. I wasn’t asking it to speak in a way humans could understand, but at the very least, I wanted it to convey any emotion.

“Hmph!”

I slashed downward while Ficelle attacked it with sword magic. The feedback was the same as usual. Even if there was no tactile feedback when I struck it, I would’ve at least liked a sound or something to tell me when I’d hit home. Unfortunately, there was none of that either. It was like constantly swinging at empty air, which made things feel extremely eerie.

“Hmmm...”

Ficelle groaned as she kept up the attack. The giant shadow wolf wasn’t just letting us strike it nonstop. After taking a hit or two, it always jumped away. Even if the room was big, we were still underground, so it couldn’t back off too far. It did wander all over the place though, sending shadow arrows at us from every direction out of spite. It was mentally exhausting for both me and Ficelle.

On that note, my body wasn’t sturdy enough to have my nerves strained like this for a long period. Even if I hadn’t sustained any visible damage yet, just as I’d initially predicted, my stamina was fading. It’s gonna be bad if things continue like this.

“It’s working...but we don’t have enough instantaneous firepower...” muttered Ficelle. She was still moving about and analyzing the situation.

She was right. If there was a means of winning here, it would be to attack with enough firepower to destroy every last scrap of shadow with a single blow. An enormous explosion might be able to break the deadlock.

However, we were underground. The whole place could cave in if we unleashed some kind of tremendous magic, and that was a frightening prospect. Well, it’s not like I can use any magic anyway. Maybe Ficelle was worried about a potential cave-in too, and that was why she was at a bit of a loss.

“Master, I have a suggestion.”

“Hm? What is it?”

Backing off a little, I linked up with Ficelle. She seemed to have some kind of plan to defeat it. At times like these, I really admired wizards. Being a swordsman sounded cool, but all we really did was swing a sword at our opponents. When that couldn’t be applied, there was nothing we could really accomplish.

“I’ll build up enough mana to blow it away in one hit,” Ficelle said. “But I want you to protect me while I do.”

“I see... Roger that. I’m looking forward to your firepower.”

“Mm. I’ll do my best.”

The plan was simple: it was my job to become the enemy’s target until Ficelle finished gathering her mana. I was to be a decoy. That’s a harsh job for an old man, but let’s hang in there as long as we can, shall we?

“I’m starting... Mgh!”

“Whoa!”

Ficelle immediately began gathering her mana. During our bout, her sword had been glowing to the point where I’d been able to see it despite my inability to use magic. This time, it was already far beyond that point. I could clearly see the mana swelling up around her sword with every passing second. She’d definitely been holding back during our little match.

“Right then, time for me to get going too!” I exclaimed.

In her current state, Ficelle couldn’t really move around. Well, she probably could, but doing so would disperse the mana she was gathering or something. I’d been told before that constructing and maintaining magic required tremendous technique.

My role was clear—I had to be an utter nuisance to draw the enemy away from her.

“———, ——”

“Over here!”

The giant wolf reacted to Ficelle for an instant, but it shifted its focus to me as I closed in. The attacks it launched at close range were pretty fast, and I couldn’t tell how powerful the blows were, so I had to dodge them. To add to that, I couldn’t back off to get away from it anymore. I had to maintain point-blank range, and simply evading nonstop wouldn’t keep its attention, so I had to proactively go on the offense too.

“Whoa there!”

To be blunt, this is stupidly tough. Did that shadow just graze my clothes? Damn, that was close. I took a quick glance down at where I’d taken a hit. My clothes were cleanly cut, as if a sharp blade had passed through them.

Dammit, it really is the kind of attack I can’t tackle head-on. The fact that it had an edge meant it could be dangerous to block with my sword too. I doubted my blade would lose in a single exchange, but it would be ideal to avoid testing that theory.

“Hrmmmmm...!”

Behind me, I could hear Ficelle groaning. What I assumed was mana was surging around her sword to terrifying proportions. Holy crap! You wouldn’t even leave bones behind if you hit a person with that! Once again, I couldn’t help but admire how amazing magic was.

“Oh! Now’s not the time to look away!”

I turned back to face my opponent right as a giant foreleg came down on me. Instead of dodging backward, I slid to the side. Quite frankly, doing this was terrifying. I didn’t have much experience baiting an enemy like this. However, if I backed off, all the mana Ficelle was gathering would go to waste. In all likelihood, this wasn’t a feat she could attempt multiple times. I knew very well that pouring all your concentration into an attack, only for it to misfire, made it very difficult to concentrate at that level again.

“Hmph!”

So, the only thing I could do now was coil around my opponent and force it to target me. I fired myself back up, unleashing attack after attack, ignoring whether my slashes were having any effect. I could feel the slight surplus of stamina and willpower I’d had fading away rapidly.

“Gah!”

I continued narrowly dodging the giant shadow wolf’s attacks, and I kept its attention on me by striking back—all just to buy time. It sounded simple on paper, but doing it for real was nerve-racking. As long as jumping backward to get away from it was out of the question, I was forced to remain at a distance, where a single hit would signal my defeat.

I thought I was ready for this, but my energy and willpower were deteriorating pretty badly. I felt this even more acutely because I knew that any attack could be fatal. I could probably get away from a grazing blow, but a direct hit would spell the end for me.

“Hyup!”

I narrowly dodged a horizontal slash by stepping backward. Taking a small step like this was fine, but if I went too far, I would get too close to Ficelle. This is a ridiculous tightrope act. If there was one saving grace, it was that my enemy didn’t exactly have an abundance of attack patterns. As long as I kept an eye on it, I’d be able to dodge anything it had to offer. So far, we’d seen two attacks: close-range strikes from its forelegs and the shadow arrows that flew out of its body. The close-range strikes weren’t difficult to dodge since it didn’t seem to understand the concept of feints.

Now then, for how long would I be able to hold out? There was a limit to how much time a human could stay in constant motion. My stamina was on the decline too. My technique was currently better than it had been during my youth, but my physique was definitely falling behind.

“Haah... Ha ha...!”

Using the reflexes I’d developed through constant repetition over the years, I dodged my enemy’s attacks. I was beyond the point of making moves based on logic and analysis—using my brain to plot every action was a waste of energy, so I yielded myself to my instincts for dodging and attacking. As I repeated that feat, a slight smile came to my face.

Practicing the fundamentals was boring. It was hard to get a sense of growth, and it took an accumulation of months and years to feel like you’d improved the slightest amount. However, when facing a formidable foe like this, you got a wonderful sense of your growth. Back then, I wouldn’t have been able to dodge this; back then, I wouldn’t have been able to get any attacks in.

I cleared my mind. When the beast attacked, I dodged, struck back, dodged, struck back, and dodged again. The circumstances of this battle were extreme, and I repeated this pattern over and over. What unconsciously came to mind was practicing my forms as a child. That slow accumulation of daily training came to life as techniques in combat.

Due to the lack of sensation when I struck my opponent, my senses fell into an exceedingly intense training session of repetition. I didn’t even know if this state of mind was good or not—that question went unanswered as this exchange of offense and defense went on and on.

“Hmph!”

I weaved through a hail of shadow arrows and delivered an upward slash. Any normal beast would’ve had their jaw split open. But here, all I’d managed was to shave away a little bit of the shadow’s total mass.

This is fun. A totally inappropriate feeling was budding in my heart. It was definitely enjoyable to have bouts with my pupils—I was able to get a real sense of their growth that way. In contrast, I hadn’t had any fun fighting against Zeno Grable because I’d been filled with unease at how bad that situation had been. So why was I having fun now? Maybe it was because I couldn’t feel anything when I cut my opponent, so my brain was interpreting this as going through the basic forms.

“Hah!”

I crouched and dodged the attack aimed at my face. If I couldn’t back away, my only choices were to dodge left or right—I could also step closer. Now that I thought of it, Curuni did this kind of full-body evasion all the time. Her technique was still developing, but she was in no way lacking in terms of endurance, so she favored big movements.

“One more!”

I leaned to the side to evade the follow-up downward strike, then retaliated with two chained slashes of my own.

Allucia never overlooked even the smallest opening, and her specialties included delivering surefire counterattacks. Comprehensively, her technique had already long surpassed mine. She was still my former pupil, but after spending time teaching at the order, I’d found there was no small number of things I could learn from her.

My mind also drifted to the five students I was teaching in the sword magic course. They were soon going to be shifting away from practice swings, and they would begin learning the basic forms. I wondered what their swordplay would look like in the future.

Cindy had the stamina to match Curuni, so she was sure to make lavish use of that energy in a fight. Nesia also had a powerful build, so maybe he would favor a high-handed approach like Surena. Lumite and Fredra gave me the impression that they would fight like honor students, similar to Allucia and Ficelle. Fredra in particular had joined the sword magic course out of admiration for Ficelle, so she was sure to mimic her style. Mewi...I wasn’t so sure about her yet. If anything, she was very agile, so in terms of fighting style, maybe she would be similar to Allucia or Surena. It could be amusing to have Mewi learn to use two swords.

They all still needed to learn the fundamentals. As swordsmen, they were like raw minerals—it was up to Ficelle and I to refine them. You could even say it was our duty.

I was well aware that now wasn’t the time to be thinking about this stuff. Still, when taking part in a battle where I got a true sense of everything my training had brought me, I couldn’t help but imagine how the next generation was going to pull ahead of my skill.

I continued to harbor these distorted feelings as the fight went on for a while longer. Suddenly, a shadow arrow finally grazed my cheek.

“Ugh!”

For the first time in a good while, I felt a sharp tingle of pain run through my body.

Sometimes, concentration pushed to the utmost limit could surpass the flesh. That couldn’t be maintained for long. The fact that an attack I’d been dodging with ease had now hit was proof that my body was starting to fall behind the movements my brain envisioned.

My sensation of fun was gradually turning to one of unease. My stamina was just about at its limit, and my concentration was waning. Both my body, which had been in constant motion this whole time, and my brain, which had been giving it orders, were flashing warning signals.

Still not ready? How many seconds has it been since Ficelle started gathering mana? Twenty? Thirty? A minute? Maybe five? When concentrating, it was easy to lose grasp of time. Being able to focus to such an extent sounded nice, but it couldn’t be maintained for long.

The blood running down my cheek trickled into my mouth. It was bitter and tasted of iron. The cut was a very small wound, but the simple fact that I’d taken a hit at all—that I’d failed to dodge—was rapidly deteriorating my focus. I felt sweat beginning to form all over my body. I forced my focus away from the bead running down my brow and desperately kept my body moving, waiting for the moment of victory.

Crap. Any more of this and my lungs won’t keep up. I need to catch my breath, even if just for a second.

“Haaah!”

“D-Done...!”

Just as my concentration and stamina finally gave out and I gasped for breath, I heard Ficelle’s reassuring voice from behind.

“Master! Get back!”

“Right!”

Taking advantage of the situation, I matched the giant wolf’s attack and then jumped backward. That finally brought me a sense of relief, and I fell to one knee involuntarily.

“Pwah!”

Man, that was really close. I took a deep, deep breath. Another ten seconds and I might’ve taken a far more serious hit than a scratch on the cheek. That was how close to the brink I’d been. I could feel sweat pouring down my back.

I turned to look next to me. The mana Ficelle had gathered to her utmost limit was gushing not only from the tip of her sword, but along its entire length. It was like a geyser. I could tell at a glance that there was tremendous power behind it. In fact, there was so much pressure coming from her sword that I started worrying whether she would cause a cave-in.

“Eat this...”

Ficelle took a breath, then brought down her sword. In my eyes, it looked less like a sword strike and more like a waterfall of light.

“Secret art, Curtana!”

“Ooooooh?!”

Without any flashy sound, a powerful shock wave of heat engulfed the area. It was so powerful that I reflexively stabbed my sword into the ground to stabilize myself.

Shock ran through my body, and my eyes steadily weakened. As the intense light blinding me started to fade, I saw that most of the shadow before us had been blown away. Its hazy contour was even more of an indistinct mess, and what had been a giant wolf appeared to be nothing more than warped dregs hanging in the air.

“A-Amazing...”

So this is Ficelle’s full power? Well, the attack certainly wasn’t practical because of the amount of time it required in the middle of a fight, but the ridiculous firepower definitely made up for that. The shadow wolf hadn’t so much as twitched from any of our earlier attacks, and now it had been reduced to a miserable state.

Was it even still alive? There was nothing left of its shadowy body, and was no longer vanishing or growing. Only a hazy shadow continued to float in the cave.

“Haah... I’m beat...” Ficelle said. “I was wondering what to do if that didn’t work.”

“You did great,” I told her.

We kept our distance for a while, just in case, but it showed no more sign of moving. I wasn’t sure if we’d killed it, but at the very least, it’d been neutralized. The sound that’d been echoing in my ears had also stopped.

I would never have been able to beat this opponent alone. It had only been possible because I’d stuck it out as a decoy, and frankly, the destructive power behind Ficelle’s attack was shocking. She was still young too. If she continued her studies, her abilities were sure to grow far, far greater. How strong was she going to get? How high was her summit? I was endlessly curious.

“Hm...? That’s...”

Judging that the danger had passed, I walked toward the dregs of the shadow beast. If it attacked us again, we would have to figure something out, but it seemed that wasn’t going to happen. After getting to where I assumed the center of the giant wolf had been, I spotted something like a black crystal floating in the air. It was unstable, and a faint shadow surrounded it.

“A crystal...? What is it?” I muttered.

“I don’t know...but I’m getting a bad feeling from it.”

“Hmmm...”

It was just about as big as my palm. It reflected almost no light and was emitting an ominous black aura. Judging by how it was floating in the air, it didn’t seem to have physical substance. I didn’t even know if it was all right to touch. However, I felt like it was a bad idea to leave it as it was and go back outside.

“It wasn’t even scratched by my magic...” Ficelle observed. “It’s probably unbelievably hard.”

“Meaning it’s more than just a rock.”

One way or another, I had a feeling this rock was alive, for lack of a better term. Even with the giant wolf gone, there was still a faint shadow around it. Also, it was floating. Ficelle’s attacks hadn’t damaged it at all, so unlike the shadows, it had significant resistance to magic.

Maybe this was just my imagination running wild, but perhaps this rock was the giant wolf’s core, and that massive shadow had existed to protect it. Not that I had anything to back that theory.

“Hm!”

“Whoa?!”

And as I continued to ponder the black crystal’s true nature, Ficelle slashed at it with her sword. I yelped at the unexpected action. Jeez, that got a jump out of me. At least tell me before you do something!

“It really is hard...” Ficelle muttered sullenly, putting a hand to her blade’s edge. “Doesn’t seem like I can cut through it.”

“That bad, huh?”

Ficelle had exceptional technique. There was no way she’d misaligned the edge of her blade or anything. In other words, the crystal was sturdy enough to withstand both Ficelle’s magic and sword.

“Okay... Guess I’ll give it a go next,” I said.

“Mm, got it.”

Since I’m here, I might as well. Some of my stamina was back after taking a breather, so there was nothing to lose from testing my blade before we left. Besides, an object Ficelle’s magic and sword were incapable of damaging piqued my interest. I probably wouldn’t have bothered if the sword at my waist were some common, off-the-shelf weapon. For better or worse, what I had was a masterwork that Balder had diligently forged using the greatest of materials—as a swordsman, I couldn’t escape the desire to find out how sharp it truly was.

Above all else, Ficelle had a bad feeling about this mystery object. I couldn’t personally tell how dangerous it was, so a wizard’s opinion on the matter couldn’t be ignored.

I took a breath and held my sword at the ready in front of me. My target was pretty small, but it wasn’t moving much. Slashing it was pretty much the same as striking a dummy or a straw post. If I calmed down and swung as usual, I wasn’t going to miss.

If my sword was lost in the exchange, I could just apologize to Balder later, explain the situation, and have him fix it. It was sure to cost some money, but it would be a necessary expense.

“Shhh!”

I crouched and then slashed. My fatigue from the battle seemed to work in my favor since the swing drained just the right amount of strength. This slash scored quite highly, if I had to say so myself. Unlike fighting the shadows, I had definite feedback from striking something. It was no exaggeration to say that swordsmen thrived off this type of sensation—a good slash naturally improved my mood.

“Impressive, Master. That was really pretty.”

“Ha ha ha, thanks. I’ve gotta say, that was a pretty good swing.”

A few beats later, something hard thunked to the ground.

“Ah, you split it.”

“Ooh, it went right through.”

Turning our attention to the sound, we spotted the black crystal cleanly bisected on the ground. The faint shadowy aura around it had also been dispersed by the impact. I wondered if it was completely dead now. Despite the nice feedback I’d felt in my palm, it didn’t quite feel like I’d finished it.

I was surprised that my blade had cleanly bisected a crystal that Ficelle’s magic hadn’t damaged at all. I took a quick look at my sword, but couldn’t spot any nicks or chips along the edge. It really was splendidly durable. Top-notch materials and a first-class blacksmith—combining these two elements had truly created a masterwork. I was once more in awe over what had fallen into my hands, and I felt a deep respect for Balder.

“I wonder if it’s okay to touch now,” I mused. I poked at the crystal with the tip of my sword.

“Should be. That bad feeling is gone.”

Once I saw that nothing was happening, I picked up the broken crystal halves. They were no heavier than normal stones, and the cross section was just as pitch-black as the surface. I have no idea what this thing is.

I knocked the two pieces together. Just as Ficelle had said, it did seem awfully hard. I was a little moved by the fact that I’d chopped it in two.

“Guess I’ll hand this over to Lucy later,” I murmured.

“Mm. I think that’s for the best.”

At any rate, this thing had definitely been sealed down here. I wouldn’t really call this a spoil of war, but it was only right to return what we’d acquired from this battle to the one in charge. It was possible that she would get angry at us for defeating it without asking, but this had been an emergency situation—she was going to have to forgive us.

“Okay, shall we head back up?” I suggested.

“Mm. My mana’s spent. I’m beat.”

“Ha ha, yeah. I’m exhausted too.”

Now that we’d defeated the giant wolf, the shadows that had been surging out of this cave had probably vanished too. But since we’d beaten their boss, not many of them should’ve been leaving the school building, anyway. Kinera and the other teachers were out there, so I could only pray that everyone was safe.

“By the way, what’s with the whole secret art thing?” I asked.

“The commander named it, not me.”

“But you said it aloud. You like it, yeah?”

Ficelle paused before nodding. “Mm-hmm.”

“Ha ha ha, nothing wrong with that. A secret art sounds cool.”

“Erk...”

“If you’re gonna get embarrassed about it, you don’t have to say it aloud...”

“Hmph!”

“Ow! Ow, that hurts!”

Well, I understood how she felt. Secret techniques sounded really cool, and it was even better when they lived up to their names. Hers has more than enough firepower to be called a secret art.

“Maybe I should think of one for myself,” I said.

“That sounds good,” Ficelle agreed. “Make it something cool that settles things in a flash.”

“Ha ha ha, you’re asking for a bit much from this old man.”

I was completely spent both physically and mentally, so with that last joking complaint, we left the underground area of the magic institute behind.

◇

“Beryl, you really did well this time around.”

“Thanks. Man, it was pretty rough.”

Several days had passed since the turmoil beneath the magic institute. Lucy had called for me, so I was now in the headmistress’s office. After finishing off the giant shadow wolf, the shadows that’d been surging to the surface had vanished. I was just content that no further harm had been done.

Kinera and the other teachers had asked about the details behind the incident, but I’d only told them that it was resolved for now. I kept the rest to myself—I wasn’t sure whether it was all right to divulge what was beneath the magic institute.

Ficelle had already known that an underground existed, so the other teachers probably did too. However, it seemed nobody knew what was actually down there. Even the vice principal had been totally in the dark. Alluding to the giant shadow wolf I’d found there could have unnecessary repercussions.

Lucy sighed heavily after hearing my full report. “That stupid youngster. Faustus did seem like he was up to something, what with all that sneaking around...”

“Were you suspicious of him already?” I asked.

“More or less, but I never thought he would go so far. Thanks to him, my whole business trip went up in smoke.”

“Sounds rough...”

Her trip to the empire had been cut short, and she’d been forced to return immediately to Liberis. Information about the incident had reached her ears somehow. How, specifically, I had no idea. Generally, you’d assume a fast horse had been sent, but this was Lucy Diamond. It wouldn’t be all that surprising to hear that she’d obtained information through some extraordinary means.

Well, I couldn’t care less how Lucy had gotten her information. The important part right now was that I learned the full details of the incident.

“So what was that thing down there, anyway?” I asked.

“Hmm. I suppose you have a right to know.”

Judging by her reaction, she really did know about what was under the magic institute. I wasn’t sure how much I should prod in this regard, but I’d gotten involved already, so I at least wanted to know my opponent’s identity.

“Lono Ambrosia,” Lucy said. “A named monster.”

“A named monster...”

I figured it wasn’t a normal monster. Named, huh? That’s why it was so tough.

“What was a named monster doing beneath the institute?” I asked.

“For two reasons: to seal it away, and for research. I’m sure you know this after facing it, but it can’t be killed.”

“Hmm...”

True. The giant wolf—Lono Ambrosia—hadn’t died even after getting hit by Ficelle’s maximum firepower. And Lucy could use even stronger magic than Ficelle, so when she said it couldn’t be killed, it really couldn’t be killed.

“It’s easy to simply clear the shadows,” she added with a sigh. “But not even I’m able to break its core. No matter how many of the shadows you destroy, it’ll regenerate if the core is still there. That’s why it was sealed away.”

“That’s considered easy...?”

She really was on a whole different level as a wizard. If I’d been on my own, I would never have defeated it, no matter how long I spent slashing. In theory, it was probably possible to shave away all the shadows using only physical attacks, but I didn’t want to imagine how many hits it would take—it would probably require a siege weapon or something.

Wait. Hold on. I’ve got a real bad feeling about this. Have I been carrying around a named monster’s core?

“Uhhh, just to ask... Is that core...?”

“Hm? Did you see it? It’s a pitch-black crystal.”

“You mean this thing...?”

I took out the black crystal I’d retrieved—I’d been storing it under the same roof as Mewi—and put it on the table with a clunk. What would have happened if it’d regenerated in my home? It was a good thing nothing had happened while Mewi was around. I let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Wuh...?”

Seeing the crystal, Lucy had a look of absolute shock plastered on her face. It was very rare to see her like this. She was always so calm and composed—to the point of being annoying. I felt like just being able to see this made it worth coming to the institute.

“Did you...split this in two?” she asked hesitantly.

“Huh? Yeah,” I answered honestly. “Was that maybe...a bad idea?”

So I really shouldn’t have. She did say it was research material. Still, it’s not like I could’ve just left it alone. It was an emergency, so please forgive me.

“Pffft... Ha ha ha... HA HA HA HA HA HA!”

“Whoa?!”

While I was wondering how to evade blame, Lucy burst into raucous laughter.

“Ha ha ha! I see! I see! You split it in two! You really are amazing!” Lucy exclaimed. She had faint tears in her eyes as she laughed and slapped my shoulder.

“H-Huh...?”

That kinda hurts. Anyway, I could use an explanation for the sudden laughter. I guess it’s at least a relief that she’s not angry with me.

“Not even I could break this thing,” she explained, poking the crystal on the table. “Do you understand the meaning of that?”

In other words, even Lucy’s great magic had been incapable of destroying this core. Ficelle had described the crystal as being incredibly hard. Even when I’d slashed through it, despite its size, the feedback had been considerable.

“Haaah... So I cut something amazing?” I asked with a sigh.

“Oh, come now. Feel free to brag.”

“So you say...”

I’d cut something neither Ficelle nor Lucy’s magic had been able to break. That was, in fact, quite the accomplishment. However, perhaps the core had simply been highly resistant to magic, so some amount of effort had been enough to physically break it. I couldn’t get all arrogant about it.

“I’m pretty sure I was able to ’cause of this,” I said, pointing out my sword.

“Hmm, your red-sheathed sword, huh?”

The blade made of Zeno Grable’s materials had to be the greatest factor at play. I was sure that if Ficelle had been the one to swing this sword, the result would’ve been the same. The weapon was made from a named monster’s materials, so it’d been able to cut the core of another named monster. That made far more sense to me.

“Mind lending me that sword just a teensy bit for research?” Lucy asked.

“Never,” I answered immediately.

“Tch.”

Well, I did understand the desire to find out if there was some hidden power within my sword. However, I was scared she would dismantle the thing if I gave it to her. For now, it was more than enough to just assume this was the finest of blades that boasted a terrific edge and sturdiness. I could only pray that the day never came when I would need to know more.

Lucy shifted her focus to the black crystal. “Hmm... Pretty much all traces of mana have vanished.”

She picked it up and scrutinized it closely. I had no idea what a trace of mana would imply. Still, I could at least guess the thing was completely dead now.

“I doubt it’ll revive from this state, but I suppose I might as well seal it just in case,” she concluded. “Mind leaving it with me?”

“Yeah, sure. I was going to do that anyway.”

I’d never intended to swipe the thing for myself. The plan was always to give Lono Ambrosia’s crystal to Lucy. It seemed we didn’t have to worry about it reviving anymore, but it would be a huge pain if it did. The best option was just as Lucy said: seal the thing away.

“Anyway, to cut this thing clean in two...” Lucy muttered. “You really are amazing.”

“You’re exaggerating. If anything, it’s my sword that’s amazing.”

“You’re the same as ever.”

Lucy chided me over it a bit, but I didn’t really want to consider this as my own achievement. Ficelle’s magic had been responsible for destroying the majority of that giant shadow wolf, and I’d only been able to cut the crystal because of my sword. That did mean I had been the one to ultimately break it, but that fact alone didn’t make it entirely my achievement. Also, as mentioned earlier, Ficelle could’ve done the same thing with my sword. The same went for Allucia and Surena too.

In short, anyone with a certain level of technique could’ve achieved the same result. I didn’t think my technique was lousy or anything, but I had no intention of letting this victory go to my head.

“Well, I suppose I have a little more confidence than before,” I said.

“Is that so? That’s a good thing.”

My life had gotten hectic in the short period since Allucia had half dragged me out to the city. Everything had seemed far too heavy a burden for me, but one way or another, I honestly thought it was all something to be proud of.

That didn’t mean I was going to become overly arrogant and conceited about it, though. I wanted to keep my self-restraint intact. I’d wielded a sword for many years, but the pinnacle was still so far away. I wanted to continue to devote myself to my art in a way that matched my abilities.

“Oh yeah, what about Vice Principal Brown?” I asked.

“His case requires consideration. Either way, I doubt he’ll be able to stay at the institute.”

“I see...”

Naturally, the culprit behind the incident wasn’t going to be acquitted. In the end, the royal garrison had noticed the commotion and had gotten things under control alongside the other teachers. Afterward, the vice principal had been taken away by the garrison as a suspect. We would have to wait to see how he would be punished, but as Lucy said, it was unlikely for him to come back to the institute as a teacher. Even if no major injuries had been sustained, the scale of his crime couldn’t be ignored.

“Haah... Good grief,” Lucy said with a sigh. “There’s a mountain of things to do and consider.”

“Ha ha, hang in there.”

As the head of the magic institute, I was sure she had a mountain of stuff to deal with regarding this incident. I could understand her reluctance to do so since she hadn’t even been present, but handling things like this was part of her job. As the one in charge, she would have to take some level of responsibility.

On that point, I was glad I had relatively carefree titles like special instructor for the order and temporary lecturer for the institute. I would obviously take responsibility for my own actions irrespective of my title. However, I didn’t have to take responsibility for a stranger’s or an organization’s actions, so my titles suited me just fine. I really didn’t want to end up in some lofty position where I had mountains of responsibilities. I just wanted to do my best with what little was within my reach.

“There is still plenty to worry about,” Lucy said, “but I do believe that inviting you here was a good thing.”

She walked over to the window and looked down at the courtyard. I followed her gaze, spotting Ficelle and about thirty students with wooden swords.

“I won’t force you. Though, it’ll help if you can come and see them every now and then. I’m sure she’ll like that too.”

“That’s my plan. I don’t want to abandon them halfway.”

After the incident, the number of people taking the sword magic course had increased significantly. It seemed that while Ficelle and I had been fighting underground, the five students of the sword magic course had taken on the shadows who’d reached the surface. That was what Kinera had told me.

I wanted to yell at them for doing something so dangerous, but I really, really understood how they felt. It was a swordsman’s nature to want to put their skills into practice. Even if they knew it was dangerous, they probably wanted to get a feel for their progress. It was extremely difficult to escape that temptation. In that sense, while those five were still very inexperienced in terms of technique, they were developing the mindsets of fully-fledged swordsmen.

Even if I couldn’t approve of what they’d done, they had made the sword magic course more popular. That was only a positive in hindsight, though—it would’ve been terrible if any of the students had gotten hurt.

Anyway, producing visible results like that was a great advertisement for the sword magic course. I was pretty sure they’d succeeded because of the protection of Kinera and the other teachers, but the way they’d put up a good fight with wooden swords must’ve shined in the eyes of their fellow students.

“Fice has a different look in her eyes now as well,” Lucy said. “That is the light of one who guides others.”

“So it looks that way to you too, ‘professor’ Lucy?”

Another big factor behind the sudden popularity was the major change in Ficelle’s perception. Before, she hadn’t hated teaching or anything, but it seemed like she’d found it tedious.

Ficelle was very talented, so she must’ve felt somewhat stressed over teaching inexperienced children. However, now that she’d been given the opportunity to be a teacher, she’d done her best to search for her own teaching style.

It would be difficult for her to master, and it was also going to take time for her to get used to teaching. Many of my memories of when I’d first started as an instructor at the dojo in the sticks were filled with anxiety. I was pretty used to teaching now, but I didn’t believe everything I’d done had always been correct.

“Mind if I open the window?” I asked.

“Go ahead. Curious?”

“Yup.”

With the headmistress’s permission, I opened the window. It wasn’t all that humid outside, so a refreshing wind blew into the room.

“Like I said, magic is important, but to use sword magic properly, you need to learn how to wield a sword. This is what the fundamentals are like.”

With the window open, I could faintly hear Ficelle’s voice.

“Heh heh, if you’re that worried, how about joining them?” Lucy said.

“No. Now that she’s trying to change, I’ll just be in the way.”

Unlike when she’d first started, Ficelle was doing her best to teach theory. She was very intelligent, so once she found the knack for it, she was sure to figure it out quickly. Meddling too much when someone was doing their best to change had a tendency to hinder growth. I was still a bit worried though, and I had no intention of abandoning her, so my plan was to just show up every now and then.

However, unlike before, I wanted to avoid taking over her class entirely. Besides, as far as I could tell, there was no need for me to go that far anymore. A part of me wanted to see things through like Lucy wanted, but that was mostly me being selfish. At any rate, my initial goal of making the sword magic course popular had been accomplished.

With that many students, it was harder to teach, but it came with an equally large sense of fulfillment. Also, with more students, a greater disparity existed between them—this was always a troubling issue for a teacher. Still, that was a subject to solve later. I was curious about how Ficelle would clear it. I had endless hope for this young teacher’s future.

“That’s all. Got it?”

“Yes!”

Oh, looks like Ms. Ficelle’s explanation is over. Just as Lucy had mentioned, she had a different look in her eyes now.

At any rate, if two or three masters of sword magic were to reach Ficelle’s level in the near future, the popularity of the class was sure to reach even greater heights. I was honestly glad to have been a part of that brilliant future’s starting point, even if my role had been relatively unimportant. I prayed I would be able to continue seeing to both the students’ and the teacher’s growth.

“Okay, give it a go for yourselves,” instructed Ficelle from down below. “Everyone get your wooden swords ready. One thousand practice swings.”

“Uh, Beryl... You sure you don’t need to interrupt?” asked Lucy.

“Well... Ha ha ha... Let’s just watch for now...”

It was a nice, sunny day. The students’ energetic voices resounded from the courtyard, and among them, I could faintly hear Ficelle doing her best.

“Yup, that’s the spirit,” Ficelle encouraged. “Nice. Good.”

“She’s giving it her all. For now, it’d be insensitive to butt in.”