Learning Elune's Flash
Oblein Holy Kingdom.
The alleyways twisted together far more intricately than I had expected, a genuine maze of narrow passages. After wandering them for a considerable stretch of time, I finally emerged into a surprisingly wide open space.
Fortunately, the boy I had been chasing was there as well. He sat slumped atop a small wooden crate, his body limp and listless.
Our first meeting settled into silence. The boy did not even seem to notice my arrival; he merely muttered something under his breath in a tiny voice. The fact that he refused to spare me so much as a glance told me something was wrong. Even when I stepped closer, he gave no reaction at all.
I frowned and looked down at the ground. A glass vial glittered under the moonlight, rolling across the dirt while some unknown liquid leaked from it.
Slack eyes, a body gone completely slack, and the occasional stream of meaningless muttering. There was only one thing that combination could mean.
The boy was high on a hallucinogenic drug.
I picked up the vial and brought it to my nose. From a distance I had not noticed, but up close the sharp medicinal stench hit me hard. Anyone who would slip into an alley like this in the middle of the night just to take something like that was clearly not dealing with a legal substance.
So people are the same no matter where you go, huh?
While I was lost in thought, the slumped boy began to stir. His body swayed as he blinked, focus slowly returning to his eyes, strength seeping back into his limbs. The next instant he jerked backward in shock.
"Y-you... who the hell are you...!"
I watched him and allowed a faint smile to curve my lips. If I handled this situation carefully, I might just get exactly what I wanted. Here was a boy who snuck into dark alleys to take illegally distributed drugs. If that secret ever got out, he would be in serious trouble.
"Have a nice dream?"
"...What are you..."
He tried belatedly to play dumb. I rolled the glass vial toward him. It clinked and came to rest at his feet; he stared at it with a trembling gaze and let out a rough breath.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"That's the kind of thing that gets you in real trouble if anyone finds out, isn't it?"
"I don't know what that is."
His demeanor turned hostile in an instant. The aura rolling off him sharpened like a freshly honed blade, and a soft moonlight began to gleam in those once-glazed eyes. I raised both hands in a placating gesture.
"Relax. I'm not planning to tell anyone what I saw."
"Go ahead and tell them. No one would believe a word you say anyway."
"Hmm..."
He had a point. If some random adventurer girl claimed that the winner of the sword tournament had been crawling around on the ground high on hallucinogens, who would take her seriously? I wouldn't have believed it myself.
But what if I never mentioned the boy at all? What if I simply pointed out that this place looked suspicious? After all, several empty vials that looked as though they had been used before were scattered across the wide clearing.
Time to change tactics. I cleared my throat and spoke again.
"I hope I didn't offend you. I just wandered in here by accident."
I gave him a small smile and took a single step back. I knew perfectly well how my appearance affected people. That bright, pretty face tended to draw unearned goodwill in conversation; even someone in a foul mood often softened once they saw me smile. And this was a boy only just stepping into adulthood. There was no way he would remain completely immune.
Just as I expected, the sharp edge of his aura eased.
"What did you come here looking for?"
His tone was still edged, yet I felt no real hostility in his gaze. If anything, a quiet interest had begun to surface—the same look the boys my age back in the village used to give me when they brought little gifts. A little uncomfortable, honestly.
After a brief moment of thought I opened my mouth carefully. Asking him outright to teach me the sword style was out of the question. Elune's Flash was a technique passed down only among the Holy Knights, after all.
"Would you show me your swordsmanship?"
"My swordsmanship...?"
"Yeah. I watched you win the tournament."
"Hmm..."
At my answer his attitude softened even further. The way his voice itself grew gentler told me he had completely taken the bait.
"I'm a swordswoman myself. Looked like there was a lot I could learn."
I gave the sword hanging at my back a light tap as I spoke. Foldrin—though I did not yet know his name—smiled faintly and nodded. Every trace of the wariness he had shown at first had vanished.
"I see... so that was it."
"Will you show me?"
"And what will you give me in return?"
I answered his question with silence, letting my gaze drift meaningfully over the many glass vials scattered across the ground. After that pointed look I turned away and spoke.
"Well... if you don't want to show me, that's fine."
"Wait—"
"What?"
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Back to the inn?"
"And after that?"
"I'll probably leave this city."
My answer made him hesitate for a moment. After a short internal debate he finally gave me the reply I wanted.
"If I show you my swordsmanship, will you stay here longer?"
"Probably."
"Fine. I'll show you."
"Really?"
"Tomorrow. Come to this place at the same hour tomorrow. I'll bring my sword."
If he needed a sword, I already had one. I pointed to the blade on my back.
"You can use mine if you want."
"You can't perform perfect swordsmanship with a blade that isn't familiar to your hand. Besides, yours looks shorter than the one I use."
"Hmm..."
Fair enough. I nodded and turned to leave. His voice stopped me once more.
"Your name?"
"Ceris."
I offered him a small smile and slipped back out through the maze of alleys. I never did learn his name on the way, but I was not particularly curious, so I simply returned to the inn.
The following evening, the appointed hour arrived. Soft moonlight lay over the alley streets, which were just as empty of human presence as the night before.
Had the boy actually kept his promise?
Dressed lightly, I headed into the alleys. The tangled maze no longer posed any problem. The moment I emerged from the labyrinth, the wide clearing opened before me. The boy was already there, sword at his hip, leaning against the wall. I had not seen him enter, yet he was waiting—so there must have been more than one path leading to this place.
"You came."
"Hi."
"I realized something important yesterday."
"What?"
"That I never told you my name."
It had not been important to me, but apparently it had been to him. With a serious expression he introduced himself.
"Foldrin. That is my name."
"Foldrin, huh."
He looked at me, hesitated a moment, then spoke again.
"Should I... show you now?"
"Yeah."
He nodded with a faintly tense expression and began to swing his sword in earnest. The practice blade had no edge and a blunt tip, yet the arcs it traced painted a soft moon across the air.
I watched closely. These were the same movements I had seen at the tournament, but observing them up close let me study the breathing, the way he maintained his power, every detail far more clearly. The sequence he demonstrated consisted of ten forms in total; the downward cuts and thrusts I already knew were nothing more than transitional links between them.
When he finished the demonstration, Foldrin steadied his breathing and asked,
"Well? Anything worth learning?"
"Quite a lot. A great deal, actually."
As I answered I drew the sword from my back. The Crodiom blade caught the moonlight and began to glow softly; the seven stars engraved along the fuller revealed their presence as well.
Foldrin murmured under his breath,
"A fine sword..."
"Want to spar a round?"
"Me? With you?"
"Yeah."
He frowned as though reluctant, yet he did not refuse. I would have preferred to ask him to demonstrate the forms again in greater detail, but staring at the same technique too long might raise suspicion. Better to learn the rest by clashing blades myself.
And so a sudden sparring match was arranged. My side carried a live, edged blade, yet Foldrin did not seem particularly concerned. He clearly took considerable pride in his own skill.
"Your stance is solid. How many years have you studied the sword?"
I considered the question briefly before answering. Adding up the time I had seriously trained with a blade came to a little under a year.
"A little under a year."
"...I'll yield the first move."
I did not refuse the offer. I kicked off the ground at once, closed the distance, and swung. It was only a spar, so I did not put full power behind the strike. The moment my blade streaked forward trailing faint starlight, Foldrin's tip blurred and wove a soft moonbeam into existence.
Clang!
Star and moon collided, scattering gentle light as they shattered apart. I flowed straight into the next motion. My sword swept upward in a strange arc that seemed to blanket his upper body; three stars rose simultaneously above it. In that same instant a clear shaft of moonlight surged up from beneath his feet and erased the three stars.
Foldrin's face appeared beyond the moonlight. He was staring at me in open shock. A small smile touched my lips. He had clearly been underestimating me.
A brief exchange of blows followed. I swung as hard as I could, yet I could not wrest victory from him. My sword was knocked aside, and a cool sensation settled just beneath my throat—the blunt tip of Foldrin's practice blade.
"I lose..."
After my declaration of defeat we sparred several more rounds, but the result never changed. I had been focusing more on studying the swordsmanship he displayed than on the spar itself. Even if I had concentrated fully on winning, the outcome would likely have been the same. In pure sword skill, Foldrin was simply better.
"That's enough for today."
Foldrin spoke while gazing up at the sky, apparently gauging the time by the moon's movement. I asked him,
"Will you come again tomorrow?"
"If you do."
"Then see you tomorrow."
I was glad I could return earlier than expected. The moment I reached my room at the inn I began practicing the swordsmanship I had stolen from Foldrin. Mastering it perfectly would take a long time, but simply growing familiar with the forms would not take long at all.
If I trained for another two days or so, I would be able to leave this city.
I smiled faintly to myself.