Genius
"Ah, before that."
"......?"
"Don't you have a place to rest? I heard you did."
"Ah."
At her added comment of It's hot, I began guiding her toward a certain spot.
When we arrived and I opened the door, the pure white space I'd seen once before during the entrance exam came into view. It was a kind of lounge where you could take a short break when training left you exhausted.
"It's cool in here. So? What did you want to ask me?"
Shane sat across from me at the single table in the center and tilted her head.
"What exactly is mana affinity?"
There were plenty of things I was curious about, but the question that had just occurred to me took priority. Earlier I'd simply let it slide, thinking I roughly understood from hearing it mentioned. But the line about a talent that only appeared once every hundred years made me feel like I needed to ask. If I could truly understand and make use of this talent, I believed I would become even stronger.
"You don't know what mana affinity is?"
"No. I lived in the mountains, after all."
"Aha."
Shane nodded in understanding. The mountains really were a universal excuse for any gap in knowledge.
"Mana affinity—commonly just called affinity—measures how well you can harmonize with the attributes of the mana you possess. Dominance is the exact opposite."
Shane summoned crackling red lightning as she continued her explanation.
"My dominance is higher than my affinity. So rather than the lightning following me, it's more accurate to say I subjugated it."
Each approach seemed to have its own strengths and weaknesses. Affinity meant the mana followed you. Dominance meant you forced the mana to submit. But the end result was the same.
Controlling mana.
In the end, both paths converged into one.
"Looks like you understand. Anything else you want to ask?"
The smile Shane gave me as she watched carried the knowing look of someone who already understood everything.
"What was that aura?"
Her smile deepened at my question.
She already knew.
She must have predicted the question after seeing me replicate that aura.
"It's a power our family calls Battle Qi. To be precise, it's an aura. If you want to use Battle Qi, all you have to do is fight."
"......That's it?"
"Yep. And since we're on the subject, I have something I want to ask too."
Tap.
Having finished speaking, Shane placed her hand on the table and leaned her upper body toward me.
"How did you do it?"
It was just like last time. The same posture as when she'd drawn close out of curiosity, bringing her face near mine. It seemed she had a habit of leaning in whenever something piqued her interest.
"Huh?"
When Shane pressed for an answer, I reluctantly replied.
"......It just happened."
It wasn't a lie. I hadn't tried to use it believing it would work. It had simply manifested as a dramatic moment of realization.
I couldn't exactly tell her I'd seen it.
If I said that in the middle of a fight I'd witnessed her experience, who would actually believe me?
"......"
I met her gaze as she stared straight at me.
"Really?"
Even with that vague answer, Shane seemed to understand. She gave a small nod and sat back down.
"......Would this be enough to pass?"
She muttered it so quietly I almost didn't catch it.
......What is she talking about?
She'd mumbled to herself a few times on the way here, but I'd never managed to make out the words. I simply let it go, figuring she had her reasons.
"Why did you surrender?"
I asked after letting the previous moment pass. Her answer was almost too straightforward.
"Because I wanted to."
"......Why did you want to?"
"......"
This time Shane didn't answer. In truth, she couldn't.
How am I supposed to say I want to be in the same S class as him?
The moment she defeated Adel, he would no longer be able to return to S class. That was why she had surrendered.
The reason was simple.
He's my husband, after all.
In Shane's heart, Adel had already moved beyond "husband material" and was well on his way to becoming her actual husband.
Father will approve too.
Her father—the head of the Krakt family—had been completely opposed to any engagement for Shane. He had even rejected Daren, the sword genius of the Gaud family. When she'd once asked what kind of person he would approve, her father had answered:
If it's someone in your age group who's stronger than you and likes you more than you like them, I'll allow it.
Her father only wanted her happiness. The occasional nods and mutterings she'd made earlier had been her way of calculating her chances.
He's looking for strength, though.
Unfortunately, no one currently met that standard.
But.
There will be now.
Adel Ifrit possessed top-grade affinity and had awakened Battle Qi in an incredibly short time. Someone like him would surely surpass her before long.
I just need to seduce him.
For her father's approval, Adel's feelings toward her needed to outweigh her own. The minimum requirement was for Adel to like Shane first.
With that goal in mind, Shane asked, "Adel, what's your ideal type?"
Children of the Krakt family were taught to speak with their bodies rather than their mouths. It was a clan that even seduced those they liked through combat. Despite being a direct descendant of that lineage, Shane possessed surprisingly normal knowledge.
Adel answered without much hesitation.
"Hmm... a woman who's both strong and beautiful?"
He'd spoken without thinking too deeply. The sudden question about his ideal type had caught him slightly off guard, but right now preventing the apocalypse and gathering comrades took priority over romance. The answer was a natural blend of "beautiful woman" and "someone stronger than me."
Hearing it, Shane thought:
Am I not pretty?
She had heard people call her beautiful every single day since childhood. She wasn't sure exactly how exceptional her looks were, but she was confident they ranked at the very top of her grade.
And I'm strong, too.
Being born into the Krakt family allowed for weakness, but never for giving up. Since she possessed talent and had never surrendered, strength was the natural outcome.
It won't take long.
Unaware of Adel's true feelings, Shane wore a dark, scheming smile.
"Adel, how long have you been training for?"
She asked to learn more about him. Honestly, she'd assumed his training period would be similar to her own—at least ten years. His movements had carried that level of refinement.
But that expectation was completely shattered.
"Me? About... twelve days?"
Her eyes widened dramatically.
"Twelve days?"
"Yeah, roughly that."
She couldn't hide her shock.
Really only twelve days?
That posture, those movements, that application—all of it?
If it had been anyone other than Adel, she probably would have collapsed on the spot. It was the kind of genius that would make even the instructors clutch their necks and faint.
I still don't understand why he's ranked 500th, though.
His true strength would be revealed soon.
Has it already been revealed?
She wondered if their spar had already exposed his power.
"Including the entrance exam, that makes it fifty-seven days total."
Noticing the shift in atmosphere, Adel quickly added the clarification. Finding the gesture adorable, Shane smiled.
Isn't there a faster way for him to grow stronger?
To earn her father's approval, the condition that he must be stronger than her was absolute. If possible, she wanted him to grow as quickly as he could.
Hmm... perhaps?
A thought suddenly struck her.
Does he grow stronger through sparring?
If he was the type of genius who improved instantly through combat, then facing someone stronger than himself would be nothing short of a miraculous opportunity.
Wow, when I think about it like that, it really doesn't make sense.
Rumors said he'd created his own martial art. His fire affinity was the highest possible. He could wield Battle Qi. He grew stronger through fighting. And he'd accomplished all of it in just twelve days.
She didn't feel jealous. After all, the version of herself that others saw was probably the same as the Adel she was looking at now. Instead, the realization only strengthened her resolve to make him her husband.
Having made up her mind, Shane spoke.
"Adel, I'll teach you how to properly use Battle Qi."
"How?"
Battle Qi was an aura gained through combat. In the end, there was only one method.
"We'll spar, obviously?"
She smiled brightly.
Fighting will make him stronger and make him like me at the same time.
It was a plan to catch two rabbits with one stone. The blood of the Krakt family—which expressed everything through battle—flowed strongly through Shane's veins.
"......Alright."
The atmosphere she created made refusal impossible. I nodded, followed her outside, and we began our spar.
Crackle! Whoosh!
Red lightning and the crimson light of the sun tangled together in a single clash.
......Wow.
Having now experienced Shane's full power firsthand, I could say it with absolute certainty.
She was undoubtedly the strongest first-year.
Shane had sparred with me in order to enter S class. But because she lost to me, I had no choice but to ask. Since her curiosity seemed to have shifted into genuine interest, I asked the obvious question—how exactly she planned to get into S class. In the end the only real method was sparring, but at the time I simply asked.
Shane had answered casually.
Me? Wasn't Freed the weakest one in S class? I'll just spar with him once.
But it looked like Shane's plan wouldn't come to pass.
Because—
He had challenged me first.
......This feels ominous.
Staring into Freed's eyes, which burned with pure hostility, I felt my sense of unease only deepen.