127. The Hunt (7)
127. The Hunt (7)
Om nom nom.
Reina sat perched on a tree branch, popping popcorn into her mouth and chewing.
Born as a homunculus (artificial being) through Rina's magic, she in truth knew nothing beyond a few basic spells, common knowledge, and the rules of the Midterm Evaluation.
She had only come here out of a sense of duty to protect the cadets, colored by the will of Rina, her creator.
There was nothing in particular she could actually do here.
'......That one—Rebecca. A Demonized Human even recorded in the knowledge I was given. Can Jin Yu-ha win?'
Reina diligently chewed her popcorn, looking down below.
"Excuse me, Reina. May I sit beside you?"
"......Hm?"
At the voice suddenly reaching her from the side, Reina turned her head.
And a blonde-haired girl came into view.
It was Sofia.
Reina narrowed her brows and glared at her.
"That one is engaged in combat. Are you not joining?"
"Um, my turn's from Phase 2? That's what he told me. Said I'd just know when it's time to jump in....... And that I'll need my strength later, so I should save my energy as much as possible."
"......I see."
'And yet, if he ends up dying while you're saving your strength, wouldn't that just be a dog's death?'
The words rose all the way to Reina's throat, but she gulped them down.
"Um, Reina."
"Hm?"
"That popcorn....... Could you share some with me?"
Reina stared at Sofia with a dumbfounded look.
'Is this one not worried at all?'
Whether she was or not, Sofia huffed! through her nose beside her, clenched her fists tightly, and suddenly hit full throttle.
"To be able to watch our Yu-ha's fight this close up!!! This is a miraculous moment you can't even express with the word successful fan!"
Reina shook her head back and forth, looking fed up.
'This one isn't normal either.......'
"By the rules, nothing is free. Pay in Coins. The popcorn costs 10 Coins."
"Ah! 10 Coins—here you go!"
The Coins were paid, and Reina, with a sulky face, pulled fresh popcorn from her subspace and handed it over.
Sofia stuffed the received popcorn into her mouth, gazing at Jin Yu-ha with fervent eyes.
Chew chew─
"Haaaaah──. It is both so profoundly humbling and yet so regrettable that only I can witness this unbelievable scene! A moment like this must be preserved for all time! A camera! If only I had a camera!!"
"A camera? Is this what you needed?"
"......Huh!? Whoa! Reina-mon!"
Sofia flung herself at Reina.
"G-get off me! If you want the camera, pay in Coins!"
"How much?"
"1000 Coins."
"That expensive!?"
Sofia kept sneaking glances at the camera Reina had produced, biting her nails.
She was agonizing over whether it was okay to spend such a large sum without consulting Jin Yu-ha!
"......A, a thousand Coins—well, maybe it's a little expensive, but! W, we can quickly earn that back by hunting monsters or cadets! I can just hunt to repay it! Our Yu-ha will understand too. He definitely will!"
After muttering to herself for a moment, she raised her head and put on a serious expression.
"Deal."
"Hmph, here it is."
"......Huh? This—it won't turn on?"
"The battery is separate. That's 1000 Coins."
Reina shamelessly extended her hand once again.
"......"
Sofia very seriously considered, for a moment, whether she ought to use that broad forehead as an archery practice target.
* * *
'Hah....... How ridiculous.'
With her heated head now cooled, Rebecca realized just how laughable her own state was.
She had been toyed with by the schemes of a first-year cadet who was still wet behind the ears, had braced herself for death, and had fallen for a taunt.
'There's no need to rush anymore.'
She glanced up toward the trees.
It had become even more certain that she was not the Magic Emperor.
There was nothing left to hold her back.
She herself was an intermediate officer of the Demonized Human Society.
How many bitches had lost their heads to her sword so far, and how many had knelt before her?
From the start, unless one was at least on the level of a Velvet Academy instructor, raising one's head in her presence wasn't even permitted.
And yet, a mere first-year academy cadet had shoved a sword at her.
And the archer who came with him showed no sign of joining the battle.
The black-haired boy stood alone, pointing his sword as if to face her by himself.
'Was he fearless because he was ignorant, or ignorant because he was fearless?'
Setting aside how he'd even detected their presence, the sheer spirit of standing in her way alone was worthy of some credit.
Shhhhh─
Rebecca quietly gathered her energy.
Her main weapons were twin swords.
One a long katana, the other a short wakizashi about half its length.
The short blade she held in a reverse grip in her left hand, while the katana in her right pointed toward the boy.
"Little boy, your eyes are insolent."
At this, Jin Yu-ha scowled.
"What are you talking about—your mug's pretty damn insolent too, you know? I'm scared it'll show up in my nightmares."
"......You. Your name?"
The black-haired boy frowned, then answered.
"Jin Yu-ha. But you don't need to give me yours. You're going to die by my hand anyway—'Baldy' is enough."
POP─
A vein bulged atop her bald head. Every word exchanged felt like it was chipping away at her patience.
Pitch-black sword qi layered over the tip of Rebecca's blade.
"You will regret provoking me."
Her two eyes filled with killing intent.
"......"
"......"
The two sword-bearers faced each other, and taut tension settled in.
Crunch─
The sound of Sofia, sitting in the tree, chewing her popcorn came through a bit loudly,
Hah!
And the one who rushed in first was none other than Rebecca.
Her blade, thickly clad in a vicious aura, swung at a ferocious speed.
Whoooosh—!!
A sword strike ripping through the air.
It was a level that far, far surpassed a mere cadet.
'It's over.'
Even before the sword connected, Rebecca was certain, curling up the corners of her mouth in a grin.
However.
Clang─!
A short, sharp ring of metal burst out.
The onrushing sword strike was blocked, dead-stopped by Jin Yu-ha's blade.
'......He blocked my sword—with raw strength?'
At the totally unexpected turn, Rebecca's face registered bewilderment.
Grrrrind─
With their swords locked heavily together, Jin Yu-ha spoke in an indifferent voice.
"If you're not serious right now, you're just going straight to your grave, Baldy."
Fwhip.
Jin Yu-ha's wrist twisted in an instant, fluidly slipping past the locked blades.
SWISH─
Rebecca, who had been dazed for a moment, jerked her head backward with a start.
The sword grazed past her neck, barely missing.
A thin red line was drawn across her throat.
Trickle.
Bright red drops of blood trickled from the shallowly cut wound.
"If your neck gets lopped off right now, you can't go around later whining that you didn't get to show your real skills. So if you're going to do it, do it right from the start."
Rebecca stared at him with a bewildered expression.
An attack without a shred of hesitation.
'Just now, if I'd reacted even a little slower....... My head would've been taken off.'
As that fact belatedly sank in, goosebumps prickled up Rebecca's back.
And before she could even gather herself,
This time, Jin Yu-ha rushed in.
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH─
His blade thrust forward, sharp stabs splitting into dozens of afterimages.
'What......!?'
The arc his sword traced was a straight line, chillingly clean.
A sword path so utterly free of superfluity it naturally provoked admiration.
Deep azure Mana coiled around the blade, firing off sword strikes.
'And what is this sword even......!'
At the blade he was thrusting at her, Rebecca couldn't help but be horrified.
How, with the body of a man not even a full year into the academy, could he possess this level of skill?
CLANG─!
CLANG─!
CLANG─!
Each time she pulled her body back and deflected Jin Yu-ha's sword, a dull reverberation rang through her wrist.
'Is this truly, the skill of a first-year academy cadet......!?'
Even as she parried the incoming blade, Rebecca's head filled with confusion.
"I told you, don't let your mind wander. You really just want to die, don't you?"
"Raaaaah!"
Rebecca let out a kiai, as if to shove the tangled thoughts out of her head.
Whoooosh—!
A single intense horizontal slash, as if to bisect her opponent.
Jin Yu-ha simply dodged with an expressionless face, leaping lightly backward.
Hah─
Hah─
Rebecca's eyes, watching Jin Yu-ha, trembled.
'An incomprehensible monster.......'
She had never, ever witnessed a human being unfold such talent at such an age.
A hair-raising dread raced down her spine.
I am afraid of this snot-nosed brat?
No. What was fearsome was his future.
The terror born because she could not remotely predict how strong, to what heights he would climb if he was allowed to grow just a little more as he was now.
She was a woman born with outstanding talent for the sword,
and it was precisely for that reason she could so clearly see Jin Yu-ha's talent—the emotion born of that.
Rebecca bit her lip hard.
'Yes, this brat is a monster. But, right now he's still just a cadet. He's not yet my match.'
A year? No, a month?
With just a little more time, this monster brat would leap far beyond her.
But right now is not that time.
And Rebecca understood.
'......I see. So this is why the Demonized Human Society ordered us to capture him! To put down this monster bastard before he can grow any larger!'
As she replayed the orders she'd received in her mind,
her eyes grew calm of their own accord.
'I won't let my guard down again!'
Rebecca drew up killing intent and demonic energy from her innermost depths.
'I will show you. What it truly means to take up a sword and kill your opponent.'
The killing sword, existing solely to slay the enemy.
No matter how much of a talent-overflowing monster he might be—as long as he was an academy cadet,
he could not be accustomed to a real fight where the goal was killing your opponent.
Only—if there was one thing she did not know here.
.
.
.
'......Oh, that stings a bit? So she's finally willing to get serious?'
That enduring the Slaughter-Crazed Woman's viscous killing intent had been the first lesson of the swordsmanship major Jin Yu-ha took.
And that since that very thing had been laid down as a given, as naturally as breathing, in every single class, he had come to regard a blade without killing intent as nothing more than children's play.
Thus, the attacks she had launched so far hadn't even counted as attacks.
'Hmm, but even this—compared to Instructor Baek Seol-hee....... It's kind of like mild-flavor Jin ramyeon?'