At the Academy Genius's Rival
“Actually, that doesn't make any sense! How can Rie-nim's swordsmanship be the worst? I simply cannot accept that!”
“….”
“Lucian, you have to acknowledge that the swordsmanship Edwin-nim and I developed is the most excellent. But Rie-nim's swordsmanship also has exceptional aspects, and yet you said it was the worst!”
“….”
“Hey, Lucian. Are you even listening to what I'm saying? Professor Staffen said something about Rie-nim…”
“Raoul. If you have questions or complaints, just bring them directly to the professor. There's no point in holding me back and saying all this. I'm not a fellow professor.”
The lecture had long ended, and it was now the tenth minute.
Raoul had been glued to my side the whole time, his voice noisy as a beehive, making me want to tear my hair out.
If he had simply switched topics and kept jabbering for ten full minutes, I could have endured it.
But from the very start of the swordsmanship lecture, his face was already full of discontent. The moment the lecture wrapped up, he latched on and began complaining nonstop about Professor Staffen's verdict that Rie-nim's swordsmanship was the worst.
He must have assumed I shared his thoughts.
Since he knew how close I was to Rie, he figured I would also be unable to accept Professor Staffen's opinion.
“You don’t think the same, do you, Lucian?”
“Not really.”
“Not really? Hey, come on! Rie-nim is your closest person!”
“Exactly because I’m close to her, and because we’ve trained together so diligently over the years, I can understand it.”
“…Then you’re saying you agree with Professor Staffen? That Rie-nim’s swordsmanship is the worst?”
“What’s the reason? The professor never explained why and just moved on to something else. I simply can’t wrap my head around it.”
If we judged solely by raw power, Rie-nim’s swordsmanship should rank at the same level as or even above the one Edwin-nim and I created.
Her style was far more threatening, sharper, and allowed her to launch unpredictable attacks from any angle.
By constantly referencing and refining other sword techniques until she forged something perfectly suited only to herself, Rie-nim’s swordsmanship could be called the masterpiece of a genius.
But that alone could not be the whole story of swordsmanship.
Its power was important, but equally vital was whether many people could wield it with high efficiency, or even train with it at all.
Why did the swordsmanship Edwin-nim and I designed receive such high praise?
We had eliminated unnecessary movements and reduced weaknesses.
Yet even those who had never swung a sword much could imitate it to some degree, and those with some experience could easily use it as a stepping stone to higher levels.
“Think about it, Raoul. No matter how excellent the swordsmanship is, if only the person who created and wields it can actually perform it properly, then is that truly a successful sword technique?”
“That… isn’t it that when someone using that sword technique fights someone using a different one, the outcome decides the winner? Right?”
“That’s just measuring strength. It doesn’t measure the technique’s popularity. Ultimately, if the person disappears, the sword technique vanishes completely. And sword techniques are never flawless from start to finish. Weak points can develop over time, strengths can fade. With enough people continuing to swing them, some aspects can be refined and others discarded boldly. But if no one can actually execute the technique, then none of that is possible. Isn’t that right?”
Raoul thought for a moment, then nodded as if agreeing with me.
No matter how magnificent the sword technique, if its lineage was cut off and it was never passed down, it would remain nothing but a splendid story for listeners. For us, it would be nothing at all.
“That’s why Professor Staffen called Rie-nim’s swordsmanship the worst. Of course the professor recognizes that her swordsmanship is excellent, and I do too. But when you consider everything, her swordsmanship basically lacks any meaningful transmission capability.”
“So Rie-nim’s sword technique is that insanely difficult?”
“Insanely difficult. Students who don’t know how to wield a sword properly can’t even perform the opening form correctly, and even ordinary knights get tangled up and become flustered.”
Rie-nim was called a prospective Sword Master because her sword could foresee victory no matter which swordsman or knight she faced.
And her sword drew influence not just from her talent and effort, but also from the unique swordsmanship only she could wield.
Because it was so obscure and difficult to decipher, countless Lebechia swordsmen and knights had fought her to defeat or draw, yet none had ever wanted to fight her again.
I was an exception. Thanks to the abilities I possessed, I could instantly grasp her sword technique.
That was why I had drawn a picture of it, and why Rie-nim had been so surprised.
Others might find it impossible to understand no matter how hard they tried, but I had managed to draw it after only a few observations.
Perhaps that was where my own swordsmanship had suddenly taken a huge leap.
I had clashed with her far more often and far more frequently than anyone else, and I had encountered the sword techniques she used, which even others found impossible to handle.
Therefore, it was impossible to rule out the possibility that I had been stimulated by something she had not been able to stimulate before.
After all, it was something no one had ever done before that Rie-nim had achieved.
“For that reason, I’m not strongly opposed to Professor Staffen’s conclusion.”
“Listening to you, I can certainly understand why.”
“Of course I’m not happy about it either. She’s the one who has helped me the most. Without Rie-nim, my swordsmanship might still be at the level of a novice. Hearing that her sword technique is the worst is not a pleasant thing. But I have to acknowledge it and accept it. I’m sure Rie-nim would nod and agree when she hears it too.”
“Agree to what?”
Even a tiger comes when called by name.
Looking ahead, I saw Rie-nim tilting her head and staring at me with a puzzled expression.
And beside her stood another girl…
“Charlotte-senpai?”
“Huh? That, that is Charlotte-senpai, the princess of the Minas Elf Kingdom?!”
Raoul, who had been beside me, startled and turned to look at Charlotte-senpai.
Then he bowed politely and said, “Hello, senpai! I am Raoul of the first year!”
“Slurp-slurp.”
But Charlotte-senpai was so lost in sucking on the stick candy Rie-nim had apparently given her that she seemed completely oblivious to Raoul’s greeting.
Now that I thought about it, the elf princess had said she had never tasted chocolate or candy before.
In Lebechia, that was an utterly ordinary food, yet the sheer incredulity of someone who had lived for decades never having tried it left me speechless.
I asked what they ate in Minas instead, and she replied that everything was either a refreshing tea or cookies with a strong bitter taste.
At most, she sometimes spread fruit jam on them, and that had been the happiest moment of her life.
To put it in human terms, she was still a teenager, but in actual years she had lived for decades.
After so many years without ever tasting candy, chocolate, or sweet cookies, even Rie-nim and I could only mutter “the world…” in astonishment.
“Senpai, this is my friend Raoul. It would make me happy if you would accept his greeting.”
“…Mmm. Sorry. Hello, Raoul.”
When I emphasized Raoul’s greeting, she finally acknowledged it.
Normally, in such situations, even if one side showed displeasure, nothing would come of it anyway.
“Yo, Lucian.”
As if that didn’t matter at all, Raoul suddenly pulled me back and whispered in my ear.
I was about to yank myself free, thinking he was about to spout some nonsense again.
But his face looked so serious that I decided to play along for once.
“What’s this weird thing you’re trying to say now?”
“It’s nothing like that. No, really, it’s not.”
“Listen and judge for yourself. So what’s the question?”
“I heard that the princess of the Minas Elf Kingdom, that is, Charlotte-senpai, is a cool, arrogant beauty or something like that.”
“And?”
“Looking at her right now, no matter how you look at her, she’s beautiful, but the rest of her is just at the level of a little baby?”
Cough.
The honest statement made me almost burst out laughing and barely held it in.
In fact, I had been feeling the same thing intensely with both Rie-nim and Raoul.
At first I had thought she would show the typical elf arrogance and pride as a direct royal, but I learned that other elves had given her all those strange warnings: don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t make that face, always remain expressionless and indifferent, and so on.
In reality, she was simply a pure elf princess who was curious about everything, wanted to taste delicious things, and found Lebechia more fun than her own kingdom.
“I’m not a baby.”
While this was happening, Charlotte-senpai came over to us with a slightly aggrieved look and said it.
I had momentarily forgotten that elves had hearing far superior to humans.
Raoul looked worried that Charlotte-senpai might be upset, but…
Slurp-slurp.
Charlotte-senpai, still happily sucking on her stick candy, showed no sign of wanting to say anything about it.
“Charlotte-senpai was so desperate for candy that I bought her one.”
“Which senpai?”
“It’s Charlotte-senpai. It feels a bit long to call her Charlotte-senpai all the time, so I shortened it to Charlotte. And when I called her that, it sounded much nicer for Charlotte-senpai to reply with the same name.”
“Really, senpai?”
“Yes. It feels like a new name. The pressure that had been crushing me every day is gone. When I return to the kingdom, I’ll be Charlotte again, but here I want to be Charlotte. I want to live a little on my own terms. If there’s someone I want to talk to and something I want to eat, I’ll eat it. If there’s a place I want to go, I’ll go.”
I, along with Rie-nim and even Raoul, could instantly understand just how suffocating Charlotte-senpai’s life must have been.
It looked like an extremely splendid and radiant life on the surface, but in reality it was the hardest life of a royal family member.
Those at the very top were said to be crushed under countless pressures.
Seeing Charlotte-senpai, I could clearly tell that was true.
“Lucian, Lucian. Today you’re buying me that thing.”
“Ah, now that you mention it, today was the day I was supposed to hear about the wedding customs of the Minas Elf Kingdom. So how many cups of hot chocolate do you need?”
“Two.”
“Senpai, no matter how much you like hot chocolate, two cups seem a bit too much.”
At that moment, Rie-nim stepped in to stop Charlotte-senpai as well.
After all, she herself didn’t really like sweet things, so two cups might be excessive, but!
For those of us who loved sweet things as much as Lucian or Charlotte-senpai, two cups were nowhere near enough!
“Right? Then three!”
“….”
“Three still seems too much? Then four!!”
“….”
Charlotte-senpai shouted with such boldness.
After staring at her for a moment, she turned her gaze slightly toward Rie-nim.
She wanted to say something, but the sight of the academy genius whose eyes widened in disbelief at the cute elf in front of her stopped her.
She simply couldn’t bring herself to shout “No!”