Wrapping Up the Second Semester (2)
"…This duel isn't over yet."
That's right — it wasn't over. Sure, all three of my blades had failed to find their mark, but I still hadn't declared defeat to Harold. For a mage, a sword was only ever a supplementary tool, never the main weapon. Harold probably believed he'd scored a 'flawless victory' now that he'd swatted away every blade I could wield, but that logic only held true in a duel between swordsmen. When a mage fighting at full power crossed paths with a swordsman, the very standard of victory was bound to change.
Boom!
"…!"
Riding the thrust of a shockwave detonated beneath my own feet, my body launched toward where Harold stood. Startled by my sudden charge hot on the heels of my last words, Harold hastily readjusted his grip on his sword. Even so, befitting the title of Sword Master, his reflexes were undeniably swift — with his blade only just lowered, he reset his stance in a single beat.
But no matter how masterful a swordsman, no one takes a perfect stance against a surprise attack. Under normal circumstances he would have held a posture ready to answer either a blade or a spell, but with no time to spare, Harold settled into a 'spell defense' stance, braced to parry whatever magic came flying his way.
Yes, that's the natural read.
I had already spent all three daggers. Through every duel this semester, I had faced Harold with those three daggers alone, drilling that fact firmly into his head. The notion of a mage closing to melee against a swordsman bare-handed was absurd on its face — and I hadn't even mimed reaching into my uniform jacket for a hidden blade, so there was no way he could have seen it coming. That my final trump card was a spell that forged a sword on the spot.
Whoosh!
"…!"
From the closest possible range, I watched Harold's expression freeze solid the instant he saw my blade streaking toward him. Of course he couldn't have predicted it. A spell that conjured a dagger on the spot? But to any player of Luminor Academy, it was a technique you learned naturally after playing Lilith for even a little while. Think about it — wasn't it strange? Forget everything else: Lilith's dagger skill tree included Dagger Throw. Anyone with half a brain could see how reckless it was to fight by consuming your own weapons mid-battle. Fortunately, the developers weren't stupid enough to miss that, and Lilith could also learn a skill that resolved the danger Dagger Throw created.
That skill was Arcane Blade — the 1st-tier dagger enhancement. A blade of conjured magic, one I could forge anytime, anywhere, materialized at my fingertips, and that gleaming edge collided midair with the sword of an utterly unguarded Harold.
Crack!
"Ghhk…!"
Harold batted my Arcane Blade out of the air, and my hastily conjured dagger bit slightly into his sword, spitting off a spray of mana. A blade of compressed mana was never going to last long against real steel. Not that it mattered in the slightest. …Because this Arcane Blade, my final card, had been cast with Double Casting in mind from the very beginning.
"Haaahhh!!"
A second Arcane Blade, formed a hair's breadth behind the first, materialized in my opposite hand, and I swung it at the wide-open flank of Harold's waist. A final attack layered atop an ambush — a last trump card that struck at his flank and his blind spot in one. If even this was stopped, then realistically there was no way left for me to take a round off Harold. With that thought burning in my mind, just before my Arcane Blade could graze his body—
—a thin Arcane Shield of woven mana barely deflected my second blade.
Crrrack!
"Hah… hahh…."
The instinct to shield his own body even with both hands occupied was nothing short of animal. Of course, even though my strike hadn't landed, this round was mine all the same. Because in that instant, Harold had broken the original condition — that he would use neither mana nor aura, as a handicap for the gap between a Sword Master and an ordinary student.
"You used magic, Professor."
"…I did. I had no choice."
With those words, Harold slowly lowered his sword and conceded the loss. It was a somewhat cheap victory, but a victory beyond dispute — mine.
"I never declared defeat, Professor Harold. Besides, a mage is meant to fight with magic in the first place. My swordsmanship is, at its heart, a self-defense art for luring an opponent into letting their guard down."
"…I see. In that case, you put that 'luring' purpose to very thorough use."
And not against just anyone — I had made Harold Blackwood himself drop his guard. Call it a mere exam duel for the semester's class; the fact that I had caught him off guard remained unchanged.
"You're even starting to resemble Ethan in these little ways."
"…Pardon?"
"No, never mind. This time, I'll admit it was my mistake. I should have anticipated that someone with your personality wouldn't surrender so easily."
"That's…"
"Yes — you took a round off me, so that's an A+. Well done this past semester, Lilith."
"Ah— th-thank you, Professor Harold!"
Yes. This was what victory felt like. At long, long last, I had taken a round off Harold himself. It was a triumph among triumphs — so much so that I was the only Magic Department student in his class to take a single win.
'Lilith, isn't that a bit underhanded?'
'Master, that was a bit unsightly…'
Shut it. What would the two of you know? Crooked road or straight, as long as it ends with Harold losing, it counts.
A week had passed since the day I somehow scraped a round off Harold — cheaply, yes, but a win all the same. The end-of-term Hunting Festival, the semester's final event, had somehow been seen through, and with the remaining lectures wrapping up one by one, it was about time to start preparing for our return to the Blackwood Ducal Estate. And yet, regrettably, even days after our last lecture, Ethan and I were still at the Academy, spending each day anything but idle.
Because Seraphin's 'student council duties', which had begun this semester, had yet to end. For the student council, a semester ran a little longer than everyone else's. Even after every student had finished their final class and departed for their hometowns, the council remained behind to carry out its office. That included processing the application paperwork of students who would stay on campus over the break for club and study activities, and taking receipt of the complaints and requests submitted throughout the semester so the Academy could be improved during the holidays. Their position simply left them no choice but to close out the semester a little later than ordinary students — though the difference amounted to only about a week.
Then again, the workload itself was far lighter than during the term, so it was fairly relaxed.
Back in my days as a player of Luminor Academy, having a whole week eaten up by student council work had sometimes grated on me. It was a game with high freedom, after all — in that week there were items to recover and fortuitous encounters to hunt down, any number of things to do. But well, the me of now wasn't exactly in a position to grab those anyway. I had no particular need to run myself ragged chasing fortuitous encounters. I'm sorry about the Abyssal Kraken that Ethan and I slew — and the sub-event we swallowed along with it — but that much couldn't be helped. In exchange, I'd gotten Agnes bonded with a fire spirit, so the Hero Party's fighting strength came out ahead in the end. Beyond that, I hadn't so much as touched the fortuitous encounters and items that anyone could see were meant to be collected.
If I meddled carelessly and ended up obstructing the Hero's subjugation of the Demon Lord, that was when things would get truly troublesome.
If things genuinely went sideways and I was forced to have Lilith join the Demon Lord subjugation force, that would be the absolute worst-case scenario. Not only would my own life be derailed — it would also end up looking as though I were the first to break my promise to Ethan.
With such thoughts in mind, I was tidying up my student council paperwork at a leisurely pace when a mysterious sheet of paper — apparently a list of next year's freshman candidates — caught my eye among the stacks.
"President Seraphin, what are these documents?"
"Oh, those? The students listed there are the freshman candidates most likely to enroll at the Academy next year. Since they may well be attending the same Academy as all of you from next year on, I thought it would be good for everyone to familiarize yourselves with them in advance!"
"I checked earlier too — that was my guess as well. A few of them are already being watched by the Auguste Trading Company."
"Hmm~ is that so? Do we actually have to memorize this? I'm hopeless at remembering names without a face to put to them~?"
"Oh, it's quite all right. The materials I handed out are strictly for reference. If that's how you feel, Orion, then there's no need to memorize them at all."
He spoke as though he couldn't care less either way, but in practice, committing that list to memory would be nothing but advantageous. It was practically an opportunity to build connections with the influential first-years — and legitimately, at that, under the name of Princess Seraphin. Connections really were a fine thing. Reach the level of an imperial princess, and you could shower your own people with even this kind of information free of charge. Of course, the current me had no particular use for it, and I already had the major figures more or less memorized, so it hardly mattered. Still, just to double-check, I skimmed the list to see whether any main-cast names were on it.
The Spearman Department's 'Barbarian Liria'. The Pharmacy Department's 'Kind Alchemist Trallia'. And the Technology Department's 'Inventor Serdic', was it? Since there had been no particular opening for me to interfere, next year's key first-years looked set to enroll exactly as they always had, with nothing changed. If I had to add one more to those three, there was the Martial Arts Department's 'Back-Alley Brawler Kaniel'. With the background he came from, he apparently hadn't made it onto Seraphin's candidate list.
With those thoughts, I set the casually browsed freshman list aside for later. Just as I was deciding that today's work was more or less wrapped up, a suggestion suddenly popped out of Seraphin's mouth.
"Tomorrow is the last day of student council duties for this semester, isn't it?"
"That's right, President Seraphin."
"Then how about we all have an end-of-semester after-party tomorrow?"
…An after-party? Out of nowhere?
Was there an event like this in the original game?