The Noble Knight (2)
The nobles who entered the Academy took an entrance exam.
If you asked why they had to sit an exam when they had already been admitted, you would get an answer so absurd it almost made you laugh.
Amazingly enough, the Academy in the Capital allowed any noble to enroll without a single test.
Of course, the exam I am talking about now is different from an ordinary entrance exam.
The so-called “entrance exam” was an event reserved exclusively for nobles. It pitted them against one another in duels so they could flaunt their power.
And the audience for that flaunting was the commoners.
Before hundreds of commoners, the nobles showed off the swordsmanship and magic they had honed with endless support. Faced with nobles whose strength they could never hope to match, the commoners could not even muster jealousy. Their heads simply bowed of their own accord.
That was why the Academy’s “entrance exam” was a kind of device—a thoroughly commoner-friendly device that kept the commoners from getting ideas above their station.
If you ask me why it is commoner-friendly, I would rather ask you a question in return: when friction arises between a commoner and a noble, whose side do you think the court will take?
The nobles get a stage on which to parade their vanity, and the commoners get a chance to grasp their place. That is what they call a win-win arrangement.
I never quite understood why a romance fantasy would include a setting like this, but at the time I figured it was simply the author’s personal stubbornness. I never hated that kind of setting-dump myself, so I just laughed it off.
But now I was the one who had to take part in that entrance exam.
And I had to put on an overwhelming display. It was part of the promise I had made with the family head.
If I wanted to claim the top rank at the Academy, I needed to look good in this entrance exam.
There was just one problem. Because I had taken a wrong turn, I might be a little late.
And if I failed to appear within the time limit, I could be automatically disqualified.
“…….”
In short, I was in a thoroughly inconvenient situation.
The hall was wrapped in silence.
The students glanced around and whispered to their neighbors while the faculty scurried about, raising a silent uproar.
The reason was nothing complicated.
The speeches of the Imperial Princess and the Imperial Prince had ended. The headmaster’s stuttering admonition, delivered while desperately watching the faces of the high and mighty, had ended. The preparations of the emcee-cum-examiner for the entrance exam had ended. They had even called the first pair of entrants—and still one person had not appeared.
That person’s name was Sirius Everhart.
The young master of the great house of Everhart.
“…….”
In the silence that blanketed the space, no one opened their mouth.
It was not because they possessed an abundance of patience for waiting on a latecomer. It was because this was a matter they did not dare discuss lightly.
I do not know how many times I have explained this, but Everhart is a great house.
A great house.
I said it twice because it matters.
Anyway, the youngest son of such a house was supposed to be here, and he was not.
According to the rules, they could simply disqualify him and move on, but unfortunately the emcee-cum-judge lacked the spine for that.
In the end, everyone had no choice but to wait inside this uncomfortable silence.
“…….”
Meanwhile, Sirius’s opponent, Elena Belgard, simply kept her eyes closed within that same uncomfortable silence.
Anxiety, unease, irritation?
She felt not a single grain of those negative emotions.
She did not blame the late Sirius, nor the judge who could not bring himself to disqualify an Everhart out of fear.
That was partly because she was a knight of near-perfect nobility, but it was also because of a special experience that only she remembered—something no one else would ever know.
Knight Elena. In her first life she had been Everhart’s sword.
Having served Sirius as her lord, Elena knew him well.
An arrogant noble who arrived late no matter the place or time, as if he alone were the protagonist.
And a half-baked fool without any real skill.
Despite that, his greed was boundless; he clung desperately to everything he had and refused to let go—a pathetic human being.
In her previous life she had been discarded by him and died.
But this life would be different.
Elena whispered quietly to herself.
“I will win… without fail.”
She would prove it.
In this duel she would defeat Sirius and show how she had changed.
It was not for the prince and princess who watched her with intrigued eyes, nor for the commoners who watched with tense ones, nor for the parents who were surely fretting somewhere.
It was solely for herself.
“Hoo.”
She took a short breath.
She quieted the excitement rising in her chest so that the flames ready to blaze up at any moment could be unleashed exactly when she wished.
Yet the knight who now stood for the first time in her life in a place where she would prove herself could not fully control her trembling heart.
Fortunately, she did not have to endure it for long.
The human they had been waiting for finally revealed himself.
Creeeak—
The students who had been whispering with their neighbors turned their heads at the sound of the opening door and looked at the man who had just arrived.
Among those gazes were angry ones thinking, Let’s at least see what the bastard who made us wait looks like; relieved ones thinking, Finally this boredom is over; and simply curious ones wondering what a great noble looked like.
Yet those gazes, laden with such varied intentions, all produced the exact same reaction the moment they took in Sirius with their own two eyes.
Overwhelmed.
They were overwhelmed by Sirius.
“A little late, it seems.”
Throwing the great doors wide and striding in with majestic confidence, Sirius did not look like a tardy student no matter how one viewed him.
If anything, he planted a fleeting suspicion in those who had been waiting here that perhaps they had arrived too early—proof of just how magnificent his shamelessness was.
And because that shamelessness was of a level no commoner could ever possess, they could not help but truly look up to him.
“Incredible……”
“He isn’t intimidated at all…”
“Does he think it’s only natural that people wait for him?”
Some let out admiration, some felt yearning, and some gave hollow laughs.
He paid no mind to any of those varied reactions, as if they had nothing to do with him, and simply walked toward the stage.
“I haven’t been disqualified, have I?”
“Ah—no, sir!”
“Good.”
Having extracted confirmation from the dazed judge, Sirius looked at Elena standing before him.
The moment she received that inorganic gaze, Elena felt her composure unravel.
No matter how hard she tried to steady her heart, it was impossible in front of him.
“…Sirius!”
Uttering the name of the man who had once been her lord, Elena clenched her teeth.
“Are you looking down on me?”
No matter how late he arrived, he had not managed to shake her resolve—just as she had grown used to being scorned and mocked.
“Where did you leave your sword?!”
But the empty scabbard at Sirius’s waist finally stoked her anger.
And then came the single line he added.
“If I used a sword, you would get hurt.”
“……!”
Scarlet flames began to blaze along Elena’s blade.
Wagon Zorno of Count Zorno’s house.
He rather prided himself on his discerning eye.
And through those eyes, Elena’s swordsmanship was flawless.
“Hoh. Remarkable.”
Wagon watched with glittering eyes as Elena raced across the training ground.
“To possess such outstanding swordsmanship at so young an age.”
A blade wreathed in fiercely burning red flames fluttered like a butterfly, dazzling the opponent.
Even a brush with those wavering flames would leave a deep wound.
Wagon did not bother with meddlesome thoughts such as how a baron’s daughter would handle the retaliation if she wounded a ducal house’s youngest son.
All that entered his eyes was her beautiful swordsmanship!
“It seems fortune smiled on me to be assigned escort duty for His Highness today.”
He nodded with a satisfied smile.
Elena’s talent was so great that even a reasonably skilled knight like himself had to acknowledge it.
He wanted to recruit her into his own house that very instant.
“Hmm, but when is this going to end?”
Brilliant flames swept across the training ground.
Even so the sword never stopped, continuing to leave red afterimages.
The attacks kept coming because the opponent had not yet fallen—and because Elena’s blade had not yet touched Sirius.
Wagon simply assumed Elena was deliberately dragging things out to spare Sirius’s face.
If she protected his dignity this carefully, wouldn’t Young Master Sirius nod and say something like, “I shall overlook the fact that you wounded me”?
Sparing an opponent’s face is not something just anyone can do. Especially not knights, who are full of nothing but crude brutes. Even her manners are outstanding. A talent I truly want.
Just as Wagon was eyeing her hungrily and licking his lips—
Fwoooooosh—!
The flames pouring from the sword began to grow fiercer.
“Mm.”
Feeling the heat even from his distant seat, Wagon gave a silent nod.
The manifestation of her Ability is natural, and the output is considerable.
Worthy of being called a genius… he thought as he watched the training ground.
“Hm?”
He let out another low sound.
The burning flames still had not stopped growing.
The output is stronger than I expected. Now I understand why rumors of a frontier noble house’s young lady reached all the way to the capital. I was called a genius in my youth as well, but that child is the real thing.
Wagon’s eyes shone even brighter. His chronic hunger for talent was rearing its head.
Young Master Everhart is going to have a hard time. To have such a monstrous peer as a classmate.
That the youngest son of Everhart was weak was a fact known to anyone who knew anything.
Everhart’s blemish. The weakest of them all.
How did that dullard Sirius view the genius before his eyes?
He is probably jealous.
Wagon smiled cynically.
Only a genius could understand the hardships of a genius.
Wagon was one of those who knew very well what emotions dullards harbored toward geniuses and what filthy deeds they committed.
If Sirius tries to pull something behind the scenes, I could always lend a hand.
Wagon sat comfortably and looked down at the training ground.
At the training ground filled with flames.
“Oho.”
Watching the red waves surging like a tidal flood, Wagon marveled.
Elena’s flames kept increasing.
Without end…
On and on……
“Huh?”
Only then did Wagon think:
Shouldn’t someone stop this?
At the same time the hall began to grow noisy.
It was not simply because they were impressed by the tremendous output of her Ability.
“It’s hot!!”
“Ugh! My clothes caught fire!”
“Water! Give me some water! It’s scorching!!”
Even so, Elena’s flames continued to swell without pause.
As if she meant to blow the entire surroundings away so her opponent could not escape……
Could it be she wasn’t holding back at all—she truly couldn’t land a hit? That Sirius dodged every single one of Elena’s attacks?
Once he thought of it that way, everything fit.
But even after realizing it, there was nothing he could do.
The great flaming sword was already swinging toward Sirius.
Sirius is going to die.
In the midst of it all Wagon calmly assessed the situation.
The barrier is fine. Only the heat leaks through; the flames themselves cannot pass.
Tsk.
The crime of killing an Everhart is heavier than any other. She will probably suffer a fate more horrific than death.
Wagon felt a pang of pity.
Sorry, but there is nothing I can do.
In the first place it was her own fault for failing to control her power. No one else could be blamed.
So Wagon, like a mature adult, quickly discarded his expectations for a junior of such outstanding talent. Only a mature person, he believed, could bring things to a clean end……
Just then, several people who had been watching cried out in shock.
“What?!”
“That is……!”
It happened in a single instant.
Sirius clenched empty air and swung.
Whoosh.
A quiet motion.
The result, however, was anything but quiet.
KRAAAAAAASH—!
The flames that had been concentrated on Sirius scattered in every direction. The fire that still remained slammed into the barrier and produced a tremendous roar.
“What just happened?”
“What? All of a sudden?!”
Unlike the commoner students who flailed without grasping the situation, the genius knight Wagon had seen with his own eyes what had just occurred.
“Impossible……”
The first words out of his mouth were a denial of reality.
Even after witnessing it with both eyes, it was hard to believe.
“He clearly was not holding a sword……?!”
What Sirius had swung was unmistakably a sword.
“Could it be……”
He swallowed the rest of the thought—the Mind Sword?—inside his mind.
A sword of pure will that only a legendary hero, a Grand Master, was said to be able to wield… and Sirius had swung it?
Wagon shook his head.
That was taking the idea too far.
It was probably some secret sword technique of Everhart.
Even if they possessed a technique similar to the Mind Sword, it would not be surprising.
After all, Everhart was descended from a hero.
“Th-the match is over! Winner: Sirius Everhart!”
The judge blew the whistle and declared the end.
Wagon lowered his gaze to the scene of the incident.
On the scorched and half-destroyed training ground lay the fallen Elena—
and Sirius, standing in pristine composure without a single drop of sweat.
“Finished.”
“Whoa……”
Admiration spilled from the seats where the commoner students sat.
The training ground was wrecked and Elena had nearly committed attempted murder, yet the purpose of the entrance exam had been successfully achieved.
“…Amazing.”
“So this is how strong a noble can be…”
Wagon read the unconcealable yearning and envy in the commoners’ eyes.
It was focused solely on Sirius from the very first match.