An Unexpected Victory
The sound of the clash rang out with a heavy thud. Then came the boom as a body flew through the air and crashed to the ground. Under normal circumstances, such a sight wouldn’t have been surprising in a sparring match. But every single spectator watching the duel widened their eyes in shock. It was a scene no one had imagined.
The person sprawled on the ground was Jerim Haluter. The one still standing tall on two steady legs was Kyle Berwen.
For most of the people present, this outcome had never even crossed their minds. Not before the match began, and certainly not after Kyle had allowed Jerim to land a clean hit. Everyone had assumed that Kyle, whose odds of winning had been laughably low to begin with, would be finished once he started coughing up blood. There had been no possibility of victory.
Yet Kyle had shattered those expectations. He had struck Jerim with a single, decisive blow. And Jerim had been sent flying.
A heavy silence fell over the arena. No one could speak. Every last person was stunned into speechlessness.
And in the midst of that collective daze, a single figure moved from the stands. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say she had already moved. Before anyone else could even register the motion, she had already left the spectator seats.
The people who had been staring blankly at the result of the duel suddenly noticed the newcomer standing in the middle of the arena and panicked.
“S-Saintess…?”
The person who had suddenly intruded upon the sparring match was none other than a Saintess.
“…Ah.”
I caught sight of Julia’s face. Before I could even react, a brilliant flash of light erupted from her hand.
Whoosh!
The dazzling radiance instantly enveloped my entire body. I didn’t need to ask what it was. It was holy power. Julia was using her divine energy to heal me.
A warm sensation spread through me from head to toe. As expected of a Saintess, the amount of holy power was overwhelming.
She can use it properly after all.
Generally speaking, holy power was proportional to one’s faith. The deeper and more sincere the devotion, the greater and purer the holy power one could wield. That was why I had been slightly worried. Even though Julia looked exactly like she had in the past, I hadn’t been sure whether she still possessed the level of holy power befitting a Saintess.
But it seemed my concern had been unnecessary. Judging by the sheer volume of light pouring from her hands, she clearly carried the divine strength worthy of her title.
That’s a relief.
Feeling reassured, I spoke up.
“Thank you.”
But Julia didn’t respond to my gratitude. She simply stared down at my arm with a faintly hardened expression.
…Is she in a bad mood?
Her face and aura felt off. Julia rarely showed emotion, but that didn’t mean she showed none at all. There were subtle changes that only those who had observed her for a long time could notice. This was one of those moments. The slight shift in the angle of her eyebrows was a telltale sign that she was upset.
I quietly wondered why. And soon enough, I reached a conclusion.
Is it because of me?
Could she be worried about me? That was the only reason that came to mind.
No way.
The idea that Julia would worry about me and not Gunter was difficult to accept. Still, it was the only explanation I could think of. If that really was the case… then her reaction made sense. After all, my current condition was far beyond the point where the word “miserable” could even begin to describe it.
Not only had I taken a brutal beating from Jerim, but one of my arms was completely destroyed. I hadn’t had a choice. I knew that simply hitting him with full strength wouldn’t be enough to knock him down in one blow. So I had pushed myself beyond my limits. I had squeezed out every last ounce of power, ignoring the state of my arm entirely, and thrown a punch with everything I had.
As a result, my arm had been utterly ruined. Every muscle had torn apart. Every bone had shattered into pieces. The current state of my arm could only be described as a mangled rag. It was grotesque enough to make anyone grimace at first glance.
If Julia really was worried about me, there was no way she could feel at ease looking at an arm like this.
“…Mm.”
Instead of saying anything, I chose silence. No matter what the truth was, I didn’t have the confidence to comfort Julia while she looked like that.
The situation was resolved quickly. Even though the rules had been arbitrarily changed mid-match, the supervising professor had done his job properly. The unconscious Jerim was promptly carried away, and the duel was officially declared my victory.
By that point, most of the spectators had already left, but every single one of them wore the same dumbfounded expression. Today’s result would spread far and wide. The participants were far too famous, and the outcome had been completely unexpected. It would probably sweep through the entire Academy before the day was over.
Because of that, I would likely face all sorts of changes as well. There was even a chance more annoying things would come my way. Normally, I would have thought about those consequences and organized what I needed to prepare for in advance… but right now, I didn’t have the luxury.
“…Um—”
“……”
Far from thinking ahead, I couldn’t even move from my spot. For some reason, Julia showed no sign of stopping her treatment.
“……”
With an expression that still hadn’t relaxed, Julia continued pouring holy power into me from my side. Even though the injuries I had suffered from Jerim had already been completely healed.
My abdomen, my arm—everything had returned to the same pristine condition it had been in before the duel.
“…It looks like I’m already fully healed,” I quietly offered.
But Julia didn’t stop. When I glanced at her assistant priestess, Iona, with a slightly troubled look, she simply stared back and forth between me and Julia with a strange expression. Eventually, when our eyes met, she spoke briefly.
“…Please follow the Saintess’s wishes.”
In the end, I had no choice but to obediently receive Julia’s treatment. It wasn’t that I disliked the situation. I was simply worried. Holy power wasn’t infinite, and using it consumed both stamina and mental strength. Yet Julia was continuously pouring out an extraordinary amount of it. How could I not be concerned?
At least she didn’t look overly exhausted, and Iona wasn’t saying anything, so it seemed fine for now. Still, Julia’s treatment continued, and it was only after a long while that the light of holy power finally faded.
However, Julia’s expression wasn’t particularly good. It didn’t look like she was tired so much as troubled by something. Still, she didn’t say anything else, and that was the end of it.
After thanking her once more, I returned to the dormitory and was genuinely surprised. After examining my internal condition, I realized my body had improved beyond recognition. I wasn’t talking about the injuries from Jerim. I meant my body itself.
Although I had been steadily working on recovery, my physical state had still been abysmal—only slightly better than a critically ill patient. But now, that condition had completely vanished. I hadn’t yet reached the level of an average person, but I had certainly moved beyond the critical stage.
It was probably thanks to Julia’s intensive treatment.
“I’ll have to thank her properly later.”
With that thought in mind, I lay my exhausted body down on the bed.
When Jerim Haluter opened his eyes in the infirmary, he couldn’t accept the situation. At first, he didn’t even understand why he had woken up here. And when he finally learned the truth, he still refused to believe it.
He had been confident. No—he had been certain. There was no way he could lose. The difference in their levels had been too vast. As a second-year student, Jerim had believed he could defeat anyone. And his opponent had been Kyle. A worthless bastard with no ability whatsoever. A piece of trash who, despite being born with noble blood and receiving intensive support, couldn’t even reach the Academy average.
There was no way he could lose to Kyle of all people.
It was true that Kyle had defeated Victor, but Jerim hadn’t paid much attention to that. He had assumed Kyle must have used some underhanded trick. And even if, by some miracle, it had been pure skill, it didn’t matter. Jerim was confident he could overwhelm Victor as well. No matter how you looked at it, he believed there was no chance of defeat.
Yet he had lost. To that Kyle.
Jerim could not accept that result.
Something went wrong.
Yes, that bastard must have pulled some dirty trick. That was what he was thinking when—
Creak—
Someone opened the door to the infirmary and stepped inside. When Jerim saw the face, his eyes widened. It was someone he knew very well.
“R-Rosalyn……”
The visitor was none other than Rosalyn Blanche. The cherished daughter of the Blanche family, a beloved figure who received admiration and affection from everyone at the Academy. And Kyle Berwen’s former fiancée.
Her soft chestnut hair looked silky even without touching it. Her innocent eyes seemed untouched by any of the world’s filth. With an appearance that perfectly suited the phrase “blessed by the fairies,” Rosalyn looked at Jerim and asked in a voice full of concern:
“Sir Jerim, are you alright?”
Her voice was sweet enough to melt any man’s heart, perfectly matching her appearance. But Jerim’s reaction was far from pleasant. In fact, his face was filled with panic.
It was understandable. After all, the reason Jerim had picked a fight with Kyle in the first place was none other than Rosalyn.
It was true that Jerim had never liked Kyle. But he hadn’t disliked him enough to openly provoke him. The reason he had gone this far was entirely because of Rosalyn.
One day, she had come to him. Tears streaming from her lake-like eyes. When the startled Jerim asked why she was crying, Rosalyn had sobbed and told him that Kyle had threatened her. That the disowned Kyle, now in dire straits, had come to his former fiancée and demanded money through blackmail. That if she didn’t comply, she would regret it.
Jerim, who had secretly harbored feelings for Rosalyn, had flown into a rage. He had boldly declared that he would teach Kyle a lesson. He would either drive him out of the Academy or at least beat him so badly that he would never dare show his face again.
And he had followed through on those words. He had openly provoked Kyle and dragged him to the sparring arena. Everything had gone according to plan—until the very end. Because Jerim had ultimately lost to Kyle.
After making such a confident promise only to be humiliated instead, there was no way Jerim could face Rosalyn with a calm heart.
“I heard. You lost,” Rosalyn said, her eyes dripping with worry.
“N-No! This loss was just because I was unlucky this time—”
Jerim tried to make an excuse in a hurry, but Rosalyn’s voice cut him off.
“I’m sorry. It seems I caused Sir Jerim to overexert himself for nothing……”
“I-It’s not your fault, Rosalyn! This was all my own decision…!! No, never mind that. Once I recover, this time I’ll definitely—”
“No. I cannot allow you to suffer any more harm because of me.”
With tears welling in her eyes, Rosalyn shook her head. Her lake-like eyes trembled sorrowfully, as if she truly felt guilty for causing him harm. Then she turned away.
“I hope you recover quickly. Goodbye.”
Leaving those words in a voice wet with tears, Rosalyn walked away.
“R-Rosalyn…!”
Jerim tried to stop her, but he couldn’t. Although his body had improved thanks to treatment, he still couldn’t move freely. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as Rosalyn left.
Staring desperately at her retreating figure, Jerim never noticed.
That her face had grown ice-cold the moment she turned away.