A Small Help
Honestly, the small help left me a bit flustered. Why was Silvia here? That was the first thought that popped into my head. Maybe she had followed along to stop Cain... I figured. After being lost in thought for a moment, I snapped back to reality and finally got a proper look at Silvia.
She really is pretty. It wasn't for nothing that the academy boys kept confessing to her. At the same time, her looks made it clear why the main male leads were so obsessed with her.
"Uh... staring like that is a little..."
"Ah, sorry."
I had been silently staring at Silvia for so long that her cheeks flushed bright red as she looked away. Only then realizing my mistake, I hurriedly apologized and let out a small breath.
"That..."
Watching Silvia carefully open her mouth, an inexplicable guilt washed over me. It wasn't something I had done, but because of the confession I made, she was now stuck feeling awkward. I scratched the back of my head awkwardly and spoke first.
"Sorry. I made things uncomfortable for you because of me."
"Ah, no! That's not..."
It wasn't. Her face clearly showed she had no idea how to handle the situation. Honestly, I hadn't wanted to apologize to Silvia. More precisely, I had been reluctant to apologize to her directly. After all, I wasn't the one who confessed. That thought had lingered. Since it wasn't my fault, I figured an indirect apology was enough to do my part. But the moment I saw Silvia glancing at me like that, the words slipped out before I could stop them. Even though it wasn't my fault, because I had transmigrated into this body, it had become my responsibility. And Silvia was simply too kind for her own good. Just look at the current situation. Normally, meeting someone who rejected a stranger's confession would feel awkward, yet Silvia's eyes were filled with guilt. If those feelings kept piling up, her mentality would eventually break. That can't happen. No matter what, Silvia was the protagonist of the novel I had enjoyed. And there was probably no one in the world who wanted to watch that protagonist collapse right in front of them. Anyway, if saying a single word could ease Silvia's mind even a little, then apologizing was something I could do. It was absolutely not because Silvia was more beautiful than I had thought, or because I was happy to see the protagonist. It's just a matter of courtesy. Thinking that to myself, I glanced between Cain and Silvia. Among the three main male leads connected to Silvia, Cain was the most rational and the one who helped care for her mental state. The other two muscle-brains were useless. They were nothing more than meat shields. The only one worth trusting was the cool-headed, rational Cain. That was probably why Silvia relied on him so much emotionally.
"Anyway, you don't have to worry about it too much."
Smiling faintly as I said that to Silvia, I waved my hand dismissively and started walking. For a moment, if something hadn't caught my attention, I would have kept going. As I was about to pass by, my eyes landed on Silvia's hand clutching the hem of Cain's clothes. At the same time, I noticed the male students still glaring at Cain like an enemy.
"If you don't like it, say so."
"……Huh?"
"If you tell them you don't like it and ask them to stop, they won't force it."
After shooting Cain a quick glance, I shrugged and headed toward the classroom. I wonder if that guy understood. Though Silvia was foolish and soft-hearted, she was only doing what she could in her own way. She had rejected the confession on her own terms while also trying to maintain friendships with her classmates. So no matter how much it was Cain, if he kept doing things she didn't want like this, they would never move toward a good relationship.
"Ah... yeah, th... thanks."
Pretending not to hear Silvia's small voice from behind, I walked on and let out a long breath. I knew it was a foolish thing to do. There was no need for a mere extra to twist the original story. It wasn't because my talent was lacking or anything like that. If my talent had been insufficient to begin with, I wouldn't have even ranked in the top ten of the swordsmanship department. The problem was obvious just by looking at the people around Silvia. The second son of the empire's foremost ducal house, the empire's third prince, the next Hero. No matter how prestigious a count's family might be, I had not the slightest intention of challenging people who could erase me from existence if they so wished. Doing so wouldn't make Silvia unhappy anyway, and I wasn't truly in love with her either. I simply thought that letting things flow this way would be best for everyone. Still, there was no need to obsess over the original story. If it was a trial that would pass regardless, it would be better to get through it with a little less pain. After all, everyone here was a living, breathing person. So...
A small help should be fine. After all, it was just a very small help.
@ Felice van Astria. The body I had transmigrated into attended classes in the swordsmanship department. Of course, the academy's classes weren't strictly divided by department. Students with the best grades from each department were placed in Class A, the next tier in Class B, and so on. Even within Class A, there were students from many different departments—swordsmanship, magic, and others. Naturally, students still took their major-specific classes. And today, of all days, happened to be one of those major class days. It meant the time had come to gauge the talent of this body, which ranked in the top ten even among the gifted students of Class A. For reference, Silvia was in the combat support department, so there was no chance of running into her. After returning to the classroom, I was already troubled by the two pairs of eyes constantly glancing my way, but it was fortunate in a way. The problem was that one of those gazes belonged to someone from the same swordsmanship department as me.
"Today we'll begin with sparring. Pair up appropriately, one by one."
Listening to the voice, I loosened my stiff neck and looked around. Anyone skilled enough to be assigned to Class A naturally had the basics down. So training like a hundred downward swings was already a thing of the past. Thanks to that, swordsmanship training in Class A always consisted of paired sparring. The swordsmanship instructor mostly walked around correcting students' postures and decisions. Let's see, who should I pair with? Since I was in the top ten of the entire school, I needed an opponent who wasn't too weak if I wanted to properly gauge my own skill. I carefully scanned for a partner. As if my deliberation was pointless, someone approached me first. Cain, who had been staring at me intently since earlier, walked over and spoke.
"You. Let's pair up."
At the sight of him suddenly speaking like that, I blinked for a moment before answering.
"Felice."
"……Huh?"
"My name is Felice. Not 'you.'"
I stared straight into Cain's red eyes. For some reason, he gave a faint smile at my words and nodded.
"Right, Felice. Let's pair up."
"…Sure, why not."
Cain was undeniably the top student in the swordsmanship department. If it was him, he seemed like the perfect opponent to test my skills against, so I readily accepted. Shrugging, I picked up the sword distributed by the department.
Oh……
The moment I gripped the blunted iron sword, I couldn't help but let out an inward exclamation. The academy-issued iron sword was still in pretty good condition. Even so, it wasn't perfect, of course. There was no way a master craftsman would forge practice swords meant for students. But knowing that fact was different from feeling it. The moment I held the sword, I could sense with my hands that its central axis was slightly off. It was something that revealed both one's talent for the sword and how much experience one had wielding it. Gripping the hilt, I looked at Cain.
Ha.
The moment our eyes met, I instinctively realized it. Felice's body was indeed specialized for the sword—I had already come to understand that well. However, I also realized that even with such talent, I couldn't defeat the Cain standing before me.
He's a complete monster.
Just by holding the sword, he was radiating power from his entire body that he couldn't quite contain. Letting out a small breath, I looked at him and curled the corners of my mouth upward. For some reason, a sense of exhilaration welled up inside me.
"As expected, you're a bit strange."
"……."
Cain spoke with a subtle expression as he regarded me. Of course, he wasn't thinking he would lose to me. More clearly than I had noticed the gap between us, he must have already felt it himself. That only made my fighting spirit burn hotter. Competitive drive? It probably wasn't that. In the first place, I wasn't the type with a strong competitive streak. Then was this an emotion the original Felice had possessed? That probably wasn't it either. The moment I gripped the sword, I could tell. The talent of the body I had transmigrated into was truly outstanding. However, the effort to fully bloom that talent had been lacking. He had probably been too distracted by Silvia to put in the work. Letting out a small breath, I raised my sword. Idle thoughts could wait. Right now, I simply wanted to clash my blade against Cain's as soon as possible.