The Black One, the White One, and the Red One
“Restore the mountain… is that what you mean?”
“That’s right. But you—why have you been speaking so politely to me all of a sudden? I’m not the one who won. You are.”
Huh. Now that she mentioned it.
“Well, I’m the one who put a hole in the mountain in the first place, and given how the conversation was going… just because?”
“Strange one, aren’t you. It isn’t anything you need to fuss over that much. No need to worry about it.”
“Got it.”
No need to fuss over it—and yet she still wanted the mountain restored. That was the takeaway.
Wait. Hold on.
“Do I go alone?”
“As if. Of course, if that superhuman strength of yours could somehow handle everything by yourself… well, that would be fine too. But it would still be better to pick out a few people to go with you.”
Pick out a few people, huh.
“Ahh—if that’s the case, we should go find Professor Aiden and Professor Serena.”
“Aiden? Serena?”
Apparently Nariel hadn’t memorized the full roster of professors, so the headmaster filled her in.
“Aiden Crawford. He’s a professor in the Department of Magic—he’ll pick out the students we need. Professor Serena Valtarian of the Department of Combat Arts will do the same. One each should be enough, don’t you think, Nariel?”
“…As long as they aren’t lacking in ability.”
“And you as well, Professor Kyle. Take the two girls you brought here—Miss Erina and Miss Linea—and go along as their escort.”
I was going anyway, since Nariel had already told me to come.
“Just the students?”
“Of course. We can hardly drag other professors along, can we? Some of them are still in the middle of class. And for something like this, it’s better to take students than full-grown professors—they’ll learn something from the experience.”
“Mm… understood.”
The first place we went was the Department of Magic.
Why? No particular reason. It was simply the closest.
When we found him, a young male professor about my age was waiting—dark violet-brown hair, the sort of man who looked like he might be a little shifty on account of his extremely narrow, squinting eyes—
Ah. That was probably a rude thing to think.
“Hmm~ A student, is it. Since it’s a request from the headmaster, I can’t just send anyone… Go! Helena! You’re up!”
“…I’m not your pet, or your familiar, or a spirit, Professor.”
The impression her name gave was one thing, but face-to-face she came across as remarkably calm—like looking at a field of snow that had settled, soft and silent, over the frozen earth of midwinter.
Long hair in a cool color… silver? No—white, really. It fell to the small of her back in a lightly layered cut, with a braid like an ear of grain pinned half-up and swept back along the side of her head. Paired with those silver eyes, the whole effect suited her perfectly.
Whether she said anything or not, Professor Aiden clearly didn’t care. He waved me over.
“Does that matter? Anyway—you’re Professor Kyle, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
Without finishing his introduction of Helena, Aiden suddenly steered me into a somewhat secluded corner and spoke in a low, confidential murmur.
“She may not look it, but that girl is the absolute best among our first-year magic students—so take good care of her.”
“Ah, yes. Of course. Naturally.”
“And as you may have already guessed from the name—Helena is the Northern Duke’s daughter.”
No, actually. I only just found out.
The Northern Duke… that would be Hadrian Prostheim, then. The man who ruled the northern territories of Carnia—the snowfields they called the Empire’s bulwark…
Which meant her full name was Helena Prostheim.
Not that any of that had anything to do with me right now. I wasn’t here on business with her family. Better to just answer vaguely and move on.
“Ah… right.”
I was about to leave it at that when—
“I’ve heard the rumors about you, Professor… You know the ones, don’t you? Your classes get nothing but glowing reviews, or so I’m told~”
“Mm, ahem…”
What was this? Wasn’t he being a little too blunt?
“Ah—ahaha. Ah. Forgive me. I don’t mean anything by it. I don’t particularly care whether those rumors are true or not~”
He didn’t care whether they were true or not?
“…And so?”
“Well, Helena is a student I teach, you see. So if the two of you get too close, I’ll get jealous.”
What…
“We’ll be going now.”
The only place left was the Department of Combat Arts, where Professor Serena taught…
She didn’t seem especially fond of me either, from what I’d seen. Not that there was much I could do about it.
Given that Helena had been the pick from Magic, maybe Combat would send Leon Howard—the guy who’d lost to Linea in the morning class.
“I’ve already heard. The headmaster sent word ahead.”
“I see. In that case—”
“Professor Serena! Me! I’ll go!”
Someone cut me off mid-sentence. Just as I’d expected, Leon Howard stepped up to volunteer—
“Go where, exactly, Leon Howard.”
“Huh?”
“Thinking of ditching class, are we. How leisurely of you.”
“N-no, that’s…”
They were still in the middle of a lesson? Tough place.
“Until you beat Linea, you are not permitted to leave class.”
“Whaaat—? That’s not fair…”
“It’s because your mind has gone soft that you’re whining like that. And the perfect cure for a soft mind is twenty laps around the training grounds. What are you waiting for! Move!”
“Ugh… y-yes, ma’am!”
Under Professor Serena’s scolding, Leon finally folded and bolted off to run the field.
Wow. They were training these kids almost like the military over here. Completely different from how I taught mine.
But if not Leon, who was she planning to send?
“You’ve seen an unseemly display…”
“Not at all. It’s lively. I like it.”
“Is that so…?”
“Yes, well. There are all kinds of teaching methods, after all.”
There was no reason for me to stick my nose into another department’s methods, and it wasn’t as if they’d crossed any real line. At this level—
In a romance-fantasy world, in a department that taught swordsmanship and combat arts, if you were counted among the best—
You could handle it. Right, Leon?
Anyway, if Leon was out, I was hoping she’d introduce someone else soon. And then, as if she’d read the wait on my face—
“Ah. How inconsiderate of me. I’ll fetch someone at once.”
I hadn’t thought I’d been that obvious about it. Her instincts really were sharp.
After a short wait, Professor Serena returned with a student in tow.
“This is… a student named Elier Leard, and—”
Before Serena could even finish—
“Professor! Fight me!”
“What.”
…Who was this kid?
Wildly grown long red hair, red eyes, slightly upturned corners to those eyes, and shark teeth to finish the look. Her whole appearance already reeked of pure aggression.
What a violently combative visual.
She was smiling with the corners of her mouth pulled up, baring those sharp teeth as she looked straight at me. Even her gaze was pure provocation.
“You—Leard! How dare you speak to a professor like that…!”
“Hehe…”
“Aigoo. Anyway, Professor Kyle—please take this one with you.”
“This girl…?”
“Ah. Leard is… a student who uses a rather unusual technique, even within our department…”
“Unusual technique?”
“Simply put—a berserker. She’d already mastered a berserker-style fighting method before she even enrolled at the Academy.”
“Mm… I see.”
And how was that relevant right now…
“Leon can’t go—he’s preparing for his next sparring match against Linea, whom you teach.”
“Mm…”
Was that really something you had to take so seriously? I sure wouldn’t. And I doubted Linea would either.
“So, while her grades may lag a bit behind Leon’s, if you look at pure ability alone, she’s exceptional. I leave her in your hands.”
Something about the whole thing felt like she was dumping a difficult, disobedient student on me while she had the chance.
Not that it mattered much.
“You’re here.”
When I returned to the meeting point with the kids in tow, Nariel, Linea, and Erina were already waiting, packed and ready to leave.
And sure enough, the first thing out of Leard’s mouth the moment we arrived was—
“Kihit! Found someone who looks strong! Pretty big sis! Fight me!”
She marched right up to Nariel—whose ears were standing pointed and alert—and issued a challenge.
“…What is this thing?”
Everyone who met Leard for the first time had the exact same reaction. Granted, the sample size was only me and Nariel so far.
“Mm.”
“You’ve certainly brought some odd ones. Shoo—children should go play with other children over there, shouldn’t they?”
“You came out and waited already, though.”
The headmaster must have already gone back inside; there was no sign of him. When I glanced over my shoulder, Leard had switched targets and was sidling up to Linea nearby, licking her chops and muttering something about the girl who’d beaten Leon that morning.
“No harm in hurrying, is there?”
“Well… true enough.”
“Then let’s set out at once. Dragging this out will only tire everyone. Better to finish it quickly.”
Thinking about it, she had a point.
Restore the mountain, was it?
Even if we were only fixing the upper section I’d blown away… just looking at it, this was going to be a miserable climb, wasn’t it?
“Fine.”
From the Academy to the area near the summit of the rear mountain took roughly thirty minutes on foot. For a little neighborhood hill, that was a perfectly reasonable distance—or so one might think.
But the only person who seemed to think so was Nariel.
“Haaah, haaah, haaah… Professor, you’re amazing… s-so, first things first, haaah… I’ve got to beat Linea… hek…”
“W-why am I the target all of a sudden! Ugh, hah—making such a fuss over something this small. Hoo…”
Well, Leard’s personality was so openly expressive that a bit of overacting was to be expected—but she was a combat student through and through. Both she and Linea were keeping up reasonably well.
The problem was—
“P-Profes—Pro! Professooor…! Hah, haah, hah…! C-could you go a little slower…”
“Tsk. That one’s hopeless. Falling behind over something this mild.”
Nariel’s muttered assessment, aimed at Erina, who was bringing up the rear.
“Cut her some slack. Erina’s in Sacred Healing—she’s training to be a priestess. Of course her stamina lags behind.”
And the fact that she hadn’t given up and was still following us all the way was impressive in its own right. We’d called it the rear mountain, but the terrain was far rougher than expected. I’d imagined a casual walking path for ordinary people. The opposite was true.
Still, Erina really did need some proper stamina training one of these days.
“Hmph. Quick to coddle your own students. That white-haired girl, though—she’s keeping up just fine.”
“….”
Helena offered only the barest nod—the absolute minimum of acknowledgment and courtesy. A quiet sort, then?
But her breathing was even, and her face and expression showed almost no sign of fatigue. That was a little surprising.
Even if she was still ahead of Erina, of course.
Anyway. Time to get started.
With that thought, I turned back for another look at what had once been Nariel’s home.
For all that she kept herself apart from worldly things, she hadn’t been living entirely without them. I’d expected an elf to sleep up in the trees or something—but no, she’d built herself a proper wooden cabin.
The problem was that said cabin was, at present, completely smashed to pieces.