The Wall of Talent (1): Butterfly Effect
The Butterfly Effect. A phenomenon in which the smallest change—like the faint flutter of a butterfly’s wings, a tiny divergence, a seemingly trivial event—snowballs into consequences no one could have predicted.
Hint had believed the story was flowing in a promising direction. But now… he wasn’t so sure.
The incident began that very morning, during what was supposedly a lesson with the Sword Saint but felt more like a merciless beating.
“Oh, that boy… Isn’t he the one everyone’s talking about? The one who turned down promotion to S-class☆?”
“F-class Hint… and that’s the Sword Saint with him…?”
“Wait, why is Hint even here?”
The current Arpia Academy curriculum did not include Sword Saint lessons for first-years. No matter how desperately the freshmen begged to attend, the academy had decided it was still too early and withheld permission. Naturally, this was also the Sword Saint’s own stance.
Unless a student possessed a talent so extraordinary it could make the heavens themselves jealous, first-years needed to focus on building their bodies and hammering down the fundamentals. Only then could they even dream of stepping into his classroom.
And that, in turn, meant Hint was a boy who possessed precisely such an unprecedented, singular talent.
Perhaps true best friends really did recognize each other at a glance. The moment Stelle spotted him, she broke into a run, pitter-pattering straight toward the training ground. Behind her, the S-class students offered their own commentary.
“U-uwahhh… private lessons with the Sword Saint… I’m scared. So scared…”
“I’m jealous, but honestly terrified. Everyone knows how brutal his classes are. I’m not signing up even when I’m a second-year. Who wants to get hurt?”
“I’m a Divine Beast Tamer, so I don’t have to take it, right?!”
The Elf Princess, the Prince of the Underground Kingdom, and the Beast Master who commanded illusory divine beasts each gave their opinions. If it had been the Amazoness and the Warrior currently trading blows over there, the reviews might have been different. But for the most part, their reactions were far from positive.
After all, there wasn’t a single student at the academy who didn’t know how cruel the Sword Saint’s lessons truly were. His reputation was so infamous that even the new first-years had already heard the horror stories.
Meanwhile, Yulia’s eyes trembled. Lately the word “talent” had become an enormous weight on her heart.
The Sword Saint personally singled him out to teach?
Thanks to the ghost’s help in the cabin at the West Forest, Yulia had been growing steadily, little by little. Yet she still knew she fell short of Shepia. F-class Hint.
She had met him three times: once at the start of the school year, once during a hospital visit, and today, when she had come to receive the Ice Pearl. Three encounters, yet unlike her, the rumors surrounding him evolved with every meeting.
First he had been the F-class boy from the academy—the one no one expected anything from. Then he became a supernova capable of keeping pace with Student Council President Hina. And now, for the third time, he was the eccentric who had voluntarily rejected promotion to S-class.
Yulia gripped her trembling hand with the other. Witnessing new talent had always been painful for her. Because “talent” had a way of making effort look faded and small.
She glanced sideways at Shepia.
“Hmm☆? What’s wrong? Do I have something on my face?”
“Sigh… It’s nothing.”
Shepia stared back with an innocent, sunny smile, completely oblivious, then beamed even brighter. What a lump of pure talent. Friend or not, talent or not, Shepia was more precious to her than anything. For the sake of this relationship, Yulia knew she had to become stronger than she was now.
Swallowing the dirty, ugly emotions that crept up from her chest, Yulia forced herself to smile back. At least until that moment.
With a slash so fast even Yulia’s eyes struggled to follow, Hint was sent flying. Just watching made her arms ache in sympathy. Yet the moment a potion was poured over him, the boy stood back up. And in the next instant—
- Clang!
A deafening crash that was hard to believe had come from a wooden sword striking a human arm. Hint had parried the Sword Saint’s blade.
Yulia clutched her own arm, which was now shaking so violently she could no longer control it. One moment Hint seemed unable to even react to the Sword Saint’s fastest strike and was blasted away—then the next, he deflected an identical blow. Was it possible to adapt to an opponent’s speed and technique in a single exchange?
The sheer purity of that talent sent a chill through her. Yulia felt a terror so sharp it seemed her heart might stop. It was even more shocking than the first time she had witnessed Shepia’s stellar magic. A miraculous talent that could occasionally dismantle the Sword Saint’s techniques at first sight.
Shepia didn’t seem to fully understand, but to a swordsman, that kind of gift was the ultimate wall. Why else would those monsters over there—who had been trading blows like it was a barroom brawl—suddenly freeze and stare blankly in that direction? A sight that could steal the eyes of any warrior was unfolding right before them.
“If a single kick to the leg is enough to throw off your parry, you should just quit. You don’t have the talent for this, kid!”
“It would be nice if you could at least teach me how to counter it!”
“Haha, you think I can just teach it? Learn by getting hit. Think while you’re getting hit, my disciple. Don’t waste a single moment of the pain you receive.”
“You only bring out the righteous arguments when it’s convenient…!”
“Ha. The only reason you think righteous arguments are cowardly is because you’re a fool who can’t keep up with them. Next one’s to the head!”
With a thunderous boom, the Sword Saint’s wooden sword slipped past Hint’s guard and slammed into the boy’s stomach. A clean hit that made the spectators instinctively rub their own bellies. Hint went tumbling across the ground.
“You said the stomach…!”
“What, did you think enemies on the battlefield would politely announce ‘head, chest, waist, wrist’ before attacking? Out there, the only thing you can trust is yourself. Remember that!”
“It’s just that your personality is terrible, isn’t it!”
“Puhahaha. Got a problem with that? If you don’t like it, you become the Sword Saint!”
Of course, from the spectators’ point of view, his behavior made them wonder if this man was really the Sword Saint. But at the very least, his swordsmanship was the real deal. The “Sword Saint Style” was famous for launching its fastest strikes without sound, without warning, and without aftershock.
Yet this boy, after seeing the technique only once, had perfectly defended against it. Just what was he?
It was right then, as every eye turned toward their lesson, that a voice cut in.
“Ahem. I understand why everyone’s attention is drawn that way, but this is still my class.”
Professor Nebula, instructor of Free Combat Studies and famous for his wholesome feedback, cleared his throat.
“Greg, Titania. Come down and rest for now. The potions are prepared over there.”
“Hahaha! A little disappointing! I wanted to fight more!”
“Who are you calling a musclehead, you musclehead. Let’s have another round later.”
“Fine by me.”
“Now, now. Duels between S-class students are only permitted in front of a professor, per academy regulations. Please keep that in mind. Next up… Shepia and Yulia. Prepare yourselves.”
Of all the times.
Yulia did her best to calm her pounding heart. In the beginning she had enjoyed the duels, always trying her hardest to win. But at some point, sparring with Shepia had become nothing but terror for her. A wall that could never be overcome was, to the one trying to climb it, nothing short of horrifying.
Still, Yulia clenched her fists and stood up.
“What are you waiting for? Get out here.”
“Ufufu☆ Sparring with Yulia never ends quickly, so I need to mentally prepare myself too, you know?”
“Ha. Today I’m finally going to knock that confidence down a peg.”
- Crash. Clatter. Thud.
- “Uwaaack! Gaaah! Guh!”
Doing her best to ignore the pitiful symphony of a certain boy’s screams echoing from one corner of the training ground, Yulia drew a practice wooden sword and took her stance. Shepia smiled back at her and raised her brilliant stellar magic to its limit.
If I use the 4th style I just learned… I can win this time.
That was what Shepia thought.
“Both combatants, prepare for battle.”
Professor Nebula stepped between them as referee. Tension crackled in the air as they stared each other down. This was a duel they had performed countless times since childhood. The professor’s hand rose toward the sky—
“Match, begin!”
Yulia charged.
“Still rushing in headfirst, I see☆.”
“Against a mage, you should be keeping distance!”
Even as she spoke, Yulia did not close the gap as tightly as usual. The change in combat flow made Shepia tilt her head in momentary confusion. Now.
Yulia planted her feet. The secret of a one-hit kill always lay in the unexpected. This was the Frostwolf family’s long-range technique—one Shepia had never seen before.
Breakthrough.
Blue cold energy wrapped around the sword, then shot forward in an instant. Shepia’s eyes widened. The arrow of cold was fired, and in that moment Shepia was certain of victory.
But in the very next instant, an absurd amount of stars burst forth—far beyond anything Yulia had anticipated.
“Kuh—huk?”
Yulia was rolling across the ground. It made no sense. She was the one who had attacked—why was she the one tumbling across the dirt?
Her entire body throbbed as if she had been struck by a massive boulder.
“Yulia!!!”
Shepia came running with a scream. Something was wrong. Had Shepia’s magic always been this strong? Strong enough to deflect her secret technique without even using a spell?
Magic power was not supposed to grow explosively in such a short time. Barring extremely special cases, there was no way Shepia could suddenly produce a quantity of power that utterly surpassed what Yulia had known. Yulia’s sharp mind began to form a conclusion she desperately did not want to reach.
Come to think of it, something had always felt off. No matter how much Yulia grew, whenever they dueled, the result was always “just a hair’s breadth.” No matter how much she improved, Shepia was always one step ahead.
“Yulia! Are you okay?!”
The usual bouncy, star-like Shepia was gone. This Shepia reached out to her with genuine worry. At that moment, the dark emotions Yulia had been desperately suppressing finally burst free.
“Shepia, don’t tell me you—!”
For the first time, Yulia revealed clear hostility toward her friend. Shepia, guessing what she was about to say, averted her eyes.
“Ugh…!”
Yulia slapped away the hand Shepia had offered. Shepia flinched in shock.
“Yulia, wait—that’s not what I—”
“…I’m sorry, Shepia. Just… let me be alone for now.”
Yulia bolted from the training ground. No one tried to stop her.
“Hey, wait! Someone stop her!”
“What are you talking about, you idiot! You’re just trying to skip training!”
Of course, the same went for Hint, who was still being pounded on by the Sword Saint.