Chapter 48
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 48
Between the Inner Keep and the girls' dormitory lay a clearing carved from the forest. Though no one had officially decreed it so, it was a space only the so-called popular students of the Academy could use.
In that clearing, Boribori crouched near a patch of grass, staring at something with a look of pure, heartwarming contentment.
In his palm were pine nuts and soybeans, which a squirrel was eagerly eating. To be precise, it wasn't eating them but stuffing them into its cheek pouches until they bulged.
Boribori gently stroked the squirrel with just his thumb. Building trust and bonding with an animal that couldn't speak was a truly touching experience.
But then, a sudden metallic clash startled the squirrel, and it scurried away in a flash.
Clang!
Boribori flinched and looked back. He saw Rickert and Marie, surrounded by a crowd of students watching them.
Rickert casually caught Marie's practice sword as it flew through the air. Holding both blades, he twirled them playfully before speaking to Marie, who was clutching her wrist in pain.
"Do you really have to take first place?"
Over the past month, they must have sparred like this more than forty times. Even combining all his duels with Ice, Volka, and the other students, he had faced Marie far more often.
He had brushed it off before, but it was clear that getting first place was incredibly important to her.
"Ugh… I told you. That's the only reason I came to the Academy."
"Hmm… Then do you want me to just let you win?"
"I don't want that."
"Then how about you aim for it after I graduate?"
"I hate that even more."
What on earth did she want him to do? Rickert had no intention of losing, and throwing a match would be an even greater insult to her. He was in a bind.
One thing weighed on his mind: he wanted Marie to learn something from their spars, but that wasn't something he could force.
Marie had a gentle and kind nature, but she was also strong-willed and knew how to stand against injustice. On top of that, she possessed a fierce pride—or perhaps stubbornness—when it came to swordsmanship.
Should I break that stubbornness to snap her out of it? Rickert wondered.
"Abandoning everything you've learned to start over isn't easy, but it's better to begin, even if it's slow. You can never beat me with attacks that are merely fast and strong. What's the rush?"
At his question, Marie bit her lower lip hard. There seemed to be some unspoken reason, but Rickert had no way of knowing what it was.
"Again," Marie said, her eyes flashing with their characteristic fire.
Rickert tossed her practice sword back. She caught it deftly with her uninjured hand.
As she settled into her stance, Rickert also assumed a proper one. In that instant, Marie felt her heart skip a beat.
Usually, Rickert just stood there awkwardly, looking like a complete novice who knew nothing about the sword.
But now, he was entirely different. His legs were spread, one in front of the other, his upper body angled slightly toward her, and his sword raised beside his face.
Above all, a strange magic flickered in his cold eyes. Looking into them made her feel as if she were being sucked in, her body freezing in place.
She could feel a shimmering, burning aura radiating from the outline of his body.
Marie bit her lip so hard it nearly bled. At the same time, she channeled her mana to its absolute limit. Her heart pounded violently as blood surged through her veins, carrying raw power.
The mana reached her fingertips, and her sword began to absorb it, feeling like an extension of her own limb.
However, mana was a force that had to be handled with extreme care. It was like raging water or a roaring fire. If mishandled, it could rupture blood vessels and even damage internal organs.
To unleash greater power, one had to wield it wildly; to keep the body unharmed, one had to handle it gently. Finding that perfect balance was incredibly difficult.
It was even harder to manage in real combat, where life and death hung in the balance.
Marie pushed her power to its absolute limit, then burst forward like an explosion, swinging her sword in an upward arc toward Rickert. The attack was as fast as lightning, its force like that of a massive boulder.
Yet, in that split second, Rickert slipped slightly to the side and brought his sword down like a thunderbolt against her blade. It was a strike completely devoid of mana.
CLANG!
"Kya!"
Sparks flew as the swords met. Then, the blunt practice sword snapped in two. The impact reverberating up her arm was so intense that Marie squeezed her eyes shut and collapsed to her knees.
"Whoa!"
"Gasp!"
The watching students gasped and murmured in awe. Breaking a blunt practice sword was difficult enough with a real weapon, but he had done it with another practice sword.
Amazingly, Rickert didn't even seem to look as he casually caught the broken piece of the blade as it spun through the air.
He looked down at the kneeling Marie and spoke.
"There was a guy named Ice. Marie, I think you're just a lesser version of him. At least Ice realized pretty quickly that attacking blindly with speed and power isn't everything. He just couldn't find the answer after that."
He spoke coldly on purpose, but his actual thoughts were different. In truth, Rickert didn't see much difference between Ice and Marie. It was just that Marie seemed to be hounded by something right now.
Being compared to someone else deeply wounded Marie's pride. With her head hung low and her face hidden behind her long hair, she spoke.
"I don't know who that is."
"It doesn't matter. You're far worse than him anyway."
Rickert spoke with deliberate coldness. He felt a pang of guilt, but he hoped this shock would calm her desperate impatience. Only then could she make progress.
Rickert tossed the practice sword and its broken piece onto the ground and turned away.
Clatter.
"Marie..."
Once Rickert left, Boribori approached Marie, who was still kneeling on the ground.
"Let me see your hand."
With her head still lowered, Marie weakly let Boribori take her hand.
Even more gently than he had handled the squirrel, Boribori examined her wrist. Fortunately, nothing seemed to be broken.
Boribori pulled some herbs from his pocket, chewed them into a poultice, and carefully applied it to Marie's wrist.
Just then, drops of water began to fall onto Marie's thigh. They were tears. It seemed the wound in her heart hurt far more than the pain in her wrist.
That was something Boribori couldn't fix.
"Do you really have to get first place? Sometimes, giving up on a futile dream early is an option."
Whether it was meant as comfort or just blunt, realistic advice, Marie, in the midst of her tears, found it so absurd that she burst out laughing.
"Pfft... Don't make me laugh, Bori."
"Hehehe."
Seeing that Marie wasn't completely devastated, Boribori left her in the care of her friends and went after Rickert.
Thanks to that small moment, Marie was able to compose herself and finally stand. Looking up at the sky, she saw it was filled with dark gray clouds.
The spring rain began to fall. Sitting by the window with her chin resting on her hand, Marie stared blankly at the rain-soaked courtyard of the Academy.
Rivulets of water formed and flowed toward the drains, while a few energetic boys ran around, laughing loudly, completely unbothered by their soaking clothes.
But soon, they too went inside the Inner Keep, leaving the rainy courtyard filled with nothing but desolation.
Some people said their mood shifted with the weather, but Marie wasn't one of them.
Yet right now, it felt as though rain were falling inside her heart, mirroring the overcast sky.
Old memories she wished to forget began to drift up in her mind like smoke.
“You must make yourself useful. Otherwise, there is no difference between you and a beggar on the street.”
Her great-great-great-grandfather's cold words seemed to ring in her ears. Honestly, being treated like that didn't hurt much, but there were other words she truly wished she could erase from her memory.
“I live like this because of you. You should never have been born. No one wanted you.”
Her mother had said those words to a young, innocent Marie as if it were a habit. Every time she heard them, it felt like a knife twisting in her chest.
So perhaps that was why she had devoted herself so fiercely to the sword—to become useful, to become someone who was needed.
Emperor Claudius 'the Vigorous' was famous for his boundless stamina and thus had many children to his name, as well as countless bastards.
Exactly how many illegitimate children he had was never officially known; some said a hundred and fifty, while others claimed up to four hundred. Marie was one of them.
Both her father and mother were of noble blood, but theirs was an unblessed union, and her mother had been unmarried. It was a birth no one had wanted.
Marie grew up under the care of her maternal family, a household of swordsmen. Perhaps because she had sensed her precarious position since childhood, she worked harder than anyone, never wasting a single moment as she honed her skills day by day.
Then one day, as her skills were beginning to be recognized, she received news that the father she had never met had officially acknowledged her. Thus, she finally received a proper name and became a member of the imperial family.
Martelia von Nibelinger. That was Marie's full name, her true name.
But did that make her happy? Not at all. It didn't change the fact that she was merely a tool for the family.
The higher the nobility, the more ruthlessly they treated their own family members as mere tools.
The reason for her registration was nothing special. It was simply to show that even members of the imperial family attended the Academy, thereby encouraging other nobles to enroll. That was all.
Only then did a single thought cross Marie's mind: I want to escape. I want to escape from all of this.
When she pleaded with her great-great-great-grandfather, he had laughed in amusement and said:
“There is a genius at the Beringen Academy. If you defeat him and take first place, you may do as you wish. Conversely, if you fail, you must marry him. That is the path that most benefits me, the family, and the Empire.”
"..."
Listening to the patter of the falling rain, Marie stared at the rain-soaked Academy with half-closed eyes. Yet even the downpour could not wash away her gloomy, complicated thoughts.
Rickert's cold gaze seemed to hover before her. Every time she recalled that look, her heart ached.
To Marie, Rickert was a close friend, a respected swordsman, and an insurmountable wall.
It wasn't simply a matter of talent or effort. His strength seemed to transcend the human realm. Defeating him felt impossible.
Moreover, the fact that Rickert couldn't even use mana completely shattered her preconceived notions, plunging her into an even deeper despair.
Then what was the point of all my hard work? To avoid fast and strong attacks? What does that even mean?
Yet, that despair was strangely thrilling, making her heart flutter, while at the same time being infinitely depressing. Because she didn't want to be bound to him like that. Not like that...
Her pride in her swordsmanship, her desire to escape her fate, and her feelings for Rickert—each became a chain that bound her.
The weight of the unspoken truth crushed her, and perhaps because of it, she felt a bitter resentment toward the blameless Rickert.
Even her unhappiest days had never brought her to tears, yet simply thinking of Rickert made her chest tighten and ache, bringing tears to her eyes. But Marie did not know what this emotion was.
With the overcast sky, the day grew dark early. The dormitory room quickly grew dim, and the other girls began to light their lanterns one by one.
Marie was about to leave the window and head to her bed when something caught her eye.
She saw two figures passing through the gates and entering the Academy. Who could it be at this hour?
With cloaks reaching down to their ankles and hoods pulled low, it was hard to tell who they were, but they were a man and a woman. Judging by their height and build, both seemed to be adults.
Draped in their cloaks and letting the rain fall on them, they took a quick look around the Academy's courtyard before heading toward the Inner Keep.
At that moment, Rickert was in bed, joking around with Boribori and the other boys as they prepared for sleep, when someone pounded loudly on the door of the Inner Keep.
He heard the wet, slapping footsteps of a student from another room running barefoot to answer it. Soon, the door opened, and the sound of outsiders entering echoed through the hall.
Then, one of them shouted loudly.
"Ricky! Ricky!"
The boys gathered around Rickert's bed all turned to look at him at once. Then, the shout came again.
"Ricky! Get out here, you bastard!"
Who on earth was that? Bewildered, Rickert went out in his light sleeping clothes. There, he saw two people standing in the central hall, completely drenched.
As they turned toward him, one of them pulled back their hood, and a broad grin spread across Rickert's face.
"Volka!"
At his shout, Boribori also rushed out, and other students who knew Volka came pouring out as well. The students who didn't know him could only watch in confusion.
Rickert ran barefoot and embraced him, not caring that his clothes were getting soaked.
Volka laughed heartily. He had always been big, but he had grown so much since they last met that he now seemed to dwarf most adults.
"Hahaha! Hey, what are you doing clinging to me like a kid?"
"Don't you think Ricky's grown a bit taller?"
The person beside him was Delphi. She was now unmistakably a lady, carrying herself with an air of experienced poise.
"What brings you here? Aren't you two busy?" Rickert asked, a wide smile still plastered on his face.
But at his question, Volka's expression turned awkward.
"Well, about that... we're in the same clan, right?"
"Yeah."
"We really need your help. Some of the Academy students might get drafted soon anyway. We wanted to grab you before that happens."
"...Ah."
It had to be about the guild war. From the guild's perspective, there was no way they would let a powerhouse like Rickert sit idle. But Clan Viola was also in desperate need of him right now.
With just Volka and Delphi, they were far too understaffed to accomplish anything in the war. They couldn't afford to just tag along with other clans and get pushed around.
"Sorry to bring bad news. Maybe I should've told you tomorrow. Actually, no, we're in a rush. It's raining and it's late, but I think we have to go now."
"No, it's fine. Just wait a second. Bori, let's pack our things."
"Okay."
Without another word, Rickert immediately went to his room to pack. He threw on his red cloak and slung his meteoric iron sword over his shoulder.
Then, along with Boribori, he followed Volka and Delphi outside. The other students, not knowing what was happening, could only stand and watch blankly.
But just as Rickert crossed the courtyard and nearly reached the gates, someone called out from behind.
"Ricky!"
Rickert turned around. Sure enough, it was Marie, standing in her pajamas and letting the pattering spring rain soak her.
"Marie?"
"Where are you going?!"
"Uh... looks like I'm needed for a fight. Sorry about today. I'll go easier on you next time. Sorry."
"..."
At his casual apology, Marie felt the heavy weight in her chest wash away completely. A single look from him had broken her heart, yet a single word from him felt like a cure for a terrible illness.
Marie stood there blankly, letting the rain soak her without realizing it. Then, suddenly snapping out of her daze, she shouted, "Wait a minute! I'm coming too!"
With that, she ran back into the girls' dormitory.
"Who's that?" Volka asked, completely bewildered.
"Ah, a new student. Her swordsmanship is decent, but I'm not sure about her real combat experience."
"I can tell just by looking at her," Delphi said with a knowing smile.
"Huh? Tell what?"
"Never mind. It's not something you say out loud. You really are a bad boy, Ricky."
"Huh? Me?"
Being suddenly called a bad boy left Rickert utterly dumbfounded. A moment later, Marie came running back out with her bags packed.
Though they weren't sure if this was allowed, Marie joined them, and the five of them left the Academy.
The spring rain fell. Rain fell in their hearts as well. But the world gave them no time to be gloomy or sad.