The Kidnapping Case and the Demon Instructor's Prank
The incident in which Abigail attempted to kidnap Philia had been neatly wrapped up at last. The academy guards arrived late and arrested Zaherio and his accomplices.
Zaherio insisted that everything had been his own decision and tried to take all the blame onto himself.
Even so, the arrest of his vassal Zaherio had also influenced Baron Julio. People who had expected the Serios family to cause trouble were now puzzled by the quiet movements of the Serios household.
“So what exactly is going on right now?”
Aslan frowned at the sight of Rai and Philia in the distance.
“They’re calling it a game of tag. Instructor Rai asked if Miss Philia’s abilities were interesting and suggested the chase first,” Zeroa explained.
Aslan watched the two carefully.
Philia kept running away from the academy stage, and Rai chased after her. Every time magic exploded somewhere, Philia looked genuinely thrilled, while Rai’s attacks were full of raw power. Watching them from the side felt exactly like the real thing.
Whether the chase itself was fun or whether the training was enjoyable, Philia’s expression somehow looked happy, and Rai chasing her was grinning from ear to ear.
Philia spun her body sharply, sweat scattering through the air like rain. She gazed at the fireball rushing overhead as if she could reach out and touch it, then landed lightly on the ground. The moment her feet touched, she twisted and tried to run again—only to hear Rai’s voice.
“If you don’t want to die, don’t run!”
When Philia looked back, Rai was holding Xenia from behind, pressing a dagger to her throat.
“E-eh? What’s going on?”
Xenia, with her gentle and innocent face, blinked in confusion and glanced between Rai and Philia.
“I’ve been taken hostage by him, sister.”
“Huh? Really? I’m the hostage?”
“Yes. So just stay quietly in my arms.”
Noticing the hugging pose a moment too late, Xenia’s cheeks flushed red as she leaned against him.
Philia looked at Xenia and frowned, then spoke to Rai with the face of a villain.
“By capturing the hostage, does that mean I’ve won?”
“Won? What won? It’s not over yet. What are you going to do with the hostage?”
“Don’t be so ruthless. A knight capturing a hostage like a robber?”
“I’m not a knight. I’m an instructor.”
“Then an instructor even more so!”
Philia’s anger made the watching academy students nod vigorously. Even Xenia, still in Rai’s arms, gave a small nod, though she secretly wished the warm feeling would never stop.
“Is this a lovers’ quarrel?”
“A love triangle. A love triangle.”
“Lovers’ triangle? What love triangle? The Demon Instructor is having an affair with Xenia Instructor and trying to steal Philia away.”
Philia glanced at the strangely happy-looking Xenia and the academy students whispering around them, then told Rai.
“Release the innocent Xenia Instructor. Do it fairly.”
“Have you only ever met fair people? Hurry up and settle this. Drop your weapon in five seconds or the hostage dies.”
Philia’s face twisted in irritation, and without thinking she dropped her sword.
“Wrong. You’re still trying to get attacked?”
“How else? I was taken hostage because of you.”
“Even as a commander, would you surrender if a few enemy hostages begged for it? And if you drop your weapon in this situation, both of you die.”
“...Then what should I do?”
“Even if no other path seems open, don’t drop your weapon. It’s better for both of you to die than to lose the chance for revenge. Don’t expect to be captured as part of some plan and suddenly find an opening.”
Of course, that didn’t mean the hostage would survive. Philia looked away with a dissatisfied expression.
In reality, if it hadn’t been Rai, both Philia and Xenia would have died. But even if Philia hadn’t dropped her weapon, Xenia might still have been killed if Rai had shown up.
“No matter how it ends, there’s no correct answer. But don’t think of giving up easily. If that woman is precious to you, I can’t stop you from saying it—but at the time, she was just a stranger.”
“But I was taken hostage because of her.”
Philia spoke bluntly to Rai, who was trying to seduce the woman while making such heartless remarks.
“You think you can carry one by one? I’m sorry, but in war you’ll have to decide whose life is worth what.”
“...”
“When the time comes to set aside human compassion and knightly honor, you just have to harden your heart.”
Philia had never heard such cold words from anyone. Everyone who advised her had only spoken of bright sides and virtues.
Even they couldn’t have said it if they hadn’t experienced it. Giving such advice to a girl who wanted to hear only the pure side was never easy.
Philia, who had already been kidnapped several times, knew the dark side well. She could sense the family’s bad deeds and shadow games, even if they weren’t mentioned.
Grateful for Rai’s difficult advice, Philia picked up the dropped sword and sheathed it.
“Instructor Rai? Is it over?”
“Yeah, I guess it is. Thank you for your hard work, sis.”
As soon as Rai released her, Xenia felt a slight pang of regret, but she shook her head with an unchanged smile.
“No, it was nice... I mean, no. Actually, that’s not it. Ah, the Panic you helped me get is from Instructor Rai, right? The Headmistress told me. It’s a rare material, and I can use it as reference material in alchemy class because you gathered so much. This semester I’ll be researching it with the other students.”
“That’s great.”
Rai laughed brightly and nodded, and Xenia’s face lit up as she spoke carefully.
“I... thank you, but if you ever need anything...?”
Xenia had prepared Seria’s Day gifts but never delivered them. Gathering her courage, she asked.
“Ah, I have something. Could you give me some medicine?”
“Huh? Are you injured somewhere?”
“No, potions or healing magic cause tolerance, so they’re not great to use often. Do you have any good ointment for burns?”
“I do have a little...”
She hadn’t expected this direction, but since Rai wanted it, Xenia decided to bring the medicine.
After forcing herself to promise she’d come later, Xenia headed toward Rai’s house with a pounding heart.
Maybe just the two of them talking until evening, having a cozy dinner... eating Rai’s homemade cooking, sipping sweet wine, and...
Xenia imagined all the way to the end and her cheeks flushed red. She shook her head vigorously, clutched the medicine like a precious treasure with both hands, and headed to Rai’s house.
She never expected that Rai’s garden would be full of academy students.
Philia and Zeroa stood politely, Aslan nodded lazily, and Abigail sat with a deeply furrowed brow.
Philia and Xenia made eye contact, but Abigail ignored them and only looked at Rai.
“Sit here, Instructor.”
Zeroa quickly pulled out a chair and offered it to Xenia.
Rai and Abigail stood in the center of the garden, while the other students clustered at the edges. Seeing the familiar students sitting down, Xenia asked cautiously, and Zeroa answered.
“Abigail is challenging Instructor Rai.”
“Why? What did you do this time?”
Xenia asked as if Rai committing any crime was the most natural thing in the world, but no one felt anything strange.
“No, if I win the sparring, Instructor Rai promised private lessons.”
“Ah... but can you even win? Instructor Rai is incredibly strong.”
“Yes, that’s why he said he’d accept even if you just graze him.”
Zeroa’s words made Xenia nod. She didn’t know much about fighting, but she thought the skill gap must be huge since even grazing would win, so she saw it as a light sparring match.
“How many minutes do you think she can last today?”
Aslan spoke casually, and Xenia asked if this had happened before.
“Yeah, it’s already the sixth time. She gets beaten black and blue every time we spar, but she has a really thick skull.”
Although he praised Abigail, Xenia panicked at the thought of being beaten. She finally understood why Rai had asked her to prepare ointment.
Is he really going to hit that hard...?
Xenia remembered Rai’s warning that healing magic or potions cause tolerance. It was common knowledge, but to her it seemed unbelievable that anyone would use potions in sparring—how rough could it actually be?
Philia, who had accidentally become a spectator during a game of tag with Rai, watched the sparring for the first time. Sparring matches between skilled people were helpful just to watch, so she studied the two intently with focused eyes.
“Today I’ll use Illusion. It was fun the other day.”
Rai announced the technique he was about to use and drew his short sword. From right hand to left, then left to right. He played with the dagger, switching the short sword back and forth with relaxed movements. Abigail rushed in without a word.
Her sword slashed toward his waist, and Rai retreated with a pained sound.
The moment he seized the initiative, Abigail launched a fierce attack, but Rai easily deflected it and quickly swung his empty right fist.
Abigail, who had dodged just barely by tilting her head a paper-thin margin, lowered her stance and thrust her sword upward from below. Rai stepped back, pivoted slightly, and dodged.
“Right punch!”
Switching the short sword from left to right hand, Rai swung it, but Abigail predicted the path and sidestepped easily.
Thud!
“Kyaa!”
Abigail, who had dodged sideways, was hit hard enough in the face that her upper body twisted. Xenia yelped in shock, but Abigail immediately recovered and retreated.
“Idiot? Of course your left hand doesn’t swing when you’re holding the sword in your right.”
Rai threw the short sword into the air and caught it alternately. Abigail spat blood from her mouth and nose onto the ground and charged forward in a low stance with the sword tip leading.
“Left punch!”
This time she held the sword in her left hand. Abigail watched Rai’s empty right hand as well as the sword in his grip.
Thud!
Abigail was hit so hard her body tilted, and she stumbled backward, rolling on the ground.
Her shocked expression was almost cute, but Philia and Aslan made the same face. Clearly holding the sword in her left hand, she had just swung a right punch. Rai held the sword in his right hand.
“I told you I was going left. Why couldn’t you dodge?”
Abigail gritted her teeth and charged again.
“This time right.”
Abigail raised her left hand to protect her head and swung her sword, only to be hit again and roll on the ground.
“So naive. Do you actually believe what the enemy says?”
Rai’s empty left hand swung at her with a mocking smile.
Illusion exploited the opponent’s focus. The person holding a sword was most focused on the opponent’s blade. That was the most dangerous thing, so all eyes naturally went there, and Rai was using it perfectly.
Even though he only struck with his empty hand, it was still a deadly attack if the level was high enough.
Abigail had been attacked three times defenselessly. She wiped the blood from her mouth and nose with the back of her hand, then charged at Rai again.
Her movements looked reckless at first, but each time she was hit she adjusted slightly.
Only Philia among the spectators noticed. Adjusting movements mid-fight was incredibly difficult. Switching styles to match the opponent sounded easy, but to change a motion practiced thousands or millions of times in an instant... sparring training would be pointless.
Although the attacks were fierce and movements rough, Abigail was fighting coldly. Even after being hit with absurd attacks and mocked, she never lost her composure. Philia was admiring her when Rai dropped his sword into the air.
The sword, held lightly, floated for a moment before gravity pulled it down. The moment everyone’s eyes were on the falling blade, Rai thrust his fist straight at Abigail’s face like a hammer meant to kill her.
The hard, strong punch flew toward the back of Abigail’s head—the complete opposite of the soft movements so far.
But Abigail, who hadn’t been paying attention to the sword at all, reacted to Rai’s punch as if it were normal under Illusion and spun once in the air.
Her sword, swinging in a wide arc after turning, aimed at Rai’s head. He slipped away easily.
“Oh, that was close.”
“Huh?”
Rai smiled leisurely, and Philia noticed something and was startled.
Everyone’s gaze was fixed on the tip of his jaw. Abigail, who had lunged at him trying to recover, crashed to the ground with dirt on her face and stared at his jaw.
“...”
Rai touched his jaw and looked at the blood on his fingers. Abigail’s sword had grazed it by just a tiny bit.
“Abigail won...?”
Aslan muttered in disbelief, and Philia and Zeroa stared at him with dazed eyes.
Abigail kept glaring with heavy breathing, so Rai grinned and clapped.
“Yes, that’s the end of the Illusion.”
With the sound of applause, the Illusion broke. The wound on Rai’s jaw disappeared completely. He waved his clean finger at the stunned Philia.
“Wah— that was really irritating...”
“If it weren’t for the Instructor, I would’ve stabbed you in the back.”
Rai squatted in front of the fallen Abigail and teased her. Aslan, agreeing fiercely with Philia’s remark, rushed over to help her up, but she shrugged him off roughly, clutched her aching shoulder, and limped away.
“Hng!”
“Who said you could go anywhere? Heal it first and leave.”
“Let go.”
“Hate it? As a weakling, you should listen to the strong. If you just walk away, I won’t take you in sparring anymore.”
Abigail, grabbed by the scruff of her collar, bared her teeth in anger, but soon lowered her head and became docile.
Approaching the now-tame Abigail, Xenia checked her wound, hesitated for a moment, then placed the ointment on the ground and reached out.
“I pray for the miracle of healing from the omnipotent Peladora—may your servant grow from a small seed, supported by the world...”
A soft light flowed from Xenia’s hand and stuck to Abigail’s wound. It was a miracle using divine power, not healing magic.
“It’s the Leaf of Peladora.”
“Yes. I once served the Goddess Peladora with this lowly body. It was a long time ago, but...”
“Since you can still use divine power, it’s not that old.”
The Leaf referred to Peladora’s priestesses and priests. Seeing her say it was an old issue even though she was still a priestess meant something had happened.
Since Peladora hadn’t taken away her divine power, Rai comforted her by calling her a priestess. Xenia nodded slightly with grateful eyes.
Unlike healing magic or potions, divine power had no tolerance. It was literally a miracle and blessing, completely healing Abigail’s wound. She stood up, turned, and left the garden.
“Idiot. What did I say?”
“...”
Abigail stopped at Rai’s words, glanced at the sky for a second, then bowed her head to Xenia.
“Thank you for healing me.”
“No, I only did what I had to. Want me to call you for another spar later?”
“...”
Abigail turned without answering and left, still wearing a gentle smile from Xenia.
“She has a cute side.”
“Is that the cute side? Rude.”
“I’m the one who’s rude. Do your best, you bastard.”
Aslan kicked Rai in the butt and called everyone over, saying it was time to eat.