Let's Go Play
The martial arts tournament ended with Sozeta's victory.
Winning as a first-year cadet was an event that had happened only a handful of times in academy history, and the last time had been the legendary Supreme Commander Edelian himself. That made it a rare and glorious moment for a first-year to claim the spotlight.
Some claimed the bracket had favored Sozeta, but no one who mattered dismissed his skill in the final. He had simply outclassed everyone who remained.
Still, the bracket luck drew far more attention than the winner. People were curious about why Diana had beaten Violet in the quarterfinals.
Diana, who had always been regarded as slightly below the prodigious talents of Violet or Sozeta, had defeated the younger genius in a long and grueling fight. In the end, Diana pinned Violet's neck with a broken blade after an intense exchange.
While Diana bore cracked bones and bleeding from the head, Violet looked relatively unscathed. She accepted the loss with grace, praising her rival's technique. The sight of Violet—the girl who never cared about others—dogging Diana's steps, asking endless questions about how she had used that skill, was surreal.
Walking down the stage in defeat while Violet trailed behind like a shadow was enough to leave anyone confused about who had truly won.
After claiming victory over the weakened Violet, Diana, still in no condition to fight further, voluntarily forfeited her next match. The opponent was Sozeta, who entered at full strength and claimed the crown.
Thanks to Diana's forfeit, the students kept muttering, "What if...?"
It was an unnecessary thought, yet the question "what if" lingered between strong warriors like a perpetual riddle.
If Diana had faced Sozeta before meeting Violet, or if Violet had faced Sozeta first and the winner then faced Diana, who would have triumphed? These and countless other "what ifs" circulated among the academy students.
The champion was Sozeta, but the one capturing the most attention was Diana.
And their rivalry would not end until they graduated.
But now that the tournament was over, the semester was nearing its end. The students had no time left for idle speculation.
Their schedule had become a nightmare: tactical training, the martial arts tournament, and now final exams. Their minds were barely holding together.
***
"Rai-kkang, do you have a question?"
The moment the test ended, Cesset raised her hand.
"Why didn't we have to take a real exam like last semester?"
Rai had prepared a perfectly ordinary test. Hand out the papers, let them solve the problems, and submit them. Nothing more.
Compared to the Touchdown tournament in Mana Control class or the no-holds-barred practical test in Fundamentals of Tactical Theory, this felt almost insulting.
Rai sat in his seat, expression blank, watching the students gather the papers. Most of them had trained like mad for this exam, determined to get revenge for the traps he had set last time.
Yet looking at these plain sheets, he felt strangely empty.
At first, every student had analyzed his explanations down to the last word, convinced there were hidden traps. Now, with the papers collected and the test finished, they still eyed him with cold distrust.
Accepting a gaze full of suspicion and resentment, Rai spoke in a melancholy voice.
"The vice principal told me to stop playing around and just do a normal test."
Ah, that explained everything.
Everyone nodded in unison. If anyone deserved to say something like that, it was Bright, the man who constantly nagged Rai for being a troublemaker.
Rai kept going, looking aggrieved.
"I prepared a lot this time. I even planned a Super Touchdown tournament. I was going to invite the national champions to compete."
"A Touchdown tournament?"
"You don't know? It's still a tabletop game, right? Even if I didn't actually run it, I'd still participate."
Everyone gave a bitter smile at Rai's half-hearted enthusiasm and lack of real preparation.
"This boring test can't properly evaluate you guys. That's just mean."
Rai grumbled while waving the test papers in his hand.
Cesset, still unable to drop her skeptical gaze, thought for a moment and asked.
"Doesn't that mean you bet on the Touchdown tournament and got caught by the vice principal?"
Rai froze at the mention.
The Rai who had once bet on the Touchdown event had used Zeroa to place the wagers. When the instructor himself wasn't allowed to participate, he had given Zeroa money to bet and earned a share. Later, Bright caught him, and he lost everything.
When Rai couldn't meet Cesset's eyes and looked away, the students understood the whole story and gave him icy stares.
"No way."
"If it's Rai-kkang, I wouldn't be surprised."
Even though he wasn't trusted in the slightest, Rai declared the test over and fled the room.
It was a shame the exam had turned out so plain, but from the students' perspective, an easy test was the best outcome. They all wanted to pass.
After the exam, the four students naturally gathered in Rai's garden.
Philia arrived first because she had to train with both Rai and Selma afterward. Zeroa and Abigail came dutifully, eager to grow stronger. Aslan was the exception.
After disowning his family and moving in with Rai, Aslan only showed up when he had nothing else to do.
Over time, it became a habit for the four to receive one-on-one lessons.
"The break period is coming soon. While you have time, you need to master this."
Rai demonstrated a spell formula in front of them all.
It was complicated, but the students saw no immediate difficulty in learning it.
"Ah, I should explain it more clearly."
Rai had forgotten the habit of detailed explanations he had picked up after the incident with Philia. He had let it slip once and had to redo the entire fight.
Fixing the formula in the air, he sat cross-legged on the grass and surveyed the garden.
Because of all the training, the once-beautiful garden no longer deserved the name. The trees in the corners were gone, everything was a mess, and anyone seeing it would think a construction site had taken over.
The lawn was torn up too. Only the spot where Rai sat remained half-buried in dirt, looking pathetic.
Looking at the now-empty, hollow garden, he sighed with a bitter expression.
"Do any of you feel something watching this?"
"A training ground soaked in blood and sweat?"
"This is a garden, you idiot!"
Rai smacked Aslan.
"Restore it to its original state. Turn it back into the beautiful garden I once had."
"I'll hire someone to manage it and restore it to the way it was," Philia offered.
The others relaxed. Philia was the only one among them with money. Zeroa had none, and Abigail, though she had saved up from her mercenary days, spent everything she earned while at the academy. Aslan, who had been thrown out penniless and was living off Rai's hospitality, had no funds either. He would have had to do manual labor himself to fix it if Philia hadn't offered.
"For the sake of my garden, you must learn this spell formula perfectly."
"So it really is because of the garden that you're teaching us this?"
"Of course not. This formula must be mastered for higher realms."
"Hmm, is that so?"
Aslan tilted his head at the spell.
It combined unbreakable defense, simple repulsion, and the friction that helped one scale walls.
Unable to understand why such a combination was necessary, Aslan looked around at the others. None of them seemed to know either.
"Think about the match between Violet and Diana."
Rai's words made the four pause.
Both fights had been excellent. There was so much to learn, and thanks to Diana's flashy, varied techniques, it was hard to tell what the correct answer even was.
"How does it compare to Aslan's fight?"
"The stage," Philia said.
"Intelligence?"
"Cleanliness, maybe?"
Abigail had said "cleanliness," but Aslan shot her a sharp look. She ignored him.
Yet every word from the three of them was an insult aimed at Aslan.
"Philia is right. They fought so hard that both Violet and Diana ended up injured, yet the stage remained almost intact."
"Eh?! Really?"
Aslan remembered the fight and nodded.
"You stop smashing the stage already. Tenon-san was crying because of you."
"Who is Tenon-san?"
"The arena maintenance guy."
Aslan had learned the useless fact that the chubby staff member who always repaired the stage after fights was named Tenon. Feeling wronged, he protested that Rai had given him the Stone Tornado spell. He was punished for that too.
"Where did you even get that stupid name from?"
Rai cursed him before returning to the original topic.
"Let's go back to the beginning. The ground was humanity's most reliable friend. The harder we stamped it, the stronger we became, and the more we could use the earth's power to knock enemies down."
The four listened intently.
As humanity exercised more of its power, the very foundation—the ground—lost its footing to those who transcended human limits. The strong began to crush the earth beyond its strength. What had once been a kind ally became a hostile battlefield.
A stamp that shattered the floor looked impressive, but the force didn't transmit properly. For warriors who had gained mana, the ground was no longer a special, unbreakable surface—it was the same as standing in the desert.
Warriors who lost their ally had no choice but to solve their own problems.
With growing strength, they naturally learned to gather mana in their feet and release it, creating powerful reactions. The ground beneath their feet became clean, without a single crack, exactly as Zeroa had described.
"The formula I taught you is the one that will become an instinctive technique as you rise in realm."
"We can use it for stronger attacks... but..."
Philia hesitated.
Philia had learned Selma's sword style, which emphasized partial reinforcement and short casting. She knew the flaw in this new formula. If the body could not move as one unit, the timing would be off and the opponent would gain opportunities instead of being hit.
"That's right. So while you're on break, you will keep practicing this formula until you can use it as naturally as breathing."
Rai's expression was casual, but the students frowned.
Learning the formula was easy, but using it freely was complex.
"Why? Can't we?"
"If you can't, say so. You're only at this level anyway. Zeroa, don't raise your hand."
The three of them gritted their teeth and glared at Rai. Zeroa, who had tried to raise his hand in defeat, had been forced to learn it the hard way.
Looking at the trio's hostile eyes and Zeroa's nervous ones, Rai shrugged.
"There's no need to overthink spell formulas. If it's difficult, just keep using it until you get used to it. The real problem is formulas that consume too much mana or drain your spirit after one use. But the one I just taught you isn't that bad. Mana cost is low, and there's no mental drain."
Once learned, the formula would be easy to use. Plus, the way Rai had designed it was efficient.
The four tried stamping the formula onto the ground once each and debated how to master it.
No one said they couldn't do it, not even Zeroa who had been forced.
"Man, those who get caught by taunts..."
Rai suddenly snapped his fingers as if a thought had just struck him.
"Oh! Let's go play."
"What?"
"The timing for that line is terrible."
The four stared blankly at Rai, who waved his hand.
"I just remembered. Emilia invited us to her villa. Since everyone will be scattered during the break, we should go before that."
It was shocking to hear the name of the sixth princess thrown around so casually, but Philia and Aslan were even more surprised that they had actually been invited.
"Hey, calling the princess by name like that..."
"Why? She said I could call her however I want."
Even Aslan's disgusted expression couldn't stop Rai.
"We're going, so get ready. Oh, no refusals. If you refuse an invitation from the royal family..."
Rai sliced his own neck with his hand.
Philia and Abigail, who had been about to refuse, immediately closed their mouths at the gesture.
Zeroa, who had no connection to politics and simply stared blankly, was the only one untouched. The other three looked gloomy as they accepted the difficult invitation.