50. Let's Recheck Even the Extinguished Fire
50. Let's Recheck Even the Extinguished Fire
The special arena was packed with countless spectators.
It wasn't even a holiday, so how had so many people managed to come...? Glancing around, he saw plenty of professors too.
Even Professor Buckingham, who never canceled classes voluntarily, was there.
"That old man... he should've given us free periods like this back when it mattered."
In the VIP room on the upper floor, the Headmaster, Marquess Lemnos, and the Director sat in a row, each subtly needling the others.
He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but the way the Headmaster kept heaving deep sighs throughout made it clear it wasn't a pleasant conversation.
Whenever Marquess Lemnos and the Director exchanged words, it was always the Marquess who came off worse, so watching must have been entertaining.
No matter how the Marquess argued, there was a gap between the two that could never be narrowed.
Namely, the fact that the Director was a Master while Lemnos was merely an Expert.
The Imperial Knights had a short history.
Compared to the venerable Sky Knights or the Fierce Tiger Knights, which had existed since the Empire's founding, they were a new order not even a hundred years old.
So why had the Imperial Knights become the order that represented the Empire?
The reason was simple.
Because the Imperial Knights had been founded around a Master.
Originally, the Empire's Masters had always been produced by the Five Pillars.
Either the Lemnos or the Russells—or sometimes both—would produce a Master, claim the title of Empire's Greatest Sword, and the knight order they commanded would become the foremost in the Empire.
That was because, at the time, they were the order that possessed a Master.
And the Five Pillars, the coalition of nobles who possessed Masters, wielded influence within the Empire rivaling the Imperial Family itself.
If a Master rose in rebellion, even the Imperial Family would find itself with a serious headache.
The root of the Five Pillars' authority wasn't because they were families that had been there since the Empire's founding—it was because they were families that had produced Masters.
But roughly two generations ago, the Five Pillars had ceased to produce Masters.
And then, from some nameless viscount family, a new Master emerged, and the Imperial Family placed him at the center to create a new knight order: the Imperial Knights.
After that, the Five Pillars still failed to produce another Master.
It was as if they'd been struck by some heavenly punishment.
That was why Lemnos could never win against the Director.
No matter how much he attacked the Director, the fact that the Director—a Master—possessed the very power Marquess Lemnos coveted most meant his attacks were nothing more than the ugly thrashing of a loser.
"Receiving this much attention, does it weigh on your shoulders?"
"It does... I won't show a pathetic sight like last time."
Before him, Edgar Lemnos appeared, wielding the same blazing demon sword, Flamberge, as before.
This time, he was even wearing protective gear.
It was a clear difference from last time, when he'd shown up in his usual clothes.
[Then let the duel begin!]
Light erupted from five points in the arena, and subspace began to build itself.
Lemnos, who had been right in front of him, faded from sight.
When his vision returned, an unfamiliar landscape greeted him.
——————————————
The special arena was a circular venue with spectator seats arranged around the central stage, but from the stands, the interior could only be viewed through holograms.
That was because subspace was built within the arena, making it invisible from the outside.
As always, one of the VIP rooms was reserved for the Five Pillars, and the Albion, Perda, and Phrygia families had gathered there.
Except... Albion was nowhere to be seen. He had vanished after exchanging brief greetings with Edward, who had paid a surprise visit to the academy that morning.
"Shara, you still look displeased. Do you think Lemnos is going to lose again today?"
"How could he win, when it's only been a short time since the last duel?"
Perda's smirking question irritated Shara Phrygia.
Her feelings were extremely complicated.
At the moment, from her perspective, she was naturally hoping for Atlas's victory and believed without a doubt that it would happen.
But for Atlas to win meant that before all these people, Lemnos, the face of the Five Pillars, would once again be brutally humiliated.
Why insist on fighting a battle he was so clearly going to lose...? She simply could not understand the minds of people who used swords.
Atlas was an exception, of course.
The biggest reason the Five Pillars, which had failed to produce a Master, could still enjoy such influence was that Phrygia, as their representative, had been effectively growing their wealth.
Yet Lemnos, their supposed figurehead, was voluntarily stepping up to chew up their brand value, which made her anger surge.
"And where exactly has Albion gone?"
"Heh heh, who knows... maybe he's off pulling some strings behind the scenes... or not?"
"The duel has already started. If he had any brains, there's no way he'd do that."
The duel had already begun, and subspace had been established.
She didn't know the arena's exact structure, but was it even possible to pull strings in subspace that had already been formed?
Even if it were possible, how would he take responsibility for the aftermath?
The Headmaster and other professors were all watching from above—was it even possible to do it without being caught?
No one capable of 'rational judgment' would do such a thing.
But Perda was still smirking as he continued speaking.
"Shara, people can't always make purely rational and cool-headed judgments.
In particular, depending on what someone places their focus on, what constitutes a 'rational judgment' can vary wildly from person to person."
"...Just in case, I'm going to go look for Albion."
"Right now?"
"If Lemnos loses and that Master catches on that Albion was pulling strings too, the Five Pillars' image is finished!!"
"If Edgar wins, it's fine."
"What?!"
"No matter how the process goes, as long as he wins, we can cover it up. The Imperial Knights' Commander is just a third party.
He has no reason to demand fairness in the duel... It's a problem that solves itself as long as Edgar wins."
"......You!"
Shara was enraged by Perda's words.
It was also rage directed at herself.
What he said was exceedingly rational. If she herself had not received Atlas's 'education,' she might very well have made the same choice.
Because, on the scales, that course of action incurred the lesser loss.
Though in her case, she would never have stepped forward directly—she would have used some disposable words instead.
"...Someone might be thinking that, don't you think? Not that I'm saying I am."
Having said that, Perda chuckled.
I really hate that guy, Shara thought.
——————————————
Riber and Emy had been in the general spectator seats of the special arena, but before the duel began, their positions had been moved to a VIP room.
"Hel...lo..."
"Hello. I am of the Simore family."
"Hello... I'm of the Parker family..."
Lucia had invited them to a VIP room she had reserved separately.
The three of them stood awkwardly in the dimly lit room so the hologram would be clearly visible.
Riber and Emy, returning Lucia's stiff greeting in an equally rigid manner, also looked flustered by the situation.
They had no direct acquaintance with one another.
They were three people who knew each other only through Atlas—friends of a friend... strangers, if you called them that.
'N-now what do I do...??'
Lucia inviting them had taken an enormous amount of courage.
Until now, Atlas had divided his time, seeing Riber and Emy or seeing Lucia separately whenever he was at the academy.
He knew that forcing introductions would only make things awkward between them, so he'd carefully split his time and gone around meeting them.
Lucia, who had initially thought of it as time where she monopolized Atlas, had been extremely happy at first, but at some point, her thinking had changed.
The amount of time she could spend with him was so little.
People are truly fickle creatures.
When she first hadn't been able to speak to him properly, she'd been satisfied just watching him from afar, but the closer she got, the more her desires escalated.
After the two of them had been hospitalized recently and she'd spent nearly the entire day with him, it had become even more so.
When she heard the news that Riber and Emy were being discharged, the thought that this overflowing happiness would disappear made her terribly sad, but at the same time, a good idea came to her.
If she became friends with Riber and Emy... wouldn't that simply double the amount of time she could spend with him, in pure arithmetic terms?
Starting a conversation with people she wasn't close to was incredibly difficult, but because the happiness that would follow if it went well was more important, she'd succeeded in mustering the greatest courage of her life.
'First, I need to say why I invited them... that I want us to be close...'
Of course, her mind had gone completely blank about what to say next, and she hadn't been able to get out a single word.
For Lucia, who up to that age had never managed a proper conversation with peers, it was far too cruel a task.
"I am deeply grateful to have been invited this time."
In place of the hesitating Lucia, Riber spoke up first.
Among the three, Riber was the one who had lived the most normal life.
She presented herself with such impeccable decorum that the image of her rolling around in dirt and dust with a wooden sword was impossible to conjure—a thoroughly proper young noble lady.
"To be invited by House Russell is a tremendous honor. I look forward to your kind regard in the future."
"...Yes, likewise."
Once Lucia answered, the stiff atmosphere seemed to ease just a little.
'I... should have been the one to say something...'
Somehow, Riber had spoken first and things had moved on, but Lucia was deeply ashamed that she hadn't been able to speak properly even at such a moment.
It could have been taken as a gesture of consideration, but it felt like she had lost the initiative.
"The duel has started!"
As they took their seats, the hologram shifted wildly and revealed the interior of the subspace that had been created.
It looked like a volcanic zone on the verge of eruption.
Atlas and Lemnos stood not far from each other, facing off at close range.
Then Riber, who had been staring intently, spoke.
"Atlas's condition is a little strange."
Riber furrowed her brow.
The Atlas shown on the hologram, unlike Lemnos, looked somehow different from his usual self, starting with his stance.
He looked utterly exhausted.
——————————————
The environment created by the special arena was a volcanic zone.
Lava wasn't erupting from all sides, but sweltering heat rose from the ground.
"A volcano, huh... I've drawn a good place."
Edgar Lemnos looked pleased.
There was an active volcano in the Lemnos territory.
He was probably attributing the familiar environment to his own luck.
"I'm going back to the dorm to sleep, so let's finish this fast."
"It will happen without you needing to say it!"
He raised the longsword he'd had slung on his back.
It was an ordinary product made at a forge, not the one the Director had returned to him.
He'd wrecked a few lately, but under normal use, it was a quality longsword that would last a long time.
He'd avoid letting blade meet blade—if his sword caught on Flamberge's wavering edge, it would break.
Last time, he'd held a personal grudge against Edgar himself and toyed with him until he was utterly miserable, but this time, there was none of that.
He intended to end it moderately and go back to sleep.
That was when he noticed something strange.
'What the hell is this...!'
His body wouldn't move properly.
His breathing was labored, and his body felt heavy, as if a boulder had been placed on his shoulders.
He'd been perfectly fine when he entered subspace, but the moment he drew his sword and moved, his condition had changed drastically.
If he was struggling this much, an ordinary person would have already collapsed and been on the brink of death.
"This... did you do it?"
"What are you talking about??"
Lemnos had a genuinely bewildered expression, as if he really had no idea what was going on.
If there had been even the slightest shift in his expression, Atlas could have caught it, but he truly seemed clueless.
'I definitely wrecked every last one of the bastards who came to pull something last night.'
Surely there wasn't someone bold enough to pull a trick in real time while the Headmaster was watching?
He considered several possibilities, then discarded them all.
"Ah, whatever."
The duel had already started.
Thinking about it now was pointless.
He'd just have to chalk it up to bad luck—that he'd drawn a dud.
At this level, it wouldn't affect the outcome in the slightest.