Eliminating the Impossible
According to Lanchester's laws, when forces with equal capabilities clash, the side with greater numbers is guaranteed to win. Both Kyle and Victor knew this fact all too well. Victor had assumed Kyle would need to hide somewhere for an ambush or secretly target the main base to stand any chance of victory. Kyle did no such thing. He charged forward with twenty soldiers, sword in hand.
In that moment, the emotion Victor felt was the same as when one encounters someone so impossibly foolish that it defies understanding.
What is he doing…? With this much of a numbers disadvantage, even with knights mixed in, he should know the outcome is already decided…
While Victor stood bewildered, Kyle, leading the charge at the head of his soldiers, felt a stifling frustration with his own body. The weight of the armor and sword, the pathetic physique that was already panting after running a mere few dozen meters. The transcendent vitality granted by Aura and the body honed over decades were gone. All that remained was the swordsmanship he had refined his entire life. That alone would be enough.
“Hold the line!”
At Victor’s command, the soldiers who had been waiting in formation thrust their spears in unison. Their movements were so precise and mechanical that even a tiger or lion would seem unable to break through. But Kyle was different. He thrust his sword into the gaps between the spears, twisting their balance. A path just wide enough for one person opened up, and Kyle slipped through, slicing a soldier’s neck clean off.
Shhhk—!
As a fountain of blood sprayed across dozens of soldiers, Kyle grinned and looked toward Victor, who was still barking orders from a distance.
“—Wait right there.”
He swung his sword. One soldier collapsed. He swung again. Three more hit the ground. In the past, before Aura or anything else existed, a man who could take on three armed soldiers alone was called a Swordmaster. So what should one call the man now carving through dozens of soldiers with nothing but a single blade?
Watching this absurd scene unfold, Victor realized a horrifying truth. Every time the sword flashed, one soldier lost their life. Since the blade swung once per second, his entire force would be annihilated in less than a minute.
“Th-that’s impossible!”
Victor wondered if his soldiers’ combat ability was simply too low. He grabbed a spear and charged at the enemy. But the soldier he thrust at easily deflected the attack and drove a spear straight back into him. Victor let out a pathetic yelp, dropped his weapon, and staggered backward, clutching his wounded hand. Though it was an illusion and he felt no pain, the fact that his hand refused to move at all made the experience paradoxically more terrifying.
“What are you doing?”
“Eek—!”
In the brief moment Victor had looked away, Kyle had slaughtered all thirty of his soldiers. Wiping the blood from his blade, Kyle looked down at the trembling Victor. Seeing him cowering in fear, Kyle felt no desire to torment him further. He simply swung his sword and severed Victor’s head.
Thirty-one in total. The time taken to cut down every last soldier: one minute and thirty-eight seconds. Victor, annihilated in under a hundred seconds, earned himself the nicknames “the cadet who can’t even boil cup ramen” and “the premature cadet.”
The Academy was an elite training facility established by the Empire. It housed not only commoners but also a great number of renowned nobles. Thanks to this, its facilities boasted the highest quality, surpassing anything else in the Empire. The dining hall was so exceptional that the First Prince had once declared during his time as a student that it was “better than the imperial palace.”
Today was my first meal there. I stood in line, heart pounding with anticipation, waiting to be served.
“Kyle.”
While I was waiting, Yuri suddenly leaped over the entire line from afar and came running up behind me. She casually took the spot right next to me. No matter how much of a noble or fiancée she was, I couldn’t overlook line-cutting. I spoke firmly.
“Yuri, even if you’re a noble, cutting in line is—”
“Hey, I’ll buy this spot. How much?”
“Huh? …Thank you!”
Before I could even finish, Yuri had already handed money to the student behind us and swapped places. The student accepted the cash with a beaming smile and returned to the very back. Yuri shrugged as if to say there was no problem now.
“Why?”
“……Just out of curiosity, how much did you give him?”
“A hundred thousand cash.”
“With that much money, you could’ve……”
Converted roughly to Korean won, that was about a million won just to buy this spot. With that amount, she could have bought two spots at the very front. Not that it was my place to say, but she really was an idiot. Still, whether it was the composure of a duke’s daughter or simply a lack of financial sense, Yuri clung to me with a completely nonchalant expression.
“Kyle, who was that girl earlier?”
“Earlier? Who?”
“The blonde girl who was stuck to your side.”
At her words, I belatedly recalled the entrance ceremony. Aria, whom I had grown close to during the ceremony. Yuri must have seen us together, unusually close. She had been waiting at the front of the auditorium to give the representative oath, so she hadn’t been able to approach me. After the ceremony, we had gone to our respective classrooms, so there hadn’t been time to ask. I never imagined she was still holding onto that moment, so I scratched my cheek and explained.
“She just sat next to me.”
“And you let her cling to you like that?”
“Did she?”
“……Kyle, I have no intention of interfering with you talking to or getting close to other girls. But—”
Yuri looked at me with sparkling eyes.
“Don’t forget that you’re the son-in-law of the Grace ducal house. I am your fiancée.”
“……Oh. Wow.”
The forceful presence of a well-endowed woman really does make a man nervous……! Hearing the voice echoing in my head, I hesitated for a moment before quickly turning around and picking up the two trays that had just come out in front of us.
“Food’s here. Let’s go!”
Carrying her tray, I hurried to find seats. Yuri stared at the back of my head for a long moment before following after me.
After settling at an empty table and starting our meal, I confirmed that the rumors about the Academy’s dining hall were no exaggeration.
“Whoa—”
“……Mmm, mm-hmm.”
Even Yuri, who had been about to say something, immediately shut her mouth and buried her face in her tray. Her strong appetite hadn’t changed since childhood. I casually slid today’s dessert toward her. Yuri glanced between me and the dessert, hesitated for a moment, then carefully took it.
“……Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Enjoy.”
“Yeah.”
I was watching Yuri happily devour her dessert after finishing her meal in record time when I sensed someone approaching. A familiar presence I had felt once before. My body remembered it even if my mind didn’t. I turned my head to see a sleazy-looking handsome man with blond hair standing beside me. I tilted my head in confusion for a moment before recognition dawned.
“Belion!”
“I knew it was you, Kyle.”
“Hahaha! You got into the Academy too?”
“Yeah. Royals have to come even if they don’t want to.”
“Really? Ah, sit down, sit down!”
Once I seated Belion beside me, Yuri, who had been completely absorbed in her dessert, suddenly jolted and started coughing. I handed her a cup of water, and she gulped it down before catching her breath.
“Phew… Greetings, Your Highness the Prince.”
“What’s with you, Yuri? Why so formal? Weren’t we friends?”
“We… were.”
“Then why are you using honorifics? Speak casually. Look at him.”
Belion pointed at me while watching Yuri’s awkwardness.
“This guy’s been talking to me casually since the first time we met. You should do the same.”
“…I’ll… try.”
“Good. I’m counting on you.”
Having reunited with Belion, we began catching up on everything that had happened since we last met—everything that had occurred after his birthday party.
“Come to think of it, Belion, which department are you in?”
“Me? I’m in the Arts Department.”
“Oh, really? I know someone there. Her name’s Aria……”
As we chatted, Belion naturally tried to gauge Kyle’s level. He was still only an Aura User, but the imperial Aura breathing technique and mana cultivation method he had learned made it possible for him to sense others’ strength.
……I can’t see it?
Five years ago, Belion had been able to feel the intense Aura flowing through Kyle’s body. Though his body was still young, the Aura within him had been no less powerful than that of the other imperial knights. He had been certain that after five more years, Kyle’s power would have grown incomparably stronger. Yet strangely, he couldn’t sense even a trace of Aura from Kyle’s body now. It was as if he had never trained in Aura at all. Since that was realistically impossible, Belion cautiously asked,
“Kyle, have you… been in any accidents lately?”
“Huh? What kind of accident?”
“Anything serious? Have you been badly hurt or nearly died?”
“Nothing like that.”
Belion stared at him in disbelief. But no matter how long he looked, Kyle couldn’t recall any near-death incidents. That meant the likelihood that he had lost his Aura was low. More importantly, his attendant had mentioned that Kyle had received a perfect score on the practical exam from Gawain—something unprecedented. It was highly probable that he still possessed that overwhelming skill.
“Now that I think about it, I heard you caused some kind of incident during class today.”
“Eh? Me?”
“Yeah. What was it again…… ‘the man who can’t even boil cup ramen’?”
“Ah, that wasn’t me, it was—”
As Belion listened to the tale of Kyle’s exploits that followed, he became certain. Kyle hadn’t lost his Aura. Belion simply couldn’t read it anymore. And there was only one possible reason for that.
No way.
Even if the only remaining possibility after eliminating the impossible was hard to believe, it had to be the truth. But Belion couldn’t accept this one.
A Master……?
The idea that his close friend had reached the realm of a Master was something Belion simply could not believe. Especially when he looked at that pure, foolish expression.
“Hahaha!”
Seeing that face, it was impossible to believe he was hiding the power of such a formidable expert.
……Probably not.