100% Perfect Treatment
This sort of thing must have happened often enough, because Ruby soon returned after changing her clothes inside. Having swapped outfits in the blink of an eye, she faced Kyle and offered another greeting.
“Ahem, sorry about earlier…… Nice to meet you, Kyle Meyer. I’m Ruby Alderrica, president of our Swordsman Club.”
“As you probably know, I’m Kyle Meyer.”
After shaking hands with Ruby, Kyle snorted and spat out the tissue that had been stuffed in his nose. Once he tossed the blood-caked tissue into the trash and came back, Ruby scratched her head, looking embarrassed as she recalled what had just happened.
“Ahaha, women find this kind of thing inconvenient, huh.”
“I doubt any man would dislike it.”
“It’s not like I grew them for men’s sake.”
“……Are you perhaps into women?”
“What!? No, that’s not what I meant─!”
Having been misunderstood, she waved her hands frantically and protested that it wasn’t like that. Watching her chest sway just from that simple motion, Kyle thought it was understandable why she might feel uncomfortable.
‘Yuri wasn’t quite at this level.’
The size itself seemed similar to Yuri’s, but because Ruby was an active knight rather than someone who stayed still, it felt even more pronounced. Sensing Kyle’s steady gaze on her chest, Ruby let out a dry laugh and looked at him.
“By the way, you really don’t bother hiding anything, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your gaze, among other things.”
“Hiding things isn’t knightly behavior.”
Kyle justified his actions by saying that not standing proudly before others but instead hiding was something only cowardly assassins would do. Ruby found it absurd that he would openly stare at a woman’s chest while preaching about chivalry, but she was already used to people’s stares, so she let it slide. Most club members couldn’t help but sneak glances anyway; at least he was straightforward about it.
“……How long are you planning to stare?”
“Ah, my apologies.”
Only after Ruby, seated on the sofa, stopped him did Kyle raise his eyes to meet hers.
“I heard there’s a secret sword art in this club?”
“Yeah, there is. A secret technique left behind by our seniors.”
“I’m a bit interested in that.”
“Why? Want me to teach you?”
“It would be nice if you did.”
But Ruby snorted a few times and shook her head.
“Do you think a secret sword art is something you can buy at the neighborhood general store? It’s not something we can teach just anyone.”
“Then?”
“You join the club, contribute over a long period, earn the trust of the other members, rise to an executive position, and only then can you take a look at it.”
That was the secret behind how the Swordsman Club, a swordsmanship research society, had lasted so long. Students talented enough to enter the Academy would already have learned one or two secret techniques from their families, but the more secret arts one knew, the better. Since they weren’t their family’s own techniques, they could be used freely on the battlefield, and studying secret arts created from completely different perspectives could serve as a stepping stone to reaching greater heights. The more secret techniques one had, the more beneficial they were—never a loss.
“Are you sure it actually exists?”
“What?”
“It’s suspicious. Maybe you’re using a nonexistent secret art as bait to lure in club members……”
“Haha, if it were anyone else saying that, I’d have smashed them to pieces, but—it exists. I swear on my name and my family’s name.”
Seeing Ruby pledge on her own and her family’s honor, Kyle set aside his doubts. Whether it truly existed or not, continuing to doubt someone who had staked their honor like that was no different from picking a fight. He hadn’t come here to start a fight. However, if he couldn’t learn the secret technique right away, there was no need to stay in this club.
“I’ll drop by from time to time.”
“Huh, huhh? What, you’re not joining our club?”
“Excuse me? Well…… It doesn’t seem particularly helpful.”
“W-wait. Hold on!”
Ruby stopped Kyle. Until May had told her about him, he hadn’t seemed particularly interesting, but after meeting and fighting him herself, her mind had changed. He was a talent she absolutely couldn’t afford to let go. Having been called a genius since childhood, she immediately recognized Kyle’s talent. And more than anything—
‘At this level, his face isn’t bad either……’
She preferred men stronger than herself. Until now, there had been no men around her age stronger than her, so she had lived like a tomboy, giving up on everything. The only men stronger than her were old-timers at least ten years older. But now, Kyle had appeared—younger than her, yet stronger. She couldn’t let go of this heaven-sent opportunity.
“……I can’t teach you the secret technique, but.”
“But?”
“Ahem, ahem—right. As vice president, I could give you, a new member, private one-on-one lessons.”
“I have a fiancée.”
“Right, you have a fiancée…… You have a fiancée?”
Ruby turned to look at Kyle at the thunderbolt-like words. Her love had been cut short before it could even begin.
* * *
Though it had seemed like there would be no gains, I ended up joining the club after all. On the conditions that I would only attend when I wanted and that they wouldn’t interfere with me.
‘I was curious what kind of thing a secret sword art was.’
There were two types of secret sword arts. Those created by people who never reached Master rank after long years of research. And those that were simply records of a Master swinging their sword roughly for the sake of their descendants. The former had higher technical perfection. After all, it was an attempt to recreate a Master’s strike through prolonged study, so that made sense. However, the latter was superior in power and efficiency. Just as a wingless human flapping their arms to imitate a bird’s flight could never match a real bird spreading its wings, imitating a Master could never reach a single swing from the real thing.
‘There should be something worth learning.’
Naturally, the secret sword art supposedly created by the swordsmanship research society was highly likely to be the former type. There was no way any Academy student was a Master, and even if there were, they wouldn’t leave their sword art behind in a place like the Swordsman Club. Moreover, sword arts painstakingly developed by ordinary people who never reached Master rank often possessed a geometric beauty just from being observed. Techniques born from the imaginations of those ignorant of the relationship between swordsmanship and Aura. I thought there would be something to learn.
‘If it doesn’t work out, there’s nothing I can do.’
If learning it required regularly attending the swordsmanship research society, contributing to sword studies, building friendships with club members, and earning political trust to become an executive? Too bothersome. It wasn’t worth an Aura Master putting in that much effort. In the end, satisfied with having built some connections with the club president, I headed straight for the dormitory.
After sprinting through the Academy park at a brisk pace, I heard singing from somewhere. The melody was so sweet that it made me stop on my way home.
“─La lalala♬”
Like Odysseus drawn by the Sirens, my feet naturally turned toward the direction of the song. It seemed I wasn’t the only one drawn in; quite a few students had gathered there. Beyond the crowd, I could see Aria singing. Having sung with her eyes closed, she cleared her throat once the song ended and bowed to the students who had gathered for her. At her disciplined movement, the students began to applaud.
As Aria was about to move to another location while receiving everyone’s praise, she met my eyes and immediately ran over to me.
“Kyle-!”
I caught Aria as she charged at me bodily, spun her around once to stop her, then looked down at her and spoke.
“You sing well.”
“Huh? What, so you thought I couldn’t sing?”
“I’ve never heard you before.”
“I’m actually a promising vocal student, you know. The professors praise me every day.”
“That’s impressive?”
Even after becoming an Aura Master, I had been terrible at singing, so seeing someone sing well made me naturally let out words of admiration. How do those guys do something I can’t do so easily? Still, it was only natural when you thought about it. Just because I was good with a sword didn’t mean I could also use magic well or study well.
“By the way, Kyle, do you have anywhere to go right now?”
“I was on my way to the dormitory.”
“Perfect. Then how about going on a date with me starting now?”
Saying that, Aria clung to my arm and began pressing her chest against me. Weak to a woman’s advances, I shrugged as if I had no choice and accepted her offer. Just as I was about to follow where she led, several art department students approached from afar.
“What’s this, the commoner bitch is hanging around with some big lug.”
“Trying to act all coy under a big guy just because she’s a woman? What a whore.”
Seeing them pick a fight the moment they saw us, I frowned. I couldn’t immediately understand what was going on. In the Knight Department, you never heard people spitting out insults like that. If anyone tried, a fist would fly right away and give them a natural implant job—that was the culture there.
“Hey, you. Do you know who I am?”
“Who are you?”
“This is why swordsmen are…… I’m Robert Mardock of the Mardock Marquis family.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Some nameless country bumpkin, are you?”
Hearing their words, Kyle grinned and began walking closer. Even though they were within punching distance, the group kept smirking as if they had nothing to worry about.
“I’m a dentist.”
“What?”
“Your breath reeks of rot, so it looks like all your teeth are decayed. Don’t worry. I’ll treat them perfectly.”
The next moment, his fist flashed, and dozens of teeth began flying through the air.