Three-Way Face-Off (1)
Like Alonne, Leticia Santander had also begun training under Yushin Gilliard, and her swordsmanship was gradually starting to shine. She honed her skills through real sparring matches. Absorbing his expert guidance like a sponge, she filled in her weaknesses and learned new sword forms. All to grow stronger. All to one day stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the hero she admired.
With such a firm goal in mind, Leticia's progress outpaced even Alonne's.
Paang—!! The air whistled sharply as a razor-edged slash struck at Yushin. She was faster now. He couldn't hide his amazement at the high elf's rapid growth.
Elves were a long-lived race. That's why their development was slower than humans'. But high elves were different. The sacred high elves, inheritors of noble bloodlines, possessed mana control that surpassed regular elves and growth rates that transcended humans.
"Not bad."
"It's not over yet!"
The sword winds thickened. And sharpened. Every swing of Leticia's blade whipped up fierce gales. Those winds grew more violent, building to a force that could crush a person. The raging gusts finally coalesced into a full-blown typhoon.
"Still wide open, though." Yushin thrust his sword. He stabbed precisely in one direction. The raging typhoon vanished. The mana threads fueling the sword winds snapped apart. With a plain strike—no Mana Blade—he nullified her attack completely.
"Good judgment." Yushin extended his sword backward. He'd sensed her sneaking behind him, using the storm winds for cover. Their blades clashed.
She hadn't expected even her trump card to be blocked so easily. Leticia gritted her teeth, swallowing a groan. To detect her presence amid that typhoon... As expected of a warrior captain-level fighter.
"Lost again."
Leticia admitted defeat gracefully. How many losses was this? She'd stopped counting. She'd always felt humiliated by defeat, but as the losses piled up, she'd given up reacting to each one. She lost every spar. It was only natural. Yet the frustration that lingered afterward? That was just her competitive nature.
"You're improving steadily. Your Mana Blade control is top-notch too. Graduation exam's a done deal."
Leticia already had more than enough qualifications to pass Bria Academy's graduation exam with flying colors. Top of her class, as expected. Neat appearance, stellar academics, sharp sword skills. And the prestige of the Santander family, dubbed the Golden House. Few academy students could rival her.
"O-Of course. As the Santander family's lady, this is only natural...!"
At Yushin's praise, Leticia whipped her head away. Arms crossed, face flushed—even her ears turned red. She seemed flustered by the sudden compliment. Especially pure praise like that. If it'd come from Ardena, Leticia might've floated to the heavens from sheer joy.
"Move it, pig."
"Pig?!"
Alonne shoved Leticia aside. Burning with jealousy over the praise Leticia had gotten, her face was full of pouty spite.
"Who're you calling a pig...!"
"Doesn't that massive rack weigh you down? So slutty. So tacky! You need a sleek build to train swordsmanship."
"Sleek? You mean flat as a board."
"Flat?! That's it!"
They were at it again. Faces inches apart, Alonne and Leticia dove into another fight. Yushin felt a pang of embarrassment watching. Felt like he was a trainer dealing with two stubborn pups that never listened.
"You two should get along like friends."
He wedged himself between the problem children. Instant backlash from both.
"Who're friends?!"
"We're not friends."
Exactly the same. Like two hands clapping perfectly in sync. Alonne and Leticia were a matched set.
* * *
Ardena Valencia rescued Yushin from the bickering duo. He walked with her through the inner courtyard. The waak waak shrieks of Alonne and Leticia faded into the distance.
"Word from the Valua Kingdom."
"Paying my ransom?"
"Seems like it."
"Gotta be at least 5 billion Aiter, right?"
"They offered double."
Ardena glanced at him. A gesture asking what he thought of the talks so far.
"My men don't wanna go back. The Santander family's treating 'em real nice, huh."
"...That's fortunate."
"I'm good here too. Pretty sweet deal for a slave."
"Our Liberia Elf Kingdom gives capable slaves relative freedom. We can't let talent go to waste."
The elf kingdom suffered from an absolute shortage of population compared to other nations. So they relied on slaves. Slaves were scattered throughout the kingdom's politics, education, and society. Instead of just hard labor, they assigned them to roles matching their talents, contributing to the state.
"So what you're saying is..."
Yushin paused, then spoke again.
"You're asking if I wanna go back, right?"
"Yes."
Ardena's face tensed. She seemed ready to decide based on his answer.
"Honestly? Not really. But if you're asking if I'll bury my bones here forever... I'd hesitate."
"I see. That's fortunate!"
Ardena's face lit up at his response. An emotional shift unlike her usual stoicism. Could she smile that brightly? Seeing her innocent grin made Yushin's heart skip. He coughed and looked away, face heating up. He turned to hide it.
"But... can a slave straight-up tell his owner he wants to go home?"
"I wouldn't know."
"Huh?"
"I've never owned a slave."
"The elf kingdom's famous for slavery, and a high elf's never had a personal slave?"
"It's true...!"
Ardena blushed as she said it. Her reaction convinced Yushin she wasn't lying. So I'm her 'first slave'? Sounds kinda dirty. Nah, just my imagination.
"I haven't been here long, so I don't know everything... but high elves treat slaves like essential accessories. Young, fresh ones. High elves can't even spoon their own soup without slaves."
Yushin had once seen high elf students at the academy cafeteria. They shunned it, opting for feasts made by family chefs. Touching common elf food? Unthinkable. Eating in the same space? Absurd. And even then, they only ate what slaves fed them by hand. Moving their own hands at meals? Beneath their dignity.
"Even as an outsider, you're not fooling me that easy. How many high elves have I met here? Never seen one without slaves."
"Alonne doesn't have any."
"If Alonne wants a slave, tell her to make a friend first. A high elf with no friends owning slaves? Ridiculous."
"But Alonne's bold and spirited! If she tried, she could make friends right away!"
"She's twenty-one! Only three years younger than me! And she's had zero friends her whole life?!"
"...Th-three years younger...!"
But Ardena latched onto something else. Yushin was twenty-four this year. Alonne was twenty-one—three-year gap. Ardena? Three hundred twenty. If she put candles on a birthday cake for her age, the candles would outnumber the cake's surface area. The whole thing would drown in wax.
"W-Well then... I'll take that as no desire to return."
"Yeah."
"Thank you."
"No biggie. I'm this family's slave, after all."
Ardena nodded carefully at his words.
* * *
Allen Rocksfield racked up victory after victory on the northern front against the barbarians. She executed every captured foe. Stacked their severed heads into towers. Skewered their headless corpses on spits. Witnessing their kin's merciless slaughter, the barbarians retreated to bide their time. Even the famously reckless, brave barbarians were cowed by Allen Rocksfield's horrors.
"Anyone blocking my reunion with him has to die. No reason to spare them. Kill 'em all. Keep killing. Obstacles to my reunion with Yushin? The world doesn't need 'em. Just wipe 'em out."
Allen declared. Her subordinates nodded gravely in agreement.
"Y-Yes..."
"Yushin will be thrilled. It's only a matter of time before you're the top of the Kingdom's Seven Swords, Lady Allen. Aren't you two betrothed?"
Terror and fear etched their faces. Don't upset her. Pretend to agree with the madness. Allen Rocksfield was a rabid dog. But she tore into Valua's enemies without mercy. That's why the royals deployed her across fronts to crush foes.
"Sir Falco."
A knight approached. Falco—Allen's adjutant—excused himself from his superior and stood. He followed the stern-faced knight out the door, down the hall. Only far from the meeting room did the knight relay the urgent capital dispatch.
"Big trouble."
"What? Why so serious?"
"Sir Yushin Gilliard... was captured by elves in the war."
"Wh-What?!"
Falco bellowed. Like a bolt from the blue! One of the Kingdom's Seven Swords, taken prisoner? Yushin had been fine when leaving the capital for the northern front. Rumors said he'd head west, but captured by elves? Impossible. Must be garbled misinformation!
"It's true. I have a classmate on the western front. Couldn't believe it myself—checked multiple times."
"Sir Yushin Gilliard, third of the Kingdom's Seven Swords, captured by elves? Can't happen. Must be a mistake!"
No way. Falco, vehemently denying the intel on Yushin, was about to order verification. But the words died unspoken.
Allen Rocksfield appeared. She'd overheard Yushin Gilliard's name from afar—far from the meeting room. Indifferent to most things, she obsessed fiercely over her beloved fiancé.
"What... did you just say...?"
Allen's golden eyes sharpened like a raptor. Not human eyes. A beast's—no, fiercer than any beast. A monster's gaze.
"Say it again."
Formless madness surged. Joy at soon returning to the capital, reuniting with her love, basking in praise for crushing northern barbarians—it all twisted into thick hatred.
"Who... captured who...?"
The monster in a beautiful woman's skin demanded.