Chapter 92
The Flower That Bears a Sword - Chapter 92
Translation: godsn
Lord Yurien still hadn't returned from the capital. Keeping busy and avoiding encounters with Yurien helped calm her mind somewhat. She consciously avoided thinking about him. She turned away from the thoughts that kept surfacing and pricking at her heart.
Time passed like that until June 10th arrived. It was the day of the Wisdom club meeting.
Echinacea attended the club meeting after a long absence. Due to her long-term mission after the first meeting, this was only her second club gathering. Several unfamiliar cadets had joined the club in the meantime.
"Nice to meet you, Cadet Echinacea. I'm Theo von Kreis, first-year."
A chestnut-haired cadet greeted her with a cheerful smile. After exchanging greetings with him, Eki turned her gaze to the boy standing behind him. The boy, as beautiful as an angel painted in a masterpiece, avoided eye contact as he spoke bluntly.
"...Mihail von Franc Almari."
"Ah, um, nice to meet you both."
Teresa's younger brother and his roommate. She had seen Mihail's application but never thought he'd actually join the club. Well, since things turned out this way, she should spar with him during ranking matches and give him sword advice as she'd originally planned. Even if she couldn't remember the moment she killed him, Mihail too had died by her hand. This might serve as some small compensation. It would be for Teresa's sake too.
Thinking this, Eki smiled at the boy. The moment she smiled, Mihail abruptly turned his head away.
[Does he hate you? Is he acting like that because you made him lose in the first round last time? Losing to you should be expected! How arrogant!]
'It's natural if he dislikes me. It's not arrogance.'
Exceptional talent among peers inevitably invited envy and jealousy. If she had completely overwhelmed them to the point where catching up seemed impossible, they might not have felt jealous—but what she'd shown in the academy ranking matches wasn't at that level. She was only a few steps ahead, not in a completely different league.
Of course, that was Eki's perspective. She tended to set high standards for cadets. Subconsciously, her benchmark for an average cadet was at Alice Winterbell's level.
In reality, where women were physically disadvantaged compared to men (excluding mana affinity), Alice—who had defeated older male cadets through skill and experience to take second place among freshmen—was absolutely not the academy's average. Even Alice considered Eki to be on a completely different level. Fatima thought the same. Among the Wisdom club members, Echinacea was the only one unaware of this fact.
After exchanging greetings with the new club members, Fatima approached Eki.
"Actually, there's one more person who recently joined the club, but they were too busy to come today. Someone you know."
"Who is it?"
As she asked, Eki had a sinking feeling. There were only a handful of people she knew at the academy, after all.
Fatima grinned.
"Senior Baraha Islaf. He said he probably won't be able to attend properly until after the festival."
"...I see."
"With Senior Baraha, that makes six members. We'll operate with this number for now. Here's today's sparring order. Let's begin!"
Her premonition had been correct. Eki picked up Amethyst with a strange feeling. Almost every cadet she was acquainted with at the academy had ended up in the same club. How had this happened?
"Eki, that sword... Is it a magic sword?"
Alice, her first sparring partner, widened her eyes upon seeing Eki's sword. As roommates, she'd known Eki had changed swords, but this was the first time she'd examined it closely.
"Ah, yes. It has enchantments to maintain the blade's sharpness and cleanliness."
"I was a little worried seeing you always use poor-quality swords—this is good. A knight is better off with a familiar sword they've grown accustomed to. It suits you so well it could become your symbol."
[That thing suits you enough to be your symbol? Hey, can't we pretend it's an accident and kill her during sparring?]
Eki silently channeled mana into her right hand. Beyond the magic sword's whining complaints about the discomfort, Alice's voice reached her ears.
"May I examine it briefly?"
"Of course."
Alice took the offered Amethyst, swung it experimentally through the air, then carefully inspected it. Soon, astonishment spread across her face.
"This is... incredible. No, magnificent craftsmanship. It appears custom-made—were you using random swords all this time while waiting for this to be completed?"
"No, it was a gift."
"A gift? You received this as a gift?"
Alice's face turned pale as she returned Amethyst. Eki tilted her head while accepting the sword.
"Lord gave it to me as a commemoration for becoming a squire. Is something strange about it?"
"...Eki, I happen to have considerable interest in swords. Not at an expert level, of course. But if this was made—with magic inscriptions no less—within less than two months since your squire appointment... The production cost alone would roughly..."
Alice's initially pale complexion grew oddly calm as she calculated internally, as if she had surpassed the threshold of shock.
"You could buy about eight high-end mansions in the imperial capital with this."
"Excuse me?"
Eki looked down at Amethyst in shock. She had assumed it was expensive, but being utterly unfamiliar with swords, she never imagined a mere blade—not even Giosa—could cost so much. Now she worried she should be enshrining it rather than swinging it.
'Eight high-end mansions in the capital for one sword? Are you insane? He gave this to me without a second thought? What in the world was Yurien thinking when he—'
<Because I adore you.>
The memory surfaced—his crimson-flushed face gazing down at her with moisture-glistening blue eyes as he spoke those words. Her mind went blank, her heartbeat accelerating. Eki nearly dropped Amethyst on the spot.
Alice, watching Eki fumble with the sword like she no longer knew how to hold it, noticed the faint blush spreading across her face. Flustered, Eki hastily stammered:
"L-let's just start, Alice. We have other sparring sessions after this."
"Understood."
Alice bowed with imperial knightly etiquette, deep in thought. She and Eki often sparred at the Ninth Training Ground in the fir forest where they'd first fought. Occasionally training together, Alice had observed Eki's routines.
Echinacea Roaz didn't practice swordsmanship. She primarily trained for physical conditioning. Even when swinging a sword, the difference between honing blade techniques and building muscle was evident.
She never sought out sword manuals or sparred with other cadets for practice. She didn't seem to have an instructor either, having once mentioned offhandedly being self-taught. Yet during every duel, her limits remained invisible.
Whenever Alice improved, Eki would receive her blade while staying precisely a few steps ahead. Thanks to this, Alice's swordsmanship grew exponentially. Even during Eki's missions, Alice practiced while envisioning her lingering presence.
'You could scour the entire continent and still not find a genius surpassing her in this era.'
Alice thus assumed Eki's appointment as the Azure Sky Captain's squire stemmed from that overwhelming talent. Given that Captain Yurien himself was a record-breaking genius, perhaps geniuses recognized something in each other.
'But to casually gift a sword of this caliber... And its form bears an uncanny resemblance to the Captain's Holy Sword.'
Talent was one thing, but there was a high probability of other emotions being involved as well. Whether talent came first or feelings did was unclear, but Echinacea's still slightly flushed and dazed expression only strengthened that suspicion. Alice smiled faintly.
"I'll go first, Eki."
"Yes, Alice."
When wielding a sword, one must clear their mind of distractions. Alice pushed the speculation she'd just entertained to the back of her mind and stepped forward. As she cleanly parried the thrusting blade, Echinacea also began to focus.
It had been a while since their last spar. While Echinacea had been away on missions, Alice's skills had improved by leaps and bounds. Strangely proud and pleased by this, Echinacea crossed blades with her in high spirits.
After Alice came Fatima.
If Alice's swordsmanship was concise and swift, Fatima's was intricate and flamboyant. Against Alice, Echinacea's swordplay had been straightforward, but when facing Fatima, it shifted into something more unorthodox. The change was subtle and clever—but Fatima noticed.
'Adjusting her style to match her opponent's while subtly increasing the pressure... This goes beyond mere talent. Just how skilled is Echinacea Roaz really?'
Fatima marveled inwardly. Had she not been particularly sharp-eyed, she might have missed it. Just as she'd been able to spot outstanding cadets among the freshmen at a glance, Fatima's ability to analyze swordsmanship surpassed even her own talent with the blade.
'Most probably don't even realize why they improve so much when sparring with Eki. It's not like she shows off either.'
The gap was too vast for her pride as a senior to feel wounded. There was much to learn. Fatima smiled as she looked down at Echinacea's blade, which had smoothly found its way through her defenses to rest against her nape.
'The club doesn't need any instructors. Being highly skilled doesn't guarantee you can teach this deftly. I'd like to repay her somehow, but she seems to dislike overt displays...'
"Good work, Eki."
"Good work, Senior."
"Thanks, as always."
Echinacea looked puzzled at Fatima's gratitude, her expression clearly asking what exactly she was being thanked for. Fatima chuckled and rose on her tiptoes to ruffle Echinacea's hair.
"...Senior?"
"Just feeling grateful. Oh, your dress looks lovely today! Is it new?"
"No, it's for summer. It's rather warm today."
"Now that you mention it, I should start preparing summer clothes. The festival's coming up soon too... Eki, want to go shopping together later? I want to get a dress made for the ball! We're always in training gear—we should dress up for occasions like this."
Before leaving on her mission, Echinacea had thought about going shopping with Fatima or Alice someday. She hadn't expected to be asked first. Looking down at Fatima with slightly wide eyes, she eventually smiled.
"I'd like that, Senior."
"Great! You don't know Agenka's tailors well, do you? I'll introduce you to the places the knights and seniors recommended. I'll ask Alice too so we can all go together!"
Fatima waved cheerfully before moving toward her next sparring partner.
Echinacea smoothed her slightly tousled hair where Fatima had ruffled it. Long ago, she would have been irritated by the dishevelment, and before her regression, she wouldn't have allowed anyone to touch her head at all. But now, for some reason, it left her feeling ticklish and warm—not the pounding excitement of infatuation, but a light, cozy happiness that made her want to laugh aloud at the smallest things.
With Theo, who faced her after Fatima, Echinacea also subtly guided their spar.
Though her aversion to holding a sword had faded considerably after crossing blades with Alice and receiving Amethyst from Yurien, Echinacea still didn't particularly enjoy wielding one. In this state, her skills...