Just One Hit, Please...
"C-Could you hit him just once...?"
Waking early, Marie blinked at the soft, yielding plushness beneath her.
I-It looks so expensive...
Her first morning at the academy began with the dazzling play of sunlight across a glittering chandelier. Careful of every step, she slipped out into the living room.
Ah, is she still asleep...?
It was still early; Charlotte had not yet risen.
S-She said I could use the other rooms freely...
Marie set about finishing the room tour she had left incomplete the day before. True to A-dong Dormitory standards, Charlotte’s suite was vast.
The grand living room and master bedroom—currently occupied by Charlotte. Next, two mid-sized rooms; Marie was using one of them.
W-What’s this place for...?
Curious about the remaining mid-sized room, she gently eased the door open.
W-Whoa, so many...!
Her vision filled with clothes. Lavish dresses and neat everyday wear hung sorted by color.
D-Does she really wear all of these...?
Afraid she might be crushed under the mountain of fabric if she stepped inside, she quietly shut the door again.
And this one...?
She moved next to the smallest room. Small was relative—it was still half the size of an E-dong room and far larger than the single room she had once lived in.
She cracked the door and peered in, but saw nothing.
I-It’s dark...!
Unlike the other rooms bright with window light, this one was pitch-black, as if heavy curtains had been drawn. As her eyes adjusted, something faint took shape.
A... bird?
In the corner stood a large cage holding a drooping bird of extraordinary size.
A-An ostrich...?
She was about to step inside for a closer look when—
Thud—
A hand landed on her shoulder.
"H-Hieeek!"
"Whoa! You scared me, Marie! Why’d you jump like that!?"
"A-Ah, th-that is..."
She had been so tense over the mysterious giant bird that she never noticed Charlotte approaching from behind and startled badly.
"Were you exploring the rooms?"
"Y-Yes..."
Rather than enter the dark chamber, Marie decided to ask its owner.
"C-Charlotte-nim. What’s inside this room...?"
Click—
Charlotte shut the door firmly and stood in front of it.
"Marie, even if you hear something crying in there, don’t open it, okay? That’s an A-dong Dormitory rule."
"Y-Yes..."
Remembering the pitch-black interior, Marie felt a chill crawl up her spine.
I-It’s a ghost story...
Seeing her tremble, Charlotte offered a cheerful alternative.
"Shall we go eat breakfast? I hear the A-dong dining hall is famous~"
"R-Really...?"
Marie had eaten lunch the day before at the cafeteria that opened after the term began. Even those meals had been far beyond anything she was used to; the idea of something better still filled her with anticipation. Thoughts of the little-room ghost story vanished, replaced by pure excitement about food.
"My big brother talked about it until his mouth wore out! Apparently a court chef who served during Grandfather’s time retired and works here now?"
"T-That’s amazing...!"
A meal that even Sharon—who had tasted every luxury the kingdom offered—would praise. Marie and Charlotte quickly got ready and stepped out of the room.
Arriving at the dining hall, Marie suffered culture shock.
"This Golden Lion set meal is our recommended dish of the day. Half a turkey slaughtered fresh at dawn, bread baked from wheat carefully selected on the Hameln plains—"
She had simply asked for a breakfast recommendation, and the maid taking their order launched into a non-fiction passage that could have appeared on a continental common-language exam.
"—and for dessert, apple juice made by melting eternal snow harvested from the highlands of the Borealis region."
"Th-Thank you..."
"Hmm, sounds delicious. I’ll take the Golden Lion set. How about you, Marie?"
"W-Well... it seems like far too much... I-I’ll just have the apple juice..."
If she ate all fourteen courses the maid had described, Marie would spend the entire day digesting and nothing else.
"My, it seems my explanation was insufficient. Allow me to explain why one must partake of the Golden Apple set at this time of year. First, the seven vegetables that represent spring and the five thousand forty harmonies born from their combinations—"
Seeing the maid prepare to launch into an even longer speech, Marie waved her hands frantically.
"I-It’s fine! I’ll have that too..."
"An excellent choice."
Completely drained from ordering, Marie collapsed face-down on the table.
"Marie, sleepy? Should we ask for coffee first?"
At Charlotte’s words, the eyes of a maid waiting in the distance locked onto them.
S-She’ll spend a whole hour explaining bean varieties for sure...!
Marie shook her head hard and stopped Charlotte.
"I-I’m fine!"
"Hmm, is the hat bothering you? There’s almost no one around right now—you could take it off."
"Th-Then..."
Following Charlotte’s suggestion, she removed her hat and set it beside the chair. She glanced at the maid who had been watching her moments earlier. The woman was a true professional; even after seeing Marie’s horns she maintained a perfect poker face without the slightest flicker.
Th-Thank goodness...
Relieved, Marie began to enjoy the courses as they arrived one after another. She had emptied three plates when the words came from behind her.
"Huh? Those horns...?"
At the word “horns,” Marie reflexively ducked and jammed her hat back on.
"I-I’m sorry!"
"Marie! Are you okay?"
Seeing her reaction, Charlotte quickly shielded her and glared toward the voice.
"Who the hell are you? Looking for a fight?"
"I-It’s nothing like that!"
"Haa? Then what are you staring at? Go eat your own food."
"...I have something I must say to that young lady."
The voice of the person Charlotte was berating felt strangely familiar. Marie lifted her head and looked toward the speaker.
Th-That’s the guy from entrance exam day!
Black hair, black eyes. The young man who had sat with them in the cafeteria and called her a demon. The black-haired youth began walking toward Marie.
A-Again... So even A-dong has people who hate half-demons...!
"C-Charlotte-nim, I’m sorry..."
"Marie, what are you talking about! Why are you apologizing!"
Marie was already apologizing in advance, certain that the harsh words about to be flung at her would drag Charlotte into the mess.
I-It’s all my fault... I never should have come to A-dong and caused her trouble...
The young man kept approaching; Marie shrank smaller and smaller.
Seed of calamity. Accursed breed. Damned devilspawn.
Every insult she had ever heard for being a half-demon flooded back, and her body began to tremble.
"I am truly sorry for last time!"
Stopping right in front of her, the young man said the exact opposite of what she expected and bowed nearly at a right angle.
The completely unexpected words turned her trembling into pure bewilderment.
"W-What do you mean...?"
"On the day of the entrance exam, my careless remark caused you distress. I sincerely apologize! No number of apologies can make up for troubling you before such an important test, yet I still wished to offer them in person!
My homeland borders demon territory, so I reacted far too sensitively. I have regretted that day ever since. Once again, I am truly sorry!"
Just as he had seemed bright and open that day, his apology was clean and straightforward—textbook perfect.
While Marie still floundered, unable to process the situation, Charlotte stepped between them.
"Leon. Your size is scaring Marie. Back off right now."
"My apologies! I will step back a little."
Leon retreated two paces. Charlotte still looked unsatisfied; she twitched an eyebrow and glared.
"Five more steps."
"Y-Yes, ma’am!"
Once Leon had put enough distance between them, Charlotte fell into deep thought.
Entrance exam day... that was the day Marie and I first met...
From the story, it seemed Leon had been the reason their paths crossed. She felt no gratitude for it.
I couldn’t ask back then because we were strangers, but there were clearly traces that Marie had been crying.
Charlotte remembered Marie eating with reddened eyes.
Guess there’s no helping it...
Before acting, she checked one last time that Marie was all right.
W-What do I do...! This has never happened before!
Marie had never received an apology for being a half-demon; she had no idea how to respond and was flustered.
Charlotte interpreted the sight as Marie being so full of resentment she could not even accept the apology. She raised a hand into empty air.
"Gnome, make me a sword."
Unlike the soda-flavored girl who summoned a blade through a hand seal, this was different—crafting a sword on the spot through a spirit, a feat only Charlotte on the entire continent could perform.
"I, Charlotte Gaia, challenge the one who has sullied my dear friend’s honor to a duel. Do you accept?"
"I have no intention of taking up a sword!"
"Leon. You know perfectly well that when someone challenges you to a duel, you either accept or apologize. That’s it."
"I will apologize!"
"Marie isn’t accepting it. So you’ll have to pick up the sword, right?"
"Please calm yourself, Princess Charlotte!"
Charlotte drawing a blade and Leon’s desperate cry drew the eyes of everyone seated throughout the dining hall.
"My, whatever is going on?"
"Princess Charlotte and Sir Leon..."
"The princess is dueling the Sword Saint’s son...?"
"Wanting blood on the very first day of term... as expected of the battle-maniac princess..."
The murmuring voices snapped Marie out of her daze.
I-I can’t let this happen! Charlotte’s bad reputation will spread all the way through the academy!
Remembering her promise to Sharon, Marie grabbed the hand holding the sword.
"C-Charlotte-nim! You mustn’t cause a scene in the dining hall!"
"Marie, I’ll restore your honor. Should I bring you his head?"
"I-I don’t need that! I’ll accept the apology, so please put the sword away!"
"Tch—too bad, but fine."
Charlotte obediently lowered the blade. The sword she set on the floor slowly sank downward and vanished. Once she calmed, Leon approached Marie again.
"Miss Marie... may I call you that?"
"Y-Yes..."
"I am Leon Schubert. I hail from the military nation to the north of the kingdom."
Unfamiliar with noble self-introductions, Marie racked her brain for a plausible reply.
"I-I’m Marie, from the capital of the Gaia Kingdom..."
"As I said earlier, I sincerely apologize for my rudeness last time. Will you accept it?"
"Y-Yes... it’s all right now..."
"Tsk—"
A tongue-click of clear dissatisfaction came from beside them.
"C-Charlotte-nim! Y-You mustn’t treat a foreigner so roughly! It could cause a diplomatic incident..."
Marie’s brave advice rolled right off Charlotte.
H-Hieet!
Instead, Charlotte seized Marie’s shoulders and stared straight into her eyes.
"Marie, is this really enough? Because of that bastard you almost took the most important exam of your life in the worst possible condition. And in front of a crowd he said something that could be misunderstood and insulted you. Before you met me that day... weren’t you crying...?"
After long thought, Charlotte decided to speak her true feelings. This was the first friend she had made at the academy. She did not want Marie to bury the hurt forever and let it fester.
"E-Even so... thanks to Leon-nim I met you, Charlotte, so... I-I think it’s okay!"
"Huk!"
Seeing Marie clasp both hands and speak with such courage, Charlotte clutched her chest.
S-So cute...
She suppressed the urge to ruffle Marie’s hair right then and asked once more.
"You’re really okay, Marie? If you want, I’ll thrash Leon as your proxy as much as you like!"
At those words a brief memory flashed through Marie’s mind—of forcing down rice wet with tears.
"Th-Then..."
"Anything you want, Marie!"
"J-Just... one hit, please...?"
"Got it!! Leon! Follow me to the training grounds!"
"M-Miss Marie! I was wrong! I’ll kneel if I must—please take that back!"
"I-I refuse..."
Before the duel, Marie made Charlotte swear not to go too far—part of keeping her promise to Sharon.
"Y-You understand, Charlotte-nim...?"
"Don’t worry, Marie! I won’t make him bleed!"
"H-He mustn’t get hurt!"
Only Marie, Charlotte, and Leon were present on the training grounds. Other A-dong residents would have loved to watch, but even high nobles preferred not to risk friction with Gaia’s sole princess and the Sword Saint’s heir, so the match was kept strictly secret.
"So I just hit him once and we’re done?"
"A single hit from a sword is a penetrating wound at minimum, is it not?"
"This isn’t a real blade, so it’s fine~"
Marie examined the sword Charlotte held.
I-It’s metal...?
The edge was blunt, yet it was still an iron sword. A solid hit looked heavy enough to snap bone in half.
"B-But Miss Marie already accepted my apology... I still don’t understand why I must duel..."
"A man talks too much! One hit equals apology accepted and duel over. Got it?"
"It is still a duel, is it not? What if I take the hit and continue, or if I am never hit at all?"
At Leon’s words Charlotte settled into a ready stance.
"Feeling confident?"
"...It will be different from our spar three years ago. Allow me to show the results of my training since then."
"Then come at me first."
"Yes—here I go—"
The moment the words left his mouth, Leon’s aura changed. The flustered expression vanished; he gripped his sword with deadly seriousness.
Vast mana began to pour into the blade.
After losing to Charlotte three years earlier he had never once neglected his training. As a result, just before entering the academy he had fully mastered the first form of the Sword Saint style—said to be the greatest swordsmanship on the continent.
The instant Leon left the ground, he shot toward Charlotte so fast that only afterimages remained in Marie’s eyes.
Father said that what a mediocrity like me gains from swinging a sword a thousand times, geniuses obtain with a single swing.
The mana in Leon’s blade began to carry the weight of a great mountain.
Even if one is born with ordinary talent, simply swing ten thousand times for every single swing a genius makes.
The complete technique perfected over centuries by the swordsmen who held the northern highlands against the demons.
A single strike that poured everything into one blow in order to cut bodies of demons whose mana far surpassed that of humans.
The presumptuous ultimate art completed by a mere mortal who dared covet the power of a mountain—Sword Saint Style First Form: Mountain Press—descended upon Charlotte.
KRAANG—!
The massive shockwave of clashing blades thundered across the training grounds. Dust raised by the collision of two mighty mana forces made it impossible to see even an inch ahead.
I did it! It connected! Even Princess Charlotte couldn’t have withstood that!
The moment Leon was certain of victory—
Clang—
His sword flew from his hand and spun far away.
"That’s all?"
When the dust cleared, Charlotte stood tall and completely unruffled.
"H-How in the world!"
"Giving up the formal-speech act already?"
"I-Impossible! I was told even legion-commander-class demon officers could not withstand Sword Saint Style First Form...!"
"Maybe your training is still lacking?"
"Haha..."
Charlotte’s words broke Leon’s fighting spirit. Losing his sword already meant defeat.
"Leon, clench your teeth! Just one hit!"
Charlotte’s fist, packed with mana, flew toward Leon’s left arm.
KRAANG—!
A vibration as great as the earlier sword clash rang out.
S-She won’t kill him... right?
Watching from outside the grounds, Marie grew more anxious by the second.
Please. I’m begging you.
Sharon’s words flashed through her mind.
I’m sorry, Your Highness...
She had a sinking feeling she would not be able to keep the promise.
"Aah~ I really hit him hard enough to break it, but it didn’t break~"
"Haha! It seems Princess Charlotte’s training is also still insufficient!"
"Oh? Getting cocky? Want to try the sword next?"
"The duel is over—please put the sword away! Hahaha!"
Contrary to Marie’s fears, Leon was perfectly fine. Despite having been punched after losing the duel, he was grinning ear to ear for some reason.
"L-Leon-nim, are you all right...?"
"Perfectly fine!"
"Th-That’s a relief..."
Marie found his brightness after defeat strange and asked.
"B-But... is it really all right that you lost to Princess Charlotte in a single exchange...?"
"Miss Marie. You have such an innocent face, yet you possess a talent for stabbing people right in the heart..."
"I-I’m sorry..."
"Haha! Not at all! I was only joking."
Leon looked away from her and gazed up at the sky beyond.
"Through this duel I gained one realization."
"M-May I ask what that realization was...?"
Leon tapped his scabbard with a finger while choosing his words.
"If one tower is not enough to reach the heavens, then one simply builds dozens—hundreds—of towers until one of them reaches, does one not?"
"...?"
Marie could only blink at the completely abstract statement. Feeling she ought to say something, she offered a compliment.
"A-As expected, the world of swordsmen is profound...!"
"Haha! It seems my words were too abstract! Putting the thoughts floating in one’s heart into spoken words is no easy task!"
"I-I see..."
"Simply put: if the sword alone cannot settle things, then one should prepare additional means, should one not?"
"W-What on earth does that..."
W-What is the Sword Saint’s son even talking about!
She had the distinct feeling something even bigger than the duel had just been set in motion.
H-He’s not saying he’s going to become some hybrid magic-swordsman, is he...?
While she fretted, Charlotte latched onto her.
"Marie! Check if I’m hurt too!"
"...You look fine, so that’s a relief, Charlotte-nim."
"Why! Why are you so cold to me! I fought so hard!"
"...You said you were going to break his arm? I clearly told you not to hurt him."
"Marie, somehow you’re not stuttering and talking just fine?"
"N-No I’m not...! Still, you worked hard too, Charlotte-nim! You even dueled because of me..."
"It’s fine, Marie! We’re friends, right? I can’t just ignore something that happens to you!"
"Th-Thank you..."
"Between friends you say ‘thanks’!"
"Th... Thaa..."
"Hurry up and say it!"
Marie could not quite meet Charlotte’s eyes, but she managed to force the words out.
"Th-Thanks..."
Charlotte hugged her. Caught completely off guard, Marie could only flail her hands in the air.
"And friends don’t put ‘-nim’ after each other’s names! Call me Charlotte!"
"B-But... Charlotte-nim is a princess..."
"Inside the academy that doesn’t matter! Say it already!"
"I-I can’t!"
"Then I’m not letting go until you do."
Marie struggled, but there was no way she could overpower someone who had crushed Leon in a single exchange.
"Cha-Cha-Cha..."
She squeezed her eyes shut and whispered the words.
"Charlotte... thanks..."
"You’re welcome!"
Only then did Charlotte release her. The smile on Charlotte’s face was brighter than ever. Marie could not see it, but she suspected the corners of her own mouth looked the same.
"Um... excuse me for interrupting, you two. May I also say one thing to Miss Marie?"
"Haa? Leon, still as clueless as ever? Losers should hurry back and train more."
"Haha! I feel I must say this before I go."
"W-What is it...?"
Marie was still uneasy after the earlier talk of vague realizations.
H-He’s not going to ask me to teach him magic circuits so he can become a magic-swordsman, is he...?
She stepped past Charlotte and stood before Leon.
"Miss Marie, once again I apologize for what happened on entrance exam day."
"I-It’s fine...!"
"No. My homeland is the front line against the demons, so there are many half-demons as well..."
Leon looked at her quietly.
"So... I understand a little of the environment you came from, and how hard you must have worked to enter the academy..."
He bowed once more.
"For nearly ruining the precious opportunity you fought so desperately for—I sincerely apologize."
"...Th-Thank you for understanding."
She had received encouragement from Charlotte and Luna for studying hard and passing the Special Admission track. But this was the first time someone who understood the circumstances of half-demons had acknowledged her. Marie felt a new courage rise—that she could overcome discrimination and insults at the academy through her own efforts, and perhaps even change the negative views of half-demons.
"Marie! We barely ate breakfast—want to go eat out near the restaurant street?"
"S-Sure!"
They left the training grounds, exchanged farewells, and were about to part when Leon stopped and called to Charlotte.
"Princess Charlotte? Have you forgotten that the swordsmanship department orientation starts at lunch...?"
Charlotte, who had been bouncing with excitement at the thought of eating out, froze solid.
"R-Right!! There was that! What do I do, Marie!"
"I-I can eat alone..."
"Sorry! I’ll cover lunch instead..."
Charlotte ran back to the room and returned with a heavy pouch.
"W-What is this...?"
"Use this to buy lunch, Marie!"
Marie peeked inside.
Th-This many gold coins!!
The glittering gold nearly blinded her.
"I-I can’t take this much money!"
"Aw, just take out however much you want!"
"U-Uwaaah!"
Suddenly the pouch felt terribly heavy in Marie’s hands.
