Alan's Leisurely Holiday
The sun was still high in the sky when we arrived in the royal capital of Gransen. We stepped off the carriage and headed straight for Cupr Hall, the dormitory where Emilia lived, to see her off.
Just like Aurum Hall where we lived, two identical buildings stood side by side at Cupr Hall.
Naturally, since there weren’t as many commoner students here as in the other two dorms, it felt a bit smaller.
“Then, Emi, let’s meet again at the academy tomorrow.”
“Yeah, both of you… tomorrow!”
After exchanging a warm goodbye with Riel, I waved back at Emilia, who had bowed lightly toward me from a distance while she watched us leave.
As she bounded into her building, a familiar presence brushed against my skin.
Alan Ludwig.
He caught sight of Riel and tried to approach with a bright smile, but the moment he spotted me his expression froze and he stopped dead in his tracks.
Well, Cupr Hall was located just outside the academy grounds, but even so, the land and buildings around it belonged to the academy, so it was technically inside the academy perimeter.
Ignoring his quiet, sulking silence, I walked straight up to Riel and shielded her from him.
“Then shall we head back too?”
“Yeah!”
Riel flashed me a dazzling smile and laced her fingers with mine. I led her toward Aurum Hall.
When the holiday period began, Alan Ludwig had been searching for Riel.
After hearing from his friend Yohan Igrafil that Kyou Ventos had returned home, Alan decided to seize the opportunity and finally talk to Riel.
There was definitely some misunderstanding here.
…If he just explained everything, he and Riel would definitely reconcile.
They were childhood friends after all…
So Alan headed for Aurum Hall on the very first day of the holiday, planning to bump into Riel by accident and strike up a conversation.
But day after day, by lunch he still hadn’t seen her.
He finally asked the female dormitory manager at Aurum Hall, only to learn that Riel wasn’t on campus at all.
When he pressed for her whereabouts, the manager said she didn’t know and couldn’t tell him even if she did.
That first holiday day ended with Alan wandering the streets until he ran into Peris by chance and spent the afternoon together.
“Alan, is something wrong?”
“…Huh? No, nothing’s wrong…”
“No, I was just… thinking things over.”
Peris had noticed Alan’s constant glances around him while they spent time together and said that, but Alan hadn’t picked up on it at all.
So the first day of the holiday passed without him meeting Riel.
On the second day Riel was still nowhere to be found.
Alan did the same thing he had yesterday—searching the streets outside the academy.
The only difference was that today Yohan was with him.
Yohan had said he was strolling the capital because it was a weekend and he wanted to flirt with some cute girls, but he’d spotted the gloomy-looking Alan and struck up a conversation.
Alan had told him to mind his own business, but for some reason he hadn’t felt annoyed and ended up walking the streets with Yohan instead.
He still hadn’t seen Riel.
On the third day Alan once again went to Aurum Hall only to be told the same thing—Riel was absent.
But this time it didn’t end there.
“Any more students looking for a specific girl will be reported to the academy administration!”
The dormitory manager’s eyes were blazing with irritation. Three straight days of male students chasing a female student had made her temper short.
When Alan explained that he was only visiting his childhood friend, she didn’t look convinced.
Eventually he gave up and headed for the training grounds.
He had considered searching for Riel like yesterday, but after two days of fruitless effort and knowing today would likely be the same, he decided to pour all his energy into practice instead.
It would be better to train hard and take revenge on Kyou Ventos later.
While he swung his practice sword for hours, sweat pouring down his back, a voice he hadn’t heard before drifted toward him.
“Oh? What’s this? Someone’s practicing on the weekend?”
Alan stopped mid-swing and turned his head at the familiar tone.
The sight that greeted him was a woman in training gear, black hair tied high on her head, watching him with calm eyes.
The striped pattern on her sleeves marked her as a second-year senior.
He bowed slightly in greeting.
The woman spoke.
“What’s this? You don’t have to stop. Keep going.”
“…Ah… yes!”
Alan resumed his swings.
In his mind he replayed the movements from the duel with Kyou Ventos only days ago.
The way he had dodged every single attack without a scratch and struck back with perfect timing.
‘Too fast… I can’t match him right now… But if I become faster and more precise!’
The burning desire to defeat him and the twisted obsession with the girl he carried around—Riel.
The woman who had been watching him practice spoke up.
“Hah… this is truly pathetic.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your sword.”
With a displeased frown the woman clicked her tongue.
“What’s your goal in training right now?”
“To become stronger.”
“Stronger for what?”
A moment of hesitation, then Alan answered.
“There’s someone I lost to recently. I want revenge.”
“Really? That’s it?”
“…What do you mean?”
The woman’s expression remained sour.
“Your sword’s speed, power, and technique aren’t bad at all. Why train with such a grudge-filled heart… just for revenge, right? But still…”
“…”
“Your heart is filled with bitterness. I can feel it isn’t the pure desire for revenge.”
“Th-that’s…”
“I hate that kind of sword more than anything.”
The woman shook her head, turned her gaze away from Alan, and went back to her own training.
Alan stood there blankly for a while, then gave up and left the training grounds.
‘Your heart is filled with bitterness.’
The words had stabbed at his chest over and over, yet he had stubbornly ignored them.
Once again, that day had yielded nothing.
On the last day of the holiday he had wanted to go look for Riel, but he figured the dormitory manager would only think he was suspicious and avoided Aurum Hall.
He could have trained, but after yesterday’s disappointment he had no motivation to swing a sword.
So without any real purpose he wandered the capital with Yohan and they spent the afternoon strolling around and having fun.
He searched the streets, glancing left and right, hoping to catch even a glimpse, but Riel was nowhere to be found.
Yohan lived in Argen Hall, which was farther away, so they parted ways midway.
Back at his own dormitory Alan slumped onto the bed, leaned against the windowsill, and stared blankly out the window.
He had never once met Riel the entire holiday. In fact, he hadn’t even seen her.
He had wanted to talk to her at least once, yet he hadn’t managed to.
Alan felt utterly wretched.
At that moment his eyes, fixed on the window, caught sight of the very red hair he had longed to see—the red hair he missed so much.
“…Riel?”
Yes, that burning crimson hair could only belong to Riel.
Why had she come this far to Cupr Hall…?
Was it possible…?
Could it be that Riel had come to meet him too?
With a tiny spark of hope in his chest, Alan hurried down the stairs toward the front door.
When he opened the entrance and saw her, he was certain it was Riel.
His eyes brimmed with joy as he watched Emilia Silvrate finish saying goodbye to Riel.
Riel.
She had come to see me too!
She had wanted to talk to me, to clear up the misunderstanding!
That’s right, she had!
She and I were childhood friends…
Alan had taken a step toward Riel, but the moment his gaze landed on the other person approaching her, his feet froze.
For a split second he felt as if their eyes had met.
As Alan walked up to her, a brilliant smile bloomed across Riel’s face.
With cheeks faintly pink she grinned and gently took his hand.
The two of them walked away from Cupr Hall hand in hand, and Alan couldn’t even bring himself to follow.
Behind them, a maid trailed with two heavy travel bags.
Kyou Ventos had said he had gone home, hadn’t he?
And the fact that both of them were carrying bags…
‘They went together…?’
To Kyou Ventos’s home…?
Alan stood there, utterly stunned, for a long time.