[No title provided]
The house felt stifling. Interacting with people made her uneasy, but it was still far better than the occasional visits from Penheim, who would drop by to experiment on her with his magic. Every one of those experiments he subjected her to was excruciatingly painful.
When her father, Gilrod, mentioned a few days later that Penheim would be stopping by the house briefly, Dina couldn't stop her body from trembling. She would soon enroll in the academy, and once that happened, Penheim wouldn't be able to lay a finger on her for a while. Even repeating that fact to herself inwardly couldn't calm her shaking.
'I should go out for some fresh air...' Staring at the stars in the night sky or watching people bustle through their busy lives sometimes eased her mind.
She had decided to head outside, but if she told the maid, the girl would no doubt grumble obnoxiously and insist on tagging along. What Dina craved was to breathe the open air and spend time alone, so bringing the maid was out of the question. After agonizing over it for a while, she chose to sneak out without a word.
It was the first act of rebellion in Dina's life, one spent entirely under constant surveillance and control.
She draped a robe over her body, mask in hand, and perched on the windowsill. Her silver hair shimmered beautifully in the moonlight. Gazing up at the moon with her deep violet eyes, she covered her face with the mask and pulled the robe's hood low.
'No one will recognize me like this.' They were top-tier artifacts, after all, boasting the finest protections—even an unexpected attack wouldn't harm her much.
Dina's body slipped soundlessly over the sill, vanishing as if it had never been there at all, on the verge of plummeting to the ground below.
"Haa..."
Thanks to the robe's ability to conceal her presence, the people wandering the streets didn't notice her. Dina strolled along the roadside, taking in the vibrant district despite the late hour. She envied the passersby who hurried on their way without losing their smiles. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd laughed sincerely.
With her downcast eyes fixed on them, Dina turned and began walking slowly down a quieter path. Looking up at the sky felt different from viewing it through her window—refreshing, even. How many hours had she wandered like that? She'd covered quite a distance. Her stamina wasn't great to begin with, and now her breath was starting to come in short gasps.
'Time to head back...'
Just then, a sound sliced through the air from somewhere nearby, followed by occasional dull thuds like something being struck. Dina whipped her head toward the noise.
It was coming from not far off. Unable to pinpoint the cause, her curiosity piqued. Even if danger arose, she had two supreme artifacts on her and was an Awakener herself—no real threat. 'Though I don't much like using magic...'
Tension gripped her; her small fists clenched tightly. Artifacts weren't foolproof, after all. Muffling her footsteps, she crept toward the sound, parting the obstructing brush to reveal a vast open park.
With nothing but grass across the flat expanse, it looked less like a park and more like a spacious clearing perfect for children to play in. And in the center stood a man swinging a wooden sword.
Jet-black hair, piercing blue eyes, sharp features. The sight of him made Dina gasp.
She was a mage, but above all, an Awakener. Trained from childhood in all manner of genius-level education, she had some skill with the sword herself. She wouldn't claim exceptional talent, but years of steady practice meant she could hold her own against most. To her trained eye, the man's swings in the empty field were... laughable. Did he even know how to hold a sword?
His weight distribution was a mess; each swing made it unclear whether the man was wielding the sword or the sword was dragging him along. The blade lost balance repeatedly, scraping the ground—that must have been the source of those dull thuds she'd heard.
His technique was a disaster. Sword strikes demanded conviction, but his lacked it entirely; the blade wobbled mid-swing. "Haa..." She sighed despite herself at the pitiful display.
His movements marked him as an Awakener, weak but present—yet one had to wonder if he'd ever truly tried to grow stronger. The weaker you were, the harder you should train, double what others did. This man seemed more like someone who'd slacked off until now and was only just getting serious.
'Better head back.' As she raised her fingers to snap for a teleport home—
Whoosh! His form was still sloppy, but that one swing was almost passable. Then it devolved back into chaos.
Dina watched a bit longer, but his swordplay remained atrocious. 'Just a fluke, then.'
As she turned to leave, he unleashed another decent thrust. Whoosh! "!"
Whether it was her imagination or not, the interval between his better swings was shortening. First once every two hundred swings, then one-twenty, fifty, thirty, twenty, ten. Finally, they improved overall.
He was growing in real time. His fundamentals were still novice-level mess, but that was natural for a beginner. After swinging intently for ages, he suddenly stopped and gazed at the reddening sky. In a daze watching his training, she'd pulled an all-nighter.
'...! This isn't the time!'
A young lady from a wealthy house rose early. If she didn't hurry back, the servants might notice her absence from the estate. Fingers poised to snap for home, Dina glanced at him one last time. He was shambling off somewhere, probably to rest.
'Will I see him again?'
Truth be told, watching him improve so rapidly without any teacher had been surprisingly entertaining. She'd pegged him as a hopeless loser at first, but maybe she needed to revise that.
Regret lingering, Dina snapped her fingers. Darkness swallowed her vision, flipping her world. When she opened her eyes, she was back in her room.
She hurriedly shoved the robe and mask under the bed just as the maid opened the door.
"Oh. You're already up."
The maid, there to wake her, tilted her head. Dina smiled awkwardly. "It just kinda happened."
Her slightly early day began.
There were no nobles in this era, but Dina's family, Polaris, had been renowned since ancient times. Each generation produced exceptional talents who contributed to the nation. She shunned media exposure, so some might not know of her, but no one was ignorant of House Polaris.
Under her father's orders to one day aid the family, Dina had been dragged through endless education and training. And on days like today, when her older brother and the house's second son, Penheim, returned, his "experiments" commenced.
A sharp needle pierced her skin. Her blood rose through it. Fortunately, it was just a blood draw today. Sometimes he'd inject unknown drugs and observe her reactions.
Penheim always justified tormenting her like this. 'You have the Demon King's power. You must sacrifice for it.'
Dina's awakened power was magic. Unlike typical mages wielding wind, water, earth, or fire, hers was mostly dark magic. Yes, like the Demon King.
She was undoubtedly far stronger than most, but nothing compared to the real Demon King. It was merely similar—yet that alone made countless people shun her.
Her family had always been indifferent, save for Penheim, who took an obsessive interest. Believing her power held the key to countering the Demon King, he forced experiments on her.
Dina resisted, but he ignored it, pressing on. She longed to fight back with magic, but hers could kill effortlessly. She knew if she slew Penheim, she'd truly become Demon King-like.
Thus, the inescapable experiments dragged on for years. As they drew a dizzying amount of blood, Dina's thoughts drifted to the man from last night—the fool blindly swinging his sword without training.
To Dina, who'd lived under eternal watch and control, he was utterly novel. His desperate swings had struck her that way.
'Will I see that man again tonight?'
...I hope so.