A Rolling Stone (5)
A Rolling Stone (5)
Still, enduring the cringe and sparring with her had produced results.
Sophia Bianchi originally had an enormous ego.
When she first appeared in the game, she entered as though she relished the act of fighting on the battlefield itself, and after defeating the protagonists once, she was the sort of character who would deliver lines like "I couldn't control my strength."
But this time, her introduction began with losing to me.
To the point that even Lena, who was on my side, didn't receive a death judgment.
Of course, I had fought while turning back time several times, but that wasn't the only reason I had been able to win.
Not long ago, I had faced Lucas.
And not Lucas holding back against me, but Lucas who, for some reason, was absolutely furious with me. Lucas wearing body-protecting vestments and wielding a relic as his weapon.
And Sophia Bianchi's skill wasn't at Lucas's level.
A certain baseball player once said something like this. After facing a pitcher who threw nothing but monstrously fast fastballs, when that pitcher was finally changed out, the next pitches looked hittable.
That was exactly how I felt.
She wasn't an opponent you could call manageable in a one-on-one fight with no abilities whatsoever, but at the very least, if I could turn back time, I could take on a Cathedral Knight of her caliber.
I had gained a little bit of confidence, at least.
That was the positive effect I had obtained.
But on the other hand, there had been a negative effect as well.
That was—
"Sylvia!"
Sophia Bianchi's level of clinging to me had become far worse than before.
I hadn't realized it back when she had first latched onto me, but she must have still been evaluating me then.
Sophia Bianchi was a skilled swordswoman, and through those eyes, I must have looked like a person with no talent whatsoever, so she must have thought it strange to treat me as something important.
But after that training session yesterday, her way of looking at me seemed to have changed.
Well, clinging didn't mean she put her hands on my body, so that was a relief, but.......
"Ah, Sophia. Have you been well?"
"Yes, of course!"
This one's atmosphere was completely different from the original too.
Claire's atmosphere had changed as well, but this one was even stranger. With Claire, she had at least been able to grow up in a place whose entire environment was the complete opposite, so that was understandable, but this one...... hmm.
The environment had changed, but surely not enough to alter her core identity.
...... It was probably an act, right?
"You seem to be in an especially good mood today."
Charlotte apparently felt a sense of affinity toward Sophia Bianchi. Since they were from the same country, after all. Although the difference in their status was quite large.
"Yes, something remarkable happened yesterday."
"Something remarkable?"
As Charlotte tilted her head and asked back, Sophia Bianchi's face turned toward me. Seeing that broadly smiling face made me feel uneasy.
"Yesterday, Lady Sylvia and Lady Bianchi sparred."
Before Sophia Bianchi could speak, Lena cut in first.
"That's right."
It was only for an instant, so brief that most people probably couldn't see it properly, but I caught a flicker of irritation pass across Sophia Bianchi's face as she said that.
And seeing that expression actually reassured me.
So, in other words, her character hadn't completely changed.
"I sparred with Sylvia yesterday."
"I see."
Charlotte wore a wry smile at the corner of her mouth.
It was an expression that said she could roughly imagine what had happened.
"Anyone with pride as a swordswoman is bound to change their perspective after sparring with Sylvia, after all."
.......
Hmm, being praised that excessively was a little much.
"......."
Alice, who had been listening to the conversation in silence, turned her gaze toward me and was grinning broadly.
Considering that Alice was the only person among this group who could read my expressions almost perfectly, that reaction was probably because she had accurately read whatever expression had surfaced on my face.
I forcibly swallowed the sigh that was about to escape.
*
"Lady Bianchi."
After class.
While everyone was packing their bags to return to the dormitory, I called out to Sophia Bianchi.
"Yes!"
Sophia Bianchi stopped packing her bag halfway and beamed a bright smile toward me, drawing every gaze in the classroom sharply in this direction. Not just the people sitting near me, but the whole class.
...... Maybe I should have spoken to her somewhere else instead.
Still, observing the reactions around me wasn't a bad thing.
Sophia Bianchi wasn't a character you met at school in the original, so these reactions themselves were quite novel. Knowing how the people around me thought of this character and how her image was taking shape would surely be useful.
That might have sounded a bit strange, but there were so many extraordinarily handsome and beautiful people around me that I had genuinely lost confidence in judging people by appearance alone. When everyone was good-looking and pretty, was it even possible to evaluate a new person's appearance objectively?
Judging by how many boys were staring blankly up at the broadly smiling Sophia Bianchi, her looks objectively placed her in the very excellent category, and that seemed like the correct assessment.
"Could I speak with you alone for a moment?"
At my question, I heard the sound of people around me holding their breath. Probably because I had almost never asked anyone else for a private conversation before.
Come to think of it, I wondered how others evaluated me. The image of me held by the people close to me and the image of me held by everyone else were probably completely different.
Well, I'd think about that later.
"Of course!"
As if she had been waiting for it, Sophia Bianchi answered like that.
I felt Alice's gaze intensely.
I briefly sent a glance toward Alice, then looked back at Sophia Bianchi.
"In that case, I'd like you to stop by my room for a moment this afternoon. I'd like to discuss...... yesterday's sparring match."
"Understood!"
Sophia Bianchi answered with a brightly smiling expression right to the end.
*
The most comfortable place at the academy to hold a conversation was, naturally, my room in the dormitory. Befitting a room where nobles stayed, both the walls and the door were thick, so almost no sound leaked out. Moreover, unlike the chilly temperature outside, the inside was warm. Even if the conversation ran long, there was no need to move somewhere else midway through.
Glancing around as she entered my room, she appeared to be looking for differences from her own room.
I quietly prepared tea while letting Sophia Bianchi continue to glance around like that.
"Well then...... let's talk. Please, have a seat."
"Yes."
Sophia Bianchi sat down with an expression utterly free of tension.
And she looked straight at me.
Her amethyst-like eyes were fixed directly on me, which made me slightly uncomfortable. No matter how long I had lived in the West for ten years, this...... peculiar eye contact was still something I hadn't grown completely accustomed to.
I steadied myself.
There was no reason for me to be the uncomfortable one here. In truth, the person who actually ought to be uncomfortable was Sophia Bianchi, who was here as a spy.
In that sense, you could say she was diligently carrying out her mission.
"Sophia Bianchi."
"Yes."
"Are you from the Holy State?"
When I threw the question straight at her without bothering to beat around the bush, her mouth dropped open blankly for an instant.
"Pardon?"
"I asked if you are from the Holy State."
Facing the dumbfounded Sophia Bianchi, I poured tea into a cup and slid it toward her.
Honestly, wasn't it strange to think you wouldn't be found out after using swordsmanship like that? She had openly invoked the goddess and such.
Though, I supposed even in the Empire there might be people who habitually invoked the goddess or whatever. It wasn't a religion everyone believed in, but it was certainly a globally influential religion. So there would be many believers as well.
I only noticed because I knew the truth. Someone else might have thought, "There's no way a real Holy State knight would be so obvious about it."
"Are you not going to answer?"
When I pressed for an answer while looking at the silent Sophia Bianchi, she blinked once and then spoke.
"Are you...... suggesting that I falsified my nationality?"
"You may not have falsified it. If that identity itself is genuine, you can't really call it falsification. Though it could be a genuine identity manufactured according to necessity."
At the very least, it hadn't been manufactured for this occasion. Even in the original, her name had been Sophia "Bianchi," and that name had continued to appear unchanged right up to the latest installment.
"In that case, I'll change the question."
I looked straight at Sophia Bianchi. The same way she had done to me.
Even while flustered, Sophia Bianchi didn't avoid my gaze. Thanks to that, her expression was even easier to read.
Was she doing it on purpose? Thinking that if she showed her flustered expression more clearly, the other person would be fooled?
Well, I'd simply have to find that out from here on out.
"By any chance, are you a Cathedral Knight from the Holy State?"
"......."
Eventually, Sophia Bianchi's expression slowly hardened.
"...... If I asked how you knew, would you answer me?"
"I wonder."
I looked at Sophia Bianchi and spoke.
"Though I think if the cards you show prove useful, there wouldn't be any reason for me not to show my own cards in return."