Because I Wanted to Tell You When It Was Just the Two of Us
A low rumble passed overhead. Between the storm clouds an ominous violet light flickered — a sullen, ill-omened flash.
The air felt thick enough that magical beasts might come pouring down at any moment, and everyone in the stands shivered as they stared up at the sky.
Judging it already too late to counter, Rebecca let out a breath and flung her arm overhead.
⟨ Ymir's Shield ⟩
The shield blazed the same gold as Rebecca's hair, and upon it the god of the North — horned helm and all — was roaring. Hervena, who had been waiting for precisely this moment, let out a soft, scornful breath of a laugh.
Then her hand dropped, and her index finger pointed straight at Rebecca. Violet light flared between the clouds as if static had sparked to life, and at last Hervena's closed mouth opened.
⟨ Hervena Style: Perun's Strike ⟩
The violet flash swallowed everyone watching, and a tremendous bolt — as if a god in the sky were passing judgment — struck Rebecca dead on.
Thunder shook heaven and earth, rolling past Björn Arena and across the entire school. Not a soul in the crowd could keep their mouth shut. In the stands, Deschamp's eyes flew wide as he watched the duel.
That just now — wasn't that Yulia's magic? That girl... what on earth is she?
Even he, a man who had lived through the Unification War, swallowed dryly.
Through the shattered shield Rebecca stood swaying, her whole body seized by the backlash, and only barely managed to turn her gaze toward Hervena. Black smoke rose off her, and she coughed emptily, as if even breathing were too much to bear. That she still had not fallen seemed to disgust Hervena, who narrowed her eyes and stepped closer.
"You're still on your feet after taking that?"
"There is no forfeit."
As Rebecca's magic circle began to form once more, a regretful sigh drifted through the stands. Hervena glanced toward Aurora and swept her hair back.
"You really do make a person heartless. Well. Nothing else for it."
A moment later Rebecca's spell came flying. Hervena blocked it without much effort, her eyes rolling briefly before they stopped.
"So. Is this how you do it?"
At that, Hervena's violet magic circle constructed itself in the empty air above Rebecca's head. Sensing the danger, Rebecca tried to get clear — and in that instant vines surged up from beneath the arena and wound around her legs. She clenched her teeth and immediately fired a spell at Hervena, but Hervena shifted aside, slipped the blast, and rose into the air.
⟨ Hervena Style: Glacier Drop ⟩
From the circle above Rebecca a massive glacier was summoned, flashing black and a shade near pitch. She wrung out mana she no longer had, trying somehow to tear free of the vines, but the strength had already left her body, and the struggle looked only pitiful.
It's over.
The moment a bitter smile touched her lips, three colors of magic circle drew themselves across the arena and began melting Hervena's glacier from the inside out. Only after seeing that did Rebecca collapse.
"Ah, my lady!!"
Danvers's scream rang through the arena, and Aurora and Mnevoir came flying in at once. Only then did the stands — quiet as a held breath — erupt all at once, half shock and half cheers. The students who had known her longest clicked their tongues and shook their heads.
"So she's been hiding her skill this whole time?"
"Senior Yulia's lightning, fine, I'll give you that. But Senior Rebecca's magic — I swear that was the first time I've seen it..."
"Strictly speaking, it's different. Senior Rebecca generated the circle directly in the air. Hervena designated coordinates. That's another level entirely."
"So she improved it in the middle of all that?"
"And she did it while casting flight magic and vine magic on top of it."
"Is her head split into three? How do you even..."
Admiration, astonishment, bewilderment, awe — feeling after feeling poured over her. Hervena, as if it were only to be expected, didn't so much as change expression. She picked up the coat she had tossed aside and draped it over her shoulders.
Once Aurora had finished checking on Rebecca, she came toward Hervena with a smile.
"I'm so embarrassed I don't even know if I'm fit to teach you, Student Hervena."
"You flatter me."
"I'll be expecting a great deal from you in the finals, too. All right?"
Leaving those words behind, Aurora walked to the center of the arena, pointed at Hervena, and shouted so that everyone could hear.
"Waaaaah!"
"A real monster. A monster!"
"Big sister Hervena!!"
Applause and cheers poured out in a fervent rush, but Hervena was looking at her young master. When their eyes met, Blow gave her a small nod, as if to say she had done well. Only then did a living smile spread across her face.
"Interviews with the two students who have advanced to the finals will begin shortly!"
This won't be easy. It really won't be easy.
Yulia, who had sat stone-still from the moment Perun's Strike fell, let out a deep sigh and rose.
"...I'll be back, young master. Lady Rachel."
"Yes, Senior."
"Go on."
Watching Yulia head for the arena, Rachel wore a distinctly uncomfortable look.
"What's the matter?"
"I just sweated too much."
"Well, the heat reached all the way over here."
"Lady Skadi looked like she was about to drop dead."
At the sound of her name, Skadi — seated right beside them — shrugged.
"It was a little much, yeah..."
"That friend of yours is no joke, Skadi Hetaya."
"She's showing off more than usual today. Normally she would have gone easy and called it quits."
"So she doesn't usually go all out."
"No. She said she reads the room, in her own way."
"Honestly. Yulia is in real trouble."
"I shouldn't say this, but how does she compare to you, my lady?"
"Hmm. Who knows? I'd have to try her to find out."
...That woman actually knows how to say something like that?
While Blow was quietly impressed, a voice carried over from the arena.
"Now then — let's begin the interview by giving these two finalists a round of applause!"
Applause rolled through the arena once more. Aurora's eyes turned to Hervena, standing at her right.
"Student Hervena, that was an incredibly striking duel! Truly an astonishing performance!"
"Thank you."
"Was Salamander's Nest a strategy tailored to Student Rebecca?"
"I thought she'd try to open the distance at the start, so I just used it once. I was also curious how Senior would break it."
"Haha, I see. Still, it was quite different from what you showed us in magic combat class, and I think a lot of students were surprised!"
"Um... it's just... there's someone I really wanted to show my magic to today..."
Hervena's voice kept shrinking, and her face kept growing redder. Rachel covered her mouth, giggling, and looked over at Blow.
"Hey. She means you. You. You."
"...It might not be me."
"You really are a terrible man."
Blow was doing his best to ignore Rachel's sharp look when Aurora, wearing an expression of dying curiosity, put the question to Hervena in a coaxing tone.
"Oh my. Would you perhaps be willing to tell us who that is?"
"I wanted to show it to Senior Blow..."
"Is that so! Well, of course. Blow was flat on his back when Hervena came into full bloom! He wouldn't have been paying any attention!"
A soft ripple of laughter spread through the stands at her words. Hervena, for no good reason, scuffed the floor with her foot.
"All right, if you'll wait just a moment! This time, Student Yulia Edfolk!"
"Yes, Professor."
"Hervena's performance was tremendous, but speaking as someone who has watched you for a long time, Student Yulia, I was genuinely startled. Is there a particular reason your dueling style has changed?"
"Yes. I lost so powerlessly at the last Serdia Academia, and given who I was facing, I decided a change was necessary."
"Aha. And you moved more skillfully than anyone expected. Quite a few students were surprised."
"I learned a little swordsmanship at the Noble School, and I've also been receiving a great deal of advice from Lady Rachel."
"Oh — directly from Lady Rachel Campbell herself?"
"Yes. She's been teaching me all sorts of know-how, very diligently. And."
...What is Rachel even doing in a magic duel.
Hervena did her best to hide how little she liked it. Meanwhile Yulia opened her own potion pouch and held up, for everyone to see, a single potion glowing with blue light.
"This is Foresti Made, a potion from The Red Forest, run by Young Master Blow, who is my business partner. I've been drinking it lately. It suits my taste, and it seems to help my mana recovery a little more as well."
Hervena flinched and looked at Blow. A faint smile was spreading across his face.
"Jane, how many glass bottles do we have?"
"The second batch comes in three days."
"Contact them about the third batch right away."
"I'll do it now. I'll check the ingredient stock when we get back, too."
"Good. And here I was, planning to ask Senior to plug it at the finals..."
"Yulia has really made up her mind. Completely made up her mind."
"Made up her mind about what?"
Rachel looked at Blow, eyes narrowing, then shrugged.
"That's the thing. I'm awfully curious myself what she's made up her mind about."
Blow, who had not caught her meaning, tilted his head. From the arena, Aurora's bright voice came again.
"Oh my, and Student Hervena just mentioned Student Blow as well...! Even on leave, Young Master Blow is quite the hot topic!"
"These days Young Master Blow helps me a great deal, too. We see each other almost every day."
"Every day?"
"Yes! The food at Hills is so good that I kept going, and before I knew it, that's how it turned out."
For some reason, Yulia put real weight on the word every day. Hervena, irritation welling up at the girl who had been getting under her skin for a while now, moved her lips and glared that way. Yulia answered at her leisure.
The man in question was humming to himself, thinking he ought to have Hervena advertise the potion in the finals as well. Watching him, Rachel shook her head.
"Unbelievable."
"You here to make fun of me?"
Right after the semifinals, in the school's recovery room. Blow had stopped by to see Cindy, with Hervena and Skadi in tow.
"Cindy!! You did great!!"
"What do you take me for? I came because I was worried. Here. Eat."
A bag of donuts went onto the table beside the bed where she lay. At the sight of it, Cindy's face brightened.
"Well, well. Blow Deblique, look at you acting like a person. Looking after me, are you?"
"I was really disappointed, Cindy."
"You were cheering for Director Yulia anyway, so don't even."
"Still, I was about thirty percent on your side."
"That is a controversial statement."
"What, you think Skadi or Hervena would go and tattle?"
"Well. No."
While the two of them were trading that idle nonsense, Hervena took Cindy's hand and held it tight.
"I'm sorry. I should have thought it through more."
"Haha, what are you talking about! Who knew Senior Yulia would come out like that."
"That's true, but..."
"Well, nothing to be done this year anyway. Part of it's my fault for being worthless once you take the fire away, and I feel like my creativity's a bit lacking, too."
"Still, I got the gift you sent. I'll buy you steak next time."
"Yeah. But I did burn some of the director's mana! You admit it?"
"I admit it."
Cindy boasted in that bright tone, but the hand gripping her blanket was trembling, little by little. No matter that everyone had predicted Yulia's win. A loss was a loss. There was no way she felt good about it.
Understanding that perfectly well, Blow decided to yield the room to the Finance Department members waiting outside for them to come out, and caught Skadi's and Hervena's eyes.
"Let's head out."
"Yeah."
"Yes, young master."
The moment they showed signs of leaving, the Finance members, who had been waiting too long to stand it, came pouring in.
"Director! Director! You were amazing!"
"You actually traded blows with Senior Yulia, more than once...! We're so proud!!"
"You're not badly hurt, are you, Director?"
The youngest-looking of them grabbed Cindy's hand and talked on and on. Thoroughly embarrassed, Cindy waved them off and shouted.
"I'm not hurt! If you're all gonna talk bullshit, get ouuut!"
"Director, next year! For real! For real...! Let's do it properly!"
"Shut up. Next year I won't even be in the Finance Department."
"Even so, you're our director!"
The girl holding Cindy's hand burst into tears. The crying spread as if it were contagious. Watching them, the embarrassed Cindy furrowed her brow and shouted.
"You brats! So damn pitiful...!!"
No matter what Cindy said, the members kept clinging to her. For their sake, Blow closed the recovery room door without a sound.
The three of them came out of the recovery building. Hervena stuck close to Blow and asked.
"Are you going to Hills?"
"I live there."
"Right. Of course."
"The semifinal was seriously impressive."
"Yes."
"That flame looks just like Master's now."
"Not even close. Compared to Master's flame..."
"This is a problem. Next year I think I'll have to raise Hervena's stipend by a lot. Right, Skadi?"
"Huh? Y-yeah."
At Skadi's halfhearted answer, Blow's gaze turned to her. Seeing that, Hervena answered in her place.
"No. I'll manage on my own. You'll have plenty of places to spend money, running the business."
"No. As soon as there's room, I'm backing you, so if you need anything for research, say so."
"If you put it that way."
Hervena paused mid-step, cleared her throat, and spoke to Blow carefully.
"Young master, there's something I want to tell you for a moment."
"Hm? You can say it now."
"I really wanted to tell you when it was just the two of us."
Did these two fight again?
Blow hesitated, thinking exactly that, and Skadi cut in with a voice awkward beyond belief.
"B-Blow! You're going to Hills, right?"
"Yeah."
"I'll just go on ahead!"
Before he could answer, Skadi took off running toward the rear gate. Something about it sat wrong with him. He was frowning at her retreating back, hair flying, when Hervena sidled up in front of him.
"Where do you want to go? There's a bench over there, and the lab... or beside the library..."
"You said it was important, so your lab is probably better."
"Ah, the lab's a bit of a mess..."
"Look. Everyone's staring at you. Outside doesn't seem like a good idea."
Only then did the countless eyes watching her come into her sight. Right now they were nothing but uncomfortable — and yet she felt good, because her young master seemed to be looking out for her.
"All right. Let's go to the lab, then."
"Yeah. Come to think of it, I've never even seen it."
"When we get there, just wait outside for a second..."
"Why, so you can clean? It's fine."
Blow said it carelessly, but Hervena shook her head at him.
"No."
"Fine. All right. But what's this about?"
At his question Hervena's face, already red as a tomato, twisted this way and that before she barely managed to squeeze the words out.
"...It's about my wish."