Sparring — Interlude
The Commander of the White Wing Knights.
Lucia Silvervein, the Sword Ghost of Silver.
She was the foremost hero of the Demon Beast King Subjugation War, and among Magic Knights, the tale of how she single-handedly brought an end to the massive battle that painted a permafrost-covered mountain in a sea of blood — the so-called Battle of Gargas Snowy Mountain — was the stuff of legend.
I knew that was the day she had earned the title of Sword Ghost.
And that woman had just made me an offer.
"Exclusive Squire… is that what you're proposing?"
"Yes."
The instructors, the healers, the first-year cadets, even the Magic Knights watching from afar — every last one of them turned to look at me, faces painted with shock.
I was just as stunned. No — of everyone here, I was almost certainly the most shocked of all.
"All of you, eyes front!"
Instructor Logan snapped them back into order at once.
The cadets whipped their heads forward in unison.
Why me…? Is it because of that, after all?
A theory had been forming in my mind ever since the White Wing Commander walked right past Elise.
My swordsmanship was built on techniques I had honed in the realm of a Swordmaster. The only catch was that my physical ability and mana sat at the level of the academy's weakest student.
So it wasn't strange that the product of my utterly unconventional training methods would look peculiar to a veteran of her caliber.
This woman was blind, but her sensory domain was on a completely insane level. I had even come across lore claiming that within her range, she could distinguish the breathing of a single ant.
There was a high chance she had judged me with that ability.
It was an awkward situation to answer on my own. While I was still figuring out how to respond—
"Commander of the White Wing."
Instructor Logan hurried over to the White Wing Commander and snapped to attention, standing at ease.
That boisterous man was now dripping with cold sweat, his face taut with tension.
Fair enough. If you compared it to military ranks, this was roughly a sergeant addressing a colonel. Or maybe not a colonel — maybe a brigadier general.
The White Wing Commander and her two accompanying knights turned toward Instructor Logan.
"Forgive my impertinence, but an Exclusive Squire offer is not yet permitted under academy regulations. Would you be so kind as to withdraw that distinguished proposal for the time being?"
"Ah… it wasn't official yet, was it? I'm sorry. This is my first time in a situation like this. I didn't know."
"Not at all."
Didn't know, my ass.
Even if you assumed the White Wing Commander had so little interest in the academy that she genuinely didn't know the rules, there was no way the knights who'd come with her didn't know either.
They would have tipped her off for sure.
In other words, she had done it knowing full well.
"Cadet Ron Hazley?"
"Cadet Number Seventeen, Ron Hazley!"
"You don't need to give me any answer just yet. Let's just leave it as me making my intentions known today. I'll be waiting for a positive reply."
The White Wing Commander turned her head back toward me and offered a gentle, melodious smile.
Is this her staking a claim…?
Every representative from the Imperial Five Wings' Magic Knight Orders had gathered to observe this sparring test.
Was this her publicly declaring, This one's mine, so don't you dare touch him?
And given that the White Wing Commander herself had gone this far, you could say she'd slathered her claim all over me.
"Until we meet again, Cadet Ron Hazley. It was a pleasure."
Her snow-white hair swayed.
The White Wing Commander, as if her business here was done, bid me farewell and led her knights away.
Sway, sway — her fluffy white fox tail followed the rhythm of her steps.
"All personnel! Salute the Commander of the White Wing Knights!"
The cadets followed Instructor Logan's command and snapped off another salute.
Even as she departed, the White Wing Commander turned her head back and casually returned it.
This is… probably…
Looks like I've got more things to worry about now…
"Commander of the White Wing."
"What is it, Commander of the Red Wing?"
It was as Lucia, Commander of the White Wing, was taking her leave that Cloel, Commander of the Red Wing, approached and called out to her.
The Red Wing Commander's face was full of doubt and bewilderment.
"Why did you offer Exclusive Squire status to that cadet… to Ron Hazley? I'll grant there was something worth watching, but it was only a single spar, was it not?"
"……"
"And no matter how you look at it, the boy was lacking in strength. If you were going to make an offer, I'd have understood the fairy's contractor, or that sword controller from the Twisleop family, but…"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"Pardon?"
"His body and his mana couldn't keep up with his understanding — but the realm of that understanding was far too high."
Throughout the entire sparring test, the White Wing Commander's sensory domain had been stretched across the whole building.
That domain had catalogued every last detail — the cadets' finest movements, the output and density of their mana, all of it.
And in Ron's sword strikes… the White Wing Commander had glimpsed the realm of a Swordmaster.
Her finely woven sensory domain had seen straight through him.
It was not something Ron could have hidden even if he had wanted to.
And yet, of course, Ron was no Swordmaster. He was a mere second-rank first-year cadet.
Which meant—
"That's all. I simply found that cadet particularly interesting."
It had to be a fragment of overwhelming genius.
"Is that… so…?"
The Red Wing Commander had no way of knowing just how transcendent an ability the White Wing Commander had used to read every cadet in that hall.
But the grounds for her high evaluation of Ron — those, at least, he thought he understood.
He himself had glimpsed a talent for martial arts in the boy.
"Well then."
Click, click.
The White Wing Commander picked up her pace once more.
Ron Hazley…
The Red Wing Commander pictured the boy's face.
If even the White Wing Commander was this firmly interested…
Quite apart from the fact that this was the cadet who had defeated his own son, he was beginning to take an interest in Ron himself.
"…We're leaving."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The Red Wing Commander departed as well, taking his subordinate knights with him.
"I-is someone like me even allowed to sit at the same table as the person who's going to become the White Wing Commander's Exclusive Squire…!?"
"……"
A cascade of deep-violet hair spilled down her back, skull-shaped hairpins nestled among the strands.
Violet Blackgarden sat across from me in a restaurant in the academy's commercial district, the two of us dining alone, and she was trembling.
It was a day off. I was keeping the promise I'd made to hang out with Violet after the spars were over.
Between the commissions I'd taken on and off with Violet and Turak, I'd scraped together enough for living expenses, so a meal like this was well within budget.
"So? Have I become a problem for you? Want to start keeping your distance?"
"N-no, no! That's not it at all…"
"It wasn't even an official offer. She might change her mind later. You're making a fuss over nothing."
"No matter how I look at it, this doesn't seem like a fuss…. She clearly saw something in you, Hazley-ssi. Some kind of enormous talent, or…!"
Ever since the White Wing Commander had offered me Exclusive Squire status, the other cadets' gazes had taken on a different quality.
Violet, of course — but Elise and Lara were no different.
The only one who seemed completely uninterested was Turak the barbarian. That guy was still just looking for jerky.
I finally took Theodore down in the coolest way possible, and now…
The talk of my stylish spar had been buried this easily. Ah, the tragedy of it all.
Still, there was an upside.
I am the man the White Wing Commander staked her claim on.
Who would dare treat me carelessly now?
If anyone showed up looking down on me, I had become someone who could fire back with, How dare you so arrogantly dismiss the discerning eye of the esteemed White Wing Commander?
Just imagining it was enough to put a smile on my face.
Well… enough of the jokes.
That said…
I needed to consider what becoming an Exclusive Squire would do to the story going forward.
I'd prefer the benefits outweighed the costs — but if the harm outweighs the good, I'll have no choice but to refuse.
On top of that, there were the enemy faction's movements, my own growth, the next stretch of the story…
A lot to think about.
"Hazley-ssi? Is something bothering you?"
"Hm? Ah."
Had it shown on my face? Violet tilted her head and asked.
There was no need to hide some of it, so I stirred my drink with the straw and answered her honestly.
"Just… I don't know how this Exclusive Squire thing is going to play out, and I don't know if I'll even be able to handle it. And I'm also trying to figure out how to get stronger faster. That kind of stuff. Odds and ends."
"Ahh…. Mmm. Ahem."
Violet thought for a moment, then cleared her throat.
She puffed out her chest, putting on a look of forced bravado. Her right hand came to rest atop her ample bosom.
Her cheeks were flushing and her eyebrows twitching, so it was clearly mortifying for her — but she seemed determined to say something kind for my sake.
I prepared myself to be duly moved by whatever Violet was about to tell me.
"You have m-me, Hazley-ssi! I've studied a lot of magic, and the Blackgarden family is a reasonably distinguished magical house in its own right…. When it comes to you learning magic, I'm sure I'll be able to help you going forward…!"
"Ohh…!"
Now that's my Violet. She knows how to move a guy.
"I can also have our family provide you with anything useful, and my knowledge is bound to help. So if you'll keep spending time with me going forward… I'll be able to be your strength…!"
"Ohh… wait, huh?"
Hold on a second.
"Even after you become an Exclusive Squire, I'll help you adjust…! Hmm…? Why are you making that face?"
"Violet. You don't have to try that hard to help me."
"…What?"
"Just… you don't have to go that far."
Come on. Even so.
I wasn't so starved for friendship that I'd take a friend-fee just to keep a friend around…
"Why are you looking at me with that pitying expression…? Huk."
All of a sudden, Violet's shoulders jerked, and she froze like a machine that had seized up.
Her pink eyes began to tremble, wariness creeping into them by degrees.
Her gaze was locked on something behind me. What was back there?
"What's wrong, Viol—?"
I turned my head, following Violet's line of sight.
And over my shoulder, a face so beautiful it stole the breath from my lungs filled my vision at point-blank range.
Cascading magenta hair, and blue-green eyes that shone like emeralds.
She had leaned her upper body in, poking her head over my shoulder, and she was smiling as brilliantly as a sunflower in full bloom.
"It's Ron~"
The protagonist. Elise Lorendia.
I was caught completely off guard.
"Elise?"
"Mind if I join the date?"
Elise said it with a perfectly straight face.
"I don't want you getting stolen away."
And what is that supposed to mean…?