16

As the kicked blade flew toward Talidge’s chest, Ains kicked off the ground once more, closing the distance that had opened between them.

“Tch—!”

Unable to dodge while dealing with the flying blade, Talidge raised his greatsword like a shield and blocked.

It was a reflexive action, yet Talidge completely neutralized Ains’s desperate attempt. However, Ains’s true target was the greatsword itself, now momentarily halted.

Closing in, Ains planted his right leg and unleashed a straight, piercing kick with the tip of his left prosthetic leg.

The instant the prosthetic struck the blade of Talidge’s greatsword, dense mana was discharged in a flash from the single point of contact, flooding into the blade.

“…Huh?”

There was no numbness in Talidge’s hands.

With a sound far too light for what should have happened, the greatsword shattered into pieces.

“……”

“……”

Ains did not press the attack and instead came to a stop. Talidge, likewise, could only stand frozen, stunned by Ains’s unexpected move and its result.

“E-enough! Seeing that both combatants have lost their weapons, I judge further combat impossible. This bout is a draw!”

Startled back to his senses by the unexpected conclusion, Haral brought the fight to an end.

“Haaah. I don’t really care about winning or losing—so I can go home now, right?”

Ains lowered the left leg he had raised and walked toward Kirishiya, Seidel, and Laika—who stood stiff, unable even to speak—without sparing a glance for Talidge or the shattered remnants of the two swords scattered around.

From Ains’s expression as he reached them, one could read the relief of being freed from a hassle.

“Ains-san, that was amazing!”

Kirishiya moved in so close in her excitement that their foreheads nearly touched.

“Ah—th-thank you very much.”

Ains looked flustered as Kirishiya clasped his left hand tightly with both of hers.

“My eyes couldn’t even follow it past the middle! You just—whoosh—really, whoosh-whoosh, it was so fast! I was shocked!”

Even more than Ains or Talidge themselves, Kirishiya was still riding the excitement of the intense exchange.

“Kirishiya, calm down a little.”

Laika said, smiling wryly yet clearly pleased as she tried to settle her friend.

“Ains, as expected of you! Officially it ended in a draw, but anyone who watched knows who was really on top.”

Laika cast a sideways glance toward Darius.

He, too, had worn a dazed expression, but as he looked at Talidge standing amid the scattered sword fragments, his face gradually twisted into a bitter grimace.

Seeing that expression, Laika allowed herself a small, victorious smile—but then lowered her eyes when she noticed Ains’s lack of satisfaction.

“…I’m sorry for forcing this on you. Truly.”

Ains felt as though he had seen an unexpected side of Laika as she murmured that while averting her gaze.

“Well, it’s over now, so it’s fine.”

Ains replied gently, the corners of his eyes softening.

Beside him, Kirishiya continued to chatter excitedly, eyes still shining. Ains responded with nods and short replies, looking slightly overwhelmed, while Laika and Seidel flanked Kirishiya, smiling as they tried to calm her down.

Judging it to be in poor taste to dampen the spirits of his delighted younger sister and her friends, Haral quietly left the area.

As he passed Darius, Haral lightly patted his shoulder and said, “Once you enroll, you’ll both be students—so try to keep things a bit restrained.”

“…Thank you for your consideration.”

Darius’s voice trembled with frustration, but after Haral departed, he called out to Talidge and headed home.

In the wide examination hall left with only Ains and the others, Kirishiya’s voice echoed on.

After a while, even Kirishiya’s rapid-fire stream of words finally began to settle.

With night approaching, she exchanged farewells with Laika and Ains and departed with Seidel.

Once the two had disappeared behind the buildings, Ains and Laika also headed home.

The sun had fully set, and the sky shifted from a sunset-stained orange into the descending veil of night.

Streetlamps lining both sides of the well-maintained road flickered to life.

Ains and Laika walked side by side along the dimly lit path. Most who used the road from the Sorcery Academy to the residential district were young nobles living there, and by now—long after the entrance exam had ended—no one else was in sight.

Ains’s prosthetic leg clicked against the stone pavement as they walked. Neither spoke, and the quiet of the empty night deepened the tranquil air.

“…Ains, I’m sorry again.”

Perhaps because the silence weighed on her, Laika’s voice came out thin and hesitant.

“I’m really not bothered by it anymore.”

What Laika referred to was, of course, the earlier bout between Ains and Talidge.

Now that things had settled, Laika was tormented by guilt and embarrassment—by the thought that her misplaced pride had made her force Ains, who had clearly found it a nuisance, into the duel with Talidge under the pretense of him being a retainer.

“Still, I ignored your wishes and used the excuse of you being a retainer…”

“Well… even so, I got something out of it. It wasn’t pointless.”

Ains replied gently as he looked at Laika’s slumped shoulders.

Walking while staring down at the stone pavement, Laika weakly lifted her gaze at Ains’s words.

“Really?”

“Yeah. The Gairin Empire is known for its swordsmanship, right?”

“That’s right. On the other hand, their level of magic is lower than the kingdom’s.”

One could even say they had chosen a sword-focused path partly out of disdain for the Santia Kingdom, which placed more emphasis on magic.

“But even in swordsmanship, mana control was mixed in. Even someone as rough as him had fairly solid mana control.”

“Talidge… using mana control?”

Laika could not help but be surprised, having never imagined that Talidge—who could not use magic and lacked even basic magical knowledge—would be proficient in mana control.

“Yeah. His movements midway through were clearly physical enhancement through internal mana control. Crude as he was, he actually handled it better than Sophia does now.”

Talidge understood his own strength—raw power—and maximized it through physical enhancement. There was no delicacy to it, but it was enough to pose a threat even in the Santia Kingdom, which overflowed with mages.

And that realization stirred Ains’s curiosity—he who had dismissed the Gairin Empire as nothing more than a land of crude swordplay.