Sword Maniac, Game Maniac, And...

The traditional second-term event for the basic years had been revised after the incident involving Princess Fina, and this time they would be going camping. Fina was deeply moved and excited by the prospect of camping on a safe riverbank. During the three-day, two-night camp, the upperclassmen’s Individual Tournament would also be held.

Participants were selected based on their class performance and grades, and the students who qualified would compete in individual matches over two days… but Rudel, who had been expected to be this year’s main attraction, had withdrawn. Considering that fourth-years normally made up most of the participants, Rudel had been more than strong enough to be considered a favorite for the championship.

With Rudel absent, the final match of the Individual Tournament ended up being Unias versus Aleist. The two had advanced through the tournament thanks to both their ability and social standing, and in the finals they fought an unusually close match. It became a brutal battle, almost as though they were venting all the frustration they had built up from holding back in their previous matches.

“Give it up already, Aleist!”

Swinging a wooden sword modeled after his own greatsword, Unias repeatedly attacked Aleist. Every time their wooden swords collided, they produced thunderous impacts. Surprisingly, Unias was actually a technical swordsman, while Aleist countered his skillful swordplay by overpowering him with a magic sword wreathed in wind.

“Why won’t you get blown away?! Normally you shouldn’t even be able to trade blows with me! My magical output is higher than it was last year too!!!”

Unias deflected Aleist’s repeated attempts to overpower him, then unleashed a full-force blow. Aleist was sent flying by the strike from the physically gifted Unias… but even as he was blown backward, Aleist fired off a rapid series of spells.

“Damn it! I can’t lose before I get another chance to fight him… Stay down!”

After taking the spells and being pushed back slightly, Unias looked toward Aleist. But Aleist had already recovered in that brief opening and was pouring magical power into his magic sword once more. The wooden sword began cracking loudly as lightning started to coil around it.

“Don’t think you’re the only one who refuses to loseeee!!!”

Seeing that, Unias broke into a ferocious grin. Magical power also filled his wooden sword, and the two unleashed their strongest blows at each other…

“And now both of you are hospitalized… I can understand why Unias, the winner, is in worse shape, but Aleist really is incredibly fragile.”

Looking at the two lying in their beds, Luecke sighed. Unias, who had managed to stand after their fierce clash, had won the championship, while Aleist, who had fallen unconscious, finished as runner-up. Unias glared at Luecke, while Aleist looked away.

“Don’t say that when you didn’t even fight! More importantly, is Rudel with Chlust again today…?”

“Ahh, I was so close… I worked so hard… Everyone around me just keeps getting stronger and stronger.”

Ignoring Aleist as he muttered to himself, Luecke merely nodded in response to Unias’s question. From the long vacation through the second term, Rudel had attended only the minimum number of required classes. He had devoted the rest of his time to Chlust’s training.

“Chlust was pretty strong, wasn’t he? Fritz isn’t even that strong, so why does Rudel need to go that far?”

Aleist voiced the question that came to mind after listening to the two. Unias answered him.

“Chlust got beaten half to death while you weren’t around. I don’t know how strong he used to be, but he’s finished now. Looks like his spirit completely broke. …If he sees Fritz, he’ll probably start trembling and won’t be able to do a thing.”

“That’s probably why Rudel’s training him so harshly. Rudel really spoils his younger brother… Didn’t he spoil his sister too?”

“Erselica? I don’t remember them being particularly close… (Has he really changed that much? In the game, Erselica was closer to Chlust than she ever was to Rudel.)”

“No, apparently he has a younger half-sister named Lena.”

When Luecke told him the name, Aleist tilted his head. Among the characters from the game set in this world, Aleist had never heard of 【a character named Lena】. Was she a hidden character who never appeared? Or a character who only existed in the setting? While Aleist was thinking about that…

“…Come to think of it, I’ve never heard of Fritz either. Did I overlook him because he was just a background character? But if he’s connected to Princess Aileen, he probably isn’t just some nobody… Is this way of thinking the problem? Then the events coming up after this might also…”

“Aleist’s muttering to himself again… He says things that make no sense sometimes, so it’s a real pain.”

Unias sighed as he watched Aleist sink into thought and mutter to himself. Aleist continued thinking until his friends came to visit him.

Milia, now a third-year, had come to visit her elder sister Lilim. Recovering completely from an elf’s fall into darkness was far more difficult than anyone had imagined. Even after ceasing to be a Dark Elf, the corruption still gnawed at the mind. Milia visited her sister’s room while Lilim was on leave and asked her worriedly…

“Are you all right? It’s been quite a while…”

Faced with Milia’s concern, Lilim nervously averted her eyes… Lilim had only recently learned that Milia liked Rudel, and that had given her a slight sense of superiority over her younger sister. Now that she had realized she had once been engaged to the boy her sister liked, things had become a little awkward.

“Y-You’re still holding it against me, aren’t you? I became engaged to the boy you like, and then the engagement got broken off anyway… but on my forehead—Eek!”

Growing slightly irritated, Milia prepared her trump card against Lilim.

“Y-You seem energetic enough. But since the engagement was broken off, it doesn’t matter anymore, right? Besides, after he saw you turn black, didn’t he get completely freaked out?”

“Y-You! How can my own little sister say something like that?! I know I caused trouble back then, but…”

Sensing the feelings of its contractor, the Wind Dragon apologized for what had happened. A contracted dragon could communicate through the heart with its partner even when they were some distance apart.

‘Forgive me, Lilim… If only I had breathed my flames when we defeated that Ogre… but even I could not possibly handle those black flames.’

“N-Noooo! Even my own dragon is digging up old wounds!!! I want to forget it already! I don’t want to remember anything about what happened back thennn!!!”

Milia laughed inwardly at the sight, but she also began to feel a little sorry for her sister. For elves, who were normally calm and composed, memories of their time as Dark Elves became a lifelong source of shame. Some even went so far as to throw away their lives, so their families maintained a certain distance while helping them heal from the emotional scars.

Reluctantly, Milia gave her sister some good news.

“The Basic Course interclass competition is happening in the third term. Why don’t you come visit just for fun, without treating it as work? Apparently some first-year named Fritz is having trouble with the Arses Family, and they’re going to have a match after the competition. Rudel is going to fight Fritz too, and if it’s at the academy, you’ll be able to apologize to him for what happened back then, right?”

“…Milia, what a wonderful little sister you are.”

‘I shall go as well. I must thank that human child.’

“Cattleya-san will be coming too, though.”

Lilim sensed something from Milia’s smiling expression.

“Cattleya is coming too? She was working on the frontier… More importantly, I wonder if I’ll be able to take time off. Adjusting work schedules is such a hassle. Taking leave without a good reason causes all kinds of problems… I-It’s not because I dislike Rudel-sama or anything!”

“It’s fine. Actually, someone asked me to do this. There’s a White Cat Tribe girl one year below me who’s friends with the princess, and the princess asked if we could come in case something happens.”

Lilim thought for a moment before asking what the reason was. Apparently Fina’s elder sister, Princess Aileen, would also be visiting incognito, and because it was not an official visit, she would have fewer guards…

But that was merely the public explanation. Fina knew that her sister would bring numerous Senior Knights and guards with her. Because of what had happened in the past, Fina was certain that her sister would never reduce the number of escorts accompanying her. Instead, Fina wanted to gather as many people sympathetic to Rudel as possible in case something happened.

Lilim and Milia knew nothing about that.

“Isn’t that basically work?”

“No. We aren’t getting paid, after all. But you’ll get to see Rudel. And if it’s a request from the princess—Princess Fina—then that gives you a perfectly good reason to take leave, doesn’t it?”

At those words, Lilim decided to take leave during the interclass competition. Reasoning that no one would bother investigating what a knight did at the academy during her vacation, Fina likewise continued preparing for what would happen after the interclass competition.