Boy And Samurai Girl

During the academy’s long vacation, Rudel had returned home. Even though it had only been three months, he had experienced one new thing after another and felt that he had grown at least a little in his own way.

However, the Arses family’s treatment of him had not changed. If anything… when Rudel’s father saw his report card and realized that Rudel was more capable than he was, he became jealous. Rudel’s father had never been particularly talented, so once he learned that the son he had always thought was an idiot was actually more accomplished than him, his attitude changed openly.

“What does a worthless scrap of paper like that prove?! No matter how hard someone as useless as you works, it means nothing!”

Rudel’s father placed his expectations on Chlust instead. Chlust was capable and obedient… excellent, but only within the limits of what his father found comfortable, unlike Rudel, whose abilities had surpassed those limits.

“Even looking at your face irritates me!”

Rudel had harbored a faint hope that if everyone learned he was actually capable, their attitude toward him might change, so he was deeply disappointed. After experiencing the relationships he had formed at the academy, life at home weighed heavily on him.

“Big Bro? You finally came home, but you don’t look very happy.”

Lena, his younger half-sister, asked him about it while they ate breakfast together after his return. Her brother normally finished even the terrible breakfast without complaint, yet this time he was barely touching his food.

“Yeah, I guess… Hey, why do you think everyone hates me?”

“Huh? What are you talking about, Big Bro? I love you.”

Seeing his little sister’s innocent smile made Rudel feel a little lighter.

“I see… Yeah. Thanks, Lena.”

Rudel thought about it. There had once been a time when he believed everyone’s attitude toward him was normal. But now, he had begun to feel anxious about being disliked by those around him… He convinced himself that it must be because he was weak.

At the same time, Rudel decided that he should treasure the people who cared about him. Surely he would have more important encounters in the future.

“And besides! You can’t become a Dragoon if you’re like that. My Big Bro never gives up.”

Rudel burst out laughing at those words. Lena looked at him as though she had no idea why.

“That’s right! You’re right. Moping forever isn’t like me. How about we finish eating and go train outside?”

“Yeah! I’ll show you how much stronger I’ve gotten over the last three months, Big Bro!”

And so, after finishing his long vacation, Rudel returned to the academy. He arrived several days early, but when he looked around, Izumi was about the only person he knew who was already there. Or rather… he had never even asked whether Izumi had gone home for the break.

Rudel had brought some sweets from his territory as a souvenir, so he invited Izumi to have tea with him in the academy dining hall. What he brought was a fairly ordinary assortment of baked sweets. Izumi accepted them looking somewhat apologetic.

“Sorry. I wasn’t able to prepare a souvenir for you…”

Without thinking, Rudel asked,

“You didn’t go home? Why?”

Izumi hesitated slightly. Over the past three months, she had come to understand Rudel’s personality to some extent. Rudel rarely acted based on the mood around him. If something did not interest him, he would not even bother trying to remember it. On the other hand, once something caught his interest, he would investigate it thoroughly…

Giving up, Izumi explained it to him.

“My home is far away, and my family isn’t especially wealthy. Besides, I’m a woman, remember? A lot of my relatives dislike the fact that I’m attending an academy in a foreign country despite that. It may be difficult to understand because of the cultural differences.”

Rudel listened seriously. To him, whether someone was a man or a woman was not a major issue. There were female knights among the Dragoons as well. That alone proved that women could be just as capable.

He was also interested in Izumi’s Eastern swordsmanship. When he had first seen the style that used a slender, curved “katana” to draw and cut, he had been deeply impressed.

Even so, Rudel would never dismiss another culture simply because he did not understand it.

“I don’t know enough about your culture to say much about it. But I don’t think you should look down on yourself just because you’re a woman. You’re strong, Izumi, and you’re beautiful too.”

“W-Wait, what?! R-Rudel? Did you hit your head or something?”

Izumi’s face turned red as she reacted. At the same time, she remembered Rudel’s personality. From Izumi’s perspective, Rudel could be summed up in one word: eccentric. He occasionally did wildly unexpected things, often dragging everyone around him into the consequences. But he worked hard, and at heart he was serious… And Rudel basically never gave empty compliments.

It was often troublesome when Rudel simply said whatever he was thinking, but being called beautiful by someone like him still made her happy.

“What? Did I say something wrong again? If so, I’ll apologize…”

“Sigh… That’s not it. I’ve just never had someone call me beautiful directly to my face before. …Anyway, did you enjoy yourself back home, Rudel?”

Izumi tried to change the subject. However,

“Yeah, I suppose being home was enjoyable? More importantly, I’d like to know exactly what was wrong with what I said.”

Unable to change the subject, Izumi spent the rest of the conversation explaining things to Rudel with a red face. She told him that he should phrase things a little more indirectly, and that if he seriously told someone something like that to their face, they might misunderstand his intentions… A handful of students watched Rudel and Izumi with warm smiles.

That happened two days before classes resumed.

The second term was the period with the most events at the academy. That was true even for first- and second-year students in the basic curriculum, who participated in those activities alongside their normal studies. Fundamentally, however, the academy existed to produce knights, mages, civil officials, and other personnel who would serve the state… so its events reflected that purpose.

“Next month, we will be holding a training exercise focused on monster extermination. Participation is mandatory for all first- and second-year students in the basic curriculum, so anyone absent will not receive credit.”

The homeroom teacher’s explanation drew complaints from the class, which contained many nobles. The training would take place in a forest near the academy. Though “near” still meant several dozen kilometers away… The exercise was designed to teach students how to defeat relatively weak monsters in groups.

It was practical training intended to teach teamwork through actual experience. Naturally, professional monster hunters would accompany them. There would also be competition between classes. And the class that placed first among the two year groups would receive the reward of honor… Which was to say, basically nothing.

“Actual combat… This’ll be my first time.”

Unlike everyone else, who dreaded participating, Rudel was fired up for the exercise. The monsters they would face were ones almost anyone could handle individually, but such creatures generally appeared in large numbers. The academy could ensure the students’ safety while also reducing the local monster population, making the exercise beneficial in several ways.

“Now then, let’s begin today’s lesson. Please open your textbooks to…”

Meanwhile, something strange was happening in the forest near the academy. Trees had been knocked down, and the corpses of numerous weak monsters were scattered everywhere. With a low growl, a massive fur-covered body shifted.

“Grrrrrr!!!”

A gigantic boar with glowing crimson eyes tore into and devoured the monsters around it. Amid the obviously abnormal scene, the beast itself seemed completely out of place as it disappeared deeper into the forest.

Its body was covered in black fur, with white lines running all across it. It was a monster no one had ever seen before. The appearance of a creature that “should not exist” raised a single question…

What exactly did its presence mean?