Being Acknowledged For The First Time

A short distance away from the table where the three of us had been talking earlier, Shia and I faced each other.

A wooden sword rested in my right hand, while Shia stood there completely unarmed.

This was a mock battle, and my opponent was the hero who had ended the war in the north.

I was looking forward to seeing how far I could get against someone overwhelmingly stronger than me.

Shia, on the other hand, wore a wry smile.

“U-Um, Nova-san… I understand that you’re happy to fight me, but please don’t overdo it.”

“S-Sorry… Just thinking that I’m about to fight you got me worked up.”

“I’m very happy that fighting me makes you feel that way, though.”

That gentle atmosphere ended there. Shia looked straight at me.

At the same time that I sensed the tension in the air, a translucent blue hemisphere appeared around us, enclosing us both.

Apparently, Aurora-chan had cast some kind of spell.

“Then, we’ll begin the mock battle between Oneesama and Nova-onii-sama. As for the magic and techniques you use, keep them within the bounds of common sense!”

Hearing Aurora-chan’s words, I tightened my grip on the wooden sword.

It was starting.

A match against a hero.

“Begin!”

The instant she gave the signal, gold filled my vision.

The moment I recognized the dazzling light, I raised my wooden sword into a defensive stance.

The incoming beam vanished as though it had been absorbed into the wooden blade.

The instant I kicked off the ground, numerous holes opened in space, and beams of light shot toward me from every direction.

I knocked several of them aside with the wooden sword and twisted my body as I advanced, when I realized something.

There were far too many beams for me to deal with using only one wooden sword.

And yet, the ones I failed to react to disappeared before they could strike my body.

I didn’t even have time to wonder why.

I took another step forward and let the edges of my vision blur.

Focusing only on Shia at the center, I accelerated faster than I ever had before and closed the distance in an instant.

I swung the wooden sword toward her neck, which somehow looked faintly translucent.

—!?

I poured all my strength into my right hand and tried to stop the swing.

Instinct told me that if I didn’t, it would be too late.

My right arm responded perfectly to the command from my brain and brought the blade’s speed down to zero.

Shia stood completely still, while I had successfully stopped the wooden sword against the side of her neck.

The outcome was obvious.

“…It’s impossible. There is absolutely no way I can defeat you, Nova-san.”

For some reason, Shia smiled brightly, and only then did the tension finally drain from my body.

“Nova-onii-sama, that was amazing! Near the end, you cut down every single one of Oneesama’s attacks!”

“Y-Yeah… thanks…”

Aurora-chan came running over to us, but I was left with a strange feeling.

It wasn’t exactly dissatisfaction, though.

“Nova-san, I’ll explain what happened during that battle and what we learned from it.”

For my sake, Shia apparently intended to briefly go over what had just happened.

“First, when you are struck by my magic, Nova-san, you convert it into power. In fact, partway through the fight, you weren’t able to block all of the beams, but by the end you were dealing with them completely. The speed of your sword, your reflexes, and everything else had improved by an entirely different level.”

“I-Is that so…?”

It was true that my body had started feeling as light as a feather partway through, and the beams had somehow seemed slower.

I had also felt exceptionally good when I took Shia’s magic back in Saria, but this time it had gone even further.

“On top of that, no defensive magic works against your sword. I had defensive magic surrounding my body, but the moment your wooden sword touched it, it disappeared.”

Hearing that, I looked toward the side of her neck where I had nearly swung the wooden sword.

There was no bruise or anything, which was a relief.

“Nova-san.”

“Shia?”

“Even at the very beginning, there are hardly any people who could defend against that much of my magic. I had heard that when it comes to swordsmanship alone, you rank among the very best in House Fols, and it seems that was true. It was like watching a sword dance—so captivating that I couldn’t take my eyes off it.”

“Ah…”

Seeing Shia smile at me with such gentle eyes, I felt something deep inside my chest suddenly grow hot.

“You’ve been working hard all this time, haven’t you, Nova-san?”

“…………”

It was the first time.

The first time anyone had ever acknowledged my swordsmanship.

My wish to be acknowledged by my family had never come true, but being acknowledged by someone like her made me feel as though that didn’t matter anymore.

“Yeah, I’ve seen all kinds of people use swords too, and I’m not flattering you—it really was impressive.”

“Aurora-chan…”

Shia and Aurora-chan.

The fact that these two, who were unquestionably stronger and more talented than me, had acknowledged me made me simply, overwhelmingly happy.

“Thank you. Haha… I’m really glad I kept training with the sword.”

I was truly glad I had continued without missing a single day.

“…And this means Oneesama can massively power up Nova-onii-sama, right? Honestly, you were so strong near the end that it shocked me.”

“Yes. I believe it may even be stronger than Haki.”

“Nova-onii-sama borrows Oneesama’s power and becomes the strongest. That’s kind of romantic!”

“D-Do you think so…?”

Now that she mentioned it, at the very end, I had felt like I could do anything.

It was as though I had become a completely different person from my usual self.
I see…

So that was the power I had with Shia.

A power I could only bring out when I was together with her.

Thinking about it that way suddenly made me embarrassed, and I looked away from Shia.

Aurora-chan’s word “romantic” fit it all too well, and the heat in my face showed no sign of fading.

“S-Sorry… I’m going to the bathroom for a bit!”

“Ah, the location is—”

“I know! You showed me earlier!”

With that, I fled the courtyard as though running away.

Because even I could tell that I couldn’t stop smiling.