"That is what happened, Brother."
"I see... I do not know whether I should call it fortunate that you survived."
Beyond the crystal ball sitting alone atop the dormitory desk, a black-haired man visibly worn with fatigue pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a deep sigh.
Cassian de Logres, the eldest son of the Logres family.
With an expression full of apology, Cassian spoke softly.
"I am sorry. I should have contacted you as soon as the incident occurred."
"No. You are the busiest of all of us, Brother."
That was not empty flattery.
By now, the Logres family and the nomadic forces of the north were likely in the midst of a fierce clash.
Perhaps Father and the nomads’ chieftain had already begun a grand one-on-one duel in the heart of the battlefield.
And besides, they had not exactly told us to contact them.
At Dawnstar Academia, as I remembered it, Cassian had always been the one to contact Dolnesia first. Dolnesia had never contacted the family before he did.
"Father told me to ask whether you were doing well at the academy. Well, after seeing the look in your eyes just now, I suppose there is no need to worry. Still... I never imagined you would defeat a Sword Master."
"But, Brother, that was..."
"I know. You said it was not a victory earned through your own ability, did you not?"
Cassian tilted his head and continued in a low voice.
"What does that matter? In the end, you are the one standing on this earth. The fact that the Sword Master fell by your hand will never change, so do not dwell on it too much."
Watching Cassian give me a faint smile, I let out a baffled chuckle.
Cassian looked at my face, smiled bitterly, and went on.
"More than anything, I only feel sorry toward you. I should have been the one to go, but I sent you in my place and made you fight such a dangerous battle for nothing."
Why was he making me feel all soft-hearted?
I had learned that Cassian was not merely kind to women, but a young man who simply cared deeply for his family. Still, seeing him show me the same attitude he had shown only Dolnesia and the heroines in the game made me feel oddly embarrassed.
Still, it was not as though I had come away with nothing.
It was a fact that I had grown stronger, and I could obtain Arghalia’s items, which I had never been able to get in the game.
Iris had awakened as a Holy Maiden, and though I did not know whether it would prove useful, I had even gained the asymmetric asset known as the Holy Virgin.
I shook my head as I answered.
"Well, thanks to it, I was able to grow another step stronger, so I hope you will not worry too much."
"Even so, I sent you there believing it would naturally be safe, since it was under a dragon’s protection... And I heard the sword you used broke as well? I have already commissioned a new one from a blacksmith in the territory. It should arrive at the academy within a few days."
"You must be busy in the middle of a war."
"I am not so busy that I cannot have one sword made for my younger brother."
Jackpot.
I had been worried about whether I would have to keep using that short spear with its pathetic attack power.
This changed things.
Honestly, even if it had the same options, I would not have minded.
That sword’s performance was solid enough that I could use it without issue until the middle portion of the story.
As I calculated the value of the weapon in my head, Cassian tapped the desk twice with his finger beyond the crystal ball. Then, as though something were bothering him, he looked at me and spoke quietly.
"...Could it be that you do not have enough money to spend at the academy?"
What money?
I had more than I could fucking spend.
I had not gone out of the academy much, and there simply had not been anywhere to spend it. The funds Father had given Dolnesia and me were practically an unlimited black card.
Enough that buying three loaves of bread at the shop in a row would not hurt my balance in the slightest.
Even when I tried to spend it, the money replenished itself, so I had never once worried about finances.
"Not long ago, Dolnesia scolded me. She asked just how stingy I must have been with your allowance for Ian to skip the academy cafeteria and fill his stomach with scraps of bread instead."
I only did not go because it was a hassle.
Come to think of it, I did not think I had eaten at the academy cafeteria even once since arriving here.
At first, I had avoided it because I did not want to get entangled with the male leads for no reason.
But I had grown used to it, and grabbing something from the shop instead of eating cafeteria food had become my routine.
"Ah, that was only because it was troublesome to walk all the way to the dining hall..."
"Even if it is troublesome, you must eat three proper meals a day. Your body must be well supported if you are to accomplish great deeds."
Having said that much, Cassian released a long, deep sigh.
"So, Ian, please make sure to relay my words to Dolnesia. I have become a shameless wretch who sent you to the academy as my substitute, yet did not even give you enough allowance to feed yourself."
"Haha, yes. I will make sure she understands. You are not such a shameless man, Brother."
"Good. I am counting on you."
Cassian slowly nodded, continuing with gentle eyes.
"Go inside and rest now. You must be tired as well. It is good to see your face again after so long."
"...It has not even been half a month since we last saw each other, Brother."
"They say time moves slowly in the north, do they not? By the way, Dolnesia must be quite upset, because she has not answered any of my messages at all. Give her my regards in my stead, along with my explanation..."
After tossing out that random joke, Cassian reached for the crystal ball as if to end the communication.
But as though something had suddenly crossed his mind, his movement stiffened.
"Brother?"
"...That is right. I nearly forgot to tell you this."
The color drained from Cassian’s face, which had been wearing an easy smile, as if it had all been a lie.
His atmosphere instantly turned grave. Tapping the desk another few times with his fingers, he fixed me with deeply sunken eyes.
"The Sword Master you faced belonged to the Dawn Troupe, correct?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"There is someone in the Dawn Troupe connected to Logres."
"What?"
What was that supposed to mean?
I stared at Cassian with an expression of complete incomprehension at his sudden statement.
The Dawn Troupe was a thoroughly outsourced organization, practically an asylum for insane egotists who did whatever the fuck they wanted unless ordered otherwise by their leader. Even so, it was a small elite group personally recruited and bound together by the leader.
That was why it was an organization made up almost entirely of powerful people, but there should not have been even one among them connected to the Logres family.
Beyond the crystal ball, Cassian slowly crossed his arms and continued in a voice far more subdued than before.
"Duke Drayg said that the man who restrained him used Logres Swordsmanship."
It had been the same at Dawnstar Academia.
When the Sword Master Arghalia invaded the academy, I remembered that the headmistress—one of the strongest individuals in the setting—had also been restrained by someone and excluded from that event.
It had never been revealed exactly who that person was. The only thing known was that someone from the Dawn Troupe had intervened.
But...
"But Brother, Logres Swordsmanship is not strictly a secret art, is it? Could he not simply be someone who learned that swordsmanship in the past?"
Logres Swordsmanship was not a secret art passed down only through the family, like Mad Orlando.
It was an exceedingly common swordsmanship that had long ago spread throughout the world and been chewed up, picked apart, and torn to shreds.
Simply because that man used the family’s swordsmanship, it was admittedly a stretch to conclude that he had a direct connection to the Logres family...
But there was something that bothered me.
There had been no one in the Dawn Troupe who used Logres Swordsmanship.
"Of course, we have not failed to consider that possibility."
Cassian shook his head and continued.
"Furthermore, that man used the secret arts of Orlando and Olivier, as well as the Frank Knights’ secret techniques, as though they were extensions of his own limbs. When we first heard the Duke’s account, we thought he was a secret weapon covertly raised by the Karl Kingdom rather than someone related to us."
That was even stranger.
What the hell was that hybrid?
There should not have been anyone in the Dawn Troupe who handled the Frank Knights’ techniques.
"The Duke sent Father a recording from that time, and after Father watched it all, this was what he said."
Cassian pressed his brow and continued in a low voice.
"He said this man appears to be connected to Logres."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. I do not know what he saw that led him to say so, and his expression was not particularly grave, but you should be careful. There is Kafka as well, and after this incident, the Dawn Troupe will likely have their eyes on you."
I had drawn a whole lot of attention.
Still, thankfully, I would not run into them within the academy.
But the more I thought about it, the stranger it became.
There did not seem to be anyone in the Dawn Troupe who fit Brother’s description.
"Could you tell me that person’s name?"
"They call him Il Capitano."
That was strange.
I remembered who Il Capitano was.
He was unlike the other members, whose information simply circulated around.
Perhaps because he had been the last member recruited into the Dawn Troupe, or perhaps because he himself had thoroughly erased his past, almost no information about him was publicly known.
Yet he was one of the powerful figures even within the Dawn Troupe, an elite group of nothing but elites—strong enough to rival Arlecchino, who held the position of second-in-command in martial ability.
He never spoke and stood in the background like a folding screen even during the meeting cutscenes, making him seem like an extra. But he was a character who overturned those expectations with his strength.
But...
That man had not used Logres Swordsmanship either.
And he had certainly not been someone who used the Karl Kingdom’s secret arts.
"Then be careful, Ian."
With that weighty warning, the crystal ball gave off a bzzzz, and its light slowly faded away.
On the smooth surface of the crystal ball, now completely dark, only my dumbfounded face was reflected coldly.
#
What was this?
Why?
Why in the world had Il Capitano of the Dawn Troupe used Logres Swordsmanship?
Why did he wield the secret arts of Orlando and Olivier?
...Had there been some hidden piece or setting that I had overlooked?
If not...
"Ian?"
"Huh?"
"Is something wrong?"
Someone tapped my shoulder as I stared blankly into space.
Broken out of my thoughts by the unexpected voice, I turned my head and a familiar face entered my sight.
The owner of those fingers was none other than Dante.
The reason Dante, whose department differed from mine, was sitting in the same classroom as me was that this class was a general elective called Dungeon Ecology and Conquest.
I had picked it without much thought, merely to fill up some spare credits, but I had never dreamed my schedule would overlap with Dante’s like this.
For reference, I had been lying in a hospital bed under the care of the infirmary during last week’s orientation, so this was essentially my first class.
"...No, it is nothing."
"Really?"
Dante tilted his head, gave me a quick once-over, and continued.
"Come to think of it, my sister told me to make sure you came to the clubroom today."
If he meant his sister, he must have been talking about President Eileen.
I went to the clubroom all the time anyway.
I asked as though it were no big deal.
"Why?"
"She said she had something to tell you about Niklas? I think she said she had discovered something about that child..."
Something about Niklas?
Could it be related to the club’s research?
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