1.
Camilla looked up at the spell formula spread out before her.
"..."
Countless lines were tangled across Cordelia's frozen body.
Punctured organs, severed mana circuits... and the problems caused as those wounds intertwined with one another.
Her condition had spiraled toward ruin through a repeating vicious cycle.
There were too many connections branching out like twigs; even though she could see them, treating every last one here and now was impossible.
But...
Here.
She found the point of entanglement that would take Cordelia's breath away the instant the ice was undone.
It was a point that possessed the very concept of a fatal wound.
If she removed that part, she could examine the rest slowly afterward.
First, the key was making sure she did not die.
Just then—
Click... click...
The sound of dress shoes came from behind her.
"I thought she would remain frozen for at least a few years."
Camilla turned her head.
An old man with a bloodless face wore a monocle. An oppressively long collar completely enveloped his neck.
Despite his immaculate suit, the backs of his hands were covered in age spots.
Gorgonew.
An old man she no longer even wanted to call a great sage.
Looking into the coffin, the old man adjusted his monocle.
"There are times when it benefits a patient more for a doctor to do nothing at all."
"..."
"In the end, the best treatment is maintaining their present condition. They need to be alive for there to be another chance, do they not?"
Scrape, scrape.
Gorgonew ran his fingers along the edge of the coffin and murmured placidly.
"Come to think of it, I wonder whether Duke Dolores is doing well. It should be about time I examined those gloves, too..."
"Shut your damn mouth."
"Is that so?"
Creak.
Gorgonew tilted his head slightly and placed a hand atop the coffin.
There was not even a trace of displeasure on his face.
His expression looked utterly devoid of emotion. Camilla thought psychopath might be the most fitting word for him.
"You would do well to hurry. If your hands merely shake like they did last time, you will not even have time to freeze her again."
"Open it."
When Camilla growled—
Tap, tap.
His skinny fingers tapped the ice.
Then—
Crack!
The coffin opened, and the trapped cold air poured out in a rush.
At the same time, Camilla swiftly spread her hand...
Hummm...
An opaque force field enveloped the coffin and Camilla's area.
She did not want to show him how she treated her.
"..."
The spell formula filling her vision began to move.
Blood that had been still tried to flow out from the wounds, and the entanglements twisted even more severely.
Camilla immediately reached out...
Snip, snip.
Crack, snip.
Her heart, legs, organs—every part that governed the fatal wounds.
She manipulated them all by pressing an intangible blade against them.
How much time passed?
About four hours?
Then, just as she severed the final entanglement with her blade—
Thump.
Haa... haa...
Cordelia's chest rose slightly.
Blood no longer dripped to the floor, either.
"...It's done."
Camilla's voice was so hoarse it was nearly metallic.
She had succeeded in erasing the concept of a fatal wound from Cordelia.
She was still grievously injured, with countless places left to mend, and it would take time for her to awaken, but at least she had escaped death...
Then—
Twitch.
"Huh?"
Cordelia's finger twitched.
"...Ca... milla...?"
Camilla stopped breathing.
Cordelia's eyes slowly opened.
"Cordelia...!"
Her consciousness had returned already?
That insane recovery rate, as expected...
Camilla hurriedly bent down and met her eyes.
"Do you recognize me? Can you see me?"
Holding Camilla's gaze, Cordelia blinked... blinked... twice.
Once Camilla confirmed her answer...
"Ah..."
She breathed a sigh of relief.
She had saved her.
And...
This made things very easy.
Ordinarily, she would need Cordelia's consent to undo Adeline's freezing and take her away.
Whether Camilla had a new ability to replace the freezing spell or not, it was impossible without Cordelia's consent.
It was a condition Cordelia had imposed so that no one could carelessly lay a hand on her younger sister while she was in the Tower.
But if she had opened her eyes and recognized Camilla like this...
"...Cordelia."
Camilla took Cordelia's hand.
"Do you trust me?"
She asked the companion who had returned from death's threshold.
Now it was time to take Adeline and get out of this godforsaken place.
2.
Smack.
"Hehe."
Normally, Ruby rode in the carriage with us when we went to the academy.
Because I never went separately without Ruby.
Whenever we sat together in the carriage, before long we would both start nodding off.
And Dolores would usually watch us with a fond smile...
But Ruby was not here today.
Nice.
She had gone ahead to prepare for the finals.
Which meant we were alone in the carriage...
Smack.
"Dolores."
"Hmm?"
As she answered, she gave my other cheek a kiss too.
"I can't seem to fall asleep today."
"That is good, then."
Mom smoothed my messy bangs, then kissed my exposed forehead again.
She had been sitting me on her lap and doing this since earlier.
She was especially touchy today.
I liked it, though...
"You shot up overnight, you know. My heart nearly dropped when I thought I might not be able to sit you on my lap anymore."
Though Yuna said I had only grown two centimeters.
Of course, that was a lot for overnight...
Smack, smack.
Dolores patted my back and hugged me tightly against her chest.
And so, for the few hours it took to reach the academy, I remained in her arms.
The final match was being held at the sparring arena deeper inside the academy.
Usually, it was a place only students entered, but today the entrance was already crowded with spectators.
"This way."
Naturally, Dolores was the woman who stood out the most among them.
Without paying any attention to it, she held my hand tightly and walked through the crowd.
I took the hand Dolores offered and followed her, but something had been bothering me the entire way.
Yuna.
[Yeah, nothing new has come up yet.]
Camilla.
I had sent her off like that this morning.
I was confident, but I still wanted to know the result.
She should have arrived by now, right?
I had asked Yuna to monitor the community boards and news articles.
Let me know immediately if anything comes up.
Then I focused on Ruby's match.
We entered the sparring arena.
"Your Grace."
An attendant greeted us at the entrance with a deep bow.
Mom returned the greeting with practiced ease, then led me up the stairs.
We were, of course, headed for the VIP seats.
VIP seats were different everywhere, starting with the seats themselves.
Whoa, so soft.
"Make yourself comfortable, Lionel."
"Yes."
Just as I was about to settle in—
"It is an honor to see you, Your Grace."
A middle-aged man who appeared to have arrived early rose from across from us.
His brown hair was combed back with such precision that it practically shone, and he wore a sharply tailored formal uniform—or perhaps knightly attire.
There were a few streaks of white at his temples.
Beside him was a boy who looked three or four years older than me.
I had a young-looking face, sure, but he still looked older than I was.
"It has been a long time, Count Berg."
"Have you been well, Your Grace?"
When the count looked beside him, the boy lowered his head as well.
"I am Edwin, eldest son of House Berg."
"A pleasure."
Mom acknowledged his greeting with a light smile.
The count placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
For Dolores, this was quite a warm greeting.
At the Imperial banquet last time, she had responded to another count with an expression bordering on disgust.
"We came to watch my second son's final match. I presume Your Grace has also come to cheer for your daughter."
"Yes. She asked me to come no matter what."
I quietly sat beside her.
There was no need for me to interrupt while the adults were talking, was there?
"My son took his previous defeat rather hard."
Defeat...?
Ah.
Wait a second.
Was the guy Ruby beat up and took the class presidency from his son?
"Thanks to that, he has been going to the training grounds without needing to be told..."
"It seems Ruby gave him good motivation."
"Yes, we have the young lady to thank for that."
The count smiled as he looked down at the sparring arena.
"Still, I heard that at the time, he could not properly withstand the young lady's weapon. Apparently, his sword was damaged before they had even exchanged many blows."
"..."
"It would be unfortunate if the difference in their weapons were too great for a match between children. I paid a little more attention to it this time."
Ah-ha.
So his son had lost, but...
He was saying the sword had been kind of shitty too?
Wow, shit. Was this the noble way of speaking?
Look at this guy. That's insane.
I glanced at Dolores.
Sure enough, Mom nodded without any noticeable change in expression.
"I see."
"He has gone through quite a bit of hardship getting used to it, so I believe he will put on a good match today."
"This should be... interesting."
He seemed pretty confident...
How good a sword had he brought, anyway?
And when the count and his eldest son returned to their seats—
The announcer's voice began to ring out.
You have waited a long time! The final match of the first-year final evaluation begins now!!
It was an academy only nobles attended, but...
They sure knew how to get the crowd going.
The murmur of the stands quieted.
Let us begin the long-awaited final!!
Waaaaah!!
The doors on either side of the arena opened.
First, the first-year student council president! Ruby von Dolores!
Ruby emerged, her familiar dark-red hair visible as she rested her staff across her shoulders like the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
"That girl..."
"Hehehe."
Dolores sighed and held her forehead at Ruby's entrance, which looked almost like that of a street thug.
She did seem a little far removed from what one expected of a noble.
Ruby's eyes swept across the stands, then stopped on me.
"...!"
The corners of her lips lifted all the way up, and she hopped in place as she waved toward me.
I smiled and waved back at her.
A boy walked out from the other side as well.
His face looked strangely similar to the count seated beside us.
The second son of House Berg! Erich Berg!
Then I noticed the sword slung across his back.
After bowing toward the audience, Erich headed to the center of the arena.
A sword...
It would be a fight between a sword and a staff.
"...Hmm."
Staff technique and swordsmanship.
Before making Ruby's staff, I had checked how it matched up against various weapons.
I had never actually fought, so it was only at the level of studying, but...
With swordsmanship and staff technique... unless it was a greatsword—
It would be a matter of the staff maintaining distance, while the sword closed in.
In other words, this fight would hinge on how well Ruby could create distance and land effective strikes.
That aside, what I needed to watch was...
The sword.
I quietly watched the sword the boy drew from his back.
Because... I had been interested in swords lately.
I had made Seren's armor, which could be called the foundation of defensive equipment...
But the flower of all weapons.
A sword... I had never made one before.
I was looking for reference material.
I was planning to try making a sword soon.
So, let us see just how good the equipment he had been given was.
The blade slid from its sheath and caught the arena lights.
Just as information on the sword was about to appear before my eyes...
"Lady Ruby!"
Erich called out to Ruby.
"...?"
Ruby tilted her head.
What was this sudden move?
"If I win this match!"
Erich held his sword upright before his chest.
"I shall formally ask you to enter a relationship with me!"
"What the fuck?"
I muttered quietly without thinking.
"Ahem!"
Count Berg cleared his throat beside me, and his eldest son stared directly at me, but...
What the fuck are you looking at?
How dare he go after my little sister...
Waaaaaah!
Cheers erupted from the stands, and some people even whistled.
I immediately looked at Ruby...
Oh.
"..."
This was bad.
Not for me. For him.
Ruby's expression turned icy as she looked up at me for a moment.
Shake, shake.
Then, with a look that clearly rejected the idea, she firmly shook her head.
And looked forward again.
Ah.
Ruby was angrier than I had ever seen her.
"Start it."
Rather than answering him, Ruby turned to the announcer and murmured in a low voice...
This match is becoming very interesting...!
Begin!!
The battle began.
Rustle, rustle.
"Sigh."
I immediately put on the goggles I had prepared.
Totality: Vision.
I had brought them so I could properly see Ruby's [Totality: Ascension].
I wanted to see just how much her affinity with spirits had risen.
That was what I had intended to confirm, but...
It was true that I had not seen her use it in a while.
I had made it for her, but I had not tracked how she used it afterward.
But then—
The sight that entered my eyes through Totality: Vision was...
"Huh...?"
G-generals have descended into the mortal realm!?
Along with Hwiri's trembling voice from atop my shoulder—
Behind Ruby stood a massive blue spirit and a massive red spirit.
They... bent down side by side, placing their hands over the staff Ruby held.
"W-wait a second..."
Spirit generals?
I had heard they were directly beneath the Spirit Kings...
Boom!
Ruby kicked off the ground.
The dynamic I had explained earlier had clearly been a staff maintaining distance and a sword closing in...
None of that mattered. The staff charged straight in.
Erich hurriedly raised his sword, and only then did the information I had been waiting for enter my vision.
─────────────────
[Hundredfold Uniform Sword][★★★★☆]
─────────────────
『A sword made uniform by being hammered a hundred times.』
─────────────────
Four stars. It was fairly decent...
Creeeak!!
The Hundredfold Uniform Sword's middle bent like a bow.
Then, the instant the blue general and the red general pushed with their arms together—
Crack.
The Hundredfold Uniform Sword folded in half at its middle and snapped...
"..."
Fragments of what had once been a sword scattered through the air...
Bang!
Ruby's staff struck Erich's body and sent him flying into the wall.
Crash!
A home run.
"..."
"..."
The stands fell silent.
When Ruby lowered her staff, those massive hands slowly withdrew as well.
O-out of bounds! Erich Berg is out of bounds!
The announcer shouted belatedly.
The winner is... Ruby von Dolores!!
I blinked and looked beside me.
"..."
A difference in equipment?
No, no...
"A difference in skill..."
Slide.
Mom covered my mouth.
Then she smiled sweetly at Count Berg.
"That was a fine match."
"..."
"It seems the gap in weapons that you were concerned about... has not yet been resolved."
"..."
Ah.
So this was the noble way of speaking.
I nodded.
I had learned something new.
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