Chapter 47 – You’re a Kaplan.
On a night lit only by the moonlight, a sword cuts through the air.
Whoosh!
Its speed is so fast that even sound can’t catch up, rather, a sonic boom is a beat late.
Once again, and again. A sword cuts through the air.
Whoosh!
The path of the falling sword is flawless, without a trace of error.
And the process is as if nonexistent, only the result of the sword striking down at so mont remains.
Perfect.
It was a movent worthy of the word perfect.
“Huff…”
The knight gasped for breath.
The sword is immutable, but the human body is not.
Her whole body was covered in sweat. Every ti she swung the sword, droplets of sweat scattered in all directions.
‘Nine hundred and ninety-eight.’
She swung the sword once more.
Whoosh!
‘Nine hundred and ninety-nine.’
Once, and again, without hesitation, once more…
The act of repeating the sa motion without any error was torture in itself.
But this knight, she did not fear the torture-like training at all.
Now, only one more ti was left.
‘Finish!’
Crack!
She stomped on the ground with all her strength, and the rocks on the surface flew into the air. There were more than ten of them at a glance.
At the mont when the rising rocks stopped ascending, she activated her unique ability.
Flash.
…In an instant, she would cut them all.
But then, it happened.
“Ivan!”
At the sudden call of her na, the girl couldn’t swing her sword.
“…”
Hoo, she exhaled. The girl looked at her sword with a complicated expression.
“Failure… I guess.”
She had succeeded brilliantly nine hundred and ninety-nine tis, but failing once was also an undeniable fact.
She accepted it silently.
Ivan Rose. The person who called her na apologized quickly at her serious look.
“I’m sorry, Ivan. I interrupted you at a crucial mont.”
Ivan shook her head quietly. She took off her gloves and wiped the sweat on her forehead.
“Rudville. There’s no need to apologize.”
“Isn’t it because of that you couldn’t swing your sword?”
“Absolutely not. It was who stopped the sword just because my na was called. It’s because of my lack of practice.”
“…”
The faces of the knight trainees who ca to see Ivan with Rudville were montarily stunned.
Ivan was still Ivan.
They all thought that at the sa ti.
“But… what’s going on here?”
“Oh, right. Guys.”
Rudville nodded his head as if he just rembered.
Then the other trainees proudly lifted up the baskets they held in both hands. The food inside slled delicious.
“Ivan, tomorrow is the tournant, right? We have to celebrate in advance.”
“In advance?”
“Yeah, dude. It’s obvious that you’ll win anyway.”
Since the knight departnt had an overwhelming win rate in the combat events, they didn’t feel any tension at all.
Ivan shook his head vigorously.
“I appreciate your kindness, but I’ll eat after the match is over.”
Then laughter erupted around him. Ivan’s head tilted sideways.
“…Why do you all laugh whenever I say sothing? Always.”
“It’s because of your way of speaking, dude.”
“Is it that funny? My way of speaking.”
“Yeah. It’s hilarious. I can’t get used to it no matter how many tis I hear it. So don’t just swing your sword all day and have so fun, too. Our Ivan.”
Ivan scratched his cheek with a slightly embarrassed look.
“That’s strange, I always spoke like this in my hotown…”
“That’s why it’s funny! You’re from Rapel, aren’t you?”
More laughter burst out. Ivan’s hotown, Rapel, was known as the most rural of the rural areas.
While she was checking her way of speaking a few tis, the other knight trainees started to offer her food again.
“Don’t be like that and have a bite. Anyway, you’ll win even with your eyes closed against the magicians, right?”
“Rudville. Don’t say that.”
Ivan cut off Rudville’s words. The female knight’s expression beca serious.
“Whoever the opponent is, I have to do my best without being complacent. That’s the courtesy to myself, and also to the other party.”
“Oh, co on~ Guys! Ivan is starting to nag again!”
Rudville shouted and pretended to die. Then the trainees next to him acted as if they were supporting him and added a word each.
“Ivan, aren’t you too serious by yourself? You have to think about your own skills. Your nickna is the supernova of the knight departnt.”
“Yeah. Is there any knight in the first year who can beat you? No. Even the sa knights can’t beat you, let alone the magicians. Rudville is right, you’ll win even with your eyes closed.”
Then Ivan raised both hands. He tried to calm them down with a sowhat awkward expression.
“Please, don’t say that. I still have a lot to learn. I don’t want to be rude to the great knights.”
“Ivan, are you so stubborn that you don’t know how to get married?”
Rudville teased him with a laugh. Ivan jumped up when he heard that.
“Ma, ma, marriage? My goal is to be a sword saint!”
“Who knows? Maybe there’s a man who’s a sword saint and a husband.”
“Hey!”
Ivan’s face turned red as if it would explode.
That expression was a famous sight among the first-year knights, and they all laughed.
Rudville pulled out a huge pile of papers from one of the baskets. They were all newspapers from the rhen Daily.
As if they had found so delicious food, the other students also took one each, and Rudville raised his voice.
“Alright. Since you won’t admit how amazing you are, let’s have so ti to praise our great Ivan-sama.”
“Oh, co on… Stop doing that…”
“How can I stop? If you’re unhappy, you should have been more modest. The Knight Academy’s prodigy, the Knight Academy’s supernova, the second Scarlet Judith, the undefeated knight…”
“Rudville! Stop it! Enough!”
Ivan tried to stop them with a sickly expression, but it was not enough to calm them down.
Soon, soone started to read the newspaper headlines out loud.
“The Knight Academy’s supernova, Ivan Rose. Ready and determined to protect his victory!”
“Ivan’s sword shakes the whole academy. Hahaha… Who wrote this?”
As soon as one person finished reading a headline, another one continued from the side. Ivan rubbed his throbbing forehead with his palm.
The ‘praise’ for Ivan went on for a long ti. The glasses clinked and the laughter rang.
She ignored the embarrassing praise and took out a necklace from her pocket.
‘Father.’
As she held the necklace, mories of her childhood suddenly ca to her mind.
Her father’s harsh training that taught Ivan. She would get scolded if she cried, and she would collapse from exhaustion after it was over…
If her father was alive, all this praise would have been for him.
Therefore, Ivan could never forgive the villain who took her father away. And she could never lose.
But then.
“Huh? What’s this…?”
The eyes of the knight student next to her widened. He buried his head in the newspaper and started to examine every letter as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Why is he suddenly like this? Can’t he read… Huh?”
Rudville, who approached him, also had the sa expression. Finally, their mouths opened.
“The Magic Academy, selecting their representative with a systematic criterion, attracting attention…”
At the ntion of the Magic Academy, the noisy training ground beca quiet.
“…They are confident that they will win in the combat event? What the hell is this? Did I understand this correctly?”
“Now that I see it, there are a lot of articles related to the Magic Academy. What’s going on?”
The sound of glasses clinking and laughter disappeared at once. Only the sound of turning paper pages filled the training ground.
“…Damn it. What are these bastards?”
Rudville crumpled the newspaper and broke the silence.
That was the signal, and everyone started to say sothing.
“They’re so arrogant. Do they want to get beaten up?”
“Who’s their representative that they’re so cocky? Let see.”
Everyone’s interest shifted to the Magic Academy’s ‘representative’.
“Flan… Hey, he looks like a commoner?”
“A commoner? They must have sothing up their sleeve. They have sothing they like, right? Illusion or sothing. That.”
As the criticism against the Magic Academy rained down, soone tilted his head and opened his mouth.
“His history is a bit unusual. He entered as an F-rank, but he was chosen as the representative this ti.”
“That’s not unusual… Hey, don’t tell . Is it that?”
As if sothing ca to his mind, a knight student said urgently.
“Did he make a contract with a villain? Soul contracts are common among magicians. If you think about it, everything makes sense, right? It explains why he’s so confident.”
Soul contract.
At that remark, there was a mont of silence, and then Rudville slapped the student’s head.
“Are you crazy?”
“Ow!”
“Do you think the representative who is organized by both academies, judged by the professors, and checked by the dean is a contractor?”
Then Rudville quietly added with his mouth.
‘Don’t talk about villains in front of Ivan!’
That’s when it happened.
“I’ll go ahead.”
Ivan grabbed his coat. His face was more serious than ever.
He looked like he could handle anything.
Rudville cautiously opened his mouth.
“Ivan, are you okay?”
Ivan nodded quietly and took his sword. He felt like he had to stop by another training ground.
He could never lose.
But if he did, he would accept it humbly. He had stepped on and risen from thousands of defeats and victories, and he finally faced the essence of knighthood…
He would beco a sword saint who could destroy all villains.
So if.
By any chance.
If my opponent is a villain…
I will never forgive him either.
◈
-Kaplan.
His voice is clear and transparent, without a trace of falsehood.
His thin tone tornts my reason. It almost makes act on impulse.
-This ti too… you can’t tell anything, can you?
I feel a chill. I know what’s going on.
-It’s okay. I trust you.
The words she said to once, when I had to bear everything alone.
-You’ll prove it eventually, like always.
Now that I think about it, it was a brave advice that I squeezed out.
-You’re Kaplan. The grand mage of rhen’s rank, Kaplan.
Or a clingy.
A clumsy feeling that I wanted to share both joy and sorrow with her.
Love.
She stands by the window, her white hair fluttering in the wind. Her face is hidden by the glittering silk strands. I can’t see her front at all.
If she turns around, I know I’ll face her golden eyes, like stars pouring down like rain.
I get up from my seat and approach her.
One step, two steps.
The woman’s figure, which seed to be within my reach, disappeared like smoke.
“…”
At the sa ti, I open my eyes.
That woman doesn’t exist in this world. The purple sunlight that seeped through the curtains told that a new day had dawned.
In other words, I had a dream.
A dream.
“I guess I need more training.”
A dream is nothing but a ntal prank that edits reality to suit one’s taste and plays a plausible delusion.
It’s because my body wasn’t tired enough that I rembered the dream so well.
Anyway, the day of the duel has co.
It was quiet outside. I woke up earlier than usual.
I didn’t want to sleep again or sit idly. I quickly washed myself and went out of the dormitory.
The sun was just rising, and a faint aura filled the campus. The academy was covered by the calm before the storm.
‘…A dream.’
The mory of the previous mont crashes into my clear mind and sight, acting as a nuisance.
I forcibly clean up the ss in my head. A mage needs to be numb to both internal and external stimuli.
It was just a montary illusion.
It was just an unusual day, defeated by the sleepiness.
I calm my breath. I send mana to my whole body, from the thick blood vessels to the fine ones in my fingertips and toes, awakening my sharp senses.
I exhale lightly. Perfect. I won’t be swayed by external stimuli anymore.
“I wonder if my mind has beco as young as my body.”
I muttered to myself, trying to shake off the awkward feeling that had been bothering .
I adjusted my body and mind as a complete mage and applied the final correction. Before the tournant began, I planned to ditate and check my mana in the training ground.
“Oh, Sir Flan!”
It was then that a voice as white as a cloud grabbed my ankle.
“Good morning!”
I heard the sound of running footsteps.
“Sir Flan! Have you had breakfast?”
I turned my head and saw her.
She was as white as light… and her hair was as shiny as silk. Her golden eyes glittered so brightly that I felt like I would go blind if I kept looking at them.
“I ca to greet you on the day of the tournant!”
She smiled proudly, thumping her chest, and stood in front of . She was Yushia.
“Have you had breakfast?”
“Not yet.”
“Oh, no, you must eat breakfast. That’s what my mother always says!”
I averted my eyes from Yushia and moved on.
I had to ditate. No, I felt like I had to.
“Oh, where are you going?”
She followed closely and grinned.
“I’m going to the training ground.”
“I see, I’ll go with you! Did you have any trouble last night?”
Trouble.
Yushia clenched her fists and looked at expectantly. I looked away from her sparkling golden eyes.
“I did.”
If it had been normal, I would have snapped at her and showed my displeasure.
But, for so reason.
“Uh… really? What was it? How dare they bother Sir Flan!”
A faint smile appeared on my lips.
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