CHAPTER 3

Still appearing to have some fighting spirit left in him, he quickly got up and readied his sword. The other two unsheathed their brands at the same time and gathered into a triangle formation around me.

One was in front of me, and the other two were behind me diagonally to the left and right. They displayed no intention of making the first move; the last duel must have left them wary.

They’re waiting for me to attack one of them so the other two can get me from behind.

As I tried to predict their strategy, I lamented my current situation. How did things end up this way?

I wished only to make friends at this academy and have fun honing my swordcraft. The plan was to train with my friends, graduate in three years, then become a holy knight and earn a steady salary.

I wanted to use that money to give Mom an easy life as repayment for all she’d done for me. I didn’t know what I was going to do after that, but I might have gotten married and had a family.

That was the peaceful, happy life that should have been mine… Where did I go wrong…?

My classmates glared at me with animosity. If I had to assign my popularity a number value, it would be zero— Actually, it was worse than zero. And now I found myself stuck in a desperate situation, surrounded by three students at once.

“Haaah…” I sighed.

Life is always unpredictable. I’d managed to get into Thousand Blade Academy, one of the Elite Five Academies, yet I was still facing one trial after another, without a moment to catch my breath.

…Let’s get this over with.

I figured I might as well start by breaking the deadlock. That would require taking out one point of this triangle.

I picked the boy who happened to be in front of me as my target and closed the distance between us in one step.

“Eighth Style—Eight-Span Crow!”

“Wha?! Cloudy Sky Style—Cirrocumulus Cloud!”

The boy didn’t get into Thousand Blade Academy for nothing. He reacted quickly to my high-speed approach and Eight-Span Crow and was able to respond with a move of his own. However, it wasn’t good enough.

“Nrgh… Gah?!”

Cloud Sky Style, Cirrocumulus Cloud was an impressive four-chain attack, but it was still four blows short. I connected with slashes to his head, torso, right shoulder, and collarbone and sent him tumbling backward.

Two more…

I turned around just in time to see the boy I’d clashed with just moments before lifting his sword overhead.

“Take thiiiiiiis! Slice Iron Style—Demolish Iron!”

“Too slow.”

I struck his throat as we passed each other.

“Damn…”

His upper body swayed, and he fell flat on his face. When charging into an opponent’s space, you needed to be ready to strike at any moment—lifting your sword before swinging it back down took too much time. I’d now taken two of them out without injury.

“Sorry, guys…I’ll take it from here!”

The voice of the last boy rang behind me.

He’s too close behind me to dodge.

His position on me was so advantageous that there was nothing I could do to avoid him.

“New Moon Style Secret Technique—Moonlight Strike!”

“Look out, Allen!”

“Dodge it!”

I heard Lia and Rose call out as the boy’s sword sped by my ear.

I wasn’t worried—he was standing in range of my trap.

“Second Style—Hazy Moon.”

“Huh? Gah!”

A powerful slice struck him in the stomach, and he collapsed with his eyes wide in astonishment.

“Phew… It’s finally over.”

My prediction of how the battle would end had been entirely accurate. I knew I would be attacked from the spot behind my back, so I’d prepared a counterattack beforehand.

Suddenly, I realized that I’d been doing nothing but fighting recently.

I want to take it easy and swing my sword in peace.

That was what I thought as I sheathed my blade.

After repelling the three boys, I turned to my classmates, who had been watching the bout in attentive silence.

“Th-that was amazing, Allen!”

“How did you do that last slash attack? I couldn’t even see it! Please teach me!”

“Hold on, I’m way more interested in the eight-chain attack he used at the beginning of the fight!”

“He took on all three of them and won without a scratch… Incredible. Congratulations!”

They showered me with praise and applause.

“Huh? U-um…thanks…”

I bowed awkwardly. I’d never been treated this way before.

“Good job, Allen!”

“What kind of trick was that last attack…?!”

Lia and Rose walked up to me together.

“Thanks, Lia. ‘Last attack’… Do you mean Hazy Moon, Valencia?”

Rose nodded enthusiastically.

“Oh yeah, Lia is the only one who’s seen it.”

I explained Hazy Moon in simple terms. Rose silently listened with great interest.

“…And that’s how it works. Hazy Moon is a preset slash attack.”

“Huh… That’s really interesting. Thanks for explaining,” she replied with a wide grin.

“Hmm, I still think that move is unfair, myself,” Lia complained under her breath. She’d been listening quietly next to me with her arms crossed, likely reflecting on the duel from the previous day.

“Really?”

Personally, I thought you could see the spot where I prepared the move if you strained your eyes a little, and it was difficult to set it in the first place without my opponent noticing. It seemed to have plenty of drawbacks to me…

Well, I couldn’t expect everyone to share the same opinion. There was nothing more to say about that.

We continued our pleasant conversation until we heard something.

“Urgh…”

“Ouch…”

“I heard that…”

The three boys I’d just trounced sat up slowly.

They must be in really good shape if they can move already.

They were Thousand Blade Academy students, after all. They hadn’t only honed their swordcraft, but their bodies as well.

“Um… Are you all okay?” I asked.

I thought it would be rude to merely watch, so I reached out a hand to one of them. He gave me a long, sharp look.

“…”

The boy grabbed my hand and got up unsteadily.

The other two struggled to their feet on their own, and then all three of them stood to face me.

Oh, come on, I really don’t want any more fighting.

I eyed them uneasily as I waited to see what they would do next.

“I’m sorry. I hope you can forgive me for my rude remarks,” he said, bowing deeply.

“…Huh?”

I was caught off guard. The other two followed suit and bowed as well.

“Sorry… It seems we were blind to your skill. You are more than fit to represent us, Allen.”

“I have no right to ask this, but I hope you can forgive the hurtful things I said…”

Maybe they weren’t such bad guys after all.

“Don’t worry about it. I already think nothing of it.”

There was nothing untoward about their objection to my being selected as a participant for the Elite Five Holy Festival—it was actually very reasonable. I could tell from our match that they rigorously refined their swordcraft every day.

I’ve heard that classes are so strict at prestigious swordcraft academies that they’re like a living hell…

Those three overcame that hardship with incredible effort, which paid off with their admittance into Thousand Blade Academy. Despite that, the academy had not selected them as participants for the Elite Five Holy Festival, where they would have been able to show off what they learned in middle school. Instead, a self-taught swordsman from a third-rate, no-name swordcraft academy had been chosen in their place.

Can’t blame them for being upset over that.

It would have been weird if they hadn’t been mad.

I definitely have them beat in terms of time spent training, though.

They’d devoted their lives to their swordcraft during their three years of middle school. However, I’d done the same for over a billion years. I’d swung my blade countless times more than them.

The three boys each let out a long sigh.

“You bested us not only with your swordcraft, but with your character as well… I’ve never felt more embarrassed as a man…”

“You can say that again…”

“Allen…would you be willing to put this all behind us?”

They all extended a hand to me.

“I’d be glad to. Let’s have a great three years together.”

I exchanged a friendly handshake with each of them. Once we finished making up, Chairwoman Reia cleared her throat.

“All right, are we all okay with Allen’s participation in the Holy Festival?”

She looked around the classroom, and everyone nodded.

Still, there was one more thing that was bothering me.

“But what about the students in other classes? They might not be okay with it.”

It didn’t feel right for Class 1-A alone to make the call for who got to represent the entire academy.

The three boys I’d dueled answered my question.

“All in Class 1-A are in favor. The other classes will fall in line.”

“Classes in Thousand Blade Academy are arranged based on grades.”

“Class 1-A is the top one. If we all approve of you, no one will complain. You should be proud!”

That made sense. Seeing that I was satisfied, the chairwoman clapped her hands.

“Okay, I’ll make the announcement one last time! The participants for this year’s Elite Five Holy Festival will be Lia Vesteria, Rose Valencia, and Allen Rodol!”

Deafening applause followed.