Chapter 5: Kirsch Mage Institute

The outcome of the battle was clear, and the victor was decided immediately. The humans of Kirsch Mage Institute knew that they only had defeat ahead of them. Perhaps they were no match for the monsters even from the start. The students in Kirsch were still youths, just partway through their journey of learning. It was too early for them to throw themselves into fights against monsters with their lives on the line.

“Run!”

“They’ve broken through the main gates!”

“Run, the monsters are coming!”

“Get out of heeere!!!!!!!!”

“I’ve read about this in a book before! The earlier earthquake had to have been caused by the dungeon’s destruction!”

“The dungeon core was stolen by a monster!”

“We need to get away!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Everyone, hurry to the Cathedral! Do not think about fighting them! This is no longer the time for that!” the headmaster’s voice echoed in everyone’s heads.

To humans, monsters that lived in the forest and those spawned from a dungeon were pretty much the same things. The moment that one of these monsters from the dungeon managed to invade the campus, the tide of the battle had turned in the favor of the monsters. Even though Kirsch Mage Institute was supposed to be a world of humans, it had now transformed into a world for monsters. Following the cyclops’s orders, the monsters continued to raze everything in their path.

“The Order of Royal Knights must have realized the distress we are in! They are still in Yoram!”

Thus, as the defeated party of this fight, the humans could only run for their lives. All they could do was head towards the only safe place for them that was left, located in the heart of the school. The barrier centered around the cathedral was their only land of respite.

“Everyone, run to the cathedral!!!!!!!!!”

This was only the beginning of the ravage of monsters. Kirsch Mage Institute had lost the battle after all.

A soldier barked out orders. “Vanguard, go reinforce the main gates! We shall evacuate the students and staff of this school!”

“Come this way! Hurry to the cathedral!”

The soldiers, whose presence had thankfully increased recently to prepare for the dungeon expedition, split off into several units and spread across the entire campus to swiftly guide students to safety. With solemn and fierce expressions, the soldiers instructed the students on where to go. These burly armored men weren’t elites in the army; they were simply regular soldiers assigned to a remote place. However, to the students right now, nothing seemed more reliable than these people.

Everyone knew what tragedy would lay at the end of a horde invasion.

Under the dark cloak of night, two girls ran through a crowd of people in blind desperation.

“Tina, let’s take a shortcut!”

“Thank you very much for what you did earlier, Miss Charlotte! I froze because I was surprised that I was able to put up a better fight against the monsters than I thought!”

The howls of monsters that had reached Charlotte’s ears at that time had been a lot more frightening than when she had gone down into the dungeon. However, the spell she had feverishly cast hit the monsters and did its work. Charlotte didn’t let her success at magic get into her head, though, and she hurried towards the cathedral, holding the hand of her friend the whole way.

“Jeez! Master Slowe often warned that people like you would let your guard down at the worst moment. You must be careful!” Charlotte exclaimed.

“Captain Heinz! The main gate has sustained serious damage! There are too many monsters; we cannot keep them at bay! On top of that, we have sighted the silhouettes of wyverns in the sky! The commotion may have attracted them here!” a soldier shouted.

Together with the soldiers overseeing the evacuation, the girls looked up towards the sky. The rain only grew in intensity as winged monsters flew in circles, gliding through the sky gracefully. They soared below the full moon, which peeked out from behind the clouds.

“We’ll shoot them down, starting with the bigger targets! Everyone, ready your wands... And Fire! Shoot as many spells at them as you can!”

Beams of magic in a myriad of colors flew across the sky, aiming for the wyverns.

“Students still outside, you do not have to do anything more! Evacuate to the cathedral at once!”

“And that’s my twentieth monster. I’m the winner of this monster extermination match, Shuya,” Woodaul declared.

A group of students ran towards the cathedral along with soldiers. These students had tried to prevent the invasion of monsters until the very last second at the main gates, even though a few had slipped by their resistance. However, this group had finally chosen to evacuate to the cathedral as well.

“But the monsters you beat were all orcs!” Shuya argued. “I defeated not one, but two lizardmen! In terms of quality, I won hands down!”

“Shuya... I left those for you because I wanted you to gain confidence. Oh, my Three-Legged Crow took down another one, so I can add one lizardman to my counter. See? It is my one-sided win.”

The monsters attacked the evacuating group, almost as if they were retaliating for their earlier resistance at the gate. However, these weren’t any random students, but the cream of the crop at this school, who wished to join the Daryth Army and Duke Denning. With clear eyes and sharp minds, these nobles wielded their wands and joined the soldiers, shooting down monsters with their spells.

“Lord Woodaul, do you really think help is on the way, like the headmaster said?”

“The Order takes a lot of time to move, so the army would probably arrive first. Also, remember the Royal Knights’ cold attitude towards us during the princess’s stay? And on top of that, I heard rumors that the Marshal has already arrived in Yoram. The Marshal himself would probably come to subjugate the monsters.”

“Huh?! The Marshal is already in Yoram?! Then I’ll need to prove my worth as best as I can! Once we get to the cathedral, I’ll give the monsters outside the barrier another good beatdown!”

“Shuya!” Alicia cut in. “Are you crazy?!”

“But, the Marshal!” Shuya argued. “Duke Denning himself is coming! This is a great opportunity to get a head start!”

The only ones having fun in this situation were these students who wished to join the army.

The powerful Headmaster Morozov was currently holding up an impenetrable barrier around the cathedral. These bold students understood that a normal monster couldn’t destroy the barrier around the only safe area in the school. And in this group, the faint light of the moon lit up a certain blonde boy’s face with a pale, blue glow as he panted. It was Valjean Greatlorde.

“That aside... Hey, Goldilocks. Are you okay? You don’t look so good,” Woodaul noted.

“I-I am fine.” Valjean breathed in and out deeply.

“Honestly, you did very well, blondie. Shuya isn’t the only second-year who has guts, huh?”

“Th-Thank you very much...”

Valjean ran towards the cathedral, panting hard, an unseemly act for a noble. His mind was filled with a blur of thoughts: that he didn’t want to die, he wanted to live, and for someone to please save him.

Right now, the professor was probably dealing with the walking dungeon that took the form of a cyclops. Valjean was worried about the safety of his professor, but he also understood that if he stayed he would only get in the way with his abilities...or lack thereof.

Alicia noticed a girl at the side of the school building who seemed to have been left behind. The petrified maid hadn’t escaped in time, and a monster was approaching her.

“Shuya!” Alicia shouted from the circle of soldiers surrounding her. “There’s a maid over there!”

“That’s bad. All right, time for one last job. Soldiers and everyone else, please escort Lady Alicia to the cathedral. Shuya and I will save that maid,” Woodaul said.

“Huh? Lord Woodaul, wh-why me?” Shuya stammered.

“Well, I have to make sure my promising underclassman gains all sorts of experience, you see. More importantly, are you scared, Shuya? If that’s the case, you can run away with Lady Alicia.”

The third-year’s tone sounded almost like a challenge, and the boy who would have been the world’s savior in another timeline felt his heart fire up. Even without the challenge, there was no way he could ignore the maid’s distress.

“I-I am not scared at all! I will go!”

“Shuya! Come with me!” Alicia ordered.

“Alicia! You know what I’m like by now! Go ahead of me!” he shouted back.

Alicia took a sharp inhale of breath. “Then hurry and catch up quickly, you hear me?!”

Alicia Bulla Dia Cirquista was the person who currently needed to be protected more than anyone else in this school. The soldiers bowed their heads in thanks to Shuya and Woodaul and hurried to the cathedral.

“So, Lord Woodaul... Um, what is our plan of attack?”

“I’ll distract the monster and make it focus on me. Save that maid after I make an opening. That’s all.”

The plan was plain and simple, and the confident smile on the third-year’s face was very assuring. However, Shuya couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy.

“Okay, I understand, but isn’t that too easy?!” Shuya began sprinting as Woodaul covered for him.

Woodaul, the young man with a slightly sorrowful aura, cast his spell and the monster was enveloped in darkness. It seemed that wasn’t strong enough to defeat it outright and the enraged monster fixed its eyes on him. Meanwhile, Shuya sprinted on, following the third-year’s instructions. The maid was paralyzed with fear and couldn’t stand up, and Shuya gripped her hand firmly, preparing to run off. Right at that moment...

“Shuya! From the sky!” Woodaul shouted.

“Wha—”

A monster descended rapidly from above. Shuya felt goosebumps rise all over his body. However, Shuya pushed the maid away with as much force as he could muster, and he turned so that the monster’s claw would sink into his back instead of hers. The pain was torturous, but he gritted his teeth and endured it. Suddenly, he heard the shocked, pained shriek of the monster. The third-year had probably cast a spell at it. Shuya immediately took the maid’s hand in his and ran for the hills.

“Sir Highland, we have finished evacuating the students! Morozov has ordered for our retreat, and—”

Loco Moco growled, showing that he’d heard the soldier. “I get it! I’ll retreat while fightin’ this dude!”

“Sir Highland, do you need our assist—”

“I don’t need yer help!” Loco Moco snapped. “This monster’s nothin’ like the others! Y’all have done more than enough already. Go get under the old coot’s barrier and calm the brats down!”

“Yes, my lord!”

The monster barked a laugh. “I don’t get you, earth guy! I don’t mind all of you coming at me at once, ya know!”

The evacuation had finished with no problems. That fact assured Loco Moco Highland somewhat. However, despite that relief, Loco Moco knew very well that everything weighed on the battle with the monster he faced right now.

The enemy before him was a cyclops that had overwhelmed soldiers and students all by itself. The dungeon master had its sights set on Loco Moco right now. It couldn’t be helped since there were very few humans in this school who were worthy opponents in the cyclops’s eyes.

At the moment, there still had been no casualties. This was because the cyclops had strictly ordered that so it could enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

“Come on, earth guy! Go all out! As long as you’re dealing with me, the great cyclops, there won’t be a massacre!” The monster guffawed once again. “That’ll make you a little more motivated, right?!”

Loco Moco clicked his tongue. “Darn it, the monsters are even coming from the skies now...”

“Now then, let’s continue with this battle, shall we? But you can run and hide if you want, earth guy! There’s no reason for you to stick to me, after all!”

This monster was so powerful that it was a contender to be in the top three strongest monsters Loco Moco had faced so far, even as a former Royal Knight and former adventurer. On top of that, the monster had gained a great deal of magic resistance because it had eaten the dungeon core. For this former Royal Knight, this monster was his worst nightmare.

●

“Everyone, enter the barrier! From now on, all of you are banned from leaving this place!”

The third-year students, who had put up a line of defense around the main gates, entered the barrier around the cathedral one after another. Nobles went inside the cathedral itself while the commoners gathered in the square outside. Everywhere inside the cathedral grounds, friends and acquaintances could be seen talking to each other, comforting themselves by talking about when the Order would arrive.

The weaker flying-type monsters outside gave way to visibly stronger ones with tougher bodies as time passed. The gates must have been breached as well because land monsters appeared too. Outside the barrier, it was a literal hell on earth.

“There you are, Alicia. Are you okay?”

“Shuya!” Alicia exclaimed.

“I’m fine... But look outside. Who would have thought that it would come to this? I heard that the army had very strict surveillance on the dungeon so that monsters wouldn’t come in from the outside, but...it seems that there was a hole in the security.”

Alicia was silent for a moment. “It wasn’t enough. They were too lax. The people in this country don’t know a thing,” she spat.

If they took even one step outside the barrier, then they would stumble into a deadly theme park of monsters. The students whispered to each other that the horde invasion would never have happened if the Adventurers’ Guild were on task.

“But, ya know... Don’t worry, Alicia.” Shuya slapped Alicia’s shoulder encouragingly. She had been shaking like a kitten abandoned in the rain. “The Order is in Yoram, so the princess will surely send over some Royal Knights. I talked a little with the princess when she was here, and she seemed like a kind person, so I’m sure of it!”

“You’re right,” Alicia said slowly. “Thanks, Shuya.”

“Don’t sweat the small stuff.”

Alicia was a very different sight without her usual aura of confidence, but Shuya thought that her fear was only natural in this case. Shuya and all the other students were currently like prey, trapped in a cage. There was no way of escape, and one step outside the barrier meant going into a hellish world of monsters. Even though there were many people crowded into this one place, the mood was so gloomy that it felt more cold than hot. Even the third-years, who would sometimes go outside the barrier to do their best to exterminate the monsters, could only groan in frustration now.

“By the way, I just heard that the Order isn’t the only force in Yoram. The famous Marshal himself is there too, apparently. The Marshal, ya know? Duke Denning himself—” Shuya cut off suddenly, petrified as he stared straight at something.

“Shuya? What’s wrong?”

It wasn’t just Shuya who froze. The young nobles in the cathedral all went silent, facing the window with the view to the outside world. Not only that, but the loud and insistent roars of the monsters had stopped too.

“What? What are you looking at?” Alicia asked.

But Shuya could not reply.

Alicia followed Shuya’s line of sight, and...she witnessed the same thing. Something that almost blended in with the night sky. A giant silhouette was hovering still in the air.

“...No way,” Alicia muttered in a stupor.

It was a monster that anyone would recognize. Legends of it were woven into all kinds of texts, from children’s books to historical manuscripts. It was said that humans would understand how painfully weak they were whenever they saw one, and this saying was very accurate.

Humans would be so fragile before those claws shining in the darkness, reflecting the light of the moon. The wide mouth opened wide, and neat rows of teeth gleamed within. Seeing this, Alicia felt cold sweat pour out from all over her body, and her teeth chattered.

“I-It’s a dragon!!!!!!!!!!!” someone shouted.

Dragons were assigned the label of Calamity Species by the Adventurers’ Guild, meaning that they mustn’t be approached. Each student’s reaction to the magnificent monster was different. One fainted out of fear. Another crouched on the ground with all the color drained from their face, half in a daze, cursing the giant monster in the sky. Yet another prayed intently to their deities, while another thought about their family back in their hometown.

However, among them... There was one person who showed a completely different kind of reaction.

“You over there! What are you thinking?! Stop!” A soldier at the edge of the barrier called out, stopping the girl with silver hair in her tracks.

She was in the square in front of the cathedral, and she walked forward with uneven feet, staring straight at the dragon that was nearly one with the night sky. It was a black dragon with a white speck on its chest. There was a burn on its left wing, and there was a deep scar left by something sharp stretching from its forehead to its right eye.

Charlotte had read that specific page over and over again so she could recognize it if she ever encountered it. The dragon looked exactly like the illustrations in the book; the Guardian Dragon of her home country had appeared in the skies above the mage institute.

In the monster encyclopedia she had received from the boy whom she held so much affection and respect for, it had said:

“The Guardian Dragon Sekhmet reduced all monsters approaching the Huzak castle to ash in a single blow.”

Almost as if the black dragon was reenacting the statement in the girl’s memories, its stomach glowed red, and it bellowed a thunderous roar as it spewed out a roaring inferno that enveloped the barrier.

The deafening howl of the dragon was unlike anything the students had heard from the monsters up until now. The sound pierced their eardrums and rendered them frozen in fear, and the flames burned all the monsters near the barrier into a crisp. Monsters shrieked as they were burnt alive. The power of the inferno was enough to immediately shatter any hope of safety or relief.

“Impossible...” Standing on the roof of the cathedral, an elderly man holding an enormous staff saw the beast directly with his own two eyes.

It was the king of the skies who ruled over all monsters. A Calamity Species like this was even treated as a disaster by the superpower Dustour Empire. There, one of the Three Musketeers would immediately go to eliminate it if one were to ever appear in human habitats.

The moment Morozov saw that monster, he knew that there was only defeat ahead. Sensing unavoidable death, the linchpin of the school’s protection and the leader of this school turned away, almost as if in surrender.

●

The torrential rain was like deafening drumming against the ground.

A student wailed in despair. “It’s over. It’s all over!”

“Don’t come! Don’t! Just don’t! Everyone’s going to die!”

Fear was evident on everyone’s faces, and once someone broke the silence with a yell, the madness spread immediately. The chilling reality of their situation had slowly taken a firm root in their hearts. The people inside the barrier had been overtaken by panic time and time again, but at this point, they no longer had the energy to keep up a front, and nobody tried to hide their fear.

Alicia stepped outside the cathedral. She felt the rain lash against her. It almost gave her the delusion that all warmth was ebbing away from her body.

“It’s all over...” she muttered.

“Don’t say something so silly, Alicia! Help will definitely come immediately, I’m sure of it!”

“Shuya, these are some extraordinary circumstances we are in. It’s different from normal.”

“Different? What do you mean?”

“The monsters swarmed the school, but surely some of them are heading towards Yoram too. The forest path is probably filled with monsters, and it would take more time than normal for people to cross.” The foreign princess gave a rundown of the situation with a steady tone. However, her words were like a death sentence that crushed their hopes.

She continued. “If they start organizing the army to rescue us after our crisis has been reported, they won’t make it in time. Even if the famous Order headed here immediately, they wouldn’t make it here quickly enough either. But that isn’t all. Right now, the Little Daryth is in Yoram. If they heard reports of the black dragon, then the Order would put all their efforts into protecting her. The Order belongs to the royal family, after all, so it’s out of the question for them to dispatch troops our way. You would know the intricacies of such things better than me, Shuya.”

Shuya also knew all this very well. The Order existed for the sake of the royal family, and that was why Shuya had wished to join the army instead so that he could help the common folk living in this country. His father had urged him to return to Newkern lands immediately after graduation, but he didn’t want to walk a path paved by somebody else forever. That was why he had become an adventurer.

“Alicia, if everything you said is right, then... What do we do?” Shuya asked helplessly.

“Oh, silly Shuya. That’s why I said it’s all over... But there is a bit of a silver lining.”

“Silver lining?”

“With the exception of the dragon’s first attack, it doesn’t seem like it’s planning on attacking us.”

“That’s... You’re right.”

After the first strike, all the black dragon had done was hover in the sky and watch over the situation. It didn’t seem like it had any hostility towards the cathedral, and Alicia was also right in saying that the dragon didn’t seem to intend on moving at all after the earlier attack.

That first strike was probably a way for it to declare its arrival. A warning shot. However, the power behind that attack was immeasurable, and it brought devastating results. In fact, the barrier had even disappeared for a moment because it couldn’t withstand the might of the inferno. The barrier had been immediately cast again, but in that brief moment, everyone definitely saw the shadow of death hanging over them.

“But, that thing over there... It’s very easy to read, unlike the black dragon,” Alicia muttered.

The cyclops she referred to laughed in delight. “Whoa, what a tough barrier we have here!”

The monster’s voice, dripping with resentment, could be heard from outside. Even if the dragon didn’t plan on attacking, it was only a matter of time before the other monster did. Looming over the barrier, the cyclops swung its right arm, punching the barrier repeatedly. With each blow, its fist thumped against the barrier with a muffled thud.

Nobody knew how long it would be before the cyclops would destroy the barrier. The shadow of death that the dragon had brought down upon them earlier now slowly changed into a torturous countdown as the monsters surrounded the barrier. The beginning of the end was nigh. If the barrier disappeared again, for even one second, with another blast of flames... That time, it would truly be the end of it all.

“Come out, earth guy! You’re the only one who can put up a proper fight in here!” The cyclops’s voice dripped with curses as it reached Alicia’s ears. The huge monster continued to attack the barrier impatiently.

At this point, the cathedral was no longer a safe haven but a prison. The barrier was their cage before an audience of monsters. The monsters rattled it around them, eager for the moment when the bars would finally break.

Their howls were muffled by the sound of rain. The crowd of humans in the prison hugged each other and closed their eyes, not wanting to see anything. Their faces were twisted with fear, drained of color and stricken with fright.

If it had to come to this, I’d rather just get it over and done with, they thought. Their hearts were all long past their limits, so much so that they thought being destroyed by the black dragon in one blow would have been the better outcome. Nobody in this world could blame these people for this moment of weakness.

“Hey, Shuya.”

Shuya hesitated. “What?”

“That black dragon... Doesn’t it look like it’s waiting for someone?”

“Waiting? For who?” Shuya furrowed his eyebrows.

“I wouldn’t know. I just couldn’t help but think that, because it looks like it is.”

Alicia looked at her surroundings. She was surrounded by people with lowered heads. Out of reflex, she looked for a certain boy among the crowd...but she immediately remembered that he had gone to see the Little Daryth off in Yoram.

What is he doing right now? Alicia wondered. The duke is in Yoram right now too. Are they rejoicing in their reunion, perhaps? However, Alicia couldn’t imagine the pair getting along. Maybe that was because the boy had always been scolded by the duke in her memories.

“Hey, come on out! What happened to that big mouth of yours earlier, earth guy?!”

Mustering all the strength it could, the cyclops continued to punch the barrier with its right arm, never getting tired of this act. So far, despite the fact that it only looked like a thin membrane in the air, the barrier had shown great resilience. No matter how many times the monsters attacked it, it hadn’t seemed to weaken at all.

However, now, a small crack appeared in it. This was the first time that the monsters’ attacks were effective.

“Oh, hell yeah!” The cyclops smirked. “Well, well, seems like I only have a little more to go!”

A booming, rattling sound rang out, sending vibrations through the surrounding air. Sensing the barrier was about to give way, the cyclops put its weight into its punches. With the power of the walking dungeon piling on top of the damage from the black dragon, the barrier was about to give out. The many humans inside could only helplessly watch this monster from the corner of their eyes, unable to bear looking at it directly.

●

“That’s a big yikes, you old coot. This is way worse than bad,” Loco Moco addressed the headmaster. Even though he was a former Royal Knight, the large, seemingly endless swarm of monsters surrounding the barrier was a sight that he could barely stand to look at.

However, Loco Moco didn’t bother looking at the dragon hovering in the sky at all. That thing isn’t somethin’ we can deal with. It’s outta the question. At the same time, he cursed the Dustour Empire, muttering that the country was insane since it fought beings like this on a daily basis. Then, he nodded to himself, thinking, Well, I guess it makes sense that the north would wanna invade the south, huh?

“I dunno what that dragon’s thinkin’, but that isn’t the only problem. That monster that’s still attackin’ the barrier and makin’ such a fuss about it... It really lives up to its name as the one-eyed giant,” Loco Moco muttered to the headmaster. “Not only that, but a big portion of your power was spent on that Dragon Breath earlier, right?”

The cyclops cackled mockingly from outside. “Come on and come out, ya hear me?!”

Loco Moco glared at the right arm of the bloated, overgrown cyclops. He sensed a great magic resistance in its right arm. It’s probably a special trait it gained from absorbing the dungeon core. A Unique Origin, he noted.

With every blow from the cyclops’ fist, the barrier weakened and lost its durability bit by bit. Now, every blow tore open new fist-sized holes in the barrier. The holes were immediately repaired, but that meant a great amount of mana was being spent in the process of doing so. These holes weren’t due to any fault in the quality of the barrier. Instead, it was that the power of the dungeon master was so extraordinary it was giving the Archmage a run for his money.

“That cyclops is literally a walking, talking dungeon...” Morozov muttered.

“That’s a monster that ran down here from the north. It’s oddly used to combat against humans, so I’m sure it’s gotta be.”

“And how is it on your end, Loco Moco? Do you think you can defeat it? If you did, the remaining monsters would probably lose some steam.”

The two looked down from their spot on the cathedral roof towards the cyclops, which was still punching away.

“If I fight it one-on-one and aim for both of us to take each other out at the same time, then there’s a slight chance... I see. So this is where my journey ends, huh?”

The headmaster was silent for a moment. “I am very sorry, Loco Moco.”

Hardening his resolve, Loco Moco opened his eyes. “I don’t mind at all, old coot. This is my job, after all. Ya know, it was really fun. This job was much more fittin’ for me than my time in the Order. On top of that, I was able to meet the princess, so I have no regrets. Honest.”

There was a strong bond of trust between the elderly man and the gifted man he had headhunted from the Order.

Those few moments Loco Moco took to harden his resolve had seemed like an eternity to him, but even that was over. And now, the Guardian of Kirsch in Shuya Marionette leaped down from the roof of the cathedral. He slapped students he knew on the back in reassurance as he began walking towards the outside of the barrier.

Loco Moco had no regrets. After all, during the dungeon expedition while the princess was at school, she had even shown her approval of him.

“Heck yeah! You finally came out, earth guy! But I’ve already seen through your tricks! Now, how are ya going to deal with me, huh?!”

Once again, Loco Moco faced the cyclops that was probably several times as big as his own body. The black dragon was still in the sky, but Loco Moco wouldn’t fight it. Unless the entirety of the Order of Royal Knights was here, there was no way the dragon could be defeated. However, if Loco Moco defeated this walking dungeon, the barrier would stay up at the very least.

“I’ll kill you. That’s all,” he hissed.

In this way, the Guardian of Kirsch Mage Institute began his one last stubborn stand.

●

“You’re not half bad, earth guy!”

The former Royal Knight squeezed out the last of his strength to fight the cyclops, and Loco Moco was on the full defensive. Dirt rose from the ground into lifeless golems that were crushed again and again by the cyclops. On top of that, the cyclops wasn’t the former Royal Knight’s only enemy as a swarm of monsters joined the fray. Sharp claws split his skin and he was wounded all over. Countless times, sounds of strikes would be muffled by his body as they landed, and in the end, Loco Moco sank to the ground.

There was no way that the students inside the barrier could look away from the man who was fighting to protect them with his life on the line.

“Professor!” they all shouted.

“You’re finished! I’ll kill you first! Prepare yourself!”

The cyclops slowly approached Loco Moco Highland, who had collapsed into a clump of mud. However, no one had yet realized that this was the ending Loco Moco had hoped for.

Everyone inside the barrier screamed and stared at the bloodthirsty monsters outside. They waited with bated breath for the moment they could unleash their pent-up ferocity. At this point, the terrified screams only fueled their hunger, and countless pairs of red eyes stared intently towards the cathedral as they drooled. On the cathedral roof, Headmaster Morozov shook his head, looking pained.

The black dragon remained still as always, hovering in the same spot in the sky.

To add to all this despair, the cool rain ruthlessly drained warmth from the humans, chilling them to the bone. Someone sobbed as they screamed, “Hey, black dragon! What in the world is someone strong like you thinking?! Are you looking at us and laughing at how pathetic we are?!”

Charlotte was rooted to the spot as she continued to lock her eyes with the king of the skies waiting above her. The low rumbles of the dragon’s breath seemed to echo in her heart, and she couldn’t look away from the dragon’s red eyes.

In the book her master had gifted her, it said that her ancestor had protected everyone by giving up her future in exchange. The princess back then probably felt the same as I do now, she thought.

“...Oh, I see.” All the princesses of the past had probably made up their minds after seeing an inferno like that. It would be a steal if giving up her own future could save everyone else.

That was why Charlotte, too, made up her mind. She was a pathetic person who had never managed to accomplish anything up until now, not even once. Yet there’s still something I can do, even though I’m such a good-for-nothing. If that’s the case, then...

Charlotte Lily Huzak hardened her resolve and made a solemn vow in her heart. She raised her face, wet from the rain, and walked forward. Her vision was blurry, and she couldn’t see very well, but she could still clearly make out the people shaking from the cold, the battered soldiers with wounds all over, and Lady Alicia with Shuya, leaning into each other.

Lately, there had been signs of her master’s former fiancée getting back on good terms with her master. Charlotte couldn’t imagine how much grief Master Slowe would be in if Lady Alicia was gone.

“H-Hey, what are you—” A soldier tried to stop the girl who started walking past him, but...

“Don’t stop me. Even if I might not look it, I am Master Slowe’s retainer.”

To the soldiers, House Denning was the absolute word of law. Nobody would lift a finger to stop the girl in her tracks. Thus, Charlotte stepped forward once again, heading outside the barrier.

Had she gone crazy from being so afraid for so long?

“Hey!”

“That girl’s—”

“She’s Denning’s retainer.”

“The Piggy Duke’s—”

Everyone in the barrier thought that this was practically a suicide attempt.

“Well now, who would have thought that an idiot would come out of their own will? Y’all, don’t touch that human. She’s my prey!”

An absurd number of monsters opened up a path towards the dungeon master, and they all stamped their feet in excitement. These monsters were all agitated, and the sound of grinding sharp teeth echoed out into the nighttime campus.

“Denning’s retainer?! Why?! Why did you come out?!” the defeated former Royal Knight shouted.

However, she did not answer his question. She pressed on. There was no escape. Everyone had already given up, bowing their heads and resigning themselves to their fate.

Yet, the girl didn’t stop moving forward.

Once upon a time, she had run away in Huzak. That had been the only way for her to carry on. However, things were different now. Running away wasn’t the only option she had.

She knew that sometimes, a happy, everyday life could suddenly shatter into nothing.

“...In the end, I never managed to tell him the truth.”

There wasn’t anything that would make her happier than being able to save everyone with her power. If she’d had to pick one regret, though... I wanted to say goodbye to him.

“Master Slowe, I... There’s something I’ve kept secret from you all this time,” she whispered.

The princess of a destroyed country, whom nobody knew about, locked eyes with the Guardian Dragon of her home country, which continued to wait for her decision.

Wyverns glided in the sky as Inferno Monkeys leaped across the land. Mad Worms with eerie compound eyes sunk their teeth into rabbits as they wriggled around. Their eyes glinted with predatory instinct, seeking even bigger prey.

Even though Charlotte was surrounded by horrific monsters looking at her on all sides, her heart was calm. Only the black dragon seemed real to her, and she stared at it alone. No other sound registered in her ears. Just like back then, her vision blurred, and...

“Jeez, what is Miss Charlotte doing?!” Tina yelled. “She’s awful at magic, but she’s putting herself into way more dangerous situations than me! But, well, it’s my turn to save her this time, so—” The words of the promising star of hope for the commoner students cut off as someone grabbed her arm in a tight hold. “Huh?! Ow! Wh-What?!”

For some reason, the person grabbing her arm was the brash noble boy with red hair. If the worst problem student in Kirsch was Slowe Denning, then Shuya Newkern was a good contender for one of the most eccentric.

“Hey, commoner, what in the world are you thinking?!” he yelled.

“Ow, that hurts! What am I planning on doing?! That girl... Miss Charlotte is my friend!” Tina exclaimed.

“I was just about to go save her myself!” Shuya snapped. “You’re a commoner, so get out of the way!”

“You what? What’s with that logic?! Not only that, but you’re shaking more than me. What do you think you can do?!” Tina accused. “Also, it really hurts, you know! Quit the useless talk and let go of my arm! Miss Charlotte is a very, very precious person to me!”

“Hey, Valjean! You’re friends with this girl, right?! I’ll save Denning’s retainer, so keep her at bay! She’s serious about this!” Shuya exclaimed.

There was no way anyone could save the retainer of Slowe Denning. Shuya didn’t have to put it into words, and he knew that fact very well. Since he had been so shocked that he wasn’t able to move when the retainer had gone outside the barrier, there was no way he could let this girl with black hair go outside as well.

“Shuya... Are you planning on dying...?” Valjean muttered.

“Hey, Mister Valjean, please let go of me!” Tina pleaded with him. “If Lord Denning isn’t around, then...I’ll save Miss Charlotte, you hear me?!”

Even as Shuya was filled with despair, he still pressed on. Shuya Newkern’s heart had always been filled with a righteous flame, and right now, he was fueled by that same sense of justice. Seeing this, Valjean went silent.

“Valjean. You’re right. I might be mauled to death as you said, but...” Shuya trailed off.

The boy who had been the world’s savior in Shuya Marionette couldn’t stop his body from trembling. He hadn’t even shown any signs of awakening his powers, so he wasn’t any different from the other students in school at this point. However, even still...

“But there’s no way I can just let that girl walk to her death without doing anything about it. After all, if there’s one thing I know...”

The boy, who had the aptitude to save a world, would act even when the soldiers and crowd of students wouldn’t. After all, even now, new monsters joined the swarm outside one by one without any end in sight. However, Shuya Newkern would not stop here. Valjean Greatlorde could do nothing but stare at this youth. To Valjean, a minor character who didn’t even appear in the anime, Shuya Newkern’s bravery was blindingly brilliant in his eyes.

Shuya continued. “That girl starts practicing magic super early every morning, and... Ya know, I just can’t help myself when I see something like that.”

Valjean wasn’t able to come up with a reply.

Surely, this nature of Shuya Newkern was the exact reason why Eldred, the Great Spirit of Fire, had chosen this boy.

“Stop, Shuya!”

“...Huh?” The crystal ball had been his tool for divination, which he used to earn a few pennies on the side...but now it spoke. He still hadn’t realized the truth behind this crystal ball, but it had always been by his side whenever he made a life-changing decision and was a token of courage to him.

“It’s coming! Brace yourself!”

However, up until now, he had never heard the voice from the crystal ball speak with clear emotion, not like this.

“What do you mea—” Moments before he could step out of the barrier, Shuya paused and looked outside.

In the rain, a battered Professor Loco Moco was fighting a monster. He also spotted many silhouettes in the shadows inching forward, sneaking towards the Denning retainer.

“What do I mean, you ask?! Wind! Wind is coming this way!”

Shuya took a moment to process it. “Huh? Wind?”

At that moment, a freezing gust of wind blew past, stealing away his warmth in the literal sense of the word. Spring was over, and summer was nearly around the corner, yet this wind that blew past Shuya was as frosty as ice.

Then there was silence. After one brief moment, that wind that chilled him to his very core blew once more. However, all sound had stopped. Wait... It’s too quiet. Why? The monsters had been so loud all this time, but I can’t hear them now, Shuya thought frantically. A moment later, he realized the reason.

The memorial tablet that had been built in celebration of the school’s one-hundred-year anniversary flew into the air, and the school buildings’ glass windows all shattered at once.

From within the barrier, Shuya could only watch as monsters smashed against it one after another, their blood gushing out. Red. Crimson. Maroon. The barrier was painted with the color of the monsters’ blood.

The view was sickening. Everyone covered their faces with their hands, wanting to shut it all out.

Unable to process what had just happened, Shuya felt the earlier courage within his heart wither. He racked his brain, trying to understand the situation. No matter how much he thought, he just couldn’t. The protagonist of an alternate world stood rooted to the spot.

“So that is why you didn’t come out, even in such circumstances! Like I thought, that brat is—”

Not only that, but the voice in his head... There was definitely joy in its tone. It almost sounds like a real human... What in the world is its source? Who are you? Who is this person in my head? Shuya was about to ask, when...

A roar cracked the air with its sheer force. The king of the skies, which had been silent up until now, broke the silence with a thunderous howl. The black dragon’s stomach glowed once more with a red light.

Before he knew it, Alicia was right next to him, trembling like a leaf. Alicia, why are you— Shuya couldn’t finish that thought before Alicia looked at him squarely in the eyes, blinking, and cut him off with, “I’d be rather troubled if you died.”

Someone screamed in fear, warning that the inferno was about to come their way again. However, the dragon turned its neck, facing away from the barrier, and aimed its flames towards the forest path down from the main gates.

There was a massive explosion of heat, and Shuya’s vision was blinded by the color red. This was different from the last time, though. This inferno wasn’t a warning. To Shuya, it looked like an attack with a very clear aim at somebody.

The roar continued, and the flames evaporated the rain falling from the sky. The remainder of the flames crackled in the air. However, the flames were torn apart, almost as if the inferno had come to a hard stop in contact with something invisible, and...

Shuya realized what it was immediately. It was wind. A powerful gale had struck the inferno straight on. The roaring wind swirled and mixed with the dragon’s flames, and the resulting tempest began razing the school with its sheer force.

The world was locked inside a heatwave. People within the barrier couldn’t even open their eyes, too afraid to witness the terrible scene in front of them. While their vision was filled with darkness, they could still hear the sound of sparks crackling somewhere. And then...

“Well, well! I shall see the power of your trump card, my fated rival Altanger!”

“So that was an option!” The Archmage continued to uphold the barrier as he stood on the roof of the cathedral with a bulky grimoire open before him. Headmaster Morozov, a guiding light for the next generation who invested his time into the bright futures of the world in Daryth, breathed out a sigh.

The elderly man, whose face was now framed by many strands of silver hair, had left his home country of Minerva and come to Daryth, the leading power of the Great Southern Alliance. He’d decided that he wanted to spend his short time remaining educating youngsters, the future of this world. This was on top of his position of Archmage in Minerva, the Country of Sorcery, which was also part of the alliance formed to defend against the north.

By now, a curtain of clouds had been pulled over the moon. But before everything was shrouded in darkness, the headmaster was able to spot the people heading into the school from the surrounding sea of trees.

Seeing the inferno silently seething before his eyes, the man who was one of the three most influential people in Daryth understood exactly what was going on.

“Wonderful! Indeed, if you used that, then you could break through the forest path in its current state!” he exclaimed.

He saw a light in the distance. That torrent of green light had clashed head-on with the black dragon’s attack. Though it only had been for a brief moment, Morozov could tell what lay beyond it.

Two swift horses rushed through the main gates, and Morozov knew the sword in the hands of that young man who rushed in first very well. It was the sacred sword given to the Guardian Knight.

The Guardian Knight of the current queen was Rudolf Delfrey, the strongest man in Daryth and the headmaster’s friend. The sword he had spotted was definitely the same sublime sword that man wielded...but it was different at its core.

“That boy... He managed to reach an ultimate level of magic that only the Great Spirits had reached so far. I see!”

A few years ago, an influential noble had contacted Morozov saying that his son wanted to enroll in this magic institute. Morozov had known the reputation of the boy very well, however, and had been reluctant about it. When he heard that the boy’s father would come all the way to the school in person, though, the headmaster had been shocked. The busiest man in the country leaving the front lines was a ridiculous thought.

In reality, however, the man wearing the signature crimson Denning coat did come to the school with a desperate expression that Morozov had never seen on him before. The man who stood on the top of Daryth’s noble hierarchy had lowered his head, pleading for Morozov to accept his son. Back then, Morozov couldn’t believe that he, of all people, would lower his head to make such a request.

“I admit my mistake! You were correct about everything!”

Strength returned to the eyes of this great leader. Seeing the torrent of wind clashing directly with the tornado of flames spewed by the black dragon, Morozov saw the truth with his own eyes. His grimoire had lost its glow before, but it now shone again as the green light crushed the flames of pure red nearby.

“Rejoice, Duke Denning! Your son... He is the real deal!”

And then, just like Morozov had predicted...

The power surging from the Mystical Sword in the commoner swordsman’s hand overwhelmed the inferno and smashed the Dragon Breath into smithereens.

●

Charlotte was deep in thought as she felt the rain pour down onto her body like a gushing waterfall from the skies. The situation had completely changed. The black dragon was no longer interested in someone like her. Not only that, but the countless monsters before her had all been taken out in one fell swoop. She didn’t know what had happened, but the one thing she did know was that she had been saved.

“Oh!” Suddenly, at her feet, stood the black cat that had always been by her side.

Back when she’d escaped from Huzak, the cat had appeared out of nowhere and it had shown her the way, even as the people around her dwindled one by one. In the end, she had been caught by evil people, but this precious friend of hers had still remained firmly by her side. She picked up her feline family member and trusted partner, and held it in her arms as its warmth made her confirm that she was still alive. But not only that... I might be able to sneak back into the barrier with this opening, she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud, shriveled squawk.

“Huh?” Charlotte spun around in the noisy rain.

A tall monster collapsed into a puddle of water with a loud splash, a gaping hole in its stomach. It seemed to have been attacked. But who? she thought. Right now, there was practically nobody outside the barrier.

Charlotte saw the person in question earlier than anyone else. There was someone advancing forward despite the rain and the slippery mud. In her tear-blurred vision, she saw that person coming down from a horse. Even though Charlotte’s vision was all twisted and unclear, she immediately realized who it was.

No way. It’s...it’s not realistic. It’s not possible. There’s no way he could return in such a short time. Charlotte’s mind was in shambles. The forest path is overrun by monsters. It’s raining! How was he able to cross that long path? But...he’s right there. The person in front of me is definitely him.

Without a doubt, it was the boy she talked to every day, who had always been right by her side. He was her master, who had promised that he would change for the better from now on. He was the son of House Denning, the family that ruled at the top of the rigid aristocracy in Daryth. He was the boy who had been once celebrated as the Prodigy of Wind, and the boy who always accepted Charlotte for who she was without saying anything. The person whom she owed her life to, who was supposed to be seeing the Little Daryth off to Yoram at the moment, was right there.

“You—” he began.

His clothes were sullied, and a horrific amount of blood covered him from head to toe. His face was smeared with mud, and he looked completely different from when he had departed the school. For him to look like this...he must have rushed like there was no tomorrow down the forest path.

“What in the world...were you thinking?!” The boy shouted.

He was angry. He had saved her from the depths of despair and had provided time for the Great Spirit of Wind to heal. He had thrown away everything for her sake. Parting with them right now wasn’t a reality he could take lying down. After all, the time he’d spent with these two was the whole world to this boy. He wanted to live with these two, even if it meant throwing away his own future, and thus...

“What were you thinking when you went outside the barrier?! I’ve been wanting to point this out for a while, but you are way too thoughtless!”

This boy, who’d secretly fought against the Dustour Empire all by himself in the shadows in the world of Shuya Marionette, was livid.

The princess of the destroyed kingdom of Huzak had never seen him like this, not even once. In her long time as his retainer, he had always been kind to her. On top of that, Charlotte didn’t even know why he was mad at her right now.

“I’m confiscating this wand!” he yelled.

“Hey!” she yelped.

It seemed to her that he was angry at Charlotte because she’d gone outside the barrier. However, she’d had good reasons for doing that. If I make a request to the dragon in the sky, everyone will be saved. He doesn’t know how much conviction I had when I came outside the barrier. Because of this, before she could rejoice in their reunion, she first felt offended.

“U-Um, I do think that I was brash in coming out of the barrier, but... I... I-It’s not like I didn’t have a plan...” she stammered.

“A plan?! I know what you’re about to say! You were planning on being a tragic heroine like in those books you like, weren’t you, Charlotte?!”

He doesn’t know anything, that’s why. He doesn’t know the secret of that dragon in the skies, nor my true identity. He doesn’t know anything, and that’s why he can say something like that, she thought.

“T-Tragic heroine?! Y-You don’t have to put it like that! I can actually save everyone! I’m actually a super special person!”

“You? Saving everyone? And super special, you say? You’re a loser mage, what do you think you can do?!”

“L-Loser?! M-Master Slowe, so you do think I’m a loser mage, just like everyone else! You’re awful! I’m done with you! Master Slowe, get out of the way!”

“No way in hell am I going to do that! If I let you go right now, then everything up until now would be for nothing!”

She had never doubted the fact that her secret was her own. When the duke had allowed Master Slowe his wild request and let Charlotte become an official member of House Denning, Charlotte had had suspicions that the duke was onto her. However, she had been worried for nothing, for she’d immediately realized that the duke was only indulging Master Slowe.

“It’s not just my hard work at stake, but your hard work will also mean nothing, Charlotte! You kept your real identity secret for House Denning’s sake, but your silence will be rendered useless if you do this!”

Thus, Slowe’s words were like a bolt from the blue to her.

She had thought countless times about telling him, but she had stopped herself each time. If her identity was public, Daryth would gain a just cause to start a war. She would be a symbol for the recapture of Huzak, and humans would surely start invading her homeland, which was overrun with monsters. And then, the people of House Denning would lose their lives for her sake.

“That’s why I definitely won’t back down. Charlotte, I swore I wouldn’t lose you a second time.” With steely conviction in his eyes, the boy looked at the girl. Within the blazing inferno, the boy renewed his vow to her. Nobody would know how truly meaningful his words were.

“More importantly, Altanger! What were you doing?! Why are you in a place like this? Fight, darn it! Charlotte is the most important to you, isn’t she?! Don’t be such a scaredy-cat just because you lost against monsters once!”

Seeing Slowe Denning talking to the cat in her arms as if he was a human, Charlotte didn’t know how to react. “Um, Master Slowe... Who are you talking to?”

She knew that he treated her cat like a demon cat sometimes, but she could never have imagined that her master would talk to him so directly.

Charlotte had no way of knowing this, but the boy had always fulfilled the unreasonable demands of the Great Spirit of Wind. If the spirit wanted to eat the delicacies of the world, the boy would obtain them without fail, even if it was by force. If there was anyone who ruffled the spirit’s feathers the wrong way, he would get rid of them through peaceful means. The boy had endured an extraordinary amount of hardship all by himself up until now.

“You put so much pressure on me and intimidate me alone, but you’re always slacking off...” Slowe muttered with bitterness. “I can’t take it anymore! Fine! Just stay there. I’ll get rid of that dragon, that thorn in my side!”

Having had his say, the boy walked off.

“Um,” Charlotte muttered, confused.

He waved his right hand in the air, and the clouds parted immediately, moonlight illuminating the school. Charlotte was thrown off by it all, but the most curious thing to her was...

“Slowe, that dragon was lured here by the scent of a perfume that Charlotte sprayed, meow.”

“I see... Well, back me up, at least. You should be able to do a trivial thing like that, even from that spot.”

“I will, meow. Also, I wasn’t a scaredy-cat or anything, meow.”

“...Huh?” Charlotte looked down at the cat in her arms, dumbfounded.

Though the sound he’d made sounded like a cross between a human’s voice and an animal’s purr, he had definitely been speaking real words. The warm kitty in my arms just... He just spoke my name, and apparently, he wasn’t a scaredy-cat. Wait... Wait. Was that voice just now—

“Al, did you just speak?”

“I’m actually fluent in human, meow.”

Charlotte was stunned speechless for a long moment. “Huh?”

The beautiful princess froze like a statue. To put it simply, her brain was short-circuiting.

●

Until just a few moments ago, the humans inside the barrier had been stricken with fear. They had given up on all hope of living, even hoping for the dragon to put them out of their misery in one blow.

With the moon appearing once again from behind the clouds, its light shone down upon the whole campus.

Joy danced in the students’ hearts as they cheered in silence and watched the events unfold before them. Someone stood with their back turned to the students, backlit by the moonlight, so they could see only their silhouette.

“Heinz!” he shouted. “Do not let any of the soldiers go outside the barrier!”

“But, Young Master!” the captain protested.

“This is an order! It is your job to watch and report my bravery to my father afterward!”

“Yes, sir!”

Everyone inside the barrier had the same question in their mind: Are we dreaming right now? Once the darkness gave way to light, the situation had completely changed. Help had come, and these sudden reinforcements were even titans in their own right.

“Milord! I can wield this sword probably one last time!”

“Silva, do you see that cyclops?! That is the dungeon master which started this horde invasion! I want you to use your last swing to take it out! Can you do it?!”

“Yes, I can! Please leave it to me! Milord, please take care of the monsters around here!”

The cyclops had been blown away by the tempest earlier but it had returned to the battlefield. The monster, a natural-born warrior, stared at the swordsman heading its way before roaring with laughter.

“I’ve seen that man somewhere before!!!!!!!” a student shouted.

“Hey, look! That guy is holding the Mystical Sword!”

“Heinz, keep everyone inside!” the boy demanded. “Don’t let anyone slip through!”

“Yes, sir! I would not let anyone get in the way of the Young Master!”

The students’ earlier despair dissipated without a trace as monsters fell, one by one. Fire. Water. Earth. Wind. Light. Dark. Spells of all colors and elements weaved together like a scene taken straight out of a fairy tale, and nobody could utter a word before this otherworldly sight.

But they should have known. This was the power of the third son of House Denning, the boy whose abilities had been the topic of rumors after he had captured that mercenary. They should have long realized how extraordinary this boy was. This was the boy who broke the historical record scores for several tests when he sat for the Kirsch Mage Institute entrance exams, after all.

“You! How dare you!!!” the cyclops roared with fury. “How dare you strike me!”

The cyclops was being led around by the nose. The swordsman with the Mystical Sword had carved a wound into the monster’s body; the first it had sustained ever since it became a dungeon master. Seeing red, the monster distanced itself from the swordsman and took deep breaths. This act alone was enough to heal its wound, but the swordsman didn’t seem fazed at all.

“Hey, Loco Moco. ‘S been a while.”

Loco Moco Highland had made a narrow escape from death, and the professor groaned in frustration. He was stunned silent when he saw the sword in the swordsman’s hands. It was a sword that symbolized way too many things to a Royal Knight, but there was something different about it.

“...I heard that you became the top candidate, but...that isn’t the power of light, is it?” Loco Moco said with conviction.

“Nope. It’s the only Mystical Sword of Wind in this whole entire world. Isn’t it awesome?”

“So Denning changed the core of the sword, huh...? He really is a ridiculous brat, and completely out of his mind at that. That thing is a national treasure! Silva, you’re not off the hook either. Do ya know what ya two did?”

“I’m probably going to be treated as his accomplice. I’m prepared for the consequences.”

“You...”

Silva was a friend of Loco Moco Highland from back when they’d been adventurers, but this was the first time he had seen that expression on Silva’s face. Changing the element of the Mystical Sword was practically asking for certain death from a blasphemy charge, but Silva’s face was lit up in excitement.

Indeed, the only emotion in Silva’s heart was joy. During their journey along the forest path, Silva had realized a very important fact. Everyone had once thought the boy now called the Fallen Prodigy of Wind was a special being who didn’t have the same desires as a normal human. But seeing the boy’s desperation, Silva had finally understood him. The boy had found something more important to him than everything he could gain in House Denning.

Thus, Silva was over the moon. He was elated. His lord, who had been called the Prodigy of Wind... It had never been a big deal. He’s only head over heels for a girl, and that’s all there is to it.

“You two vermin... I’ll kill you both at once! I’ll tear you into pieces!”

“Loco Moco. It okay if I beat up that guy?”

The swordsman had his back turned to the cyclops. Seeing this as an opening, the monster charged towards the swordsman of wind. Laughing out loud and sure of its victory, it shouted, “Your back is wide open!”

The swordsman saw the nod from his old friend. Then, without even taking a moment to gauge the distance between the monster and himself, he turned and immediately swung his sword. He already knew how to handle the power of the Mystical Sword and how its magic felt.

“You damned idiot,” Silva hissed. “We’re in the middle of talkin’ here, ya know?”

He channeled the magic imbued in the sword, and it transformed into an explosion of wind. The cyclops received a direct blow from the wind at point-blank range, and its face twisted with confusion. “No way... There’s no way that someone great like me would—”

Its feet, which had been sturdily planted on the ground, lifted into the air...and the cyclops was blasted away spectacularly.

“—lose in a battle of strength!!!!!!!!!!!”

With fierce momentum, the cyclops was sent flying and it broke the wall of the school building as it crashed through. The swordsman chased after the dungeon master and entered the building himself.

A great deal of dust and rubble went flying out from inside the building, followed by a blood-curdling death cry. The dungeon master never came out from the depths of the school building again, and the swordsman, covered with blood, walked out alone.

It happened so fast that there wasn’t even time for the bystanders to imagine what kind of back-and-forth happened inside the school building. That monster was so strong that their professor, a former Royal Knight, hadn’t been able to defeat it. The students couldn’t believe that this man could finish it off so easily, but the evidence was before their very eyes.

“That guy... He killed the cyclops, huh?!”

“The dungeon master is dead!”

“Who is that?! Is he a Royal Knight?!”

“Look! The monsters are slowing down now!”

“Yahoo!”

The students cheered as they stared in awe at the swordsman. It was an extremely rare occasion for nobles to praise commoners, but this youth was so talented that these young nobles simply had to acknowledge him.

This commoner with black hair, who had left many Royal Knights in the dust as he climbed all the way to the top candidate for Guardian Knight, carried the glowing sword with him as he stood next to the boy with whom he had traveled the forest path.

“Milord, my job is done, but I am at my limit. And it seems that this sword... It is also at its end.”

At that point, there were no monsters left standing at all. The swordsman of wind pointed his Mystical Sword at the black dragon hovering in the sky, then let his arm fall to his side.

“I see. You have done well. Leave the rest to me.”

Silva was silent for a brief moment, then he said, “Yes. Please show me what you can do, milord.”

As the crowd began to cheer, Silva shrugged his shoulders. And just like that, the commoner swordsman, one-half of the Knights of the Twin Wings, had fulfilled his role.