I’m curious how Akari would react if I said, “This is all I’ve got.”
Not that I have any intention of saying it…
“So, are you going to summon one?”
“Did you think I would?”
Akari asked with an unreadable smile, and I felt a cold sweat run down my back. Did I catch the attention of someone I really shouldn’t have?
“Then, I’ll let you.”
“Is that how it’s going to be?”
As soon as Akari declared this, her other self behind her readied her sword. It seems she’s dead serious.
She’s completely gone berserk. Please, give me a break.
As I sighed inwardly and prepared to draw my sword, a sharp stream of water suddenly surged between us, carving a line in the ground as if marking a boundary.
“Okay, that’s enough from both of you. You might still have energy left, but there’s a line of people waiting. If you’re done, then move on.”
The tension was broken by the sudden appearance of one of the academy’s instructors, Kyle Madison, who clapped his hands to get our attention.
Behind him was a water spirit, likely his contracted one, a creature resembling a cross between a snake and a dragon, its long, slender body covered in pale blue scales.
He probably judged that things would get out of hand if he didn’t step in. Honestly, I’m relieved.
Kyle glanced at me, who had let out a small sigh of relief, then took the cigarette from his mouth, exhaled a cloud of gray smoke, and flicked the butt to the ground, turning his gaze to Akari, who was still on guard.
“Come on, you should get going too. If you cause any more trouble, you’ll just make things worse for yourself.”
“…My apologies.”
The water spirit behind Kyle let out a low growl, as if saying, “I’m ready to fight.” After a few seconds of hesitation, Akari slowly sheathed her sword and relaxed her stance.
“Well, I was a bit reckless in my younger days, so I understand how you feel, but try not to overdo it, okay?”
“…Yes. See you around, Senpai.”
“No, I’m good…”
Akari turned her back and as she touched her duplicate, it merged into her, disappearing as if it had never been. She walked toward the exit.
As I watched her small figure vanish through the doorway, I silently wished that I wouldn’t have to deal with her again.
“Whew, she left quietly.”
“Thank you, Professor.”
“No problem. But man, she’s quite the battle junkie, isn’t she?”
When I thanked him for helping, Kyle chuckled awkwardly, a troubled look on his face.
“She was already thinking about how to cut me down the moment she saw me.”
“That’s hardcore.”
The first thing she thinks about when a teacher warns her is how to take him out? What kind of mindset is that? Does she plan to start a war with the academy?
I couldn’t help but sigh as I returned my sword spirit to its vessel. Kyle, who had been watching me out of the corner of his eye, took out another cigarette and put it to his mouth, suddenly speaking as if something had crossed his mind.
“By the way, you still don’t summon your contracted spirit, huh?”
“There’s no rule saying I have to.”
“Kakaka! You’re a cheeky one. But you actually win like that, so no one can complain.”
Laughing heartily, Kyle fumbled for a lighter, so I used a minor spirit to light his cigarette with a bit of spirit magic.
“Oh, you’re thoughtful. Thanks.”
“Well, isn’t smoking against the rules?”
“As long as it’s not during lectures, I don’t see a problem with it. Besides, I can still referee just fine.”
Kyle casually dismissed my concern, blowing out a puff of smoke.
Despite his delinquent attitude, his lectures on spirit mythology are surprisingly popular, and his classroom is always packed.
He’s the perfect example of not judging a book by its cover.
“Anyway, Jil, are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine…”
“Alright, but we need to clear out for the next match, so let’s head out. I don’t want my pay docked.”
“Understood.”
Following Kyle’s somewhat desperate request, I escorted Jil toward the exit.
“…Are you alright?”
“…Yeah.”
Jil clearly wasn’t alright, so I asked, but the reply was completely lifeless. It seems the defeat earlier had really shaken Jil.
“Well, don’t let it get to you. Losing once won’t ruin your record. This is just the beginning.”
“But… I simulated all sorts of scenarios to be ready for any opponent, and still… I couldn’t do anything…”
“Yeah, but that wasn’t your fault. That was an irregular fight. Even I’d struggle against that kind of unpredictability.”
I tried to reassure while silently acknowledging how abnormal Akari’s fighting style was, completely outside the standard tactics of a spirit user. In fact, we couldn’t even tell if she had been using a spirit the whole time.
It probably was a spirit, but the disguise was so flawless we couldn’t tell which was the real her. Honestly, the matchup was just bad luck.
“But…! I’m sorry!”
“Huh? Wait… Hey!”
Jil suddenly lowered her head, apologized, and ran toward the exit, unable to hold back frustration. I reflexively tried to call out , but I couldn’t find the right words, so all I managed was a weak, half-hearted shout.
“What’s this? Bullying underclassmen?”
“Hey, that’s not fair. I was trying to comfort him.”
Gareth, who had been watching, teased me as the match ended. I retorted, and he responded with a wry smile.
“It’s their first match, after all. The more serious students take it, the harder it hits them.”
“Is that how it is… I guess I went in expecting to lose, so I didn’t feel anything.”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
In my case, I’d ended up facing the day of the match without being able to contract a spirit, so I already knew I couldn’t win. I just went in with that mindset, so I didn’t feel the sting of defeat. If anything, I was proud I didn’t forfeit.
“Well, your circumstances were unique. It’s rare for someone to go into their first match fully expecting to lose.”
“Now that you mention it…”
Looking back, maybe I wasn’t considerate enough in what I said to Jil earlier. I’ll make sure to apologize when I see him next.
“By the way, Gareth, what did you think of Tsukikage?”
“It was as shocking as the first time I saw your fighting style, if not more.”
Gareth answered Rourke’s question and then turned his gaze towards the exit where Akari had left.
“Her swordsmanship was good, and I thought we might get along well. But that aside, it’s eerie. Honestly, I don’t really want to fight her.”
“Well, yeah, I can see that.”
Rourke fully agreed with Gareth’s opinion. If there were some circumstances like his own, he could understand, but if someone was using such tactics without any issues, it would undoubtedly be considered strange.
“This year’s freshmen seem promising. The Great Spirit Combat Festival is going to be intense.”
“Are you participating, Gareth?”
“Of course. Aren’t you, Rourke?”
“I’m… still undecided.”
Truthfully, Rourke wasn’t keen on participating actively. While he could achieve decent results in his current state, the risk of exposing his true nature to the whole country was far too high.
“Of course… but with your current record, I think the academy will end up forcing you to participate anyway.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
The Great Spirit Combat Festival. Although the timing varied slightly, it was generally held once every two years, a competition that spanned across multiple spirit mage training institutions in different countries.
Just being able to participate was considered an honor, and many students trained hard with the goal of competing in the Great Spirit Combat Festival.
In fact, Rourke himself should have aspired to it before entering the academy, but now he wanted to beg to be excused from it. How cruel the passage of time could be.
“I hear the academy is getting anxious because they haven’t produced a winner recently. I think they’ll force top performers to participate without question.”
“Come to think of it, didn’t we lose at the very end last time too?”
“No, apparently there were suspicions of cheating after the match, and after deliberation, it resulted in disqualification.”
“Seriously?”
In the previous Great Spirit Combat Festival, a second-year student hailed as the academy’s strongest at the time had participated and performed admirably, living up to their reputation. However, they were apparently disqualified in the final match.
Rourke didn’t know who this second-year student was, but it seemed like a waste to have the skill to make it all the way to the finals only to be disqualified for cheating at the end.
“Well, for now, let’s focus on getting through the upcoming rank battles.”
“Speaking of which, I heard Ophelia is training hard to defeat you.”
“Oh come on, give me a break. She’s already strong enough as it is…”
Although Rourke had never directly fought her, he knew her abilities well through the rank battles. She was a formidable opponent with a typical yet solid fighting style as a spirit mage.
“Hey, isn’t there some quick way to get stronger?”
“I’d like to know that myself. Besides, why don’t you just make a contract with a spirit already?”
“No one will contract with me.”
“Don’t say such sad things with a straight face.”
Gareth let out a sigh at Rourke, who spoke with a serious expression despite his seemingly desperate situation. He really wondered why his friend couldn’t contract with a spirit.
“If you could just contract with a spirit, I could give you the cliché advice to interact with it to understand it better, but…”
“Seems like something that’s out of my reach…”
As he listened to Gareth’s words, Rourke reflected on the past year with a somewhat resigned expression.
He had searched for and tried various rituals and methods to contract with spirits, starting with the Contract Ceremony, but in the end, he couldn’t achieve any results.
Even when there were spirits that liked him, he couldn’t learn their true names, the most crucial element in forming a contract, and always failed to reach the final stage of contracting.
As a result, he found himself shifting his focus from contracting with spirits to figuring out how to effectively use spirits to win in the rank battles.
“Sigh, I guess there’s no point in wishing for the impossible.”
Resigning himself to this fact, Rourke started to move towards where his juniors were likely waiting. Suddenly, Owen’s words flashed through his mind.
The proper way to be a spirit master. While he had no idea what the right answer was, his current way of being a spirit master was certainly not what he had hoped for when he first entered the academy.
He pondered this vaguely as he walked.
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