* * *
A brief silence ensued.
Ruite had struck up a conversation to offer his thanks, but when the other person just stared blankly without a word, it felt, well, a bit awkward.
“Hey.”
Just as Ruite was wondering if he should ignore him and head up to class, a low voice echoed through the stairwell.
“You…”
“Yeah?”
“…Don’t smile like that in front of me. It’s annoying.”
Leaving only those words behind, Chester trudged up the stairs.
Even so, wasn’t it a bit much to complain about someone simply smiling?
Keeping the protagonist’s mood stable was proving to be quite the chore.
Earlier, when he heard the news about the perfect score from Harold, he hadn’t felt bad at all.
Ruite dragged his slumped shoulders into the classroom.
However, the moment he opened the door and stepped inside, the eyes of every student in the class swarmed toward him.
“Ruite!”
Sure enough, they pounced on him like hyenas waiting for their prey.
It was only natural, as the impact of this incident was strong enough to spread not just through the Magic Department, but the entire Academy.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“No, but did the magic beast really evolve?”
“How was it? What were your impressions seeing it right before your eyes?”
“Wait, more importantly, how did you subjugate it? How strong was it?”
Questions poured in from everywhere. His classmates, who seemed to have been holding back until now, were relentless as they fired off questions without pause.
They had practically surrounded Ruite, standing him up for an interrogation.
He wondered why they didn’t just ask Chester if they were that curious, but he couldn’t quite imagine a scene where kids approached that Chester so familiarly and surrounded him like this.
“Well, it evolved right in front of my eyes and…”
“What?! Is that true?!”
“I haven’t really said anything yet.”
It felt as though the bystanders were more worked up than the person actually involved.
His peers were busy relieving their curiosity while expressing relief at seeing their friend return alive and well.
Just as Ruite’s mind was starting to go numb from the sheer volume of noise, Chester spoke up.
“Lecture is starting soon. Are you all going to keep acting like this?”
“Ah…”
With that one sentence, the classroom fell silent as if on cue.
The effect was almost more powerful than when Harold told them to be quiet.
As his classmates scattered back to their seats with sheepish faces, Ruite was finally able to escape the interrogation hell.
“Lui.”
He thought he had finally escaped the questioning thanks to Chester’s irritability, but Colin suddenly turned around.
“I was really worried when I heard the news. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I got a cut on my arm, but other than that, I’m perfectly fine. It’s actually a bit awkward having everyone worry this much.”
“Your arm was cut? Deeply?”
It wasn’t visible because of the school uniform, but Ruite’s right upper arm was currently wrapped in bandages.
Philia had treated it to ensure the wound wouldn’t worsen.
Colin wore a worried expression as he naturally reached out to touch Ruite’s arm.
“Colin.”
That was when Chester called out to Colin.
“The professor is coming soon.”
At the command to look forward, Colin turned back around with a look of regret.
Glancing at Chester, who seemed particularly prickly today, Ruite intentionally used his finger to pull the corners of his mouth downward.
For a week after exams end, shortened lectures are held.
Usually, classes are only held in the morning, and students are left free in the afternoon; during this time, even the dormitory proctor’s office tended to tacitly allow students to go out.
An outing, which was normally impossible without a truly special reason, became possible just for this one week.
Of course, going out every single day was still not allowed.
Because such an incident had occurred during the practical test, some professors argued that student outings should be restricted even if the exams were over.
Fortunately, the opinion that students should be allowed to relieve their stress and anxiety at times like this was more dominant.
To be honest, it didn’t really matter to Ruite whether they banned outings or not.
He had planned to recuperate in the dormitory for as long as the classes were shortened.
Or so he thought.
“What? You want to go out?”
“Yeah.”
Dylan, whom he met in the dormitory lobby, made an unexpected suggestion.
“Do you know how shocked I was when I heard about the accident in the Magic Department? I was so worried about my friend, who must have been under a lot of stress. Let’s go get some fresh air at the plaza.”
Ruite narrowed his eyes and looked suspiciously at Dylan, whose eyebrows were slumped down as if he were worried to death.
“Dylan.”
“Yeah?”
“Stop with the unlikely lies and tell me your real motive.”
“…You’re unnecessarily quick-witted sometimes, aren’t you?”
“What is it? Why do you want to go out?”
“No, the thing is…”
As Dylan raised his voice and began to pester him, Ruite shivered and moved away from his friend.
“I want to stop by the Belore Smithy.”
If one had to pick the most prosperous blacksmith shop in the plaza, it was the Belore Smithy.
Ruite had heard enough to know that the person in charge, Belore, was a blacksmith famous enough to be renowned throughout the Empire.
He also knew that Dylan, fitting for a student of the Swordsmanship Department, was a sword geek.
“You can’t even buy a sword as a student anyway.”
“Who said I was buying one? I just want to look.”
Word had it that Belore hadn’t been able to come to work for health reasons, but had recently returned.
Dylan’s true goal was to go see the new swords he had crafted.
“Go by yourself. I’m going to sleep.”
“Ruite, you can get plenty of sleep when you’re dead.”
“I’m sensitive about dying, so don’t even say things like that as a joke.”
“And why do you think I’m asking you instead of my Swordsmanship classmates?”
“Oh, that was exactly what I was about to ask.”
“It’s true that the smithy is the goal, but it’s also true that I was worried about you.”
Pushed by Dylan’s persistence that he should go refresh his mood after such a shocking event, Ruite eventually left a record of a special outing request at the proctor’s office.
In the Tehera Plaza, the grand plaza located in the capital of Tehera, there was a very unique street that people often called “Milblue Street.”
Various shops selling magic tools, blacksmiths making weapons, and workshops were gathered here.
In other words, it was no exaggeration to say it was a district for mages and knights.
“How is it? Feels good to be out, right?”
Ruite, standing in the middle of that street with Dylan, looked at his friend with a dry expression.
“Is it just my imagination, or do you look happier than me?”
“Whatever, let’s hurry up and go to Belore’s.”
Still, since he was already out, he intended to take Dylan’s advice and get plenty of fresh air.
Now that those dreaded exams were over, he deserved a day like this.
The Belore Smithy was located a bit further inside from the main street.
Even as they walked, Dylan prattled on about his immense affection for swords.
As expected, Ruite let it go in one ear and out the other as he casually looked around.
The area wasn’t crowded, but his gaze fell upon some people passing by.
They were wearing specific uniforms with a brooch shaped like a bird soaring upward pinned to their chests.
It was the Perwin Knights, counted among the organizations that protected the Empire.
It was a dream job for mages.
Perhaps because it was a knight order that only those with proven abilities could join, an inexplicable dignity radiated from them even though they were just passing by.
“Ruite, we’re here. Don’t daze off and get in here quickly.”
At Dylan’s urging, Ruite stepped into the Belore Smithy.
Since Dylan’s love for swords was exceptional, he seemed to be close with the blacksmiths working there, offering friendly greetings as soon as he entered.
“Oh, Dylan. You’re here.”
Then, Belore, the person in charge whom Ruite had seen a few times in the newspapers, patted Dylan’s head with a welcoming smile.
“You brought a friend I haven’t seen before today.”
“Hello. I’m Ruite, a student in the same Academy’s Magic Department as Dylan.”
“I see, a Magic Department student? We handle magic swords at our smithy too, so feel free to look around.”
After that, Dylan was busy following on Belore’s heels to look at the swords he had made.
Seeing his friend so happy with sparkling eyes, Ruite thought that perhaps Dylan had been a sword in his past life.
Even though he had been dragged there half-against his will, his eyes kept drifting toward the magic swords being crafted throughout the shop.
Perhaps because it was a famous smithy, the quality of the weapons seemed extraordinary even to a layman like himself.
After looking around for a while, it was finally time to head back to Whitmore.
“When you two become great knights and mages, I hope you’ll definitely buy the swords this old man makes.”
“Of course! We definitely will!”
Before they left the smithy, Belore didn’t forget to offer kind words of encouragement to the growing youngsters.
Beside Dylan, who blurted out a bold ambition, Ruite also bowed politely before returning to the street.
“As expected, I think this place makes the best swords.”
“If you feel that way, why don’t you change your career path to a blacksmith? Transfer to the Magic Manufacturing Department.”
“Huh? Well… it’s not like I didn’t consider it when I enrolled, but I prefer utilizing a well-made sword rather than making one.”
Come to think of it, he felt like he had heard those words during his first year too.
Dylan was a friend Ruite had become close with as soon as he entered the school.
The reason they became close was nothing special; they started talking on the first day of moving into the dormitory when Ruite helped Dylan, who couldn’t find his room.
Since then, they had become “meal buddies” who ate together in the cafeteria and had continued their friendship to this day.
“Let’s come look again next time.”
“Again?”
Ruite made a reluctant face.
At that, a mischievous expression appeared on Dylan’s face.
“Oh, come on. You’re coming with me again next time, okay?”
Dylan hooked his arm firmly around Ruite’s neck, pulling him into a near-hug.
“Ack, I can’t breathe. Let go.”
“I’ll let go if you promise. Say you’ll come again, hurry up.”
Dylan continued to joke around, practically hugging Ruite from behind.
Just as Ruite was about to put strength into his arm and poke Dylan in the ribs, a familiar figure walked out of a magic tool shop in the distance.
Recognizing him as Chester, Ruite naturally stopped walking.
The same went for Chester.
Their eyes met in the air, and Chester stared fixedly at Ruite, who was in a posture that was practically being held by Dylan.
“Isn’t that Chester?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, it is.”
Ruite thought about offering a light greeting, but at that moment, he remembered Chester acting prickly and telling him not to smile in front of him.
Come to think of it, he felt bad for dragging him into the magic beast evolution incident, and he figured it would be better not to show himself talking to him in front of Dylan.
Ruite tried to just pass by Chester while dragging Dylan, who was still clinging to his back, but a shadow fell over his head.
“…”
Looking up, he saw Chester.
For some reason, Chester had abruptly blocked the path Ruite was trying to pass.
* * *
