MAGIKA NO KENSHI TO SHOUKAN MAOU - Volume 9 1 — White and Black (Part 4-6)

Volume 9 Chapter 1 – White and Black (Part 4-6)

 

Part 4

His cell phone rang. Currently he was returning to his room after his date with Koyuki was over.

The one who called his phone aiming for this time was Commander Yamagata.

The commander talked in a way that poked fun at him.

“Right now should be the time that your date is over already right?”

It was strangely embarrassing to talk about something like this with an opponent whose age was like his father.

“It’s true that I was in a date, but why do even you know about it…”

“I got completely scolded by Yagumo-kun to only call you at night so that I won’t be a bother on your date. Though I don’t know where did Yagumo-kun knew about it.”

Yagumo Akane-senpai―she was a third year of the Magic Division that had already piled up practical training in the Knight Order.

Surely it was Hikaru-senpai that spread the rumor to her in a mixture of fact and fiction. The figure of Akane-senpai back-talking coolly saying ‘It’s not like I really care about that though’ was floating in his mind.

…But what the commander said next was the exact opposite of what Kazuki imagined inside his mind.

“Yagumo-kun is really caring about you, you know? When the talk’s topic is about you it’s clear that all her calm is gone.”

“Is, is that so…”

Akane-senpai was a charming person. She was always cool and intellectual, but that didn’t mean she was a straight-laced person.

She was a hard-worker that liked tactical thinking, through that she had many common points with Kazuki, her affinity with him was also good.

Now he was told that such Akane-senpai was caring for him. When he thought that the other party was an onee-san that was even older than Kaguya-senpai, for some reason he felt his heart beat faster or something.

“Kazuki.” Suddenly Leme materialized beside him and rammed her body at him with a *don*.

“Even older people are targets for conquering. Feeling timid about that is no good, okay?”

Leme whose appearance was completely an adult linked her arm with Kazuki’s arm and she pressed her heavy breasts at him.

“That is so huh.” While his attention was taken by Leme, Commander Yamagata started his talk in a surprise attack.

“Last night, Regina and Ilyailiya were fighting each other.”

Even though Kazuki was switching his awareness for a more serious talk, but it took time.

His fight with Ilyailiya was yesterday evening. In other words…

“Ilyailiya who retreated from her fight with me in the Haunted Ground, was attacked then on her way back by Regina, is that what you mean?”

It became a series of event like that in that kind of time. Two Kings were fighting in a time he knew nothing about.

What kind of fight it developed into?

In the first place, how did Regina intercept Ilyailiya who was escaping in lightning speed?

…No, the most important essential point in this story was not that kind of thing.

“What is the result of the fight? …The Sacred Treasure that Ilyailiya took away?”

Even Ilyailiya should be exhausted from the attack in which Kazuki betted his everything. And if after that she was forced to battle Regina in succession then―

“No, unfortunately it seemed she escaped.”

A strange feeling was whirling inside his chest. It was a kind of relief and also a kind of unfortunate feeling.

If in the case that Regina took back one of the Three Sacred Treasures for him, then Kazuki would surely stand in an overwhelming superior position. But inside his heart he had already resolved himself.

This was a hurdle that he was determined to overcome without fail. It would be an anticlimax if that hurdle was unexpectedly lowered by another person arbitrarily.

It was his own selfishness even though this was a battle that would decide the future of the country, but… he wanted to settle his rivalry with Ikousai who was in a condition beyond flawless.

“I heard the story from Regina but, it seems that Ilyailiya had buried a device that emitted interference electromagnetic wave inside her body beforehand to escape the GPS monitoring.”

“Doesn’t the other Advanced Magic Countries treat machines as heretical?”

“…That’s how its supposed to be but, seems like that Ilyailiya’s circumstance is strange somehow. We cannot lump her together with the other Kings in thinking how she will act. We were thinking about this too simply.”

“Every single one of those Kings is strange somewhere inside.”

It was impossible to predict what kind of move those fellows would make.

Whether it was Arthur or Regina, at this point of time they were neither ally nor enemy.

“Of course that’s true. I don’t have any intention of slackening the monitoring of Arthur and Regina.”

However the Knight Order’s [perfect monitoring readiness] had been breached twice out of two times until now.

“What happened with the Einherjar fellows that Kaguya-senpai encountered?”

Kazuki asked about the thing that bothered him the most.

“Beatrix and her team is still in magic intoxication, they still haven’t woken up yet.”

“…Is that so.” Kazuki’s feeling turned somber.

The true color of this despondency he felt was also complex. Even Beatrix was neither his ally nor his enemy.

But he didn’t want to think of her as an enemy, somewhere, his heart thought so.

But the Einherjar suddenly turned into Japan’s enemy and attacked Kaguya-senpai and her team in the Fuji’s sea of trees. They exposed Kaguya-senpai and her team to danger. And then Ryouzanpaku’s Silirat intervened and the situation developed into Beatrix and Silirat striking down each other.

It only stood to reason that Kazuki should be angry at Beatrix who came attacking and felt grateful to Silirat who came in assistance. But before he could come to a clean decision like that, he wanted to hear the detailed circumstances from Beatrix.

“Worry is unnecessary because their magic intoxications are not a deep one. The prospect is that they will wake up before long. It’s just, the only one who is still energetic among the people involved, Roshouko, is pretty annoying with her complaint from getting embroiled into this.”

“Is she coming with some kind of troublesome request?”

“No, it’s not anything concrete… she is saying a complaint for us to [recognize Ryouzanpaku more like a comrade]. Well, certainly there is a good excuse to shrink our distance and ally with Ryouzanpaku to form a common front of anti-China.”

Ryouzanpaku was a resistance organization that opposed China.

From some time ago if Japan was misunderstood to have a good relation with Ryouzanpaku―it would completely justify China’s intervention into Japan’s internal conflict with Yamato.

But now that Ryouzanpaku had held back Germany’s rampage before this, it only stood to reason that Japan was grateful and from now on both would take each other’s hand and strengthened their stance in relation to China.

“But if we do that, won’t our relation with Germany worsen?”

“It’s without doubt that Germany was suddenly commencing an attack at us.”

Commander Yamagata talked as if cutting down that line of talk. Logically it was just as he said. But…

Commander Yamagata’s voice was colored with fatigue. Inside the chaotic situation, the one who moved the government and the Knight Order was essentially this person.

“…Now when the battle is over, the one who move the situation is the adults huh.”

Leme whispered on Kazuki’s ear.

{I don’t really understand politics and diplomacy.}

Kazuki communicated that telepathically so Commander Yamagata wouldn’t hear it.

“I don’t mean to say to break any civilian control. But if it’s in regard to battle tactic then even you should be able to interfere.”

What was called civilian control was the principle that the people who controlled the army must not interfere too much into the politics. Kazuki too was a knight apprentice―so to speak he fell under military personnel.

―The statesman must be able to control the Knight Order. The statesman who was the representation of the people moved the Knight Order. The Knight Order must not stand on top of the people.

It was of the inviolable rule of the country called Japan.

―And more, since the ancient times, Japan had the emperor as the country’s symbol as a [constitutional monarchy].

This too was another of the absolutely inviolable things.

Then how should the King(Basileus) be positioned in this country then. It seemed that Arthur and Regina ruled as tyrants but…

‘I, if I accept the fact that I am a King, how should I behave then?’

“In the first place, in all this time until now, wasn’t it you the one that continuously kept wiping our ass for all the misses that the Knight Order and the academy made? You too should insist your opinion more to the adults.”

Leme kept pulling Kazuki’s arm while being indignant as if she was the one being slighted. He wanted to get away from her breast that was pushing at him sweetly. Like this he couldn’t think seriously.

“It’s a grave situation for you who are the King to be kept out of the loop of everything except for the fight. Listen well, a King mustn’t become a tool of battle.”

Tool of battle. …Certainly, he didn’t want that by any means.

In other words―he had to move the situation by his own will.

“Commander Yamagata. Please let me question Beatrix and the others when they wake up. Until that happens, can you put on hold the matter of communicating our thanks to Ryouzanpaku and forming a common front with them?”

“You are…?”

“Please let me be the one to decide the treatment of Beatrix and her group. Regarding Beatrix, I know things about her that you don’t know about.”

This should be the first time for him to ask for something like this. This was something that he wished for the most right now. From the other side of the phone’s receiver, a serious voice of “hm~mm” was audible.

“I feel it’s inexcusable to advance all this talk while you are not there. Actually this was also pointed out to me by Arthur Basileus. That this country doesn’t respect the King as a King.”

“That person was? …He is unexpectedly a meddlesome person isn’t he?”

Regina disdained Kazuki about how he didn’t have the standpoint of a King. On the other hand there was this feeling that Arthur kept interjecting unnecessarily here and there saying things like “Like that, you won’t be able to become my worthy rival!” Should he call that as Britain’s chivalric mind?

“Certainly, there are still a lot of people that has yet to recognize you as King. But, at the very least, Headmaster Amasaki and I plan to be your supporter. I want you to believe that.”

He could feel the sincerity from his voice. Things like Commander Yamagata’s positivity level couldn’t be known even with the power of King. But as fellow males, they could understand that each other was worthy of their faith, he had that kind of feeling.

“I will calm down Roshouko. The treatment for that woman is really troublesome but…”

‘Looking at your relation from the side, you two look like you are getting along well though’, Kazuki thought inside his heart.

“Also I will put an arrangement in order, so that you will be contacted immediately when Beatrix wakes up. I will show that this matter is also about you without fail. I will make the surroundings recognize it. Without fail.”

Commander Yamagata said that and cut off the connection. Kazuki felt relieved for the moment and released a deep sigh.

He guessed that it would take a little more time to clean up the aftermath of the extremely chaotic battle the other day. He was told that his current job was to flirt with the others, but by no means could he also completely ignore all the other matters.

―And then, next he had his schedule for the night.

There was one other thing, a business that Kazuki had to ask about with his own volition.

Part 5

The courtyard of the Magic Division at night where there was no human presence―when Kazuki brought the proposal that he wanted to talk, that person called out Kazuki to this place. Tonight was a quiet night with no wind.

“Sorry to call you out in the middle of night.”

“Not at all, after all it was my side that wanted to talk.” Kazuki replied.

The owner of the voice was―Liz Liza-sensei.

Her full name was Liz Liza Westwood. She was a naturalized Japanese that crossed over to Japan at the time when Japan still had diplomatic relation with Britain and obtained her nationality then. Now, she was a teacher here.

Beyond that, she had also became the first generation chosen by Solomon 72 Pillar.

<The First Knights>. In that period of chaos where the matter about Diva was still not understood well, they were the pioneers that fought the illegal magicians whose minds were violated by Diva and the Demon Beasts that suddenly appeared by tearing apart the space itself.

Even though they were able to borrow the power from Solomon 72 Pillar, the people at that time was still weak in magic power, it was said that they was mostly unable to communicate with their Divas.

The Knights at that time were still immature about the way to use magic and also the tactic to use that skillfully in an organized way.

He learned by hearsay that in that extremely chaotic situation [those people who obtained a strange power while they knew nothing at all] then became [the people that fought in order to protect the others in their surroundings even while knowing nothing at all].

Each time illegal magicians rampaged at that time, people in a number so large that he couldn’t imagine in this peaceful time died.

The first Haunted Ground in Japan, <Fuji’s sea of trees> was also created at that time.

Before long Liz Liza-sensei retired from being a knight because of her weakening magic power, and then rather than choosing to be promoted into the top brass of the Knight Order she chose to raise the next generation and cooperated in the establishment of the Knight Academy.

―That was Liz Liza-sensei’s profile.

If it was this person then she should know. Regarding the affair that happened before in the Grand Haunted Ground. And then also regarding the character that put up the seal in the Grand Haunted Ground.

Kazuki was planning to immediately head back to the Grand Haunted Ground as soon as his magic power recovered.

However before that, he wanted to know beforehand as much as possible about the person that put up the seal. Who put up that seal and how did they do it. What happened before in the Grand Haunted Ground…

There was still some things that the Knight Order hadn’t explained to Kazuki.

“But why did sensei choose this time?” Kazuki asked.

Even though she didn’t want anyone else to overhear the story, it seemed that she was excessively being careful.

“That’s most likely because this talk will not end with just talking.”

Liz Liza-sensei made a mysterious response. This wouldn’t end with just a talk…?

“Before we talk about what had once happened in that Grand Haunted Ground, first there is something that I want to confirm from my side.” Liz Liza-sensei talked quickly without any calmness.

“The will that resides inside the seal in the last wall of the Grand Haunted Ground, and your Lemegeton, they exchanged intimate words with each other right?”

Kazuki answered “Yes” and nodded honestly. The person in the seal was Leme’s previous contractor.

“Lemegeton, she has recovered her memory right?”

Kazuki noticed how her voice was trembling when she asked that.

Liz Liza-sensei who was always calm was now acting completely like a young girl that didn’t fit her age.

Beside Kazuki, Leme materialized and the person herself replied “That’s right”.

Liz Liza-sensei kept looking at Leme’s figure that had grown up into adult over and over with a bewildered gaze.

After taking a deep breath, Liz Liza-sensei asked Leme.

“Were you―Hibiki-neesama’s contracted Diva?”

“That’s right.”

…Hibiki? It was an unfamiliar name for his ear, but strangely it felt like he had heard the name somewhere, a name that felt pleasant when he heard it. Was that, the owner of the voice in that seal?

Liz Liza-sensei looked down as if hiding her expression. As if asserting that an adult couldn’t that easily let her emotion come to the surface, she closed her eyelids strongly.

Kazuki said nothing and waited for Liz Liza-sensei to be the one that opened her mouth first.

After listening to the sound of the night wind for a while, Liz Liza-sensei finally began to talk.

―Well then, how about I tell you the story about that period just as you wish.

This is a night individual class for you, Hayashizaki.

At the same time with the human race obtaining the power called magic power, they knew about the existence of a mental world called Astrum, and encountered the consciousness body that lurked there―the Divas.

Among the Divas there were existences with ill will that drove the minds of human crazy in exchange for power, and in the end they would try to take over the flesh body. The people that dirtied their hands with this dangerous contract was then called as <illegal magicians>. Those people had their minds go insane and rampaged around.

…Recently we had heard about words like [Cosmos Side Diva] or [Chaos Side Diva] from the mouths of various Divas and the Kings. It seemed that the fellows that created these illegal magicians were those Divas of the Chaos Side.

The Divas of the Cosmos Side granted humans the power to oppose these Divas of the Chaos Side. They were humankind’s protector. But in exchange they demanded faith―that is a strict order. You can understand that this absolutely cannot be said as a good thing when you see Lotte’s case.

In Japan, these fellows called as Divas of the Cosmos Side didn’t show their appearance.

…Why didn’t the Japanese Mythology try to protect us I wonder?

When Liz Liza-sensei suddenly let out such question from her mouth, Amaterasu’s avatar appeared beside Kazuki in order to answer that. She was in her jersey appearance with a sleepy face, a sun goddess (shut-in) that couldn’t give off the feeling of it’s virtue at all.

{That’s… even if we wanted to show our appearance to the humans, we were not in a condition to show up at that time. I had talked about this a little with Kazuki and Kazuha before though.}

Amaterasu exchanged a glance with Kazuki.

{During the long history of the Japanese people, their religious piety was weakening. Because of that, our <will for power> was completely weakened. Diva’s appearance change depending on people’s feeling.}

Amaterasu talked in justification.

{How we hate to fight and like to play is because the relation between the Japanese Mythology and the Japanese people was made up of <playing>, with the festivals as the core rather than <faith>. All this is absolutely not because I am a lazy person, but because this is what everyone demanded from me nyan. …It’s true you know?}

It sounded fishy because her tone was too lax, but he guessed that actually it was just as she said.

{At that time, I practically didn’t have the power to surface to the outer layer of a human’s consciousness> I was still asleep that time. By no means I just left the people to die without doing anything, don’t resent me―}

Saying just that, her figure vanished, as if escaping.

“I see. The syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism from the ancient time, the anti Buddhist movement at the beginning of the Meiji era… this is all also because of the complexity of the history of Japan’s faith.” Liz Liza-sensei nodded with a satisfied look and began her talk once more.

Anyway the other Magic Advanced Countries could immediately obtain the divine protection of the Divas of the Cosmos Side, but… Japan was unable to obtain Divine Protection from anyone.

Thinking back, those like Loki or Nyarlathotep, how a bunch of Diva that didn’t have any relation at all with Japan could even appear here too, I think this might be the reason. That’s because this country was the most optimum place for the Divas of the Chaos Side to go wild.

We at that time didn’t understand about such things at all. We didn’t even have time to be excited of obtaining a new power called magic, we just kept getting scared from all the illegal magicians and Demon Beasts that suddenly went on a rampage.

At that time the one who reached out their hand to us was Solomon 72 Pillar.

It seems that Solomon 72 Pillar is not strictly Divas from the Cosmos Side but… anyway they didn’t drive human’s mind mad and they became our power. And then they didn’t even demand faith from us.

It was mostly a selfish story, but… Solomon 72 Pillar too might have had the objective to [build their influence in this land]. And also, they might have had their attention attracted to this Japan, who didn’t receive any influence from other Mythologies too.

…Let’s stop this strange speculation that doesn’t have any relation with the main topic of the story. If Lemegeton-sama has recovered her memory, then someday, when the timing is right, she will surely talk about this to you.

What to choose, we at that time had no other option than to completely rely on Solomon 72 Pillar.

This was how it started that the generation that got contracted first with Solomon 72 Pillar… how we became the [First Knights]. Even if I called it a contract, we at that time were unable to clearly hear the voice of our Diva or talk to them. Most of us didn’t even understand which one among the Solomon 72 Pillar we got contracted with. We didn’t even work out the method to give birth to a contract with a strong tie, called Stigmata.

…That’s why, Lemegeton-sama.

I didn’t even notice that you, who were contracted with Hayashizaki, was Hibiki-neesama’s contracted Diva.

“But that kind of you became the very first ally of my King, in spite of how you didn’t notice Leme’s true identity. This, too, is surely what they call destiny.”

Leme crossed her arm and talked to Liz Liza-sensei self importantly.

Liz Liza-sensei’s expression slackened slightly and she smiled. It was a kind expression that was rare from her.

“It saved me, for you to say that. Now that I know everything―I can do nothing else, other than to devote my entire power for you, who is the forgotten memento of Hibiki-neesama.”

Forgotten memento―those words sounded like it was filled with an extremely heavy feeling.

There should also be other First Knights outside of me and Hibiki-neesama, but we didn’t know our exact number.

Hibiki-neesama―was a person that was like a big sister for me, we got along really well. That was why we fought together but, we didn’t even know about the existences of the other guys other than us. We knew that there were other people than us that also fought, but that was only after we had defeated all the illegal magicians that were rampaging at that time. …Not all of us were expected to survive in the end.

I don’t know anything about the names of the First Knights that died unseen by anyone.

Our fight at that time compared to all of you currently was completely a crude thing.

The strength of the magic power of our generation was still in its infancy compared to you guys, even the way to use Summoning Magic was something that we didn’t understand at all.

Even using Summoning Magic around level 3 was already the most we could do using all we had.

But thinking again now, the same also applied to the Divas of the Chaos Side I guess. They, at that time, were also immature compared to now. Surely they didn’t understand the way to manipulate a human’s flesh at that time.

When I recall that time I can only snicker scornfully. It was really a low level battle. Though it was really desperate.

Aah, now that I mentioned it, it seemed that when Loki obtained a flesh body in front of your eyes he said [I had grasped the trick to break a human] right? …We at that time might had also fought Loki even without realizing it. Though we didn’t know that the opponent was Loki.

At the same time with the illegal magicians appearing one after another and going wild, [Malignant Boundary AlternateCancer] sprang forth and Haunted Grounds were produced everywhere in Japan, then Demon Beasts were also coming out.

Those too also couldn’t be left alone, but… we had no choice but to leave those for later compared with the illegal magicians that went on rampage in the middle of the city. We had also liberated the smaller Haunted Grounds when we had spare time and from there got our hand on Sacred Treasures but… there was not enough people at all for Fuji’s sea of trees and it spread out bigger rapidly.

To at least delay the expansion of the Haunted Ground, a wall was constructed around the Haunted Ground.

It seemed that unexpectedly the wall had some effect.

The wall created at that time was the crumbling wall inside the Haunted Ground that even you had seen.

Of course, at first no one put any seal or anything like that on it. There was no one that could use such advanced magic skillfully that time.

We of the First Knights fought frantically. We didn’t even understand what was this power that we possessed, but anyway, we had to protect those important to us for the moment.

Summoning Magic couldn’t be used really well that time so actually the Sacred Treasures were really useful. The truth was we used Sacred Treasures often enough.

Among those First Knights, there was a person that was outstandingly stronger from the rest. That was Hibiki-neesama.

…Why was that person so strong like that? Only that person wouldn’t be inferior even if she is compared to your current generation… no, I think she was even stronger than your generation.

These are words that a person who idolized her big sister should not say, but she was so strong like a fierce god.

I know this because all along I had fought together with Hibiki-neesama, but I think those illegal magicians that went wild at that time was mostly defeated alone by Hibiki-neesama. Even I didn’t have many memories of scenes where I clearly gave the finishing blow by my own hands.

In a period of time, there was an interval where Hibiki-neesama distanced herself from the battle, but…when Nee-sama distanced herself from the front lines, the situation everywhere got worse, and soon it wouldn’t hold anymore if Hibiki-neesama didn’t return to the front lines.

At that time, the confirmed last person―the illegal magician who possessed the greatest strength was taking refuge inside Fuji’s sea of trees. Hibiki-neesama left me behind and pursued him alone.

And then… ending at that point she didn’t return back.

Hibiki-neesama left me who was just a hindrance… and didn’t return back for the second time.

After that, even when I headed to the Haunted Ground to confirm what happened with the battle, a powerful seal was fixed on the wall and entering inside the Haunted Ground was impossible.

For a long time, I was thinking that the seal was something Hibiki-neesama gambled her life to put for the sake of not letting out the strongest illegal magician because she was unable to defeat him.

But, after hearing Hayashizaki’s story, it seems that I was wrong.

What lies beyond the seal is… one of the Three Sacred Treasures, <Ame no Murakumo>.

Surely in the middle of her battle, Hibiki-neesama discerned that the Sacred Treasure she was using was something special. That was why until a worthy successor for that Sacred Treasure appeared, Hibiki-neesama sealed it.

It was something like that. This is everything that I know.

“It’s just as you said. Until the next worthy wielder appeared, she was not going to hand over that Sacred Treasure to anyone.”

―When Liz Liza-sensei’s story was over, Leme threw in some appropriate words.

“Worthy wielder… you mean Japan Mythology’s King?”

Liz Liza-sensei looked up to the night sky and whispered.

“The Three Sacred Treasures, they acted in concert with the King’s entrance to the stage and appeared in this world. If that’s so… then Hibiki-neesama, did she notice that she was someone that was chosen as a King?”

{…This is still the tip of the story but, I had the feeling that the direction of the story is heading to something that will incite my guilt…}

Once again Amaterasu’s avatar appeared.

{That child called Hibiki, she was Japan Mythology’s King. If the King really entered the stage, in response to that the chief god had to show the way for that child. But I at that time was late in my revival… I was sleeping. That was why that child had to fight wielding that Sacred Treasure without understanding anything. Although it seemed that in the middle Lemegeton looked after her in my place.}

“But I lost her completely.” The tone of Leme’s voice dropped and she hung her head down.

“That was why Hibiki-neesama and Lemegeton-sama put up that seal in order to wait until the next person that is worthy as King appeared. …And that aforementioned successor, is it Hayashizaki Kazuki?”

Liz Liza-sensei asked Leme.

“That’s right. Leme chose him.”

“Thereupon Hayashizaki finally arrived at the destiny where he will not only have the same contracted Diva but he will also wield the same Sacred Treasure as Hibiki-neesama right now.”

After Liz Liza-sensei said that, she made a ‘hah’ face from noticing something.

Her eyes opened wide and she stared at Kazuki with intense concentration.

After a while Liz Liza-sensei’s expression softened and a smile that she usually never showed appeared on her face.

“…Is that so. You are, so it’s like that…”

Kazuki was looking back at Liz Liza-sensei in a daze. He didn’t know what she meant.

“Liz Liza Westwood.” Leme shouted.

“Once again, you too swear your allegiance to my King, Hayashizaki Kazuki, and fight together with us.”

Kazuki was the one that was panicked with Leme’s high-handed attitude.

“Leme, sensei is sensei you see… also isn’t she already at an age where her magic power has weakened? That’s too unreasonable.”

Liz Liza-sensei glared at Kazuki fiercely. “Hayashizaki, don’t you dare say anything about a woman’s age.”

“My King, does this woman look like she is in an age where her magic power has weakened?”

Leme said that in a matter-of-fact voice.

“Eh, no, certainly sensei doesn’t look like that. But we are not talking about whether she looks like it or no…”

“Listen well. This woman’s age, is 18.”

With her voice still sounding so matter-of-fact, Leme said something that he couldn’t possibly believe.

“…Just wait a second there. Didn’t we just talk about a story that happened more than ten years ago in the past?”

Don’t tell him that Liz Liza-sensei was around three years old at that time, that was impossible.

Without doubt she should be around a thirty year old female teacher. That was what was written on the official papers.

“Saying it accurately… this woman’s age is freezing still at 18 years old. It was still too early for you to retire, Liz Liza Westwood! Right now is exactly the time for you to repair your ties of Stigmata contract with [Agares], it’s fine for you to liberate all of your power!!”

“Shem ha MeforashI remember thy name… thy name is [Agares]. O the sage sitting in the center of the space-time rotation, show that discerning eye.”

Liz Liza-sensei instantly finished her Astrum ConnectionAccess with her mastery of mental concentration.

She was wrapped with a powerful light that turned the night like the afternoon and Agares’ avatar floated beside her.

Straddling a dark-reddish crocodile that could be mistaken as a rock was an old sage wearing a robe with a hood attached. On his neck, a pocket watch that symbolized himself as a Diva that manipulated time was shining.

At the same time, Liz Liza-sensei also chanted a Summoning Magic. An enormous magic power was whirling. Everything of that magic power had its tip directed onto Liz Liza-sensei’s small body.

“O principle of time, listen to the calling voice of my sage. From beyond the long stagnation, awaken the waking up of the once existing fierceness… Freezing Time’s Secret FormulaLeap Stasis!”

Strong magic power light shined from Liz Liza-sensei’s whole body, and then with a fierce speed the light rotated to the right direction―completely like a clock needle.

Kazuki sharpened his Extra Sense in order to detect what was happening.

That radiance explosively expanded the magic power of Liz Liza-sensei that before this could be described as a rust-covered thing. The magic power overflowed.

It was a magic power that should be impossible to be emitted by an adult that had passed her peak. Not just that, Liz Liza-sensei’s essential something was transforming. No, it was moving. It was a something that had stopped moving until now.

―Was that time?

“Agares! …Give me the Stigma!!”

At the same time when the expanding magic power was calming down, Liz Liza-sensei shouted with a strong voice.

Liz Liza-sensei’s suit that was specially sized in a child-size, disintegrated into light and was reformed into a new shape. A green robe fluttered in a flap and a rod that imitated a sand hourglass was grasped in her hand.

It was a Magic Dress with the appearance of a sage worthy for Agares who governed over the three mysteries of the universe, earth, and time.

―It was an appearance that originally shouldn’t be able to be worn by Liz Liza-sensei who had already retired as a magician. But from the bare skin of Liz Liza-sensei that peeked out through the Magic Dress, lines of light―were running through carving the Stigmata.

“Sensei… what in the world just happened…”

He couldn’t understand what kind of magic that was just from looking.

However he only got the hunch that Liz Liza-sensei had become a warrior that possessed the power to fight.

“Just now is me and Agares’s Original One―the ultimate evasion magic that freeze all [change] and preserve it beyond the boundary of time. During these 14 years, I have frozen the growth and the aging of my flesh all along, freezing them beyond the boundary of time. Right now I have taken them back.”

“…Yo, you mean it’s perpetual youth and longevity?”

Kazuki trembled. Though of course she would die if she was killed or she got infected with a deadly sickness.

“Who knows. Doing something this absurd will create a distortion somewhere in your body and your mind, so I think immortality is out of the question… I didn’t grow into adult and had my magic power declining. It was just because I kept maintaining this magic continuously, my magic power was constantly consumed all this time.”

Right now, sensei had stopped pouring her magic power into her grand magic and recovered her original magic power.

…However, he understood that she was not aging at all since she was eighteen years old, yet it looked like even as an eighteen years old her appearance didn’t look appropriate for her age at all, that was surely because originally she was already a child-faced person with low height from the start.

“Why did sensei do such a thing…?”

“Right now, I understood my destiny. Surely it’s to raise you and then to fight besides you. Agares told me very vaguely before all this to preserve my strength until the next generation, strive diligently to study magic skill, and then impart those upon my juniors. He granted me [Leap Stasis] for these.”

Being told very vaguely… such ambiguity told him the story of the hardships for the magicians of that time.

{I raised this child.}

The old sage beside Liz Liza-sensei―Agares’ avatar was floating.

{Liz Liza was the generation immediately following the time when magic was born in this world, so her magic power amount was far fewer than the children of this time. But her magic skill that she had continuously forged during these fourteen years couldn’t even be compared to the children of this generation, surely. With quickness and efficiency, she can cast my Summoning Magic with high power. She also excels in Resist. Most of all, o King―you are young. Even compared to the other countries’ Kings you are far younger. To have a composed adult beside you should be the best support for you.}

“Agares’ eye to discern people is the real thing. Liz Liza is a good woman.” Leme too kept nodding while being ‘hmm hmm’.

“When My King was not blessed by the surrounding adults and was even in the process of failure, the one who became my King’s first ally from the beginning was Liz Liza Westwood. Only you.”

“Everything was destined.”

Liz Liza-sensei repeated one more time with a voice that was filled with a flood of emotions.

“I too, am able to know the truth of what happened fourteen years ago inside the Grand Haunted Ground from the story I heard from you and Leme-sama. That the Divas concealed that fact until now… is because they won’t hand over the thing that Hibiki-neesama left behind to any other person until you come to inherit it.”

For Liz Liza-sensei, too, this was a puzzle that had haunted her for long years. With Kazuki’s report about the mysterious happening inside Fuji’s sea of trees, all the puzzle pieces was lined up and brought about the answer.

“Hayashizaki Kazuki… I too will swear my allegiance to you. I’ll be going with you too, to grasp tight your destiny, to the Fuji’s sea of trees.”

Destiny―it was not by chance for him to be picked out by Leme.

The secret of Fuji’s sea of trees―the clear intention of Solomon 72 Pillar was guiding him there.

There were still things Kazuki didn’t understand. However, Leme who had recovered her memory said to him to directly go there to confirm it himself.

“…That person called Hibiki, what kind of person was she?”

Kazuki asked at least that. Liz Liza-sensei pondered for just a little.

“It’s hard to describe her with just a single word, but… she is a strong and bright person, who resounded hope to the surrounding people just by being there.”

“How poetic.” Leme too closed her eyes in nostalgia.

Both Leme and Liz Liza-sensei drifted off an atmosphere that sympathized with each other as the people that knew about that time.

“She resembled you a little.”

Liz Liza-sensei said that while once again making a smile as if she was tickled.

“That’s true huh, you resemble her.” Leme too grinned widely.

…What’s with them, this lukewarm sensation that could be felt from Liz Liza-sensei and Leme.

As if the aunties that were relatives of his were staring at him like he was a kid…

“That’s right, there is one more thing that I have to tell you.”

Liz Liza-sensei suddenly diverted her face aside and then talked while adopting a formal attitude.

“Right now, there is no student in the Knight Academy that is contracted with Agares. Someone close to you that is contracted with Agares is just me. There are several people among the graduated students and the third years but…”

“There is not a single person in my year? Deviation like that exist?”

Each of the Solomon 72 Pillar was in charge of many contractors, the Diva were dividing their power into each of their charges. The contractor of Phoenix and Vepar was not only Mio and Koyuki.

“If there are sociable guys among the Solomon 72 Pillar, there are also guys with high pride. Agares too is someone that doesn’t choose his contractor lightly. Kaguya’s Asmodeus too is that kind of type. Then next is… this guy called <King of Indignation Beleth> is the extreme, until now he still hasn’t choosen a single contractor.”

Leme averted her eyes a little awkwardly.

“Well… that’s because each of the 72 Pillar are different in how much they can cooperate with the humans. Saying it frankly, there are also those guys that are not serious.”

“Leme. You, aren’t you just a self-proclaimed King of gods, that leads the 72 Pillar? You need to let them have it and lead them along properly.”

“Le, Leme is the type that doesn’t shackle her comrades too much okay-! Nununu, Beleth you bastard…”

Although she had grown into an adult, she was someone that didn’t have much of a dignity… n–𝔬/.𝑽.)𝐄–1..𝑩-)I/.n

“Anyway there is no one close to you that that can use Agares’s magic that is really powerful even among the 72 Pillar except for me. Ehem, do you understand what that means?”

Liz Liza-sensei that kept averting her face to the side cleared her throat purposefully.

For some reason Kazuki’s head was blank and his thinking got suspended. This was a matter that cut off his imagination for some reason.

Liz Liza-sensei waited for his reply for a while, but she impatiently fidgeted around and glared at Kazuki with upturned eyes.

“I’m, I’m saying for you to conquer me too! For the sake of this country’s future!!”

“Ee, EEEEEEEEE!? Do, doing that, to sensei!?”

“Wha, what’s with your reaction! You are really that dissatisfied with me huh!”

This was not a problem of dissatisfaction or anything.

This was about a relation between teacher and student. Much less how in Kazuki’s whole life it was beyond his imagination to think of a female who was [a little girl in appearance yet thirty years old in mental age] as an object of romantic interest.

“My King, don’t you become timid in regards to older woman. It’s actually okay right? An older woman.”

From the side, Leme, whose appearance had completely become an older woman, collided her shoulder with a *don* at him. Now that he thought again, she too was the same as Liz Liza-sensei, young in appearance, but unknown about the substance.

{These days are all about lolibaba desu, Kazuki-oniisan!} Lotte’s voice said inside his brain.

“Oi, Hayashizaki. How much is my positivity level?”

“So, so sensei is going to ask that so directly…”

The number reflexively floated inside Kazuki’s mind. Liz Liza Westwood―38

“…It’s 38.”

“Muu…”Liz Liza-sensei felt awkward.

“You need a score of 65 in order to use my magic right!? Raise up my positivity level more!”

“Even if the person herself said so to me! What should I do to make sensei like me!?”

“That’s… something like, using cool and tasteful speech or something.”

“You are going to get burned if you touch me so carelessly.” Kazuki said with a made-up austere and low voice.

“Oo! As expected from my King, it really pierces a woman’s heart that will chase someone in reverse when they were bluntly thrust aside.”

Leme leaned her body forward excitedly but Liz Liza-sensei was “Lame…” with an amazed scornful eyes.

“It’s impossible even if sensei suddenly ask me for something cool without any context! Isn’t cool speech something that is said because there are a clear flow of events! …Besides, 38 is really not that low sensei.”

“That’s true, that number is around something like [a friend of different sex with good relation], a relationship that feels a little conscious toward the other party. Maybe that’s a fairly good number already for a relationship between a teacher and a student.”

When Leme too nodded to that, Liz Liza-sensei’s face turned red suddenly.

“Fo, for the sake of this country’s future, I can only forcibly make myself become conscious about Hayashizaki!”

“For the sake of this country sensei said, it’s really strange there. Does sensei not have a lover or someone that sensei likes?”

“The, there isn’t any guy like that for me.” Liz Liza-sensei averted her face to the side and pouted her lips like a child.

“…In the first place the guys who are in the same generation with me have all completely become middle-aged men. And yet me who got left behind, looks like this. Still if it’s only men then even I have some that approached me. But once you see, accidentally, I became aware about how those men that liked me talked about me behind my back.”

“What, what were they saying?”

“Legal loli.”

Kazuki covered his face with his hands from this overwhelming tragedy before him. Leme too was making an expression like an “Uwaa” on her face.

“Since then, somehow I became unable to believe the good will from those guys who are the same generation as me. Certainly it’s strange right, a guy who had already passed the later half of their twenty, yet they liked a woman whose appearance is like me, it’s scary.”

“I, I think it might not be even a peculiar taste that can be called strange that made them approach sensei though…”

“No, it’s strange without doubt. Since then, things like love is something unrelated to me and I continued to be zealous in my work… that’s right, I didn’t have any free time for a thing like love! All is for the sake of inheriting Hibiki-neesama’s will and to raise the magicians of the next generation!” The loli teacher stamped her feet on the ground and lost her temper.

Besides her, Agares too leaked out a dispirited voice.

{At least if she grew old fitting for her age it might have turned out differently, but… O King, from me too I beg you to take care of this child. Suddenly a self-awareness that I had completely done something inexcusable is gushing out inside me. Tampering around with one’s age will make someone into a distorted human being isn’t it…}

“Even if you begged me… I’m asking what should I do here?”

“Hayashizaki! How did you raise the other women’s positivity level then!?”

“That’s… playing together or…”

“After this, when school is over, we are going to play together! But what should we do to play…?”

“Doing something like playing a game…?”

“Go study if you have time for doing something like playing a game!”

“Please don’t say something teacher-like! No, this is sensei but, somehow it seems difficult to go play with a teacher after school…” Kazuki was at a loss and looked up to the night sky.

Part 6

The courtyard of the Sword Division at night was dark.

The lighting was few and when the night came there was only the moon light illuminating the area.

In the first place comparing the Magic Division with the Sword Division who was treated coldly, Sword Division’s facility was terrifyingly meager. But at this time when Kazuki became the Chief Student Council President and he proposed “Won’t it be safer to increase the lighting here”,

“This can become an extra training so it’s fine even if it stay like this.” Kanae rejected the proposal curtly. The common students too went “If Kanae-taichou said so” and all of them agree with that, so in the end it was left as it was. The Sword Division was filled with people who was sports-minded from the root.

‘…That is, because if they strengthened their eyesight using magic power then the surrounding will be visible even in darkness though…’

‘…But somehow it feels like a ghost will come out here.’

Kaguya was called out at midnight to the Sword Division and she was fearfully walking ahead while thinking so.

The Japanese-style courtyard’s darkness that was like an ink painting was the most suitable world for a test of courage. Even now it felt like a human’s shadow was going to leap out from the shadow of the pine tree all of a sudden.

Magic power was the power of the mind. Therefore she had the feeling that it wouldn’t even be strange for the mind to become a ghost after the death.

‘…But wait. Perhaps it’s too hasty to act scared from deciding that the ghost is a bad person just because it’s a ghost.’

‘A strong attachment is not just limited to negative emotion. The ghost is just too pitiful if suddenly everyone gets scared of it.’

‘…Yosh, if a ghost come out, let’s try to make contact with it friendlily.’

Kaguya resolved herself so and raised her face that was looking down.

Suddenly a footstep rang from the shadow of the pine tree on her path. Kaguya immediately shivered in twitches and her resolve from just now was thrown to the wind before she made a U-turn back to the Witch’s Mansion.

“Sorry to call you out this late at night, Otonashi Kaguya.”

A voice she was familiar with called out to the back that was making a U-turn, Kaguya made a U-turn once more and after rotating in circles from excess force―she jumped Kanae with all her strength in a hug.

“Kaa―na-chaa―n!!”

“Uwa, what the!? Don’t suddenly be hugging like this!”

“I have decided already that I will greet the ghost friendlily if it comes out seee―!!”

“What’s with that!? I’m not a ghos…mugu! My, my breath…”

The face of Kanae whose height was short was buried right into Kaguya’s chest.

“So you are tempting Nii-sama with this giant fluffy lumps huh…mugugu…”

“Ann-. …Don’t, Kana-chan, don’t taste it…-!”

“It’s just my mouth flapping up and down searching for oxygen!!!!”

Kanae filled her four limbs with the light of Enchant Aura to the brim and shook off Kaguya’s embrace with brute force. Kaguya pouted her lips from the reluctance of parting and fanned both of her opened hands up and down. She looked like a penguin. Kanae was going “You strange animal” while frowning her face.

“Then Kana-chan, what is your business? In the middle of the night like this…ha-!? Don’t tell me Kana-chan, you are finally going to return my feeling…with a perverted act!”

“Don’t say such disgusting thing! …I want you to keep me company in my secret training.”

“Secret training?” Kaguya blinked her eyes.

Kanae drew out her sword from her waist smoothly. The body of the blade melted into its surrounding because of its black color.

Kaguya noticed the strange thing. It mentioned the Sword Division’s <Storm Cat(Wind God Kitten)>, two sword style using two kodachi was supposed to be her trademark.

But Kanae tonight was different. What was prepared in her hand was a jet black katana.

“This is the sister blade that form the pair with <Road WindDoufuu> that Nii-sama use, <Path ShadowMichikage>.”

“Is there…something you want to test?”

“I want to test using you, a new technique that I realized. Because around me the one with the highest spell chanting skill is Otonashi Kaguya, it’s you.”

In other words―Kanae’s new technique was a technique for the sake of destroying the chanting of enemy magician. Kaguya guessed that wordlessly and performed <Access> to change into her Magic Dress.

“While chanting some kind of magic, it’s fine for me to show that I can face that technique right?”

Kaguya puffed out her chest full of confidence.

In the first place Kaguya had prepared for her duel with Kanae and trained predominantly in her spell chanting ability until now.

The result of that―she had maintained her chanting even while receiving Beatrix’s fierce attack, if it was just a magic around middle level then she could cast it. She had reached the stage where she could just tell the Heaven and Earth Formation to hell with it.

Kaguya didn’t understand how deep the mysteries of the world of sword art went.

But she couldn’t imagine Kanae to exhibit an attack power that surpassed Beatrix.

It was a little pitiful but, that new technique would undoubtedly fail against her.

‘…Is magic around level 5 fine?’ Kaguya began to chant.

“It helps that you accept my request so quickly. …After all in the end the duel with you didn’t get realized.”

Kaguya was suspicious how Kanae showed a smile so full of confidence at her. She shouldn’t be able to succeed.

―Kaguya’s silent light of magic power, smoothly and slowly whirled like a vortex.

‘As expected from her’ Kanae thought inside her heart. For her to not produce a flashy light was the proof that her chanting had been polished instead. Like a cat that was confirming the timing to leap into her prey, Kanae observed that vortex while breathing lightly.

Their distance was only a few meter apart. It was a far closer distance than the usual duel. Her whole body was already overflowing with willpower and her katana was drawn out, her preparation to leap forward could be done anytime.

But Kanae kept her stance still and continued to observe Kaguya’s magic power.

The flow of magic power resembled breathing. Reading the breathing was a standard secret art for a swordsman.

The flow of this magic power was trying to construct a single shape.

Inside the forming structure, there was a pillar that supported everything. There was a vital point. What should be cut, was that.

―Now. Kaguya’s chanting created that exactly right now.

Kanae kicked the ground. At the same time she raised <Michikage> overhead. Her whole body automatically moved just as what she had done through countless training. She was just doing this one more time, she would do it without even a single millimeter of deviation.

Namely, this was the most optimum movement solution that was the most natural for her own body.

…She once aimed for two sword style because of her own powerlessness. She once chose not the destructive power of a single strike but the number of attacks, she would scatter the opponent’s concentration with fast consecutive attack and fight in a way that obstructed the chant’s magic power.

―But that was not the essence. Before she realized she had revised her thought like that.

The impetus for that thinking was that time she was defeated by Nii-sama’s team in the battle election tournament.

‘Isn’t my sword, becoming sloppy instead from recklessly searching for speed?’

As expected, the essence resided inside the single strike.

But destructive power was not everything there was in the single strike. Things like power or speed…the truth of sword art was not in that kind of thing. The truth of the sword art…was probably inside the single instant that had been refined to the limit.

Whether in the movement or in the timing, to reach the single ultimate instant where not even a single deviation would be forgiven―.

While feeling the wind, Kanae’s whole body was operating together with an endless smoothness.

There was [kata] in Hayashizaki-style. The greatest common divisor [standard movement] that was applied to everyone.

After repeating the movement following that kata thousands of times, tens of thousands of times, she reached the [quintessence movement] that matched her individuality―her body build, her muscle mass, her bone volume.

Her two sword style before searched for speed and became really sloppy, she distanced herself from that.

Right now one more time, she returned back to the starting point. ‘The optimum movement just for me. Even with my powerlessness and small build, the movement that is only for me.’

The muscles of her whole body contracted, and then stretched. The Enchant Aura magnified that expansion and contraction. That magnification would enlarge even a tiny deviation into a great deviation. Not even a single deviation, would be tolerated.

―Kanae followed her quintessence movement.

The black blade was buried into the vortex of magic power of Kaguya’s chanting as if it was absorbed.

Kaguya’s Resist repulsed the blade.

That repulsion―the shockwave of the smashed magic reverberated into the magic power vortex of Kaguya’s chanting.

A crack entered the magic power vortex. Originally it should be a crack that wouldn’t affect anything.

But Kanae had taken a careful aim. Like the movement of billiard ball where even the rebound movement had been calculated. She had aimed for the instant where the backlash from this Resist would enter a crack into the pillar that became the cornerstone of the magic construction.

A movement and timing where even a single deviation wasn’t allowed conformed each other like a miracle.

‘It reached―this is what I had been pursuing all along, the one other dream sword.’

The second Hayashizaki-style dream sword―<Holy PrecinctsShin’iki>.

Pachin*, it was a too quick sensation.

For an instant Kaguya didn’t understand what had happened.

Kanae who leaped into her bosom swung down her blade at Kaguya. She was hit with a slash.

But this was…just now was not a fierce impact that reflexively made her concentration toward her chanting get disturbed. If it was just a mere impact…her concentration power had held out even against Beatrix’s fierce attack.

Kanae’s slash was just a weak attack. So weak to the degree that she didn’t even notice she was slashed.

‘Why am I right now completely stopping my chanting then?’

It was as if she had lost the track of time and her spell vanished in the middle.

“Just now is…?”

“…A cut with the perfect movement in the ultimate instant. If I have to explain, it’s like that.”

Kanae stood her body upright from her cutting down stance, then she said that while taking a step back.

Kaguya didn’t really get it, but in other words it was a superhuman feat that overlapped the perfection and the ultimate. What’s with that?

“Wait, wait a second! It was only my carelessness just now-!!”

She didn’t really get it, but she didn’t think that such miracle-like technique would be practical in a real battle.

“Aiming for such nonsensical timing, how will it hit if the opponent moves away? Just now I planned to get hit with it so I just stupidly stood stock still like that but…”

“It’s just as you said. It’s still impossible to use in real battle.”

Kaguya released a relieved sigh, then she reflected herself that her reaction just now was too unsightly.

“Before Nii-sama climbs to an even higher height, I have to master this technique…”

“Kana-chan…”

Kaguya couldn’t perceive what kind of meaning was entered into that resolve. But a spirit that quietly burned like a bluish flame was entered into the small murmur.

“Next fight me for real without standing still like a scarecrow. I don’t mind even if you train your Resist on the same occasion and cast your magic if you finish your chanting.”

“…That’s just what I hoped for! I won’t lose next time!”

Kaguya swung her arms up and down then once more she began to chant her spell.

Light and shadow danced in the Sword Division at night. The special training of Kaguya who was clad in magic power light and Kanae who swung a black blade that seemed to melt into the night’s darkness continued until late at night.

Inside Kanae’s cool heart that swung her blade free from any obstructive thought, a low humming voice was echoing.

―Hayashizaki Kanae. Thy, art a girl that possess a heart like an earnest blade.

―I desire thy to listen to my voice without fear.

Without even a little bit of disorder in her swordsmanship, Kanae asked {Who’s there?} toward the darkness of her consciousness.

―My name is Beleth.

―The most noble devil king of Solomon 72 Pillar. The black cat of indignation, devil king Beleth.

{I don’t know that name. What business do you have with me?”

She didn’t plan to get agitated but, her swordsmanship disordered slightly.

Kaguya’s [Cocytus] which had its power moderated was invoked and smashed Kanae’s defensive magic power.

Kaguya immediately chanted again, Kanae too recovered her posture and once more challenged [Shin’iki].

In the middle of that repetition―the telepathic communication inside her consciousness continued.

{What business do you have with me? My magic power is weak and I also don’t have any magic skill, what do you want from me who has no worth other than swinging a sword?}

―Even without borrowing something like the power of Diva, thy skill has already been in the region of miracle.

―O girl who rely on nothing else but your sword to advance single-mindedly on your own path.

―Thy have no business with someone like a Diva.

{So you understand? Then leave immediately.}

―Be that as it may I want thy to lend thy ear. I want thy to turn thy face at me even for just a short time.

―My name is Beleth. In these ten years, I have continued to search a possessor of soul that is worthy to be my contractor, in the end I am but a wandering devil king who can’t find even a single person.

{Isn’t your pride really high? Such a thing is not good you know, that’s what I think.}

―But finally I find a possessor of a worthy soul.

―Rather than a possessor of a great talent of magic, thy single-mindedness is exactly what is worthy for me.

―Become my contractor.

{I refuse. You too understand right, that I have no use at all of you.}

―Even if thy make a contract with me, thy can obtain everything thy wish for?

―I am the only one among the 72 Pillar, who is specializing in reinforcement magic. Power and also speed, I can grant those to thy.

{I already don’t need any power or speed. I will become the blade itself.}

If she unskillfully affixed something like Summoning Magic on her body and fooled around with magic training, the brightness of her sword would surely grow dull. Even if she obtained speed or power, <Shin’iki> would be unusable with that.

{I don’t choose the same path with Nii-sama. Even if I cannot be a match against Nii-sama in overall strength…just in sword, I want to become an existence that shows Nii-sama the path ahead. …As the daughter of Hayashizaki family.}

―Not only power and speed. But love too.

―If you make a contract with me…you can become Hayashizaki Kazuki’s conquering target.

{That is exactly… a needless help!!}

Her swordsmanship was disturbed.

“Kana-chan, your concentration dropped! Are you sleepy!?”

Kaguya brought forth a piercing blizzard and lightly blown away Kanae.

“Damn-, as expected using it in real battle format is not so simple!”

Kaguya too like this accompanied Kanae in her special training until late at night.

Honestly Kanae had respected her since the time she first met her.

{Don’t be a hindrance anymore. It’s impolite to Kaguya after she has troubled herself to accompany my training like this…}

‘With my own way…as a big sister, I will go even farther than Nii-sama ahead of this path.’

‘Even if I lose at everything except in sword against Nii-sama, even if my love won’t come true.’

―How unfortunate.

Beleth was finally gone from Kanae’s consciousness, the night where the black cat danced continued indefinitely.