After vacation ends, students fall broadly into two groups.
Those who have grown over the break, and those who have not.
This depends greatly on what kind of experience they gained during the vacation.
From that perspective, Frondier had made one mistake.
He didn’t think of it that way himself, but objectively, a mistake was a mistake.
“Remember, this is a spar.”
Aster’s class, Combat Theory.
To roughly gauge his students’ abilities, Aster had decided to hold sparring matches.
And Ias asked Pielot to spar with him.
Everyone watching thought the same thing.
That Ias had just requested a revenge match.
Ias, who had been blown away by a single attack from Pielot. Of course it had left a lump in his chest. He had trained over the vacation and come back to challenge Pielot again.
In the end, that wasn’t exactly wrong.
“Let’s have a good match.”
“Same here.”
When he asked Pielot to spar, Ias had completely forgotten all about that past.
Unlike before, when he had held a sword, this time Ias was gripping a long staff. In Palma, when he’d happened to pick up a spear, he had realized something.
And the moment Pielot saw Ias take up a spear,
“.......”
His expression hardened, and he immediately took an iaijutsu stance.
After being scolded by Frondier, he had resolved never to take that stance inside Atlas again, but he changed his mind on the spot.
If he faced Ias half-heartedly, he wouldn’t be able to beat him now.
That was what he thought, and yet—
“Hm.”
Watching quietly, Ias spoke.
“Pielot, could you not take that stance?”
“Why?”
“Because I feel like I’ll get blown away in one hit. Then it won’t be much of a spar, will it.”
Pffthahaha! Laughter burst out from the listening students.
But hearing it face-to-face, a chill raced up Pielot’s spine.
There was nothing funny about it.
“......Okay. I need to practice fighting without that stance anyway.”
“Since it’s a spar, let’s be careful not to get hurt.”
At Ias’s words, Pielot understood.
The Ias standing here now didn’t care about winning or losing this match.
Aster stepped into the middle and spoke.
“If the spar gets too heated, I’ll step in and stop it at my discretion, so don’t lose your heads.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Got it.”
The two answered, and Aster stepped back.
“Then, begin!”
At the signal, no one moved.
Pielot had been braced, thinking Ias would attack first, while Ias was—
“......Mm, it’s easier to pull back if I hold it like this. So this is what they meant when they said a spear’s true skill is in recovery.”
Checking his own grip and stance.
“......Ias?”
“Ah, sorry, Pielot. I’m still not used to ‘doing it my own way.’”
What was that supposed to mean?
Saying that, Ias once more wrapped his hands around the spear and looked at Pielot.
Next, a thrust would come. Pielot knew that.
And then,
Sst!
The tip of the staff grazed Pielot’s cheek,
And by the time Pielot looked at Ias again, the staff had already returned to its original position.
‘......Perfect.’
Pielot was purely impressed.
As if he had thrust the staff and, in that same instant, pulled it back at the same speed.
On top of that, even though Pielot knew a thrust was coming, there had been no preliminary sign of its start. So despite trying to dodge it completely, it had still grazed his cheek.
From that single thrust, Pielot could tell what realm Ias was in now.
But Ias, looking somewhat disappointed, shrank a little.
“You dodged it lightly after all.”
“.......”
“Well, I just have to learn it one step at a time.”
Ias nodded, and his eyes cleared, as if he had just absorbed something else.
Tap!
This time, Pielot moved. He hadn’t accepted the spar just to be a test dummy for Ias.
A stabbing blade— Ias tilted his staff diagonally downward. As it passed along the sword as if wrapping around it, the trajectory changed.
Whoosh!
Following the path Ias had diverted, Pielot pivoted on his axis and turned it into a spinning slash. The wooden practice sword aimed at Ias’s neck, and Ias was too late to dodge.
“!”
Instead, Ias flicked the opposite end of the staff forward. In that instant, it tapped Pielot’s face.
Thwack!
The two of them broke apart, putting some distance between them. Neither side had taken any real damage.
Pielot thought,
‘That attack just now wasn’t a simple check. His goal wasn’t to damage me— it was to neutralize the attack flying at him.’
Unless you were prepared to go down together, there was no way you’d carry out a movement that was so obviously suicidal.
Now, even Ias’s attacks had come within the scope of his defense.
‘When I first met him, I thought he was the type to pour everything into offense, but it was actually the exact opposite.’
Unlike before, Ias was no longer using a sword, and he wasn’t aggressive now.
Ias had shifted to defense, and Pielot realized it.
This was the real Ias. He had been displaying that level of skill while using a style that didn’t suit him. Like someone who was left-handed, living their whole life as a right-hander without knowing it.
So—
“......I forfeit.”
Pielot spoke.
“Huh?”
“I don’t see any way to break through.”
Ignoring the baffled Ias, Pielot addressed Aster.
Aster watched quietly, then nodded.
“Then the spar is over.”
“Eh. Sir, I’m not done yet......”
“Your opponent conceded defeat. By the rules, the match is over.”
At Aster’s words, Pielot bowed quickly and then turned back to rejoin the line of students.
He moved almost as if he were fleeing.
Still unconvinced about something, Ias scratched his head hard and let go of the staff.
***
“Sir, Ias is way too strong.”
“.......”
When his student came to the staff room with such a serious face, Frondier had wondered what was wrong, but it turned out to be nothing.
“Why are you saying something you’d say about a monster about a classmate?”
“I’m serious, sen— I mean, teacher.”
Pielot’s expression was serious enough that it didn’t seem like he was just saying it idly.
But Frondier didn’t believe him. This was the same face he’d made when saying, “I think I’m going to throw up.” It wasn’t a face you could trust.
“What’s so problematic about Ias being strong?”
“......I don’t mean it’s a problem, but......”
Pielot averted his gaze.
In a voice that shrank, he said,
“When someone grows that fast, it’s only natural to feel a little aggrieved.”
“Hm.”
Only then did Frondier feel a bit more serious himself.
‘Hero Ias.’
Ias’s motif was undoubtedly the hero Ajax. He used spear and shield— a genius of defense.
Originally Ias had used a sword and had been more offensive than defensive, so Frondier had wondered if he was someone else entirely. But it seemed a spear really was what suited him.
‘Of course, even if a weapon fits you, it makes no sense to handle it that well the moment you pick it up.’
Pielot’s sense of unfairness probably came from there.
Ias had always used a sword. He’d barely ever held a spear.
Yet from a single fight in Palma, his proficiency had skyrocketed to an absurd degree. Even if he had gained some insight.
If a person kept that kind of growth rate up, in less than a year he’d breeze past paladins and Zodiacs.
A rival the same age as you growing at a crazy speed. It was more than reasonable to feel envious of that.
But that was something other students might say.
‘You’re the last person who gets to complain, Pielot.’
Frondier tried to sympathize with Pielot, but in the end he was too dumbfounded to say anything.
Pielot seemed to have completely forgotten what he himself had done in Palma.
Frondier spoke.
“Are you worried you might lose to Ias?”
“I think it’s possible.”
“Be honest.”
“......For now, I still think I’m ahead, but at Ias’s current growth rate, I’m sure that,”
“More honest.”
“I have no intention of losing.”
See?
Frondier let out a sigh.
“Stop thinking about useless things and just keep doing what you’ve been doing. Ias’s starting line was way behind. He’s only just now gotten a proper start.”
“For someone’s starting point to be like that, that’s ridiculous talent.”
“Says the kid who was using aura at his own starting line.”
Pielot looked away. It was hard to tell whether that was praise or a scolding.
Unlike Pielot, Frondier roughly understood Ias’s rapid growth.
Because ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) he himself handled multiple weapons at once.
‘Proficiency that applies to every weapon. Understanding of weapons themselves. Monty was like that, and so was Revet. While Ias was learning the sword, his understanding of weapons themselves must have gone up.’
And as long as he’d been holding a weapon that didn’t really suit him, doubts would have born in his mind.
For Ias, the “sword” had been like a safe road. A weapon he had chosen as if guided by a destiny that would just work out. But that didn’t change the fact that it didn’t fit him. He’d had doubts about it, and those doubts had now become skill.
‘Right now, Ias is handling a talent he can actually feel for the first time. Of course his skill will shoot up.’
Pielot might have forgotten now, but he had definitely been the same.
When he realized his aura far earlier than others. Before he completed his current draw-cutting technique, when he realized he could perform “double attacks.”
Pielot’s wariness toward Ias was like a frog being surprised by a tadpole.
‘......Forgotten, huh.’
At that keyword, something came to Frondier’s mind.
“Come to think of it, Pielot.”
“Yes?”
“That dream you said you saw at the hospital. You still don’t remember it?”
After being struck by mana from the demon world, Pielot had had a strange dream.
He’d meant to tell Frondier about it, but had forgotten its contents. It had definitely been some weird spell Atena had used.
Frondier had been hoping that spell had worn off by now, but—
“......Mm, no. I still don’t remember. I’m sure I did have some kind of dream......”
With a pensive look, Pielot spoke. He looked frustrated himself.
“Hm, I see. If you remember it later, make sure you,”
Just as Frondier got that far,
Flash!
Something in his arms shone.
‘Don’t tell me, again?’
There was no way for Frondier not to know what it was.
When he took out the Golden Apple from his arms, it was glowing, just as he’d expected.
“H-huh?”
And from Pielot’s body, something like black smoke flowed out and was sucked into the ring of the Golden Apple.
‘Again, acting on its own......!’
Now a sort of irritation welled up in Frondier as he glared at the circular ring. It activated on its own when he hadn’t done anything. From his perspective, it was extremely unpleasant.
“......Ah!”
And when it had finished sucking in all the black smoke, as if on cue, Pielot cried out.
“Teacher! I remember! The dream from back then!!”
“I get it, so lower your voice. This is the staff room.”
Even just now, the light and black smoke had drawn everyone’s eyes.
Frondier glanced around and gave them an awkward smile. It was a desperate plea that there was nothing wrong.
Then he turned back to Pielot.
“......So, you remember?”
The reason Pielot now remembered the contents of his dream was obvious.
The Golden Apple had swallowed the spell Atena had cast.
‘So it doesn’t just swallow illnesses. What exactly is this ring’s criterion?’
Frondier naturally frowned. At that, Pielot said,
“Sometimes you’re insanely scary, you know that, sen— I mean, sir. Your face.”
“Call me teacher.”
“Anyway, in the dream I saw, Satan showed up, and—”
Just as Pielot got that far.
Without Frondier doing anything, his words stopped.
No— Frondier was the only one who thought he hadn’t done anything.
Thud─
Silence settled over the staff room. Everyone in it was staring at Frondier. Tense, or frightened, they all froze up just like Pielot, all their movements halted as they looked at him.
Pielot blinked a few times and spoke.
“......Um, can I keep talking?”
Frondier tilted his head.
“Hm? What kind of question is that?”
