Arc 24: Teibeon (1)

A strange silence had settled over the Roah family estate for the past few days. Ampere had been in such a foul mood lately that all the servants had taken it upon themselves to keep quiet.

Word must have spread far and wide, because most of them knew I was going to Teibeon. It felt strange whenever a maid passed me with a sorrowful look.

My training with Atzier continued without fail, however. If anything, we stepped it up. I wasn't going on vacation; as far as everyone else was concerned, I was going off to die. No amount of training would be enough.

Incidentally, our sparring sessions were finally beginning to resemble actual sparring. Whether that meant my skills had improved or I had simply gotten used to Atzier, I couldn't say.

“Frondier.”

In the middle of our sparring session, Atzier drew back his spear.

“You asked me to demonstrate Falling Tension before.”

Oh.

I looked at him, eagerly awaiting what he would say next.

“Experiencing it is faster than watching a demonstration.”

“Are you going to teach me?”

“Your body finally seems somewhat ready. And no matter how much you prepare, it won't be enough for Teibeon.”

Truer words had never been spoken.

Atzier gently extended the tip of his spear toward me.

“Knowing you, though, you've already tried Falling Tension.”

He spoke as though he could see right through me. Since I had indeed tried it, I couldn't argue.

“How did it go? Did you succeed?”

“About halfway.”

“Halfway?”

“I made my opponent lose his weapon, but I dropped mine too.”

I had tried Falling Tension on Renzo. I had actually made him lose his greatsword, but my body had screamed in pain when I performed the technique, making me drop my weapon as well.

Yet a curious gleam appeared in Atzier's eyes at my answer. What was it? Had I said something strange?

“Then show me now. Falling Tension.”

“Right now?”

“Yes.”

I extended my short sword toward the spear tip he held out. For the record, this was the real sword made by Neil Jacques.

Then, the moment I performed Falling Tension just as I had before, Atzier's spear flew into the air—and my short sword remained in my hand.

“... Huh?”

It had worked. Just like that.

Atzier looked at me as though this were only natural.

“You said you dropped your own weapon too, didn't you? Was that because of the pain?”

“Yes. That's why I thought I'd fail again this time.”

“The pain was because your body wasn't ready yet. If you made your opponent lose his weapon, the technique itself succeeded. And your body is different now than it was then.”

My body was ready. That was what Atzier had said. He had known from the start that I would succeed.

In other words:

“You can now use Falling Tension. Clumsily, but still.”

Atzier always had to add that one little remark I didn't like.

* * *

Then came the last day before summer break.

Much to my surprise, quite a few people came to see me off to Teibeon. Even teachers like Jane and Binkis offered a few words as they passed.

It was partly because Elodie had spread the news all over Constel, but it didn't feel bad. The only thing that grated on me was how they all saw me off as though I were about to die.

“Frondier.”

After Jane's brief morning homeroom ended, Aster came to my classroom. He shook his head, looking either impressed or exasperated.

“I can't beat you. I never thought you'd actually go somewhere like that.”

“Who knows? If I don't come back, you win by default.”

Aster averted his eyes, as though that really might happen.

It was a joke.

“Where are you going, Aster?”

Aster's plans for the break. Since he was the protagonist, players could freely decide what he would do. Of course, if efficiency was the goal, the choices narrowed down to a few options. But the Aster here wouldn't consider that—and couldn't, anyway.

He answered, “I'm going to learn swordsmanship from my sister.”

“... From Elin? Wasn't she starting an internship with a pro?”

When I'd spoken to Elin, she'd said she would be interning under Eden Hamerlot.

Aster answered as though it were no big deal.

“Yeah. So I'm joining them too.”

Hah. My mouth fell open.

A professional internship wasn't something you could get easily. It was a precious opportunity offered only to third-years whose abilities and grades had been thoroughly proven.

As if taking Elin, a second-year, weren't enough, now he was taking Aster, a first-year, too.

“Eden doesn't seem to care about that stuff.”

“... Well, that's true.”

“Huh? You know about Eden?”

“No, that's just the impression I get from the rumors.”

I glossed over it, but of course I knew what Eden was like.

Eden was currently the number-one-ranked pro, and he had held that position for a very long time. Yet he looked remarkably ordinary for someone of his standing. Unless he was fighting, even his presence was that of an average person.

He was easygoing, unassuming, optimistic. It felt as though he'd collected every unpretentious trait there was.

But he showed you that even those traits became something abnormal when taken to their absolute extremes.

Easygoing enough to make himself at home in the Imperial Palace. Unassuming enough not to mind sleeping on the streets. Optimistic enough to look perfectly peaceful even if the world were ending tomorrow.

Eden's mental composure went beyond a clear mirror or still water; it was more like a deep-ocean current. However violently the waves raged on the surface, he remained as tranquil as the depths below.

This time, though, that almost abnormal serenity had helped.

The Aster in this world was so righteous and boyish that he seemed like a true protagonist. Eden and Elin would guide his growth down the best possible path.

“By the way, Frondier.”

“Yeah?”

“Did you fight with Elodie?”

“Why?”

“She gets this fierce look whenever your name comes up.”

I couldn't confirm or deny it.

I hadn't seen Elodie since telling her I was going to Teibeon. Usually, she was the one who came to see me, so perhaps it was only natural that we hadn't met when I hadn't gone looking for her. Still, it was strange that I hadn't caught so much as a glimpse of her.

I'd even wondered whether she was sick and hadn't been coming to Constel. That was how thoroughly she had vanished.

But hearing this from Aster, who was in her class, left only one conclusion.

Elodie was avoiding me.

“Well, we didn't fight. She never liked me much to begin with.”

“Huuuh...?”

Aster tilted his head skeptically.

His expression said, What the hell are you talking about?

* * *

[“No, I'm going to Teibeon.”]

Frondier had said it with a peaceful expression.

Not a trace of change had crossed that languid face, making Elodie wonder for a moment whether “Teibeon” was some famous resort.

Teibeon.

He was deliberately walking into a living hell.

“What are you thinking?”

Elodie was on the rooftop of one of Constel's buildings. Not long ago, during the monster attack, she had wiped out that enormous horde from this very spot.

That had been at Frondier's request. She had tried to understand him a little through that battle, only to find that she understood him even less now.

She slowly retraced Frondier's actions since the monster attack.

The fireworks... the final exams... his coordinated attack with Aster...

... The Ten Thousand Capes.

The Ten Thousand Capes. The ominous sound of that name would not leave her mind.

She couldn't understand everything she'd overheard outside the infirmary, but something was clearly wrong.

Yet Frondier had been the same as always.

And that very sameness had made Elodie realize that she knew absolutely nothing about him.

Looking at that ever-unchanging face, she had never suspected the mana depletion, the Ten Thousand Capes, or Teibeon.

Simply because his face looked the same as always, even after everything he'd been through, she had confidently assumed he was still the Frondier she knew.

... She knew nothing.

The Frondier she thought she knew had never existed in the first place.

CREEEAK.

CLANK.

The rooftop's iron door suddenly opened.

But Elodie wasn't startled. She hadn't expected anyone, but she knew who had come.

“I've been looking for you.”

Sure enough, it was Frondier.

“What for?”

Her reply was curt. She really didn't want to see him right now. No, she hadn't wanted to see him for days.

“I wanted my childhood friend to see me off.”

“Who's your childhood friend?”

She was, of course, but right now she felt like denying anything he said.

“Hmm.” Frondier sounded at a loss.

“I'm going somewhere pretty dangerous, you know.”

That, she simply couldn't bear.

Elodie whipped around, her eyes blazing. Literally: Igni activated, kindling flames in her gaze.

“You know that, and you're still going to that godforsaken place?!”

Her voice struck his eardrums like a lion's roar, and something shot past him.

A long streak raced from Elodie to the spot right beside Frondier, forming a path of flame.

Frondier blinked and looked at the fire blazing to his left. Yes, that was an attack he had absolutely no chance of dodging as he was now.

Elodie strode toward him. The wrist guards she wore hissed, venting smoke.

In other words, even that blast of fire had been regulated to some degree.

Frondier was honestly frightened.

“Teibeon? Teibeooon?! What the hell are you thinking, going there? Is the Outside a joke to you?! Have you improved a little lately and gotten so full of yourself that you can't see straight?! Wow, I swear, I've been trying to understand what you're doing with superhuman patience, you know? But I seriously don't understand a siiingle thing! Hey! What do you mean, childhood friends?! Are we only childhood friends when you need something?! You never tell me anything important unless I ask!”

As she poured it all out, Elodie felt something she couldn't describe.

Until she started speaking, her thoughts had been a tangled mess, and she hadn't even understood her own feelings. But shouting them out brought a little clarity.

By the time she was right in front of Frondier, she looked ready to cry. In fact, tears had already welled up at the corners of her eyes, only for the tremendous heat to evaporate them instantly.

At least that made it a little less embarrassing.

“You said we were alike!”

Elodie remembered those words he'd said to her once.

They had been a small source of support for a girl who, bearing the name Richae and the name Inies, would live with loneliness as her shadow.

“How are we alike?! I don't understand you at all! I don't know a single thing about you!”

She gave his chest a light thump. The flames had died down, leaving nothing but a girl.

“I don't understand. You, where you're going, where you're trying to go—I don't understand any of it.”

As she spoke, Elodie realized what she truly felt.

She was afraid for Frondier. It wasn't just because he was going to Teibeon. That had merely been the trigger.

To her, he seemed to keep reaching for danger. What was he trying to achieve? And if he kept doing it—if he truly ended up in danger, if something happened to him...?

“Elodie.”

After listening to her outburst, Frondier said her name calmly.

“What, you moth-to-a-flame idiot?”

“I meant it when I said you and I were alike.”

“I'm telling you, we're nothing alike.”

“That's because I'm not as strong as you.”

Elodie looked up in surprise. Frondier was as calm as though he were stating the obvious.

“You don't need to rush. You're strong enough, and your talent will guide you toward the light. But I'm different. I have to do whatever it takes to overcome what's ahead, and I will. Teibeon is no different. It's dangerous, certainly, but it's worth it.”

“... Why are you the only one in such a hurry? Everyone else at Constel is working hard at their own training. Why do you have to do something this insane?”

Watching him during the final exams had convinced Elodie.

Frondier had clearly begun to surpass Constel's average level of ability. Considering how recently he had escaped his laziness, his rate of growth was tremendous.

So she had believed he would be satisfied now. She'd thought he'd pushed himself so hard because he was behind the other students.

And now, Teibeon?

“It's something I need to do. That's all.”

“... And that's all it takes for you to be prepared to die?”

“Who's dying?”

Frondier spoke calmly, as though he were merely reciting a fact.

“I'll come back without any trouble.”