Chapter 13 · The Training Grounds (3)

‘What does it matter to me whether that fool lives or dies?’

I flipped through my magic book, trying to forget the future that had been bothering me for days.

‘It’s his own doing. He acts so arrogant, so he’s getting punished by God.’

And he’s Stella’s betrothed, no less! What a perfect pair. Though they’ll never actually end up together.

But for some reason I couldn’t fathom, Ark had been training alone near the spot where Rizen and I practiced ever since that day. We were training far away from the center of the training grounds, where the holy knight order and the royal knight order held joint exercises, so his behavior was utterly baffling.

‘…How could I not be bothered by it?’

Rizen was the type who already felt a lot of pressure, and with Ark constantly loitering nearby, he was always on the verge of exploding with irritation. Once I had snapped at Ark, asking why on earth he had to train here of all places, and his answer left me speechless.

“Did the princess rent this place? It’s a space we all share.”

‘Sigh, fine. Do whatever you want…’

Today I decided to practice fog magic. Creating fog around myself using elemental magic isn’t very difficult—it’s beginner level—but the barrier technique that makes the spell affect only me and not others was extremely high-level.

If I could properly master this spell, it would be quite useful, since I could escape while the opponent floundered around trying to find me in the fog.

“Cālígo.”

As I recited the activation word, trying to organize in my head the theory I had learned so far, a faint fog soon rose around me.

“Whoa! Princess, how did you do that?”

Rizen, who had been practicing his swings, looked at me in surprise.

“Wizen, don’t talk to me. I need to concentwate.”

Since the fog would quickly vanish if my mana wavered, I was focusing with all my might, but Rizen came over and started waving his hand around, trying to touch the fog.

“Wow, if you could cast this more powerfully, it would be useful during war. The enemy wouldn’t be able to see us!”

“To do that, you’d need to use an insane amount of mana. It’s only good fow escaping fwom a few enemies. The mana consumption compawed to how long it wasts is too high, so it’s not weally useful in waw.”

His excited interference was irritating.

“Still, that’s amazing. Ah, how about the princess uses this magic to help with my training? Attacking an invisible enemy! Don’t you think it would awaken all my senses?”

Seeing Rizen’s sparkling eyes, I thought, ah, he really is a knight. Nothing but war and fighting on his mind.

“…Okay. But fiwst I need to pwactice until I’m proficient!”

“Got it. I won’t bother you anymore.”

He smiled brightly and went back to his practice. Does he know I’m weak to his smile? No, honestly, his smile is just too pretty! I recited the activation word again and tried to focus on making the fog, but this time the back of my head prickled.

“What now!”

I whirled around to find Ark staring at me intently.

“Why do you keep looking at me and bothering me! This space is everyone’s, but if you want to see me, ask fow pewmission!”

When I yelled at him, Ark flinched and his face turned as red as his hair. He hemmed and hawed as if trying to say something, then spun around and began his personal training.

‘What on earth is wrong with him?’

Was he just dying to pick a fight? The question lingered, but knowing he was a kid who would soon meet a tragic fate, my anger fizzled out and I decided to just leave him be.

The incident happened a few days later.

◇ ◆ ◇

“Wow, now I really can’t see the princess at all.”

Rizen said, floundering right in front of me.

“Hehe, but I can see Wizen.”

After days of effort, I had perfectly mastered the barrier technique. Though once I used it, I was completely drained for the rest of the day and would collapse before evening…

I crept up behind him and tapped him on the back with my toy wooden sword.

“Ow! So that’s where you were.”

When I released the fog magic and grinned, he smiled back and pretended to be hurt. But soon his expression darkened and he lamented in a gloomy voice.

“The princess is so young and learns so fast, but I’m much older than you and have trained for so long, yet I’ve made no progress at all…”

‘No. He’s about to start digging a hole again!’

As the Ars Confelo, where the knights’ skills would be tested, drew nearer, his condition worsened at every opportunity.

From what I had observed, although Shellman gave him a hard time, his swordsmanship was actually the finest among the apprentice knights.

That was probably why Shellman was especially strict with him, but she didn’t seem to realize that her teaching style was poison to Rizen, who had a weak mindset—I seriously wondered whether I should give her a hint.

But however excellent his swordsmanship, to stand against Dinitas, who could use mana, he needed to be able to use divine power. He knew that too, which was why he was increasingly unable to focus even on swordsmanship practice.

As I approached to comfort him—

“Aaaagh!”

A sharp scream came from beside us.

“?!”

At the same time, I turned my head toward the sound and saw Ark gripping his sword in agony.

“Ah… Aaaah!”

His sword was wreathed in blue flames, and the fire was spreading toward his hand.

‘That’s Flamma Gladius!’

It was a fire technique said to be used by only a very few magic-swordsmen. Used well, it could be devastating in war, but it was most important to master the barrier technique that kept the spell from affecting the caster. Yet it seemed he hadn’t yet perfected that.

“Aaaagh!”

“Awk!”

I ran to Ark at once. He was struggling to let go of his sword, but his already-burned hand seemed stuck fast to it. Seeing the flames burning ever deeper blue, it was clear he couldn’t control his mana either.

At this rate, he could burn through all the mana in his body in an instant and fall into an irreversible state—mana depletion.

“Wizen, go get Papa! Quickwy!”

I shouted to Rizen, who was hesitating between running to Ark and running to where the knights were gathered. As I ran toward Ark, I frantically searched my mind for which spell to use, but nothing suitable came to me.

The water elemental magic I could use now wasn’t enough to put out that fire. I needed a stronger counter-spell, but…

No, magic won’t be enough. I have to use divine power! But could Paeon arrive in time?

Just then, he swung his sword in agony, and an aura of blazing fire flew toward me. It was so fast that the moment I thought I had to dodge, the massive surge of flame was already right before my eyes.

‘No, don’t tell me this life ends here?’

As I felt the searing heat and my life flashed before my eyes—

Fwoosh!

In an instant, a light so intense I couldn’t keep my eyes open enveloped me. I collapsed just like that, wrapped in the light. A few tense seconds passed, and everything went quiet. I lay face-down on the ground, trembling, holding my breath to catch any sound. I didn’t have the courage to lift my head. Honestly, I couldn’t even tell if I was dead or alive.

‘If I’d died and regressed, my head would hurt, so I guess not.’

Feeling no pain, I cautiously raised my head. And I witnessed something truly astonishing.

Rizen was standing there, having grabbed Ark’s sword with his bare hands. The blue flames that had wreathed Ark’s blade had vanished, replaced by a pure white light. Rizen slowly removed his hand from the sword and moved it to Ark’s burned hand. Ark was trembling, shedding painful tears. When Rizen cupped his hands around Ark’s, a white light rippled and his wounds began to heal.

“Wizen… you used divine powew.”

I murmured dazedly. When Rizen removed his hands from Ark, Ark dropped his sword and sank to the ground as if his legs had given out.

“Wizen! Wizen used divine powew!”

I beamed and sprang up to run to Rizen, then spotted something terrifying and froze like a statue.

“Papa…”

Paeon was standing there with the most terrifying expression in the world.

“What on earth happened here?”

He spoke as if forcing himself to hold back, but his voice was steeped in fury. His oppressive aura was so dreadful that all of us froze and couldn’t utter a single word. I could almost see a legendary Medusa behind him.

“Using live blades for high-level magic without a vice-commander or higher present is forbidden by regulation. Ark Ellenoa, you surely knew that.”

“…”

Ark, his mind having gone blank from what had just happened, just shed tears.

“Having caused this, you’ll have no complaints about being permanently expelled from the royal knight order.”

Paeon said coldly.

Permanent expulsion…

Since he was destined to die as a knight, perhaps this was actually better for him. Not being able to be a knight at all would be better than dying in vain, wouldn’t it?

But seeing him weep as if the world had crumbled…

“Ah… no, Papa.”

My mouth was moving before I knew it.

“I asked him to show me.”

Paeon looked at me in disbelief. Shellman, who had arrived late, also gaped at me.

“P-Princess!”

Rizen cried out as if asking what nonsense I was saying, but I didn’t look at him and spoke clearly.

“…Don’t expel Awk.”

Ark had probably grown anxious when I, far younger than him, used magic he couldn’t. That’s why he must have done something so foolish. I shouldn’t have used magic in front of him at our first meeting in the first place… He was too young to be expelled over something like this.

“Do you even know what you’ve just done?”

Paeon said through gritted teeth.

“You could have died!”

“…”

I bowed my head without answering. Even though I felt wronged, I couldn’t take back what I had already said.

“Starting today, the princess is forbidden from entering the training grounds.”

He seemed to have barely calmed himself, returning to his usual emotionless voice.

“I trust you have no objections?”

I nodded weakly.

◇ ◆ ◇

Where on earth am I supposed to train now… I spent a week lying around doing nothing.

Honestly, it would be a lie to say I had no regrets. I had actually fooled myself into thinking I’d grown a little close to Paeon, and that if I gave him some time, I could win him back. But he must have been truly furious, because he hadn’t come to the great dining hall for meals since that day either. This was no different from the beginning!

“Princess, you have a visitor.”

Rosa said from outside the door.

A visitor?

There shouldn’t be anyone who would come looking for me. I bolted upright in bed.

“Princess!”

The moment the door opened, Rizen came running in with a bright smile.

“Wizen! How have you been?”

“Yes. I—I can use divine power now. It still doesn’t work well when I’m nervous, but I’ve already succeeded several times!”

“Wizen, that’s gweat. Congwatulations! But…”

Someone standing behind Rizen was hesitating and couldn’t step forward.

“…Awk?”

“Princess!”

Ark dropped to his knees before me and stammered,

“I… I wanted to ask the princess to teach me magic. But I just couldn’t get the words out. So, and then…”

His voice caught and he couldn’t continue properly, his body trembling.

“The princess saved my life. If I had been permanently expelled from the knight order, I would have died at my father’s hands. How can I ever repay this debt…”

I looked at him quietly for a moment. I had no intention whatsoever of becoming anyone’s savior. It was all I could do to protect my own body—who was I supposed to save? There would be no end to it.

‘…Interfering in someone else’s fate ends with you.’

I spoke quietly.

“Then vow to obey Asha absowutely.”