Chapter 16: The Sword That Slices Fire

Anplus Intezeron Intezeruto finished his meal by clearing the plate and taking a sip of wine.

“Go out.”

“Come see the match between Lord Anplus and Prince Habinan.”

“If you want a show you won’t easily forget, follow me.”

“It will decide how Lord Anplus returns to society.”

“Haha, he won’t be hiding in his room for another three years, will he?”

Young nobles under fifty hurried out, faces trying to hide their excitement.

In the past it was impossible to guess a noble’s age from their face.

They all kept up appearances of youth.

Now I could more or less tell.

The ones who followed with shining, sadistic anticipation were the young nobles.

The real officer-mages with battlefield experience sipped quietly and watched both me and the young nobles.

“Shall we go to that secluded training ground in the back?” 

Giberk, moustachioed, said with a sharp, sly smile.

He had sent me bleeding in that very secluded training ground more than once.

I shook my head.

“Let’s do it right here. Why go all the way to the back?”

Giberk frowned.

“Very well.”

“Right here then!” the young nobles cheered.

Servants brought several braziers and set up a circle about thirty steps across.

As they huffed and struck flint, the red-haired noblewoman shook her head.

“Step aside.”

She raised her palm and closed her eyes for a moment.

Blue light gathered on her palm, split into several pieces, and flew toward the braziers.

The blue falling onto the logs flared into flames.

The young nobles cheered and whistled.

“Helia Helicion Temeratisia. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Lord Anplus.”

The red-haired noblewoman lifted a corner of her dress and bowed slightly.

“The Helicion family has produced several officer-mages.”

“A descendant of a traditional branch family, then. I’ll bet on Lady Helia.”

“Mm. She must have grown up watching such things.”

Comments bubbled from the nobles around us.

Her face vaguely reminded me of Temeratia.

That was because she was from a collateral branch split off from the Temeratision line.

If a collateral of a pure branch was still a collateral, it was the last of those who could still lead the main table at the family banquet.

So she stepped up with such fervor.

It was like Temeratia at her side.

Burns hurt more than puncture wounds.

“Anplus,” I said. “I’ll omit the house names that follow; you all know them.”

“Still, say it. It’s a symbol.”

“If I say it, will I burn less hotly? Of course not.”

Helia nodded with a cruel smile.

At that moment someone was seen running from afar.

The chestplate flashed in the braziers’ light.

Knights?

“Sir Dande? Sir Liam!”

Two knights came running, breathless.

They glanced at the nobles spread around and looked momentarily put off, but when they heard my voice they lifted their heads again.

“Sorry. I should have come sooner.”

“No trouble. You must be tired and busy. Take two days to rest.”

“Lord Anplus. We came to give this to you.”

Sir Dande pushed through the nobles and handed me a blunt, iron training sword.

“Why this?” I asked.

Sir Liam answered as if it were obvious.

“You wouldn’t want to risk killing anyone by mistake, would you?”

“Do you think I would accidentally inflict a grievous wound?”

“Thinking you won’t do it and then doing it is the real mistake.”

The young nobles cast cold looks.

“Who are you spilling such nonsense before?”

“Me.”

“Even if he returned with honors, such crafty flattery is nauseating.”

Helia looked like she might slap both of them.

“Young Master Anplus? Will you make me drink shame like this? Do I look weak enough to be grievously injured by your mistake?”

Whether she meant it or not, Sir Liam and Sir Dande took my real sword and pressed the training blade into my hand.

I received the blunt training sword with no choice.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Helia. Anplus Intezeron Intezeruto. Is that enough?”

“Thank you. Very well then.”

“Alright.”

Giberk, moustached, cried out:

“Glory and humility to the victor, submission and mercy to the vanquished.”

The match began.

The distance between Helia and me was about twenty steps — favorable for mages.

Helia stretched out her palm and drew blue light toward her.

But I had no intention of waiting for her flame magic to complete.

I pressed the training blade to my side, leaned forward, and charged.

“Ha!”

This distance could be closed in three breaths.

“Uh—what?”

Helia’s eyes seemed to wander into empty space.

She stepped back three hurried paces and swept her hand.

The wavering blue light split into four and turned into flames.

I snapped the training sword up from my side, twisted my torso, and slashed upward.

Clink, with a sound like a window breaking, two chunks of blue light were scattered.

“It’s already too late!”

Two lumps of light had already become flames, but compared to the explosion a wax maid had made, their power was cute.

Within the four counts of breathing, I twisted the blade, then slowly stabbed off-beat.

My thrust cut the flame and shifted its explosive direction.

The blaze that should have struck me erupted toward the spectators.

Screams rose here and there, but I didn’t care.

“Impossible! Cutting fire with a sword.”

I closed that twenty-step gap in an instant and stood before Helia.

She flustered and tried to draw blue light again.

“Wouldn’t it be unbecoming for a young lady to be thrown to the ground?”

I laid the sword flat and struck Helia on the forehead.

Thud! the sound rang, and she fell over with her eyes rolling white.

“Take her away. You were cheering just a moment ago.”

I said calmly, but the young nobles avoided my gaze.

“Are you alright?”

Giberk ran out and supported her.

“How dare you disgrace my cousin like this!”

Having left Helia to one side, Giberk stood naturally inside the brazier circle.

“Glory and humility to the victor. I am Giberk.”

I called out in response.

“Submission and mercy to the vanquished. I am Anplus.”

Giberk looked disappointed, as if he was half a beat late.

I let the sword droop and scoffed.

“I don’t know your house. Which collateral branch are you from?”

“Giberk Salipodion Ovesus,” he ground out.

Another collateral of a pure collateral.

“Giberk. Nice moustache. Remember me? About two years ago you buried me in the ground. That was quite the magic.”

The surrounding nobles muttered.

“You buried me so well I thought I’d suffocate. My nails came off digging, my hair got rough with dirt.”

“I didn’t expect you’d still remember.”

Giberk tore off his uniform.

“How dare you speak informally? Show respect to your betters.”

I lifted my chin and responded arrogantly.

“Honestly, it was a fine idea. Even Temeratia didn’t try that.”

Exactly.

“Today I’ll bury you in the ground.”

“Today I’ll bury you instead.”

Blue light gathered around Giberk.

He stomped his heel on the ground and razor-sharp spikes shot up around me.

Each spike had little barbs, as if they would be hard to pull out if they pierced you.

Moreover, the spikes grew longer toward the rear of the cordon, making them hard to jump over.

“You’re a collateral who manages mines, right? No one can match you for earth control.”

“A good tactic against knights.”

The young nobles praised him.

Giberk announced with a cruel smile:

“Even if your feet are fast, once bound you’re finished. This is the power of magic.”

Blue light flashed on his hand.

“Despair like that time again!”

The ground beneath my feet gave way.

I crouched as when I charged and swung the sword.

Sss—hard spikes hit the iron training sword and were sheared off.

Giberk frowned and gathered mana again.

As the soil dug out, two spear-like spikes rose.

The spikes tried to shove me into the pit.

When blue light flashed at the spike roots, I swung the sword.

The spear-like spikes were cut off, and clods of earth carrying blue mana flew in all directions.

The blue mana, which had formed sharp shapes, scattered like mist.

“Unbelievable!”

“Was that fluke that cut the flame?”

“Using movement seemed frivolous, but that… is beautiful.”

Even Giberk stood with his mouth agape.

I stepped on the cut face of a spike and leapt.

I flew like through the air and landed before Giberk, performing a fall technique.

Rolling once and rising, I swung the sword.

“Ha!”

The blunt iron sword grazed just above Giberk’s lip.

Snick, and then half his moustache came away strand by strand.

“Ah, Lord Anplus!”

“You cut his moustache?”

“What skill.”

Sir Dande and Sir Liam clasped at their necks and the surrounding nobles gaped.

A young lady giggled.

“How dare he humiliate me before her!”

Giberk, regaining composure, turned livid.

Is she his fiancée?

Dark blue light flashed around him.

A good bloodline. With training he could be a pillar of his house.

I boldly pushed through the light, grabbed Giberk’s wrist, and—

“Ah?!”

I tripped him and threw him hard to the ground.

“You’re an earth mage.”

“Anplus!”

“Make friends with the soil.”

I stomped hard on the back of his head so dirt dusted his face when he tried to raise it.

“Wouldn’t it be time to take on the virtue of humility? This isn’t a duel but a match, is it?”

At that moment a wig-wearing young noble stopped me.

It was Habinan, who was preparing for the officer-mage exam.

“Prince Habinan!?”

“What’s there to be surprised about? Still just a candidate.”

“Don’t be foolish. Prince Habinan fought on the front with his sea-colored officer-mage godfather.”

“He took down three knights.”

“This is a bit much. I don’t think it’ll end as mere amusement.”

The nobles murmured.

“Really, will you step forward? Think again.”

Someone tried to bar my way with their body as Habinan spoke to dissuade me.

I removed my foot from Giberk’s head and opened my mouth.

“Do you remember me?”

“Yes. I remember.”

“You put on quite a show in front of me.”

Some nobles tilted their heads, not sure what I meant; others frowned or laughed.

“If you give others what you gave me, you’ll make a fine officer-mage.”

“Thank you.”

“How did it feel to have your hair cut?”

“It was refreshing and saddening.”

Mages grow their long hair to display they have time and money to care for it and so to show their nobility.

But on a battlefield where even drinking water is scarce, they cannot maintain hair.

So powerful officer-mages and their candidates cut hair short and wear wigs.

Ridiculous.

“Yes. I suppose so.”

I felt a tangle of emotions — regret and anger — and raised the training iron sword.

Now I understood why Sir Dande had taken my real sword.

If I had my real sword, I didn’t know what I might do.

“Glory and humility to the victor.”

This time Habinan led the call.

“Submission and mercy to the vanquished.”

Thump, as I finished the words I stamped the ground.

Habinan didn’t blink and gathered mana.

“Remarkable. You cut fire and even cleaved the earth.”

A wind he formed obscured even the sound of his words.

Whiiiiiing, a fierce wind blew from the front and pushed me back.

Even with all my strength I could only hold my ground.

“How do you plan to cut an invisible wind?”

There was a buzzing as if he’d finished his magic, momentarily holding me in place.

Wind blades — before I could dodge them I had lost an arm, a leg, my torso.

“Three years is a short time. Lord Anplus won’t catch up to me in that span.”

Habinan gestured triumphantly.

I divided my heartbeat into four counts and thought.

As he said, you can’t cut wind by seeing it, but seeing isn’t necessary to cut.

His gaze was on my right shoulder and his hand swung diagonally from low to high.

With the left foot forward, the attack would come first from the left.

I smiled tightly and charged.

Peeeng, I dropped my body to the lower right and dodged the arrow-like wind.

Saaak, I spun left and flowed past a blade-like wind.

My muscles screamed at the violent movement and cold, but I managed it.

Habinan’s mouth twitched.

He looked like he wanted to say, How?

He drew his hand as if to slash a long horizontal line.

I leaned back through the shaft as if passing under a staff and burst through.

A few front strands of his hair were cut.

He gritted his teeth and raised his right arm.

He meant to slash down horizontally.

At that moment I thrust the training sword into his elbow.

Thunk — it had no edge, but enough to tear flesh.

Blue blood splashed; Habinan screamed and clutched his elbow.

I then stabbed the training blade toward his solar plexus.

Feel what it’s like to have the air leak from your lungs.

Habinan tried to hastily avoid my blade and lost his balance.

His eyes shrinking, staring at my sword.

Now he would understand the feeling I went through.

Fear from encountering something beyond understanding.

The helplessness of being able to do nothing.

I’ll return it to you.

“Who dares stop me!”

“Young Master!”

The young nobles screamed, and Sir Dande and Sir Liam bit their lips.

But —

I squeezed my eyes shut, my hands trembling, and stopped the sword before his solar plexus.

I didn’t want them to fear me.

I wanted recognition and belonging.

A ragged breath escaped through my clenched teeth.

Habinan hit the ground and groped at his belly and chest.

I let the training iron sword hang slack.

Slow down your movements. If possible, try to use magic by thought.

“Yes?”

“You—no, you are the one who will become our Intezeruto officer-mage. Will you be arrogant with such small magic? What did you feel in that fight just now? What do you think you need to practice to fight more completely?”

“……!”

All the young nobles looked at me at once.

“I didn’t expect to see such decorum. Truly of direct line.”

“I think I misunderstood him. I’m ashamed.”

Their eyes held the same admiring surprise as when they saw my color of blood three years ago.

This time it wasn’t born, it was made.

Sir Dande and Sir Liam ran over and patted my shoulder.

“Well done.”

“Prideworthy.”

They took the training sword from my hand.

“The lords are right. Who knows what you’d have done with a real sword.”

I gave them an awkward smile and held out my hand to Habinan.

“Go enjoy the banquet. This isn’t a meeting to spill blood. What do you say?”

He looked up at me, embarrassed.

His orange eyes fluttered.

Then Habinan bowed his head and took my hand.

“Yes. Lord Anplus.”