Chapter 1 Part 2
☆★☆★☆★
And so, three days later.
We ended up playing tag in the vast forest on the grounds of the academy.
The rules are simple. Anyone who could land a blow to the head with a mock sword without being noticed would win.
Quite a few of us may sign up for the Adventurer’s Guild in the future. So it is a kind of training to detect and erase magic presence as a countermeasure against monsters in the forest.
Naturally, I have been detecting the magic presence of everyone from the very beginning.
Incidentally, Anastasia was in the thief business, so she is very good at erasing her magic presence. Even I can’t detect her magic presence if I am fifty meters away from her.
And Maria is of the forest hunters, so she is naturally good at that. But well, she is still no match for me.
Before I became one of the Four Emperors, I was a member at the guild as an S-rank adventurer.
“Don’t underestimate an elf’s ability to detect and erase magic presence!”
Thinking that I had not noticed her, Maria jumped off from the top of the tree and swung her sword down at me at the same time.
That being said, this girl practices a fair number of martial arts compared to an ordinary person.
I am also an expert in swordsmanship, but I have been training endlessly against the likes of Fraser nii-san and Headmaster Mauriat, ever since I was a child.
So naturally, I have very little experience in sparring with less skilled opponents. And therefore if a half-baked opponent comes at me with full force ──
“Ah, you dodged it!?”
Yeah, that’s right, it is quite difficult to hold myself back.
I have been trained in swordsmanship so that my body moves in reflexively, so I guess this is another area I need to work on in the future.
*Thunk* “──── Ow!”
I knocked her out by hitting her on the head with my mock sword.
Maria fell towards me, and I held her gently as she almost fell face-first to the ground.
That is when ── the sweet scent of the Daumier elf tribe’s unique perfume tickled my nostrils, causing my heart to pound really fast.
“I’ve been wondering if we have met before… I see, so that explains a lot.”
The memories of my previous life, memories that had long been forgotten, came flashing back in my mind.
At the same time, a warm feeling started to spread in my heart.
“We even share the same competitive spirit, huh… Haha, this is really nostalgic. You were very young, but when I first met you… you had a face that looked just like this.”
I then laid my school uniform on the ground and slowly put Maria down.
As soon as class is over, the academic staff would probably come to collect her. After using simple recovery magic on Maria, I left.
☆★☆★☆★
And so, Maria came at me 11 times.
I won 10 out of 11 rounds ──
“Hehe. Finally, finally, I won against Ephthal!”
In the morning classroom, Maria was proud of her victory and nodded her head contentedly.
“I’m a genius, after all. Well, it’s no surprise that justice always triumphs over evil in the end.”
Anastasia is making a weary face at Maria, who is ranting and raving with a triumphant look so that everyone can hear her.
She is definitely doing this on purpose so that everyone can hear her.
I guess she wants to advertise the fact that she won, but how much does she crave the limelight. Or does she want to make herself look better…
“Maria-san just won by default. In the first place, Master didn’t participate in the magic firing test.”
“S-Shut up! Do you have a problem with that?”
“No, not at all…”
Then Maria pointed her right index finger at me, stretching out her small chest.
“Anyway, it’s true that I won against you. And it’s also clear that I’m the definite winner in the end.”
“Okay, okay, I understand, I understand. I’ve lost.”
“W-What’s with that response?”
“Like I said, I’ve lost. By the way… Maria?”
“Hm? What?”
“Why do you insist on coming at me like that?”
“First of all, you and I are class representatives. Since I need to rise to the top of this academy, I need to see for myself if you’re useful.”
“I’ve heard that before, but we don’t need to have a match over and over again, do we?”
“There’s a good reason for that, too. I don’t like you. That’s why I need to test you over and over again. Emotionally, I just can’t accept it.”
“You… don’t like me?”
“Your name! It’s your name!”
“My name?”
“I admire the first Emperor of the Thunder God. He was a great hero who once fought to protect the elves. I used to listen to his legends as a sort of lullaby during my childhood.”
“…I see.”
Well, Maria’s Daumier tribe and I… have an old relationship.
It is also true that I have fought to protect the elves.
“So, you have the same name as the first Emperor of the Thunder God. That’s like sacrilege to our tribe, you know?”
“So that’s why you came at me?”
“Yes, I thought… I’d have to make you yelp more than once. And now it’s just the first of many.”
I see, I understand the situation.
But… hmm, it is still a pain in the ass to be constantly hounded for matches.
It can’t be helped. I just have to use the same method I used to deceive Merlin.
The made-up story of my ancestor, the Emperor of the Thunder God, actually had an illegitimate child… and entrusted all of his magic to the family.
“Err, Maria. Actually ──”
And so, I told Maria some nonsense about my lineage.
“…This must be a lie, right? Is that true?”
Well, it’s a lie.
Anyhow, Maria opened her eyes wide in disbelief.
“No, but… that’s…”
Hmm…
She seems to be dubious.
Nonetheless, I’m also tired of matches day after day. If it is because of my name, I would like to convince her right here and now.
For now, it is already known that I am a certain influential person.
And there is also the obviously unnatural relationship between Merlin and me. This fabrication makes sense from a situational standpoint and should have a certain amount of persuasive power.
I wonder if the genius elf would buy into my made-up story.
“No, but… It’s odd that you have the same name in the first place… Hmm… It’s true that you’re beyond the scope of an ordinary person… No, but… It’s a crazy story…”
Maria groaned and began to ponder ──
“Yes. I believe you. I’m convinced.”
── All right! That was easy!
I assumed a victory pose, and Maria then cleared her throat.
“Well, be that as it may… I can also acknowledge the abilities of others. I’ll admit that the battle between you and me was one of my greatest evenly matched battles.”
Anastasia had her mouth agape with a blank look on her face.
“You called that an evenly matched battle?”
I was a little curious, so I asked Maria.
“By the way, you said you were going to make me yelp a few times, didn’t you? How many times exactly were you planning to do that?”
“About thirty times?”
“That’s dozens of times, you know!?”
Good gracious, I dealt with this early. I would be horrified if I had to take her on endlessly.
Maria then tapped me on the shoulder.
“In other words, I’ll acknowledge you as my equal. From now on, we’ll act together as class representatives, and I’ll give you the number two spot. Well, you are the ultimate weapon for the team, so I look forward to working with you.”
── And so, that brings us to the beginning of the story.
Basically, from now on, we will be working as a team, “Follow Maria who’s the leader…”, and that is how it came to be.
☆★☆★☆★
The next day.
Maria, who had been in high spirits ever since this morning, said something unexpected again.
“Today, there will be a meeting to select class representative candidates. You know that this academy selects five members for each class, right?”
“They’re members who participate in mock battles between classes or against other academies, right?”
It seems that I am partially forced to be the class representative as a magic swordsman, but come to think of it, I have not heard anything about it.
“That’s right. The five of us consist of two mages, two magic swordsmen, and one priest.”
“Hmmm.”
“Currently, you are the magic swordsman. Anastasia and I are the two mages which makes us three now. The other two will be decided after this.”
“No, no, wait a minute.”
“Eh? What?”
“Apart from me, Anastasia is joining us, too?”
“Frankly speaking. Other than the three of us, the rest in our class are useless. They’re just small fries.”
“Hm? What do you mean by that?”
“When I first entered this academy, Abe and I tried to train the other three class representatives because they were terrible. Then, unbeknownst to me, Abe kind of brought them to the brink of death… And since then, they’ve refused to go to this academy. There was nothing I could do about it.”
“Oh… I see.”
I don’t know exactly what happened, but it seems to be something troublesome anyway.
That being said, it was the right decision to expel Abe from this academy, after all. Bringing a classmate to the brink of death is…
“No, but can we suddenly make Anastasia one of the class representatives?”
“She got a perfect score on the previous exam, didn’t she? That was actually a set of difficult first-year final exam level questions. If she got a perfect score on it, then nobody will complain. Besides, both of you are on good terms with Merlin-sama, right?”
Well, I guess there is no more hiding that anymore.
“So, the three of us are going to attend the class representative meeting organized by the student council after school. And that will be my first step to becoming a legend.”
“…Legend?”
“Yes, you heard it right! It’s a Cinderella story about me, by me, for me, a transcendent beautiful genius!”
“Err, what does that mean?”
“I told you before, didn’t I? It’s the greatest honor a mage student can receive, the Grand Jade Medal.”
Maria said arrogantly to the point that her chin would point up towards the ceiling.
“My legend begins at today’s meeting! There’s also our ultimate weapon, Ephthal, over here. As for those pompous student council members ── I’m going to astound them right from the beginning!”
Yeah. This person gives me a surprisingly bad feeling.
