Swordsmanship Duel (3)

“Princess Mezlen-nim, are you not interested in men?”

One day, during a break from exploration studies class, I was relaxing for a while at a cafe with Mezlen after a long time.

Receiving my sudden question, Princess Mezlen tilted her head with a slightly flustered expression.

“Pardon…? What do you mean, Lilith-yang…?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but for some reason, it seems Princess-nim doesn’t have any men who evoke special feelings in you. Usually, a girl of the Princess-nim’s age would have someone they like or are concerned about, even if it’s not love, wouldn’t they?”

“Hmm, I wonder…? But I am a Princess, you know…?”

“Yes?”

“As a Princess, I can’t just fall for any man simply because we’ve spent a few years together at the Academy, can I…? There might only be one or two men in the entire world who are truly on my level….”

“…….”

Today, Mezlen brushed off my question with a remark typical of someone with Princess Syndrome… no, Imperial Princess Syndrome.

It was such a refreshingly blunt answer that it made me subtly wonder if it was even possible to find a ‘well-suited partner’ for a woman like her.

I had ambitiously planned to find partners for the four remaining heroines, including Mezlen, but as my frequency of spending time with her increased recently, I couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of doubt about my objective.

‘No matter how I look at it, it seems much better for her to just live alone.’

Would there truly be a man in this world who could put up with this troublesome personality?

To somehow resolve this, I would have to make Mezlen fall head over heels for a man, turning her into an easy woman who would grant any request. However, it was hard to imagine any man other than the Hero being capable of such a feat.

After all, in the original story, Mezlen fell for the Hero because she was touched by his act of saving her life and then leaving without expecting any reward.

‘Logically speaking, there’s no way such a man exists besides the Hero.’

However, Kyetmajosyegigot, the Hero of this generation, had already declared his harem abandonment to me.

The closest person who could act similarly would be Ethan, who saved my life from Machart and still hadn’t used his ‘Wish Coupon,’ but it had already been revealed that Ethan was not Mezlen’s fiancé.

And not many male candidates came to mind who could make Mezlen happy. Most of the decent male characters, based on the original story, had coincidentally already found their matches.

Karaham, who was a mid-boss in Part 3 of the original but was now just a muscle-brained idiot, had found a perfectly suited partner in Lilia.

Antonio, who was negative and gloomy in the original but had now reformed and become upright, was currently flirting with Agnes, the very reason for his change of heart.

Gwyn, the son of the mercenary captain and current Student Council Vice President, would naturally end up with Luke if left alone, so I’d pass on him. Similarly, Thomas of the Spearmanship Department, Natalie’s partner and childhood friend who had a crush on her, was also a pass.

Serdic of the Engineering Department was excluded as I planned to pair him with Kael later, and Orion was already a graduate and didn’t consider women as romantic interests in the first place.

Ethan… Mezlen herself said he wasn’t her fiancé, so he’s a pass. Anyway, a pass.

After eliminating them one by one, there was truly no one left. After all, 『Luminor Academy』 was a harem eroge, so the number of female characters overwhelmingly outnumbered the male characters.

‘It’s a bit troubling in many ways.’

Still, there was still a year and a half left.

Perhaps a man who met Mezlen’s standards might just pop out of nowhere during that time, so I decided to wait and see. After all, the best ending in my opinion was ‘natural romance leading to marriage.’

It was more convenient and better for me if they found each other and lived happily ever after on their own, rather than me clumsily playing matchmaker and things not working out.

“Oh, and also…. Last week, while Lilith-yang was attending her exploration studies class, do you know what I did…?”

Today, as Mezlen’s endless self-praise and over-inflated ego continued, I decided to simply maintain our friendship by agreeing with her.

After all, there was no need for me to cut off a connection that had already been formed.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Listening to Mezlen’s self-praise talk, meeting Lizzie and Lara for a casual chat, and then having a 2-on-2 sparring match with Ethan against Karaham and Lilia at the Swordsmanship Training Ground.

As I spent each day in almost the same routine, a week passed in the blink of an eye, and it was once again the first day of the week, Harold’s Magic Swordsmanship class.

“Haaahp!!”

“Aaaahk!!”

-Kkang, Kkang, Kkang!

Today, too, the 1st and 2nd ranked students of the Swordsmanship Department faced each other with swords, never tiring of the sparring class.

Normally, Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot would have the upper hand against Ethan, but today, Ethan was pushing him a little harder.

It seemed that Gyeotmwa guy had just returned from his ‘Solar Studies Exploration’ class yesterday, so his condition probably wasn’t the best.

On the other hand, Ethan had spent the past week getting enough rest and honing his skills by sparring with Karaham, so it was natural for him to have the advantage.

In fact, without even needing to go as far as Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot and Ethan, today’s sparring match between Natalie and me simply showed how terrible the Hero Party’s condition was.

That’s because, in today’s Magic Swordsmanship class, I had won my first ’round’ against Natalie.

‘Among the swordsmanship duels against the four inhuman-grade members of the Swordsmanship Department, this is my first victory.’

Even if Natalie’s condition wasn’t good, a win is a win.

Even if my record until now was 99 losses in 99 matches, with today’s single win, I could proudly say my recent record was 1 win.

Natalie? You suck at sparring, don’t you?

“Keup, Keukeup.”

“…Are you that pleased, Lady Lilith-nim?”

A joke from my past life suddenly came to mind, and I tried to cover my mouth to suppress my laughter, but quick-witted Natalie saw me and spoke, so I quickly corrected my expression.

“I apologize, Natalie-yang.”

“No, I understand. I also felt a similar emotion when I first managed to block my older sister’s sword. Is there anything more rewarding than feeling your own growth as you wield a sword?”

“…….”

If she says that, then me grinning foolishly over just one win makes me seem like such trash.

Well, this positive and bright personality was Natalie’s charm, so it couldn’t be helped. After all, she was a character I liked for that very reason even in my past life.

Since Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot and Ethan’s sparring match was in full swing, I took the opportunity to ask Natalie what had happened in the ‘Solar Studies Exploration’ class.

“How was the Solar Studies Exploration class you attended last week, Natalie-yang?”

“…At first, I thought it was just a class about surviving in the desert. But as soon as the class began, the Hero-nim led us-that is, the people currently called the ‘Hero Party’-somewhere. Until then, we thought the Hero-nim was looking for an oasis or something for survival.”

“…….”

“But then, at a rocky mountain where the Hero-nim led us, he fiddled with something, and suddenly the ground opened up, revealing stairs leading underground! And inside was an ancient ruin full of mysteries….”

Hmm, as expected, he did well. He’s truly playing according to my strategy guide.

Actually, I pretty much trusted him without needing to confirm, but I wanted to check the progress whenever I had the chance.

Starting tomorrow, the Geology Exploration class would begin again, leaving no time to meet Agnes personally, so hearing it from Natalie wasn’t bad at all.

“Oh, speaking of which, something a little strange happened in the Solar Studies Exploration class.”

“…What happened?”

“Among the mysteries of the Temple of Solar Studies, there was a temple where two people had to stand on a platform to open a door. When Thomas and I stood on it, the door only opened about halfway, but as soon as the Hero-nim and the Saintess-nim stepped on it, it opened completely wide.

And for some reason, Thomas seemed gloomy ever since, and Silena-ssi and Princess Seraphine-nim caused a small commotion, insisting that the Hero-nim should try standing on the platform with them too.”

“…Is, is that so?”

“The Saintess-nim also suddenly became quiet after stepping off the platform, hanging her head low. To me, it seemed like a platform with no particular meaning. What could it have meant?”

“…I can’t tell just from hearing the story. I apologize for not being able to help.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. Now that I think about it, I asked a pointless question.”

…Actually, I had a rough idea of what kind of platform Natalie was talking about.

She was probably referring to the ‘compatibility puzzle’ located in the basement of the ‘Temple of the Sun.’ It would have been a puzzle system where the door to the next area opened based on the combined affection level of the two people standing on the platform.

The fact that the door only opened halfway when Thomas and Natalie stepped on it meant that Natalie’s feelings for Thomas weren’t yet love, so I inadvertently learned about Thomas and Natalie’s romantic situation as a bonus.

‘Anyway, the door opened when that Hero guy went up with Celista?’

What? Didn’t he say he wouldn’t get involved with the women of this world because he had to return to his original world?

But having enough affection for Celista to open the compatibility puzzle’s door means that Gyeotmwa guy feels more than just friendship for Celista.

‘I just can’t figure out what he’s thinking.’

…He’ll figure it out on his own, I suppose.

There was no need for me to intervene in his strategy process anymore. As long as he successfully subjugated the Demon King and cleared the game, it didn’t really matter.