Chapter 139: Heir of the Sword Saint

“…Haah.”

No matter how vast the world and how many wonders it held, the sight of snow falling indoors wasn’t something you’d see every day.

The ceiling of this special training arena, covered in countless protective barriers, had turned white.

Beautiful, pure white snow floated like clouds above, creating a scene both breathtaking and slightly unnerving.

The reason for my unease was that even I, neither a wizard nor particularly skilled in mana detection, could sense the extraordinary amount of mana contained in those clouds.

‘I’m bored, so I want to spar after such a long time…’

This duel, which began with my sister’s words upon her return to the academy after nearly a year, had started casually but quickly became intense.

Clouds carrying an immense chill transformed into spears, plunging towards my sister.

Though filled with killing intent, these attacks that could cause severe injuries if they hit were hardly appropriate for a teacher to use against a student.

Yet, the fact that she used them probably indicated a certain level of trust in my sister’s abilities.

As thousands of spear-like projectiles from the ceiling clouds hurtled towards my sister, she dodged them all with rabbit-like agility.

It was always astonishing to see such power coming from her small frame, no matter how many times I witnessed it.

Realizing that small attacks wouldn’t reach my sister, the snow in the ceiling suddenly spread out and poured down on her all at once.

Faced with this overwhelming onslaught reminiscent of an avalanche, my sister hesitated for a moment. But it was only for an instant. She quickly raised her sword high and swung it forward with all her might.

As the light from her sword carved through the white snow, creating a path, my sister didn’t hesitate to throw herself towards that light.

A moment later, when the light emanating from the sword faded, what came into view was the headmaster with a sword at her neck and my sister, as expressionless as ever.

“…It seems I’ve lost.”

“That was close.”

With those brief words, my sister lowered her sword, and the headmaster slumped to the ground.

My sister’s skills, which I hadn’t seen in nearly a year, had reached a level that I doubted I could attain even after 10 or 100 years of training.

After sheathing her sword, my sister turned her back on the headmaster and slowly approached me.

Even now, I couldn’t read any emotion on her face. It was hard to believe she had just been in such a nerve-wracking fight.

To an outsider, it might have looked like the fight was so dull that she felt nothing, but my sister was simply someone whose emotions rarely showed on her face.

“Sister, how did you feel about the fight?”

“Hmm… It was dangerous. If we were outside, I might have lost.”

As my sister said, if it had been outdoors, there would have been more clouds, and the headmaster could have used flight magic, so it wouldn’t have ended the same way.

“Here’s a towel.”

As the chill that had filled the training ground dissipated, a bead of sweat began to trickle down my sister’s forehead.

I handed her the towel I had prepared after hearing about the duel. She wiped her forehead and then returned the towel to me.

By the way, the durability of this training ground, which had been used by generations of headmasters for training, was truly remarkable.

Despite my sister and the headmaster going all out, not a single scratch appeared on the barriers encircling the arena.

“Rain… Is that man you mentioned in your letter strong?”

Was she already craving the next fight, when barely five minutes had passed since this one ended?

I was momentarily taken aback by my sister’s bold question, but remembering the scene from before, I nodded with certainty.

“Yes, he’s strong. And this time, he even went to the south and defeated Koraea, I heard.”

“…Koraea?”

My sister tilted her head to the side as if to say, “What’s that?”

I wasn’t too familiar with southern affairs either, but just knowing that he had broken through the barrier alone and defeated Count von Grund made it easy to gauge his strength.

And although this news hadn’t been officially confirmed yet, it was said that a Myne had intervened during the fight, and he had cut that down too.

“Ooh…”

Hearing this, my sister’s interest seemed piqued. While her expression remained unchanged, her eyes began to sparkle with curiosity about him.

“That… He must be strong indeed.”

“Yes, I’m sure he’ll be able to show you strength that will satisfy you, sister.”

“Hmm… If he’s that strong, maybe I wouldn’t mind getting pregnant… Father would surely approve too…”

I couldn’t help but flinch when the word “pregnant” came out of my sister’s mouth, her face looking younger than her peers.

‘I thought sister only ever thought about fighting. I didn’t realize she was thinking about things like that too…’

Seeing my sister seriously thinking while caressing her lower abdomen, I felt like I was seeing an unexpected side of her.

Lost in thought with her mouth shut, my sister suddenly turned on her heel and started heading outside.

“Sister? Where are you going?”

“That man’s house. I’m going to fight him now.”

“What? No, why now…”

My words trailed off at her declaration of going to fight someone she hadn’t even met yet, let alone knowing if he had returned to the academy.

Once my sister was in this state, she wouldn’t listen to anyone.

If this continued, there was a risk that when he returned, innocent bystanders might get caught up in my sister’s unprovoked attack.

“Sister, wait!! We haven’t even talked to him yet…!!!”

Perhaps my desperate cry reached her, as my sister stopped in her tracks and turned around, looking at me with her usual blank expression.

“Rain…”

Then, unusually, she spoke first, making me wonder what she was going to say…

“Where is that person’s house? I just realized I’ve never heard about it.”

Her words shattered my expectations completely.

——

In the end, unable to dissuade my sister, I had no choice but to tell her the location of his mansion.

It wasn’t the first time I’d failed to change my sister’s mind, but it frustrated me every time.

If she threw a tantrum like a child, I might have tried to coax her. But she wasn’t doing that; she just stood there like a statue, silently waiting for her wishes to be fulfilled. I couldn’t simply ignore her and leave.

“Sister… Don’t tell me you’ve been standing here all day yesterday too?”

“Yeah… He didn’t come.”

While the weather wasn’t scorching, it wasn’t exactly cool either.

The heat rose from the ground as she stood still, not eating or drinking all day. My sister or not, this wasn’t normal behavior.

“Sister, let’s stop this and just wait at the mansion… If you want to fight at your best, that would be better, right?”

“…My heart’s pounding so hard, I can’t stand it.”

If she was going to say something like that, she should at least change her expression. Talking about her heart pounding while keeping a blank face made it sound like a joke.

“Then at least have some water…”

“It’s fine. Look, he’s coming.”

“What? What do you mean something’s coming…”

As I raised my head at my sister’s words, I saw an elaborate carriage drawn by two horses approaching the mansion.

The crest engraved on that carriage was the von Grund family crest I had seen before. If that was the case, there could only be one person riding in that carriage.

“…I guess your wish is coming true. Feeling relieved?”

“Yeah, very relieved.”

Casually brushing off my sarcasm, my sister stood in front of the approaching carriage. The horses pulling it neighed loudly, “Neigh!” as they came to an abrupt stop.

“Sister… I’ve told you many times not to stop carriages like that.”

“Huh? But I won’t die from getting hit by a carriage…”

That wasn’t the point, but seeing my sister’s innocent expression like a child’s, I was at a loss for words.

“Anyway, I’ll try talking to him now, so please stay put, sister. Understood?”

“Okay.”

My sister nodded quietly, but I couldn’t be sure if she really understood.

Hoping to wrap this up as quickly as possible before my sister did something unpredictable, I knocked on the carriage door.

A moment later, the door opened, and the first thing I saw was Ian, his head bowed so low that I couldn’t see his face clearly.

“What… Do you need something?”

When he lifted his head to look at me, I unconsciously took a step back, seeing the deep sorrow in his eyes.

What on earth had happened in the von Grund territory to make someone who always smiled so innocently look so depressed?

“…Did something happen?”

As I asked this reflexively, he let out a deep sigh and simply said:

“…I lost something precious.”

“Something precious… Surely no one died…”

“Miss Rain, this person is just so dejected because his favorite sword broke. There’s no need to worry about it.”

“…His sword broke?”

I looked at Ian with a disbelieving expression, and he slowly nodded, his face like that of a child who had lost their parents.

“…You’re a swordswoman too, so you understand, right?”

“…”

Well, I could understand becoming attached to an item you’ve used for a long time, but his reaction seemed a bit extreme.

Before knowing the situation, I thought he was in mourning rather than just having a broken sword.

“…So what brings you here so early in the morning?”

“It’s about what I mentioned before. As it happens, my sister arrived at the academy a few days ago.”

“Your sister? Then…”

“Yes… It’s exactly what you’re thinking. I’m sorry for the suddenness, but could you meet my sister for a matchmaking session right here, right now?”

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