Allen’s Holiday

It was still daylight when we arrived in the royal capital Gransen. After getting off at the station, we went to take Emilia to Koop Hall, the dormitory where she lived.

Koop Hall, like our Aurum Hall, consisted of two similar buildings facing each other. Since there weren’t that many commoner students, it was smaller than the other two dormitories.

“Then Emi, I’ll see you at the academy tomorrow.”

“Yes, both of you tomorrow…!”

After Riel exchanged goodbyes with her, I waved back to Emilia, who bowed slightly toward me as I watched from a distance. And as I was watching her run into her building, I sensed a familiar presence.

Allen Ludwig.

He was approaching with a pleased expression, having spotted Riel, but when he saw me, his expression hardened and he stopped in his tracks.

Well, although Koop Hall is located outside the academy grounds, since this area and the surrounding buildings are owned by the academy, should it be considered part of the academy grounds?

Ignoring him as he stood there quietly with a resentful look, I approached Riel, blocking him from her sight with my body, and said:

“Shall we head back now?”

“Yes!”

Since Riel grabbed my hand tightly with a bright smile, I led her as we walked toward Aurum Hall.

When the holiday period began, Allen Ludwig was looking for Riel.

After hearing from his friend Johan Igraphil that Kyo Wentos had returned to his hometown, Allen thought he should take advantage of Kyo’s absence to try to talk with Riel.

Surely, there must be some misunderstanding.

…Surely, if they talked, he could reconcile with Riel. Back to a good relationship…

But isn’t that right?

We’re childhood friends after all…

With that thought, Allen headed to Aurum Hall on the first day of the holiday period to meet Riel.

Allen waited, planning to pretend their meeting was coincidental if she came outside, not wanting to surprise her. But even as lunchtime approached, there was no sign of her coming out.

Eventually, unable to wait anymore, he inquired with the female dormitory manager of Aurum Hall, but was only told that Riel wasn’t currently in the dormitory.

When he asked the manager about her whereabouts, the manager replied that she didn’t know, and even if she did, she couldn’t tell him.

In the end, that day he wandered around various places looking for Riel, and ended up spending the day with Feris, whom he met by chance.

“Allen, is something wrong?”

“…Huh? No, nothing in particular…?”

“No… I must be mistaken.”

Feris said this after noticing Allen constantly looking around despite being together with her, but Allen himself was completely unaware of it.

And so the first day of the holiday period ended without meeting Riel.

On the second day, Riel was already gone from the dormitory.

In the end, just like yesterday, all Allen could do was search for Riel outside.

The difference from yesterday was that while he had accidentally met Feris and spent time with her then, today for some reason Johan accompanied him.

According to Johan, he was wandering around the royal capital hoping to charm some cute girls since it was the weekend, when he spotted lonely-looking Allen and approached him.

Although Allen complained about Johan’s unnecessary meddling, somehow he didn’t feel bad about it and wandered around the royal capital with Johan.

That day too, he couldn’t find Riel.

On the third day, Allen went to Aurum Hall again and was told that Riel wasn’t in the dormitory.

But that day, it didn’t end there.

“If you keep coming here, I’ll report you to the academy authorities!”

When a male student comes looking for a specific female student three days in a row, the dormitory manager was bound to be suspicious.

He tried to explain to the suspicious-looking dormitory manager that he was only visiting because they were childhood friends, but she didn’t seem to believe him easily.

Eventually, Allen left Aurum Hall dejectedly and headed to the training ground.

He had considered going out to look for Riel like yesterday, but after two days of searching with no results, he felt that going out today would be equally fruitless.

Instead, he thought it would be better to focus on self-training to prepare for his revenge against Kyo Wentos in the future.

After several hours of vigorously swinging a practice wooden sword and sweating, Allen heard an unfamiliar voice.

“Oh, what’s this? Someone’s here on the weekend?”

Allen stopped his training and turned his head at the voice.

What he saw was a woman with black hair tied up high, wearing training clothes and looking at him.

Judging by the color of the stripes on her training clothes’ sleeves, she seemed to be a second-year senior.

Allen bowed his head slightly in respect.

The woman said to him:

“What’s this, you don’t have to stop? Why don’t you continue?”

“Ah… Yes!”

Allen resumed his training at her words.

In his mind, he was picturing the movements of Kyo Wentos from their recent duel.

His movements that dodged all of Allen’s attacks and delivered sharp counterattacks.

‘…He’s too fast for me to keep up with right now. …But if I become faster and more precise!’

With a competitive spirit to defeat him someday, and a twisted obsession with Riel, whom Kyo kept by his side.

The woman who had been watching him train spoke up:

“Tsk… This is truly pathetic.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Your sword, I mean.”

The woman clicked her tongue with a grimaced expression and said:

“What’s your purpose in training right now?”

“I want to become stronger.”

“What for?”

After hesitating briefly at the woman’s question, Allen said:

“There’s someone I lost to recently. I’m training for revenge against him.”

“Is that really all?”

“…What do you mean?”

The woman’s expression remained unfavorable.

“The speed, power, and technique of your sword itself aren’t bad. Training with determination for revenge isn’t necessarily bad either… But you know…”

“……”

“Your sword is full of personal desires. I sense something different from the pure desire for revenge.”

“That is…”

“It’s the type of sword I hate the most. That’s all.”

The woman clicked her tongue, turned her gaze away from Allen, and began to focus on her own training.

Allen stood there blankly for a while, and then, having lost the motivation to train further, decided to leave.

‘Your sword is full of personal desires.’

The woman’s words pierced Allen’s heart several times, but he deliberately tried to ignore them.

In the end, that day too yielded no results.

On the last day of the holiday period, Allen wanted to go find Riel, but he decided against visiting Aurum Hall since the dormitory manager would likely be suspicious again.

He could have trained, but after yesterday’s incident, he didn’t particularly feel like it.

In the end, Allen wandered around the royal capital without any purpose and, just like the second day, joined up with Johan and the two spent time casually hanging out together.

He still looked around hopefully, but of course, he couldn’t find Riel.

Allen parted ways with Johan midway, as Johan’s dormitory was Argen Hall, which was located away from Koop Hall.

Returning to his dormitory, Allen sat blankly on his bed, leaning against the window.

In the end, he hadn’t been able to meet Riel even once during the entire holiday period. No, he hadn’t even caught a glimpse of her.

He had wanted to attempt a conversation with her at least once, but he ultimately failed.

Allen felt utterly miserable.

At that moment, as Allen was looking out the window, he spotted the fiery red hair he had desperately wanted to see, had desperately missed.

“…Riel?”

Yes, that burning red hair definitely belonged to Riel.

Why had Riel come all the way to Koop Hall…?

Could it be…?

Could it be that Riel had come to see him too?

With a small hope in his heart, Allen ran down the stairs eagerly to go outside the dormitory.

And when he opened the front door, it was indeed Riel.

With joy filling his heart, Allen didn’t even notice Emilia Silbright, who was exchanging goodbyes with Riel.

Riel.

So you wanted to see me too!

You wanted to talk with me and clear up the misunderstanding too!

Yes, that’s how it was after all!

You and I are childhood friends after all…!

As Allen was thinking this and about to approach Riel, another person approaching her came into his view.

Kyo Wentos.

The man who had separated him from Riel.

The moment he saw him, Allen’s steps came to a halt.

For a brief moment, he felt as if their eyes had met.

As Kyo approached Riel, a deep smile bloomed on her face as if flowers were blooming.

With a slightly reddened face, Riel smiled broadly and grasped his hand tightly.

Allen couldn’t even think of following the two as they walked away from Koop Hall, holding hands.

Behind them, he could see the back of a maid pulling two travel bags.

Kyo Wentos had said he was returning to his hometown.

And the fact that the two were together, and they both had travel bags…

‘They went… together?’

To Kyo Wentos’s hometown?

Allen could only stand there blankly for a long time.