episode_0004

I could tell a little of her emotions and what she thought of me from the flow of her magic.

She truly pitied me, but deep down, a slight anxiety seemed to remain.

‘Of course, it would… Aris absolutely has to pass this academy, and from her perspective, there’s no logical advantage to being with a blind person like me…’

I smiled at her, her hand still holding mine tightly, and said, “First, we have until tomorrow, so let’s figure out what skills you have and make a plan.”

Upon hearing my words, her magic surged, as if she was slightly moved.

She let go of my hand, then clenched her fists as if steeling herself, as if saying that if even a blind person like me was trying, she had no reason to be discouraged.

“Yes, we have a chance.”

‘It’s not just a chance; we’ll definitely win, so don’t worry.’

I just replied in my heart.

“Then, since the second test is tomorrow, is there somewhere nearby where we can use our abilities?”

‘Well, even so, I should reassure Aris by pretending to make a plan… although it’s good to be prepared.’

Aris heard me, patted her cheek, then grabbed my arm with resolute eyes and pulled me somewhere.

‘Because I myself am preparedness embodied.’

***

“You can just think of my ability as a healer… I can only heal, nothing else…”

She, who had been full of resolve just a few hours ago, kept looking at my eyes and my staff, seeming to make a tearful face.

Sitting on a large rock, she kept staring at the ground with a despairing expression, as if no matter how much she thought, she couldn’t envision a way to win.

“It’s alright. I’m here. It’s a great thing that you can heal.”

As I said this, birds flew around me and landed on my shoulder.

We were now in the forest next to the capital, which Aris had guided me to.

This place was the least likely for others to discover our abilities.

Moreover, the academy’s training grounds were too crowded and complex, so there was no place better than this.

Chirp chirp chirp.

Still, birds flew to me, sitting on my shoulder, on my staff, and on my head.

‘Is it because I keep scattering magic…?’

The magic I emitted was sent out at a concentration almost similar to the magic contained in the air, then returned to me.

So, from the animals’ perspective, it might feel as if someone was calling them.

‘Hmm… there won’t be any large creatures here, right…?’

I kept surveying the surroundings, but thankfully, by my standards, there were no such large monsters.

“So… what’s… your skill…?”

Aris spoke to me as I quietly focused, and I lifted my head.

Then, all the birds that had been sitting on me flew away, making me raise my hand to block the falling feathers.

Only after all the birds had flown away could I properly answer her question.

“I’m just someone who’s a little good with a sword.”

I didn’t really intend to tell her about my abilities.

Of course, it wouldn’t cause me any inconvenience if she knew my abilities, but I wanted to minimize the number of people who knew what I could do.

So, for this test, even if I used my abilities, I planned to pass it off as her having awakened a new skill.

‘Well, I guess I’ll have to help in the fight with this staff.’

I tapped the joint of the staff, waiting for her reaction.

When I retrieved all the magic I had scattered for reconnaissance and clearly pictured her face in detail,

She didn’t say anything to me, but her face was already very dark.

“I’ll go out and fight first, and you can stay behind… Oh, by the way, we haven’t even introduced ourselves yet. What’s your name?”

Only then did Aris, as if coming to her senses from her distant expression, force a smile and say, “I’m Friedrich Aris… And you…?”

“I am Longinus Ray. You can just call me Ray.”

“Okay… Ray…”

She seemed lost in thought, continuously tapping the rock as if I were scattering magic.

A brief silence followed.

I just focused on envisioning her beautiful face, and her face, which became clearer and clearer in my mind, was deep in contemplation.

“I… absolutely have to get into this academy…”

After a long silence, Aris spoke first.

“If I can’t get in this time… you know, don’t you? That commoners can’t try again if they fail once?”

I nodded in affirmation to her question.

“I have nowhere to go…”

She had displayed a bright expression when we first met, but now her face began to darken.

‘It can’t be helped.’

‘Her brightness earlier was just an act, like the princess.’

Friedrich Aris,

She is bright.

But she is too bright.

So bright that others find it strange.

She’s always positive about everything, and when we became a team earlier, she could have outwardly expressed despair, but she didn’t.

She lost everything in a continental war and was taken in and raised by the church.

And then again, she recently lost the priest who raised her in a minor continental war… this was written in her character’s background.

The priest’s last will was that she should live brightly… so it was stated that she was acting, even though her true personality was not bright.

“I awakened this skill to save someone precious… but I couldn’t save them… That person told me to live brightly… And I promised them that I would get into this place and reassure them…”

She wiped her eyes for a moment, as if remembering that time.

‘Well, it’s understandable, given that a parental figure recently died.’

“But seeing you constantly bright, I feel so… pathetic… Even though you’re blind, even though you can’t see the world, you never lose your smile or hope, and that just makes me feel so pathetic…”

She continued to complain, as if airing her grievances.

Her precarious bright expression, which had barely been maintained, now completely crumbled.

I hugged her for a moment.

Her magic, which was weeping so sadly—she was one of my favorite characters, too—moved me, and I couldn’t just stand by.

“Aris, you can pass the test. I will make sure of it.”

“You… can do it…?”

I was about to answer that question, but something was caught in the surrounding magic.

A creature that, to her, would be called a beast, though I didn’t know how I thought of it.

***

‘Blind…? No, no, no matter how blind, I must treat him brightly, as brightly as possible!’

The first emotion she felt when she saw Longinus was anxiety.

She worried about how she would fight with him, and the most important thing was that she could only heal.

However,

He was smiling.

His eyes were firmly closed, and he kept tapping with his staff, but his mouth never lost its smile.

‘Yes, this person hasn’t lost hope and believes in me…’

So she dragged him to the forest next to the capital to devise a plan.

At first, she was enthusiastic.

Just in case, just in case this blind person whose arm she held possessed an incredible ability.

“I’m just someone who’s a little good with a sword.”

At those words, her heart suddenly dropped.

The fruit of hope, which had formed high above, repeatedly hit the cliff and was losing its shape.

At those words, she completely lost hope and was heartbroken, fearing she wouldn’t be able to keep her promise.

So she made meaningless complaints to him.

‘I… I’m so… He must be anxious too… for me to say such things…’

‘?’

She complained to him, and what returned to Aris, who was worried that annoyance would come back, was a hug.

“Aris, you can pass the test. I will make sure of it.”

What returned to her, who had not trusted him, complained, and poured out her story, were two warm sentences.

“You… can do it…?”

Aris spoke, and then she gasped at the creature behind them—specifically, behind Longinus.

“A bear…? No… how did a bear get here…?”

She tried to escape, but her body was already frozen with fear.

As she made that movement, Longinus, as if sensing a strange presence, turned around and also saw the bear.

“Ray… run away quickly…”

She said that last, but what returned was an unchanging smile.

“You asked if I could do it, didn’t you…?”

He very quietly slid his finger into a slot in the joint of the staff and pulled it out.

Then, a long, thin rapier, seemingly unbreakable, appeared from inside the staff.

He touched the blade of the rapier with his hand and calmly answered her question.

“I hope this is your answer.”

He sliced through the air with the rapier, and that Heart Sword moved according to my will.

‘Cleave, Heart Sword!’