Chapter 27: Preparedness

「A thousand years... a thousand years, huh...」

Muttering that, I walked down the corridor.
The timescale itself was startling, and so was the fact that Inis fully intended to live for a thousand years as if it were ordinary. Is that girl really human...

「Sensei, Sensei!」

Lost in such thoughts and walking absentmindedly, I was stopped by Mel.

「What’s up?」
「Please look—!」

Led by her hand into the courtyard, I found Yuuka and Ara in the middle of a spar.

「Halberd!」

At that single word, the shadow sword in Ara’s hand extended and reshaped into a halberd with a long haft. It wasn’t spirit sorcery or enchantment, but a different kind of magic altogether—an art classified as what’s called cursecraft.

Spirit sorcery is the art of cutting a spirit out of a natural phenomenon.
Enchantment is the art of changing the properties of matter.
So then, what is cursecraft? To be honest, there isn’t a very clear definition.

Rather, it’s more accurate to say that anything that doesn’t fit spirit sorcery or enchantment gets lumped together and called cursecraft.

Yuuka dodged the swinging halberd, but a halberd—with an axe‑like blade on the side and a hook like a sickle—could attack not only on the thrust but on the pull as well, unlike a simple spear. Even for Yuuka, avoiding several Shadow Doubles all wielding them looked pretty tough.

「Crossbow!」

Then the shadow Ara had set to his rear loosed an arrow.
When had he gotten to the point of being able to do even that!

Cursecraft is not Sorcery. You can’t give it a name or carve characters to compress it into a single word for use, nor can you hand it to someone else to use. So how is Ara managing single‑word activation? In his case, it’s nothing but the fruit of dogged, straightforward training.

Spoken spells, after all, only serve to aid imagery and make magic easier to use—no more than that. It’s like using a ruler to draw a straight line.
You can draw a line without one, but the power and precision are nowhere comparable. Through unremitting effort he’d pushed it up into a practical range and was using it in live combat.

Yuuka batted down the incoming arrow with her sword.

「Will‑o’‑Wisp!」

Seizing that opening, multiple balls of light shot from Ara’s palm. That was spirit sorcery. Each Light Ball traced a different path as it flew toward Yuuka. When Yuuka’s sword cut one, the Will‑o’‑Wisp snapped with a pop and transmitted a shock into her blade.

The force of that shock wasn’t enough to shatter a stone sword, but it did suffice to break her stance. On top of that, when a Will‑o’‑Wisp popped it flared light that dazzled Yuuka’s eyes and, at the same time, cast more shadow for Ara’s Shadow Doubles.

「Spear Rain!」

The elongated shadows became spears as they were and sprang toward Yuuka as if released.
Unable to completely fend off a saturation attack from all directions while her vision was lost, the Sword Saint finally let her sword slip from her hand.

「...I yield.」

With the halberd leveled at her throat, Yuuka raised both hands and declared her own defeat.

「Huh...?」

Even with the halberd still leveled at her, it was Ara who let out a bewildered sound.

「A win... Did I... win...?」
「For now, it’s just one point, though.」

In contrast to Ara, whose eyes were wide as if he still couldn’t believe it, Yuuka’s expression was refreshingly clear. More than frustration, she was likely glad to see her disciple’s growth.

「Congratulations, Ara‑kun!」

Mel bounced up and down as she offered her congratulations.
Perhaps that voice finally brought him back to himself—Ara looked around and seemed to notice for the first time that Mel and I were there.

「Sensei.」

Ara turned toward me and hurried over, looking tense.

「It’s only a single point so far, but I managed to take one off Yuuka‑sensei.」
「Yeah. You worked hard.」

Yuuka had often said Ara lacked talent.

Taking a few seconds of spell‑words and compressing them down to a single word took Ara a full hundred years—so yes, he was surely poor in innate talent. Compared to a true genius like Inis, or Mel who is beloved by spirits, the gap was obvious.

And yet, even so. He didn’t sour or give up; he piled up effort and at last managed to touch it with his fingertips.

「I decided this long ago...」

He’s always scrupulously polite, but now he straightened his posture even more and said:

「If I could take one point off Yuuka‑sensei... I would tell you how I feel.」

...Eh?

「W‑wait a second, Ara.」
「No. I can’t wait. Sensei, I’ve, since long ago...」

Ara bore down on my flustered self. When someone of a four‑legged race with that much height and weight does that, it feels almost like you’re being covered over.

「I’ve been in love with Nina‑sensei!」

So that’s where this was going.


* * *


Why he was telling me in the first place, I had no idea.
I couldn’t make sense of it at all, but it seemed he did intend to properly confess to Nina herself as well.
Before I knew it I was accompanying Ara, and somehow Mel came along too.
I thought I wasn’t needed—worse, that I’d be in the way—but I couldn’t bring myself to turn Ara down when he insisted.

Incidentally, Yuuka seemed to have zero interest in where her disciple’s love life might go; she just waved and said, “Do your best,” and saw us off without a second thought. I silently begged her with my eyes to come, but she met my gaze, smiled sweetly, and made it perfectly clear she had no intention of helping.

「Welcome home, Daddy.」
「Welcome back... what’s going on?」

When we got home, Chryse came pattering out to greet us, and behind her Nina peeked out and tilted her head at the two four‑legged guests.
Ah—I see. Mel had come along to take Chryse outside.

「Nina‑sensei. I’ve liked you for a long time. Please marry me!」

Just as I had that thought, Ara suddenly blurted it out right there at the front door.
Chryse made an absolutely wild face from surprise.

「Sorry, no.」

Nina’s reply to that was startlingly straightforward as well. I hadn’t expected her to say yes, but Ara got turned down in one second flat.

「Why?」

But Ara didn’t falter.

「It’s not that I dislike you, but I don’t like you either.」
「Is that really all?」

He kept pressing her, even as Nina cut him down without mercy using simple logic.

「What else is there?」
「Is it because there’s someone else you like?」
「...That’s none of your business.」
「It is.」

He declared it flatly.

「I like you. So I want you to be happy.」

Faced with those earnest eyes, even Nina flinched a little.
She looked to me, as if seeking help.

「...Ara, got a minute?」
「Yes!」

Even though this had nothing to do with me, for some reason Ara answered with pep when I butted in.

「I’m without question the one who’s been with Nina the longest.」

He must have had no objection to that. Ara nodded deeply.

「So let me state this outright. Nina doesn’t have someone she’s in love with.」

But when I said that, Ara was blatantly disappointed. His face doesn’t change much, but with his ears and tail drooping, his emotions were plain as day.

「Doesn’t Nina‑san like Daddy?」

Chryse came out with that now, of all times.

「I’ve told you over and over. He and I aren’t husband and wife... and he isn’t someone I like.」

Gripping the hem of her clothes, Nina answered with a pained look.

「Then—」

In the silence that had fallen, Mel suddenly cut in.

「Among the people you know, Nina‑sensei, who do you like the most?」

It sounded similar to Ara and Chryse’s questions, yet it was a completely different one.

「It can be someone who isn’t here. Even someone who’s no longer alive, male or female, human or not—it doesn’t matter. Among the people you know, Nina‑sensei, who do you like the most?」

There was no wriggling out of that question.

「Th‑that...」

Hesitating, flustered, Nina’s wandering eyes came to me.
A terribly weak gaze, one you’d never expect from the always‑composed her.

「So that’s how it is—」
「No, but, that’s...」

She must have taken that look as an answer. Mel nodded and nodded, and though Nina mumbled something under her breath, she didn’t deny it.

「You like him most, you’ve been living together all this time, and yet you’re not married. Which means...」

Mel’s eyes sparkled; she pointed smartly at Nina and said:

「You’re siblings!」
「—Right! He’s like a no‑good kid brother.」

Looking relieved, Nina patted my head, pom‑pom.
Ara still didn’t seem convinced, but he clamped his mouth shut.

* * *

「...Thanks, Mel.」
「Eh?」

As I thanked Mel for quietly covering for us on the way out, she opened her eyes wide and wore a baffled look.

「Sensei, why did you suddenly thank Mel?」

It wasn’t that she was playing dumb—she was plainly, genuinely confused.

「Why? Why is that—?」

As Mel kept pressing me with questions, I was made to realize, from the bottom of my heart, that she’d said it in total innocence—she’s completely a natural airhead.