Chapter 44: A Beautiful Sword
A Week Later
“That’s the last time I leave a dragoness unattended for that long… especially after making her jealous by letting it slip that I’ve been sleeping around with my other lovers,” I muttered to myself with a sigh.
Though, judging by the smile that refused to leave my face after a week-long marathon with Velzard, I wasn’t exactly complaining.
“Now I just need to handle another dragoness and I will be golden~” I continued while thinking of my blue haired dragoness and Velzard’s younger sister, Velgrynd.
“Hopefully she’s not too jealous that she was the last person to sleep with me. Those two are very competitive when it comes to anything to do with my affections.” I felt a nervous sweat in the back of my head at the thought but I shook it off a moment later and thought of something else.
While I had been busy satisfying a needy dragon, one of my clones had taken my place at the Academy, ensuring nobody noticed my absence.
Several things had happened during that time.
The first—and most obvious—was my discussion with Iris and Alexia regarding the latter’s kidnapping and the fact that the Knight Order had been compromised by the Cult.
To make sure Iris wouldn’t be manipulated by the Cult again like she had been in canon, I gifted her the ability to sense emotions. It was somewhat similar to Naruto’s ability to sense negative emotions, achieved through Added Potential after stamping both sisters, since I hadn’t captured them yet.
To keep things fair between the two, I also granted them Chakra, which they would slowly develop over time, even without proper training, making them much stronger than anybody else in this world excluding my girls.
At this point, things were in Iris’s hands. Whether she made proper use of the abilities I had given her was up to her now.
I had no intention of interfering further unless something drastic happened.
Currently, I was on my way toward the stadium since I was scheduled to fight today in preparation for the upcoming Bushin Festival, which would be held in a few weeks.
Since only one student from the Academy would earn the right to participate, the school had organized a tournament, pitting students against one another until a winner emerged.
Thankfully, with Lutheran Barnett already sold out to Mitsugoshi, we no longer had to worry about the Academy burning down and shutting its doors for months like in canon, or Sherry leaving for another city afterward in heartbreak.
With a little rearranging behind the scenes, I would be facing two opponents today.
The first was Rose Oriana.
This would be our first official meeting since I rescued her all those years ago.
‘I wonder if she’ll recognize me?’ I thought curiously.
Then a smirk slowly spread across my face as I remembered my second opponent.
Cid.
The little bastard had managed to avoid me over the past week while I was busy, but now I could finally resume my civic duty of bullying the hell out of him.
Honestly, I considered it public service.
If I had to break a few bones to humble that psychopath, then so be it.
‘Let’s see that bastard try his “Mob-Fu” techniques on me.’
A moment later, I blinked as a sudden weight landed on my back and a pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders. Platinum hair slipped into view as a familiar face peeked over my shoulder.
“Hi, Akari-kun~ Ready for your match against Rose-senpai?”
Turning my head slightly, I found myself staring directly into Alexia’s amused crimson eyes, her face only inches away from mine.
Oh right.
There was also one more thing that had changed during my week away.
Since Zenon Griffey—Alexia’s former fiancé—was now dead, there was technically no longer any reason for our “fake” relationship to continue.
However, after our discussion with Iris, Alexia had pulled me aside into a secluded area before nervously asking if we could continue pretending to date for a little while longer.
I still remembered my response back then…
—and the pain I had narrowly avoided saving myself from.
=====
Flashback — A Week Ago
“So… if you’re interested… I was thinking maybe we could keep this relationship going for a little longer?” Alexia asked nervously, a cute blush spread across her cheeks as she played with her hands in front of her, one foot lightly kicking at the grass.
Honestly, it was the kind of scene you’d never expect from someone like Alexia if you knew her true personality like I did.
And yet somehow…
…it still suited her perfectly.
For all her attitude, the girl was surprisingly shy when it came to romance.
“I’m sorry, but no,” I replied with a shake of my head.
Alexia’s eyes widened instantly, hurt flashing across her face before she quickly buried it beneath anger.
“P-Please let me finish!” I hurriedly added, a bead of nervous sweat running down my neck.
For a second there, the atmosphere shifted dangerously.
Alexia went from looking beautiful to radiating enough killing intent to make lesser men collapse on the spot, her hand twitching toward the sword at her waist.
Thankfully, she stopped herself.
Crossing her arms, she looked at me sternly.
“Very well. You may continue.”
“Sheesh… and this is why you don’t have many friends, you know? You’ve got a terrifying temper,” I muttered under my breath with a sigh.
“Ahem… I’m sorry, did you say something, Akari-kun~?” Alexia asked sweetly, suddenly smiling in a way that immediately set off every danger instinct I had.
“Nothing,” I replied instantly, rolling my eyes before coughing into my hand and forcing myself to focus.
“Anyway, back to what I was trying to say.”
Taking on a more serious expression, I looked directly at her.
“While I didn’t mind helping you since you’re my precious student and childhood friend, I don’t really want to continue a fake relationship. That wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”
Her expression faltered again.
The anger disappeared, replaced by disappointment as she lowered her gaze toward the ground.
“O-Oh… I see. Then for—”
“That’s why,” I interrupted before she could finish.
Alexia immediately looked back up at me, hope flickering in her crimson eyes.
I gave her a charming smile along with an overly cheesy thumbs-up.
“From now on, let’s get to know each other even better, Alexia~,” I said lightly. “I already care about you a great deal, and I’m pretty sure that if we keep spending time together like this… those feelings are only going to grow stronger.”
Alexia blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then a full-body blush exploded across her face as she immediately looked away and let out an embarrassed squeak.
“B-Baka! W-What are you even saying!?” she stammered, refusing to meet my eyes.
Still…
She couldn’t quite hide the smile tugging at her lips.
Not that she could hide it from me, of course, since I was an empath—but it was still cute watching her try.
“I’m saying that I want to keep getting to know you better. And if we just happen to fall in love along the way, then great. And if not, I’ll still treasure the time I spent with you,” I said simply, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
Hey, when you have a literal harem—and several of them belong to the most sinful race in the infinite cosmos, elves—you tend to lose any sense of shame over simple things like this.
“B-Baka! Y-You’re basically asking to court me, you know that, right!?” Alexia exclaimed again, finally finding the courage to look me in the eyes, her entire face beet red while her lips trembled slightly.
“Call it whatever you want,” I replied with a casual shrug before tilting my head. “Is that a no? If you’re worried because you’re a princess, don’t be. I’m basically a ruler myself.”
“I-I didn’t say that!” she immediately denied, shaking her head vigorously, only to blush even harder after realizing what she had just implied. “A-And we’ll talk about what you said later! There’s still a lot I don’t know about you,” she added with a cute pout.
I tilted my head thoughtfully for a moment.
“…So that’s a yes then?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
Alexia let out a series of flustered noises before swinging her fist into my chest with a weak thump.
“Ugh, you’re seriously pissing me off! Fine! I agree,” she huffed while crossing her arms and looking away. “Be grateful that I’m nice enough to accept something like this out of nowhere.”
“Hihihi… there’s the tsundere I know,” I chuckled quietly.
That earned me another weak punch to the chest along with a narrowed glare.
“What does that even mean!? You’ve called me that multiple times now, but every time I ask you to explain it, you avoid the question,” Alexia accused, glaring harder despite the blush still plastered across her face.
“Nothing, nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I replied with a grin.
And just like every other time, I dodged the question entirely before suddenly leaning down and placing a quick kiss at the corner of her lips.
“!?”
Alexia froze instantly, all thoughts leaving her head.
“W-Warn me next time, baka!” she stammered, covering the spot I kissed with one hand.
“Hoh? So there’s going to be a next time, huh?” I asked with an amused grin.
“Aghhh! Stop twisting my words!”
And just like that, we continued going back and forth—me endlessly teasing her while Alexia reacted exactly like the adorable tsundere she was, either hitting me or accidentally saying the cutest things imaginable whenever I caught her off guard.
End of Flashback
=====
Back to the Present
Ever since then, Alexia had practically stuck to me like glue.
Well… technically, she had been sticking to my clone for the past week, but still.
In fact, she had become even clingier than when we were only pretending to date.
Of course, with this basically being a high school, news spread ridiculously fast. Rumors were already circulating that I was secretly her new fiancé and all sorts of other ridiculous nonsense that I couldn’t be bothered paying attention to.
Not that Alexia did anything to shut those rumors down.
And if she wasn’t complaining, then neither would I.
“Of course I’m ready. Or what? Do you think I’ll lose?” I finally replied calmly as I continued walking.
“Hihihi, of course not,” Alexia giggled as she patted my cheek. “I placed a pretty big bet on you, so don’t let your beautiful childhood friend lose a lot of money.”
“I’m getting a cut of that, right?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “I’m the one doing all the fighting after all.”
“Tsk, don’t be so stingy,” Alexia huffed, rolling her eyes before playfully smacking my arm. “I already know you have more gold than entire kingdoms combined. Which I still don’t understand, by the way. Where did you even get that absurd amount of money?” she muttered while poking my side with a pout.
“What can I say? I’m just a naturally lucky guy,” I replied with a grin.
Alexia huffed again.
Before long, we arrived at the arena entrance and came to a stop, turning toward each other.
“Well, wish me luck,” I said as I cracked my neck.
Alexia looked at me for a moment.
Then a faint blush spread across her cheeks before she quickly rose onto her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss against my cheek, just shy of my lips, exactly like I had done to her a week ago.
Immediately afterward, she turned around and started walking away.
“G-Good luck, Akari-kun~ I’ll be cheering for you,” she said while waving over her shoulder, refusing to look back.
“Hmhm… that girl can be really cute sometimes,” I chuckled quietly before turning toward the arena entrance, silently grateful nobody had witnessed her little display.
Dealing with the aftermath would have been annoying with this big crowd gathered.
Only a few minutes passed before my name was finally called.
“Her opponent is Akari Tempest!”
The announcer’s voice echoed through the arena as I calmly stepped forward, receiving a respectable amount of applause—
Though nowhere near the reaction Rose Oriana had gotten.
Looking at Rose, I noticed her eyes widen slightly at hearing my name.
Back when I rescued her, she had asked for it, and while I only gave her my first name, it was still uncommon enough in this world that she likely remembered it.
‘Interesting… so she does remember me,’ I thought as I came to a stop in front of her.
As we both took our stances, I noticed her open her mouth as if she wanted to ask me something—
—but she was interrupted before she could.
“Begin!”
The match ended instantly.
Making sure not to use any magic and heavily suppressing my physical strength so I wouldn’t accidentally hurt her, I all but vanished from sight and appeared beside her.
One clean swing later—
“Guh!”
Rose was sent flying out of the ring, landing roughly on the ground outside the arena.
Silence fell over the stadium.
Not only had one of the academy’s strongest students lost—
She had been defeated effortlessly.
A moment later, the arena exploded into a mixture of cheers and shocked boos as the announcer hurriedly declared the result.
“And in a major upset, the winner is Akari Tempest! Have we just witnessed the rise of a dark horse!?”
Ignoring the crowd, I calmly walked toward Rose, spotting her trying to push herself back to her feet.
I extended my hand toward her.
“Need a hand?” I asked with a small smile.
Blinking in surprise, Rose looked up at me before her gaze shifted slowly from my face… to my hand.
For several seconds, she simply stared.
Then she quickly snapped out of it and took my hand.
“Y-Yes… thank you,” she muttered, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks as I helped her back to her feet before letting go.
“That was a good match, Miss Rose. Your swordsmanship is beautiful,” I complimented honestly before turning around to leave.
I paused mid-step when I heard her softly mutter something beneath the noise of the crowd.
“…It’s really you.”
Turning my head slightly, I looked back at her from the corner of my eye.
“Your swordsmanship,” Rose whispered as she took a small step closer, her hands resting over her chest. “Even after all these years… I could never forget such beautiful swordsmanship.”
Seeing that I wasn’t denying it, her expression brightened.
“You’re the reason I chose to pursue the sword,” she continued passionately, a small blush spreading across her face. “All this time, I looked up to you. I wanted to find you again someday so I could properly thank you for saving me.”
She stepped even closer.
“And to think… you were watching over me this entire time.”
I resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow at the absurd conclusion she had somehow reached entirely on her own.
But in the end, I let it go.
This was Rose Oriana, after all.
She had always been like this.
‘Yeah… there was probably never any stopping Rose from becoming this attached to me from the very beginning,’ I thought with amusement.