Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan - Volume 4 Read online

  Prologue: A Town in the Country of Snow

  「Listen up, you guys. Alcohol is an adult's drink. That means whoever drinks alcohol is an adult.」

  In a snowy country in Eurasia, under a dark gray winter sky. In front of a church shed, a red-haired ten year old little girl held an emerald-green alcohol bottle in her hand and raised her voice.

  「Once you guys taste this, you won't be kids anymore! You'll join the ranks of cool adults like us. And cool adults would never betray their friends! They'll never abandon weaker people! This alcohol is that kind of an oath between friends. Are you ready for it!?」

  At those words, the two five- or six-year-old boys standing in front of her stood straighter and answered in loud voices.

  "Yes we are!"

  "Good! Then show me your readiness!"

  "Okay!"

  With their answers, the two boys held forward wooden cups in their hands. Into each of those cups, the red-haired girl poured a little bit of alcohol. The two boys sipped the alcohol that had been poured for them at the same time, and swallowed without hesitation.

  「Wh-Whoooooaaa…」

  And they spat it out simultaneously.

  「Wh-What the heck was that!? It's so bad!」

  「My throat's burning…!」

  The two fell to their hands and knees in nausea. At the two underneath her gaze―the red-haired girl laughed cheerfully with a great voice.

  「Looks like it's still too early for you! We'll have another trial next year, so be protected by me and Alice for another year!」

  「Ugh….」

  「Becoming an adult is hard, huh? Timur….」

  While on the verge of tears, the two boys wiped their mouths with the snow at their feet. Watching over those two, the red-haired girl and the boy of around her age both showed parental smiles.

  「Ha ha ha. There's still along way to go before you become cool adults.」

  There was a youth whose ash-blonde hair looked somewhat gloomy. At a glance, he was a shabby child who looked like he was dirty with soot and mud, but upon careful observation, he was a young boy with horrifyingly beautiful features.

  This was the childhood of he who would someday call himself Nagi Arisuin, and enter Hagun Academy.

  Arisuin―no, Alice―turned back from the two boys to address the girl.

  「All things considered, you're a wicked adult, Yuuri. Timur and Condra are both only six, and you knew they couldn't drink something like that, right?」

  In response, the girl gave a proudly evil smile.

  「It's fine. Trying to overreach will make them bolder.」

  Her name was Yuuri. Like Alice, she was a child of the streets, and the leader of this team that held their headquarters in the church's storage shed.

  Yuuri, the girl who had a lively personality full of unyielding spirit.

  Alice, the boy who had a delicate personality full of gentleness.

  They were two diametrically opposing people, but they had one thing in common. It was―the thought that they had to protect the weaker children who could not survive on their own.

  So they cared for the younger street kids more than themselves, and raised those children. Yuuri had a father's dependability. Alice had a mother's affection. Even though they were children themselves, they took on these roles splendidly.

  ―And what was happening now was a rite of passage for that team. The kids who drank for the green bottle of indecently strong liquor, they were being accepted not as children, but as adult friends. They had no parents. They had no adults to depend on. So they had to overreach as much as possible, to become adults as quickly as possible.

  Yuuri, who thought that, had held the ceremony. But it didn't matter what kind of reason she had. There was no way children drinking alcohol was―

  「Hey! Yuuri! You're feeding young kids alcohol again!?」

  「Oh crap! It's the nun! Everyone hide!」

  Having been discovered by the frightful Sister who managed the church alone, Yuuri and the two younger boys fled, scattering in all directions.

  The boys escaped instantly at their leader's command. Their trust in Yuuri was deep. Well, even if that was so….

  「Hold it right there, you wicked brats! If you don't come back here, you'll have no soup today!」

  「We were caught up in Leader's ways against our will.」

  「It's all Leader's doing. We weren't bad. That's the truth.」

  Before the promise of warm soup, their loyalty was only as strong as tissue, but….

  「Y-You bastards―!? I'll remember this―!」

  「Ha ha ha.」

  While letting out a smile at that bunch of youths, Alice stood. The day was drawing to a close. It would be time for work soon.

  Suddenly, at that moment.

  「U-Umm... big sister Alice!」

  Three girls came from inside the storage shed. They were children around five, six, and seven years old. And the seven-year-old Anastasia―the eldest among the kids besides Yuuri and Alice―stood before Alice with her white cheeks blushing as red as apples.

  「H-Here….」

  She nervously presented a hand-made scarf. It was something that she had made over the last few days from knitting wool she had gotten from the Sister, after learning from the skillful Alice. So knowing without a doubt that this was something he wanted to see if she had done well, Alice took it in his hands.

  「Oh my. You've knitted it beautifully, didn't you? You must have worked hard.」

  Praising the craftsmanship, he tried to return it. But the girl pressed the scarf back into Alice's chest firmly.

  「It―It's a present for you, big sister!」

  「For me?」

  Anastasia nodded forcefully.

  「Because you're always… working… in the cold, doing your best….」

  「….I see.」

  Understanding Anastasia's feelings, Alice wrapped her hand-made scarf around his neck. Mysteriously, it felt warmer than the usual bargain-sale scarf he used.

  「So warm…. Thanks, Anastasia.」

  「Ehehe....」

  Receiving the thanks, Anastasia broke out in a delighted expression. It was a smile that warmed not just his body, but his heart.

  ―Speaking honestly, their daily lives were miserable. With only the storage shed that the Sister was lending them, it was impossible for two ten-year-old kids to care for two boys and three girls. There were jobs to be had from the criminal gangs in their hometown, but after the government took away taxes, there was almost nothing left. For food, there was only the soup that the Sister made everyone once in a while, and hard bread stored in plastic bags. Those were shared among everyone. Naturally, one could hardly say it was enough to satisfy growing children, and everyone was always hungry.

  But even so, these days were a blessing for Alice.

  Compared to the amount he ate when he was alone, this was less. In order to raise the children, he had to do more work. But―if he compared these days of being loved to those where he lived alone, stealing and scavenging, he was much more content with the time spent here.

  Living close to precious friends. Could he want anything more? No, there was nothing.

  If tomorrow, and the day after that, could be just as peaceful―

  Ahh, if only―

  Chapter One: Training Camp

  Part 1

  It was the last third of July. The rainy season had ended, and now was the season of soaring white cloud columns. The school period of rushing through selection battles was over, and Hagun Academy had entered the summer break. Some students went on vacation, and many went back home, so there were few people left at school.

/>   Were the only ones left those who wanted a carefree summer holiday in Tokyo? Were they those who wanted to train themselves with the academy's ample facilities? Or maybe, they just couldn't go home because of troubles waiting there.

  …However, Ikki Kurogane was surprisingly not among them. Similarly, his friends and his sister were also not there. Why was that?

  It was because the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival was drawing close. The Sword-Art Festival opened in the middle of August. And for any sports tournament, attending a training camp was the usual thing to do. Hagun held a training camp each year, of course. That would be ten days of focused training at a training lodge in Okutama. Professional mage-knight lecturers who've participated in the King of Knights league had been called to this, so not attending would lead to a huge difference in growth, come the day of the Festival. Ikki and the others not being at school was because they were participating in the training camp as the representative team, or as assistants.

  ―However, the place was not Okutama. That was due to the Okutama Giant uproar, mentioned previously. That matter remained unresolved in the end. Afterwards, there were no reports of the stone giant that had attack Ikki's group appearing again, but of course none could say they were satisfied with the security.

  Therefore, Board Chairman Shinguuji made an earnest request to Kyomon Academy for permission to hold a combined training camp with Kyomon's representatives at their own lodge in the mountains.

  Part 2

  The Crimson Princess, Stella Vermillion.

  A girl who came from a faraway land to the country of samurai for the sake of strengthening herself, she was now in the middle of a fight she requested, here in the mountains after arriving from Tokyo.

  In the mock battle arena at the Kyomon training camp, crimson flame and golden lightning were clashing furiously, creating great sparks.

  The one clad in a crimson blaze and wielding a gigantic sword was Stella. Power and speed―hers was high-performance motion with what could be called the greatest strength, and overwhelming magical power.

  The knight named Stella Vermillion could not generally be said to have any weaknesses. She had remarkably high offensive ability, but her true essence was the height of her overall power. In offense, defense, and speed, she was equipped with a balance of exceedingly high qualities in every possible ability and talent. That was why she was an A-rank knight―

  However, there was someone in front of her eyes right now, an enemy exchanging sword blows with her, enduring her fierce attacks head on. At this moment, that enemy could do so with a skill that was worthy of being her opponent.

  A regular person would surely have his body destroyed opposing Stella's great physical strength directly. Instead, this opponent had flexible defense that dispersed the power of her descending sword, and a defense that certainly did not only guard, but held a clarity gave back immediate counterattacks.

  This was the kind of opponent Stella was facing, but it was not unexpected. Why? Because the one serving as Stella's opponent, participating as a volunteer coach along with the rest of the student council, was none other than Hagun's student knight―Touka Toudou, the "Raikiri".

  "Shh―!"

  In the middle of that sword fight, Touka displayed her technique. In the instant that the two sent sparks from their steel, she used the impact of her parry to angle for Stella's wrist. In a movement reminiscent of Aikido, Stella's body leaned over greatly. The shock was evaded, and the sword blade glided past.

  "Kuh!"

  Naturally, Stella was also a top-grade knight. Though her blade was pulled in, her balance did not break. Her well-trained lower body held Stella firmly to the earth.

  However, the move certainly created a gap between them. That gap―Raikiri didn't overlook it.

  Immediately, Touka returned her Device, Narukami, to her black scabbard, and she took a wide stance, pouring lightning energy into her scabbard.

  In that moment, a shudder ran through Stella's spine. What attack would shoot from that posture? She knew.

  The Noble Art―Raikiri.

  Touka's trump card that destroyed the enemy with the unsheathing. Although it had suffered one loss, Raikiri could boast of overwhelming power in close range.

  Although she was called the Crimson Princess, Stella had no technique that could be used against Raikiri. If might and range counted, she could win grandly with Katharterio Salamandra, but with speed as the main determinant, she would lose.

  So when Touka took the stance for Raikiri, Stella could only fall. But….

  This is what I was waiting for!

  Not succumbing to the shudder that raced through her spine, Stella kicked against the ground to dash out of close range.

  Indeed, having fought up to now in a close-ranged sword clash, it could only have led to Raikiri being used. Raikiri was a sword draw that emitted intense electrical energy through imbuing electromagnetic force into the sword blade. The explosive propulsion brought forth by intense electrical energy was something Touka herself could not stop. It was a technique that could not cancel the unsheathing once started. For that reason, Stella had purposely put herself into Touka's range, and then retreated back out of that range once Touka took the stance for her trump card, inviting Touka to strike at nothing.

  …But….

  The trump card did not come out. Touka stood still in her sword-drawing position, and stared silently at Stella who had escaped. At the discernment which saw through her smallest motions, Stella leaked a sigh of admiration from the bottom of her heart.

  After all, such a simple plan wouldn't go through like I want, right?

  Tricking the user to spend her trump card uselessly? Anyone could've thought up a tactic on this level. It was a typical countermeasure against Raikiri. Of course Touka had faced countless opponents who used that tactic. There was no way she'd fall for such a simple lure.

  ―In that case.

  I should use a plan that only I can use, right!?

  Boom! Stella kicked the ground a second time, taking another huge step backwards. She took a distance of more than ten meters away from Touka. It was beyond the range a sword or a spear could reach. Long distance―it was the range for only bows or guns, or magic.

  Yes. Stella was not a knight whose forte was only in close combat. At this long distance, Stella was still in her element. Because she was, among these currently recognized knights, the one who boasted of the greatest magic capacity.

  At long range magic combat, those who held high magic capacity held an overwhelming advantage. Though Touka also had a technique for fighting at long distance, Stella's ability in magic combat exceeded hers noticeably.

  Because of that, Touka dashed forward hurriedly to close the distance. However, that decision was slightly slow.

  "Haaaa!"

  Stepping outside Touka's range, Stella poured more power into the Dragon Breath surrounding her Device, Lævateinn. Devouring that magic, her sword's fiery aura grew in light and heat. As the flames covered the point of her sword, Stella faced Touka who was charging from the front.

  "Take this! Dragon Fang!"

  It became an attack.

  Lævateinn―the flame that surged from the point of her sword in a flash took the shape of a living creature.

  It was―a dragon. A dragon with a long, serpentine body. That fiery dragon opened a jaw full of teeth and struck down upon Touka.

  Touka managed to just barely sidestep that burning dragon's jaw. Instantly, the dragon twisted around to bare its teeth against Touka again.

  Lævateinn was no ordinary fiery weapon. With fangs that burned through everything, for the sake of taking a bite of the enemy, it was an attack that would follow its target to the ends of the earth. Shaking it off was impossible. Touka didn't have a single means to counter it.

  An average Blazer had no chance against Lævateinn. The magic that came from Stella's overwhelming capacity all carried enough power to deliver certain death. If a challenger started a fi
ght with an inadequate offensive, he'd find himself beaten at his own game. So Touka―

  "―Raikiri."

  At the approach fire dragon, she responded with the strongest and fastest attack she had.

  ―She had nothing else to offer. And that was what Stella was aiming for.

  I have you!

  The slash of plasma collided with the Dragon's head. In that instant, Stella dashed forward with all her strength, and drew near Touka with a burst of speed.

  Touka had fallen into Stella's trap, and used Raikiri. Right now, she was unable to interrupt her technique―which mean she was completely defenseless. This was the moment when the fight would be decided.

  For a breathless instant, Stella crossed the distance with explosive force, and gave a knockout blow. It was a vertical downward slash. Right now, Touka who had just used up her killer technique wasn't able to do anything―

  "Eh…?"

  Shouldn't be able to do anything. Stella's attack should definitely have hit.

  But in that moment, Touka showed a movement that Stella didn't anticipate.

  She had certainly recovered from Raikiri―but… her recovered stance had not stopped the technique.

  She used Raikiri's momentum to turn her body, and attack twice...!?

  A devastating propulsion born of a sword draw based on extreme electromagnetic force. It was a second attack using high speed rotation.

  Yes, Touka had completely seen through the tactic Stella was going to use. So Touka had―purposely used Raikiri, in order to induce Stella to jump in by making herself look defenseless.

  And that scheme had worked flawlessly. Stella's abdomen, where Touka had aimed at for the second blow, had been mowed down by Raikiri―

  "Ah…guh…."

  Illusionary form―against a sword that cut through endurance directly without injuring the flesh, Stella fell to her knees.

  And in the next instant, Narumaki fell precisely on the back of Stella's neck. It was the moment that decided the battle.

  "…I didn't hear about you having that kind of counter-move."

  "It's because this is the first time I've used it in combat. Attacking the enemy's weaknesses is fundamentally correct, but now that you're at the same level as the best in the nation, your opponents will take advantage of your own weaknesses without remorse too. To win against opponents of this class, it's critical not to let yourself be read like that."