Each Goes Their Own Way

"Sylphy? Why did she come here?"

"Tch, that guy Rolz..."

Paul immediately felt a headache coming on.

He had clearly told Rolz before not to let Sylphy run around, and yet... No, maybe Rolz's strange behavior had actually made Sylphy notice something? After all, Sylphy was a pretty smart child too.

But things had already come this far. They couldn't cancel the plan just because Sylphy had appeared.

Paul was just about to step forward and say a few words when he saw Sylphy running toward them, raising her hand and firing an intermediate wind spell, Wind Blade, without listening to a single word. She attacked outright, without another word.

A spell with that kind of power was not something you could just casually use on a person.

Paul gripped his sword.

But just as Paul was about to make his move, another figure stepped forward before him.

"Whoosh—"

The sword she swung left a flowing trace in midair, and the wind blade that came flying like a bullet was deflected by the blade in an instant.

Hilde drew in a deep breath.

Looking at Sylphy as she sprinted toward them, she met her head-on.

In a battle between a magician and a swordsman, the former had to fight desperately to keep their distance, while the latter had to close the gap as much as possible. Distance could be called a magician's lifeline, and that was true even for magicians who could use chantless magic. The higher a swordsman's level, the more obvious their advantage in this regard became.

And yet Sylphy had chosen to close the distance herself...

It was truly absurd.

Hilde advanced while swinging her sword to block the magical attacks, and Sylphy gradually slowed her steps. In the end, she could only stand in place and keep releasing spells, yet she still couldn't stop Hilde from steadily drawing closer, and panic gradually seized her.

The gap in real combat experience...

It was like a chasm.

As the distance between the two of them grew shorter and shorter, Sylphy subconsciously took half a step back.

Only then did she finally think that she should be maintaining distance.

But it was already too late.

"Bang—"

Hilde closed in quickly, then kicked Sylphy in the chest, knocking her to the ground.

Before Sylphy could climb back up, the wooden sword was already resting lightly against her throat.

Sylphy's pupils trembled faintly.

"Don't get in the way, Sylphy," Hilde said softly.

"No!"

Sylphy bit her lower lip with her pearly teeth, staring at Hilde through tear-filled eyes. "Why? Why are you taking Rudy away? Where are you taking him? Please, don't take him away, okay? If I don't have Rudy, I..."

"You what?"

The more Hilde listened, the more irritated she became. What she hated most was exactly this sobbing, weepy look.

"What right do you have to say no? With that half-baked magic of yours?"

"..."

Sylphy pressed her lips tightly together, tears running down her cheeks.

Paul and the others exchanged glances, unable to help wondering if Hilde was going a little too far.

But Hilde did not think that at all.

Especially not as she looked at Sylphy's tears, at that pitiful, aggrieved expression of hers.

The irritation and anger in Hilde's heart burned hotter and hotter.

"What are your tears worth? Can your tears protect Rudeus?"

"You're too weak, too weak! Once you leave Rudeus, you can't do anything. You can't even take care of yourself! With that pathetic look of yours, what right do you have to stay by Rudeus's side? Just because Rudeus likes you?"

"In the future, there might be even more women around Rudeus. Every one of them smarter than you, prettier than you, more charming than you! Better able to help Rudeus than you! And you can't do anything. Without Rudeus, you're useless! When that time comes, will Rudeus still like you the way he does now?"

"I'm telling you, I've put up with you for a long time!"

Hilde grabbed Sylphy by the collar.

Under her frightened, uneasy gaze, Hilde forcibly dragged her up from the ground.

"So if you really like Rudeus, then go do what you're supposed to do! Don't stand here crying like some useless deadweight! Do you understand me?"

"Hilde, I..."

Sylphy lowered her head, trembling, not daring to meet Hilde's eyes.

Those watery blue eyes looked as if they were about to burst into flame, like a boiling sea, making Sylphy instinctively shrink back.

She was not only overwhelmed, but afraid.

Hilde let go, and Sylphy staggered before collapsing back onto the ground.

"Let's leave it at that."

Hilde looked down at her from above, her tone stern.

"Sylphy, I'm not joking. I won't allow a useless vase to stay by Rudeus's side. If that's the kind of person you are, then you'd better give up now."

"..."

Sylphy hung her head, unable to say a word.

The scene fell into an eerie silence.

Paul looked at his two wives, then stepped forward helplessly and reached out to pull Sylphy up.

"All right, Sylphy, here's what's actually going on..."

After a round of explanations, Sylphy finally understood the truth.

So Rudy was going to be a tutor...

And he was doing it to save up for her tuition.

Because it was far away, and because it was on a noble family's territory, she had no way to go with him.

So that was how it was.

Sylphy breathed a sigh of relief. As long as she could still see Rudy again in the future, that was enough.

Only...

Sylphy's gaze drifted, almost unconsciously, toward Hilde, who stood in the shade beneath a large tree not far away with one hand resting on her sword. Her eyes were half-closed, her expression calm, as if nothing had happened at all.

But the words she had said earlier kept echoing through Sylphy's mind.

She...

She really did seem useless.

That was right. No wonder Hilde had always seemed not to like her much.

So it was because she was too useless, because she couldn't help Rudy at all.

Thinking that, she walked toward Hilde of her own accord.

"H-Hilde..."

"What?"

Hilde glanced at her.

Sylphy mustered her courage. "I-I'll work hard to get stronger! Please believe me. In the future, I'll definitely become useful to Rudy. I'll be able to help Rudy a lot!"

"Is that so? As long as you're aware of that." Hilde neither agreed nor disagreed.

"Uh, that's all I wanted to say..."

"Sylphy."

"Yes?"

"Since you said something like that, then the next time we meet, let me see how much you've grown."

"The next time we meet... What do you mean?" Sylphy froze.

"Because I'll be leaving soon too."

Hilde turned her head to look not far away, where Ghislaine was saying goodbye to Paul and Zenith.

After what had just happened ended, Paul had stuffed Rudeus into the carriage and had that Sword King named Ghislaine escort him to the noble territory known as Boreas. Apparently, Rudeus was going there to become the tutor of the young lady of the Boreas family.

Since she was a young lady of a noble house, her personality was probably more than a little spoiled and unruly.

The process might be very rough.

But with Rudeus's abilities, he should be able to handle it. And since she was a girl, he might even gain something on the side.

During that time, Ghislaine would serve as Rudeus's swordsmanship teacher, ensuring that his sword training would not be interrupted.

Two birds with one stone.

Hilde had no objection to Paul's decision.

However, before they set off, Hilde challenged Ghislaine.

No, "challenged" was not the right word.

It should have been "asked for instruction."

"Please use your strongest ultimate technique, and allow me to experience it."

After Paul gave his tacit permission, Hilde said that and made her move against Ghislaine.

To state the result plainly.

—A complete defeat.

That was only natural.

The gap between an intermediate swordsman who had not even learned how to use battle aura and a Sword King who stood among the very peak of her entire school could only be described as a chasm. Hilde was not afraid of failure, and she had expected that outcome. She had witnessed the Sword God Style's so-called ultimate technique, the "Light Blade," performed by a Sword King no less, so it could be said that she had gained a great deal.

But what followed immediately after was doubt and unease.

"How exactly am I supposed to block that strike?"

After Hilde asked that, both Paul and Ghislaine shook their heads.

The answer was that it could not be blocked.

The so-called Light Blade was the ultimate technique of the Sword God Style, a move that earned one the title of [Sword Saint] as soon as one learned it. More specifically, it was the embodiment of the Sword God Style's principle of "one strike, certain kill": a single slash delivered with maximum power, maximum speed, and everything one had poured into it.

It was impossible to see clearly, and there was no way to block that technique.

Of course, while there was no way to block it, that did not mean it could not be dealt with.

The Sword God Style used an ultimate technique called [Light Counter], intercepting it before it reached its highest speed.

As for the North God Style, it used interference through footwork, the environment, rhythm, and the like to keep the opponent from finding an opportunity to use the Light Blade.

As for the Water God Style, it used subtle movements and words to make the opponent misread the situation and use the Light Blade at the angle one had anticipated, thereby dealing with it by completing one's defense before the opponent even acted.

But no matter which method it was, it was only a response, not a head-on block.

That was rotten to the core.

If this were a game, the designers really ought to be fired.

Not only was the class balance an absolute dumpster fire, even the class specializations were a joke. What kind of gameplay had one school's one skill become the lifetime wall for every other school? In that case, nobody should bother with magic, and nobody should touch the Water God Style or the North God Style either. Everyone might as well play Sword God Style together. Sword God Style was the superior class, and anyone who did not play Sword God Style was just roadside trash.

...Complaints were complaints.

Swordsmanship was not only for defeating enemies, but even more for protecting oneself and the people one wanted to protect.

Revenge was necessary, but it was also meaningless.

Hilde did not want to wait until some future day, after someone precious to her had been killed, before going to take revenge. She wanted the ability to shelter everyone she cared about from wind and rain.

Even if it was a technique that could not be blocked, she would block it.

If no one else could do it, then she would do it herself.

And so...

Hilde prepared to set out for the largest Water God Style dojo in the Asura Kingdom to further her training. It was said that even the current Water God, Leda Lia, personally presided over that dojo, and that dojo was not located in Fittoa Territory, but in...

—The Royal Capital, Arus.