Ch. 18

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With my stomach thoroughly filled, I made my way to class to prevent the Tower from splitting in two.

Just then, I heard someone calling out to me from behind.

"Benjamin!"

Turning around, I found Aria smiling brightly and waving at me.

"Why didn't you come to class yesterday?"

"...What's it to you?"

"No, just... I was curious!"

Did this girl think we'd gotten close since we last met?

Or was she just pretending to be friendly because I'm the only commoner in our class?

"Hmm... I guess you could say I was off earning some money."

At my vague answer, she tilted her head, her silver hair swaying gently, and I found myself thinking, out of nowhere, how pretty she looked.

Suddenly thinking someone's pretty out of nowhere like that was practically an assault on my mental fortitude.

"Ah! By the way, Benjamin... you know what?"

"How would I know what if you say it like that?"

"Today's Practical Application of Magic class! I heard it's going to be a sparring format!"

I already knew that.

Before the regression, that particular sparring session was exactly how I'd properly learned the meaning of the word humiliation.

"The other classes did their sparring within their own classes, but apparently our class is the only one sparring against the Knight Department!"

"Huh? The Knight Department?!"

"Yeah. And it's already time to spar when we haven't even properly learned any real magic yet... ah, but I guess the other kids probably learned magic from their families beforehand, so maybe they'll be fine? What am I supposed to do... ugh..."

So this was the "quite entertaining" thing the crazy old hag had been talking about?

What on earth was she even thinking.

Just as Aria said, even if the nobles had learned some magic from their families beforehand, at a first-year level, only a handful of people could possibly hope to beat someone from the Knight Department.

Even if both sides lacked real combat experience, in a fast-paced situation like sparring, the body tends to react faster than the mind can think.

"By the way, Benjamin, do you happen to know any spell that could surprise the Knight Department kids? I only really know a handful of spells I've learned since enrolling..."

At some point, without me even bothering to respond, Aria had just kept rambling on by herself.

I asked her, since she was grumbling while counting off the spells she knew.

"It hasn't even been a week since real classes started... and you're already saying you've learned spells?"

"Yeah! Blazing Fireball and Spread Flame! And... oh, I also learned that Fire Worm spell you copied and collapsed from before!"

Ah, right.

She was a genius who'd ranked in the top 100 despite being a commoner.

This was no time to be worrying about Aria.

"I tried the lowest-grade barrier spell too, but it just wouldn't work at all... I guess I only really have a bit of talent for Fire-attribute magic."

I didn't know much about magic, but I did know that, barring some special situation like mine, properly mastering even a single spell tended to take quite a while.

Especially if you weren't being taught under a proper class with actual instruction and were instead teaching yourself.

If you calling yourself "a bit talented" is what this looks like, then everyone else must be hopeless.

"You're not actually strong at Fire-attribute magic."

"...Huh?"

Having learned through Aden's life just how capable a mage she'd turn out to be and what kind of magic she'd primarily end up using, I'd let that comment slip out without thinking.

The words were already out, but I immediately regretted it.

The moment I said it, Aria's eyes went round as she stared at me, and I found myself at a total loss for how to talk my way out of it.

"How would you even know that, Benjamin? Wait, then what attribute am I actually strong in?"

The type of magic she'd eventually show talent for was Light attribute magic.

Which was probably why she mistakenly assumed she was good at Fire-attribute magic, given it at least bore some superficial resemblance.

"Why aren't you saying anything? Come on, answer me! I'm dying to know!"

I guess there was no avoiding it.

I decided to just go with the genius routine again, same as last time.

"I can just tell, on some instinctive level, what element people are roughly strong in, just by looking at them."

"Whoa, how?"

"Guess you could call it natural talent."

I obviously couldn't tell her I already knew her future, so bluffing it away like this really was the best option here.

Thankfully, Aria didn't seem particularly suspicious.

"Oh... this reminds me of when you changed that Mana Stone however you wanted before, but you really are amazing somehow, Benjamin!"

I still hadn't gotten used to this kind of reaction at all.

Maybe it was because I'd grown so accustomed to a life where even telling the truth usually got me nothing but sarcasm.

"So what attribute am I actually strong in? Tell me, come on!"

"That's only meaningful if you figure it out for yourself."

As I pushed her face away with my palm, since she kept leaning in closer, Aria flailed about, clearly frustrated.

But there was nothing she could do about it.

"Ugh! You jerk! You awful jerk!"

She seemed to be trying to hurl some pretty harsh insults my way, but to someone who'd lived through as rough a life as I had, they barely registered.

"I'm heading off now."

As I walked back toward the lecture hall, Aria followed right behind me, chattering away about something or other.

There had been mentions in the book that she talked a lot, but I never imagined it would be to this degree.

She was seriously, unbearably noisy.

Noisy enough to make even that lovely face of hers start looking ugly.

"Wait, Benjamin! We actually need to go somewhere other than the lecture hall today!"

Ah, that's right.

Today was the sparring class.

I looked around, wondering if I should just head toward some kind of sparring hall or something.

"Does the Magic Department have a separate sparring hall like the Knight Department too?"

Aria only shook her head at my question, without offering any explanation.

"Then where are we even supposed to go? Since we're sparring with the Knight Department... does that mean we're headed to their sparring hall?"

"We're doing it at the open field up on that mountain over there."

She pointed toward the tall mountain rising near the academy as she spoke.

"You don't mean... that mountain I'm looking at right now?"

"Yep!"

"Wait, how are we even supposed to get all the way over there, given the location..."

A sudden, ominous premonition flashed through my mind.

My lips began trembling, and cold sweat broke out all over me.

Bracing myself, I asked Aria the question, my face pale.

"...Are we taking a teleportation gate there?"

"Hm? Yep!"

Just one day after my insides had been completely turned inside out from long distance teleportation, and here I was, doomed all over again.

"Haah..."

While she was practically giddy with excitement over using a teleportation gate for the first time, my own sense of dread only kept growing heavier and heavier.

"BLEUGH!"

"Benjamin... are you having a really hard time?"

My fear had become reality.

With my entire insides being violently shaken back and forth, I ended up clutching at what little hair I had left.

"Ugh... BLEUGH!"

Regardless of distance, using teleportation only ever settled once I'd thrown up absolutely everything in my stomach, so I was in the middle of an unstoppable purge right now.

Whatever was coming out of my mouth right now had, without question, been the first gold-tier meal I'd ever eaten in my entire life.

"Hey, check that out... he's already dying just from one round of teleportation."

"Yeah, seriously. At this point shouldn't he just go recover at the Order or something?"

"Maybe that's exactly how he's trying to dodge the sparring session! Ha ha!"

Just as I was contemplating the meaninglessness of life while watching everything spill out of me, I lifted my head at the sound of voices and found a few Knight Department kids gathered together, throwing out mocking comments.

"B-Benjamin! Don't worry about what they're saying! You're just not feeling well, that's all, honestly they're being way too harsh... right?"

Watching her quietly whisper into my ear, apparently worried I'd get hurt by their comments, an involuntary, hollow laugh escaped me.

Honestly, I found it harder to get used to her speaking kindly to me than those mocking comments in the first place.

It gave me a feeling so cringeworthy I felt like my fingers might curl right through my palm.

Every single time we talked, I was learning, in real time, just how fundamentally mismatched this girl and I really were.

"Enough."

Just then, a massive shadow appeared behind the chattering Knight Department students.

"...Luna?"

The moment she appeared, the ones who'd been talking shut their mouths and scurried off somewhere.

"Eek!"

It wasn't just them that got startled; Aria seemed startled too, letting out a sharp gasp and dropping down onto the ground.

Of all places, she'd sat right down in the spot covered with my own vomit, so Aria's hand ended up smeared with it.

Just as I was about to grab her hand in a panic, Luna spoke to me in a voice like something echoing from a cave.

"Benjamin."

"Ah, Luna... did you come out for training this morning? You didn't show up yesterday, you're not sick or anything, are you?"

Seeing Luna, I suddenly remembered her absence from the training room and rattled off the question rapid fire.

At my question, she silently shook her head and looked back and forth between me and Aria.

Why is she looking at us like that?

I have no idea what's going through her head, but given her general appearance, it's starting to feel a little scary.

"So it's true... there really is one... a girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? Her? With me?"

Dumbfounded, just as I was about to try explaining myself, she slowly reached up, removed the yellow ribbon from her hair, and let it drop, thumping onto the ground.

"You are. A bad man."

"Luna, there's a misunderstanding..."

"Alright, it looks like the Magic Department has arrived too, so everyone gather round! We should at least greet each other before we start fighting, right?"

Just as I was about to clear up the misunderstanding, a voice loud enough to echo across the mountain rang out.

"You lot from the Magic Department probably don't know who I am, do you? I'm Anna Jordaye, in charge of the first-year Knight Department's combat practicum!"

A red-haired woman clad in leather armor, sword resting on one shoulder, introduced herself.

Even though she didn't know it, I remembered the Jordaye family quite clearly, thanks to certain events from before the regression.

Later on, when the fighting against demonkind dragged on so long it became exhausting, they'd been one of the families that always fought on the very front lines, tearing through demons; a monstrous family where even the lowest-ranking foot soldiers under their banner were never weak.

"It's nice seeing all of you young ones so full of vigor."

Just then, smiling faintly, Professor Marey stepped up beside Anna.

"I hope you'll all put that vigor to good use in today's sparring match as well. I'm Marey Beatrice, in charge of Practical Application of Magic for the Magic Department."

The moment she announced her name, a small stir ran through the Knight Department.

Her family name alone was impressive enough, but she herself was also one of the heroes of the war between the Northern and Southern continents.

"Alright, everyone quiet down! There's never been an inter-department competition among first-year classes until now, but we've been given the chance to be the ones to start that tradition! I hope this sparring session can serve as a chance to reduce friction between our departments and build some camaraderie!"

Anna paused for a moment, then smiled warmly and nodded a few times.

"As I mentioned, since this is the first time first-years from different departments will be sparring, today we'll be testing it out: each professor will pick five students from their respective classes at random to spar! Even for those who don't get to participate directly, this is a chance to observe and study, the Knight Department learning how to deal with mages, and the Magic Department learning how to deal with knights!"

Something about the phrase "randomly picked by the professor" gave me an ominous feeling, so I glanced quickly at Marey, and, as if sensing my gaze, she looked right back at me.

'...Is she smiling?'

Marey watched me with an unreadable smile.

Feeling an inexplicable chill run through me, I pressed my lips together firmly.

"Alright, everyone check the match bracket here. The first competitor should make their way to the center of the field in ten minutes!"

With those final words, she pulled out two sheets of the bracket, tossed them in opposite directions, and then threw a dagger.

The bracket sheets ended up pinned to a tree, skewered clean through by the dagger.

I'd thought it was a needlessly showy gesture, but judging by how impressed the students looked, even some of them applauding, apparently it landed well with them.

"Benjamin... please don't tell me I'm one of the five."

Aria approached me hesitantly, wiping her hand on my shoulder as she spoke.

You... that hand... that's from earlier when I threw up...

I shot her a glare, and Aria, avoiding eye contact, quickly stepped away from me.

"Haah..."

Sighing, I took off my vomit-stained jacket and checked the bracket.

Praying, of course, that my name wouldn't be on it.

But once I looked at the bracket, I couldn't help but let out a hollow laugh.

[Match Bracket]

The families listed on that bracket were impressive enough on their own, but some of these people were quite something even without their family names attached.