Kays Translations

Chapter 48: On a Midsummer Night, With the Elite

July arrived almost before they knew it.

There had been too much to do, and the days passed with startling speed.

On the evening of the second Imperial Military Academy entrance examination, Ren returned to the Clausel residence with Licia.

As the hour grew later, tension increasingly showed on his face. Licia watched him and released a deep sigh, but said nothing.

She had countless things she wanted to tell him, yet none would leave her lips.

“At times like this, I wonder whether I could have gone with you if I were not a noble.”

Licia sat on a sofa in the hall and spoke under her breath.

“Did you say something?” Ren asked.

“I was merely recognizing how inadequate I still am.”

She raised the cup on the table. Ren had brewed the tea only moments earlier, and drinking it calmed her slightly.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Ren said.

“What is it?”

“I did not see your friend during the examination, my lady.”

Licia stared at him, surprised by the form of address he had not used in a long time. She blinked several times, then smiled when Ren tilted his head in confusion.

“My friend probably applied earlier than we did and took the examination in another room.”

“That makes sense. For some reason, I simply felt like addressing you as I used to.”

“Fufu. It felt strangely fresh. And realizing that you are nervous too made me a little happy. Though perhaps something like this has happened before.”

“N-nervous?”

“You are, are you not?”

Licia still avoided saying anything explicit. She did not want her feelings to become another burden on Ren, so she kept them within her heart.

Several dozen minutes later, two guests arrived at the Clausel residence.

A visibly nervous servant guided Fiona Ignat into the hall, with Edgar waiting behind her.

“Fiona-sama, it has been some time,” Licia said.

“Yes. I am very happy to see you again.”

Fiona had come so that she could be protected at the mansion. The Grand Clock Tower, where the battle would occur, stood nearby, but there was one reason bringing her here was still preferable.

A certain person had agreed to provide assistance because Ren would participate.

Ulysses and Lessard must have discussed the arrangement. Ren understood that much.

Licia almost found herself staring at Fiona’s beauty again. She shook her head briskly and lightly slapped her own cheeks, startling Ren. Fiona responded with a small, knowing smile.

“Right…”

Ren looked at the wall clock and then outside the window.

After exchanging greetings with Fiona, he said, “Please excuse me. I need to leave the room for a moment.”

His voice was slightly more rigid than usual. He exchanged a glance with Edgar, and the two left the hall together.

Licia and Fiona sat opposite one another.

“Your summer uniform looks wonderful on you,” Licia said.

Fiona’s academy uniform suited her so well that she seemed almost dazzling.

“N-no! I am certain it would suit Licia-sama even better!” Fiona answered with complete sincerity rather than politeness.

She was probably correct. Once Licia entered the academy and wore its uniform, she would attract attention just as easily as Fiona.

But neither cared about that now.

After the brief exchange, their expressions turned pained.

“I never imagined being unable to do anything could hurt this much,” Fiona said.

“I feel the same. I admired Ren and worked to become like him, yet I am still not strong enough to stand beside him. It is unbearably frustrating.”

Both had already realized what would happen that night.

Fiona had not been told what Ulysses planned at the Grand Clock Tower. He had simply said that Lessard had invited her and told her to enjoy herself at the Clausel residence.

The explanation had been so abrupt and careless that she initially understood nothing.

Before arriving, however, she reached the same conclusion as Licia: Ren would accompany Ulysses and the others and fight in their operation that night. Neither intelligent girl could fail to notice the truth.

Ulysses’s unusually clumsy explanation probably meant that he intended to reveal everything after the operation ended.

They could not object.

Both Licia and Fiona were far stronger than most people their age, but the operation already had sufficient forces, and neither girl had the ability needed to change its outcome. Tonight, they were among those who would be protected.

A few minutes later, Ren and Edgar returned.

Ren’s appearance had changed completely. He had plainly finished preparing for battle.

“Sorry! Edgar-san told me about a Unique Monster, so I am going out to hunt it!”

The lie was so absurd that both girls nearly laughed aloud.

Ren must have thought hard about it, but his excuse was painfully transparent. It even resembled the careless story Ulysses had used to send Fiona away. Perhaps Ren and Ulysses truly shared certain traits.

“Honestly…” Licia murmured.

“R-Ren-kun…”

Ren could be remarkably perceptive when it mattered most, yet at moments like this his judgment failed him completely. The poor lie was unmistakably like him, and its intention was kind.

Neither girl exposed it. They chose to accept the gentle, almost endearing deception.

“Then I will be going.”

Ren turned toward the door.

“Wait!” Licia and Fiona called at the same time.

“Um…” Licia began, unable to settle on the words.

“I…” Fiona tried next.

Ren stopped and looked between them. After another moment, both girls decided what they needed to say.

“Take care. If you return injured, I will not forgive you,” Licia said.

“Please be careful. If you do anything reckless, I will be angry too,” Fiona added.

They were not sending him away lightly. Their hearts were filled with hesitation and fear.

Even so, they believed in him.

Ren had saved both their lives. No one trusted his strength and his promises more than they did.

“Yes. I will be back soon.”

Ren left alone, seen off by their gentle smiles.

Licia and Fiona hurried to the window and watched until he vanished from sight. Only then did they both release the breath they had been holding and silently pray for his safe return.

Edgar excused himself for several minutes.

When he returned, the girls were still thinking about Ren. The objects in his hands drew their attention.

“Edgar, what are you carrying?” Fiona asked.

“Reference books, as you can see.”

He carried several thick volumes in one hand without the slightest disturbance to his posture. He placed them on the table: books for Licia’s entrance examinations and others for Fiona’s midterm examination.

“The Ren-dono I know never forgets to improve himself. If he cannot swing a sword, he trains in ways that require no sword. If even that is impossible, he continues swinging it in his imagination.”

Edgar wanted them to understand that frustration alone accomplished nothing.

Both girls immediately grasped his meaning and looked at one another with chastened expressions.

Still, one concern remained.

“Edgar…” Fiona said.

“Yes?”

“Licia-sama and I understand. Your words about making proper use of our time moved us deeply.”

“But is it truly all right for us to study while Ren is fighting so hard?” Licia asked.

While Ren faced the Demon King cult, they would sit safely at a table and study. Though the reality was more complicated, it felt as though they had left everything to him—which, in one sense, was exactly what they had done.

“Please do not be concerned,” Edgar replied. “Sufficient personnel have been assigned both to the battlefield and to every task that can be handled elsewhere. Your parents asked me to remind you that important examinations await both of you. Doing your best in those examinations is your present duty, and it is something you can accomplish here without making Ren-dono worry.”

In other words, they should do what only they could do.

“Fiona-sama…”

“Licia-sama…”

For what felt like the hundredth time that evening, they exchanged a look. Then, with matching wry smiles, they moved to the table and sat in the wooden chairs beside the reference books.

They began studying, though neither could stop glancing toward the window.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

Ulysses was not in Elendil.

He had remained in the Imperial Capital so that he could make a large-scale move immediately if the situation demanded it.

Ren headed instead to an abandoned house on the edge of town, following Edgar’s instructions.

The interior was dark, yet it lacked the dust and neglect one would expect from an abandoned building.

A concealed path to a basement lay at the back. When Ren placed his hand against the old wooden floor, part of it dissolved like mist, revealing a staircase.

Voices.

He heard men speaking below.

Ren descended and opened the wooden door at the bottom. Several familiar faces waited inside.

“Ren-dono?”

The speaker was the large man who had crossed swords with him many times at the Lion’s Holy Office.

The others were also Mighty Sword Style practitioners Ren knew from his training. Instead of their usual knightly attire, they wore clothing that made them resemble adventurers.

“Why is Ren-dono here?”

“What could this mean?”

Their questions ended almost immediately. These were knights skilled in both arms and judgment. They understood the implication of Ren’s presence and turned toward Radius, who sat at the far end of the room.

“I summoned him,” Radius said. “Tonight, Ren will be the comrade-in-arms to whom I entrust my back.”

The knights were surprised, but conviction followed quickly.

They had personally experienced Ren’s strength. Even if his technical skill remained below Edgar’s, the power sleeping in him was unmistakably that of a lion.

“With Ren-dono here, we can rely on him.”

“Indeed. Even if our original force was sufficient, one can never have too many strong allies.”

“It is as though a thousand knights have joined us. What excellent news.”

They welcomed Ren as he passed.

When he reached Radius, Ren said simply, “Radius.”

The Lion’s Holy Office knights widened their eyes at hearing him address the Third Prince by name. Radius answered with an unconcerned “What is it?” and they could only watch.

“Are these everyone participating tonight?”

“Yes. Surely you are not dissatisfied.”

“Of course not. I was only surprised. But after thinking about it, this is the natural choice. When I heard the entire force consisted of Mighty Sword Style practitioners, I almost began to pity the enemy.”

Ren’s monstrous growth did not make the Lion’s Holy Office knights ordinary. Every one of them was an exceptional talent who had trained from childhood. Their average ability surpassed even that of the Royal Guard, and their strength as an organized unit was greater still.

This is spectacular.

In the game, the Mighty Sword Style users had almost always been enemies. Now so many of those formidable warriors had gathered as allies, and the sight sent a tremor of excitement through Ren.

He spent the next several dozen minutes confirming the plan and speaking with the knights.

Outside, darkness fully settled over the town.

After another short wait, Radius checked his watch and stood. Ren took his place beside him, drawing every knight’s attention.

“Gentlemen, it is time.”

The sound of the entire group straightening echoed through the basement.

Their expressions became uniformly powerful, and Ren held his breath at the discipline and resolve of men he had grown accustomed to seeing in training.

So this was the face the Lion’s Holy Office showed when it marched to battle.

The knights opened a path for Radius and Ren, then drew their swords and held them before their chests.

Radius walked between them with Ren at his side.

“I ask you: what will you accomplish tonight?”

“The judgment of the Lion King.”

“I ask you again: what will you accomplish tonight?”

“The judgment of the Mighty Sword.”

“Then trample them beneath you. With the swords granted to you, deliver the wrath of the Lion King, founder of our nation.”

These knights were a special force unique to Leomel, one even the Seven Great Houses of the Hero Faction could not possess.

At the royal family’s command, the Lion’s Holy Office sometimes dispatched them on covert special missions. On such nights, they displayed the power Radius had invoked.

After the perfectly unified exchange, they left the basement and gathered outside the abandoned house.

Just before the operation began in earnest, Radius called out.

“Ren.”

Everyone stopped.

“I ask you the same question. What will you accomplish tonight?”

Ren took several seconds to answer.

He wondered whether it was proper to speak the words before the knights of the Lion’s Holy Office and a descendant of the Lion King.

Then he followed the passion rising within him.

His determination for this night burned just as fiercely as theirs.

Looking up at the sky, he answered Radius and the gathered knights.

“I will become a lion that crushes every enemy before me.”

Some might have condemned the declaration as insolent.

No one present did. Rather, every knight felt the force of Ren’s presence and the overwhelming conviction in his voice.

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