At Eleonore’s proposal, I fell silent for a moment without saying a word.
The academy’s special admissions track.
It was undeniably an incredibly tempting option.
The academy was the center of this world. That meant that in order to become one of the world’s key figures, I had to go to the academy no matter what.
So I should have accepted her proposal without question, and yet, for some reason, the words would not readily leave my mouth.
I slowly looked around.
The faces of the comrades who had fought alongside me for so long came into view. It was regrettable to part with them, but I was not sad.
But there was one exception.
My gaze came to rest on Senior Lena.
If I went to the academy, what would happen to her?
If she stayed here, would she be safe?
I tried to recall what had happened in the game, but no answer came to me. To begin with, I had never been curious about that part.
Then should I take her with me to the academy?
But the academy was one of the most dangerous places in this world. If I took her there for her safety, wouldn’t I be putting her in danger instead?
Staying behind or coming with me. What would Senior want?
No, was it even right for me, rather than Senior herself, to choose that in the first place?
After agonizing over it, I let out a sigh and asked Eleonore a question.
“Could you give me a little time?”
“That is possible. However, the deadline is only one day. Any longer than that would be impossible from the standpoint of both the Order and the academy.”
Instead of answering, I nodded, then looked around again in search of Senior Lena.
But for some reason, Senior Lena was nowhere to be seen.
‘Normally, she would have run over by now to check my condition.’
Surely nothing happened to her, right?
Ignoring the heavy feeling in my heart, I slowly set off in search of Senior Lena.
**
A rocky hill at the edge of the barracks.
There, Lena stared blankly up at the sky.
‘I ran away.’
What she had done just a little while ago rose in her mind.
When the duel between the two ended and Ashen was offered special admission to the academy, complicated emotions welled up in Lena’s heart.
It was not that she was unhappy. Thinking that Ashen was being rewarded for all his efforts, she wanted to pat him on the shoulder and congratulate him right away.
And yet, somewhere in her heart, a single question surfaced.
‘Then what happens to Ashen and me now?’
The moment that thought occurred to her, she could no longer approach Ashen. No, she could not even look straight at him.
So she ran away.
So that she would not have to see Ashen, so that she could scatter these feelings.
And when she came back to her senses, she had somehow arrived here.
“Hah. Why did it have to be here, of all places?”
A deep sigh escaped between Lena’s lips.
She had run away because she wanted to forget Ashen, and yet, of all places, this was where she had first met him.
Three years had already passed, but Lena remembered that day as if it were yesterday.
Three years ago, though she did not show it on the outside, in her heart she had already been no different from a dead person.
She had enlisted in the army to rise in the world and improve the treatment of the Kurdan people, but there was no sign at all that her dream would ever come true.
No matter how much skill she showed, to others she was nothing more than a Kurdan wench.
There was no such thing as an opportunity that came her way.
Just when she was wondering if she should give up like this, she met Ashen.
A fool who said he would become a knight with a body that could not use even a single drop of mana. At first, that was what she thought inwardly.
But Ashen did not give up. He grew stronger, and now he had even brought down a troll.
Unlike me, who gave up….
Once, when she had asked Ashen if he truly thought he could become a knight, this answer came back.
‘I don’t know. But I do know that if I give up, it’ll be impossible forever.’
For some reason, that one sentence comforted her.
It began from then.
When she woke up in the morning, she wanted to see his face, and before she fell asleep, she wanted to talk with him.
When she watched him train, her heart pounded for reasons she could not explain.
She wanted to help Ashen achieve his dream.
And she hoped that her own place would be there beside him.
She had come to live each day thinking that way, and yet now that Ashen was in a position to achieve his dream, she had run away.
“How pathetic of me.”
Lena gave a bitter smile and asked the presence that had approached behind her at some point.
“You think so too, don’t you, Ashen?”
“No, not at all.”
With a thud, Ashen sat down beside her.
Silence flowed between them.
Lena could not look straight at Ashen.
She did not know what she should say to him either.
Just as her lips parted and closed, trying to force out some words—
Ashen was the first to reach out his hand toward her.
“It’s only natural that you don’t want to part with me, Senior. I don’t want to part with you either.”
“But that’s the best way for you to achieve your dream, isn’t it?”
Lena smiled bitterly at Ashen.
“You said you wanted to become a knight, right? They say if you graduate from the academy, any knight order will accept you. Isn’t that a good opportunity for you?”
“Yes, it’s a good opportunity. But Senior. Just because something is a good opportunity doesn’t mean you have to take it no matter what.”
Placing his hand over Lena’s, Ashen smiled gently.
“We’re not just comrades, are we?”
“…Then what are we?”
“Well.”
A playful look spread across Ashen’s hesitant face.
“Would you say we’re people who share each other’s secrets? Now that I say it like that, it sounds like we’re villains.”
“…Idiot.”
You don’t even know why I’m worrying like this.
Thinking that inwardly, Lena let out a small sigh.
It was clearly a hopelessly foolish conversation, and yet, for some reason, her heart eased.
For a while, silence flowed between the two of them, and Ashen and Lena looked at one another.
Only the sound of their breathing mingled with the wind and circled between them.
In that awkward atmosphere where neither knew what to say, Ashen was the first to speak.
“Senior. Can I ask you just one thing?”
“Ask whatever you want.”
“What is your dream, Senior?”
“…Why are you asking that?”
“I’m the only one who talked about my dream. I want to hear about yours at least once too.”
“My dream….”
Lena wrapped both arms around her knees and fell into thought.
She hesitated, wondering what meaning there was in speaking of a dream she had already given up on, yet at the same time, she felt an impulse to tell this man, at least once.
In the end, Lena sided with that impulse and slowly opened her mouth.
“My dream is for the Kurdan people to regain their freedom.”
“Freedom?”
“Yes, freedom. Ever since we were subjugated by the Empire, in the end, there were hardly any jobs we could do aside from being mercenaries or prostitutes. I wanted to escape from that reality. And I wanted to rise in the world and show everyone that we could do it too.”
“That’s a wonderful dream.”
“It’s a dream I’ve given up on now, though.”
Bitterness seeped into Lena’s voice as she said that.
Ashen looked at her for a moment without saying anything.
“What if, Senior.”
“Hm?”
“If there was a way to achieve your dream, even if it was dangerous, would you start again?”
“I don’t know….”
Could she really start again now? The moment that thought came to her, she recalled what Ashen had said.
If you give up, it will be impossible forever.
If that was true, then perhaps she could be a little more unreasonable toward this reality too.
“If I could, then I’d want to.”
Hearing those words, Ashen wore the expression of someone who had made up his mind.
“Then Senior. Would you go to the academy with me?”
“Hm? What are you talking about?”
“Exactly what I said. A special admissions track like mine may be impossible, but you should be able to enroll in the academy through the general admissions track.”
“But I’m Kurdan….”
“So what if you’re Kurdan? What matters is your will, Senior. If there’s anyone who tries to stop you from taking the exam, I’ll do something about it somehow. If nothing else works, I can ask Miss Eleonore for help. So I’ll ask you one more time, Senior. Would you go to the academy with me?”
Lena pressed her lips tightly together and could not say a word.
The academy was a playground for nobles. Would someone like her really belong in a place like that?
“I’m not special like you.”
“No, Senior, you are special. You can shoot sunset-colored arrows, can’t you? How many people who started as soldiers do you think have figured out how to use mana on their own?”
“Even so, when it actually mattered, I couldn’t do anything.”
“That’s all right. The academy is a place to learn, isn’t it? I want to learn together with you, Senior.”
Ashen gripped Lena’s hand tightly and met her eyes.
“You have a dream too, don’t you? Won’t you come with me so we can make our dreams come true together?”
“To make our dreams come true….”
Did she have the right to do that?
That thought crossed her mind, but even stronger than that was an emotion welling up from deep within her heart.
Leaving the moisture that flowed from her eyes without realizing it, Lena opened her mouth.
“Are you really sure?”
“Yes. Let’s go together.”
“It might be troublesome to be with me.”
“On the other hand, it won’t be boring either.”
“You really are….”
A foolish remark laced with playfulness.
But for some reason, she wanted to believe in that voice of his.
“Fine, I’ll go. Let’s go make our dreams come true together. And….”
Hiding those last words in her heart, Lena smiled at Ashen.
**
The next morning.
Eleonore stared intently at me as she looked at Senior Lena, who had packed her belongings and come with me.
“Is this why you needed time?”
Eleonore looked Senior Lena up and down.
“Lena, daughter of the Kurdan. Do you intend to challenge the general admissions track?”
“Yes, that’s my plan.”
“Can you handle mana?”
“…A little.”
“That much is enough. As long as you have the will to learn, the academy bars no one. Ah, however.”
Eleonore smiled faintly as she looked at the two of us.
“We will have to revise our route. It seems we will need to resupply once more along the way.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It is all right. Our destination has not changed. And personally, I hope you succeed. I would like more people outside the War Order to properly understand the Kurdan.”
After saying that, Eleonore mounted her beloved horse and looked down at Senior Lena and me.
“Now then, let us go. To the academy.”
The three of us gathered our belongings and left the garrison that day.
Toward our dreams.