It was common knowledge, but the expected stars of the final day of the semester evaluation were originally not the first-years.
The second and third-years.
Warriors who had honed their combat arts in earnest and pushed their capabilities to the limit.
It was only natural that many flocked to see them.
Because of this, the attendance during the first-years' evaluation time was always considerably sparse each year.
It was the sentiment of why bother watching those who would only put on pathetic fights.
But now,
A considerable crowd had gathered, and rather than diminishing, their numbers continued to increase.
Among the attendees were many ordinary citizens, but the proportion of nobles was also substantial.
For what purpose did so many gather?
"...He's coming out."
"That kid? Wow, more handsome than the rumors?"
"Young Master Roen!!"
"Glory to the brave lion-!"
[[Long live Lionel! Glory to the kingdom's brave lion-!]]
[Waaaaah!!]
Yes, so many crowds had gathered solely to see the face of one man.
The name they cried out loud.
The Guardian of the North.
The Glorious Black Lion.
The kingdom's eternal comrade and ally.
With one voice, the people shouted for the most anticipated lion of this era.
Hoping that he would wage a holy duel worthy of that great bloodline.
Expectations, cheers, longing.
Such intangible things poured out as momentum, and if someone faced this situation, they would feel dizzy.
But the black-haired man standing in the center of the colosseum.
Roen was looking only at the enemy he had to face.
With eyes as cold and steadfast as ice.
"Feels like I've become a clown."
Roen muttered to himself, revealing a faint sneer.
Honestly, he didn't feel too pleased.
Displaying his abilities before so many people wasn't a very wise thing to do.
However.
- If you're going to do it, give it your all. Don't treat it like a joke.
...The day before yesterday, his master had appeared with a somewhat haggard and exhausted face, gathered all the cadets, and spoke as if encouraging them.
Do it properly since you're going to do it anyway, and also, don't get hurt and take care of your bodies.
It was a somewhat strange statement.
Telling them to do their best, but also saying they mustn't get hurt.
Did he care that much about them?
But Roen couldn't shake the feeling that the remark about not getting hurt was directed at the other cadets, while the earlier statement about 'giving it your all' was directed at him.
As if seeing through his master's true intentions.
'Originally, I had no intention of participating.'
He was full of thoughts of forfeiting.
He also wondered what was the point of playing along with such a trifling game.
But Roen was standing here now.
Yes, how could a debtor refuse a command?
'I'm not sure if this will fully repay the debt from back then, but I shall show you.'
My very best.
[GRRR-!]
Roen slowly lowered his well-honed long sword.
Instead of taking a stance, his posture seemed almost slack, as if his body were loosely drooping.
Someone might think he was joking, but those with keen eyes widened their eyes.
Because despite such languidness, there were no openings.
"Know that this is a fate far beyond the likes of you, hateful monster."
[GRR?]
The rock troll possessed no rationality, nor did it understand the meaning of what Roen was saying.
It only possessed the 'instinct' that it must strike and break its opponent.
Thus, the rock troll charged at Roen, who hadn't even taken an evasive stance.
It was just a blind charge, exactly like when it had fought Barry earlier.
Yet.
"Why isn't he moving?"
"Eeeeh!?"
The crowd panicked.
At his action of not taking any defensive or aggressive stance even though the monster was right in front of him.
Just before they could shout something.
"Sword Qi (劍氣), that's what I named it."
Shwaaaak!
In an instant, the blade flashed.
This wasn't a metaphor; everyone watching saw it.
The light that flickered from his blade.
And the next moment.
Crack!
Craaack...!
[GR━…R….]
Thud...!
The rock troll couldn't even let out a proper death wail as its functions ceased entirely.
It was a futile and dreamlike sight.
"What...?!"
Thus, from the people's perspective, they could only wonder what had just happened, and only after five seconds of silence did they discover it.
The figure of the rock troll with its head, heart, and stomach precisely pierced.
Three wounds, without even knowing when they were inflicted.
Seeing this, another silence almost fell, but something even more surprising was.
"W-what was that?"
"...Good heavens."
"……."
"W-what was that just now? Was that Aura?!"
"N-no, even if he's a genius, Aura at that age!?"
"N-no, it's not Aura. It's not Aura, but what on earth is that...?"
The public's reaction was largely divided into three.
One group was those who simply admired him, not even knowing how he won.
Those with discerning eyes in swordsmanship seemed to fall into utter confusion.
Saying they couldn't understand at all what that power similar to Aura they had just witnessed was.
And the final category was.
"He combined materialized momentum into the sword's resonance."
"Not only did he mix two distinct arts, but it seems rapid sword styles, variable sword styles, and illusion sword styles are mixed in as well. Furthermore, he used Jing to compensate for the lacking parts. ...The fact that he can wield such techniques so freely leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I can't do that."
"The sword guy is strong. Really strong!"
The truly minuscule number of talented swordsmen who recognized what he had accomplished.
Those who could call themselves experts gradually realized what the Sword Qi Roen had unleashed was.
The 'Sword Resonance' phenomenon that maximized the destructive power of sword strikes using the resonance between sword and swordsman, and the 'Materialization of Momentum' that could only be performed by a master of combat arts.
After simultaneously manifesting these two arts, he loaded three sword styles—rapid sword style, variable sword style, and illusion sword style—onto his sword all at once and fired them.
...Explained like this, it might seem easy, but it was an absurd technique.
Both Sword Resonance and Materialization of Momentum were arts requiring a high degree of concentration.
On top of that, using Jing as a supplementary means to execute three sword styles simultaneously...!
This was like playing the harmonica while writing different content with both hands at the same time.
What does that mean?
It simply means he achieved the impossible.
And this was also a realm that couldn't be handled with effort or passion.
It was a domain of pure talent, and an extremely novel perspective different from Sword Resonance.
Sword Qi Injuring People (劍氣傷人).
A realm where the momentum exuded by the sword alone could sufficiently slash a person.
If named thus, it would be fitting.
"That genius who opened a new era of combat arts..."
"And he's younger than us?"
"Damn it! Hell!"
The second and third-year cadets despaired seeing his skill.
They had heard the rumors, but honestly, they considered them to be fabrications from the North.
Thus, they thought they could sufficiently humiliate him in a serious duel, but wasn't that not the case?
They couldn't even manifest Sword Resonance yet.
They hadn't even qualified to do so.
This was a gap comparable to that between a three-year-old child and an adult.
Yet the opponent had already surpassed Sword Resonance and Materialization of Momentum, and comprehended the art of making them coexist.
A gap they could never catch up to even if they devoted their entire lives.
It was the sensation of having a life devoted to the sword and combat arts being denied, and as their motivation was utterly shattered, despair overwhelmed them.
"...Ugh."
Sometimes, those who witnessed talent too great would have their spirits broken.
...However.
"I-It is amazing, I suppose."
"But it's a bit ambiguous, isn't it?"
"Right...?"
Unlike their seniors who despaired and had their spirits broken, this year's freshmen.
In other words, the first-years who had rolled and rolled under Yi Han's guidance only threw subtle glances.
"It's just combat arts doing what combat arts do, right?"
This wasn't an evaluation born from ignorance of swordsmanship or a low level of attainment.
How should one put it,
The sword qi that seemed to emit light was definitely a great technique, but somehow it looked 'normal,' should one say?
That was only natural.
"The Hundred-Step Divine Fist is more wondrous than that."
Striking objects dozens of steps away, for instance.
"I'd like to rate Vajra higher; wouldn't the instructor be perfectly fine even if he took that sword qi head-on?"
"No, Senior. From what I saw, wouldn't he dodge it with the Divine Archery Technique?"
The sword and arrows not piercing the skin, or moving at speeds faster than arrows.
"No, a Lion's Roar would end it, wouldn't it? The Grand Master could probably erase even sword qi with a single shout."
"...I want to deny it, but why does that seem possible for that man?"
They had been exposed to far too many techniques beyond human limits.
The first-year cadads.
Even the noble young ladies evaluated Roen's technique merely as 'flashy arts' and treated it nonchalantly.
"The instructor is more amazing."
To be amazed by that, the techniques their instructor had shown them were more appalling, creative, and bizarre beyond compare.
It hadn't even been three months since they received his teachings, but the entire first-year class of the Swordsmanship Department had their standards raised excessively.
"...How cold-hearted, you lot. Tsk."
The reason his lord Roen was called the influential heir of the North was because of that art, yet strangely many were nonchalant about it.
Even Lord Maximus himself had widened his eyes upon seeing the sword qi.
It was absurd.
However.
'I was certainly shocked when I first saw it too, but now it's just so-so.'
Jack discovered that even he agreed with their evaluation, and found it ridiculous in a different sense.
It was probably because he had seen so many astounding sights while rolling under that man.
And the assessment that suddenly came to mind was this:
'If our lord is a genius, that man is just that, isn't he.'
......Like seeing a wild beast—say, an elephant or a tiger—accidentally gain human wisdom, read books, publish a paper, and earn a doctorate?
People would say that's insane talk, but the first-year classmates would undoubtedly all agree, 'That's right!'
Therefore.
'My lord, unfortunately, compared to an elephant with a doctorate, you seem to be an ordinary commoner.'
Jack ended up looking at his lord with pity, for having the misfortune of being born in the wrong era.
And the genius commoner(?), faced with such pitying gazes.
"...What is it?"
Why are they reacting like this?
An inexplicable sense of disappointment rushed in.
* * *
Meanwhile, there was a girl secretly cheering for them—no, to be precise, for her first-year classmates.
"Everyone is amazing. If I stood in a place with this many people, I wouldn't even be able to move."
[Ayrin, you are weak to others' gazes, aren't you?]
Irene Windler.
She was secretly watching the evaluation match in the colosseum while casting a perception-hindering magic.
Well, part of it was because she had many close acquaintances and came to support them, but mostly.
"The instructor isn't here..."
[He looked very tired the day before yesterday. Will he be alright?]
Thinking she might be able to see him.
But unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen today either.
It had been ten days now just counting today.
The girl and the ghost worried about the knight.
Ever since he had walked around with her the day before, his expression had somehow been stiff.
After that, he suddenly disappeared, citing an intensive training period, so even she, as his neighbor, couldn't meet him.
Furthermore, when she went to his house yesterday after being told he was home.
-The knight? I'm sorry, but he's been sleeping all day even though he's tired. Even when he occasionally wakes up, he just eats and goes back to sleep. I want to wake him, but I can't bring myself to...
...So they said.
She merely wondered if he was avoiding her because she was a burden.
If it were up to her heart, she'd want to live together like the lady-in-waiting...
'Are you going to say something weird again!'
[I only said what was true?]
'You—!]
When the ghost girl whispered in her ear and made strange sounds, Irene snapped.
Living with him, that was still a bit early...
"Y-you again?!"
[What?]
The ghost shrugged as if to say she hadn't said anything this time.
"Ugh!"
Just as Irene Windler's face turned beet red and she was about to shout again.
Tap.
"...Rain?"
[Wow, when did dark clouds gather like that in the sky?]
Rumble.
The sky, which had been clear just moments ago, was suddenly covered in dark clouds as if painted black.
It looked like a heavy downpour was about to pour down, and Irene blinked her eyes.
[What's wrong, Ayrin?]
"...Those clouds are strange."
[Hm?]
"......"
Irene Windler was a scatterbrained, mistake-prone, and lazy girl, but when it came to magical aptitude, she was an outstanding mage unrivaled among her peers.
And Irene was a mage with an affinity for wind and water.
The girl's mana immediately sensed something alien from the dark clouds made of water vapor.
'They don't seem to have formed naturally? What is this...?'
Irene observed the dark clouds closely, wondering what they were, and at some point.
"Gasp!!"
[Ayrin?]
She couldn't hide her horror.
'N-no, I must have seen it wrong.'
The girl denied reality, but how could she deny what she had already realized?
Before long, the girl had to accept it with a pale face.
That those dark clouds...
—Were alive and moving.