Chapter 32. 15. That's Not What You Raised Your Skills For (2)
"Hah!"
The moment the match began, the first-year cadet charged at Lumian like a bison.
He was confident. He had heard that the senior before him was a rising powerhouse lately, but conversely, rumors that he was nothing special were also widespread.
And the first-year cadet was one who believed the latter.
'No, I believe in myself!'
He wasn't one of the second-years known as the Golden Generation. But he was a skilled fighter who had achieved the top rank among all first-years in this mid-term evaluation.
While his opponent was a senior, he had no intention of losing to someone with such a delicate appearance. His sword slashed powerfully in a diagonal line.
Whoosh!
An attack that struck down like lightning. But Lumian dodged it by a hair's breadth.
The first-year top ranker drew his sword again and followed up with the next attack. He hadn't thought he would win with the first blow.
His specialty was not a single concentrated strike, but a continuous assault that poured down like a storm!
Once his opponent entered his attack range, it was half over. The first-year top ranker, smiling confidently, took a deep breath.
And then a merciless barrage of attacks began to rain down.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Swish!
"Ah, that's...!"
"What do we do!"
Barbara Merlin and her friend made anxious sounds. Their hands, clasped together at their chests, perfectly expressed their nervous feelings.
Before they knew it, they had become emotionally invested in this participant named Lumian Callard.
She wanted to shout at Lumian, who was navigating through the terrible storm of swords, to come down from the stage.
His opponent looked incredibly strong. A physique as powerful as a bison, and sword strikes that were swung without rest. To the delicate and gentle-looking Lumian, he seemed like an enormous ordeal.
But that wasn't it.
After a brief time passed, she could tell. As Barbara Merlin watched Lumian continue to evade the attacks, she felt an inexplicable sense of trust rising within her.
At some point, his appearance began to look like something else.
'Like a weed... no, a wildflower.'
That was it. Lumian was a wildflower.
A being that had tenaciously endured through harsh cold and fierce storms, and therefore finally bloomed.
His appearance, which seemed delicate yet conveyed strength, and emanated a fresh charm within that strength, was definitely closer to a wildflower than a weed.
Barbara, who finally realized this, wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. And she looked toward the stage again.
Then Lumian, who had seemed weak, felt different.
He was not weak.
While swaying this way and that in the wind, he never lost his footing.
Whish!
"Guh!"
"Match over! Second-year Class E, Lumian Callard, victory!"
The storm did not continue to rage. Lumian safely endured until the rain weakened and grew thin, then seized an opening to place his sword against the first-year top ranker's throat.
No, in truth, Lumian had never been at a disadvantage from the beginning.
He had simply shown consideration so that the first-year, who had barely made it to the swordsmanship tournament stage, would not leave without being able to demonstrate his skills.
The first-year realized this too.
He bowed his head to Lumian.
"I learned a lesson."
The first-year's expression looked remarkably refreshed.
It was natural. The senior hadn't simply toyed with him. Rather, it was closer to showing him the path he should take. While chasing his movements, he had discovered his own problems.
Though he lost his first match, he had gained quite a bit.
"Nothing much. You had good skills."
Lumian approached him with a bright smile. And offered a handshake.
The first-year also grinned and shook his hand. To him, Lumian offered words of support and comfort.
"Last year's me was much weaker than you."
"I-is that so?"
"Yeah. There was no one who didn't know the name Lumian Callard, the perpetual failing student. If you work hard, you'll be able to become much stronger than I am now."
Of course, it was a lie.
But it was a heartwarming lie. The junior who heard these words nodded with a moved expression and descended the stage together with Lumian.
In the front row of the audience seats, those sitting close to the stage also heard their conversation.
Like the first-year top ranker, their hearts warmed and they unknowingly began to clap.
Clap clap clap clap
The applause grew louder and louder.
Because not only the front but also the back of the audience seats had roughly grasped the atmosphere. At the sight of a senior patting a junior's shoulder, people looked down at the stage with moved eyes.
Not a one-sided cheer for the winner, but applause that embraced both winner and loser.
Professor Karen smiled faintly as she watched Lumian, who had brought this about.
'I like him more and more.'
She thought that his changed mindset and attitude were even more excellent than his rapidly increased skills.
Of course, that was a misunderstanding. Currently, Lumian was busy checking the reactions of women throughout the audience seats.
'Good. Very nice.'
He smiled with satisfaction. The reaction he wanted had appeared.
Thinking that a flashy and outstanding image like Karl Krone would be poison for him, he had set his mind on a wildflower that possessed both subtle charm and rugged temperament, and emanated aura. It was extremely difficult work, but somehow he succeeded just before the match.
However, there was one side effect. It was terribly exhausting.
'The aura waste is too severe.'
It was on a different level from simply loading aura into his voice. To express a desired image to an unspecified number of people through aura required a much greater amount of aura.
Maintaining the aura image while fighting was also quite an ordeal.
Of course, he wouldn't lose to cadets who weren't even Experts, but he needed practice to make it less difficult. He also needed to accumulate more aura.
'But still... at least the attention has increased, so it's fine.'
Lumian didn't possess the attention-seeker talent that Karl Krone had, shortened to attention-whore power.
But if there's no talent, one can overcome it with effort. That was the reason he had been able to become a splendid knight in his previous life.
The wind brushing his face was refreshing. With a pleasant smile, Lumian looked at Theodor and Boomer in the waiting area and spoke.
"Wasn't I pretty cool?"
***
"Cool..."
Tania Eloyce unconsciously murmured and then startled, looking around.
Fortunately, no one had heard her words. She fanned herself with her hand to cool her face, flushed with agitation.
She looked down at the stage with a complicated expression.
'What kind of person is he, really!'
She couldn't figure it out at all.
He was a man like an onion. At the sight of good aspects and bad aspects appearing alternately, Tania couldn't get a grip at all.
The image of Lumian smiling brightly while holding a brown envelope was still vivid in her head. The extremely explicit drawing on the cover was the same.
That such a person was showing this heartwarming, pure, and... slightly cool appearance, the sense of dissonance was so great she could barely endure it.
'Should I get closer to him now? Or should I keep my distance?'
Her mind became complicated. Her agony naturally showed on her face.
Seeing such Tania, a third-year cadet asked a question.
"Tania, what's wrong?"
"Huh? No, I just have something to think about..."
"What is it, are you thinking about recruiting again?"
The third-year cadet said with a laugh.
It was a fact known to anyone acquainted with her that Tania was thirsty for promising talents and tried to pull them into her social club.
So he had asked casually, but Tania jumped up and denied it strongly.
"What are you saying! No!"
"Huh, what? It's not?"
"What, why? Is there something wrong with him?"
Another third-year cadet asked with a hardened expression.
If Tania was showing such strong rejection, there must be a reason. She was curious about it.
"That's right! That guy is a per..."
'Wait, if he asks how I know he's a pervert, what should I explain?'
Suddenly she felt like her breath was blocked. Tania's eyes shook slightly.
In the end, she could only vaguely brush off her words.
"Per?"
"No, I misspoke. He just doesn't seem to match well with me."
"Hmm, really? Then I'll pull him into my group..."
"No!"
"...Tania? What's wrong?"
Tania's friend opened her eyes wide.
Since she was a friend who was pathologically obsessed with networking, she had offered first, but Lumian was a talent she also desired. It meant he was a junior with nothing bad about getting close to.
That's why she only spoke after confirming Tania had no interest, but seeing such a reaction, she was quite flustered.
But even more flustered was Tania.
She stammered out a clumsy excuse.
"T-that guy, his character isn't very good. I heard rumors that he goes around causing trouble with Boomer."
"Really? Hmm. Boomer... well, his personality is a bit like that."
Boomer Simpson, who didn't care about seniors or superiors when things went wrong, didn't have a very good reputation among the third-years.
Of course, giving up on Lumian just for that reason was a bit regrettable, but seeing Tania objecting so strongly, she didn't want to insist.
She sighed deeply and grumbled.
"Sigh, all the decent second-years have some flaw. They're all lone wolf types."
"Right. Lumian looks gentle, how does he hang out with Boomer?"
The third-year cadets looked at Lumian and shook their heads.
Tania also smiled awkwardly and shook her head together with them.
But her heart was in a completely different state from her words.
'What should I do?'
Honestly, she didn't know her own feelings well either.
Whether she liked Lumian or not, whether she wanted to get closer or keep her distance, it was all too confusing. This was the first person in her life who was this hard to figure out.
In the end, the conclusion she reached was similar to before.
'I need to watch... just a little more!'
Tania nodded strongly enough that her ponytail swayed.
***
The first day of the swordsmanship tournament ended safely. Although it was a competition with only lower-year students participating, the level of the matches was higher than expected, and the audience was greatly satisfied.
In particular, the skills of Karl Krone, Theodor Stuttgarne, Boomer Simpson, and Lumian Callard were astonishing.
With such outstanding skills that it was hard to believe they were second-years, people visited the competition venue the next day too, and returned home again with satisfied faces.
Their performances continued with unstoppable momentum.
Two days passed like that. And finally, the semifinal bracket was completed as Byrne Sigal, the only rival of the four and a skilled fighter from Class B, was defeated by Boomer.
Karl Krone vs Theodor Stuttgarne.
Boomer Simpson vs Lumian Callard.
A bracket that couldn't help but raise expectations!
Many people, including Karl Krone's fans, waited for the day of the semifinals, counting the days.
The surviving participants were diligent about managing their condition to fully showcase their skills.
They never overtrained until the day before the match. That was because if they couldn't demonstrate their true skills on stage, there would be nothing more unfair.
But Lumian was different.
He was desperate. He desperately needed aura, and therefore he devoted himself to aura cultivation with all his heart and sincerity.
He saved time eating and sleeping, building up aura until the morning of the tournament.
And he devoted all his efforts to creating the desired image with the aura he had built up.
"Hoo."
Lumian exhaled and thought.
It wasn't as much as when he went to defeat the Demon King, but it seemed he had worked almost as hard.
It still wasn't satisfactory, but it was better than before. Now he thought he could somewhat counter Karl Krone's stage dominance and attention-whore power.
'Let's work harder. If I try until the finals, a path will open. I need to practice without rest even from the waiting area!'
To overcome innate talent, effort is the only way.
With an incomparably serious expression, Lumian left the dormitory.