Chapter 57 - New semester and First-Year War [9] (2/2)

「Aa, thank you.」

I expressed gratitude honestly for her feelings.

After that, I ended up chatting with Rose until Ria woke up.

After the battle with me, her spirit core seemed to have been strangely strung up, thus she did not get to sleep much.

After 10 minutes passed.

「Umm…」

Ria, sleeping on the adjacent bed, slowly opened her eyes.

「Ah, Ria! You regained consciousness…!?」

「…A-Alle…n?」

As she slowly raised her upper body, she looked around in confusion.

「Where are we…?」

「It’s the infirmary. Is your body all right now?」

「Ah, un… I’m alright, so I’ll be fine if I sleep a little.」

「I see.」

Come to think of it, Leia-sensei also said,「Ria is unusually strong」the first time we dueled.

As I recalled those old days,

「I see… so, I lost…」

She murmured so, and clenched her fist with frustration.

The bed sheet crumpled greatly, and a heavy silence fell inside the infirmary.

As the silent state continued for about 20 seconds,

「… Hurting two girls… Allen is terrible.」

Rose sitting on the bed next to Ria’s said something ridiculous.

「Eh, n-no that’s… It’s a match so…」

『Hurting girls』is not exactly wrong, but…

(Isn’t it a little misleading or a slightly malicious expression …?!)

When I was panicking about how to come up with an excuse,

「… Really, that’s right. How do you plan to take responsibility?」

「E-Even Ria…!?」

Jumping on Rose’s remark, even Ria began to say such a thing.

「Hey, Allen … what will you do?」

「You’ll take responsibility, won’t you?」

Two vs One.

I found myself overwhelmingly disadvantaged in numbers.

「N-No… Even if you say take responsibility… 」

And as I was acting flustered,

「…Fufu, it’s a joke.」

「Fufu, just kidding.」

Saying that, Rose and Ria laughed happily.

「Both of you… Give me a break…」

I’m already called the Dropout Swordsman, Problem Child, Evil Emperor, etc.

I have a bad reputation in the academy.

(To be honest, I don’t care about people’s reputation anymore…)

It’s better not to speak ill of people at all.

As I sigh a breath of relief,

「-Next is the Sword King Festival. I’m cheering for you, so don’t lose!」

「Do your best for us too.」

Ria and Rose cheered me on.

「Aa, of course. I’ll put in my best effort.」

Sword King Festival.

I know this well, even if I am not familiar with Five Academy.

No, this is a swordsmanship festival that everyone in this country knows.

(From the Ice King Academy, Sid-san will appear in the first-year student spot…)

It’s not just the Ice King Academy.

There will surely be outstanding first year swordsmen who will also appear from the other Five Academy’s.

(Fufu, I’m looking forward to it…!)

And when I was excited about fighting at the Sword King Festival,

「Eh…? Come to think of it, Allen, what’s that wound?」

The sharp-sighted Ria found the bandage wrapped around my right arm.

「This is… Uh, umm… a small injury」

I decided to tell a small lie so as not to let her feel extra responsibility.

And then,

「……………Nee, that’s a lie, right?」

She stared into my eyes and immediately saw through the lie.

「T-That’s not true…」

「Are you sure… When Allen tells a lie or talks about something you don’t really mean, your eyes shift to the upper left corner… You know, like right now.」

Saying that, Ria looked me straight in the eyes from the front.

…Do I really have such a habit?

「A-Anyway… This wound is like a side effect due to recklessly using my power! Now, let’s end this topic here!」

And I broke the topic a little forcefully.

「That’s right, both of you! Get well soon and let’s continue swinging together!」

I switched to another topic, trying to escape Ria cornering me.

「Muu… understood.」

「OK.」

Thus, the First-Year war full of turbulence ended safely, and we briefly returned to our usual fun-filled regular days.