Chapter 83 - Darkness and Sword King Festival [14] (2/2)

The audience applauded us for our achievement of defeating White Lily Academy.

(Let’s do our best to advance to the finals next year.)

From tomorrow, classes will start again as usual.

Training of soul dress, improvement of physical strength, manipulation of darkness, and, of course, I can’t miss the daily sword swinging.

(Fufu… There are still a lot of things to be done!)

A lot of things – which means I can become much stronger.

When I thought about it, a smile naturally came to my face.

After that, the long closing ceremony ended – bringing an end to the Sword King Festival of Thousand Blade Academy.

At the same time, the seniors, who were cheering me on in the audience, crowded around me all at once.

「I was watching you, Allen! You played such an active part! If I’m not mistaken, you won all the battles. You never lost, right!?」

「Hey, hey, I’d like to join your Practice-Swing Club too! Actually, please teach me swordsmanship already!」

「Or rather, why are you the only one who is so lively!?」

While being jostled by the seniors, I was asked questions in rapid succession.

I left the National Holy Battlefield, surrounded by a lot of friends

But right after that, my eyes widened in shock.

(W-What… is this!?)

『Extra』was distributed at the exit of the National Holy Battlefield.

Of course, it does not matter that extra is being distributed.

The problem is『my face』which decorated the front page.

『That Prodigy Hydra is defeated!? The nameless swordsman, Allen Rodore!』

『The Real Strongest First-Year, Allen Rodore! The secret behind his strength is!?』

『The Supernova Clad In Jet-Black Darkness – Allen Rodore!!!』

The headlines written in large font could be read from a distance.

(W-What’s going on…?)

When I was petrified like a stone statue before the unexpected situation,

「Wow… Allen-kun, you have become famous…」

「Kuh, I envy you…! Next time, I’ll play an active part instead and make the name of『Lilim Tsuorine』known to the whole country!」

「No, I think this would normally be embarrassing though…」

The president and senpais took an extra each and said so as though it was someone else’s problem.

(T-This is…)

Everywhere I looked – the extras with my face decorating the entire page were being distributed.

The general audience who received it, saw my face on the extra, and repeatedly shot glances at me.

I felt very embarrassed, not knowing what to say.

「Let’s go home early…」

The senpais followed behind me as I quickly walked towards the dorm.

Then I navigated through the streets of Orest, finally returning to my and Ria’s dorm.

「Fuu… I’m tired.」

「Ahaha. It was hard, huh… Allen.」

「Aa, I was astonished by the extra at the end.」

Then I placed my sword at the usual spot, and slouched onto the sofa, exhaling loudly.

「Fuu…」

Strangely, my body was so energetic, but…

Mentally, I was pretty tired.

I’m not sure if that was a good thing or not.

(…In such cases, there’s nothing better than going to bed early.)

Then I ate dinner, took a bath, and went to bed with Ria.

「Good night, Ria.」

「Yes. Good night, Allen.」

When the lights were turned off, I slowly closed my eyes.

And then ten, twenty, thirty minutes passed, but

(Strange, isn’t it? …Yes, there’s something strange after all.)

There’s a thing that has been bothering me for a while, and I couldn’t sleep.

「…Naa, Ria… Are you awake?」

「…Un, what’s wrong?」

「It’s alright if I’m mistaken, but you seem to be a little down, Ria.」

Yes.

Ever since I won against Idol-san, Ria seemed a little down.

She smiles as usual, but I could feel a lack of shine on her face from time to time.

And then,

「…Yeah, a little.」

She nodded.

「If you have any problems, why don’t you talk to me?『Just talking to someone makes you feel better』, you know?」

This line was from the『Hermit of Time』who happened to be a good listener.

「……It’s just that, Allen beat Idol, an amazing swordsman, today. You got a lot of applause from the audience and were praised by the seniors.That in itself, makes me very happy, but… I feel like you’ve gone somewhere far away. When I think about that, my heart aches. I wonder what this feeling is… I don’t understand it.」

Ria whispered so, and fell silent.

「I see.」

「Un.」

「……」

「……」

An indescribable silence loomed upon our bedroom.

(Heart aches, huh… This is quite difficult.)

Unfortunately, I don’t have any knowledge of psychiatry.

It’s hard to identify why Ria is having pains in her chest.

But… this alone I can declare firmly.

「As for me, I don’t really understand what Ria is feeling. However, there’s one thing I can say for certain.」

「……What?」

「I will always be by Ria’s side. I won’t go anywhere. When I go somewhere, we’ll go together.」

「……Really?」

As Ria asked me with a downcast look,

「Aa, it’s a promise.」

I strongly affirmed.

「……T-Thank you.」

She said, burying her face in the bed cover, and we fell silent again.

「H-How do you feel? Do you feel a little calm?」

「Un… I feel very happy.」

「Well, that’s good.」

Then, Ria and I held hands, and went to sleep.