Vol 2 Chapter 23 – The Weight of Three Years【Vol 2: The Blazing Labyrinth and the Lonely Witch】 

BOOOOM!!

The compressed wind blade I fired and the flame barrier Elmina deployed slammed into each other, canceling each other out in an explosive blast.

We’d graduated from training in an inn room a long time ago.

We moved our base to a remote wasteland, and day after day, we repeated live-combat magic training that was practically the same as trying to kill each other.

In spring, we sent cherry blossoms swirling with magic-made gusts.

In summer, we kept cool with each other’s ice magic.

In autumn, we used falling red leaves as targets and competed over precision shooting.

In winter, we clashed with enough heat to melt the piled-up snow, throwing our full strength at each other.

The seasons turned, and before I knew it, a year had passed.

Every single day was the same cycle: studying magic theory, putting it into practice, and collapsing from mana exhaustion.

They were days so dense, and so brutal, it was almost absurd.

“—That’s enough!”

Elmina’s clear voice rang out across the wasteland.

Panting hard, I raised both hands.

Elmina, standing in front of me with a cool expression, wore the same fierce grin she’d had three years ago.

“Well done, Fuyuya. I didn’t think you’d cancel out my trump card, 《Prominence Wall》, with mere wind magic.”

“You’re one to talk… Landing a counter at that exact timing—still pulling nasty moves, I see.”

Even while trading barbs, we both recognized how much the other had grown.

Three years ago, she laughed at my Fireball and called it “flimsy.”

Now, I had enough power to fight her on even footing—and more.

(Thirteen years total since I came to this world, huh…)

Ten years in Sera Village. And three years with Elmina.

I spent all that time swinging a sword, learning magic, and doing nothing but training.

And the result was—by now, I’d become something far outside the bounds of common sense.

(Status, open.)

In my mind, I opened the familiar window.

The numbers displayed there were impossible for a mere three years.

――――――――――――――――――――

【Status】

Name: Hiiragi Fuyuya

Race: Human

Level: 75

HP: 6200 / 6200

MP: 7500 / 7500

Strength: 480

Endurance: 450

Agility: 550

Magic Power: 680

Dexterity: 510

Luck: 13

【Skills】

Unique Skill: 【Edit】

――――――――――――――――――――

(…Even I have to laugh at this.)

Level 75.

That was a realm even average hero-class fighters never reached.

And all of it came from my “walkthrough knowledge,” the massive amount of training time I’d built up over thirteen years in this other world, and above all—

(Training with Elmina was huge, too.)

Because she drilled the fundamentals of magic theory into me so thoroughly, my mana and intellect had grown explosively.

And more than anything, once I understood the “principles” behind magic, my Unique Skill, 【Edit】, evolved into a whole new stage.

(Thanks to Elmina, I can read magic’s “source code” now. I can see exactly how a spell formula is structured and what logic makes it activate. That let my 【Edit】 skill step beyond simple “rewriting” and into the domain of “construction”—creating entirely new magic.)

It was a forbidden power, one not even the gods of this world should be allowed to wield.

And I was standing at its threshold.

“Hey, why are you grinning to yourself like that? Creepy.”

“Nah, it’s nothing. Thanks to you, I really did get stronger. I’m grateful, Master.”

“D-Don’t call me Master! …Though it is true my teaching was perfect.”

Elmina snorted and looked away, but the corners of her mouth were soft with satisfaction.

In these three years, our relationship had changed a lot, too.

At first, all she did was push back, but now she was my best partner—and my best master.

“Haaah… I’m exhausted…”

The mock battle was over, and the tension must’ve finally snapped.

Elmina swayed unsteadily.

I caught her on instinct.

“Hey, you okay?”

“…Yeah, I just used too much mana. Let me rest a little…”

As she said that, she let her head drop onto my shoulder with a soft little thunk.

Her sweaty forehead brushed against my neck.

She smelled faintly sweet, like flowers, and my heart skipped just a little.

(…What’s this? She suddenly leaned on me. Fatigue? Or anemia? Temporary loss of balance from rapid mana depletion… Yeah, that’s the most likely explanation.)

Those thirteen years had made his combat ability inhuman—but at the same time, they had worn down part of his humanity.

Especially the subtle workings of romantic feelings.

Maybe Misaki’s betrayal had left too deep a trauma, or maybe he’d buried himself in training for too long… but when it came to other people’s affection—especially from women—he just couldn’t process it in a normal, human way.

I naturally placed a hand on her forehead.

“Hey, are you okay? Your face is red. Do you have a fever? Want me to cast Heal?”

“…………!!”

At that instant, Elmina sprang away from me like she’d been shocked.

Her face was redder than the sunset.

“…You dense idiot! Mood-killer! Completely tactless! I’m done with you!!”

“Huh? H-Hey, what’s your problem!?”

After shouting that, Elmina stormed off in a huff toward the cave we were using as a base.

Left behind alone, all I could do was stare blankly after her.

(…Man. I made her mad again.)

Lately, this had been happening a lot.

Every time I said something, Elmina would get mad for reasons I didn’t understand.

Even when I was exchanging letters with Lilia, she was always in a bad mood for some reason.

(Getting stronger is fun, but people’s feelings are seriously hard to figure out…)

“…Whatever.”

I muttered to myself and looked up at the sky.

Now wasn’t the time to analyze a complicated system like a woman’s heart.

I had something I needed to do.

I had to get stronger—absolute power that no one could beat.

That was what I’d spent these thirteen years for.

I looked at my left hand.

The power of magic Elmina taught me.

Then I looked at my right hand.

The power of the sword Lilia taught me.

(Lilia’s sword and Elmina’s magic. If I combine those two… I should be able to become even stronger.)

The straightforward swordswoman, bright as the sun, whom I met in Sera Village.

The proud witch, noble as flame, whom I met in the Blazing Labyrinth.

With the faces of my two masters in mind, my heart raced at the possibilities of this new power.

A strongest combat style no one had ever seen before.

I might not understand a woman’s heart, but the path to becoming the strongest was crystal clear to me.