Vol 1 Chapter 7 – My Childhood Friend Apparently Gets More Fired Up the Stronger Her Rival Is【Vol 1 – When Written in Kanji, It’s Saionji Yumeba】

As always, the atmosphere inside the castle was tense due to the imperial succession struggle.

Even though Yunix had taken a step back after losing Sebas, his right-hand man, it only meant that Yunix—who had been competing with Friedrich for the top spot—was now on par with the other three, with Friedrich maintaining a slight lead.

The succession struggle remained deadlocked as ever.

Well, none of that mattered to me, so I continued my trial and error attempts to complete flight magic.

Things still weren’t going as planned, but there was no need to rush.

I just needed to research steadily and make progress one step at a time.

Fortunately, I had time since I was keeping my distance from the succession struggle.

Or so I thought, until an imperial council meeting was called and I was forced to participate.

The current emperor, Elsandor, would present topics, and the five engaged in the succession struggle would compete to answer them.

Yeah, honestly, I wanted to go home.

Actually, weren’t the seven of us including me basically just background decorations? What was even the point of being here?

I was stifling a yawn, wishing for this to end as quickly as possible, when—the conference room door suddenly burst open with a bang and a girl appeared.

“Pardon the intrusion, Your Majesty.”

“…Yumeba. What business do you have interrupting a meeting?”

That’s right. The one who had boldly barged into an imperial council meeting that normally no one outside the imperial family could even approach was Yumeba.

“I had scheduled training with Lio for today. The meeting won’t be disrupted if Lio leaves, so I’ll be taking him with me.”

No, I did want this to end no matter what, but exchanging it for Yumeba’s hellish training is a hard pass.

“So then… where is Lio?”

“Hm?”

My figure was already gone from the conference room.

“He was sitting next to me yawning just a moment ago… I wonder where he went?”

“I see.”

After hearing Yunix’s testimony, Yumeba walked forward decisively—and instantly found me hiding in the conference room supply closet.

“You’re getting better at hiding and running away every year, Lio.”

“P-Please don’t mention it.”

“Let’s go.”

“B-But the meeting! There’s an important meeting happening!”

“It has nothing to do with you.”

“Help meee!”

“Just come along already.”

And so I was dragged away.

“In the first place, what’s even the point of me building up swordsmanship or basic physical strength?”

“It’s better to have it than not, right?”

After being put through hellish training until I was completely battered as usual, we chatted once I couldn’t move anymore.

“Even so, I’ve been doing this for nearly ten years and I don’t feel like I’ve gotten any stronger.”

“If you keep it up for fifty years, you’ll be at least average, Lio.”

“After working that hard, I’d only be average?!”

I already knew this, but apparently I didn’t have even a shred of physical talent.

Well, I wasn’t complaining since magic was going well.

“By the way, I heard that woman took the S-rank promotion exam.”

“…That’s quite a sudden topic change.”

“And even though she passed easily, she deliberately didn’t complete the paperwork because S-rank is too much hassle, so she’s staying at A-rank. How obnoxious!”

“…That’s impressive.”

“Hmph. If I were an adventurer, I could easily reach S-rank.”

“…I’m sure you could.”

Well, with Yumeba’s level of ability, she could probably reach S-rank, which only values strength.

Though there’d be no point in Yumeba becoming an adventurer.

Whether a Saionji Duke family daughter became an adventurer or not, she’d end up being deployed whenever a threatening monster appeared in the empire anyway.

“I’m feeling like moving my body a bit more, so keep me company a while longer.”

“I can’t even move a finger anymore!”

Please don’t drag me into this just because you’re itching to do something since your rival is being active.

No, wait—that rival is actually me!

But this is still unreasonable!

◇◇◇

That day, I didn’t have any particular business, but I transformed into Alisa and headed to the adventurers guild, walking through the imperial capital streets.

There weren’t any decent requests left at the imperial capital’s adventurers guild, and they nagged me to promote to S-rank every time I went, but I couldn’t settle down without periodically checking the request board.

Could this be adventurer addiction?

I hadn’t thought I was that into it, but maybe I was enjoying it more than I realized.

Well, it was more fun than lazily playing prince at the castle.

As I walked leisurely along…

“Ah.”

I bumped right into Yumeba.

This was the first time we’d met directly as Alisa since fighting together against the Yamata no Orochi.

“Hmph. You’ve been quite active, haven’t you?”

“Perfect timing. If you’re free, come with me for a bit.”

“…Huh?”

I took a suspicious-looking Yumeba through a transfer gate to an unpopulated area.

“So what is it? Are we settling things from last time?”

“I’d like you to help me with a little experiment.”

“?”

The frontline support magic I’d thought would be useful back then.

I cast the physical enhancement magic I’d developed specifically for Yumeba onto her.

“…What is this?”

“Enhancement magic. I learned it based on my reflections from that battle with the Hydra.”

“Hmmm.”

Yumeba did some stretches as if checking her body’s condition, then gradually began testing the degree of enhancement.

“How is it?”

“No good. My physical abilities are certainly improved, but it throws off my usual sense of balance, which overall weakens me.”

“Mmm.”

So magic I’d constructed independently without a frontline fighter’s input really was unusable.

“First of all, the enhancement in this area is too weak. And strengthening this part is meaningless.”

“I see, I see.”

I fine-tuned the magic according to Yumeba’s feedback, strengthening certain areas and removing unnecessary enhancements.

Thirty minutes later.

Yumeba was racing through the forest at high speed, weaving between trees with movements so fast they were difficult to even see.

“…How is it?”

“Not bad. I’m getting pretty used to it.”

“Don’t blame me if you get so used to this sensation that you struggle to return to your normal state.”

“I can switch properly. Normal is normal, enhanced is enhanced, right?”

This is why geniuses…

They casually accomplish things ordinary people can’t comprehend.

“More importantly, I want to move my body a bit, so keep me company. I’ll hold back properly.”

“There’s no way I’m fighting you with enhancement magic active.”

“I don’t mind if you dispel it.”

“Hmm.”

I didn’t really have any obligation to fight, but it might be necessary to satisfy Yumeba’s stress relief—or rather, her restless thirst.

“A direct fight would probably leave one of us seriously hurt, so I’ll accept if it’s a monster hunting competition.”

“Oh? You don’t think you can win just because it’s your home turf, do you?”

“Of course I’m going to win.”

“Ahaha. That’s funny.”

“Ufufu. Is it?”

For some reason, sparks flew between Yumeba and me.

We used a transfer gate to move to a monster-dense forest within imperial territory.

“How about whoever defeats more monsters by evening wins?”

“Fine by me. Sounds fun.”

“Ufufu.”

“Ahaha.”

“…”

And the competition suddenly began.

Since my opponent was Yumeba, holding back would mean my loss.

Yumeba wanted an all-out competition, and I didn’t have even a shred of intention to lose either.

I used Eagle Eye to find monsters and defeated them one after another with magic, then transferred within visual range and used Eagle Eye again to search for more monsters and defeated them with magic again.

I repeated this over and over, defeating monsters as quickly and as many as possible.

Store them in dimensional storage? I could do that after the competition was over and I’d won!

I passed Yumeba partway through and we glared at each other, but only for a moment.

We both immediately moved as fast as possible to hunt more monsters.

After several hours passed, the monster density had thinned considerably and encounters became less frequent.

I frantically searched with Eagle Eye for every remaining monster, and along the way, I encountered Yumeba again, her eyes bloodshot from searching.

“…”

We glared at each other silently again…

“Ah.”

We both noticed simultaneously.

It seemed we’d defeated too many monsters and triggered the appearance of a domain guardian.

“Tch. Let’s pause the competition and take that thing out first.”

“Can you handle the enhancement?”

“Do it.”

“Understood.”

I immediately used the enhancement magic we’d just perfected to strengthen Yumeba.

What appeared this was a massive brownish lizard crawling on the ground—an Earth Dragon.

It might not be as strong as the Yamata no Orochi, but it was still a monster with the presence that likely reached Platinum class.

Yumeba charged straight at the Earth Dragon…

GRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!

Immediately after, its breath attack swept across the wide forest.

“Here I go!”

But Yumeba easily dodged the breath and closed in on the Earth Dragon—then her figure vanished.

“Are you serious…?”

She was making full use of my enhancement magic to fly around the Earth Dragon at super-high speed, slashing it continuously in rapid succession.

Even without the holy sword, she was cutting through scales that looked tougher than the Yamata no Orochi’s, drawing blood.

“Hmm.”

I’d been wondering how to attack, but if it was wounded enough to bleed…

“!”

I used the same metal needles shooting up from the ground that I’d used in the Hecatoncheir battle, stabbing them into the wounds.

Of course, metal threads connected to the needles were gripped in my hand, and as long as it was a living creature, channeling electricity through these would kill it.

“Finishing blow!”

Yumeba swung down a full-power strike from above with all her enhancement, and I released electric magic through the metal threads—simultaneously.

The Earth Dragon had its head split open by Yumeba while electric current flowed through its blood internally, causing cardiac arrest.

“I won. My splitting the Earth Dragon’s head was faster.”

“No, no. My attack was electricity. Since it’s electricity, it’s physically impossible for anything to be faster than my attack. I win.”

“I don’t care about electricity or whatever—my sword speed was definitely faster.”

“Electricity travels at the speed of light. That speed is 300,000 kilometers per second. Are you saying your sword speed exceeds 300,000 kilometers per second?”

“That’s right. When I get serious, 300,000 kilometers per second is nothing.”

After a pointless argument…

“We’re sorry.”

Yumeba and I were being escorted to the adventurers guild in a nearby town, bowing our heads to the guild master.

Yeah, getting heated in the competition and hunting all the monsters in a domain without permission, then on top of that defeating the domain guardian together—that was going too far.

Sure, the empire encouraged expanding imperial territory by exterminating monsters, but that didn’t mean it was okay to disregard the adventurers who made their living hunting monsters.

“Well, yeah. If an S-rank equivalent adventurer and the Saionji Duke’s daughter team up, a monster domain like this would be nothing… but I didn’t expect complete annihilation in less than half a day.”

The guild master looked at us bowing apologetically with an expression that was half exasperated, half impressed.

After apologizing profusely, paying the expected compensation together, writing apology letters to various parties—we were finally released and could return to the imperial capital.

◇◇◇

The day after that disaster.

Early in the morning, someone knocked on my room door.

“Yes?”

Wondering who would knock so politely, I opened the door…

“Long time no see, Lio-kun.”

“…Yukina-san.”

Red hair and crimson eyes. A stunning beauty with the same features as Yumeba—Yukina-san, Yumeba’s biological mother, had come to visit my room.

“I have something to discuss. May I come in?”

“…Please do.”

Honestly, she ranked among the people I was worst at dealing with in my social circle, but she wasn’t someone I disliked either, so I let her in without resistance.

“For a prince’s room, it’s quite simple.”

“Well… it’s the discarded prince’s room, after all.”

I had Yukina-san, whom I’d led into my room with only the bare minimum furnishings, sit on the sofa that had been there from the start, and I prepared tea.

After welcoming her with the best hospitality I could manage…

“Last night when Yumeba came home, she was muttering so much she even complained to me…”

“Ah…”

Well, after going through all that, of course she’d complain.

“But she looked so happy.”

“…”

“She hasn’t looked that happy since the times she’d come home after knocking you out cold while ‘training’ you, Lio-kun.”

“…I’m more concerned that she looked happy doing that.”

“So what happened with her?”

“You’re skipping that part?”

Well, whatever.

“There’s this girl who’s like Yumeba’s rival, and I think she got to compete with her to her heart’s content.”

“Rival?”

I told Yukina-san the information about Alisa that I could objectively know.

“I see. It’s true that with her current abilities, she’d have a good match against an adventurer with S-rank level strength.”

“Um… that sounded like she’ll get even stronger in the future?”

The way she spoke suggested that Yumeba was only equal to me now because she was still immature, but would become much, much stronger as she matured.

“She’s a noble—and a duke’s daughter at that, so it can’t be helped, but she has few friends, and children who’ll directly clash and compete with her are even more precious.”

“You’re skipping it again, aren’t you?”

Thinking about Yumeba’s future potential makes me shiver.

“Well, I suppose I should be happy that Yumeba has a rival she can sharpen her skills against.”

I’d heard that House Saionji’s special training was particularly harsh, but Yukina-san was still Yumeba’s mother after all.

She came to my room first thing in the morning just to ask about Yumeba’s condition.

Wait, I haven’t had a single decent mother in either life, have I?

In my previous life, because of my misfortune-attracting constitution, I never experienced anything motherly, and in this life, I was treated as if I didn’t exist just because of my black hair and heterochromia.

Not that I’m longing for a mother at this point, but… if I married Yumeba, would this person become my mother?

Yeah, I couldn’t approach House Saionji during the succession struggle though.

But if Yumeba would become like this in the future—maybe I should consider it.

“Well, my darling is waiting at home, so I’ll head back.”

“Ah, yes.”

Well, Yukina-san’s number one priority was her husband—Yumeba’s father, in other words.

After Yukina-san left, I lay sprawled on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling.

“What are you spacing out for?”

Before I knew it, Yumeba was nearby, looking at me with an exasperated expression.

“Yumeba.”

“What?”

So, even though I normally wouldn’t say something like this, I somehow felt like saying it.

“Let me grope your breasts.”

“…”

“Guhof!”

I was punched without a word.

“What? Are you saying my breasts are small so you’ll grope them to make them bigger? Are you trying to say I’m so small I deserve pity?”

“Wait…! That’s not what I—”

“Then what did you mean?!”

“No, well… I was feeling lonely and thought I’d like to worship the symbol of motherhood…”

“And why does that lead to groping my breasts?!”

“…My bad.”

Yeah, I definitely said that wrong.

Maybe I should’ve just silently hugged her instead.

Being repeatedly introduced to boyfriends every time I tried to confess to a girl in my previous life must’ve traumatized me—I’m really bad at creating romantic atmospheres.

I have no idea how to approach women.