My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~ - Chapter 104: A Story from Their Student Days

Chapter 104: A Story from Their Student Days

“Princess, Princess. Please wake up, Princess!”

Someone was shaking her.

Ah, how noisy. Half-asleep in a pleasant haze, Kirin thought that. Sleepy. She decided to ignore it and let her consciousness melt back into her dream.

“Geez! Princess, please wake up. The next class is about to start.”

She was shaken even harder than before.

Her awareness was yanked back to reality all at once, and she realised she was lying on her back. Soft. Ah, right. She was stretched out on the grass.

When Kirin opened her eyes, gentle sunlight poured in.

The trees rustled in the breeze, and the dappled light shifted back and forth.

Her maid Shunka, kneeling beside her in seiza, fluttered both hands as if urging her to hurry. Dressed in the Upper School uniform, she was Kirin’s personal maid and her classmate as well.

“The afternoon classes are already about to start.”

“Classes hardly matter. I want to indulge in a lazy nap.”

The moment she said that and closed her eyes, both of Kirin’s shoulders were shaken violently yet again.

“Why are you saying things like some hopeless bum? Please, I’m begging you, get up. His Majesty will scold me.”

Since they had been raised together like sisters, Shunka did not hold back around Kirin. No, it would be more accurate to say she showed no mercy. Grabbing her by the shoulders, she shook her with all her might, thoroughly rattling her brain. Her head snapped back and forth, and stars burst behind her closed eyelids.

This was no situation in which she could keep sleeping. With her peaceful rest interrupted, Kirin finally raised a white flag.

“Fine. I understand, so please stop.”

When she sat up, her eyes met Shunka’s sulky face. Short braids and plain features. She had an inconspicuous, unadorned appearance, but her will was surprisingly strong, and she was diligent and hardworking. Though not especially gifted, she had earned permission to enter the Upper School through sheer effort.

Meanwhile, despite her exalted status, Kirin ranked dead last among the Upper School girls.

“Well, of course you do. You never attend class.”

With Shunka helping her up in a huff, Kirin rose to her feet. She brushed the grass from her dragon robes, then had Shunka brush off the back of her hair.

“There’s no point in attending classes. I can’t use magic, after all.”

“But skipping even swordsmanship class is going too far.”

“What meaning do academy grades have?”

“Please don’t so confidently reject the entire academy your father runs!?”

They walked along the gravel path leading to the main school building.

There was no sign of the other students. It was already just about time for class to begin.

“Then let me ask you this. Is there anyone in this academy superior to me, even though I can’t use magic?”

“Urgh… no, there isn’t.”

“There is a major flaw in this academy’s evaluation system. And Father knows that perfectly well, yet has no intention of correcting it.”

“That’s… I’m sure it’s because he wants to keep your attribute hidden, Princess.”

“He wants to keep information about the rare seventh attribute concealed. I understand that. But because of that, do you have any idea how stifling it is for me…”

Suddenly sensing something off, Kirin came to a halt.

“Oh?”

It was an autumn garden, the maple leaves only just beginning to turn. Beyond the hedge was a pond with a stone bridge crossing it. And past that, there was a student in the gazebo beside the stone lantern.

It was already almost time for class to begin. Was that student skipping as well, just like her? Kirin had optimistically assumed so, but apparently something was off.

“Their [Ki] is disturbed. That’s the kind of disturbance that comes from fighting.”

“Wah. Just as I’d expect from you, Princess. You can tell even that?”

Casting a glance at the admiring Shunka, Kirin lightly kicked off the ground.

That alone sent Kirin’s body soaring all the way over the pond at once, leaving the startled Shunka behind. The inertia of that powerful forward momentum made all of her dragon robes flutter in the wind.

Her small body shot forward like a bullet. And yet when she landed on the water’s surface, it was silent. From the tip of her sandal, only a single calm ripple spread across the pond. Stirring the glittering surface that reflected sunlight and autumn leaves, she walked onward like a celestial maiden.

“Water-Surface Walking Technique. To have already mastered one of His Majesty Sendo’s secret arts at your age. As expected of you, Princess.”

She crossed the water as though walking on ice. One quiet ripple for each step. Carp poked their heads above the surface and gazed up at her in wonder.

When she reached the middle of the pond, Kirin leaped high once more. The distance was more than ten metres. Yet though her leg strength was enough to smash through floorboards, the surface of the water trembled no more than it would from a passing breeze.

The ones who greeted Kirin when she landed soundlessly on the far shore were two pairs of eyes.

One belonged to a woman with bewitching eyes. Possessed of the greatest beauty in the academy, she recognised Kirin’s face and bent her finely shaped brows in displeasure.

“Skipping class again? Honestly, Princess, it must be nice to do whatever you want.”

“I think that goes for both of us.”

“Don’t lump me in with you. I have to settle this here and now.”

“You never change, Rakuyō. So then, who is this man?”

Rakuyō held a practice sword out in front of her. Its tip was pointed at a male student dressed in the Lower School uniform. This was Upper School grounds, so that meant he was trespassing, but…

“And who might you be?”

That calm question was directed at the intruder. In response, the boy challengingly curled the corner of his mouth upward. Puffing out his chest, he made a broad sweep with the tip of the practice sword in his hand.

“I’m stronger than the students in the Upper School. I came here to prove it.”

He pointed the tip at them and made that bold declaration.

At that time, the Upper School was made up solely of nobles and was also known as the House of Nobles. No matter how exceptional a commoner might be, they could not set foot on Upper School grounds. Perhaps he found that distinction intolerable; the boy was glaring at them with glittering eyes.

“Hmph! How arrogant for a mere commoner. I’ll break that overweening pride of yours right now.”

With the boy’s provocation, the proud Rakuyō took the bait, and so the battle began.

Against the horizontal slash Rakuyō launched, the boy intercepted with his practice sword wrapped in jet-black [Sword Ki]. The [Sword Ki] of both sides slid violently along the blades, scattering sparks as they flashed.

For all his big talk, the male student really was quite skilled.

The quality of his [Sword Ki], his swordsmanship, his movement, any of it would have justified calling him top-class. In fact, Rakuyō, the number one-ranked Upper School girl, was starting to get pushed back little by little.

“Heh. So even a commoner can use [Sword Ki].”

Deepening her smile at that disadvantage, Rakuyō raised the output of her [Sword Ki] and brought down a blue flame from high overhead. It was a powerful strike, like the hammer of a swordsmith. Sparks burst spectacularly.

“I’ll prove there are people among commoners who can measure up.”

Black and blue sword flashes twisted and entwined like snakes.

A violent gust strong enough to shake the gazebo’s supporting pillars blew through, and clouds of dust flew into the air. Kirin narrowed her eyes in annoyance and smoothed down the hair at her back as it billowed up.

Then, just as the two of them took some distance and started running forward to clash swords again, Kirin slipped between them with the gait of a lady attending a ball. Above her, as she gracefully cut in, two sword flashes rained down at the same time.

“————!?”

Soundless screams leaked from both of them.

There was no longer any way to stop the slashes.

From left and right, the sword flashes rushing at her simultaneously, she caught one in each hand with a snap of her wrists. At the moment of impact, the shock travelled through her arms, through her body, and escaped into the ground through both feet, spectacularly shattering the rounded stones beneath her. Small fragments scattered, and the soles of her feet sank deep into the burst-open ground.

Shockwaves arose in the palms that had caught the [Sword Ki], turning into a gale that blew out behind her.

The air in the gazebo froze.

“H-Hey!? What are you doing?”

“You idiot! If you grab [Sword Ki] with your bare hands, then…”

The [Sword Ki] packed into both practice swords was already at a sufficiently high level for students, enough power to damage the tough bodies of dragonkin. This was nothing like grabbing fish with your bare hands. Faced with that reckless act of irreparable foolhardiness, the expressions of the two who had been snarling at each other froze, and their bodies locked up completely in the very postures of their strikes.

Ignoring the two of them as they turned pale, Kirin said this without the slightest change in expression.

“If you swing your swords at that output, one of you will die.”

◇◇◇◇◇

Suddenly, Kirin raised her face.

Before her sat a girl who was the spitting image of her mother in her younger days, seated with their knees nearly touching. That face, nostalgic enough to stir old memories, tilted her head cutely as she looked this way.

“As expected of you, Head Consort-sama. To stop Mother’s [Sword Ki] with your bare hands.”

Her peerless beauty had come from her mother, but there was a major difference in how their expressions formed. Rakuyō had been far more emotional and impulsive. From what Kirin had seen in the time they had spent together, the daughter seemed calm and composed by nature, the sort who did not openly show much emotion.

Even so, she was not entirely devoid of it. Though she looked expressionless, as if her emotions were missing, her expression was in fact changing little by little as she listened. Even now, her cheeks were faintly flushed, and the jet-black eyes she had inherited from her father burned with strong heat.

Remembering the girl’s fervent declaration, I admired you, Head Consort-sama, Kirin gave a wry smile.

“Yes. Both of your parents were exceptional even back then.”

The girl with a face just like Kirin’s old friend widened her eyes in surprise. That too was amusing.

“Then the commoner boy was…”

“Your father.”

What Kirin had told her was the story of how she and Kokuren first came together, and the same was true of Rakuyō as well. If she closed her eyes, the memories of that time came back to life.