Subject Runes - V1 Chapter 5

The next morning, just as Neon and I stepped out of the boys’ dorm, two male students called out to us.

“Azoth, Neon!”

Dan and another large-built student were walking toward us.

“Come on, let’s go together.”

“Dan, were you waiting for us? And who’s that?”

“This is Cain. He’s my dorm roommate.”

“I’m Cain Bartley. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Azoth Ferrum. And this is my little brother, Neon.”

“Neon Ferrum. Nice to meet you.”

Dan was big, but this guy Cain was big too. Taller than Dan, muscular, but with a sharp, balanced build. Cain, with his black hair and brown eyes, stared hard at Neon’s face like he had found something interesting.

“Dan, you were right. Neon really is handsome.”

“Told you. The girls in class are all over him.”

Dan let out a pathetic little groan. It looked like he and Cain had gotten along pretty damn well in just one night.

“He’s got a pretty face, almost like a girl. So this type is what gets popular, huh.”

“Exactly. Thanks to that, nobody even glances at the rest of us, right Azoth?”

“Y-Yeah. Guess so.”

Cain’s words made me flinch a little. A face like a girl? Was pretending to be a male student really pushing it for Neon after all? My stomach started to hurt.

Neon kept listening with a completely calm face, like none of this mattered. Just how the hell could this one stay so cool? Cain kept staring at Neon with a thoughtful little “hmm,” and while I was inwardly sweating bullets over the possibility he had figured out the cross-dressing, he suddenly grinned and said:

“So this is the guy monopolizing all the girls in Knight Class B. Man, I’m glad I’m in Knight Class A.”

Apparently, he had not figured out Neon’s secret after all. I had barely managed to breathe again when Marl showed up with several girls trailing along behind.

“Morning.”

“Ah, it’s Lord Neon.”

The girls squealed and immediately swarmed around Neon, leaving Marl behind.

“This is exactly what I mean…”

Dan looked bored as hell watching the girls crowd around Neon, while Marl stepped closer to me and asked:

“Who’s this?”

“Cain from Knight Class A. He’s Dan’s roommate.”

“I’m Marl Poisson.”

“Cain Bartley. Looking forward to knowing you.”

“Same here. You’re even bigger than Dan. Putting you two in the same room sounds cramped and sweaty as hell.”

“Shut up, Marl. Come on, we should get moving.”

With that, Dan started walking at the front, and the rest of us followed him through the forest, the fresh scent of morning hanging in the air as we headed toward the Knight Academy.

When we got to the classroom, one of the students from that group around Hardin—the guys I had fought yesterday—walked up to me.

“I thought I told you never to show your face again.”

“I’m in this class too, so what the hell do you expect me to do? More importantly, you didn’t realize that yesterday?”

He really had not noticed at all.

“I thought all of you were in the same class as Hardin.”

“Why would the hangers-on of a baron’s son be in the upper class?”

He had a point. Looking closely, the line on the uniform really was only one stripe.

“The others are all in different classes too, but they’re all knight-course students. I was in the same class as you guys, so honestly I wasn’t thrilled about what happened yesterday, but I couldn’t go against Hardin.”

“You got some reason you can’t oppose him?”

“My house is a knight house too, same as yours, but we serve Hardin’s family. More importantly, watch yourself. Hardin already knows you two are from the Ferrum family.”

“What do you mean?”

“His full name is Hardin Skew. He’s the son of the Skew house, one of the families in the faction that supports the second son, Phosphor, as the next heir. They’re enemies of your Sulfur faction.”

The last civil war had ended with our Sulfur faction winning, but after negotiations, the major nobles had been allowed to keep their lands in exchange for exiling the second son, Phosphor, beyond the territory.

The hatred between the factions had never really gone away, which meant the son of the Skew house naturally held a grudge against us too.

“So he might try something again. I don’t want to fight you anymore, so I’m going to stay out of your way as much as I can, but I can’t stop Hardin. Sorry.”

“Got it. By the way, what’s your name?”

“You didn’t even listen during yesterday’s self-introductions at orientation? I’m Nick Garton.”

With that, Nick went back to his seat.

That morning’s class was a lecture on the basics of magic, and in the afternoon we had practical sword training. The instructor who walked into the room was an old man with a white beard, exactly the kind of guy who looked like a classic wizard. He took his place at the front podium, and the lecture on magic theory began.

Magic Theory. Magic activates when the following conditions are met, excluding the use of magical tools. First, the mana holder must use magic of their own attribute. Second, they must have enough MP for activation.

Third, the following three things must be done at the same time: correctly chant the spell, maintain the image of the magic, and keep a hand in contact with the magic circle.

Magic is also classified in two ways. One is by attribute, based on the seven root elements: fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, light, and darkness. The other is by strength: beginner magic, intermediate magic, advanced magic, and unique magic.

In addition, regardless of attribute, a magical defense shield automatically deploys around every mana holder, granting both magical and physical defense strength based on the amount of mana they possess. This is a kind of non-attributed magic.

Beginner spells include the following. Fire: Fire—produces the fire element. Water: Water—produces the water element. Earth: Wall—produces the earth element from the ground. Wind: Window—produces the wind element as a powerful gust. Lightning: Thunder—produces the lightning element. Light: Cure—grants vitality through the light element. Darkness: Dark—steals vitality through the dark element.

Once the morning class ended, we all moved to the cafeteria.

“I suck at sitting through lectures. At least the afternoon’s finally practical training.”

So Dan was the type who preferred fieldwork over deskwork. Back in my old high school, there had been plenty of guys like that too.

“From what I saw in yesterday’s fight, both you and Neon move well. I bet you’ll rank high in swordsmanship too.”

“Thanks, Dan. Hearing that from someone who beat three people at once feels pretty damn good. But Neon and I spent most of our childhood training in magic, so when it comes to swordsmanship, we’ve still got a long way to go.”

“That magic of yours was basically cheating, though.”

“Were their spells really that crazy?”

At some point Cain had joined us without me noticing and jumped straight into the conversation.

“You didn’t see it, so I get why you’d doubt it, but their spell activation speed is insane.”

“Huh. I can’t use magic, so I don’t really get how impressive that is, but speed matters.”

“You can’t use magic?”

“Yeah. So this is my specialty.”

Cain tapped his practice sword.

“This afternoon’s training combines all the knight classes, right? Spar with me later. I think we’ll have a damn good match.”

After the talk got fired up over sword techniques and combat for a while, Marl muttered quietly:

“If it were up to me, I’d rather focus on improving my practical magic. I’m small, so I get overpowered. Maybe I should just stick to being a rear-line mage.”

Neon had been staying out of the conversation as much as possible so the cross-dressing would not get exposed, but maybe something in Marl’s words struck a nerve, because Neon finally spoke up and offered some advice.

“Yeah, focusing on magic isn’t a bad option. But if you’re working in a small group, you still need enough sword skill to protect yourself, so I don’t think you should give up on it from the start. We’ll be doing Dungeon Club activities too, so maybe just try treating swordsmanship as something fun and work at it that way.”

Hearing that, Marl seemed to get a little more motivated about swordsmanship.

“You’re right. I want to get into the dungeon soon too, so maybe I’ll give it a real shot.”

The afternoon swordsmanship training combined all knight-course classes. The students would be divided into groups based on skill, then work through different menus depending on their level.

Since it was the first day, the main goal was sorting everyone into those groups. After a basic physical evaluation, the instructor judged each student’s rough ability through simple sparring matches.

After sparring with several students, I ended up facing Cain. Standing across from him directly, it really hit me again just how damn huge he was. Compared to me, our builds were not even close. There were no openings in his stance, and he carried himself with the kind of confidence that said he could respond no matter where I struck.

“Begin!”

At the instructor’s signal, the match with Cain started. I gripped my practice sword tight and swung with everything I had. Cain took the blow without his body even budging. On the other hand, every time I received one of his strikes, my stance broke apart easily.

His sword was absurdly heavy. If I blocked it head-on, my body got driven back and my arms went numb. If I tried to redirect it, my center of balance got thrown off, and I could not move into the next action.

We exchanged blows for a while, but despite his size, Cain moved fast as hell, and before long he was avoiding my sword with ease. I could not land a single clean hit. That was when the instructor called the end of the match. Cain was on a completely different level from Hardin’s little followers yesterday. Hell, he was on a different level from me too.

“The difference in level is too much. I can’t even picture catching up no matter how hard I work.”

“I can’t use magic. This is all I’ve got.”

Cain lightly tapped his practice sword again, but even taking that into account, he was way too strong. This guy was no ordinary student.

After that, I sparred with Dan too. Once we fought, I realized Dan and Cain were actually similar types. Dan could use magic, and while he was not quite at Cain’s level, his power, speed, and defense were all outstanding. When it came to swordsmanship, I could not see myself beating Dan either.

“And you can use magic on top of all that. I really do not want you as an enemy.”

“Swordsmanship is my main focus, but your main strength is magical offense, right? You don’t need to beat me in a sword fight. If you train for speed over power and combine that with your magic attacks, you’ll become one hell of a fighter.”

“Yeah. That makes sense.”

Finally, I faced Neon. I had known this one since childhood. We had always been together, and I already knew the truth. Our abilities were equal. Which meant I did not want to lose.

I fully intended to win today, so I went in with a fast strike right from the start, planning to end it before anything else could happen. But Neon had apparently been thinking the same thing, because the moment the match began, it turned into a fierce exchange of blows.

Our movements mirrored each other like reflections.

Neither of us gained a clear edge, and all that passed was time. In the end, just like always, the instructor stopped the match and no winner was decided.

Dan came over and spoke to us.

“Nice work. I was thinking this while watching yesterday too, but you two fight almost exactly the same in both magic and swordsmanship. No difference in power or speed, the same forms, the same movements. Even brothers usually show at least some gap somewhere, so what the hell is going on with you two?”

Dan laughed as he said it, but he was right.

Neon and I had been together since childhood, and we had trained with the exact same routines in both magic and swordsmanship, yet there was almost no difference between us at all.

And this one was not even my real sibling.

More than that, Neon was not even a boy. Neon was a girl.

So how the hell was it that even in swordsmanship—not just magic—we were still at exactly the same level?

As a guy, that hurt like hell. Honestly, it pissed me off.

Over on the other side, Cain was talking to Neon about something. A

fter watching our spar, he was probably giving some kind of advice. Whatever it was, he looked like he was having way too much fun teasing Neon.

I decided to ask Dan what impression he had of Cain.

“Did you spar with Cain too?”

“Yeah. He’s strong. Different level.”

“Even from your perspective?”

“I’ve got a feeling he’s not ordinary.”

Dan stared off at Cain, who was still messing with Neon and enjoying the hell out of it, and let out a low, thoughtful hum.

When the level groupings were announced, Dan and Cain ended up in the Top 4 group.

Neon and I barely made the Top 16 group, which put us in the upper class for swordsmanship practice. Marl fell into the below-Top-32 group, which landed in the lower class.

We were also told that a tournament would be held as the practical midterm for the first semester, and class shifts would happen based on the swordsmanship rankings there.

“Marl, don’t get down just because you got put in the lower class. Aim for the upper group in the tournament and give it everything you’ve got.”

That seemed to be Cain’s attempt at encouraging Marl, but Marl brushed it off lightly.

“Most girls don’t aim for something that extreme. Don’t lump me in with you.”