Mightiest Melee Magician

What choice would the thugs make after they lost their leader?

Would they fight to the death to avenge Bloody Wind Nusel?

No, definitely not.

They didn’t have the will, the mentality, nor the courage to fight.

And they had fooled themselves into thinking the superiority they felt when moving in numbers reflected their true skills.

“R-run away!”

The only choice the remaining thugs could make was obviously to run away, and this was also the wisest choice.

Neither me nor Hansen, who had grown to new heights through this experience, wouldn’t have shown them any mercy.

“……Fuu.”

Hansen panted as he stared at the enemies, and only after the eight remaining thugs had run out of sight did his legs give out, leaving him collapsed on the ground.

Then, he took deep breaths as he looked at the corpse of Bloody Wind Nusel with a blank look in his eyes.

“I… I killed him.”

A moment so fast even he couldn’t understand what was happening, Hansen had shown swordsmanship so precise and fast that even 3rd-rank knights would struggle to replicate it.

“H-how did I…?”

If it was with Hansen’s normal skills, his attack wouldn’t have succeeded.

No, he wouldn’t have even been able to try it.

Then, was this luck?

No.

“Congratulations.”

“……Congratulations?”

“Was it called ‘Sword Perito’? The stage where you can handle aura. I’m pretty sure I saw some blueish aura from you before, so didn’t you just reach 4th-rank?”

“……”

It was skill.

In that desperate moment when he felt that he was going to lose everything, Hansen had found that intangible blueish energy of ‘aura’.

Its appearance spoke for itself.

4th-rank.

He had reached a rank higher than the other trainee knights.

Of course, he still couldn’t freely manipulate aura yet, but no one could deny that he had shown a considerable level of growth.

“From now on, those guys won’t be able to freely mess with you or your sister again, since they clearly saw your skills today.”

At the mention of ‘sister’, Hansen got startled, hurriedly turning around before running to his sister.

“Sister! Are you ok?”

“Y-yeah…… I’m fine.”

It was very scary to see fresh blood on her neck, but since it was only a light cut, it wasn’t fatal.

The problem was Hansen.

“A-are you also ok?”

“……”

His stomach, which had been stabbed by Nusel’s dagger before, continued to spill blood.

The pain forgotten in the heat of the moment had returned, and Hansen gripped his wound, groaning.

I laid Hansen on his back.

“Let me see.”

I checked the severity of the wound, and luckily, it didn’t seem to be fatal.

“You’ll be fine. I’ll heal you.”

For an injury at this level, even if you weren’t a magician specialized in medical treatment, just a simple healing spell to close the wound should be enough if he rested up afterward.

I put my hand on the wound and cast the healing spell.

The bright white light emanating from my hand wrapped around the wound, and Hansen stopped groaning soon after, closing his eyes with an expression of comfort.

“Wh-what did you do?”

Asked his sister, getting startled when Hansen went quiet, and I replied while shrugging,

“I stopped the bleeding with healing magic and cast Sleep on him. He should wake up in about half a day.”

“Ah… What a relief.”

“Could you prepare some clean cloth and disinfectants?”

“Yes, ok!”

* * *

“What… time… is it?”

“Are you awake?”

“……”

After the sun set and the day had turned to night, Hansen woke up.

He woke up and winced for a moment from the burning pain.

…But maybe it wasn’t as painful as he thought.

He gently rubbed the wound covered by bandages and slowly stood up.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Ehm… I’m fine. Ruin, did you heal me?”

“It’s nothing.”

“I’m truly thankful. Really.”

“Yeah. You should be. Do you know how annoyed I was today?”

“……Eh?”

“By the neighborhood guards, I mean. Someone died, over ten people were injured, and so on… They’re really annoying. Haah.”

It was as I said.

Saying they had to deal with the incident, the guards came to me to probe me on what happened.

Even though I clearly told them I was defending myself, they made a fuss about putting me under arrest because someone died.

Of course, I didn’t move a single inch.

“So, what happened?

“What do you mean what happened? We had a witness, and do you think those thugs only harassed one or two people in the town? And who do you think I am? Naturally, I was deemed innocent.”

“W-well, yeah.”

“Do you think that was the end of it? Cleaning the spilt blood on the floor, moving the broken furniture. Even cleaning up the house … While you were out for the whole day, I worked my butt off.”

“Pfft…”

Hansen laughed at my joking tantrum.

“……Is it funny?”

“Ehem. Sorry.”

“No. If it’s funny, laugh.”

As I said that, I flopped back into my seat. Seeing that, Hansen let out another loud laugh.

He would pause between laughs to groan, the laugh stressing the wound in his stomach, but he continued to laugh again.

This guy… What was so funny?

Then, after a short moment of silence, Hanse spoke in a serious tone.

“……Ruin. Thank you so much. Really……”

“For what?”

“If you weren’t here, the things that happened today would’ve never happened. I wouldn’t have been able to save my sister and I wouldn’t have gotten braver. It’s all thanks to you.”

“……Hey, you’re giving me goosebumps, so stop that.”

“A-alright…”

How could I say this?

Hearing him express his gratitude like that made my whole body cringe.

But still, it warmed a corner of my heart.

What a relief.

Everything from today worked out in the end.

“Can I stay here for the night?”

“E-eh? Of course! You can stay as long as you want, be it a week or a month.”

“Nah, I need to leave tomorrow morning. My holidays are ending, and I need to get back to the Academy.”

“Ah… Right.”

“Don’t you need to go to the training center as well?”

“Yeah.”

Hansen had to return to the training center, and I had to return to the Academy.

It might’ve just been a short meeting, only lasting a day, but……

Maybe because we experienced life and death together, I felt a connection with him.

In any case, I felt deep in my bones that my relationship with these siblings wouldn’t just end here.

Since the second semester included many joint lessons with knights, it wasn’t impossible for me to meet him again sometime then.

It would always be welcoming to see Hansen and his sister again in the future.

Except…

“Food’s ready!”

“……”

I really didn’t want to eat his sister’s bland cooking again.

I instinctively reached for the salt and pepper and smiled brightly as if nothing was wrong.

“Thanks for the food.”

* * *

* * *

“……I’m back.”

Before I left Ardell, I was wishing that the break would never end.

But now that I actually returned, it felt refreshing.

I guess I really did miss the Academy.

“Oh! Ruin! It’s Ruin!”

“……”

Jason, who was running to me after noticing me from afar, Hangkus, who was aiming for my back to swiftly lift me into the air, and my peers.

I might’ve missed this rowdy atmosphere.

“Hey, grab him. Grab him.”

“……Can you let me go?”

Well, except for this meaningless parading.

After the break ended, the Academy as a whole was a bit disorderly…

But it soon returned to its normal atmosphere.

It was just the end of the holidays. The classes hadn’t changed, and neither did our professors.

We attended class like normal and went about our days.

If I was to nit-pick, something might have changed.

“What did you do on your break?”

“I went to Ruteban Island in the Majeross Ocean. It was for 16 days and 15 nights, so I really enjoyed myself there.”

“Woah, that’s nice. How about you, Jason?”

“I just drank a lot. Ooh… my stomach…”

“Looks like you drank some before getting here too.”

“I’m hungover from yesterday. I drank till morning. Hehe…”

Was it the stories we were sharing about what we did in the holidays?

I used to not even be able to join in on these conversations, but it was different this time.

I had something I could confidently talk about.

“Ruin, what did you do?”

“Me?”

What should I tell them?

The story of how I destroyed the mansion in Monzo and got 30 thousand gold?

The story of how I hung out with Irene Prius, who has the admiration of all students, for a whole month?

Or should I tell them about how I fought and defeated a werewolf and crossed South Mountain?

If not those, maybe the story of me defeating a group of thugs and saving a sibling duo?

They all had their merits, but thinking about them now, they weren’t really something I needed to talk about here.

“I trained.”

“Trained? Why would you of all people need to train?”

“……I trained swordsmanship.”

Swordsmanship.

Hearing this word, Jason instantly frowned.

“You idiot. Traditionally, a break is a few months of time where you rest your tired mind and body. Doing things you haven’t been able to do, drinking some fine wine, going on trips to faraway places. Am I right?”

“You’re right. And we already learn swordsmanship in the joint lessons with the knights this semester. Why did you go out of your way to learn it in advance? Sometimes, I can’t understand you, Ruin.”

“……”

Guys, studying before the semester starts is called being prepared.

But I knew my words would only land on deaf ears, so I stayed silent.

It was because I knew very well that Jason’s ‘play and have fun while you can’ mindset was impossible to reason with.

“This won’t do. I’ll need to use my ‘staying out ticket’ this weekend.”

“…Why so suddenly?”

“Ruin only knows training and studying. I’ll need to show him what true youth is like. How’s that, everyone?”

“Oh! That’s a great idea!”

“Isn’t it? On top of that, there’s a few things one must do at this age… Wouldn’t it be too pitiful if you graduate before doing any of it?”

“……”

Wouldn’t it be pitiful to miss out on the studying and training you have to do during your student days…?

This thought remained in my mind for a bit, but I didn’t say it out loud.

He wasn’t someone you could reason with.

“Blind date! How about a blind date?”

“Oh oh oh! Good idea!”

“My cousin is in the Radian Royal Training Center. You know it, right? That the female knights there are all seriously hot and……”

Drinking, gambling, blind dating…

As we were excitedly talking and exchanging our stories of the holidays,

“Ruin.”

someone approached me.

“……Professor.”

It was Professor Hydel.

“Could I talk to you for a minute?”

“Ah, yes.”

The professor who I hadn’t seen for a while called me out to the hallways, and I followed him, joy in my voice as I said,

“I told my father about how you were doing, and he said that he wants to see you soon. He said that, if it was hard for you to come down to Ardell, he would come up himself.”

“Alright. I’ll need to write him a letter saying I’ll come down. I do want to hear about it in more detail, but I don’t think that now’s the time.”

Professor Hydel pointed to the outside of the window.

“You have some guests.”

“Guests?”

“Yes.”

“……”

Guests as soon as the semester started again?

And hearing ‘guests’, it wasn’t just one person…

But who could they be?

——