How fearsome can an environment be?
Those who know, know it well.
A noble’s child who pretends to be upright for a hundred days needs only to roll around the poor districts for a month or two to develop a fierce character; and someone who has lived their entire life as a commoner, the moment they obtain sudden wealth and enter high society, begins to lift their nose for no reason.
People can never escape the influence of their environment, and there is no one who remains eternally unchanged.
Dereck also knew this deep down, yet when it came to Siern, he held a certainty that was difficult to put into words.
That girl, as if she embodied the white snow piled up on the wasteland, would never forget the metallic scent of blood engraved in her heart—such a conviction.
Siern was that steadfast, and in fact, throughout all the time she learned magic, she never abandoned that bestial temperament.
By this point, even strolling through Ebelstein’s society, wouldn’t that distinctive edge grow dull?
That was what he had thought.
However, Dereck had gravely underestimated the powerful influence of romantic affection.
Falling in love is a sensation etched into humanity as instinct; just as hunger comes when one does not eat and sleep comes when one does not sleep, it is a feeling that arises naturally.
Moreover, that romantic sensitivity is contagious, so when playing the role of a young lady in Ebelstein’s society, one inevitably becomes steeped in it.
Even a girl who has lived nothing but a life bathed in blood can spread rosy wings of reverie.
No one would call that a sin.
At the very least, the image of Siern sitting beside Dereck, nervously twisting her hands, looked less like that of an assassin and more like that of an ordinary girl, embarrassed.
What would Melverot think upon seeing this, he who wished for Siern to live as an ordinary noble?
It was impossible to predict.
But generally speaking, a father’s gaze toward the man who has stolen his daughter’s heart cannot be called friendly, even as a courtesy.
“Dereck… hey… can I take your hand just once?”
Siern, her face completely red as if she had made a momentous declaration, made one doubt whether she truly was the beast of the north who killed with empty eyes and bathed in blood.
She, destined to commit murder with indifference and walk along paths soaked in red.
Melverot’s wish that she somehow become an ordinary noble was being fulfilled, but in a direction different from what he had imagined.
“…”
In the brief instant when Dereck closed and opened his eyes, he passed through a span of deliberation that, to his perception, was equivalent to eons.
Judging by how she was, Siern did not even seem to clearly understand what the feeling she harbored actually was.
Would it be better to raise a clear, decisive wall, or to adopt a mature attitude and accept that fleeting emotion, then let it flow away?
“I thought something like this would happen someday.”
Dereck was the standard-bearer of ladies’ education, the most famous instructor in Ebelstein.
Even among his disciples, each one was capable of shaking the entire nobility.
But working surrounded by women, situations like this were bound to occur.
Affection between master and disciple can be beautiful and noble, but over time, it sometimes tries to transform into something between a man and a woman.
He had thought that when that time came, he would have to handle it well, but he had never set a concrete guideline.
And it is natural to imagine, “What do I do if a student falls deeply in love with me?”
—such a narcissistic and unpleasant thought that it is embarrassing just to have it.
There is a limit even to excessive self-awareness.
No one could reproach him for having postponed this concern out of naïveté or lack of reflection.
Even so, now he had to respond.
Siern Alaina Rochester was, in a sense, an extremely fortunate person as a mage, protected and loved by two six-star mages.
But excessive paternal love sometimes becomes a thorn.
Dereck did not feel capable of enduring the piercing gazes of two six-star mages, capable of incinerating an entire region with a flick of a finger.
He swallowed and spoke in a lower, restrained tone.
“Lady Siern.”
“I-I’m sorry… Dereck. I said something very strange, didn’t I? Lately I have too many useless thoughts and… sometimes I speak without thinking…”
Siern suddenly hugged her knees, reddening all the way to her ears, and began fanning her face, unable to bear the heat.
Her voice, as always, remained cold and calm, like snow falling in silence.
She rarely became agitated or made a fuss.
Even so, now she avoided his gaze.
She did not try to run away or awkwardly change the subject.
With a reaction like that, Dereck could not pretend indifference and let it pass.
Ignoring a young woman’s affection while secretly enjoying her interest was not an option for him.
Dereck was a straightforward man.
But if someone fell in love with a person like that, they had to be prepared to receive a direct question.
“Lady Siern, do you have feelings for me?”
“Hiiek…!”
Siern did not have the ability to take such a frontal blow.
The question struck her squarely in the chest; no physical damage, but her breathing was blocked.
Even so, her animal instinct managed to react.
“O-of course I like you! You’re the one who took me out of the tower where I was locked away!”
“I don’t mean that, but feelings between a man and a woman. In society, people talk a lot about that sort of thing, don’t they?”
“H-hi-hiiik!”
In a way, Dereck was being cruel.
Maintaining an ambiguous stance and letting everything blur away is cruel; but being this direct is cruel as well.
Even so, expressing one’s own will clearly and cleanly is the best thing for both parties.
It was evident that he was acting this way out of consideration for Siern.
In relationships between men and women, it is said that the one who falls in love first loses.
If it was unfair to take the blow, perhaps one should not have fallen in love.
Even if it was unfair to Siern, that was reality.
“If you think that way, then I can’t take it lightly either…”
“W-what are you saying, Dereck? You have excessive self-awareness too! If you talk like that, you put me in a bind…!”
No matter how seasoned in blood she was, in these matters she was still inexperienced.
Interrupting him with a trembling voice and jumping to her feet was practically a confession.
Of course, she was not aware of it.
Her mind, overloaded, had no space to process anything else.
“T-this… I’m very confused, so… I-I’ll go rest for a bit… No, about the self-awareness and all that… sorry, no, do I have to apologize? Or not? I don’t know… Anyway, that’s not it, no…”
“Lady Siern, please go and rest.”
“You don’t have to tell me, I’ll do it! And you, train magic properly!”
With that, Siern left almost as if fleeing, pressing her cheeks.
Dereck remained seated, lifting his gaze to watch the snow fall softly once more.
Whatever happened from here on out depended entirely on Siern.
***
The next day, murderous intent had gathered in the eyes of Kalimford, who stood in the training field.
He looked as though he had spent the night sunk in deep anguish.
Just by seeing his expression, Dereck immediately understood the situation.
In fact, after witnessing Siern’s naïve and transparent reaction, not realizing it would have been stranger.
She believed she was hiding her feelings, but in truth, it was useless.
First love makes people transparent.
“Let us begin today’s training.”
From Kalimford, who always seemed to transcend reality, there now emanated a peculiar seriousness.
Dereck knew it by instinct.
The battle about to begin would be tinged with personal emotions.
‘…’
It was unfair to earn that kind of resentment.
Dereck had done nothing wrong.
And Kalimford knew that too, which was why he neither scolded nor accused him of anything.
However, emotions do not always walk hand in hand with reason.
The atmosphere Kalimford exuded, as if he wished to personally verify the true nature of the man who had “bewitched” his daughter, made him seem like someone without blood or tears.
For Dereck, the situation felt strange, as if he had asked for his daughter’s hand without realizing it.
Even so, he could not say it was entirely bad.
The reason was somewhat complicated.
Wham!
Whoosh!
Graaah!
Dragging the tip of his staff across the ground, Kalimford traversed the training field with his characteristic posture.
There were no chants nor visible gestures, yet spells flew mercilessly.
It was so fast that following them with the eyes was impossible.
It did not feel as though the spells were flying toward him, but rather as if they were springing directly from the air.
Even for Dereck, whose mastery of detection magic already surpassed that of many advanced mages, it was absurdly fast.
For an ordinary mage, reacting would have been impossible.
Whoosh!
Wham!
Dereck drew his longsword with one hand and held a dagger in a reverse grip with the other as he evaded.
Blocking everything was impossible.
Kalimford’s mana control was completely beyond conventional rules.
Just facing him made the air turn suffocating.
The pressure was even greater than on the first day of training.
This time, Dereck could feel it clearly.
There were emotions mixed into every attack.
‘So up until now he had been holding back—of course, from the start it was absurd to think a six-star mage would use his true power against me.’
Amid those lethal spells, Dereck felt excitement run down his spine.
There was still so much left to learn.
He could raise his magical level even further.
That intoxicating pleasure he felt whenever he faced a deadly crisis began to envelop him.
Facing a six-star mage, he did not feel crushed by the pressure.
On the contrary, his desire to climb higher burned even more fiercely.
He was the type of person who found pleasure in absorbing magic itself.
Normally, six-star mages feel an enormous weight of responsibility for their power.
Even in training bouts, they rarely show their true strength.
But now, every strike from Kalimford carried a clear and heavy intent.
If he did not evade or deflect it, the damage would be real.
There was confidence that Dereck could endure it—but there was also a subtle hostility.
Thinking of it that way might be inappropriate, but—
Hadn’t Siern been an excellent difficulty regulator?
That thought crossed his mind as a delicious tension ran through his arms.
It was not common for a six-star mage to take a duel this seriously.
It was practically a real battle.
Every exchange was new.
These were not clumsy attacks like those of magical beasts, but calculated blows, anticipating each of Dereck’s movements and striking at his openings.
‘Every time I deflect one, I gain a new understanding.’
‘Definitely, only when facing an enemy with clear hostility… can you learn this much…’
An avalanche of knowledge struck his mind.
Mana arrows, shockwaves, earth upheavals, mana blades, golem summons, illusions, freezing.
Magic from one star to four stars assaulted him in countless forms.
Even the simplest spells contained a different depth.
Amid all of that, Dereck felt his gaze reach something higher.
‘If I extend my hand, I might reach it.’
In the midst of that torrent of experience, a secret zone he had never been able to touch seemed within reach.
Extend your hand.
Even if it seems impossible, if you extend it, you will touch it.
With only four-star magic, he could never surpass the maturity of that mage.
He needed to reach a new domain.
Thunk!
A massive ice lance slammed into the ground to Dereck’s right.
Whoosh!
Flash!
Wham!
His eyes flew wide open.
The attack had come from a direction he had not perceived at all.
It was a technique that used the opponent’s mana against them.
He had believed he had understood it completely.
But for Kalimford, that level of control was merely the basics.
‘Confusion magic at least… five stars…’
Perception Adjustment, five-star confusion magic.
A spell that directly interferes with the opponent’s magical perception, making certain types of magic not even be recognized.
It was an unfair spell that guaranteed victory in almost any duel, and one that only another five-star mage could counter.
Dereck had thought Kalimford mastered confusion at the four-star level.
But he had already reached the five-star domain.
It was a level beyond the human.
‘Maybe… I can do it…’
Dereck’s eyes shone.
Since the time he learned magic with Katia, confusion had been one of his specialties.
Perhaps he could imitate even a fraction of a five-star magic.
In the midst of that brutal duel, a boundary that seemed reachable appeared before him.
And in that instant—
Wham!
Squish!
Blood burst violently from the ice lance deeply embedded.
His vision blurred.
Even if it was training, the wound was far too severe.
The amount of blood gushing out was not normal.
The world seemed to sway.
Dereck fell to his knees and braced one hand against the ground.
“Haah…! Ngh…”
“…!”
For the first time, Kalimford’s face filled with dismay.
Dereck’s response had been too skillful.
He had raised the level again and again until crossing the line.
He had assumed he would endure that as well.
‘Damn it…’
Blood soaked the ground.
Though the desire to learn still burned in his eyes, his body no longer responded.
Even so, Dereck clenched his teeth and tried to stand.
He had to materialize what he had understood.
That obsession bordering on madness for magic made him ignore even the blood pouring out.
“Cough… cough…! I can still… still…”
His will to continue fighting, even covered in blood, seemed monstrous.
A red gleam ignited in his eyes.
But his consciousness was beginning to fade.
“Medical team! Bring the medical team!”
Seeing him on his knees, bleeding without stopping, the servants rushed in en masse.
The maids came out sweating cold, the attendants moved frantically.
The training field, once silent, filled with murmurs.
Kalimford was about to say something when—
“Dereck!”
A familiar shout echoed from a corner.
When everyone turned, the girl was already running toward the field.
“Dereck! Dereck! Are you okay?! The bleeding… it’s too much!”
With a pale face, Siern threw herself toward him upon seeing the nearly fatal wound.
In Dereck’s eyes, the will to reach what he had seen still burned, but his body no longer obeyed.
Little by little, he collapsed to his knees, losing strength.
“Dereck…! Quickly…! Move him immediately!”
Holding the wound in desperation, Siern urged the servants on.
The most experienced began to move with precision, bringing stretchers and applying first aid.
The wound was absurdly deep.
Too deep to be the result of mere training.
Then Siern turned her head and looked at Kalimford.
In her cold eyes was reflected the same implacable ice of the northern lands.
“…………”
The legendary hero who had saved the kingdom was drenched in cold sweat.
Never in his life had he sweated so much.
