Fran stepped onto the training ground and lightly greeted his opponent.
"It's been a while, Sir Razly."
"It has, Young Master."
Razly gave him a faint smile and an endlessly warm look.
Although Fran was his lord's younger brother, the two of them had gone out to play together every day as children.
"I won't go easy on you."
"......Okay."
That concluded their greeting.
They were facing each other not as the family knight and the youngest young master, but as opponents in a duel.
'The Sir Razly I know is.......'
He was such a stickler for rules and principles that he suffocated everyone around him.
The way he would carry out his lord's orders even at the cost of his life could have served as a textbook for knights.
That was why Fran swallowed hard, his expression tense.
'It's customary in duels like this to let the weaker party attack three times first, but.......'
It would be difficult to expect that sort of consideration from such a stickler.
Fran gauged the distance between them by eye.
'5 meters.'
His first priority was to widen the distance as much as possible.
"Begin."
The instant the word left Gran's mouth.
Fran summoned the wind and retreated a great distance.
TAP—! Just before he would have lost by leaving the ring, he planted his feet at the very edge of the training ground and fixed his eyes on his opponent.
'I've put 20 meters between us. Perfect.'
Naturally, the more that distance narrowed, the more disadvantageous it would be for him.
A mage who had only just reached Level 4 could not face a Level 5 knight at close range.
So his best option was to settle the duel before the distance closed.
"Here I come."
Razly murmured softly as he slowly lowered his sword, and mana rose around him.
At the same time, his entire bearing changed.
He gave off the aura of a predator ready to tear apart the opponent before him at any moment.
"......!"
For an instant, it seemed as though the air above the training ground had grown heavy.
This was the pressure radiated by a Level 5 Enhancement System knight.
As the cold pressure brushed his skin, Fran's body began to tremble like aspen leaves.
'Was Sir Razly always that big?'
No, he only looked that way because of his overwhelming presence.
If anything, Fran was slightly taller.
'Damn, my body won't move.'
Don't be afraid. He had already told himself that dozens of times before stepping onto the training ground.
Yet his fear-frozen body would not twitch, like a mouse placed before a viper.
Nothing but terror filled his mind.
'Damn.'
The moment fear seized him, the first thought that came to mind was the urge to run away.
After all, he had always been a coward who did nothing but run.
"......."
It was not even difficult.
One step. If he took just one step backward and pretended it was a mistake, this fear and pressure would scatter like the wind.
'But.'
Then nothing would change.
Having given up countless times before, he knew that better than anyone.
What awaited those who fled was not comforting freedom, but regret that clung to them at every turn.
"......Heh."
A hollow laugh escaped Fran before he knew it.
His back still burned where he had been struck just before stepping onto the training ground.
'Just how hard did he hit me?'
But thanks to that, his head cleared.
'Let's do this.'
Even if he clashed with Razly and shattered, even if he tried and failed.
He would not run away anymore.
The look in Fran's eyes changed the instant he made his decision, and he bit down hard on his lip.
He smelled the tang of blood, felt a sharp sting, and sensed control of his body returning.
"Wind Blade."
WHOOSH—!
Two sharp blades of wind rushed toward Razly.
"......!"
CLANG, CLANG—!
Razly instinctively knocked them aside, and his gaze wavered slightly.
'......Dual Casting? No, more importantly, he scattered my pressure?'
A faint smile momentarily formed on his lips.
'You've certainly grown.'
He found it immensely admirable and was proud of Fran, but he had no intention of going easy on him.
To a knight, his lord's command was absolute law.
"Hup!"
CLANG, CLANG—!
Razly's eyes and body began moving busily.
The two wind blades pressed him from angles ordinary swordsmen could never achieve.
'This must be what it feels like to face the Sword Control Art used by the masters of the eastern nations.'
Of course, these swords were probably incomparably slower, rougher, and clumsier than the true Sword Control Art.
But the fact that a Level 4 mage could reproduce anything similar was already an absurd feat.
'Still, that's enough spectating.'
CLANG—! Razly shook off both blades in an instant and charged at Fran.
The wind blades hurriedly chased him, but could not keep up with his speed.
Fran boldly dispersed them and completed a new spell.
『Gust Hand』
A gigantic hand of wind surged up from the ground, then dropped forward and crushed down on Razly.
The spell was composed of gale-force winds powerful enough to crush an ordinary person to death. And yet.
BOOM—!
Razly tore it apart as if it were nothing and accelerated once more.
'As expected, even a powerful spell won't work if its preliminary motion is too large and crude.'
He incorporated what he had learned in battle into his tactics in real time.
Fran's hands moved busily.
『Wild Leaf』
A hundred or so leaves made of wind appeared in the air.
Each and every one of them carried a razor edge.
Razly carefully observed them while continuing his charge.
'You seem intent on stopping my charge at any cost. And yet.'
After taking in the position of every vicious leaf, Razly tightened his grip on his sword.
'This isn't enough, Young Master.'
WHOOSH—!
Razly leaped without hesitation into the perilous space where a mere graze could tear his skin.
Every swing of his sword produced a flash, and the leaves of wind shattered and scattered.
"Ugh!"
Fran frowned as he watched.
Only 7 meters remained between them.
Given Razly's speed, Fran could prepare at most one more spell.
"No."
Just then, as though he had read that thought.
Razly's eyes shone coldly as he pronounced judgment.
"The duel is over."
He gave Fran no chance to cast another spell.
As if to demonstrate that he had not yet shown everything, Razly reinforced his body with mana and grew even faster.
"......!"
Fran's eyes widened at the sudden change in speed.
WHOOSH—!
Razly closed the distance in an instant and reached for his necklace.
-Listen carefully to what I'm about to say.
Oscar's whispered voice from just before the match flashed through his mind.
-I implanted a wind spirit in you to compensate for your mana control, but you still can't turn your body into wind at will. You haven't completely overcome your trauma.
-......Then I have no choice but to lose?
-Of course not. From what I've seen, Wind Lord is a truly outrageous spell.
The ability to turn part of one's body into wind was extraordinarily powerful.
Physical attacks did not work, so anyone unable to use magic or sword aura could not even fight its user.
However, the most fascinating aspect of 'Wind Lord' in Oscar's eyes lay elsewhere entirely.
-Assimilation. That's the truly outrageous part.
No matter what clothes the caster wore or what object he held.
As long as it was 'touching' his body, he could turn even that object into wind.
That was the most absurd aspect of Wind Lord in Oscar's opinion.
-In a duel, both sides always keep their final move hidden. Your opponent will probably reveal something only at the very end too. He might drastically increase his speed, for example.
That would be the turning point.
The instant his opponent let down his guard and sank into the illusion that he had won.
-Your necklace will turn into wind and disappear.
WHOOSH—!
The instant Razly's hand closed around Fran's necklace.
"......!"
His hand grasped only a cool breeze, while the necklace around his own neck was ripped away instead.
Naturally, it was Fran's pale hand that held it.
***
Just before the duel began, Gran Sirius sat in the spectator stands with a complicated look in his eyes.
'......He actually became a Level 4 mage.'
What sort of magic had that guy Oscar performed in a single night?
Gran glanced sideways at Oscar, who sat beside him, and asked.
"You didn't force his growth with some sort of forbidden magic, did you?"
"If you're referring to Fran, I used an exceptionally safe and wholesome method, so you needn't worry."
"......As if I'm worried."
Gran gave a cold laugh and focused on the duel that was about to begin.
He carefully engraved every spell Fran cast into his memory.
'Not bad.'
He had grown considerably.
When Fran had first learned magic and shown him one thing after another, he had been a little brat with a constantly runny nose.
Now he had grown gallant, using all kinds of dazzling magic and fighting Sir Razly on equal footing.
'But that's all.'
Fran, his younger brother, was not naturally suited to the profession of mage.
It was a matter of personality, not talent.
'Your weakness. Your excessive compassion for others. Those things will devour you one day.'
It might have been acceptable if he were a theoretical mage, but Gran could not overlook it when Fran had chosen the path of a combat mage.
His younger brother was not the sort of person who belonged on a battlefield.
'All you'll gain there are wounds and regret. No, perhaps.......'
He might die before gaining even those things.
With that bleak future so plainly visible, Gran had no reason not to bring his brother back.
'You'll be better off quietly running a company.'
The position of director at a major gallery would preserve his dignity well enough.
That guy might lack other qualities, but he had the best eye for goods in the entire family.
With a job like that, he would not get hurt somewhere or make his family worry.
'......And you wouldn't be foolish enough to let your own magic devour you ever again.'
The duel raced toward its conclusion during Gran's brief reverie.
Only 12 meters separated the two men.
Knowing how quickly Razly could ordinarily move, Gran was certain.
'It's over.'
His knight would not even give Fran a chance to complete his final spell.
He would perfectly carry out Gran's order to crush Fran thoroughly.
And that prediction became reality.
"The duel is over."
At the final moment, Razly revealed the speed he had hidden and approached Fran before he could react.
Then, WHOOSH—!
The instant Razly tried to tear away his opponent's necklace.
"......!"
Fran turned the necklace into wind and tore away Razly's necklace instead.
"Hoho, the match has been decided."
The Vice Tower Master, who had been watching the match, spoke.
He turned his head, looked at Gran standing bolt upright, and asked.
"Do you accept the result?"
"......."
Gran could not even answer the question, and his eyes trembled.
'That magic is.......'
His youngest brother's Unique System spell.
That strange magic, which turned parts of his body into wind, should have become a terrible trauma for him.
'I was told he'd never be able to use that spell again?'
He had heard that directly when he visited 'Vesalius Silva', a famous magical therapist in the capital.
He had said that 99% of mages threatened with annihilation of existence never overcame that fear for the rest of their lives.
'Then that means.......'
Oscar Crucian.
He must have played some important role in helping Fran overcome his trauma.
After choosing his words for a moment, Gran slowly nodded.
"......I concede defeat."
Having accepted the result without complaint, he turned his gaze toward Oscar.
"Should I congratulate you? You'll be living with that pathetic fool for another 2 years."
"Don't be too disappointed. I'll take good care of Fran."
"......As if I'm disappointed. I've got a busy schedule ahead, so I'll take my leave."
As he left the training ground, he passed the hesitant Fran and paused for a moment.
Then he murmured briefly.
"You've grown a little."
"......What?"
"If you didn't hear me, forget it."
Fran stared for a long time at his brother's back as Gran disappeared without looking back.
Oscar watched the scene from afar and chuckled.
'That guy is funny too. Pretending he didn't hear.'
If Fran truly hadn't heard Gran, would his eyes be curved into such lovely crescents?
He looked as though he might die of happiness.
***
Gran Sirius climbed through the door opened by the chauffeur and into the back seat of a luxurious black sedan.
The middle-aged man already seated in the back spoke without looking up from his newspaper.
"You came alone."
"It turned out that way."
Gran continued with a hollow laugh, as though he still could not believe the outcome.
"You must be disappointed. You even carved time out of your busy schedule to see the youngest."
"Ahem."
The leader of the Sirius Merchant Company and head of the Sirius family.
Adam Sirius cleared his throat.
"......I merely had some free time and stopped by, so don't attach any grand meaning to it. Let's go."
VROOM. The car began to travel down the road without the slightest vibration.
After staring out the window for a moment, Gran spoke.
"You remember how some petty noble in the capital once called Fran an ugly duckling, don't you?"
It had been a thoughtless joke from a noble who found Fran less capable than his siblings.
When their enraged father cut off every supply of food and daily necessities to that noble's territory, the man had come crawling back to beg abjectly. Fran did not know that, of course.
"Why bring that up now?"
"Because I thought the youngest might be a gosling rather than a duckling."
"......A goose? Not a swan?"
"Yes. A goose."
Gran looked at the drifting clouds and chuckled.
"He might become a goose that lays golden eggs within 2 years."
Oscar Crucian, who was by his brother's side.
For some reason, Gran felt as though anything that guy said would actually come true.
'A flagship mage within 2 years, and the White Tower restored to its former glory within 5.'
Gran wore a dry smile and murmured as he considered investing in the White Tower.
"......The possibility is slim, but there's no harm in getting friendly ahead of time."
Identifying something whose value others had failed to see and investing in it early.
That was one of the essential abilities a merchant needed.