"Then we shall now begin Academy Arasis's 217th sports festival!"
A booming voice rang out through the gymnasium speakers.
Along with the applause of countless people, several invited dignitaries gave formal opening addresses.
During that time, Princess Sia looked over the pamphlet and said,
"It begins with the first-year swordsmanship match."
At that, Trine, who was beside her, shifted his arm in its cast and said,
"I will be returning to my class soon. Will you be all right on your own until then?"
"Do not worry. No one besides you knows I am here, Trine."
"Hahaha..."
No, Prince Sirean had already found out.
Princess Sia clearly knew that too and was pretending not to.
Besides, she was a princess in name and reality. Was it really all right to leave her alone just because of recognition-obscuring magic?
While Trine worried somewhat, the announcer happened to shout,
"Then, in a moment, the first-year swordsmanship tournament will begin!"
Trine rose from his seat.
"I will be back."
"Make sure you show me something impressive, all right?"
"I am injured, so please do not expect too much."
***
The swordsmanship event was three-on-three mock combat.
The knight department against the shooting department.
The swordsmanship department against the magic department.
After that, the winning departments would face each other.
In the end, of course, the knight department and swordsmanship department would win and hold the final match.
In fact, the match against the shooting department was one-sided.
Jize alone had knocked down all of the opposing students with his halberd.
Leaving aside why a weapon that combined a spear and an axe had been approved for "swordsmanship."
"Hahaha! This is the true strength of the knight department!"
To be honest, Trine was a little surprised by Jize's performance.
As a demonkin, his physical abilities were superior, but despite his delinquent personality, it was clear that he had not neglected his training.
So Trine obediently accepted Jize's high five and said,
"Not bad."
"I showed you something unsightly before, so I have to make up for it."
"Good thing there wasn't anyone holding that holy relic or whatever this time."
"I'm telling you, it's strange that someone had something that bizarre in the first place."
In any case, Trine's team returned to the waiting room amid cheers from the other knight department students.
As Lizbette sat on a bench, she said to Trine and Jize,
"The real fight starts now. If we look only at skill, the swordsmanship department is certainly above us."
Looking at their past records, the knight department had only a ten percent chance of victory.
On top of that, since the swordsmanship department was mostly made up of commoners, there was a high chance they would abandon any spirit of chivalry and resort to underhanded tricks.
As proof, they had already been caught once by that boy named Ark.
Lizbette stared intently at Trine's arm and said,
"I will apologize once again. I truly have no excuse."
"I told you, it's fine. I've heard it so many times that I'm sick of it now."
"Those cowardly bastards. I will make sure we beat them."
Lizbette took a deep breath, then asked the two of them,
"As we discussed yesterday, Jize and I will attack together and take down the weakest opponent first."
At that, Trine gripped the training sword he had borrowed from the Academy and said,
"I'll do as planned and run around drawing attention while pretending to chant the magic sword spell."
Originally, magic was not approved in swordsmanship matches.
However, it could be permitted under the condition that "the magic sword does not leave the hand."
Even so, since he was injured, summoning a sword would not make him much of a fighting force.
In that case, it was better to use the fact that his opponents would try to interrupt the chant itself.
Just then, the announcer's shout came from the speaker.
"Victory goes to the swordsmanship department! In ten minutes, the final match between the knight department and the swordsmanship department will be held, so each team should prepare!"
***
When Trine and the others went back onto the stage, they doubted their own eyes.
All three swordsmanship department students had tied their left arms with rope.
At that ridiculous sight, which seemed to be imitating Trine's cast, Lizbette narrowed her eyes and asked,
"What are you doing?"
At that, the male student from yesterday, Ark, stepped forward and answered,
"An apology for yesterday's incident, and a handicap."
At that, Lizbette smiled in satisfaction and asked again,
"Do you have any rope left?"
"Of course. I figured this would happen, so I prepared enough for you too."
In the end, even Lizbette and Jize began tying their own left arms, despite no one asking them to.
Thanks to that, the audience seemed to get excited as well, and thunderous cheers rang out from all over.
While the two students tied their arms, Trine approached Ark and sneered quietly.
"This is all part of your plan too, isn't it?"
At that, Ark smiled wickedly and replied,
"Why are you making baseless accusations?"
"On our side, there's a greatsword and a halberd that requires both hands. On your side, all three of you use one-handed swords. Is it really baseless?"
"Oh~ I didn't expect you to notice that much."
At that, Trine suddenly laughed once and said,
"You got us. You're pretty smart."
"You have a pretty cool personality too. I thought you'd definitely resent me."
"I prefer crafty guys over people who go on about chivalry for no reason."
"You were a commoner too, right? If we had been in the same department, we might have become pretty close."
"I agree."
In truth, Trine had become a baron that morning, but at the moment, Trine had forgotten that fact.
When Lizbette and Jize stood in place with their arms tied, the referee shouted,
"Then ready!"
At that shout, the knight department students tensed and took their stances.
But the swordsmanship department students did the opposite and did not take any stance.
Ark shouted to Trine,
"We'll wait long enough for you to summon your sword!"
Trine frowned once and asked,
"Are you serious?"
"We've already won anyway, so giving you that much of a chance doesn't matter, does it?"
After thinking for a moment, Trine asked the referee,
"There are no particular restrictions on the size or shape of the magic sword, correct?"
"As long as you do not let go of it, it does not matter."
Ark snorted.
It was common knowledge that one could freely control the size of a magic sword.
Since it had no weight, the larger it was, the more advantageous it would be.
However, the larger it was, the weaker its durability became, and its mana consumption doubled.
'Whether it is big or small, an injured person like him could never defeat me, the strongest in the swordsmanship department.'
Ark had allowed Trine to summon his sword simply as a performance.
If he could defeat Trine, who had been pointlessly famous lately,
Ark would surely be able to steal his reputation and become the Academy's hero.
The referee shouted,
"Begin!"
Trine put down the sword he had been holding, then raised his right hand above his head.
"Though the flesh may decay, chivalry shall be eternal. Sword of the dead, answer my will."
A magic sword appeared above Trine's hand.
At that, Ark, who stood across from Trine, backed away in panic.
"What? W-Wait... No..."
Of course he was surprised.
What Trine had summoned was an extra-large sword over ten meters tall.
A gigantic magic sword that gave off a faint blue light.
The sight of Trine holding it in one hand was no different from a hero out of a fairy tale.
Needless to say, the audience went wild.
"This year's top student in the knight department really is different!"
"Isn't that the Trine everyone's been talking about lately?"
"Hurry up and take a picture of that!"
Trine grinned and said,
"Then here I come."
The giant sword began falling toward Ark.
Ark calmly raised his head and focused his gaze on the magic sword's blade.
"Trying to show off with a shallow bluster!"
Ark struck the magic sword with all his might using his own sword.
As expected, the magic sword shattered and vanished easily, like glass.
"As I thought, it was just bluf- Guh!"
Suddenly, a tremendous impact struck Ark below the waist.
Trine had stealthily picked the practice sword back up and hurled it at him.
Ordinarily, with Ark's skill, it would have been a surprise attack he could have dodged easily.
But because his attention had been taken by the magic sword, he had failed to notice it.
In the end, Ark crouched and sank down while clutching that place with both hands.
"You cowardly bastard..."
Trine leisurely approached Ark and said,
"I know I'm a coward, so I don't really care."
After kicking Ark hard enough to knock him over,
Trine looked down at him and said,
"But you don't have the right to call me cowardly, do you?"
In the end, Ark fainted.
His plan to steal Trine's fame had instead made Trine stand out even more.
Trine sighed once and shouted,
"Jize! Lizbette! Take down the one on the left first!"
Only then did the other students, who had been spacing out for a moment, begin moving.
Lizbette and Jize charged at the swordsmanship department student on the left at the same time.
"We follow the plan!"
"Okay!"
Trine charged alone toward the swordsmanship department student on the left.
Then he slammed into him with his whole body.
Thanks to that, the two of them fell over together with a loud crash.
"You'll have to lie down quietly with me!"
Trine slipped his own arm into the rope tied around the male student's arm.
"You bastard!"
The male student struggled, but since they were tied together by the rope, he could not shake Trine off.
In the end, Lizbette and Jize attacked together and subdued one opponent in an instant.
The student Trine was holding onto was left alone, so he declared surrender.
At the same time, the announcer's powerful voice rang throughout the entire gymnasium.
"A comeback victory for the knight department! With this, the winner of this year's swordsmanship event is the knight department!"
***
Trine, Lizbette, and Jize received an enthusiastic baptism from the other knight department students.
They hit them hard on the back without permission or ruffled their hair wildly.
And who was the bastard who sneakily poured water on his head in the middle of all that?
In the end, only after quite some time was Trine released and able to return to the noble spectator seats.
When Trine found the seat where Princess Sia was, he stood there for a while and stared blankly at her.
At that, Princess Sia smiled and said,
"Welcome back. This time, you recognized me properly and found me."
Only then did Trine recognize Princess Sia and sit beside her.
"...Recognition-obscuring magic is incredible."
Princess Sia teased him and said,
"For someone who looked unmotivated, you performed wonderfully, did you not?"
"My opponent was just careless."
"I would like to praise you more, but I will hold back. They say if you only praise your husband, it will spoil his habits later, after all."
"Hahaha. What a funny joke."
"Then since I have seen everything I wanted to see, will you take me outside and give me a tour of the Academy?"
"Prince Sirean's shooting tournament is soon."
"I do not need to see Brother looking unsightly."
Trine asked with a dumbfounded face,
"What exactly did you come here to do?"
"Because I am interested in you, Trine."
"Please stop. I do not really like jokes like that."
"Why do you think it is a joke?"
Princess Sia subtly laid her hand over the back of Trine's hand as she spoke.
"I have less than a year left to live anyway, do I not? So do not think of it as cheating. Just enjoy it, Trine."
Trine roughly shook off that hand.
It was not that he disliked Princess Sia making advances toward him.
Rather, he did not like the princess's attitude, as though she had given up on everything.
"Please stop for real. Even I have limits to my patience."
"Oh my, there is no need for you to hold back. Right now, I am only your younger cousin, am I not?"
"Then I will say it clearly."
Trine rose from his seat.
Then he roughly grabbed Princess Sia by the shoulders and said,
"Do not live recklessly just because you are going to die soon. Doing this will only make you suffer more."
Only after saying that did Trine begin to regret it.
No matter what, he had said something this harsh to a princess.
Now all that remained was for him to be executed...
But for some reason, Princess Sia instead seemed to feel better. She suddenly laughed and said,
"After acting so cool, that is all you can manage as an insult?"
"What? Um..."
"Still, thank you for saying that to me. As expected, coming here today was the right choice."
As Trine opened and closed his mouth without being able to reply,
Princess Sia stood up again with a little heave and said,
"No matter how much you dislike me, a promise is a promise, yes? So you must escort me until the end today."
***
In the end, Trine was dragged out of the gymnasium with Princess Sia.
Trine deliberately walked only around boring places and gave her a halfhearted tour.
"This is the training field."
"It is a wonderful size, fitting for the Academy's standards!"
"This is the knight department building."
"It looks even more wonderful when I think that you take classes here every day, Trine."
"This is the backyard."
"Students must have forbidden romances here, yes? Just like you and me, Trine."
"...Is this fun?"
"Very much."
Now he was so dumbfounded that he did not even feel like getting angry.
When Trine glared at Princess Sia, she smiled brightly and said,
"I am a little hungry. Is there a decent restaurant inside the Academy?"
"Then let us go to the cafeteria togeth-"
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, five knights in gleaming armor appeared and surrounded them.
One of the knights forcibly separated Princess Sia from Trine and shouted,
"Princess! Please step back!"
For the first time, Princess Sia made a displeased expression and asked,
"What is this all of a sudden? Whose orders are these?"
At that, the oldest-looking among the armored knights stepped forward and shouted,
"My orders! How dare some horse-bone nobody who crawled in from who-knows-where try to seduce my daughter!"
As he said that, he abruptly drew his sword.
"Eh... Surely not..."
Trine recognized who he was at a glance.
King Siandar, the king of the Altoria Kingdom.
Trine quickly moved away from Princess Sia and shouted,
"U-Um, this is a misunderstanding!"
"Do not be ridiculous! You must be the one called Trine!"
The king, utterly worked up, took his stance and shouted,
"Draw your sword at once! I shall personally challenge you to a duel!"
Trine looked around in a panic.
Among the knights, no one stopped the king.
In the end, he appealed to Princess Sia for help with his eyes, but...
"If Trine wins, you will acknowledge him as my fiancé, yes?"
What was she saying now?
The king's face turned completely red, and he shouted at Trine, spitting as he spoke.
"Very well! But if I win, that bastard will be executed on the spot!"
Trine stepped back and replied,
"No, I, how could I possibly dare duel His Majesty-"
"Since you are a noble now, you cannot refuse a duel, can you?!"
At those words, chills ran down Trine's entire body.
Could all of this have been Princess Sia's plan?
The fact that she had suddenly appointed Trine as a noble.
The fact that she had brought Trine outside during the sports festival.
The situation fit together far too perfectly to call it coincidence.
When he looked at Princess Sia, she quietly mouthed, "Good luck."
"Die!"
The king abruptly raised his sword and charged at Trine.
Trine hurriedly took the grimoire from inside his clothes.
The new grimoire he had received from Princess Sia the day before yesterday,
'The Bremen Town Musicians.'
As he opened the book, he murmured,
"I am not responsible for what happens afterward."