Fatima smiled, her eyes crinkling until the pupils nearly disappeared. It made her look like an eager puppy, and Echi had a weakness for pretty things.
It was partly why she hadn't minded Fatima's persistent pestering to join her club. The main reason, of course, was that Fatima didn't let rumors sway her, she looked at Echi for who she was.
"I'm the founding president of the Wisdom Club. My instincts tell me you're going to be extraordinary. So I have to stake my claim before any other club catches on."
"I'm not sure what you see in me, Senior."
"I watch all the freshmen closely. I've seen nearly all of your duels and training sessions! I have a recruitment list, and you're number one on it! Echinacea Roaz!"
"Who else is on it?"
Echi asked with a small smile.
Fatima's face lit up and she started counting on her fingers.
"Well, the three I'm most focused on, including you, are going to be first, second, and third in the freshman ranking competition, mark my words. First there's Michael, the younger brother of Teresa von Franz Almari, the Giosa owner…"
Echi almost let her reaction show. Michael, Teresa's younger brother, was someone she knew.
The image surfaced, vivid and unwanted: a blonde knight, collapsed and weeping over the body of a boy who had looked so much like her.
Fatima, oblivious to Echi's brief stillness, continued with a bright smile.
"Then there's your roommate, Alice Winterbell! A real talent. She's in a slump right now, though."
"…A slump? Alice Winterbell?"
"You two don't exactly seem close, do you? Didn't you duel on your first day?"
Fatima tilted her head. As they walked, they were already nearing the women's dormitory. Fatima pointed toward the pine forest behind it.
"You know the Ninth Training Ground in the forest, right? Alice trains there mostly. You should go take a look, you'll understand when you see. You really should."
"Why do you think I should see it?"
"Honestly? I think Alice's slump is your fault."
The unexpected words left Echi blinking in surprise. Fatima gave a mysterious smile and pushed her lightly on the back.
"Roommates should get along! You two will hit it off, I can tell!"
Echi started to respond, but Fatima waved and jogged away.
"I gave you advice, so once you get along, you'll join Wisdom together, right? You won't let me down! I'll be waiting!"
"…"
Echi watched the braided hair disappear, then turned her gaze to the pine forest behind the dormitory.
She still felt guilty toward Alice Winterbell. She had deliberately needled her, agreed to the duel without thinking, and shown several unflattering sides of herself. She didn't fully believe that Alice's slump was her fault, but…
[Are you going to go?]
"For now, yes."
She stepped onto the forest path.
With Baraha gone, she had no squire training to return to, and the situation with Yurien had no solution until the monster subjugation.
There was nothing else to do, she had sent Nicole a telegram requesting a detailed investigation of the sword's origin, and until a reply came, the waiting was all she had.
Training for the ranking competition seemed pointless, given her actual abilities.
Sunlight fell in scattered patches through the tall pines. The deeper she went, the more the scent of the forest settled around her. The Ninth Training Ground was set off the main path, a natural clearing that blended into the trees.
The academy's training grounds were spread wide. This one, tucked away and without significant facilities, saw few visitors. The only presence nearby was one.
Unlike the other grounds, the floor here was grass mixed with weeds. At its center, a woman in a sweat-soaked white shirt was working through sword drills. Her dark blue cadet jacket hung from a nearby branch, swaying slightly in the breeze.
It would have been rude to spy on someone else's training. Echi deliberately didn't hide her footsteps as she approached. And yet Alice Winterbell, fully absorbed in her swordwork, didn't notice.
Echi stopped at the edge of the ground and watched.
Alice was swinging her sword against an imaginary opponent. The light filtering through the spruce canopy scattered across her short blonde hair. Drops of sweat flew with every arc.
Echinacea was, in every honest measure, a prodigy that felt almost unfair. She had never formally trained with a sword, had never needed to, and yet, through her natural ability and the brutal education of the cursed sword's years, she had reached a level beyond any Master.
The cursed sword moved in the most efficient way possible for slaughter.
Swordsmanship was, at its core, the most efficient way to end an opponent. Those two facts together had produced something that couldn't be taught in any academy.
So she saw immediately what was wrong with Alice, what had caused it, and how it could be corrected.
Alice's gray eyes were wandering, they had lost the precision they once held. Her sword had lost its path. And, as Fatima had said, this was Echinacea's doing.
Alice's swordsmanship had been fast, crisp, and elegant. Even from one duel, that had been clear. But now, her form had collapsed. Her posture was off. Strange, erratic movements had crept into her technique, and because they didn't fit her style, they were actively working against her strengths.
The trace left by Echinacea's sword in their duel, that blunt, seemingly styleless response, had lodged itself in Alice's body. The defeat itself, on her very first day at the academy, must have been a jarring shock.
The solution was simple. She needed to overwrite the trace and return to her own swordsmanship.
But something that had embedded itself in the body wasn't erased just by wanting to forget it. It would take Alice a long time to work through on her own.
Echinacea hesitated. It was rude to interfere with someone else's training. She wasn't a superior or a senior; they weren't close. Their relationship was, if anything, bad.
She had never formally trained anyone. Alice hadn't asked for help, and if she offered it unsolicited, Alice might well take it as an insult.
Every way she thought about it, the right answer was to leave.
Still, after a quiet sigh, Echi drew the cheap longsword at her side.
She dropped the scabbard carelessly on the ground and stepped into the range of Alice's swing, lightly catching the blade as it came toward her.
Clang.
Only then did Alice notice her. She recoiled, nearly dropping the sword, and stepped back sharply. While Alice caught her breath, Echi stood still, letting her sword hang at her side.
"…What is this, Miss Roaz?"
"Let's spar, Winterbell."
"That is the most impudent duel request I've ever received. You really..."
Alice's face tightened. Echi, who was about to do something considerably more impudent, didn't register the words. From a knightly standpoint, what she was about to do was barely an act of good faith, but she wasn't looking for gratitude or repayment.
'The quickest and most certain way to erase my trace is to replace it with something stronger.'
She raised her sword. With a mocking tilt of her mouth, she said:
"Are you afraid of losing to me again?"
The fire came immediately into Alice's gray eyes. Her eyebrows drew together. Her grip tightened.
"A knight-in-training does not fear defeat. That is not the issue."
"Then let's spar. Come on."
"Your approach is the issue! You interrupt someone training alone, deflect their sword without warning, and call it a duel?"
"Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."
"Startling me isn't even the worst part!"
"I didn't know that."
Echi blinked innocently. It was, of course, a lie. She had interrupted deliberately, to provoke her.
Politely requesting a spar would never have had the same effect. As expected, Alice's temper ignited.
"Do you really think you can become a knight? Someone without manners, without respect for the code, you're no different from a street thug!"
"I'll be more careful next time. Are we sparring or not?"
She twirled the longsword idly, showing no reverence for the weapon. Alice's face flushed with anger.
"Draw your sword."
"Thank you. Shall we skip the formalities, then?"
Echi raised her sword on her own and moved forward before Alice could set herself. Alice scrambled to block with an off-balance guard.
From there, Echi showed a completely different face than during their duel. The attacks came without pause. Fast, precise, nothing wasted.
The skirt around her calves flared with every movement. The narrow shoes struck a steady rhythm against the grass.
As she fought, Alice began to feel the shape of something familiar within the barrage.
The angle of the thrust. The motion of the arm. The handling of her gaze. The form of each defense. The footwork, the weight shifts.
'This is...'
She felt a cold shock run through her. She had felt this before, in a duel with a knight who had once taught her swordsmanship. This was the same style, but sharper. More finished.