LGT Chapter 6

The bed and bedding provided by the Royal Academy dormitory were extremely comfortable. Adrian Heather hadn’t felt in a long time how nice it was to have someone diligently tidy up the room. Though Rare kept things clean with magic, this was more of a mental comfort. 

It was a peaceful morning.

Swish—

The dormitory curtains were suddenly yanked open fiercely, and the morning sunlight poured directly onto Adrian’s face, who had been in deep sleep. His once serene expression now twisted into a frown.

There were only two people in the room at that moment, and it definitely wasn’t Adrian who had opened the curtains. It was Mikhail. That guy had been running around like a restless puppy since the crack of dawn. He had gone out early in the morning and returned to the dormitory a few hours later. The door had swung open, and the heavy sound of Mikhail’s footsteps filled the room.

“It’s ten o’clock, so I’m opening the curtains.”

It was a statement that should have ended with a question, but the person who entered didn’t wait for an answer and just did as he pleased. Mikhail dramatically drew open the heavy curtains that covered an entire wall. Adrian, muttering a curse under his breath, pulled the blanket over his face, but the blissful sleep that had been interrupted was long gone. Frustrated, Adrian threw the blanket aside. The bright sunlight streaming through the window reflected Mikhail’s rigid notion that everyone should be up by 10 a.m. As if to emphasize this point, Mikhail energetically opened the window behind the curtains as well.

Adrian had indeed been lying in bed far beyond his usual wake-up time. It was 10 a.m., a time when he couldn’t really complain about the curtains being drawn wide open. Fresh air and birdsong entered through the open window. Adrian sat up in bed, scanning the room for the roommate responsible for this mess. There he was, doing light push-ups on the dormitory floor. The dorm rooms at the academy were spacious enough for a few people to move around freely. It seemed Mikhail’s early wake-up time was due to this.

Adrian’s groggy voice came out weakly, the first words he had spoken to Mikhail since their petty argument on the first day of moving into the dorm.

“…Is the training ground closed?”

He didn’t even bother asking why Mikhail was getting up so ridiculously early, like an old man. The Royal Academy was a place that had produced countless knights, and there was no way they didn’t have a training ground perfectly tailored to the needs of royalty and nobles.

“I checked. Since the semester hasn’t started yet,”

Mikhail responded, still doing push-ups on the dorm floor. After checking the noticeboard in front of the training grounds, he had turned back and gone for a light run along the forest trail within the academy. But that run hadn’t been enough to meet his usual morning training routine.

“—It says freshmen aren’t allowed to use it yet.”

His breath matched the rhythm of his movements. The new semester at the Royal Academy was still about a week away, and freshmen, including Mikhail, had been spending their last bit of free time since moving into the dorms. Mikhail was probably the first one to loiter around the training grounds, eager to use them.

“…This is when you should use your precious authority.”

After reading the sign, the prince seemed to have given up without even knocking. Adrian thought it was a rather naive move. No matter who the manager of the training grounds was today, if the prince had truly wanted to enter, they would have found a way to let him in, even if it meant tearing the door off its hinges. It was obvious that all the professors and staff at Basamiel Academy were fully prepared for the prince’s arrival this year.

Mikhail, however, easily ignored Adrian’s mutterings of complaint. Realizing he was fully awake now anyway, Adrian sat up in bed. He looked over at Mikhail, who was in the middle of his workout. With each movement, his muscles, honed from consistent training, flexed beneath his light clothing.

“So, are you planning to work out like this every day?”

There’s something admirable about someone who passionately strives toward their goals, but Adrian thought it would be even more admirable if such efforts were made out of sight.

“‘Like this’? I do work out every day, you know?”

“…Whatever.”

With that, it seemed there were now two freshmen at the academy eagerly awaiting the opening of the training grounds—a record number. If Adrian’s current venture was an adventure with a sword master, it would be an ideal situation. In that case, he might even have joined the prince in training by his side.

Training… 

Adrian’s gaze wandered over to the prince’s prized scabbard. The scabbard was adorned with beautifully crafted jewels, polished to perfection. Whenever Adrian saw such a lavish sword, he couldn’t help but think of someone. His brow furrowed, and he lightly brushed his fingers against his cheek, still warm from sleep. It was someone he hadn’t thought of in centuries. That person would occasionally tousle hair that was the exact same shade of silver as the prince’s.

As Mikhail continued his workout, his silver hair swayed, and through the strands, his crimson eyes flickered.

***

The person with those same red eyes once smiled brightly at a dragon and exclaimed, “Look! I’ve finally learned how to wield sword energy!”

Hearing this, a man with stunning blonde hair, who had been sitting against the wall of the training grounds reading a book, lifted his head. With an indifferent expression, he glanced at the man standing proudly in the center of the training grounds, wielding a large sword.

The tip of the sword, held by the knight, emitted a faint light, flickering as if it might go out at any moment. It was true that sword energy enveloped the blade, but… the flickering light was the important detail.

“…With that weak excuse for sword energy, it’s hardly worthy of being called sword mastery, don’t you think?”

“Pfft, is that so?”

The knight, dressed in training clothes, stretched his lips into a wide smile. Holding a longsword nearly as tall as he was, the knight laughed out loud for a while, amused by the dragon’s detached response—one he hadn’t expected, though he hadn’t been hoping for praise either.

And then, it happened.

The faint glow around the blade flickered out entirely, as if his focus had slipped. The man muttered quietly, “…Oops,” and swung the longsword a few times through the air. The blonde-haired man, uninterested in the knight’s sword training, quickly returned his gaze to the book in his hand.

Carlo sheathed the sword he had been swinging. Dressed in simple training clothes, he plopped down next to the gold dragon, who was seated on the ground.

“Ah, I’m exhausted. I think that’s enough for today.”

Having finished his strenuous training, Carlo took a seat right next to the dragon and asked another question.

“You’re a mage, so how do you know so much about swords?”

The gold dragon found Carlo’s endless stream of questions tiresome, but as usual, he answered diligently. He felt a bit sorry for Carlo, but it had been a long time since the dragon had mastered swordsmanship. To his eyes, Carlo’s training looked like a child clumsily wielding a sword.

“Sword masters use mana to control their sword energy.”

The dragon responded curtly, as if the question were obvious. It was an answer one might expect from a mage.

“Yeah, I guess so, huh?”

Carlo de Einhart casually ran his finger along the blade. His swordsmanship had already surpassed that of most humans. However, sword mastery was a realm that transcended human limits.

“I have to become a sword master as soon as possible.”

Carlo de Einhart declared his resolution. He was the type who found motivation by speaking his thoughts aloud, a habit that could be tiresome at times.

“I know.”

The dragon muttered to himself as he watched him.

The gold dragon had no intention of interfering with human lives. He wasn’t going to say anything.

Even though he knew Carlo would never become a sword master.

***

“Why?”

Adrian snapped back to reality at the sudden voice. Mikhail had paused his workout beside Adrian’s bed, wiping sweat from his face, and was now staring at him. He seemed to think Adrian had something to say, given the way he’d been watching him.

“…What?”

“You keep looking over here like something’s on your mind.”

“Just ignore it.”

Adrian answered, flopping back down on the bed with a huff. He couldn’t wait for the semester to begin. He just wanted to focus on studying already.