Chapter 74 - Chapter 73: It's Bazal
It was the second day since the academy in the capital had begun.
Mika had received no punishment for yesterday's brawl.
However,
"Next time, you will be subject to punishment."
the sports-minded teacher had warned him.
And since almost all students lived in the dormitories, this matter had already become known throughout the entire academy.
Even while walking through the dorms, and even now while commuting to school, people who didn't know him would frequently call out to him.
"You're so small, yet you're pretty strong, aren't you."
"She's so cute, and she did it all by herself. Isn't that amazing?"
"She looks like a princess, but she really goes for it."
Shut up!
Don't just blurt out things like "small," "cute," or "princess" that I'm actually worried about!
He was definitely making a huge scene, but at least it seemed that no one else in the Leventein Group would be targeted besides Mika.
It appeared Mika had become the officially recognized boss monkey of the first-year elementary division of the academy.
(Well, this can't be helped. I did everything thoroughly for this reason.)
What happens if you lay a hand on Mika?
To make that clear, he had killed his heart and coldly beat them down.
Against children crying and begging for forgiveness.
(I judged it necessary. So I did it. I understand it with my head... but...)
Was he just making excuses by saying it was for everyone in the Leventein Group, when in reality he was just satisfying his own desires?
Bullying the weak, trampling them at will.
To satisfy his own arrogance.
"Mika-kun, are you okay?"
Rimliche peered at Mika's face with a worried expression.
Yesterday, Mika had been released near the evening curfew, so he hadn't been able to see Rimliche and the others.
He had heard rumors that "Mika won" and "he beat eight people down without a scratch," so it seemed he had caused them quite a bit of worry.
"I'm fine. I'm just a little unsettled."
Mika smiled at Rimliche.
They were just walking down the hallway as a group from the Leventein Group, but they were attracting a lot of attention.
It seemed it would take some time for the surroundings to go quiet.
When Mika arrived at the classroom, the room immediately erupted into noise.
He felt like letting out a sigh.
Well, he had skipped afternoon classes yesterday, and since the subject of the rumors had arrived, it wasn't surprising that his classmates were flustered.
Looking around the classroom, the empty seats were indeed in the same place as yesterday.
When Mika looked that way, Cleiria's expression, who had arrived earlier, suddenly brightened up.
She must have worried a lot about Mika too.
As Mika took a step toward her, his arms were immediately grabbed, and he was turned in a different direction.
"Huh? Wait, hold on?"
Looking over, Rimliche and Charl were holding Mika's arms, leading him to a place different from the seat he had sat in yesterday.
A corner near the classroom entrance.
There, other students from different territories were sitting, but three seats had been left empty.
"Good morning. Thank you."
"...Thanks..."
Rimliche and Charl spoke to the girls around them.
The girls smiled and replied.
"Huh? Huh? What?"
Mika was made to sit in the middle of the empty seats.
"This is Mika-kun's seat."
Rimliche smiled brightly at Mika.
Surprised, he looked toward his seat from yesterday, where Cecilia gave a cheerful thumbs-up with a bright smile.
What?
What's going on?
And behind Cecilia, Cleiria could be seen looking blankly, unable to understand what was happening.
"This kind of method isn't good."
After lunch in the cafeteria at noon, Mika said this to everyone in the Leventein Group.
This was about what happened in the classroom this morning.
It seemed they had taken drastic measures to separate Mika from Cleiria.
Since Mika was troubled by Cleiria talking to him non-stop, they had decided to secure a seat in a distant place to solve the problem.
Every break time, Rimliche and Charl would quickly take Mika out of the classroom, returning just before classes started.
This was a strategy to give Cleiria no chance to talk to him.
But how did they manage to talk to the students from other territories about this? When did they become so good at negotiation?
It seems he's doing well even in the new dormitory. Big Brother is relieved. ...Geez.
Mika's name was already ringing out throughout the academy, and the girls in his class knew about the situation from yesterday morning.
So, they had conspired to help Mika and prepared the seats in advance.
By the way, it seemed Cecilia had told Messerite and the others about this this morning during the commute.
"But Mika was in trouble too, wasn't he?"
Cecilia pouted her lips and argued back.
"That was certainly troublesome, right? You can't just offend a young lady from the Marquis family who calls you 'Mika-sama' with honorifics. But I don't like this kind of method."
It was as if the whole class was ostracizing Cleiria.
But it seemed Cecilia wasn't satisfied with Mika's argument, and she turned her head away with a pout.
"I'm sorry."
"...Sorry..."
Rimliche and Charl came over apologizing with dejected expressions.
"I'm not angry, so don't be so downcast. I understand that you were thinking of me. Thank you. But it's okay."
Mika said brightly, trying not to make the atmosphere too dark.
Well, the atmosphere wouldn't change that quickly anyway.
"But then, what should we do?"
Messerite asked, resting his cheek on his hand.
"What should we do?"
At Mika's reply, his chin dropped from the table.
"You haven't thought of anything at all!"
"If I had, I would have done it long ago!"
Murt nodded with a face that said, "That's obvious."
"Anyway, I cannot accept this method. ...With that said, Polnard."
Called out to suddenly, Polnard straightened his back.
"Will you switch seats this afternoon?"
Polnard had been the one to sit next to Cleiria this morning.
Probably, no one wanted to sit next to Cleiria, so it was forced upon him.
Well, a commoner would surely hate sitting next to a young lady from the Marquis family.
Polnard looked worried but agreed to the seat swap.
"Well, if anything happens, I'll consult you. Until then, watch over us warmly."
"...'Warmly'? Is that a good thing?"
Cecilia interjected.
Doesn't any warmth count?
When Mika stood up from his seat, everyone else stood up too.
(Before Cleiria returns from the cafeteria, let's swap the seats quickly.)
Doing it right in front of her required a bit of courage.
He wanted to just slip it in and have it done.
The seat swap was completed safely before Cleiria returned.
Cleiria, who returned to the classroom, looked dejected, but when she saw Mika sitting in the seat next to her, her eyes sparkled instantly.
"I haven't had the chance to talk to Mika-sama all day today, so I was disappointed. Is it okay even if you changed your seat?"
"A friend had a promise in the dormitory. I spent the morning keeping that promise."
"Well, that's how it was."
Cleiria spoke to Mika with a bright smile.
Just like yesterday, Mika managed to put on a smile and respond.
Go, my facial muscles!
However, there was one slight difference from yesterday.
He had a vague bad feeling.
There were two guard knights standing behind Cleiria.
One was fine, but the female guard knight with long pink hair exuded a somewhat uneasy presence.
He couldn't just be happy that he had become sensitive to presences to some extent.
She was the female knight named Virone, he believed.
Virone was just quietly standing there, but it felt somehow piercing.
(Who is this person?)
He was curious, but it felt a bit awkward to ask directly.
Besides, Cleiria wasn't giving him a chance to ask.
Mika's mental strength was being ground down by Cleiria's "Listen to me, listen to me" attack and Virone's piercing presence attack.
■■■■■■
"Bazal."
Mika stood in front of his dorm room, looking at the nameplate and reading the name written next to his own.
Even after the second day of the academy, Mika's roommate still hadn't arrived.
It seemed he had at least informed the dorm mother, Paraleira, that his move-in would be delayed by a few days.
"It must be terribly boring without someone to talk to."
Currently, Mika had almost no way to kill time.
He couldn't get the "Cursed Object" like before, and he had no one to talk to.
It couldn't be helped until life in the new dormitory stabilized, but he had many things he wanted to do outside the academy, and he couldn't find the time.
Until now, he had tried to stay together with everyone in the Leventein Group as much as possible until they settled down.
"I'd like to stop by the guild too."
Everyone seems to be settling down now. Should I start exploring the capital after school tomorrow?
Mika still didn't know the location of the Adventurer's Guild.
It seemed to be somewhat close, but "somewhat close in a huge city" wasn't very reliable.
Honestly, he couldn't rely on that much.
"Well, I'll think about it again tomorrow."
Mika decided to go to the bathhouse with his change of clothes and a cloth bag for his laundry.
In the Leventein dormitory, there was a place to leave laundry bags in the bathhouse, but here in the capital, you brought them back to your room.
When the servant lady made the bed, she would collect that bag.
Unlike the previous dormitory where there were only a dozen or so children, the dormitory in the capital seemed to hold about 150 people in one building.
If that many children put out their laundry, securing even a small space to just leave it would be difficult.
So, it seemed they adopted a system where the servant lady collected it from each room.
There were two buildings for men and two for women, totaling four buildings, with about 600 people living there.
There were also about 300 other students, but they were "commuters."
It seemed there were only a dozen or so nobles with blood ties, but quite wealthy families seemed to rent rooms with servants in District 3.
It costs nothing to live in the dormitory, yet they go out of their way to hire servants and rent rooms. Rich people are amazing.
Or rather, if one-third are commuters, does that mean there are so many wealthy families?
Messerite said his family was quite wealthy, so why is he living in the dormitory?
I don't really understand the economic sense of this world.
When Mika entered the changing room, several people looked at him with shocked faces.
According to Messerite's information, it seemed many people were surprised because they mistook him for a girl entering.
At first, Mika was curious about what was happening, but he was depressed after hearing the reason.
(I can't deal with this.)
With that, he stripped off his clothes and headed straight for the bath.
Just kidding, I put away my clothes properly before going to the bath.
Let's be sure to follow the manners of public bathhouses.
I remember being exasperated by rude people when I entered a large bathhouse at a hotel on a business trip, so I'll do that part properly.
As Mika was scrubbing himself, he felt a strange sensation of being watched.
But thinking deeply about it only led to terrifying imaginations, so he decided not to think about it deeply.
How could anyone live worrying about their butt for six years in a place like this!
If there was a pervert, he was thinking of cutting it off with "Air Cutter," though.
...He wouldn't say where, though.
When Mika returned to his room from the bath, there was an unknown child in the room.
He looked to be about Mika's age, or perhaps a little older.
His hair was cut short, and blue stubble was visible on his chin and cheeks.
Wait, he already has that much facial hair!
How much growth spurt did he go through!
"Could you be Mika-dono?"
The Blue-Beard Kid spoke to Mika with a friendly smile.
Wait, he's using such a distinct sentence ending.
"Gozaru," huh.
"Ah, ah..."
As Mika hesitated slightly, the Blue-Beard Kid began his self-introduction.
"I am Bazal. Please take care of me."
"It's Bazal?"
"No, no, don't stretch the middle. It's Bazal."
"It's Bazal."
In Mika's head, the phrase and image of a TV commercial popular decades ago were replayed.
(Nostalgic. Or rather, it seems they are still doing it normally.)
It was a catchphrase from a certain company, but to come up with a phrase that stays in your head even after decades, truly talented people are amazing.
Bazal looked at Mika with a sharp gaze.
"Could you be doing that on purpose?"
"Yeah."
Mika nodded honestly.
"I'm sorry. You can call me Mika. I was worried because you didn't come for a while."
Mika hung the towel he was using to dry his head around his neck and sat on the chair.
"Sorry, but I decided on the desk and bed first. This side is mine. I'm using the top bunk. Please forgive me if you ask to swap now?"
He didn't mind swapping if they really wanted to, but honestly, it was troublesome.
Mika claimed the desk on the left side of the room and the top bunk for himself.
"Of course, it's fine. You can call me Bazal. However, I would like you to call me Mika-dono. I'm not good at calling people by their first names... I don't mind being called that myself."
It seemed he had some kind of attachment to it.
Mika didn't intend to force him to use first names, so he readily agreed.
"Did you attend another academy before?"
"No, I enrolled directly from the capital. Honestly, this sudden event has ruined my life plan."
Whoa, that's heavy all of a sudden.
Well, you are forcibly ordered to go to a magic academy all of a sudden.
It would be a shock for a child who had seriously considered their future.
"So you don't know the dorm rules either? What about dinner?"
"I ate immediately upon arrival. Since there wasn't much time, I was advised to eat beforehand."
"Then I'll explain briefly. Though, what I know are the rules of the Leventein dormitory. I haven't heard of the rules here in the capital either. But have you had any particular trouble? The rules themselves seem not to change much."
"That would be a great help."
From then on, Mika explained the wake-up time, bedtime, meal times, curfew, and bathhouse usage hours.
"Also, it's better not to go near the girls' dormitory. Don't enter it under any circumstances. If you value your life."
"Of course, I won't go near it... but why? 'If you value your life.' That doesn't sound peaceful."
"The details are unknown. I only know of the idiots who messed up and the officials who execute them? At least, it's certain that you won't be able to return to the outside world again."
Mika spoke lightly, but Bazal lost his color.
Mika was also chilled when he heard the story.
Noticing that he could talk about it as if it were nothing, he couldn't help but let out a bitter smile.
"Oh, what about the uniform and gym clothes? If you're going to the academy tomorrow, you need to get them."
If it gets too late, they might not give them to you.
Bazal remained calm and held up his hand to stop the flustered Mika.
"We have already arranged for me to take a day off tomorrow. After all, six days on a shared carriage is quite a burden."
It seemed Bazal had also struggled to get to the capital.
If Mika didn't have [Physical Enhancement], the six-day journey would be depressing just to imagine.
"So you're taking a rest tomorrow? When are you planning to go?"
"I will go the day after tomorrow."
Only one day of rest?
Mika felt a little sympathy for Bazal.
"An heir to a swordmaster?"
When Mika asked back, Bazal nodded firmly.
As Mika talked with Bazal, the conversation turned to personal stories.
"I have been training for that since I was born. And then it turned out like this... In the end, I spent a year thinking about it and decided not to inherit the headship."
It seemed that was what Bazal meant by "ruined my life plan."
Since they were forcibly taken regardless of whether they were the eldest son, such cases would naturally arise.
(By the way, Messerite's family is also a trading company. What about the heir? Is he the eldest son?)
He hadn't heard of that.
But if he were the heir, wouldn't he be unable to inherit?
"I have abandoned the path of the sword and will now proceed on the path of magic. ...Though, it's not like I can switch over immediately."
Bazal seemed quite downcast.
If it was a path he gave up himself, there might be a place for his heart, but if it was forced by law, it was unavoidable that he would have lingering regrets.
"I don't quite understand, but isn't inheriting the headship and proceeding on the path of the sword two different things?"
"Indeed, if you say they are different, they are different. But one of the biggest goals... no, practically everything has been taken away. I thought endlessly about whether there was any meaning in continuing."
Bazal might be right.
If it was just a hobby, one might find meaning in continuing.
But he had made inheriting the headship his goal, and that was taken away.
It wouldn't be strange if he thought he never wanted to see a sword again.
(Hmm, but...)
There was something slightly bothering Mika.
"Isn't the reason you want to proceed on the path of the sword because you want to become strong?"
"Of course that is so."
Bazal nodded firmly.
"But, isn't there a connection between becoming strong and inheriting the headship? Is Bazal's goal becoming strong? Or inheriting the headship?"
"No, no, no, you cannot separate those there."
Bazal denied the premise of Mika's question.
"There is the headship in the process of becoming strong. Those who do not inherit the headship are not taught the secret techniques. Secret techniques are necessary to become strong."
"Uu---n."
Mika crossed his arms and pondered.
"I cannot even understand what Mika-dono is worrying about. Where in my story is there a point to worry about?"
Obtain secret techniques and become strong.
He understood that.
So, can't you become strong without secret techniques?
That's impossible.
The founder of that sword style must have been strong even without secret techniques.
So he mastered them himself.
In the first place, the standard of "strength" varies.
There is no need to be obsessed with one secret technique.
"I'm going to ask something very rude."
Mika's eyes turned serious.
"...Why is that?"
Noticing Mika's atmosphere had changed, Bazal also put on a serious face.
"Has your family's style never lost?"
"Of course, there have been losses."
Bazal gave a glaring look, but still answered properly.
"But that is a matter of individual skill, not a matter of the style being strong or weak."
"I think that is true as well."
Mika nodded honestly.
"Do you want to become strong within your family's style?"
"Of course that is so."
"Even if you think you have reached the pinnacle of strength in the future, won't you start your own style?"
"Hah...?"
Bazal blinked his eyes.
"If you inherited the headship, you probably wouldn't start a new style. But, when reaching the pinnacle of strength, if you realized 'if I do it this way, I can become even stronger,' would you be obsessed with the style's forms and techniques? Or would you be obsessed with strength?"
"T, that is..."
Bazal began to worry.
Since he was seriously thinking about such a hypothetical story, Bazal must have a serious personality.
"There is a word called 'Shu-Ha-Ri'."
"Shu-ha-ri...?"
Shu is faithfully following the teachings of the style. The stage of mastering the style's forms and techniques.
Ha is the stage of refining your own forms and techniques by incorporating the good points of other styles.
Ri is the stage of leaving the previous style behind and creating and establishing something unique.
"I understand you have pride in your family's style, but I think you shouldn't think it is the only absolute one. Perhaps by leaving your family, you might become stronger."
"That is, if we are talking only about possibility, it might be possible... but..."
It is not easy to suddenly overturn one's values up to that point.
However, if he has the grit and resolve to seize that possibility, Bazal has the qualities to gain tremendous strength.
History has proven that.
Mika decided to wait with anticipation to see which choice his new roommate would make.