That same weight and pressure.
As she knelt with Bell’s head in her lap, embarrassment she was entirely unaccustomed to washed over her, and a touch of pink brightened her cheeks.
All the while, the eastern sky silently grew brighter and brighter.
Night turned to morning, and the horizon displayed the most beautiful fairy-tale-like colors, the light wrapping itself around Aiz’s shoulders as she gently stroked Bell’s forehead and cheeks.
There was something so innocent about that sleeping face, and it brought a small smile to her lips. It really did feel as though her heart had been given a good cleansing.
Was this the way her parents had felt when they’d put her to bed so many years ago?
She ran her fingers through his soft white hair, letting his heartbeat guide her into a relaxing sense of calm.
Forgetting why the two of them were up on the city walls in the first place, with Bell’s head on her lap, she let herself enjoy the moment to her heart’s content.
“Mmn…” Bell murmured again, right before his eyelids fluttered.
Aiz drew in a gasp, freezing momentarily before flinging her hands behind her back.
And then she waited, face revealing none of her inner turmoil.
She held her breath as Bell’s eyes slid open ever so slowly—
“W-waaaah!”
As soon as he realized the situation, Bell sprang from her lap with a scream.
Aiz’s shoulders drooped as she watched him scuttle away.
Am I really as bad at this as Riveria said…?
On the other hand, Bell paid Aiz no attention and didn’t stop running until he’d made it to a distant corner, face flushed with his back pressed up against a parapet.
“Wh-why a lap pillow?!”
But all Aiz could think about in response to Bell’s vigorously sputtered question was how awful she must have been.
She couldn’t tell him that she was bitter about losing to Riveria and had wanted to even the score.
Something deep inside her chest reverberated with a weak groan.
“I thought maybe…it would help you recover…more quickly…”
Unable to even glance in his general direction, she struggled to throw together an excuse.
Her response was met with a suitably suspicious look from Bell.
“…Sorry.” She uttered a meek apology, head drooping.
Aiz confessed the lie she’d just told him, still kneeling upon the stone.
“Actually…I just wanted to do it to you…”
After hearing her true intentions, Bell turned a brilliant shade of red.
“She doesn’t know what she’s saying…she doesn’t know what she’s saying…she doesn’t know what she’s saying…!”
Aiz was the kind of person who couldn’t help but misinterpret things, but what she said had completely shaken Bell and broken him. Again and again he repeated something to himself, both hands cradling his head.
Aiz cocked her head to the side as she watched Bell struggle with waves of emotional turmoil, warning himself to not misunderstand.
Seeing his strange behavior, Aiz asked tentatively, “You didn’t like it…after all, then?”
“Ehhhh?!”
Bell’s head shot up.
Next thing she knew, his already flushed face grew even darker as his hands leaped up in frantic denial.
“I don’t hate it at all! In fact, it’s more like a-a side benefit? I-I mean, no! No, that’s not what I meant! Forget that! I mean, I did enjoy it, but—Wait, I didn’t mean that in a weird way…!”
He rattled off one thing after another, unable to communicate his thoughts while his face became redder than an apple.
“Then…will you let me try it on you again?”
“More than let you, I want you to do it, but…it’s just that, you know, it’d be embarrassing and pathetic…I mean, it’s really only something you do when someone’s passed out and there’s no other option, right—?!”
“So…as long as I only do it when you’re unconscious, it’s fine, right?”
“Huh?”
Aiz rose to her feet in one swift motion, readying her scabbard.
Her golden eyes bored into Bell with intense desire.
Aiz’s spirit was unwilling to yield to Riveria’s evaluation, but more important, a wish to hold the white rabbit in her lap once more bloomed inside. Her heart would be soothed and she would ruffle his soft white fur.
Bit by bit.
She steadily whittled down the distance between them.
The strange atmosphere she’d created was too much for Bell to stay silent. “M-Miss Aiz? Miss Aiz?! Why are you looking at me like that?!”
“You’re imagining things.”
Bell fearfully readied his dagger and prepared to back up, only to realize he was already against the wall. There was nowhere to run.
Eyes glimmering with an all-consuming longing, Aiz eliminated any doubts the boy had as she practically flew toward him.
Not even two seconds went by before Bell’s shrieking “Gaaahhh!!” rose into the sky.
Several minutes later…
Bell was, once again, passed out cold with his head neatly positioned in Aiz’s lap. She ran her fingers through his bangs over and over, a blissfully satisfied look on her face.
A few more minutes later…
Aiz started with a gasp—she’d completely forgotten the original purpose of their training.
When at last the boy’s eyes reopened, she peppered him with apologies.
Traditionally, magic tests—often referred to as a magic user’s combat training—were held within the Dungeon.
It went without saying that tossing spells around in the middle of the city would pose a threat to civilians and city property alike, which in turn would invite Guild involvement.
Hosting it in the Dungeon, however, with its rampant monster spawning, guaranteed that at worst, only other adventurers would get involved. Magic users who wanted to practice avoided the established routes, venturing deep into the Dungeon to ensure members of other familias wouldn’t get caught in their spell effects (or overhear their magical chants).
“I’ll be in your care, Miss Aiz!”
Ever her usual self, Lefiya stood ready to go into one of the western chambers on the Dungeon’s fifth floor.
Six days remained until the expedition.
As adventurers began venturing into the Dungeon in droves, the elven magic user hurried to the innermost room of the floor. In front of her stood Aiz, fresh from her second day of training with Bell.
The large squared space they currently occupied had only one exit. There wasn’t a single soul in sight, making it the perfect place to try a few spells in complete secrecy. It was first-come, first-served when it came to spots as ideal as this for spell training. Speed was key.
While altercations between magic users looking for training spots were rare—they tended to be intellectuals, after all—the same couldn’t be said when it came to the throng of low-level adventurers trying to nab the prime locations for grinding.
“But I really am sorry for making you join me. You’re training even me…” Lefiya gripped her staff.
“Don’t worry about it.” Aiz shook her head, still clad in her lightweight armor and sword at her side. She would be training both Bell and Lefiya until the day of the expedition, the young boy in the early morning and her elven admirer from day till dusk.
Despite feeling apologetic at dragging her straight to the Dungeon after their breakfast together, Lefiya couldn’t fight back the sheer excitement at being there with Aiz.
Sure, she felt a little put out at getting Aiz after that boy, but the fact that she’d have the Sword Princess all to herself for the whole day more than made up for it.
How about that? Do you see now? Are you jealous?!
She didn’t even need to know a name to egg him on in her mind.
The pointless inner conflict had her feeling not only motivated but
triumphant as well. She was with her glorious idol, after all.
Lefiya waited impatiently for her training to begin, gladder than ever that she’d requested Aiz.
“Let’s start, then…”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“…So…what should we do?”
“…”
Lefiya almost fell to her knees. She had already failed before she could even begin.
“Is there anything I can teach you? I’m a sword fighter, after all…”
The two reached the same fundamental issue, though it was too late to worry about it.
Beyond the how-tos of adventuring, there really wasn’t much a swordswoman could teach a magic user. The practical skills and combat methods of a caster like Lefiya, focused on chanting techniques and ranged attacks from the rear guard, did not have a great deal of overlap with a swordswoman like Aiz, who focused on hand-to-hand combat on the front line.
“I’ve been thinking about what I could do with you since yesterday…but I couldn’t come up with anything,” Aiz confessed weakly, her head hung in apology. Her brain was already pushed to its limits coming up with a training regimen for Bell.
Indeed, if Lefiya truly wanted to polish her skills as a magic user, she’d have better luck continuing under Riveria’s tutelage. That would have been much more helpful.
Lefiya could feel the inklings of shame building like sweat beneath her collar. She’d been focused solely on being with Aiz and hadn’t considered much else.
A heavy quiet settled over the two of them as their gazes drifted toward the ground.
Not even the far-off cry of a monster could break the silence.
Finally, Lefiya couldn’t bear it any longer. “What, uh…what kinds of things are you doing with that human?”
“Mostly we’ve just been having practice duels…” Aiz began.
But before she’d finished her thought, she suddenly understood, and she took on a considering expression.
“…Has Riveria covered Concurrent Casting with you yet, Lefiya?”
A look of surprise crossed Lefiya’s face, and then she nodded stiffly.
“Th-the basics of it, yes. Though I am…not very good…” she confessed, cheeks tinted pink with shame.
She’d been given the general knowledge but had yet to really put it into practice. As it stood now, she couldn’t handle much more than a brisk walk or light run while chanting.
According to Riveria, her “mind and spirit weren’t ready,” which was why the high elf had been having her meditate to train her inner self.
In reality, Concurrent Casting was more of a pipe dream for Lefiya, with training to hasten her chanting time requiring most of her efforts. Shaving off even a single second meant that much less of a burden for her party members. After all, one second in the Dungeon could mean the difference between victory and defeat. Chanting skills weren’t just important for a magic user, they were their everything.
“It’s ’cause yer head’s as soft as tofu, Lefiya!” Loki had once told her, whatever that meant.
Hence why she was studying the way of the “unshakable tree,” as Riveria called it. So she could keep her cool no matter the situation and prevent an Ignis Fatuus from occurring when she used magic.
While Lefiya shamefully explained all her faults and shortcomings and everything she’d been taught, Aiz merely nodded, deep in thought.
Aiz pondered scrupulously, her eyes never leaving Lefiya’s. “…I’m not sure if mixing in my teachings with Riveria’s will be a good thing or not, but why don’t we try practicing some Concurrent Casting? In an actual battle,” she added, making Lefiya stop short.
“If you can manage that, you should even be able to fight on your own…I think.”
Lefiya gulped audibly.
Being able to use Concurrent Casting would practically make her a mobile artillery battery. It was what every rearguard magic user dreamed of.
And Aiz had a chance to capitalize on Lefiya’s solid foundation to get a bit of sword practice while providing instruction—an arrangement that would mutually benefit both sides.
At the very least, something would change, Lefiya thought almost hopefully.
“Of course, it could be that Riveria only decided to teach you Concurrent Casting to instill a bit of confidence in you…”
“…”
“Which isn’t necessarily the wrong idea…I’m just worried about doing something unnecessary. What do you think?” Aiz pondered, leaving the final decision to Lefiya.
As those golden eyes peered into her own, Lefiya’s gaze fell, and she gripped her staff tightly in both hands.
Aiz was right. There was no doubt Riveria had made the correct decision in disciplining Lefiya’s immature spirit, instilling some self-confidence, and helping her grow as a magic user.
But when? When would that confidence finally come?
At what point could she say with absolute faith that she was no longer a burden to Aiz, Riveria, Tiona and Tione, and all the others—a feat that seemed no less difficult than scaling the world’s tallest mountain?
In a year?
Five years?
Ten? Twenty?
She couldn’t wait—that would be too long.
No matter how tall that mountain, if she didn’t aim for the top regardless of how she appeared to others, she’d never be able to stand among those women.
The disappointment she’d been down on the twenty-fourth floor, the cowardice she’d shown during the Monsterphilia…If only she had mastered Concurrent Casting at the time. Lefiya pondered what might have been.
Then she wouldn’t have held the others back. At the very least, she could have been a greater asset to them.
Even if there was risk, Lefiya wanted to give everything she had—not for the future but for now.
Raising her head, she looked Aiz straight in the eye.
“Please give me training in Concurrent Casting! Please help me practice!” Lefiya’s voice rang out, filled with determination.
She would master Concurrent Casting.
Her goal was to become a moving fortress.
And as Lefiya stood there, eyes brimming with courage, Aiz nodded.
“Understood.”
The two women faced each other, weapons at the ready and their expressions the embodiment of solemnity.
“See if you can chant and dodge my strikes at the same time.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Thrusting Desperate into the ground next to her, Aiz readied her scabbard.
Following Aiz’s lead, Lefiya, too, readied her staff. Thinking back on everything Riveria had taught her about the basics of Concurrent Casting, she prepared her mind for both chanting and moving.
Knowing she’d have her Magic to fall back on, she focused first on the physical act of moving—lips included. It would be very remiss of her to forget that.
Nerves of steel. An unshakable tree.
Levying her nervousness, she took off with a start, first chant already on her lips.
“Unlea—”
Lefiya barely had time to begin her backward leap when an attack came from the front at an almost superhuman speed.
“Huh?”
The scabbard hit her square in the side before the air could even finish passing her lips.
She let out an unnatural groan.
“Oh.”
With a single explosive blow from the Sword Princess, Lefiya went flying through the air, and her staff sailed skyward.
Aiz, on the other hand, stood frozen in the middle of her attack, scabbard still in its final position.
Lefiya tumbled across the floor of the Dungeon before coming to a stop. She moaned despondently with her arms clutching her abdomen.
“L-Lefiya!”
Aiz rushed to the girl’s side, an apology already on her lips.
Lefiya had managed only two syllables of her chant. Aiz broke into a sweat, fearing she might have caused an Ignis Fatuus.
The young elf co
ntinued groaning in agony from the floor, her body trembling.
“I’m really sorry, Lefiya…I went at you like I was still training that boy.”
But as soon as she heard Aiz’s words, Lefiya’s eyebrows twitched upward in anger.
That boy could refer to none other than the white-haired brat who’d stolen her Aiz away from her…
Lefiya’s face was heating up. Doing her best to shake off the bitter resentment building inside her, she pushed herself to her feet with an energetic pop.
“I am…completely fine! So…keep coming like that!”
“A-all right,” Aiz managed, stunned.
Lefiya’s face was all (forced) smiles even as she cradled her side with one hand. Her drive to succeed had only intensified, reinforced by the burning enmity she felt for Bell.
Fetching her staff from the ground, she did her best to compose herself.
Then readied herself for her next bout of Concurrent Casting.
“Huh?!”
But.
“Ack!”
Unfortunately.
“Eeeeeeek!!”
She couldn’t make even a little progress.
“U-unleashed pillar of—nngah!”
Lefiya’s body finally crumpled after her chant was painfully interrupted by Aiz’s scabbard.
Her legs simply gave out, and she dropped on her rump to the floor with a tiny thud. She let her staff slip from her hands as her chest heaved in and out.
She couldn’t complete a single spell.
Even with Aiz going easy on her, she was spending so much effort watching out for incoming attacks that she couldn’t complete even the most basic spell. It felt as though all she was accomplishing was practice for preventing an Ignis Fatuus backfire.
While she certainly wasn’t about to pass out as easily as a lower-class adventurer like Bell, she was clearly running on fumes by this point.
“I’m sorry, Lefiya…” Aiz’s gaze was fixed to the floor in front of the downed elf. “I overestimated myself…I shouldn’t have meddled with things I know nothing about…It’s just like Riveria said…” Aiz’s voice dripped with remorse. She didn’t know anything about magic users or the ideal way to give instruction on Concurrent Casting. She was nothing but an amateur.
Upon hearing Aiz’s apology and sigh directed at her unsightly, even disheveled self, Lefiya’s lips slowly parted.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 4 Page 4