Surfacing Above the Water (2)

The devastated stage.

Titan who had been subdued and Allen Wise who was being restrained.

Though the audience was rendered speechless again at that bizarre phenomenon, it didn’t last long this time.

“Woooooooah!!”

The reason why those two had to directly intervene. The moment they realized what that meant, cheers erupted.

Practitioners strong enough that Rohan and Edge Forys had to personally step in.

For merchants, knights, and others desperately needing help from high-ranking forces, their options had increased exponentially.

Considering the reason why spectators were invited to this qualification verification in the first place, there couldn’t be better news.

Even setting that aside, witnessing the birth of such powerful individuals is naturally enjoyable to watch.

Of course, other hunters were equally enjoying that moment too.

As fellow practitioners in the same field, having such powerful comrades was immensely reassuring.

“Wow! This is seriously amazing. Yeah!”

And among them, there was one person particularly welcoming the current situation.

With a spear slung over his shoulder and wearing an irrepressible smile, Kruud, the master of the hunter’s guild Rubia branch, cheered with shouts and applause.

And right after such obvious pandering.

“But with the stage in this state, I’m not sure what we should do next. Right? There might have been someone who wanted to challenge me, what a shame. Don’t you think?”

He immediately pointed out that battles couldn’t continue in the current situation.

“Haha! Could there be another such hero? Kruud.”

Though Kruud’s remarks might seem unsightly at first glance, surprisingly, other hunters dismissed it as a joke. That’s how solid Kruud’s standing was within the hunter’s guild.

Actually, it was natural.

Having reached the realm of master, rare even throughout the hunter’s guild.

Yet such a person remained as master of the most underdeveloped and marginalized location, not a duchy or county.

For other branch masters who could be certain that someone superior to them had no intention of taking their position, there couldn’t be anyone more appealing.

There was also something touching about his background of insisting on staying in what was practically a rural backwater despite reaching master level out of consideration for his hometown.

“If it’s disappointing, let me help with that.”

And at that moment.

The only person who had read Kruud’s ugly true intentions invaded the stage.

“It’s been a while since we met. It’s sad to end things this way.”

Snow-white hair and golden eyes.

Eyes that looked holy at first glance yet seemed to have an unpleasant gaze.

The priest Lost, who appeared worn with fatigue, lightly tapped the ground.

“So I’ll do it.”

Then immense holy power worthy of an apostle spread out and transformed the stage.

Light that created a curtain comparable in range to how Another Hope had earlier covered the entire stage with shadows.

“As the Pantheon Temple’s blessing for the birth of a new hero.”

What he borrowed in exchange for holy power was the household god who protects houses and buildings, the tutelary deity’s shrine.

The buildings that had been shaken and cracked from Titan and Allen Wise’s fight instantly returned to their original state.

“Fortunately I was present. It seems the gods haven’t completely taken their eyes off this place yet.”

Holy magic that would have been unusable if some time had passed.

Of course, even then, it was remarkable for a mere Pantheon Temple priest who wasn’t even a longtime architect serving the household god to perform such a miracle.

Of course, for Kruud who knew Lost’s true identity, it was just frustrating.

“Still, it’s a shame. Titan had ‘two’ challenge rights after all. Sir Rohan. Perhaps you could allow Titan to take the stage again?”

“Oof……”

The master of the hunter’s guild headquarters, Rohan, waved his hands while smiling.

If Titan went wild next time, they’d truly need to evacuate.

Moreover, Titan had already shown his overwhelming performance.

Exposing more of his abilities isn’t such a good judgment.

Now is the perfect timing. A perfect ending. Rohan wasn’t foolish enough to be so absorbed in pleasure as to ruin that.

“Then how about this? How about I temporarily exercise that right on behalf of my friend?”

“Well….. If that’s the case. Since you gave way, we should give way too.”

Rohan accepted Lost’s proposal with a smiling expression.

Though he had just witnessed the miracle of instantly repairing buildings, still, wasn’t the opponent a priest?

He’d be better than Titan.

“Then I’ll ask for a match with Kruud, whom Titan had originally intended to designate.”

A flow smooth as water.

Kruud glared at Lost with an expression like he’d bitten into a bug.

It was natural. Right now, the opponent was clearly stronger than himself, a master.

That had become clear enough to need no comparison after he defeated Lilia.

Considering that Kruud had only managed to inflict wounds at best, it was obvious without even facing him how formidable the opponent’s skill and killing intent were.

“No, but shouldn’t we do a detailed inspection of the building? Like, this is just a temporary fix, right?”

“So you’re harboring distrust towards the Pantheon Temple’s work.”

“…When did I say that?”

“Ah! Then perhaps it’s distrust towards me as an individual?”

“……”

Absolutely not.

Absolutely must not say that.

Though Kruud wanted to shout that it was exactly so, he held back.

The opponent was an apostle of the gods. A saint.

If he made a misstep, he could face even worse trouble than insulting the entire Pantheon Temple. Lost knew this too, which is why he was trying to drag Kruud into this swamp.

“…Why are you doing this to me?”

“There’s something I’d like to confirm. Please cooperate.”

“Why ask me for that…?”

“Aren’t we close?”

“What, close because we both got our limbs broken?”

“That too.”

Kruud and Lost. The two were people who shared the experience of having their limbs broken by Lilia.

“Ah geez, fine, fine.”

Though he’d thought to try wriggling out of it somehow, Kruud soon had to accept this harsh reality.

No matter how much he racked his brains, it seemed difficult to think he could outsmart the snake-like man before him.

So rather than that, though it might be a bit troublesome, it would be better to clearly erase this debt. Kruud sighed, trying to think positively.

“Then next up! A duel between ‘Kruud’ of the hunter’s guild Rubia branch and Lost, companion of Titan who showed us an amazing duel earlier! Please welcome them with applause!”

Thinking the two had roughly finished coordinating their opinions, Rohan immediately began drawing responses from the audience.

The masters of each branch who had climbed onto the stage to calm the situation cleared out again, and Edge Forys dragged Titan out while keeping him bound.

Of course, Allen walked out on his own feet.

Though there were such minor differences, few people paid attention to them.

And finally, only Kruud and Lost remained on stage.

“Well well. You sure are something.”

While Kruud took his stance gripping his spear, Lost’s first action was to light tobacco.

His gaze wasn’t even directed at Kruud from the start.

The medical tent set up near the stage for treating injuries.

Another Hope watching the stage while clutching his stomach there.

“Though you asked me to cooperate, isn’t it too much to ignore me like this?”

“Ah, I apologize. That wasn’t my intention… This is just kind of a routine thing I can’t help.”

Lost crushed out his tobacco on the ground and immediately drew his gun.

“What happened to your sword?”

“I left it in someone’s care for now.”

“Hah, really…”

For someone else it might have been an insult to their pride.

But Kruud decided to keep his thinking flexible.

The opponent wasn’t doing this because he wanted a fight to the death with Kruud anyway. He was clearly plotting something using the duel as a pretext.

In such a situation, Kruud wasn’t narrow-minded enough to say the opponent wasn’t giving it his all.

“You’re dead.”

Though he wasn’t a narrow-minded dragonkin.

*     *     *

Linea was helping Claire and Mar with their studies.

House Spirin, a family of doctors.

Having been born and raised there and even obtaining a medical license, her knowledge already far surpassed the average for her age group.

Since Lost’s standards were stricter than expected, Linea had been helping Claire study bit by bit and that had somehow become routine.

It was no different for Mar. She too had received at least a basic education.

However, she fell short of Lost’s standards, and as someone aiming for the position of heir to an organization herself, she didn’t want to refuse learning.

Wasn’t this a precious opportunity?

Being able to learn from a child of House Spirin was an opportunity.

“Mar, don’t doze off.”

“Huh?! Ah, no? I wasn’t dozing.”

Of course, necessity and motivation are different things. For the free-spirited Mar, such monotonous time was just painful.

But having asked for help herself yet just dozing off like this, she couldn’t hold her head up.

Though she was harsh and prone to cursing, like many others, she became docile before Linea.

‘So this is maternal love…’

Seeing Linea just giving a bitter smile without saying a single harsh word, Mar felt somewhat bitter.

Though they were the same age, there was quite a gap in their maturity in many ways.

Outward maturity visible to others and humanity one could know through direct experience. A being who possessed both.

‘Isn’t this a bit unfair?’

Moreover, one more thing.

Mar stared blankly at Linea’s chest which she herself lacked, lost in thought.

Wealth and power, knowledge and beauty.

A being who had everything. Mar felt the world was unreasonable.

“…Should we take a break?”

“Huh?! Ah, no. I wasn’t thinking about other things just now.”

Mar tried making excuses belatedly despite having been just staring at Linea’s chest instead of the book, but it was already too late.

Linea had been watching her for nearly a minute, waiting to see when that gaze would disappear.

“Since it’s a rare chance, we should all go get some fresh air. Though we can’t go far since it’s dangerous, Claire must feel stuffy being cooped up here too.”

Just as Linea was stretching to loosen her stiff body and Mar was once again staring blankly at her.

Thud. Thud.

“Hmm?”

A monotonous knock echoed through the room where they were gathered.

“I am Ramid, the butler in charge of one of House Spirin’s annexes.”

“Ah.”

Recognizing that familiar voice, Linea immediately opened the door and let the elderly butler into the room.

“It’s been a while, Young Lady Linea. Do you perhaps remember me?”

“O-Of course! Ramid.”

“That’s a relief then. Hoho.”

Seeing the elderly butler Ramid smiling gently, Linea lowered her gaze slightly and spoke.

“Ah, um, it has been a while. I should have visited first…”

Linea was currently in a runaway state.

That’s why she had no intention of visiting House Spirin’s annex.

But now that they had found out and come to visit, she couldn’t pretend not to know.

“Ah, um. So, that is, umm…”

Though she tried hard to squeeze out excuses, she couldn’t find a way to resolve this sudden situation.

“I’m sorry…?”

In the end, what came out were words of apology.

However, Ramid was rather startled as if apologetic himself and said.

“Ah, no. Young Lady. I should be the one apologizing. Actually, the Lord told us to pretend not to know about the Young Lady.”

“…Father did?”

“Yes, that’s why though we knew the Young Lady had arrived in Coinur, we tried not to make contact until now.”

“S-Since when?”

“…It’s rather surprising that you thought you wouldn’t be discovered despite causing such a commotion at the capital’s main gate.”

Ramid wore a dumbfounded expression at Linea’s reaction.

He remembered her as quite a sharp child, but she unexpectedly had many blind spots.

‘This is concerning…’

Though Ramid had decided to simply follow the head of household’s decision since she was a competent young lady, seeing her current state made him doubt the head of household for the first time.

“Ahem! A-Anyway, the reason I’m visiting the Young Lady now is because we’ve encountered a difficult situation that we cannot resolve on our own.”

“What difficult situation?”

“Yes… A guest has visited House Spirin’s annex. Well, though it could be considered quite rude given the sudden visit, considering who the guest is…”

A noble visiting an annex without its owner. Normally it would be quite an inconvenience.

Of course, if they didn’t know about the absence, it couldn’t be helped.

Since it happened frequently, the custom in such cases was to offer tea or allow them to stay the night before sending them back.

But this time was different.

Wasn’t this someone who came knowing that people from House Spirin were present in the capital?

Moreover, a high-ranking noble that made the butler rush to find them.

“Duke Wallace Hope will be visiting soon.”

One of the empire’s two dukes had come to House Spirin.