FEFR 24

Episode 24

When Erna said she wanted to enroll in the military academy, Lanze opened her eyes wide in disbelief.

—Are you serious?

—Do you think I’d joke about this?

Erna knew full well that being a soldier didn’t suit her, but that reaction bruised her pride a little.

—My health’s improved a lot, and I heard the standards are looser for magicians. It’s not impossible for me.

—And how would you know that?

There’s no way she could’ve gotten that kind of information back when she lived in Swanhild.

The only person around who might’ve known anything about schools in the capital was her uncle, but he was hardly ever at the estate and wouldn’t have shared that sort of information with his sickly niece.

Turning his head, Lanze noticed Lenart wearing a troubled expression. There was something unusual in his face. It wasn’t because he had gotten dragged into an argument during a casual teatime.

In the end, unable to resist the pressure, Lenart confessed the truth.

—I told her about the entrance exam and the first-year curriculum yesterday… I thought she was just curious and worried about her.

—You should’ve asked why before answering.

The flow of the conversation shifted into a quarrel between the two.

—If I’d had any idea she was thinking about this, of course I would have.

It was Lenart who half-angrily responded, and Lanze just let it go in one ear and out the other. It was a familiar enough scene that Erna wasn’t surprised at all.

Even after moving into Petra’s mansion, Lenart hadn’t left Simone’s side, and he often bickered with Lanze over the smallest things. Erna couldn’t understand why their way of showing affection was not holding back on nagging each other.

She cut them off at a reasonable point.

—So, do you both think I’m going to fail?

Lanze shook his head.

—That’s not it… It’d be weird if you did fail that test.

—I’ve always wondered, though. How do you even know all this?

—Does that matter right now? Anyway, Erna… that school sounds impressive, but there’s not much substance behind the name.

Lenart, who was currently enrolled, didn’t argue with that. He simply cast a suspicious glance at Lanze, who still wanted to enroll despite knowing everything. He focused on Erna’s response, knowing that trying to dissuade or interrogate her wouldn’t work.

—Once I graduate, I’ll have a job, right? I can’t keep depending on Lady Petra forever.

Erna spoke with a steady expression.

—I can’t go back to Swanhild, so I have to think about my future.

Lanze, who hadn’t given much thought to the distant future, tensed slightly.

—And honestly, I’d feel uneasy if only you went… Someone has to be there to stop you.

—What?

Lanze leaned in toward Erna.

—Yeah… someone needs to keep an eye on you.

—What’s that supposed to mean, senior?

—It’s too risky to let you run free. If you’ve got your sister in the same year, at least you’ll learn to be more cautious.

The conversation was from quite some time ago, but it remained vivid.

Erna stepped away from the mirror and returned to her desk.

Even Lanze, who had opposed the idea at first, had eventually accepted it, and now spent time with Lenart teaching her various theories. Petra’s affairs had mostly settled down, freeing them up.

“Was this… something Uncle taught him?”

Though she saw Lanze occasionally at the mansion, she hadn’t fully grasped his relationships.

Erna thought back to her shameful past. Back then, trapped in her own body, she had harbored both a dark inferiority and superiority complex toward her sister.

“Maybe Uncle had an interest in Lanze…”

Or perhaps her fickle cousin had secretly taught her.

“Or maybe, as he said, he’s some kind of genius.”

Recalling that ridiculous joke, Erna put down the pen she’d just picked up. She couldn’t focus on studying; her mind kept wandering.

Maybe it was the fault of the overly nice weather. Beyond the wide-open window, fresh green leaves, scattered blossoms, and the deep blue sky painted a cheerful scene.

The sudden unease in her heart—was it just the giddy restlessness that comes with beautiful weather, or an ominous premonition she couldn’t quite identify?

Whatever the reason, it was a gorgeous day. So much so that Lanze’s insistence on going out, and Lenart’s inability to refuse, seemed entirely natural.

It was a spring so surreal, the days spent soaring through the sky felt like a lie.

In the hazy air that made past battles feel like distant memories, Lenart stared at the calm sea and Lanze’s fishing rod.

The humming from beside him sounded no different from when they prepared for aerial assaults.

He found himself recalling the old days.

Lanze’s and his missions were always surprise attacks and had always succeeded—until the counterattacks started getting fiercer. The enemy wasn’t foolish; they had realized the battlefield now extended vertically.

Lanze wasn’t fazed. As if she had anticipated it.

—The idea was the issue. But now that they’ve seen the example… they’ll think about aerial defenses, at least. It’ll take time for them to climb up here or use the same strategy, though.

Fortunately, Petra’s brother had been dealt with before he could bring in external magicians. Petra had made good use of the variable Lanze and Lenart had created.

Now, Petra was simply waiting for formal approval from the central authority—essentially a done deal.

With nothing urgent left to do, the two passed time by tutoring Erna.

Lanze, of course, wasn’t much help in that regard.

She had always struggled with theory, and her intuitive explanations didn’t suit Erna. Realizing that, Lanze lost interest after a few days.

Then one particularly clear day, she abruptly dragged Lenart out for a fishing trip.

Even if she was much healthier now, Erna preferred indoor spaces by nature, so she had refused to come along, saying she wanted to study at the mansion. Lenart, too, had wanted to rest, but was too uneasy about leaving Lanze alone, fearing she might get into trouble.

“Nice being outside, right?”

After half-abandoning her fishing rod and humming the same tune, Lanze suddenly asked for his thoughts.

Lenart didn’t answer immediately, falling into thought.

He had plenty of complaints about life in general, but in this specific situation, there wasn’t much to dislike. He just hesitated to say so because he could already imagine Lanze going off on some cocky tangent if he did.

When his response was lukewarm, Lanze changed the topic.

“More importantly, are you really okay?”

“With what?”

“You’ve missed an entire semester. That’s desertion. Aren’t you expelled or something?”

Though the winter break had long ended, Lenart showed no sign of wanting to return. He seemed more concerned with coordinating the trip to the capital with the sisters and displayed a baffling indifference to his own studies.

Lanze wasn’t seriously worried. Lenart had repeated a year before, and it was likely to be handled similarly this time.

But still, no guarantees.

So much had already deviated from what he remembered.

He’d ended up in the West with Erna, someone he hadn’t even properly greeted before. And didn’t he just uncover some strange secret about his birth?

Normally, a cadet deserting would face more than just repeating a year. The higher-ups might decide to enforce the rules.

“What if I can’t call you ‘senior’ anymore?”

“I didn’t know you were capable of worrying so sweetly about others.”

“You’re not ‘others,’ are you? I think we’re at the point where we care about each other.”

The sudden intimacy in her response caught Lenart off guard.

He had thought they’d grown closer through their work supporting Petra, like a pair. But he still couldn’t fully understand the way Lanze expressed closeness.

It felt strange—yet, he couldn’t bring himself to dislike it.

When most of your life is spent accustomed to rejection, even a trace of warmth from others becomes something you yearn for. Even if it might be empty words, it was impossible to hate.

Hiding his thoughts behind a cool expression, Lenart glanced at Lanze’s profile.

“…Expulsion would be more of a hassle, so it probably won’t go that far.”

“Really?”

“Everyone thinks I’m better off living a mess of a life.”

Good grades only raised eyebrows, and magicians never had much pull in the military anyway. Even the Emperor likely preferred to keep Lenart in some low-key position where he could be watched.

Of course, that was assuming peace lasted.

Lanze couldn’t have been the only one to think of aerial assaults. If a major war broke out, a magician’s role would change drastically.

Not something I need to think about right now.

As he tried to refocus on the scene in front of him, Lanze’s voice broke in again.

“But you don’t want to live like that, do you?”

Lanze leaned precariously against the back of her small chair, crossing her legs.

“You’re doing what seems like the best choice. But that doesn’t mean you really want to live a wreck. If you were that kind of person, you wouldn’t be helping me, wouldn’t get involved in some random town’s affairs, and definitely wouldn’t have gone to the academy. You’d just stay home, wasting your pension away.”

“Best choice”—not something Lenart was used to hearing about himself.

Just as a faint warmth bloomed inside him, something outside caught his attention. Lanze, still in that same pose, was staring at her fishing rod.

“Actually, I meant to ask you.”

“Yes?”

“Did you ask to come fishing even though you already knew how?”

The taut line and the agitated surface of the water clearly showed that something had taken the bait.

“Oh, did I catch something?”

She lifted the rod she had fixed in place—and staggered forward.

“Whoa?”

Seeing her clumsy reaction, Lenart sprang to his feet.

“That one’s mine!”

As he grabbed the rod with her, Lanze claimed ownership over a fish she hadn’t even reeled in yet.

Lenart didn’t answer. He wasn’t interested in the fish—it was just that, left alone, Lanze looked more likely to be pulled in than to catch anything.

He yanked the line with all his strength, and as Lanze gasped in awe, the fish hooked at the end soared out of the water.

Slapped onto the shore without finesse, the poor fish thrashed around, silver droplets flying everywhere.

“It’s huge!”

Despite not seeming serious about catching anything, Lanze clapped and cheered with joy.

To be fair, it was big enough to be impressive. Lenart felt a twinge of pride as he looked down at it. His shoulder had been sore for a reason—it was longer than the span from his fingers to his elbow, and its body was thick.

But then he frowned.

“But this is…”