Matyos opened his eyes in a daze.
His head was thick with fog, thoughts blurred and indistinct.
He looked around with half-lidded eyes, groping at his surroundings, and spotted Tiana and Taiby standing in the doorway.
"…Tiana?"
"Mati! You're awake."
Matyos swung his legs over the side of the bed. The moment he pressed his feet to the floor and tried to push himself upright, his legs buckled — too long lying still. He nearly toppled over.
"Careful."
Ofilienne was at his side in an instant, steadying him.
In the meantime, Tiana and Taibeon slipped naturally into the room and gathered around him.
"Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. What about you two?"
"I wasn't badly hurt."
"I'm perfectly fine too."
"Thank goodness… I really thought something terrible had happened to you."
Tiana could hold back her tears no longer. She spread her arms wide and pulled Matyos into an embrace.
Still barely awake, he had no chance to resist before he was buried in her arms. Soft warmth enveloped his face, and a faint, familiar scent of skin filled his nose.
…Matyos thought to himself.
There was no better moment in the world than this.
"…What do you think you're doing?"
A cool voice cut through the air.
Ofilienne, who had been watching from beside them, shoved Tiana away with more force than necessary, separating her from Matyos.
"What are you doing to someone who hasn't even fully recovered?"
"Oh—! I'm sorry."
"And I hate to say this, but I'd like you to think about 'our' respective positions."
"Our positions…?"
Not just Tiana — even Taibeon stood there blankly, unsure of what she meant.
"Must I really spell it out? We are Moretti."
Ofilienne draped her hand over Matyos's shoulder in a possessive gesture and let her gaze travel deliberately over Tiana, from the tips of her shoes to the ends of her hair.
"We are different. You and us. We are not the sort of people you can simply touch as you please."
"…."
Having said that much, Tiana could no longer pretend not to understand.
What Ofilienne was speaking of was rank.
Noble and commoner.
The line drawn between them was deeper and darker than any boundary in the world. The line between the Pilrn siblings and the Moretti siblings was sharper still.
A pair of unremarkable shepherd children, and the heirs of the empire's foremost mage house.
Tiana looked down at her own clothes in a daze.
Patches of dirt here and there. Visible mending stitches scattered across the fabric. A rough hem on her skirt. She had simply taken care of the clothes she always wore.
She had never thought of them as dirty or worn out.
But set beside the garments of Ofilienne and Matyos, a wave of shabbiness washed over her.
…That's right. We are different.
Tiana smiled, a bitter curve of her lips.
Only now did reality come into sharp focus.
Matyos was the first friend she had made since leaving home. She had been so glad of that fact, so caught up in the simple joy of having a friend, that she had thought of nothing else.
But the truth was different.
Matyos was a noble.
A great noble — someone who could not sit at the same table as the likes of them.
They could not be friends.
"No. We're not different."
"…?"
Matyos reached out and took Tiana's hand as she bowed her head.
"I like you, Tiana. I like Taibeon too. Isn't that enough?"
"Mati…!"
Tiana and Taibeon were moved by his words. Tears welled up in their green eyes, fat and round as dewdrops.
'That's just how the Pilrn siblings are.'
The two who had grown up tending sheep on the hillside were pure as children. They cried when they were sad, raged when they were angry, and laughed when they were happy.
I liked that about them — that honest, human quality.
"…."
My sister's gaze bore down on me. Her grey eyes were wide and trembling, as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
*
The Pilrn siblings each gave me a hug before they left. Tiana cast a blessing on me to help me recover, and Taibeon pressed some dried meat into my hands.
The door closed.
Only the two of us remained in the room.
"…Mati."
My sister spoke first.
She stood by the window with her arms loosely folded, looking out. The light filtering through the curtains fell faintly across the side of her face.
"Do you like them that much?"
I nodded.
"Yeah."
"They're just commoners. Insignificant, lowborn people. And yet — you're going to be their friend?"
"Mm… yeah."
"Is that so."
My sister's gaze sank, still and deep as the bottom of the sea.
She said nothing more.
Her eyes dropped to the floor and drifted slowly along the grain of the wooden boards.
The silence was unbearable. I reached out quickly, without hesitation, and took her hand.
"W-well, of course — I like you too, Sister."
"What?"
At that moment, her hand went rigid. The tips of her fingers trembled, just barely.
Her eyes flew wide. She stared at me with a luminous, disbelieving gaze.
"I like the Pilrn siblings because they're kind and guileless. But more than that — I like you more, Sister."
"…You like me?"
She stared at me with eyes as blank as a doll's, and for some reason repeated my words back to me.
It was nothing special, so I said it once more, clearly.
"Yeah. I like you. I like my sister."
"…You like me. You actually like me."
"Of course I do. We're family."
At the word 'family,' the dreamy haze that had clouded my sister's eyes cleared at once.
"Family…."
A moment later, in a voice so small it was barely audible, she added:
"Right. We're family."
"By the way, Sister — how long was I asleep?"
"Two days."
She held up two fingers, arms still folded.
"Two whole days? I really slept… Did anyone come by?"
"Everyone came and went. The Crown Prince, your fiancée, some nobles — they all stopped in once."
"So Huana came too."
She came to visit, even though she claims to dislike me so much.
'Honestly. She says one thing and does another.'
Just then, my sister gently took hold of my shoulder and guided me back toward the bed.
Before I knew what was happening, I found myself lying down again.
"?"
"We're almost at Porca. Rest for now."
"But this is your bed, Sister."
She pressed her palm lightly but firmly against my forehead as I tried to sit up.
"Never mind that. Go to sleep."
"Oh… alright…."
And so I was, more or less against my will, put to sleep in my sister's bed.
The sheets carried a familiar scent.
I liked it. For the first time in a long while, I slept deeply and well.
* * *
The Eternal City, Porca.
A coastal city perched at the eastern end of the long Almans mountain range.
Sea in front, mountains behind. This strategic crossroads where land routes and sea lanes converged had naturally become the heart of continental trade, and commerce and industry had taken deep root over the centuries.
Geography drew people, and people gave birth to knowledge.
Throughout history, Porca had nurtured countless scholars, and the accumulated wisdom it held was beyond comparison with any imperial academy in the world.
The city's history stretched longer than the empire's own, and the depth of thought it had cultivated over that time was something altogether apart.
Generation after generation of imperial emperors had come to Porca to study.
Porca was not imperial territory.
In the past, the empire had once conquered the city. But it had never truly possessed it. An emperor, moved by the fierce will to freedom the city's people displayed, had returned it to them.
Since then, Porca had declared itself neutral, and it remained, as ever, a city of freedom and knowledge.
"Everyone. Welcome, and congratulations on your enrollment."
A man wearing a silver mask stood at the podium and spoke.
He was the Academy's Chancellor.
The students murmured among themselves.
"He really does wear a mask, just like the rumors said."
"How ugly must he be…."
"Well, he must have the ability to back it up, or he wouldn't be Chancellor."
Rumors about the Academy Chancellor were plentiful.
They said he had been a promising mage in his youth, but made a terrible mistake and lost his face.
"Before I begin, I must acknowledge an unfortunate incident that occurred. However, thanks to the courage of several outstanding students, the crisis was safely resolved."
The Chancellor conjured a row of medals, scattering them through the air like stars.
"The following students, please come forward. Ofilienne Binna Moretti, Huana de Rosalika Valentía, Yuri Ayende, Tiana Pilrn, Taibeon Pilrn."
The key figures who had repelled the train attack stepped up onto the stage.
They received their medals from the Chancellor. The students applauded like thunder.
I stood in the front row and clapped along.
Huana caught my eye from up on the stage.
She grinned and mouthed at me:
'You see that?'
I shot back a thumbs-up.
"Next, the top two students of the entering class, please come forward. First place: Huana de Rosalika Valentía. Second place: Yuri Ayende."
As it happened, both of them were already on the stage.
This time, along with a medal, Huana received a certificate of merit — and the moment she spotted me, she mouthed it again:
'You see that?'
I had no idea what exactly I was supposed to be seeing, but I gave her another thumbs-up and congratulated her all the same.
Yuri Ayende, the second-place finisher, was a different story entirely.
She wore the expression of a chick that had transcended all earthly concerns.
Whether the Chancellor praised her or presented her with medals and certificates, she simply stood there, utterly unmoved. Then, the moment her eyes met those of the Sword Saint Sharlot, she raised a blank, expressionless V-sign.
At any rate, the awards ceremony concluded and the Chancellor offered a few final words.
"I won't speak at length. Don't give up. Keep moving forward. That is all."
With that, he stepped down from the podium with the support of an aide and disappeared from view.
But this was not the kind of entrance ceremony that would end so briefly. Every entrance ceremony, without exception, is tedious and pedantic.
A slight, middle-aged man appeared from somewhere and scurried up to the empty podium.
He hunched his shoulders, glanced around nervously, cleared his throat several times, and opened his mouth.
"Ah, yes. Hello…! I am Vice Chancellor Rudolf. Yes… well, um. First of all. My sincerest congratulations to you all on your enrollment. Our Porca Academy, since the days of ancient Atera, has been a place where distinguished scholars gathered to debate and…."
I let the Vice Chancellor's enrollment speech wash over me without really listening.
The real academy life was about to begin.
'I need to get stronger.'
The train attack had driven that home with bone-deep clarity.
I couldn't afford to stay as I was.
My sister had arrived at the last possible moment and saved my life. If she had been even a little later, I would have been dead.
'The strength to protect myself….'
I couldn't keep entrusting my life to others.
I had to grow stronger.
And I had the knowledge to do it.
The moment the entrance ceremony ended, I made my way straight to the library — where the hidden technique waited.