A few days later… Ian quickly reassessed his perception of Inglis
BAMBAMBAMBAM!!! VWOOOMMM!! KERCHAANNKK!! KABOOOOMM!!
Inglis and Yua were engaged in hand-to-hand combat whilst jumping around from countless Flygears, one onto another, up above the audience seat.
This was the battle scene in the last segment. As for the plot, Mariabelle, played by Inglis, was now a popular street dancer, but she used to be the daughter of a distinguished Knight family.
She and Prince Malik were originally childhood friends, and they even engaged with marriage in mind, but their engagement was dissolved when she was 14 due to the fall of her family. After seven years of wandering around the world, she met again with Prince Malik in a foreign country where he had been appointed as the lord of the land.
The current scene was of Mariabelle, who was trained as a knight and possessed quite a marvelous talent, going to save Prince Malik whose life was in danger after falling into a disadvantageous battlefield. Her romantic rival and the other female lead, Euthyllis, played by Yua, was a female Knight who served under Malik after his engagement with Mariabelle was broken off.
Mariabelle, who wanted to rescue Malik, and Euthyllis, who wanted to stop her from getting to Malik, confronted each other. To get Euthyllis to recognize her abilities, Mariabelle was to test her skills against her. After that, once they both recognized each other’s strength, they would work together to rescue Malik.
They had promised that the loser would step down, hence why this was the most exciting part of the story, as this was a serious bout with no determined outcome.
Their high-speed movements were dizzying, brilliant, and bizarrely powerful. This was evident with just how heavy the sounds of blows reverberating throughout the space.
「A-, amazing… So this is what you meant, Lahti!」Ian mumbled in dismay. He was busy moving his head up, down, left, and right trying to follow them.
「Ain’t it? What part of her is gentle?」
Lahti, who stood next to him, asked rhetorically. Lahti and Pullum were going to be the pilots of Flygears that would show up in the play. At the moment, it was Pullum’s turn to steer the Flygear during the practice.
「Haha……Y-, you’re right. If anything, it’s more like the saying about the most beautiful rose have the sharpest thorn……Isn’t it.」
「That, I agree.」
「That being said, those two don’t look like they possess a Rune or owning an Artifact……How amazing!」
「Ain’t they? They can even defeat a Magic Stone Beast like that, y’know.」
「Eeh?! Without an Artifact?!」
「Yep. There are people who witnessed it.」
「Wh-, what kind of power is that?」
「Heck if I know! But, man, the world’s a big place. To think people like them actually exist!」
「Back in Alucard, even Artifacts were scarce…」
「Aah, you’re right!」
It could be said that the King of Alucard was negligent in leaving their lack of Artifacts situation unattended. However, in reality, it was extremely hard for Alucard to offer enough goods and crops to obtain Artifacts and the so-called Guardian Deity, the Hyrule Menace, due to the bad harvest in such cold regions.
The Highland wouldn’t take the situation of Midland into consideration. They wouldn’t give away Artifacts and Hyrule Menaces for cheap just because Alucard was a hard place to live.
They’d be putting the cart before the horse if they forced themselves to gather enough wealth to get Artifacts and a Hyrule Menace, if that meant famine would strike their people and the entire country was brought to downfall from the very base.
「If only we had people like them back in Alucard… No, it’s already a past now. I don’t need to think about anything else, I’ll just have to do my best on the stage……Right?」
「Yeah, that’s right……」
Count Weissmall, then, praised Inglis and Yua in his usual high-pitched voice.
「Hou hou! Hohohou! It’s even more marvelous than before~! I moved my head around so much following you two’s movement that I pulled a muscle on my back neck! Ouch ouch ouch……what a pleasant pain! Now, we’ll move on to Prince Malik’s scene. Ian, please get on the stage.」
「Yes!」
Inglis and Yua went offstage while Ian climbed up.
「You must be tired, Senior Yua. Have some water.」
Inglis drew a glass of water from the jug that was prepared for recess and handed it to Yua.
「Thanks. Not that I’m tired, though.」
「Ooh! You seem motivated.」
Those words were rare to come out of Yua. Usually, she would say things like I’m tired, what a hassle, I’m sleepy, and many more.
「Somehow, I’ve been feeling really good lately.」
「That’s great. After what happened in the last incident, I was worried if you would suffer some kind of after-effects.」
In the last incident, Yua was absorbed into the body of Prisma. Inglis was hoping it wouldn’t have any side effect on her, but if there was none, then all was fine.
「Yup, all good.」
「By the way, senior. There’s something I always wanted to ask you. Can I?」
「What?」
「When you’re fighting seriously, Senior Yua, you hide your presence so frighteningly skillfully so that you won’t be perceived, don’t you? What kind of technique is that? If possible, I would be happy if you teach me a little bit about it!」
To be able to hide traces of her own mana to such an extent and move around without being detected was an amazing feat of skill. Currently, Inglis couldn’t even imitate it. She wanted to learn everything she could learn, as that would surely be a new strength for her.
「It’s not like…I’m hiding.」
「Eh? But, you clearly……」
Perhaps Yua didn’t want to answer, but Inglis chose to press on.
「I’m just blending in.」
Apparently, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer, it was just that what Inglis felt and what Yua felt were different.
「In? Into what?」
「The world.」
「The world……?」
「Yup. Return to the world, was what my dad told me.」
「……I see. In other words, you go with the flow of the world, the flow of the natural forces, is it?」
The world——nature, was actually filled with various streams of power. The light that illuminated our path. The wind that caressed our cheeks. The rain that nurtured the earth. The fire that gave birth to civilization. Even in such natural phenomenons, there were always streams of mana. And if you delve into those streams even deeper, you would find streams of Ether.
Even for Inglis and those who had the sensitivity to recognize mana and Ether, it was difficult to clearly recognize and grasp the flow of those elements in nature. That was because, for those who lived in this world, those streams of energy were nothing more than natural. They felt it as something granted, a matter of course.
It was easy to grasp the power an individual wore upon themselves that wasn’t part of nature, or streams of power that were forcibly distorted the space much like the Levitation Magic Formation Inglis saw in the city of Nova, but… In Yua’s case, she had mastered the art of using her own energy while blending into the natural streams of mana in the surroundings.
Inglis’ response to Yua’s movements was dampened since she was taking the natural flow of forces as something granted. Even for Inglis, it was hard to keep up with Yua if she didn’t cut off her vision to concentrate her senses on the flow of mana.
「Yup. Maybe…」
「What a wonderful technique! What kind of person is your father? If possible, I want to undergo the same training you did, senior!」
If she could reach the same level of skill as Yua, it would surely have a positive impact on her skill to manipulate Ether. The leader of the Ironblood Chain Brigade, Black Mask, manipulated the wavelength of his own Ether to change it to possess properties that repelled Inglis’ Ether and used it to defend against all of her attacks.
If she stayed in her current path, it would be impossible for Inglis to break through Black Mask’s defense. Yua’s extremely flexible technique might be the key to bring down that wall. By all means, she would love to learn it!
「What kind of person?」
「Yes. By all means, I want to meet him!」
「Hmm……Forgot his face.」
Yua said something mind-boggling.
「EEeeeehhh?!」
What, she forgot her own parent’s face? That sure swept me off my feet. Maybe they don’t have a good relationship? Or maybe he’s already passed away? Or maybe there are other reasons! But, why would she say that she forgot his face if it’s just to hide those reasons? That is just too far unexpected. No, but, if it’s Yua, she may do it.
「Eh? Is it weird?」
「Y-, yes. V-, very……」
「Really? Then maybe it wasn’t my dad?」
「No no no, why would you even ask me……A-, anyway, are you saying that it’s hard to meet him?」
「Am I?」
Even if you ask me——