Ilga, Bernald, and Letis were all staring at us. I deliberately pretended not to notice their emotions and opened my mouth.

“Looks like you’re done over there too.”

“……”

Say something.

Just glaring in silence makes it unbearably awkward.

“Uh, well… This is…”

“Eremia, Ryoka—were you two matching your pace with us from the start?”

Ilga muttered, cutting me off. Even though the danger had passed, his face remained serious, devoid of a single smile.

I let out a sigh.

“Yeah, we were. But that was—”

Before I could continue, Oujin held up a hand to stop me and stepped forward.

“If we hadn’t, sooner or later, you all would have been swallowed by this dungeon. We came to that conclusion back when we fought the goblins and homunculi. That’s why we deliberately created a life-or-death struggle for you to overcome.”

At Oujin’s words, the air seemed to thicken with heat. And not in a good way. More like the kind that rushes to your head. I could tell just by looking at their faces. Only Bernald remained expressionless, standing there like an immovable tree.

Oujin continued.

“It’s the same for the party made up of Fourth and Fifth Teams. By now, over on their side, Void and Riona are likely putting them through a similar situation.”

“…Are you kidding me? That’s going way too far…”

A male student from Second Team muttered bitterly.

The next moment, another student from First Team shouted in anger.

“Who the hell do you think you are?! Just because you’re a little better with a sword, you think that makes you superior?!”

“We almost died! If you guys had just fought from the start, we wouldn’t have ended up in this mess!”

This mess? What mess?

The question forming in my mind was spoken aloud by Oujin without hesitation.

“What do you mean by ‘this mess’? No one here died. No one suffered an injury so severe it would hinder them from living. And on top of that, you all gained valuable experience. What exactly is the problem?”

A female student from First Team stiffened her expression.

“That kind of attitude—!”

“Ah, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to make excuses. You all are simply too inexperienced. That’s why we had to push you to improve. That’s a fact.”

A male student raised his voice again.

“That’s exactly what makes you arrogant! Maybe to you, this was nothing, but we nearly died!”

“If you wanted to avoid danger, then you shouldn’t be aiming to become knights in the first place. Am I wrong?”

He said it outright.

Oujin was being completely honest. He never lied. But maybe it was because of that very honesty that resentment was now bubbling among the First and Second Teams, leaving them at a loss for words.

As always, Bernald remained standing there, unchanging.

“Are you all misunderstanding something? Just because this is a class, just because you’re still students, did you think that meant you’d be safe?”

Oujin continued, his voice calm and unwavering.

“During the battle against the homunculi, we almost died too. We were only saved by Instructor Ituka’s intervention by sheer chance. But there is no War Maiden here today. Nor will there be in the next curriculum. Or the one after that. What will happen if a monster as strong as those homunculi appears again? We won’t be able to handle it on our own.”

Damn, Oujin’s terrifying. The quiet way he speaks only makes it scarier.

“That means all of us here, including Third Team, have no choice but to get stronger. Even a ten-year-old could understand that.”

If you added up my past lives, I was already nearing fifty, but this wasn’t a moment to crack jokes.

Even though I wasn’t the one being reprimanded, my heart was pounding uncontrollably.

“Th-That’s…”

“If you don’t like me or Eremia, feel free to kick us out of the party. If you’re confident that you can survive the next curriculum on your own, then do as you please.”

Oujin? In that case, what happens to my rear? Would Lili still smack me until it’s swollen?

“Or would you rather abandon your ambitions of becoming knights and cower in a dungeon corner, waiting for time to pass?”

There was no room to interject. I didn’t even think I could.

It was a strange feeling. When I was Blythe, I never cared about earning anyone’s anger. But now, as young Eremia, my body seemed to fear it immensely. It had an extreme aversion to being disliked.

My soul was being pulled by my body. I’d been feeling this more and more lately. Even if my soul remained unchanged, perhaps I was no longer Blythe.

Compared to that, Oujin’s resolve was unshakable. He was nothing like a typical teenager.

“If you’re only half-heartedly committed, you shouldn’t even be carrying a sword. This is a warning. Even if you survive today, you’ll die tomorrow.”

Bernald, who had been silently standing there, finally spoke in his usual calm voice.

“Then tell me, Oujin. What is your resolve? Why did you cross the seas to attend this school?”

Oujin’s left eye twitched slightly.

But the words that followed were beyond anything I could have imagined.

“To return to Hinomoto and cut down my father. That is why I continue to wield my sword.”

“—!?”

I was speechless. So was everyone else.

Oujin never lied. He was always honest. But if I compared his reason with our conversation on the rooftop…

“Oujin… you…”

I couldn’t stop myself from murmuring.

Oujin gave me a faint, lonely smile.

“…I envy you, Eremia. You and His Majesty.”

It was the first time I truly understood.

That Oujin was the son of the ‘Sword Demon.’ But what reason could there be for a son to have to kill his own father?

I couldn’t even begin to imagine.

Oujin stood in the midst of something far beyond my comprehension.

No wonder he was so abnormally strong.

And no wonder he was so obsessed with getting even stronger.

Would he ever tell us the full story one day?