“Those who are far, listen with your ears! Those who are near, see with your eyes!”
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His voice projected. There were no spells. No clever tricks. Magical paints? Oh, please. It was high noon—they had the sun. This battlefield. The spectators were looking from far away. He’d just painted it white, polished it, and stuck on some wings. That was all—no magic involved.
They didn’t need it to do this. Not him—and not her.
You got a problem? You want to make an issue of it? Go ahead, bitch away!
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“The younger brother of Ruby Mage, formerly the first sorcerer of the Academy, now speaks!”
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That set off a murmur among part of the crowd. At least, he thought so. He couldn’t tell. Maybe he was imagining it.
Doesn’t matter! Like I care!
It wouldn’t mean the end of anything. He knew that. He knew that all too well.
They would probably keep talking about it for a long time. In his own heart, he felt a shadow, one that wouldn’t let go.
But so what, then?
The old rhea had spoken often and eloquently of the greatest of the sorcerers, of what had made him such a fine user of magic. Fools said that it was because he spoke with dragons, because he retrieved treasure, because he had crossed the border between life and death.
But it was none of that. It was because he—he himself was…
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“The adventurer—my friend!”
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…because he had accepted his own shadow. He had a friend who had offered him that chance—that was what made the great sorcerer great.
If so, then this was Wizard Boy’s first step. He would take it for her sake—she was the one who had caused him to take it. Maybe people would say he lacked courage not to be able to say these things to her face—but what did he care?
It doesn’t matter. I’ll do it!
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“The rhea fighter, unparalleled, invincible! Of her brave deeds and her beauty, you have surely all heard by now!”
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True, the shadow clung to him and refused to loosen its grip. True, he would travel with the shadow wherever he went, wherever it might be.
He couldn’t overcome it. And he felt a repulsion at the idea of accepting it—only the sages were capable of such things.
So long as he couldn’t, though, he would have to drag himself along, pathetically buffeted this way and that. To despise that patheticness and to seek only the glory of the light would be as absurd as burying himself in darkness.
For going to such extremes was as good as admitting you couldn’t look squarely at the other side.
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“And why? Surely you know these words, spoken since before the journey of the nine walkers!”
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If they didn’t? Well, it just showed they hadn’t studied enough. Read a book! Learn something! Then go out into the world, go on a journey, have an adventure.
No? They couldn’t? What did he care? There was only do. After all, look: She was here, doing it.
She’d left her rural home, become an adventurer in spite of the mockery, trained hard, and was on a journey now. She was here at this moment. And she’d brought him along with her.
Yeah, that was right. You say this wasn’t the fruits of his own labor? Well, that’s true. He hadn’t done it on his own.
He understood now. He knew very well. Rheas? Rheas were…
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“Rheas are the race who looks up!”
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And that wasn’t all—no, not in the least. Race didn’t determine everything.
It was the first thing some people noticed, and they thought it made someone good or bad, strong or weak. They would make fun of someone for it!
But race didn’t determine everything about a person. He gestured toward the young woman in white with one arm.
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“And she is a great adventurer!”
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Not she will be a great adventurer. She already was. She was already fully fledged and more. After all, none of the other rheas from her shire were here. And the other sorcerers from the Academy were in the spectator seating, not on the field.
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“One day, this battle shall be one act of her legend! Therefore…”
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The young woman, and she alone, had come this far—had brought him this far.
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“Therefore, I shall forbear to say any more. Except for one word: her name!”
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Then, at the top of his voice, the boy pronounced the rhea girl’s name.
Godspeed!
This last, he wished her only in his heart.
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“!!!!”
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Applause like thunder. People cheered her name, making it ring around the stadium.
She looked about, almost as if she was confused—and then she raised her hands high. If the earlier cheering had not been enough to pierce the very tent tops, now it was like the thunder was accompanied by lightning that crashed down to the field of battle.
“Eep!” she yelped, startled, but then she started laughing, a proper guffaw, and thrust her fist into the air once more.
As for the knight who waited across from her…
“……”
He sat dumbfounded upon his horse. No doubt in the world he lived in, rheas were poor little creatures deserving of sympathy—but no more. Perhaps he himself deserved a good word for her arrival in this place.
She was a true, unfettered, unblemished knight.
But what do I care?
“How do you like that?” Wizard Boy was looking his way with a brazen, incongruous smile. “There’s your fairness and equality.”
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