After having a much longer conversation with us than expected, Lulua’s dragon rapidly ascended into the air.
Then her beautiful, downy dragon seemed to dance as it wheeled around the skies of Raddermark. On the ground right about now, the people who were witnessing the dance were likely cheering.
The streets seemed like they could have stretched all the way into the horizon. The vast sky of the giant town of three hundred thousand was filled with flying summons from gigantic dragons and huge birds to large serpents clad in electricity, a herd of pegasi, and even a flying whale.
Even as I absentmindedly watched the town while hanging from the giant bird’s beak, I didn’t feel like I’d ever get tired of looking at it.
We’d just gotten to the great market on the east of Raddermark, so I tried searching for the Horse’s Drool Pavilion from the sky.
“Huh?”
Right then, I saw a girl waving her hand like mad from one of the roads to the great market.
She was a brunette and looked pretty young—I realized it was Ilecia, who was in charge of the dining room at work. Had she seen me from over two hundred mejals away on the streets? If she had, her eyes must have been really good.
I was about to wave back when I heard Cyril suddenly say, “So that’s how it is, Feil,” so I turned my attention to him instead.
“Sorry. What is?”
“Bernhart. It looks like he’s got his own plans.”
“Yeah, seems like. He’s been up to plenty gettin’ an angel summoning stone. I’m sure he could’ve picked up a different one if he just needed it as a counter to extempores.”
“So that part bothered you, too?”
“Personally, I woulda looked for lots of cheaper ones an’ fought with numbers. Then again, cheap in this case means enough to build an entire house for just one stone.”
“Bernhart or not, I’m sure the angel’s stone couldn’t have been a casual purchase.”
“So he must’ve been desperate for it to be an angel, huh…”
“But here’s the rub. How powerful is an angel from a summoning stone, really? It’d probably be an even match for your bugs, wouldn’t it?”
“Maybe. But anythin’ summoned by a stone isn’t synced with the owner. That’s an obvious weakness.”
“So what do you think is happening, Feil?”
“Right… I think we’ve gotta wait an’ see first. Either way, both our teams have gotta win to make it on.”
“You have a point there. We might not even make it to the final round with Sasha, whom you so kindly informed of our secret.”
“If there’s any way I could apologize to make it better, I would…”
Right then, the bells of Sedra Cathedral, which was visible from anywhere we flew in the sky over Raddermark, went off.
Its ten gathered steeples were round, giving the cathedral an organic look. Each steeple contained a hanging bell, and when every one of them went off together, their rings built up to be heard all across Raddermark.
The tolls told us it was ten in the morning.
It also let us know that the summons festival had begun.
“It’s time,” Cyril said as the giant bird flapped its wings. It circled around wide over the great market and headed to the north, cutting through the wind.
The little bits of snow hanging out in the air started running into me, so I covered my face with both my arms out of irritation and kept an eye in front of me through the gap.
Raddermark itself had no town walls, but to the north, where the Academy and its field lay, there was a thick wall of eighty mejals that bordered the width of the urban area. That was there to protect the ordinary lives of the townspeople as the summons clashed in the Academy ranking matches. The two gigantic and mismatching fortresslike buildings that made up the Academy served as the one and only gate leading beyond the wall.
Going past those buildings led to a field conspicuously full of boulders—that entire area from one end to the other was owned by the Academy and served as the grounds for the Academy ranking matches.
During this season, it just looked like a sprawling field of withered grass, but in actuality, the entirety of it was supposed to be over ten times bigger than all of Raddermark, and it even boasted three impressive lakes.
Cyril muttered, “Now that I can see the meeting point, I’m actually starting to feel a little nervous…”
Myfila chimed in, very concisely, “Don’t worry. We’ll manage.”
I could see all the summons gathering one after another behind the Academy buildings at the entrance to the sprawling field. I even saw Lulua’s dragon touching down on the withered grass.
Right in that moment, I said, “Looks like all the hotshots are gettin’ together for a huddle, huh,” trying to sound braver than I felt.
Even though it was called a summons festival, we didn’t have a special meeting ground where it was being held or anything like that. There weren’t many differences between this and our usual ranking matches. The biggest changes were that only fifteen teams were selected from among all the year levels to have a tournament-style match, the whole thing would be broadcast across Raddermark, and powerful artifacts were allowed. Otherwise, it was no different from any other match.
But my heart still raced, my fingertips went numb, and my lips started to twitch.
I gave myself a light slap on the cheek with one of my hands and took a step on the field right as the giant bird gently landed. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I made sure not to twist anything and immediately looked for Sasha.
I met eyes with the platinum-haired beauty who’d made it ahead of us…
“Hey.”
That was all I said before giving her a bold smile.
A casual declaration of war to the top-choice contender. An announcement that we’d win this time around.
“Hey, look, Feil.”
But then Myfila yanked on the sleeve of my robe, so I turned around. “What’s up?”
“What’s wrong, Bernhart?” someone was saying.
Bernhart Hadcheck had just come out of one of the Academy’s buildings and was spotted walking toward us.
“But—but what’s the plan? You just came back, and now you’re saying it’s time to get started…but we have no idea what you want us to do.”
Today, Bernhart didn’t have his signature hairdo. His face looked haggard, and dark circles had even formed under his eyes. He almost looked like a half-dead fiend, based off the vibe he was giving off.
“Bernhart, are you listening to us?!”
“Please stop muttering all those weird things under your breath. Let’s get a plan set up!”
It seemed like they were arguing as they walked—or more like Bernhart’s teammates were attempting a heartfelt negotiation with him as he completely ignored them. Even when they both tried to grab his shoulders and tugged on his clothes instead, he brushed them off and kept walking over our way.
When the participants of the festival turned to look at Bernhart, every single one of them seemed calm and composed. Not one person seemed intimidated by Bernhart’s behavior.
In fact…
“Well then, we’ll now go over the summons festival’s rules.”
…when the Academy professor arrived and announced that, the air seemed to stir much more.