After Yuri’s first experience with death, Athena carried him back to Mirka’s room.
“...Well I’ll be, this is quite the conundrum.”
After the boy was put to bed, and once she had heard the story, Mirka made quite the sour face. No one reacted to her words. Athena crouched on the floor, hugging her knees, while Fram lay down on the sofa.
“But I get where Elias is coming from. He used to compete with Reilly the mix-blood, after all. I’m sure he’s followed the path of a mix-blood duelist closer than anyone.”
“...Mirka, you’ve been in this city for a long time, haven’t you?”
“Yes. Not only longer than you two, I’ve been here a lot longer than a majority of the duelists here.”
“Then...do you know what’s become of the mix-blood duelists so far?” Fram questioned in a downcast tone.
For a short while, Mirka fell into silence, mulling over whether she should answer or not. Eventually, she quietly nodded.
“Without a single exception, the mix-bloods all end up leaving the duel city. Some lose all their rate without a single win, and some grow sick and tired of their unproductive days, chased around by work and losing more often than not. Some despair at their own powerlessness...and some hit a wall they can never surpass.”
And, after such a serious answer, Mirka was back to her usual self.
“When you really get down to it, inherent factors play a large part in strength in a duel, you know. Tribal traits suited for combat, inborn battle sense...they’re gaps that can’t be closed with knowledge and technique.”
There was a divide that couldn’t be resolved between the haves and have-nots. A person who started out with talent could just as well acquire knowledge and technique, putting in the same effort, and the gap would simply grow. There was nothing to be done about it.
That was the difference between a mix-blood and a normal duelist.
“...But a mix-blood still has tribal traits, don’t they?” Athena sullenly mumbled as she squeezed her knees.
But Mirka shook her head. “As a general rule, the tribal traits of a mix-blood aren’t at a level to use in battle. They’re only strong enough to be a little convenient in daily life.”
“...There could be an Armament even a mix-blood can use.”
“That’s impossible. The magic circuits of the gemstones that activate skills are too complex. Only pure Human Tribe mana can operate them, and a mix-blood with the mana of other tribes mixed in can’t draw anything out.”
With each answer from Mirka, Athena’s ears drooped lower and she clenched her knees harder.
“...Yuri was having a lot of fun fighting,” she quietly muttered as she thought back to his form in battle. “No matter who he was up against...he had the time of his life. With a look on his face like he loved to fight so much he didn’t know what to do with himself, he fought having more fun than anyone.”
And yet, Yuri had no future as a duelist. He couldn’t climb up, he couldn’t reach beyond, he couldn’t move forward. He would mull and anguish and eventually despair.
“That’s...not fun at all.” Little by little, her voice was touched by tears.
Fram breathed a deep sigh. “...Right. When he has more fun fighting than anyone, I can’t accept that the child is the only one excluded from the creed, ‘Let’s All Enjoy our Fights.’”
After endorsing Athena, Fram slowly lifted herself up.
“Mirka, is it really impossible for a mix-blood duelist to climb the ranks?”
“As far as I know, at least. Reilly reached the higher tiers of Silver, and that’s the highest any mix-blood has ever gotten.”
Reilly Malbork boasted abnormal strength for a mix-blood. Even so, the path would not open up. That simple fact weighed heavier than all else.
“Truth be told, Yuri would be perfect if he wasn’t a mix-blood. From what I could tell from his fight with Haring, his skills don’t fall short of Reilly’s.”
But that just meant he would tread the same path as his master. Falling into despair at his own limits, leaving the duel city in regret. That was precisely why Elias had to make it clear. So Yuri wouldn’t have to hurt, exhaust, and anguish himself. To make him give up on a duelist’s path early.
“...Yuri won’t give up on being a duelist, will he?” Athena’s shaking voice posed the question to no one in particular. “He’s going to keep dueling with that smile on his face, isn’t he?” She hung her head as sobs mingled with her words.
It was none other than her own brother who denied him his future. She was the one who brought them together, and these facts made her excessively condemn herself.
Seeing Athena like that, Fram reached out and pulled on her pudgy cheeks.
“...Yow.”
“Don’t arbitrarily grow pessimistic. Wipe your tears.”
She tugged at Athena’s tear-drenched face a few more times.
“Whether Yuri quits as a duelist or not, why that’s for him to decide.” Fram remonstrated her with a calm and charming curl of her lips. “So don’t get pessimistic over his circumstances and arbitrarily pity him. That would be an insult, a denial of the work the child has put in.”
Athena finally lifted her face. “...It’s like Fram took the Big Sis role from me.”
“Naturally. I’m four-hundred-something years old.”
Athena roughly rubbed at her eyes. “...Right! Instead of worrying over stupid stuff, let’s find what we can do for Yuri!”
“First, you should blow your nose. You’re dripping snot.”
“Mnn! A Big Sis with a runny nose won’t do!” And after wiping her nose on the tissue Fram held out, Athena energetically stood. “I’m going to tell Yuri we’ll help out!”
“He’s still asleep. It’s his first death.”
“Then I’ll pray for him! My thoughts will reach him, I just know it!”
“How terribly bothersome of you.”
But fed up as she seemed, Fram’s eyes earnestly followed Athena as she took off toward the bedroom.
The fox girl noisily threw the door open with a bang. “Yuri! Your Big Sis will do her best, let’s work hard toge—”
Her yell was cut off part-way through. She looked at the bed where Yuri had been resting a moment ago. A bed which was absent of any Yuri.
Despite looking everywhere, she couldn’t find him. The sight of a swaying curtain sent shivers down Athena’s spine.
“Y-Yuri’s gone...!?”
“...No way.”
“Wh-Wwwwhat do we do!? Don’t tell me he really left!? He left because Big Sis was too late to cheer him up!?”
“C-Calm down! The ferry already departed today! He’s not going to swim across the ocean!”
It wasn’t just Athena, even Fram moved around in a hot panic.
“Mirkaaaaaaa! Yuri’s goooone!”
“Oh dear, Athena, your nose is dripping again...” Mirka replied.
“Mirka, you’re a staff officer, aren’t you!? Can’t you use your management Proof to locate him?”
“Why Fram, you’re quite precise even while panicking. I can look into it, but I’ll need some time.”
“If you find him, get in touch! Athena, he can’t have gone far yet, let’s hurry and search for him.” Fram jumped onto Athena’s shoulders and urgently patted her back.
“Aaaah! Fram finally let me carry her!”
“Cry or rejoice, choose one! Now go, go, go!”
Watching the two leave the room with all due haste, Mirka offered a sardonic smirk.
“...Dear me, they sure are kind,” she lazily muttered before taking a big stretch. “Now then, let’s do a bit of digging... Hm?”
Just when she was about to take her Staff Proof out of her breast pocket, she felt something was off and tilted her head. The vibration of an incoming transmission. But it wasn’t coming from the jewel that identified her as a staff member.
It was coming from a bracelet...no different from the ones used by duelists. She took out the Proof and gave it a light tap to connect.
“Hello? Did you need something?”
“Wassup! How ya doin’!?”
Mirka cut the call the moment she heard that bewildering greeting. Another came soon after.
“Why didja hang up!?”
“I heard a pervy middle-aged male voice and just kinda, you know...”
“I ain’t middle aged! I’m immortal, I stopped aging at thirty!”
“Thirty is still pretty middle-aged. So, did you need something?”
“Not really! I’m about to arrive at the duel city, just thought I’d tell you!”
“...Today’s ferry already came and went.”
“Right, about that! I’m swimming full force right now!”
“Thank you for the idiotic report.”
And just as she was about to hang up again, she recalled a certain something.
“Oh, yes, Reilly’s apprentice came to Babel.”
“Really!? You mean the mix-blood brat, right!?”
“Yes, yes. He’s simply adorable...ehehe.”
“Both your opinion and your laugh are creepy.”
“Oh, shut up. Come to think of it, the letter I got from Reilly contained some questionable information. I hear the selection process was left to you.”
“Right you are, Reilly left everything to me!”
She had intended it as criticism, but the man replied as if he’d taken it as a compliment. Mirka sighed deeply.
“...Now listen here, the candidate selection for each race is supposed to be left to us. That’s the rule. If anyone else heard about this, they’d be pretty angry.”
“You think so? What does it matter? Doesn’t change the fact I chose the brat, and doesn’t it get a lot more heated when the final exam is to beat your own master?”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. The problem is that someone apart from you used the Field technology on another continent—no, it’s a pain. Let’s just forget about it.”
No matter what she said, it would be pointless, and thus Mirka opted to give up.
“So anyway, how’s the brat? If he’s at the duel city, that means he beat Reilly, so he’s gotta be strong, right!?”
“If you’ll let me have my say, he’s as strong as Reilly...but hasn’t taken a step beyond that.”
The man on the other end of the line fell silent for a moment.
“Alright, got it. Send the brat’s location to my Proof! I’ll be there soon, but I’m a bit preoccupied at the moment!”
“Well of course you’re busy, swimming across the ocean.”
“Not that part! I’m working hard smacking down this pack of sharks that keeps following me!”
“Get eaten for all I care.”
“I ain’t gonna get chomped by the likes of sharks! I’m the strongest in the world, I—”
The conversation had become a pain, so Mirka hung up without another word. She gazed out at the evening sun.
“Now then, now then... What sort of duelist is he going to become?” Mirka mused with a beaming smile, eagerly awaiting the fights she had yet to see.