WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Spring Never Comes to Stolen Fields ◈

Chapter 18: Ranking

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Yesterday’s Skill Assessment results had been highly significant to the students.

The tier they had been assigned represented both their current worth and their chances of catching Celia’s eye.

Naturally, belonging to Tier 1, the tier assigned to the Hero, was a huge opportunity and a stepping stone.

Just like yesterday, we were told to be at the field by nine.

Thankfully, Luna was waiting outside the door at eight-thirty today instead of running late.

“Oh? You washed your hair today, Miss?”

I teased Luna for nearly being late yesterday.

“...I could still love Sirius even if he didn’t wash his hair for a month... I guess you couldn’t?”

Luna looked at me like the tragic heroine of some melodrama.

No... Why are you making me feel bad...?

“Come on, you know it’s not like that.”

I whined again, trying to cheer her up.

Luna really seemed to have an extraordinary talent for driving people mad.

She turned away with a wounded look and headed down the stairs.

But I saw it.

The slight curl of her lips before she turned around.

You really are awful.

Although we arrived at the field fairly early, it was already crowded.

A huge board stood in front of the platform. It looked like we could check our tiers and rankings there.

Luna and I squeezed through the crowd, curious to see.

Come to think of it, I was curious about Luna’s evaluation.

As for me, although it had come out that I'd been chanting deliberately, I didn't think it would affect my ranking that much.

But Luna had beaten up a teacher. What rank could she possibly have gotten?

I looked for my name first.

Sirius... Sirius... Sirius... Oh!

I was right at the bottom of Tier 1.

I ranked twelfth, which apparently meant Tier 1 ended at twelfth place.

Then I scanned down from the top.

First place. Celia.

That was predictable. Unless something earth-shattering happened, it probably wouldn’t change.

What I hadn’t expected was the line right below Celia’s name.

First place. Luna Iaros.

Luna was tied with Celia for first.

The result made sense, but it was also a little strange.

I hadn’t seen what Celia had demonstrated during her assessment, but it took a discerning eye to recognize just how advanced Luna’s martial ability had been.

It hadn’t even been technique. Those movements were only possible with overwhelming strength and speed.

I didn’t know what the evaluation criteria were, but knowing who Luna was, I accepted the tie for first place.

The Hero and the Demon King’s daughter. They were destined to become the strongest representatives of their respective races.

Neither of them had reached their full potential yet, so the outcome was even harder to predict.

And though I felt sorry for Celia, I had no choice but to support Luna.

The principal soon appeared on the platform and silenced the murmuring students.

“You all worked hard during the assessment. Despite your young ages, every one of you demonstrated remarkable skill. I was deeply impressed.”

The principal explained how the academy would operate from now on.

The important points were these.

Skill Assessments would be held once per semester, for a total of five times, excluding the final semester.

During the final semester, the Hero would select the people who would ultimately accompany her. By passing the final test in first place with those members, she would complete the Proof.

Every semester, students would be divided into classes according to their assigned tiers and receive instruction.

Along with theory and practical training, they might also carry out outside missions under their teachers’ guidance.

That seemed to be about it.

“All right. Refer to your assigned tier and move to your respective groups.”

With that, the principal ended the announcement.

Luna and I headed toward the sign in the distance that read Tier 1.

Celia was already standing in front of it, along with the pink-haired kid we had seen yesterday, Arin Leofield.

If I remembered correctly, she hadn’t taken the Skill Assessment.

Still, she was more than qualified for Tier 1, so I had no intention of objecting.

Twelve students formed one class.

Me, Luna, Celia, Arin, six boys whose names I didn’t know yet, and two girls.

Since none of us knew each other well, we awkwardly stared at one another without saying a word.

Just as I considered starting a conversation, an unexpected person broke the silence.

“...Luna Iaros. I don’t understand at all why you’re ranked equally with me.”

With her arms crossed, Celia glared at Luna as though the very thought displeased her.

“Why do you think that, Hero?”

Luna answered as if inviting her to continue.

“...It feels awkward to say it myself, but I’ve reached a level where I can stand on equal footing with my mentor, Duke Aiern, the Empire’s strongest swordmaster.”

Duke Aiern.

Even when I was a boy who knew nothing, I knew that name.

The Undefeated Swordsman. That was one of Duke Aiern’s other names.

Naturally, Luna had no way of knowing who Duke Aiern was.

“So?”

Luna shrugged.

Wow. I was getting annoyed just watching.

Celia gave a hollow laugh as if she couldn’t believe it, then glared at her.

“I’m saying you’re nowhere near my level!”

By common sense, she was right.

No matter how overwhelmingly talented a young person might be, few would confidently declare they could defeat Duke Aiern.

But that was only common sense in the human realm.

I had never met Duke Aiern, but there was no doubt Amelia would still crush him.

Luna looked utterly dumbfounded.

“So what do you want to do about it, Hero?”

Honestly, I was curious about that too.

It would have been strange for the Hero and the Demon King’s daughter to get along too well, but I couldn’t see what Celia hoped to gain by voicing her complaint like this before the semester had even properly begun.

As though she had been waiting for those words, Celia grinned.

“Second place. Let’s decide who gets it.”

I see. No two suns under one sky, was it?

The other students in our class reacted in various ways.

One boy seemed excited to watch a fight between the two first-place students.

One girl looked at a loss, trying to find the right moment to stop them.

One boy was expressionless.

One girl watched with interest.

Maybe because only strong people had been gathered here, the class was full of distinctive personalities.

For now, I watched the situation, prepared to step in if necessary.

I didn’t want to see either of them get hurt.

Luna interlaced her fingers and stretched wide.

After closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she spoke in a low voice.

“If you insist on staying beneath me, then it would be polite of me to send you there.”

The moment she finished speaking, Luna leaped toward Celia at explosive speed.

Celia seemed briefly startled by the speed, but quickly came to her senses and raised her guard.

The other spectators naturally formed a wide circle around them.

Luna’s fierce assault showed no sign of stopping.

Celia skillfully deflected or blocked movements too fast to follow with the naked eye.

Both of them were incredible.

Honestly, if I stepped between them now, I would probably take one or two hits before being sent flying.

After exchanging blows for dozens of seconds, they briefly pulled apart to catch their breath.

“You certainly have the skill for second place, Luna.”

“Do you think this is enough to claim first place, Hero?”

Their tense exchange continued even when they weren’t fighting.

“Then I’ll attack first this time.”

Celia drew her sword from its sheath.

It was obviously a fine sword, crafted with great care.

Its appearance was impressive, but it had another, more unusual trait that few people would likely notice.

The smell of blood. Not human blood, but Demon blood.

Several distinct scents were mixed together, which meant that sword had cut down far more than one or two.

There was no way Luna wouldn’t notice something I had noticed.

Luna’s expression hardened slightly.

Until then, she had seemed to approach the spar casually, but now I could sense a faint killing intent from her.

Celia took her stance with her sword drawn. Rather than approaching Luna, she swung it sideways from where she stood.

An immense pressure in the air surged toward Luna.

Luna seemed to have several options, but she appeared to choose to meet it head-on.

She charged at Celia once more.

Just as the blade of wind was about to collide with her, Luna launched herself into the air.

She condensed mana around her fist and tried to drive it down at Celia.

Celia had no intention of taking it without a fight. Sword energy rippled from her blade.

Thinking one of them would get hurt if those two techniques collided, I prepared a defensive spell.

But unexpectedly, I didn’t need to use it.

“Fighting before your homeroom teacher even arrives? What a hopeless class. Don’t you think?”

The man who stepped between them grabbed Luna’s forearm and drove Celia’s sword into the ground with his foot.

Both Luna and Celia stopped moving with startled expressions.

“Ha... This is why I said I didn’t want to deal with kids...”

In the movements of that man, who I assumed to be the homeroom teacher, I momentarily saw the figure of my mentor.

Someone like this existed...?

Footnotes:

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