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Arin. The representative character of the swordsman job class, and a girl who contended for 1st or 2nd place in popularity rankings due to her uniquely cool appearance and personality.

Unlike other jobs that were trivial or fed you frustrating sweet potatoes, Arin, the fundamental swordsman job class, acted with bold decisions and words in every aspect, making her inevitably likable.

Who in the world would dislike a character that not only pours out refreshing moments but also forcibly shoves them up your nose?

‘I liked her too.’

That’s why Arin was one of the children I wanted to see after falling into this world, but I never expected to see her in a tent that caught my eye while just walking down the street.

“Woooah!!”
“Can a kid like that pull it out?”
“Nah, no way.”

The man who seemed to be the owner of this tent and the host shouted loudly using amplification magic, and the surrounding spectators seemed to already predict that Arin would fail, looking at her seemingly pitiful figure.

And among these spectators, I observed Arin, who was looking at the sword stuck vertically in front of her with tense eyes.

Although I was curious about why Arin was here, thinking about it, there was nothing particularly strange. Even in the game, regardless of which job you chose, on festival days, you could wander around as you wished, familiarizing yourself with the geography of the Kingdom of Phara and practicing simple skills.

Since there wasn’t any specific story about who went where, it’s not strange if Arin came here by her own choice.

‘If anything, it could be considered natural. It was a sign that a swordsman couldn’t pass by.’

As Arin was a true swordsman obsessed with swords to the core, how could she pass by something that said ‘Tournament of the Chosen Sword’?

Of course, Arin must have entered this place as soon as she saw the sign. Although I couldn’t know exactly how she acted, I could somehow be certain.

“Well, I guess I understand why she’s here. So, that sword… is?”

Having figured out why Arin was here, I now turned my attention to the sword she was trying to pull out, but I was at a loss for words at the sight of the all-too-familiar sword.

Of course, I couldn’t fail to recognize that sword, as it was the one I had relied on for a long time when I first started Kaleidoscope and raised this Aria, my main character.

The ‘Sword of Twilight, Karnia’, which I had worn from level 30 to 50 during my growth, compared to most swords that changed at level 5.

It was a top-tier sword that had no comparable equipment until reaching level 50, though I had to discard it when I changed my growth direction from swordsman to dual-wielder.

“Why is that sword here?”

Wouldn’t it be impossible for such a sword to be found in a common shop at a festival like this?

I came up with numerous answers to this question that seemed difficult to explain for any reason, and then muttered softly the most plausible reason I could think of.

“I see… I bought that sword from a merchant during a quest too, so maybe this small merchant had it and passed it on to a larger merchant. Indeed, it’s not a sword that a small merchant like this could handle.”

The most likely story was that this small merchant had such a sword, wandered around with it, then passed it on to a larger merchant, and it eventually ended up in Arin’s hands.
Since it wasn’t clearly stated where Karnia was made, this would be the most realistic explanation.

However, regardless of how it happened, it wasn’t of great importance to me right now, so I focused for a moment on the condition of the sword that I hadn’t properly seen.

And I couldn’t hold back a burst of laughter at the hopeless current state of the sword that was obvious at a glance.

“No one could possibly pull it out.”

From what I could see, it seemed they had melted mithril at the tip of the sword and solidified it, making it impossible to pull out properly.
Although they had created a slight groove on the surface to make it look like it could be pulled out, there was probably something inside holding the sword in place in some way.

In that state, even if you brought the strongest person in the world, either the mithril-stuck stone floor would be lifted entirely or the sword would break, one of the two.

In other words, it was impossible for Arin to pull out that sword.

“It seems her intentions are naive.”

But Arin, who hadn’t yet grasped the sword’s condition as well as I had, seemed to have relaxed enough as she took a deep breath and firmly grasped the sword’s handle, then pulled on it with all her might.

“Nnngh!!”

Crack─ Creeeeak──

As if demonstrating Arin’s strength that could be called superhuman, when she started exerting force, the leather of the sword’s handle and Arin’s hand made a sound as if breaking from the friction.

At this, the surrounding spectators let out exclamations of disbelief, but as 10 seconds… 30 seconds… 1 minute passed… the sounds of exclamation gradually grew quieter.

“Nnnngh…!”

Arin, who had been pulling on the sword, also started to lose strength at some point, and finally, letting go of the handle, she slumped down on the ground.

It was a kind of sign of giving up. At this action, the host man shouted in a tone dripping with pretense:

The host, mentioning tempting prizes, sought other challengers. Arin seemed to grit her teeth in frustration and was about to stand up.

And looking around, quite a few people among the spectators seemed to be enticed by the prizes the host mentioned and were about to participate, so I quickly stepped onto the stage before they could express their intention to participate.

I couldn’t miss the opportunity to form a connection with Arin.

“I’ll participate.”

As I stepped onto the stage, the host looked me over once and then raised his voice with shining eyes. Certainly, while inferior to Kama, Aria’s body still had beauty that could rival a princess, so it was understandable for him to be so pleased.

Arin, too, was looking at me with eyes that seemed to be gauging my abilities as I came up on stage.

Fortunately, as I had expected, by coming up showing off as a swordsman, she seemed to have become interested in me. I approached the sword with gestures that seemed not to be conscious of Arin.

Glancing sideways, I saw Arin looking at me with worried eyes, as if thinking it would be difficult since she couldn’t pull it out herself.
Damn, Liana really was the one with the nasty personality. Arin was indeed incomparable to Liana, worrying about me with such kind eyes.

However, even if I felt a wave of emotion rushing over me, the words this body with its filtering correction uttered were completely different. I stopped in front of the sword and spoke to Arin, who was still sitting down beside it.

“For a swordsman, you seem to have moved your body too much and let your mind grow stiff. In a real fight, you could never defeat an opponent like that.”
“Wh-what? My mind grew stiff? What kind of rude thing is that to say!”

Arin, who seemed not to understand my words at first, stared at me blankly before flushing with anger and shouting.

Unlike the people up until now who had spoken to me politely, Arin’s casual speech towards me felt quite novel, but instead of answering Arin, I drew the two swords hanging at my waist.

One in each hand. Unlike when facing Liana, drawing both swords made me feel as if Aria’s body was finally complete.

At my sudden action of drawing swords instead of grabbing the sword, the host, the spectators, and Arin all looked at me with puzzled faces, but before they could say anything, I swung the drawn swords at a speed that could only be described as swift.

『Skill: Crescent Moon』

With a swish, the two swords in my hands, without even 1mm of error, cleanly cut around the mithril surrounding the sword, perfectly separating the sword and the mithril.

Although there was no visible difference from the outside before and after swinging the swords, when I felt the sensation of perfect separation at my fingertips, I sheathed the swords without hesitation.

“What did you just…?”
“The goal is to pull out the sword anyway. If you break free from that ridiculous lie about only the chosen one being able to pull it out, several paths open up. One of them is cutting away the pedestal like this.”

After sheathing my swords, I reached out and grasped the sword that was still stuck in the mithril, and pulled it out of the mithril with remarkable ease.

Thud──

And as the sword was pulled out, the mithril belatedly split in half and fell over. At this sight, Arin, who was about to ask me what I had done, couldn’t close her gaping mouth.

Looking around, the spectators’ reactions were not much different from Arin’s, and the host was sweating profusely with an expression on the verge of tears. He probably never thought the sword would be taken in such an unthinkable way.

But I had only pulled out the sword as they had said, just pull it out, and I had the rightful claim to the prize, so I took the pouch containing 100 gold that was placed in front of the already stone-stiff host.

“I’ll be taking the prizes you mentioned.”

Opening the pouch, I found exactly 100 gold pieces inside, and after confirming the prize, I pushed away the hand of the host who was trying to grab me while opening and closing his mouth unable to speak, and walked back onto the stage.

I decided to keep the 100 gold as I needed it, having only 10 gold received from the Pope as my current funds, so I threw the sword, Karnia, which I had been holding in my other hand, to Arin who still couldn’t get up from her spot.

“Take it.”
“Huh, huh?! Why are you giving this to me?”
“It’s a sword I don’t need anyway. Looking at your sword, it seems to have sentimental value, but it looks useless in actual combat. That sword is quite good, so it should be helpful to you.”

To Arin, who received the sword from me with a bewildered expression, I coolly threw out a few words and then walked towards the entrance of the tent, parting the spectators.

Phew, even I think I was freaking cool just now.

Although it was corrected through filtering, I was so intoxicated with self-admiration at my cool appearance that I lifted the tent flap, but just before leaving the tent, Arin’s shout from behind stopped me.

“W-wait a moment…! Surely this isn’t the first time we’ve met today? Then why are you doing this much for me?”

A question that might be unavoidable from her perspective. I desperately wanted to answer, “Because you were my favorite character and I wanted to be of help,” but I couldn’t possibly say that out loud, so after pondering for a moment, I opened my mouth.

“You’ll find out when you come to the academy. We’ll meet again soon anyway.”

Because I’m a professor, you see. We’ll meet again soon anyway. Although I couldn’t see Arin’s face hidden by the spectators, I uttered one more sentence as I left the tent.

“I hope you’ll use polite speech next time.”
A student speaking casually to a professor? I’d have no choice but to give you penalty points for that, you know?