Episode 20: “The Community Council”
Bianca readied her sword. Fiine drew her wand from inside her coat and swiftly traced a magic circle.
The ground rose up, and from within the earth emerged a sword made of dirt.
“Miss, that’s amazi—…!!”
“Just basic earth-attribute magic.”
“But I read about it in a book! Magic that creates things is supposed to be really hard! Especially something hard like a sword — it said you need reinforcement magic too!”
These children apparently had a decent grasp of magic theory already.
“Still as skilled as ever, I see.”
“…Don’t you start too, Bianca.”
“It’s annoying, but it’s the truth. You were always good at creation magic, even back then.”
Creation magic was, as the name suggested, magic that created things. Making a magic doll was one type of creation magic.
“Alright, here I come!”
Bianca kicked off the ground hard and lunged.
Her movements had sharpened since before, but her fighting style itself hadn’t changed.
A speed-focused type built around her light frame. Her sword was on the lighter side too, characterized by quick, rapid thrusts.
(She’s gotten a lot faster than before, but the basic movement hasn’t changed.)
Bianca had been born into a prestigious noble house and had learned swordsmanship from private tutors since early childhood.
Because of that, her fundamentals were flawless — but if anything, she tended to move exactly the way the textbooks said to.
Fiine caught one of Bianca’s strikes with the dirt-formed sword. The moment Bianca drew back to launch her next thrust, Fiine kicked off the ground and leapt into the air.
“Fiine?!”
Bianca hurriedly angled her sword upward, but it couldn’t reach her in midair.
But—
“It’s over, Bianca.”
Fiine’s sword extended in a straight line, knocking Bianca’s blade to the ground.
Before Bianca could retrieve it, Fiine landed and brought her sword’s tip to rest against Bianca’s throat.
“I win.”
“You—…!! This was supposed to be a sword match! Quit using magic!”
“It’s a sword. Just a slightly unusual one.”
“That’s exactly what magic means!!”
Turning her back on Bianca’s noisy protests, Fiine looked over at the children, who were staring at her, dumbstruck.
“If your opponent’s a monster that fights with a sword, don’t assume its sword is just an ordinary sword.”
The sword Fiine had just conjured with creation magic could be reshaped freely, depending on technique.
Not just length, the way she’d just done — it could just as easily be wrapped in flame, or charged with electricity.
“Fighting a monster isn’t a dueling match with rules. It’s not like training. Be careful.”
She snapped her fingers, and the sword vanished in an instant.
As she turned to leave, the young man who’d been leading the swordsmanship lesson hurriedly called out, please, wait!
“Thank you. For teaching us something we might not have noticed ourselves.”
“…It’s nothing.”
She answered while half-hiding behind Bianca, and Bianca let out an exasperated sigh.
“Don’t mind her. She’s been like this since forever. More importantly, tell her — why you’re all teaching swordsmanship to the children like this.”
Listen properly, Bianca said, tugging her along by the hand.
“Schnee Village has a community council. Anyone past the age of sixteen gets assigned some kind of role for the sake of the village. We’re the ones assigned to teach the children swordsmanship.”
“…A community council?”
She asked, surprised, and the young man nodded with visible pride.
“Yes. There’s also a role for researching crop improvement, one for liaising with other villages, one for liaising with merchants, one for managing supplies, and so on. Our village doesn’t have many people, so everyone works together to protect it.”
“Protect the village?”
“Yes. My father always told me that’s how this village has been protected, all this time.”
The young man drew a breath, then pointed toward a nearby statue of the “Frontier Hero” — the one holding a large shield.
“Lord Conrad, the Frontier Hero, was my father’s childhood friend. That shield was made by my father.”
“…He made the shield?”
“Yes. Back then, there was no way to go buy weapons in the city. Every piece of Lord Conrad’s weapons and armor was made right here in the village.”
She hadn’t known that. It hadn’t been written anywhere in the diary.
“There wasn’t a community council like this while Lord Conrad was alive. After he passed, my father apparently pushed the village head to start one.”
“…The ‘Frontier Hero’ was strong, and brave. That’s… that’s true, right?”
“Yes. But I’ve also heard he was, at the same time, someone who was terribly frightened. A real coward, even.”
“That’s the first I’ve ever heard of that.”
At Bianca’s surprise, the young man laughed, looking a little sheepish.
“Please don’t mention that to outsiders too much. My father apparently made a promise to Lord Conrad once — ‘I’ll make you the greatest hero in the world.’”