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“Gather five people around you. That will be your team for today’s class. The rules are simple: stand for as long as possible. If all team members fall, you’re out. As long as one remains, you’re safe.”

With the professor’s words, signaling to draw our swords, chaos erupted.

The professor mentioned “team,” but expecting cooperation from a hastily formed group that barely knew each other’s names was foolish. Of course, the professor might have hoped that cooperation would emerge from such adverse conditions, but for Noel, the situation was far from ideal.

Perhaps it was just bad luck that many on the opposing side had rather aggressive personalities, leading to Noel being separated from her team just minutes after it had formed.

Should it be labeled as misfortune?

Normally, when a professor says something like that, students would hesitate for a moment, pondering whether they truly had to fight without any preparation. Thoughts like “Is this really how it’s going to be?” would cross their minds. Then a proactive team would attack another, prompting the children to finally grasp the reality and engage in battle. Unfortunately, Noel’s team fell victim to such an aggressive team right from the start.

Even if Noel had exceptional leadership skills, there was nothing she could do in this scenario. With her team wiped out, how could she demonstrate leadership or cooperation?

Before she could assist her fellow team members, they were quickly eliminated one after another as attacks came from all directions. Only Noel remained standing against the onslaught of blades.

It wasn’t until she withstood a particular wave of attacks and managed to escape that she realized her team had been completely wiped out. She felt a pang of regret that her teammates had perished so swiftly, but at the same time, it brought her a certain thrill.

This thrill stemmed from confirming her own abilities. Others had failed, but she had persevered. If her skills had been lacking, she would have fallen like the others. The very fact that she could hold her ground made her feel joy.

Due to her status as a princess, people were always busy showing her respect, so she had never assessed her abilities until now, making this a valuable proof for her.

However, her elation was short-lived.

Having survived one chaotic bout, she prepared for the onslaught that was to come her way, but contrary to her expectations, there were no further attacks directed at her. The students who realized she was left alone quickly shifted their focus to the other team members.

As she noticed the hesitation in the gazes directed towards her, Noel felt an ominous shadow cast over her earlier triumph. The very thing she feared was about to unfold.

Was it truly her skill that prevented her from being eliminated? Was it that they were conscious of her presence that allowed her to remain standing? In reality, she couldn’t know, but doubts like these had already taken root in Noel’s mind.

“Ha.”

Unable to restrain herself any longer, Noel hurled herself back into the fray. If she stayed idle, there was a chance she wouldn’t be eliminated in the professor’s evaluation. While her teammates had fallen, she herself had not, meaning the team technically hadn’t been eliminated. But such details were irrelevant to Noel at that moment.

In her fury, Noel’s strike sent several students who were entangled in combat flying through the air. Startled by the sudden chaos, the remaining students turned to look, realizing that she was no one they should underestimate.

No one was there to block the unchecked strikes from Noel. The melee transformed from chaos into a vital showdown of whether they could stop her or not. Just this revelation itself would have been sufficient proof of Noel’s abilities. However, mere proof this time would not suffice. She was angry and what she needed now was an outlet for that anger.

As she took down a few more students, it was then that she felt her blade finally meet resistance.

Initially, she assumed she’d arrived at Reinhardt’s position. Having faced him before, she understood that he was a formidable opponent to fell with a single strike.

Among the students who had fallen to her blade, she thought that Reinhardt was the only one capable of stopping her.

“Alright. Let’s see if you can hold your ground this time.”

Without seeing her opponent’s face, Noel burned with determination, recalling her match against Reinhardt. At that time, she emerged victorious. During an evenly matched duel, Reinhardt had conceded, but she knew that his forfeit stemmed from his chivalrous regard for her as a princess.

Originally, he had vowed not to strike at her, and this duel had been a result of her earnest request. Though she couldn’t fault his knightly spirit, with her credibility in shambles now, Noel required someone to vent her frustrations upon.

As she thought about settling the unfinished score from that day, eager to swing her sword once more, she finally recognized that the figure standing before her was not Reinhardt but someone else.

The man who had thrust her blade aside had jet-black hair. For a moment, her surprise at not facing Reinhardt dissipated as those serpentine eyes fixed on her, sending shivers down her spine and causing her previously blazing fury to waver slightly.

“So it was you, causing a ruckus from afar… Noel…”

The man muttered softly before raising his sword toward her. This was the very confrontation she craved, but seeing it materialize right before her eyes caused her to falter. Despite this, Noel instinctively raised her sword.

He struck first. The initial blow was heavy, causing her fingers to tingle, but Noel met it with joy, swinging her sword.

For the first time, Noel felt like she was genuinely engaged in a proper duel. His sword bore none of the hesitation shown by others and was purely focused on bringing her down.

Was it since the moment they faced each other, or only after their blades clashed? At a certain point, Noel recognized that the anger that had been fueling her was beginning to subside.

She had sensed from the first strike that he was a swordsman of a different caliber than those students who had fallen to her. Perhaps someone who could stand toe-to-toe with Reinhardt, this individual was regarding her not as a princess, but as a fellow swordsman, and so it only made sense for her anger to dissipate.

Clang—

A broken blade spiraled through the air and lodged itself into the ground.

Noel’s sword had been reduced to half its length, while his weapon remained intact, aimed straight at her neck.

Rather than feeling threatened by the sword poised at her throat, Noel wanted to say something to him. But she realized how the situation felt odd, suppressing that urge and focusing on his face instead.

Strangely enough, her racing heart made her dizzy, yet she was still able to imprint his face in her mind. As her heartbeat quickened, time seemed to slow, and he smiled at her.

“Practice more. At this rate, you’ll get killed.”

With that, he leapt away towards the other students.

*

The crowd’s cheers filled the venue, but at that moment, Noel couldn’t discern whether they were chanting her name or rallying for the man who lay defeated before her.

Why was this man lying sprawled before her? Staring at his fallen figure, Noel needed to wrap her head around it. Realizing that it was the Sacred Festival and she had taken part in a duel, she recalled that this man had been her opponent. Surrounded by the environment, the forgotten details came flooding back.

How she had won was still a blur, but in the end, the crucial part was that she had emerged victorious.

As she realized that the crowd’s cheers were directed at her, Noel offered a polite acknowledgment before turning her feet towards the exit. While the audience still erupted in her name, it transformed back into mere noise in Noel’s ears.

They say overthinking dulls the senses, and that was precisely Noel’s situation. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t solely her own troubles, but since she perceived Altair as ‘me,’ it shared the burden of her troubles.

“I really am a nuisance…”

Suddenly bombarded with memories of the past, causing her identity confusion, and just when she began to sort through her thoughts, her bodily autonomy was seized, leading to her heart being muddled. At that point, it could be said she was acting irrationally.

A divine being behaving so childishly…

Realizing that she was lamenting to herself, Noel felt absurd as if she were self-criticizing and soon exhaled a sigh, pushing away that complex emotion.

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand Altair’s feelings. Although Noel herself might not have been aware, the past Noel had definitely faced similar dilemmas. The fact that Altair was also, in a way, Noel, underscored this dilemma.

In the past few days, Noel had undergone quite the struggle in accepting memories that were foreign to her.

The memories Altair offered were both her own and not her own, making feelings of alienation natural. Being suddenly thrust into adulthood while grappling with incomprehensible memories brought discomfort akin to wearing ill-fitting clothing.

Just as one needs time to grow physically, mental growth requires time too. Yet, to cram years of memories into a few days meant hardships were inevitable.

The memories pouring in like a river accompanied by intense emotions were impossible to ignore. The heat that rose in her face when she saw Damian was precisely due to that.

Having experienced emotions like love, especially an unrequited one drawn from past memories she hadn’t gone through, was indeed a sorrowful yet simultaneously beautiful experience. Noel accepted that too.

While reading those memories, embracing emotions from the past, she grasped what Altair desired from her. It was to create allies who shared a common purpose. More precisely, it was to unify the desires of Noel and the identity of Altair, merging that which had been separated back into one. Yet the meanings remained the same.

Unfortunately, Noel couldn’t fulfill Altair’s request. It was because she was Noel Estellia, not the Noel depicted in the memories Altair had shared. She knew who she was.

“Well… I guess I’m still a hassle. I don’t understand why I keep falling for the same type.”

Noel chuckled wryly at the memories, realizing how intertwined they were.

Regardless of either side, the resolution of emotions was similar, but the starting point was identical, making her feel both happy and sad. Having tied the past memories together allowed her to confront this emotion definitively. It was merely a reminiscence of a first love that had already slipped away.

Noel spoke to the Altair curled up within her.

“You know too, don’t you? You can’t avoid it forever.”

 

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