Thus began the days of training with Zenovis-san.
My current goal was not only to reach the ultimate form in swordsmanship that I was made to experience that day, but also to be able to cut anything with the wooden sword that I continue to train with today.
Incidentally, if I use the sword with the power of the [Holy King's Authority], I will be able to cut through a certain amount of things with this wooden sword, just as I was able to cut through the ground that day.
However, that was not what Zenovis-san was expecting.
He wanted me to be able to cut anything by simply swinging the wooden sword without any enhancements.
Therefore, I was forbidden to use Holy and Evil power, even magic power, and spent many days just swinging the wooden sword.
I wondered if I could practice for days like this, but with the help of Lanael-san, I was able to practice without worrying about the time.
"Well, I was glad to have Observer-sama's permission! Now you can train as much as you want, and if you can solve this case safely, I can send you back to your original time!"
As I had heard from Zenovis-san, the individuals in the upper dimension had power beyond my imagination, and it seemed that manipulating time was no big deal.
However, since Argena's world had nothing to do with observers, observers could not use their power as they wished, and the time manipulation was limited to me only.
"Well, even this is quite reckless. That's why I'll definitely have Yuuya-san become stronger and defeat the sentinel of the false god!"
"I-I will do my best…"
That's all I could answer now.
In any case, the state that Zenovis-san was looking for was for the sword and I to be completely united, and all the movements of the sword swing must be natural. There was no way I could learn it overnight.
However, Zenovis-san, who was extremely spartan, would bring in super-powerful monsters from somewhere and then make me fight them without any kind of reinforcement.
"Hah!
"Guoooooooo!"
I didn't know how much time had passed already, but I thought I had improved my sword handling compared to when I first started.
Even now, I managed to fight against the SS-class monster "Tyrant Wolf."
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
"Guhh!"
…Sorry, I lied.
As expected, I think it's impossible to fight an SS-class monster without using Holy power or magic power!
However, Zenovis-san would never accept the voice of my heart, and he told me something even more hopeless.
"I'm telling you, that monster is clothed in a special magic power, so physical attacks won't work."
"How am I supposed to defeat it?"
How can I defeat it with a mere wooden sword if physical attacks were ineffective?
It's no wonder it didn't respond to my slashing at it earlier!
While I was desperately trying to escape, the Tyrant Wolf unleashed its magic mercilessly!
"Gaaaaaaaah!"
"Huh!?"
I realized that I couldn't avoid the fire that was being unleashed at the rate that it filled my field of vision. I thought it was a futile resistance, but as I took a defensive stance, the fire suddenly split in half.
"Don't try to defend it. Cut it down."
"Mmh, this is ridiculous…"
I was surprised to hear that Zenovis-san, who was in a remote position, had cut that fire in half.
However, it's not just that I don't want that to be required of me, or…
Then, Zenovis-san continued.
"Listen, even magic can be cut. You can't cut it because you think that magic is not something that can be cut. You have to believe strongly. That's more important than you might think."
"T-that's a powerful belief…"
"Magic is not effective against physical attacks. The most important thing is to strongly remind yourself that you are going to cut the other person's magic power. Don't worry. You are stronger than you think. Believe in yourself."
"….."
I was suddenly told this in a gentle voice, and strangely enough, the words entered my mind easily.
I had been somewhat unsure of my own strength until now.
There were many strong people like Master Usagi and Iris-san…
But now that I am fighting with just a wooden sword and Zenovis-san says I am strong, I think I can believe in myself a little bit…
From that point on, I kept telling myself over and over in my head that it would be okay, that I would definitely be able to cut it without any basis to back it up.
"Gaaaaaaaaaah!"
"….."
Cut it. Cut it. Cut it.
I can cut it.
My thoughts were rapidly disappearing, and the scenery around me was losing its color. I only recognized the opponent that stood in front of me.
"──"
Somehow I forgot to breathe, and I didn't even know what I was doing.
And then──.
"Hmm… You've finally reached it, huh?"
"!"
Suddenly, Zenovis-san's words jumped into my ears, and my vision quickly returned to normal, and I regained consciousness.
At that moment, even though I was on the ground, I desperately sought air as if I had drowned.
"Kahah! Hah! Hah! Hah!"
I had no idea what had happened.
Oh no, if I don't do something, that monster will kill me!
That's what I thought…
"Hah… hah… hah… eh…?"
While desperately catching my breath, I hurriedly looked around and saw the Tyrant Wolf, who, for some reason, had been decapitated and collapsed on the ground.
W-what… is it dead…?
More importantly, what was I doing?
"Hah… hah… D-did Zenovis-san… killed it…?"
"No, I did not. You killed it yourself."
"M-me…?"
I was absolutely stunned by the unexpected words. Because before I knew it, I was unconscious, and when I realized it, the Tyrant Wolf had fallen.
I wouldn't believe it at all, even if he said that I killed it.
But Zenovis-san didn't give me a detailed explanation; he just gave me a soft smile.
"You passed."
"Eh?"
"I really wanted to give you more time, but… it would be difficult to go any further."
"──I-I'm sorry…"
"Ah, Lanael-san!"
Lanael-san, who had somehow come nearby, had an apologetic expression on her face.
"I-I also wanted to manipulate time so that you could continue your training as much as possible, but as expected, I was told that it would be difficult to interfere further…"
"I suppose. If you interfere too much, Argena will resist. Worst case scenario, you could be removed from this world and killed."
"Eehh?"
My eyes widened at the sudden revelation.
"W-what do you mean?"
"As I explained before, this world of Argena was not created by the power of observers. Therefore, if there is excessive interference from the observers, it is natural to resist it. There are many ways to resist, but the quickest way is to eliminate the cause of the interference. In other words, you."
"Um… I am an emissary of Observer-sama, and Zenovis-sama is a human of this era, so Yuuya-san is inevitably the one who will be eliminated as a foreigner in this world…"
"No way…"
Because I had actually talked to Argena-san before, I was strongly shocked by the word eliminated.
"B-but rest assured! It's only if we interfere too much more! Well, at the limit, until now, Yuuya-san has been given time to train, but if I manipulate time any further, Yuuya-san will really disappear…"
"I'm sorry. If we had more time, I could have taught you more carefully, but that wasn't possible. So, I think the training was quite reckless. But you still followed me."
Apparently, Zenovis-san knew that I didn't have much time, so he had given me a very spartan training until now.
To be honest, I was used to the harshness of the training itself since I also trained quite hard with Master Usagi, but when he apologized to me like this, I couldn't say anything.
I was really grateful to him for training me to be stronger, even though it was all a bit reckless.
However…
"Um… with my current abilities, can I defeat a sentinel of the false god?"
In the end, my training ended without me being able to understand the end result, and in addition, I was not able to reach the ultimate form of swordsmanship that Zenovis-san was asking me to achieve.
The ultimate achievement that Zenovis-san demanded was to defeat an enemy without using any technique, but right now, I am still unable to unleash a powerful attack without using a technique.
Of course, my training has paid off, and I am confident that my normal attacks have become much stronger… but I still didn't think I could compete with the same Genesis Dragon as Ouma-san.
And it was said that this Genesis Dragon also has the power of the false god…
Zenovis-san smiled gently at me, his expression darkening, a sharp contrast to his usual nonchalant demeanor.
"You will be fine. If it's you now, you're good enough. Indeed, you may not have been able to reach the extreme that I mentioned at the beginning. But you have definitely stepped into that state of being. So you can rest assured of that."
"Yes…"
I tend to give a curt reply because I don't really feel it at all… I just learned the importance of belief in the battle just now.
For the time being, let's believe in my own strength.
As I thought about this, Zenovis-san turned his attention to Lanael-san.
"Now, it's time to fight against the sentinel of the false god. Lanael, you know where he is, don't you?"
"Of course I do! It seems that the sentinel of the false god is still accumulating power in the [Dragon Valley], you know?
"[Dragon Valley], huh? It's narrow and hard to fight there ── I will drag him out to this place."
"Heh?"
"Oops… I'll go back to the upper dimension once!"
"Lanael-san!"
I don't know where this [Dragon Valley] is, but at least it's not near here.
However, Zenovis-san said that he would drag the opponent out of such a place.
How in the world would he do that…?
And Lanael-san was going back to the upper dimension or something! Am I really going to fight it alone?
Then Zenovis-san looked at me as if he had noticed something.
"Speaking of which, you seem to have inherited my magic circuit as well."
"Eh? Ah, yes!"
"…I see; I have entrusted everything to you, haven't I?"
Zenovis-san, smiling as if he alone had realized everything, smiled ferociously for the first time here.
"Well, then, keep your eyes open. You have inherited the power of my magic──!"
The next moment, Zenovis-san thrust his right hand into the void, and a tremendous amount of magic power began to gather in his right arm all at once!
Then, as he made a gesture of grasping something, the space distorted greatly, and a jet-black vortex appeared in the sky.
The vortex grew larger and larger and soon developed to such a scale that it enveloped the entire area of the [World's Disposal Ground] and covered the sky above.
In the midst of all this, Zenovis-san deepens his ferocious smile.
"Hoh? Do you resist me? But don't think you can escape, okay?"
Zenovis-san gripped his right hand, which was imbued with enormous magic power, and something was dragged out of the vortex!
"Guoooooooooo! Ze-Zeenovisssss!"
It was a huge dragon with scales the color of a sunset, the same size as Ouma-san's true form.
＊＊＊
──At the time when Yuuya was undergoing Zenovis' training.
In the [Nittei Academy] student council room in a distant era in Japan, a student was staring regretfully at the television.
"Kuh! How did they get a student like that…?"
The one who muttered this was Kamiyama Mirei, the student council president of Nittei Academy.
The Nittei Academy is an elite school for children of rich and famous families and has long been a rival of the Ousei Academy.
However, only Nittei Academy sees them as rivals, while Ousei Academy is unaware of anything in particular.
The reason for this is that while Ousei Academy is open to anyone regardless of family background, Nittei Academy requires a certain level of prestigious family background to even take the entrance exam.
However…
"Recently, more and more people from prestigious families are flowing to Ousei Academy… If this continues, the prestige of our academy may be called into question…!"
In recent years, graduates from Ousei Academy had become active in various industries one after another, and before long, students from famous families were also enrolling in Ousei Academy instead of Nittei Academy.
However, it is not that the education at Nittei Academy is inferior.
In fact, due to a large amount of money it receives from alumni, the facilities at Nittei Academy are always well prepared with the most advanced equipment, providing the best possible environment for its students.
Therefore, to obtain the status of the best school in Japan no matter what it takes, Nittei Academy is gradually closing in on Ousei Academy because of its persistence…
"I never thought there was such a student…"
The one thing Kamiyama was looking at was the footage of the athletic festival that took place the other day at Ousei Academy.
There, Yuuya's figure can be seen clearing obstacles one after the other.
The Nittei Academy was also a prestigious school like Ousei Academy, whose athletic festival was broadcast on TV.
Naturally, Nittei Academy's athletic festival was also a large-scale event, but because of Yuuya's appearance and performance, the athletic festival of Ousei Academy became the talk of the town, and there was an overwhelming difference in the viewer ratings.
Kamiyama, who had been staring at the TV in frustration, shifted her gaze to the material at hand.
"Yuuya Tenjou… originally attended another school but was invited by Kaori Houjou, the daughter of the director of Ousei Academy, to transfer…"
The material in Kamiyama's hand contained detailed information about Yuuya.
That is why Kamiyama was furrowing her brow and tilting her head.
"This is really accurate information, right? No matter how I look at it, it doesn't match what is written here…"
She also found some information about Yuuya's past, which she could not match with the image of Yuuya that was currently active on TV.
"I heard that he was treated unfairly not only throughout the school but also by his parents and siblings… but looking at this video, he doesn't really look like that… and I can't help but think that someone who was mistreated that much would have such a change. In addition, it's hard to believe that someone who was abused that much could work with that model Miu…"
Kamiyama suspected that she had deliberately been given false information, but she quickly dismissed the idea.
"…Well, perhaps I'm overthinking it. Even though he is a great student, there is no way you could control so much information about a single high school student…"
Kamiyama, who has stopped thinking about Yuuya for the time being, once again considers the future.
"What we have to focus on is the school festival that follows. At this rate, we will surely lose the school festival as well…"
Although Nittei Academy was behind Ousei Academy in many areas, the only thing they excelled in was their school festival.
The reason is that both schools are the same in that they are large and spend a great deal of money. In the same way that Ousei Academy invites famous artists, Nittei Academy also invites artists, but in addition, using the school's origins, they have gained popularity for their prestigious events that are not generally available to the general public.
However, this advantage was about to be lost with the arrival of Yuuya.
"The gap between the two schools is growing wider and wider… but what should we do…?"
The students of Ousei Academy did not know that Kamiyama was secretly plotting a way out of the current situation.
＊＊＊
At the very same time that Yuuya was sent back in time to switch places with Evil, Usagi, Iris, and Odis were working together to let the other Holy know that Evil had been defeated.
However──.
"""!?"""
Suddenly, the three of them sensed an ominous presence that they had never felt before, and they turned their gazes in that direction.
And in that direction, Evil had just reappeared in this period.
"T-the presence just now…"
(…Yeah. Evil, right…?)
"W-wait! That disaster is indeed Evil, but the king of Evil was completely defeated by you guys, wasn't he! Why do I sense the presence of such a powerful Evil now!"
Odis was right, and all three of them knew that the Evil had been destroyed, which was why they were traveling like this to report it to the other Holy.
However, if the current presence was really from Evil, the story would be different.
Moreover, Iris and Usagi, who had confronted Avis directly, sensed that the presence that was still being emitted was much more than that.
However…
"That direction… I believe it is the one where Yuuya-kun's house is, right?"
(Yes, that's right.)
"…I think we should go to see what's going on."
Iris and the others looked at each other and quickly changed direction and ran towards the [Great Devil's Nest] where Yuuya's house was located.