I Start with a Bad Hand!

As the Oliphant appeared, laughter erupted from the audience gazing at the academy’s forest from afar. Gentle reproaches and curious conversations could be heard from all directions, as if they had witnessed something mischievous.

“Sereti has come well-prepared this time, too.”

Only those associated with Sereti could laugh at such a barbed comment with ease.

At that moment, a single arrow sliced through the air.

Until then, the Sereti seats had been boisterous, as if celebrating with a toast, but suddenly they fell silent as if a mouse had died.

After a short interval, another arrow flew.

In a fleeting moment, embers fell over the forest. As every Oliphant burst into light, no one could take their eyes off the spectacle. The Sereti Mage Tower representatives had darkened expressions.

After a brief silence, one of the Sereti representatives spoke with a twitching smile.

“…I expected a rain of arrows to catch the Oliphant, but I didn’t know the Thomple Imperial Academy had such an outstanding talent.”

With those words, laughter broke out on the Thomple side, perhaps sensing that this might finally be the moment to repay four years of humiliation.

Meanwhile, even before the game began, Cedric kept glancing at Godwin.

“There will soon be a friendly match between the academy and Sereti. Roxanne will participate with her fiancé, the crown prince. If you have time…”

“Sure.”

It was unexpected that Godwin agreed to the invitation so readily. However, from the beginning, Godwin hadn’t been very focused on the match. The location was far from the forest set aside for the friendly match. It seemed they gathered more for the adults to socialize under the pretense of watching the students’ match. Cedric tried to convince himself that Godwin’s indifferent attitude was because he had left the empire long ago and had no one to talk to in such an uncomfortable setting.

Even when the signal flare for the start of the match and the sound of the horn blaring simultaneously indicated that the Oliphant was charging from Sereti’s side, Godwin showed little interest, seemingly lost in thought.

When the first arrow shot out from the forest, Cedric unconsciously looked back at Godwin. Although he had no idea who shot the arrow, a strange unease settled coldly in his chest. The anxiety, which had been merely an afterthought as he secretly watched Godwin’s face, now firmly lodged itself in his heart.

A spark flickered in Godwin’s eyes, which usually maintained a constant temperature.

***

“I’m just lying down.”

“Sigh…”

Icarus pressed his forehead with his large hand while I continued to lie there. Muttering something under his breath, he looked down at me, lying there with only a quiver of arrows and no bow.

“Where’s your bow? Why are you carrying around only arrows?”

“They all broke.”

“Broke?”

Icarus looked puzzled. I crawled over and showed him the broken bow I had tossed aside. From a distance, it looked like nothing more than a flimsy stick. He picked it up, handling it with a bewildered expression.

“They issued these?”

What the heck?

“Didn’t the Swordsmanship Club protest to have it changed?”

“The Swordsmanship Club?”

Icarus frowned, looking at the shoddy bow with a curious expression.

“To hold back an archery club that barely has more than ten members? When there’s a common enemy like Sereti? Why would they target you guys?”

Yeah, that makes sense. After losing for four years straight, they’d know this isn’t the time for in-fighting.

‘Then why was the bow suddenly changed a day before the match?’

I stopped thinking about it at that point. I had too many things to figure out, and adding this trivial problem wasn’t something I wanted to do.

“You caught the Oliphant with this kind of bow?”

I looked up at him. He ignored my question and continued examining the bow, like a caterpillar playing with a twig. I ignored Icarus’s comment and asked him,

“You knew?”

“You were the only one who pushed forward when everyone else retreated… You and the Marquis’s eldest daughter.”

“But I was wearing a hood at that time. You were too.”

Icarus clamped his mouth shut. He finally placed the broken bow on the ground and spoke.

“You weren’t scared even after seeing it.”

You’ve faced things worse than the Oliphant. He seemed to recall the remains of a monster, a look of nausea crossing his face.

“Oh.”

“So, if anyone could shoot down the Oliphant with arrows, I thought it would be you.”

With just five arrows, too. Neat job. Embarrassed by his praise, I turned my head to look elsewhere.

“But the match seems to be dragging. It feels like I’ve been lying here for quite a while.”

While I lay there, I heard several horn blasts and a few signal flares, but that was it. I had no idea what happened after that.

“There’s no progress. On either side.”

The other side didn’t expect the Oliphant to fall so quickly, and our side… well, there’s a reason we’ve lost for four years straight.

Icarus, speaking as if he didn’t care, dampened a handkerchief with water and then handed it to me. Why was he giving me a handkerchief all of a sudden? As I looked at him curiously, he lightly tapped his right cheek and mouthed, “You’ve got a wound here.” I took the handkerchief, a bit flustered.

‘Ah, no wonder it was stinging.’

When I roughly wiped my cheek with the handkerchief, a bit of blood stained it. It seemed like a scratch from a branch.

“But what about your side? Even without something like an Oliphant, your troops are still intact.”

“Sereti wasn’t the only one using mana stones. However, while they used them for offense, we focused more on defense.”

I heard our side had prepared something quite impressive too. Icarus, still with a nonchalant tone, meticulously checked my wound. His fingertips trembled slightly. The ticklish sensation made me lean back a little, and Icarus only raised an eyebrow, not coming any closer.

“You seem to know a lot about the match. Is it because you’re in the Swordsmanship Club, the center of the friendly match?”

Receiving the handkerchief back, Icarus neatly folded it and placed it in his robe pocket.

“Actually, this is my first time participating.”

“What? Isn’t it held every year? What were you doing last year?”

“Expedition.”

“Ah, an expedition.”

…Didn’t he go on an expedition every exam period last semester too? And last year, during this exact time, he went on an expedition again? It seemed like every important event at the academy, Icarus was off on an expedition.

‘How does his schedule always work out like that?’

“But this time, I really wanted to participate. I was curious.”

His gentle tone made me feel awkward, so I changed the subject.

“Then what have you been doing so far?”

“I was clearing out the enemy camp. Sereti’s defense strategy was pretty lousy.”

“You cleared out the Sereti camp? Then you might as well have brought back the national treasure while you were at it.”

A subtle smile played on his lips.

“That’s not my role… It’s the job of the protagonist of this match.”

I cleared the obstacles in the way, so now it’s not my turn to step forward.

‘Ah.’

It wasn’t hard to figure out who he meant. The national treasure of Thomple was Roxanne. So the one to protect and proudly win with that treasure could only be one person. At that moment, a strange defiance stirred within me.

I quietly looked up at him. A light breeze tousled his hair. For a moment, I noticed the shimmering fragments of light that still danced on the golden hair I had always thought wasn’t to my taste. It struck me as rather pretty.

When I turned my gaze away, he relaxed from his stiff posture and slowly leaned back on the ground.

“So, I’m thinking I’ll just take it easy here now.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah.”

Just as Icarus’s back was about to touch the ground, I sprang to my feet. His face quickly filled with bewilderment, as if to say, ‘What the heck?’

“But I want to finish this match quickly. It seems we’ll have to go our separate ways then.”

“What?”

“I’ve rested enough, so I’m going.”

“Where? How are you planning to do anything without a bow, just carrying arrows?”

“Well, I’ll ask the archery club members if I run into them… Or I’ll make one if I have to…”

As I trailed off, he looked even more skeptical.

“I didn’t think you were the passionate type about this kind of thing.”

“What do you take me for?”

He read me perfectly. But having just witnessed Irene’s arm get shattered by a wooden sword, I didn’t want to let them take the lead.

“And above all….”

With a deep sigh, Icarus began to get up from his half-reclined position.

“You’re not going to keep lying down?”

“Sometimes you treat me like an old man.”

Grumbling, he picked a leaf out of my hair.

“You just said you were going to take it easy.”

“You caught the Oliphant with such effort that you ended up lying down long enough for grass stains to set in your robe. I can’t let this match end so anticlimactically.”

Wait, I have grass stains? I quickly checked the back of my robe. Damn, I really do. He brushed his bangs back and looked at me with a lopsided grin, a dimple forming on his cheek.

“I always feel like I’m getting dragged into things when I’m with you.”

With that, we headed back into the chaos of the match.

However, there was one thing I overlooked. The collective madness of this event had a way of pushing even sane people in strange directions.

“What are you guys… doing here?”

I realized this through my comrades in the middle of the forest.