In the end, Zirkon and Lyxander arrived at the final station. They continued their journey toward the bus stop.
As usual, Natanael was already there. She was reading a book with full concentration, as if she were merely a decorative display at the bus stop.
Zirkon took a seat, leaving one empty chair between himself and Natanael, then greeted her.
"You came early."
"M."
It could hardly even be called a word. Zirkon was completely ignored.
"Hahaha, damn, my stomach hurts," Lyxander couldn't hold back his laughter. After all, he understood Zirkon's feelings very well—because he had experienced the same thing himself.
Feeling embarrassed, Zirkon just sat silently. After laughing to his heart's content, Lyxander sat down beside Zirkon. Of course, not on the left side—if he sat there, he would be right next to Natanael.
Natanael glanced at them. In a flat tone, she asked,
"Why do you always leave one seat empty?"
"Eh?!" The two of them flinched.
"It's just—" Zirkon tried to come up with an excuse, but even he didn't know what to say.
An idea suddenly came to his mind.
"It's just that I'm saving that seat for Lyxander."
The idea was inspired by Lyxander's own method of forcing him to tell a story. Now Lyxander's behavior had turned into a weapon against him.
However, contrary to Zirkon's expectations, Lyxander boldly stood up and sat right next to Natanael.
Zirkon's eyes widened. He hadn't expected Lyxander's mentality to be that strong—bold enough to sit next to a woman without hesitation. For some reason, a crushing sense of defeat welled up inside him.
In reality, Lyxander had used his quick-thinking ability to consider several responses, such as saying it would be rude to sit next to a woman, but he knew Natanael would simply reply that she didn't mind. Realizing his loss, Lyxander could only curse Zirkon silently in his heart.
'Bastard, why, why did you put me in this uncomfortable zone?'
On the other hand, Lyxander was quite surprised. He had felt Natanael's consideration before. Although she appeared cold, she was actually rather attentive—he just hadn't expected her to care about leaving one empty seat.
'Wait!'
A wild imagination suddenly entered Lyxander's mind.
'Could it be that Natanael isn't cold, but simply doesn't know how to socialize? Damn it, isn't that too sad?'
Without realizing it, Lyxander began to feel sorry for Natanael.
In truth, however, Natanael simply wasn't someone who cared much, and all of Lyxander's thoughts were nothing more than overthinking. It might be more accurate to describe her as innocent rather than indifferent.
In the end, the three of them sat together, waiting for the bus to arrive.
Not long after, the bus arrived, and they departed toward the headquarters.
—
Inside the men's locker room of Division 5, Lyxander and Zirkon were changing into their military uniforms.
"By the way, Z—what should I do today?" Lyxander asked.
"Didn't I tell you, just call me Zirkon," Zirkon replied. He seemed to dislike being called 'senior.'
Lyxander was also surprised; without realizing it, he had begun to respect Zirkon.
"All right then, what should I do?"
Zirkon adjusted his tie. "If your reports are finished, then you're free for now. After all, our duties are just patrolling, writing reports, and guarding the base."
"In that case, I guess I'll just walk around," Lyxander said as he started to leave, but then stopped—
"Where do you think you're going? Didn't you want to learn swordsmanship?" Zirkon called out.
Lyxander's eyes lit up. "You're going to teach me?"
"Let's go."
Zirkon walked out, and Lyxander followed behind him.
—
The two of them finally arrived at the training grounds. Instead of heading straight to the arena, the two Ravens went into the shooting range to retrieve swords.
There, they encountered Vivi, who was practicing shooting. On the screen above her head, the word "perfect" appeared repeatedly.
"Why are we going to the shooting range?" Lyxander asked.
"Haha," Zirkon chuckled softly.
"In an era equipped with firearms, do you think swords are still considered important?"
Lyxander understood. "I see. Now that I think about it, it seems no one else uses a sword except you."
Indeed, swords were weapons that were no longer effective in combat. This might be another world with supernatural powers, but unfortunately reality wasn't that cool. In any world, effectiveness was what mattered most.
Even so, Lyxander was determined to learn swordsmanship. He didn't really care whether it would be effective or not—he simply wanted to learn.
After taking two iron swords, the two of them headed toward the arena.
They were training swords with blunt edges on both sides, but even so, being struck by them would still hurt.
Lyxander hadn't expected the sword to be so heavy. Influenced by anime clichés, he had thought swords were easy to swing with one hand.
But the sword he was holding now was a longsword—heavy and long. Even with the instant physical enhancement from becoming a Raven, Lyxander still found it quite difficult to use.
"Hmm…" Zirkon seemed puzzled.
"Didn't you receive a weapon from Simon?" he asked.
"That's right?" Lyxander didn't understand what was wrong.
"Then why are we learning swordsmanship?"
Lyxander was startled, realizing that it made sense.
"Take out your weapon and fight me," Zirkon said as he assumed a stance, lifting his sword with one hand.
Lyxander smiled. It had been a very long time since he last fought. Now he was filled with excitement at the chance to fight again.
Immediately, he discarded his sword and pulled out two gloves from the pocket of his military uniform.
He clenched one, then put on the other. After putting both on, he said,
"Let's begin."
Whoosh—
The sword shot straight toward Lyxander.
Lyxander flicked his little finger twice and extended his arm forward.
Wutt—
A sound like a clogged flute rang out as the sword was blasted backward.
This was the repelling technique of Lyxander's gloves.
Zirkon quickly moved forward, swiftly catching the sword as it flew past the back of his head.
The two of them faced each other.
Zirkon shifted his center of gravity to his right leg and prepared to strike.
There was no opportunity for Lyxander to block or evade. It was over.
Unfortunately for Zirkon, Lyxander was a former professional athlete. Even in this dire situation, he knew exactly what to do.
Lyxander quickly dropped his body to the side, bracing the pressure with his back. He then performed a backward roll to strike Zirkon's leg. Zirkon's right leg ended up trapped between Lyxander's thighs, and with a swift motion, Lyxander pushed him down.
The Imanari roll was executed perfectly—one of the techniques Lyxander had mastered in his previous life.
Once again, Lyxander used his gloves to fling Zirkon's sword far away.
"A—enough, enough, I surrender," Zirkon groaned in pain. It felt like his leg was about to break.
After releasing Zirkon's leg, the two of them stood up again. Feeling embarrassed after losing, Zirkon asked—
"So… just sword training, then."
It seemed they would be learning swordsmanship together from now on.
—
After thirty minutes of practicing basic stances and how to swing and block with a sword, Lyxander was forced to stop because Simon summoned him to his office.
Inside Simon's room were two Ravens, one woman and one man. They were members of Division 5 whom Lyxander had seen around before, but had never spoken to.
The female Raven had dark purple hair, with a beauty mark near one of her purple eyes, giving her a very sexy and mature appearance.
The other was a black-haired man with a center-part hairstyle, wearing a friendly smile that seemed to hide many mysteries.
Upon entering, Lyxander asked Simon,
"So why did you call me, Captain?"
Simon chuckled.
"There's a mission for you."
"A mission!" Lyxander was quite shocked. He hadn't expected to receive a mission so soon.
"It's time for you to learn how to hunt Entities, isn't it?" Simon smiled.
"Entity!" Lyxander flinched.
"That's right. Your mission is to hunt an Entity."