Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume12 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 3===

The office door opened and Claire's group exited the room.

"So, see you later."

"Yeah."

Parting ways with Ellis who had Sylphid Knights duties and Fianna who had to head off to a supplementary lesson for a cooking practical, Claire and Rinslet walked in the opposite direction.

As Raven Class's most problematic duo, they also had top grades and were already taking upper division courses back when they were in the lower division.

This was also one reason why they were feared and ostracized by the upper division students.

"...He finally regained consciousness, but never did I expect him to lose his memory."

Walking in the corridor, Rinslet sighed.

"This cannot be helped. Better than his mind breaking."

Darkness spirit Restia&mdash;The contracted spirit of Strongest Blade Dancer Ren Ashbell three years ago.

She was the girl who had conferred human emotions upon Kamito whose heart had been denied by the Instructional School.

Whether coming to the Academy or participating in the Blade Dance again, Kamito had done everything in order to find her, the one whom he lost three years ago.

However, having finally found her, she was destroyed before Kamito's eyes.

&mdash;Rather, Kamito had killed her by his own hand.

"If the spirit seal remained, at least there'd be a glimmer of hope."

"Yeah..."

Last time when Est disappeared, the spirit seal branded upon Kamito's right hand did not vanish.

Hence, Kamito was not devoured by despair and was able to pull himself together.

But Restia's seal had vanished completely.

"She saved Kamito. And definitely, that includes the world&mdash;"

Murmuring, Claire turned her gaze towards the blue sky outside the window.

It was still unknown whether Kamito had successfully released the Fire Elemental Lord or not.

But according to Iseria Seaward who had remained behind in Astral Zero to monitor the Elemental Lords, their madness had currently subsided somewhat. This was similar to three years ago when the Strongest Blade Dancer had released the Water Elemental Lord.

"After that, we still haven't received any communications from Iseria-sama, right?"

"No, and there's no way to summon her from this side."

Rinslet's gaze fell upon the spirit seal ''branded upon her left hand'' while she spoke.

The seal of the ice rose&mdash;This was the gift that Iseria had bestowed directly upon Rinslet.

Although different from spirit seals that served as the proof of spirit contracts, through this seal, Rinslet was able to hear Iseria's voice from Astral Zero.

That said, her only message was the one time when they moved  the unconscious Kamito back to the human realm. The Elemental Lords' current condition was quite worrying.

&mdash;The liberation plan was just an emergency measure after all.

Even if the plan succeeded, the Otherworldly Darkness was still eating away at the elemental lords.

Henceforth, which direction shall the world take&mdash;

This burden was too heavy for mere students.

"...Uh, your sister needs to recover soon."

"Yes. Once Iseria-sama recovers her powers completely, it should be an easy task..."

The Laurenfrost family's second daughter, Judia, had angered the insane Water Elemental Lord and was imprisoned in eternal, cursed ice.

Rinslet had entered the Blade Dance in order to save her, but ultimately, she did not get a chance to voice that wish in the True Sanctuary.

Judia Laurenfrost was still currently imprisoned in the cursed ice.

(Nee-sama is still missing as before...)

Sighing lightly, Claire turned her gaze back to the ground.

In the spring at the courtyard, girls from the lower division were setting up a shrine for making offerings to spirits. In the surroundings, there were even people frolicking in swimsuits or playing musical instruments, etc. The mood seemed quite harmonious and joyful.

"...Good grief. Look how peaceful this place is."

"Yeah."

The Academy was busy preparing for the Great Festival of the Spirits to be held two days later.

The Bountiful Harvest Supplication Festival, Water Spirit Festival and other seasonal celebrations were common in Areishia Spirit Academy, but the Great Festival of the Spirits was probably still the largest in scale.

Lasting for two days, this school festival's purpose was to express gratitude to the spirits. It was a grand event that attracted visitors from all over the Ordesia Empire and even foreign tourists. This was one of the rare opportunities for the Academy's sheltered young ladies to have contact with the external world.

Furthermore, since the Academy also produced the Blade Dance's champion team this year, the festival was expected to get even more crowded than in previous years.

Having brought the Elemental Lords' blessings and protection to the Empire, Team Scarlet naturally had to attend the second day's ceremony as the festival's main attraction.

"Naturally, Kamito-san must attend, right?"

"...Yeah. After all, Kamito is the main star who defeated that Strongest Blade Dancer to obtain victory. The crowd won't accept it if he doesn't even show up."

Only a small number of people including Freya the homeroom teacher were privy to the fact that Kamito had been unconscious for the past week. Ordinary students were told that he was recuperating due to injuries from the blade dance against the Strongest Blade Dancer.

Thanks to that, the headquarters of the Sylphid Knights, of which Kamito was a member, received a huge number of bouquets, letters and handmade confectionery from girls worrying about Kamito.

"...Say, that guy seems to have risen in popularity ever since returning to the Academy."

"Y-Yes, that's true indeed..."

Cough cough, Rinslet coughed.

Indeed. Although many girls feared Kamito back when he first enrolled as a male elementalist, after witnessing his active performance in the Blade Dance, increasing numbers of girls were secretly becoming his fans.

Naturally, this was nothing surprising for Claire who knew Kamito's true identity. After all, Kamito had enamored all the young maidens across the entire continent three years ago as the Strongest Blade Dancer Ren Ashbell.

(It's true that when engaged in a blade dance, Kamito is very, very cool...)

Claire pouted, sulking a little.

...Somehow, she felt displeased. There was an indescribable feeling.

She still had not settled her feelings regarding Kamito's true identity.

Ren Ashbell was the one whom Claire idolized. It felt completely unreal to suddenly say that her true identity was Kamito.

(...Sigh. It seems all I can do is think about Kamito's matters.)

Her cheeks involuntarily went hot. Claire shook her head as though trying to cover it up.

At a fork in the corridor, Rinslet stopped walking.

Although both girls were taking upper division courses, they pursued different specialties and therefore had separate classrooms. Rinslet's class was high level ritual performance while Claire's was introduction to summoning spells.

"Then see you shortly after. I will make some nutritious soup for Kamito-san and visit him."

"Yeah, I should also make something that's easy to digest."

"...Uh Claire, charcoal is not easy to digest, you know?"

"S-Stop looking down on me! I-I can do it when I put my mind to it!"

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