Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume1 Chapter1 (section)

=== Part 2 ===
''A few minutes later...''

"Ugh..."

Kamito slowly woke into consciousness, the forest unfolding before his eyes.

He tried to get up—suddenly, he realized that something was coiled around his neck.

It was a leather black whip commonly used for torturing. ''What is this thing'', Kamito thought as he tried to take the whip off.

"You finally woke up, you peeping-tom pervert."

The whip around his neck tightened.

"Gweh!? Release me..." Kamito coughed. He then looked upward and saw—

The scarlet-haired young girl – Claire Rouge, stood above him with her hands on her waist. She gazed down at Kamito with a raised eyebrow.

This time, thankfully, she was not naked. She had changed into an adorable school uniform. It's pattern was of black lines on a pure white field. This was the Areishia Spirit Academy's uniform.

A ribbon decorated the front of her uniform. A talisman was sewn in the place where a button would normally rest. Between the gap of her knee-length stockings and her pleated skirt, her beautifully slender legs stuck out brilliantly. Tiny ribbons tied her crimson hair on both sides. This was the so-called twintail hairstyle. Judging from her still-wet hair, it seems that Kamito had not lost consciousness for that long.

Keeping Kamito's neck bound tightly, Claire puffed up her small chest.

"Well, be grateful. I went easy on you and didn't try to kill you outright," Claire huffed.

"That has to be a lie. You definitely intended to kill me," Kamito retorted.

"What are you talking about? If I had been serious, you would have been in cinders by now," Claire calmly stated.

''She just said something quite frightening really calmly,'' Kamito nervously thought.

By the way, cinders are the soft ash residue that is left behind when firewood is incinerated.

"I beg for your forgiveness, spare me from becoming cinders. After all, I helped you!" Kamito pleaded.

"Well, yes, I am a fair woman of noble rank, so I'll give you credit for your help. Even so, you are a higher grade than an average pervert, so you are a high-grade pervert," she snapped.

"In the end the pervert designation doesn't change," Kamito dejectedly sighed, "By the way, isn't a high grade pervert even worse of a designation than an average pervert?!"

"I bet you were only pretending to help me! You...you touched my breast!"

Recalling what happened, Claire's face suddenly turned beet red.

Seeing such a reaction from her, Kamito had an idea.

''...This girl, could it be that she is that kind of person?''

"So it seems that milady is the type of pervert that has a hobby of whipping men." Kamito teased Claire nonchalantly.

"What!? That is not true! I'm not a pervert!" The response was immediate as Kamito expected. Claire shook her head and her cheeks instantly became bright red all the way to her ears.

"Then do you enjoy being whipped?" Kamito slyly continued.

"Wha...what..are...you..saying?" Claire's eyes spun as steam puffs rose from her head. She is unsurprisingly flustered.

''Oh, as I expected,'' Kamito smiled bitterly, ''This girl is really, really innocent.''

Most likely it wasn't only Claire that was this innocent. After all, Areishia Spirit Academy is a school where elementalist princess maidens are gathered. Only pure maidens are capable of exchanging feelings with the spirits from Astral Zero. Among those princess maidens, those who retain enough divine power to command a contracted spirit are girls from the lines of kings or lords of ancient and honorable families whose elementalist blood has been strengthened through the marriages of many generations.

To maintain the purity of their bodies and hearts, these girls are raised in environments that are completely separated from contact with males starting in childhood: the so-called elite education for elementalists has no place for men. Therefore, all the girls attending the academy are super innocent princesses who are unaccustomed to dealing with men.

Finding Claire's unexpectedly easy-to-spot weakness, Kamito had the thought to play a prank on her.

From a kneeling position, Kamito looked up at the embarrassed bright-red face of Claire.

"Th—then, there is something I have meant to say since I woke up." Kamito playfully stammered.

"Wh...what is it, you pervert?" Claire replied warily.

"I can see your panties from this angle."

"Fuwah!" Tears began to float in her crimson eyes. Claire hastily pressed down the fringe of her skirt with both hands.

"You...you saw it?" Claire sniffed.

"Only a glance and you are, quite unexpectedly, a very daring girl. Your panties are the same color as your hair." Kamito bluffed.

"You...you lie! They are not red! They are white, white!" Claire shouted. 

"Ah, so they are white." Kamito nodded sagely.

"...Eh!?" Realizing that she had been tricked, Claire bit down on her front lip—

<!--26-->
"U-Uuuuuuuuuh~" Claire started to cry.

At this sudden unexpected reaction, Kamito panicked. ''"No, you're the pervert, a dirty young lady, who reveals the color of her own panties"'', he had planned to say to tease her more but, as expected, he was starting to feel guilty and like a bad person.

Taking the chance while Claire was still crying, Kamito removed the whip from around his neck.

"My bad, I went a bit too far with my prank. Sorry." Kamito stood up and placed his hand on Claire's head. Claire stopped crying, and looked puzzled. "It is my fault that I saw you naked while you were bathing. I have also touched your breasts as well. However, those actions were not intentional. Please believe me."

"Wha-what....."

Seeing the truth of his words in his eyes, Claire could not help but to avert her eyes.

"....What-what is this? If you are not a pervert, then why are you here?"

A question that is not the easiest to answer for Kamito. This forest is under the jurisdiction of Areishia Spirit Academy, known as the Spirit Forest. There would be no reason for a man to be in the grounds of the academy. Even if he was not a pervert, the fact that he was where he should not be could not be contested.

"I was summoned by Greyworth." Kamito told Claire.

"Greyworth...the academy's headmistress!?" Claire questioned suspiciously. Indeed, why would the headmistress summon a male to the academy?

"I'm not lying. Look, here's the evidence." Kamito continued. He took out a letter from within his coat. The letter was signed by the renowned headmistress. It was also stamped with the emblem seal that symbolizes the five great Elemental Lords.

"Is that, the first-rank emblem seal of the Empire!?" Claire cried out, shocked. The first-rank emblem seal is produced by sealing spirits with a special technique into a seal. This seal is rated as the highest among the emblem seals issued by the Empire and is said to be completely impossible to counterfeit. Of course, it is something that is rarely seen but as an elementalist, Claire could certainly tell that it was the real thing.

"It seems to be authentic. But why would the headmistress call a man to the academy?" Claire asked.

"Well, for the answer to that question you'd have to ask Greyworth, that old hag. Being summoned was troublesome for me, too." Kamito sighed.

"'That...that old hag!?'" Claire's face stiffened.

The Dusk Witch, Greyworth, is a greatly respected individual by princess maidens who aim to become Spirit Knights. It is also said that she is as popular in the Ordesia Empire as the Strongest Blade Dancer, Ren Ashbell. Even after she retired a decade ago from the Twelve Knight Generals, the most elite force of Spirit Knights known as the "Numbers," her legendary status as a Witch is still one to be feared and revered to the highest degree.

''Well, for me, she is nothing but a nightmare,'' Kamito thought as he tucked the letter back into it's pocket. "Greyworth is an old acquaintance of mine. I came all the way here but the academy ground is extremely large and so I have lost my way."

Areishia Spirit Academy's grounds is incredibly vast. After all, besides the academy-town at the foot of the hill it also includes the entire spirit forest that surrounds it.

"Could it be that you were misled by the spirits in the forest? That's so lame." Claire snickered.

".....Yeah, that's how it is," Kamito nodded, feeling a bit dejected.

Existing in various locations of the continent, spirit forests connect with Astral Zero through Gates. These forests are inhabited by the spirits that have wandered into this dimension. Most of the spirits have no interest in humankind and as such are harmless. There are also spirits who enjoy playing pranks; they deliberately mislead travelers who stray into the forest. Kamito was confused by the spirits' whispers and went deeper and deeper into the forest, therefore losing his way.

"Anyway, I'm really glad that I met someone. It would not be fun to become a victim of the forest. Which way should I go to get to the academy?" Kamito asked.

"Which direction...I shall tell you that it takes two hours to get to the academy from here by foot," Claire replied knowledgeably. 

"What, that far!?" Kamito yelped.

If he was to walk for such a long distance by himself he would most likely once again be tricked by the spirits. Since there was a student of the academy present, he had thought that the academy was closer than that.

''Hmm? Why was this girl taking a bath at this kind of place?'' Kamito wondered.

Today is indeed a bit hot, nonetheless, instead of coming all this way, there should be showering facilities inside of the academy. There are only girls in the school so there would be nothing to be embarrassed about.

Kamito asked this question of Claire. Claire dug her hands into her wet twintail hair and tried to comb it.

"I was here for the purification ritual for a spirit contract. Being a spring next to a shrine the water here has the highest of purification qualities. You do know that spirits like a woman who has a pure mind and body?"

"Spirit contract?" Kamito mused.

The moment he heard those words, a throbbing pain came from the back of his left hand, which was covered in a leather glove. Kamito grimaced from the sharp pain.

"A bit further into the forest from here there is an ancient holy sword in a shrine. Rumor has it that a powerful sealed spirit is locked away there. Since the founding of the academy not a single princess maiden has successfully formed a contract with it. It surely sounds like a very proud and noble spirit," Claire said.

Sealed spirits: they are not the normal spirits that reside in Astral Zero and move into this dimension. Among the ranks and types of spirits, there are some who are sealed into weapons or armor by powerful, ancient elementalists. Most of these sealed spirits have brought about terrible disasters to humankind and are dreadful beings called ''Djinn'' or ''Ifreet'' by ancient societies.

Of course, they are not meant to be employed by elementalists. Those strong elementalists of the past sealed these spirits in weapons or armor so that they could never be summoned ever again and deal more harm to the world around them.

"Don't tell me you plan to form a contract with a sealed spirit?" Kamito said, stunned.

"That's right! Do you have a problem with it?" Claire retorted.

"Stop, it is too dangerous!"

"Hmm, you seem to know a bit about sealed spirits even though you are not an elementalist. I am quite aware of the dangers, but I need a powerful spirit no matter what," Claire muttered, biting her tightly closed lips.

Seeing her determination in her expression, Kamito snapped back on the lecture he had on the tip of his tongue.

"Don't you already have a contract with that flame spirit? That is also a powerful spirit, isn't it? Won't it be fine if you just raise it instead?" Kamito wheedled.

A flame spirit is not very rare, but there are only a handful of elementalists who can control a fire spirit and be capable of using elemental waffen in the whole Empire. On another note, elementalists whom have formed a contract with multiple spirits are so rare that they are an extreme minority. Discord between the contracted spirits can cause deterioration of the balance of divine power. Without enough talent, one would not be able to control them.

"Scarlet is an important partner. But—" ''I need more power—''. Claire calmly shook her head. "-I have a goal. To achieve it, I must have a strong spirit."