Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume12 Chapter8 (section)

===Part 2===

"...Seriously, you dreamt of Est?"

"Yeah. No mistake about it... I think."

When dawn came, on the day of the Great Festival of the Spirits&mdash;

While walking on the path to the secondary block, Kamito told Claire the dream he had this morning.

When he woke up, he found no change in his condition.

His memories remained lost.

But the pain he felt in his right hand seemed like a lingering part of the dream.

(...Perhaps it's the result of Lurie's treatment last night.)

Kamito pondered.

"Connecting to the contracted spirit through dreams is quite common. I often share Scarlet's dreams. Like dreams about pigging out on canned tuna."

"M-Meow&mdash;"

While walking by her side, Scarlet made sounds of protest.

"...You sure it's not a dream from your side?"

"O-Of course not..."

Claire pouted with displeasure, her face going mildly red.

But soon, she recovered a serious expression&mdash;

"...However, it seems that Est is calling for you, Kamito."

"But why doesn't she return to me?"

Kamito cast his gaze at the seal on his right hand.

"Probably due to the memory loss, your connection to the spirit is interrupted."

"...I see."

"So, what kind of dream was it?"

"Oh... Umm, a girl, completely nude, chained up in the darkness&mdash;"

"H-Hold on a sec!"

Claire suddenly stopped walking.

"Th-That dream, no way... It's an e-erotic dream... Right?"

"Completely wrong!"

"Don't be shy. K-Kamito, you're a boy of that age after all. E-Even me, I sometimes dream of being chained up&mdash;Oh no, w-what have you made me say!?"

Claire's face instantly went red and she started beating on his shoulder nonstop.

"Like I said, it wasn't like that..."

"Oh, Kamito-kun&mdash;"

Kamito heard someone calling his name from afar.

Running over was the black-haired girl in the Divine Ritual Institute's uniform, Fianna.

She was originally on a hill with a massive ring of rock, surrounded by gathered princess maidens, preparing for the gate opening ritual mentioned previously.

"Kamito-kun, would you like to visit the imitation shop at the secondary block?"

"Yeah. I guess I should show up at least."

Hearing Fianna's question, Kamito answered and shrugged.

After walking Claire there, he intended to hurry over to the Knights immediately.

"Fianna, is the gate opening ritual ready?"

"Of course, Now we're just preparing the fireworks for pleasing the spirits."

"Not bad..."

Claire exclaimed honestly.

The princess was apparently one of the candidates to the continent's five Queens, with outstanding abilities in ritual magic that far surpassed upperclassman students.

Hence, even as an underclassman, she was still appointed as the one in charge of the most important ritual.

"However, I can't say it was a walk in the park. Although the stone circle's power is being borrowed, opening a Gate that allows ruler-class spirits to pass through..."

On the princess's wryly smiling face, there were heavy signs of fatigue.

She had worked continuously for this day, presumably accumulating a lot of fatigue.

"However, we're already at the final stage. It must succeed!"

As though cheering for herself, Fianna raised her arm.

Beneath her uniform, her bosom quivered as a result.

"So, Kamito-kun, you must enjoy the festival today as well!"

"Yeah."

With a flutter of her skirt, Fianna jogged back over to the hill.

"Doesn't feel like a princess somehow."

Kamito smiled wryly.

"Perhaps she stopped putting on airs a little due to being tired. She must have built up a lot of stress over these past few days. Well, a royal's position is quite troublesome too."

Hearing Kamito, Claire murmured, a little worried.