[V3C6] Swimming Through Air
Translated by Jodas 3: The Fateful BrothersThe last time Tia had exchanged words with Frederik was on the night after the entrance exam concluded.
He let Tia ride on his back while he flew around with flight magic. He was a smiley, gentle, and tall young man—that had been Tia’s impression of Frederik.
At the moment, that same mister smiley was not smiling at all.
“Just as I was finally getting some good sleep…..”
Tis’s throat unconsciously warbled with a “Piroro…..”
It was a shameful voice made when being intimidated by a strong creature.
“Now I’m so pissed off my head is about to explode……..Hey,”
With eyes so narrow they looked like smiling lips, he glared at Oliver.
“How about you just leave my sight?”
The extreme anger contained within that voice was powerful enough to frighten even Tia, a Harpy.
When Tia tried to hide behind Sevil’s back, voicing “Pyoeehh…..” her head collided with Wren’s. Wren had been trying to do the same thing.
“Oh crap, that guy’s bad news!” Wren’s face paled as he rattled in terror, while Sevil kept a tense expression, saying “He is anything but gentle.”
Amidst that scene, Oliver, who was the recipient of the extreme anger, maintained his calm demeanor as if nothing had happened. He was fearless to a fault.
“Brother, I have come so I may be of assistance to you, brother!” “Who is this brother of yours? Are you sure you’re not mistaking me for someone else? Would you please go home?”
“As soon as I finish my Apprentice term, I want to fight on the frontlines with the Extermination Office alongside you, Brother!”
“You, joining the Extermination Office……..?”
Frederik’s eyes twitched to Oliver’s determined words.
His expression, and the aura emanating from his whole body, exploded with anger, rage, and discontent. At this point, they were sure he was ready to kill.
“The Extermination Office is a combat force that puts our lives on the line to battle Monsters. You’re not needed here. Hey, will you not get it if I don’t tell you that useless schmucks like you should just go home?”
“I have trained myself for years so I may be of use to you, Brother! I won’t slow you down at all!”
“Oh, really…..?”
Frederik lifted the corners of his lips.
Everyone could tell that he wasn’t smiling because he was having fun.
“Then, come at me. I’ll be the judge of your strength.”
Pressed against the door, Rikard hesitantly called out “Frederik…..”
His voice sounded troubled, but Frederik leveled Rikard with a cold glare.
“I’m stepping out for a bit. You take care of things.”
“Helena’s going to be mad…….err, she’ll be sad?”
“Helena’s always complaining about something. Let her say whatever she wants.”
With that, Frederik yanked his spear out from the wall in the hallway.
Only then, did he seem to notice the presence of Tia and the others.
“Oh?”
Frederik tilted his head curiously and looked at Tia.
His expression showed no sign of his anger from seconds ago. It was the same, gentle expression she saw when she first met him.
“I feel like I’ve met you before……..Oh, right. I just remembered. You’re the kid who’s good at singing. Thank you for your lovely song last time.”
Rather than respond, she just made “Pefuu, pefuu” noises.
The fear from before had not left her quite yet.
Frederik frowned in concern.
“Sorry for scaring you. It’s gonna be a little dangerous from here on, so you should head back to the White Smoke. If possible, it would be nice if you could drag that idiot back with you……”
“I’m not going anywhere, Brother.”
“……..I have no choice but to nip this in the bud, then.”
Tia shook as his murderous rage bubbled to the surface once more.
Just outside of the Second Spire: Golden Needle, two tall brothers faced each other in an open training ground.
On one side, the older brother: the Extermination Office’s Frederik Lange.
On the other, the younger brother: the Apprentice Mage Oliver Lange.
Both of them held practice spears. Their blades had been dulled, and covered in leather, but they could still easily break a bone with a direct hit. Plus, depending on where one was hit, a fatal injury was still possible.
“Pirorororo……..This has gone, out of hand……”
She had thought the Lange Brothers would be close, but they didn’t seem close at all.
At least Oliver respected his brother. However, the older brother, Frederik, showed not a single positive feeling towards him.
Frederik spun his spear about his body. It cut through the air with a satisfying whoosh.\
“I want you to take the first strike. Show me just how much you’ve improved.”
“Got it.”
Oliver nodded once, then spun his spear in the same way his brother had. He dropped it.
“Pirorororo……. Oliver, are you nervous?”
“No. I always drop it half the times I try.”
Oliver responded with a confident face as he bent over to pick his spear back up. Wren averted his gaze towards the sky.
“Then don’t do that. At an important time like this…..”
Frederik was already looking at his brother like he would look at a pile of trash. His expression spoke of his disgust for even having this person in his sight.
However, Oliver did not waver, and began his incantation.
(Ah, this chant……)
Tia recognized that chant. She’d heard it once before, and made sure to commit it to memory.
This was the incantation for flight magic that Frederik had used on the night they first met.
“Hmph!”
With a rupturing grunt, Oliver rose to the heavens.
Wren shouted “Amazing!” in surprise.
“That’s flight magic, isn’t it!? Isn’t that supposed to be really difficult?”
“Yep! He’s flying! Oliver, you’re amazing! You’re flying!”
Wren and Tia got caught up in the excitement, but Sevil frowned as she looked to the sky.
“He certainly is flying……However, at this rate……”
Oliver’s body flew higher and higher, and then even higher.
Even with Tia’s excellent eyesight, Oliver’s form only appeared to be a tiny speck.
Thus, Oliver Lange soared higher, higher, and higher more into the ether………..
“Uoooooohhhhh!!”
With a fearsome shout, he descended straight down from the heavens.
He planned to strike with one blow of the spear, accelerated by the momentum of falling from high in the sky. The force of that attack was to be reckoned with.
However, the place where Oliver made landfall was the same spot where he took off from.
Wren groaned with a painful expression.
“All you did is jump real high….!”
Indeed. All he did was leap to unbelievable heights.
Grasping his spear, Oliver landed, stood up straight, and swung his spear to the side with a flourish.
“No. I have advanced one step. There was merit in swinging my arms as hard as I could in midair.”
“That’s what you were doing up there!?”
As Wren screamed, Tia envisioned it.
To leap incredibly high into the sky, then put all your might into moving your arms as if you were swimming in midair, then land on the ground having only advanced one step forwards—that was quite different from the flight magic that Tia had envisioned.
“It wasn’t easy swinging my arms in midair without dropping my spear. It took me many hours of practice to get the hang of it, but…… now, I have completely mastered the art of swimming through the air!”
“Why did you waste all that time for that……”
Wren grumbled with a bitter face.
Oliver once again spun his spear around, and thrust it at his brother. This time, he didn’t drop the spear.
“Did you see that, Brother! This heavenly leap and step forward is the proof of my progress!”
“…………”
Frederik did not dignify Oliver with a response, and instead whispered an incantation himself.
That was also flight magic.
When Frederik kicked lightly against the ground, his body began to move at high speed as if sliding over the ground.
He was using flight magic for low-altitude flight. As he did so, Frederik made a piercing attack.
Oliver dodged that attack by bending his neck, but just as Oliver dodged, Frederik’s body gently floated upwards, and he bounded over Oliver.
Then, with his long legs, he kicked Oliver in the head.
Oliver quickly regained his stance and struck back. However, Frederik’s spear mercilessly jabbed at Oliver’s body, and from time to time he use his agility to add flying kicks into the mix.
Sevil muttered with a concerned expression.
“……This won’t do. Not only in flight magic, the contrast between their strength and prowess with spears is stark. There would be no chance of winning in a real fight.”
Tia knew little about martial arts, but if she had to compare between Frederik and Oliver, she could tell that Frederik’s movements were overwhelmingly more fluid.
When launching an attack with a spear, there was always a need to recover by bringing your spear tip back afterwards. Frederik’s recovery motions were far faster.
At times, he would mix in flight magic, and leap while his reach was still extended, then prepare for his next attack in his opponent’s blind spot.
(His ability to utilize flight magic for small maneuvers is incredible……He might even be better at flying than Harpies)
At some point, Hütter had told her that there were two people at the Wedge Tower who excelled at flight magic.
One was a specialist at long distance flight magic. The other specialized in flying with precise maneuvers—there was no doubt. The latter was Frederik.
Oliver and Frederik had very similar body types. They were both thin and tall. Their limbs were very long.
Precisely because of that, the difference in their movements was so stark.
Frederik made full use of his long limbs and the reach afforded to him by his spear. He incorporated the mobility of flight magic into that fighting style deftly.
Frederik’s spear struck Oliver hard.
Then, Frederik ruthlessly kicked Oliver’s bruised stomach, and with the same momentum, spun around and landed behind him.
“Do you still want to fight?”
“Yeah, I’m not done yet. I am the ‘Red Rain,’ Oliver! I shall not relent until you acknowledge me, Brother!”
“I see, then……”
Frederik once more brought his spear to bear. A strong wind howled, flowing through his light-colored hair.
With his hair blown back like that, he really looked just like Oliver. However, there was no comparing the rage that dwelled within his eyes.
Frederik declared in a low voice.
“I will pummel your face until it is unrecognizable, covering you in a rain of your own blood.”
Tia muttered.
“Pyoeeeehhhh……..So Oliver was the resource for making the ‘red rain’……..”
Resource, Wren echoed with a stony expression.