The incident with Mercedes still weighed on me the next day.
I didn't regret turning her down. But couldn't I have handled it a little more tactfully? Meaningless second-guessing like that kept churning through my mind.
Forging a magic sword in a state like this would never yield good results. That was why I had come to the training grounds to test-cut the blades I had already completed. I figured moving my body might help clear my head.
I had brought thirteen magic swords with me.
Every single one was a blade I had finished since enrolling.
Using the Magias-issued training dummies with adjustable hardness, I tested their power and precision.
A magic sword that detonated.
A magic sword that paralyzed.
A magic sword cloaked in lightning.
A magic sword that accelerated movement.
A magic sword that levitated.
I checked the handling and feedback of each one, blade by blade.
I was glad I had saved these test cuts for later.
When my mind was clouded, swinging a sword felt much easier.
Why do you forge magic swords?
Mercedes's words echoed in my head.
In short, she was asking what I even hoped to achieve by crafting magic swords solely for myself.
As things stood, a certain issue prevented me from letting anyone else use my weapons. A craftsman who only forged magic swords for his own exclusive use was warped by any normal standard.
Yet there was a reason I couldn't forge them for others.
There were always eccentrics who hated tech leaks and refused to craft magical catalysts for anyone but themselves, so I had figured I could simply blend in with that crowd. There were ways to prove one's research results without relying on other people anyway.
Grandpa had also grown utterly sick of forging magic swords for others in his later years, so there had never been any reason to seek out a solution to the problem.
Magic swords weren't always meant to be entrusted to someone else.
Forging them yourself and using them yourself was just right.
At some point, those words of Grandpa's had become second nature to me, and through it all, I had kept on making them.
—And then.
"...Tch."
Right as I struck a target with the blunted blade, the hilt slipped from my dominant hand. My angle of attack had been off, and the weapon had bounced back, tearing free of my grip.
The magic sword skittered across the flagstones of the training grounds, rattling to a halt near the edge.
...What an idiot.
If anyone had been in the way, it would have been a disaster.
Mercedes's remark was lingering far more than I had thought. My concentration was completely shot. I should call it a day.
Before I could take a step to retrieve it, a shadow moved.
The figure reached down and slowly picked up my blade.
It was a girl with short, light-blond bobbed hair.
A moment later, I recognized her as Filiestra-san.
Of all people, she had to witness that...
"Sorry. Are you all right?"
"No, I'm fine."
Filiestra-san shook her head gently and offered a warm smile.
She rarely went out of her way to get involved with others, but whenever circumstances called for it, she approached people with a soft, gentle demeanor. That was my impression of the student named Filiestra-san.
"Are you training today?"
"Yeah. Just test-cutting some magic swords."
"Magic swords... Are all of these yours, Walker-kun? Wow, that's incredible..."
Filiestra-san's gaze drifted toward the collection of blades I had brought over from my lab. A single magic sword usually took nearly a month to forge. Even if these were all prototypes, churning them out at this pace was undeniably abnormal.
"Walker-kun, are you sleeping properly?"
"Yeah."
"Really? You have to sleep at least six hours a day, you know?"
Admonishing me softly, Filiestra-san offered the magic sword back to me. She had even gone to the trouble of wiping the grit from the blade with a handkerchief.
"Thanks—"
My mind went blank as I noticed the blade trembling slightly in her palm.
"...? Is something wrong?"
Filiestra-san tilted her head, but I couldn't even twitch a finger.
This reaction—the magic sword was responding to someone other than me.
Why?
Nothing like this had ever happened before.
"Filiestra-san. Could you take a swing with that?"
"Huh?"
"Try using the sword. Please."
Swept up in the moment, I grabbed her by her slender shoulders.
Filiestra-san nodded, looking utterly bewildered.
"Oh, sure. I don't really get it, but okay."
I guided her over to one of the training targets and asked her to take a light swing.
Her form was far more graceful than I had anticipated, but what followed sent a shockwave straight through me.
"Huh?"
Trailing behind her horizontal slash, a surging wave of fire erupted. Engulfed in flames, the target charred black in an instant before crumbling away into ash from the edges inward.
It wasn't a fluke. The magic sword had attuned.
To someone other than me.
"W-Walker-kun, is your magic sword really that powerful? I don't know much about these things, but isn't this beyond what the major workshops make...?"
Leaving the flabbergasted Filiestra-san to her amazement, my head spun in a haze of pure panic and excitement.
"That's amazing, Walker-kun. You really are worthy of being our faculty representative. No wonder Amae-chan praised you—"
"It shouldn't work."
"What?"
"My magic swords aren't supposed to work for anyone but me."
"Is... that so? But just now, I..."
"It shouldn't work. It shouldn't be possible."
Without directing my words at anyone, I just kept muttering under my breath.
Noticing the sudden change in my demeanor, Filiestra-san watched me with genuine concern.
◇
Only the blacksmith who forged it could wield it.
That was the fatal flaw in all my magic swords.
Whenever anyone else equipped them, virtually none of their magical enchantments would trigger.
Grandpa had grown sick of crafting magic swords for other people in his twilight years, so he had never bothered looking into the issue too deeply.
Before I knew it, magic swords had simply become tools meant for my own personal use.
Yet just as my perspective was beginning to shift after my confrontation with Mercedes, Filiestra-san had successfully attuned to one.
To an ordinary craftsman, that was merely common sense. To me, it was earth-shattering. I pleaded with Filiestra-san right then and there to come to my lab so I could explain the situation.
"I see... So that happened between you and Meltzelia-san."
The incident with Mercedes.
The flaw plaguing my magic swords.
Once I finished laying out the full story, Filiestra-san nodded, understanding dawning on her face.
"So that means your magic swords can't be used by anyone except you and me, Walker-kun?"
"That's about the size of it."
"Then, um... how did you pass the Specialized Magic Exam?"
"Strictly speaking, it's not that they're completely inert. Depending on the blade, someone else might be able to draw out ten or twenty percent of its power."
"Passing the practical exam under those conditions is incredible on its own..."
That had been my single biggest anxiety, so I couldn't let my guard down for a second until the results were in. The magic sword I submitted for the exam was packed with every ounce of technique I possessed, and the cost had been ridiculous.
The proctors had no way of knowing, but because I had poured every last resource into making it somewhat usable by others, its durability was pitiful and it degraded rapidly. To be honest, I considered it a total failure. It was nowhere near fit for real combat. Passing despite that was purely thanks to the foundation Grandpa had drilled into me.
"I think I get the gist of it. So what are you hoping to do, Walker-kun?"
"Well... I want you to help me with my research. If we can figure out why you can use my magic swords, Filiestra-san, maybe I can make it so far more people can wield them too."
Down that road, the possibility of eventually crafting a sword for Mercedes might open up as well. She might not even want one from me by then, but either way, I could never call myself a true magic swordsmith if I kept running from this problem.
"Sure, I'd be glad to."
"Of course, I'll make sure you're properly compensat—wait, really?"
"You're always looking out for us as our representative, Walker-kun, and I'm a bit curious from a medical standpoint anyway. So yes, I'd love to help."
"No, but doing it for free is..."
Taking up the time of an Imperial Archmage Faculty student was no small favor.
At the end of the day, she was a researcher, too.
"If you insist, then could you help me with my research when you have free time? My current project involves so many calculations that it's overwhelming. I heard you have great marks in theory, Walker-kun."
"Got it. Whenever you need a hand, just say the word."
"Then it's a promise."
Fresh off that harsh encounter with Mercedes, her warmth was a breath of fresh air.
To make up for the trouble, I needed to give back something of equal value.
"In that case, let me forge a blade tailored specifically to you right away, Filiestra-san. We can start our analysis from there."
"Understood. If you're starting now... when will we run the experiment?"
"Tomorrow."
"Huh?"
"Tomorrow."