-1221- [ Sword ]

After leaving the director's office, Rozen's pocket immediately rang.

"What's this?"

Rozen took out the source of the ringing from his pocket, a palm-sized liquid crystal device.

This was the student ID of Hagun Academy, and also a highly functional device. It served not only as an identification card, wallet, mobile phone, and internet device but also could receive notifications from the school. Every student would receive one upon enrollment, and if lost, they must apply for a replacement immediately, otherwise they might not be able to enter the school gate.

Now, Rozen received a message.

"A room has been prepared for you, still in the First Student Dormitory, and it's in room 405 next door. Your roommate is a bit special, so handle it yourself."

This message was obviously sent by Shinguji Kurono.

And Shinguji Kurono added one more sentence.

"Don't disappoint me."

That was Shinguji Kurono's instruction.

"A special roommate?"

Rozen couldn't help but wonder.

"Could it be another girl?"

Rozen couldn't bear that.

"I really don't want to cause any more trouble."

Rozen sighed slightly and then put away the student handbook, heading back to the First Student Dormitory.

"Hmm?"

Just as Rozen was about to enter the First Student Dormitory, he felt a slight strange sensation in the air, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"What's that?"

Rozen looked around and then his gaze stopped at an open space next to the student dormitory.

There, a boy was standing.

He was wearing sportswear and didn't look strong, but he gave off a vigorous feeling all over.

The boy had black hair, looked to be around Rozen's age, and was holding a Japanese sword with a blade as black as a crow. He had his eyes closed, poised for a fight.

The slight strangeness that Rozen felt came from this boy.

More accurately, it should be said to come from the boy's sword-wielding posture.

That posture...

"So exquisite."

Rozen couldn't help but give this evaluation.

Although Rozen wasn't proficient in martial arts, he had a teacher with unparalleled spear skills, and had dealt with various servants and heroes with powerful martial arts. With his keen eyesight and experience in various battles, he could still discern a person's martial arts proficiency to some extent.

And in Rozen's perception, the boy standing in front of him, concentrating on his sword stance, entered a mysterious state, which caused Rozen to feel that slight strangeness.

This feeling of strangeness was impossible for someone who didn't understand martial arts to detect.

But Rozen could perceive it with his senses alone and gave the evaluation of "exquisite".

Indeed, it was very exquisite.

Even though it was just a simple stance, Rozen couldn't see any flaws in it at all. It was as if if he approached casually, he would be instantly killed, which made one's heart palpitate.

"Even the martial arts of first-rate servants are almost like this, right?"

Rozen kept giving high praise.

In this situation, the next second, the boy gave Rozen another surprise.

"Whoosh!"

At that moment, a gust of wind blew, stirring up some dust and causing the surrounding trees to sway.

Many leaves began to flutter, from far to near, until they finally arrived by the side of the boy holding the sword.

Then, a phenomenon occurred.

"Swish..."

With a faint sound, a leaf in front of the boy's closed eyes split neatly in half.

Seeing this scene, Rozen's eyes narrowed.

"Swish..." "Swish..." "Swish..." "Swish..." "Swish..."

The next moment, each leaf that arrived in front of the boy was split in exactly the same way, as if it were being cut neatly in half by an invisible blade. Accompanied by faint tearing sounds, they were all divided into two.

And the boy just kept holding his sword stance, motionless.

No.

It's quite the opposite.

The other party had already moved.

It's just that, if it were someone else, they definitely wouldn't have noticed.

Rozen had only one thought.

"What a fast sword."

Yes.

Very fast.

Really fast.

The other party didn't remain completely still; instead, they had already moved at a speed invisible to the naked eye, minimizing their movements while executing lightning-fast slashes at the flying leaves.

In this way, every single leaf was neatly sliced into halves without exception.

And then...

"Swish!"

Amidst the sharp sound of breaking wind, the Japanese sword that had neatly sliced all the leaves suddenly flashed out like lightning, piercing through all the leaves that had been cut and stacking them up on the blade.

One strike.

Just one strike.

With this strike, the other party pierced all the leaves they had cut onto the blade, piling them up on the handle.

"Hu..."

Only then did the other party let out a long breath, relaxing their body while, with extremely natural movements, brushing off the leaves piled up on the handle.

And this action by the other party completely dispelled the strange feeling just now, as if a roaring tiger had suddenly turned into a gentle kitten, displaying mastery over their aura, reaching an unbelievable level.

To be honest, the other party's movements had reached the level of artistry.

Even Rozen, who had encountered various martial arts masters and even reached the realm of gods, couldn't help but exclaim.

"Beautiful!"

This "beautiful" was completely sincere from Rozen's heart.

In return...

"Thank you."

The other party turned their head, looking in Rozen's direction, not surprised by Rozen's appearance, nor frightened, but rather as if they had already sensed Rozen's presence, with a somewhat embarrassed smile, they lowered their head towards Rozen.

In the extremely focused state just now, the other party was even able to sense the presence of the leaves without relying on their eyes, and perform such a skill. Rozen, who was observing without any concealment, naturally couldn't go unnoticed by the other party.

Yet, despite displaying such exquisite swordsmanship, the other party had a gentle smile on their face.

"Are you a new student?"

The other party asked in a friendly manner.

"Yes, I just enrolled." Rozen didn't feel awkward either and nodded directly, saying, "My name is Rozen, nice to meet you."

"Rozen?" Seeing Rozen's equally friendly attitude, the other party seemed to let out a sigh of relief and said, "I'm Kurogane Ikki, nice to meet you."

Kurogane Ikki.

That was the name of this boy with superb swordsmanship.

To this...

"Kurogane?"

Rozen couldn't help but be stunned, surprised.

"Ahaha..." Ikki seemed to know why Rozen reacted this way, scratching his head awkwardly, and his smile began to look a bit helpless and bitter.

Seeing this, Rozen was certain.

"Could it be that you are that Kurogane?"

Rozen asked curiously.

"Well, I guess I'm the Kurogane you're thinking of." Ikki's expression became more and more helpless, but he didn't choose to hide it, admitting it calmly.

This caused Rozen to look at the other party with some changes in his eyes.

Just because, in this country, this surname carried quite a significant meaning.