The fierce battle had torn away Fia’s mask and cloak, revealing her appearance fully to the spectators. She remarkably looks alike to Fana.
“How old is she…? She looks young, but maybe late twenties? Could be a little older…”
And while the shape of her chest closely resembled Fana’s, its size was slightly larger. Truly impressive.
“I’d heard the rumors, but Fia-san is really beautiful.”
“She hardly ever shows herself, so I guess not many have actually seen her in person.”
“Wow… she looks so young. I thought she’d been an S-Rank adventurer for quite a while.”
“About fifteen years, I think? She became S-Rank around twenty, so she’s probably in her mid-thirties.”
“She doesn’t look like it at all.”
“More importantly… don’t those two look insanely alike?”
“Now that you mention it…”
“The way they fight is almost identical, too. Could they be sisters…?”
“They’re too far apart in age to be sisters.”
Even the adventurers in the stands were bewildered. Given how strikingly similar the two were, it was only natural.
“Fana herself doesn’t seem to even notice, though.”
“…That sounds just like her.”
Even with someone almost identical to herself standing right before her, Fana’s expression didn’t change a bit. Without missing a beat, she kicked off the ground and launched another attack.
Fia responded in kind.
“What an exchange…!”
“The Goritia vs. Anje match was incredible, but this… So this is the final exam for S-Rank promotion huh.”
“No, I’ve watched a few exams before, but I’ve never seen a challenger this strong.”
“Hey… isn’t the wind getting stronger and stronger?”
“Y-yeah… if I don’t hold on tightly to the railing, I feel like I might get blown away…”
The fierce battle raging before them had begun to churn the very air of the training hall into a swirling vortex. Gradually, the rotation sped up, twisting into a full-blown tornado.
“W–we’re getting blown away!?”
“What the hell is happening!?”
“It feels like we’re inside a hurricane…!”
“Uwaaaaah!?”
Several spectators were lifted off their feet and slammed into the rear wall by the centrifugal force.
“This… this wind is insane!”
“It’s because both of them spin in the same direction when they slash. The winds aren’t canceling each other out—they’re accelerating and pulling in everything around them.”
As for their strength, the two were nearly equal. Fana was giving her all, but judging by her expression, Fia wasn’t holding anything back either.
“T–ten minutes have passed! That’s the end!”
Randia shouted at the top of his lungs. He, too, was clinging desperately to the railing, struggling to resist being blown away.
“Huh? Already ten minutes? I could’ve sworn there were still a couple left…”
“Don’t say unnecessary things! Ten minutes definitely passed! (My arms can’t hold on any longerrrrr!)”
Looks like they called it a bit early.
As Fana and Fia lowered their swords and stopped fighting, the whirlwind gradually subsided. Eventually, calm returned to the training hall.
“In any case, that was an incredible battle, rivaling even the previous exam. And recognizing that Fana-dono fought on equal footing—or better—with Examiner Fia for the full ten minutes, she too has passed the final exam!”
With that, following Anje, Fana would also be promoted to S-Rank.
“Ah… Fana-oneechan…”
“She’s approaching Fia, like she wants to say something.”
“She must’ve sensed something after all.”
I recalled something I’d heard about her background. Fana had been born into a poor family with eight siblings, but she was said to look completely unlike any of them.
It seemed that as an infant, she had been abandoned along a road and taken in by her foster parents. Though the family was poor, she was raised alongside her siblings without distinction. In gratitude, she became an adventurer at the age of ten, and even now, she continued sending money back home.
If anyone might know about her blood relatives, it would be Fia… or perhaps, just perhaps, Fia is her real mother.
Standing before the possible truth of her own origins, Fana finally spoke.
“Hmph… our fighting styles were similar. …Did you copy me?”
We all froze, dumbfounded.
“That’s what you ask!?”
“You’re supposed to ask about the resemblance of her face!”
“W-wait, maybe she’s planning to get to the real point later!”
Fia let out a wry smile.
“I didn’t copy you. I’m more than a decade older than you, and I’ve been fighting like this for a long time.”
“Hm… I see.”
Fana nodded, as if satisfied. Then, without another word, she pivoted on her heel and began walking back toward us.
“W–wait, Fana-oneechan!?”
“Don’t you have other questions to ask!?”
“You can’t be satisfied with just that, can you!?”
“…?”
We tried desperately to give her a clue, but Fana only tilted her head in response.
Meanwhile, Fia spoke as well.
“Randia, I’ll be heading back now. I only agreed to take part because they insisted during a dungeon run, and I did so begrudgingly.”
“Ah, yes… of course, you were a tremendous help. But… are you sure?”
“Sure about what? I don’t know what you mean.”
“…Never mind.”
Through Randia’s gate, Fia departed. It seemed she had no intention of revealing anything further.
(Well… maybe that’s for the best. For me, my parent has always been Wolf-kaachan. I don’t really care about whoever I’m actually related to by blood. Even if I had been abandoned before I could remember anything, I doubt I would’ve wanted to know who my real parent was anyway.)
Fana was probably the same—having the parent who raised her was more than enough.
『You’re saying something unusually sensible, Master.』
(I know, right? Though if there’s one regret… it’s that I didn’t get to touch Fia’s chest.)
『I didn’t ask, so there’s no need to bring that up.』
(But if Fia were Fana’s mother, then it means Fana’s chest could potentially grow to that size too, huh?)
『I’m still not asking!』
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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