Lawrence could no longer find the words to continue.

Jade was giving everything he had to hold his own against a child with a superior build. His eyes, which had gone wide from sheer surprise, soon filled with all manner of emotions that were difficult to put into words.

He stood with his mouth slightly open, unable to do anything, taking in nothing but the sight of Jade.

“Ah.”

Jade nearly toppled backward from the force pushing against him, and Lawrence clenched his fist to hold himself back as his body lurched forward.

Jade steadied his stance again. The little guy had real tenacity, at least.

Lawrence wanted to shout Jade’s name so he would know he was there.

Aside from the occasional involuntary gasp, Lawrence’s mouth moved in a restless, soundless flutter without producing a single word. The three syllables of the child’s name circled near his tongue and tickled at his lips.

‘Jade!’

He kept calling the name inside himself, the name that refused to come out no matter what.

“Jade!!! Big brother, win!!”

Ray’s thunderous shout snapped Lawrence back to himself. It seemed the voice reached Jade too, as Jade visibly flinched.

Ah. So that was it.

What he could not do alone, he could do together with help.

Lawrence finally understood that. He was not alone right now. Ray was here, and Arinne was here.

He turned his head toward her and Ray, his expression bright with something stirring inside him.

“Jade, win!!”

“Win!!”

“……”

What on earth was this situation? Lawrence lost his words again and stood there dumbfounded.

“Jade!! Number one nine-year-old!!!”

“Good. Louder.”

Ray was tucked in the arms of a complete stranger, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Beside them, Arinne calmly directed the cheering.

“Five gold coins added. Ten more if Jade wins.”

“Thank you!!”

“Tank you!!”

“Ray, you don’t have to say that.”

“Kay!”

Ray grinned. The man’s face brightened too. He threw himself into performing with great enthusiasm, working to reclaim the gold coins he had nearly had within reach just moments ago.

“Let’s go again, louder this time.”

Ray and the man both answered “Yes!!” with equal excitement and synchronized their timing once more.

“One, two— Jade!!”

“Fight!!!”

The man lifted Ray higher. Ray swung his flag with gusto as he shook wildly in the air.

“Kyaaaa!! Mister keep shaking shaking!! Kyahahahaha!!!”

It gradually turned into the man simply playing with Ray.

“……”

Anyone who did not know better would have taken that man for Ray’s father.

Lawrence stared at the scene in disbelief, then stuck his lip out and snatched Ray back into his own arms, pulling him away from the man in one swift move.

“Ray. Whose son are you?”

“Are you dumb? You don’t even know whose son Ray is?? Ray is Dad’s son.”

“Good.”

Lawrence smiled with satisfaction and resettled Ray in his arms. Ray waved goodbye to the man and pressed his cheek against Lawrence’s head.

“When does Jade win?”

“Who knows. He might not win.”

“No! He wins!”

Ray scrunched up his nose and made a face. To Ray, Jade was always number one. He was a smart number-one nine-year-old who could do anything well and knew a great deal.

The idea of that Jade losing a match was something Ray simply could not imagine.

Ray rejected Lawrence’s words and turned to look at Arinne.

Her gaze was fixed on Jade. The hand gripping her handkerchief tightly had knuckles pressing through the skin, speaking for the state of her heart.

“……”

Ray thought that maybe, just maybe, Jade might lose after all, the way Lawrence had said.

Ray looked back and forth between Lawrence’s and Arinne’s faces and grew increasingly sorrowful. Even with his lips pressed firmly shut, a rough, ragged sound like a sob leaked out.

Ray held back the rising urge to cry, tightened his stomach, and shouted.

“Jade!!”

He was someone who cried whenever he felt like it, but right now, cheering for Jade came first.

“Jade is going to win!!!”

So Ray decided that, at least for now, he would not cry.

* * *

‘That’s Ray……!’

His little brother’s powerful cheer drove straight into Jade’s ears.

He was too busy holding his own against number 11 to spare even a glance elsewhere, but that voice just now was unmistakably Ray’s.

Until moments ago, the match had felt too heavy and exhausting, and he had wanted to give up. When he nearly fell from being overpowered, he had wanted to sink to the ground right there.

Every time he wanted to forfeit, Jade reminded himself that Arinne was in the stands.

Not wanting to show her a losing performance was what had kept him holding on somehow.

‘Did Father come too? Together with Ray, no. Don’t get your hopes up. Lady Arinne might have brought only Ray. Don’t get excited. Even if Father didn’t come, I’ll do well.’

From the moment he heard Ray’s voice, Jade’s heart pounded harder than ever.

‘It’s alright. It really is alright. Lady Arinne is here, and Ray is here. Both of them are cheering for me. It’s truly, truly alright……’

Even if his father was not there, two whole people had come to cheer for him.

Jade now genuinely wanted to win. He would not show them a shameful defeat, but a proud, brilliant victory.

“Ugh!”

The moment that thought took hold, Jade staggered again as he took number 11′s sword.

“You’re surprisingly stubborn, aren’t you?!”

The match had dragged on longer than number 11 had expected, and worn out, he pushed at Jade with nothing but brute force, showing his impatience.

Jade tightened his grip so the sword would not fly from his hand and steadied his wavering resolve.

‘What do I do? How do I……’

Jade dodged number 11′s wild, graceless swings and thought hard about what it would take for him to win.

If the very first match was this difficult and grueling, just how extraordinary and monstrous a person had his father been to win the championship at nine years old.

His admiration for Lawrence soared, while his own confidence plummeted.

‘I can’t do this! I can’t win. I’m definitely going to lose.’

His strength kept draining away. Every aching muscle in his body protested fiercely, telling him this was too much, that this was a fight he could not win.

“Let it flow past you!!”

Huh?

Jade nearly turned around before catching himself. He had been told every day not to let his gaze wander during a match, yet the urge to confirm the source of that voice surged ahead of reason and almost made him turn. He must have been so exhausted he was hearing things.

“Stop holding on and give up!!”

Number 11, not missing the moment Jade faltered, rushed at him fast.

Just as Jade moved to take number 11′s sword.

“Don’t try to block it!!”

The voice came again. Unfamiliar yet familiar, coming from the same direction as Ray’s voice, it tickled something inside Jade’s chest.

Jade wanted to tear his heart out and throw it away. Without doing that, he felt he could not stop this strange sensation.

‘Father really came!’

Both Ray’s voice and his father’s voice kept reaching him. It was not his imagination. Jade could be certain not only of the direction where his father and Ray stood, but of their exact position.

His vision gradually blurred with tears. Jade blinked rapidly and let them fall.

Jade had always felt ashamed of crying. But right now, all he could think was that he needed to shed the tears quickly to clear his sight.

‘Jade. In the main tournament, there will be children who are stronger and bigger than you. You must not try to attack them head-on.’

With a mind as clear as his vision now was, Jade recalled his father’s teachings.

‘You need to counter.’

‘Counter?’

Jade had listened to Lawrence’s advice and, honestly, felt a little disappointed in him at the time.

‘When an opponent charges at you trusting in their strength, do not take it head-on. Let it flow past you. So that the opponent stumbles or staggers under their own force. That is how you create your opening.’

‘That is not me winning. That is cowardly.’

If the opponent fell on their own, that was the opponent’s mistake, not a victory earned by his own ability. Lawrence’s advice and approach had only puzzled Jade.

‘Jade. There are many ways to show strength. Physical force is only one of them.’

‘I don’t quite understand. But Father, Evershine is a contest of strength. You have to be strong to win, and it is only natural that the stronger person wins.’

‘Is the strength to swing a sword the only kind of strength? Do you really think so?’

He had wanted to push back because it was too hard to understand, and the words that had not reached him then reached him clearly now.

‘I understand now, Father!’

Jade now understood his father’s advice completely.

Lawrence Carentium, who had conquered Evershine at nine years old. He had not won through sheer physical force alone.

He had won because he possessed the strength to turn unfavorable conditions into favorable ones.

“Let’s end this now. Hyaaah!!”

Number 11 raised his sword high above his head and charged at Jade. Jade gritted his teeth and calmly waited for his opening.

‘The moment the opponent charges at you head-on with full force is your best opportunity to strike.’

The best opportunity to strike that his father had spoken of.