Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start With Magical Tools ~Side Stories~ (eBook)

Hisaya Amagishi (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Heart (Verlag)
978-1-7183-8116-2 (ISBN)

Infos

Packed with over thirty rich and captivating tales, this collection of side stories dives deeper into the lives of the characters of Dahlia in Bloom. Learn more about the bonds between the knights of the Order of Beast Hunters. Read about Ivano's and Fermo's passion for their work with stories about merchants and artisans. Indulge in the love affairs of Ordine's nobility. Cozy up with stories about Dahlia's closest friends, Lucia and Irma. Get a glimpse of the hidden world of Guido, Jonas, and the Scalfarotto family. Travel back in time to the characters' school days. Meant to be read between volumes 9 and 10, this volume expands the magical world of Dahlia in Bloom!

Textauszug

Dorino the Knight and His Golden-Eyed Friend

“I can’t believe I passed...”

Dorino, clad in his uniform, was participating in the entrance ceremony for the chivalry school within the Kingdom of Ordine’s royal college.

The auditorium was unduly spacious. The ages of the new students varied, and female students composed twenty to thirty percent of the group. Children of nobles were numerous. While a certain number of commoners did enroll in the chivalric track, most of them were children of families who served nobles, had learned how to wield a sword and bow from a young age, or had excellent command of strengthening magic.

The entrance exam for the college chivalric studies track was considerably difficult and included a practical component in addition to a pen and paper test. Anyone who couldn’t prepare for it properly was at a serious disadvantage.

Dorino hadn’t sufficiently prepared for the exam while he was in primary school. After all, he had originally aspired to be a city guard.

The school for city guards was separate from the chivalric college track, and students spent three to four years in specialized study. The instruction taught one everything needed to uphold the safety of the capital, from self-defense to arrest techniques, horseback riding to fighting in a team, and geography to the Ehrlichian language.

However, Dorino’s teacher encouraged him to just try for the college chivalry school since he had high magic for a commoner and could wield ice magic. His teacher explained that even if he did not become a knight, his studies would not go to waste, for studying chivalry would open up more employment opportunities and improve his odds of earning a better salary. Thus, Dorino decided to place chivalry as his first choice and the city guard school as his second.

To prepare for the written exam, he spent three months answering practice questions at school, and his teacher carefully coached him for the interview. As for the practical exam, he had no experience using a sword or lance, so he chose hand-to-hand combat; he had been taking lessons ever since he’d first aspired to become a city guard, so it wasn’t very difficult for him.

During the actual college examination, he was only required to run ten laps around the large schoolyard, and he was able to maintain a decent pace by using strengthening magic. For the written exam, he started with the questions he felt most certain about answering and wrote as much as he could.

He wasn’t confident about his performance in any component of the exam, but he’d gotten through the first stage. At a later date, he moved on to the next stage, which included the practical exam and the interview.

The hand-to-hand combat exam was conducted by a burly man who towered over Dorino. The examiner told him to come at him with everything he had, so Dorino went for a surprise attack to the backs of his knees and sent him tumbling to the ground. They grappled with each other, but once Dorino was brought down on his back, he assumed he’d probably failed.

Next came the interview. It started with general questions, then he was asked what he wanted to study in school, and, just as his teacher had taught him, Dorino responded that he wanted to learn how to protect people.

The examiner looked at him and asked, “Who do you think is most responsible for keeping the citizens safe?”

He wasn’t prepared to answer that question. His teacher had never brought it up.

He had a faint idea that the right answer was likely the king of Ordine. However, if he was being honest, Dorino didn’t feel as if he were protected by the royal family, whom he’d never even seen.

As the image of knights in bloodstained armor rose to his mind, he answered instinctively, “The Order of Beast Hunters.”

The children of the lower city looked up to the knights of the Order of Beast Hunters. In his neighborhood, it was rare to catch sight of the knights, but bards sang dramatized tales of their heroic feats.

Nevertheless, Dorino knew those dramatizations weren’t the truth.

Once, when he’d gone to make a delivery near the capital’s western gate, he had seen the Order of Beast Hunters returning from a mission. All of the townsfolk around the gate had been cheering for joy and praising the Order of Beast Hunters for their efforts.

But it was not a procession of glorious knights that Dorino saw passing by that day. He saw two enormous red bear carcasses being transported on cart. He saw horses with frightened looks in their eyes, breathing heavily as they pulled mud-streaked carriages, bloody bandages visible from the windows. Riding the horses were knights in blood-splattered armor. They had dark rings under their eyes, but they still managed to smile at the crowd. Dorino couldn’t think of any group of people stronger than those knights, nor of anyone who did more to protect the populace.

“They put their lives on the line to protect the people... Though of course, the king is the one whose governance keeps us safe.”

After hearing that response, the examiner who’d asked the question narrowed his eyes into slits, and the other examiner grimaced and looked down. Dorino had caught himself at the end and mended his answer, but he had a feeling he’d failed for sure.

“Mr. Dorino Barti, that will be all for your interview.”

“Thank you very much.”

He’d definitely failed.

The city guard school exam was a week later. If he failed that too, he’d have to talk to his teacher about other employment options. Preoccupied by that thought, he had placed a hand on the door when the examiner called out to him.

“Mr. Barti, you still have some time before matriculation, so be sure to study up on your Ehrlichian, particularly your spelling.”

“Oh, yes! I will!”

After giving that flustered response, Dorino bowed and left the room. He realized then that he had somehow managed to pass.

The days following the interview were hectic with preparations for graduation and enrollment.

All of that led up to today, when he was participating in the entrance ceremony for the chivalry school. No matter how many times he wondered how he’d managed to get accepted, he couldn’t figure it out. But for him, a commoner from the lower city, to be accepted into the chivalric courses was something he should be grateful and happy about.

Once the long ceremonial address and speeches of the entrance ceremony were over, the students all headed to separate classrooms, where their homeroom teachers would explain their class schedules and the next steps. First-year students were required to take fundamental subjects, so their classes were already set in stone.

Many of the other students around him looked to be sons of noble families. Dorino had a feeling it would be rough going trying to find someone he could talk to easily.

Dorino headed in the direction of the classroom, feeling slightly uncomfortable in his stiffly starched uniform.

“Welcome, Class Two of the chivalry school!”

The homeroom teacher, whom he found waiting for him with a smile, was the hand-to-hand combat examiner.

Dorino’s days at college were a lot easier than he had prepared himself for.

At first, he and his classmates formed loose-knit groups along class lines, but whether because of the wearisome exams or the training that left them all muddy, they came to naturally form groups based on whom they got along with, regardless of rank.

There were some people who kept their distance from Dorino once they found out he was a commoner, the son of a family that owned a diner in the lower city, and unable to properly wield a sword or lance. But he had other people he could speak affably with, and he got an even better reception once people learned he could use ice magic.

Even among nobles and mages, few people possessed the ability to use ice magic. Dorino took advantage of that by adding small chunks of ice to everyone’s drinks during summer and wrapping ice in handkerchiefs for injuries that weren’t severe enough to warrant the use of a potion. As a result, he received snacks and class notes, and he was able to make passing friendships.

Twice, he overused his ice magic to the point of exhausting himself completely and had to be treated in the infirmary. That, he mentioned to no one.

When he entered his second year, Dorino had the choice between training to use a sword, lance, or bow. Like most students, Dorino chose the sword. He had joined a voluntary sword-training club as a first-year student, but he’d only learned the basics there. While it was fun to exchange blows with others, he just couldn’t get the hang of it, and he felt demoralized after every training session.

During the first three months of training, all of the classes participated together, so a crowd of students streamed out to the grounds. There, Dorino noticed everyone’s gazes shift in the same direction. They were looking at a tall young man. He had glossy black hair and a very handsome face, but most striking of all—suspiciously striking, in fact—were his golden eyes.

Even though he wore the same training uniform as everyone else, it looked far better on him. Dorino wasn’t surprised to see a few smiley female students walking up to the young man to chat with him.

“That guy with golden...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 23.6.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools
• Illustrationen: Hisaya Amagishi
• Übersetzer: Hisaya Amagishi
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: business • Fantasy • female protagonist • Isekai • Light Novel • Magic • Reincarnation
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-8116-6 / 1718381166
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-8116-2 / 9781718381162