Chapter: 356
Spending my second semester at the Soul Academy, the biggest shortcoming I felt was the sheer lack of real combat experience.
You might wonder how I could claim to be lacking experience with the few battles I had faced until now, but you see,
I had never once faced an equal opponent.
Before I entered the Academy, there were only stronger opponents around me.
Even the monster-like knights I sparred with now focused more on teaching me than trying to actually win by any means necessary.
Their teachings helped lay the groundwork for my combat logic, but they didn’t help me hone my skills in real fighting contexts.
Once I stepped into the Academy, it was the complete opposite—only weaker folks surrounded me.
Frey at least provided the feeling of weapon clashes, but they weren’t intimidating enough.
Occasionally, there were events with Nakrad or Adri, but they were way too strong for me.
I couldn’t even dream of engaging them with normal tactics. If I couldn’t withstand, I’d just be a goner—how could any maneuvers exist in such a situation?
At that time, I was merely scrambling to survive, using my in-game knowledge to scrape by victories, without accumulating any meaningful combat experience.
Most other fights weren’t any different.
In my mind, combat had always been either the strong educating me by crossing swords or me trampling the weak. I’d be forced to fiddle with every trick in the book to land a miraculous win, so it wouldn’t be exaggerated to say I had way too many experiences stabbing at enemies’ weaknesses but practically none of being stabbed myself.
‘If only I had thought more seriously about this when facing the Garad-imitating skeleton back then, I probably wouldn’t have lost to the Second Queen, right?’
When I battled that skeleton below the Academy’s Old Building and got schooled, I felt my lack of experience hit home.
But I overlooked this issue, claiming I had more urgent matters to deal with.
Actually, it wasn’t like I was trying to ignore it.
Chasing down the Evil God, being hunted by the Church Inquisitors, and then getting wrapped up in dungeon crafting—it was a continuous cycle of incidents that piled up until I just forgot about it.
As a result, I ended up utterly crushed by the Second Queen.
Looking back, I really find it ridiculous. I was so confident of my victory, only for the tables to turn in an instant.
[If you had a few more months, the outcome would have been different.]
‘Well, that’s that.’
Recognizing my shortcomings again, I pondered what I should do to tackle my experience deficit.
If it were merely a matter of inadequate skill levels, stats being lacking, or low levels, I could’ve come up with solutions using game knowledge. But this problem of combat experience?
[It can only be gradually built through real combat.]
‘Can’t you just give me some straightforward advice instead? There must be secret tips from the Hero Party!’
[I could tell you to pay attention to this and that, but you’re the one who has to make decisions in the blink of an eye during battle. If you don’t gain experience and develop your skills, all advice will be useless.]
After having a thorough chat with the old man, the conclusion I reached was that I had no choice but to engage in many fights.
I need to face opponents of equal or slightly higher strength to become accustomed to the interplay of tactics.
With this judgment made, I decided to take advantage of the break to visit the Teresha Empire’s arena.
It was the perfect place to stack up experience in real fights, filled with numerous strong warriors clashing fiercely.
The Teresha Empire.
This barren land, heavy with desert, had grown out of countless wars.
The Empire, with hardly any arable land or even places where people could live, barely scraped by by raiding neighboring countries for grain and livestock, and even after they seized fertile land through endless wars, they never ceased invading neighboring nations, as if war was their calling.
Due to this long history of warfare, the Teresha Empire valued individual strength to the degree that one’s power was directly linked to their authority or honor, far more than any other nation.
The best place to truly feel this fanatical worship of strength was the Empire’s arena.
Usually, an arena is where commoners or slaves are set up to entertain nobles, right?
But not in the Empire’s arena.
The nobles here would be busy scoffing, wondering why commoners dare attempt swimming with the strong.
Deprived commoners would watch the nobles flaunt their power, vowing that one day they too would stand in that glorious position.
In such a crazy place, participants in the arena would go to any lengths to win, not fearing disgrace, using every means possible to secure victory.
This is precisely why I chose the Teresha Empire’s arena as my training ground.
Could there be a better venue for accruing actual combat experience?
…And on top of that, if I win several times, the rewards can be pretty sweet.
Though it’s not something I strictly need right now, the instinct of a rusted blade drove me to pursue maximum efficiency.
‘No way! I absolutely cannot allow this! I can’t let you go to that nutty Teresha Empire arena!’
However, getting permission to head to the arena wasn’t exactly a smooth ride.
They firmly opposed throwing me into the pit of crazies.
Initially, I thought I could just throw a tantrum like before and they’d eventually relent, but this time was different.
Benedict
‘Papa, I hate you! ♡’
‘I’m never coming to this smelly room again! ♡ I won’t even contact you through Kerta’s Crystal! ♡’
‘As you wish, Papa! I’ll never say a word to you again in my life! ♡’
He stood his ground against a torrent of accusations like that.
His adamant attitude forced me to rethink other methods that might work, but my soul’s ingrained rusted nature was unyielding.
With maximum efficiency right at my fingertips, how could I be told to choose a secondary option?
I would never abide by such nonsense!
Even if it meant sneaking away, I would make sure I participated in the arena!
After that resolution, I tried every trick in the book to convince Benedict until a lightbulb went off in my head.
The warmth of the sun, not the cold wind, is what peels away the traveler’s cloak!
Benedict was alarmed because I only showed coldness.
If I could show warmth instead, he’d surely melt!
‘How unfortunate! ♡ I wanted to go on a trip with Papa, but if he doesn’t want to go, what can I do? ♡ I’m such a good girl; I’ll listen to my Papa! ♡’
‘…A trip? With me?’
‘Aaaah! ♡ What a pity! ♡ I really wanted to show Papa how I can win! But if Papa doesn’t want, there’s nothing to do! ♡ I’ll just sulk in my room and talk bad about my Papa! ♡’
‘W-Wait a moment, Lucy.’
My prediction hit the mark perfectly.
Benedict, the doting father, was entranced by the idea of a trip with his daughter and accepted going to the arena.
“…Lucy, when exactly did you come into contact with the Newman family?”
After arriving in the Teresha Empire using the teleportation device from the Newman family,
Benedict stared blankly at the members of the Newman family politely greeting us from behind and then turned his head towards me.
‘It’s a secret.’
“Se-cr-e-t. It’s just my daughter’s private life that’s not relevant for a silly father to know.”
Explaining that I had become a benefactor to the Newman family for saving their sick son was too much of a hassle.
I feared I’d hear a lecture after that, so I decided to keep it a secret.
Realizing he couldn’t pry any further, Benedict turned away from me just before I preemptively struck.
‘If by any chance…’
“If foolish father tries to pry information out of the sword, I will never forgive him.”
“…Lucy!”
‘The sword—’
“I’ll cut you down too, you know. Just remember that.”
“I will protect the secret with my life.”
Having firmly established the secrecy, I made my way towards the arena with a sulking Benedict, the silently rebellious sword, our bald knight escort, and Erin.
Walking down the street, I began to notice something strange. Why are people glancing over at Benedict and whispering?
If they were looking at me, I’d have thought my charm level was going on a rampage again, but their gazes were trained on Benedict.
“It’s due to the lord’s reputation.”
Did the bald knight catch wind of my confusion? He spoke with a voice brimming with pride.
“It’s only natural for the citizens of the Teresha Empire, who worship strength, to revere the lord as they discuss the continent’s mightiest!”
Thinking about Benedict’s superhuman strength, it would indeed be reasonable for him to be popular in the Empire.
To put it in perspective, it’s like a famous celebrity suddenly appearing right in front of you!
“Oh my! To think I could set my eyes on the Alrn lord!”
“Can I approach and say hello?”
“I want to feel his battle-hardened fist!”
“Dude, don’t do that! You’ll end up dead.”
“Why are you here? Please don’t tell me it’s for the arena!”
“…Participating in this arena is out of the question.”
“Well, you have to try! Who knows, maybe a miracle will happen, and you might get to spar with him!”
As we proceeded deeper into the crowd surrounding Benedict, the hubbub grew louder.
Even I, who was used to receiving attention, could feel the prickling sensation of all those eyes on us.
…If I had known, I should have just run away and come here instead. I came to gather combat experience, not to be a spectacle.
Fortunately, what saved us from an accident was the noble managing the territory making an appearance.
Bringing his familial power along, he dispersed the crowd and approached Benedict with a bright smile.
“Goodness! Lord Alrn! To think you’d actually show up here instead of being nested in your territory!”
“Lord Bardronel, I apologize for any inconvenience caused.”
“Haha! No worries! It was my mistake for not being prepared despite receiving prior notice!”
“But…”
“Never mind that! Please, let me introduce you to the beautiful Young Lady beside you!”
“This is my daughter, Lucy Alrn. I thought you might have heard of her by now.”
“Of course! It’s said that right after the Young Lady of the Kent family, a new divine talent is born to elevate the kingdom’s reputation. How could I not know the name?”
In the middle of the conversation, Bardronel turned towards me, flashing a broad grin.
“Pleasure to meet you, Young Lady Alrn! I’m Bardronel Adila, the lord of this territory!”
‘Hello, I am Lucy Alrn.’
“Hello, I’m the pitiful count of puppy-like essence, Lucy Alrn. Your cowardly demeanor with your tail tucked is just adorable.”
The moment the greeting translated by Mesugaki skills concluded, a chilly malice flickered in Bardronel’s eyes.
Ah, here we go again.
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