Chapter: 163
Could it be that Joy’s warning actually worked?
Since that day, the malevolent gazes directed at me had noticeably diminished.
Sure, there were still plenty of people who looked at me poorly, but that was just the norm, so I didn’t worry much about it.
What was more important was that I no longer had to eat alone!
Every day, Phoebe and Joy came to have meals with me!
Maybe they had gotten used to my mesugaki skills’ sharp tongue, or perhaps my charm had lifted their spirits enough to withstand it, but the two naturally took the seat beside me during lunch every day.
Usually, Phoebe would show up first, followed closely by Joy.
Because of this, I was happier than I had ever been lately.
Sometimes, I thought it would be nice if Frey could join us too, but it seemed like she was busy doing something with Karl.
She said she’d show something for the finals, so it felt a bit rude to bother her.
Of course, with all that happiness, I rolled around quite a bit too.
In reality, I was putting in the usual effort to train hard until dinner. Even while trying to sleep, I was dragged into practice mode with Grandpa for more training.
Plus, I couldn’t catch a wink during academy classes either.
The moment I slacked off during lectures, Grandpa would set his sights on me with a burning fury.
To avoid that dreadful feeling of waking up the next day feeling tired while my body felt fine, I absolutely had to attend class.
“Lady Alrn, did I do something wrong?”
Often glued to my desk during class hours, I managed to lift my head, only to see the professor trembling as he asked this.
Who knew that just me being attentive in class could hurt someone’s feelings? That was a bit of a mental wound.
Though various things were tough, overall, life at the academy flowed peacefully.
Typically, Naklad would have made a fuss again at some point, but it seemed the damage he took from Grandpa was too severe, as there was barely a peep from him.
Even the church had come in to eliminate the darkness that had spread throughout the academy.
And on top of that, even the pathetic god, who had worked so hard to torment me, fell silent, allowing me to enjoy a genuine school life for the first time since enrolling at the academy.
They say good times fly by quickly, huh?
As I enjoyed my youthful days, the final exams crept up on me, but I felt absolutely no anxiety.
The pathetic god hadn’t ordered me to come first in the finals, and honestly, the reward for being the top scorer wasn’t that appealing.
If it flops, it flops; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t, right?
Grandpa also said to view the exams as a test of everything I learned.
Which is why I didn’t ask for Grandpa’s help during this final exam.
Reflecting on it, I truly realized that Grandpa’s cheat was absurdly overpowered.
While I was solving the problems myself, I could manage to get through half of them, but the other half? Not a clue.
Even now, having studied hard, I still found myself in this situation… It makes me wonder what I was like when I used to lay my face on the desk and sleep. What’s there to even say?
No matter how I think about it, it looks like I’ll be buried at the bottom of the rankings this time.
Even if I could supplement my score with classes like Dungeon Studies, Monster Hunting, and Sparring, there’d still be limits.
If I rank higher than Joy, she’d definitely throw a fit.
I’ve got a load of bad karma piling up, so that’s a certainty.
While that would be cute in its own right, I think Joy looks cuter when she’s slightly frazzled. Ugh, that’s regrettable.
The day after finishing the written exam was the day of the practical exam.
I had two main tasks ahead of me.
The dungeon raid exam and the sparring study exam.
There were also things like physical tests and weapon techniques, but I had no worries about any of those.
Physical activity was my specialty.
And the first of many practical tests came from the Sparring class.
“Hey, Lucy. Long time no see.”
And my opponent was the same as last time.
Frey Kent.
A genius poised to take the title of the next Sword Saint, and among the melee characters of Soul Academy, she was a monster with maximum performance.
While her performance had gotten her discarded in the game for being a troll, now that reality mirrored the game, she was much more normal than I expected, making her someone I liked.
Also, she was my longest-standing companion since enrolling in Soul Academy.
“Yes, it has been a while.”
“Who was it again? Ah. The pathetic swordsman, right? I completely forgot about you since you’re such a nobody.”
She teased me lightly, but Frey showed no real reaction.
Strange. Even though she usually had a shallow sense of emotion, I would usually get some small response from her when I teased her with my mesugaki skills.
Did she train to manage her emotions for this duel?
Well, I guess she wouldn’t be clueless enough to think she could win the duel against me while training under Karl.
Even if it doesn’t have much meaning, it’s not like her preparations will amount to anything against my mesugaki skills, right?
Originally, an overpowered skill makes any preparations seem useless.
“From today onward, you won’t be able to call me pathetic or weak.”
“I hope so too.”
“Puhahaha! Dream big! That’s impossible. You’ll always be a pathetic weakling, garbage swordsman.”
I really wanted Frey to find a way to get rid of that pathetic title off my mouth.
If she could pull that off, I’d do anything she wanted. Seriously.
I wiped the impossible thought with a chuckle and gripped a sparring mace in one hand while conjuring a shield made of sacred materials in the other.
At my full strength, the first years at the academy wouldn’t be able to handle it, so I had prepared a minimum safety net.
Frey slightly lowered her eyebrows upon seeing that.
“Both sides, are you ready?”
Anton, in charge of the sparring class, stood between us and assessed our gazes.
“I’m ready.”
“Can’t you tell just by looking?”
“I’m ready.”
“Then let the spar begin. Three.”
As Anton counted, Frey took her stance.
It was vastly different from last time when she swung her sword.
Back then, it was more instinctual. No specific stance to speak of. To put it nicely, it was instinctive; to be blunt, it was like a wild beast wielding a sword.
But not now. Her movements were clean and organized.
I didn’t even see those habitual jumps.
“Two.”
She had really corrected her sword technique. To discipline a beast that swung its sword relying solely on its own genius.
I truly couldn’t stand it.
What was she trying to achieve by growing the rival of her lovely lady?
Is she trying to watch me get beaten?
Karl, you’re starting to resemble that pathetic god more and more, huh?
I might need to step on you eventually.
“One.”
Still.
Yeah.
Still not yet, Karl.
You think I was just lazing about while you trained Frey, huh?
I’ve been training as hard as I could with Grandpa.
I did everything I could day and night to grow stronger.
There’s no way I’m going to be shattered here.
If you want to crush me, you better bring along a jealous dark god schmuck.
“Start!”
As Anton shouted the start, Frey lunged forward.
She was definitely fast!
If it were any other first-year students at the academy, they’d be offering their necks to her sword due to her speed!
I can guarantee that!
But not for me!
The absolute defense kicks in. The shield needs to be moved.
I made the call. The shield needs to move.
In that moment where the two thoughts overlapped, my shield connected with Frey’s sword, dampening the power infused within it and causing it to bounce back.
A massive gap opened as a result.
Frey didn’t press her luck any further and backed away to regain her stance.
She’s improved.
If it were her from before, she would’ve stubbornly tried to press me even in this situation. Has she learned to seek calm?
“What’s this,♡ a pathetic weakling♡ did you think you could beat me with just that?♡ So funny♡ Are you too weak in the brain to even grasp your situation?♡”
“…Yeah. Looks like I need to pull it out.”
At the moment I was sure that the provocation had hit home and my confidence soared, Frey pulled something out from within her.
What is that…?
[It’s earplugs.]
“Yep, earplugs.”
She wasn’t going to bite the lure of my provocation at all, and I couldn’t help but snort.
Smart strategy.
While it’s a great strategy,
That’s not going to mean much, right?
There’s no way my mesugaki skills, which can even affect inanimate beings, would be nullified by just that.
*
“Are you sure you swung with all your might?♡ It looks so weak, I doubt you could even cut paper!♡”
Those earplugs are utterly useless.
Frey gritted her teeth as Lucy’s voice pierced through her eardrums.
She had heard Karl’s advice that she would lose the moment her emotions wavered due to provocation, so she prepared those earplugs.
Though they were supposed to block out the roaring of a dragon as discussed at the store, it turned out they were meaningless.
Lucy’s voice soared past them as if it was a given.
Realizing how annoying it was just blocking her ears, Frey swiftly backed away and tossed down the earplugs.
“What’s wrong?♡ Were you too weak to perform without my voice?♡ Turns out you’re a pervert too?♡ Disgusting!♡”
“Shut up.”
Frey murmured a quiet response, taking a deep breath as she steadied her grip on the sword.
Lucy was indeed strong.
Her shield techniques blocked the trajectory of the sword perfectly.
Her overwhelming strength brushed off Frey’s sword with ease.
Her reaction speed was such that she wouldn’t miss even the smallest gap.
Even after a few exchanges, her stamina remained stable… This was truly abnormal.
She was a real monster.
Yet.
This is doable.
As Frey squared her stance, she recalled the lessons from Karl that had brought her so far.
Karl had offered her methods to take Lucy down.
The first step was to make Frey stronger.
Starting from how to hold the sword to moving her feet.
What to observe and think about when fighting.
How to wield the sword. Responding in crisis.
Karl had taken everything Frey had instinctively done and forged it to push her even further.
Then at the moment Karl judged she had recalibrated into this new trajectory, he said:
“Fighting for long will lead to defeat. If it turns into a war of attrition, you should look for a knight instead of an academy student to beat Lady Alrn.
So you need to force chaos. Even if her shield becomes annoying. Even if her mace scares you. You have to keep sticking close and disrupt the proper formation.
You need to provoke an alligator hiding underwater to come out by enticing it to show its teeth.”
The strategy Karl had gifted Frey was to completely dismantle Lucy’s mastery.
Since she was aware of that, Frey didn’t get disheartened in the face of that overwhelming disparity.
With this kind of gap, I can make it happen.
I’ve got this.
As I raised my shield while casting a playful smile back at Lucy, I called out.
“Aren’t you coming?♡ Are you too scared to bring your legs…?”
“Pathetic.”
“…What?”
“Just a coward who can only hide behind a shield.”
And with that, I threw out the challenge.
To shake the emotions of that alligator named Lucy.
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