Chapter: 355
As expected from a member of the Partlan family, she was born with an astonishing amount of magic power and a high affinity for it, which she began to reveal from a young age.
Whenever the family wizards taught her something, she’d grasp it before the day was out and showcase her skills within a week.
The Duke and Duchess of Partlan, who adored their children, recognized Joy’s talent and began to cherish her even more.
They even assigned several skilled knights to accompany her during easy dungeon explorations.
Thanks to that, Joy quickly learned what a party’s wizard needed to know through various real combat experiences, but she never learned what a solitary wizard should do.
This trend didn’t change much even after she entered the academy.
After enrolling, Joy met Lucy and rapidly improved her magical skills, but she still hadn’t practiced how to fight in the frontlines as a wizard at all.
Most of the time, she had people like Lucy, Arthur, and Frey by her side, providing backup on the frontline.
Joy’s real combat experience was only as a party wizard.
She had never done anything solo, nor did she feel the need to.
Why would she need to learn such methods when she had strong allies protecting her? It seemed more beneficial to learn ways to help them instead.
Now, Joy realized that the rational decision she thought she made in the past was merely laziness.
Yeah. Lady Allen was right. Thinking there would always be someone to protect me in front is naive.
As a noble lady from a noble family, entering a dungeon was inevitable.
In a dungeon, an unknown space where anything could happen, how could she think someone would always be there?
But still, the training from the lady was really tough.
Her magic was long depleted, and her stamina was already at its limit.
If it were up to her, she’d just want to sprawl out on the dirt, but with the lady’s piercing gaze pressuring her, she forced herself to get up.
As she furrowed her brows trying to lift her body, Joy nearly fell forward from a sudden wave of dizziness.
“Shall we call it a day?♡ Sloppy fool♡”
Luckily, Lucy was quicker to embrace her than she was to plant her face into the dirt.
Lucy giggled at Joy’s dazed expression and carefully lowered her back to the ground.
“That sloppy fool is getting sloppier even though she hasn’t done anything at her best, so the results are evident♡ Don’t you think so too?♡ Right?♡”
Even though Joy pouted at Lucy’s provocation, she couldn’t muster a rebuttal.
After having lunch and starting training, Joy hadn’t managed to stop Lucy’s charges even once up until sunset.
She wasn’t just being helpless, though.
‘Did she just create a toy for me?♡ Thanks!♡’
When she overturned the ground to block Lucy’s approach, Lucy came in without stepping on it.
‘Hehe, this isn’t exactly the right season for ice play, is it?♡’
When Joy built a barrier of ice, Lucy simply charged through and shattered it.
‘Warm, huh? Perfect for heating!♡’
Even when Joy set a barrier of fire, Lucy passed through as if she couldn’t feel the heat.
Aside from this, Joy tried all the ideas that popped into her head, but every one of her tactics was futile against Lucy.
Thinking about it made her feel unjust.
Isn’t Lady Allen just overpowered?
If it were a decent opponent, they wouldn’t even dare to approach!
No, seriously! I was firing shots quite earnestly after halfway through, and she just casually blocked them with her shield and charged at me! What am I supposed to do!
Wizards aren’t meant to handle things like this!
Clenching her barely hanging consciousness while wiping the sweat off, Joy curled on her bed, shuddering in frustration, but nothing was going to change.
The fact that her opponent is Lucy Allen meant that any assumption about a different opponent was meaningless.
What should I do? Staring blankly at the increasingly darkened ceiling, Joy reflected on her past memories.
It’s not like she didn’t know how a wizard should face a knight alone.
She had learned from several family wizards, and even after entering the academy, she’d heard it a few times.
‘The best choice is to avoid creating a situation where you’d have to face a knight or monster alone in the first place.’
‘But if an unavoidable situation arises, prioritizing blocking the approach is crucial.’
‘No matter how trained a wizard is, they cannot win in close combat against a knight. The goal should be to break them before they get close.’
These pieces of advice were meaningless. She had already tried to counter Lady Allen based on them, but the result was a resounding defeat.
I had to allow Lady Allen to approach me without a fight.
Even if that were the case, there were no other pieces of advice that said otherwise.
The advice from far superior wizards was mostly the same.
The only different one was:
‘Did you think a sloppy spell could stop me?♡ Pfft!♡ Oh, are you only able to cast one spell?♡ Is that it?♡’
“Ugh!”
Instead of advice, Joy recalled the sound of Lucy’s giggles and struck her pillow in anger.
What am I supposed to do!
Lady Allen only gives me a moment to finish one spell!
And yet if I use a shoddy spell, she’ll just charge at me saying it’s not even magic!
What am I supposed to do?!…
‘Joy, listen closely. When facing a true strong opponent, what you need isn’t powerful magic. What will save you at that moment are the very basics that many overlook so easily.’
…Surely, that’s what her father had said before.
It’s entirely different to inflict damage than to bind someone.
What Lady Allen was trying to convey also aligns with this.
Then.
Receiving a hint, Joy sprang up and began to gather magic in front of her.
*
‘Joy? Are you okay?’
“Sloppy fool, are you alive? I can bury you if you want to rest!”
“…Huh?! Ah, I’m fine! Totally okay… not, but no problem!”
Relying on her staff while shaking off sleep, Joy shook her head, affirming her condition.
No matter how she looked at it, it seemed like she’d faint before running out of magic.
What had she been doing last night that made her lose sleep?
Thinking about how she had rolled around all day yesterday, she should have passed out the moment her head hit the pillow, but maybe she had rolled too gently?
Hmm. Considering how Arthur and Frey had been grumbling about why it was already morning, maybe that’s it.
Alright. From today onward, let’s start doing stamina training separately after dueling.
In a week, she wouldn’t be able to sleep even if she wanted, so she needed to make sure she got plenty of rest before then.
“Alright! Here we go! I’ll show you what I prepared yesterday!”
With my eyes glued to Joy, who was glaring at me with heavy dark circles, I moved my feet without any warning.
Several magic circles were drawn around Joy.
These weren’t the large magic circle like before, but basic magic slightly anyone could use.
Had she figured out that it’s better to interrupt a knight’s movements with several spells than rely on firepower?
I thought it would take at least a day or two for that to sink in, but Joy is indeed clever.
However, she was still clumsy.
There was no way such a combination of magic circles could stop me.
The first magic to manifest was ice magic.
Aimed at my feet, the magic shot forth to freeze my grounded foot and bind me, but I simply pressed down with my foot to shatter the ice effortlessly.
The next spell to manifest was earth.
While my feet momentarily froze, the soil attempted to grab my legs, but I was already faster at escaping the ice than it was to move.
Thus, earth magic lost its purpose the moment it was cast.
Seeing me charge forward, Joy hurriedly activated three magic circles one after the other.
Was she planning to obscure my vision with a mix of fire and wind and then strike me in the abdomen with a rock to stop my charge?
That’s not a bad idea, but…
Do you really think it’ll work against me?
With a smirk, I raised my shield, opting to accelerate instead of change direction.
As insignificant impacts grazed my shield, I lowered it to see Joy, right in front of me, along with the nine magic circles surrounding her.
Had she replenished her magic in that little time? Her talent as a wizard is indeed overwhelming.
What will it be this time? Planning to launch me far away? Or blocking my approach with a lightning strike?
Deliberately slowing my speed, I waited for the magic to manifest, and when I saw the flames erupt during the spell’s activation, I smiled and raised my shield.
Boom! The explosion created by overlapping spells was powerful, but it wasn’t enough to stop my charge.
Accepting the blast’s impact, I charged forward, shattering the barrier protecting Joy with the tip of my shield and stopping mere inches from her face.
‘Well done.’
“Not bad for a sloppy fool. Just for a sloppy fool, mind you.”
To have her think that merely obstructing my advance was the goal, while striking her from such close distance the moment she charged forward.
I’d only had a night to think about it, yet I’ve improved this much.
It’s fun rolling like this.
If I continue this for a few more days, it’ll look decent for real, huh?
With every smile of mine, Joy’s eyes trembled even more.
‘Let’s try again.’
“You haven’t really given it your all yet, have you? You were so confident, so there’s no way you could be this sloppy! Let’s go again. This time, it has to be proper, okay?”
“…C-could we take a small break? I really feel like I’m going to collapse.”
‘Alright, I’ll heal you. You feel better now, right?’
“Now you’re feeling fine, right? Not hurt? You can handle a bit more torment, can’t you? Right? Huh?”
“No, you don’t have to heal me! I’m just asking to take a moment to rest! I’m saying please let me rest?!”
‘I’m going in.’
“Do your best, sloppy fool!”
“Listen to people, will you?!”
After that, I put my all into ‘rolling’ Joy until I left the Allen territory.
As each day passed, seeing her develop rapidly made it impossible for me to stop, I was too pumped.
Thanks to that, as each day passed, Joy’s appearance became increasingly tragic, but her skills undoubtedly grew, so she must have been having fun too. I’m sure of it.
By the time my friends visited the Allen knights and a week had passed, when the real training was about to begin.
I sought out Benedict’s office instead of training with the other knights like usual.
‘Father…’
“Dear foolish father, are you ready to leave?”
“Of course! How could this papa refuse when our Lucy is inviting us for a little trip! To the empire’s arena! Our Lucy will surely snatch victory with ease!”
To fill in the part I was most lacking right now.
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