“Neeeeeeee?!!!!”
The spear arts club room echoes loudly.
The source of the noise is Ene, the club leader, who has just awakened.
Ene trembles in disbelief as she reads the letter in front of her.
The letter contains the phrase accepting a challenge.
It was Ene who made the request in the first place, so it was obviously a letter she was supposed to receive, but she was shocked.
The sender was ‘Asuka Elposis,’ someone completely unrelated to her.
“Why, why, why is this to the princess?!”
She asked with an expression of disbelief.
“I sent it to the swordsmanship club, but now that I look, there are two swordsmanship clubs?”
“Oh. No way.”
“Yeah. It was sent incorrectly.”
I didn’t expect this either.
If she had thoroughly checked all the skipped memories, she would have sent it correctly, but since Ene fainted and the time to skim through those memories was short, she sent it off quickly.
The real problem is that it went to the wrong place.
“…You didn’t do it on purpose, did you?”
“Of course not.”
No matter how much Ene has mastered ‘that,’ it’s not enough to defeat Asuka.
Even if she did use it, it would be questionable whether she could hold her ground.
“Though the training has shown results, I can’t beat the princess. I was naturally aiming to face the existing swordsmanship club.”
“……”
“But it’s strange. Usually, when someone realizes it was sent to the wrong place, they would either return it to the intended recipient or ignore it.”
Asuka is in a wary situation regarding me, so if an opportunity like this arises, she would clearly seize it without hesitation.
But why did that letter go straight to Asuka? That’s a mystery.
She might have put it in her mailbox, but given her nature of receiving so many letters and correspondence as a princess, she wouldn’t check each one diligently.
Even if some other member checked it, they would likely return it to the original sender if they understood the context.
I also filter through numerous letters with the help of someone who assists like a manager, after all.
I took the letter from Ene’s ghostly hands.
Let’s see…
“Ca, can I cancel it now…”
“…Ah-ha?”
So that’s how it was delivered.
[LOL]
[This?]
[Crossing the line]
[?]
[Feels like it’s time to kill]
[Let’s go for a dropout~]
Aisha’s name appears on the member list.
■
Aisha has entered the second swordsmanship club.
She is a ranker and a devoted fan of the Sword Saint, and she often shows a wary attitude towards me.
Gave it.
But at some point, it began to hide and disappear, so I didn’t really pay much attention to it…
“I didn’t expect you to use such restraint.”
Aisha, upon seeing the wrongly delivered letter, decided to take advantage of this opportunity.
To provoke a fight between the Princess and me.
Even if I get caught in something wrong, Aisha has nothing to lose.
If I refuse the challenge, my influence will diminish, and the Sword Saint, gradually increasing his power, will come closer to victory.
“Did I hear you wrong?”
“No.”
“You are going to do it? Why?!”
And I decided to accept the fight.
“If it’s on equal terms, it’s possible.”
This is a ‘friendly’ match.
It’s not a life-or-death battle fought with all one’s strength, nor is it a midterm exam where grades are at stake.
Conditions can be set as much as needed.
“The Princess has tremendous pride in her skills, right? Would such a Princess accept this challenge just to trample us?”
No.
If it’s the Princess, Asuka, she would rather want to prove herself in a fair duel.
She had already failed once at demonstrating the overwhelming power gap.
“I can do it.”
“Ugh…”
[Go do it, lol]
[Do it]
[Surpass the Princess, Ene!]
[If you win here, will you become Se-ah?]
[Let’s teach Aisha a lesson~]
■
Episodes don’t skip every unit.
When special events arise, they may skip anywhere from a few hours to a day, or even a week, and sometimes time passes without me noticing.
In those cases, it might be when the Sword Saint or Aisha makes a move.
Anyways, this event is one that both Aisha and I are participating in simultaneously.
After accepting the challenge, time quickly passed, and it was soon the day of the friendly match.
It seemed rumors had spread, as many students gathered at the training ground, which was ten times larger than the minor training ground.
It was too large a scale to merely be a friendly match, but it’s somewhat of a natural outcome.
‘A contest between the Princess and the emerging Holy One.’
Few are interested in the story of the Spear Arts Club and the Swordsmanship Club.
Most don’t even know who the leader of the Spear Arts Club is.
Everyone here is just waiting for the clash between Asuka and me.
The two of us have caused a significant stir since we entered, being hot topics.
Moreover, there had even been a small conflict in Class A, making our fight juicy gossip for the students.
-Asuka! Asuka!
-Princess~!
-Ria, win!
-Princess!!
-You look beautiful today!
-Ria, fighting!!
“……”
Ene Rizua, who trained the hardest, wasn’t even mentioned.
She wore a worried expression, as if she were somewhere she shouldn’t be.
Among these numerous people, there isn’t a single person calling out her name.
No, it’s probably accurate to say that no one even knows Ene’s name.
The leader of a minor club. A third-year with nothing special about her. A half-elf.
Negative descriptors are gnawing at her.
She probably wasn’t like this when she first joined the Spear Arts Club.
I caught her gaze.
“I just need to let you know from now on. A person named Ene Rizua.”
“…But…”
“Why are you so lacking in confidence? Do you want to train more?”
It seems like her training is insufficient.
For the remaining 30 minutes, a special training…
“No! I’ll kill them all!”
She firmed up her resolve, brimming with determination.
That’s the spirit.
[PTSD;;]
■
The rules of the friendly competition are simple.
After picking three players each, we’ll continue the battle in a relay format.
When one player loses in a 1v1, the next player comes in.
If that one loses as well, the final player steps in.
If you keep winning, you could end the battle all by yourself.
That’s why player placement is the most important.
You could conserve energy or hide your skills by placing the strongest player last.
Conversely, you could place them at the front to seize the initiative.
Usually, it’s common to place them towards the end.
[Lily first?]
[Let’s go out as the first one]
[Let’s smash everything ㄱㄱㄱㄱ]
[Seems like Asuka will definitely come out in front]
[Given the princess’s personality, she’ll probably go out first ㅇㅇ]
[Total annihilation ㄱㄱ]
I surveyed the mana barrier arranged in a square shape.
The mana wall said to be created by the academy’s dean.
It was indeed made of a solid structure that wouldn’t be easily broken.
“Hmm…”
But if it’s Asuka, she could break it.
As I approached Asuka, who was examining the barrier, she shot me a wary glare, pulling her hand away from the barrier.
“I didn’t expect you’d request this kind of battle. It seems you handle weapons pretty well besides magic?”
“Yes.”
“……”
Well.
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Yeah, I’m pretty good]
[Wow]
[“Yes”]
[No one handles it as well as Lily]
[Look at that dazed face ㅋㅋㅋ]
[The great Lily]
There’s no need for me to be modest all the way out here.
If it were before when I was still a half-hearted participant, that would be one thing, but I’m here for a battle, and Ene is behind me, needing to show results.
For Ene’s sake, it’s better to show as much confidence as possible.
It’s better to show what you can do.
More than anything…
‘It’s true that I’m good at handling it.’
My specialty isn’t magic; it’s weaponry.
“Hey… let’s see how impressive your skills really are.”
Asuka spun around and returned to where her club members were.
There were three members in Asuka’s Swordsmanship Club.
Of course, like me, I only counted in numbers by name, but the actual members were just three.
Especially one of them, Aisha, was one of the culprits behind this situation.
‘I doubt Aisha will step up.’
It’s just Aisha’s nature to want to be the first to jump into battle, but she fundamentally has no intention of teaming up with me.
She only likes the Sword Saint and seems to follow him mindlessly, but don’t be fooled, she’s actually ranked 11th.
She has the kind of skills that allow her to generally gauge her opponent just by looking at them.
Since the moment the Sword Saint lost, even if she doesn’t acknowledge it herself, she must feel it painfully deep inside.
‘That she absolutely can’t win.’
“What should we do? First, the junior should go last, and I’ll go twice…”
“The club leader should go first. I’ll go second, and the remaining member will go last.”
At my suggestion, Ene and the club member filling the spot widened their eyes in surprise.
In a typical match, the weakest first member should gather information while stalling as much as possible.
Then it would be Ene’s turn to face off.
The strongest, which is me, would finish it off last. That seems to be the ‘right theory.’
But the main character of this stage isn’t me.
“The princess will come out first. No matter how much time you stall, that’s a bit of a stretch. You might end up getting severely injured.”
A friendly match won’t be so brutal as to kill someone, but the opponent is a princess.
Even though there’s a healer on standby and protective gear is set up, mental anguish won’t be lessened.
The princess won’t go easy on you at all.
“Above all, momentum is key. You need the energy to defeat the princess in the first round.”
That will be the starting point for the Child of the World Tree, ‘Ene Rizua.’
“Then…”
“Use that from the start.”
You can’t win with normal methods anyway.
So, I gamble.
“If that works, then from there, there will be possibilities.”
A roar that pierces through the enemy.
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