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Chapter 16. Sparring

"Contrary to my expectations, Princess Elissa's faction hasn't picked a fight at all."

"Of course not. There are very few who can match you, if they fought and lost, their ranking would drop. That would crush their spirits. No matter how weak they are, you're the one who took down the 250th rank in an instant."

"I'm the 250th rank now, though."

"Yes... though I don't think that rank suits your ability at all."

I sighed while feeding the fish in the pond at Chronos Magic Knight Academy. Nina, wielding two swords behind me, made a valid point, but still...

Nina and I had become friends. After my duel with Carl, we talked as promised, and she started to like me.

"Still, for someone as skilled as you to be a commoner... I'm a commoner too, but only one other commoner besides me has made it to the upper ranks."

"A commoner in the upper ranks... oh, the 5th rank?"

"Yes... that girl is supposedly a commoner. She's quite shady, though, so who knows the truth."

The 5th rank is a genius girl said to be from a commoner background, but she's incredibly suspicious.

She always wears a faint smile, wields a large two-handed sword with mysterious magic that no one understands, and shows overwhelming strength. Because of her shadiness, there are rumors that she's a noble from another country or that she's using some kind of unfair magic to hold her rank. She's the most gossiped-about student in the academy.

"By the way, do you remember when I asked you to spar with me?"

"Oh... yeah."

I actually have a promise to spar with Nina. I wanted to decline, but she threatened, "If you refuse, I'll challenge you to a duel in front of everyone," so I reluctantly agreed.

I accepted, partly because I couldn't refuse, but mostly because I genuinely wanted to see Nina Violet's fighting style up close.

I put down the fish food and faced Nina. Her scarlet eyes were shining brightly, like a beast eyeing its prey. Definitely not a gaze a human should direct at another human.

"I seek a serious duel. I want to clash my full strength against yours."

"Alright, but let's do it somewhere else. If we fight here, it'll affect the fish. We need more space to move around."

"Hmm? That's true. I wouldn't want to harm unrelated creatures."

Good, she has some conscience, at least.

"I was an orphan. When I became aware, I was living off scraps in the back alleys of the royal capital. I don't even know if my parents abandoned me because of my dark skin or if I ever had parents... but I developed a keen sense of strength."

I see. Being a commoner covers a wide range of backgrounds. Businesspeople, knights' children, and kids from the slums are all commoners.

"The back alleys of the capital are brutal. It's a world of survival of the fittest. The strong devour, and the weak are devoured."

"I can't even imagine such a place."

"I suppose not. But I climbed out of there. As an adventurer, where strength is everything."

Nina drew the two straight swords she had been carrying and struck them together, sparking.

Nina Violet is a young, talented adventurer who has been making waves recently. Nicknamed the "Vampire Princess" because of her scarlet eyes, she mainly takes on monster extermination requests and revels in battling monsters, like a vampire thirsting for blood.

She fights with a pair of black single-edged swords, and while she's not good with magic, her overwhelming physical abilities and animal-like instincts have allowed her to cut down every magic knight in the academy, securing the 17th rank.

The detailed information I got from Elixira might have some inaccuracies, but seeing her in action confirms most of it.

"Using two single-edged swords as dual swords is unusual."

There are dual-sword users in the Magic Knights, but they typically use shorter swords with about two-thirds the reach of a single-edged sword. The idea of wielding two single-edged swords to perform rapid consecutive strikes is impractical due to their weight.

The advantage of dual swords is simply more attacks, while the disadvantage is each strike is lighter. To compensate for the lighter strikes, the swords are usually heavier... but using two single-edged swords is almost unheard of because they're too heavy.

"This is my fighting style... and I'll show it to you soon."

Seeing me draw my single-edged sword, Nina charged. In one step, she halved the distance between us, and by the second step, she was behind me. I parried her and swung the sword, but the other one came at me immediately.

"Take this!"

I dodged her relentless consecutive strikes. Though her attacks were like a storm, each one was freeform and unpredictable. In a way, it was free, but it lacked the elegance of the Kingdom's single-edged sword technique. Nina's attacks were shaped by her real battle experience as an adventurer.

"What's wrong? Just watching?"

"Alright, I'll counter a bit."

I created a fire with my left hand to distract her and spread it forward. Ignoring the fire, Nina charged, but I anticipated it and kicked her thrusting sword, deflecting her second strike with my own sword.

Nina's consecutive strikes wouldn't end just from blocking two hits, but that's only if she could keep attacking. Seeing the lightning from my right hand's fingers, she quickly retreated.

"...I'm envious of your skill. Casting magic while countering like that."

"Am I meeting your expectations?"

"You're perfect... I've never had such a fun opponent in my adventuring life!"

That's rather unlucky for you, isn't it?

Nina, who had retreated, stepped forward again, and in the next moment, she was behind me, launching another relentless attack.

As I knelt, holding off her two single-edged swords with one sword, Nina grinned. She seemed to be planning something. But what could she do with her hands and swords restrained? I wondered, but this is a magic knight academy. Even if she's bad at it, she can still use magic.

Nina grinned and opened her mouth, releasing a burst of magical energy like a breath.