Chapter 7
Leave Me Alone! But No One Listened (7)
“Haa…”
Fortunately, my selfish wish for the entire academy’s sacrifice to avoid personal misfortune was not granted.
Of course, it was fortunate only for the academy, and a great misfortune for me.
In other words, no monster appeared, and I ended up sparring with Ethan Behemoth.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes, I suppose…”
I was now facing Young Lord Behemoth, who was in an offensive stance. I had fallen for his proposal.
My critical mistake was bluntly asking what benefit I would get from this sparring he was so insistent on.
“Ah… What’s in it for me if I spar with you, Young Lord?”
“I’ll give you this. You didn’t seem to have prepared it yet.”
A light purple potion swirled in a glass vial barely the size of one finger.
An elixir.
This magic potion, which can heal minor wounds to restore magical power depending on its grade, is the hardest item to obtain in the academy right now, just before the subjugation practice.
How did he get it?
No, that’s a foolish question. What couldn’t the Behemoth young lord obtain?
“I’ll give it to you even if you lose, so let’s do it.”
His tone suggested he was confident he would win.
Despite thinking his level is higher than mine, he’s so fixated on this sparring. What could he gain from sparring with a weaker opponent?
I didn’t know the Ethan Behemoth of this time was so interested in me.
‘Still, if I humor the Behemoth young lord for a bit and receive that, it’s beneficial for me.’
Uncomfortably enough, my still weak body needed to go to great lengths to secure such potions that I would later not even bother with.
“Alright. Shall we begin then?”
“Yes.”
I nodded at his voice as we faced each other in the empty sparring ground.
Unlike him in his leather armor, I was in the academy’s formal uniform, not suitable for combat.
But such things aren’t a problem for me.
Although my physical abilities and magical power are far behind my prime, having not long since returned, my experience is still vivid in my mind.
No matter how strong an opponent Ethan Behemoth is, the difference in ‘experience’ is overwhelming. So, defeating the current Ethan Behemoth isn’t difficult for me. Rather, the problem is…
‘It’s difficult to lose convincingly.’
Well, I still have a way.
While undoing a couple of shirt buttons, I offered him the first move.
“Come at me.”
“Here I go.”
At that moment, Ethan Behemoth’s figure vanished. No, he moved at a speed that made it appear so.
I immediately spread my magic to my fingertips, creating a translucent blue barrier in front of me.
Just as the barrier was completed, Ethan Behemoth’s heavy sword came thrusting in a narrow arc.
“Try to block this.”
Clang!
The sound of the hard blade being deflected rang out right in front of me.
If I had been a little slower, the sword would have pierced my shoulder.
‘This guy… he’s serious.’
It was clearly a force swung with the thought that I would ‘of course’ block it. I raised my head and met Ethan Behemoth’s eyes.
His navy blue eyes were rippling with joy.
“……”
Just like a mad night sea. The night sea’s depth is unfathomable. Only black, so black. The navy blue waves that swallowed the moonlight sink deeper and deeper. Like me.
The war maniac who should have disappeared with the last time loop was holding a sword in front of me again.
My intention to lose quickly and end this wavered slightly.
‘Should I… see how far he can keep up?’
Boom!
To shake off the close Ethan Behemoth, I flicked my fingers and burst my magic.
Thwack!
Ethan Behemoth raised his longsword high horizontally, deflecting the explosion with an absurdly strong force.
‘That’s right.’
With strength like Ethan Behemoth’s, it’s correct to deflect instead of dodge. It was an excellent judgment.
‘But against me, it’s wrong.’
“Now it’s your turn to receive, Young Lord.”
The magic he thought he had deflected quickly clung to the tip of his blade. Now, if that magic touches his hand, it’s my victory. How will he respond?
“…Huff.”
As I looked at him, catching my breath, Ethan Behemoth deeply plunged his sword into the ground and retreated several meters, dragging it.
It was a violent but particular response.
By the time he pulled his longsword out of the dirt floor, all the magic that had clung to the sword had been scraped off onto the ground.
Immediately after, he charged in without a moment’s pause.
A heavy charge filled with certainty. Rushing in with the momentum of a beast pouncing on its prey, he whispered lowly.
“Ethan.”
“Yes?”
I immediately responded while raising a defensive barrier. My voice came out sounding flustered without me realizing it. Why his name?
“Call me Ethan.”
“…Yes. Ethan.”
“Well then, Edith.”
He twisted his longsword in an odd direction. Once again, I barely managed to avoid the blade within a hair’s breadth.
Several exchanges continued like this. Mostly him pressing the attack, and me defending. I didn’t forget to let out seemingly strained groans.
While it was somewhat interesting, I was in the midst of preparing for a “plausible defeat” as it were.
An Academy freshman overwhelming none other than Ethan Behemoth in a duel?
That’s precisely the kind of impossible event that should never happen.
The heavy sword grazed the edge of my cheek. As I avoided it by slightly turning my neck with minimal movement, I said,
“…Take it easy. This is too much for me.”
I should give the impression of a novice who put all their strength into the beginning. There couldn’t be a more natural defeat than this.
However, Ethan Behemoth seemed to have different thoughts.
Approaching with a movement that deeply penetrated the inside of my flank, Ethan Behemoth whispered lowly.
“Too much, you say?”
“……”
I barely blocked the heavy sword that was bearing down on me with a barrier. My arm trembled. But more than my arm, my heart sank.
‘…He doesn’t believe me.’
He was gauging my level to be far above what was outwardly apparent.
As if he knew I was hiding my true skills.
He followed up by driving the point home.
“Give it your all. I requested this duel to see your talent.”
“……”
I was about to wrap up the duel, but should I show one more move?
‘…No choice, I guess.’
I saw the blade coming straight for my nape.
I intended to deflect that blade and conversely close in on Ethan Behemoth to attempt a close-quarters attack.
I could show one more decent attack, and getting in close would make it easier for Ethan Behemoth to grab me, which he would think was truly a defeat due to my mistake.
So, I narrowed my eyes without avoiding the incoming sword.
Finally, at the moment Ethan Behemoth would strike with force, I prepared to attack right then…
“……”
But something felt off. My body wasn’t moving as I had thought.
Rather, my eyelids were slowly closing, and the tension in my body was releasing.
There was a sharp blade right in front of my nape. Yet I didn’t feel even a hint of fear.
No, rather, this was…
🥀
Ethan Behemoth, immediately after provoking Edith Crowell, attacked with all his might.
With a real sword, and towards the nape at that.
It was an attack he wouldn’t show even to a knight of equal rank in a mere duel, but for some reason, he felt Edith Crowell could handle it.
This mere sixteen-year-old freshman.
In fact, he had already launched such attacks several times. And unbelievably, Edith Crowell had managed to counter all of them.
She seemed to parry some attacks with great difficulty, while she deflected others with surprising ease.
Amid this, the few attacks she didn’t counter showed skill more versatile and excellent than any knight or mage Ethan had ever faced.
Ethan Behemoth’s eyes narrowed.
It’s strange, isn’t it? That a mere sixteen-year-old Academy freshman could display movements that seemed battle-worn.
Is this why rumors say that the eccentric dean cherishes her?
He thought it fortunate that he had requested a duel with her even now.
Along with the expectation of what kind of talent Edith Crowell would become if she reached his age.
‘You should be able to handle this too.’
Ethan Behemoth’s sword penetrated right to the inside of Edith Crowell’s nape.
What will you show me this time, Edith Crowell?
“…..?”
But for some reason, Edith Crowell didn’t move.
She doesn’t dodge. She closes her eyes at the sword’s tip. She relaxes her body…
Just like back then, when she held the blade to her own neck amidst countless gazes, whether people were watching or not.
Ethan Behemoth knew that posture, that expression of preparing for death, sickeningly well.
Blue veins stood out on the back of his sword-wielding hand.
And he forcefully bent the sword’s trajectory.
Thwack. Clatter.
The sword barely stopped, stabbing into the ground, and instead, he fell entangled with Edith Crowell, caging her under his arm.
“Edith Crowell.”
Ethan Behemoth reached out his hand to support the back of Edith Crowell’s head, who was pinned under his body. And in a low voice tinged with anger, he muttered,
“Why didn’t you dodge? Do you want to die?”
🥀
Thank you for reading! ♡
