Go Arinmon! I Choose You!(4)

Tin wondered if he had seen wrong just now.

Because unless his eyes were deceiving him, what had just happened could not be explained.

“An iron sword…? With a wooden sword…?”

He had been told it was a superalloy sword made by a first-class blacksmith, but now that sword was lying cut up like scraps of paper at Tin’s feet.

How on earth could a wooden sword cut an iron sword?

Tin couldn’t believe it, but the sword pieces rolling on the floor were telling him that what had just happened was real.

Clearly, it wasn’t that Tin had seen wrong, but that the iron sword had definitely been cut by the wooden sword Aria was holding.

The sword pieces rolling on the floor along with the hilt were saying so.

And as if she couldn’t give them any more time to be dazed, the perpetrator of what just happened spoke to Tin and Pelian in a nonchalant voice.

“You’d better go get new weapons.”

“……”

“Huh, hiiik!”

Aria’s figure, stroking the wooden sword as if handling a baby while saying that.

The wooden sword, which didn’t have even a single scratch despite clashing directly with the blade, showing how cleanly it had cut, seemed to be displaying Aria’s skill that Tin had not seen.

He had thought she was a dual-wielding swordswoman with worthless skills, but reality was the exact opposite.

Therefore, Tin tensed up and fell silent at Aria’s expressionless face as she stroked the wooden sword, while Pelian screamed in fear.

The two who had looked down on or gazed at Aria with dirty eyes just earlier were already gone.

All they could do now was to run to the weapon rack and draw new swords to save their lives during the exam that was about to start.

Although it was uncertain whether those swords could protect their lives.

The entrance exam began after the two princes brought new swords from the rack.

But Arin let out a small sigh as she watched the princes lying face down on the floor before even a minute had passed since the exam started.

“As expected…”

She had anticipated it from when they showed their arrogant appearance, but the skills of the two were miserable beyond imagination.

Full of stiff textbook-perfect postures, without showing any adaptability to Aria’s movements.

Even Arin, when she had just entered the academy, wasn’t this bad, it was literally miserable skill.

Their swordsmanship was so clean, as if they had never experienced a real battle where lives were at stake.

Needless to say, there was no way the swords of Tin and Pelian formed with such swordsmanship could reach Aria.

Or more precisely, there was no way they could block Aria’s wooden sword that was pouring down like rain.

Clang───!!

“Kugh?!”

“Brother!”

Tin flew backwards with a clear sound after receiving Aria’s sword strikes that had been thrusting straight without pause.

Tin had just gotten up, but he fell to the floor again in just over ten seconds.

“You’ve fallen three times already. Get up quickly.”

“Damn it… damn it…!”

Tin got up, using his sword to prop himself up on the floor while cursing at Aria’s words.

However, before Tin could fully stand up, Aria’s wooden sword lightly struck Tin’s sword that was propping him up on the floor as it passed by.

Thud──!

“Urgh?!”

Of course, as the sword supporting his body slipped on the floor, Tin’s body fell again.

“Pfft…”

“Kup…”

“Ahem, hem…!”

Small laughter erupted from among the knights watching this comical scene.

They had all been barely holding it in since Tin first fell, but finally, some laughter they couldn’t hold back leaked out.

“You… what kind of cowardly act is this…!”

“If you get up like that in a real battle, your heart will be pierced and your head cut off immediately. Since this is just an entrance exam, I only struck your sword, but when you fall and try to get up during combat, I recommend either rolling on the ground or quickly jumping up into the air.”

Perhaps finding the surrounding laughter humiliating, Tin tried to deflect his shame onto Aria with a reddened face, but Aria cut off his words and spoke first.

Befitting a professor in charge of the entrance exam, Aria gave advice to Tin, selecting only words that were actually necessary.

Arin nodded unconsciously while listening to her words, which had nothing wrong with them, but it seemed that even this felt like humiliation to Tin.

“Grrrgh…”

Ignoring Aria’s advice just now, Tin got up again, propping himself up with his sword.

That flushed face showed how much anger and humiliation Tin was enduring right now.

She could have struck the sword and knocked him down again, but perhaps thinking he would realize it was intentional if she did it twice, Aria quietly watched Tin’s appearance.

“Really, the professor’s personality is too much…”

“Pardon? Vice Captain, what did you just say?”

“Huh? No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Arin waved her hand at the knight who turned his head in response to her small mutter, then immediately turned her gaze back to Aria.

The knights here might not know, but Arin, who had been with Aria for a long time, could tell.

How angry Aria was right now.

Normally, Aria would conduct even an entrance exam with a smile, but just the fact that she was expressionless throughout showed that Aria was angry.

Probably because those two were princes, even though she was disrespected, Aria couldn’t openly curse at them from her position.

So she was clearly showing that she would insult and belittle them just by doing her job as the exam supervising professor.

As proof, she was pointing out and advising on things that she would normally overlook for beginners, without missing a single one.

Certainly, that alone could give Tin and Pelian tremendous mental stress.

It was clear, as the faces of Tin and Pelian were supporting that right now.

And while Aria seemed to be enjoying such behavior, it looked like she was starting to get bored of it now.

“Hmm…”

Aria withdrew the wooden sword that had been aimed at the two princes while letting out a hum.

Aria looked alternately at the wooden sword she was holding and the princes, then muttered softly.

“This is a bit difficult. I’m guarding as weakly as possible, but if you can’t even withstand this much, it’s hard to properly measure your scores.”

“Damn it… are you mocking us…!”

“No, how could that be? I’m just worried that I won’t be able to fulfill all the guidelines as an exam professor.”

Aria answered with a bright smile to Tin’s growl.

It was a sincere bright smile from Aria that could never be seen normally. Even Arin had never seen such a smile until now.

But after gaping at that rare sight for a moment, Arin closed her mouth and nodded once in agreement with Aria’s words just now.

“Indeed, at this rate, the princes’ exam won’t end quickly…”

The exam could end quickly if their levels matched to some degree, but if this situation continued, it would take quite a while for Aria to give them scores.

However, from what Arin could see right now, Aria didn’t seem to be using even 5% of her skill.

It would be difficult for Aria to reduce her skill any further than that, so there was no telling how long this exam would drag on.

Perhaps they would receive a failing grade faster than Aria could give them exam scores.

Arin frowned briefly at the fact that Aria would get tired if that happened, but it was only for a moment.

“…Well, it’s not really something for me to worry about.”

After all, Aria wasn’t someone easy enough for Arin to worry about.

She’s the great Aria, after all, so she’ll figure out a conclusion and resolve it on her own.

So Arin just needed to make sure the knights could relieve their stress by watching this refreshing spectacle for once.

Therefore, with the mind to ensure the knights didn’t get too excited and cross the line, Arin watched Aria’s actions, and.

“Ah, that will do. Arin over there! You come and be the exam professor instead of me.”

“…Pardon?”

At Aria’s words the next moment, Arin unconsciously asked back at the spark that had suddenly fallen on her.

“You come and be the exam professor instead of me.”

“……”

“What’s wrong? Don’t you want to?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Of course, asking again didn’t make the spark that had fallen on her disappear.

This won’t work for a proper exam at this rate.

I thought as I watched Tin getting up covered in dirt after falling and rolling from my attacks.

I’m attacking with extremely weak power control, but he can’t even withstand that, let alone block all the attacks or counterattack.

In fact, I could stop here and fail them without any problem, but if I made them collapse after being one-sidedly beaten like this and failed them, I didn’t know what these two princes might do.

Perhaps they might not do anything, but nine times out of ten, they would probably cause trouble for me.

Therefore, I had no choice but to implement the alternative plan I had devised after seeing ‘a girl’s back’ that had caught my eye before entering the training grounds.

When I opened my mouth and called that name, a single girl slowly walked out from the crowd of knights surrounding the area.

And the situation has now come to this.

“Come over here quickly.”

“Uh, ugh… yes.”

When I beckoned, Arin approached my side slowly while fidgeting.

Her face was clearly full of emotions not wanting to take on the role of substitute exam professor, but it couldn’t be helped. Arin, whose face I knew, was the only one here who could take my place as the exam professor.

As Arin came to my side, I put a hand on her shoulder and introduced her to the princes.

“This child is Arin. She is the most capable student among those who take my classes at the academy, so you don’t need to worry about her qualifications as a substitute exam professor.”

“Grr… Nice to meet you. Prince Tin, Prince Pelian.”

In fact, Arin had enough skill to easily defeat an ordinary professor, except for me.

She could probably defeat a demon soldier quite comfortably if one were brought here right now.

It was only natural, as Arin was growing much faster than other students, incomparably so.

Therefore, I confidently introduced Arin to them, but it seemed the two weren’t very pleased with Arin, whom I had appointed as the substitute exam professor.

“What… Who would have thought it was the daughter of the knight captain who rose to the vice captain position through nepotism.”

“Are you appointing this girl with only a decent appearance as the exam supervisor?”

The two who couldn’t even open their mouths properly due to humiliation until just now speak with sneers.

For a moment, I was about to say something at those ridiculous words, but Arin, who had heard their words before me, opened her mouth first.

“I apologize, Your Highnesses, but I strictly rose to the position of vice captain by defeating my superior knights according to the rules of the knightly order. Those words insult our entire Phara Kingdom knightly order, so I request that you take them back.”

It was a fact I just learned now, but Arin seemed to be in a surprisingly high position in the knightly order. To think she was the vice captain.

And as befitting such a position, she seemed to have considerable pride in the knightly order, as Arin spoke clearly enunciating each word without missing a beat while clenching her fists, unlike how she had been trembling just now.

Of course, at those words that could be called bold, Tin and Pelian glared and spoke, but.

“…What did you say?”

“How arrogant, for a mere vice captain who’s not even the knight captain.”

“I said I would like you to take back your words just now.”

Arin lowered her eyes slightly at the two and answered proudly.

At Arin’s attitude, the two gripped their swords firmly, seemingly quite heated up from what they had suffered from me until now added to this.

“And…”

But as soon as they raised their swords, Arin muttered softly and drew her sun sword, Solid, from her waist with lightning speed.

Simultaneously, she swung a single flash.

The strike, drawn at a speed too fast for the two to even see, accurately grazed Tin and Pelian’s swords, and only then did Arin continue the words she had just muttered.

“As the professor said, there will certainly be no lack on my part.”

“…What?”

“What on earth did you just…”

Just as the two were trying to figure out what had happened to them, their swords split in half and fell to the floor.

With a weak thud, the pieces of their swords fell.

Small exclamations of admiration were heard from the surrounding knights at the sight of another sword strike that surpassed common sense.

And in that atmosphere, Arin flashed her eyes filled with anger while holding her drawn sword.

“I will administer the princes’ exam in place of the professor.”

As I just said, there will be no lack on my part.

“Hmm.”

It seems I’ve raised at least one disciple well.