End of Second Semester (2)

“…It’s not over yet, the sparring match.”

Yes, it wasn’t over yet.

Although I had dropped all three swords, I hadn’t yet declared defeat to Harold.

In the first place, for a Mage, swords were merely auxiliary tools, not their primary means of attack.

Harold might have thought he had achieved a ‘complete victory’ since I had lost all the swords I could use, but that logic only applied to a duel between Swordsmen.

When a Mage and a Swordsman truly fought with their full power, the criteria for a complete victory were bound to change.

-Pung!

“……!”

Propelled by a Shockwave used beneath my feet, my body shot towards Harold.

Harold, surprised by my sudden charge after my last words, hastily re-gripped his sword.

True to his title as a Sword Master, his reaction to instantly correct his posture, even after briefly lowering his sword, was undeniably swift.

However, no matter how skilled a Master, one cannot assume a perfect stance during a surprise attack.

Normally, he would have been prepared to respond to both sword and magic attacks, but with insufficient time, Harold was seen adopting a ‘Magic Defense’ stance to deflect incoming magic.

‘Yes, that’s what he’d usually do.’

I had already used all three swords.

Throughout this second semester’s sparring matches against Harold, I had only used three daggers, firmly establishing that impression.

It was absurd for a Mage to engage in close-quarters combat with a Swordsman bare-handed.

Moreover, I hadn’t even made a gesture of reaching into my uniform top to draw a sword, so he would never have expected it.

That my last trump card was ‘magic that creates a sword’.

-Swoosh!

“……!”

I could see Harold’s expression harden instantly as he saw my sword flying towards him from up close.

Of course, he couldn’t have predicted it. Magic that creates a sword on the spot.

However, for a player of 『Luminor Academy』, it was a skill naturally learned after playing Lillith for a short while.

Come to think of it, isn’t it strange? Among Lillith’s dagger skills, there’s ‘Dagger Throw’.

It’s a risk anyone with a modicum of intelligence would consider: how dangerous it is to fight by consuming weapons during combat.

Fortunately, the developers weren’t stupid to that extent, and Lillith could also learn a skill to resolve situations made dangerous by Dagger Throw.

That was this ‘Dagger 1st Enhancement Skill’, Arcane Blade.

A blade made of magic, which could be created instantly at any time, formed at my fingertips.

And that shimmering blade clashed with Harold’s unguarded sword in mid-air.

-Crack!

“Kuh-hup…!”

Harold blocked my Arcane Blade in mid-air, and the sword I had created on the spot sparked with a bit of magic and was slightly gouged.

As a blade made of compressed magic, it naturally couldn’t withstand a real sword for long.

Even so, it didn’t really matter.

…Because this Arcane Blade, which I had prepared as my last resort, was a skill I had intended to use with Double Casting from the start.

“Hwaaaahk!!”

After creating a second Arcane Blade in my other hand with a slight time difference, I swung it at the blind spot around Harold’s waist, which was exposed defenselessly.

It was a final attack, a surprise piled upon a surprise, a last-ditch ultimate move that struck at his weakness.

If even this was blocked, it would be fair to say that I had no way to win a round against Harold.

With that thought, just as my Arcane Blade was about to barely touch his body-

A thin Arcane Shield, made of magic, barely deflected my second blade.

-Sizzle!

“Huh, huhh….”

Even with his hands occupied, his instinct to protect his body was at an almost animalistic level.

Of course, thanks to that, even though my sword strike didn’t land, this sparring match still counted as a win for me.

It was the moment Harold broke the initial condition of not using mana and stamina for the handicap between a Sword Master and a regular student.

“You used magic, didn’t you?”

“…Yes, I had no choice.”

With those words, Harold slowly sheathed his sword and conceded one loss.

It was a somewhat underhanded victory, but it was undeniably my victory.

“I did not declare defeat, Professor Harold. In the first place, a Mage must fight with magic. My swordsmanship is merely a self-defense technique intended to induce the opponent’s ‘carelessness’.”

“…Indeed, then you used it very effectively to induce carelessness.”

It was none other than Harold whom I had induced carelessness in.

Even if it was a test sparring match for a semester’s class, the fact that I had made him careless remained unchanged.

“You’re even starting to resemble Ethan in these aspects.”

“…Pardon?”

“No, never mind. I admit this time it was my mistake. I should have expected that someone with your personality wouldn’t give up so easily.”

“Are you saying….”

“Yes, since you won a round against me, it’s an A+. You’ve worked hard this past semester, Lillith.”

“Awesome… Th-thank you, Professor Harold!”

Yes, this was victory.

Finally, finally, it was the moment I had won a round against Harold.

It was a triumph among triumphs, as I was the only Magic Department student in his class to achieve a victory.

‘Lillith, isn’t that a bit underhanded?’

‘Master, you’re a bit pathetic….’

Shut up, what do you two know?

All that matters is beating Harold, no matter how I do it.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

A week had passed since the day I managed to secure a victory against Harold, albeit a somewhat underhanded one.

The Final Hunting Festival, the last event of the semester, was also somehow over, and with the remaining lectures finishing one by one, it was time to prepare to return to Blackwood Mansion.

Unfortunately, Ethan and I were still at the academy, spending busy days even after all lectures had ended a few days ago.

Because Seraphine’s ‘Student Council Administrative Work’, which began this semester, hadn’t finished yet.

The Student Council’s semester is a bit longer than other students’.

It was the Student Council’s role to remain and perform their duties even when all other students had finished their last classes and returned to their respective hometowns.

This included organizing application forms for students who remained at the academy for club or study activities during vacation, and receiving complaints or requests from students throughout the semester to improve the academy during the break.

They were in a position where they couldn’t help but finish the semester a little later than regular students. Though it was only about a week’s difference.

‘The work itself is much less than during the semester, so it’s quite relaxed.’

During my player days in 『Luminor Academy』, I sometimes disliked the week-long delay caused by Student Council duties.

As a game with high freedom, there were many things to do during that week, such as item retrieval or exploring fortuitous encounters.

But well, I’m not in a position to do such things now anyway. There was no need to move busily for reasons like retrieving fortuitous encounters.

I felt sorry for Ethan and me subjugating the Abyssal Kraken and snatching the sub-event, but that was unavoidable.

Instead, I attached a Flame Spirit to Agnes, so it was ultimately more beneficial for the Hero Party’s strength.

Other than that, I didn’t touch any fortuitous encounters or items that were clearly meant to be retrieved or accessed by others.

‘If I needlessly interfered and hindered the Hero’s Demon King Subjugation, it would become truly troublesome.’

If things really went wrong and Lillith had to join the Demon King Subjugation Force, that would be the worst-case scenario.

Not only would my life get complicated, but it would also seem like I was the one breaking my promise with Ethan first.

While I was leisurely organizing my administrative work for the Student Council with such thoughts, an unknown paper, presumed to be a list of next year’s freshman candidates, suddenly caught my eye from a pile of documents.

“President Seraphine, what is this document?”

“Ah, are you referring to that? The students listed there are candidates likely to enroll in the academy next year. Since they might be attending the same academy as you starting next year, I thought it would be good for all of you to familiarize yourselves with them in advance!”

“I checked it earlier too, and I had a rough guess that was what it was. The August Trading Company was already keeping an eye on a few of those students.”

“Hmm, so that’s what it was? Do I really have to memorize this? I’m not good at memorizing names without seeing people’s faces~?”

“Oh, it’s fine. The data I gave you is just for reference. If Orion-ssi thinks that, you don’t necessarily have to memorize it.”

Although she spoke casually as if it didn’t matter, it would probably be unequivocally advantageous to memorize it in reality.

It was an opportunity to build connections with influential first-year students. And legitimately, by borrowing Princess Seraphine’s name.

Her connections were certainly good. A Princess would freely distribute such information to her people.

Of course, for me now, it was information I had no particular reason to use, and I already had a rough grasp of the main characters’ information, so it didn’t matter.

Still, just to check, I quickly scanned to see if there were any main characters.

‘Barbarian Lilia’ of the Spearmanship Department.

‘Kind Alchemist Trallia’ of the Pharmacy Department.

And ‘Inventor Serdic’ of the Engineering Department, I suppose.

Since there was no room for me to intervene, the main characters of the first year seemed to be enrolling as originally planned, without any special changes.

If I had to add one more to the three above, it would be ‘Back Alley Fighter Caniel’ of the Martial Arts Department. He probably didn’t make it onto Seraphine’s candidate list due to his background.

After thinking that and setting aside the freshman list I had casually reviewed,

Just when I thought today’s work was mostly finished, Seraphine suddenly made this suggestion.

“Tomorrow is the last day of Student Council duties for this semester, right?”

“That’s right, President Seraphine.”

“Then, how about we all have a semester wrap-up party tomorrow?”

…A wrap-up party? Suddenly?

Was there such an event in the original game?