Ch.103103. Spear and Sword (2)

Clang!

Aria’s spear and Siabel’s sword began to intertwine and tangle.

I’m not particularly knowledgeable about spears, so I can’t say much. But I could immediately tell that Aria’s spearmanship was no ordinary skill.

The sharp spearhead always pointed toward Siabel. She skillfully adjusted the gap between the sword and spear lengths, applying pressure.

“…Sister is having trouble approaching.”

I quietly nodded at Sione’s words.

Neither had actively started using Mana yet. Neither had wrapped their weapons in aura. Siabel was struggling to break through the spear’s defense.

Whoosh! Whoom!

She quickly rotated the spear to adjust the angle, then pushed the shaft to concentrate force on a single point.

Clang!

Siabel’s counterattack was blocked by the spear shaft, and in the same motion, Aria spun the spear to strike Siabel.

‘Indeed, catching a spear user with a sword is a challenging task.’

The spearmanship of Aria, a seasoned user, was mysterious.

Even if one blocked and dodged all attacks, it was difficult to land a chilling counterattack.

It seemed that Siabel’s pure swordsmanship, having just reached the entry level of Sword Expert, was still lacking in breaking through the mysteries of spearmanship.

Clench.

Sione’s hand gently formed a fist.

Her gaze was fixed on her sister’s back, unwavering.

I’d never seen her this focused except when shooting arrows at the archery range. Like family, like child. She clearly wanted Siabel to win.

“They don’t seem to be using Mana yet. If we watch a little longer, the tide will turn.”

“Right? Sister will win, won’t she?”

“The aura difference between a user and an expert is significant.”

Unless Aria displayed spearmanship capable of easily deceiving a higher-ranked knight, Siabel should be able to defeat her.

But judging from Aria’s current spearmanship, while her martial arts were excellent, she couldn’t manipulate the distinct realm of Mana with just that spear.

At my words, Sione relaxed her clenched fist slightly, and we continued watching their battle.

As time passed, the duel grew increasingly fierce. Now Aria and Siabel were freely using Mana to strengthen their bodies as they clashed weapons.

Clang! Whoom!

The cry of steel and the sound of air being torn filled the training ground. At some point, both had removed all traces of smiles and exchanged attacks and defenses that were both too fast to follow with the naked eye and heavy.

Endless exchange of offense and defense.

But now, as if it was coming to an end, Siabel lowered her stance and exhaled. Her sword gathered energy clearly different from Aria’s.

“Finally…!”

Sione’s voice was filled with expectation.

She wasn’t the only one reacting this way.

Those belonging to the County who were cheering for Siabel also raised their excitement, as if they had been waiting for this moment.

“…It seems she really has become an Expert.”

“Indeed, would she have faked it? Show respect to a knight who has achieved rank from now on.”

“Hmph. Not even funny.”

Aria began to drive a series of attacks toward Siabel. But her attacks lost their weight in front of the powerful aura.

She was pushed back by Siabel’s counterattacks that occasionally caught her off guard.

After a while, Aria gathered Mana at the tip of her spear and thrust it with incomparable speed.

Clang!

With the sharp metallic sound, strong force pushed through the spear shaft.

Slide.

Aria didn’t bother to maintain her stance by holding onto the spear shaft.

She immediately retreated, turning her body clockwise while pulling out the spear she had planted in the ground before the duel began.

“Hup!”

The throwing spear that had easily pierced through the Orc’s cloth earlier. Aria took a stance to throw it and gathered strength throughout her body.

Just as the highly dense Mana for a user began to spread from the tip of the spear blade—

Swish!

Siabel’s sword, which had lunged forward, stopped right in front of Aria’s neck.

“Looks like I won the first round. One more?”

Siabel grinned as she withdrew the chilling killing intent that had reached just in front of Aria’s neck.

“Haah…”

Aria sighed, wiping the sweat from her forehead with her hand before answering.

“…One more.”

* * *

One draw and two wins for Siabel. That was the result of the duel.

‘It couldn’t be helped.’

When Siabel seriously drew her aura blade because she hated losing, there was no way to withstand it.

After the duel, Aria grumbled and asked Siabel how she had gained insight and reached Expert level. Siabel teased her while subtly sharing her experiences in response to Aria’s questions.

While Sione and I were watching them and chatting about the recent duel, it happened.

Aria in front, Siabel behind. They approached my master—no, more precisely, me—with their gazes fixed.

Sione and the two women exchanged brief conversations.

The topic was about the recent duel.

There was no place for me to interject, and they seemed to be having a friendly conversation. They didn’t seem to be paying much attention to my presence either.

I took a step back and was discreetly passing time when their conversation ended. Aria gave Sione a small smile and as she passed by me—

She whispered to me quietly.

“About what happened at the royal palace the other day.”

“…Pardon?”

“Let’s have a separate conversation soon. I’ll call for you through Siabel.”

…Siabel had clearly said that my name was written in the letter Aria sent.

She said Aria wanted to have a conversation with me if possible.

It seems Aria hasn’t let go of her curiosity or questions about me yet.

* * *

The bustling yesterday passed, and a new sun rose. But even with a new sun rising, my daily routine remained unchanged.

After Siabel said she wanted to become my sword instructor, she still hadn’t revealed her intentions to her sister. I couldn’t hear any other news about it.

As for the conversation with Aria, she said she would call for me through Siabel at a later date. I didn’t know the exact date or time.

I can only maintain my firmly established daily routine while speculating about an uncertain future.

What I need to do now is…

Tidy up my appearance and then go wake up my master who is still sound asleep.

After roughly making myself presentable through the full-length mirror in my room, I headed to Sione’s room.

Knock knock.

“I’m coming in.”

Creeeeak…

As expected when I entered the room.

There was no way Sione would be up before me.

Regular breathing and a peaceful expression. Sione was sound asleep.

Yesterday she gave me permission to speak informally.

Since there wasn’t a single person to be seen in her room, near it, or on the way here.

I shook Sione without hesitation and called her name.

“Sione.”

Despite calling her name and shaking her for a while.

She would normally be up by now, but today Sione wasn’t waking up easily.

That’s when it happened.

Twitch—

Seeing the corners of her eyes and mouth move:

‘Hmm…?’

What on earth was my master plotting?

She seemed to be pretending to be asleep.

In that case, I might as well test how long she could keep up the act.

I poked Sione’s cheek with my index finger.

“…”

“Not getting up?”

Sione showed no reaction.

Next, I gently pinched her soft cheek.

“If you don’t get up, I’m going to pull it.”

Flutter.

Sione’s closed eyelids trembled slightly.

“Really…”

Still not getting up.

Figuring she’d get up when she was ready.

After making up my mind, I stroked her hair.

Finally, Sione sneakily spoke up.

“Um… Sleeping Beauty is woken with a k-kiss…”

I let out a chuckle at the sight of her saying this while keeping her eyes tightly shut.

The princess isn’t you, but Adelheid. Why are you looking for someone who should be at the royal palace here?

After sitting there stroking her hair for a while without saying anything, Sione finally surrendered.

Sione, her ears flushed red, quietly sat up—

“…”

“Sione?”

Whoosh!

Unable to overcome her embarrassment, she hid under her blanket and disappeared.

She didn’t emerge from under the blanket again until well after breakfast time.

* * *

Around the time when the sun had reached its zenith and began to gradually descend.

After having a light lunch, Sione and I were in the middle of a conversation while slowly strolling through the mansion.

“…”

Sione, who had been talking just fine, suddenly closed her mouth tightly.

That wasn’t all.

The gentle smile that had been on her face was gone, and a cold chill began to emanate from her.

To confirm what had made Sione freeze like this, I looked ahead at what she was staring at.

Then I could understand why her expression had turned cold.

‘That man—’

Neatly arranged silver-white hair, a sharp-featured handsome man.

And my master’s younger brother.

Sion Sianella had returned to the County.