Ch.15Sparring – 2

“Wait, wait. What do you mean ‘come at me’? What’s this about all of a sudden?”

“Exactly what I said.”

Alesia looked back and forth between the wooden sword in her hand and Serena standing confidently, clearly bewildered by Serena’s sudden declaration.

Her expression was filled with confusion. It seemed like the statement was meant as a joke, but the person who said it didn’t appear to be joking, which made it even more perplexing.

“You want me to fight against you, Knight Commander Elizabeth?”

“That’s right.”

“You mean just a practice match, not an actual duel, correct?”

“That too is correct.”

“…Why?”

“Do you need a reason?”

“Of course I do! A very good one! My brain can’t keep up with this situation right now!”

The last traces of hostility in Alesia’s tone disappeared, buried under her confusion. Not that I was specifically aiming for that effect.

The reason I suddenly told Serena to go have a match with Alesia was simple. I needed to lay some groundwork for eventually leaving the Royal Knights.

It was a bit forced, but since a reason for a practice match had conveniently appeared, my plan was to fight, deliberately lose, lose a few more times after that, and then voluntarily withdraw claiming my skills had deteriorated.

For the record, this wasn’t my suggestion but Serena’s. I was just looking for a suitable excuse when she suddenly came up with this proposal.

I told her there was no need to go that far, but Serena was immovable, possibly having some other motive. She claimed this was the cleanest way, but I wasn’t so sure.

Incidentally, Charlotte had advocated for an official expulsion from the Royal Knights.

Whether it was voluntary withdrawal or whatever didn’t really matter, but her reasoning was that voluntary withdrawal meant Serena leaving on her own, while expulsion meant Serena following her orders.

The purpose behind such words was obvious.

Naturally, Serena’s expression soured when she heard that. If I hadn’t stopped them, they would have definitely had a major confrontation over it.

“I don’t care if your brain can’t keep up. As long as your body follows.”

“You’re deliberately mocking me, aren’t you? What I need are reasons and explanations!”

“Just push through with it as an order from the First Knight Commander.”

“Then as the Royal First Knight Commander, I order you. Alesia, you must have a practice match with me.”

“This is driving me crazy, seriously. I refuse. You know that we have the right to refuse even the First Knight Commander’s orders, right?”

“That right applies when there’s a legitimate reason for refusal. I’d love to hear what your legitimate reason is.”

“You’re obviously using this practice match as an excuse to beat me up because I talked back to you earlier. Your intentions are completely transparent, and that should be considered a legitimate reason.”

Oh, so that’s how she’s interpreting it.

It seemed Alesia thought Serena had been harboring resentment about their heated exchange earlier and was now using this practice match as an excuse for revenge.

In reality, Serena had likely put aside all thoughts of Alesia’s defiance the moment I embraced her from behind.

“Talked back to me…? Ah, is that what you’re referring to? What does that matter?”

“Excuse me?”

“Whatever you said to me, Alesia, that’s already in the past.”

“Wait, aren’t you the same person who was glaring at me with killing intent just moments ago? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

My first impression was that she was an inflexible, stubborn woman, given how she got angry seeing her subordinates knocked unconscious. But watching her converse with Serena now, she seemed to have quite a pleasant personality.

Or maybe Serena’s actions were the problem.

Well, Serena did suddenly knock out other knights when I arrived, so it was understandable for Alesia to be bewildered.

I’m just used to it because I’ve seen the people around me do such things countless times.

When you’ve got someone who tears off people’s limbs to offer as sacrifices, knocking someone unconscious is practically endearing.

“This doesn’t seem like it will end with words, so Serena, just go to the training ground with a wooden sword and urge her on. She’ll come on her own.”

I released my arms after seeing Serena nod.

Serena seemed to miss my warmth, slightly leaning back to rub her back against my chest a few times before infusing mana throughout her body.

Alesia flinched slightly at the sight of mana rising from Serena’s body.

After the sound of her kicking off the ground, Serena was already at the wooden sword rack in the corner of the training ground, picking one up.

It was truly a speed I couldn’t get used to no matter how many times I saw it. The last time I asked about her physical enhancement efficiency, how fast could she accelerate? Was it 1/256th of a second?

When fighting Christine, she couldn’t use mana for physical enhancement, but Charlotte, who could both defend and attack in response to that speed, was also an absurd monster.

Well, it was because they had such abilities that they asked me to kill them in the first place.

“Hurry up, Alesia.”

Serena called out to Alesia while swinging the wooden sword around with one arm. I heard a sigh from beside me.

Although this match was somewhat forcibly arranged, once they cross swords a few times, things will change. It might turn out to be quite enjoyable.

When Serena came at someone without holding back, only Charlotte could match her. With everyone else, she just fought at a level slightly above their skill to gauge their abilities.

Those two already had a history of going all out against each other.

The area where they fought is still under a restricted access order. The ground itself was shattered, and the mana concentration was so dense that even magical beasts would die within minutes.

It was questionable whether such a contaminated area would ever heal naturally.

The official reason was that heretics had attempted to resurrect a demon there, and the ritual had almost succeeded, so the entire place was melted down.

Generally, people half-believe it and half-doubt it, but there’s no way to investigate the place, so suspicions remain.

How could anyone investigate when people melt upon entering and even the highest-grade mana measuring devices shatter from the mana concentration?

Serena nudged one of the knights sprawled near her feet, sending the knight flying quite a distance.

The body tumbled across the training ground floor with a thud. Seeing this, Alesia burst out:

“Oh come on! Fine, I’ll do it! That was definitely emotionally charged!”

Alesia probably interpreted that as a silent threat, but Serena just moved the knight because they were in her way and bothering her.

To Serena, these people were probably just like pebbles lying on the road.

Having received what she perceived as a silent threat, Alesia realized she had no more ways to avoid this and trudged toward the training ground.

What could she do? She should blame herself for approaching Serena at this particular timing.

“What are the rules going to be?”

“No techniques or magic allowed, only physical enhancement using mana is permitted, no area restrictions, defeat conditions are declaring surrender, becoming unable to fight, or dropping your weapon. Isn’t that sufficient?”

“Well… I suppose so. I’m still not entirely comfortable with this. You really don’t have any ill feelings toward me, right?”

“That’s right.”

“…If only I could believe that.”

Alesia gripped the wooden sword with both hands, pointing it forward. Serena still held her wooden sword in one hand with its tip pointing to the ground, standing with her legs shoulder-width apart.

It might have seemed disrespectful at first glance, but Alesia didn’t comment on it, suggesting this was Serena’s usual stance.

“Serena, just take a few hits for now.”

At my sudden remark, Serena’s head snapped in my direction.

She maintained at least minimal decorum by not asking “What do you mean, my lord?” out loud, but it was enough to startle Alesia.

“What, what?! What’s going on?”

Alesia followed Serena’s gaze and looked frantically toward where I was standing.

Seeing nothing there, she looked around in confusion, alternating between where Serena was looking and Serena herself.

How did Serena break through the magic that works even on the Royal Knights?

Serena urged me to answer with her eyes. It was a gaze that could pierce through steel.

“In exchange, remember every place you get hit.”

Serena’s eyes regained their calm after hearing my words. Her gaze returned to Alesia, who wore an expression of “What just happened?”

The meaning behind my words was simple. I was promising to inflict wounds on the same parts of my body that Serena would be hit on.

If Serena’s arm was attacked, the same part of my arm; if her leg was attacked, the same part of my leg.

Since my body heals wounds instantly without leaving traces, it didn’t really matter, but Serena had a subtle desire to inflict wounds on my body.

This was just a way to occasionally satisfy that desire. Surely she wouldn’t deliberately take more hits.