Ch.42Duel #5

“Ellen Redhood… What brings you here?”

Helena’s voice was sharp. She seemed quite displeased by the unexpected visitor who had arrived without notice.

Not only her voice but her gaze had become extremely keen as well.

“I don’t have any particular business here. I just stopped by because I heard some commotion behind the mansion.”

“Your senses are quite sharp, as expected of a mercenary. Now that you know it’s nothing important, would you kindly take your leave?”

Though her tone was extremely polite, one could clearly hear the thorns in her words.

Ellen seemed to recognize this as well, responding only with a bitter smile, but she showed no intention of leaving as she closed the distance between them.

This was making Helena even more irritated.

“I clearly asked you to leave.”

“I’d like to, but… opportunities to cross swords with a Sword Master don’t come often, do they? So since things have come to this, I’d appreciate if you would face me.”

Ellen stared at Helena with eyes burning like fire. Seeing her body tremble slightly, it was clear she was quite excited and eager.

Eager to cross blades with Helena, that is.

The heat emanating from the dark elf under the blazing sun was as intense as summer itself.

She looked incredibly serious, as if making a passionate confession, and because of that, the heat haze was almost visible to the eye.

“…..”

Helena maintained her silence, keeping her lips tightly sealed as if troubled.

Her earlier sharp demeanor had long disappeared, but she clearly looked at a loss for what to do.

“Lady Helena.”

I poked Helena’s shoulder and nodded meaningfully.

I thought that if Ellen wasn’t going to back down anyway, it wouldn’t be bad to indulge her lightly.

Additionally, I expected there could be some training benefits as well.

“…Fine. I suppose I have no choice. Though I’m not particularly thrilled about it.”

Helena nodded in understanding and stood up, brushing off her backside.

She was already holding a wooden sword in her hand, and Ellen eagerly stepped onto the training ground first.

I watched them blankly as I forced myself to get up.

After resting briefly, I was able to walk well enough to move away to give the two women space.

“Since it’s come to this, I’ll take this seriously. Is that alright?”

“Of course.”

As Ellen nodded readily, a black aura like an active volcano erupted from Helena’s wooden sword.

It lasted only for the blink of an eye, but it was more than enough to create an overwhelming pressure.

The aura that seemed to burn everything in an instant was now maintaining a calm state.

It was the form Helena often used and I had frequently seen—an aura that looked as if a wick had been placed in the center of the sword.

“Oh dear, I might have stirred up a hornet’s nest…”

A drop of sweat rolled down Ellen’s forehead as she muttered awkwardly. Judging by the change in airflow, she had clearly summoned spirits.

Though still invisible to my eyes, I was certain of this from experiencing the changes caused by spirits on my skin.

“Well then… here I come.”

That moment of looking like a frightened puppy didn’t last long.

As Ellen’s eyes began to gleam sharply, a noise that tore through the air assaulted our ears.

◎◎◎

The commotion that followed was about what one might expect.

Helena attacked fiercely, as if the moves she had shown me were mere child’s play, while Ellen tried desperately to block her path using magic.

She fired wind blades targeting both wrists and neck simultaneously, or spread water on the ground to disrupt balance.

Particularly impressive was when she blinded Helena with a flash of fire, but Helena’s response was even more remarkable.

She accurately parried a barrage of attacks with her eyes closed, taking advantage of the moment when Ellen thought she was blinded by the flash.

Moreover, she didn’t stop there but pressed Ellen even harder.

It was as if having her vision cut off was no problem at all.

No, rather, her movements seemed even more precise and sharp than when she could see.

I couldn’t be certain if my impression was accurate, but the increasingly sharp blade tip gave that impression.

Watching them, I thought that perhaps Sword Masters weren’t as formidable as I’d believed, but I soon realized that was a grave misjudgment.

Ellen was simply exceptionally strong in the field of survival.

“Whew…! At this level, I shouldn’t have much trouble in the duel.”

Helena shook her head as she caught her slightly excited breath.

Though the tip of her sword had touched Ellen’s sleeves or armor edges many times, she seemed frustrated at not having been able to land a decisive blow.

“For my part, Master’s sword was truly formidable… the most vicious I’ve encountered. I feel foolish for requesting this match. I walked into the tiger’s mouth without knowing my place.”

“Too much modesty becomes poison. Your skills are far too excellent to speak of knowing your place. Thanks to you, I’ve gained some insight into how to deal with mages. Thank you.”

Ellen also let out a sigh of relief, slumping her shoulders like someone who had narrowly escaped death.

The cuts visible on her skin here and there showed just how dangerous the situation had been.

It was breathtaking just to watch; how much more so for the participant herself.

Helena stared at Ellen for a moment before extending her hand. Though it seemed like a small gesture, it was an incredibly bold act.

Especially coming from a noble born and raised in this world. So it was natural for Ellen to widen her eyes in surprise.

“Uh, umm…”

“My hand is getting embarrassed. Please take it quickly.”

“Ah, right. Yes.”

Ellen took Helena’s hand at her urging, pretending to give in.

Setting aside any discomfort she might feel, it was clear that refusing the handshake would pour cold water on the atmosphere that had finally softened.

“Thank you. You are the most unfathomable of all the Masters I’ve faced.”

“That’s too high a praise for me.”

The two women, hands clasped, were busy complimenting each other.

I watched the shower of compliments silently, feeling a new chill.

Saying someone was “unfathomable” also meant they had great room for growth.

That’s why it was chilling.

“Well then, I’ll head back to my room first. It’s late, but thank you for providing such nice accommodations.”

“Yes. Take care.”

As Ellen turned and left without lingering, only Helena and I remained in the now-empty training ground.

The sunlight that had been shining like gold threads had already turned into a red sunset glow, indicating that a considerable amount of time had passed.

“When did it become afternoon…”

It had been such an intense time that both the participants and observers were completely drained.

I too had lost track of time, only coming to my senses when I heard Helena’s low murmur.

“Indeed. Time flies.”

“It means we were that focused. The fact that she came at me with half a mind to kill me probably contributed too. Anyway, this is a first for me.”

Helena grumbled as she wiped the sweat from her face with a towel hanging in the corner of the training ground.

Considering that she had never faced a crisis in battle before, I thought she must have felt considerably pressured to speak like that.

“Was she that strong?”

“You saw it too, didn’t you? It was my first time facing someone so powerful. It makes all those warnings about dueling with Sword Experts sound like lies.”

She also mentioned that Ellen’s magic was particularly specialized for combat against people.

Though she had never faced a mage before, she believed Ellen could have deployed even greater magic if she had wanted to.

I believed without a doubt that her assessment was correct.

Helena, whose skill in gauging abilities was as excellent as her own abilities, had stated it so definitively.

Of course, I also agreed because I knew how threatening a woman Ellen was.

She had the potential to be a pillar of world destruction if she obtained the Legacy.

“Anyway, good work. I’m counting on you tomorrow too.”

“Yes. I’ll do that. Since it’s your request, I won’t neglect it. But in return…”

Helena paused briefly and moved close enough that our hands could touch.

Seeing her blushing face, it seemed she had something private to say.

As I waited silently for her answer, I heard a deflating sound that released all the tension.

It was the sound of Helena’s stomach growling.

“For tonight’s dinner… please make it a bit more substantial.”

Yes, I’ll do that for you.

◎◎◎

Helena’s training continued even after yesterday’s slight commotion.

Balancing this with my daily duties was somewhat challenging, but after catching my breath, I could usually find enough energy to move around.

If anything, the more I pushed myself, the more my stamina seemed to improve.

Moreover, I was also busy preparing meals for the dark elf, making my schedule even more hectic.

Though she was Helena’s guest, the servants were uncomfortable around the dark elf, so I had made this decision to avoid awkward situations for everyone.

Helena initially objected to my decision, but she had to agree when she realized that the servants who would be forced to attend to Ellen would not be happy about it.

Even if she was unusually mild in her antipathy toward dark elves, the others were not.

“Haah…!”

“Jion…! Excellent! It was a bit shallow, but you hit my stomach precisely!”

“Y-yeah…”

One afternoon a few days before the duel, I was lying on the ground as usual, catching my breath.

Though it wasn’t a strike that would have much effect on Helena, I felt quite proud of delivering even a small impact to her stomach.

In a word, I felt a sense of achievement.

Helena looked down at me with a bright smile, but when she immediately blushed and rubbed her stomach, I felt quite strange.

I wasn’t sure whether to be happy that she seemed to joyfully accept even violence from me.

A woman who’s happy about getting punched in the stomach. How rare.

“Yes! At this level, you could even face a knight of Expert rank. Especially since you can use aura.”

“Is my aura level really good enough? Tell me objectively.”

“From what I can see, it’s possible.”

I had been anxious about clashing aura with an Expert-level aura, but Helena’s words put my mind at ease.

Even without my asking, she would have had to evaluate objectively given the situation, so it must be true.

If her assessment wasn’t cold and objective but inflated to be considerate of me, I would have thought I might be in great danger during the duel.

“That’s a relief. It seems pushing myself so hard in this short time wasn’t meaningless.”

“How could it be meaningless when you’ve worked so hard?”

Helena sat down beside me with a wry smile.

Though there was still time before lunch and we could have rested a bit more, as the one responsible for cooking, it was an awkward time for me not to be moving.

So I tried to gather my strength while regulating my breathing.

Thinking about it, I couldn’t enter the kitchen covered in dust either.

Even if I couldn’t take a bath, I at least needed to wash off the dust with water.

“Nngh…”

Yes, I should get up soon. I need to wash up and prepare lunch.

I forced myself to support my upper body with my still-trembling arms.

I wanted to use my core strength to stand up in one go, but regrettably, I didn’t have that kind of strength.

“Jion! Rest a bit more! You still look very tired…”

“Training is training, but I still have my duties. After the duel is over, I won’t train this hard, so I just need to endure a little longer.”

I politely declined Helena’s consideration and stood on my feet. I couldn’t afford to be lax until the duel was over.

Especially, I was worried that if I started skipping work using training as an excuse, I would quickly become lazy.

Of course, Helena would gladly accept even that aspect of me, but no matter how I thought about it, it wasn’t the right time for that yet.