Chapter 19: Now I can relax and not get hurt

“No way? Why should I?”  

Chris rejected my request without the slightest hesitation.  

Yeah, I figured as much.  

Of course, this was something I’d somewhat anticipated.  

Having lost her parents in a war as a child and been taken in by a mercenary group, Chris grew up under the care of mercenaries. She mercilessly refuses anything that doesn’t benefit her.  

That was true even in my fourth run.  

“Please, just once! I’m begging you like this!”  

“Ugh, you’re so persistent… I said no!”  

“Come on, just consider it one more time!”  

“You’re planning to cling to me until I give in, aren’t you? You think I don’t know that?!”  

“If you know, then just say yes already!”  

“No way!!”  

Back then, it took me nearly two weeks to break her resolve.  

At the time, I was just an insignificant extra with no notable skills, so I had nothing valuable to offer her.  

And since asking her to teach me swordsmanship was the only way to create a connection with her, I didn’t stop begging until she gave in.  

That’s how my攻略 (conquest) of her began in the fourth run…  

But this run, I don’t have that kind of time…  

The sixth run is different.  

In the fourth run, I approached Chris right after enrollment, so I had plenty of time until the next event.  

But now, having skipped a significant amount of time due to my focus on Marie, spending two weeks begging Chris would throw off my schedule entirely.  

“Really, no chance at all?”  

“Nope, you’re in my way.”  

At my final question, Chris stood up, picked up her wooden sword, and turned her gaze back to the training dummy.  

Whoosh!  

Thud!  

Her sturdy wooden sword began striking the dummy again.  

As if she had no intention of continuing the conversation, she focused solely on the dummy.  

Guess I’ve got no choice…  

She probably wouldn’t answer any more of my questions today.  

And even if she did, she wouldn’t agree to my request.  

I’d experienced her stubbornness plenty of times in the fourth run.  

Let’s see…  

So instead of begging, I scanned the training area.  

Found it.  

Spotting what I was looking for, I walked straight toward it.  

Chris, who’d been striking the dummy, glanced at me briefly—perhaps thinking I was leaving—before refocusing on her task.  

And then—  

Whoosh—!!  

“What the…!!”  

Crack!!  

“What are you doing…!”  

I grabbed a wooden sword from the corner of the training area and swung it at Chris.  

She effortlessly blocked my surprise attack and glared at me with sharp eyes.  

Even though I’d initiated the attack myself, facing that gaze sent a chill down my spine.  

Still, I can’t back down now…!  

If I kept relying on just begging, I’d end up wasting two weeks clinging to her leg like in the fourth run.  

But I don’t have that kind of time now.  

So—  

Whoosh!!  

I chose to take a forceful approach.  

Crack!!  

My wooden sword, aimed at her side, was blocked by Chris once again, the impact ringing out.  

“You… Are you seriously picking a fight?”  

“No, my request is still the same. Teach me swordsmanship…!”  

“I said no!”  

Whoosh!  

As we exchanged a few words with our swords clashing, Chris spun her body and swung her leg at me.  

Oh no…!  

In the fourth run, that surprise attack would’ve hit me.  

But—  

Ding!  

[Due to the effect of “Blossoming Talent,” your senses sharpen!]  

Tap!  

With the power of my easy-mode perk, I narrowly dodged her kick.  

Chris, adjusting her stance, looked at me with surprised eyes.  

“…I felt it last time too, but… your swordsmanship’s terrible, yet your reflexes are sharp.”  

“Like it? Then teach me swordsmanship.”  

“Heh, no way.”  

Chris smirked at my words, amused.  

Then, this time, she charged at me with her wooden sword raised.  

Whoosh!  

A sharp strike came flying straight at the top of my head.  

It was an obvious attack.  

But incredibly fast.  

“Guh…!”  

Crack!  

I blocked it with just a hair’s breadth to spare.  

But Chris didn’t stop there—she pressed her weight into the sword, pushing it toward me.  

“Haha! This is fun… So what’s your deal now? Don’t tell me you think I’ll agree if you win?”  

“…Good thing I don’t need to explain.”  

“Then let me tell you upfront—give up. There’s no way you’ll beat me!”  

Tap!  

Whoosh!!  

Before she even finished speaking, Chris pulled her sword back and swung it horizontally.  

I can’t block this…!  

Realizing instinctively that I couldn’t parry it, I threw myself to the side.  

Boom!  

Tap…!  

“Haa, haa…”  

After rolling across the training ground’s floor, I steadied myself with a hand on the ground.  

Chris looked down at me with an impressed smirk.  

“Get it now? You can’t beat me. So stop being a nuisance and get lost.”  

“…I know I can’t win.”  

To begin with, if I could beat her, I wouldn’t need her to teach me swordsmanship.  

So my goal isn’t to defeat her.  

“Let’s make it a bet, then.”  

“…?”  

I stood up, keeping my eyes locked on the puzzled Chris.  

Gripping my wooden sword tighter, I flashed her a grin.  

“Five times. …If I can land five hits on you, count it as my win.”  

Having spent so much time with Chris in the fourth run, I know this well.  

Even with easy mode and my perk, beating her outright before the next event is impossible.

Of course, someone with Malcolm’s level of skill could beat her with physical ability and talent alone.  

But Chris is different from Malcolm.  

Malcolm merely learned swordsmanship from a good instructor since childhood.  

Chris, who roamed battlefields swinging a sword from a young age, is on an entirely different level from the likes of Malcolm.  

“Why should I agree to that bet? No way, it’s a hassle and a waste of time.”  

Chris rejected me outright with an indifferent expression, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.  

Naturally, I expected her to refuse.  

That’s why, just like before, I threw out a bit of a reckless move.  

“What? Are you scared you’ll lose?”  

At my words, Chris’s expression twisted for a moment.  

Provocation.  

I’d learned this in the fourth run—Chris falls for taunts easily.  

She’s that belligerent and prideful.  

But this time, she didn’t bite so easily.  

“Hah… Sorry, but there’s no way I’d lose to you. Like I said, it’s a waste of time.”  

Unlike the last swordsmanship class, where she’d charged at me in a fit of excitement, this time she responded calmly.  

She’s keeping her cool because it’s a bet…  

Perhaps because, unlike last time when I simply asked her to spar, this was a bet involving her teaching me swordsmanship.  

“Phew… Fine, guess I’ve got no choice.”  

So, I had no option but to push her buttons a little more.  

“Running away, huh? Guess the swordsmanship you learned isn’t much either.”  

“What?”  

“Whoever taught you must be pretty mediocre too, huh?”  

Oh crap…  

My last-ditch, critical taunt.  

The moment she heard it, the air around Chris shifted.  

Her fierce aura made the hairs on my body stand on end.  

I froze, smiling stiffly as I faced her cold, stern expression.  

Standing before me, she let out a small scoff.  

“Hah.”  

Then, she raised the wooden sword in her hand and pointed it at me.  

“Fine. Five times. …If you land five hits, I’ll grant your request.”  

“W-Wow… Really…?”  

“But.”  

The wooden sword pointing at me felt almost like a real blade.  

With that level of intensity, Chris glared at me.  

“If you can’t land those hits, you’re dead.”  

As expected.  

Even in easy mode, conquering a heroine requires throwing yourself into the fire.  

“Please take care of me…”  

Bracing myself for the fierce pain about to come, I gripped my wooden sword tighter.  

“Wow… What the heck happened?”  

The next morning, Sierra showed up for the morning training session as she’d promised the day before.  

Seeing the purple bruises on my arms, legs, and shoulders, her eyes widened in shock.  

“Those aren’t drawn on, right…?”  

Poke.  

“Ow!”  

“Ah, sorry.”  

Yesterday had been a nightmare.  

Naturally, I failed the bet.  

Afterward, as I tried to apologize and escape, Chris grabbed me and forced me to keep sparring.  

“Sparring” was a generous term—it was more like a beating with a club.  

A hellish game where I’d get hit if I couldn’t block her full-force attacks.  

Thankfully, whether it was survival instinct or luck, I managed to block all the strikes aimed at my head.  

“Emil… Where’d you get beat up like this?”  

“It’s a long story… If you’re here to train with me, just train quietly.”  

“…”  

“What if you’re being bullied by some delinquent because you’re good at studying…?”  

“If you’re not going to train, leave.”  

Well, Sierra’s guess wasn’t entirely off.  

I did get beaten up by a delinquent, in a way.  

Anyway, after that, I went through the morning training with Sierra.  

“Ughhh~ So tiring~”  

Of course, Sierra, who’d joined me for training starting today, ran alongside me.  

The usually quiet running course was now filled with her whining.  

After finishing the run and completing some bodyweight exercises—  

“Wait a sec, Emil.”  

“Huh? Wait for what… Wait, where are you going?!”  

“Just wait!”  

Leaving only those words, Sierra dashed off.  

I plopped down on the grass, staring blankly in the direction she’d disappeared.  

A little while later—  

“What’s this…?”  

“Hehe, take a good look. I’m pretty good at this kind of thing.”  

Sierra returned from the dorm with a basket and sat down in front of me.  

With a proud grin, she pulled something out of the basket.  

It was ointment and bandages.  

“…It’s fine even if you leave it alone.”  

“Stay still. There’s a cut here too. You need to take care of stuff like this so it doesn’t scar.”  

So that’s what she was up to—she’d gone to the dorm to grab first-aid supplies for me.  

After that, she started treating my wounds.  

As she leaned in close to wrap the bandages, Sierra was unusually calm and quiet, focused on my injuries.  

Maybe because of that, she gave off a different vibe than usual, and I found myself staring at her face absentmindedly.  

Her eyelashes are really long…  

Seeing her up close made me understand why she was the protagonist of the original story.  

I’d thought it before, but her calm face was strikingly beautiful.  

“All done! How’s that? Perfect, right?”  

“Oh, yeah.”  

While I was staring at her in a daze, she finished treating me.  

When Sierra looked up and smiled, I quickly turned my head to avoid her gaze.  

“So, where’s my thank you?”  

“Huh?”  

“You’re supposed to say ‘Thank you’ in times like this, right?”  

“…Did you do this just to get thanked?”  

“Nothing in this world is free.”  

With her signature playful smile, Sierra urged me with her eyes to hurry up and say it.  

Feeling oddly embarrassed, I scratched my cheek and looked away, mumbling awkwardly.  

“Thanks…”  

“Hehe.”  

Satisfied, Sierra grinned brightly.  

After that oddly heartwarming morning training session—  

Well, the bandages do help.  

Thanks to Sierra’s treatment, the pain of my wounds rubbing against my clothes disappeared, and I changed with a lighter heart.  

Then, as usual, I headed to the academy.  

…She’ll agree to the bet again today, right? It’s about her adoptive mother’s honor, after all.  

While attending classes as usual, I kept thinking about my strategy for Chris.  

The bet to land five hits on her.  

It was undeniably a tough challenge.  

But unlike the fourth run, the “Blossoming Talent” perk gave me a glimmer of hope.  

I’d made the bet banking on this perk in the first place.  

Without any perks in the fourth run, this approach would’ve been impossible.  

If possible, I’d like to settle this within a week…  

So, I spent all my time at the academy replaying yesterday’s sparring session with Chris in my head.  

I mentally simulated how I could land those five hits on her.  

And then—  

“…Emil.”  

I’d been so focused on Chris that—  

“Ah.”  

“Y-You’re covered in wounds…!! What happened?!”  

I didn’t notice Marie approaching me in the hallway.  

Spotting the bandages on my arm, her face went pale as she rushed toward me.  

“Who did this…”  

And then—  

“N-No, Marie…”  

With those same eerie eyes I’d seen before, she looked up at me and asked—  

“Who did this…?”

***

Author’s Note  

Thank you for reading!  

If you enjoyed it, I’d appreciate a like, a bookmark, and a comment!  

Comments especially give me a huge boost for writing! Thank you.