episode_0041

After being dumbfounded by the princess’s words for a moment, I smiled slightly and placed my hand on my heart.

“Are you saying you want to spar with me now?”

“Yes. that’s right. I know it well.”

Did he really have some kind of enemy against me? It’s so malicious that you can’t help but think about it. Of course, the princess herself would not have such malicious intentions. To me, it just felt like bad bullying.

As I was looking at Germa with the hope that he would stop me, Germa, who had closed her eyes and was thinking about something, spoke in a serious voice.

“If you don’t have a good reason to convince me, I can’t allow you to spar with me, no matter how much you are the princess.”

Germa’s perfect support fire. I smiled brightly, feeling happy inside.

“I also think the same way as Sir Germa. If you suddenly request a sparring like this, it is difficult to accept it even if it is Hermel’s words.”

“Grandpa. No, Sir Germa. You may not know anything else, but you know that I am very serious when it comes to sword-related matters.”

What are you suddenly trying to say by throwing rice cakes like that? An inexplicable feeling of anxiety enveloped my entire body.

The princess, who was looking down at me, continued speaking with a serious face I had never seen before.

“As everyone knows, Charlotte here is this year’s top student. This person has proven to be stronger than anyone else here. If you show yourself sparring with someone like that, everyone will definitely get a good stimulus. Isn’t that right?”

Don’t package it with fancy words. I just want to say that he wants to fight but doesn’t have a good reason, so he’s just bringing up the students here.

However, if you refute it like that here, you are giving yourself something to refute in return.

‘You provoked me like that in your admissions speech, and now you’re taking it out?’

–Can not be done. I don’t care if the nobles chew me out behind my back and the commoners brand me a coward who runs away after being provoked. okay. It doesn’t really matter since we’ve already experienced enough of them.

However, my pride won’t allow me to throw it away like that. If I make up my mind that I will no longer back down and follow the path I have chosen, then backing down is the same as breaking my own will with my own hands.

However, we cannot rashly accept the sparring here. Do you just say ok and move on out of pride? This is because it is obvious that this situation will repeat itself in the future.

One way or another, the only option left to me is to accept the duel, and in the end, the only bastion I have left is Germa… … .

“Admiration, awe, and respect for strong power… … . surely. That makes sense.”

okay… … . I didn’t even expect it from the beginning.

As I was sighing deeply, the princess looked at me and smiled.

“Didn’t you tell me to struggle hard at the entrance ceremony? I’ll show you that struggle now, so follow me.”

” Even Sir Germa says that, so I can’t help it. Then――”

“Wait.”

Just when I gave up and got up to fight, a familiar voice stopped us both.

“Brother?”

“Prince… … ?”

The owner of that voice was none other than the Crown Prince.

Why is that person suddenly there? After a moment of thinking about that, the crown prince opened his mouth.

“If you say it right, wouldn’t it be right for me to spar with her, not you?”

“Brother… … . If you’re trying to steal my partner, even your brother won’t forgive me.”

“I just raised an obvious question. Don’t misunderstand, I didn’t mean to start a fight with you.”

“Isn’t that what it is?”

The princess fiercely bared her teeth and growled, and the crown prince calmly looked at her and continued talking despite the princess’s reaction.

“Didn’t you say it with your own mouth? We will provide new stimulation to the students entering the academy and create a spirit of improvement――”

“What does that have to do with your brother interfering?”

“Think simply. Wouldn’t the fight between 1st and 2nd place be more stimulating than the fight between 1st and 3rd place?”

“Ha! Wouldn’t it have been more stimulating to have fought with swords against each other, rather than a fight between a person who was hypnotized and confused and lost?”

this… … . It’s a picture of two people confronting each other, and in the end, the princess, who was defeated in the battle, hands the choice over to me… … . One way or another, the princess is weaker than the prince.

As I watched the confrontation between the two for a moment, the princess, who was gritting her teeth, turned to look at me.

“You decide.”

I thought so. I sighed inwardly and smiled.

“Shall we go down?”

Hermel.

“What… … ?”

“Wow!”

I chose the princess without any hesitation. why? To deal with the Crown Prince, I have no choice but to give my all, but I hate fighting.

I wouldn’t know if they quietly worked behind the scenes and killed him. What I’m saying is that fighting head-on is not my type of thing. Well, that’s another reason. The most important thing is that I plan to make a deal with the princess in this fight.

However, the Crown Prince, who did not know what I was thinking, stared at me with his eyes wide open with an expression of complete incomprehension.

“Why?”

“That’s right, because the princess spoke first.”

“Is that the only reason?”

The crown prince said that in a bewildered, empty voice. I opened my fan and covered my mouth.

“Yes. Women’s hearts are moved even for those reasons.”

ah. Of course, I’m not saying I’m a woman, but I hate people like you who only look for someone when they need someone, even if it’s not a woman, you piece of shit.

He smiled brightly at the dumbfounded prince, then passed through the crowd and came down to the training ground. The princess immediately took her two broadswords and took her seat, and I took my halberd like last time.

“It looks like you both chose your own weapons, so I will put the safety device on.”

Germa said so and fastened the safety devices on the princess and my weapons, and I could see a thin film covering the blades.

Finally, Germa stabbed and cut his own palm with the blade to confirm that the safety device was working properly, then took the great sword stuck in the ground and stepped back.

“It looks like everything is ready. The rules are the same as for the entrance exam, but since it is a flat ground and not an exam stand, we will assume that there are no outside rules. The victory condition is limited to when the opponent is judged to be unable to fight, and after the first period, it will be a draw. And if I judge it to be dangerous, I will arbitrarily intervene, so please keep that in mind. Any questions? ”

At the explanation that was so skillful, all the entering students blinked and looked at Germa, and the princess made a face of bewilderment.

“Grandpa… … . How good would it be if other explanations were just like now?”

“Hehehe, he was an old man who only held a sword on the battlefield. Such a duel… … . No, unless it’s something like sparring, I probably won’t be able to do it.”

The princess shrugged her shoulders, and Germa wiped the smile from his face and lifted a small stone from the ground.

“Okay, that’s it for the small talk. Please start the moment this stone falls on the floor.”

Germa said so and threw the stone into the sky, and then a thud sound was heard.

“Inhale!”

The princess rushed at me with her posture extremely low, just like she did during the entrance exam, and I quickly cast a subordinate curse on my right arm and tried to swing my halberd.

At that moment, the princess smiled, bared her teeth, dug up the ground with the broadsword in her right hand, and scattered the dust toward my face.

Since his right arm was bent back to swing the halberd, only his left arm could block the flying dust. I hastily spread my fan to expand the area as much as possible, but I couldn’t block it completely, so I frowned at the feeling of a foreign body in my eyes.

“Keuak!”

“I learned it from you, Charlotte!!”

“This… … !”

I stamped my foot, erecting a huge pillar of ice beneath my feet, and was able to gain a moment of time. No, I was mistaken in thinking I could earn it.

“Haha! The best you can do is run away up a pillar of ice!? No problem!”

While I was removing the dirt that got into my eyes, the princess, who ran without slowing down, kicked an ice pillar. The ice pillar shattered from that ridiculous breccia force.

“Tch!”

I managed to get the dirt out of my left eye, but I still couldn’t open my right eye, so I tried to pull myself back to reorganize. The princess came one step faster than him and swung her sword.

“Don’t run away! Fight properly! Ahahaha!!”

A strike aimed at the right arm holding the halberd. I was slow to react due to my narrowed field of vision, but I was able to see it somehow and set the spear at an angle to block it.

Ka–Ah!!

However, because my posture was unstable, my wrist broke.

This crazy princess has become stronger than last time in just a few days… … !!

“Qu… … !”

Frowning at the tingling pain running up his arm, he swung his halberd at the princess and made her retreat, then created a strong wind and blocked her vision.

A brief lull. I frowned as I rotated my sore right wrist, and the princess smiled viciously as she swung her sword and scattered the dust.

“I feel weaker than last time. Am I mistaken?”

Saying that, he looked at the princess twirling the broadsword for a moment and then sighed.

“… … Mel!”

“Yes, lady.”

He folded the fan neatly and handed it to Mel, then placed the subordinate’s curse on his entire body. Feeling my entire body becoming lighter, I massaged the palm of my left hand and looked forward.

“I will fight with all my might, just as you wish.”

“It should come out like that… … !”

The princess got ready to lunge again, and before she lunged, I struck the ground with the tip of my halberd to signal her to stop for a moment.

Fortunately, the princess with a steamy face looked at me with a puffy face, as if she had lost her senses as well.

“There is one condition.”

“What is it?”

“The person who loses grants one favor to the person who wins. How about it?”

She blinked at my words, smiled brightly, and shook off the sword in both hands.

“That’s good!”

“Well, I’ll go first this time.”

I smiled, grabbed the halberd’s spear with both hands, and ran forward.

The princess was momentarily taken aback by the bold moves she had never shown before, but then she smiled fiercely and ran towards me.

I stepped on the brakes with a bang and swung my halberd while rotating my body once. Surprisingly, the princess avoided the swung halberd by almost falling to the ground.

“Ugh――!! As expected, it’s thrilling!!”

After shouting like that, the princess stood up and raised her sword from below, and I jumped backwards using the halberd as a pole, widened the distance, and lance charged once again.

The princess lowered her posture once again and ran. This time, perhaps because he thought he was going to swing the same way as before, he stabbed the halberd straight at the princess who was preparing to lower her stance again.

“――!!”

“Did you misunderstand that you would use the same number as before?”

The princess quickly rolled to the side to avoid the stab and took her stance again.

The princess, who had taken her stance with a monstrous sense of balance, immediately swung her sword. After blocking the sword being swung horizontally with the spear, I changed my grip and struck the sword upward.

But the opponent has dual swords. The sword in my half-handed thrust aimed at my heart, and I turned my body to avoid the sword and struck the opponent’s shoulder with the ax part of the halberd.

“Where!”

But I got stuck. The princess, who retrieved the sword she had struck earlier, raised the sword at an angle and was able to dodge the halberd, and my attack ended in vain.

Now that each other’s posture has collapsed, the brawl has begun.

Swing, block. Cut it out, stab it. Avoid and attack from the front.

“Ahahaha!! the best! A person stronger than your brother!”

“When you fight, it would be nice if you would be a little quiet!!”

little bit more. I stepped back, swinging my halberd, and the princess, perhaps crazy about the sword, pushed towards me with unarmed fire.

little bit more… … !

“I don’t know what you’re aiming for, but I have no idea!”

“What!?”

She jumped up and struck with her broadsword like an axe, and I unconsciously raised my spear to block, but the force was stronger than I expected and I fell to one knee.

If it stays like this, it will be crushed. After making a quick decision, I immediately removed one hand, extended it towards the princess, and closed my eyes tightly.

Afterwards, a flash of light erupted from the palm of his left hand.

“Kwaa… … !!”

The princess unconsciously covered her eyes. I immediately hooked the princess’s ankle with the hook of the halberd, knocked her down, and then plunged the halberd into the side of her face.

bang!!

I stood using the halberd as a cane and looked down at the princess.

Thump, thud–

The surroundings had already become quiet for a long time, and it was so quiet that you could even hear the sound of sweat running down your cheeks and hitting the floor.

“I won.”

“I lost again. Hehehe.”

The quiet declaration of victory and the voice accepting defeat were met with roaring applause and cheers.

The princess was smiling brightly, and I was out of breath with tears and cold sweat streaming down my face because of the dirt in my right eye.

I feel like I lost more than I gained… … . Well, that’s it.

In this way, the first noisy swordsmanship class ended.