Chapter 900: Three-Way Battle at the Training Center
“Tetes. Do you have any information on those two?”
In response to Dianne’s question, Tetes glanced back and forth between the two and answered fluently.
“The one from Black Arm is Knight Commander Dias Spike. The Intelligence Bureau couldn’t trace his background prior to joining the Renfangas Army, so it’s probably an alias. As you can see, his weapon of choice is a heavyweight spear. Rumor has it he views Knight Commander Berga as a rival, but the general consensus is that Knight Commander Berga is about two ranks above him”
“What’s this, little girl? You’ve been sneaking around sizing us up, haven’t you? Are you Alex Buster’s protégé?”
“Yeess. I’m definitely his protégé, so if you try anything, you’d better be prepared. Not that you’d dare, though”
“Hmph”
Spike, formerly known as the 「Hero Face」, snorted in response to Tetes’s dismissive reply. Was this a show of defiance, implying he wasn’t afraid of Lord Buster? What Tetes had said was simply the fact that physically speaking, it would be impossible to get past Dianne or Neia, but well, that’s how most people would interpret it.
“As for the Holy Warrior, that’s Curtis Faimand from the Zelis Kingdom, by Lake Valery. If the information is correct, he’s 24. He’s a user of shockwaves. His epithet is 「Faimand of the Gale Sword」”
“Ue”
Anzeros made a sour face. Since she used to be called by a similar epithet, she must have had mixed feelings.
“That’s quite a reaction to someone else’s nickname, young lady”
“I have some bad memories. ……Also, I’m older than you. As you can see, I’m a half-elf”
“So what?”
Faimand seemed to have decided to cut his fight short against Anzeros, who was unarmed and looked like nothing more than a town girl. He took a few steps back, glancing alternately at Captain Spike and Fiona, positioning himself at a distance where he could react to whatever moves they made. Meanwhile, Fiona herself was lightly practicing her swings with a wooden sword tossed to her by a nearby Red Arm.
“It’s light. ……I guess getting used to that thing has its benefits”
“Be careful, Fiona. If your weapon is light, your defense is light too”
“I don’t need you to tell me that”
Fiona ignored my words. As the Holy Warrior Faimand had pointed out, she was wearing the ankle-length robes characteristic of the people of Saint Gardo. While this style of clothing isn’t unheard of in other countries, Saint Gardo is probably the only place where swordsmen would go out of their way to wear it.
“Well then. ……Shall we do this, White Robe? And you too, cutie”
“We’re ready whenever you are”
“……So I guess you’re letting me go first”
Fiona looked back and forth between the two of them and crouched down. Knight Chief Spike, who had been watching her with a smirk, suddenly turned to Sharon.
“Now then, from our perspective, we’d be in a bind if we were challenged and told not to hit or strike back……but if you say you’ll just watch, that means it’s fine to go easy on her, just enough so she doesn’t die, right, Sharon?”
“She’s quite capable in her own right. Still, if things go too far, we’ll step in”
“Haa! I’d welcome that”
Knight Chief Spike’s smile deepens. The fact that he believes he can remain composed even when facing Sharon, a master of the Berga style, suggests he truly has confidence in his skills. And while it seems he views 「Us」 as nothing more than 「A bunch of nobodies below Sharon’s level」, I suppose I won’t call him out on that right now. Meanwhile, Fiona raises her sword to a high guard.
“Here we go”
With a single shout……she charges at Knight Chief Spike with an explosive lunge. While she doesn’t quite reach the speed that makes one think she’s vanished, like Almeida, it’s still a charge that an ordinary soldier couldn’t react to in time. ……An ordinary soldier, that is.
“Ooh……whoa! Too bad for you!”
Knight Chief Spike is, after all, a Black Arm. Plus, since Fiona has Sharon’s endorsement, he didn’t seem to have underestimated her. He effortlessly parried Fiona’s straight strike with his one-handed wooden spear. Then he kicked Fiona away to create distance……or so he tried. Fiona took that kick……no.
“!!?”
She quickly backstepped the length of Chief Spike’s kicking leg, causing him to miss. His body swayed as his front kick, which he thought would land, whiffed past her. Fiona didn’t let that opening slip by. She slammed into him head-on once more.
“Is that……your style of swordplay!?”
Chief Spike forcefully swung his wooden spear from an awkward position, disrupting Fiona’s attack to weather the blow. But the very next moment after their clash, Fiona had already shifted her position again, into Knight Chief Spike’s blind spot. Just as she was about to strike him from behind……she suddenly stepped back to create distance. Had she sensed that Knight Chief Spike was about to do something? Just as I was wondering this, Knight Chief Spike was unnaturally sent flying into the air.
“A shockwave……! Is he going to use it here?”
“If both of them had been blown away, I could’ve taken them both down and this would’ve been over”
Had Fiona reacted to Holy Warrior Faimand’s motion as he prepared to unleash the shockwave? ……Even Knight Chief Spike, who had been blown away, didn’t crash to the ground in a heap; instead, he landed neatly on three points and immediately got back to his feet.
“That’s a pretty sneaky move, White Robe. I like it”
“When did I ever say I’d sheathe my sword? Don’t blame your own inattention on your opponent”
Holy Warrior Faimand swung his sword with a flourish, assuming the Eight-Phase stance and showing every sign of intervening in earnest. ……Judging by appearances, he’s the one with the tighter defense. I intuit that no matter how Fiona charges in, she won’t be able to avoid his counterattack. How will Fiona respond?
“Then I’ll have a go at you, too”
Thud, another unhesitating lunge. Of course, Holy Warrior Faimand isn’t about to be surprised by Fiona’s tactics again.
“Too easy!”
He swings his sword down in a counterattack at the same time and misses.
“!!”
Fiona sidesteps, leaving her downward swing motion incomplete. It’s a crude move, but she manages to avoid taking a hit from Faimand. However, Faimand wouldn’t be called a Holy Warrior if his swordsmanship ended with such a single, wide swing.
“Not yet!”
He immediately countered and pursued Fiona. A diagonal upward slash, a parry, and a thrust, a flurry of sword strikes assaulted Fiona. And Fiona……dodged them, dodged them, and dodged them all with just her footwork.
“She dodged them all!?”
“She’s quite something”
Me, looking on in astonishment, and Tetes, stroking her chin in admiration. I couldn’t help but glance at Dianne, and she looked thoroughly satisfied. Had she calculated that she was capable of that much?
“Her body is in top shape, and she’s taken my sword and Almeida’s dance spear countless times. Her offense is what you saw, but when she’s on the defensive, she doesn’t go down easily”
“That much……”
“As for that, it really comes down to her grit, she won’t run away no matter how many hits she takes”
I see. Setting aside life-or-death battles against monsters, she already has plenty of experience in reading an opponent’s sword at the very first move during a match. ……Witnessing Fiona’s excellent movement firsthand once again, the Holy Warrior Faimand stepped back and shifted his stance to a more defensive posture.
“……It’s extremely unbalanced, but at least it means she has the aptitude to have been brought here. ……I don’t feel like I’ll lose, but she’s a bit of a nuisance”
“This has only just begun, Holy Warrior. Don’t try to draw broad conclusions based on a mere test run”
Fiona said this with a serious expression and changed her stance as well. ……Not her usual two-handed style, but a one-handed grip with the sword hanging loosely at her side.
“Are you joking?”
“I’ve had many masters, you see”
From that relaxed stance, she began to unleash swift, piercing strikes, seeking openings in her opponent’s defense rather than relying on heavy lunges for a single powerful blow. Is this a tactic modeled after Almeida? Since she hasn’t learned proper combat techniques, is she trying to absorb skills by imitating what she sees?
“……What a ridiculous woman……but such petty tricks!”
Holy Warrior Faimand, finding it difficult to lock onto Fiona as she refused to face him head-on, attempted to blow her away with a shockwave. Faimand swung a wide, sweeping blow directly to her side. Fiona tried to dodge by leaping sideways, but her slightly long robes hindered her, and she was caught in the attack’s horizontal range, losing her balance. Just as Faimand moved in for the follow-up, Knight Chief Spike leaped high into the air and thrust his spear downward, holding it in a reverse grip.
“What the hell!?”
Reacting at the last possible moment, Holy Warrior Faimand drops to one knee from the impact but manages to avoid the direct hit. Knight Chief Spike delivers a kick to him as if he were kicking a soccer ball, sending him flying several meters away, then spins his spear around and laughs.
“I don’t remember saying I’d pull my spear back, you know? I can’t say I don’t sympathize with a guy whose eyes wander to the girls instead of the old man……but getting knocked out while staring at boobs in a situation where your pride is on the line? That’d make for quite the masterpiece of a story to tell back home”
“Ku……just let him say that!”
The handsome Holy Warrior stands up, brushes the dirt off his armor, and glares angrily. And as for Fiona?
“……Both are strong, but not beyond my capabilities”
A rather bold comment. She probably didn’t mean it that way, but saying that to the Black Arm and the Holy Warriors, supposedly the elite of the elite, was practically a provocation to everyone present.
“What a sassy woman! Let me handle her!”
“Let Spike take care of the Holy Warrior, and we’ll take care of the rest!”
“How dare a woman talk such big talk against us Holy Warriors!”
“No need to let Faimand handle it, we’ll show them what we’re really made of!”
A thunderous chorus of jeers. At this point, they’re nothing more than a rowdy mob. Even if Sharon and the other female Gauntlet Knights tried to intervene, there’s no guarantee these men, emboldened by the group dynamic, would stop. Even if punishment awaits them later, the Gauntlet Knights, who don’t know if they’ll live to see tomorrow, live for the moment.
“Aah……what are we going to do about this?”
“Looks like we’re going to have to take them all down ourselves”
“That’s not very elegant. It wouldn’t be good to injure the Gauntlet Knights at a time like this”
We begin whispering among ourselves, trying to figure out how to get out of this situation. Even though I didn’t bring Princess Ran, Charlotte, Apple, or Hilda, a dash-and-run escape with this many people would be a bit tough. Or rather, I’m probably the one most at risk of getting caught. Well, since I can’t even use a sword properly, I probably won’t get beaten to death right away, and there’s always the option of having Laila or someone else carry me away in style……. But either way, it looks like Lord Buster is about to give us another one of his scary looks. ……And then.
“What are you doing!!?”
“Don’t get carried away!!”
Two tough-looking knights appear, shouting angrily. Their presence silences both the Gauntlet Knights and the Holy Warriors who had been making a racket. Seeing their faces, Sharon’s eyes light up with delight.
“Berga!”
“Sharon. What’s going on? Why is there a commotion at the training grounds……ah”
Could you please not look at me with that strange look of understanding? I was just watching. ……And behind Berga, with an equally imposing presence, silencing everyone around with a sharp gaze and a murderous aura……it wasn’t Felios.
“Herman……”
“……Neia Grans. What are you doing?”
“……Well, all sorts of things. ……It’s gotten a bit gloomy again, hasn’t it?”
“……There’s been a lot going on, you see”
Herman’s boundless cheerfulness from when we last met was nowhere to be found; he had started exuding a somber aura once more. ……Ah, uh, yeah. I, I get it.