Chapter 4 Part 1
Translator : PolterGlast
Proofreader : John4891
"Waa~!"
"Fu~!"
In
the suburbs of Arcazam City. Two people, a man and a woman, crossed blades in a
field, which led to the outer edges of the city.
One
was Irisdina Francilt, a girl with long black hair. She danced gracefully like
a butterfly flying around the field, slashing with the rapier in her hand and
thrusting it into her opponent. Her attacks were as fast as the flash of
lightning. The girl was slashing at a speed that even ordinary people couldn’t
see.
The
other was Nozomu Bountis, wielding a katana in a Seigan-no-Kamae stance (Kendo
Stance). He handled the series of flashes of light with his katana that were
only seen as afterimages; however, the boy gradually backed off because it was
difficult to handle it completely.
Irisdina's
continuous attacks gradually broke Nozomu's defenses, and Nozomu gradually
became unable to handle her. Her rapier began to graze his body, even so,
Irisdina's attack still couldn’t reach the boy in front of her.
(Kuh!
As expected, it's fast! I can't handle it completely!!)
(As
I thought, it's amazing! To handle my attacks this far, which is overwhelming
with my ability…………)
While
retreating, Nozomu transmitted the momentum of his foot and his trunk to both
of his arms. He skillfully parried Irisdina’s slashes, who were superior in
physical strength.
With
his opponent's physical abilities drastically enhanced by strengthening magic,
it was difficult for Nozomu to fight head-on.
Her
physical ability wasn’t as good as Mars's, but her ability to not only use
swords but also magic was troublesome. In addition, Nozomu didn’t know every
skill she possessed.
That
was why Nozomu was initially trying to get away from her, even if just a
little.
Because
he was fighting in a large area, Nozomu used that space to handle Irisdina's
attacks. If the two were fighting in a small room, Nozomu would not have been
able to do that.
(However,
the sword isn’t the only weapon I have! Nozomu!)
At
that time, the ground at Nozomu’s feet suddenly rose. When the ground rose,
Nozomu list his balance, and his feet stopped. However, Irisdina, who wields a
sword in front of Nozomu, has not chanted or created a formation to activate
the magic. Still, the reason why her magic was activated is due to her ability,
"Immediate Deployment".
"Ku!"
Nozomu,
whose momentum was destroyed, immediately abandoned his previous purpose. As he
rolled on the ground, he managed to avoid the approaching Irisdina's sword. If
his decision had been delayed for a moment, her sword would have reached his
body.
(I
thought my victory would’ve been decided at that point. His judgment is
extraordinary...)
(It’s
ridiculous. There’s almost no time lag in magic activation. Her ability to
deploy magic immediately is so troublesome...)
Irisdina
pursued further. She thrusted her rapier towards Nozomu who hadn’t got up yet,
but Nozomu caught her rapier with his katana. While standing on his knees, he
took advantage of the curve of his katana's blade. Then, he parried her rapier
upwards.
(This
time it's my turn !!)
"Waa~!"
After
parrying Irisdina's slashes, Nozomu stood up and at the same time, took a step
toward her and launched his katana. The katana that was launched would
naturally be prevented by Irisdina, but Nozomu continued to launch it
regardless.
Unlike
before, Nozomu used the rotation of his hips, ankles, and knees to slash at
Irisdina while moving his legs. The slashing dance, which was without
stagnation, was completely devoted to the basics.
A
high-pitched sound echoed, and sparks from the metal-to-metal collision
scattered to the wind. Nozomu's slashing was sharp and accurate, but his
opponent was the top-ranked student in the third year. By swinging up her
rapier, Nozomu's katana was repelled sideways without any difficulty, and she
cut into Nozomu with her returning sword.
"There!"
"Ku~!"
Irisdina
tried to counterattack by slashing diagonally to Nozomu, but Nozomu stepped
back while trying to parry her; however, the next moment, a black magic bullet
approached in front of Nozomu.
Nozomu
pulled out his scabbard and defended against the magic activated by immediate
deployment, but he was blown away by the impact and basically lost his posture.
Irisdina’s
magic pursued Nozomu, who was out of shape. Several ice arrows about the size
of an adult's arm were formed in the air.
The
magic activated by Irisdina was *Icicle Dance*
She
formed several icicles and launched them. It was a spell that skewered the
opponent.
The
icicles waiting in the air rushed toward Nozomu at Irisdina’s command.
Nozomu
activated [instant move] with all his might. When the flying icicles collided
with the ground, the impact rolled up the soil and shattered it into pieces.
Of
course, since it was a mock battle, the tip of the icicles were rounded by
tampering with the technique. Even so, if he got hit by it directly, he would
be in agony because of the pain.
"Not
good enough, Nozomu!"
(It's
bad! This distance will make me an easy target !!)
This
time, a magic formation was drawn at Nozomu's feet, and dark chains wrapped
around both of his feet. It was [Binding Chain of Darkness] that restrained
Rugato's familiar in the previous incident.
"Wha,
my legs!"
Furthermore,
Irisdina pursued. A lump of wind was formed in front of Irisdina.
The
roaring green vortex that engulfed the surrounding wind eyed Nozomu as if he
was pray. That specialized skill is like a hungry beast waiting eagerly.
Nozomu's
feet were completely trapped by the chains of darkness, and it seemed very
unlikely that he would be able to evade the magic of Irisdina. The familiar
that the dark chains previously bound was equivalent to rank A.
It
was clear that...there was no way for Nozomu, who couldn’t use magic, to break
this bind.
"Here
I go!"
The
beast of the wind was released with a shout from Irisdina. The released wind
spirals cut through the surrounding atmosphere and rushed to overrun and eat up
Nozomu like prey.
*Wind
Tunnel of the Hungry Beast*
The
magic wind spiral ran through while destroying everything in the direction it
travelled, the spell got the name “Wind Tunnel of the Hungry Beast” because the
compressed and swirling wind made a roar like a beast.
As
long as both of his feet were restrained, it couldn’t be avoided, and Nozomu,
who couldn’t use magic, couldn't take defensive measures such as putting up a
barrier.
(But
it doesn't mean I don't have an option!)
In
front of the beast of wind, Nozomu put his sword in his scabbard and slammed
his scabbard’s butt against the [Binding Chain of Darkness] that restrained his
leg.
Qi
technique *Breaking Strike*
Originally,
it was an internal destruction technique that directly drove into the
opponent's body and shattered the internal organs. He used this technique on
the magic formation at his feet instead.
The
magic formation shattered with a high-pitched sound due to the "Breaking
Strike", and the dark chains were scattered.
Nozomu
activated the instant move at the same time as the shackles disappeared. While
plunging into the [Wind Tunnel of the Hungry Beast], he sent his full power of
Qi to the katana that was returned to its scabbard, and at the same time,
extremely compressed it.
Nozomu
changed [Instant Move] to [Instant Move -Curve Dance-] in front of [Wind Tunnel
of the Hungry Beast].
Without
slowing down, he turned away from the approaching magic, ran through the side
of the "Wind Tunnel of Hungry Beast", and approached Irisdina as it
was.
However,
as expected, she was the top-ranked. She was already holding her rapier and
ready to confront him. Nozomu pulled out his katana and let go of the extremely
compressed blade ......
"~!"
A
red dream flashed back in front of him, and he hesitated to pull out his
katana. And thus, there was no victory for those who were wavering in the
match. By the time Nozomu noticed, the rapier that Irisdina had swung down was
already approaching in front of him.
=======================================
The
previous mock battle ended with Irisdina's victory. After the mock battle, the
two were sitting on a section of the meadow, including Mars, Tima, and Somia.
Today
they were talking about the training they did early in the morning, and they
came to this outer edge where there would be no problems even if it was a
little noisy.
"It
was a good match"
"Is...is
that so?"
For
Irisdina, it was a pure compliment towards Nozomu's tenacity, but Nozomu, who
hadn't fully understood his own abilities, just gave a vague reply.
As
for Nozomu's feeling, he was pushed all the time and his counterattack was
completely prevented, so he didn't think it was a very good match.
"That's
right. It would be rather strange if you could handle me when you haven't
released your ability suppression."
Mars
agreed with Irisdina's words. Mars was now opening a book while sitting on the
grass. He was reading a textbook related to magic.
He
was willing to open a textbook, which was something he didn’t usually do, but
he may have had something to think about after the fight against Rugato.
Tima
and Somia were sitting beside Mars. Both of them were watching the mock battle
between Nozomu and Irisdina.
The
black cat, Kuro, was in Somia's arm, and Tima was stroking Kuro in Somia's arm
beside her.
Kuro
was dozing in the sunny weather, occasionally yawning with a big yawn.
"Yup.
I haven't seen many people who can fight Ai for that long...."
"That's
right! Ane-sama has fighting skills that are as good as a regular knight of
Forsina, so I think it's good for you to have confidence."
Mars's
words followed by Tima and Somia.
The
Irisdina’s rank was A. This was a rank that only a first-class human could
have, and if you thought of it as a knight, it was equivalent to a knight in
the royal guard. Nozomu himself saw her ability in the fight against Rugato and
felt that her skill was no different from that rank.
"Hmm,
is that so?"
However,
it seemed that his self-evaluation that had been ingrained until now couldn’t
be easily overturned.
In
fact, Nozomu was not that strong. To be precise, it was correct to say that his
ability couldn’t be easily evaluated because it was too uneven.
Actually,
it was strange when he could fight with Mars and Irisdina, who were
overwhelmingly more powerful, while in the presence of [Ability Suppression].
At that point, Nozomu's sword skills were far beyond the student's level.
However,
there was a limit to how much skill he had when he was under [Ability
Suppression]. Just as a dragon, who was an overwhelming existence, blew away a
first-class swordsman like garbage with just a slight swing of his arm. A pure
ability difference appeared as an overwhelming difference on the actual
battlefield.
Moreover,
for Nozomu, not only was his physical strength limited by [Ability
Suppression], but also Qi and magical power.
The
amount of Qi, the number of times of use, power, range, etc, were greatly
reduced. There was almost no magical power, and the means of magic couldn’t be
used from the beginning.
In
other words, it was like putting weight on his whole body and running before
fighting, and Nozomu constantly fighting in that state one after another. He
never felt comfortable. Even if his ability to fight only in such a state was
evaluated, Nozomu would only feel a sense of discomfort.
"And
in the end, I won, but Nozomu didn't use that technique. I don’t know what
would happen if he used that technique in the actual battle."
"Well,
that's right."
Mars
agreed with Irisdina's words.
That
technique she was referring to is Nozomu's [Phantom] technique that she saw in
the previous incident.
That
technique has incredible speed and cutting power, and once released, it is
extremely difficult to defend and avoid. Sure, Irisdina was pushing him all the
time in the mock combat, but Nozomu had a way to overturn that inferiority and
didn't use it. No, to be exact, he couldn't use it.
"
...All right, let's talk about... so what is Mars doing?
"
Nozomu
diverted the conversation and stared at his friend beside him.
Nozomu
had never seen Mars, who wasn’t good at studying, read a textbook by himself
before. To be clear, it felt strange, but he was glaring at the textbook as if
he were looking at something important.
"Well,
I also have something to think about. I don't think it's going to work
though."
"Then,
is it about magic?"
"Yeah"
Until
now, Mars had only used Qi in his combat training, aside from class. This was
partly because his traits were more suited for Qi techniques than magic, but it
was many times more correct to say that there was simply nothing that drove
Mars.
Even
though Mars's ability was high amongst even the upper grades, since his class
was the lowest which is the 10th class, the opponents he fought against were
always lower than him. This meant he had never really been cornered and pushed
to his limit.
However,
being cornered by Nozomu at the end of last year and being beaten up by Rugato
in the previous incident may have been an opportunity for Mars to reconsider
himself.
"Guh,
the interrelationship of attributes? The effect of terrain and geological
conditions on magic?…………What kind of code is this?"
However,
as long as Mars was still frustrated and confused by magic, it looked like he
still had a long way to go.
Aside
from his practical grades, his written and other exam grades weren’t exactly
flattering.
He
had a strong desire to become stronger, and he was more suited to wielding a
sword than reading a book. He was able to feel that his physical skill
acquisition and study became stronger.
However,
his writing grades were terrible and was somewhere around the bottom of the
year. By the way, Nozomu, who took additional exams because his practical exams
weren’t good, may have been in a higher class if they only counted his written
exam.
"That's
right! Why don't you ask Tima to teach you? Tima has a lot of knowledge on
magic. Isn't it more efficient than studying alone?"
"Ehhhhhhhhh!"
Irisdina
suggested that Mars be taught by Tima. Tima was surprised and shouted with a
loud voice, but her face was slightly red because of her feelings.
"What
are you saying, please think about Tima's convenience."
With
a stunned face, Mars was shocked by Irisdina's suggestion.
"I
said it after thinking. And Tima herself doesn't seem to mind ..."
"Well,
ermmm ......... uuu"
When
Irisdina told Tima such a thing, Tima turned her face down, which was about to
turn from red into crimson. She was just shy at first glance, but Mars saw her
gestures in a completely different way.
"Look,
don't overdo it even though you don't like it."
Tima
herself wasn't completely satisfied with teaching Mars to study, but he said
something completely wrong. Tima hurriedly corrected Mars' words.
"I-I
don't really hate it! I just wondered if I could do it.........Ermm, if
Mars-kun is okay with me then, would you like to study with me?"
"Ehh,
is that okay?"
"Y,-Yea.
I think I can teach you about magic...but of course, only if Mars-kun is okay
with it..."
"I-I
have to say, you saved me"
"Yup"
In
the end, Tima taught Mars, who was struggling to understand the textbook. The
wall between Mars and Tima when they first met had disappeared after a forced
date by Irisdina and Somia. Instead, they had a strangely messy relationship
now...
"Ane-sama,
isn't it about time?"
"Eh,
is that so? Well then, let's go to school now."
Irisdina
answered Somia's words. The sun was completely out of the horizon, and its
light was beginning to illuminate the city.
Nozomu
and his friends started walking toward the school. And today, a new day had
begun.
