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Afternoon classes ended and the time for the duel is getting close. A crowd of students who heard of the duel are gathering around the area too. In the middle of the crowd facing each other are Olivia and Mathias, with the squirrel girl and I behind each of them.

“I’ll be the referee then, any questions?”

Damuel had done as he claimed before, standing as the duel’s referee. Olivia and Mathias nod, but the squirrel girl raises her hand timidly.

“Err, the maid automaton was also involved in the discussion, so could we arrange a two vs two duel¹?”
“So you’re offering to fight too?”
“Y-Yes.”

I remember the squirrel girl had been trying to hold back Mathias in the dining hall, so I wonder what’s gotten into her now. Maybe she’s someone serving Mathias’ family.

“Hmm, and what do you two say?”
“I don’t mind.”
“Same, though I should warn you, Natalia is strong.”
“Even better then.”

I’m not sure what the squirrel girl is planning, but this will mean I can support Olivia directly. I have to take the chance. I walk up next to Olivia, ready to protect her.

“Alright, let me create a barrier before the duel starts, so everyone else please step away. A little more, you’re still too close. Do you want to get hit so badly? Go further away.”

Damuel keeps addressing the crowd, trying to keep them safe. I can understand his intentions, but aren’t they a bit too far away now? I know they ticked me off before, but I would never use my gun against a child, there’s no need for so much distance.

“Alright, the duel between Mathias Feullade and Christina Barnard vs. Olivia Eto Gardeland and Natalia is about to commence.”

Once the crowd gets far enough for Damuel’s liking, he announces that while looking at us. We all get ready to fight.

“Fight!”

I’m surprised to see that the squirrel girl, who I just learned is called Christina, is the first one moving.

I remember she also had good results during practice the other day, and she’s coming straight towards me. She’s not going to use magic? She takes out a dagger she had hidden somewhere.

For a second I’m worried, but I quickly notice that it’s just a wooden practice dagger. That makes more sense. I can handle real blades without issue, but this is still reassuring.

“I’ll leave her to you then, Natalia.”
“Young Lady?”

Does she want to fight Mathias alone?

I’m still thinking that when the squirrel girl arrives right in front of me. I jump back to dodge her dagger, while Olivia heads towards Mathias.

What the hell? What was the point of fighting two vs two then?

Christina readjusts her body and chases after me. I sidestep, turn away, and crouch to evade the path of her dagger. She has squirrel traits, being swift on her feet. But even then-

“Eyy!”

She’s still less experienced with blades than me².

While she’s using her swiftness to her advantage, she can’t properly measure the reach of her blade. Not to mention that she flinches before every attack. Her speed is completely wasted that way.

Though I’m also pretty much a noob with blades, so I can’t say much.

Now that I think about it, Danny and Mir were really strong after all. Mir had a lot of physical strength thanks to being a dwarf, but she was also much better at timing her attacks and finding openings.

I wonder what she’s doing now? I still need to apologize properly to her. I haven’t really thanked her for making my gauntlets either.

And that reminds me, I haven’t even tried them on after receiving them. Ingralowe isn’t too far from the Valhen Woods, so maybe I can take them out for a spin if I go hunting sometime. I’ll have to make sure Olivia’s schedule is open too.

“Hah, hyahh!”

I hear a shout with waning determination, that wakes me up from the sea of thoughts I was in.

Right, I can’t get distracted. I’m in the middle of a fight. Though well, I kinda want it to end already.

She had been trying to stop Mathias all the time, and I don’t really feel any enmity from her. I’m sure she’s going through some stuff as well, so I’ll try to make this as painless as possible.

I wait for a moment when her grip on her dagger relaxes, and flick it away with my magic blade, which I dulled as much as I could.

“Wah?!”

I charge in as she’s still staggered.

“R-Rise, sword of the ground. Earth Blade!”

Christina desperately chants a spell, and a sword made of dirt sprouts from the ground. But she was too flustered and activated it too early. If she waited for me to take two more steps it would’ve hit me.

I easily dodge the sword on the ground, and circle around Christina who had nothing left to do.

I lightly kick her feet away. She loses her balance and begins falling, but I catch her from behind before she hits the ground and gets hurt.

Oh, she really is a squirrel girl. Her tail feels incredibly soft³.

“How about we call this a match?”

I ask Christina, who’s stuck between my arms.

“Huh? Ah…yeah…”

It took Christina a few seconds to understand what had just happened, blinking rapidly while her body curled up a little. Eventually she understood her position and answered with a waning voice.

“I’m sure you could’ve done a lot better if you used long range magic like during your test. Why did you choose to fight me from close range?”

I ask her the main question bothering me, and she looks away awkwardly as she replies.

“U-umm, I was trying to investigate you two yesterday, and then I saw you using a weird weapon in the training grounds. I didn’t want you to use that, so I tried to get closer…”

So it was her who I noticed yesterday while I was at the training grounds. She saw my gun and didn’t want to confront it, so she closed the distance trying to find another way to win.

“Analyzing your enemy and coming up with counter-measures was the correct choice, sadly in your case you sabotaged your own chances as well. You need to learn plenty of fighting styles before you can come up with correct counter-measures. Not to mention that you seriously underestimated my physical fighting capabilities. There’s no point in fighting from close range if I’m also superior to you on that.”

She looks downcast after I free her from my hold and she stands up on her own.

“But that Earth Blade you used earlier looked so well-shaped I can’t believe you casted it so quickly. You might have a knack for things like alchemy.”
“A…knack?”
“Yes.”

After criticizing her choices, I also praise her a bit. I didn’t want to slam her and be done with it.

Investigating an opponent and trying to use that information to create a plan is important. At least it’s better than charging head first and making things as you go. She just wasn’t strong enough to properly use the information gathered.

I didn’t want her to think her plan was wrong simply because it didn’t work.

I only caught a glimpse of her Earth Blade, but I could tell the blade and hilt had a very elaborate construction. But like Ophelia had once told me, having a clear idea of a spell and being able to recreate it faithfully is even more important than knowing how to use magic.

“E-Err…”
“What is it?”

Christina raises her head a little and looks at me.

“Th-Thank you very much⁴.”
“You’re welcome, it was nothing though.”

I wonder exactly why she’s thanking me? I’m a bit confused but answer politely, then look at Olivia. I have to go help her soon.

Somehow I can’t believe what I’m seeing. The spells cast by Mathias seem to shatter and vanish by a flick of Olivia’s hand⁵. Huh, what did I just see?

1. Robinxen: Wait if the maid wasn’t involved why are you asking them to get involved? wasn’t your concern about them being involved?
2. Robinxen: Is that really possible given the timeframe?
3. Robinxen: That was underwhelming but they are children I suppose.
4. Robinxen: Oh no has she also fallen?
5. Robinxen: Oh is Olivia’s gimmick something like have a unique constitution that makes it difficult to use magic but easy to counter it? The real question is if they’re going the Irregular route or the Myne route I suppose.