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After contemplating what weapon to use, I retrieved a knife from the magic pouch.
While we do have Ciel’s sword for sword dancing use, I’m not capable of properly wielding it, so I opted for the lightest weapon we have available.
If I use physical reinforcement, it would result in the awkward situation where I can’t attack at all, so I’ll have to fight without it. In that condition, I don’t believe I would be able to swing a heavy lump of metal like a sword.

Besides, Ciel can wield a sword effectively in combat thanks to the Dance Princess Job’s assistance.
So even if I could properly hold a sword, my strikes would still be amateurish at best.
My skill with a knife is no better, but its shorter length makes it much easier to handle… or so I hope. At the very least, holding one should make me look more serious about the exam compared to being empty-handed.

「C’mon, come at me.」

After I armed myself with the knife, the now battle-ready proctor urged me to attack. However, in my fighting style, I never initiate attacks.
If I tried, well, it would only result in a rather pitiful display; all I’d be able to do is swing the knife wildly while relying on my barrier for safety.
The swings would be easy to dodge, of course, but if I can land even a slight scratch, I could drag the fight into a war of attrition.

That said, I have no intention of using a barrier that could endure something like that for this mock battle.
For this fight, I’m sticking with a visible barrier designed to withstand D- to C-rank attacks.

「I did mention earlier that I can only fight using my own style, didn’t I?」
「… Ah, I see. So that’s what you meant. You certainly don’t seem proficient in combat.
In that case, I’ll take the initiative. Don’t worry—I won’t go with full force right away.」

With that response, the proctor closed the distance between us.
He moved at a speed comparable to a goblin. It’s slow enough that even I could dodge the attack, but it doesn’t seem to be necessary, so I just let my barrier take the sword thrust.
Easily enduring the strike, I heard the proctor mutter, “That’s hard,” in a slightly impressed tone.

Either to test the barrier’s strength or to break it outright, he tried pushing the tip of his sword deeper into my barrier, so I tried to stab him with my knife. Seeing this, the proctor nonchalantly stepped back.

「I see. I understand your style now. In short, if your barrier breaks, you lose, right?」
「That’s correct.」
「In that case, that honestly makes it easier to hold back. Thanks for that.」

As soon as he finished speaking, he charged at me again, moving about 20-30% faster than before.
With that, the mock battle ceased to be a proper test.
It has turned into a game where the proctor tries to break my barrier while avoiding my knife attacks.
There was no victory condition for me; after all, I don’t plan on winning.

The second strike was more compact but had greater force behind it.
Yet even so, the barrier remained undamaged, surprising the proctor for a moment. This attack was probably around D-rank in strength, so he must not have expected the barrier to endure it.

He likely doesn’t know Ailniege’s rank, but there aren’t any D-rank hunters at our age; being one at 15 years old is considered early in this world.
Nevertheless, specialists can sometimes reach C-rank levels in their particular fields early, so this kind of skill mismatch shouldn’t be uncommon. Barriers tend not to stand out much as well.

The proctor dodged another knife strike with ease, but this time, instead of stepping back, he rushed forward.
It seems that he has abandoned the idea of breaking the barrier with a single hit and is now trying multiple strikes, slashing from all directions ceaselessly.
I can’t tell if he was simply holding back, but his attacks are less powerful than before, so the barrier remains intact. I wanted to find an opening to slip a stab in, but it was difficult to keep up with his increased speed.

After a while—only a few seconds of this in real time—the proctor seemed to realize that it wasn’t doing anything, so he began focusing magic power into his sword instead.
He then raised his blade for a large, downward strike, so I threw the knife to interrupt him.
The proctor easily smacked it down with his sword, and, from his lowered stance, he transitioned into an upward slash.

I watched the attack carefully. And the moment it connected with the barrier, I retrieved a second knife from the pouch and thrust it forward.

「Crap—」

Perhaps having assumed that I had no other weapon, the proctor was caught off guard and leapt backward farther than it was necessary.
With there being distance between us, I calmly picked up the thrown knife while checking the condition of my barrier.
The last attack appears to have been quite powerful—at best, my barrier could probably endure only two more of the same strike.

Since, in my mental math, Ailniege still has plenty of magic power left, I repaired the damaged barrier, causing the proctor to let out an audible, “Ha?”
He then grinned with visible glee.
The next exchange will likely be our last, so I readied my knife and waited for his move.

This time, the proctor closed the distance faster than ever before, at a speed I likely can’t react to.
He appeared to position himself for a frontal attack, but I knew he would strike from behind. However, I do not have the agility to keep up with him.
Effortlessly slipping behind me, I couldn’t even attack him before he delivered a decisive strike—one so fast that my magic power-infused eyes couldn’t perceive it.

With a loud crack, the barrier shattered, melting into the air and vanishing completely.
Judging by his speed and the force behind that final strike, our proctor must be a B-rank hunter. As this thought passed my mind, I had no intention of continuing, so I obediently raised my arms.

「I surrender.」
「Well, that was fun. The others don’t seem to share my sentiments, though,」

Lowering my arms, I glanced around. While the other examinees were heaping praise on the proctor, it seems that I wasn’t particularly impressionable in their eyes.
They enjoyed the battle for sure, but I knew that wasn’t what the proctor meant by his earlier words.

「It’s alright. Barriers are boring, after all. And this is the only thing I’m good at.」
「No, I think you’d make a great hunter.」
「Thank you very much. But I don’t want to stand out, so I’m fine being average. I’ll just quietly collect herbs in peace.」
「You don’t want to stand out… hmm.」
「I’ve already given up in regards to how I look. I do like my appearance, after all.」

With that, I stepped out of the square.
Now we shouldn’t stand out in terms of combat capability.
If we had managed to defeat an active hunter by accident, we’d risk drawing the interest of troublesome people. Such as the thunder sorcerer boy, for instance.

As I was musing over this, a loud cheer erupted from a different group.
I moved to the corner and turned my attention toward the commotion before switching control back to Ciel. “You didn’t need to switch out, you know?” She said, but I’ll need to step back in later anyway, so it’s better to have Ciel out as much as possible.

And so, I quietly observed the ongoing match, and it appears that the boy with greater magic power capacity than the princess is holding his own fairly well against his proctor.

And that ends this part! While our girls are trying to avoid attention, it looks like someone else is attracting some.

As always, I appreciate that there are actually mature adult characters here and there, especially among hunters. While there are always mooks with inflated egos, there are hunters that are actually good at human interaction stuff like actually training the next generation, or encouraging children (even if it wasn’t needed here). But also, the honesty of “Oh, good. I can slack off on holding back since there’s a visible marker showing when you won’t be harmed. Neat.” was great.

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay healthy, stay safe, and have a nice day~!

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