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「Ei!」

With a lethargic yell, Palra thrust her dulled knife forward. In response, Ciel turned her body a half-step back and nimbly smacked down Palra’s knife.
「Hii!?」 Palra shrieked out of surprise.

It was Combat Training time; since Palra is now permitted to participate in sparring, she is currently challenging Ciel. Grimid was unable to give the teacher a satisfactory answer, so now he’s not allowed to fight Ciel until he gains proper understanding.

Since he brilliantly concluded that he lost because Ailneige was a coward unwilling to tank his final strike, he probably won’t be fighting Ciel for a while.

While he might have wished for a fair and square knightly spar, what Ciel did probably wouldn’t be criticized even in an actual knightly duel.
In the first place, forcing Ciel, someone who’s absolutely weak in raw power, into a battle of pure strength is far from being fair and square.

Nonetheless, Grimid will go on to continue improving from here on, so Ailneige may not be able to win by the time they face each other again. If that happens, Grimid’s attitude might not get properly corrected, but the teachers will surely work to amend that. At the very least, it’s not our problem to resolve.

To begin with, it’s not good to exclusively spar with the same opponent, which is why today it’s Ciel and Palra fighting. The teacher also mentioned that it’s convenient since we’re part of the same party, though.

「First of all, are you taking this seriously?」
「I am! I am, but…」

Ciel grilled Palra for dropping her knife, and she averted her gaze, tongue-tied.

Even I could vaguely tell that Palra was holding back, so it must have been extremely obvious for Ciel. Usually when she’s asking, she’d have a tone of pure curiosity, as if she just wants her questions answered, but today, Ciel’s voice had an uncharacteristic hint of irritation.

Seeing Ciel’s reaction, I nodded to myself contemplatively like an unrelated observer and awaited Palra’s response.

「As I thought, I really can’t attack Ailneige.」
「It’s part of our class, you know?」
「I know, but still…」
「I’m not as slow to be hit by your attacks right now.」
「*Ugk*… That might be true, but…」

『I’m troubled, I’m so troubled, Ain.』
『Why so?』
『I have no idea why Palra is reacting this way.』

As Palra fell silent, Ciel spoke to me with an extremely troubled tone.
I really want to give her a definitive answer, but the most I can do is guess Palra’s thoughts.

『I think it’s because she doesn’t want to injure… or even just hurt you, Ciel.』
『But it’s unavoidable when fighting, you know? Besides, this wouldn’t be enough to injure me. Right?』
『There’s something I’m a bit curious of; please ask Palra if she can do it with other people.』
『? Understood.』

Can she just not fight against Ailneige, or does she not want to fight people at all? There’s even a slim possibility that she also finds it difficult to harm monsters.
It’s best to make it clear first.

「Can you fight if it’s with other people?」
「Y-yeah. I’ve sparred with the teacher before, and I was fine with others too.」

『But she can’t with Ailneige?』
『That seems to be so. In that case, why not show her that she can’t injure you at all? I believe your barrier should be enough for that.』
『Are you sure?』
『It’s not a barrier for protection, after all.』

Protecting us is my role. However, this time, the barrier’s purpose is to make Palra fight, so it’s fine for Ciel to use one. It’s just like my rationale for fighting before.

Perhaps convinced by my reasoning, Ciel chanted a barrier spell. How do I say this? It’s been forever since I last heard that chant. I can cast it chantless, after all, and other people generally use magic circles to cast it.

「I’m using barrier sorcery. Please attack this barrier with all your might. You can do it if you aim where I’m sure to not get hit, right?」
「Yeah.」

Nodding in affirmation, Palra took a few deep breaths and attacked Ciel’s barrier wall. Palra’s strike is still quite light, and Ciel’s barrier is adjusted to easily endure an attack of E-rank force.

It was still difficult for Palra to break through, and her attack was easily deflected. Experiencing Ciel’s barrier firsthand, Palra was astonished, her eyes jumping between her practice knife and Ciel’s barrier.

『Can I leave the next one to you, Ain? I can’t manipulate it as freely as Ain, after all.』
『Understood. I’ll shrink the range of the barrier, then.』

After making an exact copy of Ciel’s barrier underneath the existing one, Ciel’s barrier disappeared. I then slowly transformed the remaining barrier to envelop Ciel’s body. It was now an ellipse spaced around 30 cm away from the body. This is something that even Ciel is capable of doing, but it’s difficult for her to maintain it subconsciously. After all, it’s my fault that she hasn’t improved in barrier sorcery.

「With this, there shouldn’t be any need to worry about me getting hurt, right?」
「Y-yeah. Thank you, Ailneige.」
「Now then, let’s continue, and this time, please fight properly.」