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Saying so, Ciel readied her rapier. Palra was stanced with her knife as well.
Since this is a spar, the lower-ranked Palra gets the first move. Otherwise, it’ll end up being a one-sided battle, defeating the whole purpose of sparring.

Now, the knife, as a weapon, is far from the most practical against monsters.
Having a short blade forces the user to draw close to the monster, and that already makes it a difficult fit for Palra. However, if we consider her Job, it’s more adequate than having her use a sword or spear, and most importantly, Palra’s main weapon is the bow, so the knife is more of a self-defense weapon in her case.

Besides, as long as she gets into her ideal range, it’s not impossible for her to overwhelm the enemy. In interpersonal combat, getting extremely close to the enemy can limit the utility of lengthy weapons.
However, against monsters, who have sharp claws as weapons and hides too thick for a knife to fatally pierce, it’s not much of an advantage.

With our spar restarted, Palra took a deep breath before rushing in as ideally prescribed. She was faster than expected, much faster than Ailneige’s hypothetical maximum movement speed. But since she’s moving in a straight line, Ciel should be able to handle her easily even with our restrictions.

After waiting for Palra to reach her ideal range, Ciel avoids Palra’s knife thrust at the final moment. Palra was taken by surprise, but she remained close to Ciel and continued attacking.

Perhaps growing impatient after Ciel avoided everything, she hastily tried attacking from an awkward stance and was countered by Ciel.

It’s more of a mentorship than a spar, but this was our plan to begin with. Ciel—even when fighting as Ailneige—tends to use tricky movements even when fighting fairly. It’s not a problem when the sparring partner already has some fighting experience, but when sparring with someone who just started out, they might develop weird habits.

Anyway, I want Palra to have a proper foundation first, and Ciel adjusted in turn. It’ll serve as good training for Ciel as well, and this coaching period shouldn’t last too long, so it’ll be a good experience.

She’ll probably overtake Ailneige soon, since we can’t just easily make Ailneige go beyond E-rank in terms of mastery.

From my observation, Ciel’s sword skill without my support should be around upper D-rank. She should be much stronger than the recently promoted D-rank boy that we battled a long time ago. However, it won’t reach C-rank.

For swordsmanship, Ciel hasn’t made much effort in learning things outside of the basics, and she isn’t as powerful as she is with sorcery. Honestly, compared to when we were training sorcery with our lives on the line at Rispelgia’s, we haven’t grown as much.

「I’m not particularly well-versed with knives, but I think it’s generally important to build a solid foundation.」
「R-right. Gotcha. Thanks.」

While Ciel’s breathing had only quickened slightly, Palra was breathing with her whole body and looked like she might collapse from even a light push.
She had a composed look up until the end of the spar, but it’s probably to keep her exhaustion from showing.

「Why don’t we take a break for the time being?」
「That sounds good. Ailneige, you can go ahead without me.」

Since the class period has finished, the students are gradually leaving. After a short contemplation, Ciel said, 「Well then,」 and left the area.

◆◆◆◆

「Hah— It’s so frustrating—」

As Ailneige left, I attempted to sit down, but unable to support my body, I lay down on my back.
I know this will get my hair covered in sand, and my roommate Tietta will scold me for it. But still, I wanted to fight until I couldn’t move.

At first, I held back, not wanting to hurt Ailneige, but just as she said, there was absolutely no need to worry; she showed me the undeniable gap in our abilities.
Even if I make the excuse that I’m just more skilled with the bow, Ailneige’s specialty isn’t the sword either; it’s sorcery.

Besides, I was matching her in terms of speed. And yet, my attacks couldn’t even graze her.
It’s like I was just hit with the reality of what an actual hunter is capable of.
I’m not frustrated because I felt envious of Ailneige’s power compared to mine.

With my current capability, I’m far from standing equal to her. That’s what frustrates me.

「She’s so far away—」

She’s just so far. Ailneige is apparently just an E-rank hunter. In that case, how much further away are A-rank hunters?
In the first place, can someone like me even become a hunter?
My thoughts were starting to spiral into negativity, so I shook my head and stood up.

At the very least, I kept up with her speed. That’s why… I’m sure that I’ll be able to match her someday. Ailneige has had a variety of experiences as a hunter, while I’ve only been assisting my father up until now.
There’s no way catching up would be easy.

That’s why, during my stay in the academy, I want to at least gain something that will let me stand next to Ailneige without feeling shame.
For that reason, I need to return to the classroom and chat with Ailneige as I always do.