2v2 Sparring (3) — Lillia's Illustration
It seemed like the three of them were seriously misunderstanding something.
Before any unnecessary misconceptions could take root, Baran explained the situation in detail.
Only then did the three of them finally show expressions of understanding.
“S-so that’s what it was. And here I thought I’d suddenly received a confession…”
“No, who in their right mind would suggest something like that so casually?”
Miroel’s voice carried a sharp, scolding tone.
Well, he had nothing to say in his defense.
Hadn’t he gone full throttle without realizing it because of that damn quest?
'If it was enough to ignore even the Calm trait, it really was that urgent.'
This was all because of Sherry, who was standing right beside him.
In a way, she was the mid-boss of the next episode.
When he turned his head toward her—
“Why are you staring at me so intently?”
She had a question mark floating above her head.
Baran shook his head slowly.
“It’s nothing. By the way, may I ask you one thing, Miss Sherry?”
“You’re changing the subject way too obviously. Anyway, yes, go ahead.”
“Who is your opponent for this sparring match?”
“Hmm, I don’t know why you’re curious, but it’s Luden.”
Upon hearing that, Baran let out a small sigh of relief inside.
He had been worried that things might deviate from the original story, but fortunately that hadn’t happened.
'Still, it’s a little pitiful.'
Sherry’s eyes were practically blazing as she thought of Luden.
It looked like she was determined to win this time no matter what.
Unfortunately for her, she would still lose.
And by an even wider margin than before.
'Ugh. I’m the one who helped Luden grow this time.'
Originally, he should have kept his distance from her.
But after chatting with her like this in the café, it seemed a sense of closeness had formed without him noticing.
And on the other hand, he felt strangely uncomfortable knowing he was the one who had raised Luden.
'Well, giving her just a tiny bit of advice should be fine.'
With that thought, Baran called out to her in a serious voice.
“Miss Sherry.”
“Yes?”
“I’m not sure if someone like me has any right to say this, but your power is far superior to mine.”
“Eh, ummm…”
Sherry stuttered, flustered by the sudden compliment.
He continued without paying it any mind.
“To my eyes, your mana burns more fiercely than anyone else’s. If you gain enough confidence, you should be able to control your mana with even greater precision.”
“Uh, y-yeah.”
She must have been incredibly happy—her lips kept twitching upward.
Watching the scene, Miroel’s expression turned icy cold.
No, how does that make me a Casanova?
Unable to believe what he was hearing, Baran quickly changed the subject.
“Anyway, what about you, Miss Risa? Will you be my partner?”
“Ah…! O-of course I’d be grateful. To be paired with none other than Mr. Baran…”
“Yes. Then I look forward to working with you.”
And so, the moment he became Risa’s partner had arrived.
***
After chatting a little longer in the café, Baran’s group went their separate ways.
Sherry stared blankly at the back of Baran’s head as he walked into the distance.
'He acknowledged me.'
The blind archer who had suddenly appeared at the academy.
At first, aside from being blind, he hadn’t stood out much.
If anything, maybe the fact that he was handsome even with his eyes covered?
So she simply hadn’t paid him any attention.
'I didn’t think he’d be all that impressive anyway.'
But she had been wrong.
Even though he was blind, he used a bow—where eyesight was crucial.
Not only that, his senses were so outstanding that he was the only one to perfectly clear the entrance exam.
He had even landed a valid hit on Professor Dale.
'And recently he even took first place in the practical class.'
Day by day, his fame had grown even greater.
To the point where even promising students like herself were being overshadowed.
And yet, of all people, he had acknowledged her.
She had never once received recognition from her father.
Was that why?
For some reason, her mood today was exceptionally good.
Thump. Thump.
And for some unknown reason, her heart was pounding wildly.
'This time, I’m going to win no matter what and earn Father’s recognition too.'
With that final thought, Sherry hummed a cheerful tune and headed toward the training grounds.
***
After parting ways with Sherry, Risa and I headed straight to the student research lab.
Why was the sparring match paired with the Production Department?
It was simple. The Production Department needed to use enchanted weapons for the sparring.
For us, it was enough to just spar against each other and assign scores.
But the Production Department had to inspect every single weapon in detail to give proper scores.
So, to save time, they held a joint exam with the Combat Department.
“There are a lot of people here, huh?”
“Well, yeah.”
They had to make their weapons as quickly as possible and practice with them.
From the students’ perspective, they needed to pair up quickly and finish the enchantments.
Sherry was relaxed because she was working with her own faction.
At that moment, Miroel claimed she was being NTR’d.
I inwardly found her words ridiculous and asked Risa a question.
“Miss Risa, how is your enchantment skill?”
“Umm. To be honest, I’m not amazingly talented or anything. Just… about half as good as my father.”
“……”
Wait, that’s still incredibly good.
She had sounded so anxious that I wondered if it was different from the original story, but it was just her usual self-deprecation.
Her father, Dillo, was so famous for alchemy that his enchantment skills were overlooked.
Even so, when it came to enchantment alone, he was at least top-tier.
Half of that level would still clearly surpass most enchanters.
'She must lack confidence because of that timid personality.'
Since I was going to help her anyway, I might as well boost her confidence too.
'And later, whenever I need it, I can just ask Risa for potions. Perfect.'
While I was busy plotting in my head, she took down a bow that was hanging on the wall of the lab.
“You use a bow, right, Mr. Baran?”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t carry one around with you?”
Well, it was only natural for her to find it strange that an archer didn’t carry a bow.
To answer her question, I showed her the Bow of the Beginning.
“I usually use this.”
“Huh? Um, isn’t that just an ordinary silver bracelet?”
“It’s not. Go ahead and examine it.”
At those words, she began inspecting the Bow of the Beginning.
The moment she tried to touch it—
Crackle!
A rejection reaction burst from the Bow of the Beginning.
Risa immediately glared at it with fierce eyes.
“Mr. Baran. This bracelet is definitely cursed. I’m sure of it.”
Miroel protested with the most wronged expression in the world.
Unfortunately, her protest didn’t reach Risa’s ears.
So Risa, completely unaware of how devastated Miroel was, declared with absolute certainty.
“It’s definitely cursed! No doubt about it!”
***
I quickly cleared up the misunderstanding, afraid that leaving Miroel’s sense of injustice alone would become annoying later.
Only then did Risa apologize with an apologetic look on her face.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was your exclusive weapon.”
“It’s fine. It did react that way, so it’s understandable that you misunderstood.”
I left the sniffling Miroel behind and quickly moved on to the main topic.
“More importantly, let’s get the enchantment done quickly.”
“Y-yes!”
Nodding vigorously, Risa placed the bow on the table.
She gently stroked the bow, then pulled out a quill pen with her other hand.
'It’s fascinating to see it in person.'
Risa was modifying the circuits drawn on a standard-issue bow.
I knew nothing about enchantment, yet even I could tell how important concentration was for this task.
I even held my breath in case it might break her focus.
Even Miroel acknowledged Risa’s talent.
Though she still managed to subtly diss her in the process.
“Haa… All done, Mr. Baran!”
At that moment, she wiped the sweat from her forehead with her arm, signaling that the modification was complete.
I looked at the bow lying on the table.
The moment I activated Mind’s Eye—
◈ Originally a common-grade item, it has evolved one rank thanks to Risa’s enchantment.
◈ Contains spells for mana control and reaction speed.
The description appeared in my vision.
At the same time, Risa began explaining the spells she had engraved.
“Since your eyes aren’t good, I thought about adding something related to vision, but after seeing you shoot last time, I went with mana control and reaction speed instead. What do you think?”
“Not bad at all. I didn’t expect the weapon’s performance to change this much.”
“R-really?”
“Yes. I honestly don’t understand why you were so lacking in confidence.”
“Ehehe!”
She must not have received many compliments—her smile was brighter than the sun.
'Just how harshly has she been treated all this time?'
At this point, I genuinely felt sorry for her.
How little confidence must she have to smile so brightly from a single compliment?
'Well, her skills really do deserve praise, so it’s not strange.'
Anyway, with this, all preparations were complete.
This should be more than enough to handle Kanya.
All that remained was to get used to the bow before the sparring match in two days.
“Ehehehehehe!”
No, how long is she going to keep laughing?
***
And so, the day of the sparring match finally arrived.
Perhaps because they wanted to see the new students’ skills, the spectator seats were packed with seniors.
Was that why?
Gulp!
Risa, standing beside me, swallowed dryly while breaking out in a cold sweat.
It seemed the pressure of having her enchanted weapon displayed in front of so many people was making her extremely nervous.
“You don’t need to worry. We’ll win with room to spare.”
“Y-yes!”
She nodded with a stiff face.
Then, in a worried voice, she asked,
“B-by the way, will Miss Sherry be okay? Her opponent is Mr. Luden…”
“Hmm. Miss Sherry will manage just fine. Let’s focus on ourselves first.”
“Okay.”
While we were talking—
“Students Baran and Kanya, please put on your gauge suits.”
Professor Dale handed us the gauge suits.
I took mine and put it on over my clothes.
The next moment, Dale looked at us with a sly smile.
“Once you’re dressed, both of you please step up onto the sparring ground.”
At those words, Kanya and I stepped onto the arena.
Dale then began explaining the rules.
“The defeat conditions are simple. Giving up or having your gauge reach zero counts as a loss. Any quest—…”
“Professor. May I add one more rule?”
I raised my hand, cutting Dale off mid-sentence.
Dale smiled with interest at my question.
“What kind of rule would you like to add?”
“How about the loser has to grant one request from the winner?”
“Hmm. I don’t mind, but what about you, Student Kanya?”
“I accept. However, I would like a penalty applied to that person.”
“What kind of penalty?”
“Since I’m from Class B, it’s impossible for me to beat that person normally, right? So let’s change the condition so that if that person’s gauge drops by only half, I win.”
Dale stroked his chin in thought at her words.
Then he turned to me.
“Student Baran, are you okay with that? It seems like you would be at a disadvantage.”
“Yes, it’s fine. Even with that handicap, it should be more than enough to teach the bun-haired young lady a lesson.”
“Eek!”
Her face flushed bright red at the words “bun-haired.”
Dale barely held back his laughter and spoke.
“Bun-hair— Ahem. Yes, then I’ll take it that both of you have agreed and add the rule. We can begin immediately.”
And so, the long-awaited bun-hair re-education session finally began.
You’re dead, you bun-haired brat.
