The Unanticipated Defeat
Rie let out a deep sigh and thought to herself.
Beating that third-year senior in such a fleeting moment had been an incredibly foolish move.
Michael Isaac von Israb, eldest son of Baron Israb, who had passed the knight examination. As a knight family through and through, he would not bear this defeat with a grudge.
Instead, he would acknowledge it as a valuable lesson and express gratitude for the teaching.
The problem was the rumor that had spread like wildfire through the entire academy in the blink of an eye.
A freshman who had only been here for less than a month had defeated a third-year. Even if the talent was exceptional, even if the family had trained her in swordsmanship from the start.
The professors at Minerva Academy were the best talents in the kingdom.
They had been teaching for three years, and this senior had even passed the knight examination. If the academy had remained quiet, it would have been far stranger.
‘I didn’t mean to cause such a stir. This is a disaster.’
After such a long time, the only thing he had said was to win against someone else. I at least wanted to hear a polite greeting or how he was doing.
I had expected that even with my challenge to defeat him, he would simply smile and let it pass.
Because the two of us were no longer children.
We were both proper adults now.
‘…No, it’s my fault. We met after such a long time. I shouldn’t have approached him like that.’
Back then, I was always hiding my true feelings, but I thought I had overcome that.
But when I saw Lucian again after nearly ten years, strange words just spilled out.
“Haa.”
Rie sighed once more and looked ahead.
There stood a male student who had entered the same first year as her, sword in hand.
Since martial lectures were mostly sparring, it was natural for students to collide like this.
But because it was her who had defeated Michael, everyone was silently avoiding sparring with Rie.
She had grumbled internally about how timid these martial students were!
Yet she knew she would never say something like that if she had truly seen the ruthlessness in her own sparring.
When no one seemed willing to spar, Rie deliberately pointed at Locke.
It could have been because he possessed a respectable sword style.
But the real reason was that he was extremely close to Lucian.
‘I thought rejection would be likely…’
Whether it was martial pride or some deeper thought.
Locke hesitated for a moment, then accepted Rie’s challenge as sparring partner.
Thanks to him, not only the first-year classmates but even Rie herself was surprised.
Despite the outcome being obvious, he had insisted on fighting.
Was this foolishness, or had he truly found a breakthrough?
‘Let’s find out by clashing.’
Rie gripped her sword lightly and stood before Locke.
She knew she held overwhelming superiority in every aspect, but she had no intention of underestimating or belittling him.
Both of them were martial students who hoped to walk in an upright direction with their swords.
Arrogance was a blade that cut one’s own throat, and pride was a dagger that pierced one’s own heart.
“First year, Locke Bückenmeyer. As expected, first year, Rie Arche von Haniel. Let us begin the spar.”
The moment the instructor’s signal fell, Rie shot forward.
The easiest way to gauge an opponent’s limits was to press relentlessly without giving an inch.
This was not a real battle, only a spar.
Both needed to enhance strengths and quickly identify and correct weaknesses.
To achieve that, it was best to pour everything into the first exchange.
Fwadak! Fwadak! Fwadak!
The first-year students’ eyes widened in shock.
The moment the instructor raised his hand, Rie’s figure vanished, and she was seen brutally beating Locke’s neck without mercy.
Most students gathered in the sparring hall could not follow her movements at all.
Only a few had reached the edge and caught a glimpse.
Locke nearly failed to even defend and would have lost his neck without a trace.
In the midst of that frenzied assault, Rie’s sword targeted the lower body.
Locke quickly moved his shoulder to block, but seeing a hand shape different from the one Lucian had shown, he immediately dropped his sword to parry the leg strike.
After several exchanges, finally Locke faced the exact situation drawn by Lucian.
The same neck-targeting strike from the lower body direction.
But Locke noticed something subtly different in the hand shape from before.
Without even a second of hesitation, he pulled his shoulder back.
Almost simultaneously, Rie’s neck-targeting sword brushed past Locke’s shoulder area.
Locke felt cold sweat break out and quickly retreated.
Rie, with a displeased expression, stared at her opponent.
“…?”
She had exchanged full-power attacks and confirmed.
After several feint moves, if he targeted the shoulder, every one of them would succeed.
She feinted the lower attack and immediately switched to a high slash.
She never expected him to dodge it.
She immediately turned her body and struck more violently.
Perhaps he was hiding one technique.
Or perhaps his true strength had been concealed until now.
But Locke could not even counterattack and was desperately defending against her assault.
Thinking that his dodge had been pure luck, Rie decided to end it.
A perfect strike aimed exactly at the head, falling straight down.
The moment she lifted her sword to block it was when Rie targeted it.
“…Eh?”
But the immediate situation made her jolt in shock.
She had clearly seen the neck strike falling toward her head, yet he was not defending but charging forward?
Thanks to that, Rie could not avoid Locke’s charge in time.
Thud! Bang!
Rolling!
Rie, who was far superior in swordsmanship, was thrown to the floor by Locke’s torso charge.
Locke’s body weight was far greater than hers.
Just as Lucian had called him a “wild boar.”
Rie tumbled across the sparring hall floor and collapsed.
“Eh?”
“Wow!”
“Oof.”
The students watching the spar were surprised, but not as much as Rie.
Even the academy’s seniors and knights had failed to recognize her technique immediately.
Yet she had read it like a ghost and dismantled it perfectly.
Since they had clashed with their bodies instead of swords, no follow-up attack had landed.
If the opponent had parried her strike with a sword, it would have directly led to defeat.
After rolling once more, Rie stood up from the ground.
She had assumed Locke would launch an immediate counterattack, yet he looked dazed and straightened his posture.
She felt something strange there.
She had clearly been given the perfect opportunity to reverse the offense.
Yet his appearance suggested he had not believed the attack would land.
It seemed as if he had received help from someone, not his own power.
“….”
As her thoughts reached that point, Rie’s eyes flashed with fury.
She gathered strength in both legs and leaped into the air.
Locke immediately grasped the situation and prepared to focus on defense.
But this time, an entirely different power radiated from the attack.
Crack!
The neck sword broke, and this time Locke rolled across the sparring hall floor.
Unlike Rie, who rose immediately, Locke could not stand.
“Enough! The winner is first-year Rie Arche von Haniel!”
The match had ended, the winner declared, but no cheers erupted.
Everyone had thought she was simply the noble daughter of the Haniel family, so they would not take her seriously.
But after witnessing that single strike, all such thoughts vanished.
They were fellow martial students, yet the blow had been so terrifying they doubted its possibility.
If they had been in her position, could they have even reacted?
The academy’s prospective top student, the legendary genius, those overly dramatic titles.
It was the moment they realized they were not mere flattery.
“Haa.”
Meanwhile, Rie lowered her sword and looked down at Locke sprawled across the floor.
She had been angry and poured her full strength into the strike.
Since Locke had decent skill, he had managed to block it.
If he had been inferior, she might have killed him outright.
‘I was supposed to show my strength against this man.’
She bit her lip and blamed herself for her shortcomings.
Suddenly, she discovered a single sheet of paper sticking out from between Locke’s shirt pockets.
She had always despised touching others’ belongings, but her eyes kept returning to that paper.
Eventually, before Locke regained consciousness, she approached and quickly stole the note.
She was anxious whether a professor or other students might have seen her.
Finally, after the lecture ended, she hurried to a quiet place where no one was watching.
And as she carefully unfolded the paper, “Ah…” she sighed.
‘This is… me.’
Even after seeing it multiple times, she was certain it was her.
The skill was so detailed that she wondered if a famous painter had drawn it.
But soon she realized someone else had created it.
At the very edge of the paper was the minuscule Minerva Academy stamp.
That meant this paper had come from a student’s notebook at Minerva Academy.
Rie knew Locke lacked talent in the arts.
As fellow first-years, she knew he had received extra points for swordsmanship.
Furthermore, among Locke’s close friends, only one possessed such exceptional artistic skill.
“…Lucian.”
The moment the name left her mouth, Rie startled and looked around.
Had someone been watching her or listening?
She had just thought that, when she confirmed no one was nearby.
Only then did she let out a relieved sigh and examine the paper once more.
…The thought had been nagging her for a while, but it was drawn far too well.
It was not a casual sketch, but a highly detailed observation and recreation.
A work of such intense concentration that the devotion to the subject was palpable.
‘I clearly remember the last time we met as children and then not seeing each other properly after that.’
She had forced herself to hold back the urge to meet him immediately.
If she had seen him first, her carefully maintained resolve would have melted away.
She had endured that way, honed herself, and finally become the freshman admired by everyone and entered the academy alongside Lucian.
It had been incredibly enjoyable, incredibly happy, but she had desperately hidden it on the outside.
She had wanted to greet him immediately, yet she would rather die than appear as the carefree young lady she used to be.
She had hoped Lucian would take at least one step toward her first.
Then she would close the distance with a smile.
But that expectation had completely collapsed.
Because it seemed he still only saw her as the cheeky, spoiled young noble.
So in that moment of excruciating pain and heartache.
‘Like this…’
The suppressed feeling that her heart had been pounding wildly suddenly surged.
I must endure, I must endure, I cannot show a lighthearted expression. I must… endure?
It seemed I didn’t need to endure. This was a wonderful opportunity, the perfect timing.
Lucian was probably waiting for me to approach like before. I’m sure of it.
As that thought crystallized, Rie spotted herself sprinting toward the philosophy lecture hall.
“Lucian.”
For the first time, she had understood her hidden feelings a little, just a tiny bit.
So I should approach a little more gently, walk toward him…
“Come out. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
But instead of what she had intended, a rather frightening line escaped her.