Duel with Erika!
The mood was rather solemn as we headed toward the training grounds. Most of the witches who saw Erika and me each gripping our blades and radiating a chilly aura stopped their own sparring to turn and watch us, which only thickened the tension in the air.
…If not for the two complete idiots who couldn’t read the room, the duel would have begun in a truly grave atmosphere.
The Interrogation of a Demon Army Executive
📍 Location: Lily Academy Training Grounds
🎁 Objective: Force a confession through an armbar
“Eek! Confess the truth, you Demon Army executive! What is your purpose in infiltrating the academy?”
Lillia Cosette had Elena pinned in an armbar right in the middle of the training grounds and was demanding surrender.
Elena squirmed desperately, trying to escape, but with her wrist twisted completely behind her back and her arm locked, there didn’t seem to be anything she could do.
“O-ow, ow! My wrist, my wrist, Lady Lillia!”
“I won’t release you until you surrender~sawa-yo!”
“Yes, yes, I surrender! I-I admit it! I infiltrated the academy to steal all the antiques, melt them down into scrap metal, and sell them back to the imperial army! I’ve confessed everything, so please let me go!”
Zophy, who had been quietly watching this spectacle, walked over to me and asked,
“Is this really an interrogation of a Demon Army spy?”
“Who knows… Do you think a Demon Army operative would infiltrate with a motive like that, Zophy?”
“Probably not, my lady.”
Only after hearing Elena’s confession did Lillia finally release her.
A short distance away lay two swords that the pair had presumably been using earlier. It seemed they had started with a normal swordsmanship spar like the other young ladies, but after both dropped their blades, the match had devolved into a wrestling contest.
Normally, when both fighters lose their swords, they would call it a draw or pause the match, retrieve their weapons, and resume…
Um, ah, so these two really aren’t normal young ladies, huh…
“By the way, Lady Lillia, isn’t this script a little strange? Why would a member of the Black Knights need to infiltrate the academy just to steal antiques and sell them as scrap…? There are so many better motives you could have chosen…”
“This is a scenario born from the perfect literary imagination of Lillia Cosette~sawa-yo. Is there any contradiction?”
“I think it goes beyond contradiction and straight into absurdity… By the way, what was your literature grade when you enrolled…?”
“A refreshing zero points!”
“Ah, I see…”
It wasn’t pro wrestling, but it looked like Lillia had written the script for this little role-play. Elena, apparently having run out of things to say about Lillia’s attitude, wiped the genuine sweat from her brow with the frills on her uniform and picked up the practice sword she had borrowed from the academy.
Erika had also been so stunned by the overwhelming scene that she forgot about our duel and simply stared blankly at the two of them. Once the situation had calmed down a bit, the two of us remembered our original purpose.
“The mood’s been completely ruined, but… shall we begin, Maria?”
“Yeah, we should. I completely forgot about our match after seeing something way more intense than this.”
“Then all we have to do is put on an even more spectacular show and steal their attention back.”
“No thanks, Erika. I really don’t want to put on anything more intense than that… Um, is it okay if Zophy acts as referee? Or should we call the headmistress?”
“Do as you like. There’s nothing that could affect the outcome anyway.”
Calling a teacher would make it far too obvious that this was an official duel. Since Erika had thrown her glove at me back at the shooting range, the only young ladies who had seen that were the three of us here.
A referee was necessary for proper duel procedure, but if Zophy moderated it appropriately, we could probably hide from most of the young ladies that this was a real duel with stakes attached.
It wouldn’t be good if word spread too widely that Erika and I had dueled during our very first class.
Zophy silently directed Erika and me to take our positions, then recited the conditions of the duel in a quiet voice.
“Weapons are limited to the swords each side possesses. Removing one’s glove or wearing a glove does not permit the use of magic. This will be a pure contest of physical ability. The duel continues until one side surrenders or drops their sword. Now then, please begin.”
The one who closed the distance first was Erika. She took up a classic smallsword stance straight out of a drama or movie and, with somewhat awkward steps, glided forward with surprising speed, closing in on me in an instant.
Before my possession, I had never once swung a blade, and the old me probably wouldn’t have been able to even track this attack with my eyes.
But my eyes moved first, and my hands moved even faster than my eyes.
My opposite leg stepped forward along with my hand, and I blocked Erika’s blade in a stable stance. Erika smiled as if to say, as expected, and continued her assault.
Low slash, low slash, high slash, then a thrust at the torso.
After parrying four attacks, I started to get a better feel for it. The moment Erika thrust her blade straight at my chest, I used my own sword to scrape against hers, deflecting its path, and aimed the tip of my blade at her torso.
Erika twisted her waist sideways like a gymnast and dodged my sword.
Our two blades tangled together in the air at extremely close range.
“Your skill hasn’t dulled at all, Maria.”
“Well, I can’t compare to someone who carries a sword around every day… Hey! Don’t talk to me! It breaks my concentration!”
“Talking breaks my concentration too, you know!”
“Then focus on your own fight! Here I come!”
I had been a little nervous because I thought the one at a disadvantage would be me, who was still less adapted to this body.
To gauge how skilled this body was with a sword, I increased my attack speed and stepped forward aggressively.
Erika seemed to find this barrage difficult to handle; she kept her blade close to her body and focused entirely on defense.
At this point, pretending this was a simple “spar” had become nearly impossible.
Zophy in the middle, rolling her eyes back and forth as she watched us, the enormous amount of movement and distance covered despite it being close-quarters combat, and most of all, the ferocious aura we gave off as we growled at each other with the clear intent to win—everyone must have realized this was no ordinary contest of skill.
Erika retreated to avoid me, then circled along the edge of the training grounds trying to get behind me. I spun to keep her from getting my back, which handed her the initiative and forced me backward.
Even a duel using magic probably wouldn’t have been this fierce. The referee Zophy shouted,
“Please move back toward the center and continue your match! You’re too close to the other students over there—it’s dangerous!”
But by then, neither Erika nor I could hear Zophy’s instructions anymore.
If we had been a little farther apart, she might have called a timeout and made us reposition, but at the moment she gave the order, Erika and I were practically face-to-face, pressing our blades together and grunting as we tried to shove each other back with raw strength.
“Is negotiating with me again… so repulsive to you that you’d go this far, Maria?”
“Honestly, I forgot the terms. I just don’t feel like losing when I look at your face!”
“Ah, that’s right. If you weren’t that kind of woman, this Erika Waldmark wouldn’t have clung to you this long…”
At that moment, a sharp crack came from one of our swords. It was clearly an ominous sound, so we both froze for a second.
“Wait, Erika, this…”
“There’s no way the blade would break. Neither the Letiaponk nor the Waldmark family would carry a sword that couldn’t withstand a duel of this level…”
We two fools, driven by competitive spirit, sensed the danger but neither of us thought to ease the pressure on our blades. And that was a mistake.
Before we could figure out whose sword had made the sound, there was a loud pop, and both blades snapped cleanly from their hilts and shot into the air.
Both Erika and I flinched in shock, stumbling backward while holding nothing but empty hilts.
But instead of simply falling where they were, the blades spun unexpectedly in midair and flew toward a spot a short distance away from us.
Unfortunately, they flew straight toward the area where other students had gathered to watch our duel.
With a slicing sound, my blade grazed Elena Kerru’s cheek and embedded itself in the ground. Erika’s blade flew past her.
Elena immediately clutched her bleeding cheek and collapsed on the spot. Including me, Erika, and Zophy, every healing mage present tore off their gloves and rushed toward Elena. Even the headmistress came running, using levitation magic to reach her faster.
On the surface, it was clearly an accident. But…
Why did I feel like I had seen it?
In the exact instant she clutched her cheek and fell, I thought I saw Elena Kerru looking only at me—only at me, not at anyone else—with a wide, gleaming smile.