Chapter 39 - Duel
「Wai, wait Tina! I didn’t do anything wrong!」
I started explaining while shaking my hands.
If someone were to observe from the side, it would have looked unsightly but I wasn’t in a situation to care.
「Mm, I believe that Eric didn’t do anything wrong. So… who is that girl? What did you do?」
Tina, whose eyes were still emanating darkness was coming closer and closer.
Her voice was low, flat, and devoid of emotion but her face was still smiling for some reason. I’m scared.
「So it’s you Eric Aurin, the person who said they wanted to sleep with me」
I sensed that the girl who spoke earlier was coming closer.
「Shut up!」
「Kuu! What!?」
I yelled without turning around.
Because of someone I didn’t even know, my life was facing such a big crisis..!
「Tina, the girl behind me is.. you know, someone who’ll be sharing a room with me. My roommate」
「….Heeee, that’s how it is. So Eric will be sleeping in the same room as that girl everyday」
I wonder why. Even though I explained my situation, Tina’s appearance grew stranger, and scarier!
「We.. we’ll only be staying in the same room! We won’t be doing anything strange!」
「Obviously. But by mentioning that, you were thinking of some something strange no?」
「Wr.. wrong! Something like that!」
I’m sure I felt a chill coming from Tina. Perhaps she was using magic unconsciously?
That certainly was amazing but I would rather you not use such high level techniques here.
「Tina-san, please calm down」
Jere-san who was observing us from the side came in and interrupted us.
「This girl won’t accept sharing a room with someone who isn’t stronger than herself. Thus Eric-kun and she will be fighting. What Eric-kun said earlier about sleeping together… please forget it. It was a play on words」
I was thankful that Jere-san explained in my stead, but I wish he had also explained the part about sleeping more in detail.
It didn’t feel like Tina’s scariness dropped at all.
「Why is Eric sharing a room with her? Maybe Eric hoped for this…」
「I didn’t say anything! Apparently it was the only room available!」
I denied in a hurry since Tina said so while glaring at me.
I think this was the first time I was glared at by Tina.
「If I lose this fight, I won’t have a place to stay」
「Is that so. But why are you even listening to this kind of girl? Normally if there was only one room available, you wouldn’t ask for something like that?」
「Thi, this kind of girl..?」
After being label as a bad person, the girl said something in a shaky voice. But I was also also curious on what Tina said.
Is such selfishness allowed in this country’s knight order?
「Yurina1 Kaspar is the daughter of one this country’s nobles. Her parents are extremely overprotective and wouldn’t allow their daugher to room with a man. Yurina-san and I managed to convince her parents to allow a man who could beat her to live in the same room」
So that’s how it was.
But wouldn’t they feel safer if someone who was weaker than her to live in the same room? Even if the weaker person attacked her, she would win.
Was there a different reason then?
「That’s how it is. So if you want to sleep here, you’ll have to win in a fight against me. Although that’s impossible」
She said with a voice filled with dignity and confidence.
With red hair tied in a ponytail, drooping down to her neck.
Sharp eyes whose iris reflected the same red color as her hair.
She was already dressed for combat, in clothes that looked easy to move in.
Rather than being cute like Tina, her face could be described as beautiful. But just like Jere-san, it was rather expressionless and had a hard to approach aura.
Beautiful women with expressionless faces are scary. Irene was the same.
「Ever since I was born, I haven’t lost to a man of the same age. As a woman, I was stronger than both my older and younger brothers. Men are unsightly creatures who have pride in their strength without putting in any effort」
Oi, she has quite the prejudice huh…
「Not to mention you are two years my junior, so I have two more years of training on you. There’s no way I would lose to you. You should start preparing to camp outside instead」
Even though she said some arrogant words, it didn’t feel like she was looking down on me. Rather to her, she was simply stating the facts as is.
No, rather than looking down on me specifically, she was looking down on all creatures that were men.
「Let’s get started already. The training grounds are over here」
Having said that, she turned her back towards us and went on ahead.
Does she have a reason to look down on men that much?
As I was pondering, Tina started releasing cold air again.
「What’s with her! My Eric would never lose!」
This was my first time seeing Tina so angry.
Also, I don’t think I belong to Tina.
「I apologize Eric-kun, Tina-san. She’s been like that ever since she first joined the knights… She is very serious when training or on missions though.」
「No worries, it’s fine. I’ll be heading to the training grounds then」
「I will also go. You will need someone to watch over the match」
「Me too! I want to see the unsightly figure of that girl when she loses」
It feels like Tina’s personality is getting worse…
Is this what it means to be dyed in the city’s colors? Maybe not.
Soon after we followed the path she took earlier, a large training grounds appeared.
It was very spacious and apparently where the knights regularly trained at.
「This is the dormitory’s training grounds so it’s a little small but I believe it is sufficient for a one on one battle」
I was wrong. It seems this place is for personal practice. The place where knights usually train was much larger.
It was larger than this place huh, just how large is it…
And standing in the middle was Yurina Kaspar.
She held two wooden swords in her hands.
Leaving both Jere-san and Tina, only I approached her.
Doing so, she threw one of the wooden swords over to me.
Let’s start already. Be sure to entertain me if only for a little while.
After those words, I felt cold air again.
「Yurina-san」
「Don’t say my name so casually」
When I called her by her name, she said so while glaring at me.
「I apologize. Kaspar-san, at what age did you pick up the sword?」
「When I was 5. Since then, I’ve been practicing everyday for the past 13 years」
That’s pretty amazing. It was rare for a girl to start practicing swordsmanship at that age.
「I started when I was 3. And like you, I have been practicing everyday for the past 13 years without missing a day」
「…I see. So you’ve dedicated the same amount of time to the sword as me」
「Yes. So if you’re looking down on me, you’ll regret it」
As I sent some light murderous intent, Kaspar-san already wrapped her hands around the hilt of her blade.
「…It appears that you might be different from those other guys. But I will be the winner」
It seems that she can react immediately to my murderous intent.
She might not be all talk after all.
And then Jere-san who was some distance from us spoke.
「We will now start the duel between Yurina Kaspar and Eric Aurin. Please begin」
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Name fixed from Yuria to Yurina ↩
Devin
19 Jun 2021 @ 23:50 UTC+0000