Chapter 96
“Jason, are you all right?”
“I’m fine, don’t worry.”
Jason answered my question with a smile.
“The instructor already had the nurse on standby. I got treated right away, so by tomorrow I’ll be healed without even a scar.”
“I’m glad to hear you’re fine.”
“You came because you were worried about me?”
“Yes.”
“I’m touched. To think I have a friend who comes to see me just because I’m injured.”
Jason gave a short laugh and raised his upper body from the sofa in the gym’s break room.
“But you didn’t come only because you were worried about me, did you?”
“To be honest, I also came to ask about Lady Sara.”
“I figured as much. So? What are you curious about?”
“I want to hear your impression of fighting Lady Sara.”
“Your impression, huh…”
At my question, Jason took a moment to think.
It might seem strange why I suddenly wanted to hear Jason’s thoughts, but I judged it would be good to hear them at least once.
The Sara who even used flames—I had only ever faced her in the game.
Since I had never fought her once after coming to this world, I wanted to hear as much about her as possible.
“In short, she eventually showed an opening.”
“Because of that flame?”
“Yeah, and that’s the characteristic of the Isrinbloom Family’s swordsmanship.”
Jason explained with a wry laugh.
“They lure out the enemy’s gap with flashy techniques and push in relentlessly—you know that much, right?”
“Yes, I do.”
“The swordsmanship itself is tricky, but the flames were the bigger problem. No matter how I blocked her blade, flames flew at me from every direction, so my attention kept getting pulled toward them. And the moment I tried to dodge the flames, I ended up showing an opening.”
“Flames, huh…”
“My advice is that her fire isn’t as powerful as you might think. Sara’s flames are more for distracting the opponent’s attention than for attacking. Keep that in mind.”
“Thank you for the advice.”
Jason waved his hand with a smile.
“Ah, but don’t get the wrong idea. Sara’s fire is weak because it’s hers. The flames created by other members of the Isrinbloom Ducal Family are strong. If you saw the inferno Duke Isrinbloom unleashes, you’d be shocked.”
Just as Jason said, Sara was still in an incomplete stage of growth.
So her fire didn’t seem overwhelmingly powerful yet.
‘Of course, later she becomes so strong it’s hard to tell whether she’s a swordsman or a fire mage, but for now I guess I don’t have to worry that much.’
Anyway, the current Sara created openings using flames and finished the opponent off with her rapier.
I already knew this, but hearing it directly from Jason solidified my ideas about how to fight her.
“By the way, Gideon, do you think you can win?”
“…Honestly, no.”
I could block Sara’s blade, but I had no way to deal with her flames.
Still, I had thought of my own method and prepared for it.
“That makes sense. Even if you block all of her sword strikes, her flames are… Wait. Actually, shouldn’t you be able to do it? Didn’t you get some kind of water rune when you went to Muktaba last time?”
“I haven’t dismissed the idea of using that method, but with that rune, I doubt I’ll be able to block Lady Sara’s flames.”
“Really? Then what are you planning to do?”
Jason tilted his head.
“I beat Lady Sara once before using pure swordsmanship alone, so I’m thinking of trying something similar this time.”
“You two, get ready. We’ll start in one minute.”
At Luke’s words, I nodded and drew my sword from my waist.
At the center of the gymnasium, under the gaze of countless people.
Sara, facing me from across the floor, also drew her rapier from her waist.
“The moment has finally come, Kyrgram.”
Sara spoke with a relaxed expression, yet with eyes filled with firm resolve.
“The moment I crush you and reclaim my tarnished honor has finally arrived.”
“You must have had a rough time because of it?”
“…Do you know how much people talked about me behind my back because of you… Huuu. Yeah. Even my family scolded me endlessly.”
“Duke Isrinbloom didn’t seem like someone who would say such things, though.”
At my words, Sara gave a bitter laugh.
But that laugh… seemed to carry a lot of meaning.
“Father didn’t say much. But the rest of my family… well… anyway. Today, right here, I’ll defeat you and prove it once again. A swordsman of the Isrinbloom Family is the strongest in one-on-one combat.”
“I know it may be rude, but that won’t be easy. My defense is quite solid.”
“Yeah, I know very well. And just like you said—do not collapse too easily. If you go down too quickly, the value of my victory drops.”
At her stubborn determination, I let out a small sigh.
Luke, watching us from the side, gave a faint laugh.
“Gideon, don’t push yourself too hard. Just show a reasonable amount of your skill. You don’t have to win.”
“Yes, understood.”
“And Sara. I know how you feel, but you must keep the line. This is a sparring match, not a real fight to the death. Got it?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll just neatly sever the tendons in his arms and legs.”
“Well… that level is treatable, but… no. Just handle it reasonably.”
I wanted to ask why severing my tendons counted as “reasonable,” but I figured it wouldn’t matter and let it go.
I turned my head and looked around the gymnasium.
At some point, the second-floor seats had filled with spectators.
Dozens of people at least, and among them Lisa—and next to her Jason… and even Layla, waving at me as she watched.
‘Winning might not matter, but… I really don’t want to lose miserably in front of this many people.’
Ever since I first transmigrated into this world, I had prioritized survival and uncovering my family’s secrets.
But just this time, I wanted to prove myself.
I wanted to show the results of all the effort I had put in—to myself, and to everyone else.
I wanted to show that I had worked hard to grow stronger and survive.
“All right! You two, get ready! We start in ten seconds! Ten, nine…”
Luke’s countdown began.
Sara took the starting stance of the Isrinbloom Family’s swordsmanship, smiling.
“Don’t lose easily. Struggle as much as you can, Kyrgram.”
“I hope you also won’t lose to me too easily, Lady Sara.”
“Ha? Me? To you?”
“I’m only saying it just in case.”
With those words, I raised my sword with both hands above my head.
It was a stance very different from my usual defensive posture, where I kept the sword as close to my body as possible.
Sara seemed to notice it and looked slightly startled.
But before she even had time to question it…
“…2, 1, start!”
The moment Luke announced the start, I rushed straight toward Sara.
Something I normally would never have done.
Normally, I never would have attacked first.
I would have taken a passive stance, waiting for the opponent to attack, and Sara seemed to have expected exactly that.
Her greatly startled expression proved it.
“Ugh?!”
When I brought my sword down, Sara blocked it with her rapier and was pushed backward.
She still looked flustered, but even so, she showed movements as if she were trying to counterattack.
But I had no intention of giving her even the slightest opening.
‘Keep pushing.’
Clang—! Clang—!
Not giving Sara a moment to properly set her stance, I kept striking Mistcatcher down at her.
It was an extremely aggressive sword style, the complete opposite of the defensive swordsmanship I usually used.
A stiff, restricted stance with minimal footwork.
I was awkwardly imitating Luke’s swordsmanship that I had seen before.
‘Luke’s personalized swordsmanship, modified from the Empire’s Standard Swordsmanship.’
A sword style that constantly struck down and left no room for the enemy to attack—effective at countering the Isrinbloom Family’s swordsmanship.
This technique Luke had created was extremely offensive and heavy.
Which made it ideal for breaking the fine balance required by the Isrinbloom Family’s swordsmanship.
‘Once Sara starts using fire, my chances of winning plummet. So I have to end this before she has any chance to use it, in an instant.’
It was the plan I came up with that had the highest chance of success.
So for the past several days, I had secretly practiced Luke’s swordsmanship through mimicry.
‘It might really work.’
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
Sara was still blocking my sword strikes with a shocked expression.
Before she fully grasped the situation, I needed to finish this spar as quickly as possible.
‘So this is how it feels. That kid trying to imitate swordsmanship.’
Luke let out a laugh as he watched Gideon’s fight.
He had never taught Gideon his swordsmanship separately.
Just once, when he had sparred with Gideon while teaching him aura.
He had shown it one time, and yet Gideon was now imitating it fairly similarly.
‘If that’s talent, it’s talent. And that method… it’s actually not bad.’
Luke also knew well that the Isrinbloom Family’s swordsmanship was weak against this type of swordsmanship.
And he secretly admired the fact that Gideon understood this and used it.
‘It means his eye for techniques is excellent. Thanks to that, he’s taken the advantage for now.’
Luke had a feeling he understood Gideon’s plan.
Gideon intended to overwhelm Sara with swordsmanship before she could exert her full strength.
But after watching for a bit, Luke slowly shook his head.
‘Still immature. He won’t win like that.’
The modified swordsmanship Luke created required considerable physical capability.
Because the stance was stiff and the footwork was weak, he had to suppress the opponent so they couldn’t move freely.
So each swing of the sword required tremendous weight behind it.
Luke used strong aura to enhance his physical abilities, but Gideon’s aura wasn’t at that level yet.
And more importantly…
‘He’s not used to using aggressive swordsmanship yet.’
He was a master of defensive swordsmanship, but he still wasn’t able to properly use offensive swordsmanship.
And just as Luke predicted, it didn’t take long before Sara gradually began responding properly to Gideon’s attacks.
Right from the start, he had thrown out a gamble with a sword style completely unlike his own, an extremely aggressive one, but Sara adapted with increasing ease, countering the attacks with movements that resembled dancing.
‘So, Gideon. What will you do now?’
With a quietly expectant look, Luke continued watching the two students’ sparring match.
“Unexpected.”
“…Tch.”
After blocking my sword, Sara spun her body and tried to thrust at my leg.
I shifted my posture and blocked the attack.
Clang—!
A brief distance opened.
Sara raised her rapier and continued speaking.
“I didn’t expect you to fight so aggressively. And I never imagined you’d use Instructor Luke’s swordsmanship.”
“I simply tried my best.”
I had practiced Luke’s swordsmanship for the past few days, but it seemed my efforts hadn’t been enough.
Indeed, a few days was far too short to learn an entire sword style properly.
“Your best? Heh. Fine. Since you’ve shown me your best, I’ll also give my best… to crush you.”
With those words, a red magic circle appeared around Sara.
A moment later, fierce flames erupted around her and on her rapier.
‘…Now what should I do?’
My plan to end the fight quickly using only swordsmanship had failed.
So now I needed to think of a way to deal with Sara’s flame magic.