Chapter 19
“Come on, come on, come on, come on!”
“Guh... You...!”
A ceaseless barrage of magic—magic, magic, magic.
Sometimes wrapped in flames, sometimes bursting with cold, sometimes ringing with thunder—the hellscape of the highest order was one I managed to navigate using nothing but my own feet.
I had never fought a mage before.
At most, I’d had mock battles with my pupils or the knights, or dealt with the wildlife and monsters that roamed around the village.
I’d never had any dealings with someone who could use magic.
That’s why it was only now, after being more or less forced to fight Lucy, that I realized something.
The matchup between mages and swordsmen was, to put it bluntly, the worst imaginable.
“—Hah!”
“Ooh, you cut that?! Ha ha ha, this is fun!”
I cut down the chunk of ice hurtling toward me with a single stroke.
Whoa, that was close. If I’d been a little later, I’d have been flattened.
“Do all mages sling magic around like you do?!”
“Of course not! Few can unleash power on this scale!”
Dodging fire, cleaving ice, and deflecting lightning, I couldn’t help complaining.
Seriously, it was such a nonstop display of tricks that even a court magician couldn’t possibly have such a varied repertoire.
This battle had begun with a one-sided declaration.
“—Hah!”
“Ooh, you cut that?! Ha ha ha, this is fun!”
I cut down the chunk of ice hurtling toward me with a single stroke.
Whoa, that was close. If I’d been a little later, I’d have been flattened.
“Do all mages sling magic around like you do?!”
“Of course not! Few can unleash power on this scale!”
Dodging fire, cleaving ice, and deflecting lightning, I couldn’t help complaining.
Seriously, it was such a nonstop display of tricks that even a court magician couldn’t possibly have such a varied repertoire.
This battle had begun with a one-sided declaration.
We had started close enough to touch if we reached out, but now I couldn’t close the distance, and I was spending all my time fending off magic from outside my sword’s reach.
Against an opponent wielding a physical weapon, I could still deflect it and advance.
But with magic, there were many attacks I couldn’t physically block with my sword.
And whether that was because Lucy was special or all mages were like this, the truth was I was struggling against the nonstop downpour of magic.
“You could show me a little more mercy, you know!”
“Hmph, what are you talking about? I told you I’m older than you!”
Just as I put my weight into a lunge, a flower of flame erupted from the ground, making me stumble.
Fighting her made me keenly realize that, beyond being difficult to defend against physically, magic was hard to dodge.
That was because it had none of the telltale signs that always came with ordinary weapons.
Although she had the preliminary motion of raising her hand, I couldn’t predict when or where the attack would come from. I had no choice but to dodge after seeing it, which was mentally exhausting too.
“How about this, then?!”
“Damn it!”
In addition to fire, ice, and lightning, Lucy launched magic like a compressed water jet.
I caught it on the flat of my longsword and deflected its course. Unlike fire or lightning, water was still matter no matter how you looked at it, so being able to parry it with my weapon made it downright merciful.
“Hmm, to think you’d deflect this much. Impressive.”
“...You’re awfully calm...!”
Nobody wanted to waltz with magic. If anything, I’d rather dance with a cute girl. Not that I’d ever learned to dance.
From the sidelines, the fight probably looked even.
Or you could say neither of us had a decisive move.
I couldn’t get close to Lucy, so I had no way to attack.
Lucy couldn’t land her magic on me, so she couldn’t deal a decisive blow.
Presumably, with her power, she could fire magic over a much wider area.
But this wasn’t a battle for some noble cause. Put simply, it was nothing more than a test of skill.
If she expanded the range of her magic any further, it would have a considerable impact on the surroundings. She must have understood that too, because it seemed she was only using magic aimed at a single target.
“Can’t be helped. I hadn’t planned on taking it this far, but... here’s my trump card.”
“...?”
I dodged an incoming flame with a sidestep, watching her.
...Could I move in now?
I didn’t know what she was planning, but the moment her attacks had eased up might be my chance. Cutting her down would be going too far, but if I knocked her unconscious with the hilt, that should put an end to this pointless fight.
My whole body was soaked from her water magic, my bangs were a little singed by the flames, and even my clothes had been slightly scorched by the lightning. It wasn’t wise to let this fight drag on any longer.
“—Whoa?!”
The instant I tried to lunge and close the distance all at once,
A dreadful warning, almost like a chill of foreboding, forced my body to the side.
“...My, you dodged that too?”
In the next instant,
The very air where I had been standing just moments before warped.
—That was close! Way too close!
What was that just now?! It wasn’t some paltry thing like fire or water. It was as if something had devoured space itself.
If I’m right, half my body would’ve been caught in that distortion and mangled if I’d taken the hit. That’s how terrifying it felt.
“—Whew, that’s enough! We’re done, we’re done!”
Just as I held my breath at this unprecedented turn of events,
Lucy’s carefree declaration brought the pointless struggle she’d suddenly started to an abrupt end, just as suddenly as it had begun.
“...Are you satisfied now?”
I asked Lucy, who stretched lazily with both hands thrust up toward the sky.
Well, I was anything but satisfied! Who could be satisfied after being suddenly dragged into some incomprehensible fight? I’m afraid I’m no battle maniac.
“Indeed. I was a little serious with that last one, but now that you’ve dodged it, I’ve decided I can’t hit you with any ordinary means.”
“I’m glad I met your standards...”
At Lucy’s words, delivered with a thoroughly refreshed expression, my shoulders slumped.
So, was that just a test of the results of some magic experiment or research? Personally, I’d rather never face her again.
“But you’re strong. Now I understand why Fis admires you.”
“Not at all. You’re flattering me. If you weren’t limiting your methods, you could’ve taken me out any number of ways.”
I naturally shook my head at her words.
With power like Lucy’s, she could have beaten me any number of ways. If she’d simply turned the whole area into a sea of fire, I would’ve been finished in one shot.
But that was only if her goal had been to crush me.
If all she wanted was to test her skills, those methods would’ve been somewhat unsuitable.
“...Heh. You aren’t angry?”
“Hm? Oh... Well, I’ll say you caused me a lot of trouble, at least.”
“Hahahaha! I’m sorry about that.”
Having an overwhelmingly stronger opponent pick an unfair fight with you out of nowhere—and nearly kill you if you made one wrong move. The proper reaction would probably be to fly into a rage and yell at her.
But for some reason, I didn’t feel like doing that.
Maybe it was simply because I was exhausted, or because I knew there was no point in complaining. Maybe it was because seeing magic for the first time had stirred up feelings I couldn’t quite explain.
All sorts of emotions were jumbled together, but for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to get angry.
“Well, I know it was wrong of me to start a fight. As an apology, come visit the Mage Academy sometime. I can make the arrangements.”
“I don’t have any talent for magic, though... Well, maybe if I get the chance.”
The Mage Academy was a training school for mages run by the Reberis Kingdom, which maintained the Mage Corps. Since people capable of using magic were rare, the kingdom was doing all it could to recruit talented individuals.
Given that she was the commander of the Mage Corps, it made sense that she had connections at the Mage Academy.
Though I wondered whether that would be of any use to me.
Because I’m a swordsman, after all.
I suppose being able to form a connection with the head of the Mage Corps without suffering any serious damage could be considered an advantage.