Chapter 100
After Abel met Kyla and took the photos intended to be leaked.
Adrian was quietly leaking those photos behind the scenes, spreading the rumors with painstaking precision to keep people in line.
He pressured or placated newspapers in the North, doing everything he could to control the negative public sentiment.
At the same time, he secretly planted people throughout his territory to spread the rumor that House Nebla might have come this time to meet Kyla.
Of course, a rumor was only a rumor, and merely conspiracy-theory-level speculation, so he did not forget to tell the northern nobles who asked about the incident that it was completely unfounded.
Any perceptive nobles would understand his intentions.
Namely, if they asked him about this incident again, they would be crossing the line.
Rustle.
One day, after spending several fairly busy days like that.
"What?"
At his secretary's sudden report, Adrian unconsciously turned his eyes from the documents he was processing and looked at them.
"Lady Kyla has challenged Abel to a spar."
He checked the date.
About a week had passed.
"She held out for quite a while."
As Kyla's father, Adrian had a general understanding of her personality.
No, honestly, he was astonished by the result, which had been beyond his expectations.
He had thought she would be doing well if she lasted three days, but he had not expected her to hold out for a whole week.
As he thought about Kyla, the duke rose from his seat, put on a coat embroidered with House Stellaraim's crest, and looked at his secretary.
The secretary's report probably meant that either Abel or Kyla had told them they were going to spar.
"You have the people under control, I assume?"
"Yes. And I have already escorted the two of them to the Third Sparring Grounds."
As though they had read Adrian's mind, the secretary immediately gave him the answer he wanted.
"I did ask them to wait a moment, as Your Grace ordered..."
Adrian had expected Kyla to challenge Abel.
Moreover, although Adrian himself knew Abel's strength in general terms, he did not know just how strong Abel was.
He did not even know what kind of power Abel used.
A sword, or perhaps a gun? Magic? Spirit arts?
It might even be a special ability.
"Good."
Any ability would do. All that mattered was that he was strong.
With that thought, Adrian immediately headed to the Third Sparring Grounds, where Abel and Kyla were waiting.
The sparring grounds, which he reached a short while later.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting."
"Your Grace?"
"Father... Ahem, Your Grace?"
He lightly waved a hand as he watched Abel and Kyla's reactions.
"If the sparring starts getting heated, won't someone be needed to stop you?"
Kyla in particular—his own daughter—was a person of concern.
The last time, she had sparred with one of House Stellaraim's elite knights, saying she wanted to have a bout with him, and half-destroyed one of the sparring grounds.
"..."
Did she realize that she had gone too far that time? At Adrian's gaze, Kyla unconsciously avoided her father's eyes.
"In any case, we'll spar on the understanding that neither of you will use a killing move, and that you'll stop once your opponent is subdued or just before inflicting a fatal injury. No objections, correct?"
"Yes."
"Whew... Yes."
'Oh no...'
Perhaps because she was the one who had said Abel was strong, Kyla seemed more nervous than necessary.
Adrian watched her for a moment and considered offering some advice, but soon shook his head and threw that foolish thought into the trash.
'It's important for her to experience it herself.'
Especially for Kyla, who followed the same path of a warrior as he did.
"Then take your positions!"
At Adrian's words, Abel and Kyla began moving apart.
Once he confirmed that the two had reached suitable positions, Adrian raised his hand.
"Begin!"
He lowered the raised hand, announcing the start of the spar.
***
'Whew, calm down.'
Kyla forcibly suppressed her rapidly pounding heart.
'Don't get too excited.'
Although Adrian judged her to be nervous, the reality was slightly different.
Someone her age—and, moreover, a strong fighter whose strength had been guaranteed by her father, the strongest man in the North.
The fact that she could fight such a strong opponent filled her with profound joy.
"Then take your positions!"
At her father's words, Abel began to move away.
As Kyla observed him, her mind began to race.
A knight? He looks like he has trained his body, but I still can't tell.
A mage? Mages naturally suppress their mana in daily life, so she couldn't tell that way either.
A spirit user... Hmm, somehow, this doesn't seem right.
Or a magic gunner? But he isn't using anything like a gun.
He could be an ability user.
'I'm curious.'
Whoosh!
Seeing her father's hand rise, Kyla knew the spar was about to begin and settled into her stance.
But Abel merely stood there quietly.
'A knight, magic gunner, or spirit user is out...'
A knight would have taken a stance, a magic gunner would have drawn a firearm, and a spirit user's distinctive mana should have been perceptible, but none of that had happened.
So those three were out.
Then.
A mage or an ability user, huh?
"Begin!"
At Adrian's signal, Kyla released the strength in her legs, which had been tensed to their limit, and charged at Abel.
Bang!!!
One step.
In that single step, Kyla reached Abel's side, and the sword in her hands unleashed a terrifying boom.
But.
Kyla's sword strike did not reach Abel.
Vwoom.
As the smoke caused by Kyla's sword strike cleared, a sphere of smoke—apparently created by Abel's ability—could be seen blocking the sword.
Watching that scene, she...
'Of course it would be blocked!'
She rejoiced.
'An ability user...'
This was only a preliminary exchange to begin with.
Tap!
Having realized the nature of Abel's power, Kyla immediately kicked off the ground and retreated, taking deep breaths to calm her wildly beating heart.
"Whew..."
Calm down.
If she launched an offensive after losing her composure like this, she would lose without fail.
Her father had told her: Keep your head as cold as the northern snowfields, but your heart as hot as a flame.
'An ability user.'
Abel's ability probably involved controlling the smoke itself.
Click.
Kyla tightened her grip on the sword in her hand once more and reviewed the strategy for fighting an ability user.
Knights, mages, spirit users, and magic gunners, who specialized exclusively in firearms after guns came into existence.
Each had a distinct direction to their power.
The methods for dealing with them had largely been established through the accumulated knowledge of countless years.
But ability users were different.
'The first and foremost thing I need to do is...'
They were people who awakened their own individual category of ability and honed that one thing alone.
Moreover, in most cases, no two people possessed overlapping abilities.
They said that if a hundred blacksmiths each forged a hundred swords, not one of the swords would be exactly identical.
Even when people awakened similar categories, humans naturally used different techniques.
In other words, ability users were highly unpredictable and troublesome opponents.
With that in mind, Kyla recalled the first posture Adrian had taught her to adopt when facing an ability user.
Namely.
'I need to learn the conditions for activating the ability and its limits!'
Bang!
Abel and Kyla clashed once again.
But this time was different.
Crackle!
As a warrior, Kyla had desperately learned the one branch of magic she believed would be the most efficient.
Spatial magic.
"Oh..."
Dozens of weapons.
Abel let out a small exclamation of admiration when he saw the handles of dozens of weapons trying to emerge from the subspace behind her.
"So, you're a warrior."
"That's right!"
Not a knight. A warrior.
There were many differences between the two, but if she had to name the most prominent one, there was only one.
Namely, how many weapons they made use of.
Numerous weapon handles protruded from the subspace behind her. Kyla seized one of them.
Whoosh!
She swung a massive bastard sword with both hands and attacked Abel.
Crunch!
Knights generally referred to those who primarily used a single weapon.
There were even studies showing that this was more efficient for raising one's level or strength, so it was only natural.
Thus, knights spent their entire lives training with just two weapons: one primary weapon and a gun as a secondary weapon.
But.
Warriors were different.
Swords, spears, shortswords, shields, greatswords, bastard swords, maces, hammers, and so on.
Their defining trait was the use of numerous weapons according to the situation.
Kyla attacked Abel with countless weapons, but Abel's defenses remained intact.
Watching him, Kyla calmly assessed his ability.
'Top-tier defense.'
Then the next thing was...
Brrr!
Just as she was preparing her next attack.
A chill began to spread over Kyla's entire body, raising every hair on her skin.
"All right, then..."
The cause was none other than—
"Shall we begin?"
The countless smoke weapons appearing behind Abel.
"Tch!"
Upon seeing the spectacle, Kyla immediately switched from offense to defense.
She drew a shield from the subspace behind her and blocked Abel's attack, lifting her feet off the ground to let the impact flow past her.
Crunch!
'High-tier offense.'
As the impact sent her flying far away, Kyla's mind began to turn coldly analytical.
The ability was smoke—an ability of top-tier unpredictability and utility.
Its defense and offense were both extremely powerful.
Then she needed to determine the ability's range, the speed with which it could be used instantaneously, and the conditions for activating it...
'Wait... Come to think of it.'
Had Abel moved even a single step this entire time?
Regaining her posture in midair and landing safely, Kyla looked at Abel, who still had not moved, and opened her mouth.
"Hey..."
She set aside the pointless honorifics for now.
They did not suit her personality in the first place, and her head was too heated by the spar to spare room for such things.
"Why aren't you moving?"
From the moment she had gone on the offensive until now, Abel had not moved a single step from that spot.
The fact that he had remained there while handling both offense and defense was clearly proof of how formidable his ability was.
But.
"Are you looking down on me?"
The mere fact that he was not taking this spar seriously was enough to make her feel insulted.
At Kyla's words, Abel looked down at his own feet, which had not moved even a single step, then raised his head and looked at her.
"Kyla."
"...?"
"If that frustrates you so much..."
Abel gave her an ordinary smile—or, from Kyla's perspective, an extremely seductive one—
"Make me move my feet."
He provoked her.
"..."
Upon hearing those words, Kyla...
"Hah!"
For the first time, she broke her calm expression and looked at Abel with a face full of delight.
Yes, a strong person ought to have at least that much arrogance, right?
She had thought he was too mild for his face, but he had this side to him, too.
She liked him even more.
Arrogance without the ability to back it up was mere bravado, but if one possessed sufficient ability, it was an attractive quality to people of the North.
Lick.
Thinking that, Kyla unconsciously licked her lips as she looked at the man who was tempting her.
"Oh dear..."
Adrian, who had witnessed the entire scene, unconsciously pressed a hand to his forehead and shook his head.
Abel probably had not said it deliberately, but that was an incredibly dangerous thing to say to the people of the North...
"Hmm, I may be seeing a grandchild sooner than expected."