Chapter 37
No matter how much stronger Arin was than I'd expected, that didn't mean she could beat Ian on her own.
This wasn't me underestimating her; it was an undeniable fact, based on a close and careful assessment.
But what if she wasn't alone?
-Clang!
“Ngh… I can hold out!”
“Tch. You're annoying.”
Arin blocked Ian's attack with her shield.
Then the other students behind her attacked Ian.
Their attacks were weak enough for Ian to block easily, but if he did, Arin, right in front of him, would attack.
Arin's mace could deal Ian serious damage, so he chose to dodge.
Then Arin and the others regrouped and charged again.
But if he went after the others first, Arin was standing in his way like an iron wall.
The other students didn't even try to get in front of Arin; they hid behind her, waiting for an opening.
Honestly, seeing them hide behind a girl was pathetic, but… they didn't have much choice.
More than that… Arin's skill was astonishing.
-Kaaang!!
“Guh! Block this too!”
“Ah! Could you go a little easier on me?”
Even though Ian was starting to attack in earnest, Arin was holding up well.
If she just blocked, his attacks would punch right through her shield, but Arin naturally redirected them and reduced their force.
And with that sturdy dwarf-made shield… it wasn't perfect, but she could defend herself well enough.
Whenever she saw an opening in Ian's defense, she swung her mace without hesitation.
Despite its lovely cherry-blossom-pink mana, the mace had a vicious amount of power.
If Ian—or even I—took a direct hit, we'd suffer serious damage.
Could she actually beat Ian? Did she have a chance?
…
‘She's trickier than I expected…’
Ian, fighting nine people in the training arena, was breaking into a cold sweat over the unexpected difficulty.
“Haaah!”
“Aah!”
-Kaaang!!
Blocked again.
Even when he attacked with all his strength, Arin barely managed to defend.
Her arms were trembling, and the focus in her green eyes was starting to waver, so she was clearly pushing herself—but the important thing was that she blocked it.
-Swoosh!
Various spells and arrows flew from behind her.
He dodged what he could and deflected the harder-to-dodge attacks with his sword.
Then students armed with swords, axes, spears, and the like rushed him.
Normally, he would've cut through their weapons and all, but…
“Tch…”
If he did, Arin would hit him with her mace and send him flying, so Ian dodged backward.
The students refused to get greedy and immediately hid behind Arin again.
‘Don't you have any pride?!’
Ian's anguished cry didn't reach them.
“Hehe! Why don't you admit defeat already?”
“You should surrender. I can see your hands shaking.”
“Ah?!”
Just as Ian had said, Arin was at her limit.
She was stronger than expected, but that was all. If he dragged this out, he could win.
But if he did…
-Aah! Ian's a coward! You only stalled because you knew you'd lose in a direct fight! Scum!
-That's right, Ian. I'm a little disappointed… Don't come near me again. I'm going to live with Arin forever.
-Hmph! I'll satisfy El far better than someone like you ever could!
“…I won't let that happen!”
“Ah?! What is it? Are you crazy?”
There's no way I was letting anyone take El away from me!
Especially not Arin!
‘Arin was the only one I needed to watch out for. In that case… I'll push myself a little and take out the others first.’
-Dash!
“Ah! You're coming for me!”
Ian charged straight at Arin at full speed.
And then…
“Aah?!”
He jumped.
Ignoring Arin, he flew over to the back row and immediately began sweeping the students there aside.
“He's insane…! Stop him!”
“We can't stop him!”
“Aaargh!”
The back-row damage dealers were taken out in an instant.
“Ah! That's cheating! You couldn't get past me, so you went around behind me!”
“Yeah. You should've expected that, too.”
“How was I supposed to expect that?!”
That's not my problem.
The students gathered behind Arin again, but their numbers had already been cut in half.
Now only Yurin was left.
-Kaaang!
“Guh…!”
First, he attacked Arin, forcing her to focus on defending.
The remaining students charged in, as if they'd spotted an opening.
-Grin
“…! No! Don't go…!”
“Too late.”
Without the ranged attackers harassing him, it was easy to dodge Arin's attacks and knock these guys flying.
-Kwoooosh!
“Aaaaargh!”
“Keurgh!”
That took care of the remaining three, too.
“Now you're all alone.”
“Guh…!”
Arin was now battered from head to toe.
She'd lost stamina from blocking Ian's attacks over and over, and even when she managed to block them, she couldn't avoid the impact that got through her shield.
She could barely stay standing.
“Why don't you just surrender already? You don't stand a chance on your own.”
Arin's body trembled at Ian's words.
Maybe she was angry. But it couldn't be helped…
-Whoooom!
“Kugh?!”
Just then, a huge shield suddenly came flying and smacked Ian in the head.
It was an incredibly powerful hit.
If he hadn't instinctively raised his mana to defend himself, he'd have been sent flying.
No, even now his head was spinning, and he felt like he could collapse at any moment.
‘She threw her shield? No, just throwing it wouldn't have made it hit that hard… Could it be?’
When he looked at Arin, she was in a swinging stance.
…She'd hit the shield with her mace and sent it flying?!
…
I was born into a commoner family.
Though my father was a hunter and my mother a former adventurer.
My mother was skilled with a shield, and my father had keen insight.
Maybe that's why, from a young age, my keen insight and shield skills earned me praise as a prodigy.
It was the same when I entered the academy.
Even the children of most nobles couldn't break through my defenses.
But… I realized that “most” meant some of them could break through, after all.
The spar between El and Ian I'd seen during the entrance exam.
It was a fight I couldn't even dream of approaching.
Ian wielding a brilliant golden aura while El drove him back with nothing but pure technique, no special abilities at all.
Everyone thought El was just a student with great technique, but I realized it then.
She was holding back an incredible amount of strength.
I could tell just from the relaxed look on her face.
Of course, she lost in the end, but she still looked like she could easily beat someone like Ian if she really wanted to.
It was the same after we enrolled.
El, who somehow got accepted into Class A, sparred on the first day of class.
I still remember her beating that purple-haired woman like a dog…
…Honestly, it was kind of cool, too.
Seeing El after that, and Ian desperately trying to catch up to her, made me understand.
There was no way to catch up to those two, no matter what I did. My talent was nothing special; I'd only seemed gifted because I was surrounded by people with no real talent.
I'd be lying if I said I hadn't despaired… but I could still keep trying.
Because I knew for sure that those two had grown strong through blood, sweat, and tears, too.
El always swung her sword from early dawn.
Ian swung his sword until late at night.
They did it every day.
Add incredible effort to incredible talent, and you get monsters.
Watching them made my desire to train flare up like crazy, too.
And thanks to that, I'd gotten pretty strong myself.
I couldn't measure up to the two of them, but I'd far surpassed the level of a typical first-year.
At my level, I could probably beat most graduating students, couldn't I?
Besides, I knew.
I still had room to grow stronger.
The more I trained, the higher the steps I had to climb became, but the staircase itself continued.
If I could just make it across, even if it was a struggle, I'd become stronger.
That was why I'd turned down the Manarian Hot Springs.
Even if I took a shortcut and skipped a step, I'd just despair when I reached an even bigger one.
It'd be different if I were like Ian or El, who'd reached the end of the staircase and hit a massive wall they needed to break through. But at my current level, going there would only give me a temporary boost.
It was a shame, but… Ian was the Hero's son, so he'd get me a hot-springs ticket, right?
If he didn't… well, I'd tell El.
It was obvious those two liked each other.
I mean, it really annoyed me. I didn't like the idea of El ending up with a bag of bones like Ian.
But… I hated the idea of her going to someone else even more.
I knew El wasn't ordinary. She had a lot of money and good equipment for a commoner, and her manners seemed second nature to her.
She had to be a noble hiding her identity, so I was at least willing to leave her in Ian's hands.
I could see he truly loved El.
They still hadn't realized how they felt about each other, but time would fix that.
So make El truly happy, Ian.
…I got sidetracked.
Anyway. I was strong, and I'd keep getting stronger.
So I couldn't forgive them for looking at me like a child who needed protecting.
I had to show them.
I'm not a child you need to protect.
When I blocked Ian's attack, I could see how surprised he was.
He was putting more and more strength into his attacks, but I could block them all.
The more I defended, the more my arms felt ready to fall off, and the more stamina I lost, but I could hold on.
In the meantime, the other students attacked Ian.
If I couldn't handle him alone, I just had to use the situation around me.
Of course, I was a little surprised when the back line was wiped out in an instant by Ian's unexpected move.
And when the front line was suddenly taken out, honestly, I thought it was over.
But… it really pissed me off that he was looking at me like he'd already won.
If I was going down, I had to land one hit on that face first.
I tossed my shield into the air, then smashed it with my mace as it came down.
Go! Flying Shield No. 1!
“Kugh?!”
Flying Shield No. 1 flew straight and smacked Ian squarely on the head.
‘Hehe, serves him right.’
Direct hit!