Chapter 20

3 days had passed since school started. These days, I've been visiting the tea ceremony club, but I still haven't meet with Claudia yet.

I heard from Rosetta that she was currently busy and have no time to visit the club.

She had to deal with the mess Leonhardt left behind due to skipping the gathering with the other nobles.

Irina was also busy dealing with the rumors about Leonhardt and Claudia.

Rosetta was asked to look after the club. So I've been spending time with her alone in the clubroom for the last two days. Honestly, it was quite awkward at first.

Luckily, as a personal maid of the duke's only daughter she wasn't an awkward person as she had a lot of experience dealing with various people, so we talked about a lot of things.

I told Lucia about the tea ceremony club. She was looking at me with envious eyes when I told her about the tea and snacks that was served in the club.

I asked her to join but she declined. She said she had trouble dealing with people from nobility because they were strict with etiquettes and had suffocating aura around them.

The reason why she didn't avoid me was because I didn't have that kind of suffocating aura around me which makes her feel at ease and also because I didn't act like a noble at all.

I'm glad since it seems she had a way to judge people by her own standard.

Anyway, the 1st year are going to have a mock battle today. All the first year students will fight according to their classes. There were a total of around 300 students in the first grade.

The professors wanted to judge the students ability first before teaching them about dungeon exploration.

Starting next week, they were going to send the first year to explore the dungeon. 

Which means, it was also a good way to scout people to form party. Although some people already joined the upperclassmen parties, it was mostly to broaden their connections and experiences.

They still need to form their own parties for the test assigned by the academy.

Lucia agreed to form a party with me so I really don't care about joining other party.

The requirements to form a party was having a minimum of 2 members. I could carry her and control our grades to be in the middle, so I don't need other people. Although, it would be nice if I found someone who is competent enough but not too outstanding.

Anyway, this is a good chance to see the students level of strength.

"Attention, students! We will commence the test soon! Please step forward when your name are being called!"

One of the professors shouted in a loud voice.

"Auguste Ford!"

I unconsciously turned my head as soon I heard the professor voice.

Auguste walked into the arena with a dull look. His opponent was a male students with big build.

I didn't heard his name clearly because my thought was drifting around. Was it Zacht or something?

He was holding a great axe with both hands. Judging from his appearance, he should be a commoner.

Auguste took out two daggers from his back and held it in each hand. The look in his eyes became sharp the moment he held the daggers.

"Start!"

Auguste quickly rushed at his opponent. Zacht concentrated his mana and roared.

"War Cry!"

Red light began to surges and covered Zacht's body. He charged towards Auguste and swung his axe.

Swoosh.

The moment his axe was about to hit Auguste, his figure became blurry and disappeared, making his attack missed.

Auguste's reappeared behind Zacht and stabbed his back.

Blood oozed out from his back.

"Kuh!"

Zacht turned around and swung his axe to counterattack. However, Auguste stepped back and avoided his attack. The next moment, Auguste rushed and striked his stomach with his knee.

Zacht was hit and fell into his knees.

He struggled to stand up, however Auguste put his daggers on his neck and ended the match.

"Winner, Auguste Ford!"

Cheers and applauses were heard as the professor declared the winner.

As expected from someone who would join the protagonist party in the future. He already mastered"Shadow Step"as a first year.

If he was willing, he could cut his opponent's neck and ended the match in one hit.

Of course, killing is forbidden. But it still shows how terrifying an assassin could be even in a direct fight.

His speed was the main problem. It would be hard to fight him as long as his movement wasn't restricted. From his speed, he should be around level 22, 2 Levels higher than mine. I could defend against his sneak attack using"Mana Shield", but I don't have a skill to restrict his movement.

"War Cry"is a buff skill that raise the user strength. If he was strong enough to defense against Auguste's sneak attack and fast enough to respond with a counterattack he would have the chance to at least hurt him.

I shook my head as I compared my strength with him. Well, his opponent wasn't that bad either.

∆ ∆ ∆

"Rain Scarlet!"

I heard my name was called.

I took a deep breath and walked into the arena.

My opponent was a blonde haired boy. He used a bow as his weapon.

An archer, huh.

There was a distance of 20 meters between us. I don't know how skilled he is, but it's more than enough distance for an archer.

"Are you both, ready?"

"Yes"

"Yeah"

"Alright. Then, start!"

As soon as the professor finished his words, I channeled my mana into my sword and rushed at my opponent.

He drew his bowstring and an arrow began to form as he concentrated his mana.

I gathered a small amount of mana on the tip of my finger and a small ball of wind was formed. I aimed at him and shot.

It flew like a bullet and hit his right shoulder. His balance was tickled slightly. I only used a small amount of mana so it barely hurt him and disappeared after hitting his shoulder instead of piercing through it.

He shot his arrow at me. However, because he lost his balance, the aim went off.

I didn't even bothered to dodge it and continued to rush at him.

He drew his bowstring again. This time five arrows were formed and shot.

I narrowed my gaze and calculated it's line of attacks. Thanks to"Concentrate"I managed to do it in less than a second.

I slashed my sword and sent"Crescent Slash"to destroy the incoming arrows.

Boom!

Our attacks clashed and a cloud of dust was formed in the air because the wind element in our attacks.

I covered my sword with mana to deal with his following attack.

A bright red light was formed on his bow. I could feel heat emanating from that light.

"Fire arrow!"

He shots an arrow made of flame.

"A dual element of fire and wind. Not bad"

I muttered.

I used"Crescent Slash"to cut his attack. He flinched when saw me cutting his attack. I managed to get close to him and slashed at him horizontally.

"I admit defeat!"

I stopped my attack right in front of his neck.

"Winner, Rain Scarlet!"

I sheated my sword and left the arena while ignoring the surrounding cheers. If he know close combat, it would be pretty tiring. His magic was quite strong, a pity he lacks experiences.

"Congrats, Rain!"

Lucia congratulated me happily with a smile on her face.

"Thanks, Cia"

I smiled and patted her head.

"What about you? Did you win?"

"No, I lost"

Lucia shook her head.

Her expression doesn't seemed to be bothered by her lost.

"I see. Who was your opponent?"

"I don't know. She was a girl with light golden hair and blue eyes. I was eating the cake you gave me when they suddenly called my name so I didn't hear her name"

She blinked at me as if asking whether I still have more cakes. This girl, even at a time like this all she care was about food.

"Ah, right. It seemed they called her the princess? Rain, do you know her?"

She clasped her hand and looked at me with curious eyes.

I was surprised when I heard her words.

"Yeah, I know her. But I've never met her"

I said with a smile. There was only one princess in this kingdom. 

Arteria de Cassias.

The only princess of Laurasia's Kingdom, and also another capture target in "War of Generations" beside Lily.

If it was her, then it's no wonder Lucia lost against her.

She has three affinity of lightning, earth and wind. Her main class was a mage with summoner as her sub-class. She was a girl with the highest magic attack back in the game.

She had a cheerful and kind personality. Her height was 154 cm and her three sized was 81-51-79, B cup.

Her skin was pale white and she had a waist length hair. She likes blue color and hates red because it reminds her of blood. Her favorite items were flowers and cute things like stuffed toys.

She hates perverts and ghosts. Her favorite food was pudding. She dislikes vegetables, spicy foods and bitter things. Her hobby was alchemy, although she doesn't have talent for it.

She made her first appearance at the end of Arc 1. There was no informations about her before her first appearance, so I was surprised.

I know that she was one year younger than the protagonist, Leonhardt. However, I thought she wasn't a student here until Arc 1 ended.

The reason I know her so well was because I took her route and marry her at the end of the game. You have to know your waifu well to get her heart.

I really wanted to meet her right away, however I'm afraid I would fall for her for the second time. I mean, not everyone had the chance to meet their favorite character.

What if I fell in love with her and do something stupid like stealing her from the protagonist party. Err, well it would be fine if that happened after the world was saved and I changed my family fate.

Oh, well whatever. I won't involve myself with the protagonist party unless it was necessary anyway. For that reason, Rain Scarlet, no Takahiro Shinichi, please avoid her at all cost!

I resolved myself to forget about my feelings to my past waifu.

"Was she strong?"

"Yes. I couldn't even see her attack"

"Did you get hurt?"

"No. She stopped her attack before it hits me"

I see. Now I understand why only her hair looked a bit messy even after she fought the prodigy, "Lightning Princess".

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I will help you get stronger to protect yourself. Let's do our best from now on"

"Thank you, Rain"

She smiled as I patted her head.

Afterwards, I continued watching the rest of the fights with Lucia.

Note : I recently told my friends about me writing this novel and they said I should aim to be an author this year or at least try to finish the story and told me to open a patreon. And so I created a patreon account.

I don't know what should I put on patreon, so currently there is no benefits except to shows supports. I probably will put some short stories and if I get enough patrons, probably will make commision to a friend to make character illustrations. 

I'd be happy if you could show your supports, even without being a patron I would be happy if you continue reading the story. I honestly feel happy seeing the views and readers rise everyday. Currently I have 13k views in total (Scribblehub, webnovel and royalroad).

Here is my patreon link. 

https://patreon.com/renaichi

You can also see it on my profile page. Anyway have a nice day!