Chapter 7

|3rd POV|

Gizel, Freyjadour, Sialeeds, Georg, and Lyon take a seat on the edge of the training ground, where they are watching Nikea and Gerrald about to have a spar.

Gerrald already notices a group of people walking toward the training ground, and he is a little bit excited as his main target is watching him. He knows that he needs to do great in this spar to create an opening to join the prince's group.

"Are you ready, Nikea?"

"I'm always ready, boss! Let's do this!"

Gerrald takes a basic stance on Janam's Hand-to-Hand combat fighting style. It was not the most complex fighting style, but it was enough to cover the basics of fighting without a weapon.

He is the first one to charge forward. Gerrald thrusts his fist and sees Nikea block it effortlessly. However, as she blocks it, she grunts a little.

"You are strong, boss. I feel that. My turn!"

Nikea starts to attack, and she is going all out from the start.

The people who are watching from the side watch the battle with interest.

"That man is not ready to fight her."

Gizel watches the fight with a disappointed look. The others nod their head as they can see Gerrald get pushed back by Nikea relentless attack. The only one who is not agreeing with that thought is the Strongest Knight in the Queendom, Georg Prime.

"The fight is not over just yet. Look at that."

At his word, Freyjadour and Sialeeds look at the arena. At first, they do not notice it, but after a minute of watching, they see what Georg is seeing.

Gerrald, who struggled in the first couple of minutes, now holds his ground and matches Nikea from blow to blow. His rigid fighting style gets more fluid and smoother as time passes. Nikea, who is fighting him, cannot help but smile a little at the growth of her opponent.

"You are great, boss! Let's get serious!"

Gerrald's smile gets bigger at that word because he can feel his unarmed fighting style get more fluid and stronger the more he fights her. He knows that this is the power of his [Martial Talent]. The more powerful the opponent, the faster he adapts and copies their fighting style.

And the others also notice it as well. After another five minutes of fighting, Georg and Gizel notice him copying Nikea's fighting style.

"That man is copying that woman's fighting style and combining it with his fighting style flawlessly."

Gizel's eyes change from uninterested to interested in Gerrald.

"Aye. Copying, combining, and improving the style. He is a unique fighter and a deadly one. If that woman did not end the fight fast, that man would get more powerful."

"How? The two of them have the same physical power."

Sialeeds nod at her nephew's reasoning. She can also see the man has the same physical power as the woman or maybe just a little bit higher. If you cannot beat someone using your technique, you can only beat them with raw power, but Nikea did not have that.

"Frey-Frey is right, Georg. How can she overcome him with him improving the longer they fight?"

"Durability."

"What?"

Georg looks back at the arena. While the two of them are evenly matched, one thing makes a difference. The two of them have bruises and other injuries on their body from the fight, but Gerrald is the most affected by it.

"That woman only needs to beat the man to submission, and she can win."

And true to Georg's prediction, Gerrald starts to slow down at the injury he gets from Nikea's relentless attack, and now Nikea has the upper hand. After fighting for another five minutes, Gerrald raises his hand in defeat.

"I surrender."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You are great, boss! I never thought I would see how you copy my move and combine it with your fighting style."

"You are not mad?"

"What? For copying my fighting style? Nah. That would be stupid. This world is dangerous. Use everything you can to be powerful. You are good in my eyes as long as you did not hurt the innocent."

I look at her for a few seconds before smiling slightly.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem, boss!"

"Anyway, can we have some spar every now and then?"

"I don't mind. I like to have someone to spar with."

I nod and activate my rune.

"[Kindness Drop]"

I can feel my body return to its perfect condition and point my finger at Nikea before doing the same.

"Thanks, boss!"

"Don't worry."

After that, we walk away from the sparring arena, and as we are leaving, I can see the prince and his group waiting for us outside the arena.

"Ah, my prince."

I quickly bow my head, and Nikea follows me after I mention Freyjadour's title.

"Umm, please raise your head. I came here to see the one who had that great sparring match."

"It was not that great, my prince."

"Please call me Freyjadour."

I look at his guard and Sialeeds, his aunt, who sigh at his request. Sialeeds looks at me and nods.

"I see. Then please call me Gerrald, Freyjadour."

"Gerrald! Okay!"

What with this young man?! Why in the hell does his smile release that much light?! Is this the power of the protagonist?

"Anyway, what can we do for you?"

"Nothing. I only want to say that the fight is great."

"Ah, then I'm glad the two of us entertain you."

"Are you going to join the tournament?

"No. Even when I want to, I'm already too late."

I can see Freyjadour look at Gizel and see him nod.

"I see. That is a shame."

A shame? He knows that if I win, I will marry his sister, right? Oh well.

"Anyway, is there anything else? The sun is about to set, and the two of us need to take a bath."

"Ah, I'm sorry to hold you back. It is nice to meet you."

"It is nice to meet you too, Freyjadour. You are a nice person. See you later."

After saying that, Nikea and I walk back to the inn where we stay. I almost cannot hold my smile as I just get the main character's attention. Combine it with me being one of the 108 Stars of Destiny; I know that I can capture him and the rest of his group. I just need some time and patience.