Ian, pretending to break up the argument, subtly led them towards the nearby training ground.
“Oh? There’s a sparring arena here? How convenient and clever.”
It was clear to anyone that Ian had planned this, causing both Danya and Elena to glare at him slightly.
Of course, their gazes quickly shifted back to each other as the fight began.
‘I’ve been wanting to see Elena’s skills anyway, so this works out well.’
The two of them, bristling with tension, entered the large sparring ring.
“Ian, you be the judge!”
“Please be fair, Brother!”
“Got it.”
Ian responded casually and surveyed the sparring ground.
All the training facilities at Lichten were cutting-edge, combining magic engineering with advanced technology.
The sparring arena was no exception.
It provided a virtual dueling environment that perfectly matched reality, combining illusion magic and various magic engineering techniques.
From physical and magical skills to the pain felt when hit by these techniques.
Of course, no one actually got hurt; it just hurt enough to feel real.
That’s why duelists could fight freely in the magic engineering sparring arena.
‘This is my first time handling the referee interface.’
Ian stood at the referee’s stand near the ring.
Touching the protruding magic stone, a translucent screen appeared.
A variety of options were displayed on the screen, more than Ian had expected.
He manipulated it, bringing up a few screens.
The most noticeable feature was the health bars hovering above the two fighters.
‘So damage reduces the health bars?’
The initial health level could be adjusted with a slider below.
At this point, it felt like watching a fighting game.
“Can we start fighting now?”
Danya asked, holding a magical bow. Ian was surprised.
She seemed ready to fight at any moment, yet she was waiting calmly.
Was Danya also curious to see the new team member’s abilities?
‘That Danya…’
Ian felt a small surge of emotion.
The girl who had once considered dropping out of the academy was now taking on the role of welcoming new members.
‘It feels worth all the effort of taking her around.’
Technically, Ian had taken her along because he needed her, but still, wasn’t it nice when things turned out well? Ian thought this was the joy of nurturing characters.
“Get ready!”
With Ian’s shout, intense tension filled the ring.
“Fight!”
They moved apart, cautiously eyeing each other.
‘Hmm.’
Ian had expected a chaotic brawl. As expected, students trained at the Academy were different.
Danya quickly retreated to the edge of the ring, widening the distance. In her hand was the magical bow she had drawn out.
‘It’s definitely more defined than before.’
This was proof of Danya’s growth in mana responsiveness and control.
Ian felt a sense of pride.
It was like nurturing a sprout that hadn’t seen the light and now watching it bloom. Honestly, the help Danya provided was no less than the heroines of the original story.
‘Raising Danya is so satisfying.’
Feeling pleased, Ian turned his attention to Elena.
Elena stood with a white shield, wary of Danya’s movements.
In fact, the reason Ian was observing their fight was to see Elena’s combat style and abilities.
What the team currently needed was a sub-tanker and healer.
He had heard in conversation that Elena could fill that role, but seeing it firsthand was different.
First, her stance.
‘Her stance is optimized for team play.’
Ian nodded in satisfaction.
Elena stood at a diagonal angle with one foot back.
Main tankers who handled the team’s defense usually stood facing forward, anticipating attacks from the front.
However, a sub-tanker’s role was different.
They stood in front of the main attackers, protecting them from any attacks the main tank couldn’t block.
Elena’s immediate adoption of this stance indicated her familiarity with the sub-tanker role.
Meanwhile.
‘I, Elena, servant of Lord Deus! I will defeat this cat named Danya and reclaim all the tomatoes… I mean, the divine blessing!’
With a holy vow, Elena narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing her opponent.
Even from Elena’s perspective, it was uncertain what abilities this catgirl Danya possessed. She only speculated that Danya might be a magician. However, being a companion of someone as talented as Ian meant she likely had significant talents.
“Where’s that fierce momentum gone? Are you running away? Are you scared?”
Elena taunted, peeking out from behind her shield.
Danya snorted and raised her bow.
Thwack—
With a whooshing sound, the arrow flew towards Elena, who quickly ducked behind her shield. Though the shield vibrated from the impact, it wasn’t particularly strong.
‘If it’s just this much!’
Elena, filled with confidence, immediately pulled out a secondary weapon hidden behind her shield.
“A chain flail?”
“Yes, it has always been the best for dealing with heretics.”
“I’m not a heretic!”
Elena charged at the startled Danya.
“Prepare yourself!”
Although Danya’s agility was one of the best at the Academy, the ring was a confined space.
Elena caught up with Danya and swung her flail.
Wham—
Danya nimbly leaped to dodge the heavy strike, moving like a swift cat.
“Tsk, you’re fast!”
While Elena was pulling the flail out of the ground, Danya twisted her body mid-air and fired an arrow.
“Oh.”
Even Ian, who was watching, was impressed by the precise shot.
It was a perfect hit. Elena’s health dropped by about 10% instantly.
It must have hurt.
However, Elena merely frowned briefly and then rushed towards Danya’s landing spot.
No matter how agile the opponent was, they couldn’t change direction mid-air!
“Hiyaaaah!”
Elena charged with her shield forward, hitting Danya squarely.
Danya bounced a few times on the ground and wiped her mouth.
Virtual blood, indicating her health had halved, stained her hand.
“Not bad.”
“You’re quite agile too, Danya.”
Instead of replying, Danya backed away and nocked another arrow.
“There’s nowhere left to run in this ring!”
Clang—!
‘Snowflake fruit… Brother Ian’s trust belongs to me, Elena, not to some catgirl!’
Elena easily blocked Danya’s arrow and advanced.
But it was a feint.
Suddenly, the ground erupted.
Ian, observing, murmured.
“…Earth?”
It was a technique Ian had shown a few times before, making the ground protrude.
Danya had adapted it to create vines from the ground.
“What!”
Elena had no time to react.
She tripped over the vines and fell.
But it wasn’t over.
– Thrum!
A menacing sound came from above.
Hundreds of arrows hung in the air.
“Ugh!”
There was no time to respond.
The pressure in the air was palpable. It felt like thousands of bees buzzing, followed by a flurry of arrows.
Thudthudthudthudthud—!
Arrows rained down continuously.
Arrows imbued with green magic rained down in an unrelenting barrage.
“…!”
Elena’s health quickly drained to zero under the relentless arrow storm.
“Danya wins.”
With Ian’s declaration, the sparring ground’s illusion magic dissipated.
“Phew.”
Danya sighed and approached the collapsed Elena.
“Are you okay?”
“You’re really good. I thought I’d win because I’m a melee fighter…”
“Your strike wasn’t bad. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to charge through the arrows. You’ve got some grit.”
“I learned something today, Sister. No, Danya-unnie.”
“Hmph!”
Danya’s tail swayed slightly at Elena’s praise.
“Well, from now on, every time I eat twice, I’ll let you eat once. After all, I’m your unnie!”
And thus, the hierarchy was established.
‘…Or perhaps Elena had figured out how to deal with Danya.’
Ian couldn’t tell which was the truth.
◆
While Elena and Danya were resting, Ian headed straight to Sylvia’s office.
– Oh right! Danya had mentioned that Lina was available for the promotion battle, but Sylvia was still undecided about participating.
Sylvia’s office was five tram stops away.
“What brings you here, Ian? It’s rare for you to visit me.”
“If anyone heard that, they’d think you always come to me.”
“I always thought I was the one clinging to you in our relationship.”
…It did seem like he was the one who usually initiated contact.
Ian shook his head, noting the playful curve of Sylvia’s eyes.
If he engaged in her teasing, he’d lose.
“More importantly, what’s this about not being sure if you’ll participate in the promotion match?”
Sylvia chuckled softly.
“Hmm. Are you genuinely worried about me? How sweet. I’m glad we became partners.”
Her words were clearly leading somewhere.
When Ian pressed her with silence, she finally relented.
“Alright, I’ll be honest. I’m thinking of skipping the promotion match.”
“Why?”
“Because the time while Emilia is absent is the only chance to catch up with Raymond.”
“…”
Come to think of it, according to the original story, the Raymond Trading Company had seized control of the Academy’s market after the promotion battle.
“Even if it means giving up the benefits of the Aether class?”
“Of course, there are many advantages, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter if I join Aether a semester late. But once we lose the upper hand in trading, it’s over.”
Moreover–
Sylvia continued.
“There’s no great benefit to both of us getting promoted. If one of us gets promoted first, they can help the other during the next promotion.”
Ian nodded.
Sylvia’s argument made sense.
However, he couldn’t ignore the way she phrased things.
“We?”
Sylvia blinked a few times before tucking her hair behind her ear.
“W-well, we’re partners, so it’s natural to say ‘we’, isn’t it?”
She had a point.
◆
Returning to the original location, Ian found Elena eagerly waiting, fully recovered.
On her head rested a pure white snowflower.
“Danya-unnie may have a sharp tongue, but she has a very warm heart.”
Danya bristled at Elena’s words.
“N-no, I don’t! Hmph!”
Inadvertently proving Elena’s point, Danya retorted.
“You both must be exhausted, so head back and rest. We can discuss team matters later.”
Oh–
Elena softly exclaimed before continuing.
“I have something to tell you regarding the club.”
“Hm?”
“The Dessert Research Club room. You get to choose one.”
Oh, right.
I had completely forgotten about that.
After touring a few empty classrooms with Elena.
“…What is this doing here?”
In one of the old, long-abandoned magic wing classrooms, Ian stumbled upon an unexpected item.
A locked, old wooden box.
It was one of the Numbers.
