By Zephyria 
Melicsa spoke pompously, so I nodded.
Her eyes shone with a frightening intensity.
“And it was a ‘Balkan’… is that true?”
I let out a shallow breath. I had no idea what this girl’s intentions were in suddenly taking an interest in something like that.
“What if it is? What are you going to do?”
At my answer, Melicsa narrowed her eyes.
“Are you that strong?”
“At least more than you.”
Didn’t you get beaten by me without being able to lift a finger? Melicsa widened her eyes as if she was reminded of the same time as me.
“Oh, you’re so full of yourself just because you won once! But don’t you know what a best of three is? I’ll acknowledge you when you beat me one more time, but until then, you never know.”
“Then try me. I’ll show you who’s on top.”
“Ray!”
Herman shouted angrily as if he was displeased with my reply. It’s only natural to accept a challenge that’s been thrown at you, but I couldn’t understand what he was so displeased about.
Whether he did or not, Melicsa was rubbing her hands together and licking her lips. As if she had gotten the situation she wanted.
“Good, that’s how it should be. I’ll make you prostrate yourself in front of me and beg me to make you my subordinate! Just you wait.”
I guess she started this fight because she wanted to do this from the beginning.
“Melicsa Cecil. Enough. It looks really cowardly to pick a fight with someone who just got out of bed.”
Herman spat out with a knife in his mouth. But Melicsa just glared back at him with a face that wasn’t intimidated at all.
“The thing he used was an Elixir, wasn’t it? His body is all healed and there aren’t any aftereffects, right? He’s not a child, and you seem to be overprotecting him too much? If there’s something else wrong, tell me. I don’t mind postponing the match.”
Certainly, she didn’t say anything wrong. Herman’s face was still sullen, but he couldn’t refute it.
I smiled slightly and said.
“That’s right. After all, I’m the one who gladly accepted the challenge. And… don’t worry. Nothing will happen to me from just playing with this girl for a while.”
Herman realized that it was a provocation and rubbed his forehead, and Melicsa let out a short, hollow laugh. Then she grabbed my collar. In that instant, Tom’s shrill scream was heard faintly from inside the lecture hall.
“Come out with me.”
It was a composition that was easy to mistake for a serious situation, but Melicsa, who was right in front of me, had a very excited face.
She took the lead first, and as I followed behind her, Zeon and Herman, who had quickly jumped out of the lecture hall, followed closely behind. Tom, who had been hesitating because he didn’t want to be left alone, also jumped out.
Just as watching a fire is fun, so is watching a fight, and the students, except for Newt and Hawkrun, were following behind us in a row.
“Ugh! Really. Class is in a few minutes….”
Tom was restless, worrying about the class that would be held in a little while.
It was the
I know that too.
Of course, even so, it didn’t matter.
I was only in the position of ‘as long as I don’t get expelled,’ and I had no intention of making things that big. I just needed to slightly break the arrogant nose of a small creature who didn’t know its place, and that would be enough to end it appropriately. At that time, the giant freckled male student who was following behind us shook his head and muttered.
“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have told Melicsa about Raymond. She likes fighting so much that she’s been known as a fighting-crazed dog since she was a kid. She even burst the X-al of a boy who was playing the boss of the back alleys….”
“Heeek.”
“Once she gets like that, no matter who tries to stop her, she won’t listen, so it’s faster to just give up. Either match her pace until you’re exhausted and get her to acknowledge you, or beg her to leave your X-al alone….”
“Heeeeeek.”
Tom was chiming in with the freckled male student’s words, and what a skit that was. Tom, who had turned as pale as if his own X-al had been torn off, grabbed his crotch around the time we left the back gate and arrived at the Maze Garden.
It was a time when other students were taking classes, so the wide Maze Garden was empty and desolate.
“There’s no one around, perfect.”
Melicsa ran lightly to create some distance and then turned around. At her gesture, Zeon silently dragged Tom and Herman back. The other humans must have been worried about getting caught up in it, so they moved away on their own.
Melicsa smiled and pulled her left arm back, put her right arm forward, and pulled her foot back. It was a stable martial arts stance that combined defense and offense.
“Full Body Armament.”
Soon, blue Mana flared up from Melicsa.
It was a different kind from emitting Magical Energy out of the Energy Aperture of the whole body. It was as if she had wrapped Mana around her whole body like armor.
It seemed to be a Magic that wrapped Power magic Mana with good destructive power around the whole body and gave it offensive power in itself.
“Come on! Bonehead!”
I gladly responded to that provocation and burst out Mana like she did. If it was a Magic she could do, I could follow along at any time.
I kicked off the ground and rushed forward with all my might. Melicsa must have thought that I would ‘of course’ use a Skeleton to attack, so she was greatly flustered and was busy defending.
“You cheater! What about the family’s honor or whatever!”
“Why does honor matter in a fight to win?”
“Ugh! Don’t say what’s right!”
Melicsa, who had been exchanging blows for a while, threw a thrust with all her might. The Mana that had been concentrated at the end of her fist cut through the wind and aimed for my abdomen, and I, who had bent my elbow inward to block it for a brief moment, was pushed back.
‘Hmm.’
The level that my current body is keeping up with and Melicsa’s martial arts level are similar.
On top of that, in a situation where we’re both using Full Body Armament, we essentially have to continue the offense and defense with only martial arts, so it doesn’t seem like it will end easily like this…. It’s a Magic that consumes a lot of Mana, so it’s not efficient in the long run.
‘I shouldn’t try to fight with brute force.’
But the compatibility with Necromancy isn’t good.
Of course, I didn’t use it to exploit her weaknesses, but the more decisive reason was that the familiars summoned by Necromancy weren’t very sturdy right now. Not only can I not maintain them for long yet, but they’re also not strong, so even if I take them out, they’ll be swept away with one punch.
I had to think of another way.
‘…Then. How about I try this.’
I released Full Body Armament without delay. As the blue Mana that had been burning disappeared in an instant, Melicsa widened her eyes. What I used right after that was my original Mana, which was normally black.
Swish, swish, swish.
The swaying Mana soon changed into a black, thin form and wrapped around my wrist. It was a form that looked like a snake. The ‘black snake’ shook as if it had free will, and then shot out at my gesture, aiming for Melicsa.
Swoosh!
Melicsa instantly arched her back to dodge. She placed both hands behind her to do a somersault and created more distance between us, then shattered the snake’s follow-up attack with her fist.
Then, she dove in to directly target me, who had released Full Body Armament.
Her instantaneous movements are quite sharp. Targeting me was also a wise decision. I felt it during practice, but this small human has a great sense of combat. However, no matter how beast-like her agility, it would be difficult to twist her posture while running at full speed.
“……!”
The moment something caught her ankle, Melicsa showed an astonishingly quick reaction, but it was impossible to avoid it properly.
She tried to dodge the invisible attack to the side but slipped, ending up in a half-fallen posture, and aiming a black snake, sharpened like a blade, at her forehead was easier than anything.
“H… how….”
Melicsa, frozen, releases Full Body Armament. Her eyes, shaken with panic, glanced down. I kindly explained with a generous heart.
“The black one is a trick. The real one is here.”
When I moved my arm, a part of the transparent snake crawling on the floor was slightly revealed. It was a fellow I had created with the black snake, applying Invisibility Magic to it.
In other words, I created the black snake and the transparent snake at the same time, made the black one draw attention to distract as much as possible, and then moved with the black snake’s attack to lay it on the floor. I had also prepared a countermeasure in case she noticed and dodged… but it seemed there would be no need to carry out that countermeasure.
“Invisibility… Eight-sided Command? With Instant Cast?! No… more than that, it would have been incredibly burdensome to consume that much Mana to apply Invisibility and manipulate something that big….”
“That’s right. But it doesn’t matter if it ends in a short battle.”
Since it didn’t seem like the battle would continue, I, having withdrawn the snake, looked down at Melicsa, who was blankly looking up at me.
“With this… it’s two wins out of three. You said you’d prostrate yourself and beg to be taken as a subordinate? I can fight as much as you want if you want. What are you going to do?”
The answer didn’t come right away. I thought it was because she had lost her will to fight, but no. Melicsa burst into a small laugh, then started laughing loudly as if it was so funny.
“Ahahaha! Raymond! I really like you!”
Then she jumped up and suddenly put her arm around my shoulder. She was acting friendly as if she hadn’t been picking a fight and arguing just now, which was quite burdensome. It was truly an impudent act for a lowly creature.
“I’ll specially acknowledge you as my bestie!”
“I don’t want to. Let go.”
“Don’t be shy! You don’t have to refuse, friend!”
Melicsa dragged me away and declared in front of the onlookers that we were besties. I didn’t allow it, though.
Whether I liked it or not, these rude little humans were chattering and naturally continuing their conversations. Herman, who was still sullen, was also caught up in the sociable Melicsa and was mixing into the conversation.
Kindness, intimacy, affection, friendship….
These are unfamiliar things to me. And a friend who is human. Such a thing…. It was when I forcibly pulled Melicsa away and sighed.
“A fight and then friends? How youthful.”
Professor Marien, who had been mixed in with the onlookers without a sound, chuckled and joined in, and the children were surprised and turned to look at her.
I didn’t even notice when she had arrived. Just as I swallowed hard, Marien smiled sweetly and continued. It was a smile that somehow made me feel fear.
“Thanks to you, I had an interesting time watching. But skipping class is a bad thing. You know? I’ll tell Professor Polargehen, so go and listen to the nagging later. Then, shall we go to class for the remaining time?”
The children burst into sighs. As the conversation with Marien continued for a while… I suddenly felt a gaze and turned around.
A shadow disappearing behind the building caught my eye.
I couldn’t properly identify the face of the shadow because it quickly disappeared, but it seemed like the hair was sparkling silver.