I walked out of the forest, met up with Uolo on the stone path, and the 4pm bell rang.
Unknowingly, the sky was dyed a little night color, and the campus started to show signs of students coming back from the streets. They all widened their eyes once they saw the figure in white and blue uniform walking in front of me.
This was to be expected. Ever since Uolo Levanteinn became an elite swordsman trainee, he practically never appeared in places other than the dorm. He was such a character who appeared so rarely that other than his valet, the students would only see him at the tests that occur 4 times every year. Even I, a valet of Rina-sempai, would only see him a few times on the corridor even after going in and out of the swordsmen dorm every day. If I have to say that it’s official, this was the first time.
And right behind this legendary existence was a novice trainee swordsman of common birth…and the location was the large practice arena, so it would definitely be an eye-catcher. However, the most terrifying thing at this point would be that quite a few students discovered this and started hurrying over from the school campus and the trainee dorms. At this point, the entire academy was going ‘something’s going on at the practice arena!’, and news of it had definitely spread around.
The curfew of a rest day would be 7pm, which would be slightly later, so more than half the students would still be outside at this time. But even so, there was a large group of students buzzing and coming over to observe, no, watch this show. In this case, I just needed to hurry up, settle this, and hide in Rina-sempai’s room until the commotion ended…
No, wait. How am I going to settle this commotion…
As Uolo said, <<sparring>> in this academy would basically be an incomplete duel that’s more than practice. The principle would be that we would fight until one side’s cornered, but if both sides agreed, the rule of <<first strike wins>> like the old SAO era was recognized. In other words, once someone take a blow from the opponent first, the battle would be over.
In this case, the loser would definitely take some level of damage. This was the one exception to the rule of <<Deliberately reducing other people’s Lives>> the Taboo Index forbade for so many countless times. The ‘first strike win’ duel that even the Zakkaria guards forbade was permitted this this Academy, and the reason for that was that the medical office had gathered all sorts of high-priced medicine and teachers who could carry out high-level Sacred Arts. In other words, even if we got heavily injured in the sparring, it would be fine if it would be treated.
Even though I said so, chairman Uolo said that he would be using a real sword in this sparring, so the rules would be that we would fight until one side’s cornered. If I wanted to win, I just need to dodge or parry off the powerful overhead strike, and make sure my sword stop before I hit when I counter.
Of course, I could tell that this would be dauntingly hard. No, before that, should I really be winning?
Uolo was the biggest objective Rina-sempai had been aiming to beat. Would it be right for me, a valet who had been undergoing sempai’s training, to beat this opponent? Would Rina-sempai really be happy even if I win…
As I started to lower my head and make these thoughts, two set of rushed footsteps unknowingly entered my ears.
I suddenly recovered, lifted my head and looked towards the left. What entered my eyes were Elite Swordsman Trainee Solterina Celulute with her long skirt fluttering as she dashed over and my partner Eugeo running behind her. Both of them didn’t run through the path, but went directly through the hills that covered the grasslands.
Leaving aside Eugeo, I had never seen Rina-sempai pant while running up till now. Uolo, who was walking in front of me, suddenly stopped and turned to the left.
Rina-sempai took only a few seconds to get onto the path, gave me a worried expression, and faced off against Uolo. She tidied her greyish-purple skirt impeccably, straightened her back, and said,
“…Levanteinn-dono, what’s the meaning of this?”
In this Academy, Rina-sempai was the only student who did not use polite words to Uolo. The students surrounding from afar let out a soft commotion.
The top swordsman took the piercing stare of those deep blue eyes without flinching. The short blond head tilted slightly as he calmly answered,
“As you can see, Celulute-dono, your valet did something illegal. I considered that it was somewhat inappropriate to punish him severely on a rest day…so I intended to spar against him.”
The buzz surrounding us got louder.
Rina-sempai finally noticed a black stain on the torso of Uolo’s uniform. It seemed that she was able to deduce what was going on as she gently bit her lips.
While the top and second ranked elite swordsmen trainees were facing each other, I nudged my way towards my partner standing blankly near the human wall. His face was given the expression I was ever-familiar with—the blend of ‘What did you do again’ and ‘Don’t tell me…you done it again…’ expressions.
“…You got here rather fast.”
I whispered. Eugeo nodded slightly a few times.
“I was in the cafeteria of the swordsmen dorm, and Zobun-sempai’s valet came running in saying that the chairman’s going to fight against you. I was think how was that possible, but came running over with Celulute-sempai…however, it seems that it’s not impossible at all.”
“Ahh, well…that seems to be the case.”
I nodded. Eugeo seemed like he wanted to say something as he took a deep breath, but after pausing for a few seconds, he merely let out a huge sigh.
“…No, it’s a miracle that you didn’t manage to cause any problems up till now, Kirito. Please, show off all the troubles you have accumulated for this one year today.”
“As expected of you who’ve been with me for such a long time, partner.”
I inadvertently giggled. Eugeo patted me on my back, causing me to look away.
Rina-sempai was still staring at Chairman Uolo with a stern expression, but even I, who hardly memorized the rules, knew that breaking this deadlock was impossible.
I left Eugeo and moved to sempai’s side, nodded gently to my beloved mentor.
“I’m really sorry to make you worry, sempai. But I’m fine…or rather, I feel that facing off against the chairman is sorta lucky.”
I whispered as I stared at sempai’s dark blue eyes, trying to read the emotions in them. I wanted to know what she felt about her own valet facing her biggest opponent.
However—I immediately felt regret over my actions. All I could see deep within sempai’s eyes was worry.
“Kirito…how are you going to win in this spar?”
This question was too sudden, so I blinked as I answered,
“Eh…we’re using real swords, so I guess we’ll fight until we’re cornered…”
“Oh yes, I forgot to explain.”
Uolo interrupted as he explained with the usual calm expression,
“I won’t do sparring when we fight until one side is cornered as that will only dull my sword strikes. The exams the Academy specified was something out of my hands, but personally, I have been using the rule of first strike win in my fights.”
“Eh…then, in other words…”
The head swordsman trainee showed a slight change of expression in front of the shocked me. It seemed that he was baring…or rather, revealing his fangs like a carnivore.
“But speaking of which, we can only fight in a first strike match under both parties’ agreement. This was decided by the Taboo Index, so it takes priority over the swordsman trainee punishment…I’ll let you choose then, trainee Kirito.”
The crowd that had been buzzing quietly immediately hushed up.
''Of course you have to fight until one side’s cornered!'' I seemed to hear Eugeo’s voice, and I didn’t need to hear Rina-sempai speak up to know that it was reckless to carry out a first strike match with real swords instead of wooden swords, against the strongest man in the Academy.
That’s what I felt, but—
“I’ll let you decide then, Levanteinn-dono. I’m the one being punished.”
However, such words seemed to come out from my mouth automatically.
Eugeo’s dejected sight could be heard from behind me. Rina-sempai clenched her fists tightly as she held back from sighly sharply. And also, someone seemed to be sighing away on my hair, ‘yare yare’—that’s what I felt.