67 – Viscountess Freyja 9
“I lost.”
As my sword touched Ascal’s back, he lowered his sword and raised both hands, acknowledging his defeat.
“I won.”
I said, removing my sword that had touched Ascal’s back.
As I sheathed my sword, Ascal turned to look at me. Despite his loss in the duel, his face was filled with a smile.
Leaning on my shoulder, he murmured, “You know, among the academy students, you’re the second one to defeat me.”
As Ascal leaned on me, it felt like he was whispering into my ear due to his breath tickling my ear.
“You think so? Who’s the first?”
“You probably know, right? The current head of the academy student council. Joden Adellian.”
Ah, so it’s Joden. Well, if it’s Joden, even as a member of the Imperial Knights, it’s hard to defeat him.
As if imagining his duel with Joden, Ascal shivered.
“He’s a different kind of monster compared to you. Though I did win the second round.”
Joden’s skills surpass those of academy students. Probably even stronger than some professors.
“I’ll win the second round against Joden, unlike you.”
I imagined sparring with Joden in my mind.
After the sparring begins, I rush in with 20 doppelgangers.
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Joden nullifies all my illusions, and my doppelgangers vanish.
“Hmph.”
My illusions, disappearing upon touch, weren’t compatible with Joden’s instantaneous nullification of space.
Even if I try to conceal my appearance through illusions and attack, it’s futile once Joden nullifies them.
“Huh? That sounds like you’ll spar with me again next time?”
“I’d be honored if I could spar with Lady Ascal again next time.”
I’ve definitely grown stronger through this sparring.
Even if it’s a sparring I’m not inclined to, if it means getting stronger, I’d do it multiple times.
“But hey.”
Ascal puffed her cheeks, indicating something displeased her.
If an ordinary adult woman behaved like that, it might seem childish. But with Ascal’s beauty, such thoughts didn’t occur to me.
Superficial judgments based on appearance.
Is that it? If judging by my face leads to superficiality, is it a blessing?
“How long are you going to rigidly call me Lady? We’ve sparred, so relax and call me ‘nuna,’ okay?”
Ascal, still leaning on my shoulder, prodded my side with her fingers as she spoke.
“Did you tell Joden to call me ‘nuna’?”
“No, I only imagined hearing such words from that guy, but it gave me chills all over my body.”
Upon hearing my words, Ascal immediately frowned and spoke.
“Joden is not as handsome as me, but he’s still good-looking.”
I recalled Joden’s appearance.
Jet-black hair and crimson eyes. Sharp gaze and an icy personality.
Thinking of Joden’s appearance, I imagined him calling Ascal ‘nuna’.
“It seems scary, doesn’t it?”
“Really?”
Snap.
Suddenly, a white hand popped out between me and Ascal.
Ascal and I shifted our gaze to the owner of the hand, and there stood a visibly angry Yo-hanna.
“…………..”
Yo-hanna, who appeared out of nowhere, stood between me and Ascal and spoke.
“What were you two whispering about?”
We didn’t have any intention to whisper and have a conversation.
But it happened because Ascal leaned on my shoulder.
Yo-hanna examined my body from head to toe.
It seemed like the worried look of someone concerned if I was hurt or not.
Perhaps it was because I couldn’t see any light in Yo-hanna’s blue eyes.
It felt as if I were inspecting my belongings to make sure there were no scratches.
“Did I go too far with this?”
It was a metaphor I had come up with, but it felt too exaggerated.
“Are there any major injuries?”
“None at all.”
As Ascal listened to the conversation between Johanna and me, he smirked and said, “Johanna? It looks like this sister has more injuries, doesn’t it?”
Indeed, as Ascal said, there were quite a few faint wounds on Ascal’s body.
Of course, wounds that could disappear with just one potion.
“You’re not hurt much.”
I glanced at Ascal for about 0.1 seconds before speaking to Johanna.
Then, I checked my own body again.
“If you say that, isn’t this sister disappointed?”
“Sister… always… eats…”
“…When did I…”
It’s strange.
The voices of the two were barely audible.
The sky spins around.
And gradually, the sky becomes higher.
I could tell by looking at it.
The sky isn’t getting higher; it’s me getting lower.
‘Ah, I’m collapsing.’
“Lo…ki!”
The scenery I saw before collapsing was Johanna running towards me with wide-eyed surprise.
I should say it’s nothing.
But I couldn’t bring myself to open my mouth.
* * *
How much time has passed?
I opened my eyes and became the happiest person in the world.
What do you mean?
“Loki!”
If Johanna, looking at me in front of her, isn’t the happiest person in the world, then what is?
Johanna, seeing me awake, called my name and hugged me tightly.
“I was worried.”
Johanna’s scent brushed against my nose.
My heart trembled.
“If you faint again in the future, I’ll just…”
Johanna muttered to herself in a low voice.
My heart trembled for a different reason.
Johanna, what are you saying?
As Hannah nestled in my arms, my heart fluttered with two different meanings.
Suddenly,
Someone opened the door and came in.
Even though I heard the sound of the door opening, Hannah didn’t seem to have any intention of letting me go; instead, she held me tighter. If the person coming in now was Duke Frey, I could even die.
“What’s wrong, are you awake?”
Fortunately, the person who came in was not Duke Frey, but Ascal.
Ascal, after seeing Hannah embracing me, nonchalantly sat on the edge of the bed where I was lying down, as if nothing was wrong.
“The priest said there’s nothing wrong with your body, but you’ve used your head too much and just dozed off for a while.”
And I told him why I had collapsed.
I did keep writing the fantasy earlier.
“Oh, right. I didn’t tell you the more important thing.”
Ascal said with a cheerful smile.
“Father will be here soon. In about 10 seconds, huh?”
Now I checked my appearance.
Even though Ascal said that, Hannah had no intention of letting go and held me even tighter.
“Senpai, it hurts.”
I had to lie to get out of Hannah’s embrace, and when she heard that, she released the hand that was around my neck.
“Is it hurting a lot?”
And she said to me in a worried voice.
Suddenly.
And Johanna released me, and the door opened right away.
“Hmph, you’ve gotten weaker.”
Duke Freya looked at me lying on the bed and smirked.
Crack!
The Duchess, with a slap on the Duke’s back, silenced him.
Looks like that really hurt?
“hehehe. I’m confident in this one.”
.
.
.
.
I was now in Duke Freya’s armory.
The weapons here were not ordinary.
In my hand was the top-grade potion I received from the Duke.
I won it in the Ascal and sparring.
And as a gift, I had the right to take one weapon I liked from here.
In my heart, I wanted to take all the weapons here.
But if I did, instead of weapons, my neck would be on display in this armory.
That’s how tempting the weapons were.
Suddenly, I recalled the sword that Johanna was holding.
Compared to the swords here, it was less sharp but an ordinary one.
“However, choosing a sword to give to Johanna from here feels a bit odd.”
My murmurs echoed in the empty armory.
It felt somewhat strange to give Johanna a sword obtained from the Johanna household as a gift.
While wandering around the armory for quite some time,
“Is this here?”
I found the weapon I needed most at the moment.
Although I surveyed all the weapons in the armory, I still settled on this one.
With this, I wouldn’t need to worry about the remaining number of daggers anymore.
…
…
Now, it was time to return to the academy, greet the duke and duchess, and bid farewell.
Johanna and I were preparing to board the carriage.
Clattering.
“Do you have the communication devices?”
Ascal approached me and inquired.
“Yes, I have them.”
I even had two of them.
“Can I borrow your communication device for a moment?”
I pulled out the communication device I received from Johann in the extradimensional space.
It was because Erika couldn’t retrieve the communication device given to her by Johann in front of Yohanna.
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Ascal, who received my communication device, connected it with his own.
“If you need anything, feel free to contact me anytime, even if there’s nothing urgent.”
While Ascal was talking to me, Yohanna approached from the side.
“What are you talking about?”
“hehehe, well? Ask Loki.”
Ascal handed the response over to me and went into the mansion.
“What did my sister say?”
Yohanna, who watched Ascal enter the mansion, shifted her focus to me.
“We didn’t have any particularly special conversation. Now, let’s quickly get on the carriage. Didn’t we agree to have dinner together?”
Yohanna squinted her eyes as if she wasn’t pleased, but perhaps thinking that having dinner together was more important, she didn’t say anything more.
Yohanna got on the carriage first, and I followed suit.
I sat facing Yohanna on the opposite side.
“………………………..”
Seeing that, Yohanna grimaced, lifted her buttocks, and moved to sit next to me.
Tap, tap.
Then, without saying a word, she tapped her knees twice.
Is she signaling me to raise my head, just like when we came here?
“Senior? I’m not really tired….”
Tap, tap.
Yohanna silently looked at me and patted her knees.
I, too, wordlessly rested my head on Yohanna’s knees.
Then, I took off my mask.
Since I had taken off the mask when I came in, it naturally came off.
“….Eek!”
Yohanna made a strange sound and stroked my face.
“Next time, tell me before taking it off….”