59 – Midterm – 2
“Aria you… ….”
Feeling an eerie feeling for no reason, I blurted out her words. Even I wasn’t sure what I had just seen.
Could Aria smile like that? It doesn’t match my usual image at all.
“Yes? “What’s wrong with you, Mira?”
Before she knew it, Aria, who had her usual ridiculously bright, innocent, kind face, tilted her head with an expression that contained only her pure doubt.
For just a moment, it occurred to me that I might have been mistaken. Because Aria looked very pure now.
‘…… I’m sure it wasn’t an illusion.’
But I definitely confirmed it. The eerie smile on her innocent face. The corner of the mouth looks like it’s going to be torn apart, and the eyes are curved like an inverted crescent moon. A soggy feeling flowing from my whole body.
That image from before was definitely not an illusion.
“Mira, are you okay? Your complexion looks dark. “Are you sick at all?”
At that moment, Aria suddenly popped her head in. Her lips almost touched. She stepped back slightly, feeling Aria’s unique scent mixed with her exhaled breath.
Without any exaggeration, if her little finger had come a little closer, her lips would have touched. The distance just now was that close.
“…… No it’s okay. Nothing. I just think I misunderstood something. “I’m sorry if I made you worry for no reason.”
“hehehe, Mira too. You’re not saying that because you’re nervous, are you? “You were fine just a little while ago.”
At the same time, Aria’s lightly smiling appearance did not contain the slightest bit of fear. She only had the innocence and beauty of the main character of the novel.
‘…… ‘Did I see it wrong?’
It occurred to her that maybe she really did.
It happened in a very short period of time. Before the eerie feeling I felt had even subsided, I returned to the original aria. The light may have shined strangely for a moment, making the smile appear distorted.
Even Priscilla and Rosaria go far beyond the level of being nice, so Aria is the ideal protagonist to the extent that people want to call her a brat. It was definitely not a smile that a person with that type of personality could make. She tried to erase the feeling of discomfort.
“Do you know that you are making a very curious expression right now, Mr. Mira?”
Aria poked my cheek and laughed. It was a smile as bright as the midday sun.
“So, I haven’t heard the answer yet? Bet, what would you do? Do you want to do it?”
“…… You can do it. So should I bet that Brünnhild wins?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Are you sure you two are planning to make trouble for me or something?”
“Although Leona is very playful, she doesn’t do it in situations like this. “Even though she looks like that, she has a very competitive personality.”
Aria declared that. I hesitated for a while, then accepted it. When her bet was accepted, Aria said wait and see, she would never lose, clenching her hands and cutely igniting her motivation.
“I’m here! “I won first place!”
Brünnhild easily defeated his opponent and came back with his calm demeanor and demeanor. Just like me, it was a scam that excluded the dividend itself.
Aria’s fight, which was in the middle of the battle, was standard and authentic. She covered her body with defensive magic, kept her opponent in check with light magic, and laid down a blanket to limit her movements, before finishing her off with one large blow.
It sounds good, but it is quite difficult to implement it properly in practice. This is especially true if the opponent is also a magician and has similar thoughts, so checks are flying in like a rain.
However, Aria, who was the epitome of a schoolboy, seemed to have done it with ease, and her opponent was completely crushed without even being able to win in any one area, including magic power, range, casting speed, and defense magic durability.
“…… “Aria asked you to make that bet?”
While I was waiting for Arya, I told Brünnhild her story about her bet. It was because I had been advised that telling her what she said would only fuel her fighting spirit.
“Sorry. “I’ll stop being your childhood friend just for today, Aria.”
Aria’s prediction was exactly right. She even said that Brunhild would stop being her childhood friend just for today, and a double wick lit up in her eyes.
“Uhm…… “Then shall we make a bet too?”
It may have been a natural step, but Aria made another bet with Brünnhild. Unlike the prize on this side, which was vaguely passed over by saying that they had thought about it equally, the prize on the other side was dessert.
A bet that you have to somehow buy the limited edition muffins that are sold only 100 a day.
‘That didn’t taste very good.’
I bought some Beatrice and took a bite, but it was too sweet. Beatrice ate it all by herself, asking why she couldn’t eat this sweet food.
“I feel extremely devastated to say this as a teacher…… I wish you could control your strength a little bit. “Shouldn’t we also evaluate your opponent?”
“I understand.”
And I, who was the last person in line, had to knock out my opponent in 0.1 Seconds as soon as the starting whistle blew and ask Professor Jake for a favor.
When I returned to the waiting area, Aria and Brünnhilde were looking at me as if they were looking at some kind of devil. The gaze of those around me was the same.
After that, the number of students continued to decrease. When the bracket became small enough to allow one group to be played at a time, students began to lose stamina due to continuous sparring and were unable to perform to their full potential.
Even that was included in the grading criteria. How well do you know the power you have, and how cleverly can you allocate that power to fight?
You may give your best at this moment and give your opponent a free victory in the next round, but on the other hand, if you try to store up your stamina, you may lose to an opponent who is weaker than you.
Of course, those who openly use the Nigawa strategy had to make good judgments because the professors said that it would be reflected in their scores. It’s all part of psychological warfare.
“Assuming that’s the case, Aria, you look very fine too?”
Of course, Brunhild and I were like that, but what was unexpected was that Aria was stronger in close combat than expected.
As the number of people decreased, there were times when I met opponents who were naturally disadvantageous, but I was able to overcome them all with my skills.
“I came in second place in the entrance exam? There is no concept of major in the entrance exam. “To get a high score, you have to do well in all areas.”
Come to think of it, in the original work, Aria always took the senior position. She had been such a quiet and quiet person that she had forgotten about it for a while.
“I’m going to give you a little break now! Because what happens next is real!”
Finally, there were only four men in the bracket, and a little rest was given. As everyone predicted, it was Aria, Brunhild, me, and another woman.
The audience was taking advantage of this opportunity to settle the gamble they had made so far. Although there was an open sense of joy and sorrow, the professors did not care one bit.
“The break is over! Next order, to the sparring hall!”
I heard a loud voice and confronted the woman in front of me. We never met because we were in different classes, but I had heard stories from Priscilla.
A miser or a money demon. Anyway, the nickname for the money-obsessed type was ‘Io Brante,’ a woman with everything.
He is very talented and skilled, but he often misses lectures to focus on making money, so he is not well-received by professors.
The reason I am so obsessed with money is because my parents died from a monster and I have to feed my younger siblings alone.
“Ah, hello! I look forward to!”
“Yes.”
It looks timid on the outside, but it’s actually acting. Even her act of acting timid was said to be a strategy to take full advantage of the fact that she was a pretty girl.
I took out Youngwon and rushed at the signal. And she deliberately clashed her blades against each other, binding them, and put on a cross guard, pretending to have a contest of strength.
“Off…… !”
She was just pretending to do it to me, but the strength behind her was considerable, and I could see Io clenching her teeth and supporting her center of gravity. She asked, biting her lips as little as possible.
“I heard you’ll do anything if you give me money, is that true?”
“Anything…… Is! No, these clothes…… !”
Io forcefully pushed me away at the same time as she answered. He pretended to be pushed away, but immediately grabbed the man’s wrist holding the knife and pulled him towards him, bending his elbow inward.
When her own sword was about to be thrust into her own throat, Io quickly let go of her sword. Then, with his other hand, he pulled a dagger from his waist and aimed it at my neck. He grabbed the hand holding the dagger and pulled it, twisting it.
Our bodies naturally became closer. At the same time, Io’s dagger also got closer to Io’s own neck.
“Nothing!”
“The dirty things…… ! I don’t accept it…… !”
From Noble mtl dot com
Even as Io struggled to somehow escape, her answers were consistent. She didn’t intend to do that in the first place, so it’s probably a good thing.
“Good. “Then why don’t you take on a request later?”
“uuu…… ! What, a request…… ?”
The blade finally reached my neck. The number representing the damage he suffered began to rise little by little.
“Killing bad guys.”
“Well, murder is a bit expensive…… !”
In the meantime, they don’t say they won’t do it. It gave me more strength. The speed at which the numbers rise has become much faster. It looked like that because the area where the blade touched was the neck.
“Two platinum coins as advance payment. The more you complete the request, the more. And an additional fifty gold coins for each head of the bad guys.”
“…… !!!!!”
Io, whose eyes widened at the enormous amount, was about to say something, but as if the damage had reached its limit, a warning sound sounded and the distance between us forcibly widened.
I spoke calmly while listening to the declaration of victory.
“If you have any thoughts, come to my club room after the exam. “I will explain in detail.”
That was the end of the sparring. Rosaria came over and took Io away, who was still standing there blankly. They didn’t show anything in particular, but that’s up to the professor to figure out.
“Next! Leona Brünnhild and Aria April!”
Aria and Brunhild went up to the sparring hall. Brünnhilde took a powerful stance, aiming her holy sword.
“You thought you could win by sticking with me, Aria?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Aria also smiled, took her stance, and pointed her staff. A blue magic circle appeared at the tip of her wand. Brunhild saw that and snorted at her.
“You really said that was preparation? “You know that sleep magic doesn’t work on me.”
But the smile on his face still remained.
“You know what, Leona?”
“Suddenly what?”
“The holy sword protects the hero. “The range of protection includes complete immunity to various mental attacks.”
“Of course I know. However?”
While the conversation continued, the magic circle was completed. Aria raised her wand with a very pure and beautiful smile.
“However, it cannot prevent mental attacks that have no malicious intent towards the user.”
“Uh…… ? “Huh?”
At the same time, Brunhild’s knees buckled helplessly. With a sigh, Brünnhild sat down on the floor of the sparring hall. The audience was very excited.
“Good night, Leona. Sweet dreams. “It’s either my dream or Mira’s dream.”
“You…… This shameful… ….”
Brunhild closed her eyes before she could finish her sentence.
Soon, a very even breathing sound was heard. Jake bewilderedly declared the winner, and the excitement in the audience grew incomparably louder.
“Look. “I kept my promise, Mira.”
Aria smiled brightly.
“Now it’s just us left.”