“Let me borrow your face for a moment.”
A few days after registering as an adventurer, Arcelia came to my room while I was preparing for training.
She just barged in without knocking.
On top of that, I was changing clothes, so I was shirtless.
“Normally, it’s the other way around, but don’t just come in without any signal.”
In such situations, it’s usually the case where a man barges in on a woman changing, and then gets slapped.
Well, I always knock on the door, so it’s something that would never happen, anyway.
Besides, if I were to barge in on Arcelia while she was changing, it wouldn’t end with a slap.
I’d definitely be half-killed.
It was far too dangerous and terrifying.
“Well, I don’t care about your nakedness. More importantly, let me borrow your face.”
Arcelia continued without changing her expression.
She didn’t care about my nakedness… which was indeed true, but hearing it directly was somewhat irksome.
That said, I didn’t plan on complaining.
“Borrow my face… are you a delinquent adventurer or something? So, am I going to get beaten up by you now?”
“What are you talking about? Did you turn your brain into muscle from overtraining?”
Arcelia shot me a look as if she found me ridiculous.
Seriously… how unfair.
Among adventurers, I’m actually quite smart.
“It’s obviously for a spar.”
With a sigh, Arcelia said.
“Ah, so it’s just a spar. That’s fine. I’ll get ready quickly, so just wait a bit.”
“Make it quick.”
I had just been swinging my sword alone for the past few days.
Today, I thought I’d set some limitations and try something different.
As I was about to take off my lower clothing…
“No, wait outside.”
I told Arcelia, who was still standing with her arms crossed.
“I don’t mind.”
“I do. You should learn a little common sense. Now, go on.”
I pushed Arcelia out of the room and closed the door.
Honestly… they say geniuses lack common sense, and Arcelia is a prime example of that.
I wanted her to be a little more aware that she’s a young girl.
I didn’t particularly care, but there’s such a thing as public perception.
“Now, if I have my sword… alright, I’m ready.”
Once I finished preparing, I opened the door.
Arcelia was leaning against the hallway wall with her arms crossed.
“You’re late.”
“It’s only been a few minutes.”
As usual, she had a smart remark ready.
In the upcoming spar, I wouldn’t hold back and would give it my all.
“Oh, no one’s here today either.”
“Well, if someone was here, I could just make them leave.”
“Hey, that’s a bit too violent.”
While exchanging our usual banter, Arcelia and I stepped into the training ground.
Fortunately, there was no one here today.
I used this place every day, but aside from the first day, there was always someone using it, so I was always looked at oddly.
Well, at the same time, I noticed that no one had been around when I did.
“Are we going to do this spar any way we want?”
I asked Arcelia while loosening my body.
Personally, since it’s part of my training, I wanted to set some restrictions.
However, since it was Arcelia who invited me, I thought I’d ask first.
“I have something I want to try. Can you help me with that?”
“So, you want me to be your test subject?”
“Let’s just say that.”
What she wanted to try was probably something new she learned in the library.
It’s more of an experiment than a spar.
“Well, that’s fine. What do you want me to do?”
I was quite interested in what new thing the genius Arcelia wanted to try.
What kind of interesting thing would come out of it?
“I’d like to ask one thing… how sturdy are you?”
“Sturdy, huh? If I put in all my effort to defend myself… I’d say I could fall from that tower to the ground and be unhurt.”
In the case of injuries, there are external injuries and internal injuries.
Simply put, external injuries are cuts, and internal injuries are fractures or internal organ damage.
Even if I defend my body’s surface with fighting spirit, the shock could crush my organs.
So, I needed to strengthen both my body and surface with fighting spirit.
However, I still didn’t know the limit of that.
It was certain, though, that I would be fine even if I fell from the clock tower of the academy.
“I see… then it should be fine.”
Arcelia nodded to herself after thinking for a bit.
A bad feeling washed over me.
“What do you plan to do?”
“Well, it doesn’t really matter, does it? You just need to defend yourself with all your might.”
“No, no, no. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Hurry up. I won’t be responsible if you die.”
It was clear that Arcelia was hiding something.
No, it’s not that she was hiding it… she was trying to mislead me.
Until just now, I had been looking forward to this, but now I was suddenly filled with anxiety.
“… Don’t do anything reckless, seriously.”
“Don’t worry. I never fail.”
“Does that mean my bad feeling is a misunderstanding?”
“Of course it does.”
“Then that’s fine…”
Since it wouldn’t help to argue here, I reluctantly accepted and moved a little farther away from Arcelia.
Then I circulated my fighting spirit throughout my body, reinforcing both my interior and surface.
Since I had a bad feeling, I didn’t hold back and strengthened my whole body to the limit.
“Alright. I’m ready.”
I lowered my waist slightly, prepared for whatever might come.
What kind of thing would come out?
More importantly, would I be able to remain safe?
With an inescapable bad feeling, I waited for Arcelia.
“I’m coming!”
“Okay.”
Arcelia opened her feet to shoulder-width and faced her palms towards me.
Then she closed her eyes and began to weave something.
In an instant――――
I was blown away by a tremendous shock.
“…!?”
A thunderous sound pierced my ears, the impact shook my body, and my vision spun around.
I bounced off the ground several times and finally stopped after slamming into the ground.
As my spinning vision settled, I looked at the scene before me.
The ground was shattered and caved in.
Debris from the ground was scattered everywhere.
A burnt smell wafted through the air.
White smoke was rising.
On top of that, the wall I crashed into had a human-shaped dent in it.
When I shifted my gaze to Arcelia… she had a satisfied expression I had never seen before.
“—Hey, you inconsiderate woman, get over here!”
When I shouted, Arcelia came over, looking annoyed.
“What? I was feeling good. Can’t you let me enjoy it?”
Her usual sullen face and arrogant attitude.
I stood up and placed my hands on Arcelia’s shoulders.
“Are you stupid? Are you a genius but also an idiot? Don’t look so pleased with this mess!”
“Huh? What are you talking about? This is a wonderful result. It’s a combination of fire and wind magic. And controlling it is particularly difficult. You should be praising me, not insulting me—”
“Look at this!”
“What?”
“My sword. It’s broken. I had placed it at a distance, and it flew back to me… in a broken state.”
“Huh?”
“You just thought, ‘I don’t care about such a lame sword,’ didn’t you?”
“No, but it’s lame—”
“Shut up.”
I grabbed Arcelia’s cheeks and forced her mouth shut.
“There’s a saying in some places: ‘A sword is more precious than life.’ I’ve treated it with quite a bit of care, even if it’s not more precious than my life.”
“Mmph.”
I brought the remains of my sword, which was no longer recognizable, in front of Arcelia’s face.
“And this. The sheath is completely destroyed. The blade is in pieces. The hilt that barely remains is charred. And you—huh?”
I suddenly looked up and gazed into the distance.
I saw someone flying through the sky at an incredible speed.
“Hmm.”
It seemed a teacher was rushing over due to the earlier thunderous sound.
“So, I’m going to run away. You just stay put and get caught, you explosion magician.”
I immediately let go of Arcelia and ran in the opposite direction from the approaching teacher.
After all, I hadn’t done anything wrong.
It was all Arcelia’s fault.
Fortunately, I didn’t possess magical power, so I didn’t have to worry about getting caught by the teacher’s magic.
“Alright, alright. With this—”
“Don’t leave me behind!”
“Whoa!”
Arcelia suddenly appeared beside me.
“Why are you following me? Just get caught quietly!”
“I don’t want to. It’ll be a hassle.”
“I don’t care! Just don’t involve me in this!”
Having my sword broken and getting caught in more trouble was something I truly wanted to avoid.
I had to escape somehow.
“Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, you won’t get caught. A teacher’s magic can’t see through my stealth magic.”
“…What?”
“This cancels it out.”
Arcelia smiled.
It wasn’t even noon yet, but I was already exhausted.
“Oh, what about the training ground?”
“Who knows? Maybe the teacher will fix it with magic?”
“Well, that’s true… then it doesn’t matter.”
“Right. So, what are we doing now?”
“…I’m mentally drained, so I’m going to eat. Then I’ll go to the blacksmith. I need to buy a replacement for the sword you broke.”
Since I didn’t have to worry about getting caught anymore, Arcelia and I walked back to the town.
As for the training ground we left behind… it would probably be back to normal by the next day.
