Chapter 45:

Level 2 vs. Level 6

Two more days passed.

After receiving word that the preparations for the spar were complete, Vlad headed to the knights’ training grounds.

If they’ve dragged this out for so long, they must have prepared some kind of trick.

It doesn’t matter.

Vlad was confident he could defeat anyone here.

Because of that, he hadn’t even bothered asking who his opponent would be.

What interested him more was seeing the proud, arrogant lady’s expression when her carefully laid plans fell apart.

“I-I’m your opponent today!”

“…”

Still…

He hadn’t expected to be matched against such a tiny little kid.

Thinking something that would have deeply offended Nashu had she heard it, Vlad looked toward the lady.

“I’m really fighting her?”

Instead of answering, Camellia simply smiled.

What a weird person…

Muttering to himself, Vlad quietly stepped onto the training platform.

Good. The first step has gone perfectly.

Watching the boy and girl standing across from one another, Camellia smiled with satisfaction.

Sitting beside her, Netanel grumbled.

“Boss, I’m a priest of the Golden Scales—not a priest for some gambling boat.”

Apparently he was quite unhappy about being dragged away from work, but Camellia paid him no mind.

“Who are you betting on?”

“You’re actually betting money on a spar? Honestly, what do you take me for…”

Netanel’s eyes sparkled as he pulled out a money pouch.

“What’s the current payout? How much can I bet?”

“Seven-to-three in Nashu’s favor. Ask Sir Io, the vice-captain, if you want the exact details.”

The vice-captain, who had been busily collecting wagers, immediately stiffened like a frog before a snake the moment he noticed Camellia looking at him.

The other knights instinctively shrank their necks as well.

Clicking his tongue, Netanel pulled several gold coins from his pouch.

“Just how do you usually treat your knights? They all freeze whenever they see you.”

“The same as always.”

Camellia answered indifferently before waving toward Nashu, who was warming up while enthusiastically swinging her small silver shield and mace.

The girl hurried over and saluted with a determined expression.

“L-Leave it to me, My Lady! I’ll defend… our territory’s honor…”

Rohengrin, acting as her temporary coach, followed behind and whispered something into her ear.

Listening carefully, Nashu quickly repeated what he had told her.

“I-I’ll bring glory to our territory!”

“Good. I expect great things. You haven’t forgotten what I told you, have you?”

“N-No! I remember!”

“Then that’s enough. Go have fun.”

Camellia patted Nashu on the head before sending her onto the arena.

Rohengrin followed behind, apparently intending to watch over her until the very last moment.

Netanel glanced toward the lone boy standing in the center of the arena.

“…Even your captain couldn’t beat him. A little trainee knight won’t be enough.”

“No. She’ll be fine.”

At first glance, a fight between a Level 2 and a Level 6 should overwhelmingly favor the latter.

But things weren’t that simple.

Nashu and Vlad are a terrible matchup… for Vlad.

Camellia looked at Vlad’s character window.

Flesh Tailoring

A true “tailor” doesn’t merely work with what covers the body.

An ideal tailor must be capable of cutting, tearing, and carving everything beneath the skin.

• Instantly identifies the physical weak points of all humanoid enemies.
• Every successful attack against humanoid enemies becomes a critical hit.

Seriously… automatic weak-point strikes and guaranteed critical hits against every humanoid? No matter how many times I look at it, this skill is ridiculously broken.

Once Vlad started his assassination combo, even heavily armored warriors would usually be left half dead.

But Nashu was different.

As a half-dwarf, she naturally possessed high resistance to physical damage.

Even attacks that struck her weak points had much of their damage reduced.

On top of that, her unique trait, Walking Disaster, fixed all status effect efficiency at fifty percent, greatly reducing the effectiveness of critical-hit bonuses.

Unlike the emotionless “Shu-Shu” from the game, this version of Nashu also had an absurdly large health pool.

Watching Nashu step confidently into the arena, Camellia smiled.

This won’t be easy for him.

“Begin when I count to three. One… two… three!”

The instant the signal ended, Nashu kicked off the ground.

Without the slightest hesitation, she swung the halberd in her hand.

To Vlad, however, the attack was easy to evade.

She’s not that fast.

Calmly sidestepping the strike, he drew the dagger hanging from his waist.

A priest is watching. As long as I don’t kill her outright…

He thrust his dagger toward the exposed back of her neck between the gaps in her armor.

He had attacked from her blind spot.

By the time she noticed—

“Hup!”

As if she’d been waiting for exactly that moment, Nashu slammed him violently with her shield.

A dull clang of flesh colliding with metal echoed through the arena as Vlad was knocked backward.

But she wasn’t finished.

Sweeping the halberd low across the ground, she aimed directly for his ankles.

Dodging wasn’t difficult…

But it forced him much farther away than he wanted.

Vlad almost reached for one of his throwing knives before stopping himself.

A few knives weren’t likely to slow her down.

More importantly…

The position she occupied was nearly perfect.

He could hit her.

But if she simply charged through the attack, there wouldn’t be enough distance left for him to escape.

She was maintaining exactly the range that favored a swordsman…

…while being painfully restrictive for an assassin.

She looks so harmless… but she’s actually pretty good.

Even so…

Not good enough to beat him.

He had plenty of options besides sneak attacks.

“Shadow Dive.”

Vlad’s body sank into his own shadow.

Passing through the cold, dark world of shadows in an instant, he emerged from the nearest shadow—

Right behind Nashu.

He immediately slashed toward the back of her neck.

Once again—

Her shield whipped around and blocked the attack.

How did she—

He didn’t even have time to finish the thought.

As though determined to make him regret getting close, Nashu abandoned her halberd altogether and drove a punch straight into his ribs.

CRACK!

An awful sound echoed through the arena.

Vlad’s eyes widened.

Fortunately, he was still partially merged with the shadows, reducing the blow to blunt force.

Had he been completely solid…

That punch might have gone straight through his body.

She looks like an adorable dwarf rabbit… but she’s got the strength of a grizzly bear.

Retreating once more through the shadows, Vlad withdrew all the way to the edge of the arena.

Even after returning to his normal form, his ribs throbbed painfully.

I think… she actually cracked one of them.

What is she…?

As he frowned at Nashu, who continued standing confidently in the center of the arena as if inviting him to come again, someone spoke beside him.

“Harder than you expected, isn’t she?”

Elegant.

Cold.

And carrying just enough disdain to irritate him.

Without even looking, Vlad knew exactly who it was.

Of all places… why did Shadow Dive bring me near the lady?

Suppressing his growing irritation, he replied,

“…She’s decent.”

With a faint laugh, Camellia said,

“Really? Then I suppose you’ll still be able to win.”

He wanted to answer Of course.

Yet…

For some reason, the words wouldn’t come out.

Almost teasing him, she continued,

“If you surrender now, there’s a blood sausage waiting for you.”

Vlad frowned.

“…My Lady… you’re really annoying.”

He had intended to hold back.

Apparently that wasn’t going to happen.

Just as he raised his dagger to cut his own palm—

A familiar set of footsteps echoed from the distance.

Huh…? That’s Sister Mina’s footsteps…

He was right.

Moments later, Mina Alkes burst into the knights’ training grounds and shouted at the top of her lungs—

“VLAD, YOU IDIOT!!!”