Midterm Evaluation (11)
─ If the first attack doesn't work, surrender immediately. It can't be helped. No matter how many techniques you've learned from me, you're still not at a level where you can overcome the difference in weight class.
The instructor said so.
─ But, if you succeed, then it's your time. Soi Spoon.
“Ugh…….”
Looking at the opponent's face, it seemed like he was in unimaginable pain.
His mouth was wide open, and saliva dripped onto the floor.
But Soi didn't care about her opponent's condition.
If she lost the initiative, it would be over in an instant.
Soi's hand reached for the opponent's hand holding the wooden sword.
─ First, grab his pinky finger and twist it back. Then the other fingers will easily come off.
As he said, Soi was able to twist his pinky finger with her strength and snatch the wooden sword from his hand.
─ Actually, it would be best to hit him with the wooden sword at that point……. But if you go that far, it'll be a foul. Just throw it away.
‘Actually, what I'm doing now feels like a huge foul…….’
But Soi swallowed such doubts.
She believed Zeke, who promised to take responsibility for everything if she won.
Sometimes……. No, often he goes too far……. But at least he's not a liar.
Soi flung the wooden sword behind her.
Thud, clatter.
The sound of the wooden sword hitting the floor echoed.
Then, the opponent, who had regained some consciousness, looked at Soi with a distorted face as if asking what this was all about.
“You……. Bitch……!!”
“Don't call me a bitch.”
Then Soi pulled her leg back as if to kick his groin again.
This time, the guy firmly covered his groin with both hands, determined not to fall for the same trick twice.
But that was Soi's aim.
Soi fixed her gaze on his groin and stretched her hand straight out,
striking his completely unguarded Adam's apple with a deadly blow.
Crack─!
“Cough─!!”
Even a chop with the edge of the hand could momentarily stop one's breath, but she hit a human's weak point with her fist.
The opponent clutched his neck with both hands, his eyes wide open.
Soi's subsequent attacks were truly a dirty fight.
Stomping on his little toe with her heel.
Kicking his groin.
Covering his eyes with one hand and hitting his jaw.
Kicking his groin again.
Headbutting his face with her forehead.
Kicking his groin again.
“……Ugh……. Ugh, s-stop, stop……. Stop it.”
Did his balls burst?
The small girl in front of him was viciously attacking his weak points.
Tears welled up in his eyes, and he lost his strength.
“T-this isn't……. a duel…….”
“I know. I think so too. But…….”
Soi quickly moved behind him like a nimble squirrel and kicked the back of his knee.
Then, with a thud, the man's knee hit the floor.
Soi climbed onto his shoulder.
She put his neck between her thighs and locked her legs like scissors.
The instructor called it
─ Happy Choke.
It had a cute name, but unlike its name, it was a wicked technique.
The man's face turned pale as he was choked.
He grabbed Soi's ankles and tried to loosen her legs that were choking him.
Each time, Soi used her free hands to strike his face like a hammer.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
The large man was choked, and his eyelids began to bruise.
Soi's appearance, toying with him like that, made the nobles' jaws drop.
“W-what, what is this……!”
“Such dirty tricks in a duel……!”
“As expected of a commoner, she has no dignity or manners!”
And beside Zeke, Dios gritted his teeth.
“……Z-Zeke Clayman…….”
“Hmm?”
“What the hell does she think she's doing!!!”
Dios pointed his finger at Soi, who was tightly gripping the man's neck and wouldn't let go.
His neck was bulging with veins.
“What's wrong?”
“It's a foul! You've insulted the honorable duel of knights! Using such dirty tricks to attack your opponent!!”
“……Honor?”
Zeke chuckled.
Looking at the nobles, he could see that they also thought the same, their faces full of indignation.
Zeke spoke to Dios, but he infused his voice with mana so that everyone could hear.
“Honor? Was there ever any honor in this duel to begin with? Making a man and a woman fight each other from the start was dishonorable.”
“……So, didn't we make the male student use a wooden sword and the female student use a real sword!!!”
“Hmm? That makes it even stranger. Elise from our side discarded her real sword as soon as the duel began. And she didn't even take her opponent's weapon to use. So, now Elise, despite being a woman, has completely abandoned her penalty. Then, she used grappling or whatever to turn the unfavorable situation around and achieve victory, so shouldn't we praise her instead?”
Zeke's words were clearly conveyed to the audience.
Only then did the nobles grasp the awkwardness of the current situation, which had been obscured by the dishonorable attacks.
A small, beautiful girl. And underneath her, a male student who had fainted with foam coming out of his mouth and his eyes rolled back.
The difference in their physique seemed to be at least twice as much.
Some nobles reluctantly nodded and said.
“That's true. ……No matter how dirty the tricks she used……. It's honestly amazing that she won, isn't it……?”
“Honestly, if he had trained properly……. I think he could have easily shaken off whatever technique that frail girl used…….”
“Well, who would have thought that girl would win? When she first appeared, I bet there were quite a few people who were thinking, 'Do whatever you can to her and just try to hold on for a long time'……. I was one of them……”
The method was a bit rough, but if he had faced her head-on, could that girl have achieved such a victory?
No, she had stubbornly fought and won a battle that had a predetermined outcome from the beginning.
Shouldn't we consider it amazing?
As the nobles' atmosphere shifted towards acceptance, the principal, with a tired face, declared Elise's victory.
“……Commoner, Elise. Victory!”
Realizing that the gazes directed at her were no longer filled with lust but with something else, Elise grinned at the audience.
For some reason, the nobles felt a chill and closed their legs.
She no longer looked like a weak and easygoing commoner girl.
They could only see a future where they would get their groin kicked if they approached her carelessly.
* * *
The following third duel was Iriel's.
Iriel Eustia.
As the red-haired girl appeared with a seductive smile,
the nobles in the audience, unlike the previous matches they had watched with relative ease,
couldn't help but adjust their posture and gulp.
The Princess of the lofty Duke's family.
No matter how much it was a duel, who would dare lay a hand on the Princess's body?
The one who attended in Eustia's name in the audience was Hades.
With the day of the Lost Hope's gathering approaching,
the elders of the family couldn't attend, but they couldn't not send someone while Yohaiden was attending, so Hades had come as a representative.
‘My lady…….’
Honestly, Hades was worried about Iriel.
Hela's order was to let Yohaiden experience the Lost Hope's attack.
He had entrusted her to Yohaiden, trusting Zeke, but Iriel's condition at the end had looked so bad.
“……Fortunately, you seem to be alright.”
Iriel held a dagger in each hand and wore her usual haughty expression.
It seemed like leaving her with Zeke was the right answer.
He gauged his opponent while sensing the enemy's relief.
‘That guy is…….’
The eldest of the Kilimbird Marquis family, Ash Kilimbird.
A principled man who rigidly adhered to his own principles without flexibility.
One of the First Prince's close aides.
‘Why is the First Prince's close aide here……?’
Of course, he knew that Ash had enrolled this time, but his appearance was somewhat unexpected.
Hades was completely unaware of the subtle relationship between the First Prince and Zeke.
‘But, if that's the case……. My lady is in danger! What is that Zeke thinking!’
Ash Kilimbird was a man who, once convinced and a decision was made, would act without hesitation.
The fact that he was here meant that there was a high probability that he wouldn't care whether his opponent was the daughter of a Duke's family or not.
However, there was no way he could intervene here.
He was merely Eustia's representative and could only watch Iriel and Ash's duel with an anxious heart.
***
“I apologize in advance. I'm sorry, but those dirty tricks like in the previous match won't work on me.”
Soi's match was an outrage to Ash.
To abandon the sword in a duel with swords and attack the opponent's weak points.
‘This is why women shouldn't wield swords.’
It was an old-fashioned and outdated thought, but Ash didn't think he was wrong.
“Hmm……. Our Soi is usually much more amazing, but she went easy on him.”
“……Soi?”
“Hehe, there's something like that. You don't need to know.”
“Sigh─. Please bear with it even if it hurts a little. My sword has no mercy.”
“Alright.”
Iriel put her finger through the ring at the end of the dagger and twirled it.
Click.
Two daggers held in a reverse grip.
The gift Zeke had given her.
Iriel felt a sense of satisfaction at the weight in her hands.
‘If I win this time, will he praise me……? No, I'd rather he hit me a little…….’
Iriel, who had died and come back to life, realizing her feelings and wanting to go straight for Zeke, couldn't bring herself to ask him to hit her, even if it was just a little, due to her pride as a Princess.
‘Hmm, or would he hit me if I lost the match on purpose……?’
Lost in her own thoughts, Iriel didn't even hear the bell signaling the start of the match.
“This is the end!”
A sword swung down towards her shoulder.
Whoosh.
But by the time Ash raised his sword, Iriel had already twisted her body.
“It's better to win. I can't disappoint him by losing on purpose.”
Iriel gave a bright red smile.
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