Chapter 90

“Teacher, isn’t this match bracket strange?”

“And there are 11 of us, so how is a tournament even supposed to work?”

“A very good point. As you said, our class has an odd number. So one person will simply be advanced by default.”

With those words, Luke picked up a container from the chalkboard.

It was a container filled with sticks, and Luke shook it once.

“And we’re going to decide who gets a bye right now… Now then, who will it be?”

Luke pulled out a stick from the container and checked the name written underneath it.

“Hmm… Sara. It’s you.”

“…Me?”

“Yes, you’re the winner.”

“Ah… I see.”

Sara looked somewhat disappointed, but Luke ignored it and returned to the board to make a small adjustment to the bracket.

Well, even after the adjustment, Sara and I remained at opposite ends, so nothing changed on that front.

Only other people’s opponents shifted.

“Teacher, isn’t there another problem with this bracket?”

“You’re pointing out the situation when it becomes 3 players, aren’t you, Jason?”

“Yes. It’s fine up until there are 6 since that’s an even number, but what will you do when only 3 remain?”

“At that point, we’ll draw lots again and push one person to the finals with a bye.”

At Luke’s response, Jason tilted his head.

“That would solve it, but……”

“Teacher, does this really hold any meaning as a tournament?”

Sara spoke with an expression that said she didn’t like something about this.

“The bracket is random, and if someone’s unlucky, they could finish after just one match. Can that really serve as a basis for evaluating our midterm exam?”

“Don’t worry too much about the evaluation criteria. Winning this midterm tournament wasn’t that meaningful to begin with.”

As if he had expected Sara’s question, Luke immediately explained.

“What I’ll be focusing on is how much you’ve grown since the beginning of the semester. As long as you properly show me your growth, there’s no need to obsess over winning. Well, of course… winning will earn you a small bonus.”

Luke let out a small laugh and continued.

“And if someone gets unlucky and drops out immediately without showing their skills, I’ll evaluate them separately, so you don’t need to worry about not being evaluated fairly. Now, Sara. Does that answer your question?”

“Yes, then there won’t be any problems with the evaluation. And you said there would be a small bonus for winning, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“…I see.”

Sara checked the bracket again, then looked straight at me.

Then she nodded and showed a satisfied smile.

“Not bad. And this is also a great opportunity to show everyone who’s most suitable to represent us in the Academy Competition this time.”

“Exactly. So do your best. And I’ll say this in advance—starting this midterm exam, I’ll allow students to use all the abilities they possess in battle.”

“Yes, understood. Then I’ll do my very best… to crush you.”

Sara looked my way and declared boldly, and I awkwardly smiled and avoided her gaze.

At some point—when had he even approached?—Jason was beside me, patting my shoulder with a wry laugh.

He didn’t say anything, but even without words, I could pretty much guess what he wanted to say.

“Phew, once more……”

After the midterm announcement, class ended immediately.

Normally, I would have gone straight to the Disciplinary Committee room to handle duties with Lisa.

But today, there was no work to deal with……

‘And Lisa left too.’

After class today, Lisa said she was going to Daigon Village with Nia.

Apparently, Nia wanted to ask Lisa for relationship advice or something.

‘But of all people, asking Lisa for romance advice… I don’t think she’ll be very helpful.’

A variety of thoughts ran through my mind, but I didn’t dwell on it.

Anyway, since Lisa wouldn’t be back until around dinner time, I didn’t have much to do until then.

I considered going to the library to study, but today, I wanted to swing my sword a bit more.

So I came to the Training Grounds and was swinging at a scarecrow.

‘What should I do for this midterm?’

As I swung my sword, I thought to myself.

The midterm itself was extremely straightforward.

But the problem was the opponents I would face.

‘The commoner students aren’t too concerning. Of course, I shouldn’t let my guard down… but they’re opponents I can definitely beat.’

I had roughly assessed their levels during Swordsmanship Class.

So I wasn’t particularly afraid of facing the commoner students.

But what worried me were, of course……

‘Jason and Dave… and Sara.’

The three noble students in Swordsmanship Class.

I needed to think carefully about how to face each of them.

Luke had said that winning wasn’t important, but… even so, I wanted to win.

I wanted to prove to myself that I had grown stronger.

‘I already beat Sara once, but this time will be different. She’ll probably go all out.’

Brilliant swordsmanship and splendid flames used to deceive the opponent’s eyes and burn them.

That was the true swordsmanship of the Isrinbloom Ducal Family.

‘And Jason won’t be an easy opponent either. Dave will be difficult to face as well.’

He had the extreme drawback of instability, but in terms of sheer size, Dave was the most threatening.

No, there was no need to overthink it.

All three of them were difficult opponents to defeat.

‘What I had were… defensive swordsmanship, Peregrie’s power, and the Water Rune.’

There was nothing special to adjust regarding defensive swordsmanship itself.

Peregrie’s power… I needed to think about that a bit more.

I could generate wind, but I was still far from being able to use that wind for threatening attacks.

‘Since I could only use lightning once every ten minutes, I should be careful when I choose to use it.’

Anyway, the power granted by that Great Falcon was something I needed to think about more and practice further.

And in the case of the Water Rune……

“…Might as well not exist.”

I muttered quietly while striking the scarecrow with my sword.

The healing ability granted by the Blessing of Water itself would certainly be useful, but offensively, it helped in no way whatsoever.

The shield was the same.

No, that was even worse than the healing ability.

At least healing had its uses, but the shield was so weak it was practically pointless.

‘Well, I did obtain this rune to avoid dying in real combat… but in a test like this, it becomes completely useless.’

As I set up a new scarecrow, I had all kinds of thoughts.

The Blessing of Water had no offensive aspect at all, so it seemed I wouldn’t be able to make great use of it for this midterm exam.

In the end, I would have to rely only on my swordsmanship and Peregrie’s power……

‘…Come to think of it, Luke once told me to try using the Water Rune offensively, didn’t he?’

I glanced at the rune engraved in my chest, then looked down at the Mistcatcher in my hand.

Some runes supposedly granted the wielder’s weapon a certain attribute.

Of course, the defensive swordsman I had raised in the game had no such thing.

His concept was to never use attribute attacks and rely solely on swordsmanship.

So I only used the Blessing of Water defensively, never for offense—never to grant properties to a weapon or anything like that.

No, I had never even considered such a thing.

‘Since there’s about a week left until the midterm, I should think about it at least once.’

I organized my thoughts and focused again on swinging my sword.

After a bit of time passed, someone approached me.

“Is it going well?”

“Hmm? Ah, Lady Lisa. You returned earlier than I expected.”

“Yes. My talk with Nia-unni ended sooner.”

Lisa spoke with her usual expressionless tone.

“I gave her a few pieces of advice, but she said she regretted asking and left.”

“May I ask what advice you gave her?”

“I told her that if she wanted to seduce a man, she should bite his neck and drink his blood……”

“Yes, I think that’s enough detail.”

I replied with an awkward laugh, but Lisa tilted her head and continued.

“Or that she could just pounce on him outright. As soon as she heard that, Nia-unni went straight back. Did I say something wrong?”

“You did not say anything wrong.”

“Right? I just gave advice based on my own experience. What could be the issue?”

“…I believe the issue is precisely that it was based on your experience.”

At my answer, Lisa once again tilted her head, and all I could do was shake mine.

“Anyway, it’s almost time for dinner. Shall we go together?”

“Yes. Of course I should go with you. But before that—”

Lisa approached me and inspected my face quietly for a moment.

“Do you have something on your mind?”

“Was it that obvious?”

“Maybe because I spend a lot of time with you, but I can usually guess from your expression. So, what’s the problem?”

“It’s not something huge. I’ve been thinking about the midterm… and how I should use the rune I recently obtained.”

“The rune you recently got… that one that makes a shield, right? The one made of water?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Hm.”

Lisa stroked her chin for a moment, thinking, then spoke again.

“I saw it before, but that shield was too thin. It was nearly useless in a real fight.”

“Yes, that’s what I’m troubled about.”

“Hmm… then how about narrowing the shield’s area?”

“Narrowing its area?”

“Yes. The shield spreads widely to protect your entire body, which is why it’s thin. If you compress it into one place, wouldn’t it naturally become thicker?”

“Oh… that makes sense. I’ll keep that in mind.”

To be honest, at the time, I didn’t think much of Lisa’s advice.

I only intended to use it as reference, but later I came to realize her advice was the key.

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