Free Web NovelChapter 9: Saga 9— You Just....Have to be Kidding Me....?
Kael and Sylvia picked up wooden swords from the sword stack. The seats were mostly empty, with only four other students watching closely and Professor Adian.
"Before we start....I have a question..."
Kael opened his mouth. Something wasn’t adding up, and he needed to know.
"And what would that be?" Adian answered from a distance.
"Where are the other candidates?" Kael replied.
"Ahhh. I forgot to mention it earlier..."
"But the combat phase is held in various parts of the academy. The arena happens to be one of them—"
"And you were luckily the first to get here."
Adian explained meticulously.
Kael simply nodded without saying a word.
’Yeah, everything he said was a bloody lie...’
’I can feel that some kind of spell is active.’
’He totally didn’t buy it,’ Adian hissed inwardly.
He had clearly underestimated Kael’s sensitivity, or it might have been another test.
"Okay!" Adian’s carefree voice boomed.
"You may begin." He made a mini chop against the air with his hand.
Promptly after Adian’s voice faded, Sylvia charged head-on at Kael with the tip of her sword. She unleashed various ferocious thrusts, barely giving Kael any breathing space.
"Hmph." She hissed.
Kael successfully dodged her barrage of thrusts.
’Feisty... I dig it.’
Kael responded with a downward swing. Obviously, Sylvia saw it coming easily and leaped slightly above the ground.
Before she could regain her balance and land back on the floor, Kael assaulted her with an X-axis sword strike (basically swung his blade in an X-formation).
He threw Sylvia off balance. Just when he expected her to fall flat on her butt and call it a match, she twisted her waist and arms as if they were made of fluid, not bones, and backflipped three times in a row through the air before landing back on her feet.
A laugh echoed from the seats at the top.
"Hahahaha... When was the last time I saw a bloody cartwheel?"
A red-haired dwarf clad in heavy armour that would make one wonder how he moved around sat on a seat with a large iron mace at least twice his size between his massive boots.
"Professor Donnar. When the hell did you get back from the not-so-purposely dire mission I sent you on to subdue a sea kraken?"
Adian tried to mask his irritation with a smile. He and Donnar had a very unpleasant history.
"Next time you intend to kill me, little elf—"
"Come do it yourself and stop being a wuss."
Donnar laughed so loudly that his voice echoed through the arena.
’This... this... muscle-brained barbarian.’
Adian was just a stone’s throw away from having an outburst.
"Professor, shouldn’t you be evaluating the candidates’ performance?"
A brown-haired male dark elf wearing a white uniform with golden embellishments—long trousers with a monkey jacket over a dark long-sleeved shirt—said profoundly, reminding Adian to maintain a professional status quo.
"Yes, of course... Hidarrin."
Adian refocused on the centre of the arena.
"You had better listen to your students," Donnar continued to laugh.
’This girl...’
Kael repositioned himself as he infused some of his mana into his feet. He vanished without a trace and reappeared behind Sylvia.
She reacted instantly despite his explosive increase in speed.
"Not bad..." She sneered.
Kael quickly met her blade with the tip of his sword. He unleashed fifty consecutive horizontal and diagonal sword slashes.
That knocked Sylvia’s sword out of her hand.
"If you are planning to best me, then I suggest you stop holding back," Kael whispered in a low tone.
"Whatever do you mean?"
Sylvia slid under Kael’s leg and used her hand to hit his heels, causing him to fall on his butt. She used the brief opening to grab her sword.
’Just as I thought, she isn’t just holding back, but she’s suppressing her mana.’
Kael quickly deduced that whatever she was fighting him with right now was far from her best.
A gust of wind erupted around Sylvia, her wooden sword illuminating with a translucent glow.
’Looks like someone has decided to get serious.’
Kael responded by infusing his mana into his sword. It was then covered in wisps of darkness.
The two opponents moved swiftly on their feet and clashed blades as they moved from place to place.
’Hmmm... it seems they’re evenly matched.’
Adian rubbed his cheeks.
"Hahhhh."
An elven female with skin as white as the northern snow yawned. She stroked her auburn-coloured hair that she had packed into pigtails.
"Are they done yet?—"
"This is so goddamn boring.... Just look at poor Yuki."
Her sleepy eyes swept over a blonde-haired human male who seemed to be fast asleep, accentuated by the drool he had left all over Claire’s skirt.
"Just sit back and enjoy the show... Claire."
Hidarrin paid serious attention to the match.
The force of both their attacks sent their swords flying out of each other’s hands.
For some reason, Sylvia looked like she wasn’t ready to quit.
[Host, it appears the individual named Sylvia is preparing to activate the Sword System.]
"Come again?!"
Kael gawked.
Sylvia was already prepared to attack when Adian suddenly spoke.
"That would be all—"
"Thank you for your time, Miss Sylvia."
He jumped down to the ground.
"Tsk! Just when it was about to get interesting," Yuki grunted.
"I thought you were asleep." Claire pushed him off her lap.
"Kael, please wait in the waiting room. Your result will be announced shortly."
Adian snapped his fingers, and Kael vanished.
’What the—’
Before Kael knew it, he found himself in another hall on a seat.
’Could Sylvia and the Sword Princess be one and the same—’
"But they looked totally different.’
Kael took a while to offload everything. By the time he was done, a voice echoed from the same blue ball that appeared earlier, only this time it was a male.
"Please head to the notice board to your left and check your respective scores."
The students immediately rose from their seats and gathered around the board.
"I can’t believe out of a hundred and ten people, only twenty-one passed."
A candidate mourned.
"Better luck next time," another candidate hissed.
"To think someone scored 195 percent.... Who the hell is Kael?"
A candidate grunted.
Kael heard his name and fought his way to the front. When he looked at the list, his name was at the very top.
The new transfer students were called back into the hall while the other unfortunate candidates showed themselves out.
"Congratulations to all of you who passed—"
"I won’t be wasting your time, as everything you need to know is in this handbook."
Adian snapped his fingers, and medium-sized books appeared in front of each student.
"Now for your assigned classes—"
"Numbers ten to twenty will be admitted as first years."
"While numbers two to nine will be admitted as second years."
Adian cleared his throat as his gaze fell on Kael.
"Kael LongHeart will be taken in as a third-year student."
— End of Chapter —
