“Mm!”
“Lifa will win!”
The blond girl was full of confidence, but then she remembered the conversation between Isis and Ron.
“But Teacher, what should I do later?”
While it was certainly a good thing to have her teacher’s guidance and help by her side, Lifa felt that once the sparring truly began, Ron might not be able to provide timely feedback in a rapidly changing battle, and she might not be able to pay attention to him anyway.
“Relax. Most of the time, Lifa just needs to believe in herself and the weapon in her hand.”
As Ron spoke to Lifa, he glanced over. Isis, holding the training wooden sword, stood as motionless as a statue of a Valkyrie.
“But, if you hear Teacher speak…”
“Lifa will do as she’s told!”
Lifa nodded earnestly in response.
“Good. Teacher has nothing else to say.”
Ron was about to move to a different spot, only to find Lifa grabbing his arm and shaking her head. She first gave a slightly silly smile, then raised his arm and leaned down cooperatively, letting Ron’s soft palm rest upon the blond hair on her head.
“Heh~ Good luck.”
Understanding her immediately, Ron stroked the easily satisfied girl’s hair.
He now felt more and more that compared to Isis and the others, Lifa was truly like a poster girl character from a visual novel who was easy to coax, the kind whose favorability would constantly rise just by getting a headpat.
Isis’s hand holding the sword trembled slightly. Although she remained expressionless and silent, she was not indifferent to this scene of intimacy between Ron and Lifa.
‘Master, Isis wants some too.’
Memories and complex emotions flashed by. Knowing that she could no longer obtain what she desired, the Hero could not help but urge them to start.
“Lifa, can we begin?”
Isis took a deep breath, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Lifa and Ron after her moment of emotion.
“Okay!”
Lifa and Ron nodded to each other, and she walked to the opposite side of the Hexagonal arena from Isis.
As for Ron, he stood at the edge of the arena between the two, where he could have an unobstructed view of the situation.
“Draw sword.”
“Draw sword.”
The two female swordsmen, who were either lively or cold just a moment ago, earnestly performed the duel etiquette.
Immediately afterward, Lifa and Isis spoke the polite phrase indicating their readiness almost in unison, which meant the battle had begun.
“Here I come!”
Hearing no instructions from Ron at the start, Lifa naturally launched an attack according to her own style and habits.
The arena was quite large, but the starting distance between the two was less than ten steps.
As she accelerated her approach, Lifa’s heart was experiencing an alternation of doubt and surprise.
‘Why isn’t Sister Ash making any defensive reaction? Why is her opening move still a sword-sheathing posture — ‘
This was her doubt.
‘No! That’s not sheathing the sword; it’s a variation of the drawing sword slash Teacher just taught me — ‘
This was her surprise.
Lifa had no way of knowing that in the previous save file, she had been defeated repeatedly by Isis using this very move.
But now, while she felt grateful for Ron’s teaching and proud of him, she also decisively prepared her response.
At the moment Lifa called out to swing her sword, the blade that Isis had held at her waist moved exactly as expected, instantly parrying high to block Lifa’s first horizontal slash.
“Lifa… hm?”
Isis smiled in response, but just as she intended to declare the end of the first round, she sensed something wrong from the momentum of the blocked attack.
“Heh heh!”
Lifa smiled happily. She pressed her wrist down and flipped it.
The original horizontal slash immediately turned into a downward diagonal thrust, which not only caused the counterattack after the drawing sword slash to miss but also pinned Isis’s weapon toward the ground.
*Clang — *
Seeing this, Ron, who was watching from the side, showed a satisfied smile.
Over the past few days, what he had taught Lifa was not just a few combat techniques; in a sense, it was a special training course against Isis, or rather, against any opponent who was also a swordsman.
*Click — *
At this point, Isis’s sword was being pressed down by Lifa’s. As she continued to exert force, Isis’s hand kept sinking toward the ground.
“Sister Ash, you’re going to lose~”
Lifa was already waiting for the weapon in Isis’s hand to drop so the battle would end.
The so-called drawing sword slash was essentially a counter-attack tactic used by veteran swordsmen who utilized experience and reaction speeds far superior to their opponents.
And Lifa kept Ron’s taught response firmly in mind — stay calm and play along.
“A very beautiful idea… Lifa.”
Isis, who appeared to be at a disadvantage in the stalemate, praised her sincerely.
Just now, Lifa seemingly failed to realize Isis was using the drawing sword slash to set a parry-and-counter trap, but in reality, she had used that first weak attack to bait out the parry.
She then followed up with a second attack from a different direction to gain the current advantage.
“The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.”
Ron commented on this, but he knew even better that even with her strength and stats suppressed to the same level as Lifa’s, the battle-hardened Isis could not be defeated just like this.
“Then next, it’s my turn.”
Decisive and resolute, Isis, who had been passive a moment ago, suddenly withdrew her sword and abandoned the parry, simply stepping back to create distance from Lifa.
“Oh no.”
From Ron’s perspective, Isis’s expression became serious after her initial surprise at Lifa’s unexpected performance.
After the retreat, without the slightest hesitation, she propped one hand on the ground and, in coordination with her spread feet, launched her body forward like an arrow from a powerful crossbow.
“!”
Lifa didn’t even have time to feel lucky about her earlier advantage before Isis’s sword point was already rushing toward her.
Should she dodge or —
There was no time to even think. Lifa could only instinctively hold the wooden sword in front of her. However, Isis’s target was…
“Ugh!”
The pain in her right leg and the loss of balance caused Lifa to fall directly to the ground. At the same time, Ron, who was watching, immediately gave a concise and decisive instruction.
“Lifa, roll to the side!”
*Crack — *
When she heard Ron’s words, Lifa’s subconscious obedience and cooperation were very timely. Almost grazing her body, Isis’s wooden sword stabbed into the spot where she had just been.
It was so close that she could even see the cracks on the wooden sword caused by the intense combat.
“Hmm?”
Isis’s current posture was a diagonal thrust with a side-step and backhand. This unexpected development once again caused those blood-red eyes to glance toward Ron.
She had suggested having Ron provide guidance just so he could see the situation and the gap more clearly; she had never imagined that he could truly be of help to Lifa.
“You saw it?” Isis asked.
“I guessed it,” Ron replied.
He wasn’t joking. In terms of vision and reaction speed alone, Ron’s eyes could not keep up with the combat rhythm and attack speed of the two girls at all.
It was like a video with loading lag. If Ron had to wait until he observed something before speaking, it would have been far too late.
“Guessed it?”
Isis murmured to herself. She let go of the sword and stood up straight. The wooden sword that had been stuck in the ground instantly disintegrated.
“Mm.”
Ron didn’t answer further. At this moment, he felt a bit of pride in his heart.
It seemed his memory was quite good, and he was clear enough about Isis’s combat habits to make an accurate prediction.
“Again.”
After a moment of silence, Isis, who was thinking of who-knows-what, reached out and pulled Lifa up.