Chapter 169

The morning of the next day.

When the meeting was being held in the main library, Kazuki and I were doing preparatory exercises while exchanging light conversation at the training ground near the inn.

“So, what kind of format is the mock battle going to take?”

“Hmm, as expected, we can’t do anything that extreme since we have the afternoon ahead of us. ……What should we do.”

“Does …… Kazuki have any good ideas?”

So you guys did not think of that.

I put my hand on my chin and asked Kazuki for his opinion while my shoulders slumped as he pondered.

After comparing my appearance with his, Kazuki pondered for a while and then smiled as if he had come up with something.

“I guess so. How about a game of tag where the first one to touch me wins?”

“I’m not sure I can win a game of tag with senpai.”

“I don’t want to be told by you, Usato-kun, who has all the physical abilities. ……”

I’m not sure I’d be able to outrun you if you came at me full speed in thunder beast mode. ……

Kazuki nodded at me and my senpai’s reaction and said, “They’re both the same.”

“In the first place, what kind of mock battle are you having with me? Are you practicing your thunder beast mode?”

“Yes, I guess so. To be honest, there’s hardly anyone in the castle who can handle my speed. Kazuki-kun can fight evenly with his …… magic, but there’s too much damage to the surroundings. ……”

“So you chose me…..”

Well, I’m confident that my reflexes are better than most people’s, so I don’t mind.

I won’t know if I can handle the speed of senpai until I …… try.

“Okay, I understand. Let’s try it once for now, shall we? The format is …… as Kazuki suggested, in the form of a game of tag.”

“How about if I can touch your right shoulder three times, I win, and if I can outlast you for three minutes, you win?”

“Sounds good. Let’s do that.”

If I can prevent senpai from touching me for three minutes, I win.

It might be a little tough, but I’m excited about it.

“Oh, and if my hand slips and goes in the wrong place, I hope you’ll forgive me……. And laugh it off.”

“……”

“Jeez, I’m kidding! So don’t look at me like you lost sight!”

Senpai was getting impatient with my rather serious cold stare.

After such an exchange, senpai and I faced each other at a corner of the training ground.

Kazuki is there as the referee, so there’s no need to worry about our surroundings.

“The time limit is one hundred and eighty seconds, and if either of you two move, it counts. You two may begin at any time.”

I nodded at Kazuki’s words and shifted my gaze to senpai.

She is unarmed, as she only needs to touch me three times.

I take a stance, watching her every move.

“Feel free to do so.”

“Yeah, I’ll let you. After all, this is the first time I’ve been close to you like this. …… I’m going to go for real, so as not to waste it.”

The next moment when I recognized that senpai’s whole body was shimmering —– senpai’s hand was placed on my right shoulder.

Stunned, I looked at senpai in front of me and saw that he had a smug face that was no less than Kanoko’s.

“That’s my first. You can never be too careful, Usato-kun.”

“…… As expected.”

Senpai wears lightning for a moment and distances herself from me.

It’s much faster than I expected.

It’s not that I couldn’t follow it with my eyes.

I tense my own cheeks, and fully awake, I deploy my gauntlet hand on my right arm.

“May I use my gauntlet hand?”

“I don’t mind, as long as you can get away from my hands!”

“Fine ……!”

Again, I take a stance to draw my right arm against senpai who has been moving at high speed for a moment, clad in lightning.

I know that the target is the shoulder!

The moment I recognize the shadow that I caught faintly in my vision, I release my Accelerating Healing fist to the right side and accelerate to the left side!

“I missed!? Again!”

I leapt further backwards at senpai who was chasing me.

As a matter of course, the moment the hand of the pursuer approaches me, I change direction in the air with an accelerated fist shot to the side and dodge the hand —- but her fingertips slightly touch my shoulder.

“Damn, another failure…….! You’re still too fast, senpai……”

“Wait a minute, you were obviously moving stranger than I was. You slid sideways in midair without warning!”

Senpai said that to me while looking at the fingertips that touched me in a complicated way.

It was quite frustrating because I had planned to avoid it completely before senpai got used to the Healing Acceleration Fist.

“Healing Acceleration Fist. It’s a movement method that uses the outburst of …… systematic enhancement.”

“I’m starting to think that’s already a different technique from systematic enhancement. If I had to name it, I’d call it …… system blasting?”

Saying blasting sounds kinda disturbing….

If you think about the process of blasting, you can’t go wrong with blasting. …… Well, that’s okay for now!

I prepare to draw my right arm again, and put magic power into it so that I can make a healing acceleration fist.

“Now, while we’re talking, how much time is left? One more touch and you’ll win. Either I have to get used to your speed, or you have to touch me. …….”

“Hmm, interesting. Then let’s get more aggressive!”

Lightning shines in my field of vision.

Instantly, the three electric shocks released by senpai towards me are closing in.

“That’s too naive!”

I reacted immediately, and without moving from the spot, I dispelled all of them with my gauntlet hand.

At the same time, I bent down to dodge a hand that reached out from the side and she let out a cry of surprise.

“What?”

“Alright!”

It was a successful evasion!

You can’t avoid it as long as you can see where you’re aiming and the slightest movement!

I was so happy, but then I came back to myself, senpai didn’t move away from me, but reached out with her hand, still covered with lightning.

But! I’ve already taken that into consideration!

With the momentum of my crouch, I thrust my fist into the ground and unleashed his magic!

“Hnngh!!”

“Kya!?”

The resulting shockwave of magic power hit senpai’s leg, causing her to lose her balance!

This is an improvised technique that I just came up with, the healing rolling fist!

This is a haphazard technique that uses a fist that hits the ground as a starting point to unleash a system enhancement outburst and unleash a shockwave of magical power that can knock the opponent over!

But I probably won’t have a chance to use it again!

“Fuhahahaha! I’ve got this match!”

While keeping the fallen senpai in sight, I back-stepped as fast as I could and ran away as fast as I could.

I couldn’t help but let out a high-pitched laugh like a villain, but senpai responded with a smile of full happiness.

“As I know, you are the man I expected!”

“Mu!?”

“It’s not good that I tried to make you last the full two minutes! If I’m going to beat you—“

As soon as she said that, senpai was clearly covered with more electric shocks than ever before.

In the end, the dazzling blasts of electricity bounced off the ground, illuminating the training ground even brighter than it would have been in daylight.

In all likelihood, she was in full-on mode and shouted at me, her cheeks twitching.

“I should have just gone full power from the start!”

“…… O- Oi- let’s time–“

“I’m coming, Usato-kun!”

As it is, she disappears from sight, and tremendous pressure is coming from all directions.

I don’t know what to do, but it looks as if senpai is too fast for me and I’m altering myself.

…….

“Yeah, as if I’m going to get away with this!”

I prepared my gauntlet to overcome the onslaught of senpai!

…Rather, senpai is completely excited and enjoying herself!……

“Ah~, I couldn’t escape-!”

I relax my shoulders as I lie down on the field by the training ground.

The result of the tag game was that senpai won.

As expected, it’s impossible to run away from senpai who is in full power.

It only lasted about five seconds. ……!

“I know you say that, but I was pretty close too. I only had a few seconds left to put on the electric shock.”

“But it’s only a few seconds.”

I was defeated because I couldn’t get through those few seconds.

It was a very nerve-wracking game, even though I still had magic and physical strength to spare.

I felt like I had gained a different experience from Rose’s training, where she would unleash attacks that I couldn’t avoid.

“Well, you two were both amazing. Senpai one was able to use electric shock for a much longer period of time, wasn’t she?”

At Kazuki’s somewhat excited words, senpai smiles embarrassedly.

“In my own way, I tried to devise various ways. The amount of time I can stay in the lightning beast mode is gradually increasing, but it’s still not enough to be used in actual combat, so I only activate it for a moment or suppress its output.”

Suppressing the output, huh?

“So you only clad yourself in lightning for a moment to save time, so you could move fast many times in a row?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Now I feel like I’m cutting and putting it on to make it work.”

My healing acceleration fist is also a technique that uses not a small amount of magic power.

If I ask senpai for tips on how to save magic power, I might be able to handle it better.

“Usato. What did you do with that?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s the technique that knocked my senpai out of position. Could it be that you were just punching the ground and shaking it normally?”

“Oh, I’m curious about that too. I was so surprised when he suddenly lost his balance…….”

No matter how hard you work out, there’s no way you can punch the ground and cause it to shake enough to knock someone over. ……

I have no special circumstances to hide, so I explain to them about the healing rolling fist.

“How can you come up with such a technique on the spur of the moment? I’ll tell you this because I’ve actually been hit by it, but I think it’s a technique that can definitely upset a defenseless opponent.”

“It’s hard to watch your step in the middle of a fight.”

It seems that the healing fist is more troublesome than I thought.

…… I’ll have to think of a use for it next time.

“Hmm, healing rolling fist. Or maybe we can call it…… Healing Tumble Fist?”

“!　I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, but senpai don’t have a half bad naming sense. I respect you.”

“Eh- ehehe, is that so?”

Actually, I was thinking that Nea might rag on me if I used Rolling Fist.

No, as far as I’m concerned, Tumble Fist isn’t such a bad name, but from now on, I’m going to name this technique Healing Tumble Fist.

Tumble Fist is too direct, and there’s something cool about a change of pace.

“Oh, Usato-kun. I’d like to know if there’s anything you’d like to share with me. As for me, I’d like to hear your faults and advice. Oh, and some praise—-“

“Usato-sama, would you like some water?”

“Yes, I would. Thank you, Eva.”

I get a glass of water from Eva next to me.

I take a sip of water, take a breath, and look at senpai again.

“……I was just thinking from my point of view, but I think your movements are a little monotonous and easy to understand.”

“I guess you’re right. …… If you go too fast, you’ll end up like that. …… Hmm?”

Hmm? What’s the matter?

The older man tilted his head, looked at me and Eva alternately, pondered for a few seconds, and then spoke up.

“Why is Eva here?”

With that comment from senpai, I finally noticed Eva’s presence next to me.

I didn’t notice her on the contrary because she was there as a matter of course.

“Oh, I guess you’re right. Eva, how long have you been here?”

“About before Usato-sama and Suzune-sama had their match.”

“I didn’t even notice you were talking to me, but you’re a natural! And you’ve been here for quite some time!”

Even though I regained my body and soul from the curse with Lukvis, the only thing that hasn’t changed is the fact that I’m still around. I really feel like I’m there when I notice.

“That’s amazing. I didn’t notice it either. So, Usato, is this the princess of Samaria that you were talking about before?”

“Yeah. …… Eva, this is my friend Kazuki.”

“Ah, it’s nice to meet you! My name is Eva Urd Samaria of the Kingdom of Samaria! You must be the Hero Kazuki! Usato-sama has told me that you are his best friend!”

“Oh, so you’re my best friend. …… That’s somewhat embarrassing.”

“This time he was able to say it correctly ……”

Kazuki nodded happily at Eva’s explanation.

Feeling slightly embarrassed that she remembered what I had said about Kazuki in Samaria, I turned to Eva, who had successfully completed her self-introduction.

“Oh, the fight you two just had was so amazing! I couldn’t see you at all because you were so fast, but I could tell that you were kind of amazing!”

“Oh, yeah, thanks.”

I don’t know what it is, but I can’t help but flinch at this girl’s straightforward words.

As I was returning her thanks with a vague expression, senpai called out to Eva.

“Are you alone?”

“No, there are knights nearby.”

So she didn’t go out alone, but with her escort.

I was relieved to hear that Eva hadn’t slipped out on her own.

As I was feeling relieved, I spotted a suspicious sky-blue figure looking at me from near the entrance of the training grounds.

“Hmm?”

“Princess jumping into the whirlpool, you’re so brave. ……!

“Youth is strength. ……”

“A casual gesture of kindness to a tired gentleman. The princess is perfect. ……!

…… I didn’t see anything.

I didn’t see more than one sky-blue knight looking at me!

I told myself that and turned to Kazuki to change the subject.

“Kazuki, let’s resume your training. Eva, do you want to watch from here?”

“If it’s not too much trouble, …….”

“Senpai and Kazuki, do you?”

“Of course not.”

“I don’t mind either.”

“Thank you Kazuki-san and Suzune-san for ……!”

With the new addition of Eva, the training resumed in a lively atmosphere.

Having first played a game of tag called mock combat with senpai, it might not be a bad idea to try a different combination next time.

“Usato. Would you like to accompany me to my sword practice? Oh, it’s okay if you’re tired. ……”

“I’m fine with my physical strength. Uh, I can’t use a sword, is that okay?”

“You can fight the way you’re good at, Usato. I don’t mind you using that gauntlet.”

Then I’ll use it without hesitation.

Rather, in normal use, this is just a hard gauntlet, so it’s like a shield.

I’m not sure how good of a swordsman Kazuki is, but I’ll take it as seriously as I did with senpai.