Chapter 78 : Chapter 78
Chapter 78. Let's See Your Skills
“Why?”
I had to ask. Suddenly showing up and asking for a round, what kind of nonsense is this?
“Um… I’ll tell you if we fight.”
“Is it because I got your name wrong?”
Olivier’s brow furrowed slightly.
Is it really because I got her name wrong? No, people can get names wrong. Is she in her right mind to beat up a cadet for getting a name wrong? Well, considering Olivier’s occasional words and actions and the rumors about her, it seems clear she’s a bit off her rocker. Still, I’ve never heard of her seeking out a cadet to pick a fight.
“The Maxim I knew wasn’t a talkative kid……”
“I guess you didn’t know me well enough.”
“You really do talk a lot. And obnoxiously, at that.”
Olivier shook her head from side to side and pointed at Dawn.
“Pick it up.”
I stared at Olivier silently.
“I don’t want to.”
“You’ll regret it if you don’t.”
“I think I’ll regret it even if I do.”
Olivier let out a hollow laugh as if in disbelief. Her atmosphere was turning fierce and hot. As if she wouldn’t be satisfied until she had burned everything around her.
“P-professor!”
Piontek subtly stood next to me.
Olivier looked at Piontek with sharp eyes.
“P-please grant me the honor of experiencing your sword as well!”
Honor? What kind of novel crazy talk is this?
“That kid knows what’s up. Do you know how glorious it is to have a round with me?”
I don’t know. And I don’t particularly want to know.
“Professor! Then I will also join……”
“No.”
Isn’t she being unnecessarily firm? The person who needs guidance and discipline is Piontek, not me.
I am not a Mana Circle user. So there is nothing for me to learn from Olivier. But Piontek is different. He is a Mana Circle user. The things I teach Piontek are like a forest to him. On the other hand, if Olivier teaches him, she can convey both the forest and the trees. Olivier would be better than me at how to use Mana Circles. So she should just be a good teacher and kindly teach Piontek. Why is she coming to me and acting like this…….
“Why is he allowed and I am not?”
Piontek asked, as if it were unfair.
“Because he is strong and you are weak. It’s no fun fighting you. I’d just have to keep telling you what’s wrong and what’s not. It’s boring.”
“…….”
Is that something a professor should say? Does she not have the professional ethics of teaching and raising students to be great in her head at all? I’ve felt it before, but that Olivier person is better suited to be a mercenary than a professor. How did someone like that become a professor? The future of Poinus is truly bleak.
“What are you doing? Not picking up your sword?”
Olivier glared at me.
“I don’t find doing anything with you fun either. You should just teach Piontek, that idiot……”
“Then I have no choice. I’ll have to check for myself first.”
All the aura Olivier had been exuding disappeared. The emotion that had been swirling in her eyes also vanished.
‘This is dangerous.’
Paang!
I didn’t see the action of her drawing her sword. A gray line that started from where she was disappeared in front of my eyes. That aside, isn’t it normal for a sound like ‘Whoosh!’ or ‘Swish!’ to be made when a sword cuts through the air? This feels like it’s tearing the air, not cutting it.
Kwaang!
At the same time as a thin strand of my hair was cut, a rock was shattered. If I hadn’t instinctively twisted my body, my head would have flown off.
“Not bad.”
Olivier showed a sly smile.
That person is not in her right mind.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
I was the one who asked. You crazy person.
“Starting the mental education of a disobedient cadet.”
I felt the aura of mana from Olivier’s hand. It seems she intends to launch an attack using magical power this time. This isn’t just a scare tactic.
‘Did Dwight send her?’
If so, I can’t just let it be.
“Piontek!”
Piontek, understanding the meaning of my words, threw Dawn to me.
“Looks like you finally feel like giving it a try?”
Olivier showed a cool smile, holding her sword at a slant. It was the obnoxious confidence of the strong shown to the weak. Come to think of it, I think Adellian once told me that the strongest person at the academy was Olivier.
“Did Dwight send you?”
“What?”
Olivier let out a hollow laugh as if in disbelief.
“You seem to be misunderstanding something. Do you think I’d listen to a sly bastard like that?”
“Then why on earth are you doing this?”
Olivier tilted her head and looked at me with a displeased expression.
“Your words are short. The semester isn’t over yet.”
From her actions, it doesn’t seem like she came under Dwight’s orders……. Then shouldn’t she at least explain why? What on earth is her brain made of to be so reckless?
“You’ve picked up your sword, so now I’m really getting serious.”
It seems the concept of listening to others and explaining things doesn't exist in her head.
‘Well, she has nothing. Can’t be helped.’
I readjusted my grip on Dawn. Seeing what that person is doing, it doesn’t seem like she’ll say anything until we cross swords.
“If you want to hear the reason, make me talk.”
Olivier raised her sword and kicked off the ground.
Watching this, I let out a long, a very long sigh. I don’t think there were any crazy teachers like that back in my day. These kids nowadays, really… I’ll have to teach them what manners are.
***
‘Ha! This… damn.’
Piontek, watching the duel between Olivier and Maxim, was feeling a mix of frustration and relief. His pride had been hurt by Olivier’s attitude towards him. He had also been hurt by her words that sparring with him was no fun. But as he watched the scene unfolding before his eyes, those feelings literally evaporated.
Kwakwang!
Every time the swords clashed, a considerable shockwave was transmitted.
Piontek’s hair stood on end just from watching it.
‘I must have been crazy.’
If he had faced Olivier alone, it seemed it wouldn’t have ended with just a broken bone somewhere. What if he had fought alongside Maxim? Maxim would have been fine, but he himself would have ended up similarly.
Piontek felt that although Olivier’s words were aggressive, they were a consideration of sorts.
Fwoosh.
Watching Olivier’s sword move, Piontek couldn’t help but hold his breath. Her sword became a brush, and the fire that sprouted from the sword became ink, drawing countless flowers.
‘Flame Flower Wild Dance!’
It was one of Olivier’s legendary techniques that he had only heard about in rumors.
“Ah! Really! Go easy on me!”
Maxim, who had shouted, held his sword upside down and used it like a shield.
The flowers of fire created by Olivier collided with Maxim’s sword. Large and small explosions occurred in succession, and a thick, murky smoke rose.
“M-Maxim.”
Piontek made a flustered face. No presence was felt from beyond the smoke.
“Professor, to go this far……”
He was about to argue with Olivier, asking if she wasn’t going too far. But seeing her serious expression, he couldn’t finish his words.
“Really, a person with no moderation.”
A faint purple light shone from within the smoke. That purple color gradually moved forward.
Olivier gritted her teeth and swung her sword. The flowers of fire danced once more.
Poong! Peong!
A sharp purple line moved nimbly up, down, left, and right. All the flowers of fire, all the light, disappeared.
“Let’s stop this.”
Along with Maxim’s voice, the smoke parted. Then, Maxim’s sword shot out fiercely from between the smoke.
Kang!
Olivier twisted her sword to parry Maxim’s attack.
“Knights speak with their swords!”
“I’m not a knight yet, you know?”
“……Anyway! They speak with their swords!”
At Olivier’s parrot-like answer, Maxim shook his head. He pushed mana into his sword, Dawn.
“You’ll get hurt if you don’t block with magical power.”
Along with the warning, Maxim’s sword danced.
Olivier’s pupils dilated.
‘What is this bastard?’
Although no flowers of fire bloomed, she couldn’t help but be surprised because it was such a familiar sword path. The swordsmanship Maxim was displaying was the Flame Flower Wild Dance she had just shown.
Kang! Kagak!
Olivier couldn’t breathe. Maxim’s relentlessly falling sword had considerable weight. The speed was also immense. The sound of the massive sword cutting through the air was also disorienting. There were no flowers of fire, but the pure destructive power of the sword was similar to her Flame Flower Wild Dance. No, it was more than that.
“You’re copying this after seeing it once?”
“You told me to speak with my sword.”
Maxim playfully wielded his sword, the corners of his lips raised high.
‘Unbelievable!’
The time Olivier had spent to learn the Flame Flower Wild Dance was a whopping 10 years.
Of those, she had spent 6 years just learning the sword path and unfolding it naturally. Even that was considered fast, and her master’s praises of ‘A genius! A genius!’ had never ceased.
But…….
‘He’s copying it like this after seeing it once?’
Olivier couldn’t believe it, even as she was seeing Maxim’s sword with her own eyes.
“This is fun! Really fun!”
Olivier smiled brightly. She tried to deflect Maxim’s attack and step back. But Maxim’s sword did not allow it.
Kang.
Olivier’s sword pointed to the sky. Then, Maxim’s sword sharply aimed for Olivier’s wide-open chest.
Olivier did not allow this. She threw her body back and swung her sword with all her might, as if whipping it. The sound of steel clashing against steel echoed cheerfully. Maxim’s sword embedded itself in the ground, and the battle entered a lull.
“While you’re at it, why don’t you use the power of a god?”
Olivier’s interest in Maxim soared to its peak. Originally, she had only intended to check his talent with the sword. But her thoughts had changed.
“I think this is enough.”
Maxim replied with a bored face.
And so, Olivier’s patience wore thin. Until now, Maxim hadn’t used magical power. He had only drawn on the pure power of mana. He hadn’t rotated his Mana Circles either. That’s why she wanted to see his full power, with his Mana Circles rotating.
“Try asking the god you pledged to for some power. Let me see what you pledged to, what your strongest sword is.”
“There’s nothing like that.”
Olivier couldn’t understand Maxim’s answer at all. It didn’t make sense that he had such skill and yet had not pledged to a god.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I haven’t pledged to a god……. But isn’t this unfair?”
“……Huh?”
“You didn’t tell me when I asked why you were doing this, so do I have to tell you everything the professor is curious about? It’s uncomfortable fighting without even knowing the reason.”
At Maxim’s complaint, Olivier scratched her cheek.
‘At this rate, he’ll probably make it to the finals, won’t he? No, he’ll win, won’t he?’
In terms of combat sense alone, he far surpassed Dwight, who was said to be a once-in-a-generation talent. No matter how much she had held back, he had received the Flame Flower Wild Dance. And that, without even using the power of a god. On top of that, he had recreated the sword path of the Flame Flower Wild Dance to near perfection.
‘Has there ever been anyone like this before?’
Olivier opened all her memories and rummaged through them. She recalled all the people she had met, the ones who were called geniuses in their own right. And she came to a conclusion. Those people were not geniuses. The word genius was fitting only for the Maxim in front of her.
“If there’s no other reason, you should at least apologize. You almost killed someone.”
“Lies. With those skills, you’d get caught? That’s ridiculous.”
“What are you talking about? I’m saying I almost got caught by the professor. I was just standing there, and the professor came running with a sword and tried to kill me. I almost died for real without even knowing why. So apologize. Apologize quickly. To me!”
“…….”
Olivier sent a questioning gaze towards Maxim, as if asking, ‘What on earth is wrong with him?’
Maxim, who read this perfectly, let out a hollow breath and shook his head. It was because it seemed unlikely that Olivier, whose brain was made of swords, would understand anything he said.
“Let’s end the duel here.”
Olivier said, sticking her sword into the ground.
“Now that I’ve confirmed my eyes weren’t mistaken, shall we draw the future?”
And she leaned on her sword, her eyes sparkling.
Maxim, who met her gaze, felt an unknown sense of unease. An unease that he was about to get into something troublesome.