Chapter 223 : Chapter 223
Chapter 223. Thoughts Before the Duel
On the temporarily marked-out duel arena, Fran held her longsword with its tip slanting toward the ground.
She did not assume any defensive stance at all as she looked at the church knight opposite her.
The reason she had agreed to the other party’s request for a spar was that she wanted to take a careful look at how these church knights received power from the Goddess of the Currents.
Ever since she had become a true Researcher in the Northern Society, she had found that she was growing more and more like a true mage—curious about everything and eager to understand the principles behind it all.
Even she could not say clearly whether this was simply how she had always been, only with other matters constantly distracting her thoughts before.
Or whether it was an influence brought about by becoming a Researcher.
After all, who could say anything for certain about the things of another world? Perhaps once someone registered with a Society, they would come under this sort of influence.
Up on the elevated viewing platform, Blake sat in the seat of honor, gazing leisurely downward as if the matter had nothing to do with him.
And beside Blake, the lord, Bishop Gillian was the very opposite of his ease.
Her expression remained calm, but her eyes were fixed firmly on Fran below, as though she were a statue.
“Gillian... Bishop Gillian...”
Only when she heard Blake call her name did Gillian come back to herself. She turned to him and said,
“My apologies, Lord of Snow Bear Territory. I was thinking about something else just now and did not respond at once. I truly apologize.”
But Blake merely chuckled.
“It is nothing, Bishop Gillian. You have not missed this splendid duel. They have not begun yet.”
“But from here on, you must focus yourself, because they are about to start...”
Gillian glanced at Blake and replied politely,
“Thank you for the reminder, my lord. May we be fortunate enough to witness a splendid duel.”
With that, Gillian turned her gaze back downward, while Blake tactfully began speaking with the people on his other side.
At that moment, Gillian’s fingers were moving up and down in a steady rhythm, revealing the unease in her heart.
She had never expected Fran to agree so readily to a spar with the Church of the Goddess of the Currents.
In Gillian’s understanding, even mages of the Sword Chant School generally avoided sparring with others whenever they could.
Because once they reached the stage of a Formal Mage, no matter how much they trained their Combat Techniques or Breathing Method, their strength could no longer increase rapidly through such means.
Although fine swordsmanship could give the spells they cast a solid foundation, they were still mages in the end.
The true strength of the mages of the Sword Chant School lay in their spells, and those spells were the only thing they could truly rely on.
So even for mages of the Sword Chant School, the best way to improve their strength in daily life was still to research spells.
At most, it was simply that among the Sword Chant School, more of them became battle mages than mages from other schools.
There was no essential difference between them and other schools of mages.
So when Fran had agreed with visible excitement to duel a church knight, Gillian had been thoroughly bewildered.
It even made her doubt whether the girl was really a mage of the Sword Chant School—or rather, whether she was really a mage of the Alliance at all.
But when Gillian had asked why she agreed so directly, the answer she received had only made her more uncertain.
“I’ve never fought a church knight of the Goddess of the Currents before. I want to fight one and see what their style is like.”
That was an extremely standard answer for a Society mage, which only made Gillian more uncertain.
Logically speaking, a mage who had advanced through the Spirit Realm would never answer like that, because their power came from exploring the Spirit Realm.
To them, dueling others was unimportant. What mattered was whether they could gain anything from it.
Originally, Gillian had planned that after Fran refused the first time, she would tempt her with a reward and observe her reaction.
But now the development of events had gone far beyond her expectations. After learning that Fran was going to duel one of the church knights, Blake had shown not the slightest trace of panic.
On the contrary, he had been openly excited about it, making a great spectacle of the matter and even informing everyone in the city so that others could come watch the duel.
In Gillian’s eyes, Blake’s behavior was very much like that of those lords, who all delighted in watching contests, since such things were among the few entertainments available to them.
But at a moment like this, Blake’s behavior was highly abnormal. She could not make sense of it at all.
Was he not one of that city lord’s people? Should he not have done everything possible to stop it?
Or even if Fran truly represented the Alliance, Blake should have known something about it.
Even if Fran accepted, he should have confined the matter to a small room instead of making such a spectacle of it.
And yet Blake had done exactly that, making her already tangled thoughts even more confused.
In truth, Blake’s thinking was very simple. Unlike Gillian, he was not fixated on whether Fran really was a battle mage of the Alliance.
The only thing he cared about now was having Fran cooperate with him in creating the illusion that he had received aid from the Alliance.
He knew that the Northern Society truly existed. In fact, his very life had been changed by the Northern Society.
So the only thing he needed to worry about was how to let everyone know that he had the Alliance’s “protection.”
Since Fran was about to duel one of the church knights, he had simply asked for her opinion. After receiving an indifferent response, he had arranged the event with full ceremony.
His purpose was to tell everyone currently in the city that the one standing beside him that day was indeed a battle mage of the Alliance.
And as long as Fran did not deny that point, he would not even need to explain very much. Others would naturally conclude that it was best not to provoke him.
The perspective shifted back to the duel arena. Opposite Fran, the church knight already had sweat squeezed into his palms.
Before he had stepped onto the field, Bishop Gillian had already told him the purpose of this duel. The point was not to win, but to determine Fran’s true background.
That was why she had specifically chosen him—a man who had previously clashed at sea with many mages of the Sword Chant School.
His task was to confirm whether the skills Fran used truly belonged to the Sword Chant School.
That left him under enormous pressure, because he had never undertaken such a mission before. In the past, even when they encountered ships from the Alliance at sea and conflict broke out,
All he had needed to do was fight with all his strength, without considering anything else. Those were matters only the victors needed to worry about.
But now it was as though he were fighting with shackles on. During the duel, he had to observe the opponent’s movements as carefully as possible, along with her Combat Techniques and spell configuration.
Fran, on the other hand, had not considered so much at all. Her identity as a battle mage was genuine, and even without any direct orders from the Alliance, these people still did not really have the nerve to act against her.
She had accepted the duel for only one reason: she wanted to see exactly what kind of power was bestowed by other gods.