CH 74

“Well then, I suppose I’m next.”

Reeve made her way up to the circle with a bit of a kick to her step. But this time, no men would step forward.

“What’s the matter? Aren’t there any men here who want to fight?”

But still no one would face her.

Then, from the back of the crowd, the dignified voice of a woman called out.

“Students unwilling to take a chance, are you all underestimating the importance of learning?”

Standing in the far back of the crowd was a man dressed in a jet black robe and a woman adorned with robes of pure white. It was Ares and Izerina, Claire’s parents.

“Students, these are the skills of people who have experienced real combat before!”

Walking forward while making declarations in a bold voice, the two stopped in front of Ellis’s group and bowed their heads.

“The blunder of the students is the blunder of the teacher. Would you fight us in their stead?”

Reeve shuddered.

Claire was stunned.

Ellis thought about what was being asked of them this time with a little more thought than when Alphonse had made his request. Finally, she shrugged her shoulders and looked back at the two members who had yet to fight.

“So, can the two of you fight Claire’s parents?”

“I don’t have any problem with a fight, but what about Claire?”

Claire had an anxious look on her face. The truth was that her father and her uncle looked very similar. When she thought about casting a spell at him, it made her want to vomit. But she swallowed it down and gritted her teeth.

“I’ll do it! I’ll kill him dead!”

She was a daughter who was able to casually say some terrible things.

“Then it’s settled. Alphonse, will you continue to referee?”

Ares called out to Alphonse who was actually a good friend, and Alphonse responded with a smile.

Then the air in the venue grew tense.

It was Izerina and Reeve who faced each other inside the circle.

“Reeve, you’re thinking about being serious against me right?”

“Madame Izerina, I hope you’re doing the same.”

Reeve felt an oppression far different from the men who had stepped forward until now. She could tell instinctively that it would be foolish to rely solely on her armor. So, she placed her dominate hand on the hilt of her katana.

Izerina meanwhile was calmly observing the situation.

Nobody in the square moved, but the air suddenly started to freeze.

At the same time, Izerina had already strengthened herself with chantless magic.

{Agility Burst}

{Paralyze Claw}

There was a sudden explosion.

The explosion itself was not aimed at anyone, but because of the sudden noise, Reeve’s attention lapsed for an instant and her built up tension snapped. Izerina used that opening to blast forward at an incredible speed. She wrapped around behind Reeve and tried to cut Reeve with her Paralyzing Claw, but Reeve was able to barely avoid it.

The two women became interlocked with both of them trying to cut the other.

Izerina continued to recite her ice spell in order to dull Reeve’s reaction time. All it would take was a single cut from her claw to stop Reeve in her tracks.

But Reeve wasn’t slowing down. Her blade started to glow in an incandescent light, and then it was as if time had stopped. For the crowd, for the referee, and even for Ellis.

Thanks to the effect of Falcon, there were two consecutive cuts layered on top of each other. Izerina was instantly cut down with a cross strike from Reeve’s katana.

Reeve had invalidated the ice fog thanks to the ability of her armor.

Izerina crumpled down on the ground on the spot.

“You’re strong. With this I can understand how you could beat the Demon Labyrinth………Wow…..”

But Reeve shook her head and kneeled down to apologize in Izerina’s ear.

“No, I only won thanks to my equipment.”

Izerina replied with a smile.

“Having good equipment is also part of your skill. It’s all about proficiency……”

Ellis’s group: 4 wins.

“Now, let’s show these people a bout between a parent and child.”

“Father, I won’t lose.”

The game had been briefly interrupted for Izerina’s treatment, but it was quickly gearing up for the climax.

“Father, I will use all the tools in my possession.”

“Yes, I would expect nothing less.”

As expected of a parent and child, they both had the same look in their eyes when pulling out their respective magical items. That parent and child combo was currently facing each other.

Without taking his eyes off Claire, Ares threw out a doll next to him. After a brief chant, it transformed into a large bull.

“The Wisdom specialty, my own custom Gorgon Golem. Careful, it’s been strengthened.”

Claire laughed as the bull charged at her. With a swipe of her hand, 15 balls of flame spread out in front of her.

“I’ll make some golem yakiniku. {Homing Missiles}!”

Flame bullets poured onto the charging golem, melting it down into a malformed puddle in the middle of the arena. It was obviously overkill. Ares along with everyone else had predicted a serious exhaustion in magical power after that.

“You are still just a child.”

Ares sidestepped the puddle of molten metal and attempted to {Silence} Claire. She was able to resist it, but a frown spread across her face.

“Father, using {Silence} in a duel between magicians is cheating!”

“Yes, you’re right! Please forgive me!”

Ares continued his assault with a {Thunder Lance}. Claire countered with her own lightning spear creating a crackle of explosive energy in the air between them. A basic damage of 15, the resulting combination had burned hot enough to leave the stone pavement underneath it to char black. Ares thought things had ended there, but when the smoke cleared, Claire was still standing. Her Darkness dress and Magic Guardbrooch were doing their stuff.

“Father, it worked!”

Claire released a massive {Explosion} on Ares. Basic damage of 20.

But Ares was able to spread out the resulting explosion around him, and the little burning hot air he was unable to completely divert away was completely nullified by the resistances he had prepared beforehand. But Claire had expected that.

“Not yet!”

Ares had thought he had made himself some room to breath after the explosion had ended, but he soon felt a massive shock go through his body that he had never felt before. It was probably the worst shock for a magician.

“{Distraction Needle}!”

Ares’s magic resistances were completely stripped away. And so,

“{Bind}!”

……….

Ares was completely bound. He was unable to move even a finger.

“{Valkyria Lance}”

Claire cast the new spell her mother had taught her, creating a shimmering spear made of bright white light. Claire slowly approached her father and set the tip of the spear to the top of his forehead.

“Father, I win.”

Placing her hand on her father’s chest, she cleansed her spell and allowed him to move from the rigid standing position he was forced to take.

“Yes, it’s my defeat.”

Ares felt his daughter’s body temperature through her hand on his chest and proclaimed his defeat with a smile on his face.

In this way the parent/child game had come to an end.

Ellis’s Group: Complete Victory.

“It’s unfair, even though this was all this old man’s idea, I never got to join in.”

Even though Alphonse walked over laughing at his own joke, no one else was saying anything. The square had gone eerily quiet.

Well, it was about that time.

Ellis decided to play a small trick.

“Hey, over there, isn’t that the great Dams, Peach, and Cliff from the Brave Party?”

Everyone started to move after Ellis’s sudden outburst.

“Mistress is doing something again.”

“Maybe she is just that sociable?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m going too nya.”

The three idiots had just come over to see what all commotion was about to kill some time, but here they were suddenly being called out by a young blonde-haired girl.

“Ah, Aah, Aaah, long time no see, little lady.”

“He, he, hello.”

“………”

Ellis’s cries had completely thrown the three of them off.

“The way we fought just now, everything was all thanks to the great teachings that the Brave Party had so generously imparted to us. The fact that we were able to make it this far was all thanks to them!”

“Ms. Peach, thank you!”

“Dams, thank nya!”

The three of them were being thanked for something that they really couldn’t remember doing, but being praised by the people who had just one-sidedly won their fight was something that felt really nice.

Then, Ellis suddenly turned and faced the now buzzing crowd.

“Everyone, these three are members of the Brave Party, the heroes who are currently doing everything in their power to oppose the Demon Lord’s army!”

When Frau and Katie took the initiative to start clapping, the crowd soon followed suite and a row of cheering quickly came after.

Only Claire had sneakily moved away to whisper in her parents’ ears.

“Please do not hesitate to ask Dams for teaching!”

“Peach is also wonderful!”

“Cliff is there too nya!”

The audience moved to surround the three.

It didn’t take long for the three idiots to try and turn this sudden popularity into some easy money. It was decided that they would take tuition fees and impart their superior skills onto the next generation.

This was exactly what Ellis wanted. If the three idiots could start to earn their own money, then maybe they would be more willing to leave the Brave Party. And if not, then the resulting chaos from those three having their own money without Gray’s help would be fun in its own way.

Claire told the truth only to her mother and father. “We’re lying. Those three are a bunch of useless idiots.” Ares and Izerina both decided to play along. Getting tricked like this could prove to be some good medicine for these students.

Alphonse did his best to try and regain control of a crowd that was quickly getting out of hand. After receiving quite a bit of money as down payments, Dams and the others were trying to break free and scatter to get a little breathing room. While avoiding the bustle and the noise, five girls and two parents expertly made their way to the golem studio. The only person to notice them slinking away was Alphonse, who gave up on the crowd and decided to follow them without question.

“Ellis, it might be too late to ask but, do you have some kind of grudge against the Brave Party?”

Ellis answered Alphonse’s question with a smile and nothing more. The girls’ carriage had been ready to go since the early morning, and it was only now with the afternoon half over that they were able to leave.

“Father, Mother, I’ll be waiting for you in Warren!”

“Alphonse, we’ll be sure to come visit you again!”

And so the girls were seen off with three hands waving farewell as they waved back. Their stop in Wisdom wasn’t as boring as they thought it would be, but Warren’s Jewelry Box was happy to finally be on its way home.