The two participants of the first duel entered the arena to mild applause.
The S-Class student defending his place was Edmund Harrow, ranked number eighteen in our class — a short guy with black hair and pointy elf ears.
He entered the arena carrying a small straight sword and a shield. He wore heavy armor compared to his opponent.
The challenger was Cecilya Redwyck, a girl with brown skin and red scales on various parts of her body — arms, neck, cheeks, and legs. She entered the arena wielding a long spear and wearing little armor aside from the academy's blue uniform.
"I feel kinda bad for both of them. No one is interested in their fight," said the redheaded girl, resting her face on her hand.
"I still think we can get something interesting out of them, Yani," Cole said, pulling out a notebook to jot down notes about the duel.
"How're the bets?" Tirino asked, forming a ring with his index finger and thumb. "I can get us a couple of gold coins."
"I don't trust you after you bet on Lyon to win that three-way duel," Yani said, eyeing her friend with disgust.
"You bet against me?" I asked, causing Tirino to tense up.
"Uh, you know..." The black-haired boy began to sweat as he scrambled for an excuse.
"I—we did bet for you to win, Alen," Kaida said, putting ephasis on the 'we' and resting her arm on my shoulder while smiling at me, her cheeks pink.
"You guys will bet on me to win, right?" Atro asked, his fingers trembling.
"Only if Alen is confident you'll win," Yani said, leaning forward with a smile, waiting for my answer.
I paused for a long moment, giving it careful thought.
While it's true that Ximuss has slightly better stats and magic compared to Atro, at such low levels and with two fighters of similar strength, stats don't matter that much.
I don't know how levels translate to real life — even more so when I don't know exactly what level they are.
In the game, Atro's level when you recruit him is as low as eleven, sometimes as high as fourteen. Ximuss, meanwhile, can be recruited earlier, at levels nine or ten.
However, they're both recruitable starting in the sixth to eighth month.
Honestly, I wish I had a system...
With a system, I could know exactly how I'm doing at any point in the story. I'd probably have a cheat skill, too...
I guess I do have one — my fake incantationless casting — although that was something I figured out on my own.
"You're thinking about it too much!" Atro snapped me out of my thoughts with a desperate cry.
"Yep, you're not making me trust him that much," Yani said with a small giggle.
"I—I wasn't thinking for that long, was I?"
"Atro wouldn't have reacted like that if you hadn't taken so much time," Kaida said, closing her eyes as she giggled along with Yani.
"I guess you're right. But it's more complicated than it seems. Determining the outcome of a fight between evenly matched opponents isn't easy — you end up speculating a lot."
"How so?" Cole asked, ready to jot down my answer.
"They're on a similar... power scale, so deciding who wins means you start saying: if he does this, then he can do that, and take advantage of that. But the same logic works for the other side."
"There are too many variables. Anything can happen — I can't really say who has the better chance."
"My guy, give me a clear answer. Does fighter A or fighter B win?" Tirino demanded, tired of my indecision.
I think Atro has an advantage if he uses spell chains. However, Ximuss is known to fight a lot, giving him more experience than Atro.
"You're overthinking it again!" Tirino grabbed me by the collar, but Cole grabbed his arm to pull him back.
"Atro. I'm confident Atro has a better chance of winning," I said firmly, yanking Tirino's arm off me.
Tirino scoffed and sat back down.
I looked at Atro — he looked more relaxed now that I'd said I trusted him to win.
"Thanks, Alen," Atro muttered, then turned back to the arena.
The fight had already started while we were talking.
The elven guy was running from the trees toward a corner with less cover — an open space where he couldn't be surprise-attacked.
His eyes scanned the treetops, searching for where the lizard demi-human girl might be hiding.
Edmund kept turning with his shield up, ready to block from any direction.
Cecilya, meanwhile, was waiting for an opening.
She knelt on a branch of a tall tree, using rocks she'd picked up to create distractions. She threw one at a nearby tree, shaking its leaves and drawing Edmund's attention.
"She reminds me of you, Alen," Kaida said in a near-whisper.
"Watching her fight is just as boring as watching him," Tirino added, earning an elbow to the side from Cole.
"It's definitely how I'd fight. Although... she's being a bit too cautious."
By this point, she should've already attacked a few times, but she kept testing him.
"It's fine to be passive, but being too passive gives the enemy time to plan a counterattack or figure put some patterns."
Just as I said that, Edmund finally pinpointed the lizard girl by tracking where the rocks were landing.
With her location revealed, the S-Class student quickly formed a plan. He reached for his chest pocket and pulled out a throwing knife.
Backing against a tree, he raised his shield, covering his front perfectly and leaving his only blind spot directly above him.
Cecilya seized the moment to change hiding spots. She stood and jumped to the next branch.
The rustle of leaves and the branch shaking gave her away — the elf boy stayed defensive but now knew exactly where she was.
"She was too cautious preparing an attack but careless when changing positions," I muttered.
Cecilya was playing it too safe on the offense, waiting for the perfect moment to strike — but she didn't create distractions when moving.
Once she settled on a branch thick with foliage, Edmund made his move.
He threw the knife.
As it flew through the air, its edge glowed with a red-orange shimmer.
The knife sliced through the leaves Cecilya was hiding behind as if they weren't there.
The throw missed its mark, landing only a shallow cut on Cecilya's shoulder — her scales absorbed most of the impact.
But it was enough to make Cecilya panic. Now that Edmund knew where she was, she needed to move — fast.
She leaped to another branch, but her leg snagged on a string.
At that moment, with a loud bang, the throwing knife exploded from the tree it had stuck in.
The knife shot backward, pulling the string tight around the lizard girl's leg.
"Got you!" Edmund yelled triumphantly as he pulled on the string attached to the knife, which now looped securely around Cecilya's leg.
"He infused the knife with fire magic... but not ordinary fire magic — a bomb spell that triggered a delayed explosion," I explained and Cole noted down everything I was saying.
With his opponent caught, Edmund yanked the string hard.
Cecilya barely managed to grab the branch at the last second. She used her sharp nails to slice the string, but the damage was done — she was now stuck in a vulnerable position, trying to climb back up.
But Edmund was ready. From his back pocket, he pulled out a fire bomb and hurled it at the branch.
The bomb exploded, cracking the branch Cecilya clung to until it snapped.
She hit the ground with a loud thud as Edmund charged.
He raised his sword, stomped the ground, gripped the hilt tight — then brought it down in a powerful strike.
!!!
"H-how!?" Edmund gasped. His sword had clashed against Cecilya's forearm scales.
The impact sent sparks flying.
"I have tough scales," Cecilya said with a smug grin.
The only reason she could afford to fight with so little armor was because her thick scales reduced damage — a perk of her lizard demi-human traits.
They broke the clash.
Edmund raised his shield and positioned his sword to lunge at any moment.
Cecilya grabbed her spear with her tail, creating distance as she passed it from tail to hands.
"Who do you think wins now, Alen?" Kaida asked me, fully invested in the fight.
"Now? The fight will probably last more than this." I added as I crossed my arms.
"She has an advantage in speed thanks to her lack of heavy armor, and her high defenses thanks to her scales. But she knows that the elf guy has the advantage."
"How does he have the advantage? To me he looks like the weaker one" Atro said. He frowned and squinted to see what was happening on the arena.
"He has a shield, meaning that he can maneuver her spear attacks easily, and he came more prepared with throwing knifes and bomb" I answered Atro in a calm tone.