Ard continued to walk away, accompanied by jeers from the other participants, except for Alicia and Milia. He walked into the arena hallway and shuffled down it, intending to leave and return to his inn, deflated and weak. He planned to check out and leave the academy city, even though he had no idea where he would go next.
"Whatever... this is exactly why in my nine lives, I avoided the academy. I knew the test would turn out like this... My only goal here was to get close to Princess Eva so I could prevent the tragedy that affects her and stop her from becoming the cruel Queen... but it looks like that failed, huh... I just hope I don't die again, and if I do, I'm given another chance to reset," Ard muttered to himself, feeling disappointed.
Ard glanced back toward the end of the arena corridor. He could hear the clashing of swords and a loud commotion coming from there; it seemed the sword and magic tests, conducted by class, had already begun. He then turned back and continued walking toward the exit, but after only a few steps,
"Hey!"
A girl's voice called out to him. He turned and his eyes widened, seeing Eva running toward him, carrying something in her hands. Ard's hands clenched, preparing to meet the Ice Princess, who looked rushed to catch up to him, and he had no idea what she wanted with him. When she reached him, Ard could see the two wooden swords Eva was holding.
"Who told you to leave?" Eva asked, slightly out of breath.
"Huh?" Ard replied, confused.
Suddenly, Eva threw one of the swords to Ard, who instantly caught it and looked at it.
"Um... Princess?" Ard asked, even more confused after seeing the sword in his hand.
"Follow me," Eva replied, turning around.
Eva immediately started walking. Ard, who had no other choice despite being utterly baffled, ended up following Eva back toward the arena.
"What does she want now? Does she want to challenge me to a fight? Should I just kill her here and now... but then I'll definitely be executed... ugh... I'm so confused," Ard muttered to himself, looking at Eva's silver hair from behind and feeling a bit desperate.
They re-entered the arena. To the right, Ard could see an instructor conducting a sword test against participants stepping forward one by one. To the left, an instructor was supervising participants firing magic at targets. He kept walking to the center of the arena, following Eva, where the Academy Head was already waiting. Eva immediately went to the Academy Head.
"I've brought him, Academy Head Galdorf," Eva said.
"Very well, Princess. Please proceed," Galdorf replied, looking at Ard and smiling.
Suddenly, Eva turned, taking a stance right in front of Ard. Galdorf stepped back, then raised both hands, which generated a translucent, dome-shaped shield without chanting a spell. Ard saw Galdorf standing outside the dome along with two instructors holding clipboards and observing him. Suddenly, "swoosh," Ard dodged Eva's sword thrust, then jumped back and took his own stance.
"P-Princess?" Ard asked, confused.
"Fight me... and please be serious, because I'm going to give it my all," Eva said with a cold, expressionless face.
"Fine," Ard replied. "Now this is my chance. She must still be weak and easy to defeat. If I win, she'll have to bow before me," Ard thought to himself.
"Swoosh," without delay, both disappeared, and "clank," they instantly clashed swords in front of each other, as if both had teleported forward and attacked immediately. Eva attacked Ard repeatedly, and Ard countered Eva's attacks repeatedly. They continued to trade blows intensely in the center at high speed, kicking up dust around them without either backing down.
"Huh... how... is she this strong?" Ard questioned in his mind, startled, as he dodged, attacked, and parried Eva's strikes.
Their fight, happening inside the dome, attracted the attention of the other participants. Alicia, who was also holding a sword, stopped and watched the battle unfold, then she suddenly smiled.
"No mistake... you really are my Prince," Alicia said.
Milia also stood silent, watching their fight, visible admiration in her eyes without needing to say anything. Meanwhile, Brylee, watching Ard fight Eva on equal footing, immediately grabbed the shoulder of the person next to him.
"That's... the trash from earlier, right?" Brylee asked.
"Yes, now let go," replied the man next to him, shaking off his hand.
"Clang... clang," the fight grew more intense. Eva thrust toward Ard's face, who pulled his head back and swept his sword toward Eva's waist, forcing her to lower her sword hilt to block Ard's strike when her thrust missed. Ard saw a faint smile on Eva's face.
"Huh... she's smiling?" Ard questioned in his heart.
"Swoooosh," Eva slashed her sword horizontally, and Ard jumped back with a somersault to evade it. They both gained distance.
"I knew it. You are just like me," Eva said.
Before Ard could respond, Eva raised her hand forward. "Boom," five magic circles appeared in the air, all facing Ard and firing white, spear-like rays of light. Ard somersaulted and ran around the dome, dodging Eva's light spears, which continuously rotated to follow Ard. Finally, Ard stopped and raised his hand. Five black magic circles opened in the air, facing Eva, and all five fired black, sword-like rays toward Eva.
"Bang... bang... bang," Ard kept firing the black swords repeatedly, and Eva likewise fired her white spears repeatedly. They clashed in the center, causing a huge and loud explosion. "Creak," the translucent shield dome conjured by Galdorf began to crack. All the watching participants grew tense.
Unknowingly, Ard and Eva both smiled as they continued to fire at each other. "Creak... crackle... creak," the dome cracked further and was on the verge of shattering, causing the instructors to start panicking.
"Enough! Stop!" Galdorf shouted.
Ard and Eva looked at the struggling Galdorf and stopped their magic. Then both fell to one knee on the ground, breathing heavily and covered in sweat.
"Huh... how... is she so strong? It doesn't make sense," Ard muttered to himself, disappointed because his goal had been to defeat the Princess.
"Hey, what was your name again?" Eva asked.
"Ard," Ard answered briefly, panting.
"Ok... Ard, when we're at the academy later, you will be in the same class as me. We will be in Class S," Eva stated.
"Hah... C-Class S? The Hero Class? Me?" Ard asked, shocked, because in all his lives, he had never imagined becoming a hero candidate.
"Yes, I acknowledge you, because you could keep up with me and you possess dark magic, which is my opposite," Eva replied.
"Uh... b-but," Ard tried to argue.
"There are no buts. Next week, you will be in the same class as me," Eva said with her cold face, though her blue eyes seemed to twinkle while looking at Ard.
"A-alright," Ard replied, resigned. "Wait, why is it turning out like this? I wanted to be close to her for the sake of helping her, but not in the same class, come on... this is genuinely beyond my expectations... the thing is, I can use both dark and holy magic at the same time... I really don't want her to find that out, the Princess doesn't need to know that... besides... what was that look? Why was she looking at me like that," Ard thought to himself.