Kapitel 10: The Duel
Vestri Courtyard, Tristain Academy
Guiche was starting to think that maybe he had taken things a bit too far. Currently he was surrounded by a plethora of students from all three years of the academy, denoted by their brown, black and purple capes for each progressive year respectively.
He hadn't expected the duel to attract so much attention, but then again, he should have known better. Nobles were nothing if not a bunch of bored gossips after all. By the time the duel had been arranged he wouldn't be surprised if the entire school had heard about it by then.
Normally he would revel in the attention of all the girls that had taken an interest while showing off his smug sense of superiority to all the boys that thought themselves his rival. But this situation wasn't exactly worth bragging about in his opinion. If anything he had completely backed himself into a corner this time.
He really didn't know what came over him when he decided to issue a challenge to two commoner girls not even older than himself with no actual way to defend themselves. No matter what the outcome of the duel was, he would inevitably lose something equally if not more important in the long run.
Should he win, his name would be thrown through the mud for bullying and humiliating two girls in front of the entire academy. His father was a well renowned knight and Count with a lot of pull in the kingdom. Many of his rivals would use anything they could to bring him down a level, including his own actions definitely unbefitting of a knight's son. They would claim he wasn't suited to raising an army if he couldn't even raise his own son.
Not to mention more personally, he would earn himself the ire of not only his fiancée but also all the other men in the school that had their attention drawn to his opponent. There was also a non-negligible chance that the girl's master, Louise would take particular issue with things and put pressure on his family with her own.
Originally he wasn't too worried about her given that she was only the third daughter and a failure of a mage, but after having a bit more time to think things through without her familiar's charms hampering his ability to think, he realized that a duke's daughter is still a duke's daughter. And that was more than enough to get him into hot water with not only her family but his own as well.
He never really had any issue with Louise to be honest. Sure her explosions were annoying but generally she wasn't the most unpleasant person to be around…as long as you didn't make her angry. Something he had only witnessed once the year prior when a group of upperclassmen were particularly harsh towards her.
He had seen the girl personally deliver three explosions for each person in less than a minute. It didn't do much more than tear and blacken their clothes and hair but it was enough to keep the teasing at just that from then on.
At this point he could only hope she didn't care as much about her familiar and she would simply let him go after defeating her. Or better yet that the two girls just surrendered before anything could happen and they could work something else out. He wasn't really interested in an unwilling woman anyway so it's not like he would have really done anything to the academy servant in the first place.
"Ah, there they are! It's about time." Just as he had that thought, he heard one of the murmuring bystanders shout, which drew the attention of the crowd to the two girls in maid uniforms hastily coming closer to the ensemble.
Once Guiche noticed the bow and arrows strapped to the black haired maid's back and the steely determination in her eyes, he knew getting them to just surrender would be impossible.
"Just a moment!" Before he could even comment, an expected presence made itself known to the gathering of students.
"Professor Colbert!" Guiche and a few others gasped in surprise when the balding professor gracefully descended into the makeshift ring with the levitation spell. Guiche was almost let out a sigh of relief before his hopes were completely dashed in the next moment.
"Since the headmaster has officially authorized this duel it will be done properly in the area to prevent unnecessary injuries. Also Mister Gramont, as the primary instigator, expect to be punished regardless of the final outcome. Unofficial duels are still against school rules and as the only student involved you bear the full responsibility." Mister Colbert said for everyone to her while leveling Guiche a disappointed glare.
Guiche suddenly wished he could be anybody but himself right now.
-_-_-_-
Siesta inwardly clicked her tongue once Mister Colbert dropped appeared and announced the change in location as well as officiating the duel.
A part of her hoped that he would cancel things and punish the lustful noble that started it all, but she should have known better. Nobles generally only looked out for each other, at least when they weren't trying to stab each other in the back.
Of course there were exceptions to the rule, such as the Baron of Tarbes and maybe even Louise, but they were called exceptions for a reason. Although she asked for another miracle, having a noble actually care about a commoner was perhaps pushing it a bit. It was a good thing she was already determined to do her best from the start.
Still speaking of Louise she really had to wonder where the girl had run off to. She was sure that she must have heard about the duel by now. She even made sure to take her time to show up just to give her an opportunity to show up and maybe get Zero out of this.
Siesta figured she must be held up somewhere and just left it at that. She wouldn't have any more time to consider things as they had just reached the practice arena located just a bit away from the courtyard.
Vestri Court was the central garden situated between the Wind and Fire elemental towers. Being located to the west, the Court didn't receive much sunshine, even in the middle of the day, but it was the perfect place for a duel.
As the students packed themselves into the stands she and Zero were left standing face to face with Guiche, with Mister Colbert standing off to the side with his staff in hand.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a duel!" Mister Colbert's amplified voice silenced the gathered crowd of students, teachers and to mixed feelings, Siesta could even make out a few of her coworkers milling about trying not to draw too much attention to themselves as they went about some likely made up duties just so they might observe the duel.
"The rules are very simple. There will be no lethal or permanently crippling blows, maiming or disfigurement, any unnecessarily cruel attacks and no use of spells beyond line tier! The duel will be concluded once either side admits defeat, is no longer able to continue, or I deem there is a clear victor!" Mister Colbert finished with a firm glare at both sides causing her and Guiche to shiver in fright. They could both tell there will be consequences should the rules be broken.
Siesta thought the rules were fair enough and breathed a sigh of relief once she realized she wouldn't be tortured for losing. She didn't know much about magic, but she knew of the different classifications of spells at least so she thought Mister Colbert had made that rule specifically to give them an advantage. What she didn't know however was that Guiche didn't actually know any spells above line class thus was quite confused at the addition of that rule.
What neither of them knew, however, was that the rule wasn't intended for Guiche, but for Zero instead. Colbert didn't know her true capabilities so he wouldn't risk her using a spell he couldn't handle immediately to prevent undue harm to either side. Unfortunately for him he hadn't accounted on one thing-
'What's a line spell?' Zero had no idea about the current classification of spells and had never heard of line spells before. Ultimately she decided not to ask since she wasn't allowed to use spells anyway.
"If everything is clear, you will be allowed a few minutes of prep time then begin on my signal." Colbert finished while moving to the edge of the area. Close enough to act should something happen but far enough away to not get involved.
Once he finished the cheering of the audience started as they were eager for things to begin. Most didn't particularly care if it was going to be a one sided duel or not, it was something interesting that didn't involve studying for hours on end.
Waving his arms about, Guiche acknowledged the cheering causing many of the females from his year and lower to increase their intensity much to a certain blonde girl's annoyance.
"First of all, I commend you both for coming here instead of running away!" Guiche remarked in a sing-song voice, as he twirled his rose about.
Neither Siesta nor Zero obliged his compliment. Zero simply because she didn't see a point in doing so. And Siesta because talking back to a noble was still something she couldn't do carelessly, even if they were currently at odds. Instead opting to finally draw her bow from her back along with one of her arrows.
Guiche seemed annoyed at being ignored and noticeably weary of the bow but soldiered on regardless.
"It seems as if you still haven't realized the futility of your actions. Very well, let me show you!" Guiche said with flare as he waved his artificial rose wand allowing one of the petals to separate and impact the ground. Soon a bright light followed and shortly after a suit of armor with a distinctly feminine shape rose from the ground.
Siesta, and all the gathered audience bore witness to the Gramont signature spell, [Summon Valkyrie]
"You both didn't think you had a chance since it was two on one, did you?" Guiche mocked, noticing Siesta's shocked expression while Zero's eyes bored deeply into his lovely Valkyrie as if trying to uncover its secrets. He wasn't afraid of that however, as it was a spell invented by one of his ancestors and the reason his family's position rose as high as it did.
"If both sides are ready, you may begin!" Colbert's stern voice interrupted everyone to inform them of the beginning of the duel.
Siesta wasted no time in drawing back her bow and in a display of speed, strength and skill she had never experienced before in her life, she let loose the nocked arrow and watched it fly and find purchase directly in the head of the Valkyrie. Causing the helmet to separate from the rest of the armor.
A pregnant silence overcame the venue as everyone was left baffled at how easily the Valkyrie was taken care of. Siesta, equally as surprised, was just about ready to celebrate until she noticed the armor hadn't exactly fallen over or anything after losing its head. In fact, after a brief pause it simply began charging right at them instead!
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you!? It will take a lot more than losing a few pieces to get rid of my lovely Valkyrie." Guiche shouted, though inwardly he was sweating bullets. He was thankful the servant aimed for the head instead of the where the core of the spell was located. Normal arrows would just bounce off its armor so it was never an issue, but the ones fired by the black haired servant managed to strike clean through and poke out the other side.
That would have been more than enough to incapacitate his Valkyrie.
Siesta, seeing the armor approach, promptly grabbed the silent Zero's hand and tugged her along as they ran away. Their only shot of winning so far was at range so she couldn't give that up, nor could she allow Zero to be taken captive while she had no way to defend herself.
"Zero, do you know how to beat that thing!?" Siesta asked desperately as she ran, practically carrying Zero, faster than she knew she was capable of. Their maid uniforms weren't exactly made with running in mind so the thing was quickly gaining on them.
"Mn. Analysis complete. Spell recorded. Summon Valkyrie, Classification: auto-cast transmutation enchantment. Derivative of Summon Bronze Golem. Estimated range: 50 meters from caster." Zero monotonously said, as if reading from a book.
"Umm, that's nice and all but I don't know how long a meter is! Is there anything else?!" Siesta lamented as she made a quick left to dodge the Valkyrie that tried to tackle them, allowing her to open up a bit more space between them again. She couldn't be blamed really, most commoners were uneducated and it was very unlikely for them to need to use precise measurements in their daily lives.
"Mn. Core located in the stomach. Destruction of core will render golem inert." Zero answered unhurriedly.
"Okay!" Siesta shouted while skidding to a stop. Releasing Zero and preparing another shot fast enough to put the most experienced archers in the kingdom's army to shame. Banking on a subconscious feeling, she aimed her next shot exactly where she had received her own runes earlier that day.
The arrow flew true and pierced the Valkyrie directly in the stomach area through its bronze armor and impacted the glowing rose petal hidden inside.
The Valkyrie froze and collapsed not long after in mid motion. Causing the previously stunned crowd to let out an uproarious cheer at the sudden upset. No one expected a mere commoner to actually fell the spell of a noble. Although it rubbed some of them the wrong way it was still much more exciting to see than the beatdown they expected.
Guiche on his part wasn't exactly upset at the outcome, but he was worried. He really hoped no one paid attention to the reason the Valkyrie was defeated so easily. Having the location of the core leaked to other countries could be devastating to his family's effectiveness in battle. Of course his father's Valkyries were much sturdier than his own being made of better metals that Guiche himself couldn't make just yet, but it would still reduce the difficulty it took to take one of them down.
"W-Well that was certainly a splendid display for a commoner, but don't think things will be that simple!" In an effort to cover up his mistake, Guiche waved his rose and allowed all the petals to fall to the ground and consumed quite a bit of willpower to manifest 11 more Valkyries! He unfortunately wouldn't be able to cast any more of them as quickly since the spell was preprogrammed into the petals but 11 should be more than enough to secure him the win.
Siesta on the other hand shook in fear as 11 more of the creatures she just struggled to take down suddenly appeared before her. She didn't think she would be able to accurately target the weak spots of each armor while trying to dodge them all.
"Zero…" Siesta didn't know what to do anymore. She wasn't some knight or mercenary with years of experience. She was just a peasant girl in way over her head. So she turned to the only source of hope she had left desperate for any way out of this situation.
Zero, seeing the desperation in Siesta's eyes felt something she couldn't quite understand. All that she knew was that she didn't like it and wanted to ease the girl's worries.
The solution was simple enough but it was something of a technicality, she didn't know if her master would approve or not, so she didn't know what to do. Potentially disobey her master to save her favorite maid, or obey her master and allow Siesta to suffer. She didn't like either option really and felt trapped between a rock and a hard place.
{Zero! Don't you dare lose to that idiot Guiche! That's an order!}
Zero suddenly felt like she heard the voice of her master echo through her head, clearing up all the worries in her heart. It filled her heart with an indescribable feeling to have her master on her side even if she couldn't see her.
"Mn. Understood, Master." Zero acknowledged with a smile that was charming enough to completely enrapture Guiche into delaying his Valkyrie from attacking.
"Siesta, just shoot, leave the rest to me." Zero calmly told Siesta as she stepped behind her and placed her hand on her back.
"B-But, Miss Valliere said you shouldn't use magic?" Siesta did as she was told and knocked another arrow but couldn't stop herself from asking.
"Mn. But she didn't say you couldn't." Zero said with an uncharacteristically mischievous smile that soon faded away back into her usual expressionlessness. As if whatever had been briefly released had been quickly suppressed the next moment.
What Zero would do was simple enough. She was already controlling the mana in Siesta through the runes, all she had to do was form the mana into a spell and essentially force Siesta to cast it. Without the runes it simply wouldn't be possible to do, but thanks to their unique situation, Zero had come up with a way to stay in the fight without directly disobeying her master's orders.
Siesta fired the arrow and felt a strange pull on her mind as she did so. The arrow she fired on the other hand, glowed a soft brown light before directly impacting a random Valkyrie. Instead of piercing through it however the arrow simply shattered against the armor leaving everyone stunned at the unexpected outcome.
Before Guiche could gloat however, the impacted Valkyrie suddenly shook before swiftly turning into dirt and collapsing back into the ground. Leaving students and teachers alike stunned at the outcome. They had never expected the armor to simply revert back to its base materials.
Zero still wasn't sure what a line spell was so she decided to play it safe and essentially just use the same spell her opponent had cast, just in reverse. She set the arrows to auto-cast a transmutation spell on impact. Since Siesta's mana pool was so small she couldn't do any larger spells anyway so something like this was perfect for her.
Siesta, after being stunned, swiftly knocked the next arrow and continued to fire rapidly into the Valkyries, no longer concerning herself with precise aiming. There was a strange strain on her mind with each arrow she fired but she didn't concern herself with that for now. Victory was in sight and she refused to waste it.
Guiche panicked and tried to order his Valkyries to spread out and surround them but even then somehow the arrows curved in mid air and started to track his summons down! They weren't the fastest things either and soon each summoned Valkyrie was returned to the dirt and he was left defenseless staring down a painting servant with a sweat covered brow and strained face.
Just as she knocked another arrow in his direction, he hastily raised his hand and declared his surrender!
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