BXBX NOVEL Chapter 17 17 – Skill Issue
"Arthur!"
When I was preparing for the duel, getting a practice weapon made from wood mixed with steel on the side of the training ground, I heard a voice calling for me from above where the spectator seats were.
I looked up and noticed Eliza. She looked at me worriedly.
Despite her inability to be honest about her feelings, as I had expected, she wasn\'t at the same level as those tsundere girls from Japanese stuff.
"Don\'t force yourself, okay?! Getting injured slightly is fine, but don\'t make me visit you in the church!"
Even right now, she still thought about my safety and said those things. I smiled at her and nodded slightly, taking a long sword from the row of weapons in front of me.
"Don\'t worry. I\'ll win this." I replied and turned around, not wanting to stay any longer as Adam had already stood in the middle of the training ground with the Instructor, Rania.
They didn\'t say anything. Rania closed her eyes, still holding her sword. While Adam tapped his wooden sword against his shoulders.
When I looked at him directly like this, I just realized that he was one of those arrogant people who thought they could do anything because they had power.
I meant… He could get double the Sins normal people could. Normally, that would be a disadvantage. But he had a special constitution, which I didn\'t know clearly because I didn\'t know whether I could use my \'Requirement Appraisal\' on him or now that allowed him to ignore the side-effect of having Sins.
\'My bad habit kicked in again, huh? Appraising people in Horizon Online was considered rude and could lead to a fight; that\'s why I didn\'t use it much. But I think I need to use it a bit more frequently in the future.\'
When I stood in front of Adam, 10 meters away from him, Rania opened her eyes and looked at us alternatively.
"I\'ll explain the rules first. Both fighters are allowed to use all their abilities to the fullest. Don\'t worry about killing your opponent. This training ground has a revival chamber created by the Castitas Church." Rania explained.
\'Revival chamber, huh? So there is also something like that. This is new to me.\' I thought.
As expected. For an Eroge, Sins Paradise had great world buildings. However, because the game was only limited to the protagonist\'s perspective, not all details were able to be found by the players.
There were a lot of things I didn\'t know about.
\'That\'s an interesting tool.\'
"The winner will be decided by whoever kills their opponent or makes the opponent surrender. Is that clear? She asked, to which I replied with a nod. "Good. Are both of you ready?"
Once again, I nodded at her without saying anything, gripping the wooden sword in my hand.
\'It\'s only a day, but I already missed the feeling of holding a sword.\' I smiled in disdain. \'What a freak.\'
"Yes." Adam also replied with a loud enough voice to be heard by every student that was on the second floor in spectator seats. "I am ready."
"Then…" The Instructor backed away to the edge of the training ground, pressing a button to create a dome-shaped barrier to protect the spectators.
Because the development of technology in this world was better than Horizon Online, they even had something like this, huh? I should hit the library to find out what I was missing out from the Eroge if I wanted to live as I wanted in this world.
Anyway, Adam put up a stance as a mechanical voice rang inside the training ground. I stood idly while scratching the back of my neck.
\'The wait is killing me.\'
"The duel will begin in 3… 2… 1…"
"Begin!"
"Take this!"
Adam immediately rushed toward me at full speed. He was fast for a normal human, who probably was around Level 7 if his Level was the same as the one in the game.
Still, in my eyes, his movement was as slow as a snail. I meant… I was a max leveled player with a Limit Break title, making my stats break the ceiling of 100.
So I sneered at this newbie who tried to pick a fight with me. Even his posture when he swung his sword was imbalanced. I took a step to the side and extended my leg, tripping him.
"Augh!"
He fell to the concrete ground face first and let out a grunt. Waves of laughter rang from the students on the second floor, and I noticed Eliza\'s expression eased slightly.
Embarrassed, Adam\'s face turned red as he picked himself up.
"You! That\'s not fair!" He shouted as he pointed his sword at me. His figure was like a kid who lost a game and blamed his opponent for being better than him. "Come at me directly! Don\'t be so shameless! Tripping his opponent!"
"Shameless?" I shrugged my shoulders, shaking my head at his words. Was he really a hunter? I didn\'t think the protagonist in the game was this stupid, though. Or was it just what I remembered to beautify this game that I liked?
"I call that skill issue." I continued with a mocking tone, moving my fingers to gesture to him to come. "Come then. I won\'t trip you again, but don\'t make any excuses if you lose."
"I won\'t!" Adam shouted and put up a stance once again.
Should I commend him for not saying anything to my taunt and just narrowing his eyes in anger?
I had faced a lot of opponents. Shameless one, brave one, the one with honor, and even the evilest one. Among them, I had a few strong opponents who shared the same trait. They didn\'t fall for any of my small taunts.
\'If the protagonist fell easily to this taunt, then I would be disappointed. There is a reason why I liked the game, after all. And this is also the reason why he would become the most annoying person who could get in my way if I didn\'t deal with him early.\'
Hence…
\'I will show him the difference in our skills right now so he won\'t try to do anything to me in the future.\'
The church would probably arrive during a lunch break or when we finished this self-defense class, which would make him understand the difference between our position.
It would be great if this was enough to make him stay out of my way.
I raised my sword for the first time with a mocking grin.
"Come."
Maybe I would enjoy dealing with this newbie with a skill issue while I wait for them to arrive.