## Chapter 225 – The Fight Beneath the Surface (8)
Anne de Monehen.
At best, she had a title, making her slightly higher than a commoner.
In reality, she was just a minor noble from a family with little influence. There were rumors circulating about her.
At one time, she was known as a brazen girl who didn’t know her place, and at another, Vivian’s plaything.
And now, rumors were starting to spread that she was Lucia’s object of interest. In many ways, Anne couldn’t help but be famous within the Swordsmanship Department.
After all, in the aristocratic world where gossip was always of interest, how could so many people not be interested in a girl whose life was so spectacular?
She had been running around with her own beliefs or something, only to be caught by the delinquent Marquis’s daughter, Vivian, and tormented like a toy for a year. Now, Lucia, the daughter of the Borgia Duke, was interested in her.
That alone was enough to cause rumors, as the two were fundamentally different in many ways.
Starting with their family backgrounds, not to mention their swordsmanship skills, even their standing within the academy was completely different.
If there was one thing they had in common, it was that they both had taciturn personalities, not saying anything more than necessary.
Lucia was the one who spoke a little more, but that was only because she was a respected senior that many students wanted to approach, and an assistant instructor who had frequent contact with those students.
Therefore, Lucia also tended not to have more interest or conversations with other students than necessary.
So how did Anne catch Lucia’s eye and rise to the level of receiving intensive training from her, if not outright favoritism?
Sometimes, among students who enjoyed low-quality jokes, there were rumors that Anne had avoided the crisis by becoming Lucia’s nighttime lover, unable to withstand Vivian’s bullying.
That was how often the two women were together, except during classes or joint training sessions, leading to claims that there were special feelings between them.
Of course, if it were someone else’s story, one couldn’t deny even the slightest possibility of that.
But when it came to Anne and Lucia’s story, they had a secret they couldn’t tell anyone.
‘I can’t yield the teacher.
Someday, I’ll take her from you.’
‘If you can do that, then try.
I won’t be an easy opponent.’
As a result, it was perhaps only natural that the new gaze of students armed with all sorts of gossip would be directed towards “Bibi,” the center of the storm that had blown in from the freshmen, and “Anne,” the original troublemaker.
The students’ eyes, watching the two girls who had taken their places in the 8th training ground, were filled with an exciting anticipation of the unknown.
“Haa…”
However, there was also someone who wasn’t very happy with the current situation.
Rather, Vivian, who had no good feelings for Anne, was that person.
‘I was trying to torment her at my own pace…
Why do these random things keep trying to start a fight…?’
As if she wasn’t already dealing with the Madam of Darkness, Laratina, would Vivian even notice such a young girl?
She was already busy analyzing the information Enic had given her, and now she was being dragged out to fight Anne.
Vivian had also been gathering various rumors and information since re-enrolling in the academy.
Therefore, she knew the inside story of how the Swordsmanship Department had been running recently, and she also knew that Lucia had started to take an interest in Anne.
‘Maybe it was also influenced by the special evaluation.
She must have ridden the line well and succeeded.
But she’s still just a Monehen.’
To Vivian, Anne was just a trivial dessert that she could get rid of at any time, and therefore wanted to savor her screams of pain and tears of sorrow.
‘I should just pick a fight with Borgia…?
That would be much more productive…’
She might fall for it if I shake her up a bit.
After all, this is the academy, and even though I’m in disguise, I’m still a student.
If there’s an advantage to gaining near-real combat experience without bearing the demerit of death, shouldn’t I use it?
After roughly organizing the scenario in her head, Vivian picked up a wooden sword from the corner of the training ground and placed the real sword she had been wearing on her waist on the waiting table next to her.
And Anne, who had followed her, was also preparing for the sparring match.
As Anne picked up the wooden sword she would use and placed the mechanical greatsword she had been wearing on her side on the table, Vivian’s gaze followed it with a sidelong glance.
‘Again…’
Vivian narrowed her eyes slightly as the sword she had dropped at the social gathering appeared before her again.
“That’s a nice sword, ‘Senior’?”
“Uh…? U-uh…”
Vivian had to try hard to suppress a snort at the small voice that felt almost pathetic.
It was the first time Anne had shown such a weak side in front of her.
At least in front of her, Anne would somehow try to put up a fight and lash out.
“It’s too nice of a sword.
So much that it doesn’t suit you.”
Even though she wasn’t like that now, what did it mean that Anne was still carrying that sword with Grenot’s name engraved on it?
Was she greedy for a sword that didn’t suit her status?
Or was she carrying around the sword that had tormented Anne, like barbarian warriors who hung the heads of captured warriors, to satisfy her rebellious spirit and desire for conquest?
But now, Vivian was feeling better rather than angry.
The moment when she would completely retrieve that sword wouldn’t be far off.
‘It’s too much for someone like Monehen.’
“Let’s finish this quickly?
I have some business to take care of.”
Anne’s eyes trembled slightly at the blatant provocation.
Anyway, she had to focus on the sparring match.
With a perfect plan to knock Anne down in one blow and then provoke Lucia, Vivian stood in the middle of the training ground.
“Then, we can start with the prepared groups.”
Perhaps because Anne and Vivian had been talking to each other, the other groups had already taken their places.
At Lucia’s command to control the situation, the sound of wooden swords clashing could be heard one by one around them.
In that state, Vivian, who had roughly taken a stance, was glaring at Anne, who was standing in front of her and taking a deep breath.
‘Should I just break her shoulder…?’
“You can come first.”
Vivian smiled widely at Anne’s words, who was yielding the first move as a ‘senior’.
“Then… here I come?”
And in the blink of an eye, Vivian darted forward.
Her figure quickly approached Anne, and at the very moment when the two girls were about to collide.
“Ugh…!!”
As Vivian had expected, Anne was thrown back and rolled on the dirt floor.
The shocking sight was as if someone had been hit by a truck, and even those who were sparring next to them stopped their swords and turned their heads.
“Uh…!! What was that just now…?”
“Is she also incredibly strong…?
Are commoners strong after all…?”
But Lucia, who was also observing the scene, was just watching without intervening, even though she should have stopped it as an assistant instructor.
The reason for that was only known to Vivian herself.
‘She blocked it… even counterattacked…’
The training uniform of the Swordsmanship Department that Vivian was wearing.
Inside, Nemea, which was flowing out from her chest and covering her sternum, was wriggling and slowly restoring the imprinted marks.
It wasn’t that Anne’s skills had been completely trash before.
She was able to hold her own in 1-on-1 fights, and she had experience in escaping from fights against multiple opponents.
But Vivian was even stronger than that.
She had the skills to humiliate a beginner like Anne.
The reason why it was shocking to Vivian now was because of that.
Even though she, who had easily defeated Anne before, had become so much stronger thanks to Enic.
It meant that Anne was keeping up with her, who had become stronger, with her skills.
Vivian’s attack had clearly landed on Anne.
And it was also true that she was still showing overwhelming superiority.
It was also true that Anne was barely able to block it, and as a result, Anne, who had been pushed back by the force, was thrown far away and rolling on the dirt floor.
But the counterattack that Anne had aimed at her chest in the middle of being thrown back would have been fatal if it hadn’t been for Nemea.
It was an attack that was enough to crush the soft yet hard Nemea.
‘Was she… originally this strong…?’
Vivian’s smile was disappearing at the counterattack that made her feel that her swordsmanship skills had grown dramatically.
Vivian’s eyes were gradually hardening as she watched Anne, who was clutching her arm with a painful expression and staggering to her feet.
But soon, Anne’s eyes, which were raising her wooden sword again, were a little more determined than before.
Only 3 months.
Anne might have practiced a lot in 3 months.
Lucia, who seemed to favor Anne, might have given her special training.
But there was a limit to human ability, was it possible to develop so much in such a short period of time?
“… Haaaah…!!”
Vivian clenched her grip on the sword to receive the sword from Anne, who was rushing towards her this time.
A face that clearly showed that the pain had not subsided.
But even so, there was no hesitation in Anne’s movements as she swung her sword.
“Hut…!! Hup…!!”
The blows felt like a swordsman was exerting all his strength, although they were not as strong as the power she had received from Enic.
And Vivian continued to block the sword and measure her skills against the wooden sword that was being swung with considerable speed despite the power.
Even if she clashed her sword with all her might, the impact that came back to her was like hitting a plastic stick.
But what if she didn’t have this much power?
What if she didn’t have the basis to freely move the sword path of the wooden sword she was holding and perfectly block Anne’s attacks?
Every single attack was quite heavy and very fast for a mere girl.
As she blocked the attacks, Anne was twisting more complex sword paths and attacking Vivian.
And Vivian was catching it with her excellent dynamic visual acuity, and even if she missed the sword strikes with her eyes, she was instinctively swinging her wooden sword and continuing to defend.
A swordsman with refined skills.
That was the only word that Vivian could use to evaluate Anne now.
With excellent strength, reaction speed, and dynamic visual acuity, she was able to deflect all of Anne’s rushing sword strikes, and if she imagined her pure self without these things, she would get goosebumps.
‘Am I… am I going to lose…?’
In the end, Vivian bit her lip as her anxious heart began to waver.
