Author: 猫夜叉 (Nekoyasha)
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– We moved simultaneously.
Claude left behind afterimages again.
But, that wouldn’t work on me any more.
I confidently held out my spear behind my back.
“…!”
My spear was blocked by Claude’s sword, but I succeeded in causing him to slightly lose his composure.
He stopped for a moment. We were almost certainly making the same faces.
“Fufu…” Claude laughed merrily.
However, what followed was an extremely powerful strike that didn’t match his expression at all.
Holding my spear in both hands, I blocked the sword swinging down towards me.
The furious wind created by the impact caused my bangs to flutter.
“…Fufu… This must be a joke. Who? Who exactly called you incompetent?”
“…Who knows. I certainly don’t. Still, who exactly was it that called you the weakest?”
“Fufufu…”
“Hahaha…”
And the one who interrupted the two of us grinning at each other while exchanging blows – was Luna’s father.
“C-Claude! Why are you playing around! Just beat him up already!” he shouted with a red face, glaring at me, shaking from anger.
In complete contrast to that, Luna was smiling happily.
“Move a little slower, would you. I can’t see a thing. Are you stupid?”
…Was that supposed to be a compliment?
The selfishness seemed to run in the family.
“Fufu… it seems like we’ll both be having a hard time after this.”
“You couldn’t be more right.”
And with that, we took a little distance from each other.
We were back to square one.
To be honest, I was slightly unsure what to do.
“…Can you, still keep going?”
I knew exactly how much strength I still had left.
However, even if I had an explosive amount of power, I didn’t know how to use it.
First a mock fight, then a fight against goblins.
I had managed to get by until then by only using a truly miniscule amount of power.
However, it seemed like that wouldn’t be enough to overpower this butler.
I was being a little serious, but…
Claude, unaware of my woes, moved.
He closed the distance between us in an instant with blinding speed.
“Hah…!”
I swung my spear horizontally.
My timing was perfect.
And, utilising the spear’s speciality – its reach, to the fullest, I – should have hit Claude.
I felt an impact in my stomach and flew up into the air.
And Claude wasn’t one to let such an opportunity pass.
With his right foot planted firmly on the ground, he let loose a roundhouse kick.
Unable to react with anything to such a splendid combo, I allowed him to hit.
I was sent flying backwards.
While that was all going on, I thought to myself: ‘– I might have to get a bit more serious, if it’s him.’
I grinned.
I hit the ground.
And that was when–
“…Fuhaha… Fuhahahaha! You really like to play too much, Claude. Still, you did well! With this, he has been proven to be incompetent!” Luna’s father guffawed, turning towards his daughter with a triumphant look on his face.
“…Father, the duel is not over yet.” Luna said, staring straight at me.
“Yuno? I do not dislike your attitude. In fact, I kind of like it.” Luna declared, walking elegantly towards me. “However, have you perhaps forgotten? That you are my knight? Which means that defeat is unacceptable unless I say so. You understand?”
What an illogical line of thought. Although, I didn’t find it unpleasant.
“If you understand that, don’t just lie there – get up already.”
Luna’s face blocked out the sky above me. Her beautiful silvery-white hair reminded me once again of Athena.
– Our eyes met. She didn’t look disappointed in me in the least. Instead, she just looked at me with eyes full of unwavering confidence in my victory.
Her face, her expression, gently changed to one of cheer.
And then, as if casting a magic spell on me –
“– Go get ‘em, Yuno.” My lady said, giving me a cute, mischievous smile.
…Uh, hey–, wa–
That’s foul play.
I jumped up to my feet to hide my shyness.
However by then, Luna was looking at me with her usual clear expression with a slight air of amazement.
“…For the change.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“…”
I silently picked up the spear lying at my feet and pointed it at Claude.
“I-impossible! Claude! You held back–”
“Could you please… simmer down a little.”
The atmosphere around Claude changed.
“…Yuno Astorio… I see… no wonder the young lady holds an interest for you.” Claude said, and the feeling of power he gave off turned considerably stronger than before.
“…I won’t hold back anymore. My lord wishes for a victory.”
Claude readied his sword again, and gazed at me with a sharpness in his eyes one wouldn’t expect from a man his age.
“What a coincidence. It seems my lady also wishes for a victory.”
“Fufu… then, I shall give you one final piece of advice. Don’t take your eyes off me.” Claude said, crouching down.
Which is why I also said something before we started.
“Then I’ll give you a piece of advice as well –– dodge.” I said, and swung my spear.
Hmm – shall I give it a go, then?
Imparting a piece of the power residing within me onto the spear, I threw it with all my might.
“…What the–!?”
Claude moved to dodge the very moment I threw the spear.
Having left my hand, it flew straight onwards with tremendous power.
Actually… was that even flying any more…?
Dirt was scooped up from the lawn that had been bright green moments before.
It was so fast, Claude’s movements seemed like those of a sloth in comparison.
However, Claude still somehow made it. He dodged the incoming spear by a hair’s breadth.
And, with an ear-splitting and thunderous roar, my spear disappeared into the bright blue sky.
We all stared after it.
…Ah… the shapes of the clouds had changed.
“…I yield.” said Claude, and silently bowed to me.
Silence reigned. Not for long, however.
“I-i-i-impossible…! My Claude… lost…?”
Luna’s father sank to his knees.
I felt slightly uncomfortable.
But, Athena would also become slightly more famous like this.
Still, it was rather unexpected. Even though he was called the weakest, he didn’t seem to dislike Claude.
“…You should be proud of yourself, Yuno.” Luna said, coming to stand next to me, looking at Claude, his head still bowed.
“You beat the only knight my father ever allowed to be by his side.”
Upon hearing that, I figured out why he had been the ‘weakest’.
Still, they really were father and daughter… was what I thought to myself.
“Before Claude was our butler, he was the captain of the royal knights. I heard he could even go toe-to-toe with the previous sword saint, namely your father, and be evenly matched.”
…With my father back when he was the sword saint…? Weakest my ass.
“So, my lady, why did you hide that fact from me?” I asked, and Luna replied with an evil smile.
“Ara? That simply would have been too boring, no? It was the perfect chance to see how strong you really were. Now you won’t have any excuses for losing.” she said slightly proudly, looking away.
“Father, are you satisfied now?” Luna asked.
“…Do what you want.” Argos Flame answered powerlessly.
Hearing that, Luna turned to me with a huge smile on her face–
“And that’s it. You are now officially my knight. Aren’t you happy?” and so on.
“I’m very happy!” is what I answered.
It was only natural, since we’d get to meet more often outside as well.
“What kind of being am I to you, I wonder?”
“An honest and wonderful master!”
“Good. I’ll show you to your room. Come on.” she said, walking off towards the mansion.
……Hm?
“My lady, what did you just say?”
“’I’ll show you to your room. Come on’?”
Nooo nonono.
“Please wait a second! Why do I have a room in your mansion!?” I asked.
“Isn’t it obvious? Because you’ll be living here from today?” Luna answered with a huge smile on her face.
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