"Oh~ You still want to fight?" The Young Mistress transmits to my ear curiously. She wasn't fearful of me at all. Hah... To think she would be this arrogant. How lucky! I can use this to my advantage. Well, since I'm hiding my talents, I better not use any of the prototype weapons I created or give her the impression I could continuously use Corrupting Light to fight. A smile curves onto my face as I start to feel embarrassed for what I'm about to do.
"My new parents would be disappointed if I didn't fight. Young Mistress, can I ask for a fair duel, one without the use of Mana?" I transmit dejectedly, causing her to look at my clear and innocent eyes in disbelief.
"Do you think I'm stupid? Or do you truly think there are battles in this world that are played fairly? Leave now before I break another one of your ribs." She says in a contemptuous tone of voice. I cowardly respond to the strong demeanour she showed by retreating a few steps with an ashen face. The bravado I showed a few moments before completely diminished as my appearance was that of an innocent and inexperienced youth. The eyes of some of the servants that were vigilantly watching me looked disdainfully at my actions before proceeding to ignore my presence in the training grounds.
I keep up my act and looked 'dejectedly' at the crowd, Mark glanced at my face in confusion, not understanding why I was acting so unusually timid. Even my parents were the same, until their eyes brightened in enlightenment, they shook their heads and looked at the Young Mistress in pity.
The first phase of my plan went quite well. I look at the disappointment in Duke Swordwick's face for moment before turning my head, even an idiot would be able to figure out who the Young Mistress resembles, so I have no plan on becoming one of the Dukes carefully groomed pawns. I glance at Aaron Rockwell who was blankly staring at the Young Mistress, his eyes were truly dejected, as he couldn't understand how one difference in rank could make the difference between them so large. After having one of his ribs broken Aaron chose to not re-enter the Young Mistresses one-sided 'massacre', but after seeing the secretive sly smile I had plastered across my face, his expression flickered between shock and suspicion.
"Do you want to win?" I sharply ask him through my Voice Transmission magic, Aaron looked me, unable to transmit anything back in return. I quickly understood that he has yet to learn Voice Transmission magic and continue explaining my plan.
"Use your Earthen Lance on the floor three steps behind me, and make sure it reaches the Young Mistresses location, then a chance to win will reveal itself." I continue. His suspicious expression showed that he didn't believe one word of my nonsensical explanation. The place where I stopped walking was near him, if he wanted to then making an Earthen Lance appear three steps behind me would be as easy as snapping his fingers, but attacking the Young Mistress from such a distance wouldn't have any results.
Just like before, her armour would be able to block his attack, or maybe she would turn just to smash the Earthen Lance with her sword instead. Either way, doing something so meaningless would only attract the Young Mistresses attention and turn him into a target for her sword. He looked at me and shook his head, unable to comply.
"Doing something is better than doing nothing isn't it? Believe in yourself, try again, don't you want to become something more than just a mere servant? Don't you want to enter the Imperial Academy? Or do you want to stay here for the rest of your life as a ordinary Butler with wasted talent? Your pick." I transmit harshly to his ear. It seemed my judgement of his personality was correct. After hearing my provocative words, his courage skyrocketed, a determination solidified in his eyes as he gathered his Mana.
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His previously dejected look hardened into one filled with courage. He picked up his sword and gazed at me with thankful eyes, as to say that he understood. I knew he didn't really believe that making an Earthen Lance from such a distance would open up a opportunity, but the fact that he was preparing to use his earth magic on the spot I pointed out was enough, my smile turns more sky as I turn to look at the Young Mistress embarrassedly.
Sorry, it was you who asked for this, so don't blame for retaliating as a result. I sat down on the grass of the training ground and watch the spectacle that was about to unfold. Aaron follows my plan and summons an Earthen Lance in the location I pointed out before running towards the Young Mistress with the intent to fight. The Young Mistress looked at the speedily approaching Earthen Lance and Aaron in disdain before reacting by slashing towards Aaron's incoming sword.
She really is talented isn't she. Just one look and she was able to calculate the area of where the Earthen Lance would strike her body, she didn't even try to dodge it as she trusted the Ignis Armour that was covering her body.
"Useless!" The Young Mistress laughed and aimed for his rib once more, but Aaron was prepared. His sword style changed from the Earth God Sword Style into the Water God Sword Style at the exact moment she attacked. The trajectory of her sword slash that was about to send him flying changed abruptly by his dexterous and fluid parry. The Young Mistress wasn't surprised by his change in movements and decided to finish him with her next attack, but her expression changed after the Earthen Lance hit the Ignis Armour that was around her body.
She would have noticed a extremely faint white glow around the tip of the Earthen Lance if she had payed it even a little bit of attention. This white glow wasn't part of Aaron's magic, but my own, it was the effect of the Corrupting Light magic I casted on the ground secretly while I was walking.
Now, phase two of my plan has been completed, but the rest of the plan will have to depend on Aaron's skill. Since the power of Corrupting Light only allowed the ripe to ignore outside natural forces, the rest of the Earthen Lance crumbled upon impact after pushing the Young Mistress back, but I didn't release the effects of Corrupting Light just yet. With one thought, the dust my magic effected shot towards her eyes, causing her to temporarily lose her sight. Aaron took advantage of the Young Mistresses situation instinctively and changed back to the Earth God Sword Style as a result, his sword strike robbed her consciousness by accurately hitting her exposed neck.
The Young Mistress staggered a little before falling to the ground, the Ignis Armour around her disappeared in an instant, causing the surrounding youths to suddenly quieten. They looked at Aaron as if he was some type of monster due to the fact that he defeated the Young Mistress who had almost beaten all of them on her own.
Aaron himself looked confusedly at the Young Mistress who anticlimactically lost in a single exchange, he then seemed to remember my words and looked at me in silence. However, he understood that I didn't want to draw attention to myself the same moment he glanced, so he didn't linger in my direction and turned his head to look at his parents who were smiling proudly.
On this day, Aaron Rockwell had defeated Sapphire Swordwick, a fact that every servant who watched couldn't help but admit. The blue robed healer who was watching on the sidelines checked her condition and breathed a sigh of relief after the Young Mistress had regained consciousness.
"You win." The Young Mistress gritted her teeth, but after thinking about it for a moment, she nodded her head. It seems that she at least had enough virtues to admit her loss. Her eyes sparkled as she seemed to approve of Aaron's talent. From here, I can already guess what will happen next, so I left where I sat and talked to my parents.