The girl fearlessly sprouted a smug towards me as she walks with a carefree demeanor while playfully swinging the Katana on her hand. On her waist hangs two more katanas while on the other hips hangs unsheathed scabbard.

Looking at her, she’s more like a ronin rather than an upstanding samurai.

Her long black hair glows a lustrous hue while her eyes are painted with a deep dark iris that seemingly denies any light inside it.

“Hey, give it up. There’s nothing for you here.”

“I assume you girls are the Mad Maidens, yes?”

“Oh? I really love the sound of the name. If you are asking if we are maidens, yes we are. If we are mad? I don’t want to be a queer to the pretext so I’ll let you find it out. Well, about us.”

“Us…”

From the shadows of the trees comes out her comrades…

The first is a woman who wields a broadsword that almost as big as me and she wears a somewhat heavy armor. Her skin tanned by the sun proves how much she has trained herself despite wielding a shield together with that heavy sword.

The second is a woman who garbs herself with a plain light blue robe and a somewhat frilly looking one-piece dress fastened with a belt with bags hanging. Her footwear is a black thigh high and leather shoes.

The third is a girl with a single pointed hair with meek looking blue eyes. She dons her slightly grayish hair in a bun. She wears a very risqué clothes as she only wears a bikini-like top that with only a shawl covering her upper body with detached sleeves on her arms fastened with a gauntlet. She wears a baggy short with seemingly a lot of pockets while still wearing pantyhose under it. She wears casual leather shoes.

The fourth girl is visibly an elf with a brown hair tied in a ponytail and her bright emerald eyes are beautifully staring at us or rather, at the twins. She wears a sleeved coat that has a length up to her navel and her chest is covered tightly. She wears a pleated green skirt and knee boots. On her shoulder hangs a beautifully carved bow.

The fifth girl is a beautiful woman that dons a bright blond hair that grows up to her waist and scarlet irises. She gives off a really noble feeling because of her mannerism and how she wears a light armor that prioritizes speed.

And the sixth one is a girl with a soft and fluffy brown hair and standing rabbit ears that twitch. The girl herself is quite scared of the situation and her one-piece dress is out of place. The only thing that fits her is the large sack four times her size on her back.

“It means us.”

“……”

I stand on my ground and hold my sword against them. I am convinced that I can’t win against them. Their numbers make it obvious and the black haired girl is giving off a really dangerous ambiance.

Her stare through her eyes…is somewhat sticky…

I am relieved that I stocked up a lot of clothes in my dimensional storage and I am didn’t wore any dragon fiber today. Assuming that our enemies are just going to strip us to our underwear, I can’t see any worst case scenario better than that.

While my friends are struggling to save themselves from the trap that they fell into, our enemies are in one piece and ready to engage us in a battle.

If I factor the fact that our enemies are well equipped and created this place as a playing field favorable to them, compared to us, who look like we are just in a walk on a park with little to no preparedness for battle, I guess this kind of outcome is more likely favorable than getting hurt.

However, they are jeopardizing the elven scouts whatever method they are doing. We just can’t let them be here, dwarves mercenary or not.

I won’t go down without a fight, especially…when that black haired girl…really pisses me for some reason.

That’s why I stand my ground.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“You sure don’t want to peacefully surrender?”

“B-Boss…you said that she is your--!”

“Shhh! Not now.”

The blond girl tried to say something but the girl called boss shush her. For now, I’ll call the black haired girl Boss.

Boss brandishes her blade towards me and showed a fearless smile.

“You are aware of your disadvantage, no?”

“I see, so you are now going to propose a duel?”

“You’re really fun! You immediately picked up my intention! It’ll be a duel between us. Rejoice as I am giving you and your comrades a chance to escape without much of a scratch.”

“You say that but this duel will surely need to end somewhere with hurting each other.”

“Not necessary as long as one could overpower the enemy by pointing a blade of our sword at an unguarded skin, yeah?”

If we lose, we lose our clothes?!

If we win, not much of a victory but as long as they let us get away.

Do I even have a choice at this point?

Anyway, it’s a sword duel with Boss and I’ve trained so hard for my mastery over the sword. I may not be completely confident in my skill but I at least am confident that I won’t lose easily.

Boss has three Katana in total. Considering its length compared to my short sword, I am at a disadvantage when it comes to distance but mine is heavier and broader. I can manage with my acrobatic movements and barrier to close the gap.

“Aina, please hand me that.”

“Eh?! B-Boss? Are you sure?!”

“Yeah! I’d like to try that!”

The bunny girl called Aina sets down the huge sack of bag on her bag and rummages inside of it. I got a glimpse of it and it’s filled with a lot of weapons of varying sizes and use. The girl, Aina, carried such load only means her strength isn’t normal.

It’s more people to watch out for.

She threw a long blade at Boss and Boss caught it with her hand easily. She drew the blade and reveals that it is an odachi…a really long Katana that exceeds a hundred centimeters.

Boss wields the blade with two hands.

“I’ll try an experiment so you lot stand back.”

Boss told her comrades to create some distance. It seems that she considered this duel as only an experiment. And she said those exact words as she faces me with a smug on her face.

……

This bitch…! As I thought, she’s really infuriating!

“Well then, let’s do this.”

“Yeah!”

“[Barrier!]”

I immediately deployed plates of barrier around her and dashes towards them as scaffolding to step on. I spin around and while aiming my sword at her. Boss readily defends herself with the long katana and I lose my chance for an initiative, regardless, my sword connected with hers.

CLANK!

Damn!

I knew it when she carried this sword! It removes my advantage in offensive and the size of it also serves as a defense.

It’s not even encouraging when I think how light this body is and how limited the weight I can put into each attack that I have. This once again reminded me of my disadvantages as a little girl. Not to mention that limits of weapon that I can use due to my frail strength.

The lack of dragon fiber gives me a huge dissatisfaction the hit actually puts a stress on my muscle and bones in which the dragon fiber easily fix.

On the other hand, Boss seems comfortable with her weapon and can actually swing it with ease, although slow but steady. She retracted the odachi backward and gave it a big swing.

CLANK!

This time, I defended with my sword and prevented any lethal hit but because of the sheer difference in strength and weight, I flew back more than I expected and…

THUD

“Kuh…!”

I collided with a tree with my back directly smacking on it. The impact wasn’t strong enough to render me unconscious but it shook me considerably, enough to blur my vision for a little bit but I still got on my leg before my knee falls.

“That…doesn’t count!”

“Ah…”

I got a little stupefied when I saw Boss’ expression. It’s like she regretted what happened to me as her eyes are in the brink of utter despair. I don’t think the impact can do anything fatal to me, to be honest. I’ve also experienced a cold steel sword passing through my chest before.

Though, as Boss saw me got back up, she immediately recomposes herself with a slight cough like clearing her throat. In my eyes, she really reflected someone I really know.

“I see. Then, why don’t we start over again? I find this weapon quite bothersome anyways.”

“Yeah, I’ll get a little bit serious!”

Boss drops the odachi that it made a metallic sound and once again drew her katana on her waist. Likewise, I readied myself as I wear the dragon fiber on my arms and stare at her. Boss drops the other two katana on the ground to lighten her burden.

“Are you sure you can even fight?”

“It’s nothing of a problem for me. If you want, I’ll even inhibit my use of magic and fight you on pure skills!”

“Oh? Now that’s fascinating. Shall we?”

Without answering, I rush at her and she also steps on the ground and dashes towards me. I can’t even feel any hint of her bloodlust but I at least can feel her desire for this battle. There’s something about her that even I hate her expression generally, I can feel our emotions coinciding.

Her first slash is as quick as a flash but I was able to dodge it. Since I got in range of her blade first, she made a preemptive strike. With the momentum I gain from my run, I crouch down and made a diagonal slash upward.

Boss was quick on reacting and was able to use the handle of her katana to block.

Seeing that we both got the opportunity, we retaliated with a kick with our available foot.

“Ooof!”

“Ugghh!”

Both of our kick connected and hit each other on the flanks. After that, we immediately separated from each other and run sideways to target each other’s flank.

Hmm?

After seeing her do the same movement, I figured that I should change the course of my action so instead of continuing my strides, I leaped towards her. However, at that very instant, she also leaped with her sword held up high while mine is going to sweep upward.

Our blade clashes and spark lit up and we separated from each other once more.

What is this?

I was just trying to read her movements. I’m even trying to figure out how she will fight with the katana but all I can see is almost a mirror to my abilities.

It’s like she is also using Calm Dragon Tempest.

No, it must be my imagination.