I couldn't sleep that night because of my earlier declaration. I just straight up told them to test my combat readiness as a temporary member of their already synchronized team dynamic.

I let out a sigh and muttered, "I guess there's nothing to do but to do well tomorrow."

Each bedroom had two bunk beds and we separated sleeping arrangements by gender. Melanie and Rona shared one bunk while I occupied the other bunk alone. After that declaration, we asked Tiana if it was possible to ask permission to borrow the training grounds before the garrison would do their daily drills to which after she returned from reporting to Commander Walter, it was approved for about two hours after the morning bell.

This means that when breakfast is served at the morning bell tomorrow morning, we would have the training ground to ourselves for at at least over an hour before the garrison personnel would use them for their daily drills. We were also notified that Tiana would accompany as part of her duties as our guide until we depart from the Fort at noon.

We had no qualms about the arrangement and soon we all had dinner at the garrison mess hall.

The next day dawned on us as I stayed up way later than normal being nervous but I shook all that off when I saw that my roommates were already getting ready to head for breakfast. I scrambled my way through my belongings and prepared myself for breakfast and for training afterwards.

Breakfast that day was meat soup which was only served only twice a week, or so I heard from idle chatter garrison personnel talked about during this time. it took us about ten minutes to finish up our meal and a few minutes of idle chatter with the others before we head to the training ground. I kind of feel bad towards Tiana as she looked like she hurried finishing her breakfast to be able to accompany us.

Though they called it the training ground, it was nothing more than the same vast courtyard that was within the fort itself. Since most of their daily drills included stamina, strength, and endurance, rather than power and prowess, it made sense. The training for the garrison defenders was to build up their strength at defending from the ramparts and their mobility from watchtower to watchtower or from rampart to rampart.

I walked across the field to the opposite side from where we came. I faced the entirety of the enforcer team and Tiana.

"Lieutenant Cameron!" I mustered all the strength and status my official position carried, "I hereby task you with testing my capabilities against your team members on a duel. Tiana Clesion will act as referee."

Cameron closed his eyes, pondering for a moment. Meanwhile, Tiana walked up to me and asked with uncertainty, "Are you sure about this Captain Tessanya? This feels like it's a bit more serious than I originally thought.

I smiled at here, full of confidence, "Don't worry. This is necessary for our mission." I turned to look at Cameron, awaiting for his decision.

Time moved slow, or that was how it felt like before he opened his eyes and spoke.

"Very well. I will honor your wish." He turned to face his team members. "First, the duel will be between a mage with the same elemental control, Victor. This duel will test your proficiency of wind magic. The second duel will be between you versus Ian and Melanie. That duel will test your problem solving skills. The last duel will be between you and me."

He then turned to face me again, "Victory on all duels is determined by who disarms their opponent first, or incapacitating them. Fatal blows are prohibited. You are free to beat us all to the ground and to be prepared to experience it too." He then turned to glance at Rona, "Rona is a very capable healer, so we will be fully recovered by the time we leave." He turned his eyes on me, "Do you accept this?"

I locked eyes with him, full of my own determination to prove that I'm not some deadweight to this mission. "I accept the conditions of the duels."

He nodded, and then ordered his team, a voice full of vigor along with a grin, "You heard her! Do your best and show her the might of an Enforcer!"

They all stood straight and saluted, "Sir yes sir!" they said, with full of energy.

Thus, the first duel was underway. It was between me and Victor, the former adventurer, in-charge of the reconnaissance for this team, and the artifact he wielded was a thin spear, it was just about a meter long and the tip was so sharp, it was glistening when angled correctly with sunlight. Since official field mages had their own custom made artifacts, it was always made to suit them while I was stuck with the standard wand for most purposes. But there was one thing I have other them.

"Before we begin, I would like to ask you one thing. Do you know my history?" I said to them as we assumed our stances, Tiana was standing on a podium of sorts, where she got that I won't know till I ask, extending her hand straight and above her head.

"Just the basics, I guess?" Victor asked, as the proxy for the team.

I smiled, another one backed with confidence, "My academies days. All those rumours are true."

Cameron was the only who reacted visibly, and I think Melanie who nodded slightly. I guess since those two were the chain of command, they would read the files more than the others.

"Time for you to face the Mischievous Wind of the Imperial Academy rumours!" I exclaimed and turned to nod at Tiana.

She understood and she brought her hand down, "Begin!"

We both started with launching ourselves with wind magic, him forwards toward me, while me, sideways to get distance. Since my academy days, it was always taught that artifacts were invented to help casting be faster and mana consumption slower. It was true in a sense for most people. But for the skilled and prodigies, it only made them unstoppable. This was my secret weapon against them.

At a second he was standing where I stood, his spear extended forward while I was already twice as far from him from our starting distance.

"Nice trick you got there Captain. I guess you really were an Imperial Student." Victor grinned, and prepared himself again, "But I have experience as both adventurer and enforcer."

I grinned with much of the same energy he gave, "Academy days were even more brutal than you can imagine."

We launched ourselves again, him forwards, me sideways. The results were the same. This time there were words exchanged, just body movements and attempts to probe and read each other. He may have the advantage in actual combat experience, and this duel prohibits lethal blows which evens the playing field.

The academy was a brutal place. Full of social standing, and combat prowess. All the nobles flaunting their superiority and the commoners who could afford to study was full of fighting spirit due to the decree of meritocracy. Everyday was a battlefield to prove who was the top, but for those who just wanted an easy and slow life, it was hell. Someone like me for example. Each day was harassment and belittlement because of my lack of ambition and drive to climb the social ladder. Thus, the moniker Mischievous Wind, was born.

I admit I was petty at the time but we were teenagers, we were quick to react with our emotions instead of thinking things through, and with someone like me, who always wanted the shortest and easiest way to achieve what I want. I took action during the nights. Those who disrupted my day, suffered "hauntings" from me during the night, effectively forcing everyone to stay clear of me unless it was seriously important. It brought the attention of notable figures but that would be story for another day. For now, that was how my days at the academy went.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Victor and I continued to launch ourselves, with the same exact result every time. Most spectators would think that I was running away and just wasting his energy. It was a valid argument and a valid strategy, but that wasn't my goal. I was trying to understand his fighting style since this would be the first time I would be fighting directly instead of just harassing people. I needed to get all the experience I can get.

Seemingly getting frustrated, he let out a war cry and burst towards me at an even faster rate than earlier. Since I maintained our distance from our first launch, I had enough time to respond.

I conjured a gust barrier in frond of me, enough to slow him down and to launch myself a few paces back. He landed at the spot just past the barrier, ending it with a twirl of his spear and prepared to launch himself again. Unfortunately for him, I already won.

The moment he lowered his center of gravity to launch himself again, a strong wind blasted his feet from both sides, disrupting him and breaking him from his footing. Before he could right himself, I had already launched high speed wind bullets at him from my position and from behind him.

The opposing wind bullets sandwiched him at the same time, causing him to spit out blood before he fell face toward.

After a few seconds, Tiana announced the results, "Duel over! The winner is Captain Tessanya!"

I smiled bravely, and dusted off my uniform, "Nice duel Victor." I shouted for Rona, "He needs healing!".

The rest of the enforcers were shell-shocked to say the least but Cameron was unfazed and coughed to shake them out of their stupor. Joran and Rona ran immediately to tend to Victor.

"Don't worry, he just probably unconscious." I said casually as they carried him to the sidelines. Rona was already doing her healing magic because a bright white light was pulsing from where they were.

I turned to look at Cameron, "That was a nice warm-up, if I say so myself." I said as I stretched my shoulders.

Cameron grinned, and a dangerous glint was in his eyes. "Interesting." He then turned to look at Melanie by his side. "Next duel, you know what to do." Melanie nodded and went to the starting position alongside Ian.

We took our stances as we waited for Tiana to signal the duel to start. Ian's artifact was a small round shield, not much bigger than his fist, while Melanie still hasn't channelled magic into hers yet, it was still look the same as a standard unchanneled artifact.

"Not bad Captain, but this ends here. A trained soldier is leagues more prepared than someone who transitioned into it." Melanie said, with a bit of eagerness showing on her usually blank face.

"Begin!"

The moment Tiana said that, I dashed diagonally to my right towards them but they reacted fast enough. Ian raised a wall that tried to block my vision from where he saw me heading towards. Before I could lose vision of them, I saw Melanie had channelled her magic into her artifact. It was a rifle that was a bit smaller from the rifles being developed around two hundred years ago.

With my vision of them blocked, I thought about where to dash next. But as I was deciding, a faint sound of something exploding. On reflex, I conjured a wind barrier in front of me and a burst of fire exploded in front of me. Luckily, I wasn't hit directly but I was blown backwards a bit and tumbled sideways.

I tried to stand back up but I was still disoriented from that blast. Not giving me an opening, I heard more blasts and I instead dashed sideways instead of conjuring a barrier.

Since I dashed towards the right again, I could see past their defensive wall again. Ian was crouched down, he was acting as the defensive wall for Melanie who stood straight and was fixing her gaze on where the her magic exploded on. After realizing that I wasn't there, she swerved left and kept firing her fire magic bullets at me.

I'm not sure if Melanie can actually track me or that she was just predicting where I would be based on the trajectory of the wind I was leaving. This complicates things a bit since she could rapidly keep firing at me with her artifact. I was on the backfoot at the moment and she wouldn't give me a bit of time to analyze how I could turn the tables. Good thing we didn't have a strict time limit but at this rate, I would run out of stamina.

After about what seemed like an eternity, the barrage stopped. This is the only time I could think about how I could attack, but they beat me to the first move again. A tall earth pillar suddenly rushed up from the ground, and atop it was a silhouette of a person. I had a bad feeling about this. I dashed instinctively and that proved to be the right choice. An explosion happened at my position just a bit ago.

I kept dashing, but there was a miscalculation, Ian also joined the attack. He used his earth magic to erect walls and barriers to block me from a certain direction. I see, this was there strategy. With Melanie high up, she had a vantage position advantage while Ian would try to box me in to keep me in relatively in the sights of Melanie. This was a good strategy for this kind of duel, but unfortunately, I could still attack the sniper from here.

But in order for that to happen, I need to obscure my position for a moment to disrupt their momentum. I followed where Ian was trying to herd me to. Instead of dashing immediately, I stood close to the wall he erected in front of me, examining it. When Melanie's magic was about to hit me I dashed to the left and crouched and conjured a gust of wind at the same time. Obscuring myself using the explosion smoke, and the impact on the earth wall. This time, it would provide cover for my dash gusts to prevent them from tracking me for a time.

I continued dashing, staying low until I reached my destination, the base of the pillar. I looked up and estimated that the pillar to me about three to four meters high, about the same height as the ramparts or close to it. I dashed up the pillar, but that wouldn't make me reach the top instantly. After my dash jump momentum was about to end, I used small bursts of gust around my left hand as I scaled the pillar in a circularly motion, eventually I would reach the top.

Melanie still had her rifle pointed at where I last was, and before the dust could settle, I launched wind bullets behind her. She noticed the impact too late and fell from atop the pillar. But she still hasn't given up, despite getting hit at the back and crashing to the ground, she still managed to sit up and aimed at me.

The positions were reversed now, I was at the top and she was at the bottom. She aimed high and fired, but this time, she wasn't firing as fast as she could earlier. I took that window of opportunity to send a wind cutter first to disrupt her initial fire before dashing up and sending two more wind cutters. Then, using my falling momentum, I dashed diagonally downwards to touch ground.

Melanie was able to dodge the first wind cutter by rolling to the right. Before she could sit back up, I launched a wind bullet at her and a wind wind cutter. Wind cutters were faster than wind bullets but had narrower hit range. Nevertheless, both connected on her, forcing her to be blown away backwards. That was Melanie down for the count.

I shifted my attention back to where I was before, Ian was running towards me while various fist-sized rocks were floating around him. I turned my stance to face him and prepared myself to dash to either direction.

"You're pretty fast to escape our entrapment Captain! Take this!" He shouted as he extended his right arm forward and the floating rocks surged at me.

I summoned a wind barrier again and dashed backwards, successfully slowing the rocks. As I landed, I launched myself forward while simultaneously casting two wind bullets. As I was dashing I pivoted to a diving position so that I could slip through the rocks by going under them while my wind bullets would push through a straight line.

Ian was surprised by my maneuver and erected an earth wall in front of him, successfully repelling my two wind bullets. But that was his mistake, but losing track of me, I could reposition fast enough to overwhelm him before he could raise barriers to protect himself.

I dashed to the right and launched a wind cutter to test his reaction time. He responded well enough and extended his wall to cover his left flank. I continued this approach as I dashed around him until he fully erected a wall of earth around him. I was a bit exhausted from dashing since the earlier duel so I wanted to end this now.

I dashed up and launched wind cutters at Ian. I expected him to cover the opening from above and I was right. He was now covered by an earthen dome, neither of us had vision of each other which means this could determine the winner of this duel. I lunged down towards the dome and attacked it with a pair of wind bullets before dashing to another angle and doing the same thing. I did it over and over again, it was getting repetitive and boring but my plan would count on him trying to turtle this down out.

He tried countering by sending out rocks that flew out of the direction where my wind bullets had hit him and eventually he'll realize I would've moved immediately after launching them. Once I did a sufficient number rotations, I dashed in a counter clockwise direction and from there, I would overwhelm him while his attention is on predicting I would move forward. I launch dozens of wind bullets to pierce through the wall before sending in a few wind cutters to land the decisive blow.

Those sequence of actions happened in a blink of an eye and eventually the wall crumbled, revealing Ian slumped down, unconscious from tanking the impact of wind cutter and his earthen dome.

"Looks like your wall caused your downfall." I grinned at him while I felt while I was sweating all over, symptoms of over exhaustion.