I wake up one morning to birds chirping outside my window. I always woke up early back on Earth, but that was usually because I had an alarm going off every 30 minutes after the first on my phone. However, in this new world, I found myself waking up with some comfort every morning. Then again, it was probably my royalty class bed that instantly knocked me out whenever I lay on it at night time.

It had been well over a month of practicing and scrimming with other groups of two Spirits or adventurers. We were both making a steady pace with our levels, but since we gained levels at the same rate, I haven’t caught up to Roy just yet. This meant that Roy was already at level 26, while I was at level 13.

I couldn’t really complain, I was finally in the double digits. However, Roy with such a high level and incredibly crazy strength meant that we were put up with adventurers and Spirits on the same level as him.

In other words, I had an incredibly tough time.

I think back over the past few weeks, more importantly, the one match where I figured out a suitable style of battle for my shield.

* * *

Roy and I had just lost a battle against two human adventurers who beat us by using their overwhelming speed around us. They quite literally ran us to the ground. I did try my best to defend Roy’s blind spots as his shield, but no matter what I did, my defense was plowed through at least 90% of the time.

“Something needs to change.” I sigh as I collapse onto a chair.

“I agree.” Roy nods his head, “I don’t mean to be cruel, but at the moment, your level is still too low to be a proper defense.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re not wrong after all.”

I begin brainstorming for ideas on how I could defend myself better.

After a couple of minutes of brainstorming, I still had no answers. After all, how else is someone supposed to use a shield other than using it to defend strikes?

I stare around the building. The stage we were in was different from the one we first went into when we arrived in Eskal. This one was popular because it doubled as a restaurant. Since it was turning dark, there were more people than usual ready to stuff their stomachs with dinner.

It was honestly quite a genius idea. As a customer, you get great food with the great entertainment of Spirits and adventurers going at it against each other. As a fighter, you get easy access to meals after a battle.

I’ll admit, I’ve convinced Roy to make this our regular place to spar against other groups simply because of the food here.

Suddenly, a waitress returning a round metal tray gets shoved by a muscular adventurer and trips on a table. The waitress screams as she falls onto the floor and accidentally drops the tray straight onto the head of another waiter. There’s a massive commotion as the muscular adventurer begins crying (which I would have never expected from a muscular unit like him) and apologizing to the waitress.

However, in the midst of the commotion, I notice something that lights a lightbulb above my head.

The waiter who had the tray thrown onto his head was knocked out cold.

This is a dumb idea…no way this would work, right?

“Roy, I think I have an idea for a change in our battle style.” I tug on his tunic, “Let’s do one more spar before we head back.”

Roy gives me a confused look, but nevertheless, he heads to the register to sign up for one more spar.

* * *

“Attention all customers!” The commentator announces to the stage, “I hope you’re all enjoying your meals because we’ve got a battle in our hands!”

Roy and I take to the stage and summon our weapons.

“Arriving onto the stage are the human pair of Roy and Rin! They’re currently on a losing streak, but don’t let that fool you. When these two first arrived in our beautiful home of Eskal, they shocked the streets by defeating our princess, Aquaria!”

“I should’ve asked earlier, but what’s with the extra match tonight?” Roy whispers.

“I want to try out something, and to be honest it might not make much sense to you.” I admit, “Please trust me though.”

Roy slaps my back, “Show me what you got.”

As if on cue, an elf and a human enter the stage, and my heart starts beating in anticipation.

“Here comes their opponents for tonight! They’re currently on a two-match win streak, and they’re definitely looking forward to making it to a three-match win streak. Give us a round of applause for the duo of Ryan and Aris!”

The crowd gives polite applause as the human Ryan, pulls out an iron Militia Jian sword, while the Elf named Aris pulls out a polearm with blades on both ends. I’m actually unsure of what the name of that spear is called, but it looked intimidating.

I take a deep breath.

I guess it’s time for the moment of truth.

The buzzer sounds and Ryan makes the first move. He charges straight for Roy and swings his sword around, but I quickly intercept it with my Parma shield. Roy immediately steps aside from me and thrusts his Arming sword straight at the other sword wielder. However, Aris swiftly makes his way in between all of us and swings his double-ended spear around, effectively creating some distance as Roy and I jump back to avoid getting slashed.

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With a wide space in front of me once again, I decide to execute my plan.

I take the initiative and charge at full speed towards the Elf. Aris is taken aback a bit, but quickly regains his composure and swings his spear. However, I have no intention of stopping his swing, instead, I just manage to roll under his swing and end up right in front of him. I use my momentum from the roll and jump upwards, and my shield connects cleanly with the Elf’s jaw.

Aris collapses out cold on the floor and I breathe heavily.

That actually worked!

I turn and point to Roy, “I may not be the strongest in terms of damage output, but not everyone would remain conscious after taking a hit from something metal!”

Roy’s shocked expression turns to an almost sinister laugh, “You’re crazy Rin! Let’s finish this match off for good!”

It’s safe to say that poor Ryan did not stand a chance against the two of us.

* * *

I had to admit, I was smiling from cheek to cheek after our win. I was completely overjoyed that my plan had worked out, and learned about the fact that I could still knock someone out with my shield despite my level.

Roy and I head out of the building together, but just before we head out the door, I spot the waitress that had been bumped into by the muscular adventurer before. I silently make my way to her and tap her shoulder.

“Oh, is there something you’d like to order, Rin?” The waitress asks.

I notice that she wore a nametag that wrote “Alice”.

“I just wanted to give you a massive thanks for today, Alice,” I say as I bow.

The waitress blushes, “W-what for?”

“You might not understand completely, but you’ve helped me out a lot today.”

I turn around and jog back to Roy. I wave back with a big grin on my face, “I love you, miss!”

Alice’s jaw drops as her face turns bright red. At the time, I was at such a high that I didn’t realize what I had just said, and in hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have said that. Can you blame me though? We all have said something when we’re high on emotion.

Despite my early struggles, I eventually managed to find a style of battle where I could at least contribute to Roy’s crazy strength.

* * *

I thought Isabel had changed her views on battling, but I was reminded the next day that she was still the same powerhead person that I knew since the start.

As soon as the sun was visible to the naked eye, Roy burst into my room and forced me to join him on an “intensive training program” under Isabel’s orders.

First, there was a jog around the castle walls, which actually wasn’t so bad. I used to take a lot of jogs when I was still on earth, and I always walked or jogged to my university from my apartment, so I was pretty confident in my stamina.

All of that confidence left my body as soon as we started working out in heavy armor in the palace garden. Pushups, squats, sit-ups, and much more exercises that I probably would’ve been fine with, but Roy always managed to find some way to put heavy rocks on top of my already heavy armor. I collapsed a bunch of times, but thankfully, Roy didn’t add more reps to the workout whenever I collapsed.

“Come on Rin! Give me 10 more pushups!”

“The rocks…you put on my back… are too heavy!”

After giving Roy the 10 extra pushups, he demanded, I collapsed onto to floor as I gasped for air.

Luna, who had joined us to watch us work out a couple of minutes ago, knelt and offered me a glistening, cold water bottle. She was already beautiful, but right now, she looked like she could be the god of beauty.

I could probably start the Luna religion right now.

I thanked Luna for the water and almost finished the bottle instantly.

After a couple of minutes of rest as the soreness slowly creeps onto the entirety of my body, Roy gets up from a bench and walks up to me.

“Rin.”

“Yeah?

“Bring out your shield, we’re going to fight.”

Ehhh?

Luna instantly stands up and faces Roy, “Wait! Isn’t that unfair? Rin’s just going to be on the receiving end!”

“What’s not fair in that? We’re going to face plenty of other strong Spirits in the Summoner Games, I might as well prepare him myself.”

At the final word, he summons his sword and dashes toward me at an alarming pace. I jolt up in shock and summon my shield in Scutum mode and cover myself on instinct.

Instead of slicing with his sword, he brings his shoulder to my shield and bumps into me American football style. I’m sent flying back at the pure force Roy generated and leave a trail of broken grass on the garden floor.

“Get up Rin.”

I look up to find Roy instantly on the offense again as he glides his sword towards my face. I raise my shield and successfully block his sword, but Roy quickly raises his foot, and spartan kicks my shield, knocking me back even more.

This guy…he’s killing me!

Roy charges once again and stabs his sword at me, but this time I sidestep his attack and change my shield to the circular Parma shield as I attempt to punch Roy’s face. Roy easily dodges my punch and slices upwards with his sword, but I swiftly change my shield to the oval shape of a Cetratus Shield and completely stop the sword in its tracks. I parry his right arm with my shield and grapple myself onto Roy as I try to take him down, he lets out an evil-sounding laugh as he grabs me up and hurls me against the castle wall.

I feel the air escape my lungs as I collide against the wall.

“Allow me Rin, to show you a Spirit’s special move.” Roy smiles menacingly.

“P-permission denied.” I pant as I lean against the castle wall.

Roy closes his eyes and holds his sword up. I stare in shock as ice crystals and snowflakes begin to cover and fall out slowly off his sword. Roy opens his eyes, which were glowing light blue, and points his sword at me.

“Winter’s Arrival!” Roy shouts as he stabs the sword into the ground.

Ice begins to appear on the floor from his sword and shoots out towards me at a speed that I couldn’t follow with my eyes.

In an instant, I feel a cold sensation all over my legs. I look down in shock to find that my legs had been frozen completely.

“It’s over for you, Rin!”

Roy raises his sword and begins charging at me. There’s nothing else I can do, and nowhere else I can run to. I stare at the knight charging at me.

Wait, is he…slower?

I noticed that Roy was slower than usual, and that allowed me to come up with a quick plan on the spot.

I wasn’t sure if it would work, I was especially doubtful of the plan against someone as skillful as Roy, but it was the only thing I could think of.

I lowered my oval-shaped shield between my legs and waited for Roy to reach a certain distance from me. I needed to get him as close as possible.

Come on, I’m right here Roy.

10 meters of distance quickly turned to 5 meters as Roy quickens his pace. I stand still and watch as I wait for him to cross the pebble I used as a reference for distance.

Finally, Roy crosses the pebble, which was around 3 meters away from me and I begin to execute my plan.

Here goes nothing.

I changed my Cetratus shield into the Parma shield once again, causing it to expand with such force that it breaks the ice on my legs. In an instant, I roll under Roy’s swing and jump with my shield against him.

Give me flames!

As soon as my shield touches Roy, flames begin to shoot out of it and engulf Roy. To some relief and some dread, I feel Roy move against my shield.

“Give me more flames!” I shout at the top of my lungs as another wave of fire dominates the fire that was already surrounding Roy.

I keep the fire up until I finally felt no resistance against my shield. I instantly stop visualizing flames to find that Roy had dropped onto one knee, using his sword for support.

“Heh, well played Rin.” Roy pants as the ice melt around him.

Roy must’ve covered himself in ice at the last moment to prevent himself from getting serious burns. Despite the fact that Roy really went all out on me, I was glad that I didn’t cause any injuries to him.

I sigh and collapsed onto the ground beside him.

“Rin! Are you okay?” Luna asks as she runs beside me and begins checking on my body.

Woah, is she the goddess of healing? Her looks alone could heal me.

“Uhm, lady Luna, I’m pretty sure I need looking at first after that battle.” Roy jokes.

“It’s your fault for putting Rin in a life-or-death situation!” Luna scolds Roy with her face full of anger.

“R-right, sorry about that.”