Chapter 14: Chapter 7.2

When each of them was wearing protective gear, Ritaus once again opened his mouth.

“The you Lady is better off not wearing makeup.”

I paused while putting onn protective gloves.

Would this be considered being rude? No, let’s stop. It must have been a compliment to myself, and I didn’t want to be pointed out mistaking his words.

“I’m glad that you are not very talkative.”

I wake up every time I open my mouth.

***

The winner of the duel will be decided by a knight of my family.

The knight brought a small hourglass from the warehouse. By it’s size, I assume that the sand will fall for about 15 to 20 minutes.

“The time limit is 15 minutes. Lady Kayla, if you get a shot at sir Ritaus, you win. On the contrary, if you don’t get a single shot, it will be sir Ritaus’ victory.”

No matter how long I already live in Kayla’s body, I’ve just got the sword, I was still wandering about the basics of the swordsmanship here, but I honestly thought it would be fine.

But that was my pride.

“You’re out of shape.”

Chaeng! The practice rafters in my hands flew away with one shot.

It was because I tried somehow to hold the sword in just one hand in order not to be ridiculed by Ritaus.

“Again with that posture? You don’t even know the basics.”

I held the sword handle with both hands, avoiding Ritaus, who was again aiming for it.

Right hand up, left hand down, last little finger let go. The basic kendo posture that I habitually moved into, even though my body changed.

However, Littaus’ rapier bent and struck my rapier.

The power of the clash was so strong, that the sword easily fell out of my hand. This repeated several times.

“You know what? I’m trying to be as considerate of the young as possible, so the blade of the sword doesn’t touch your body.”

You don’t have to tell me, I already know!

“Do you know how elegant Franz is with his sword? The young lady can become than him just through willpower!”

It’s really humiliating. It wasn’t just the sword. If I could have just done it my own way, I would have ended up with just one hit like that.

Ritaus’s attack came in again as I was grinding my teeth together.

With another clash, my sword tried to get out of my hand.

I grabbed the handle in a hurry and fixed my broken posture, but Ritaus didn’t miss it.

The tip of Rttaus’ sword turned to my face.

When I was in a panic, the sword of Ritaus stopped before my eyes.

“You’re almost out of sand. If this was the actual battle, the young Lady would have died several times already.”

If it had been a real battle, as Ritaus said, my body would have been deadly harmed. I couldn’t refute it.

“The basics are important, but the most important thing is practice. Do you have confidence to deal with enemies attacking from all sides? The life of a knight is not as easy as the young Lady thinks.”

Real battle, attacking enemies.

Ah, I felt like I was hit against the head by Ritaus’ words.

“The practice is more important than the basics…”

Ritaus made me realize what I had forgotten.

I turned my head toward the hourglass. The sand remained approximately three minutes long.

“Wait, let’s change our weapons!”

“…?”

I threw the rapier away and took the sword from the belt of the knight.

“Ah, Miss Kayla?”

“Lend me this.”

After I took the sword out of the knight’s belt and throwing the rapier to the knights, I had only the new sword in my hands.

A light sword made of hard leather.

“I’ll take this for the rest of my time.”

“Ha, are you kidding me? That won’t even hit a child.”

Ignoring Ritaus, who sighed unpleasantly, I was immediately immersed myself in the attack.

The sheath is light.

That’s right. There is no feeling of a clash because it is hollow, and no one can get through it.

But that doesn’t matter in this battle. I only need to get one hit against Ritaus.

Without hesitation I atacked the gap in Ritaus. Ritaus, who was off guard, tried to stop me by lifting the sword, but my eyes, free from the rules of the new swordsmanship, chased Ritaus’ movements.

My eyes, which had been obsessed with the basics and could not see anything else, were opening.

And I got one hit.

“If it was a real sword what I have in my hands now, you would have lost your neck.”

I could aim at Rittaus’ neck at once with the most comfortable position, one step on the side, and a comfortable sword.

Sand is still falling from the hourglass.

“I still suffered from the basic swordsmanship, but thank you for giving me the solution.”

At the end of this battle, my engagement to Sir Ritau will be ofically annulled.

Fortunately, Ritaus was a man who kept his promises.