The Villainess Will Not Bring Dishonor To Her Family

86 - The March - Part 4

Arven Ruxder's Point Of View

I grew up in the southern part of fief Sastrain in what was once Darkfolk Grove. Despite not being on the frontline we have our own problems. The dukedom east of us doesn't care for their peasants, and in turn many of them turn to banditry.

For better or for worse the peasants can travel freely, but at one point there is no room in the neighboring fiefs, nor du they have energy to travel further... the worst part is when the dukedom begins to use their troops to control the populace. Those are the seasons we get the most bandits... or rather... people that give and do whatever needed to survive. Begging included... still, most of them have killed to get there, so should you help them or kill them? The only ones we usually let go are women and children.

I know that women and children can kill, I don't underestimate them... but I still want to keep them safe. This includes our new commander.

Of course I was surprised to learn that she was a woman. Her story is one of legends, and yet I couldn't reconcile with the thought of putting her in as much danger as everyone else. Not only is she the daughter of a marquess, but she's a legend. If she dies every single bit of morale fades.

So I asked her to move to the back line. She didn't take it well.

She actually explained her argument carefully, and when she finished I could have given in and accepted her words and avoided the duel. Still, I accepted. Why? If she lost, then she would be protected, and I also wanted to confirm her strength.

Who wouldn't want to have the chance to measure their strength and skill against a legend?

Lily Celeste is a very light weight looking person. She looks like you could pick her up on an arm and have an easy time. Usually weight and strength is correlated. Heavy people have more weight to put into their actions. Height is comparable. No matter how trained you are, these things will affect your base strength. Furthermore, Lily does not have the body of someone doing excessive strength training... to see her truly wield the branch she randomly picked up like a stick was the first indication something was wrong.

I'd heard from Asher that Augustus used poetry and movements to activate his spells, but when you see it up close you get this feeling that something is wrong. My fairy, Callie grimaced at every poem and shuddered. She whispered the following words to me about her water fairy:

"It doesn't control water, it is water."

I don't entirely understand the difference, but I knew that her magic is different from Eric's. Healing magic, but from a water mage. How is it even possible? Would I be able to use it as well? Is it grand level magic perhaps? Are the spell constructions too advanced?

I was hoping to see her use healing magic, or rather, to hear. If she build her spells with words, then that might be a hint... so I thought... but her poetry gave no sense to any spell construction logic. She... just asked for it to happen, and then nothing seemed to happen. I felt weird and cautious, but there was no sign of the effect. No glow, her visible fairy didn't move either...

Sometimes you get an instant feeling that someone is more skilled than you. The instant the duel started that feeling went through me... but at the same time I... felt relieved... she moved fast... she even went through my knockback... she even temporarily paralyzed my shoulder... but with just a single glance of hers as she rated her own skill... I knew that whatever she used as comparison would have knocked me out rather than just paralyze my shield arm.

—-*—-

With the duel over I bowed respectfully. I probably gained more from this than she did, however, none of the first and second years would challenge her after this.