The Heroine Died!? Did The Plot Armor Fail? (Hiatus)

10) Shortcomings and Awareness

Patches of the water-turned ice reverted back to water and dropped back to the stream. Leo sat down next to Yule, in defeat with his head hanged low. They were right outside of the capital, though not far.

"This is hopeless!" Leo ruffled his hair with a sigh.

"No need to be dramatic..." Yule avoided Leo's gaze.

Since the Captain gave the trainees a full 3 days to prepare their trip, the two spent their time at town as per usual. This morning, a traveling mage from Rugica put on a show. She suspended shaped water with mainly Mana Flow. As if it wasn't impressive enough, she altered the state of the water to half ice as she moved it around. At best, a spell or two was present. But even then, it could hardly be called a spell at all.

"Are you sure it's not emission?"

"Of course not, I would know otherwise!" Leo snapped back.

As always. Now that Yule thought of it, his father told him House Reinfel had a successful line of war mages. In battle, emission magic often turned the tide of wars. Things like fireballs, unnatural hurricanes, lightning bolts, even icicle rain stemmed from that. Aside from basic spells, Yule lacked in control. He couldn't do fancy spells like his older brother or his mother.

With House Crusan hailing as a family of hunters, he knew more about modern divination and magic traps. A little biased, but he looked down on traditional divination. It couldn't be helped since hunters had to be aware at all times. There was theurgy too, but Yule had little interest in summoning.

Leo took a deep breath and tried again. He lifted some water with Mana Flow. The formless water began to turn spherical through shaping. So far so good. Shaping wasn't easy, there's no avoiding it since it's needed for spells too. The better it is, the easier guiding mana became. Well, almost easier...

Within the water ball, ice began to form. Soon, cracks formed throughout the entire surface at an alarming rate. Now it's completely solidified compared to earlier. The ice ball plopped into the stream, followed by a huge splash. Another failure on alteration magic.

"Damn, is my shaping that bad?" Leo grumbled.

"You're the last person to say that." Yule gave a silent click of the tongue.

If he had Leo's shaping skills, he would have caught a Star-Striped Bear. As heir to House Crusan, it was demoralizing. Yule didn't possess half of his father's wisdom nor spiritual strength. If it was Leo, perhaps he could be on par but that's nothing more than wishful thinking.

"Catch me a break, I'd never see daylight again if it weren't for you!"

Hm, some truth to his words. Although Yule didn't know what specifically went on, Leo would always be seen refining spells that he learned. Countess Reinfel didn't seem too happy about letting Leo out when Yule came to visit. Then again, they had Nadia to thank to convince her.

"Know what? That's enough practice for the day." Leo stood up.

They headed back to the city. Half way, there was a commotion. A crowd of what seemed to be mercenaries on one side and a few people dressed in a knight trainees uniform. Naturally Leo's curiosity drew them closer. From the sound of it, a battle took place.

When the boys made their way to the front, a scrawny mercenary with a drawn short sword and a spear-wielding Dosell girl stood in the middle. She charged in with a shout, several thrusts at her opponent. He parried most of it, a couple grazing his cheek. Even so, he didn't loose his calm. He swung his sword in smooth motion at her sides. The shaft of her spear blocked it, though the sheer strength pushed her back.

They were still locked in close combat. She gritted her teeth. Each second the mercenary pressed his strength, her feet began to slide back. The girl twirled her body with the spear, now behind him. Along with the momentum, she swept at his legs. At the same time, he dropped down to his knees and put his left arm in front of him. What was supposed to be a deep cut turned out shallow.

Before she could step back, his sword slashed upwards with an unbelievable force. One of her hands lost grip, but he didn't stop there. He sprung forward with another attack, the girl arced backwards. In that moment, he stuck a foot out and tripped her. He took that chance and knocked the spear out of her hands. Her eyes widened in surprise, but recovered seconds later and rolled out the way.

"Not bad lassie." He sheathed his sword.

"How cheap, using underhanded tactics!" She scowled once she stood up.

He playfully put his hands up. "There's no rules in a do-or-die fight. A real pity you chose the army instead."

The mercenary picked up the spear and casually threw it to her. The Dosell caught it, clicking her tongue.

"Fight smarter next time lassie!" He waved, then left with his group.

Despite not having to watch to entire fight, it was to be expected. Yule couldn't say much about the girl, but that mercenary always chose the most appropriate time to reinforce himself with alteration magic. That shallow cut he received was one such moment. Even his sword when the Dosell tried to retreat.

One of the trainees tried to console the girl. In turn, her mood soured further. Leo and Yule made a hasty retreat before they get caught into the crossfire.

During the entire way back to the city, what the mercenary said stuck to Yule's mind. That man was right, rules didn't matter in a life or death situation. That was undoubtly the truth. As it stands, he was doing fine in swordsmanship. But that was all it amount to, nothing more or less, just fine.

"I've never seen them here before. Think they came from another big city?" Leo interrupted his thoughts.

"It has to be, unless they're from another division."

"Either way, that spearwoman has good potential. I wonder which House she's from..."

"You'll make a fool out of yourself if you challenge her now." Yule said in a matter-of-factly tone.

"I wasn't planning on it!" Leo denied it as he crossed his arms annoyed. "Yet..."

Yule slightly shook his head at him. While his childhood friend wasn't terrible at swordplay, Leo had awkward shortcomings with it. In short, it meant that the sword wasn't for him or he needed to learn another style that suited him. Most likely the latter, Yule concluded.

That aside, it was now afternoon. They used the rest of the time to prepare for the trip.