A week has passed since the posting of the match schedule, and on the day of the full-scale evaluation match against Stella.

I was waiting in the waiting room for my name to be called with my mind set on it.

Even when I had a confrontation with senior Xian, I wasn’t nervous like this.

Seeing that I’m more nervous now than whether or not I can bring her to our party.

Apparently, in his heart, he took this confrontation more seriously than that.

That would be the case, too, because what was at stake in this evaluation match wasn’t something simple like grades or the right to wish.

If I exaggerate a bit, it was like a testing ground where Stella’s qualities as a hero were tested, where she could see the future of the world for a moment.

The confrontation with senior Xian didn’t feel that serious.

Even if he lost the match against senior Xian that day, he could have made up for his mistake at another opportunity.

Even though Dalian was defeated, there was grace that saved his life, so he invited me back to the party anyway.

Or he made a suggestion that we would definitely win in the next evaluation match, so we shouldn’t be together for now.

Even if all of the previous proposals were rejected, it would have been fate to meet them again in the future at the demon subjugation party.

If you look closely, the match against Xian was a sparring with very little risk.

However, the sparring with Stella today had a different meaning in the first place.

If Stella’s skills in the official match were not as satisfactory as expected, it could lead to a crisis for the entire continent.

Of all the people I knew, there was only one Stella who could pierce the magic god Cardia’s weakness with a holy sword.

The moment it was revealed that her skills were mediocre, many things would go wrong.

Of course, somewhere in the world, there must be someone with greater qualities as a warrior than her.

Even though I’m living my second life, I didn’t visit all the continents on my first journey.

Of course, there were more places I didn’t visit than places I visited, so the number of people I didn’t meet would be even more than the number of people I met.

I couldn’t guarantee that there wasn’t a single person in the world who could replace Stella’s role among them.

However, it was already impossible to replace only Stella because of her lack of ability in the current party, which was created with at least a future Demon Suppression Force.

That’s why Stella had to be strong.

If it seems that Stella’s skills are lower than I expected, I’ll somehow motivate her to grow faster.

If you are already strong enough to meet my expectations, give me strong motivation so that I can grow even faster.

It was my role as the party leader to help with that, and it was the responsibility of someone who knew the future.

I vaguely heard my name outside the noisy waiting room, so I moved to the open arena with my fully relaxed body.

It was time to confirm with my own body that my efforts over the past two years were not wrong.

* * *

Did the audience make a promise as soon as they entered the main stage?

As Stella and I appeared, the entire arena started shouting for us to leave.

It seems like there are a lot more of them than when I was with Xian-senpai last time.

Of course, the confrontation at that time also attracted attention in its own way, although it was a full-seat match with most of the seats filled.

This evaluation match boasted a much higher population density than before, with people filling the stairs and railings.

Although it is an academy without entertainment, it felt like this level of interest was a bit excessive.

Apparently, it was already the third time that I competed with people from other departments before the evaluation, so the students seemed to regard it as a regular event in their own way.

“… … .”

Stella seemed a little nervous at the crowd filling the seats.

The expression of her approaching from the other side did not look very natural even from a distance.

I hope this tension doesn’t affect her skills.

However, she couldn’t get rid of the audience just because she couldn’t show her skills.

Showing off my skills in front of so many audiences was one of the qualities that a hero should have.

Of course, he always had to wield his sword as a representative in front of countless people.

It was the role of a character called ‘Hero’ to be evaluated by countless people for each and every move.

If you can’t show your skills in front of only 2,000 spectators, that’s a problem.

“Conrad! Win!”

“Go, Ministry Pride!”

“stellar! Don’t lose to the Ministry of Magic with swordsmanship!”

“I bet 30 gold coins on you! Just lose!”

The students were cheering for me and Stella for different reasons, and thanks to that, the hall was filled with excitement even though it was October.

I was distracted for a moment as the student who had mentioned illegal gambling without notice was being dragged out of the stadium.

Soon after, he turned his head and met Stella’s gaze, who was standing across from him.

“… … .”

“… … .”

After greeting each other by closing their eyes once in a while, they each stepped into the prepared seats.

At any moment, if the battle starts, I stopped several magics right before the chanting so that it wouldn’t be strange.

“Preparations… .”

By the time the host’s declaration started to be heard, the cheers of the audience, which had been a little noisy, had subsided to some extent.

“start!”

With everyone’s eyes focused on me and Stella, the sparring began shortly thereafter.

‘Tadadak!’

The first attack began with her movement, which appeared like a thunderbolt.

When the host’s words of beginning reached my ears.

Stella had already narrowed the distance with me by more than half with her first leap.

If he had reacted belatedly from that moment on, he would have been knocked out by one of her attacks.

Fortunately, I predicted that Stella would attack me with a straight attack as soon as it started, and I took a step away from slashing with body strengthening magic.

Stella was drenched in water as soon as she started cutting down a water bomb in my form instead of me.

“Poo!”

My beautiful straight blonde hair was soaked with water, and the inside of my plate mail was probably damp from my water magic.

As if that wasn’t a hindrance to him, he started charging toward me again.

With sincere and honest attacks that still make you want to be honest.

“… … !”

… There’s no point. What kind of Anne is Stella?

If it was at the level of ignorantly retrying an attack that didn’t work once, let alone a hero, she wouldn’t even join the demon subjugation party itself.

It was one of Stella’s most powerful weapons to grasp the situation in real time and switch to the best attack to fight.

Either in a previous life or in the present life.

This time, until the middle, I saw the same attack running towards me.

In the first place, the movement seemed to induce my carelessness, and it suddenly changed direction and threw a sword in my escape route.

Looking at the way he accurately predicted which direction he would move, he was definitely the owner of an unusual sense.

Of course, I was expecting an anomalous attack to come this time as well, so it barely reached her sword skill.

If it had even brushed against it, it would surely have suffered considerable damage.

‘Chuck.’

Along with the sound of water, Stella’s face was wet with cold water again.

In exchange for not hitting me twice, she had to get a second water bomb all over her body.

“… … .”

At least the shiny hair was drenched in the cold water and completely stretched out, and water droplets dripped from the sword and iron armor towards the floor.

From the audience seats, which felt something strange, a murmur of voices began to be heard little by little.

“What, what? Why are you fighting like that?”

“Conrad is playing with it again… ? Is this right before the evaluation?”

“Isn’t it possible that the party members organized it to manipulate sexuality… ?”

Perhaps it was because the two attacks I gave didn’t feel like a poem, and voices began to question me and Stella’s serious duel.

“… … .”

As if it wasn’t just the audience who felt that way, Stella stopped moving for a while after being hit by the second water bomb.

His blue eyes shining through his tousled hair clearly showed his anger toward me.

As soon as the closed lips opened, they immediately began to spit out strong complaints at me.

“Please be serious!!”

Her booming voice resonated throughout the arena, and the audience, like Stella, fell silent as if cold water had been poured on them.

“No matter how weak I am than senior Konrad, do you intend to make fun of me like this!”

“… … .”

“If you can defeat me, why not take it down without delay! What the hell is Conrad-senpai gaining by insulting me like this!”

There was never a moment I didn’t respond seriously in this Dalian.

In the face of Stella, who suddenly had a strange misunderstanding and screamed. Water was poured out once again.

“Calm down, Stella.”

“… … .”

“Do you think I’m playing tricks to annoy you? Do I look like I’m wasting my magic in a serious life-and-death battle?”

“… … Yeah?”

“Care your mind properly, and you are the one who fights seriously. There is a limit to accepting your foolishness.”

If this battle was really a real battle and Stella was my enemy, I wouldn’t have said this.

Anyway, my desire for a serious battle was second to her. I couldn’t stand it and gave advice to her who had sold her mind elsewhere.

The hint is given with the warning that this is the last time.

“… … .”

Stella still had a doubtful look on her face, as if she wasn’t sure, but perhaps because of my advice, Stella took the sword seriously again.

As before, it started to run towards me with a quick leap.

Again, a straight line… but two leaps diagonally.

It was approaching me in a movement that created so-called afterimages. I was a little hesitant to move my body to one side or the other to avoid it.

It would have been quite tricky if the first attack had attempted an irregular attack like this rather than a straight attack method that only considered speed and accuracy.

Stella’s Plan B, which was a little late, was not too difficult to avoid.

It was because the previous two water bombs had been fed to counteract her attacks.

“It’s slow, Stella.”

Perhaps he himself was vaguely feeling it.

Compared to when he first ran into me. It’s a state that’s quite different from the speed you’re putting out now.

You can see it even from the point of view, but how strongly do you feel it?

Stella’s double-slash attack, which originally would have cut almost simultaneously.

A small gap was created between the two sword strikes, creating enough room for me to escape.

“… … !”

While I had already slipped through the gap, Ben Stella had to expose herself to my magic as well in the same void.

This time, unlike the previous two water bombs, it would have to be attacked with a slightly stronger power.

“Ha ha ha… !!”

Caught in the recoil of the explosion magic, Stella’s body flew about 5 meters in the air.

The dulled senses from the wet body made it impossible to deal with attacks that would normally have been avoided.

“Now do you understand?”

“… … .”

“Why did I focus on getting your body and armor wet from the beginning instead of using powerful magic?”

Although I’ve said it before.

In a battle between a swordsman and a wizard with similar skills, the wizard was obviously at a disadvantage.

The magic that was strong enough to damage the opponent was too slow for the swordsman.

On the other hand, the quick attack magic that can follow the fast footwork did not give a fatal wound.

In that respect, Stella was like a nightmare from the point of view of a wizard.

It wasn’t enough to wear full plate armor that couldn’t even be scratched with some kind of magic.

Even with that heavy armor on, he moved at a much faster speed than most bare-body tests.

At least one of durability or speed had to be eliminated in the first place, and the most effective method used for that was water magic.

If I had been able to use ice magic, I would have used ice magic without hesitation.

It wasn’t that water magic was poured into her face to annoy her, but the mage did the most standard thing to deal with the swordsman.

“That’s what you meant.”

Stella finally realized why I ended up avoiding attacks twice and barely hitting water bombs.

Immediately, he put his hand on his cold pauldron and roughly tore off the leather belt that was wrapped around his body.

“It was a strategy to fill the inside of the plate armor with water, making it difficult to move, and to use destructive magic to match my slowed speed.”

“yes.”

“I didn’t know that, and I’m sorry for misunderstanding you for a moment.”

Stella continued the conversation with me from a safe distance and started removing the armor from other parts of her body one by one.

The breastplate, the chestplate, the vaccinate, the femur, and even the gaiter.

Every time a layer of armament fell from her body, the water in the armor continued to flow down to the floor.

Eventually, when all the armor except for the gloves and greaves was removed from Stella’s body.

As if she had become more mobile, she opened her mouth to me with a confident voice.

“With this, I should be able to move quickly again.”