Chapter 54 – CASE: Alto

「I’m Alto Augusta, you’re my sister’s fiance……huh」

The man my beloved little sister chose is this Myne or something, huh.
From my first impression of him, honestly, he doesn’t look that strong.

However, my little sister’s personally marrying into his family, so he should have quite the ability.
He’s even said to have defeated an Orc King, after all.

However, 15 years old…… I’ve heard that he just came of age, but I can see that he’s truly hasn’t undergo enough tempering.
……Can he really fight with this?

I’ve heard from reports that his Skills are 【Appraisal・Complete】 and 【Cut & Paste】.
Chichiue’s opinion is that he has some kind of secret aside from this, but…….

Well, whatever.
I have no interest in what he’s hiding.

However, is this lad a man who can really protect my little sister from now on?
If I don’t make sure of that, I will never be able to approve of this man, and it will only be a disaster for him.

As I pondered upon it, I thought that even Sacred Bow-dono is marrying into his home.

Fumu…… Let’s use this.

「……Well, that’s fine, I guess. By the way, you’re called Myne, huh.
If possible, won’t you show me your true strength? I’m entrusting my important little sister to you, after all.
My sister……no, there’s also Sacred Bow-dono, huh, I want to confirm as a brother and as a man, whether you have what it takes to protect the two ladies」

Yosh, with this, though it’s a little underhanded, the stage is set. (TLN: Sigh, underhanded here is not quite the right word. なし崩し)
All’s left is literally to measure his ability.

 

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

 

There can’t be deaths in a mock battle, after all.
We decided to use wooden swords, not real ones.

He probably can’t come at me seriously with real swords.
If that’s the case, I can’t accomplish my objective of judging whether his true strength is worthy of taking Sylphy as his wife.

Also, it might be called a wooden sword, but it is constructed through charging magical power into raw ebony by the Royal Magician.
It is a much more powerful weapon compared to real but poorly-made swords.

Although nobody will die, there might be one or two injuries.
Well, Sacred Bow-dono is here, so they can be healed immediately.

 

……Now then.
Finally, he seems to be getting into it.

Hm? Did he just cast some kind of self-enhancement?
……There’s a faint luminescence on him.

Hmph, so this is the secret he was hiding. Certainly, if I take this lightly, I would be the one experiencing pain.

I’ll use 【Physical Strength Enhancement・Large】 and 【Support Magic・Speed Increase】 too.

「……Oh…… why aren’t you coming at me?」

Now then, let’s have a go!

「If you’re not coming, then I’ll go!」

I plunged towards his bosom with all my might.

……Is my speed out of your expectations? Do you think you have any time to be surprised in the middle of a battle!? You’re full of openings!

Making a feint, I went around to his blind spot.
I don’t know what self-enhancement you casted, but since you did…… you won’t die!!

I aimed at his right flank and swung my sword greatly.
He took the shock directly and was comically blown off.

……However, what is this feeling? It’s not like he used a Skill to defend or anything.
What in the world is it? I felt like this shock became excessively dull, but……. Is he wearing something?

Well, whatever.
I understood from that exchange.

His battle techniques are no doubt similar to a novice.
I understood completely from the way he moved and used something.

Though he certainly has quite the talent, he can’t make use of it at all.

……Let’s try cornering him a little more.
I moved to pursuit him who had been blown off.

 

「W, what in the world happened……」

He didn’t seem to have seen the exchange.
Standing right in front of him, I swung my sword right down on him.

Defending with a dagger? His situation assessment also seems to be naive.

If he receives a swing from a one-handed sword using a dagger…… See that?
You’ve lost the only weapon you have, you see? What are you going to do now? How are you going to fight without a weapon?

The wooden sword I wielded crushed his dagger, and hit his right shoulder tip.

「You’re full of openings!! Read your opponent’s movements more!」

With his level, there’s no way he can defeat an Orc King.
That is different from a low class monster which moves by instinct, it has intelligence, and has an abnormal strength.

There is absolutely no possibility he defeated that.

However, he did defeat such an Orc King.
Does that mean he still isn’t serious?

 

……Hm? What? Is he recovering?
I see, interesting.

『……Fumu……This time he’s recovering…… Very interesting』

Is this a part of the power he used to defeat the Orc King?
Interesting, show me your power! Use that power to defeat this magnificent me!

Oh, this is quite the drastic charge than before.
Is he going to use another Skill? That’s quite the movement.

However, I wonder how many tricks does he have up his sleeve.
That’s really something.

Furthermore, even though he already lost his weapon, his mental strength in not giving up the match is quite worthy of note.
There are even some among the knights who would give up at this point.

Well if he gave up with just this, there’s no way I’d hand Sylphy over to him.

While I was thinking that, his right arm was heading towards me at an outrageous speed.

『Wh!?』

I avoided it in a panic and countered.
My counter splendidly suceeded, and he was once again blown off to his back.

……That was close, I could somehow counter since he left a big opening, but if I took that, as expected, it would have been bad, even for me.
I’ve never heard of such a sharp wind cutting noise that was coming out from his fist.

「Aniue, you’re overdoing it! Please stop!!」
「Myne-kun!!」

I heard Sylphy and Sacred Bow-dono’s shouts.

Aah, I see…… he got a cut on his forehead when he was blown off, huh?
They’re kicking up a fuss because blood is coming out from it, huh.

Although it’s a mock battle, Sylphy stopping it with just this…….

As expected, even the Princess General became soft when it comes to her fiance.

However, that doesn’t mean that he has lost.
He stood up, though staggering, and showed that he will fight.

It won’t look good if girls barged in here, and he stood up as a man desiring to seriously win.
Answering to that would be proper manners.

……Though I said that, as expected, he seemed to have received damage from the previous counter.
Though his attack was fast, it instead backfired.

The strength from the ebony sword, his own strength, and on top of that, my Skills 【Physical Strength Enhancement・Large】 and 【One-handed Sword・Sacred】.
He’s quite something to be able to even stand.

Fumu, he’s still inexperienced. No doubt with that.
However, if he really studiedbattles, he would probably become outrageously strong.

I could see that without a doubt.
His desire to win and him standing up, though wobbling, is also worthy of note.

I also don’t think he is bad, personality-wise.

I see, the person Sylphy’s marrying…… is perhaps a good person, huh.
It can’t be helped, I’ll approve of you.

「……You show quite the promise. But you’ll have to know your own strength more and refine your techniques.
Use this defeat to strengthen yourself!!!」

Let’s end this battle.
There’s a lot to talk about after that.

---

AN:

Thank you for reading as always.

Unexpectedly, I was honestly surprised by the comments.
As expected because of so many comments, I’ve uploaded my thoughts to those who reported activities.

Also, I hurriedly cut in today’s Alto’s POV which I originally cancelled.

Other than whether everyone can agree, I’d be happy if you can try to include it in the contents of the activity report.

Please take care of me from here on as well.

TL: Izzy

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