The Practical Exam and the “Farmer’s” Strength
The Hero Academy’s Practical Exam was a round-robin tournament where students were divided into groups of six.
Each match lasted about five minutes on average.
Since we were in a group of six, we could have just split into three pairs of two and fought simultaneously, but perhaps due to Reina’s influence, or maybe she just found the situation amusing, everyone else seemed intent on watching the match between me and Reina’s knight, Ellen.
Ellen held a real sword, likely made of Mithril, at the ready.
Facing her, I held an iron Scythe in my right hand and an iron Hoe in my left. …From an outsider’s perspective, this situation might look rather surreal and amusing.
“…What are those weapons? Are you looking down on me?”
“I’m a Farmer, you see. This is my strongest equipment.”
“Is that so? I’ll make you regret that insolent remark!”
Ellen stepped forward, bringing her sword down in a slow, diagonal slash. So slow. Well, she just got her profession, and right now, Ellen probably hasn’t even reached level 10.
I lightly sidestepped, and as Ellen swung her sword down, I brought my Scythe down lightly onto it.
“‘Magic Infusion’からの ‘Grass Cutting’.” (From ‘Magic Infusion’ into ‘Grass Cutting’)
Kiiiing! With a high-pitched metallic sound, Ellen dropped her Mithril sword.
Without pause, I pressed the tip of my Scythe against the side of Ellen’s neck. Ellen froze, realizing I could cut her carotid artery if I wished.
Looking at the fallen sword, I saw a cut mark from the Scythe halfway through it. With this much damage, the sword could be considered destroyed. Repairs would likely be difficult.
An awkward atmosphere settled over the place due to how anticlimactically the match had ended.
“This match is my win, right?”
“Eh, ah. Ahh. One win for Haito-kun. One loss for Ellen-kun, then.”
At those words, I lowered my Scythe. Ellen walked back towards Reina, looking as though she’d lost all confidence.
“My deepest apologies, Reina-sama.”
“…Ellen. Don’t be so downhearted. I hear Haito possessed the strength to overwhelm apprentice knights even at the age of five. It can’t be helped that you couldn’t defeat the current Haito.”
Reina offered Ellen words that could be taken as either encouragement or rubbing salt in the wound, spoken gently. Ellen cried at Reina’s words.
Was she frustrated by the loss, or sad about her own inadequacy? I couldn’t tell Ellen’s feelings, but I reflected that perhaps winning so easily like that was a bit childish of me.
“Haito. As always… no, you seem to have gotten even stronger than before.”
“Well, yeah. But you’ve gotten stronger too, haven’t you, Reina?”
Perhaps because I had utterly crushed Ellen, no one reprimanded me for dropping the honorific when addressing Reina now. Reina looked slightly amused, smiling.
“Indeed. Today is the day I finally beat you black and blue, Haito!”
“…You look incredibly strong right now, Reina. I’d appreciate it if you went easy on me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
The instant she spoke, Reina swung a pale gold Greatsword down at me.
“…Whoa, close!”
I instinctively jumped back far to dodge. What was that about a speed penalty? She’s ridiculously fast!?
Well, obviously, I know that the speed at which a weapon is swung depends on attack power, not agility. But still, with this sword speed, any disadvantage Reina might have had from being slow was completely unnoticeable.
And this was without her Thunder Dragon… The Dragon Knight Princess is seriously insane. But…
“‘Tillage: Lotus Root Field’.”
I thrust the Hoe in my left hand into the ground, forming a mud pit deep enough to reach Reina’s knees around her feet. Right now, Reina was ultimately without her Thunder Dragon, and her weapon was an Orichalcum sword, not her Thunder Sword.
Orichalcum was certainly strong equipment, but without the attack power-dependent lightning strikes, Reina wasn’t that strong yet.
“‘Seeding’.”
I scattered some random seeds onto the soil of the Lotus Root Field that was holding Reina in place, creating an instant thicket. Reina was temporarily immobilized.
“Something like this!!”
Reina swung her Greatsword wildly, mowing down the grass. …Yeah, the Seeding magic is pretty weak without that. However, my level is 17. ‘Farmers’ learn one new spell upon reaching level 15.
I raised my left hand towards Reina, who was still sluggishly trying to escape the muddy Lotus Root Field while swinging her Greatsword.
“Reina, did you know? ‘Farmers’ are reasonably strong even in a straight fight, but they can also become quite capable with magic, you know?”
“Magic? I’ve never heard of ‘Farmer’ magic.”
Well, that figures. Because nobles and royalty discriminate against Farmers, they aren’t taught much about them. Plus… I found out through research that ordinary ‘Farmers’ in this world apparently have very low maximum MP.
So, even if they learn magic, they rarely get a chance to use it, or so I heard.
However, I’m different. Using my JRO knowledge, I’ve properly trained both my MP and magic power.
“The divine roar that descends upon the earth to signal the ripening of the rice. That is ‘Lightning’!”
“Anh!”
Bzzzt! Something like a thin spark struck Reina. She let out a strangely sensual cry. ‘Lightning,’ the beginner Thunder-element spell learned by Farmers.
Its voltage barely reached 10,000 volts. The damage was comparable to the pain of accidentally pricking your finger with a sewing needle.
For reference, a stun gun is apparently around 50,000 to 1,000,000 volts.
The spell, which was so weak in JRO that I couldn’t figure out any use for it, had almost no effect on Reina, aside from making her let out that slightly sensual cry.
Reina, her face slightly flushed, cleared her throat.
“…Haito, what is this magic?”
“…According to one theory, applying this level of electric shock can apparently promote the cultivation of shiitake mushrooms. Maybe it’s magic for that?”
“…Is that so?”
Apparently, some shiitake factories in Japan actually include a process of applying static electricity… or so the JRO theorycrafters said.
So please, Reina. Stop looking at me with such judging eyes.
Reina sighed, exasperated, and started walking towards me… then suddenly swung her Greatsword. I dodged, smoothly slipped behind her, and gently placed the blade of my Scythe against her neck.
“…I lost again today, didn’t I? How frustrating.”
“But that last strike was seriously good, you know.”
It genuinely caught me off guard. In player-versus-player combat, exploiting the gaps in your opponent’s attention is what decides victory or defeat. Concepts like ‘cowardice’ don’t exist there.
Reina occasionally pulls things like this, which makes her interesting.
“Instructor. It’s my loss, so…”
“Ah, ahh. E-Even Reina-sama gets a loss. Even if he’s a ‘Farmer,’ the Marquis’s child prodigy is still going strong, isn’t he…?”
The instructor muttered this, looking over at me.
By now, the atmosphere was such that no one present would dare mock me for being a ‘Farmer’.
After all, I had defeated not only Ellen but even Reina.
As far as my JRO knowledge went, there were no characters among this year’s Hero Academy first-years stronger than Reina. And now that I had defeated her, the strongest first-year was undoubtedly me.
After that, I fought the other three members of the group and ended up winning all matches easily.
Incidentally, the match between Reina and Ellen had ended with Reina winning quite decisively.