Althea: The Legendary Saintess [Shoujo]

*clap clap*

Adrian stood up from the spectator seats, applauding.

"All the battles were amazing. Especially Althea's fighting style was quite beautiful, don't you think? ...Well, the kids must be a bit tired. Come up here. ...Graham, you've been kind enough to train with us, so you deserve a reward, right?"

"Huh?"

"Graham, let's give you a reward. In 10 minutes from now, spar with Thomas. Of course, with wooden swords."

"Is that okay?"

Graham's face lit up. "Sure!"

"Huh..."

In contrast, Thomas grimaced. "Your Majesty, after sparring with His Highness and your son, I'm tired. And now you want me to fight Graham?"

"Exactly. Don't worry, I'll give you a 10-minute break. Oh, and you can use magic. But keep it to enchanting your sword, alright?"

"Ugh... understood. I'll take a 10-minute break then."

"Ah, and Thomas, don't you dare run away."

"Who's gonna run?!"

As they listened to Adrian's cheerful voice and Thomas's informal tone, Althea, Regalus, and Siegfried left the training ground with their respective attendants.

"Lady Althea, they said you were beautiful."

Althea smiled as Laila whispered happily to her. However, it seemed Regalus, who was walking a little ahead, heard it, and he responded, "Yeah... That's true. Even when she's fighting, Althea looks as graceful as a dancer... That's why I'm really worried."

Laila nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Althea, looking puzzled, said, "Huh? ...I don't really understand how fighting could be beautiful... And I'm just trying to get stronger to protect myself and not worry everyone, you know?"

Regalus and Laila sighed heavily.

"You really don't get yourself, Althea."

"...My sympathies, Lord Regalus. ...But don't worry, if there are any strange bugs, I'll shoo them away for you, so rest assured."

After expressing their unusually harmonious opinions, Regalus asked with a perplexed expression as Laila lightly tapped her chest, "What if they're not strange bugs?"

"...Wouldn't it be better if they weren't strange bugs??"

At that answer, Regalus glanced at Siegfried in the corner of his eye and sighed again.

"Sigh... I'm still worried..."

Muttering to himself, Regalus, who had been walking a little ahead, turned back as Siegfried said, "Reg, hurry up. Althea... might be tired, but let's be careful and hurry."

"Oh, yes."

Althea, who hadn't expected to be addressed, hurriedly caught up with Siegfried and Curio, closing the gap that had formed between them as they walked a bit faster.

Upon entering the spectator seats, they found Captain Graham already waiting in the training ground, not even waiting for the full 10 minutes.

"Welcome back."

Clara greeted Althea and Regalus with a smile.

"Where's Father?"

"Not here yet. ...Probably coming out exactly in 10 minutes."

Clara's response seemed to carry a hint of joy.

As Clara predicted, Thomas appeared at the training ground exactly 10 minutes later.

"Both of you are ready. First, some rules. You can use magic, but strictly limited to enchanting your swords. Body enhancement and pure offensive magic are prohibited... Understand, Graham?"

"Yes. I can use sword magic myself."

"Good. The end will come when one of you admits defeat or after 10 minutes. If there's a deadlock where neither yields, lightning will strike the corner of the training ground in 10 minutes. Once lightning strikes, the match ends promptly. ...Understood by both of you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then...――― Begin!!"

As Adrian's shout rang out, Graham lunged forward.

On the other hand, Thomas, while dodging Graham's attacks, didn't initiate any attacks himself... but his lips were moving. It seemed he was chanting a spell.

Meanwhile, Graham continued his relentless assault with the wooden sword in both hands. Upon closer inspection, it seemed Graham's lips were moving as well.

Thomas finished his incantation first.

His sword enveloped in wind, though it was just a wooden sword, transformed into a large club-like object. The sword, wrapped in wind, effortlessly deflected Graham's attacks.

Even Graham, whose wooden sword had been knocked away and rendered useless, seemed to have finished his incantation.

Both had their respective swords enveloped in magic and clashed fiercely.

Graham's wooden sword showed no particular changes, and Althea, unable to discern the magic being used, asked Clara sitting beside her.

"That's probably earth magic. It seems to disperse the opponent's attacks."

To think earth magic could do such a thing...

Impressed, Althea watched with bated breath the intense clash between Graham, the captain of the elite guards of this great nation, and her father, rumored to be powerful from various quarters.

Though the fierce clash continued, the battle concluded with Thomas's victory approximately seven minutes after both had finished their magic incantations.

"Incredible... Father is stronger than the captain?"

"He's arguably the strongest in this country. That's why His Majesty wants him to reside in the capital."

"Sir Hulank's magic was supposed to disperse attacks, right? Then why did Father's wind magic win?"

"That man... he wanted to finish it quickly, so he used advanced magic..."

Clara sighed, placing her hand on her cheek.

"Huh... Advanced...??"

"Yes, advanced. To endure for more than five minutes against that advanced wind magic with intermediate earth magic, I think Lord Hulank is the one who's truly remarkable."

Looking at the training ground, she saw Graham shaking hands with Thomas with a satisfied smile despite his defeat.

Graham seemed to say something to Thomas, who responded with an even happier expression.

When Althea and the others returned to the room, they found Thomas leaning back in a chair, seemingly resting straight after coming back from the training ground.

"Father, you were amazing. It was the first time I saw you fight seriously... It was really cool!"

Althea ran up to Thomas and showered him with praises.

Even though he was exhausted, Thomas smiled as he ruffled his daughter's hair in response to her praise.

"Althea, you were amazing too. Your coordination with Laila was excellent. As Lord Graham said, as long as you two are together, there's hardly anyone you can't defeat. ...So, promise me you'll always stick together from now on?"

"Of course, I intend to stay with Laila... But I want to become strong enough to fight alone, too."

"You're already strong enough alone. But together, you're like two and a half times as powerful."

"Two and a half times?"

"That's right. That's why Lord Graham had a hard time, didn't he?"

"Hard time... I could tell Father wasn't serious when I watched the fight..."

"No, he was quite serious. ...Well, he probably had some room for strategy... But he was serious. See, at first, Lord Graham was waiting for you to tire out. He probably thought, with those movements, and considering you're just girls, you'd last at most five minutes. He likely planned to lightly attack you once you ran out of energy. ...But you didn't tire out."

"...Because our Hanny always made us run before training, saying we needed stamina?"

Thomas nodded.

"That's right, thanks to Hanny. You didn't tire out, and you kept launching attacks with excellent coordination. So, he changed his tactics midway. He predicted your attack patterns and aimed for openings... At that moment, he was definitely serious. ...That's why he said you were 'unbelievable' for taking that serious attack with wooden swords instantly and defending against his attacks."

"...I see... So, that attack... was serious."

"It was you two who brought out Lord Graham's seriousness. You can be proud of that. ...And Regalus."

"Yes?"

"You've become stronger too."

"...But even with His Highness and me together, we couldn't match Father..."

"You fought for over ten minutes. And that's despite not having perfected your coordination yet, right? ...Regalus, you're still just a kid who hasn't even enrolled in school yet. For a kid like you to have such a fight... Frankly, I'm worried about your future."

Saying so, Thomas laughed.

"...Father, thank you. I'll continue to strive to surpass you someday."

Regalus bowed his head as if to hide his joy.