The Priest of Complete Dispel ~ Every Time I Save a Cursed Beautiful Girl with My Status Abnormal Cure Skill, For Some Reason Her Dependence on Me Maxes Out ~

Chapter 77: Practice Match (2)

“Seira—let me ask you one thing. Do you know anything about that kid named Shu?”

“I haven’t reported his name to you yet, Commander.”

After seeing the sword pressure that blew an A-class student away in one hit, Berkhart turned to Seira and asked.

“It’s about the Bulldog incident in Hares.”

“…Right, the report said it ballooned into a huge mess that dragged in ordinary women and even high-rank adventurers. The inquisition was still pending at that point, wasn’t it?”

Berkhart already had the broad outline.

But the details hadn’t reached him yet.

“That’s him… well, not just him, but—because Shu was there, both that incident and the dungeon break got resolved.”

“Hm… They say ten thousand monsters came flooding in. That’s a number that’s hard to swallow straight away.”

Berkhart furrowed his brow.

But Seira just quietly shook her head.

“Anyone would doubt it. But I saw it with my own eyes. During that one month in Hares, and even on the journey to the royal capital, we had several practice matchs—and I never won once. The other squad members were the same.”

“Figures… This morning when I challenged him, I could feel it. He was wrapped in a strength that common sense can’t explain. And even in a pure power contest, he was way outside the norm.”

“Damn… this morning?”

“Yeah. Wooden swords, three bouts. I lost every single one.”

“Putting a black mark on the Commander’s record… Shu really is something else.”

Seira didn’t sound frustrated at all—her voice carried a kind of quiet pride instead.

Berkhart was called the strongest temple knight in the whole country. For a man like that to admit defeat—Seira understood exactly how heavy those words were.

“If you’re curious about his background, ask him yourself. I know some things… but I’m not gonna go spilling about him behind his back.”

“A guy Seira trusts that much… now I’m even more interested.”

Berkhart’s lips curved up just a little.

His right hand was already gripping the hilt of his sword tightly, like he was checking its feel.

◇◇◇

“Shu-kun…!”

“Canaan—damn, you’re wrecked. Heal.”

“W-waaah…!”

After that A-class guy got slammed into the wall, a little time passed before Canaan’s practice match finally ended. She came staggering over to me on shaky legs.

She’d definitely lost. She was still conscious, but she could barely stand, so I immediately hit her with recovery magic.

“Amazing… this Heal really is… way too good…”

“If you train, you’ll be able to use it properly too, Canaan.”

“R-really…?”

“You’ve got that father’s blood in you, right?”

“Ah… so you already noticed.”

“While you were all starry-eyed over Seira, he came up and talked to me. Said ‘Take care of Canaan for me.’”

“Ehh!? Dad did!? Ugh, so embarrassing… wait, Shu-kun! Even you can’t just call Seira-sama by her first name like that!?”

…Seriously?

Just like Seira warned, I’d better watch how I talk or it’s gonna cause trouble.

“O-okay… Seira-sama…”

“Yup! As long as you get it, that’s fine!”

Damn it, why do I have to stick “-sama” on Seira?

At the very least, I absolutely don’t wanna do it when she’s right in front of me…

After that, all the practice matchs in our group finished, and the next group’s matches wrapped up too.

Normally the next one should’ve been Seira versus Berkhart, but—

“Hey, Sensei. Let me fight that guy… the special-class kid.”

“Hm? You mean Shu-kun? We do still have a bit of time left, but…”

The A-class guy who’d just beaten the crap out of Gaits raised his voice toward the teacher.

Pure provocation. He must’ve watched the earlier fight.

“Sensei, I’m fine with it.”

“Really… Alright then, just this once.”

And so I ended up in a practice match with the guy who beat Gaits.

It wasn’t exactly revenge, but every single thing that came out of his mouth pissed me off.

For some reason this match got special treatment—everyone else stopped so it was just me and him, one-on-one, standing in the center of the training ground.

Every eye in the place was on us. Honestly, it felt kinda awkward.

“Both sides ready—Begin!”

At the teacher’s signal the fight started.

Just like with Gaits, the guy didn’t move right away—he was watching how I’d act.

“I don’t know what trick you used to beat my classmate, but that crap isn’t gonna work on me.”

Trick? I literally just swung a wooden sword.

No magic, no skills. Definitely no demon arts either.

“Hey small-fry, come at me already.”

“You… small-fry is you, asshole!!”

Looks like his taunt resistance is pretty low.

He regripped his wooden sword and charged while yelling.

Side sweep. Had power behind it, but sloppy.

I caught it with my own wooden sword and pushed back lightly.

He flew backward to make distance, then came rushing in again.

I matched him and swung a bit harder this time.

“—Gotcha.”

But he twisted his wrist nicely, parried my sword, and threw a counter.

Same move he’d shown against Gaits.

Up close, you could really tell.

This was close to the swordsmanship Berkhart showed me this morning.

But—way, way slower.

“Gah!?”

I twisted my body and dodged the counter that should’ve been unavoidable by a hair’s breadth.

Then I slammed a fairly strong hit into his wide-open side.

“Gu…gh…!”

It landed hard. He folded over, choking on his breath, unable to move.

“Hii… Heal!”

Suddenly he started casting recovery magic on himself.

I glanced at the teacher beside me. The teacher gave a small nod.

—Special permission, huh?

Normally these practice matchs were swordsmanship only.

But if he’s using magic, then I shouldn’t get complaints for using anything besides swordsmanship, right?

“You…!”

Pain apparently gone, he charged again.

But his movements looked even sloppier now, and painfully slow.

“Uoooooh!!”

I just hooked his ankle lightly.

With that momentum he went flying face-first into the dirt.

“What’s wrong? I’m the small-fry, aren’t I? Get up already.”

“You… bastard…! There’s no way an A-class… loses to some special-class…!!”

When emotions run high, movements get simple and predictable.

I remembered what the old man said.

In an excited state, motions get big and the sword tip clearly lags.

That leaves one perfect opening.

The moment he raised the sword way up, I swung my wooden sword down at the wrist holding the grip.

“Ga…!!?”

He couldn’t take the pain—his wooden sword dropped.

No weapon left in his hands.

“…This one’s for Gaits.”

He didn’t say he gave up.

Then I didn’t have to hold back.

I drove a solid hit—not full power, but plenty strong—into his torso.

“—Guu!?”

His body bent like a V and he flew all the way to the wall of the training ground.

After that, total silence.

“…That’s enough!”

The teacher’s stopping voice rang out.

““Uoooooooh!!””

Right then, cheers exploded from all over the training ground.

Obviously, it wasn’t the A-class students cheering.

“Who the hell is that guy!?”

“I heard he just transferred into the special class!”

“No way… that guy’s never lost once…”

“Shu-kun, you’re amazing!!”

Most of the voices were praise coming from B-class.

Maybe they’d been holding some resentment or grudge against A-class too.

“—Then next, I’ll be your opponent.”

“B-Berkhart-sama!?”

A clear voice rang out and Berkhart drew the knight sword at his waist, stepping in front of me.

The teacher’s eyes went wide in shock.

“This morning was wooden swords… How about real blades this time?”

“You sure? If my arm drops off, don’t blame me. I’d rather not show that in front of Canaan, though.”

“Fahaha, you talk big. —Don’t worry. I’ve got Holy Armor. You won’t cut through me that easily.”

“What? So demon arts are allowed?”

“If I don’t go this far, I don’t think I can beat you.”

The crowd stirred. Some A-class students were healing the downed guy while everyone else pulled back, giving us space in a loose circle.

“Sensei, is this really okay to allow?”

“I-if Berkhart-sama says it’s fine… More importantly, Shu-kun, are you alright?”

He was probably worried I’d get sliced up.

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Just so you know, this training ground has a barrier up at all times, so damage won’t leak to the spectator seats or outside… but still, keep it reasonable…”

Sounded like they had barrier magic like the kind Iris uses.

Then I should be fine using magic too.

“Get the students to back up more. They’re way too close.”

The excited crowd had half-surrounded us to watch Berkhart’s practice match.

At that distance, someone could easily get caught in the crossfire.

I asked the teacher and got everyone moved back.

“—Alright then, Shu. Shall we begin?”

“Yeah. Don’t hold back this time.”

“Fufu… You noticed, huh.”

He obviously hadn’t gone all out this morning—of course not.

But now it was real swords, and he was even bringing demon arts.

I drew the long sword I’d brought with me.