Chapter 306: I see.

Captain Liegan's fist hurdled towards Haru's face as he looked the other way. But as he felt her intent to attack him, the world around them both seemed to slow down. Her attack was both weak and slow as she didn't envelope it with mana, and Haru felt as though he could dodge it with ease.

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But that wasn't good enough. Since she had the spirit of catching him off guard with a sucker punch, he didn't see the harm in embarrassing her a little. So instead of dodging, Haru brought his hand up and caught her punch in the palm of his hand.

The sound of her fist striking against flesh made a few of the soldiers flinch as though they thought that she managed to hit him in the face. But as they looked back, they soon realised that Haru was holding his hand in front of his face and clenching her fist.

"How did you just? Never mind. Let's see how you deal with this!" Captain Liegan said as she wondered how Haru could tell that she was going to punch him. Because she thought that it would be nearly impossible to block a punch that he didn't know was coming.

But instead of admitting defeat, she decided to go for another attack but this time tried to kick him in the chest while tugging on her hand to break free. But once again, time slowed around Haru as she attempted to kick him. Her attacks were simply too slow to be a threat to him, but she didn't stop.

So once again, he decided to embarrass her. Instead of dodging the attack or letting go of her hand like she expected he would, Haru decided to use a body enhancing spell to protect his body from her kick.

[Protective shell]

Manna rushed through the inside of his body before stopping under the skin of his torso to protect his body from her kick.

Captain Liegan's foot hit Haru in the ribs, but he remained standing and holding her hand in front of his face. She looked at him with a worried expression since she thought that she would have the upper hand for sure. But it seemed as though she was outclassed all together.

The rest of the soldiers all looked up at Haru with admiration as he was the first person within the whole battalion that had managed to block not one but two attacks from Captain Liegan. She had a reputation for being undebatable in hand to hand combat but for the soldiers that were watching. It started to look like that was going to change.

'How does he know where I'm going to attack? Has he been using a spell this whole time? I bet he is using eyes of truth, isn't he? Well, two can play that game.' Captain Liegan thought before gathering mana around her eyes.

[Eyes of truth]

The spell activated, causing a slight yellow tint around her iris. It appeared that she was getting desperate to win, so Haru let go of her hand. He just wanted to embarrass her a little, not piss her off, and he thought that there wasn't much point in making her hate him.

But as soon as he let go of her hand, she tried to punch him again, but this time she used a spell to strengthen her attack. She was aiming to injure Haru with the punch, so once again, he blocked it with his hand while using the same spell to make it look like he needed mana to protect himself, but in reality, even her strongest attacks would be a threat.

Captain Liegan looked defeated as her attack was blocked once again by Haru.

"Come on. I thought you were supposed to be a combat instructor? Is this really all you've got?" Haru whispered to her. He didn't want her to give up so easily without giving him away to let her win.

Despite the fact that she tried to sucker punch him, Haru thought that he would still feel awful if he outright defeated her without a bit of a struggle, but quite frankly, he didn't want to win, so he hoped that she would do something else so he could act as she beat him.

But after hearing Haru's words, it made her feel infuriated.

'He's clearly stronger than me. But he still has the nerve to mock me!? How dare him!' She thought before grabbing Haru's wrists and twisting her arm around, and then bending down to flip him up into the air.

Haru smiled lightly as he knew that she was going for a Judo throw, so he decided to help her a little. He jumped up in the air as she pulled his arm, making it easier for her to move him and successfully slam him to the ground.

The sand around Haru flew up into the air as his back struck the ground.

'Finally. I thought that she was going to let me embarrass her all day. At least now she can keep her pride. I just hope that she doesn't target me in the future now.' Haru thought as the rest of the soldiers started to laugh.

"That's what he gets for thinking that he can actually go up against the Captain. All she needed to do was get a little bit serious, and he ended up like the rest of us." One of the soldiers shouted out as Haru pretended to groan in pain.

But as soon as he did, Captain Liegan ran over to him and knelt down beside him to check if he was okay, which came as a shock to the rest of the soldiers since she never showed that much compassion when she injured anyone else.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she rolled Haru onto his back to get a look at him.

"Yeah, I will be fine. You just knocked the air out of me, that's all." Haru grunted as he held his stomach and pretended to be in pain.

"Okay, well, let me take you to the infirmary just to make sure that there aren't any other injuries." Captain Liegan said as she grabbed Haru's arm and helped him to his feet. Haru didn't say anything else as he put his arm over her shoulder and leaned against her while faking a limp as she took him back to the base and took him into the infirmary.

Haru sat down on the edge of one of the beds since the nurse wasn't in there when they arrived. Captain Liegan then sat down beside him and rested her head on her hands for a minute before looking back up at Haru.

"Why did you do it?" She asked without any context of what she was talking about, which confused Haru slightly since he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Why did I do what?" Haru asked as he tried to seem as inconspicuous as he possibly could.

"Come on. Don't play stupid. We both know that you are clearly a lot stronger than me. Yet you decided to let me win. Tell me, why did you do it?" Captain Liegan asked, seeing right through his act.

'I thought that was pretty good acting. I guess it wasn't good enough though,' Haru thought to himself before standing up since he no longer had to hide that he wasn't actually hurt.

"Well, I felt terrible. You seemed determined to win, and I didn't want to make the other soldiers question your authority. I have been here for less than twenty-four hours while you have been leading this battalion, probably at least a few years.

I would just feel wrong coming here and flipping the hierarchy over something like this. I just thought that it was better to let you keep the respect that you earned as a combat instructor." Haru explained since there wasn't much use in hiding his intentions anymore. But when he finished, Captain Liegan didn't say anything. She just stared at the floor for a few minutes.

"I see." She said with a sigh as she continued to look down.

"While I appreciate the thought. I'm not going to thank you. You don't know how much trouble it is trying to teach people to fight who are unwilling to learn. I have been trying for years, yet not a single one of them is interested.

They would much rather be practising spells and such. I just felt like maybe you would understand. You and I are similar, after all. Being body enhancing mages means that we can't use other spells that well, so I thought that you would be with me when the Major asked you to help me.

But then you refuse, and when you see that you are stronger than me, you pitty me. I don't know how I should feel about this, but I can tell you that it doesn't feel good. I thought that I might be able to get along with you since we are in the same boat. But it seems like you are just the same as everyone else. You are just pitying me because I can't use external spells or because I am weaker than them.

If you don't want to attend the combat classes anymore, then don't. I don't care anymore." Captain Liegan said with a shaky voice and then sighed before turning her back to him.

'I guess I misunderstood her. I didn't mean for it to turn out like this. I just didn't want her to target me because I beat her.' Haru thought as she continued o walk through the room before reaching the door.

"Fine. I will help you with instructing the other soldiers. I misunderstood your intentions. I'm sorry." Haru called out from the bed as she reached out towards the door handle.