Gaharad returned shortly after Aiden spoke, and Aiden led Noboru in silence towards the practice armory. The practice armory was different from a normal armory in that all of the weapons inside were made of unsharpened wood, which, while they would still hurt, wouldn’t be lethal. “Good luck.” With that as his parting word, Aiden left Noboru to get ready.

Seems he isn’t planning on giving me any advice. Well, I may as well do my best. Noboru began looking around, searching for various equipment that he could use. In the end he settled for a wooden one and a half handed sword with light leather armor that emphasizes mobility. I’m not used to wearing armor so anything heavier would just be a hindrance. That said, this still feels weird. I hope I put it on correctly… Noboru, having never worn armor before, didn’t know exactly how to equip it. It’s unfortunate that I can’t find any shortswords, I guess they don’t use them in this kingdom? Whatever, I’m comfortable enough with this sword that I should be able to put on a decent showing.

Noboru checked all of his straps one more time before entering the arena. The arena was meant for 1 on 1 bouts that take place among the knight corps as a way of both practice and seeing how each knight fairs against each other. When Noboru exited, he saw the rest of the heroes, along with everyone else who was at the dinner, sitting on the stands that watched over the arena. It seemed that no one wanted to miss out on this spectacle. On the other side of the arena, Prince Harold was sporting a set of chain and leather armor, which offered more protection than Noboru’s own light armor, but was quite a bit heavier. There was one more person in the arena with them. A knight in full armor stood between the two, he held his hands up and beconned both of them towards him.

The referee, I’m guessing. Noboru’s speculation turned out to be spot on as the knight began to spout the rules of the duel as soon as both competitors were close enough to him.

“The rules are simple; No killing blows, no attacks that would destroy the spectator stands, you lose by either being unable to continue or surrendering. Understood?” The knight shot both Noboru and Prince Harold a look to make sure they understood before backing up to the referee’s stand. “The match will begin when I say so, to your positions.” Both Noboru and Harold both moved back towards their respective gates, before turning to look at each other once more. The distance between them was about thirty meters when the referee raised his hand above his head.

“The bout will begin in 3…”

Noboru loosened his slightly stiff joints, the leather straps of his armor slightly constricted his movement, but it was better than not wearing any armor at all. He drew his sword and let it hang limply at his side.

“2…”

Harold grinned, before pulling a large shield out from on his back. The shield blocked almost his entire body, leaving only the top of his head and below his ankles unprotected. Noboru narrowed his eyes at the sight, This will probably be troublesome. Just from looking at him I can tell he’s more defensive than offensive, and that shield will be hard to get through. Not to mention I have no idea what manipulation can do in this world.

“1…”

A sigh escaped Noboru’s lips as he readied his stance. He held his sword before him in a typical central kendo stance and closed his eyes. Well, no use worrying now. Just gotta do what I can. Besides, it’s just a friendly bout, it’s not like my life is on the line… I hope.

“Begin!” The knight dropped his outstretched arm, signaling the start of the match. Noboru began to move immediately, dashing towards Harold in an attempt to catch him off guard, but unfortunately for Noboru, the distance was too vast for that strategy to work.

“Haha! Time to eat dirt, hero!” The Prince yelled as he stomped the ground with his right foot, still from behind his shield. The ground rippled outwards, waves of earth that grew in size as they traveled assailed Noboru. Doesn’t this seem… familiar? Noboru, while confused, didn’t even seem hindered by the fluctuating ground under his feet, instead choosing to backstep and find an opening. However, something strange occurred. Noboru had backstepped with all of his might in order to get the maximum distance, but instead of traveling a mere meter backwards he traveled almost 10.

He looked at his feet in confusion. Is this a result of my stats? However, even with the increased distance he didn’t have much time to think, the earthen wave was rapidly approaching. The accidental leap backwards gave Noboru an idea, it was a strategy he had seen before to deal with attacks like this in Orochi’s games, but now he was going to do it in real life. Noboru ran towards the approaching attack, building his momentum rapidly, then, right before he was struck, he jumped. It was a simple strategy he had seen Orochi use countless times. When the boss stomps his feet and creates a shockwave, simply jump over it. Harold, who saw his opponent seemingly run into his attack, smugly smiled. In the end you just gave up and ran into my attack, huh. So much for being a hero. However his thoughts were abruptly halted when he saw the figure of his enemy leaping over his nearly 10 foot tall wave. His smug smile drooped slightly and his eyes widened, but he refused to show any fear. He recovered his confidence and once again shouted out to taunt Noboru. “Ha! You may have been able to withstand that but that’s not my only move. Ground beneath, hear my call! Gather together– Earthen Fall!” Noboru tilted his head slightly. He chanted the spell? Why didn’t he do that for the first one? Also, Earthen Fall? Is he going to conjure a pit, or perhaps make some ground fall on me? Noboru kept moving as he thought, trying to close the distance on the Prince. However the waves of earth were still being sent out from the earth underneath Prince Harold’s feet, while they were smaller since his distance was closer than before, they were still annoying to deal with so his progress was slow. Suddenly a dark shadow grew above Noboru. A piece of earth the size of a boulder was floating directly over his head.The earth fell directly on top of where Noboru was standing, kicking up dust in every direction.

“Ha! Take that! Even if you’re one of the Goddess’s Chosen you’re still no match for me!” The prince lowered his shield as he gloated. He was confident that Noboru was crushed under the rock. Of course, he was careful enough to not kill him, but he would be left with some pretty harsh injuries. That is, if he was ever hit by the rock. A sword flash from behind the Prince, the wooden blade placed against his neck.

“Looks like it’s my win, your Highness.” Noboru said, so it was making some ground fall on me. That’s kind of… lackluster to be honest. In reality, Noboru was nowhere close to being hit by that clump of earth, instead he made it seem like he was hit and used the dust cover along with what was left from the earth waves to maneuver around the Prince and into his blind spot. Honestly his attack style was like an NPC from one of those games that Orochi showed me, it was super linear and honestly not all that impressive, I mean I even used some of Orochi’s strategies. But then again, he is just a kid still, he’s probably still learning.

“Duel over! Winner: Noboru!” The referee finally announced Noboru as the winner. Applause broke out from the audience.

“Bravo bravo!”

“As expected from one of the heroes, that was quite a performance.”

“Good Job Noboru!”

Noboru smiled towards the stands and raised a hand in acknowledgment before turning back towards the Prince. He bowed deeply towards Prince Harold and spoke in an overly polite tone. “I thank you, Prince Harold, for going easy on me. I’m sure that against your true strength I would be no match. I thank you for the wonderful match.” The Prince sputtered for a moment before recovering his expression and smirking at Noboru.

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t just go and embarrass one of the Goddess’s Chosen, could I? But be sure to remember that I could beat you at any time, alright?” Harold quickly turned and left, not bothering to wait for a response.

“Phew.” A sigh of relief escaped Noboru’s lips. “What a troublesome person to deal with.” Noboru turned to walk back towards the gate he entered from, but was stopped by a sudden impact on his back. It wasn’t an attack, but a hug.

“Noboru! That was incredible! Like, totally awesome!” The arms that were wrapped around belonged to Akane, and her usual overly peppy tone was somehow even more peppy than normal, a smile that stretched from ear to ear upon her face.

“Akane, don’t just scare me like that.”

“Pfft, you weren’t even scared, don’t lie to me like that.'' Akane let Noboru go and maneuvered around to his front. “Besides, I don’t think anything I do would even make you flinch after what you did here.” She dropped her lower lip in a mock pout, but her eyes betrayed her real emotions. They were sparkling, and she was obviously happy that Noboru was the victor.

While she was mock pouting, the rest of the students arrived on the field. It seemed that Akane jumped straight from the stands while the others used the proper staircase to get inside the arena.

“Hey hey, like I knew you did martial arts but I didn't know you were that good! That was crazy!” Naoko was the first to speak up, obviously amazed at Noboru’s performance. Yuriko simply moved to Noboru’s side, she seemed happy that he was being praised. Orochi’s gaze lowered slightly, but he was used to this behavior from Yuriko.

Minori was the next to speak up. “What even was that? It was like you’ve fought someone who uses magic before.”

A voice from behind them spoke up. “Not magic, manipulation. Never get the two confused.” The students all turned, startled at the voice. The person who spoke was Aiden, he was standing almost directly behind Minori. “Anyways, that was a good fight Noboru. He” he pointed at Minori, “is correct, it did seem like you’ve fought manipulators before.”

Noboru scratched his head, “Well, he fought like those people from one of Orochi’s games, so it didn’t really surprise me.” Orochi was startled for a moment, not expecting to be brought up in this conversation. But after a brief moment of fright, he turned to contemplation.

“Come to think of it, you’re right Noboru. He fought like a typical NPC from any fantasy game with magic. From the A.O.E. to the targeted damage that’s simple to dodge, if it was a game he’d be a low level enemy.” Noboru shrugged his shoulders.

“See what I mean?”

Orochi raised his hands. “But that’s just a game, in real life it’s crazy that you were able to beat him without any sort of mag– ehm, I mean manipulation, of your own.”

Noboru once again shrugged his shoulders. “Well, while you are good in games, I’m good in real life.” He shot Orochi a playfully mocking wink. Orochi rolled his eyes in response, but a small smile was forming on his lips.

“Now then, all of you shoo. Noboru needs to get rid of his armor. You’ll see him when he goes back to the rooms.” Aiden began to push the students back towards the stands, and Noboru once more turned to exit the arena. Noone stopped him this time.

While Noboru was speaking with the students, an entirely different conversation was happening on the other side of the arena. While Prince Harold was unequipping his armor and shield, the King and Gaharad entered the room.

“Tsk.” The Prince clicked his tongue, “What do you want, father?”

The King didn’t answer, instead he just walked up to Prince Harold. The Prince looked up into the King’s eyes, but instead of seeing the eyes of his father, John, he saw the eyes of the country’s monarch. The unnaturally analytical gaze unnerved the Prince.

“Tell me, exactly, how he beat you. Do not leave a single thing out.”

The Prince grimaced, “You saw the fight father, in fact you probably had a better view than I did.”

King John sighed and shook his head, “That’s not what I mean. There’s a difference between spectator and combatant. Describe how you felt fighting him, tell me how he beat you, not why he beat you.”

“How? It was like fighting one of the veteran knights. His movement and decisions just screamed experience. To be honest, even if his stats were subpar, I don’t think I could win against him as I am now. It feels like he’s been fighting his whole life.”

The King nodded his head. “Gaharad, did you get that feeling too?”

The previously silent knight commander spoke up, “Yes, Your Highness. From what I witnessed, he would be a difficult opponent for even me to face. And he’s only going to get stronger.” Gaharad bowed slightly towards the King. “If I may…” King John motioned for him to continue. “Thank you. Considering the circumstances, we have two options to deal with him.” Gaharad paused for a moment, making sure he had both the King’s and Prince’s attention. “Noboru, the tenth, has always been a threat to our system, however after today he cannot be considered a small fry. He’s to be thought of as on par with the most wanted criminals in our country. But we cannot just get rid of him. The nine heroes all trust him, that much is obvious to see. So, that brings me to my two recommendations…”

As Gaharad spoke, the King and Prince’s smiles both grew larger and larger. By the end of his talk, the King’s eyes were sparkling in delight. “Yes, that will work. Set it into motion.” He chuckled, a light hearted laugh, which spread to his son. “Soon, we will be rid of the two biggest thorns in our side, and with no cost of our own.” His chuckle grew into a full blown laugh that echoed throughout the room. The celebrating students had no idea what nefarious plan was coming their way.