Published at 21st of January 2023 10:53 am

Chapter 286: It's A Bother Though

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

「Seii!」

Eleonora-neesan throws a fireball at me.

The fireball hit the Shield I put up in front of me, scattering flames around.

So apparently, the attack from before was not an accident, and Eleonora-neesan has gained control, power, and range of her magic with her arm’s strength.

Although, it doesn’t have the outrageous power like her sword strike.

This level of power of magic won’t be able to break through my Shield.

「There’s no end to this if I attack from distance!」

Maybe she thought that she was making no progress by attacking with magic from afar, Eleonora-neesan tries to close the distance as she starts to run toward me.

And outrageously, her speed is faster than the thrown fireball. I wonder what it’s like to be faster than magic.

I cast Earth magic again while doing a tsukkomi inside my mind. The sand under my feet moves and I - who is on top of the sand - also move along with the sand.

Nonetheless, even with the speed of the flat escalator, it’s still not a match for the speed of running Eleonora-neesan. The sand is moving backward, but the other side is fast so our distance quickly closes.

「I won’t let you run away!」

There is nothing scarier than the fact that Eleonora-neesan getting closer to me.

I desperately try to raise the speed of the moving sand but then I realized that there is no need for me to move myself.

I cast Earth magic on the wide sandy ground where Eleonora-neesan is located. Then I move the sand away from me.

「This is the thing you used against Eric before isn’t it!」

The sand underneath her feet is moving backward, but Eleonora-neesan doesn’t care about it as she continues to dash forward. What a muscle-brained move.

However - different from Eric -, she even surpasses the speed of the sand I manipulated and is gradually closing in.

If she reaches her top speed, then she will approach me at this rate.

Realizing that, I start to raise the sand under Eleonora-neesan’s feet in succession.

「Kuhh!」

Then the quick-witted and agile Eleonora-neesan takes evasive movements in response to that.

Now if she did that, she won’t be able to move forward or increase her speed.

Eleonora-neesan gradually backs up.

Fufufu, if she can run at a fast speed then I’ll just make it so that she can’t run fast. The never-ending running I thought won’t be able to block Eleonora-neesan actually works, isn’t it?

「Hey Al! Just what have you been doing! Do a more honest attack will you!」

The distance between opponents is a matter of life and death for a magician. There’s nothing wrong in putting emphasis on that.

It is important to be in a situation where you can attack the opponent at a safe spot. It is my turn now.

I don’t really want to use attack magic that much, but I’ll just try to use it for the time being.

I face the running Eleonora-neesan and shoot a fireball with adjusted power.

Immediately after that, Eleonora-neesan pulls out her wooden sword and she takes a stance, then she cuts it.

With that action alone, my fireball was erased.

「Rightー, if it’s Eleonora-neesan, this level of the fireball will just be slicedー」

When I mutter with a feeling similar as though I am resigned to that fact, for some reason, Eleonora-neesan happily raised her voice.

「That’s it! That kind of magic!」

It’s kinda scary being happy over a fireball being shot at you, but I understand that Eleonora-neesan wants an attack that is more magician-like.

But, I have no obligation to answer her expectation.

I shoot a similar Fire magic’s fireball at her. Then, Eleonora-neesan stands ready with her wooden sword and tries to intercept the fireball, but I make the fireball drop a bit right in front of her.

The fireball then exploded, flashily scattering sand everywhere.

「Buhaa! He, hey wait! Make your fireball fly properly!」

Eleonora-neesan will just cut my magic with her wooden sword even if you aim at her normally. And so, it would be very effective to raise a cloud of sand to blind her like this. I have a feeling that I’ve learned a good method to shoot fireballs.

I create fireballs in succession. Then I continue to send them flying toward the area surrounding Eleonora-neesan and blow up the sand on that place.

As expected, she probably can’t dodge or cut something like a cloud of sand scattering over a wide area.

Eleonora-neesan’s slows down while covering her face with her arm.

Now Eleonora-neesan is unable to run and move closer anymore.

On the other hand, I only pick up the speed of my attacks as I attack one-sidedly from afar, without moving even one step. Wonderful. I knew it, this should be the true value of a magician.

The match will later be over if I just crush her with the mass of sand and got her exhausted, isn’t it?

Just as I have that kind of optimistic thought, I sensed that my sixth sense sounded a warning in my mind.

The next moment, the waves of sand that I manipulated broke all at once, and a shockwave that can be called a slashing attack came straight at me.

After confirming that, I dodge it to the side with a sidestep.

Then, a cutting line went past the place where I used to be as it was cleanly hollowed out.

This is Eleonora-neesan’s slashing attack.

……not good. That slashing attack from Eleonora-neesan just now, it made a road and blew away the sand all the way to my place in one breath.

There is no way for Eleonora-neesan going to pass this chance now. I manipulate the sand again in a fluster, trying to return them to the previous state, but Eleonora-neesan already break into a run before I could do that.

Her speed is exceptionally faster than when she was caught in the running machine at the start. She uses her specialty of Body Strengthening and runs at an astonishing speed in my direction.

Even when I try to manipulate the sand underneath her feet to entangle her, Eleonora-neesan’s speed is too fast that the sand can’t catch up to her, and I can’t even predict where her feet would land on the ground next.

Before I know it, the distance I had maintained using magic has shortened, and Eleonora-neesan was approaching in front of me.

The swinging wooden sword is being swung in a flowing-like manner.

Should I dodge it by some means? Or should I use Shield or Earth magic to defend against it?

No, I should keep my distance here!

The moment Eleonora-neesan step on the ground with her right foot, I cast Earth magic on her feet. Due to the slightly backward-moving ground, Eleonora-neesan’s position also went back.

Immediately after that, the trajectory of the wooden sword being swung at me obviously also changes, and so the sword passes around ten centimeters right in front of my nose.

That’s terrifying, but I endure it and cast Earth magic to make an arm of sand.

Both of Eleonora-neesan’s ankle was grabbed so she can’t move out of the way, then I stick out my right arm in front of me and create a fireball.

「There, bangー」

When I said that, Eleonora-neesan’s shoulder trembled for an instant, maybe she was scared.

And then, when she understands that the fireball in front of her won’t fly at her, - perhaps she was embarrassed or frustrated for being tricked - Eleonora-neesan’s expression becomes stern in a flash.

「……what’s this?」

Her expression is scary, and her tone is also low.

「Even if you ask ‘what’, I mean, the match is over with thisー」

「Over or whatever, I haven’t got attacked yet!」

Err, you’re certainly right, but is it really necessary to go that far in a spar? I mean, it’s quite difficult to adjust the effective magic attack if I were to use it at this distance.

It’s fine to shoot a fireball as a bluff, but it will cause harm even to myself if it were to be used at such a close distance so I can’t use it. It will also be fine to use Water magic to cover up her face but it will be troubling if she acts violently afterward, and I also feel awkward using Earth magic to make a Stone bullet and knock her down.

Besides, knocking her down might be fine, but there’s the possibility that Eleonora-neesan will rise and start charging again so it’s better to end it here with the feeling that I caught her off guard like this.

「Eleonora, don’t complain now」

I wonder when she approached us, Elna-kaasan comes with Nord-tousan.

「Butー...」

「You only got beaten this time. It’s a spar anyway, so you can just win next time, right」

「.....all right」

Being admonished by Nord-tousan, Eleonora-neesan finally calms down.

That’s great. It’s going to be bothersome if she complained and asks something like, if I can still spar with her.

「Al, I won’t lose next time」

If I were to answer 「Yeah」 here, it might turn out to be a rematch later so I keep silent.

Immediately after that, Eleonora-neesan’s expression turns sullen and she approaches me without hesitation.

「Why are you not answering?」

「I mean, it’s bothersome and I don’t want to do it」

「Haa? What’s that!? You like magic, don’t you?」

When I answer her decisively like that, Eleonora-neesan asks me in surprise.

「'Liking to use magic' and 'liking to use magic to fight' are completely different matters. And so, I don’t like to fight」

I certainly like magic, but just because of that doesn’t mean that I also liked to use magic to fight. However, from Eleonora-neesan’s perspective, she doesn’t seem to understand it as she’s taken aback with her mouth open.

Hmmー, comparatively speaking Eleonora-neesan likes things that got to do with weapons, and anything related to a fight. So people who like something will have slightly different outlooks between them.

Oh well, I guess I will think about it if they were to cut down the time for sword practice or voluntary practice.

I mean, magic training is easier after all.

Share