Chapter 7: Sparring

Finally, the time has come. It has been a month since school started and Angela, Kayla, and I became a party.

We did quests a day and have a break the next day. We did it for a month already. Our formation is I'm the vanguard, then Kayla the healer in the middle, and Angela behind. We are a perfect team even if we are all beginner level. Even the teamwork of those two already enough to take care of a few orcs.

The time has come… for the school event! It's an event where the school ask the students to pair up and spar in front of the teachers to show them how much we grow.

Which means this is the day where I met my nodding friend! The friend who will nod at each other whenever we met without ever speaking at all. Now then, let's go look for the guy before someone snatched him. Then after today, we will start our nodding at each other whenever we met.

"Roy! Let's pair up!"

"You are not the nodding friend!"

"What?"

Oops! Angela looks surprised when I shouted at her. Well, this is one of the day that I've been waiting for since I returned back in time, so when she suddenly called out to me, I got annoyed.

"Sorry. I thought you are someone else," I made a crappy excuse why I shouted. Then I continued "Why aren't you partnered with Kayla?"

"She's with the healer team. You don't want to be with me?"

"It's not that. I thought that you will be together. Then… please take care of me."

With a heavy heart, I agree to spar with her. Which means there will be no nodding friend in this life. What a shame.

"Hey—pretty Angela! Will you be my partner on this dance?"

Uwaah… here come the annoying son of a noble… What a pain in the ass. Let's leave before he become hostile with me.

"What a pest. He's been coming at me ever since school started."

"I don't need any story about him. I'll just leave things for you to take care of. I'll go get someone else to be my sparring partner."

"No you don't!"

She grabbed my arm and stopped me from running away.

"I'm sorry. We already agreed to be partner today."

Then I whispered to her so the noble kid won't hear me.

"You should have said 'Okay, Sure'. If you don't say that, then he will be hostile to me!"

"I'll take care of it."

Then she looked at the guy and said the following.

"Well, I don't mind changing partner. As long as I can get a living target, anyone will do."

"Urgh… since you already have partner, then I will leave."

He turned his gaze at me for a moment and turns back to leave.

"What do you mean you'll take care of it? Don't you see he's still hostile with me?"

"That can be taken care of during the spar."

"You mean you're gonna aiming for my life?!"

"I know you. You can either dodge or block anything I throw at you."

"You're evil!"

And soon, the sparring began. We are the last one to have our spar.

Everyone did their best. Kayla also seems to be working hard to heal the students' injuries. She's well known for her healing magic and her beauty which comparable to Angela. In fact, in this school, the two of them are the talk of the whole school. Many men are aiming for the two of them. Even the young male teachers.

In my past life, only Angela is popular. That's because Kayla should be dead already. I've changed the fate of two people already after returning back to the past. It could be more than two if I think of those who are indirectly affected by these two.

There will be one other person whose beauty also comparable with these two, but she will only come to this city in three months. She will be one of the teacher here, not a student. And she's also one of the people I know who has extreme hostility against the cult. But she's not here yet so there's no point in telling about her yet.

Finally, it's our turn to spar in front of everyone. Angela is well-known at school for her powerful Fire magic. As for other element, she only shows other people about her Wind magic. For Ice and Earth magic, she decided to keep them as secret just like I told her to. Which means, she will only use fire and wind in this spar.

As for me, everyone already know that I'm just a useless summoner with a slime. They already predict the result of our battle before when they saw us being paired. And I will make their prediction a correct one.

"Begin!"

The teacher has signaled the start of the battle.

"Blobby! I choose you!"

It's not like I have other summon.

Blobby changed form from my wristband into her usual blob appearance. After getting used with her, I thought that carrying a cane is too conspicuous. Turning her into a wrist band is a much better choice since I can transform her instantly into a sword or a shield to attack or defense depending on the situation. If I keep carrying a cane, it will be obvious to other that the cane is my summoned monster since I can just walk normally.

"Blobby! Use Body Slam!"

Blobby then charged forward as I instructed. She charged directly toward Angela and she's already prepared to cast her magic.

"Fireball."

"Blobby!"

Blobby didn't take any damage, but she's knocked back again toward me.

"Alright… you wo-"Fireball!" WAAH! I already give up so stop attacking me!"

She doesn't stop attacking even after I said she's already won. She really want me to be her living target! What an evil woman!

I grabbed blobby and used her as a shield.

"Please let me go! We can talk things out if you have any problem with me! Stop attacking me!"

"I refuse."

Her cold answer said everything. She really want to hit me! Even though she knows that I want to keep my real ability hidden, she's trying to get me used it and fight her for real! Somehow she ended up as a battle maniac!

"No, no, no, no, no! We can talk things through if you have any misunders— MY FACE! You just aimed at my face! What would happen if I turned ugly! I still haven't got myself a girlfriend so stop attacking my face! You're gonna breaking—MY HEART! This time you're targeting my heart?! Are you trying to get me killed?! Can anybody help me stop her? She's gone mad! Angela? Miss Angela? Can you stop attacking me? Is there no hope in—MY FUTURE!"

There's a sudden pause after I blocked her last attack.

"…"

"…"

"... Did you just aimed down there?"

"…I did."

"WHY?! What have I done to you?! That's the most evil thing you did today! Not just my face, my heart, and then my crotch! Look around! All the men now are afraid to look at you in the eyes! They're afraid of you!"

"Doesn't matter. Fireball!"

She continued attacking me. Not just my face! She's also aiming at my heart and then my crotch! She has just become men's enemy from today.

Why does she keeps doing this? Does she have faith in my blocking and dodging ability? Or she's just doing this to vent her anger?

If I want to, I can defeat her in one hit. But now, everyone already see her as the strongest among our generation. If I defeat her, I would just ended up getting unnecessary attention since I want to keep being low-key.

I looked away from her to Kayla in hope that she will stop her. But Kayla just wink at me and gave thumbs up at me. Is this planned by them?!

"To hell with the evaluation! I'm leaving! Bye!"

Then I run away from the arena. I ignore the teachers who keep calling me to return to the arena.

This ended up as the worst day ever since I got reincarnated to the past. I never met the nodding guy, and Angela keep aiming to burn my crotch. If I stay, something could get burned.

...….

Back at the arena, the principal announced the result.

"Let's stop the fight because Roy has left the arena. As for the result, we can see that Angela has the biggest firepower in the school with her rapid fireball attack. That's a great achievement that even some Intermediate Fire Mage can't get, but she already achieved it while still in her beginner level. Let's give her a round of applause for her showcase of power."

The audiences clapped their hands to give appreciation to Angela who has shown an amazing growth in just one month.

Then the principal continued giving the evaluation and this time, it was Roy's.

"As for Roy… He's good at using his slime to block attacks and he's also good to make a decision to run away when he can't win a fight. That's all for today's sparring events. I hope all students can learn from Angela so everyone can grow much more and be a powerful mage."

After the principal's closing speech, everyone leave school.

As for Roy, he's already left early. In fact, neither Angela nor Kayla who is looking for him can't see his trace at all. He just disappear without telling his party member.