A Dragon's Curiosity

Tyne Pinewood, Grace and Aaren observed in dazed amazement as the two figures before them made a stark contrast.

Nisha towered over the fallen Kian, who groaned and twisted on the ground from the hard fall.

The fallen youth winced and groaned from his twisted wrist and the sore spots from hitting the ground face first.

Kian’s mind reeled as he tried to process what had happened to him, but no matter how much he replayed the scene in his mind, he did not understand how the outcome was so far from his imagination.

Instead of a duel where the young noble proved his mettle and prevailed against an enemy who his cousin thought would destroy him, the elf easily picked him apart and would perhaps have already had the chance to end the duel.

No matter the circumstances, Kian still struggled to get up and picked up his sword and shield.

His bones creaked and the exertion drove his face red, as the restriction from the [Eternal Warrior] weighed down on him, making every motion twice as hard.

With a loud roar, he charged at the elf and tried to repay the humiliation he received in the same manner.

He was too incensed to converse or make a proper plan, only a will to fight left within his mind.

Nisha had lost the interest to face him in a proper duel only to have to do the same thing again with his cousin.

She disdained the small plots the two nobles had hatched, she might have no real interest in being called the strongest and preferred to stay lowkey instead.

However, that did not mean that just anyone was allowed to challenge her and attempt to trample all over her dignity and face.

Rolling her shoulders, the dragon pondered whether it was more fitting to use her fists or the wooden training sword to continue the fight.

To Nisha, the restriction from the [Wind God Bracelet] did not matter when it added a flat weight meant for third rank aura cultivators.

At most, the added weight felt like a second layer of cloth, like a dress.

Seeing the charging figure arriving before her, Nisha sidestepped with the help of the footwork from [Imperial Swordplay] and pushed Kian hard with an open palm, sending him sprawling once again.

His figure tumbled down on the grass yet again, the wind knocked out of his body from the second fall.

Silence reigned over the training yard, as Grace Silverwood glared with bulging eyes as their plan fell apart.

Rather than observing the enemy, Kian only made a clown out of himself and fell for the elf’s provocation without a second thought.

Aaren wanted to laugh out loud, seeing one of his peers push around a noble like an adult would with a child throwing a tantrum, yet he was aware that this would offend the cousins to the point of no return.

Tyne Pinewood was perhaps the most troubled out of the spectators, he was torn between intervening and simply allowing the duel to unfold as it currently was.

His mission as an instructor clashed with the laws sanctifying duels between cultivators, and suddenly the [Eternal Warrior] regretted setting the terms for an official battle.

Although the intention was benign in nature, there was nothing to learn from the uneven situation and he had to stay his hand from intervening.

Tyne knew that Nisha was stronger than the rest of his students and already assessed her strength quite high, yet he had to correct his assessment once again.

Meanwhile, the screams coming from one of the fighters alternated between rage and pain.

Every time Kian managed to pick himself up from the ground, he either charged at the elf or tried to strike her with his training sword without any attention to his own defense.

And whenever he came into range, Nisha would push him, trip his leg, punch one of his limbs and send him to the ground again.

The sword in her hand turned into a decoration, the elf did only use one arm to beat up her adversary.

After seeing her cousin getting beaten up like a powerless servant for the fourth or fifth time, Grace Silverwood no longer stifled her smoldering rage and rushed at the elf, ready to strike her down.

Aaren anxiously turned to their instructor, the man had guaranteed an uninterrupted duel, yet currently the noble girl rushed forward in order to do exactly that and interfere.

He briefly considered rushing up as well, led by impulse and a faint sense of belonging as a fellow scholarship student, and turn the fight into a two versus two teamfight.

Yet their teacher Tyne did not appear troubled at all and made no motion to stop the fight.

“Ser Tyne, should we do something about this? This goes against the rules of a duel, after all.”

Unsure what to do, the boy asked for guidance.

“I know what you mean, it doesn't really matter though.

Keep watching and you will see why that girl Nisha is ranked first from my point of view.

It’s a lesson that Grace and Kian need to learn, the reason why being a noble is not a sufficient excuse for viewing everyone else with contempt.”

As a Pinewood, he hailed from a minor noble background too, but Tyne earned the name himself after rendering great achievements as an adventurer.

His rank as a knight paled in comparison to his status as a top ranking adventurer, and held no political clout.

Just as the youth pondered over the words from the instructor, the two females in the special class were about to clash.

Grace did not roar in anger or announce her entrance, she wanted to take the elf in surprise and make her pay for humiliating a noble, even though her dear cousin failed the task she assigned to him.

Sadly, everyone underestimated the dragon by a far wider margin than they imagined.

Nisha’s [Spirit Sight] picked up on the intruder right when she started her charge and was prepared to deal with Grace.

Just before the angered harpy reached their position, she kicked Kian to the ground again and tossed her training sword aside.

Strictly speaking, her swordplay did not yet reach her actual ability to fight and slowed her more than it helped dealing with threats.

While the restriction on her did not hinder the elf from facing two second rank aura users at the same time, it was better to avoid taking any chances.

Nisha spun around at the same time as Grace reached her and landed a clean punch on the middle of the chest of the other girl.

The noble girl had the wind knocked out of her lungs and she collapsed in a similar fashion to her cousin.

Still, Kian already wasted much of his energy getting back on his feet, therefore the other girl recovered faster than him and after briefly reeling for a new mouthful of air to dispel the shock, Grace wanted to prove her superiority and forget the rest of her concerns.

Now she was out for blood, and Nisha had to lie before her in the dust before she was ready to even consider letting go of the enmity.

Sadly, the pampered girl had overestimated herself and a two on one fight was not going to develop as she imagined in her rage fueled delusion.

While the two struggling students on the ground fought for their bearing, the elf turned their back on them - not that she was not paying attention to them, they still showed in her vision - and waited for further instructions from the [Eternal Warrior].

“Hrm, that should suffice, I guess. If you are done with these two, we can rest for a little bit and then return to the lesson, as long as there are no more objections to the current ranking.”

Tyne had a small smile that he tried to hide. It was not quite appropriate for a teacher to laugh at the struggles of his students.

“No.”

The short and succinct answer did not only stun Tyne Pinewood, Kian and Grace who managed to struggle to their feet also paused.

The noble girl had pilfered the discarded training sword and her cousin heaved under the combined weight of his wooden gear and the restriction placed on him.

Against a single unarmed girl, they should have the upper hand, yet a single word made them feel shivers.

“I’m not sure I follow. Do you have any objections against being ranked first?”

That was the only reason that came to the teacher’s mind.

He had not foreseen the rejection at all.

“You explained the rules of the duel, they are laws of the kingdom, correct?”

A simple question forced Tyne to cough a few times to hide his embarrassment, he had allowed an outside force to interfere with the fight even though he promised with his honor to prevent exactly that.

Therefore, he thought that the girl had an objection to this and wanted a resolution for that.

“Indeed, I wanted to shorten the process and did not interfere, aside from that, the rules I explained are indeed written like that in the law of the kingdom.”

He had to give in here and either punish Grace Silverwood for breaking the rules or give Nisha a small compensation.

Unfortunately, it turned out that he did not grasp the girl’s intention correctly this time either.

“According to the rules, and I especially confirmed them one more time to be sure, the duel is over when either side lands a blow that’s considered fatal, or the other party is rendered incapacipated and is unable to continue.

Therefore, I cannot quite end the duel yet at this point.

I still need to score a lethal blow to the head, throat or heart, right?”

“Wait, we surrender. The duel is over, no more!”

Bearing the brunt of the abuse, Kian wised up and wanted to admit that they had lost and end the pain, quickly shouting out.

Even with the support of his cousin, he did not have any hope to turn the situation around and the restriction tired him out even more.

“Surrendering was not one of the winning conditions either, so please pick up your weapon and get in a fighting stance.

I can overlook Grace intervening, since the teacher has made his intention known.

Then I just have to overcome both of your defenses, please get ready.”

Nisha smiled sweetly at the duo, clenching and relaxing her fist.

It had not been her intention at the start to start a brawl, but it served her quite well to break the noble’s scheme.

Grace had been gripped in endless rage, she did not register the conversation at all.

She rushed at the elf again, wanting to eat her flesh and drink her blood at any cost.

Contrary to that, Kian sent a silent pleading tear towards the instructor, a last hope to get freed from this nightmare.

Sadly, he was destined to get disappointed when Tyne Pinewood turned to the side and pretended not to see his plight.

Perhaps the elf’s explanation might not follow the spirit of a duel sanctioned by law, yet it was close enough to allow her to do as she wished and prevent the man from interfering again with more conditions.

The honest smile on Nisha’s face turned sweet, she knew she had achieved a victory here and sent a backhand strike at the girl rushing at her from behind, striking her down once again.

Powerless against the state of affairs, Tyne addressed the youth next to him, who had yet to pick up his jaw from the ground.

It was not everyday that a commoner had the pleasure to see nobles getting beaten into a ragged state.

“Aaren, listen to me.”

The boy returned his attention to the teacher.

“You start running your rounds now. Whatever you hear or see, this is only a training exercise, a mock duel, if you will.

Run as many rounds as you can, and don’t look back.”

Wordlessly, he placed a wind restriction on the boy and dismissed him for his exercise, while scratching his head and desperately wanting to come up with a method to deal with the outfall from this duel.