Water Magician

While Roman and Fiona’s sword fight unfolded in the center, Adjutant Marie was also engaged in close combat with the Scout Maurice.

But it was strange close combat.

Maurice from the Hero party was a Scout.

She held daggers in both hands and fought with light movements.

Therefore, rather than striking from the front, attacks by sneaking around or behind the opponent were her mainstream means of attack but …

Against Adjutant Marie, she couldn’t get behind her.

No, to be precise, she would try to circle, but Marie easily dealt with it.

That didn’t mean that Adjutant Marie was fast.

Of course, she was faster than a normal Swordsman, but she was slower than Maurice, who acted as the Scout of the Hero party.

But she couldn’t circle her.

Because there was a constant downburst, a strong downdraft around Marie.

Marie, the Wind-Attribute Magician, had a very unique one-on-one fighting style.

She would almost unknowingly create a powerful downburst around her and fight while hindering her opponent’s movements.

In a typhoon with wind speeds of 50 meters, one probably can’t move as they desire?

Around Marie, such winds were always blowing from above toward the ground.

Regardless of whether you move lightly or steadily, you can’t even move properly.

Moreover, this was the worst kind of opponent for Maurice, a Scout who relied on nimble movements.

(This is bad. Of all the people to be my opponent. I have no luck … no, did you calculate that far and pair me with this person? Princess with a beautiful face, how nasty.)

Scout Maurice pondered on a strategy while moving without stopping in one place to not let her opponent lock onto her.

Shuut.

Kang.

She tried throwing a throwing knife, but it was still blown away by that damn wind.

(This … how can I defeat her … I can’t get close to her, my throwing knives can’t even reach her … I wonder if I should just endure and wait for someone else to assist?)

Maurice was a Scout in the first place.

Even during their adventures, combat power was not expected of her, and along with Graham, who played the role of the healer, their role was to not die.

Of course, as a member of the Hero party, her fighting ability was miles above ordinary Scouts but she was still not as strong as the rest of the party.

(A complete stalemate …)

Maurice sighed lightly.

Close combat was happening in three places.

Hero Roman versus Fiona in the middle.

Maurice versus Marie on the left side of the Hero party.

And on the right, the Enchanter Ash Khan versus Jurgen.

There was no occupation called 『Enchanter』 in Central Nations.

What were they like in the first place?

Enchantment is the act of adding a ‘temporary’ attribute to a friend’s body or weapon by magic.

And the magic profession that specializes in that is an 『Enchanter』.

Why were there none in the Central Nations?

The reason was simple. Because Enchanters cast without magic chants.

Ryo, Sera, and the members of the Empire’s Emperor Magic Division cast magic without chanting, but that was an exception among the Magicians of the Central Nations.

In fact, even for Magicians who belong in the same Imperial Army, the 『Emperor Magic Division』 does not chant, but all 1st to 8th company of the 『Imperial Magic Army』do.

It was solely due to Fiona and Oscar’s insistence that the 『Emperor Magic Division』 always cast magic without chanting.

Even beginners can easily cast magic by chanting.

However, the strength of the magic cast that way was almost constant no matter who casts it.

There was some research testing if an Advanced Magician cast beginner magic or intermediate magic, it would be more powerful than expected, but fundamentally the power remained constant.

In addition, because it takes time to chant, there would be a lag time before the magic activates.

That could be fatal in combat.

Therefore, when Fiona and Oscar reorganized the Emperor’s Magic Division, they made sure to thoroughly enforce casting magic without chanting.

Well, that was why Enchanters didn’t exist in the Central Nations because there was no 『magic chant』.

It was also Jurgen’s first time seeing one.

(Her Highness and Elsa said that Graham could utilize close combat either unarmed or with spear technique, but Ash Khan-dono, a Wind-Attribute Magician? And she is an Enchanter … I guess I can gain valuable experience.)

Ash Khan, whom Jurgen was facing, fought hand-to-hand combat style with armored gauntlets and legs and by applying haste to her body to speed up.

It was a fighting style that didn’t suit a Magician, but she would probably retort Jurgen by saying, ‘I don’t want to be told that by you’.

Jurgen was attacking with orthodox swordsmanship.

Jurgen Bartel was the second son of Count Bartel.

The Count family was succeeded by his older brother, who was eight years older, but Jurgen had been trained in general martial arts since he was a child, as a regular member of the family who produced excellent Swordsmen for generations.

Therefore, from a young age, he vaguely thought that he would join the Imperial Knights when he was eighteen.

In fact, his ability with the sword was excellent.

At the age of fifteen, he began to defeat his tutor who was the Count’s swordsmanship instructor, and at the age of sixteen, even his father, the head of the family, could not rival him.

By the time he reached adulthood at the age of eighteen, his eight years older brother was the only person stronger than him with the sword. At that time, his brother was one of the Twelve Knights of the Emperor, who were the best of the Imperial Knights.

For that reason, Jurgen caught the eye of the Emperor.

He fought a good match with his elder brother in the Twelve Knights. Moreover, he had just reached adulthood.

Emperor Rupert VI would not overlook such talent.

After detailed investigations and hearings, Rupert decided that he would be of help to Fiona and Oscar, who were close in age.

Jurgen was then entrusted to Oscar and trained in various ways for six months before he was then assigned as Oscar’s adjutant and Fiona’s guard.

That was almost two years before Fiona was appointed as the Division Chief of the Empire’s Emperor Magic Division.

The sword Jurgen used was an ordinary iron sword with a blunt blade used in the training ground.

Of course, they could use the weapons they normally used for this mock combat.

That was why Fiona was using the treasured sword Raven, and the Hero Roman wielded the holy sword Astarte.

However, Jurgen knew that he was not good at stopping his blade, so he decided to use a sword with a blunt blade that would not kill the opponent even if he struck them.

If his superior Oscar heard him say that, he would likely sarcastically say ‘Hey, that’s quite some confidence’, but there was no other way around something he was bad at.

It would be terrible if he killed a person and said it couldn’t be helped.

Jurgen had no choice.

Basically, Ash Khan attacked and Jurgen defended, and the battle between the two continued.

Ash Khan’s martial art was decent, but from Jurgen’s point of view, there seemed to be gaps to take advantage of.

The rest was timing.

If he missed the timing, everything would be wasted. It was the same with anything.

Jurgen discretely aimed for the timing while dealing with Ash Khan’s attacks.